Thy princes are rebellious . . . everyone loveth gifts
Rebellious princes
Instead of suppressing rebellion, they were rebels themselves.
(J. A. Alexander.)
The rebellious princes
I. THE PROFIT OF THEIR PLACES IS ALL THEIR AIM. They love gifts, and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy of them, and never think they can get enough. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes at any time, and make them pervert judgment (Hos_4:18).
II. THE DUTY OF THEM PLACES IS NONE OF THEIR CARE. They ought to protect those that are injured, and take cognisance of the appeals made to them; why else were they preferred? But “they judge not the fatherless,” take no care to guard the orphans, “nor doth the cause of the widow come unto them,” because the poor widow has no bribe to give. Those will have a great deal to answer for, who when they should be the patrons of the oppressed are their greatest oppressors. (M. Henry.)
Audacious corruption
Catiline, being prosecuted for some great offence, corrupted the judges. When they had given their verdict, though he was acquitted only by a majority of two, he said he had put himself to a needless expense in bribing one of those judges, for it would have been sufficient to have had a majority of one. (Plutarch.)
Political corruption in England
The machinery of both sides [Whig and Tory] was unlimited bribery. The degradation of the briber was as great as that of the bribed. Berkeley writes in 1721:--“This corruption has become a national crime, having infected the lowest as well as the highest amongst us.” (Knight’s England.)
Francis Bacon
He was charged by the Commons before the Lords, with twenty-two acts of bribery and corruption. He attempted no defence. He made a distinct confession in writing of the charges brought against him. And when a deputation of peers asked if that confession was his own voluntary act, he replied: “It is my act, my hand, my heart. O my lords, spare a broken reed.” (Knight’s England.)
Corruption in the reign of James I.
It was an age of universal abuses. Local magistrates were influenced by the pettiest gifts, and were called “basket justices.” (Knight’s England.)
Corruption checked by Act of Parliament
[In 1275 Parliament enacted] that no king’s officer should take any reward to do his office, such enactment being one of the many proofs of the inefficiency of law to restrain corruption; for within fourteen years there were only two judges out of fifteen who were not found guilty of the grossest extortions. (Knight’s England.)
