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Crated to the Lord: But how apt should many of us, now-adays, be to fay, The Lord doth not want it; I have earned it at the Hazard of my Life; it is the Spoil of my Enemy; I wrong no one; and how will it be known? How natural is this to frail Flesh and Blood? And yet how feverely was this Sin punished? In the first place, the Children of Ifrael are defeated by their Enemies, and though Heaven mercifully faw fit, that no more than Thirty-fix fhould perish, yet the Confequences, had they not had immediate recourfe to God, deprecated his Anger, and humbly befought his Favour and Affiftance, conjuring him for his great Name's Sake, that he would blefs their Arms, and not give them up a Prey to the Canaanites, might have been fatal. As it was, the Sentence pronounced against the wretched Achan, by the Almighty himself, was no lefs, than that he, together with his whole Family, and all his Effects, even to his Cattle, fhould be burnt; which was accordingly executed upon them by the Ifraelites, in the Valley of Achor, after having firft ftoned them.

But we think this Example, terrible as it is, is hardly fo remarkable as that of Ananias and Saphi ra; because, tho' Achan had only taken the Spoil of his Enemies, which is reckoned lawful Plunder, and in that Senfe could not be faid to have ftolen any thing; yet, as he knew all the Silver and Gold was to have been confecrated to the Service of God, and had been strictly forewarned not to fave or referve any thing out of the City of Jericho, he was guilty not only of tranfgreffing an exprefs Command, but even of robbing the Almighty; and accordingly the fame Punishment was inflicted upon him and his, as had before been executed upon the Inhabitants of that City.

Now this could not well be faid of Ananias and Sapphira, they had neither violated any exprefs Command, nor had they been guilty of detaining any

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thing which it had been previously determined to fet apart for the Service of God; at leaft it does not appear from Scripture that they were fo: Nay, it is to be questioned, whether they imagined themfelves to have committed any Crime in doing as. they did: In effect, we believe most of us, now-adays, fhould fancy ourselves very extraordinary Chriftians in giving up a confiderable Part of our Subftance for the Ufe of the Church, and should ra. ther look for a Bleffing than a Curse for such an Offering. But the Almighty fees not as Man fees; the inmolt Thoughts of the Heart lie open to his View ;. and in his Eye they were guilty of Theft, and that the worst of Theft, the robbing him of their Hearts, - which were vifibly divided between GoD and Mammon: They pretended to give up all, and throw themselves upon Providence for their Support, and yet not caring altogether to rely thereon, had made a Referve, in cafe of the worst, for themfelves, which argued a manifeft. Diftruft of the Goodness of Heaven, and was in itself a heinous Sin.

But this was not all; for befides this, they were guilty of actual Theft, at leaft intentionally; for, as all the other Members of the Church had fold their Poffeffions, and given up their All into the Hands of the Apostles, in return whereof they were to receive again, out of the common Stock, according to their feveral Neceffities: And as these two, had they not been miraculously detected in their Collufion, would have had an equal Share thereof with the reft, they would thereby have been guilty of robbing the Church, and taking that which of right belonged to thofe who wanted it more; fo that, in short, they were guilty of the fame Injuftice, which any one would now be, who should throw himself upon the Parish for a Maintenance, when he was able otherwife to provide for himself ; and this is downright Robbery. It was therefore ab

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olutely neceffary at that Time, that fuch Frauds fhould be effectually prevented for the future; and this Heaven thought fit to do by a double Miracle; namely, by enduing the Apoftle Peter with the Difcernment of Spirits, and by ftriking both these Hypocrites with immediate Death, to the great Terror of all fuch infincere Profeffors; fo that we are exprefly told, And of the reft durft no Man join himfelf to them.

But, to come from facred to prophane Hiftory, and even to our own Nation, we fhall feldom find that they who have perfifted any Time in fuch unjuft Practices, of what Rank foever they have been, and however protected, have efcaped coming to a miferable End; though to the perpetual Difhonour of thefe Times, we had one remarkable Example of that Kind within every one's Memory.

To begin then with thofe overgrown Thieves and Plunderers called Favourites and Prime Minifters, what was the Iffue of all the Pride and Rapine of Piers Gaveflon, that infamous Minion of Edward II? What did, the powerful Protection of the King, his infatuated Mafter, avail him? Did he not live to fee himself precipitated at once from all his Grandeur? And had he not his Head ftruck off with Infamy, for a Warning to all fuch rapacious Wretches for the future? What was the End of his immediate Succeffors in the Favour of the fame Prince, the two Spencers, Father and Son? Did not the fame wicked Courfes bring them to the fame wretched Deftiny, the one being beheaded, and the other drawn, hanged, and quartered? What was the Iffue of all the Infolence, Rapine, and Oppreffion, that infamous Minion of Queen Ifabella, Robert Mortimer? Did not his treading in the fame abominable Steps bring him alfo with Ignominy to the Gallows ? What was the End of De la Pole, the great Duke of Suffolk, Favourite to Queen Mar

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garet, the Confort of Henry VI? Did not his Rapine and Infolence render him fo univerfally odious, that his Head was ftruck off upon Dover Sands by the Captain of a Man of War, who met him accidentally as he was going over to France? And the Fate of this Plunderer was the more remarkable, as the Captain did this merely by his own Authority, without any other Warrant, rightly prefuming he should never be called to Account for the Punishment of fo detefted a Criminal!

To come nearer to our own Times, what was the miferable End of Empfon and Dudley, thofe two rapacious and infamous Inftruments of Oppreffion, under Henry VII? And what did their Plea avail them, that they had done nothing but by the King's Authority, and that they had only put the Laws in Execution? Notwithstanding this, which was really true, did they not both lofe their Lives upon the Scaffold, with the univerfal Applaufe of the Nation? And was not the putting thofe Horfe-Leeches to Death, though they had been his Father's faithful Drudges, an Action that very much endeared Henry VIII to his People?

In fhort, to take our Leave of these overgrown Banditti, what was the Iffue of the Infolence and Rapine of the great Duke of Buckingham, and the famous Earl of Strafford, thofe two fucceffive Minifters and Favourites to the unfortunate Charles I. to whofe melancholly and fhocking End, their rapacious and oppreffive Measures did not a little contribute? Was not the former fuddenly ftabbed to the Heart in the Height of his Pride and Grandeur by a refolute Enthufiaft, who, acting upon the Principles of the Old Romans, thought he deferved highly of his Country for fo doing? And was not the latter brought to the Block by one of his former intimate Acquaintance and Friends, who, according to his Promife, pursued him to Death, with inflexi

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ble Conftancy and Perfeverance, upon his bafely deferting the Cause of the Public, for the Service of the Court ?

Such then, as we have now fhewn, were the dreadful Confequences of violating this Commandment, in Perfons of the highest Rank, and that though protected, fome of them, even by fovereign Power: We will next proceed, to give likewife fome Inftances of the fatal Effects generally attendant upon the Commillion of this Sin, in those who have acted in a lower Sphere. And here we think the notorious Jonathan Wild will justly claim the Pre-eminence upon all Accounts; and especially as he was generally acknowledged as their Head and Leader, during his Life, by all the numerous and formidable Fraternity of Free-booters.

This extraordinary Perfon, who wanted nothing but the fame Advantages of being born to a competent Fortune, and having a liberal Education, to have made as great and remarkable a Figure as another capital Plunderer, his Cotemporary, by the Dint of uncommon Subtlety, Impudence, and undaunted Refolution, foon gained fo much Credit amongst his lawless Companions, that, excepting now and then a mutinous Spirit, all confeffed his Superiority, followed his Directions, formed themfelves into Bands and Companies according to his Advice, fubmitted readily to his Orders, and kept punctually to the Quarters, Pofts, and Walks, by him affigned to them refpectively: In short, he had them as much, or more at Command, than many Officers have their Regular Troops.

Thus far there was a frong Resemblance between him, and his Atchievements, and thofe of another eminent Rapparee: The Propenfity to Rapine was equal in both; the Ambition of being at the Head of their respective Parties alike in both;

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