Here is another argument of conviction produced, viz., the
oppression of their servants and labourers, in defrauding them of their reward;
a sin so injurious, and of such a heinous quality, that it crieth to God for
vengeance. The phrases will be opened in the points. Observe -
Obs. 1. From
the context, that there is no sin so heinous and base but covetousness may be a
mother or a nurse to it. What more sordid than for a rich man to detain the
labourer's wages? It was base to hoard up their own treasures till corrupted
with moth or rust; but a practice most accursed, after they had sucked out the
strength and sweat of the labourer, to deprive him of his reward. Yet usually
thus it is, men that do not part with their own right will not make conscience
of invading another's. First men are sparing, and then injurious. Detest this
sin with the more aversion, you know not how far it will carry you; the apostle
saith, it is 'the root of all evil,' 1 Tim. vi. 10.
Obs. 2. From that
crieth. - Some sins are crying, and do more especially require vengeance at the
hands of God. This crying is applied to blood, Gen. iv. 10, 'Thy brother's
blood crieth;' not his soul, but his blood. So to the wickedness of Sodom, Gen.
xviii. 20, 'The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is
grievous.' So to oppression of God's servants; they are dear to him: Exod. ii.
24, and iii. 9, 'God heard their groaning,' and 'the cry of the children of
Israel is come up unto me.' So to oppression of the widows and fatherless:
Exod. xxii. 23, 'If thou afflict the widow and the fatherless, and they cry
unto me, I will surely hear their cry.' So ver. 27, to taking the neighbour's
necessary garment to pledge, 'I will hear his cry, for I am gracious.' In
short, all sins that disturb human society, that are committed with impudence
and public liberty, that are of so heinous nature that God in honour is bound
as it were to mark them out with some severe stroke of vengeance, that are
neglected by men because of the power and greatness of those that commit them,
or else done in secret, and so past human cognisance, as Cain's murdering of
Abel; so all sins which are past the help of the oppressed, all such sins are
said to cry; not that God wanteth evidence, or that his justice needeth
excitation, but because some of these sins do even dare vengeance, and provoke
divine justice to take notice of them; and in other of these sins God is
appealed to by the oppressed as witness and avenger, human justice wanting
will, or power, or fit means of conviction to proceed against them. Besides,
this crying in some cases showeth the unwillingness of God to punish, till he
be solicited and urged thereunto by the importunity and provocation of our own
sins.
Obs. 3. As all oppression crieth to God, so especially the
oppression of poor servants, and those that live by handy labour. It is twice
repeated in the text, 'which have reaped your fields,' and then, again, 'the
cry of them which have reaped.' And the reason is, because it is their life,
and so an act of the greatest unmercifulness; and besides, you disappoint them
of the solace of their labours. See Deut. xxiv. 15, 'He hath set his heart upon
it;' this is, that he reckoneth upon his wages at the end of the day. But you
will say, How many ways may we oppress the poor labourer? I answer - (1.) When
through greatness you challenge their labours without reward, as the gentry use
the peasants of many countries: Jer. xxii. 13, 'Woe be to him that useth his
neighbour without wages;' meaning Jehoiakim, who, in his pompous buildings used
his subjects' labour without hire. (2.) When you give them not a proportionate
hire, working upon their necessities, for then a great part of their labour is
without reward; and it is flat covetousness to 'exact all your labours,' Isa,
lviii. 3, when your reward is scanty and short. (3.) When by cunning ye defraud
them of their reward, either through bad payment or crafty cavils. The Lord
saith, Mal. iii. 5, 'I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the
hireling in his wages.' So it is in the text, 'by fraud kept back.' God knoweth
what is oppression, though veiled under crafty pretences. (4.) When you
diminish or change their wages; as it is said of Laban that he changed Jacob's
wages ten times, Gen. xxxi. 41. (5.) When you delay payment. God commanded the
Jews to do it before sunset: see Deut. xxiv. 14,15; Lev. xix. 30. It is a maxim
of the law, minus solvit, qui minus tempore solvit - that not to pay it at the
time is to pay the less, because of the advantage of improvement; and in the
text it is said, 'kept back by fraud;' though not wholly taken away, yet 'kept
back' entitled them to sin. The Lord, you know, rewardeth his servants ere they
have done their work; we have much of our wages afore-hand,
&c.;
Obs. 4. Though the poor should not cry, the very hire and money
would cry, and require vengeance against oppressors. The apostle saith, not
only the reapers cry, but the hire crieth. So see Job xxxi. 38-40, 'If my land
cry against me, and the furrows thereof likewise complain; if I have eaten the
fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their
life,' &c. God cannot want witnesses against cruelty; the hire shall cry,
the poor shall cry, the beam and the stone out of the wall shall cry, Hab. ii.;
the very affliction shall cry. It is said, Gen. xvi. 11, he heard Hagar's
affliction when Sarah had used her harshly and imperiously. So the church
saith, Lam. ii. 18, 'The apple of mine eye shall not keep silence.' Their
groans clamour, and their tears have a loud voice. Oh! then, consider this,
secret wrongs will be known to God. The children of God may not know who harmed
them; wicked men act at a distance, like a spider, when she hath weaved a net,
goeth out of the way: but yet the Lord knoweth; their very afflictions will cry
against you when they know not against whom to cry.
Obs. 5. From that,
the Lord of Sabaoth; that is, the Lord of hosts, a name often used in the
prophetical books, but most commonly in Isaiah and Zechariah; it is not usual
in the New Testament, God's titles being there fuller of sweetness and grace;
and the reason why it was so much used then was because the people of God were
in great misery, needed much defence and protection, and were in danger to let
fall their hopes out of fear of men. It was a name of God, so commonly known
and used, that the Septuagint retained the Hebrew term by which it was
expressed And so, also, it is kept in the New Testament, Kurios Sabaooth, as by
Paul, Rom. ix. 27, and by James in this place; not religiously, out of any
mystery in the syllables, as Jerome supposeth, but because this appellation of
God was so familiar among the Jews, and so easily known to the nations that
conversed with them. Now, the Lord is called the Lord of Sabaoth, or Lord of
hosts, because all his creatures are ranked in such an order that they are
always ready to serve and accomplish his will. The note is, that the Lord is a
Lord of hosts, commander-in-chief of all the creatures, angels, men, thunders,
lightnings, storms, showers, lions, fevers, &c.; they are all at his beck,
waiting for his word: 'He can send lightnings, that they may go; they say unto
him, Here we are.' Job xxxviii. 35; that is. Lord, Whither shall we go? here we
are, ready to fulfil thy word. It were easy to expatiate in so copious an
argument; but because it hath been handled by others, I shall but touch upon
things. God's command reacheth from the highest angel to the lowest creatures.
The angels are principally called God's host; see 1 Kings xxii. 9; Luke ii. 14.
And of what power are they, since one angel destroyed in a night a hundred
fourscore and five thousand, 2 Kings xix. 35. Then the heavens are intended:
Isa. xxxiv. 9, 'All the hosts of the stars shall be dissolved.' That which
Peter calleth stoicheia, the elements, the prophet calleth the hosts. So it is
said, Judges v. 20, 'The stars in their courses fought against Sisera;' that
is, by their influence and efficacy upon the clouds and meteors. For Josephus,
speaking of that battle, saith that there suddenly fell a storm mixed with
hail, which the wind drove against the faces of the Canaanites, and took away
their sight, and benumbed their hands, that they could not hold their targets,
or fling their darts; but beating upon the backs of the Israelites, it
emboldened them the more so, also, men are called God's hosts; as Israel, Exod.
xii. 41; and it is said, 'He mustereth the host of the battle,' Isa. xiii. 9.
Nay, lower creatures, locusts, are called God's army, Joel ii.; and God is said
to reserve the snow and hail against the day of battle, Job xxxviii. 22, 23.
Against Egypt he sent armies of frogs, and lice, and flies; against the
idolatrous people armies of lions, 2 Kings xvii. Nay, God can arm the humours
of thy body against thee, cause thine own passions and thoughts to fall upon
thee like so many armed men. He needeth no forces from without; there is enough
to overwhelm man in the reflections of his own conscience. Oh! then, do not
contend with him that can command legions, and draw omnipotency about thy ears:
'shall the potsherds of the earth strive with the Lord of hosts?' Isa. xlv. 9.
Oh! how sad is it, that when all the creatures serve God, your hearts only
should war against him! that the Lord of hosts should not be lord of your
souls!
Obs. 6. From that their cries are come into the ears of the Lord
of hosts; that is, he hath taken notice of their wrong, and will take care to
avenge their quarrel. The note is, that the Lord of hosts is the poor's
avenger; the God of angels and thunders is the God that comforteth them are
cast down. You may be high and rich in the world, able to contest with poor
creatures and crush them; but can you contend with the Almighty? Oh! take heed
of wronging the poorest servants of God. Christ speaketh of offending his
little ones, Mat xviii. 10; as little as they are, they have a great champion.
The worm Jacob is looked after by the Lord of hosts. So the poor, the servant,
the widow, the fatherless, they are called his people, as belonging chiefly to
his care: 'They eat up my people as bread.' Take heed what you do; your poor
servants have a master in heaven that will call you to an account. Jerusalem is
threatened with captivity for their breach of covenant and unkindness to their
servants, Jer. xxxiv 11; therefore defraud them not, leave them not shiftless.
God will visit this sin upon many gentlemen who turn off their old servants
shiftless and helpless, and have more care of their dogs than of them. Oh! see
what an avenger they have, one that is powerful enough. A good man should have
a care of his beast, Prov. xii. 10, much more of his servants.
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