Is it possible? Is it possible? Can he be so disingenuous? What! rob a father, a friend, a benefactor; the best of all fathers; the kindest of all friends; the most generous of all benefactors! Can he be so daring? To rob a being so high and sacred, and whose glory so enhances the offense! To injure a fellow-subject is felony, but to injure the king is treason. To steal from a man is injustice, but to steal from God is sacrilege. The wretch adds profaneness to violence when he breaks, not into a house, but a temple, and takes of things dedicated to the service of the Deity. Can he be so irrational? To rob a being, not when he is absent, for he never is absent, but when he is present; not in the night, but in the day; and darkness and light are both alike unto him; not when he sees not, observes not, but while he is looking on, and must look on, for his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he pondereth all his goings! Can he be so desperate? To rob one who can, who will, punish, and whose wrath is not only unavoidable, but intolerable! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Yet, says God, and he cannot be mistaken, or accuse unrighteously, “Ye have robbed me.” But on whom falls the charge? A Pharaoh, only, who would not let the people go? a Nebuchadnezzar, who carried away the vessels of the sanctuary? a Belshazzar, who profaned them? an Ananias and Sapphira, who kept back part of the price of property they had sold? a Herod, who beheaded John? or a Nero, who slew Paul? Alas! the criminals are less obvious characters, and are to be found much nearer home; they are to be found in our own houses; they are to be found in the house of God. Who has not robbed God of tithes and offerings? Our wealth is not our own. We are only stewards. It always looks suspicious when a gentleman’s steward becomes very rich, and dies affluent. It is even so with professors of religion. It would be better for them to die comparatively poor; it would be better for their reputation; it would be better for their relations. A little, honestly obtained, would be more sweet; it would be more efficient. Substance is intrusted to its occupiers for certain purposes plainly laid down in the Scriptures, and the providence of God is perpetually calling upon you for it. “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags that wax not old, a treasure in the Heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him.” “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Do you discharge these claims? or do you alienate from them, by hoarding or extravagance? How much do some unjustly expend in table luxuries, tea, and coffee, in costly dress, in tobacco, in magnificent furniture? And they are fond of displaying these. They have little reason. They glory in their shame. These are all robberies; they are purloined from God’s cause, or God’s poor. Who has not robbed God of time? The Sabbath he expressly claims for himself, and it is called the Lord’s day. Have we not often robbed him of much of this, perhaps all, by worldly accounts, by evil company, by idle visits, by doing our own ways, and finding our own pleasure? Youth is the morning, the spring of life; it is our best season, and therefore God has a right to it, and calls upon us to remember his demands. But have we not partially or wholly robbed him of these days? Have we not squandered them away in vanity, folly, and vice? All our moments and opportunities are his, and he commands us to redeem the time. But who lays to heart the brevity and uncertainty of life? Who values it as the day of salvation? Who seizes it as the only season of usefulness? Where is He in all our ways, who said, “I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, wherein no man can work”? Who has not robbed him of the heart? This was made for him, and he demands it: “My son, give me thy heart.” But the fear of the heart, the confidence of the heart, the gratitude of the heart, the attachment of the heart, we have transferred to the creature from the Creator, God over all, blessed forevermore. And may not the same be said of our talents, of our learning, of our powers of conversation, of our retentiveness of memory, of our influence over others? Let us not affect to deny the charge, and ask, as the accused here did, “Wherein have we robbed thee?” But let us repair to the footstool of mercy, and cry, “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” But there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared, and with him there is plenteous redemption; and we may, and we ought, to approach him with the encouragement of hope. But this hope must be founded on his own invitations and promises. It must “bring us unto God by him,” who said, “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” To pray to God to save such creatures in any other way, is to disobey his dearest command. It is to affront and insult him, by beseeching him to be untrue and unrighteous, to frustrate his grace, and to make Jesus Christ to be dead in vain. But in him he can be just and yet the justifier. But we must also be turned away from all our iniquity; for “he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy.” We shall also sorrow after a godly sort; and instead of complaining of any of the methods of his grace and providence, we shall cheerfully acquiesce in them all, and remember, and be confounded, and never open our mouths more, because of our shame, when he is pacified toward us for all that we have done. Remember that “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Let us trust him as he deserves. Let us always place a ready and unshaken reliance on his word. —Sel.