011. The Widow Authorized To Pray.
The Widow Authorized To Pray.
Here is an express prohibition to afflict the widow and the fatherless child; and a special warrant, in case they “are in any wise” afflicted, to cry unto God. He avows himself the husband of the one, and the father of the other; and the righteous and ready avenger of. the wrongs of both. “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widow, is God in his holy habitation.” Psalms 68:5. In thus forbidding his people to afflict widows and orphans, he does, in fact, enjoin it upon them to comfort and assist them, and to be ready on all suitable occasions, to show them kindness. In making even just demands upon them, their condition should be considered; but injustice and oppression towards them God declares he will avenge by the retributions of his providence, if they cry to him. And the reason for this particular divine cognizance of their cause is, that they may have no one to whom they can successfully complain, or appeal. Besides, they are supposed to be unversed in business, destitute of advice, timorous, and of a tender spirit. They might find it difficult to bring their cause before a human tribunal; or; if entered there, who would espouse and manage it for them? Hence, God opens the “Chancery Court of Heaven” to them, and himself offers to plead, judge, and avenge their cause. The woe denounced against such oppressors is a fearful one. They shall be paid in kind. “Their wives shall be widows, and their children fatherless.” Such was the divine decree under the former dispensation.
We will not decide that it is just so now; but the widow and the fatherless have God for a father still. They are authorized to bring their wrongs directly before him. And, if he undertake for them, their oppressors have no power to thwart justice, or pervert law, by packing juries, or bribing judges. There is no bribing of the Lord of Hosts.
Pray, then, ye widows, and ye fatherless children; pray! cry! and he that has said, “Remove not the old landmark, and enter not into the fields of the fatherless,” he “will plead your cause,” (Proverbs 23:10-11,) for he has so promised, and he is “mighty.” His truth forever stands secure, He saves the oppressed, he feeds the poor, And none shall find his promise vain.
Such a denunciation may well startle the oppressor of the widow and the fatherless. He may, perhaps, justify his exactions by legal technicalities; or he may imagine that the manner in which his ill-gotten wealth has been obtained is unknown; but there is a God who weighs all things in a righteous balance, and who sees through all disguises. And, therefore, what though the oppressor be rich and prosperous; what though his wife and children be encircling him in all the flush of health, and in all the enjoyments of life; could he look into some retired chamber, at no great distance from his palace, and could he there see the daughter of penury, or the orphan, whose property has been appropriated to build his marble mansion, or goes daily to furnish his table with costly viands; could he see them bending before a just God, and pleading their cause with him; bringing before him his own declaration, “I will surely hear thee,” would not his “countenance change?” would not the “joints of his loins be loosed, and his knees smite one against another?” Not for the riches of Croesus would I live in a habitation garnished with the products of ill-gotten wealth; nor would I see wife and children robed in the silks of India, or sparkling in the gems of Golkonda, if they must be the price of the tears of the widow and the orphan. Rather would I crave the poverty of Lazarus for myself and mine, than know that one prayer—only one, went up to heaven against me; an appeal of a widow, or a fatherless child.