A Body of Practical Divinity

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. 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 observ'd. 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.

Use II. It reproves such as live upon Stealing. Instead of Living by Faith, they live by their Shifts. The Apostle exhorts, that every Man eat of his own Bread, 2 Thess. 3.12. The Thief doth not eat of his own Bread, but of another's. If there be any who are guilty of this Sin, let them labour to recover out of the Snare of the Devil by Repentance, and let them show their Repentance by Restitution. Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum. Aug. Without Restitution no Remission. Luke 19.8. If I have taken away any thing from any Man unjustly, I restore four-fold. It may suffice to restore ill-gotten Goods by ones own Hand, or by a Proxy. Better a thousand times restore Goods unlawfully gotten, than to stuff ones Pillow with Thorns, and have Guilt trouble ones Conscience upon a Death-Bed.