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Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
For sins of ignorance, and those into which men were surprized by unexpected temptations, sacrifices were ordered in the law, and pardon, on certain conditions, promised: But it was not promised presumptuous sinners. To them the law spake nothing but terror. "The soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from his people.
"'He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoreth Him, hath mercy on the poor. If a tinge of selfishness mingle with the hope of future reward, it will be forgiven, I trust, by the great Physician, who, in sublimating human nature, seized upon its selfish elements as powerful agencies in the regeneration of mankind.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
He who reproacheth some private man, taking him to be the king, is thought to have hurt not the private man, but the king himself. But how much more will the King of kings condemn me if I practice the ceremonies which I judge in my conscience to be contrary to the will of God, and to rob him of his royal prerogative?
Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
A custom, we think, some times alluded to in scripture, and expressly delineated in the book of Baruch: "The women also, with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for perfume; but, if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproacheth her fellow that she was not thought worthy as herself, nor her cord broken."
Ajax at brawling valiant still, Whose tongue is used to speaking ill; A tongue so loose hung, and so vain withal, Idomeneus, becomes thee not at all; Ajax thy tongue doth oft offend; For of thy boasting there's no end. Lastly, when Ulysses reproacheth Thersites, he objecteth not to him his lameness nor his baldness nor his hunched back, but the vicious quality of indiscreet babbling.
I say it not for diminishing anything either from the sin or shame of Scotland; the Lord forbid:—we will bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have sinned against him; we will lay our hand upon our mouth, and accept the punishment of our iniquity; we will bear our shame for ever, because our Father hath spit in our face, our rock hath sold us, and our strength hath departed from us;—but I say it by way of answering him that reproacheth in the gates, and by way of pleading for the truth of God.
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