A Body of Practical Divinity

4. A Man may be a Thief to himself by Suretyship. Prov. 22.26. Be not thou one of them that are Sureties for Debt: The Creditor comes upon the Surety for Debt, and so by paying another's Debt he is a Thief to himself, he undoes himself. Let not any Man say, He should have been counted unkind, if he had not entered into Bonds for his Friend. Better thy Friend count thee unkind, than all Men count thee unwise. Lend another what you can spare; nay, give him if he needs, but never be a Surety. It is no Wisdom for a Man so to help another, as to undo himself. This is to rob himself and his Family.

4. A Man may be a Thief to himself by Suretiship. Prov. 22.26. Be not thou one of them that are Sureties for Debt: The Creditor comes upon the Surety for Debt, and so by paying anothers Debt he is a Thief to himself, he undoes himself. Let not any Man say, He should have been counted unkind, if he had not entred into Bonds for his Friend. Better thy Friend count thee unkind, than all Men count thee unwise. Lend another what you can spare; nay, give him if he needs, but never be a Surety. It is no Wisdom for a Man so to help another, as to undo himself. This is to rob himself and his Family.

Use I. It confutes the Doctrine of Community; that all things are common, and one Man hath a Right to another's Estate. The Scripture confutes it. Deut. 23.25. When thou comest into the standing Corn of thy Neighbours, thou shalt not move a Sickle unto thy Neighbours Corn. Propriety must be observed. God hath set this Eighth Commandment as an Hedge about a Man's Estate, and this Hedge cannot be broken without Sin. If all things be common, then there is no Stealth, and so this Commandment were in vain.

Vse I. It confutes the Doctrine of Community; that all things are common, and one Man hath a Right to anothers Estate. The Scripture confutes it.