Mather - Houston-Packer Collection BS478 .M3 1705

264 The"Gofpel of the Trefpafs-Ófer°rng. is deftru&ive .to Humane Society. That it is againft Light appears, becäüféthey labour to hide it, and are afhamed of it, if it :.come to be known, yer. z. z6. As a Thief is afhamed when he is found. And this further thews the Greatnefs of it, That God infifts upon Refutation and Sa:isfafiion to the Party injured. Confider this, all you that are Tradefmen, and have much Dealing in the World, and you that are Apprentices and Servants. IfyouSteal and Pilfer from your Matters, tho' it be but a Groat or Sixpence, if you do not reftore it, how can you expe&God will ever pardon you. But what if a Man be not able, and have not wherewith to rettore ? That is a fad Cafe ; but in fuch a Cafe God may accept the Will for the Deed. But fuppofe the Perforas may be dead andgone ? The Anfwer that Cafuifts give in fuch a Cafe is, that then you, mutt reftoye it to God, by giving it to the Poor, or to fomegoodLife ; re (tore: you mutt, one way orother. For without Reftitution there is no Remiiion. And the Reafon is clear: Becaufe the detaining of unjuft gotten Goods, is a Continuation of the Sin The taking Poffeffion of them wás Theft, the keeping that unjutt ,PoiI'eflion, is a Continuation of that Theft, Zacb. g. q.. The Curfe of God fhaU enter into the Houle of the Thief, and remain in it, and confume it, with the Timber and Stones of it. The Curfe of God will be upon thee in all thy Comforts, in all thy Concernments. But yet there is. Atonement.. We have two Instances in the Scrip- ture, of Thieves that were converted and faved. Zacheus, Luke 19.8,9, i.s. but he made Reftitution, Yerf. 8. And the Thief on the Crofs. 2. Violence. Here is a Sinagainft the fixth Commandment added to a Sin against the eighth ; for Violence belongs to the fixth Com- mandment. Thou (halt not mother : They are beginnings of Blood, they have a Tendency to it, and Blood is a Sin that cries. There are many Threatnings against this Sin, P¡al. 104.. IT. Evil (hail bunt the violent Man to overthrow bim. This is against Light, for no Man would be fo ufed himfelf. Yet there is Atonement for this. You have Iaitance in Violence of the wort Sort, proceeding even unto Blood, and that in a way ofPer- fecution for Righteoufnefs fake, in Manafeh and Paul, who hadbeen Men of much Violence, and yet were converted and Paved, Manaf feh z Kings zr with z Chron. 33. 12, 13. And Paul I Tim. 1. 13, 14. It is like the Thief on the Crofs was fuch a one; an High-way-man, a violent Thief, or elfe by their Law they could not have put him to Death .; but yet the Lord (hewed Mercy to his Soul. 3. Lying

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