cestral glory, but a desire of acquiring the means of living in greater ease, affluence and elegance. Such false excuses are also to be exposed and refuted: they are to be taught how impious is the conduct, how unacceptable to God the prayers, of those who prefer any earthly advantage to the will and the glory of God; and are to be made sensible of the magnitude of the offence, offered to him, by a neglect of his precepts. Note. And yet what real advantage can there be in theft? Of how many very heavy curses is it not the source? " Confusion and repentance," says Ecclesiasticus, " is upon a thief." [1] But, suppose no temporal punishment to overtake the thief, does he not offer an insult to the divine name? does he not oppose the most holy will of God? does he not contemn his salutary precepts? is not this contempt of the divine precepts the source of all the error, and all the dishonesty, and all the impiety, which inundate the world?
But, do we not sometimes hear the thief contend that he is not guilty of sin, because, forsooth, he steals from the rich and the wealthy, who, in his mind, do not even perceive, not to say, suffer injury from the loss? Such an excuse is as wretched as its tendency is baneful. Others imagine that they should be acquitted of guilt, because they have contracted such a habit of stealing, as not to be able to gain an easy victory over the passion, or to desist from the practice. If such persons listen not to the admonition of the Apostle: " He that stole, let him now steal no more," [2] let them recollect the awful punishment that awaits their obstinacy in crime, nothing less than an eternity of torments. Some excuse themselves by saying that it was impossible to resist the seasonable opportunity that presented itself: the proverb is trite; " those, who are not thieves, are made so by opportunity." Such persons are to be dissuaded and deterred from such wickedness, by reminding them that it is our duty to resist every evil propensity: were we to yield instant obedience to the impulse of inordinate desire, what measure, what limits to the most criminal and flagitious excesses? Such an excuse, therefore, is marked by more than ordinary turpitude, or rather is an avowal of unbridled licentiousness and unrestrained injustice. To say that you do not commit sin, because you have no opportunity of sinning, is almost to acknowledge, that you are always prepared to sin when opportunity offers. There are some who say that they steal in order to gratify revenge, having themselves suffered the same injury from others. In answer to such offenders, the pastor will urge the unlawfulness of returning injury for injury; that no person can be a judge in his own cause; and that still less can it be lawful to punish one man for the crimes of an other.
Finally, some find a sufficient justification of theft in their own embarrassments, alleging that they are overwhelmed with
