Ahab and Jezebel that wretched Pair of Wrong-doers think themselves when they had over-reached Naboth and defrauded him of his Vineyard in a Court of Judicature and under a Form of Justice and with a shew of a Legal Proceeding against him Having this way gotten from him the Ancient Inheritance of his Father they thought themselves safe enough in the possession of it and free from any Harm that might follow But a time of Recompence and the Day of the Lord's Vengeance came upon them at last and that with a Witness too in a very Remarkable Way and Manner for as the Prophet Elijah had foretold in the place where the Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth there they also licked the Blood of Ahab and there they not onely licked the Blood of Jezebel but there they eat her up too and left nothing of her Carcase remaining but her Skull and her Feet and the Palms of her Hands And it is farther observable that the evil which befell their Son King Joram did over-take and seize upon him in the Portion of Naboth the Jezreelite for there Jehu met him in his furious march against him and there he smote him thorow the Heart with an Arrow and killed him and there he commanded his Body to be pulled down out of the Chariot and cast upon the open ground so that he lay weltring in his own blood in that very plat of ground which his Parents had defrauded Naboth of and got unjustly from him And indeed it is usual with God as the Histories of all Ages will inform us to punish those that wrong others even in this World either in their own persons or in their Posterity or in both and that in some strange and fearfull manner too Nay so strangely is God provoled to Anger by this Sin of Wronging Others and so severe is he against it that he many times plagues a Community and punishes a whole Land and Nation for it for we cannot read the Prophets with any heed and observation at all but we must needs take notice that this is frequently mentioned by most of them as one of the main Sins and great Abominations for which God delivered up the Jews into their Enemies hands The Jews as we find up and down in the Prophets were strangely bent upon Violence and Wrong their Houses were full of deceit and they were continually setting Traps and laying Snares for their Brethren and devising how they might over-reach and defraud one another and for these sins especially it was that the Wrath and Vengeance of God fell so heavy upon them For it is very observable that no sins are so much insisted upon by the Prophets as these to be the Cause of their Desolation and of those great and terrible Judgments that came upon them Nay it is yet farther observable that in the Seventh Chapter of Zachariah Injustice and Oppression and Wrong-dealing are the onely sins that are mentioned for which God sent them away into Captivity and laid their Land desolate and waste for the Prophet there tells them that because they refused to execute true Judgment and would not shew Mercy and Compassion to their Brethren but went on still to oppress the Widow and the Fatherless and the Stranger and the Poor and to imagine evil in their Hearts against their Brethren therefore there came a great Wrath from the Lord of Hosts For these sins such a storm of his Anger fell upon them as scattered them with a Whirl-wind among all the Nations whom they knew not But if those that wrong others and deal injuriously with them should escape the Vengeance of God in this World and go down into their Graves without having any remarkable Punishment inflicted upon them here yet shall they not for all this always go unpunished for the Wrath and Vengeance of God will pursue them into the other World and there finally overtake them and come upon them to the uttermost and their latter end will be that they shall perish for ever Tho these men may here by their wit or their Wealth by thir power or their Friends or by any other means escape the Judgment of Man yet shall they not hereafter by all the Arts that they can use escape the righteous Judgment of God for God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness and when that Day of recompences is come he will then render to every man according to his Deeds to those that have done justly and have been righteous in all their waies and upright in all their Dealings he will render Glory and Honor and Peace and Immortality and eternal Life But to those that have done wrong and been unjust to Oppressors and Deceivers to the men that have been Injurious to their Brethren and Inventers and Practisers of evil things against them He will render Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of them They that have done Wrong howsoever they may escape here shall then receive in full measure for the wrong which they have done their violent Dealing shall then fall down upon their own Heads in Eternal Showers of Vengeance and God will for ever pay them home for all their Villanies and Mischiefs which they have been guilty of He will then make his whole Displeasure to arise against them and will cast the fury of his wrath upon them and punish them with everlasting death and destruction from His Presence and be alwaies terrible in his doings towards them He will then turn them into Hell that frightful place of torments where they must alwaies have their Habitation amongst Devils and damned Spirits and dwell with devouring Flames and suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire and for ever endure the heaviest Plagues and punishments that the vindicative Justice of an angry and incensed God can heap upon them And so I have done with the First thing and I think have sufficiently proved it to you by the Apostles and by some other Arguments that we must not do any manner of wrong to others nor in any matter whatsoever deal injuriously with them And now 2. I shall bring this Duty yet farther home to you by some close words of Application And that this may be the better done 1. Let us suffer a few words of Rebuke and be perswaded to hear a little how very careless and negligent most of us are in the performance of this Duty And then 2. Let us also suffer some words of Exhortation and be perswaded for the time to come to be more strict and careful in the Performance of this Duty than hitherto we have been 1. Let us suffer a few words of Rebuke and be perswaded to hear a little how extreamly careless and negligent most of us are in the Performance of this Duty Though this Doctrine of not wronging others is very clear and evident both from Reason and Scripture and a Doctrine that cannot be gainsaid yet it is not received and entertained
handle it both in a Doctrinal and in an Applicatory way For 1. I shall fully Prove it to you not only by the Apostles but also by some other Arguments that we must not do any manner of Wrong to others nor in any thing deal Injuririously with them And then 2. I shall bring this Duty yet farther home to you by some close words of Application 1. I shall clearly and fully prove it to you not only by the Apostles but also by some other Arguments that we must not do any manner of Wrong to others nor in any thing deal injuriously with them And 1. We must not do this Because that Nature it self teaches us not to do any Injury or Wrong to others We are not born Wild and Savage Creatures and Beasts of Prey We have not naturally a Disposition in us to bite and tear and devour one another The State of our Nature is not a State of Rapine and Violence Cheating and over-reaching are not any of the Principles of it as a late Monster of Men and Shame of Mankind the great Leviathan of Atheism that vile Asperser and Slanderer of our Humane Nature hath scurrilously asserted in his Works to make way for some other of his wretched and forlorn Principles But on the contrary our Nature would lead us to all kind of fair and just and honest Dealings with one another if we our selves did not stifle the Dictates and suppress the Inclinations of it Whatsoever the forementioned Traducer of our Nature or any of his Disciples may or can say to the contrary we are not left at Liberty by the Principles of our Nature to do what hurt and Mischief we can to one another but there are natural Principles of Honesty written in legible Characters upon all our Hearts that would check and curb and restrain us from doing wrong if we were not continually razing them out of our Hearts by giving way to Pride and Ambition and Lust and Worldly-mindedness We must wink hard and be wilfully blind blinder than ever the Heathens themselves could be if we cannot find a Law of Nature within us that plainly Instructs us in this Duty of not wronging others and strongly Prompts us to the Performance of it For this Doctrine of doing no Injury or harm to others is a Doctrine that was alwayes Currant not only at Jerusalem but at Athens too not only in the Church of God but also in the Gentile World This is a Lesson that was taught not only in the Schools of the Prophers but in the Schools of the Philosophers also a Lesson that we may learn not only out of the Word of God but likewise out of the Writings of Heathen men for many of the Heathens themselves who had only the Light and the Law of Nature for their Guide have spoken very excellent things of this Duty of not wronging others and have been very serious and earnest in pressing the Performance of it as might easily and abundantly be shewed to you out of their Writings Nay these Gentiles who were meer Strangers to the Grace of God and his written Word who had nothing else but the Dictates of their Nature and the Principles of their Reason and their In-bred Notions of good and evil to go by were so far from allowing the doing of any injury to one another that they had amongst them very severe Laws against Rapine and Violence against Theft and Cozenage against Fraud and Deceit and against all manner of injurious and dishonest Dealings and were also very strict and punctual in the Execution of those Laws And therefore we are obliged not to wrong others for this reason because the wronging of them is a plain violation and breach of that very Law of Nature which is written upon all our Hearts and such a Sin as the Heathens themselves who were any waies careful to follow the Diâ—â—â—â—â— of their Nature were quite ashamed to be guilty of And let us Christians have a care and look to it that the Heathens do not rise up in judgement against us in this matter at the last Day and then in the face and hearing of all the World confound and condemn us in it But then Secondly We must not do any manner of wrong to others nor in any thing deal injuriously with them because that this is a thing that is not only taught us by the Law of Nature but is expresly required of us also by the Word of God The Will of God in this matter is sufficiently reâ—aled to â—o in the Scriptures and his Commands both in the Old and in the New Testament are very full and frequent to this purpose that we must not imagine mischief in our Hearts against others nor do them any wrong nor injure them at all The Law of Wioses is plain to this purpose as plain at words can make it Levin 19.13 Thou shalt not Defraud thy Neighbour and again in the Thirty fifth Verse of that Chapter Ye 〈◊〉 do no unrighteousness in Judgment in Mete-yard in Weight or in Measure that is Ye shall not allow of any manner of falshood and wrong amongst you nor give way to any kind of Fraud and Deceit whatsoever in any of your Dealings and concerns with one another And perhaps this Duty of not wronging others was dearly signified to the Jews under the Law by the very Nature and Temper of those Living Creatures which they were to offer in Sacrifice For none of the Birds of the Air or Beasts of the Field were chosen and appointed by God for Sacrifice but such as were harmless and inoffensive and of a mild Temper and of a gentle and good Nature and Condition And the appointment of such only for Sacrifice might be to teach the Jews that they ought to be Tender-hearted Loving and Gentle towards one another and to live in all peacableness together and to do no hurt or injury or wrong to one another And then as for the Prophets they are very full and express in enjoyning this Duty of not doing any wrong and it would be endless to instance in places out of them to this purpose for they do all with open and with one Mouth exclaim and inveigh against the Jews for those injurious practices and unrighteous Dealings which they were given to and call aloud upon them to lay aside their unjust and fraudulent coursâ—s and to live uprightly and deal honestly with one another All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets says our Saviour Matth. 7.12 that is this is the very summ and substance of that which the Writers of the Old Testament have taught us concerning our Duty to one another that we should carefully observe amongst us that great Natural Rule of Equity To do as we would be done to that as we would not that others should do any injury to us so neither should we do any wrong to them
be upon them we durst not defraud our Brethren and do them Wrong so commonly as now we do Would any dare to turn aside the needy from Judgment and take away the Right from the Poor and make Widows their Prey and rob the Fatherless if they did but consider with themselves that a Father of the Fatherless and a Judg of the Widows is God in his holy Habitation and that from thence he sees the Oppression of the Poor and hears the sighing of the Needy and will at length arise for their defence and maintain their righteous Cause and plague all those that have harmed them wrongfully and dealt injuriously with them Would Men covet Fields and take them by violence and Houses and take them away and so oppress a Man and his House even a Man and his Heritage Could they be so very busy and industrious as they are in invading the Rights of others in defrauding the Brethren of their Goods and injuring them in their Possessions if they did but once take it into their Thoughts that they must be called to a strict account for these things before the righteous Judg of all the World who loves Justice and Judgment and will be sure to punish the wrong-doer and break in pieces the Oppressor and spoil the Soul of all those that have spoiled others How durst the subtile and the cunning Sinners hold fast Deceit and go on in their fraudulent and mischievous Courses How durst they deal so treacherously and endeavour by their circumventing Skill to go beyond and over-reach their Neighbours if they did but call to mind that God sees all their Fetches and their Devices all their lesser and greater Mysteries of Iniquity and will at last bring them into Judgment for all those wicked Arts and Stratagems which they have so often made use of to ensnare the ignorant and unwary and make them fall a Prey into their Nets Would Men covet an evil Covetousness to their Houses that they might set their Nests on high Would they go to raise their Families by that which they wrongfully take from others if they considered that thir ill-gotten Wealth will bring such a Curse of God along with it into their Houses as will root out all their Increase and quickly be the ruine and Dectruction of them and their Posterity Would they dare to suffer any unjust Gain to cleave to their Fingers would they not presently with all the haste imaginable shake their Hands from holding of it if they considered further that the heaping up of this is but the laying up of Vengeance in Store and the Treasuring up of Wrath for themselves against the great Day of Wrath Would men be tampering in the very Courts of Justice and be devising Subtilties there how they may Circumvent their Brethren and thrust them out of their apparent Rights if they considered that they must in another Court of Justice and at Gods own Tribunal give an Account of this and there have the Sentence of Eternal Condemnation Passed upon them for it Would any Persons have the boldness to be Givers or Takers of Bribes to Afflict the Innocent if they considered that a God of Infinite Justice looks upon them when their Hands are either opened to Receive or Stretched out to give the Wages of Unrighteousness and that he will be an Avenger of all those that use such foul and Indirect Practices against their Brethren With what Confidence could any men talk deceitfully and speak in any matter to wrest Judgment and pervert Equity if they did but bethink themselves that the God of Faithfulness and Truth knowes every word that is in their Mouths and that he utterly abhorrs all those that love Lying rather than to speak Righteousness and will at last Condemn them to those eternal Flames where they shall never be allowed one drop of Water to cool their false Tongues which have framed Deceit What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false Tongue It is David's Question Psal 120.3 And his Answer to it in the next Verse is very dreadful Sharp Arrows of the Mighty with coals of Juniper That is as some of the Jewish Interpreters expound it piercing Plagues here and Hell fire hereafter This shall be the Portion of those men whose Tongues devise Mischief and who love all Devouring words that will do hurt What fearfulness and trembling would seize upon the false Swearers what an horrible dread would presently overwhelm them if they did but call to their remembrance that the just Lord hath taken notice of all their Perjuries of all those Oaths which they have Sworn falsely by his Name to the hurt and Prejudice of others And that he will not hold them Guiltless nor suffer them to go Unpunished for these hainous Crimes but will most certainly let loose the fierceness of his Anger and Displeasure upon them and pursue them with Wrath and Vengeance all their dayes here and throughout all the dayes of Eternity hereafter And as for the high and mighty Transgressors the haughty and imperious Sinners that have no regard at all either to the Laws of God or Man in this case but do their Brethren hurt with as great a Confidence as others do them good how would their Courage sink and their hearts fail them if they would but take it into their Consideration that there is a great God above them to whom they must be accountable for all the Hurt and Mischief they have done and that he will be no Respecter of their Persons in Judgment nor Spare them any more than the meanest Sinners in the day of his Wrath And to draw to a Conclusion for I think it is time so to do Let us all be perswaded very frequently and seriously to consider what this terrible place and Text of Scripture puts us in mind of That the Lord will be a sure and severe Avenger of all such as go beyond and Defraud their Brethren in any matter and let the fear of his Eternal Vengeance keep us within the strictest Rules of Equity and Justice and restrain us from doing the least Injury or wrong to others That we may escape that dreadful Wrath of his that is to come let us forsake all our over-reaching and fraudulent and deceitful Courses and let us do justly and live honestly and neither devise nor practise any harm against our Brethren and then when God comes to Judge the World he will not be an Avenger but a Rewarder of us then we may all with Chearfulness and Comfort stand before his Judgment Seat at the last and final Judgment of all the World for then the Judge of all the World will pass a joyful Sentence upon us and before the greatest and most solemn Assembly that ever appeared before all the Angels and all the Devils and before all the Good men and all the Bad men of all Generations will Pronounce us Blessed for evermore And God grant that we may all be so Just to one another now that the Lord may be Merciful to us all at that Day and Receive us up into his Heavenly Kingdom to be Partakers of all the Joys of it and there to make our Eternal abode in his most glorious and delightful Presence Amen FINIS