Chap.6: Of theft committed out áf Comratis. Com,8, 47 live, which ohtñot to be àlienated: for God takes der under the Law , that thofe ancient Land-marks fhould not be removed, which they of old time badfet :. and Deút, i9. s4 there is good reafonfor it,becaufeall the parties thereinconcerned cannot at once be prefent,and therefore theright cannot be alienated;forall the poor from the beginning to the end, are interefled herein ; and thofe that are not born cannot confent to any fuch aft. HenceGod appointed ( to thew the greater detefiationof this fin , and todeter the people the more from attempting any fuch matter ) that the curfe fhould proceedout of their own mouths. Al the Congregation was to curfe. them Deur,27,17 that did anyfuch thing. Solonionscenfure againft fuch as removethe Land-marks,. is, That GOD himfelf willplead the caufewith them. The Prophet Hofea when he would fer forth wickedPrinces by as odious a comparifon as he could , faith , they Hof.5 is are like droll' that remove the Land-marke. How odious this was -, may appear by. the letting up every where ZVletas terminicas, upon the borders and the imprecations "againft them that fhould remove them: The. Prophet Micah threatens it asa great judgment upon à people, and fhould bring. doleful lamentation upon them, that the portionof thepeoplefhauld be changed, and theirfields divided,&c. And lob Micah 3.4 though without the Law, yet law fo much, that he reckonsthis among the praf,}ices of wicked men, to remove theLand-mark, Johs3,2 'And.thus much for the waits of unjuft getting, and the feveral fins committed therein. When we begun to fpeak of the ad of theft, we fhewed that it might be either in the unlawful gettingof tithes; or in the unlawful ufe of their ; and the feveral waits of ùnlawtùl getting we reduced to twoheads. a. F'ttrttem,theft,which is get- tingbydeceit. 2. Rspina, which is by violence. They are diftinguithed by Nazi anzene thus ; in theone there is Alcoa , manse injetfa ; . the laying on of hands, whereby a thing istaken by violence. In the other 317Ccra, a compatling by craft, or deceit. Nowwhatfoever is got either vimy,is not tobeaccounted as a bleffng from God : And therefore Chryfoffomeupon that petitionin the Lords Prayer for tempo- ral things (Give' us our daily bread) faith, Habere convenitetiammotis, habere astern de manu Dei;fantiis tantum, the wicked may have thefe outward things , but to re- ceive them fromthe handsof God, asWettings from him , is peculiar to the Saints; for Deusparare non vetát,fed cum peccatoparare, qui enim cumpeccatoparat , ei dia- bolus dat quodmànducat, non Deus : God forbids us not to get them , but to attain themwith fin; for what any attains by finful means, he receives it as a gift from the Devil, not as agift fromGod,nor can he jufily make this petition to God; and hg that thusreceives his daily bread, receivesalfo 41j4sC rra se Jhsvxir, apledge offome judgment that (hall befal him. C H A P. VII. Of the vertues oppofite. t. lull getting. 2. Reffitition , commandedboth in the Law and Goffeel. That we muff make reffitution, not only of what is unlarefully got, but of row things lawfully got. As. í. Ofwhat belongs to another by gift, 2. Ofthings depofited. 3.Of things found. 4. Of things lent: q. Of what will prejudice the publick, if it bedetainedfor ourprivate benefit. kJPpofte to this vice of unlawful getting , is the vertu of jufl getting : which of the west e is the fubjeéï we are now tohandle. It is called ffudium handle rem,parandi, ofjuJlgetting. an endeavour to get byhoneft means, where men do orrrrilrUlm's, grow richwith- out fraud. Concerning which every man ought to be perfwaded , that as Solomon faith, A little which the righteous bath (viz. which is gotby lawful means) isbetter than the great revenues of the Wicked (got unjüftly.) Prov,t6.3 The Apofile lets both down together in one place , where fpeaking of covetous men, who let themfelves to get by any means,he faith,they are men of corrupt minds, t Tim,6 S and destitute of truth, and gives:the reafon, becaüfe this is their Potitión, that gain 00,22: te
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=