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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A60680 Advice to apprentices, and other young persons, to beware of evil company and evil courses and particularly of theft. By William Smythies curate of St. Giles Cripplegate. Licensed and entred according to order. Smythies, William, d. 1715. 1687 (1687) Wing S4365; ESTC R222492 15,353 27

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The Consequents of Theft There should be an end propounded to every action and every one should consider whether the ensuing disadvantages will not out-weigh all the advantages that can be hoped for But the Thief must be a man void of Consideration and one in whom nothing but Desperate Folly and Madness bears sway for he makes the worst choice of any man living and in a short time must necessarily conclude that the miserablest Beggar that is honest is better than he He hath little reason to be Proud or to rejoyce in his Undertaking for it is that which many Beggars refuse as being too base and vile I shall consider the Consequences of it in three respects 1. It brings intolerable Pain and Uneasiness to the Mind There have been many instances which shew that the Conscience of a Thief is not so fast asleep as many honest men that are robbed by him Nor can they bind that so fast from stirring and crying Thief as sometimes they bind those that are awake The Thief goes up and down the World with a Curse very like to Cain's he is afraid that every one that meets him should lay hold on him in order to the taking away of his Life The fear and terror of Thieves is excellently described by Job as well as their wicked Trade Job 24 16 17. In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the day-time they know not the light For the morning is to them even as the shadow of Death if one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of death Their Employment in the day-time is to find out a House which they may rob in the night And in robbing another they rob themselves of their peace and quiet When the Day comes they cannot say that they care not who knows them for if there be but one that knows them they are presently in the terrors of the shadow of Death they are struck with Fear as a Man whom Death doth suddenly surprize or overshadow Theft is a prodigious folly as well as wickedness for whatever the stolen Goods are worth they cannot answer the fear and terror which immediately follows and is of long continuance I was many years since a Spectator at the Execution of an Old Man who as it appear'd too late suffer'd wrongfully As he protested his Innocency relating to that for which he was Condemned other Thieves had thrown the stolen Goods under a Shop where he lay asleep so he confess'd That when he was a young Man he stole a Handkerchief from a Hedge which was a trouble to him all the days of his Life He added That he alwaies thought he should be hang'd because of that Handkerchief It was a small Theft that he was guilty of but the trouble of his mind was very great and the fear of God's Justice a continued Terror I shall mention one more amongst many which I had from a Condemned Malefactor by which it appears that the terrors of death do sometimes take hold on Thieves and will not let them go though none know them One of the Gang was on a sudden surpriz'd with a terrible apprehension that he should be taken tho' he had not heard of any Pursuit or Warrant that was against him He discovered his fear to this Person and withal told him that he knew he should be executed and that he should upon his Examination discover him and the rest of his Companions He was desired if he could not otherwise be rid of his Fears to go beyond the Seas but he replyed that he had not power to do it Hereupon in a private Consult they resolved to be his Executioners and so they were for having perswaded him on to the Water about midnight they there drown'd him Thus we see how fear and folly is the consequent of Wickedness The Person from whom I had this Account told me that he was the chief Actor in it and that it had been an unspeakable trouble to him and the greater because the poor man begg'd so hard for Mercy when they threw him out of the Boat. He likewise discovered a Remarkable Passage which was the consequent of his Murder He soon heard of the dead Body of a Man wash'd up at Westminster and although he was terribly afraid that if he saw it the Corps would bleed o● there would somewhat happen which would be tray him yet he could not forbear going to see if it were the same Person but it prov'd to be another It is impossible that a Thief can think of any thing so often as a Jayl and the Gallows Hell and Destruction How then can his mind be at ease 2. Consider the Consequence of Theft in reference to outward Concerns 1. It is a Sin which makes every man turn his Enemy who is guilty of it I may say of the Thief as the Apostle saith of other Persons They please not God and are contrary to all men It is a Sin so abominable that so far as any are suspected to be guilty of it they are abhorr'd The day of their Execution is a joyful day to the World. Thieves are not only hated of good men but they are such vile Servants of the Devil a are hated of all their fellow-Servants Those that are most wicked in other respects hate a Thief The World ever cryed out against them In Job's time who is suppos'd to have lived before Moses there was crying after a Thief Job 30.5 and our Saviour's Expression Mark 14.48 supposes that Men are alwaies ready with Swords and Staves to take a Thief They must needs be hated because men are alwaies afraid of them left their Shops should be robb'd in the day and their Pockets pick'd or that their Houses should be broken in the night and therefore there must be Bolts and Bars Thieves are like the Devil that go up and down seeking whom they may devour They are such Plagues to the World that our Saviour tells us Heaven is a place of Happiness because there are none there Mat. 6.20 Lay up for your selves Treasures in heaven where thieves cannot break through and steal Under this head I may consider what a Thief is to all his honest Relations Such a shame that it is great incivility to speak of him in their company or so much as to mention his Name if strangers be present If he hath a Father or Mother Who can find words or courage to express their heart-breaking grief and sorrow They wish a thousand times that he had never been born nor themselves neither Nothing in this World can afford comfort to them which bears any proportion to their grief so that if there were not a God to support it might well be expected that Distraction or Death should seize upon them I once saw at an Assizes a Thief condemned who was no sooner taken from the Bar but his Mother stept up the poor Woman would fain have spoken to the Judge and could not