11hips. (1) Divine. They ha_ve the same Ma½er (Job xx.xi. 15; Prov. xxii. 2), the !Same Redeemer. Equally as smners need salvation. (2) Human. The family ties as real and valuable. "Our children as their children." Are similarly related to the i,tate, and of equal worth to it. If Christians, are alike children of God, members of Chris~, "brethren" to each other. 3. In affections. (1) Have the same natural nffect10n. "Our children as their children," equally beloved. The poor equally with the rich rejoice in their children's joys, gTieve over their sorrows, are pained at their degradation. (2) Arn alike, when regenerate, in religious affections. 4. In pros- pects. Must alike die and appear before the bar of God. Will, if accepted occupy the same heaven: if condemned, be consig·ned to the same hell. 5. I~ rights. Wb.i.ch follows from what has been said. The poor and the rich should be "equal before the law," as they are in every well-governed community, civil or ecclesiastical. They are entitled to equal social justice; they should receive like sympathy and brotherly consideration and help in times of loss and suffering. II. THE DUTIES WHICH ARISE FROM IT. 1. What they are. (1) Mutual resf,ect and good will. "Honour all men," as human beings. "Love the brotherhood 'as fellow Christians. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," for he eq~ally deserves love. (2) Mutual consideration and sympathy. Men the most unlike in many respects ought to be able, much better than they often do, to understand each other, and enter into each other's feelings, because of their essential likeness. And they should consider one another, that they may appreciate and sympathise with each other. These rich creditors would not have dealt so hardly with their poor debtors if they had tried to realise what the loss of all property and the sale of their children would have been to themselves. (3) Mutual helpfulness. Men are made of various capacities and conditions that they may form in society a more perfect unity, and be able to serve one another the better ( comp. 1 Cor. xii. 14-26). 2. By whom owing. The poor are bonnd thus to feel and act to the rich, as well as the rich to the poor; the employed to the employer, as well as the employer to the employed, and the former are as likely to neglect these duties as the latter. Selfishness is not con- fined to any class. Those, however, who from their circumstances have acquired most of intelligence and culture, and have most power individually, may be ex.pected to take the lead in the understanding and practical application of the truths and duties just stated. In doing so they will show a tender consideration for the feel- ings of the poor; they will be concerned for their elevation, iniprovement, and salva- tion; they will not nse their advantages selfishly or hardly (even though legally); they will not push too far the doctrines of political economy, and feel quite content to swell their own fortunes by giving helpless people starvation wages, or lending money at rates ruinous to the borrower, merely because the law of "supply and demand " justifies them; their power will be used to rebuke, restrain, and remedy oppression ; to protect and aid the weak ; to soften the inequalities of life by kind- ness and thonghtful charity : and, generally, to bless others rather than aggrandise themselves. In thus acting they will obey the dictates of prudence as well as those of Christianity, and will aid in uniting society by bonds stronger far than Acts of Parliament, armies, or police regulations-bonds which the strain of the most calamitous times will not burst asunder. Yers. 6, 7.-Righteous ange:r. "And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers.'' Anger is always dangerous, often evil. The anger is sinful which has its root in selfishness, which is excited by slight causes, or is blended with hatred, or issues in malice or revenge, or lasts long in any form. But there is an anger whic\.. is righteous, and the absence of which, so far from being a commendable meekness, may be occasioned by indifference to great principles, and to the general welfare of men. The text illustrates- I. THE NATURE OF RIGHTEOUS ANGER. 1. Whence it springs. Love to God and man ; love to righteousness, hatred of sin. 2. By what it is excited. (1) Flagrant wrong-doing, (2) consequent injury to society, and (3) counteraction of efforts for 0
tB /!,'lod. II. ITS USES. To stimulate to-1. The rebuke and restraint o.E evil-doers. 2. mi. v. 1-13.) THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 58