Ecclus.

xxxiv. 21.

Levit. xxv.

14

6.

sin to spoil the poor.

"The bread of the needful is the life of the poor; he that defraudeth him thereof is a murderer."

There is a writ in England which beareth this name, ne injuste vexes, that is to say, vex not any man unjustly." This is a godly law, and is derived from the law of God, which forbiddeth and condemneth oppression.

There are certain beggars, which of purpose keep their legs sore, to get money by it. If they are justly misliked, which gain by their own sore legs, what deserve they to be thought of, which gain by other men's sore legs?

"When thou sellest ought to thy neighbour, or buyest at thy neighThess. iv. bour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another." "This is the will of God, that no man oppress or defraud his brother in any matter." Therefore men of trade may not gain by little measures, false weights, and false speeches and oaths; nor any mighty men may gain by cunning dealing, by colour of law, or by using any violence whatsoever.

Num. v. 6, 7, 8.

Judg. xvii. 2, 3.

1 Sam. xii.

3. They which have done wrong unto or oppressed any, must make actual restitution.

God saith thus unto Moses: "Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, and transgress against the Lord, when that person shall trespass, then they shall confess their sin which they have done, and shall restore the damage thereof with his principal, and put the fifth part of it more thereto, and shall give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed. But if the man have no kinsman, to whom he should restore the damage, the damage shall be restored to the Lord for the priests' use, &c." We are taught in this place, to whom this actual restitution must be made, even to him whom we have injured: if he be dead, we must restore it to his kinsman; if he have no kinsman alive, actual restitution must be made to Almighty God for the priests' use, and in our time for the poor's use.

Michah robbed his mother of eleven hundred shekels of silver: his mother did not know that he had it; but he had remorse of that sin, and made actual restitution.

Samuel saith thus of himself: "Whose ox have I taken? whose ass have I taken? or whom have I done wrong to? or whom have I hurt? or of whose hands have I received any bribe to blind my eyes therewith? and I will restore it you, &c." It is certain that Samuel did not deal either corruptly or unjustly in his office: if he had, he would have made actual restitution.

Zaccheus was sometimes very disordered in his life: it pleased our Saviour Christ to be a good God unto him, and to lodge in his house. Zaccheus, having feeling of his former wants, uttered these words, "If I have taken from any man by forged cavillation, I restore him fourfold." If Zaccheus of Jericho after his conversion was content to restore fourfold, it is a good consequent, that they have little sense of religion, which will not restore the principal.

QUESTION.

If a man have deceived, robbed, or oppressed other men, shall he be pardoned at God's hand, if he make not actual restitution?

ANSWER.

God will not pardon him, unless he make actual restitution, if he be able to do it: my reasons are these.

15. xviii.

12, 13.

"If the wicked restore the pledge, and give again that he had rob- Ezek. xxxiii. bed, he shall surely live and not die, saith the Lord." Therefore it is a sure consequent, that he shall not live eternally, which, being in case to make actual restitution, doeth it not accordingly.

9.

"Is not this the fasting that I have chosen, to loose the bands of Isai. Iviii. 6, wickedness, to take off the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke, &c.? Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am, &c." If the oppressor must let the oppressed go free, he must make actual restitution. If Almighty God will not hear the prayer of the oppressor, until he let the oppressed go free, it is a necessary consequent, that God will not pardon him.

Augustine is very flat for this point: "If men be able to make Epist. 54. actual restitution, and do it not, pœnitentia non agitur, sed fingitur1:” that is to say, "their repentance is no repentance," and their sin shall not be pardoned until actual restitution be made.

QUESTION.

If a man have secretly either robbed or deceived another, and is very willing to make restitution, but cannot do it without some worldly danger and disgrace to himself, what must he do in this case?

ANSWER.

Let him send that which he hath taken unjustly by some trusty messenger to him whom he hath wronged, and let his name be concealed.

QUESTION.

If he that hath taken unjustly from others, hath wasted all, and is not able to make restitution, what shall he do?

ANSWER.

Such a one must desire pardon very humbly at God's hand, and water the earth with his tears.

4. It is the duty of the magistrate to deliver the oppressed out of

the hand of the oppressor.

"Execute judgment in the morning, (that is, carefully and without Jer. xxi. 12. delay,) and deliver the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor,

saith the Lord, &c." "Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the Isai. i. 17.

[Si enim res aliena, propter quam peccatum est, cum reddi possit, non redditur, non agitur pœnitentia, sed fingitur. August. Epist. LIV. (CLIII.) Tom. I. p. 794. Ed. Paris. 1836. ED.]

Jer. xxii.

Job xxix.

fatherless, and defend the widow." Almighty God commandeth the magistrates to execute judgment in the morning; therefore they must use no delays in doing justice. God commandeth the magistrates to seek judgment; therefore, in cases of oppression, they must not stay till they be called for. God commendeth unto the magistrates all that are oppressed, but specially the fatherless and widow, because they want the defence of their parents and husbands, and every man goeth over where the hedge is lowest.

"Josias executed judgment and justice: he judged the cause of the afflicted and poor," saith the Lord of Josias.

Job saith thus of himself: "I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him, &c. I put on justice, and it covered me: my judgment was the eye to the blind, and I was a father unto the poor; and when I knew not the cause, I sought it out diligently. I brake also the chaws of the unrighteous man, and plucked the prey out of his teeth, &c." It appeareth by this, that Job was a worthy magistrate. God send us many such as Job was!

The Shunamite, whose son Eliseus raised to life, sojourned in the time of famine seven years in the land of the Philistines: in her absence her lands and goods were unjustly entered upon: at her return she complained of the injury to Jehoram the king of Israel; Jehoram without delay commanded an eunuch to restore her goods and lands 2 Kings viii. unto her: "Restore thou," saith Jehoram, "all that are hers, and all the fruits of her lands, since the day she left the land, even until this time."

Neh. v.

The Jews in Nehemiah's time were greatly oppressed: Nehemiah was very angry with the princes and rulers which oppressed them, and said unto them, "You lay burdens every one upon his brethren, &c. Restore unto them this day their lands, their vineyards, their olives, and their houses."

If it be the magistrate's duty to deliver the oppressed, they must take great heed, that themselves be neither principals nor accessaries Amos v. 7. in the sin of oppression. If they be guilty, "judgment shall be turned into wormwood, and the righteous shall be sold for silver, and the poor for shoes:" that is to say, filthy bribes shall be more accounted of than men's lives, which are most precious.

& ii. 6.

Jer. xxii.

Job xxix.

5. The magistrate loseth nothing by delivering the oppressed.

If he do it with a single heart, beside the testimony of a good conscience, (which is a continual feast,) he may assure himself of God's favour and blessing, and of the singular liking of all God's people.

"Josias did eat and drink and prosper, when he executed judgment and justice, when he judged the cause of the afflicted and the poor." Job "delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him; and the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him."

Our sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth hath dealt graciously with many poor suitors at the court: she hath spoken comfortably to them, and procured restitution accordingly. If it be no disgrace to this noble lady, which sitteth under the cloth of estate, to deliver the oppressed, it is no blot to inferior magistrates if they do the like. If the prince pleaseth God highly, and winneth the hearts of her subjects soundly, for relieving the oppressed, it is very certain, that those cormorants, which grind the faces of the poor, are accursed of God, and lose the hearts of his people. If the prince sitteth fast in the seat of her kingdom for tendering the cause of the oppressed, can they assure themselves of sitting quietly under their vines and fig-trees, which eat bread baked with the tears of men? It is certain they cannot; for (besides the manifold curses of God and his people,) their own consciences do mightily sting them, and are enemies enough to torment them.

6. Oppressors shall be grievously punished.

"Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's mark; and all the Deut. xxii. 16, 17. people shall say, Amen." If they are accursed by God and his people, which remove the mark of the land, they are more accursed, which take away house and land.

9.

"Oppression maketh a wise man mad." Madness is a grievous Eccles. vii. punishment. God punisheth oppression by madness, one gross sin by another.

"Ye have builded houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in Amos v. them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them." The reason of this is set down by Almighty God in the same verse, in these words: "Your treadings are upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat," (that is to say, the necessary relief of him and his family.) If the taking away of burdens of wheat from the poor was so great a sin, the taking away of arable ground, which by tillage and God's blessing bringeth relief to a man and his family, is no little sin.

66

They shall not mourn for him," saith God of Joachim, the king Jer. xxii. of Juda, (which was a great oppressor ;) "he shall be buried as an ass is buried, and cast forth (as a carrion above the ground,) even without the gates of Jerusalem." Joachim had closed himself in cedar, but that was not able to keep God's judgments from him.

"The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the Hab. ii. 11. timber shall answer it, &c." As if Almighty God should say, Rather than the vile dealings of oppressors should not come to light, the stone shall cry out of the wall, I am built of blood and iniquity; and the beam out of the timber shall answer, I am built likewise of blood and iniquity. If the stones and beams of oppressors' houses give in their evidence (like honest jurates,) against such houses, the oppressors must prepare themselves to hear this fearful sentence pronounced by the Lord chief justice of heaven and earth against them: "Woe Hab. ii. 12.

unto him that buildeth a town with blood, and erecteth a city by iniquity!"

They which oppress others, do more hurt themselves than those Aug. Epist. whom they oppress. "The smart of the oppressed hath an end, the smart of the oppressor is everlasting; for he heapeth unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, and of the declaration of the just judgment of God1."

211. Rom. ii.

There were never any oppressors so many and mighty, but at the Isai. xxx. 14, length they were met with. God's judgments have feet of wool, but they have arms of brass: it is long ere God begin; but when he striketh, he payeth home.

17.

Jer. v.

Mic. ii. 1,

2, 3.

Isai. v. 7.

Psal. xiv. 4.

Isai. i. 15.
Mic. iii. 4.

Mal. iii. 5.

Neh. v. 15.

"Woe unto them that imagine iniquity and work wickedness upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because their hand hath power, and they covet fields, and take them by violence, and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage: therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, against this family have I devised a plague, whereout ye shall not pluck your necks.' God be merciful unto us, and make us afraid of his judgments!

7. Oppressors have no religion in them.

"God looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a crying, &c." Judgment and righteousness are the true fruits of God's religion: therefore oppression is no branch of God's religion: and consequently the oppressor is void of all religion.

"Do not all the workers of iniquity know, that they eat up my people as they eat bread? they call not upon the Lord." Oppressors call not upon the Lord; therefore they are void of religion: for invocation is a principal and necessary fruit of religion. If the oppressors say, that they stretch out their hands and make many prayers, I grant they do so; but Almighty God giveth them this answer, "I will hide mine eyes from you, I will not hear; for your hands are full of blood."

"I will be a swift witness against those that wrongfully keep back the hireling's wages, and vex the widow and fatherless, and oppress the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts, &c." They which oppress others fear not God; therefore they are void of religion. If they say they fear God, they deserve no credit, because their doings confute their speech. "A good tree bringeth forth good fruits," and a justifying faith appeareth by good works.

"The former governors did burden the people, but so did not I," saith Nehemiah, "because of the fear of God." If Nehemiah did neither oppress nor deal hardly, because he feared God, it is manifest that oppressors fear not God, and therefore are void of religion.

[' Utinam vel tantum tibi obesset iniquitas, quam miseris et pauperibus facis, quantum obest ipsis quibus eam facis! Illi enim ad tempus laborant; tu autem vide quid tibi thesaurizes in die iræ et revelationis justi judicii Dei, qui reddet unicuique secundum opera sua. August. Epist. CCXI. (CCXLVII.) Tom. 11. p. 794. Ed. Paris. 1836. En.