p. 10 | Short Sermons on the Ten Commandments

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 6, 1907

Short Sermons on the Ten Commandments

By W. A. MCCUTCHEN

The Eighth Commandment

W. A. MCCUTCHEN

“Thou shalt not steal.” Ex. 20:15. The recognized definition of to steal is: “1. To take, and carry away feloniously, as the personal goods of another; to take without right or leave. 2. To withdraw or convey without notice, or clandestinely. 3. To gain or win by duress or gradual and imperceptible means. 4. To accomplish in a concealed or unobserved manner.”

It is plainly seen again in this commandment that this division of the law touching man’s relation to his fellow man is based upon man’s natural rights. It is wrong for one man to steal from another, because the one stolen from has a right to his property, and no one has a right to deprive him of it.

It is on the principle laid down in this division of the law that proper civil government is founded. The chief province of civil government is the protection of people in their rights of person and property. If man had always been prompted by that higher motive of love for his fellow man underlying this division of the law, civil governments would never have been needed; for the provisions of the law would have been carried out voluntarily among men. But because of sin and selfishness, and man’s disregard of the rights of his neighbor, civil governments were necessary, and were instituted for the protection and enforcement of these rights — mark it, for the protection of man’s rights, and the punishment of crime, which is a violation of these rights; and not for the punishment of sin and the enforcement of God’s law; for that takes hold of the very “thoughts and intents of the heart,” which governments can not reach nor take cognizance of.

It should be borne in mind that there is a vast difference between sin and crime; one has to do with the violation of God’s law as such, the other with the violation of rightful human law, which, though based upon some of the principles underlying God’s law, are nevertheless far from being the same. No earthly government can rightly undertake to enforce God’s law, because it is not the province of civil governments to enforce religious laws and duties, and every attempt to do so has always resulted in persecution, and always will. And even if it should be thought to be its province, it could not do it, for the reason that the government has no way of detecting the secret violations of God’s law in the thoughts of the heart. Earthly governments can deal only with overt acts.

Every one recognizes that to take another’s goods “without notice, or clandestinely” (secretly), is stealing. Every one knows what it is to steal within the meaning of the first and second definitions as given above; and whenever one is spoken of as a thief, or an act is referred to as thievery, the mind goes at once to something of this kind. But how few look at stealing in the sense of the third and fourth definitions given above.

In the light of these definitions it appears that anything obtained by unfair, dishonest, or secret methods, that are afraid of daylight, is stealing. Misrepresentation of an article or property in a deal, is stealing. Extortion, by charging an excessive rate of interest or much more than a thing is worth, because some poor man has to borrow or buy on time and can not help himself, thus taking advantage of his situation, is stealing. The extortioner is classed right along with the thief, the drunkard, the adulterer, etc. See 1 Cor. 5:10, 11; 6:9, 10.

Anything obtained by unfair, unjust, or oppressive measures, even though the methods employed may never be discovered or suspected by the ones from whom the things are gotten, is thievery. Definitions two and three give it: “To gain or win by duress or gradual and imperceptible means; to accomplish in a concealed or unobserved manner.” In short, however one may get a thing that does not rightfully belong to him, it is stealing. The word “rightfully” covers it all; for if not rightfully owned, it was taken “without right,” which is the very first definition of stealing. And how numerous the ways, and in this age how varied the forms, of polite stealing in the business world — in bond manipulations, on stock exchange, dealings in “futures,” in various defalcations, and in many instances of improper personal profit from public trusts and political and official life covered by the modern word “graft.”

This honest interpretation of God’s command will doubtless be called by some the fogyisms of a bygone day, unsuited to this commercial age; but God never changes, and right is right all the time and everywhere. His command, “Thou shalt not steal,” comes thundering down to us in this age with all the majesty of a burning Sinai back of it, and with increased necessity for its frequent repetition. “Let him that stole steal no more.” Eph. 4:28.

Keene, Tex.