then the rich Man has often very wicked Defires, and often delights in finful Pleasures; and though to ferve the Rich be the poor Man's Maintenance, yet in these Cases the poor Man muft not ferve him; and therefore the Apostle adds, that he must labour, working with his Hands the thing which is good. His Poverty obliges him to ferve Man, and therefore he must work with his Hands and his Reafon and Religion oblige him to ferve God, and therefore he must work only the thing which is good.

Labour is the Bufinefs and Employment of the Poor, it is the Work which God has given him to do; and therefore a Man can not be fatisfied in working merely as far as the Wants of Nature oblige him, and spend ing the rest of his Time idly or wantonly: For if God has enabled him to gain more by his Labour, than his own Wants, and the Conveniencies neceffary to his Station, require, he then becomes a Debtor to fuch Duties, as are incumbent on all to whom God hath difpenfed his Gifts: liberally. He muft confider that he owes a Tribute to his Maker for the Health and Strength he enjoys; that there are others who want Limbs to labour, or Sense and Understanding

to arrive at the Knowledge of any Art or Myftery, whereby to maintain themselves; and to these he is a Debtor out of the Abundance of his Strength, and Health, and Knowledge, with which God has bleffed him: And therefore he is obliged to labour, working with his Hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

4

To the great Men God hath given Riches, to the Mean Strength and Understanding; both are equally indebted for what they have received, and equally obliged to make Returns fuitable to their Abilities: And therefore, as the rich Man must honour God out of his Substance, fo muft the Man of low Degree make his Acknowledgment out of the Product of his Labour and Understanding: And therefore Men are obliged to use Labour and Industry in their honeft Callings and Employments, firft to provide for themfelves, and all who depend upon them for Maintenance; and, in the next place, to provide a Stock to discharge the Debt they owe to their Maker, by adminiftering, in proportion to their Ability, to the Wants and Neceffities of their poorer Brethren,

And

And this may ferve to give us a general View of the Senfe and Reafoning of the Text; which I shall now more particularly confider, according to the diftinct Parts of which it confifts. And those I think are four: Firft, A Prohibition, Let him that ftole, fteal no more. Secondly, In Confequence of that, an Injunction, But rather let him labour. Thirdly, A Limitation of this Duty of labouring to Things honeft and lawful, expreffed in these Words, Working with his Hands the Thing which is good. Fourthly, The Rule and Measure of this Duty, That he may have to give to him that needeth.

First, As to the Prohibition, Let him that ftole, fteal no more. By this we are forbidden the Ufe of all fuch Means, for our own Maintenance and Support, as are injurious to our Neighbour. The Command, Thou shalt not fteal, was given to fecure every Man in the Property and Poffeffion of his Goods; and therefore the Reason of the Law reaches to all kinds of Fraud and Deceit by which Men are injured in their Goods and Estate: And there are many Things which, in Propriety of Speech, we do not call Stealing, which nevertheless must be understood to be comprehended in this Law, in virtue of the

Reason

The

Reafon upon which it is founded. unjuft Acquifition of any thing is Theft; for what you unjustly acquire, another lofes, and fuffers in his Property, for the Security of which the Law against Theft was enacted: And therefore, in the way even of Trade, if you fell a Commodity to an unfkilful Buyer for a Shilling, which, according to the Market Price, is worth but fix Pence, you are a Thief to the Value of fix Pence; for of fo much you unjustly defraud the Man. He that is ftronger than another may rob him by Violence, be that is more fubtle may do it by Cunning; but if the Injury in both Cafes be the fame, must not the Guilt be fo too?

Some are apt to repine at the unequal Divifion of the Goods of Fortune, and think that they have as good a natural Right to a Share of the World, as those who at present poffefs it; and confequently that they may affert their Right, whenever it is in their Power fo to do. From thefe Principles fprang the Sect known by the Name of Levellers, who were for having the World equally divided among the Inhabitants of it; and thought it very unnatural that one should be a Lord, and another a Beggar. This

Opinion

Opinion destroys all Law and Justice, and evacuates the Command given against Theft and Stealing, by laying all things open and common, and making all Men joint Pro prietors of all Things. It renders Labour and Indußry uselefs; fince he that labours can acquire nothing which he had not before; and were it a prevailing Opinion, it would foon make the World a Neft of idlė Vagabonds, by leaving no Encouragement for the Labour either of the Body or the Mind, But few Words may fhew the Vanity of this Opinion: For firft, though we cannot produce a divine Law ordering the Distribution of the Things of the World, yet neverthelefs Property is evidently of divine Right: For when God gave the Commandment, Thou shalt not feal, he confirmed to every one the Poffeffion and Property of his Goods; fince from that Time, at leaft, it became unlawful for any Man to wreft out of his Neighbour's Hands the Goods he was in Poffeffion of. So that it is to no Purpose in this Question to inquire by what Means Men at first divided the World among themfelves, or how one acquired in any thing a private Right to himself; fince we find this