rich grinds the face of the poor: what remedy against such _oppression_
can he find in this _Christian_ country? If the one is rich and the
other poor, doth not justice stand afar off? And is not the poor under
the utmost improbability, (if not impossibility) of obtaining it?
Perhaps the hazard is greater among us, than either among _Jews_,
_Turks_, or _Heathens_.
For example. Suppose a great man, with or without form of law, does
wrong to his poor neighbour. What will he do? Sue his lordship at
common law? Have the cause tried at the next sessions or assizes?
Alas! Your own neighbours, those who know the whole case, will tell
you, “You are out of your senses.” “But twelve good men and true will
do me justice.” Very well: but where will you find them: men unbiassed,
incapable of corruption, superior both to fear and favour, to every
view whether of gain or loss? But this is not all; they must not only
be good and true, but wise and understanding men. Else how easy is it
for a skilful pleader to throw a mist before their eyes? Even supposing
too the judge to be quite impartial, and proof against all corruption.
And should all these circumstances concur, (of which I fear there
are not many precedents) supposing a verdict is given in your favour,
still you have gained nothing. The suit is removed into a higher court,
and you have all your work to begin again. Here you have to struggle
with all the same difficulties as before, and perhaps, many new ones
too. However, if you have money enough, you may succeed: but if that
fails, your cause is gone. Without money, you can have no more _law_;
_poverty_ alone utterly shuts out _justice_.
But, “cannot an honest _attorney_ procure me justice?” An _honest_
attorney! Where will you find one? Of those who are called _exceeding
honest_ attornies, who is there that makes any scruple.
1. To promote and encourage _needless_ suits, if not _unjust_ ones too?
2. To _defend a bad cause_, knowing it so to be:
By making a _demur_, and then withdrawing it:
By pleading some _false plea_, to the plaintiff’s declaration:
By putting in an _evasive answer_ to his bill:
By _protracting_ the suit, if possible, till the plaintiff is ruined:
3. To _carry a cause_ not amounting to ten shillings into
_Westminster-hall_, by laying it in his declaration as above forty:
4. To _delay_ his own client’s suit knowingly and wilfully, in order to
gain more thereby:
5. To _draw himself_ the pleadings or conveyances of his client,
instead of giving them to be drawn by able council:
6. To _charge_ his client with the fees which should have been given to
such council, although they were not given:
7. To _charge_ for drawing fair copies, where none were drawn:
8. To charge _fees for expedition_ given to clerks, when not one
farthing has been given them;
9. To send his clerk a journey (longer or shorter) to do business with
or for different persons; and to charge the horse-hire and expence of
that journey to every person severally:
10. To send his clerk to _Westminster_, on the business of ten (it
may be) or twenty persons, and to charge each of these twenty for his
attendance, as if he had been sent on account of _one_ only:
11. To charge _his own attendance_ in like manner: and
12. To fill up his bill with _attendances_, _fees_, and _term-fees_,
though his client is no whit ♦forwarder in his cause.
♦ “forward” replaced with “forwarder” per Errata
This is he that is called an _honest attorney_! How much honester is a
pick-pocket?
But there is a magistrate whose peculiar office it is, to redress the
injured and oppressed. Go then and make trial of this remedy; Go, and
tell your case to the _Lord Chancellor_. Hold; you must go on regularly:
you must tell him your case, _in form of law_, or not ♦at all. You must
therefore _file a bill_ in chancery, and _retain_ a lawyer belonging
to that court. “But ♠you have already spent all you have; you have _no
money_.” Then I fear you will have _no justice_. You stumble at the
threshold. If you have either lost or spent all, your cause is naught:
it will not even come to a hearing. So, if the oppressor has secured
all that you had, he is as safe as if you was under the earth.
♦ “at” inserted per Errata
♠ “ye” replaced with “you” per Errata
* 21. Now what an amazing thing is this! The very _greatness_ of
the villainy makes it beyond _redress_!――――But suppose he that is
opprest, has some substance left, and can go through all the courts of
justice, what parallel can we find among _Jews_, _Turks_, or _Heathens_,
for either the delays or the expence attending it? With regard to
the former, how monstrous is it, that in a suit relating to that
inheritance, which is to furnish you and your family with food and
raiment, you must wait month after month, perhaps year after year,
before it is determined, whether it be yours or not? And what are
you to _eat_, or to _wear_ in the mean time? Of that the court takes
no cognizance! Is not this very _delay_, (suppose there were no other
grievance attending the _English_ course of law) wrong beyond all
expression? Contrary to all sense, reason, justice and equity? A
_capital_ cause is tried in one day, and finally decided at once. And,
_is the life_ less than _meat_? _Or the body_ of less concern _than
raiment_? What a shameless mockery of justice then, is this putting off
_pecuniary_ causes from term to term, yea, from year to year.
* With regard to the latter. A man has wronged me of a hundred pounds.
I appeal to a judge for the recovery of it. How astonishing is it, that
this judge himself cannot give me what is my right, and what evidently
appears so to be, unless I first give, perhaps one half of the sum, to
men I never saw before in my life!
22. I have hitherto supposed, that all causes when they are decided,
are decided according to justice and equity. But is it so? Ye learned
in the law, is no _unjust sentence_ given in your courts? Have not
the same causes been decided quite opposite ways? One way, this term,
just the contrary, the next? Perhaps one way in the morning (this I
remember an instance of) and another way in the afternoon. How is this?
Is there no _justice_ left on earth? No regard for right or wrong?
Or have causes been puzzled so long, that you know not now, what is
either wrong or right? What is agreeable to law, or contrary to it? I
have heard some of you frankly declare, that it is in many cases next
impossible to know, what is law, and what is not. So are your _folio_’s
of law multiplied upon you, that no human brain is able to contain them:
no; nor any consistent scheme, or abstract of them all.
But is it really owing to _ignorance_ of the law, (this is the most
_favourable_ supposition) that so few of you scruple _taking fees_ on
either side, of almost any cause that can be conceived? And that you
generally plead in the manner you do on any side of any cause? Rambling
to and fro, in a way so abhorrent from common sense, and so utterly
foreign to the question? I have been amazed at hearing the pleadings
of some eminent council: and when it has fallen out that the pleader on
the other side understood only the common rules of logic, he has made
those eminent men appear, either such egregious knaves, if they could
help it, or such egregious blockheads, if they could not, that one
would have believed they would shew their face there no more.――――Mean
time, if there be a God that judgeth righteously, what horrid insults
upon him are these! _Shall I not visit for these things, saith the
Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged of such a nation as this!_
23. There is one instance more of (I know not what to term it)
injustice, oppression, sacrilege, which hath long cried aloud in the
ears of God. For among men, who doth hear? I mean the management of
many of those who are intrusted with our public charities. By the
pious munificence of our fore-fathers, we have abundance of these, of
various kinds. But is it not glaringly true, (to touch only on a few
generals) that the managers of many of them, either 1. Do not apply the
benefaction to _that use_ for which it was designed by the benefactor,
or 2. Do not apply it with such _care and frugality_, as in such a
case are indispensably required: or 3. Do not apply the whole of the
benefaction to any _charitable use_ at all; but ♦_secrete_ part thereof,
from time to time, for the use of themselves and their families. Or,
lastly, by plain, bare-faced oppression, _exclude_ those from having
any part in such benefaction, who dare (though with all possible
tenderness and respect) set before them the things that they have done:
“Yet _Brutus_ is an honourable man:
So are they all: all honourable men!”
And some of them, had in esteem for religion; accounted patterns both
of honesty and piety! But God _seeth not as man seeth_. He _shall
repay them to their face_. Perhaps, even in the present world. For that
scripture is often still fulfilled, _This is the curse that goeth forth
over the face of the whole earth. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord
of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief_, (such he is
and no better, in the eyes of God, no whit honester than a highwayman)
_and it shall remain in the midst of the house, and shalt consume it,
with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof_.
♦ “secret” replaced with “secrete” per Errata
24. And is not _truth_, as well as _justice_, _fallen in our streets_?
For who _speaketh the truth from his heart_? Who is there, that makes
a conscience of speaking the thing as it is, whenever he speaks at
all? Who scruples the telling of _officious lies_? The varying from
truth, in order to do good? How strange does that saying of the ancient
fathers, found in modern ears, “I would not tell a lie, no, not to save
the souls of the whole world.” Yet is this strictly agreeable to the
word of God; to that of St. _Paul_ in particular, if any say, _let us
do evil that good may come_, their _damnation is just_.
But how many of us do this evil, without ever considering, whether good
will come or no? Speaking what we do not mean, merely out of _custom_,
because it is _fashionable_ so to do? What an immense quantity of
falshood does this ungodly _fashion_ occasion day by day? For hath it
not over run every part of the nation? How is all our language swoln
with _compliment_? So that a well-bred person is not _expected_ to
speak as he thinks: we do not _look for it_ at his hands. Nay, who
would thank him for it? How few would suffer it? It was said of old,
even by a warrior and a king, _He that telleth lies shall not tarry in
my sight_: But are we not of another mind? Do not we rather say, _He
that telleth not lies, shall not tarry in my sight_? Indeed the trial
seldom comes; for both speakers and hearers are agreed, that form and
ceremony, flattery and compliment should take place, and _truth_ be
banished from all that _know the world_.
And if the rich and great have so small regard to _truth_, as to _lie_
even for _lying-sake_, what wonder can it be that men of lower rank
will do the same thing _for gain_? What wonder that it should obtain,
as by common consent in all kinds of _buying and selling_? Is it not an
adjudged case, that it is no harm to tell lies _in the way of trade_?
To say, that is the _lowest price_ which is not the lowest; or that
you _will not take_ what you _do take_ immediately? Insomuch that
it is a proverb even among the _Turks_, when asked to abate of their
price, “What! do you take me to be a Christian?” So that never was that
caution more seasonable than it is at this day, _Take ye heed every one
of his ♦neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother
will utterly supplant, and they will deceive every one his neighbour_.
♦ “neigbour” replaced with “neighbour”
25. And as for those few who abstain from outward sins, is their
heart right with God? May he not say of us also (as of the _Jews_)
_This people is uncircumcised in heart_? Are not _you_? Do you then
_love the_ Lord _your_ God, _with all your heart, and with all your
strength_? Is he _your_ God and your all? The desire of your eyes? The
joy of your very heart? Rather, do you not _set up your idols in your
heart_? Is not your _belly your God_? Or your diversion? Or your fair
reputation? Or your friend? Or wife? Or child? That is plainly, do not
you delight in some of these earthly goods, more than in the God of
heaven? Nay, perhaps you are one of those grovelling souls that _pant
after the dust of the earth_! Indeed who does not? Who does not get as
much as he can? Who of those who are not _accounted_ covetous, yet does
not gather all the money he can _fairly_, and perhaps much more? For
are they those only whom _the world rank_ among misers, that use every
art to increase their fortune? Toiling early and late, spending all
their strength in _loading themselves with thick clay? How long?_ Until
the very hour when God calleth them; when he saith unto each of them,
_Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee! And whose
shall those things be which thou hast prepared?_
26. And yet doth not our _pride_, even the pride of those whose soul
_cleaves to the dust, testify against us_? Are _they_ not _wise in
their own eyes, and prudent in their own conceit_? Have not writers of
our own remarked, that there is not upon earth a more _self-conceited_
nation than the _English_; more ♦opinionated both of their own
_national_ and _personal_ wisdom, and courage, and strength? And indeed,
if we may judge by the inhabitants of _London_, this is evident to a
demonstration: for, are not the very meanest of them able to instruct
both the king and all his counsellors? What cobler in _London_ is not
wiser than the principal Secretary of State? What coffee-house disputer
is not an abler divine than his Grace of _Canterbury_? And how deep
a contempt of others is joined with this high opinion of ourselves?
I know not whether the people of all nations are greater masters of
dissimulation; but there does not _appear_ in any nation whatever, such
a proneness to despise their neighbour: to despise not foreigners only
(near two thousand years ago they remarked _Britannos hospitibus feros_)
but their own countrymen; and that very often for such surprising
reasons, as nothing but undeniable fact could make credible. How often
does the gentleman in his coach despise those _dirty fellows that go a
foot_? And these, on the other hand, despise full as much those _lazy
fellows that loll in their coaches_? No wonder then that those who have
the _form of godliness_ should despise them that have not: that the
saint of the world so frequently says to the ♠gross sinner, in effect,
if not in terms, _Stand by thyself; come not near unto me; for I am
holier than thou_!
♦ “opiniated” replaced with “opinionated”
♠ “goss” replaced with “gross”
27. Yet what kind of holiness is this? May not God justly declare of us
also, _This people draw near me with their mouth, but they have removed
their hearts far from me. They do but flatter me with their mouth, and
dissemble with me in their tongue._ Is it not so with _you_? When you
speak to God, do your lips and your heart go together? Do you not often
utter words by which you mean just nothing? Do not you say and unsay?
Or, say one thing to God, and another to man? For instance, you say to
God, _Vouchsafe O Lord, to keep me this day without sin_. But you say
to man, this cannot be done; it is all folly and madness to expect it.
You ask of God, that you _may perfectly love him, and worthily magnify
his holy name_: but you tell man, there is no _perfect love_ upon earth;
it is only a madman’s dream. You pray God, to _cleanse the thoughts of
your heart, by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit_. But you assure your
neighbour, there is no such thing as _inspiration_ now, and that none
pretend to it but _enthusiasts_. What gross _hypocrisy_ is this! Surely
you think, there is no _knowledge in the Most High. O be not deceived_,
God _is not mocked. But whatsoever ye sow, that also shall ye reap!_
28. Such at present is the religion of this _Christian_ nation! So
do we honour him by whose name we are called. And yet was there ever
a nation more careless and secure? More unapprehensive of the wrath
of God! How can a man more effectually expose himself to the ridicule
of those who are esteemed men of understanding, than by shewing
any concern, _as if_ the judgments of God were hanging over our
heads? Surely then _a deceived heart hath turned_ us _aside, that_
we _cannot say, Is there not a lie in my right hand_? Surely this our
confidence is not of God: it is rather a judicial infatuation; a stupid
insensibility; a deep sleep, the fore-runner of heavy vengeance.
“Ruin behind it stalks, and empty desolation.”
Surely never was any people more fitted for destruction! _Impudent
children are they, and stiff hearted. Are they ashamed when they have
committed abomination?_ When they have openly prophaned the day of the
Lord? When they have committed lewdness? Or when they have uttered such
curses and blasphemies, as are not heard of among the Heathens? Nay,
_They are not at all ashamed, neither can they blush_. And though God
send unto them all his servants, rising up early and sending them, yet
_will they not hear; they ♦harden their neck: they do worse than their
fathers_.
♦ “hearden” replaced with “harden”
What _then_ can God _do more for his vineyard which he hath not
done_? He hath long tried us with mercies, _giving rain and fruitful
seasons, filing us with the flour of wheat_. But still _this revolting
and rebellious people say not, Let us now fear the_ Lord _our_ God.
Nay, they gave him no thanks for all his mercies; they did not even
acknowledge them to be his gift. They did not see the hand of God in
any of these things; they could _account for them_ another way. O ye
unwise, when will ye understand? Know ye not yet, there is a God that
ruleth the world? What did ye see with your eyes? Was the _race to the
swift_, or _the battle to the strong_? Have ye forgotten _Dettingen_
already? Does not _England_ know that God was there?――Or suppose your
continuance in peace, or success in war, be the mere result of your
own wisdom and strength; do ye command the sun and the clouds also? Can
ye pour out or _stay the bottles of heaven_? But let it all be nature,
chance, any thing――so God may have no hand in governing the earth!
* 29. Will his judgments bring us to a better mind? Do we _hear the rod,
and him that has appointed it_? Let us observe: What fruit do we find
in those who are _even consumed by means of his heavy hand_? Let any
one that desires to be clearly satisfied herein, visit the _hospitals_
of this city. Let him judge for himself, how the patients there receive
God’s fatherly visitation; especially _there_, because mercy also is
mixed with judgment; so that it is evident _the Lord loveth whom he
chasteneth_. Go then into any _ward_, either of men or women, look
narrowly from one end to the other: are they humbling themselves under
the hand of God? Are they trembling under a sense of his anger? Are
they praising him for his love? Are they exhorting one another, not to
faint when they are rebuked of him? How do nine in ten of them spend
the time, that important time from morning to evening? Why in such a
manner, that you would not easily learn, from thence, whether they were
Christians, Pagans or Mahometans.
* Is there any deeper distress than this to be found? Is there a
greater affliction than the loss of health? Perhaps there is, the loss
of liberty, especially as it is sometimes circumstanced. You may easily
be convinced of this, by going into either _Ludgate_ or _Newgate_. What
a scene appears, as soon as you enter! The very place strikes horror
into your soul. How dark and dreary! How unhealthy and unclean! How
void of all that might minister comfort! But this is little, compared
to the circumstances that attend the being confined in this shadow
of death. See that poor wretch, who was formerly in want of nothing,
and encompassed with friends and acquaintance, now cut off, perhaps
by an unexpected stroke, from all the chearful ways of men; ruined,
forsaken of all, and delivered into the hands of such masters, and such
companions! I know not, if to one of a thinking, sensible turn of mind,
there could be any thing like it on this side hell.
What effect then has this heavy visitation of God, on those who lie
under it for any time? There is perhaps, an exception here and there;
but in general, they are abandoned to all wickedness, utterly divested
of all fear of God, and all reverence to man; insomuch, that they
commonly go out of that school compleatly fitted for any kind or degree
of villany, perfectly brutal and devilish, thoroughly furnished for
every evil word and work.
30. Are our countrymen more effectually reclaimed, when danger and
distress are joined? If so, the _army_, especially in time of war, must
be the most religious part of the nation. But is it so indeed? Do the
_soldiery_ walk as those who see themselves on the brink of eternity?
_Redeeming_ every _opportunity_ of glorifying God, and doing good to
men, because they know not the hour in which their Lord will require
their souls of them? So far from it, that a _soldier’s religion_ is
a by-word, even with those who have no religion at all; that vice and
prophaneness in every shape reign among them without controul; and that
the whole tenor of their behaviour speaks, _Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow we die_.
Have those who are exposed to still more danger, the _English
sea-forces_, more religion than those at land? It is said they were
once remarkable for this: and it is certain Sir _Francis Drake_ feared
God, as did most of his commanders; and we have reason to believe, his
marines and sailors too. But what shall we say of the _navy_ that now
is, more particularly of the ships of war? Is religion there? Either
the power or the form? Is not almost every single _man of war_ a mere
floating hell? Where is there to be found more consummate wickedness,
a more full, daring contempt of God, and all his laws, except in the
bottomless pit? But here description fails: and the goodness of God
endureth yet daily! But _shall I not visit for these things, saith the
Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?_ O that
the _prospect_ of national judgments may suffice! That we may remember
ourselves, and turn unto the Lord our God, before his long-suffering
mercy is at an end, and he pours out the vials of his wrath upon us!
But how small ground have we as yet to hope for this? For who will now
_suffer the word of exhortation_? How few will _endure sound doctrine_,
and the honest, close application of it? Do they not _say unto the
seers, see not; and unto the prophets, prophesy smooth things_? And
if a man will do thus, if he will _sew pillows to all arm-holes_, and
_cause the Holy One of_ Israel _to cease from before them; if he will
prophesy of wine and strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this
people_.
31. I am sensible, how nice a subject this is, and how extremely
difficult it is so to speak, as neither to say too little nor too much,
neither more nor less than the cause of God requires. I know also,
that it is absolutely impossible, so to speak as not to give offence.
But whosoever is offended, I dare not to be silent; neither may I
refrain from plainness of speech: only I will endeavour to use all the
tenderness I can consistently with that plainness.
In tender love then I ask, are there none among us (I speak to you,
my brethren, who are priests and prophets of the Lord, set apart to
_minister in holy things_, and to _declare the word of the Lord_) Are
there none among us who commit _lewdness_, as did those by whom _Israel
was defiled_? Hath not the Lord seen an horrible thing, in some of the
prophets of this land also, even, that _they commit adultery, and_ (to
conceal it) _walk in lies_? God forbid that I should affirm this. I
only propose (not maintain) the question. If there be such a wretch, I
pray God to strike him to the heart, and to say, _Thou art the man_!
Are there none of you, like them, _mighty to drink wine, men of
strength to mingle strong drink_? Yea, are there none, that _err
through strong drink, that are swallowed up of wine_? Are there not
found those who say, _I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves
with strong drink: and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more
abundant_?