SOme are Thieves from their Childhood, they begin betimes to steal and rob: So the Ungodly begin betimes to be Wicked, they are said to go astray from the Womb, telling Lies, and are by Nature prone to all manner of Sin and Wickedness; hereby depriving God of that Honour, Fear, and Reverence, that belongs to him.
II. Thieves love not the day, lest they should be discovered, but are busy and active in the Night: So Wicked Men hate the Light, They love Darkness rather than Light,* 1.1 because their Deeds are Evil.
III. Thieves run many Hazards and Dangers, venture their Lives to accomplish their Designs: So Wicked Men run great Hazards and Dangers, venture not only the Life of their Bodies, but of their Souls also, to fulfil their Designs and wicked Purposes.
IV. Thieves are a great Terrour to honest Men, they put many in fear: So some Wicked and Ungodly Men are a great Trouble, Grief and Terrour to those who are Godly; how was the Soul of righteous Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Sodomites? 1 Pet. 2.7.
V. Thieves greatly abuse, rob and wrong others, not only such as are of their own Rank and Quality; but sometimes set upon, and rob Persons in Authority; the Judg, nay and Prince himself, hath been sometimes robbed and abused by Thieves: Did not Tho. Blood but few Years since, steal the King's Crown? So Wicked Men greatly abuse their Neighbours, they do often take away the good Name of such who truly fear God, and sometimes attempt their Chastity, &c. This is not all, they do not only thus endeavour to rob Men, such who are poor Mortals like themselves; but they rob God: and that many ways. (1.) They rob him of his Glory. And (2.) Of their own Strength and Flower of their Age, which belongs to him. (3.) They rob him of their Hearts and Affections, and place it upon the World and their own base Lusts. (4.) They rob him of their precious Time, and squander it away in a foolish and idle manner, upon their Lusts; nay, hath not that Man of Blood (I mean the Pope) robbed Jesus Christ of his Crown and Royal Diadem? doth he not assume that Power and Head-ship to himself, that only belongs to the Prince of the Kings of the Earth?
VI. Thieves oft-times Kill as well as Steal, and Kill in Stealing, so that they make th••mselves guilty of Murder as well as of Theft: So Wicked and Ungodly Men, by their Ungodly and Sinful Lives, makes themselves guilty of the breach of the whole Law of God, by adding Sin to Sin, and multiplying their Wickedness, and so trans∣gress not only in one, but in every Point, and thereby wilfully murder their own Souls, and many times kill and destroy their innocent Neighbours too.
VII. Thieves are sometimes taken in the Fact, or by Pursuit are apprehended, and laid Hands on, that they may answer the Law in that Case made and provided: So Wicked Men are sometimes taken in their Wickedness, by the Hand of God; or if they escape an immediate Stroak in the very Act of Sin, yet they are pursued by God's just Judgment that followeth them, and will overtake them at last.
VIII. Thieves, when taken, would fain make an escape; nay, if they are not held by strong Hand's, they will get loose and run away: So Wicked Men when God's Hand is upon them how fain would they make an escape? when Adam fell in with the Tempter to rob God of his Honour, it is said, he hid himself among the Trees of the Garden, Guilt made him fly; and what pitiful Shifts do all old Adam's Children make,