SERMON XII.

ON STEALING.

EXODUS XX. 15.

Thou shalt not steal.

WHEN the preacher chooses for the subject of his counsels the prohibition which I have just read to you, the generality of his audience, I believe, feel their consciences perfectly at ease: they, with much self-complacency perhaps, congratulate themselves that this is a speculation which cannot at all concern them: whatever are the other vices with which they may be justly charged, they hope they do not pay themselves too high a compliment in acquitting themselves of the vice of stealing; they may therefore quietly resign themselves to the contemplation of their worldly cares and pleasures*. But let me beg that you will not withdraw your attention, for this reason; this commandment is more extensive, and takes in a greater variety of cases than

-you imagine, which, when you come to have explained, you may find perhaps, however disgusted you may be at the name of stealing, that you are not able wholly to exculpate yourselves from the offence.

The commandments, which were delivered by God to Moses for the use of the children of Israel, contain the great heads of our duty: but as they are only ten in number, and drawn up in such short terms, it is not the mere letter, but the spirit of them also to which we are to attend.

I will explain my, meaning-The third commandment says-" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain." Do you think that he alone is guilty of a breach of this law, who makes use of the name of God on trifling occasions? No surely, it is equally broken by all kinds of swearing and cursing whatever. Swear not at all, neither by Heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by earth, for it is his footstool, but content yourselves with a bare affirmation and denial, for whatsoever is beyond these cometh of evil, is vicious in itself, and a violation of the third commandment.

In the seventh we read-" Thou shalt not commit adultery." Some, perhaps, may think that this statute will not reach them, so long as they abstain from a criminal intercourse with the wife of another, however profligate they may be in other respects; but they are much mistaken; it

certainly comprehends all unlawful commerce between the sexes whatever, every sort of impurity, both in action and even in word and thought. In like manner, the law, which we are now considering, is by no means confined to direct depredations on the property of another, but comprises also those which are indirect; not only forbids openly robbing, or secretly pilfering, but extends likewise to cheating and over-reaching in all their various shapes; and though I do not say that the cunning, sly man, who embraces every opportunity of taking advantage of his honest, unsuspicious neighbour, is an equally atrocious character with the highwayman or the house-breaker,-I do say that he is equally guilty of violating the precept we are now considering. But there are others, whose transgressions against this precept are not so general, whose guilt is confined to a few cases, or perhaps only to one, who are far from suspecting that they are culpable at all, and would be indignant at the most remote suspicion of it. Let me bespeak their attention whilst I enumerate a few instances of unfair dealing, which are much too common, and then let them ask their own conscience, if it can with impartiality acquit them.

The first frauds, I shall mention, are those which are committed againt government; to express the matter plainly, those people which are guilty of, when they do not pay all the taxes and duties which the law enjoins. Now it is wonder

ful how many there are, even of those who are well disposed, and think themselves exactly honest in every other respect, who make no scruple of offending in this: they will even argue on the propriety of it, and ridicule and doubt of its rectitude.-Permit me to state this affair clearly, and perhaps the defrauding of government may appear in a different light. When a tax is laid, it is always calculated that it will produce a certain sum; if it does not, another must be invented to supply its deficiency: now the most probable method of making it fall short, is, to evade it, not to pay it at all, or not to pay so much as we ought to do: if one has a right to do this, another has; suppose, therefore, all to do it, another tax must in consequence be imposed, of equal burden, and we are none of us gainers. But suppose again (what is really the case) that some do pay what they ought, and some do not, still there will be a deficiency, and something else must be found out to make up the sum of what it falls short, and to this, observe-he, who paid to the full what he ought to do to the former, must likewise contribute his share. Now they who do not pay fairly are the cause of this additional burden to him, and whether they rob their neighbour with their own hands, or do it through the medium of government, makes little difference; his loss is the same, and, when the matter is properly considered, their guilt scarcely less. It is no excuse for a man to sayWhat signifies what little I diminish the

revenue! because, if one man has a right to do this, another has, and if all were to do it, the consequence is sufficiently evident. Nor, again, is it any excuse to say- The generality of my neighbours are as bad as myself;' for reformation must begin somewhere, and it behoves every one, without attending to his neighbour, to take care of his own conduct.

Next to frauds on government, I believe, frauds on the church are looked on as of the smallest consequence. This is a subject which will not appear to advantage in the hands of the clergy; I shall therefore merely observe, that the owner in purchasing, and the occupier in hiring an estate, pay proportionably less for it in consideration of the tithes which are to come out of it; that the clergyman has the same title to the latter, as they have to the possession and profits of the former, that which all derive from the law of the land, and therefore the eighth commandment is violated, whenever his dues are unjustly withheld from him.

The next breach of this precept, of which I shall take notice, is that which the rich man is guilty of, when he refuses to do his poor brethren justice, and sets them at defiance, because they have not the means of applying to the law for protection in this country, thank God! the law is impartially administered, but it requires in many cases much expence to come at it. Now, where a great man unjustly deprives a little one