Veil 122.] sermons upon psalm cxix. 259
Secondly, I now come to the literal explanation; and there w(^ have —
1. The evil deprecated, oppress me.
2. The persons likely to inflict it, the proud.
First, Tiic evil deprecated, ' Let not tiie proud oppress me.' The Septuagint, /u,?; avKo^avrrjadrcoadv /Lie vireprjcjiavoL, let them not calum- niate me. The Septuagint takes this word for oppression or violent injustice, and therein are followed by St Luke iii. 14, xix. 8.
Boct. Oppression is a very grievous evil, and often deprecated by the people of God.
1. I shall show you what oppression is. It is an abuse of power to unjust and uncharitable actions. That it is an abuse of power appeareth by the object of it, who are those that are usually oppressed; that is, either the poor and needy : Deut. xxiv. 14, ' Thou shaft not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of the strangers within thy gates.' The fatherless and the widow are mentioned : Jer. vii. 6, ' Ye shall not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.' The stranger : Zech. vii. 10, ' And oppress not tlie widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor ;' and E.xod. xxii. 21-23, ' Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye sliall not aflSict any widow, or fatherless child ; if thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry.'
2. The subject or agent by whom it is practised — (1.) ' The proud ;' the mighty, rich, great man ; at least comparatively, in regard to the wronged party: Eccles. iv. 1, 'And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but the oppressed had no comforter;' Job xxxv. 9, ' By reason of the multitude of oppressors they make the oppressed cry, and by reason of the arm of the mighty.' (2.) The base and mean, when they get power into their hands, to oppress the rich, noble, and honoiu-able : Isa. iii. 5, ' And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighour ; the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honour- able.' It is commonly more insolent and cruel and contemptuous and despiteful : Prov. xxviii. 3, ' A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain that leaveth no food.' When men do unjust and uncharitable actions, as when men bear it proudly or insolently towards them, throwing them out of their riches, denying them the liberty of their service because it is in the power of their hands, or taking advan- tage of their low condition to run over them, or making an advantage of their necessity and want of skill : Hosea xii. 7, ' He is a merchant, the balance of deceit is in his hand ; he loveth to oppress ;' or prejudice their testimony to the truth by our credit and esteem in the churcli, rendering them so weak or wicked, factious or foolish, as not to bf regarded,
3. This is a grievous evil ; it is so in itself, and may be specially aggravated as to cases.
[1 ] It is grievous in itself, as it is so odious to Grod, as being a perversion of the end of his providence. Tiiose that excel in any quality are appointed for the protection and support of the weak and indigent. God gave them their wealth and parts and power and credit
260 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXXXIV.
and greatness, to the end they might comfort, counsel, defend, and do good to tliose that want these things. Now when they make no otlier use of their power than lions and bears do, to mischief others by it, they do evil because it is in the power of their hands, Micah ii. 1. Power, if men have not a great tenderness of conscience and fear of God, is an unwieldy wilful thing, degenerates into oppression : Isa. x. 14, 15, ' There was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewitli ? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood.' Therefore he went on to opjiress and tyrannise in the world, because none durst to oppose him. Power needs much balance to temper and allay it.
[2] It is so olTensive to his peojole, and burthensorae to them : Eccles. vii. 7, ' Op[)ies.sion makelh a wise man mad;' it shaketh and discomposetii tiiose of the best temper, makes them pray and weep, and cry before the Lord: Eccles. iv. 1, ' So I returned and considered all the oppressions under the sun, and beheld the tears of such as are oppressed.' When you lay such heavy loads upon them that they are not able to bear it, but cry to God to right them.
[3.] The evil itself, oppression. It is not only theft, but murder. These expressions we have: Isa. iii. 13, 14, 'Ye have eaten up the vineyard ; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye, that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor ? ' that is, cause them by your hard usage to pine away ? So Micah iii. 1-3, ' And I said, Hear, I pray you, 0 heads of Jacob, and 3'e princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment, who hate the good, and love the evil, who pluck oft" their skin and their flesh I'rom off their bones ? who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron?' It is in God's account human butchery and murder, beyond simple slaughter, as they make them die a lingering death.