The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 390

Full of true justice and BUre verity, In heart and voice: free, le.rge, even infinit.e, Not wedged in straight partionle.rity, Dut gre.eping all in her ve.st, e.otive spirit. Bright Ie.mp of God, that men would joy in thy pure light I" (Hanne.h More.) D.T. Vere. 7-9.-Fortunes badly used, badly made, am,d, badly erided. "He iR a mer- chant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labonr~ they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. And I that am the Lord thy God from tho land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast." Here we have- I. FORTUNES BADLY USED, "And Ephraim said, I am become rich, I have found me out substance." Here is a fortune held and no doubt employed in the spirit of haughty egotism. It is all L "I have become rich, I have found me out sub~tance." 1. Here there is no recognition of human co-operation. No man comes in possession of wealth without the efforts of some men either living or dead. Wealth, whoever holds it, is the result-in most, perhaps in all cases--of the efforts of a large number of human workers. Hut the possessor oftentimes takes no note of this. He thinks only of himself. He does not think of the toil, the sweat, the exhaustion of those who have helped to put it into hie hand. 2. Here there is no recognition of Divvne agency. All fortunes come of God-out of his materials, out of his seasons, out of the activity of hie creatures. But there is no recognition of him here. "I have become rich, I have found me out substance." How many fortunes are thus held and employed in England this day-held and employed in a haughty egotism ! II. FoRTU:NEB BADLY MADE. 1. Here isfraud. u He is a. merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand." The hand of fraud has ever been, and still is, alas ! the most active of all agencies in the erection of fortunes. '!'here is deceit everywhere. In a.II fabrics, groceries, trade commodities. Deceit in making, deceit both in the buying and the selling. Were all the fortunes in England that have been built up by deceit to be destroyed this day, the whole human world would be startled with the terrible crash. The event would be as the hurling of the Himalaya into the sea, causing the billows to roar on every shore. 2. Here is oppressim. "He loveth to oppress." Indeed, fraud is oppression in some form or other. What unrighteous exactions there are in the building of many fortunes! Go to the pits of mine-owners, to the factories of manu- facturers, to the warehouses of merchants, to the vessels of ship-owners, and everywhere you will meet men and women groaning under the oppression of those for whom they are building up fortunes. 3. Here is CU'Tl,ning. "In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin." Ephraim-this typical fortune-maker-took such care to conceal all that was unfair and nefarious in his operations that he was certain no wrong could be found in his doings. Wrong there was, he knew, but he was careful that none should discover it. By plausible and well-guarded statements, by legal formul1B, by " board" resolutions, he feels that he can say, "In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me." Who bas not seen many men of this type ?-many who have made a fortune by a swindle, but have so guarded the transaction that they have clapped their hands and ea.id, "None will ever find it out." ID. FORTUNES BADLY ENDED. "And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tab<!fnacles, as in the days of the solemn feast." 'l'he meaning of this is-Rich as thou art, I will strip thee of thy wealth, drive thee from thy home, send thee back again to the wilderness a. vagrant, to howl for bread and water. Ay, ay, to all such fortune-holders and fortune-makers retribution must come sooner or later. "I tell thee," says 'l'homas Carlyle, "there is nothing else but justice: one strong thing I find here below-the just thing, the true thing. My friend, if thou hadst all the artillery of Woolwich marching at thy back in support of au unjust thing, and infinite bonfires visibly waiting ahead of thee to blaze centuries to come for thy victory on behalf of it, I would advise thee to call 'Halt!' to fling down thy baton, and say,' In God's Name, no l' What will the success amount to? If the thing be unjust, thou hast not succeeded, though bonfires blazed from north to south, 892 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [oH, xn. 1-14.