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Of Sins That Cry unto Heaven

1. What sinnes are those that are saide to crie vnto Heauen?

THose,1 which notably aboue others, are knowne to haue a manifest and exceeding wickednesse, & doe singularly purchase to those which commit then Gods indignation & vengeance. Of this sort there are four numbred in holy scripture, to wit wilful2 Murder;3 Sodomie;4 Oppression of the Poore; & defrauding5 the Laboring mans hiere.

2. Howe doth the Scripture teach that wilfull murther is reuenged?

IN most grieuous manner doubtlesse,6 as Almighty God sheweth in these wordes, wherein hee rebuketh CAIN the first man-flear:7 What hast thou done? saith he, the voice of the bloude of thy brother crieth to me from the earth. Now therfore shalt thou be cursed vpon earth. And in another place Gods owne voice doth testifie.8 Whosoeuer shall shed mans blood, his blood shall be shed also. For to the image of God was man made. The kingly Psalmist singeth: Men 9 of blood shall not liue halfe their daies. For this is a very heinous wickednesse, & he doth a most horrible iniurie to his neighbour, that bereueth him of his life without lawfull10 auctoritie. For which cause, Christ himselfe saith also.11 All that take the sword, shall perish with the sworde.

3. And what is extant in holy scripture touching the sinne of Sodome and the punishments thereof?

THe men of Sodome, saith the scripture,12 were very naught, and sinners before God too too much: This horrible and abominable sin13 S. PETER, & S. PAVL14 doe reproue: yea nature her selfe doth abhorre: and the scripture also doth declare the greatnesse of so foule a wickednes, in these words: The crie 15 of the Sodomites, and the Gomorians, is multiplied, and their sinne is aggrauated too too much. For which cause the Angels doe speake thus vnto the iust man LOTH, who did greatly abhorre from the outragious filthines16 of the Sodomites: 17 We will destroy this place, because the cry of them hath increased before our Lorde, who hath sent vs to destroy them. Therefore our Lorde 18 rained downe vpon Sodome & Gomorrha brimstone and fire, from our Lorde out of heauen, and ouerthrewe those Cities, and all the Countrie about. Neither doth the scripture leaue vntouched the causes which moued the Sodomites, and may also moue others to this so greeuous a sinne. For thus we read in EZECHIEL:19 Behold this was the iniquitie of Sodome thy sister: Pride, fulnes of bread, and aboundance, and the idlenesse of her & her daughters: and they did not stretch their hand to the needy & poore.

And of this vice which can neuer be sufficiently detested, are they guiltie who doe not feare to breake the lawe of God, yea & the lawe of nature written in Leuiticus: which is this:20 Cum masculo non commiscearis coitu foemineo, quia abominatio est. Cum omni pecore non coibis, nec maculaberis cumeo. Which sin if it be committed, we are admonished21 in the same place, that the very earth is polluted with such horrible & abominable lustes, & that Gods wrath is very much prouoked against the people, and22 that the crime is to be punished with death. For which cause S. PAVL doth not once only rebuke the liers23 with mankinde: And he condemneth also vncleane and effeminate persons. of which one was Onan 24 sonne of Iudas who could not escape the present reuenge of God, for that he sinned against his owne body, and worse then any beast would violate the honestie and order of nature.

4. What doth the scripture propose touching the oppression of the poore?

Thou shalt not make sad the stranger, saith our Lord, neither shalt thou 25 afflict him: for you your selues were strangers in the land of Egipt. Yee shall not hurte the widdow & the fatherlesse: If you doe hurte them; they will cry out vnto me, and I will heare their cry; and my fury shall take indignation, and I will strike you with the sworde, & your wiues shall be widdowes and your children Orphanes.

For which cause the Egiptians were26 scourged with so manie plagues, and with their most cruell King and Tirant PHARAO, who spared not to kil the very Infants27 of the Hebrues; were finally28 drowned: because of their cruelty, more then barbarous, against the Israelites. I haue seene, saith our Lorde, the affliction 29 of my people in Egipt, and I haue hearde their cry, because of the hardnes of those that are ouerseers of the workes: & knowing their griefe, I came downe to deliuer them out of the handes of the Egiptians. For this cause doth our Lorde threaten by ESAIE the Prophet: Woe 30 they that make vniust lawes: & writing, haue written vniustice: that they might oppresse the poore in iudgement, and doe violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widdowes might be their pray, and that they might spoile the fatherlesse. And in the same Prophet there is extant this complaint of cruell and vniust Magistrates: Thy Princes 31 are Infidels, companions of theeues: all doe loue bribes: they follow after rewardes. They do not giue iudgement to the fatherlesse, and the cause of the widdowe doth not enter in vnto them. Againe: their 32 Collectours haue spoiled my people. And there is no doubt, but that Cities & Prouinces by reason of this abominable sinne, which is committed by tirannicall Magistrates, are oftentimes brought into extreame danger.

5. What finally doth the scripture teach, concerning the withholding or diminishing of the labourers wages?

VVE reade in the Apostle S. IAMES how vehemently he doth vpbraide riche men with their cruell sparing, and egregious wickednesse in defrauding poore labourers.33 Beholde the hiere of the workemen that haue reaped your feeldes, which is defrauded by you, crieth: And their cry hath entered into the eares of the Lorde of Sabaoth. And34 Ecclesiasticus writeth in this manner: The breade of the needy, is the life of the poore man: he that defraudeth him is a man of blood. He that taketh awaie the bread in sweate, as he that killeth his neighbour. He that sheddeth bloode and he that defraudeth the hired man, are brethren.

Therefore it is decreed by the law of God: Thou shalt not deny the 35 hiere of thy poore & needie brother, or of the stranger, that abideth with thee in the land, and is within thy gates: but the very same day, thou shalt render to him the price of his labor before the sunsette, because he is poore, and thereby he sustaineth his life: least he cry against thee to our Lord, & it be reputed to thee for a sinne.

6. To what ende is all this discourse of sinnes to be referred, and what is the vse and commoditie thereof?

THis discourse belongeth to the first parte of Christian Iustice, which consisteth in knowing and fleeing of euils: And the vse & commoditie thereof, is, rightlye to discerne, and being discerned, vtterly to eschew those thinges which are verely euels, contrary to God, pernitious vnto men: and if in case any of them be committed; then diligentlie to endeuour to purge the same.

Heereby we learne also how a wise man differeth from a foole, & a iust man from a wicked person. For a wise man 36 feareth, and declineth from euill: but a foole leapeth ouer and is confident. For 37 a foole doth not receiue the words of wisdome, except thou speake those thinges, which his hearte is sette vpon, as witnesse the SALOMON: who also writeth thus: The pathes of iust 38 persons as a bright shining light proceedeth and encreaseth euen vnto a perfect day: the way of the wicked is darke and obscure, they know not where they fall. Many certes are39 shamefully ignorant of those pernitious plagues of the mind, the sinnes that we haue declared: others althoughe they know them neuer so well; yet doe they not auoide and detest them. But worst of all are others who are obdurate40 with the custome of sinne: of which kinde, it is thus said: A wicked 41 man when he is come into the bottome of sinnes, contemneth; but shame and reproch doth followe him. And this kinde of men doth contemne those thinges espeaciallye, which Christian Iustice dothe require, not only for the marking and discerning of vices, but also for the necessary auoiding and purging of the same.

Footnotes

  1. Aug. in En. c 30. & l. ann. in Iob. c. 30. & l. 1. locutionis de Genes. & quaest. 5. super Exod. Greg. 3. par. past. adm. 32. & in 2. Psal. poenit. ↩

  2. Gen. 4, 10. ↩

  3. Gen. 18, 20 ↩

  4. Ex. 22, 23 ↩

  5. Deut. 24, 15. Iac. 5, 4. ↩

  6. Vide Conc. Ancyr. c. 22. & Conc. Epaun. ca. 31. Tribur. c. 54 & sequ. ↩

  7. Gen. 4, 10. Amb. l. 2. de Cain. & Abel. cap. 9. ↩

  8. Gen. 9, 6. Ex. 21, 12.14 Leuit. 24, 17 Num. 35.16.20. Deut. 19, 11 1. Io. 3, 15. ↩

  9. Ps. 54, 24. ↩

  10. Aug. l. 22 contr. Faust. cap. 70. ↩

  11. Mat. 26, 52. Apoc. 13, 10. ↩

  12. Gen. 13, 13. ↩

    1. Pet. 2, 6.
    ↩

  14. Rom. 1, 24. 1. Tim. 1, 10 Ephes. 5, 5. Iudic. 19, 22 & 20, 46. ↩

  15. Gen. 18, 20. ↩

    1. Pet. 2, 6
    ↩

  17. Gen. 19, 13 ↩

  18. Ibid. & Sap. 10, 6. Deut. 29, 23 Iudae. ver. 7. Gen. 13, 10. vide Greg. li. 14. mor. c. 10 Aug. l. 16. de ciu. cap. 30. Tert. in apo. aduers gentes. ca. 40. & in Sod. ca. 4. ↩

  19. Ezec. 16, 49. ↩

  20. Leuit. 18, 22. Deut. 27, 21 vide Chrys. ho. 4. in ep. ad Rom. Tert. in l. de pudicit. c. 4. Aug. lib. 3. conf. cap. 8. & ep. 109. ↩

  21. Leuit. 20, 13.15. Exo. 22, 19. Ioel. 3, 3. ↩

  22. L. Cum vir nubit. C. ad legen Iul. de adult. ↩

    1. Cor. 6, 9. Rom. 1, 24. 1. Tim 1, 10 Gal. 5, 10.11
    ↩

  24. Gen. 38, 9. Hier in cap. 5. epist. ad Ephes. ↩

  25. Exod. 22, 21. Deut. 15, 9. & 24, 10. Eccli. 35, 16. Hier. 21, 12. & 22, 3. Mal. 3, 5. 2. Reg. 12, 1. ↩

  26. Exod. 7. & sequent. ↩

  27. Exod. 1, 8 ↩

  28. Ex. 14, 27 ↩

  29. Exod. 3, 7 ↩

  30. Esa. 10, 1 Deut. 27, 19 Iob. 24, 1. Mat. 23, 14. ↩

  31. Esa. 1, 23. Hier. 5, 28. Zach. 7, 9. Psal. 93, 3. Amos. 5, 11. ↩

  32. Esa. 3, 12.14. ↩

  33. Iac. 5, 4. ↩

  34. Eccli. 34, 25, & 7, 22. ↩

  35. Deut. 24, 14. Leuit. 19, 13 Tob. 4, 15. Mal. 3, 5. ↩

  36. Pro. 14, 16. ↩

  37. Pro. 18, 2 ↩

  38. Pro. 4, 18 ↩

  39. Aug. de gra. & lib. arb. cap. 3. & lib 3. de lib. arb. cap. 22. Bern. epi. 77. ad Hugon. Chrys. hom. 26. in epist. ad Rom. ↩

  40. See before of obstinacie. & Aug. in Enc. cap. 80. ↩

  41. Pro. 18, 3 ↩

Chapter 22 of 36