Oppression
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ments, and give them to the poor, when they have so done.
For it is said of Dorcas, that she was a woman fall of good works and alms-deeds, which she did.
She was a merciful and tenderhearted woman; she was the poor man's fiiend; she clothed the poor and naked; she knew it was a sacrifice acceptable to God. Oh that the wealthy women of our land would follow the example of Dorcas!
But, alas! these days bring forth few Dorcasses, Acts ix. 36-39.
Phil. As you have shewed us the causes of the former evils; so now, I pray you, shew the causes of this also.
Theol. The causes of idleness are: evil examples, bad education, hving out of calling.
Phil. Shew us also the remedies.
Theol. The remedies are: good education, labour in youth, good examples, diligence in a lawful calhng.
OPPRESSION.
Phil. Ifow, then, let us come to the last sign of condemnation, which is oppression; and I beseech yoii, good sir, speak your mind of it out of the scriptures.
Theol.
It is so infinite a matter that I know not where to begin, or where to make an end of it; it is a bottomless sink of most grievous enormities.
I shall enter into a labyrinth where I shall not know how to get out agaia; but since you are desirous to hear something of it, tliis I say, that it is a most cruel monster, a bloody vice,
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a most ugly and hideous fiend of hell.
The scriptures, in very many places, do cry out upon it, arraigning it, adjudging it, and condemning it down to hell.
They do also thunder and hghten upon all those which are stained and corrupted with this vice, calling them by such names and giving them such titles as are taken from the eifects of this sin, and most fit for oppressors ; " That they grind the faces of the as namely, poor ; that they pluck off their skin from them, and their flesh from their bones ; that they eat them up as they eat bread,"
Isa. iii. 15
; Amos viii. 6
; Micah iii. 2
; Psalm xiv.
These are they which strive to devour all, like savage beasts, and to get the whole earth into their hands either by hook or by crook, by right or by wrong, by oppression, fraud, and violence.
These caterpillars and cormorants of the earth are like unto the whale fish, which swalloweth up quick other little fishes ; they are like the lion, that devoureth other beasts ; they are like the falcon, which seizeth, plumeth, and preyeth upon other fowls.
These greedy wolves devour all, and swallow up the poor of the land ; therefore, the prophets of God do thunder out many great woes against them.
First, the prophet Isaiah " Woe unto them that join house to saith, V. 8, house, and field to field, till there be no place for the poor to dwell in ; that they may be placed by themselves in the midst of the earth."
Secondly, the prophet Jeremiah saith, xxii.
13, " Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers without equity,"
&c.
Thirdly, the prophet Micah saith, ii.
2, " Woe unto them that covet fields, and take them by violence ; and so oppress a mau and his
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house, even a man and his heritage."
Fourthly, the prophet Habbakuk, ii. 12, crieth out, saying, " Woe unto him that buildeth a town with blood, and erecteth a city by iniquity."
St. James also most terribly threateneth these kind of men, saying, V.
1-3, " Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you ; and shall eat your flesh as it were fire."
Lastly; St. Paul saith flatly, 1 Cor. vi. 10, " That extortioners shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
Thus we see how many fearful woes and threats are denounced from heaven against these pestilent cut-throats of the earth.
Phil. And all little enough ; for they are steeped in their sin, and the stain of it is so soaked into them, as it will hardly ever be washed out.
True it is, that you said, that these cruel oppressing blood-suckers are the most pernicious and pestilent vermin that creepeth upon the face of the earth ; and yet, I think, there were never more of them than in these days.
For now the wicked world is full of such as do sundry ways bite, pinch, and nip the poor, as we see by every day's lamentable experience ; but you can speak more of it than I ; therefore, I pray you, lay open the sundry kinds of oppression used in these days.
Theol. There is oppression by usury, by bribery, by racking of rents, by taking excessive fines; oppression in bargaining, in letting of leases, in letting of houses, in letting of grounds, in binding poor men to unreasonable covenants, in thrusting poor men out of their houses, in hiring poor men's houses over their heads, in taking
OPPRESSION.
of fees ; oppression by lawyers, by church oflBeers, by engrossers, by forestallers ; oppression of the church, of the ministry, of the poor; oppression of widows, oppression of orphans ; and thus we see how all swarm with oppressions, and nothing but oppressions, oppressions.* Fhil, In truth, this is a most cruel and oppressing age wherein we live; yea, a very iron age.
It seemeth that the great ones mind nothing else: they are altogether set upon oppression ; they dote and dream of it, they find sweet in it, and therefore they are mad of it; as Solomon saith, Eccles. vii.
7, "
Oppression maketh a wise man mad."
It seemeth therefore, that this vice is of such marvellous force, that it can bereave men of their wits, and make men stark mad of getting goods by hook or by crook, they care not how, nor from whom ; so they have it.
Yet, no doubt, the wise God hath enacted many good laws for the suppressing of this evil, and doth threaten the execution of them in his own person ; and especially his law doth provide for the safety of the poor, the fathei'less, the widow, and the stranger.
But you, Mr. Theologus, can repeat the statutes better than I, because you are a professed divine
; therefore, I pray you, let us hear them from you.
Theol. In the twenty-second chapter of Exodus, Grod made this law following :
" You shall not trouble an widow or fatherless child ; if thou vex or trouble such, and so he call and cry unto me, I will surely hear his cry.
Then shall my wrath be kindled, and I will kill you with the swoi'd, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless," Exodus xxii.
Again, he * The word oppression occurs twenty-three times in the old Editions.
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saith, Deut. ixiv.
14, 15, " Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is needy and poor, but thou shalt give him his hire for his day ; neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and therewith sustaineth his life, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee."
Moreover, the Lord saith, " Thou shalt do no injury to a stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." And God himself threateneth that he will be " a swift witness against those which keep back the hireling's wages, and vex the widow and the fatherless," Mai. iii. 5.
The apostle saith, "Let no man oppress or defraud his brother in any matters ; for the Lord is an avenger of all such things," 1 Thes. iv. 6.
Solomon also saith, " If in a country thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the de&auding of justice and judgment, be not astonished at the matter, for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they,"
Eecles. v.
All these holy statutes and laws, enacted and provided against oppressors, do plainly shew what care the Lord hath for his poor, distressed, and desolate people.
Phil. But these oppressing hell-hounds are such as care for nothing.
No law of the Almighty can bridle them; nothing can fear them ; nothing C2L\\ restrain them.
They have made a covenant with hell and death.
They are frozen in the dregs; they are past feeling; and, as Job saith, " These are they that abhor the light, they know not the ways thereof, neither continue in the paths thereof.'
Their hearts are as hard as the adamant.
Nothing can move them ; nothing can work upon them.
There is a great crying out everywhere of tiie stone in the reins, which indeed is a great
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torment to the body (but their is no complaining of the stone in the heart; I mean, a stony heart; which is the sorest disease that possibly can fall into the soul of man) and yet in these times it groweth very rife.
For men's hearts are as hard as brass, and as the nether millstone, as the scripture speakcth.
For many, especially of these unmerciful and oppressing tyrants, say in their " God will do neither good nor evil," Zeph, hearts, i. 12.
Therefore they put the evil day far from them, and approach unto the seat of iniquity.
Thej/ are at ease in Zion ; they lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their beds; and eat the lambs of the flock, and the calves out of the stall.
They sing to the sound of the viol; they invent instruments of music, like David.
They drink wine in bowls, and no man is sorry for the affliction of Joseph" (Amos vi. 3-6); that is, the troubles of God's people.
The prophet Isaiah, v. 12, also complaineth of these kind of men, saying, " They regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the work of his hands."
And another prophet saith, " They say in their hearts God hath forgotten; he hideth away his face, and will never see.
They are so proud, that they seek not for God.
They think always, there is no God; his judgments are far out of their sight.
Their ways always prosper; and therefore they say in their hearts, tush, we shall never be moved, nor come in danger."
Theol.
You have spoken very well, touching the steeliness and hardness of these men's hearts, who are so unmerciful to their poor neighbom'S, that almost none can live by them.
They do so disturb and disquiet all things, that poor men can dwell in no rest by them.
Therefore truly saith
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" A mighty man molesteth all, and both hireth the fool, and hireth those that the wise king, pass by."
But the poor man speaketh with prayers; that is, by the way of entreaty and supplications.
For the poor are afraid of them.
They quake when they see them; as the beasts quake at the roaring of the Hon.
Many poor farmers, poor husbandmen, poor herdsmen, poor labourers, poor widows, and hirelings, do quake and tremble, when these greedy wolves come abroad.
And, as Job speaketh, xsiv.
4, "The poor of the earth hide themselves together."
For , alas! in their hearts they cannot abide the sight of them; they had as leave meet the devil as meet them, for fear of one displeasure or another.
For either they fear that they will warn them out of their houses, or parley about more rent and and straighter covenants, or beg away their best kine, or borrow their horses, or command their carts, or require a week's work of them, and never pay them for it, or a twelve months! pasture for a couple of geldings, or that they will make one quarrel or another unto them, or one mischief or another.
So that these poor souls cannot tell what to do, nor which way to turn them, for fear of these cruel termagants.
They are even weary of their lives ; for they have no remedy for these things, but even to bear it off with head and shoulders.
Therefore, they often wish they were out of the world, and that they were buried quick
They say, if any will knock them on the head, they will forgive him.
Oh most piteous case !
Oh lamentable hearing!
These poor silly creatures are fain to drudge and moil sill the year long, in winter and summer, in frost and snow, in heat and cold, to provide their rents that they may be able
OPPEESSIOlf. to pay their cruel landlord at his day : for else, how shall they be able to look him in the face?
Yet, their rent is so racked, that all that they can do, is little enough to pay it.
And when that is paid, alas ! the poor man, and his wife, and his children, have little left to take to, or to maintain themselves withal; they are fain to gnaw of a crust, to fare hardly, and to go thinly clad.
Sometimes they have victuals, and sometimes none.
The poor children cry for bread.
Poor widows, also, and poor fatherless children, are found weeping and mourning in their houses, and in their streets.
So that now we may with Solomon, "Turn and consider all the oppressions that are wrought under the sun,"
Eccles. iv. 1, We may behold the tears of the oppressed, and none comforteth them.
For the mighty ones do wrong the weaker; even as the stronger beasts do push and harm the feebler.
These griping oppressors do pinch the poor even to the quick.
They pluck away from the fatherless and widows that little which they have.
If there be but a cow, or a few sheep left, they will have them.
If there be a little commodity of house or land, oh what devices they have to wind it in, and to wring it away!
These tyrants will go as nigh as the bed thej lie upon.
Tliey know well enough the poor men are not able to wage law with them: and therefore they may do what wrong they will, and shew what cruelty they list.
Hence cometh the tears of the oppressed; hence cometh the weeping and wailing of the poor.
But, alas ! poor souls, they may well weep to ease their hearts a Uttle; but there is none to comfort them: remedy they can have none.
But yet assuredly the everlasting God doth look upon them, and wiU be re-
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venged.
For the cries of the poor, the fatherless, and the widows, have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, who is an avenger of all such things, yea, a strong revenger, as Solomon saith,
"Enter not into the field of the fatherless; for their revenger is strong.
He himself will plead their cause against thee,"
Prov. xxiii.
10, 11.
And again he saith, "Eob not the poor, because he is poor ; neither tread down the afilicted in the : for the Lord pleadeth their cause, and will gate spoil their soul that spoil them,"
Prov. xxii. 22.
We see then, that the most just God will be revenged on these immerciful tyrants.
He will not always put up these wrongs and injuries done to the poor.
In the eighth chapter of the prophet Amos, he sweareth by the excellency of Jacob, that he will never forget any of their works.
And again, he saith, by his prophet Jeremiah, "Shall I not be avenged on such a nation as this? "
Surely he will set his face against them, to root them out of the earth.
For indeed they are not worthy to crawl upon the face of the earth, or to draw breath amongst the sons of men.
It is written in the book of Psalms, xxi. 12, that God will set their fellows opposite against him, as a butt to shoot at—that he will put them apart— and the strings of his bow shall he make ready against their faces.
Be astonished at this, ye heavens; and tremble, thou earth.
Hear this, O ye cruel landlords, unmerciful oppressors, and blood-suckers of the earth.
You may well be called blood-suckers: for you suck the blood of many poor men, women, and children : you eat it, you drink it, you have it served in at your simaptuous tables every day, you swallow it up, and live by it ; and, as Job saith, xxiv. 5, "The wil-
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demess giveth you and your children food;" that is, you live by robbing and murdering.
But woe, woe! unto you that ever you were born.
For the blood of the oppressed, which you have eaten and drnnken, shall one day cry for speedy vengeance against you; as the blood of Abel cried against Cain.
Their blood shall witness against you in the day of judgment; and the tears of many poor starved children, orphans, and widows shall cry out against you.
Was the Lord revenged of Ahab, for his cruel and unjust dealing with poor Naboth, and shall he not be revenged of you ?
Did the dogs lap the blood of Ahab, and shall you escape?
No, no; you shall not escape.
"The Lord will be a swift witness against you:" as he saith in Malachi.
Was the Lord angry with the rich of his people, for oppressing the poor (so as the cry of the people and of their wives, against their oppressors, was heard of the Almighty) and do you think, you shall escape scot-free ?
Doth not the like cause bring forth the like effect ? the like sin, the like punishment?
Know therefore for a certainty, that the Lord hath coffers full of vengeance against you, and one day he will unlock them, and bring them forth in the sight of all men.
Know also, that the timber of your houses, and the stones of your walls, which you have built by oppression and blood, shall cry against you in the day of the Lord's wrath, as the prophet Habakkuk, ii. 11, telleth you, " The stone (saith he) shall cry out of the wall; and the beam out of the timber shall answer it."
Where the prophet telleth you, that the walls of your houses built in blood shall cry out loud and shrill, and play the choristers in that behalf; so as they shall
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answer one another on either side.
The one side singeth, behold blood: the other, behold miu-der.
The one side behold deceit: the other, behold cruelty.
The one behold piling and poling: the other, behold covetousness.
The one, behold robbery: the other, behold penury.
And thus you see how the stones and timber of your houses shall descant upon you.
And howsoever you put on your brazen brows, and harden yoiu* hearts against these threatenings of the most terrible God and Lord of Hosts; yet one day, you shall
(spite of your hearts) will ye, niU ye, be brought forth unto judgment; you shall once come to your reckoning, you shall at last be apprehended, convented, and arraigned at the bar of God's tribunal-seat before the great Judge of all the world.
Then sentence shall pass against you; even that most dreadful sentence, " Go ye cursed into hell-fire, there to be tormented with the devil and his angels for ever."
Oh then, woe, woe unto you!
"For what shall it profit a man to win the whole world, and lose his own soul?" saith our Lord Jesus.
Surely even as much, as if one should win a farthing, and lose an hundred thousand pounds:
For, if he shall be cast into hellfire, which hath not given of his own goods righteously gotten, as our Saviour avoucheth; where then shall he be cast that hath stolen other men's goods?
And if he shall be damned that hath not clothed the naked, what shall become of him that hath made naked them that were clothed?
Oh, therefore, repent in time, O ye cruel oppressors; seek the Lord whilst he may be found; call upon him while he is near; lay aside yoxur savage cruelty; visit the fatherless and widow in their distress; deal your bread to the hungry;
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help them to their right which suffer wrong; deal mercifully with your tenants ; rack not your rents any more: pinch not the poor souls, for whom Christ died ; pity them 1 say, but pinch them not ; deal kindly and friendly with them; remember your great accounts; consider the shortness of your days, and the vanity of your life: rend your hearts, and not your clothes.
Turn unto the Lord with all your heart, with weeping, fasting, and mourning: prevent God's wrath with a sacrifice of tears ; pacify his anger with the calves of your lips and with a contrite spirit ; be grieved for that which is past, and amend that which is to come.
Stand it out no more at the sword's point against God; for it will not boot you to strive: he is too strong for you.
Your only wisdom is to come in.
Come in, therefore, come in ye rebellious generation; submit yourselves to the great
King, humble yourselves under his mighty hand ; cast down your swords and targets; yield unto your God.
So shall you escape the vengeance to come; so shall God accept you, have mercy upon you, receive you to favour, grant you a general pardon for all your rebellions, and admit you into the number of his faithful and loyal subjects,
Pliil.
I do conceive, by divers speeches which you have alleged, that goods gotten by oppression and cruelty, will never prosper long.
For oppressors coin their money upon their neighbour's skins.
How then can it be blessed?
Theol. You have spoken a truth.
For, as it hath been shewed before, that those goods which are gotten by swearing and lying are cursed: so all these that are gotten by oppression and violence are more cursed.
Therefore the Lord " As the saith by his prophet Jeremiah, xvii. 11,
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partridge gathereth the young which she hath not brought forth, so he that gathereth riches, and not bj right, shall leave them in the midst of his days: and at his end shall be a fool, and his name shall be written in the earth."
Phil.
Would to God our magistrates and governors would take speedy order for the remedying of these things; and for the redressing of such grievous enormities as are amongst us; or that they themselves would step in, and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor.
Theol.
Job was an excellent man for such matters.
For it is saiS of him, xxix. 17, " That he brake the jaws of the unrighteous man, and plucked the prey out of his teeth ; " where we see, how Job was the means to deliver the innocent, and to pull the lamb out of the lion's claws.
Moreover, it is written of him in the same chapter, that " The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and that he caused the widow's heart to rejoice: that he was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and the father to the poor; and when he knew not the cause, he sought it out diligently."
Oh, what a notable man was this!
Oh, that we had many Jobs in these days!
Wise Solomon doth most gravely advise us aU to follow Job's example in this behalf.
" Deliver (saith he) them that are oppressed and drawn to death.
For shouldest thou withdraw thyself from them which go down to the slaughter r" Prov. xxiv. 11,
12.
Would to God that this holy coimsel were well weighed and practised amongst us!
Phil.
I marvel much, with what face these cruel oppressors can come before God in his holy temple, to pray, and offer up their sacrifices unto him.
For we see, many of them
OPPEESSIOlf. though they have such foul hands and foul hearts, as we have heard ; yet for all that, will most impudently presume to come to the Church and pray ; or at least, when they are laid in their beds at nights, and half asleep, then will they tumble over their prayers, or be pattering some paternosters.* TJieol.
Alas, alas! poor souls; all that they do in matters of God's worship is but hypocrisy, and dissimulation ; for in truth, they care not for God, they love him but from the teeth outward
; their mouths are with him, but their heart goeth after eovetousness, and their hands are full of blood.
And therefore God doth both abhor them and their prayers ; for he saith, " Though they stretch out their hands, yet will I hide mine eyes from them; and though they make many prayers, yet will I not hear them.
For their hands are full of blood,"
Isa. i.
15.
Moreover the Holy Ghost saith, " He thatturneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is abominable,"
Prov. xxviii. 9.
David saith, " If I regard wickedness in my heart, God will not hear my prayer,"
Psalm Ixvi. 18.
It is also affirmed, John ix. 31, " God heareth not sinners:" that is, stubborn and careless sinners.
So then, we may that, clearly see, by all these testimonies of holy writ, what account God maketh of the prayers of oppressors, and all other profane and ungodly men; namely, that he doth hate them, and abhor them, as most loathsome and odious in his sight.
Phil. Now in conclusion, shew us the causes of oppression.
Theol. The causes are these: cruelty, covet- * " Our Father," a name for the Lord's Prayer.