Of Restitution.

Restitution is that part of justice to which a man is obliged by a precedent contract, or a foregoing fault, by his own act or another man’s, either with or without his will. He that borrows is bound to pay, and much more he that steals or cheats.¹⁷⁹¹⁷⁹Chi non vuol rendere, fa mal a prendere. For if he that borrows, and pays not when he is able, be an unjust person and a robber, because he possesses another man’s goods to the right owner’s prejudice, then he that took them at first without leave is the same thing in every instant of his possession which the debtor is after the time in which he should, and could, have made payment. For, in all sins, we are to distinguish the transient or passing act from the remaining effect or evil. The act of stealing was soon over, and cannot be undone; and for it the sinner is only answerable to God, or his vicegerent; and he is, in a particular manner, appointed to expiate it by suffering punishment, and repenting, and asking pardon, and judging and condemning himself, doing acts of justice and charity, in opposition and contradiction to that evil action. But because, in the case of stealing, there is an injury done to our neighbour, and the evil still remains after the action is past, therefore for this we are accountable to our neighbour, and we are to take the evil off from him which we brought upon him; or else he is an injured person and a sufferer all the while; and that any man should be the worse for me, and my direct act, and by my intention, is against the rule of equity, of justice, and of charity;¹⁸⁰¹⁸⁰Si tua culpa datum est damnum, jure super his satisfacere te oportet. I do not that to others which I would have done to myself, for I grow richer upon the ruins of his fortune. Upon this ground it is a determined rule in divinity, “Our sin can never be pardoned till we have restored what we unjustly took, or wrongfully detained:” restored it (I mean) actually, or in purpose and desire, which we must really perform, when we can. And this doctrine, besides its evident and apparent reasonableness, is derived from the express words of Scripture, reckoning restitution to be a part of repentance, necessary in order to the remission of our sins. ‘If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, etc., he shall surely live, he shall not die.’¹⁸¹¹⁸¹Ezek. xxxiii. 15. The practice of this part of justice is to be directed by the following rules:--