The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

ffERMONS.X'6^his taik-mafler, to the tenant is,Yqu fhall pay, doubleor triple for the farm yoii now poflefs ; or, Y.ou fhalipay the fame fum for the half or third part of it ; thsfarm is diminifhed, but you fliall not diminifh the taleof the bricks, the tale of the bolls, or pounds Sterling.The queftion to the Ifraelites was, " Wherefore haveye not fulfilled your tafk, both yefterday and this day?"'J'hc queftion to our farmers is, Wherefore have yenot paid your Martinmas and your Whitfunday termsrent ? When the Ifraelites could not furnifli the taleof the bricks, they were beaten : Our farmers, whenthey cannot pay, if they be not beaten in a literalfcnfe, are imprifoned, and beaten with hunger ; anything they have is barbaroully taken from them, andthey are turned out and left to the mercy of the wideworld. j.-^^.,. .It is certainly but juft, that the farrier fhould payrent in proportion to the extent and quality of theland he poflefieth ; nay, fome twenty or thirty yearsago, many tenants lived in fuch indolence .and lethargy,that itwas expedient to raife their rents confiderably,in order. to ftir them up to more induilryand labour : But tliere is a meafure in every thingand as rents may be too ' low, tliey may alio be tooi>ut it is perhaps difficult to fay what is a reaforeablerent,or what proportion of the increafe of landthe farmer ought to pay. I remember,, ^that, afterthefeven years famine in Egypt, when the whol^land had become the property of Pharaoh/ Co juftand good a man as Jofeph made it a flanding-.lawf,that the king fliould have the fifth part: