Nehemiah 5:5 - Homiletics

Human equality.

"Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children." The doctrines of the kinship and equality of all classes of men have a terrible sound when they come from the lips of a starving multitude in times of general distress, and are likely to assume in their minds an exaggerated form, and be pushed to dangerous extremes; but they contain substantial truth, notwithstanding, which, in order that it may not be perverted to evil in troublous times, should be well learnt, and pondered, and applied to practice in quiet times by those who are raised above their fellows in wealth and position.

I. THE ESSENTIAL EQUALITY OF MEN .

1. In nature.

2. In relationships.

3. In affections.

4. In prospects. Must alike die and appear before the bar of God. Will, if accepted, occupy the same heaven; if condemned, be consigned to the same hell.

5. In rights. Which follows from what has been said. The poor and the rich should be "equal before the law," as they are in every well-governed community, civil or ecclesiastical. They are entitled to equal social justice; they should receive like sympathy and brotherly consideration and help in times of loss and suffering.

II. THE DUTIES WHICH ARISE FROM IT .

1. What they are.

2. By whom owing. The poor are bound thus to feel and act to the rich, as well as the rich to the poor; the employed to the employer, as well as the employer to the employed, and the former are as likely to neglect these duties as the latter. Selfishness is not confined to any class. Those, however, who from their circumstances have acquired most of intelligence and culture, and have most power individually, may be expected to take the lead in the understanding and practical application of the truths and duties just stated. In doing so they will show a tender consideration for the feelings of the poor; they will be concerned for their elevation, improvement, and salvation; they will not use their advantages selfishly or hardly (even though legally); they will not push too far the doctrines of political economy, and feel quite content to swell their own fortunes by giving helpless people starvation wages, or lending money at rates ruinous to the borrower, merely because the law of "supply and demand" justifies them; their power will be used to rebuke, restrain, and remedy oppression; to protect and aid the weak; to soften the inequalities of life by kindness and thoughtful charity; and, generally, to bless others rather than aggrandise themselves. In thus acting they will obey the dictates of prudence as well as those of Christianity, and will aid in uniting society by bonds stronger far than Acts of Parliament, armies, or police regulations—bonds which the strain of the most calamitous times will not burst asunder.