the Savior exhibits it. Think of his kind invita. tion and promise, "Come unto me, all ye that la bor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye fhall find reft to your fouls; for my yoke is eafy, and my burden is light. If you excufe yourselves from prayer, or any other duty, under a notion that you are not fit for it, and fhall confequently incur greater guilt in the obfervance, than in the neglect of it, look into the Bible, and fee whether thefe are not expressly enjoined on all, without distinction, and whether your excuse is once admitted there. If you are tempted to delay the work of religion; hear what the fcripture fays; "Boaft not of tomorrow""Behold now is the accepted time." Are you inclined to entertain loose thoughts of the na ture of religion? Attend to the Savior's words : "Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many will feek to enter in, and shall not be able." Thus you are to repel the temptations which proach you.

ap-.

Again That you may not give place to the devil, take time to confider, whether any motive. fuggefted in favor of fin is, in its nature, fo powerful, as the arguments which the fcripture offers against it. Apply to yourselves the Apoftle's expoftulations with the Romans: "What fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now afhamed? For the end of thofe things is death." Employ yourselves in pious meditations, in prayer, and in converfe with the word of God. When Satan finds a foul empty and fwept of every serious thought and difpofition, he enters in and dwells there. They, in whom he dwells, are fuch as give him place. They who refift him, find him a conquerable enemy.

We fometimes complain of temptations; but our greatest danger is from ourfelves. They will not

effentially injure us, unlefs, by the indulgence of fome criminal paffion, we give them place. The best men may be molefted by the adversary; but fteady vigilance, and firm refiftance, will give them the victory. The God of peace will bruise Satan under their feet..

To conclude: Let us confider the danger to which we are expofed from the bufy malice of evil fpirits; and remember that our danger is then the greatest, when our paffions rife the highest. Let us be fober and vigilant, because our adversary the devil, goeth about, feeking whom he may devour: Him let us refift, ftedfaft in the faith; thus the God of all grace, who hath called us to his eternal glory by Chrift Jefus, will make us perfect, eftab lish, ftrengthen and fettle us. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON XXIX.

EPHESIANS iv. 28.

Let him that fole, fteal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that need eth.

THESE words may be confidered as an explanation of the eighth command in the decalogue, which fays, "Thou fhalt not fteal." This command, by natural conftruction, forbids all injuries to our neighbor's property; and confequently requires us to procure the neceffaries of life by our own industry. "Let him that ftole, fteal no more; but rather let him labor."

We will illuftrate the text in feveral obferva tions.

J. Here is a general prohibition of theft.

This prohibition fuppofes diftin&t rights and fep arate properties. If it had been the intention of the great Lord of all things, that his fervants should ufe his goods in common, he never would have enacted a law againft ftealing; for where one man has no property diftin&t from another, there is no room for the crime, and no occafion for a law against it. If each man has a perfonal diftin&tion from all others; and if his limbs, fkill, invention,

and labor are his own, and not his neighbors, then the fruits of his ftudy, industry and enterprise belong to himself, and to no one else. And whatever he obtains by means not injurious to others, he has a right to poffefs, and none has a right to take it from him, either by violence or artifice. By the prohibition of robbery, theft and fraud, God has confirmed to every man his property, and warned others not to invade it.

We are placed in a state of mutual dependence. No man poffeffes, or can alone procure every thing which he wants; but each must receive fomething from another. There is among men a great diverfity of talents, abilities and conditions.

Some have ftrength and others fkill-fome have riches, others capacity for labor. The rich need the poor man's labor; the poor need the rich man's fuperfluity; all need mutual affiftance. It was the defign of providence, that we fhould live in fociety and fubfift by reciprocal aid. And this aid fhould be voluntary. The rich have no right to exact the poor man's fervice without his confent, or to use it without wages; nor have the poor a right to take the rich man's property without his knowledge, or without compenfation. In fhort no man has a right to live at the expense of others, while he can live by his labor, or to fupport himself by any kind of labor, that is injurious to his neighbors.

Stealing, in common acceptation, is "taking and carrying away another's goods in a fecret manner, and without his confent." But this fpecies of wrong is not the only thing forbidden in the divine law, under the name of ftealing; for the reafon of the law extends to every kind of deception and fraud, by which one can injure the property of another. The Apoftle oppofes labor to theft; and therefore in his idea of theft are included all thofe unjuft methods, which men take for a maintenance, rather than apply themfelves to labor. If the in

jury done to our neighbor is that, which makes ftealing criminal, then it is criminal to transfer to ourselves his property in any other way which is injurious to him. "Ye fhall not fteal," says Mofes, "nor deal falfely, nor lie one to another."

"Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, nor rob him, nor fhall the wages of him that is hired abide with thee until the morning." The Apoftle fays, "Let no man go beyond, nor defraud his brother in any matter; for the Lord is the avenger of all fuch." We must therefore underftand the prohibition in the text, as relating to every unfair, indirect, difhoneft way, by which one may transfer to himfelf the property of another; whether it be unfaithfulness to a truft repofed in him; the embezzlement of goods committed to him; contracting debts without ability or intention to pay them; fecreting and detaining loft things which he has found; taking advantage of men's ignorance or neceffity in dealing with them; making falfe preten. fions of poverty or infirmity to obtain alms; difabling himself by extravagant expenfe, or by voluntary alienation of property, from fatisfying the juft demands of creditors; or any other deceitful artifice; for in all fuch cafes, he takes that from his neighbors, which they did not freely and understandingly confent to part with.

II. This prohibition of theft is a virtual injunction of labor. For if a man may not live at the expense of others, he muft live at his own; and if he has not the means of fubfiftence, he must labor to acquire them. The Apoftle fays, "Let him that ftole, fteal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands." If every man is not bound to work with his hands, yet every man is bound to do this rather than fteal. No plea of neceffity can be admitted in juftification of difhonefty. The poor are God's charge; but he allows them not to invade the rights of others. And if the poor may