thine Hands be strong, in the Days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it. These Declarations shew that God will deal with Extortioners in the Days of his Visitation for Sin; and that their Hearts will not be able to endure the Tokens of his Wrath, or to sustain the strokes of his Vengeance. There is another Sort of EXTORTION, cruel in its Nature, and abominable in the Eyes of the Lord; that is, when Manufacturers or others constrain the People they employ to labour for lefs Wages, than Custom, or particular Agreement has made their Due, or exact from them more Work than is usually done for the customary Wages; or on some unreafonable Pretence with-hold from them Part of their Wages. These may be said to grind the Face of the Poor: They oppress the Hirelings, the People they employ to labour, and the Character of Extortioners justly belongs to them. Let such confider the Import of this Declaration in Mal. iii. 5. I will come near to you to Judgment, and I will be a swift Witness-against those that oppress the Hireling in his Wages-and fear not, faith the LORD of Hosts. And in James v. 4. it is said, Behold the Hire of the Labourers, which have reaped down your Fields, which is of you kept back by Fraud, crieth; and the Cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the Ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, who will deal with such Oppreffors, and take Vengeance on them when he visits for Sin. In Levit. xix. 13. it is faid, The Wages of him that is hired, shall not abide with thee all Night until the Morning. In Deut. xxiv. 15. it is written, At his Day thou fhalt give him bis Hire, neither shall the Sun go down upon me upon it, for he is poor, and fetteth his Heart upon it s lest be cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be Sin unto thee. In Levit. xix. 9. are recorded the following Laws, viz. When you reap the Harvest of your Land, thou shalt not wholly reap the Corners of thy Field, neither shalt thou gather the Gleanings of thy Harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy Vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every Grape of thy Vineyard, thou shalt leave them for the Poor, and Stranger: I am the Lord your God. Signifying that the great God has compaffion for the Poor, and Strangers, and approves all Acts of Kindness done unto them; and that he is both able, and willing to recompence with his Blefsings, those who obey his Will, by leaving in the Time of Harvest, and Gathering of Fruit, Gleanings of their Harvest, and of the Fruit for the Poor. In Deut. xxiv. 19. it is likewise enacted, by the fupreme Governor of the World, thus, viz. When thou cuttest down thine Harvest in thy Field, and kast forgot a Sheaf in the Field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: It shall be for the Stranger, for the Fatherless and the Widow : That the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the Work of thine Hands. When thou beatest thine Olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the Boughs again: It shall be for the Stranger, for the Fatherless, and for the Widow. I have mentioned these Laws of our good God, because they manifest his gracious Care for Strangers, and for the Fatherless, and for Widows in needy Circumstances; and because they are Laws always obligatory, they are divine Laws always binding all Persons, in all Ages, who are concerned in Hufbandry, in Sowing, in Reaping, in Raising, and Gathering-in the Fruits of the Earth. We ought to think, and acknowledge that they are Laws still in Force, since God never repealed them, since neither Men, nor Angels, can annul the Obligatione of his Commandments, and fince divers Reasons of them, viz. the Wants of the Poor, and the Supply, and the Comfort they will have by Means of a due Obedience to those Laws: And I apprehended it the more needful to recite them, because many Landbolders, Farmers, and Poffeffors of Vineyards, and Olive Yards, and others employed in raising and propagating the Fruits of the Earth are ignorant of them. I must add one Declaration more, viz. that in 1 Cor. vi. 10. Nor Thieves, nor Covetous-nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God. Therefore we may reasonably conclude, that this hardhearted and cruel fort of Sinners, are obnoxious to the destroying Judgments of God, when he is visiting an ungodly Nation for their Iniquities. I have further to observe, that fraudulent Dealers, with unjust Weights and Measures, must be reckoned among the Tranfgreffors of the eighth Commandment, because by their Frauds they get so much of the Buyer's Money unjustly, as the diminished Quantity of the Goods fold amounts to in Value; and the using divers Weights and Measures, that is, Weights and Measures different from, and less than the Standard established by the Laws of the Country in which they live, is in Reality one Way of stealing Money from the Buyers. Ye shall do no Unrighteousness in Judgment, says the divine Law, in Mcte Yard, in Weight, or in Measure. Just Balances, just Weights, a just Ephab, and a just Hin shall ye have; I am the LORD your God. Therefore shall ye obferve all my Statutes, and all my Judgments, and do them; I am the Lord. Levit. xix. 35, 36, 37. In Deut. xxv. 13, 14, 15, 16. it is faid, Thou Ralt not have in thy Bag divers Weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine House divers Measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt bave a perfect and just Weight, a perfect and a just MeaSure shalt thou have; that thy Days may be lengthened in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do fuch Things (viz. the keeping divers Weights and Measures) and all that do unrighteously, are an Abomination unto the LORD thy God. In Prov. xi. 1. it is faid, A false Ballance is Abomination to the Lord: but a just Weight is his Delight. And Chap. xx. 10. Divers Weights, and divers Measures, both of them are alike Abomination to the Lord. See also Verse 23. The Prophet Micah faid to the People (who had provoked destroying Judgments by manifold Sins) He (viz. God) bath shewed thee, O Man, what is good, and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love Mercy, and to walk bumbly with thy God? The LORD's Voice crieth unto the City, and the Man of Wisdom shall fee thy Name: Hear ye the Rod, and who hath appointed it. Are there yet the Treasures of Wickedness in the House of the Wicked, and the scant Measure that is abominable ? Shall I count them pure with the wicked Balances, and with the Bag of deceitful Weights? For the rich Men thereof are full of Violence, and the Inhabitants thereof have spoken Lies, and their Tongue is deceitful in their Mouth. Therefore also will I make thee fick in Smiting thee, in making thee defolate because of thy Sins. See Micah vi. 8-13. These Declarations shew most evidently that fraudulent Dealers, with falfe Weights and Measures, have Reason to expect Punishment even in this World, when God is visiting a Nation for their Iniquities. But if they shall escape Punishment in this World, they should know and confider, that the Hope of unjust Men perisbeth, (Prov. xi. 7.) and that, The LORD LORD knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Judgment to be punished. 2 Pet. ii. 9. There is yet another Sort of Iniquity to be taken Notice of, as inconsistent with that just and righteous Manner of Dealing with others, which the eighth Commandment obliges all Men to, viz, the Giving and Taking Bribes. A BRIBE is any Gift to another, to bias, or incline him to do fomething he ought not to do, or to omit doing something he ought to do. And the righteous God, to prevent all unjust Practices among Men, has strictly forbidden this Iniquity. In Exod. xxiii. 8. he has faid, Thou shalt take no Gift: For the Gift blindeth the Wife, and perverteth the Words of the Righteous. It occafions Persons to form a wrong Judgment, or to give an unjust Sentence in a Cause, or to pervert, or misinterpret the Words of the Righteous, with whom they have to do. In Deut. xvi. 18, 19, 20. the Holy God faid to his People, Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy Gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout all thy Tribes: And they shall judge the People with just Judgment. Thou shalt not wrest • Judgment; thou shalt not respect Persons, neither take a Gift: For a Gift doth blind the Eyes of the Wise, and pervert the Words (or Matters, as the Expreffion is tranflated in the Margin) of the Righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Which last Clause implies that by receiving Bribes, and not following that which is altogether juft, they would provoke God by fome Stroke of Judgment to cut short their Lives. In Prov. xvii. 23. it is said, A wicked Man taketh a Gift out of the Bosom (i. e. fecretly) to pervert the Ways of Judgment, signifying that he is a wicked Man indeed that receiveth a Bribe. |