iii. 15. _What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces,
and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of
hosts._
That infidelity should progress among the labouring classes is one of
the most surprising and unreasonable things imaginable. For there is
no book so emphatically on the side of the poor as is the Bible. Were
the Bible obeyed, the miseries of the poor would vanish. The truth,
however, is, that the Bible has suffered from its professed friends.
The upper classes who have patronised it have not put its precepts
into practice, and the victims of their greed and oppression have
foolishly accepted their conduct as an exposition of the teaching of
the book which they have professed to venerate. Hence the wrongs
which the poor have suffered have prepared them to listen to the
blasphemies and to accept the sophisms of infidel lecturers. The
employer of labour who oppresses his men during the six days of the
week, and goes to church twice on the Sunday, is more dangerous to
society than a score of Tom Paines or Bradlaughs. Hence also it is
the duty of God's "prophets" in all ages to confront such men with
the question of our text.
+I. Oppression of the poor is one of the most common of all sins.+ It
has been practised in all ages, in all countries, by all classes, in
most varied forms. "Poor" is a relative term. Masters have oppressed
their servants, debtors their creditors, officers their soldiers,
kings their subjects, people their pastors. The oppression has often
been so terrible that the oppressed have sought refuge in suicide.
"Man's cruelty to man
Makes countless thousands mourn."
+II. Oppression of the poor is one of the most hateful of all sins.+
1. _It is a misuse of strength._ Strength is given to men that they
may be helpful to each other; but the oppressor uses his strength as
if he were a tiger or a wolf; as if he were a wrecker who drowns the
shipwrecked mariner whom he ought to rescue. 2. _It is a cowardly and
shameful advantage that is taken of human weakness._ To lead a blind
man into a quagmire or over a precipice would be thought a shameful
act, even by the most degraded villains. But in what respect would it
differ in principle from oppression of the poor? The weak and needy,
by reason of their feebleness and poverty, have a claim upon our pity
and help; to oppress them is to outrage the primary laws of
conscience. Yet how often it is done!
+III. Oppression of the poor is among those sins which are certain to
be most terribly punished.+ The oppressor proceeds on the idea, that
the man whom he oppresses has no friends to succour and avenge him.
What a mistake! All the oppressed have a friend and avenger in GOD.
Shall oppression go unrequited? Nay, verily! For, 1. It is an offence
against God's _laws._ He has distinctly commanded us to _love_ our
neighbour as ourselves, and how manifold are the applications of this
great commandment! 2. It is an offence against God's _feelings._ In a
peculiar manner His sensibilities are outraged when His children act
cruelly towards each other. Oppression of the poor kindles within Him
mingled disgust and indignation.[1]
APPLICATION. 1. _A new consideration of our text would deter men from
the sin here denounced._ The question which God now addresses to
oppressors He will, with a slight difference, put to them again--when
they shall be gathered at His bar! "What _meant_ ye that ye did beat
my people to pieces, and did grind the faces of the poor?" Bethink
you, O ye oppressors, what will ye answer then? Will it be, "Lord, we
thought Thou were too great to take any notice of what men did on
earth"? or, "Lord, we oppressed them because they were weak, and we
saw we could make a good profit out of their defencelessness"? Do
these excuses seem to you too flimsy to be seriously suggested?
Consider, the, what more valid vindication will be at your command in
that day. In that day you will stand "speechless!" 2. _A remembrance
of the prevalence of the crime denounced in our text will give
soundness and vigour to our theology._ The demand of our day is for
"a God all mercy." Men are endeavouring to cover up hell with the
rose-leaves of a spurious benevolence. But a remembrance of the
wrongs that are done upon earth, the frightful cruelties that are
every day perpetrated, will convince us that hell is a moral
necessity. "A God all mercy" would be not only "a God unkind," but a
God unjust, a God worthy only of the pity and contempt of His
creatures. 3. _A due consideration of the manner in which God
intervenes on behalf of the wronged and defenceless, will inspire all
noble minds with veneration and admiration for His character._
Jehovah is no Brahma, throned in eternal calm, and indifferent to the
sins and sufferings of mankind; He is a Father, prompt to feel and to
avenge the wrongs of His children. Let us resolve to be like Him. Let
us not only avoid oppression in all its forms; let us be swift to
sympathise with all and to succour the oppressed.