Third rule. If wrong be done, restitution must be made. It is not enough to reconcile yourselves to God if you have thriven by unjust gain, but you must make restitution to men, else the sin remains. There is in all such acts the sin and the injury. Now many seek to take away the sin while the injury remains, but that cannot be ; and some may seek possibly to do away the injury while the sin remains ; they do not reconcile themselves to God. In the law of Moses, he that wronged his neighbour was to make restitution : Lev. vi. 5, ' He shall restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass-ofiering.' That law speaks of wrong done against our will. The thief that wronged with set purpose was to restore fourfold ; but if a man did by chance, and against his will, wrong another, when he was convinced of it, he was to restore the principal and the fifth part in the day of his trespass-offering. Our Lord renews and repeats this sentence of the law : Mat. v. 24, ' First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.' It is an allusion to this law, where, on the day of their offering, they were to make restitution. This is the only way to retract the wrong. As long as you retain the use and fruit of your fraudulent practices, the sin and the injury is continued, and there can be no true repentance. In the very counterfeit repentance of Judas there is a kind of restitution ; it is a necessary fruit of grace. When salvation was come to Zaccheus' house, and he was converted, he offers the restitution of the law : ' If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold,' Luke xix. 8. Therefore the continuance of gain gotten by fraud upbraideth the tender conscience with the sin. Non remittitur yeccatum, nisi resti- tuatur ahlatum ; and if you should be disabled from restitution, your acknowledgment must be very serious and humble, and take shame to yourself, and do what you can. And if servants have purloined from their masters, or if any have thriven by iniquity of traffic, restore as far as possibly you can. He that can rectify the injury and doth not, doth not repent, and God will not accept him. If the party wronged be not living, it must be given to the next heir, if none of the line be found,
148 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14, [SeR. IX.
it must be given to God ; for as loag as it remains with you, it is an accursed thing, and will bring a curse on all the rest. If you have wronged others in their names, make them all the satisfaction you can. Christ drew from Peter a treble profession of his love, to answer his threefold denial. By all public vindications you should seek to heal the wound you have made. Take an instance of one that accused a bishop at Jerusalem falsely ; God touched his heart that he wept his eyes blind.
Fourth rule, You must bear the injuries of others with patience rather than revenge them. If patience be not a part of justice, I am sure private revenge is a part of injustice, because you take God's work out of his hands, and you make yourselves magistrates without a com- mission : Kom. xii. 9, ' Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath ; for it is written, Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord.' You must leave it to God and his deputies. It is an usurpation and against all right to avenge yourselves, that a man should be an accuser, judge, and executioner, and all in his own cause, where self-love is apt to make us partial. If we are fit to be an accuser, certainly not to be judge and executioner. It crosseth the ends of just revenge, which are to right the party wronged, or mend the party offending, or to provide for public safety. He that avengeth his own quarrel doth but more and more enrage his adver- sary, scandalise others and not right himseh. In taking wrong we suffer evil, in returning wrong we do evil ; the one is our affliction, the other is our sin. It will be no excuse for you to say you were wronged first. See how the Spirit of God takes off these pleas : Prov. xxiv. 29, ' Say not thou, I will do so to him as he hath done to me ; I will render to the man according to his work.' This is but a continuance and reciprocation of injustice. So Prov. xx. 29, ' Say not thou, I will recompense evil ; but wait on the Lord and he will save thee.' I remember Lactantius hath a pretty saying in this case. Qui par ixiri referre nitihcr, tpsum a quo Jccsks est imitatur — Revenge and injury differ only in order ; he that begins the injury goeth before in mischief ; and he that requites it comes as fast after as he can ; he doth but delight to follow that which he saw go before him. If you judge it evil in others, why do you fall into the like yourselves ? What care hath he of justice and goodness that imitateth that which he acknow- ledgeth to be evil ? It is no excuse to say he began ; his doing wrong to thee doth not dissolve the obligation of God's law, or the binding power it hath upon thy conscience. Nay, the return of injuries argues- you to be the more malicious, because it is a more willing, a more knowing act.