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' • ' > • • • • • • • • • • § . . .， …… :º） …º.. • • ~ ~ ~ ~. ، ، ، ، ، ،= AAAAAAA All.' ^2}< *S º • *-*. º- 2 * * Sº gº ºssº & Pºº* 2- \ // ^EMPER Fº 2: C . /.c 2'2'', 2 r > , $zz//// | 2 | & * i W . A N Ex POSITION OF THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. J. -- J f/02-3'ſ a P R A CT I C A L E X POSITION ON T H E E P T S T L E O F J A M E S. DELIVERED IN WEEKLY LECTURES AT STOKE-NEWINGTON. BY THE REV. THOMAS MANTON, D. D. REVISED AND CORRECTED BY T H E R E V. J A M E S S H E R M A N, MINISTER OF SURREY CHAPEL. LONDON : SAMUEL HOLDSWORTH, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCXL. JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. of 4% . %2- Peré * (Za. t 3 -/-/? 3? S O M E M E Mi O H R S OF THE LIFE AND C H A R A C T E R OF THE REVEREND AND LEARNED THOMAS MANTON, D. D. DR. THOMAS MANToN was born in the year 1620, at Lawrence Lydiat, in the county of Somerset. His father, and both his grandfathers, were minis- ters. He was educated at the free school of Tiver- ton, in Devonshire. He was qualified to enter college at the age of fourteen, which was very un- usual in those days, when the methods of school learning were more difficult and tedious, and youth designed for the University were commonly detained to eighteen or nineteen years of age. But his parents, either judging him too young, or loth to part with him so soon, kept him some time longer before he was sent to Oxford. He was placed in Wadham College in the year 1635; and after pre- paratory studies, he applied himself to divinity, which was the work upon which his heart was chiefly set, and which he designed to make the business of his life.” By a course of unwearied diligence, joined with great intellectual endowments, he was early qualified for the work of the ministry; and took orders much sooner than was usual, and than he himself approved, upon maturer thoughts, and after he had more experience. There is a remarkable passage to this purpose in his Exposition of James; in which he expresses the humblest acknowledg- ment of his fault, and which has proved monitory and affecting to others; he delivered it with tears in his eyes: it is on the nineteenth verse of the first * Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxon. p. 600, says he was ac- counted in his college a hot-headed person; which is as remote from what was known to be the true character of Dr. Mantom, as it is agreeable to his own. If he had not been a hot-headed Writer, he would not every where appear so full of prejudice and spite, nor have thrown out so many rash and injudicious reflections upon the best men of the Established Church, who had any degree of temper and moderation, as well as upon the nonconformists, and reserved his kindness and tenderness to the popishly affected and nonjurors. chapter, “Be slow to speak.” “I remember,” says he, “my faults this day; I cannot excuse myself from much of crime and sin in it: I have been in the ministry these ten years, and yet not fully com- pleted the thirtieth year of my age : the Lord for- give my rash intrusion.” He was ordained by the excellent Joseph Hall, then bishop of Exeter, after- wards removed to Norwich ; who took particular notice of him upon that occasion, and expressed his apprehensions “ that he would prove an extraor- dinary person.”f The times when he first entered into the ministry were full of trouble, the king and parliament being at open variance, and hostilities breaking out on both sides. He was confined to Exeter when it was besieged by the king's forces; after its surrender he went to Lime. He preached his first sermon at Sowton, near Exeter, on those words, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” It was for some time before he had any fixed place for the exercise of his ministry: he first began at Cul- liton, in Devonshire, where he preached a weekly lecture, and was much attended and respected. At his coming to London, he was soon taken notice of as a young man of excellent parts and growing hopes. Here he neither wanted work, nor will to perform it; for he was in the vigour of his youth, and applied himself to it with great diligence and pleasure, for which he was remarkable all his life. + Mr. Wood, ubi supra, says he became a preacher, though not in holy orders, at Culliton, in Devonshire; and afterwards that he took orders at Westminster, from Thomas Bishop of Galloway, in the beginning of 1660. He seems to suppose that he had preached without orders all that time, when he was certainly ordained by Bishop Hall before he was twenty. And though he was ordained only to deacon’s orders, he never would submit to any other ordination. His judgment was, that he was properly ordained to the ministerial office, and that no power on earth had any right to divide and parcel it out. vi MEMOIRS OF THE IIIFE OF THE AUTHOR. About this time he married Mrs. Morgan, who was a daughter of a genteel family of Manston in Sid- bury, Devon. She was a meek and pious woman, and though of a weak and tender constitution, out- lived the Doctor twenty years, who was naturally hale and strong. He had not been above three years in the minis- try before he was presented to the living of Stoke- Newington, in Middlesex, near London, by the honourable Colonel Popham, in whom he had a most worthy and kind patron,” and was highly honoured and esteemed by him and his religious lady. It was here he began and finished his ex- cellent Exposition of the Epistle of James, on his week-day lectures, which he carried on without an assistant, besides his constant preaching both parts of the Lord’s day. This Exposition has been thought by good judges to be one of the best models of ex- pounding Scripture; and to have joined together, with the greatest judgment, the critical explication and practical observations upon the several parts. Some time after, he went through the Epistle of Jude : this, though excellent in its kind, is not so strictly expository, but more in a sermon way; which, he says, was more in compliance with the desires of others than with his own judgment. This was almost finished while he continued at Newing- ton, and was dedicated to the Lady Popham. It is worth observing with what respect and sense of obligation he treats the Colonel and his lady; and so contrary to the modern modish way of address, with what faithfulness at the same time he warns them of their temptations and danger. In his epistle to Lady Popham, he tells her, “It is a lovely conjunction when goodness and greatness meet together. Persons of estate and respect have more temptations and hinderances than others, but greater obligations to own God. The great Land- lord of the world expects rent from every cottage, but a larger revenue from great houses. Now usually it falls out so, that they who hold the greatest farms pay the least rent. Never is God more neg- lected and dishonoured than in great men's houses, and in the very face of all his bounty. If religion chance to get in there, it is soon worn out again. Though vice lives long in families, and runs in the blood from father to son, it is a rare case to see strictness of religion carried on for three or four descents. It was the honour of Abraham’s house, that from father to son, for a long while, they were heirs of the same promise ; but where is there such a succession in the families of our gentry?” The causes of which he reduces to “plenty ill-governed,” which disposes to vice, as a rank soil is apt to breed * See Dedication to the Epistle of James. weeds; and to a certain “false bravery of spirit,” which thinks strictness inglorious, and the power of religion a mean thing; and to “the marriage of children into carnal families,” wherein they consult rather with the greatness of their houses, than the continuance of Christ's interest in their line and posterity. “How careful are they that they match in their own rank for blood and estate should they not be as careful for religion also 2 All this is spoken, madam, to quicken you to greater care in your relation ; and that you may settle a standing interest for Christ, so hopefully already begun, in your house and family. Though your course of life be more private and confined, yet you have your service. The Scripture speaks of women gaining upon their husbands, seasoning the children, en- couraging servants in the ways of godliness, espe- cially of their own sex. It is said of Esther, chap. iv. 16, ‘ I also and my maidens will fast likewise.” These maidens were either Jews, (and then it shows what servants should be taken into a nearer attend- ance, such as savour of religion,) or else, which is more probable, such as she had instructed in the true religion; for they were appointed her by the eunuch, and were before instructed in the court fashions, chap. ii. 9. But that did not satisfy, she takes them to instruct them in the knowledge of the true God; and, it seems, in her apartments had opportunity of religious commerce with them in the worship of God.” He continued seven years at Newington, and possessed the general respect of his parishioners, though there were several persons of different sen- timents from himself. Being generally esteemed an excellent preacher, he was often employed in that work in London on the week days; and other weighty affairs sometimes called for his attendance there. The custom of preaching to the sons of the clergy begun in his time. Dr. Hall (afterwards Bishop of Chester, and son of the famous Bishop Hall of Norwich) preached the first sermon to them, as Mr. Manton did the second. The sermon is printed at the end of the third volume in folio, upon Psal. cii. 28. He was several times, though not so often as some others, called to preach before the parliament, and received their order, in course, for printing his sermons; though, I think, he never published but two of them himself. Some of them are printed among his posthumous works. In all of them the wisdom and judgment of Dr. Manton, in the suitableness of the subject to the circum- stances of the times, and the prudent management of it to the best advantage, are very visible. Par- ticularly after he had given his testimony, among the London ministers, against the death of the king, MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. vii he was appointed to preach before the parliament; his text was Deut. xxxiii. 4, 5, “Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob ; and he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.” When they were highly of. fended at this sermon, some of his friends advised him to withdraw, for some in the House talked of sending him to the Tower; but he never flinched, and their heat abated. His removal from Newington to Covent Garden was occasioned by the great age of Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick, who was now disabled for his work. The people growing uneasy, several worthy persons were proposed for the place; but Mr. Sedgwick would not be prevailed with to resign till Mr. Man- ton was mentioned, and to that he readily yielded. He was presented to the living with great respect and satisfaction by his noble and generous patron the Earl, afterwards Duke, of Bedford, who greatly esteemed him to his dying day; and sent him, as a mark of his respect, a key of the garden which then belonged to Bedford House, either to walk in at his leisure, or as a convenient passage to the Strand. He had in this place a numerous congregation of persons of great note and rank; of which number was oftentimes the excellent Archbishop Usher, who used to say of him, that he was one of the “best preachers in England,” and that he was a “volu- minous preacher;” not that he was ever long and tedious, but because he had the art of reducing the substance of whole volumes into a narrow compass, and representing it to great advantage. Mr. Char- nock used to say of him, that he was the “best collector of sense of the age.” Dr. Manton had a great respect for Mr. Christo- pher Love, who was beheaded in the year 1651, by the then parliament, for being concerned with some others in sending remittances abroad to support the royal family in their distress. I am informed that he attended him on the scaffold at Tower Hill, and that Mr. Love, as a token of his respect, gave him his cloak. The Doctor was resolved to preach his funeral sermon, which the government understand- ing, signified their displeasure, and the soldiers threatened to shoot him ; but that did not daunt him, for he preached at St. Lawrence-Jury, where Mr. Love had been minister, to a numerous congre- gation, though not graced with the pulpit cloth, or having the convenience of a cushion. He was too wise to lay himself open to the rage of his enemies; but the sermon was printed afterwards, under the title of The Saint's Triumph over Death. * Whitlock, who was present, says, He recommended his highness, the parliament, the council, and forces, and the whole The government afterwards, for what reason it was best known to themselves, seemed at least to have an esteem for him, though he was far from courting their favour. When Cromwell took on him the protectorship, in the year 1653, the very morning the ceremony was to be performed, a mes- senger came to Dr. Manton, to acquaint him that he must immediately come to Whitehall. The Doctor, asked him the occasion. He told him he should know that when he came there. The Protector himself, without any previous notice, told him what he was to do, i. e. to pray upon that occasion.* The Doctor laboured all he could to be excused, and told him it was a work of that nature which required some time to consider and prepare for it. The Protector re- plied that he knew he was not at a loss to perform the service he expected from him; and opening his study door, he put him in with his hand, and bid him consider there ; which was not above half an hour. About this time the Doctor was made one of the chaplains to the Protector, and appointed one of the committee to examine persons who were to be ad- mitted to the ministry, or inducted into livings; as he was afterwards appointed one in 1659, by an act of that parliament in which the secluded mem- bers were restored. And though this proved trou- blesome to him, considering his constant employ- ment in preaching, yet he has been heard to say, that he very seldom absented himself from that ser- vice, that he might, to his power, keep matters from running into extremes; for there were many in those days, as well as in these, who were forward to run into the ministry, and had more zeal than knowledge; and perhaps sometimes persons of worth liable to be discouraged. There is a remark- able instance of his kind respect to a grave and sober person who appeared before them, (cap in hand, no doubt,) and was little noticed but by him- self. He, seeing him stand, called for a chair, in respect to his years and appearance; at which some of the commissioners were displeased. This person appeared to be of a Christian and ingenuous temper; for after the restoration he was preferred to an Irish bishopric, perhaps an archbishopric ; for he used to give in charge to Bishop Worth, whose occasions often called him over to England, that on his first coming to London he should visit Dr. Manton, and give his service to him, and let him know, that if he was molested in his preaching in England, he should be welcome in Ireland, and have liberty to preach in any part of his diocess undis- turbed. What interest he had in the Protector he government and people of the three nations, to the blessing and protection of God. Memorials, page 661. - viii MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. never employed for any sordid ends of his own, who might have had any thing from him, but purely to do what service he could to others. He never re- fused to apply to him for any thing in which he could serve another, though it was not always with success. He was once desired, by some of the prin- cipal royalists, to use his interest in him for the sparing Dr. Hewit’s life, who was condemned for being in a plot against the then government; which he did accordingly. The Protector told him, if Dr. Hewit had shown himself an ingenuous person, and would have owned what he knew was his share in the design against him, he would have spared his life; but he was, he said, of so obstinate a temper, that he resolved he should die. The Protector con- vinced Dr. Manton, before he parted, that he knew how far he was engaged in that plot. While he was minister at Covent Garden, he was invited to preach before the lord mayor and court of alderman, and the companies of the city, upon Some public occasion, at St. Paul's. The Doctor chose some difficult subject, in which he had oppor- tunity of displaying his judgment and learning, and appearing to the best advantage. He was heard with the admiration and applause of the more in- telligent part of the audience ; and was invited to dine with my lord mayor, and received public thanks. But upon his return in the for his performance. evening to Covent Garden, a poor man following him, gently plucked him by the sleeve of his gown, and asked him if he were the gentleman who had preached that day before my lord mayor; he re- plied he was. “Sir,” said he, “I came with earnest desires after the word of God, and hopes of getting some good to my soul, but I was greatly disap- pointed; for I could not understand a great deal of what you said; you were quite above me.” The Doctor replied, with tears in his eyes, “Friend, if I did not give you a sermon, you have given me one ; and, by the grace of God, I will never play the fool to preach before my lord mayor in such a manner again.” Upon a public fast at Covent Garden church, for the persecuted protestants in the valleys of Piedmont, Dr. Manton obtained Mr. Baxter, who happened to be then in London, and Dr. Wilkins, who was afterwards Bishop of Chester, to assist him. Mr. Baxter opened the day, and preached upon the words of the prophet, Amos vi. 6, “But they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph.” He, after his manner, took a great compass, and grasped the whole subject. Dr. Manton succeeded him, and had chosen the same text: he was obliged often to refer to the former discourse, and to say every now and then, As it has been observed by my reverend brother. Dr. Wilkins sat very uneasy, and reckoned that between them both he should have nothing left to say; for he had the same text too. He insisted upon being excused, but Dr. Manton obliged him to go up into the pulpit ; and by an ingenious arti- fice he succeeded admirably. Before he named his text, he prepared the audience by expressing the fears of their narrow-spiritedness and little con- cern for the interest of God in the world; for, says he, without any knowledge or design of our own, we have all three been directed to the same words: which, spoken with the majesty and authority pe- culiar to the presence and spirit of that excellent person, so awakened the attention and disposed the minds of the people, that he was heard with more . regard, and was thought to do more good, than both the former, though he had scarce a single thought throughout the sermon distinct from the other two. In the year 1660, he was very instrumental, with many other presbyterian divines, in the restoration of King Charles the Second. It must be owned, by impartial judges, that the presbyterian party, who had the greatest influence in the nation at that time, had the greatest share in that change; nor could all the episcopal party in the three kingdoms have once put it into motion, or brought it to any effect, without them, though they had all the favour and preferment bestowed upon them afterwards; which whether it were more just or politic, more agreeable to the laws of equity or the rules of prudence, I leave to the reader to determine.* Perhaps if the king had been brought in upon the conditions the noble Earl of Southampton would have proposed, and which were approved by the Earl of Clarendon when it was too late, it had prevented a great deal of the arbitrary and violent proceedings of that loose and luxurious reign, and contributed to the safety and happiness of the prince and people too. He was one of the divines appointed to wait upon the King at Breda, where they were well received, and for some time after greatly caressed. The Doctor was sworn one of the king's chaplains by the Earl of Manchester, lord chamberlain, who truly hon- oured him. . He was one of the commissioners at the Savoy conference, and used his utmost endea- vours in that unsuccessful affair. Dr. Reynolds, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, joined with those divines who were for alterations in ecclesiastical affairs; he was the first who received the commis- sion from the Bishop of London, of which he imme- diately acquainted Dr. Manton. The original letter is now in my hands, and expresses the candour and goodness of that excellent person, and his great respect for Dr. Manton. It is in these words: * See Bishop Burnet’s History of his own Times, page 89. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. is SIR, This morning the Bishop of London sent me the commission about revising the Liturgy under the great seal, to take notice of, with direction to give notice to the commissioners who are not bishops: I went to Mr. Calamy, and it is desired that we meet to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, at his house, in regard of his lameness, to advise together, and send a joint letter to those who are out of this town. He and I desire you not to fail, and withal to call upon Dr. Bates and Dr. Jacomb in your way, to desire their company. So, with my best respects, I remain your most loving brother, ED. REYNOLDS, B.N. London, JApril 1, 1660. He was offered at this time the deanery of Ro- chester, which Dr. Harding was in great fear he would accept, and plied him with letters to come to some resolution; having reason to hope that upon his refusal he should obtain it, as he afterwards did. The Doctor kept it some time in suspense, being willing to see whether the king's Declaration could be got to pass into a law; which they had great encouragements given them to expect, and which would have gone a great way towards uniting the principal parties in the nation, and laying the foundation of a lasting peace.* Many persons who had, in the former times, purchased bishops’ and deans’ lands, earnestly pressed him to accept the deanery, with hopes they might find better usage from him in renewing their leases, and offered their money for new ones; which he might have taken, with the deanery, and quitted again in 1662, there being then no assent and consent imposed : but he was above such underhand dealings, and scorned to enrich himself with the spoils of others. When he saw the most prudent and condescending endeavours, through the violence and ambition of some leading men, availed nothing to the peace of the church, and the happiness of the nation, he sat down under the melancholy prospect of what he lived to see come to pass, viz. the decay of serious religion, with a flood of profaneness, and a violent spirit of persecution. The greatest worth, and the best pre- tensions, met with no regard, where there were any scruples in point of ceremony and subscription. ejectment, he was greatly esteemed by persons of the first quality at court. Sir John Baber used to tell him that the king had a singular respect for him. Lord Chancellor Hyde was always civil and obliging to him. He had free access to him upon all occasions, which he always improved, not for himself, but for the service of others. I shall only give a single instance. Mr. James, of Berkshire, who was afterwards known by the name of Black James, an honest and worthy person, was at the point of being cast out of his living, which was a sequestration. He came to London to make friends to the Lord Chancellor, but could find none proper for his purpose. He was at length advised to go to Dr. Manton, to whom he was yet a stranger, as the most likely to serve him in this distress. He came to him late in the evening, and when he was in bed. He told his case to Mrs. Manton, who advised him to come again in the morning, and did not doubt but the Doctor would go with him. He answered, with great concern, that it would be too late; and that if he could not put a stop to it that night, he and his family must be ruined. On so pressing a case the Doctor rose, and because it rained, went with him in a coach to the Lord Chan- cellor at York House; who spying the Doctor in the crowd, where many persons were attending, called to him to know what business he had there at that time of night. When he acquainted him with his errand, my Lord called to the person who stamped the orders upon such occasions, and asked him what he was doing. He answered, that he was just going to put the stamp to an order for passing away such a living : upon which he bid him stop ; and upon hearing further of the matter, bid the Doctor not trouble himself, his friend should not be molested. He enjoyed it to the time of his eject- ment in 62, which was a great support to a pretty numerous family. Upon his refusing the deanery, he fell under his Lordship's displeasure, so fickle is the favour of the great; and he once accused him to the king for dropping some treasonable expres- sions in a sermon. The king was so just and kind as to send for him, and ordered him to bring his notes. When he read them, the king asked whether upon his word this was all that was delivered ; and upon the Doctor's assurance -that it was so, without a syllable added to it, the king said, “Doctor, I am . satisfied, and you may be assured of my favour; 6. In the interval between the restoration and his * The Declaration was drawn up by Lord Chancellor Hyde, and contained, among other things, the following concessions : That no bishop should ordain, or exercise any part of juris- diction which appertaineth to the censures of the church, without the advice and assistance of the presbyters: That chancellors, commissaries, and officials should be excluded from acts of jurisdiction, and the power of pastors in their several congregations restored; and that liberty should be granted to all ministers to assemble monthly, for the exercise of their pastoral persuasive power, and the promoting of know- ledge and godliness in their flocks: That ministers should be free from the subscription required by the canon, and from the oath of canonical obedience; and that the use of the ceremo- mies should be dispensed with, where they were scrupled. X MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, but look to yourself, or else Hyde will be too hard for you.” In whatsoever company he was, he had courage, as became a faithful minister of Christ, to oppose sin; and, upon proper occasions, to reprove sinners. Duke Lauderdale, who pretended to carry it with great respect to him, in some company where the Doctor was present behaved himself very inde- cently; the Doctor modestly reproved him, but the Duke never loved him afterward. He was once at dinner at Lord Manchester's, in Whitehall, when several persons of great note began to drink the king's health, a custom which then began to be much in vogue, and was commonly abused to great disorders. When it came to him, he refused to comply with it, apprehending it beneath the dignity of a minister to give any countenance to the sinful excess it so often occasioned in those times. It put a stop to it at that time; and Prince Rupert, who was present, inquired who he was. Many of the Scotch nobility greatly respected him, particu- larly the Duchess of Hamilton, who attended his ministry. Notwithstanding the great and weighty affairs then on foot, which took up a great part of his time, he never omitted his beloved work of con- stant preaching, to the time of his ejection in 1662. He then usually resorted to his own church, where he was succeeded by Dr. Patrick, the late Bishop of Ely. It happened that Dr. Patrick, receiving a scurrilous letter from an unknown person, full of reflections upon himself, had so little wisdom at that time as to charge it upon Dr. Manton, in a letter to him, with very unbecoming reflections. This occasioned his not attending any more his preaching; for no man living more abhorred a base and unworthy action. But Bishop Patrick, in his advanced age, and in a public debate in the House of Lords, about the Occasional Bill, took the oppor- tunity to declare himself to this purpose, “That he had been known to write against the dissenters with some warmth, in his younger years; but that he had lived long enough to see reason to alter his opinion of that people, and that way of writing; and that he was verily persuaded there were some who were honest men, and good Christians, who would be neither, if they did not ordinarily go to church, and sometimes to the meeting; and, on the other hand, some were honest men, and good Chris- tians, who would be neither, if they did not ordina- rily go to the meetings, and sometimes to church.” A rare instance this of retractation and moderation; which I think redounds greatly to his honour, and is worthy of imitation. After he ceased to attend upon Dr. Patrick’s ministry, he used to preach on the Lord's day even- * ings in his own house, to his family and some few of his neighbours; and some time after on Wed- nesday mornings, when the violence of the times would allow it. Upon the increase of his hearers, he was obliged to lay two rooms into one, which yet by reason of the number of the people, and the straitness of the place, proved very inconvenient to him, especially in hot weather, and prejudicial to his health. He had lived in that respect and good- will in the parish, that his neighbours were gener- ally civil to him, and gave him no trouble ; only a little before his ejectment, one Bird, a tailor, com- plained to Dr. Sheldon, then Bishop of London, that Dr. Manton deprived him of the means of his salvation; meaning the use of the Common Prayer. “Well,” says the Bishop, “all in good time; but you may may go to heaven without the Common Prayer.” There was one Justice Ball within a few doors of him, who often threatened him, and was at last as good as his word. He was sometimes in danger from the churchwardens, of which number there were always three. The Duke of Bedford having always the choice of one, took care to choose a friend to the Doctor; and his well-known respect to him gave him countenance and protection from the malice of the meaner people. His meeting afterwards adjoined to Lord Wharton’s house in St. Giles's, of which he allowed him the conveni- ence, whether he was in town or not. The good- natured Earl of Berkshire lived next door, who was himself a Jansenist papist; and offered him the liberty, when he was in trouble, to come to his house; which it was easy to do, by only passing over a low wall which parted the gardens. In the year 1670, the meetings seemed for some time to be connived at, and were much attended. I remember to have heard some of the worthy ejected ministers speak of this period with particular plea- sure; they observed, that after the looseness and excess which followed the restoration, the re- proaches and persecutions of the nonconformists for several years, and the late terrible judgments of plague and fire, multitudes every where frequented the opened meetings, some from curiosity, and some upon better motives; and many were delivered from the prejudices they had entertained, and re- ceived the first serious impressions upon their minds. God remarkably owned their ministry at that time, and crowned it, under all their disadvantages, with an extraordinary success. Soon after this indul- gence expired, the Doctor was taken prisoner, on a Lord's day in the afternoon, just after he had done his sermon: the door happened to be opened to let a gentleman out at the very time the Justice and his attendants were at the door, who immediately MEMOIRS 6).F THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. xi rushed in, and went up stairs; but finding the Doctor in his prayer, they stayed till he had done, and then took the names of the principal persons. The Doctor being warm with preaching, they were so civil to take his word to come to them after some convenient time. He went to them to a house in the Piazzas, where many persons of note were ga- thered together; among whom was the then Duke of Richmond. After some discourse, they tendered him the Oxford oath : upon his refusing to take it, they threatened to send him to prison. It was thought they questioned their own skill to draw up a warrant which would be sufficient to hold him, and that it was afterward drawn up by the Lord Chief Justice Vaughan. They dismissed him, how- ever, at that time, upon his promise to come to them within two or three days, and then gave the war- rant to a constable, and committed him to the Gate- house; only allowing him a day's respite, till his room could be got ready. This imprisonment, by the kind providence of God, was more favourable and commodious than could have been thought, or than his enemies designed, or than he expected. The keeper of the prison at that time was the Lady Broughton, who was noted for her strictness and severity in her office, though she behaved quite otherwise towards the Doctor; for she allowed him a large handsome room joining to the Gatehouse, with a small one sufficient to hold a bed. For some time it was not thought prudent to admit any to come to him but his wife, and servant who attended him. It is worth notice here, that the Doctor could not omit his delightful work of preaching, though to so small a congregation; which he did, according to his former custom, both parts of the Lord’s day, and once on a week-day. After some time, his children and some few friends, to the number of twelve or fifteen, were admitted to hear him preach. The Lady Broughton was highly civil and obliging, and placed a great confidence in him. When she designed to go for a little time into the country, she would have ordered the keys of the common jail to be brought to him every night: the Doctor, smil- ing, told her, that he, being a prisoner himself, "could not think it proper to be the keeper or jailer to others. However, no person had the opening and shutting of the door of the house where he was but his own servant; so that he might have gone out of prison when he pleased, for any restraint he was under. When the town was pretty empty, he ventured, once with his keeper and once without, to visit his worthy friend Mr. Gunston, of Newing- ton, who was agreeably surprised to see him, as he had a very high and hearty respect for him. Thus, like Joseph, he found “favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison;” and the keeper of the prison would have committed to his hands all the prisoners who were in the prison.* This, it must be owned, was a milder confinement, and gentler usage, than many others met with in those days, who lay under long and close confinements, and suffered confisca- tion of goods, and banishment, and death. This protestant persecution fell short indeed of dragoon- ing, and dungeons, and galleys, in France ; and of the racks and tortures of the inquisition in Spain : but that a person of Dr. Manton's worth and merit should be thought to deserve such treatment from a government of which he helped to lay the found- ations; and which he not only never injured, but had served in circumstances of danger and import- ance, when others of less desert and pretensions had all the opportunities of public service, and all the favour and preferment; I believe, will appear shocking, at this distance, to all impartial lovers of liberty, and of their country; and fix a brand for ever upon the gratitude and politics of those times. Some time after his imprisonment, when the in- dulgence was renewed, he preached in a large room taken for him in White-hart Yard, not far from his house; but there also he was at length disturbed. A band of rabble came, on the Lord’s day morning, to seize him ; but the Doctor having notice of it over-night, escaped their fury. Mr. James Bedford was obtained to preach for him, who had taken the Oxford oath. When they found themselves disap- pointed, they were in a great rage, and took the names of several; but did not detain the minister ; for their malice was levelled against the Doctor. The good Lord Wharton was there, whom they pretended not to know ; and upon his refusing to tell them his name, they threatened to send him to prison; but they thought better of it. The place was fined forty pounds, and the minister twenty; which was paid by Lord Wharton. Sir John Baber, his near neighbour, and who owed all his preferment at court to the Doctor's interest there, continued his hearty friend, though a great courtier. He often visited the Doctor, by which means he had opportunity of greater intelli- gence than most others. About this time there happened some difference among the ministers of the city about the manner of addressing the king for his indulgence. Some contended earnestly to have it expressed more largely, and others opposed it; for though they always thought they had a right to their liberty, they feared giving any countenance to the dispensing power, or advantage to the pa- pists; which were things well known to be in view, and much at heart at that time. The difference * Gen. xxxix. 21, 22. xii MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, came to be known at court, and there were appre- hensions of ill consequences. Sir John Baber car- ried Dr. Manton and Dr. Bates to Lord Arlington's at Whitehall, who was then secretary of state; it was supposed by his order. When they were to- gether, the king, to their great surprise, came into the room; it was thought, by design. Dr. Bates pressed Dr. Manton to address the king for his in- dulgence; which he did in a few words, and with great caution; but it was kindly accepted by the king, and well approved by the ministers, when it was communicated to them ; and put a happy end to their contentions about it.* It was by the means of Sir John Baber that Dr. Manton and Mr. Bax- ter were invited to confer with the Lord Keeper Bridgman, about a comprehension and toleration, in the year 1668. They afterwards met with Dr. Wilkins and Dr. Burton. Proposals were drawn up and corrected by mutual consent ; in pursuance of which the excellent Judge Hale prepared a bill to be laid before the next session of parliament; but it was rejected upon the first motion by the high church party. In the year 1674, Dr. Manton and Mr. Baxter, with Dr. Bates and Mr. Pool, met with Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Stillingfleet, to consider of an accommodation, by the encouragement of several Lords spiritual and temporal; they can- vassed several draughts, and at length all agreed in one. But when it came to be communicated to the bishops, several things in which they had agreed could not be obtained, and the whole design mis- carried. So easy a thing it has ever been found for wise and sober men to adjust matters of differ- ence, and agree upon terms of accommodation, when nothing will satisfy unreasonable prejudice, and where the lust of power, and the bias of inter- est, strongly lead men the other way. When the indulgence was more fully fixed in 1672, the merchants, and other citizens of London, set up a lecture at Pinners' Hall. Dr. Manton was one of the six first chosen, and opened the lecture. He was much concerned at the little bickerings which began there in his time, and afterwards broke out into scandalous contentions, and an open divi- sion at last. Mr. Baxter was often censured for his preaching there ; and once published a sheet upon that occasion, which he called, An Appeal to the Light. His preaching upon these words, “And ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life,” in which he fully justified the great God, and laid the blame of men's destruction upon themselves, though it was followed by another upon these words, “Without me ye can do nothing,” occasioned a * Dr. Manton gives a particular account of this interview, in a letter to Mr. Baxter. Life, Part III. p. 37. great clamour against him, among some people ; of which he complained to Dr. Manton. The Doctor, on his next turn, in the close of his sermon, pretty sharply rebuked them for their rash mistakes, and unbecoming reflections upon so worthy and useful a person. It was observed, that his reproof was managed with so much decency and wisdom, that he was not by any reflected upon for his freedom therein. He has been heard to express his esteem for Mr. Baxter in the highest terms, viz. that he thought him one of the most extraordinary persons the Christian church had produced since the apos- tles' days; and that he did not look upon himself as worthy to carry his books after him. This was the opinion of one who knew him with the greatest intimacy for many years, and was a great judge of true worth. When he first began to grow into ill health, he could not be persuaded by his friends and phy- sicians to forbear preaching for any considerable time; which had been the delightful work of his life. He was at length prevailed with to spend some time at Woburn with Lord Wharton, for the benefit of the air; but finding little good by it, he returned to town on the beginning of the week, in order to administer the Lord’s supper the next Lord’s day; of which he gave notice to his people, but he did not live to accomplish it. The day be- fore he took his bed he was in his study; of which he took a solemn leave, with hands and eyes lift up to heaven, blessing God for the many comfortable and serious hours he had spent there ; and waiting in joyful hope of a state of clearer knowledge and higher enjoyments of God. At night he prayed with his family under great indisposition, and re- commended himself to God’s wise disposal; desir- ing, “If he had no further work for him to do in this world, he would take him to himself;” which he expressed with great serenity of mind, and an unreserved resignation to the Divine good pleasure. When he went to bed, he was suddenly seized with a kind of lethargy, by which he was deprived of his senses, to the great grief and loss of his friends who came to visit him. He died October 18, 1677, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and lies interred in the chancel of the church of Stoke-Newington. Dr. Bates preached his funeral sermon, who had a most affectionate esteem for him, very frequently visited him, always advised with him in matters of moment, and, for some years after his death, would weep when he spoke of him. He says of him, “His name is worthy of precious and eternal me- mory; God had furnished him with a rare union of † Dr. Calamy’s Abridgement, Vol. I. p. 317, 342. † Dr. Bates’s Works, p. 771. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, xiii those parts which are requisite to form an eminent minister of his word: a clear judgment, a rich fancy, a strong memory, and happy elocution met in him, and were excellently improved by his diligent study. In preaching the word he was of conspicuous emi- nence, and none could detract from him but from ignorance or envy. He was endowed with an ex- traordinary knowledge of the Scripture; and in his preaching gave such conspicuous accounts of the order and dependence of Divine truths, and with that felicity applied the Scripture to confirm them, that every subject, by his management, was culti- wated and improved. His discourses were so clear and convincing, that none, without offering violence to conscience, could resist their evidence; and from hence they were effectual, not only to inspire a Sudden flame, and raise a short commotion in the affections, but to make a lasting change in the life. His doctrine was uncorrupt and pure, the truth according to godliness. He was far from the guilty, vile intention to prostitute the sacred ordinances for acquiring any private secular advantage; neither did he entertain his hearers with impertinent sub- tilties, empty notions, intricate disputes, dry and barren, without productive virtue; but as one who always had in his eye the great end of his ministry, the glory of God and the salvation of men. His sermons were directed to open their eyes, that they might see their wretched condition as sinners, to hasten their flight from the wrath to come, and make them humbly, and thankfully, and entirely receive Christ, as their Prince and all-sufficient Saviour; and to build up the converted in their holy faith and more excellent love, which is the ‘ fulfilling of the law;’ in short, to make true Christians eminent in knowledge and universal obedience. “And as the matter of his sermons was designed for the good of souls, so his way of expression was proper for that end. His style was not exquisitely studied, not consisting of harmonious periods; but far distant from vulgar meanness. His expression was natural and free, clear and eloquent, quick and powerful; without any spice of folly; and always suitable to the simplicity and majesty of Divine truth. His sermons afforded substantial food with delight, so that the fastidious mind could not disrelish them. He abhorred a vain ostentation of wit in handling Sacred truths, so venerable and grave, and of eter- nal consequence. His fervour and earnestness in preaching was such as might soften and make pliant the most stubborn and obstinate spirit. I am not speaking of one whose talent was only voice, who laboured in the pulpit as if the end of preaching were the exercise of the body, and not for the profit of souls. But this man of God was inflamed with holy zeal, and from thence such expressions broke forth as were capable of procuring attention and consent in his hearers. He spake as one who had a living faith within him of Divine truth. From this union of zeal with his knowledge, he was ex- cellently qualified to convince and convert souls. His unparallelled assiduity in preaching declared him very sensible of those dear and strong obliga- tions which lie upon ministers to be very diligent in that blessed work. This faithful minister abounded in the work of the Lord; and, which is truly ad- mirable, though so frequent in preaching, yet was always superior to others, and equal to himself. He was no fomenter of faction, but studious of the public tranquillity: he knew what a blessing peace is, and wisely foresaw the pernicious consequences which attend divisions. “Consider him as a Christian, his life was an- swerable to his doctrine. This servant of God was like a fruitful tree, which produces in the branches what it contains in the root. His inward grace was made visible in a conversation becoming the gospel. His resolute contempt of the world secured him from being wrought upon by those motives which tempt low spirits from their duty. He would not rashly throw himself into troubles; nor spreta conscientia, avoid them. His generous constancy of mind in resisting the current of popular humour declared his loyalty to his Divine Master. His charity was eminent in procuring supplies for others, when in mean circumstances himself. But he had great experience of God’s fatherly provision, to which his filial confidence was correspondent. I shall finish my character of him by observing his humility: he was deeply affected with the sense of his frailty and unworthiness; he considered the in- finite purity of God, and the perfection of his law, the rule of duty; and by that humbling light dis- covered his manifold defects. He expressed his thoughts to me a little before his death: ‘If the holy prophets were under strong impressions of fear, upon extraordinary discoveries of the Divine pre- sence, how shall we poor creatures appear before the holy and dreadful Majesty 2 It is infinitely terrible to appear before God, the Judge of all, without the protection of the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.” This alone relieved him, and supported his hopes. Though his labours were abundant, yet he knew that the work of God, passing through our hands, is so blemished, that without appealing to pardon- ing mercy and grace, we cannot stand in judg- ment.” This was the subject of his last public sermon, upon 2 Tim. i. 18, which was published xiv MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. from his notes, with the second edition of his Fu- neral Sermon. Mr. Collins, a man of a most sweet and obliging temper, as well as of great abilities and worth, on his turn to preach at the Merchants’ lecture, after the Doctor's death, took great notice of it; and was much affected with the loss of so valuable a person. Good old Mr. Case used to say, long be- fore his death, that he should live to preach his funeral sermon; and he did preach upon that occa- sion, when he was almost dead himself, for he was above eighty years of age. His text was 2 Kings x. 32, “In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short.” After he had considered the text, he came to speak of several worthy ministers cut off by death about that time, as well as others cut off by the laws which forbade their preaching. The last he named was Dr. Manton; at the mention of his name he stopped, and wept for some time, before he could proceed, and then said, “If I had men- tioned no other but Dr. Manton, I might well say that God began to cut England short;” with other expressions of his love and esteem. He had always a high opinion of the Doctor's preaching, and would often urge him to print. When the Doctor answered him, That he had not time in the midst of such constant employments to prepare any thing, with due care, for the public view; he would reply, You need only send your notes to the press when you come out of the pulpit. He was a person of general learning, and had a fine collection of books, which sold for a consider- able sum after his death ; among which was the noble Paris edition of the Councils, in thirty volumes in folio, which the bookseller offered him for sixty pounds, or his sermons on the 119th Psalm. He began to transcribe them fair, but finding it too great an interruption in the frequent returns of his stated work, he chose rather to pay him in money. His great delight was in his study, and he was scarce ever seen without a book in his hand, if he was not engaged in company. He had diligently read the fathers and the principal schoolmen, which was a fashionable piece of learning in those times. And though he greatly preferred the plain- ness and simplicity of the former, to the art and subtilty of the latter; yet he thought that we were more properly the fathers, who stood on their shoulders, and have the advantage of seeing farther, in several respects, than they did. Perhaps scarce any man of the age had more diligently studied the Scripture, or was a greater master of it. He had digested the best critics and commentators, and made a vast collection of judicious observations of his own ; which appears in the pertinent and sur- prising use of the Scripture upon all occasions, and the excellent glosses which are every where to be found in his writings. As he had a great reverence for the Scripture himself, so he was observed to show a great zeal against using Scripture phrases lightly, in common conversation, or without a due regard to the sense and meaning of them; as a pro- fanation of the Scripture, and a great dishonour to God. Dr. Bates used to say that he had heard the greatest men of those times sometimes preach a mean sermon, but never heard Dr. Manton do so upon any occasion. This will appear the less sur- prising, if we consider the great care he took about them; he generally writ the heads and principal branches first, and often writ them over twice after- wards; some copies of which are now in being. When his sermon did not please him, nor the mat- ter open kindly, he would lay it aside for that time, though it were Saturday night; and sit up all night to prepare a sermon upon an easier subject, and more to his satisfaction. If a good thought came into his mind in the night, he would light his candle, and put on his gown, and write sometimes for an hour together, at a table by his bedside, though the weather was ever so cold. He was well read in all the ancient and modern history, which he made his diversion, and in which he took a particular pleasure. This, by the advantage of an excellent judgment and strong memory, made his conversa- tion very instructing and entertaining, and recom- mended him particularly to young gentlemen, who used to visit him after their travels: he would dis- course with them as if he had been with them upon the spot, and bring things to their remembrance which they had forgot; and sometimes, to their great surprise, show a greater acquaintance with things abroad, attained by reading, than they had got by all the labour and expense of travelling. The celebrated Mr. Edm. Waller, who first refined the English poetry, and brought it to the ease and correctness in which it now appears, used to say of him, upon this account, that “he never discoursed with such a man as Dr. Manton in all his life.” By this means he became a great judge of men and things, and was often resorted to by persons of the greatest note and figure in the world. He took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in the year 1639, and was created Bachelor of Divinity in 1654; and by virtue of his Majesty's letters was created Doctor of Divinity, at the same time with Dr. Bates and several of the royalists, in 1660. It was pleasantly said upon this latter occasion, that none could say of him that creatio fit ea nihilo, having both learn- ºf ing and a degree before. He was a strict observer of family religion. His t" t M.EMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XV method was this: he began morning and evening with a short prayer, then read a chapter; his chil- dren and servants were obliged to remember some part of it, which he made easy and pleasant to them by a familiar exposition; then he concluded with a longer prayer. Notwithstanding the labours of the Lord's day, he never omitted, after an hour's respite, to repeat the heads of both his sermons to his family, usually walking, and then concluded the day with prayer and singing a psalm. His great acquaintance with the Scriptures, and deep seriousness of mind, furnished him with great pertinency and variety of expression upon all occasions; and preserved a great solemnity and reverence in all his addresses to God. : His prayer after sermon usually contained the heads of his sermon. He was noted for a lively and af. fectionate manner of administering the Lord's sup- per. He consecrated the elements of bread and wine apart; and whilst they were delivering, he was always full of heavenly discourse. He would often utter, with great fervour, those words, “Who ~ is a God like unto thee, pardoning iniquity, trans- gression, and sin 2 ” and illustrate, in an affecting manner, the glory of the Divine mercy to the lost world, in the death of Christ; and pathetically re- present the danger of those who neglect and slight their baptismal covenant, and how terrible a witness it would be against them at the day of judgment. Monday was his chief day of rest, in which he used to attend his visitors. On his Wednesday lecture several persons of considerable quality and distinction, who went to the Established Church on the Lord’s day, would come to hear him. One observing to him, that there were many coaches at his doors on those days; he answered, smiling, I have coach hearers, but foot prayers. And yet he was far from the love of filthy lucre ; for when it was proposed to him to bring his hearers to a sub- scription, he would not yield to it, but said his house should be free for all as long as he could pay the rent of it. Some of his parishioners, and others who attended his ministry, used to present him, about Christmas, with what they collected among themselves, which was seldom above twelve or thirteen pounds. He had several persons of the first rank who belonged to his congregation; as the Countesses of Bedford, Manchester, Clare; the Ladies Baker, Trevor, the present Lord Trevor's mother; the Lord and Lady Wharton, and most of their children, &c. By this means he had always a considerable collection for the poor at the sacra- ment; which was a great pleasure to him. He used to say sometimes pleasantly, that he had money in the poor's bag, when he had little in his own. This he sometimes distributed among poor minis- ters, who were many of them, at that time, in strait circumstances, as well as the poor of the congrega- tion. Though he was a man of great gravity, and of a regular unaffected piety; yet he was extremely cheerful and pleasant among his friends, and upon every proper occasion. His religion sat easy, and well became him ; and appeared amiable and lovely to others. He greatly disliked the forbidding rigours of some good people, and the rapturous pretensions of others; and used to say, he had found it by long observation, that they who would be over-godly at one time, would be under-godly at another. I shall conclude with this summary account of his person and character: He was of a middle sta- ture, and of a fair and fresh complexion, with a great mixture of majesty and sweetness in his coun- tenance. In his younger years he was very slender, but grew corpulent in his advanced age; not by idleness or excess, for he was remarkably temperate and unweariedly diligent; he had naturally a little appetite, and generally declined all manner of feasts: but by a sedentary life, and the long confinement of the Five Mile Act, which, he used to complain, first broke his constitution. In short, perhaps few men of the age in which he lived had more virtues and fewer failings; or were more remarkable for general knowledge, fearless integrity, great can- dour and wisdom, sound judgment and natural eloquence, copious invention and incredible indus- try, zeal for the glory of God, and good-will to men; for acceptance and usefulness in the world, and a clear and unspotted reputation, through a course of many years, among all parties of men. TO THE HONOURABLE COLONEL ALEXANDER POPHAM, M. P. SIR, DEDICATIONs, though often abused to vain flattery, are of ancient use, and may be of great profit. The custom is the less to be disparaged, because we find it hallowed by the practice of St. Luke, one of the penmen of the Holy Scriptures, who inscribes both his Gospel and the Acts to Theophilus, Luke i. 3; Acts i. 1; a person not only eminent in religion, but dig- nified by birth and station;” and which has been imitated by the holy men of God in all ages: their aim in such inscriptions being, partly, to signify their thankfulness for favours received by this public and spiritual way of return; partly, to oblige persons eminent for the respect of the church, and by the honour of their name to commend their labours to public accept- ance; and partly, by an innocent guile to bring them under greater obligation to profess and practise the truths of religion. It is usual in Scripture to ascribe a testimony, producible at the day of judgment, to the more notable circumstances and accidents of human life; as to the rust of hoarded money, James v. 3, to the solemn publication of the gospel, the dust of the apostles’ feet, &c., Matt. x. Thus in primitive times, when grown persons were bap- tized, they were accustomed to leave a stool and white garment in the vestry of the church for a testimony and witness. Wherefore when one Elpidophorus had revolted from the faith, the deacon of the church came and told him, O Elpidophorus, I will keep this stool as a monument against thee to all eternity. And books, being public monuments, are much of this nature, a testimony likely to be produced in the day of judgment, not only against the author, but also against the persons to whom they are inscribed, in case on either side there has been any defection in judgment or manners from the truths therein professed; for be- ing consigned to their respect and patronage, they are drawn into a fellowship of the obligation. Sir, there are many reasons why I should prefix your name to this work. Besides the general relation you have to Stoke-Newington, where, by the blessing of God, I have en- joyed a quiet and successful ministry and service in the word for these seven years, I have good cause to remember your frequent attendance upon these lectures, and your counte- nancing religion, while the Lord continued your abode amongst us; your private respect to my-person, and your often repairing those breaches which at any time were made in my estate by the hand of violence: for all which, if the Lord would make me an instrument, by the present exercises, of promoting your spiritual welfare, or warming your heart into any elevation of zeal and religious eminence, that by your example others may be provoked to the emulation of like virtue, I shall have my aim, and the fruit of my prayers. By this inscrip- tion the book is become not only mine, but yours; you own the truths to which I have witnessed: and it will be sad for our account in the day of the Lord, if, after such a solemn profession, you or I should be found in a carnal and unregenerate condition. Good sir, make it your work to honour Him who has advanced you. The difference of high and low, rich and poor, is only calculated for the present world, and cannot outlive * So much I conceive is intimated in that form of address, kpóttarre 6eoq,w}\a. So Acts xxiv. 3, kpártoºra pºtá; Acts xxvi. 25, kpóttarre Bijarre; in both which places we render it, “most noble.” And so it is applied by Justin Martyr to Diognetus, to whom he gives an account of the Christian religion, kpótloºrs Atóyvnºra. Justin. Mart. Epist. ad Diog. b xviii THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. time. In the grave, at the day of judgment, and in heaven, there are no such distinctions. The grave takes away all civil differences; skulls wear no wreaths and marks of honour: “The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master,” Job iii. 19. So at the day of judgment; “I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God,” Rev. xx. 12. None can be exempted from trial at Christ’s bar. When civil differences vanish, moral take place. The distinction is good and bad, not great and small. O sir, then you will see that there is no birth like that to be born again of the Spirit; no tenure like an in- terest in the covenant ; no estate like the inheritance of the saints in light; no magistracy like that whereby we sit at Christ’s right hand, judging angels and men, 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. How will the faces of great men gather blackness, which now flourish in the pomp and splendour of an outward estate, but then shall become the scorn of God, of saints, and of angels | Those holy ones of God shall come forth and say, “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness,” Psal. lii. 7. Ah, sir, wealth and power are of no use in that day, unless to aggravate and increase judgment. Many that are now despicable, so obscure that they are lost in the account of the world, shall then be taken into the arms of Christ; he will not be ashamed to confess them man by man before his Father, Luke xii. 8: Father, this is one of mine. O it is sweet to hear such an acknowledgment out of Christ’s own mouth. So also in heaven there are none poor; all the vessels of glory are filled up : if there be any differ- ence in the degree, the foundation of it is laid in grace, not greatness. Sir, you will find in this Epistle * that men of your rank and quality are liable to great corruptions; they soon grow proud, sensual, oppressive, worldly, and stubborn against the word: I went to the great men, but they had altogether broken the yoke, Jer. v. 5. To a spiritual eye the condition is no way desirable, but as it gives greater advantages of public usefulness, and of a more diffusive charity. Greatness f has nothing greater than a heart to be willing, and a power to be able, to do good. Then it is a fair resemblance of that per- fection which is in God, whof differs from man in nothing so much as the eternity of his being, the infiniteness of his power, and the unweariedness of his love and goodness. It is the fond ambition of man to sever these things. We all affect to be great, but not good; and would be as gods, not in holiness, but power. Nothing has cost the creature dearer since the creation; it turned angels into devils, and Adam out of Paradise. In these times we have seen strange changes: God has been contending with the oaks and cedars, Amos ii. 9, and staining all worldly glory. Certainly there is no security in any thing on this side Christ; whatever storm comes, you will find his bosom the surest place of retreat. The Lord give you to lay up your soul there, by the sure repose of a lively and active faith. Sir, you will bear with my plainness and freedom with you. Other addresses would neither be comely in me, nor pleasing to you. Our work is not to flatter greatness, but in the Scripture sense, not in the humour of the age, to level mountains, Luke iii. 5. Now, sir, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ bless you with all spiritual blessings in Christ; with your pious consort, your hopeful buds, and all the worthy relatives and branches of your family; that the name of Popham may yield a sweet and fresh perfume in the churches of Christ; which I desire to fix here, as the prayer of him who is, Sir; Yours in all Christian observance, THOMAS MANTON. * See the notes on James i. 9–11; ii. 1–7 ; v. 1–5. f Nihil habet fortuna magma majus quamut possit, et natura bona melius quam utvelit benefacere quam plurimis. Tullius Orat. pro Rege Deiotaro. * 2 .xy º Ti Tpíg £orrtu èv oſs Suaq,ápov čarty & 980s, aiétórnºr (6ms, Treptovariº Suvágrews, kal uſ 6ta\ettreu eitroteiu Tois &vöpótrovs. emistius, AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER. GooD READER, TT is usual with those who publish books to premise somewhat by way of excuse and acknowledgment of the unworthiness of what they publish; which, setting aside the modest sense which every man should. have of his own endeavours, seems not to be without guilt. If it be unworthy, the excuse will not make it better, or more passable; for this is to adventure upon a crime against conviction, and if we may allude to a matter so weighty, is somewhat like Pilate's case, who washed his hands, and yet condemned Christ. Usually such professions are but counterfeit, and that praise which men seem to neglect, or beat back at the first hop, they readily take at next rebound, which certainly is a vain and wicked artifice in Divine matters. For besides the hypocrisy, there is a disparagement done to the precious truths which they publish, whilst they would seem to weaken the esteem of them, that they may more plausibly promote their own honour. The best that can be said is, that every man in public would appear in a better dress than common infirmity will allow; and that he comes to his work not out of choice, but constraint. For my own part, though I know apologies of this nature are little credited, I can freely profess that I had no desire to appear in public, as conceiving my gifts fitter for private edification; and being humbled with the constant burden of four times a week preaching, what could I do? And if I had a wish to publish my labours, some will wonder that I made choice of this subject, which was conceived in my very youth, and without the least intention of any further publication than to the auditory which then attended upon it; but it being an entire piece, and being persuaded by the renewed importunity of many gracious ministers and Christians that it might conduce somewhat to public benefit, I was willing to be deaf to all considerations of my own credit and fame. Wherein is that to be accounted of, if one poor soul receive comfort and profit P. The Epistle of Jude was with this licensed to the press; but being wearied with this, and the constant returns of my other employment, and hearing that another learned brother, Mr. Jenkyns, intends to publish his elaborate Medi- tations on that Epistle, I shall confine my thoughts to that privacy to which I had intended these, had they not been thus publicly drawn forth. The matter herein delivered will, I conceive, be found holy and use- ful. If any expression should be found that savours not of true piety, or suits not with reverence to God, love to our Lord Jesus Christ, charity to men, or zeal of good works, I do from my soul wish it expunged, and shall upon conviction take the next occasion to retract it. I know some are prejudiced against en- deavours of this kind, as if nothing could be said but what has been said already. For my part, I pretend to nothing novel; and though no other things can be said, yet they may be more fully explained, and with more liveliness of phrase and expresssion, every truth receiving some savour from the vessel through which it passes: and yet, I may speak it without arrogance, some arguments thou wilt find improved for thy further edification; and therefore I may suppose, though there be now some glut, this book may crowd. forth in the throng of comments. I confess I have made use of those who have formerly written upon this Epistle, and upon others' instigation, that the work might be more complete, more than I at first intended; yet, I hope, I cannot be said to boast “in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand,” 2 Cor. x. 16. For thy direction in this work, I entreat thee to compare the notes with the exposition, especially if thou dost at any time stick at the genuineness of any point. “Well then,” so often repeated, is the usual note of the use or practical inference. If the style seem too abrupt, know that I sometimes reserved myself for a sudden inculcation and enlargement. The great controversy of justification I have handled as largely as the Epistle would permit, and the state of the auditory would bear: had I been aware of some controversies arisen since amongst us, I should have said more; yet, take it all together, enough is said as to my sense, and for vindicating this Epistle. If some passages are again repeated, which I suppose will seldom happen, impute it to the multitude of my employment. I never saw the work all together; and my thoughts being scattered to so many subjects throughout the week, I could not always so distinctly remember what I had written. In short, if thou receivest any benefit, return me but the relief of thy prayers for an increase of abilities, and a faithful use of them to the Lord’s glory, and I shall be abundantly recompensed. IIPOMETOMENA, OR, A PREFACE: WHEREIN, BESIDES AN EXPLICATION OF THE TITLE, SEVERAL NECESSARY PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS ARE HANDLED AND DISCUSSED. - I INTEND, by the assistance of God’s Holy Spirit, in the weekly returns of this lecture, to handle the Epistle of James. It is full of useful and prac- tical matter. I have the rather chosen this scrip- ture, that it may be an allay to those comforts which in another exercise I endeavoured to draw Out of the 53rd of Isaiah. I would at the same time carry on the doctrine both of faith and man- ners, and show you your duties, together with your encouragements, lest, with Ephraim, you should only love to tread out the corn, and refuse to break the clods, Hos. x. 11. We are all apt to divorce comfort from duty, and to content our- selves with a barren and unfruitful knowledge of Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. i. 8; as if all that he required of the world were only a few naked, cold, and inactive apprehensions of his merit; and all things were so done for us, that nothing remained to be done by us. This is the wretched conceit of many in the present age, and therefore either they abuse the sweetness of grace to looseness, or the power of it to laziness. Christ’s merit and the Spirit's efficacy are the common places from whence they draw all the defences and excuses of their own wantonness and idleness. It is true, God has opened an excellent treasure in the church, to defray the debts of humble sinners, and to bear the expenses of the saints to heaven; but there is nothing allowed to wanton prodigals, who spend freely, and sin lavishly, upon the mere account of the riches of grace. As in your chari- table bequests, when you leave money in the way of a stock, it is to encourage men in an honest calling, not to feed riot and excess. left a sum for drunkards 2 or a stock to be em- ployed in dicing or gaming? Again, I confess, whatever grace does, it does freely; we have “grace for grace,”* John i. 16; that is, grace for * X&ouv &vti Xáplºros, id est, non pro ullo merito, sed ex mera bomitate, quod alibi distinctius enunciat apostolus, xa- piqua Ta kard. Tiju Xápuu, Rom. xii. 6. Grot, in loc. Who ever . grace's sake. But there is a difference between merit and means; a schoolmaster may teach a child freely, and yet he must take pains to get his learning: and there is a difference between causali- ty and order; mercy is never obtained but in the use of means. Wisdom's dole is dispensed at Wis- dom's gate, Prov. viii. 34. But the use of means does not oblige God to give mercy; there are conditions which only show the way of grace's working. Again, I grant that closing with Christ is an excellent duty, and of the highest importance in religion; but in Christ there are no dead and sapless branches. Faith is not an idle grace; wherever it is, it fructifies in good works. To evince all this to you, I have chosen to explain this Epistle; the apostle wrote it for the same reason, namely, to prevent or check their mis- prisions, who cried up naked apprehensions for faith, and a barren profession for true religion: such unrelenting lumps of sin and lust were there, everi in the primitive times, gilded with the specious name of Christians. The Epistle in our translation bears this title, “The Epistle general of James;” in the Greek, Iakóðov toà 'AtrogróAov 'Ettoroxi, ka00Atk), The catholic or general Epistle of James the Apostle: for the clearing of which, before I enter upon the body of the Epistle, give me leave to premise these questions. 1. Whether this Epistle be of Divine authority ? 2. Concerning the subordinate author or in- strument, James, what James this was 2 3. What was the time of writing it? 4. The persons to whom it was written ? 5. What are the occasion, matter, and scope of it 2 6. The reason of that term in the title, catholic or general 2 . . - I. Concerning the Divine authority of this Epistle. I desire to discuss it with reverence and trembling. It is dangerous to loosen foundation THE PREFACE TO THE WHOLE EPISTLE. xxi stones. I should wholly have omitted this part of my work, but that the difference is so famous; and to conceal known adversaries is an argument of fear and distrust. The Lord grant that the cure may not be turned into a snare, and that vain men may not unsettle themselves by what is in- tended for an establishment. Some passages in Jerom and Eusebius gave occasion to doubt this Epistle, in which they seem, at least by reporting the sense of others, to infringe the authority of it. I shall give you the passages, and then show you what little reason there is why they should justle James out of the canon. The passage of Eusebius runs thus:* Kai Tū karð rôv Iákw8ov, oi, j, trpárm Töv 'EttoroMöv, Táv Óvopačopévov ka00\ków, sival Aéyétat, ioréov &g voffeteral pºv' oil ToxAoi yoiv Töv TáAat airfic #plvmpióvevo av, Öc obôé Tſic Aeyopiévng Iowda, piac kai airfic oianc Töv \eyopiévov ka00\t- köv Špoc 3’ topºev kai Tairac perú Tâv \otirov čv TActorate ékk\matac, &c.; that is, And these things concerning James, whose Epistle that is reported to be, which is the first among the Epistles called universal; yet we are to understand that the same is not void of suspicion;f for many of the ancients make no mention thereof; nor of Jude, being also one of the seven called universal: yet notwithstanding we know them to be publicly read in most churches: so far Eusebius. The other passage of Jerom is this: I Jacobus zºnam dazzłºm Scripsit Epistolam, gzice et psa ab alio Q?codanz Szub ejacs nomine edita esse asseritºr, Micet pazzlatém tempore procedente obtimaterit azº- thoritatem; that is, James wrote but one Epistle, which is also said to be put forth by another in his name, though by little and little in process of time it gained authority in the church. These are the clauses which first begat a doubt of this Epistle, but without reason. These two authors reporting the sense of others rather than their own: and if any part of Scripture ought to be laid aside because some have questioned it, the devil would soon obtain his purpose. One time or another the greatest part of it has been impeached by men of a wicked and unsober wit, who when they could not pervert the rule to gratify their purposes, reflected a scorn and contempt upon it. * Euseb. lib. 2. Hist. Eccles. cap. 23. + So Dr. Hammer renders the words, tortéov way dºs voffstarrat. f Hieron. in Catal. Eccles. Script. § Vid. Hieron. quest. 3, ad Hedibium et Euthymium. || Sextus Senensis Bibl. Sanct. lib. 1. cap. 23, 24. ‘ſ Hieron. adversus Pelag. lib. 2. ** Vid. Caranzae summa Conciliorum, p. 7. tº Eusebius himself distinguishes it from those that are plainly spurious, lib. 3. Eccles. Hist. c. 25. ji Dr. Whitaker denies it, as not finding it in his works; but Now it would exceedingly furnish the triumphs of hell, if we should think their private cavils to be warrant sufficient to weaken our faith; and besides, disadvantage the church by the loss of a most considerable part of the canon: for the case does not only concern this Epistle, but many others; as the Second of Peter, the Second and Third Epistles of John, the Book of the Revelation, the last chapter of Mark, § some passages in Luke xxii., || the beginning of the eighth chapter of John," some passages in chap. v. of the First Epistle of John. And if this liberty be allowed, where would profaneness stay, and the flood of atheism stop its course? But besides all this, why should a few private testimonies prejudice the general consent of the church, which has trans- mitted this Epistle to us, together with other parts of the New Testament 2 For if we go to external testimony, there is no reason but the greater number should carry it; and it would be easy to instance councils and fathers, who by a unanimous suffrage have commended this Epistle to the faith and reverence of the church. Those canons which commonly go under the name of the Apostles' * (though I build not much upon that testimony) decreed it to be received for Scripture; so the Council of Laodicea, can. 59; so of Milevis, cap. 7; so the third Council of Carthage, cap. 47; of Orange, cap. 25; Concilium Cabilonense, cap. 33; of Toledo, cap. 3. So for the consent of the most ancient fathers,ff by whom it is quoted as Scripture; as by Ignatius, Epist. ad Ephesios, &c. You may see Brochmand, in Prolog. Epist. Jacob. and Jodocus Coccius The- saurus Theologicus, tom. 1. lib. 6. art. 23. Read also Dr. Rainolds de libris Apocryphis, tom. l. praelect. 4, &c. Out of all which you may see what authority it had among the ancients. Of late, I confess, it has found harder measure. Cajetan and Erasmus show little respect to it. Luther plainly rejects it; and for the incivility and rude- ness of his expression, in calling it Stramineam Epistolam, as it cannot be denied, if so it is not to be excused. Luther himself seems to retract it, speaking of it elsewhere with more reverence: Epistolam hanc quamvis rejectam a veteribus, it is generally granted that this was Luther’s expression, it be- ing found in his German Bibles, printed 1528. The words, as recorded by Brochmand, are these : Epistola Jacobi were straminea. Epistola est, collata cum Evangelio Johannis et ejus Epistola prima, et cum Epistolis Paulinis, imprimis quae ad Romanos, Galatas, Ephesios, scriptae sunt; nec enim geni- um indolemque habet Evangelicam. So in his Comment on Gen. in cap. 22, he says, Facessant de medio adversarii, cum suo Jacobo, quem toties nobis objiciunt. xxii THE PREFACE TO THE WHOLE EPISTLE. pro utili tamen et non contemmenda habeo, vel ob hane causam quod nihil plane humance doctrince offerat, ut legem Dei fortiter urgeat, verum ut mean de îlla sententiam candide promam eatra prajudicium, eaſistimo nullius esse apostoli, Luth. praef. Epist. Jacob. ; that is, This Epistle, though not owned by many of the ancients, I judge to be full of profitable and precious matter, it offering no doctrine of a human invention, and strongly urging the law of God; yet in my opinion (which I would speak without prejudice) it seems not to be written by any apostle: which was the error and failing of this holy and eminent servant of God; and therein he is followed by others of his own profession, Osiander, Camerarius, Bugenhag, &c.; and Althamerus, whose blasphe- mies are recorded by Grotius in his Rivetian Apol. Discuss. p. 170, and by him unworthily urged to reflect a scorn upon our churches. Con- cerning this Andreas Althamerus, see learned Rivet's Reply, in his AtáAvoic, Grot. Discuss. p. 480. However, Luther is herein deserted by the modern Lutherans, who allow this Epistle in the canon, as is plain by the writings of Hunnius, Menzer, Gerhard, Walther, &c. Brochmand, a learned Lutheran, and bishop of Seland in Den- mark, has written a worthy comment upon this Epistle, to whom (though I received it late, and when this work was in a good progress) I have been beholden for some help in this Exposition, especially in the critical explication of some Greek words, and most of the quotations out of the So- cinian pamphlets; and for whom I acknowledge myself indebted to the courtesy of that learned and worthy gentleman, Colonel Edward Leigh, to whose faithfulness and industry the church of God owes so much. - The reasons which moved Luther to reject this Epistleshall be answered in their proper places. By his own testimony cited before, it contains nothing repugnant to other scriptures; it savours of the genius of the gospel as well as other writings of the apostles; and though he seems to make little mention of Christ and the gospel, yet if you con- sider it more thoroughly, you will find many passages looking that way. The Epistle of Paul to Philemon has been hitherto reputed canonical, yet it treats not of the merits and death of Christ. I confess the style which the apostle uses is more rousing; much of the Epistle concerns the carnal Hebrews, as well as those who had taken upon themselves the profession of Christ: in short, it has a force upon the conscience, and is not only delivered by the church, but sealed to our use and are. comfort by the Holy Ghost, as other scriptures It was written by an apostle, as other Epistles taken into the canon, as the inscription shows; and there is no reason why we should doubt this title more than Paul's name before his Epistles. It is true there were some spurious writings which bore the names of the apostles, as the Acts of Andrew, the Liturgy of St. James, the Canons of the Apostles, Luke's History of the Acts of Paul and Tecla, Mark's Life of Barnabas, the Gospel of Paul. But all these, by the just hand of God, had some mark of infamy impressed upon them, by the enforcement of matters false or ridiculous, or contrary to the truth of doctrine or history. But this Epistle has nothing con- trary to the truth of religion, nor unbeseeming the gravity of it, and the majesty of other scrip- tures; therefore upon the whole we may pro- nounce, That it being presented to us with these advantages, it has a just title to our respect and belief, and should be received in the church with the same esteem and reverence which we bear to other scriptures. II. The subordinate author, James. There is some controversy about stating who the right per- son was. In general, it is certain he was an apostle; no Epistles but theirs being received into the rule of faith : and it is no prejudice that he styles himself the servant of the Lord, for so does Paul often, as we shall prove anon in the explica- tion of the first verse. But now, among the apostles, there were two called by the name of James; James the son of Zebedee, and James the son of Alpheus. Many of the ancients indeed thought there were three of this name; Jacobus major, or of Zebedee ; Jacobus minor, or of Alpheus; and James the brother of the Lord, called also Chobliham, or Oblias, or James the Just, whom they thought not to be an apostle, but bishop of Jerusalem : Jerom calls him decimum tertium apostolzam, the thirteenth apostle, in Isa. lib. 5. c. 7. Dorotheus makes him one of the seventy, the first in his catalogue, but without reason : for indeed there were but two Jameses,” this latter James being the same with him of Al- pheus; for plainly the brother of the Lord is reckoned among the apostles, Gal. i. 19, and called a pillar, Gal. ii. 9. He is called the brother of the Lord, because he was in that family to which Christ was numbered. Some suppose his mother's sister's son, the son of Mary of Cleophas, who * And no more are reckoned by Clemens and Eusebius, yea, by the Scripture itself, among the apostles: see Matt. x. 2, 3; Mark iii. 17, 18, - THE PREFACE TO THE WHOLE EPISTLE. xxiii was sister to the Virgin : now Cleophas and Al- pheus are one, as a learned author supposes,” though Junius contradicts it in Epist. Judae, sub initio; and Rabanus saith, after the death of Al- pheus she married Cleophas: but however it be, this James is the same, which is enough for our purpose. Well, then, there being two, to which of these is the Epistle to be ascribed ? The whole stream of antiquity ascribes it to the brother of the Lord, who (as I said) is the same with Jacobus minor, or the son of Alpheus; and with good reason, the son of Zebedee being long before be- headed by Herod, even at the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel, Acts xii. 2. But this Epistle must needs be of a later date, as alluding to some passages already written, and noting the degeneracy of the church, which was not so im- mediately. There are some few indeed of another judgment, as Flavius Dexter, Julius Toletanus, Didacus Daza, and others, cited by Eusebius Neirembergius, a Spanish Jesuit, who also brings the authority of an ancient Gottish Missal to this purpose, together with reasons to prove this to be the first New Testament scripture that was writ- ten, and all to devolve the honour of the Epistle upon the Spanish saint Jacobus major. But this is contrary to the decree of the Trent Council, which ascribes it to James the brother of the Lord. Well, then, James the less is the person whom we have found to be the instrument which the Spirit of God used to convey this treasure to the church. Much may be said of him, but I shall contract all into a brief sum. He was by his private calling a husbandman, ; by public office in the church an apostle, and especially called to the inspection of the church in and about Jerusa- lem, either because of his eminence and near re- lation to Christ, or for the great esteem he had gained among the Jews; and therefore when the other apostles were going to and fro, disseminating the word of life, James is often found at Jerusa- lem: see Gal. i. 18, 19; Acts i. 13; xv. 13, &c. For his temper, he was of an exact strictness, ex- ceeding just, and therefore called Oblias,S and James the Just; yea, so just, that Josephus makes the violence offered to him to be one of the causes of the Jewish ruin, Joseph. Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 16; of so great temperance, that he drank neither * Herbert Thorndike on the Primitive Government of the Church, p. 11—13, who discusses this matter at large, and satisfactorily. f Eusebius Neirembergius de Origine Sac. Script. lib. 11. cap. 15—19. † Clemens, 1.2. Constit. Apostol. cap. 63. § Chobliham is interpreted by Clemens, areptox; Toij A&ov šu Čukatoo-jun ; by Epiphanius, Teixos roſſ A&ov. wine nor strong drink, and ate no flesh ; so pious, that his knees were made like a camel's hoof by frequent prayer. His death happened six years before that of Peter, thirty-eight years before that of John, in the sixty-third year of Christ, if chronology be true. He died a martyr: they would have him persuade the people to abandon the doctrine of Christ; which, when he refused, and pressed the contrary, he was thrown down from a pinnacle of the temple, and his brains dashed out with a fuller's club, and so gave up the ghost. See these things set forth at large by Eusebius, lib. 2. cap. 23. et ibi citatos. III. The time when this Epistle was written. It cannot be exactly stated. It is placed first among the catholic Epistles, either as first written, or first received into the canon, though in the ranking of it there is variety. In the Greek Bibles it sustains the same place which we assign to it. Some think the Epistle of Peter was first written. But in so great an uncertainty who can determine any thing 2 Certain we are that it was written after heresies were somewhat grown, and before Jerusalem drew to its end; for what St. James threatens St. Paul takes notice of as accomplished, 1 Thess. ii. 16; speaking of the people of the Jews, he says, “Wrath is come upon them ’’ eig réAog, “to the uttermost ;” which is de- nounced in chap. v. of our apostle. The critical reader, that would know more of the time and order of this Epistle, I refer to Eusebius Neirem- bergius, lib. 11. de Origine Sacrae Scripturae, c. 15. IV. The persons to whom he wrote are specified in the first verse, “To the twelve tribes,” &c., which we shall explain anon; let it suffice for the present, that he writes chiefly to those among them that were gained to the faith of Christ, though there are many passages interspersed which concern the unbelieving Jews: see chap. v. 1, and the reasons there alleged in the exposition. V. For the occasion, matter, and scope, you may take it thus: certainly one great occasion was that which Austin || notices, namely, the growth of that opinion in the apostles' days, that faith was enough to salvation, though good works were neglected. It is clear that some such thing was cried up by the school of Simon. Now Sa- maria being nigh to Jerusalem, our apostle, whose | Excitata fuit tempore apostolorum opinio, sufficere solam fidem ad salutem obtinendam, si vel maxime bona opera negli- gerentur; contra quam opiniomem apostolicæ Epistolae Petri, Johannis, Jacobi, Judae maxime dirigunt intentiomem ut vehe- menter adstruant fidem sine operibus nihil prodesse. Aug. lib. de Fide et Operibus. f THE PREFACE TO THE WHOLE EPISTLE. xxiv. inspection was mostly confined to those churches, might, rather than others, take notice of it. But this concerns but a part of the Epistle. The more general occasion was the great degeneracy of faith and manners, and the growth of libertine doctrines; as about God being the author of sin, the sufficiency of empty faith and naked profes- sion, &c. When the world was newly ploughed and sowed with the gospel, these tares came up together with the good corn. As also, to comfort God’s children against the violence of the perse- cutions then exercised upon them, and to awaken the men of his own nation out of their stupid se- curity, judgments being even at the door, and they altogether senseless. Therefore the whole Epistle is fraught with excellent instructions, how to bear afflictions, to hear the word, to mortify vile affections, to bridle the tongue, to conceive rightly of the nature of God, to adorn our profes- sion with a good conversation, with meekness, and peace, and charity; finally, how to behave our- selves in the time of approaching misery. All these, and many other doctrines, are scattered throughout the Epistle; so that you may see it is exceedingly useful for these times. , VI. Concerning the title, catholic or general Epistle, which is the title given all the seven latter Epistles, I answer, in some copies it is kavovik), canonical; but probably that is an error. Why then catholic 2 Many reasons are given : CEcumenius, and out of him Beza, thinks it is be- cause they were not inscribed to any particular nation or city, as Paul’s are to Rome, Corinth, &c. But this holds not in all, some of John’s be- ing dedicated to private persons, to Gaius, and the elect lady. And then there must be more than seven, that to the Hebrews being directed to the same persons to which Peter and James wrote theirs. Some say, because they contain universal doctrine, or the public treasure of the universal church; but that would seem to derogate from the other Epistles, and to prefer these before them. Pareus thinks they were merely called so by an inconsiderate custom. But most probably the reason is to vindicate their authenticness, and to distinguish them from the Epistles of Barnabas, Ignatius, Clemens, and Polycarp, which, though ancient, never made up any part of the rule of faith; and so not to derogate from the other Epistles, but to join these to them.* These things premised, I come by God’s assistance to handle the Epistle itself. * Ecclesia vetus has Epistolas canonicas et catholicas ap- pellavit, non ut aliis quidquam adimeret, sedut has illis contra nonnullorum sententias adjungeret. Junius in Judam, p. 16. AN EXPOSITION OF THE G E N E R A L EPISTLE OF JAM E. S. CHAPTER I. VERSE 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. “JAMEs.” There were two of this name; the son of Zebedee, and the son of Alpheus; the latter is the author of this Epistle, as in the prefatory discourse on the title more fully appears. , “A servant of God.” The word 605Aoç is some- times used to imply an abject and vile condition, as that of a slave or bond-man; so the apostle Paul, when he saith, “Bond or free are all one in Christ,” Gal. iii. 28; for “bond” he uses the word 305Aoc; and this great apostle thinks it an honour to be 305Aog, the servant of God. The lowest ministry and office about God is honourable. * But why not apostle P Grotius sup- poses the reason to be, because neither James the son of Zebedee, nor James of Alpheus, was the author of this Epistle, but some third James; not an apostle, but president of the presbytery at } erusalem : but that we have disproved in the pre- 3. Ce. tleship, I. Because there was no need, he being eminent in the opinion and repute of the churches; therefore Paul saith he was accounted a pillar and main column of the Christian faith, Gal. ii. 9. Paul, whose apostleship was enviously questioned, avouches it often. 2. Paul himself does not in every Epistle call himself an apostle; sometimes his style is, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,” Philem. I ; sometimes, “Paul, a servant of Christ,” Phil. i. 1; sometimes nothing but his name “Paul” is prefixed, as I Thess. i. l ; 2 Thess. i. 1. “And of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Some take both these clauses in a conjoined sense, as applied to the same person, and read it thus, A servant of Jesus Christ, who is God and Lord ; as indeed this was one of the places urged by the Greek fathers for the Godhead of Christ against the Arians. But our read- ing, which disjoins the clauses, is to be preferred, as being least strained, and more suitable to the apos- tolical inscriptions. Neither is the dignity of Christ B Grot. in locum. I answer therefore, he mentions not his apos- hereby impaired, he being proposed as an object of equal honour with the Father; and as the Father is Lord as well as Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ is God as well as the Father. Well, then, James is not only God’s servant by the right of creation and providence, but Christ's servant by the right of redemption; yea, especially deputed by Christ as Lord, that is, as Me- diator and Head of the church, to do him service as an apostle. And I suppose there is some special reason of this disjunction, “a servant of God and of Christ,” to show his countrymen, that in serving Christ he served the God of his fathers; as Paul pleaded, that in standing for Christ he only stood for the hope of the promise made unto the fathers, unto which promise the twelve tribes, serving God day and night, hope to come, Acts xxvi. 6, 7. “To the twelve tribes;” that is, to the Jews and people of Israel, chiefly those converted to the faith of Christ; to these James writes, as the minister of the circumcision, Gal. ii. 9. And he writes not in Hebrew, their own tongue, but in Greek, as being the language then most in use; as the apostle Paul writes to the Romans in the same tongue, and not in Latin. “Which are scattered abroad,” raic v rá 6tag tropä, i. e. to those which are in, or of, the dispersion. But what scattering or dispersion is here intended ? I answer, 1. Either that which was occasioned by their ancient captivities, and the frequent changes of na- tions; for some Jews still lived abroad, and are sup- posed to be intended in that expression, “Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles P” John vii. 35. Or, 2. More lately by the persecution spoken of in Acts viii. I. Or, 3. By the hatred of Claudius, who commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, Acts xviii. 2. And it is probable that the like was done in other great cities; the Jews, and amongst them the Christians, being every where cast out, as John out of Ephesus, and others out of Alexandria. Or, 4. Some voluntary dispersion, the Hebrews living here and there among the Gentiles a little before the de- clension and ruin of their state, some in Cilicia, some in Pontus, &c. Thus the apostle Peter writes, “To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Cappa- docia, Asia, and Bithynia,” 1 Pet. i. 1. -- * * “. * 2x *. 2 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. so frequent in Scripture. “Greeting,” Xaípstv ; a usual salutation, but not Cajetan thinks it profane and paganish, and therefore questions the Epistle; but unworthily. We find the same salutation some- times used in holy writ, as to the Virgin Mary, Luke i. 28, xaips, the same word that is used here, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured.” So Acts xv. 23, “The apostles, and elders, and brethren send” xatosiv, “greeting, unto the brethren which are of the Gen- tiles.” Usually it is “grace, mercy, and peace,” but sometimes “greeting.” The observations which arise out of this verse are the following. Obs. 1. That inward privileges are the best and most honourable, and spiritual kin is to be preferred before carnal. “James, a servant of God,” was Christ's near kinsman according to the flesh, and therefore by a Hebraism is called “the brother of the Lord,” Gal. i. 19 ; not properly and strictly, as e , Joseph’s son (which yet was the opinion ;a;ry of some of the ancients) by a former sºn, and marriage, but his cousin. Well, then, & James the Lord’s kinsman calls him- self the Lord’s servant. Mary was happier, gestando Christum corde quam utero, in having Christ in her heart than in her womb; and James, in being Christ's servant than his brother. Hear Christ himself speak- ing to this point: when “one said unto him, Be- hold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee,” Christ answered, “Who is my mother P and who are my brethren P And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren for who- soever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,” Matt. xii. 47–50. The truest relation to Christ is founded in grace, and we are far happier in receiving him by faith than in touching him by blood; and he that endeavours to do his will, may be as sure of Christ's love and esteem, as if he were linked to him by the nearest outward relations. Obs. 2. It is no dishonour to the highest to be Christ's servant. James, whom Paul calls a pillar, calls himself “a servant of Christ;” and David a king saith, “I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wick- edness,” Psal. lxxxiv. 10. The office of the Nethi- mims, or door-keepers in the temple, was the lowest; and therefore when the question was proposed, what they should do with the Levites, who had warped from God to idols, God saith, “They shall bear their iniquity;” that is, they shall be degraded, and employ- ed in the lowest offices and ministries of the temple, which was to be porters and door-keepers: see Ezek. xliv. 10—13. Yet saith David, “I had rather be a door-keeper:” carnal honour and greatness is nothin to this. Paul was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews,” Phil. iii. 5, that is, of an ancient Hebrew race and extrac- tion ; there being, to the memory of man, no prose- lyte in his family, or among his ancestors, which was accounted a very great honour by that nation; yet saith Paul, I count all but akö6axa, dung, in com- parison of an interest in Christ, Phil. iii. 8. Obs. 3. The highest in repute and office in the church are still but servants. “James a servant.” “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ,” I Cor. iv. l. The sin of Corinth was man- worship, in giving excess of honour and respect to those teachers whom they admired, setting them up as heads of factions, and giving up their faith to their dictates. The apostle seeks to reclaim them from that error, by showing that they are not masters, but ministers. Give them the honour of a minister and Steward, but not that dependence which is due to the Master only. See 2 Cor. i. 24, “We have not do- minion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy:” we are not to prescribe articles of faith, but explain them. So the apostle Peter bids the elders not be- have themselves as “lords over God’s heritage,” I Pet. v. 3, not master it over their consciences. Our work is mere service, and we can but persuade, Christ must impose upon the conscience. It is Christ's own advice to his disciples in Matt. xxiii. 10, “Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ.” All the authority and success of our teach- ing is from our Lord. We can prescribe nothing as necessary to be believed or done, which is not ac- cording to his will or word. In short, we come not in our own name, and must not act with respect to our own ends; we are servants. Obs. 4. In all services we must honour the Father and the Son also. “A servant of God and of Jesus Christ.” God will have all to “ honour the Son as they honour the Father,” John v. 23; that is, God will be honoured and worshipped only in Christ. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me,” John xiv. 1. Believing is the highest worship and respect of the creature; you must give it to the Son, to the second person, as Mediator, as well as to the Father. To du- ties so that you may honour Christ in them; and so, First, Look for their acceptance in Christ. Oh, it would be sad if we were only to look to God the Father in duties Adam hid himself, and durst not come into the presence of God till the promise of Christ. The hypocrites cried, “Who shall dwell with devouring fire?” Isa. xxxiii. 14. Guilt can form no other thought of God by looking upon him out of Christ; we can see nothing but majesty armed with wrath and power. But now it is said, that “ in Christ we have boldness and access with confidence,” Eph. iii. 12; for in him those attributes, which are in themselves terrible, become sweet and comfortable; as water, which is salt in the ocean, being strained through the earth, becomes sweet in the rivers. That in God which out of Christ strikes terror into the soul, in Christ begets confidence. Secondly, Look for your assistance from him. You serve God in Christ when you serve God through Christ : “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me,” Phil. iv. 13. When your own hands are in God’s work, your eyes must be to Christ's hands for support in it : “As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,” &c., Psal. cxxiii. 2. You must go about God’s work with his own tools. Thirdly, Have an eye to the interests of Jesus Christ in all your service of God. We must live to him that died for us, 2 Cor. v. 15; not only to God in the general, but to him, to God, that died for us. You must see how you advance his kingdom, propa- gate his truth, further the glory of Christ as Mediator. Fourthly, Do all for Christ's sake. In Christ God has a new claim in you; and ye are bought with his blood, that ye may be his servants. Under the law, the great argument to obedience was God’s sovereign- ty, Thus and thus ye shall do, I am the Lord, as Lev. xix. 37, and in other places; now, the argument is gratitude, God’s love, "God's love in Christ: “The love of Christ constraineth us,” 2 Cor. v. 14. The apostle often persuades by that motive, Be God’s servants for Christ’s sake. Obs. 5. God looks after his afflicted servants; he moveth James to write to the scattered tribes. “To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” The care of Heaven flourishes towards you when you wither. A man would have thought these had been driven away from God’s care, when they were driven away from the sanctuary. “Thus saith the Lord WER. I. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 3 God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanc- tuary in the countries where they come,” Ezek. xi. 16. Though they wanted the temple, yet God would be a little sanctuary. He looks after them to watch their spirits, that he may apply seasonable comforts; and to watch their adversaries, to prevent them with Seasonable providences. He looks after them to watch the seasons of deliverance, that he may gather her that was driven out, Micah iv. 6; and make up his jewels, that seemed to be carelessly scattered and lost, Mal. iii. 17. Obs. 6. God’s own people may be dispersed, and driven from their countries and habitations. God has his outcasts; he saith to Moab, “Pity my out- casts;” and the church complains, “Our inheritance is turned to strangers,” Lam. v. 2. Christ himself had not where to lay his head; and the apostle tells of some of whom the world was not worthy, that “they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” Mark, they wandered in the deserts, as Chrysostom says, &\\d kai écsi èvrec àgévyov, the retirement and privacy of the wilderness not yielding them a quiet and safe abode. So in Acts viii. 4, we read of the primitive believers, that “they were scattered abroad every where.” Many of the chil- dren of God in these times have been driven from their dwellings; but you see we have no reason to think the case strange. Qbs. 7. There was something more in their scat- tering than ordinary. They were a people whom Gods for a long time had kept together under the wings of providence. That which is notable in their scattering, is, (1.) The severity of God’s justice ; the twelve tribes, his own people, are scattered. It is ill resting on any privileges, when God’s Israel may be made strangers. Israel was all for liberty, therefore God saith, “I will feed them as a lamb in a large place,” Hos. iv. 16. God would give them liberty and room enough. As a lamb out of the fold goes up and down bleating in the forest or wilderness, without comfort and companion, in the midst of wolves and the beasts of the desert; liberty enough, but danger enough so God would cast them out of the fold, and they should live a Jew here, and a Jew there, thinly scat- tered and dispersed throughout the countries, among a people whose language they understood not, and as a lamb in the midst of the beasts of prey. O con- sider the severity of God’s justice; certainly it is a great sin that makes a loving Father cast a child out of dogrg. Sin is always driving away and casting out; it drove the angels out of heaven, Adam out of Paradise, and Cain out of the church, Gen. iv. 12, 16, and the children of God out of their dwellings: “Our dwellings have cast us out,” Jer. ix. 19. Your houses will be weary of you when you dishonour God in them, and you will be driven from those comforts which you abuse to excess: riot doth but make way for rapine. You shall see in Amos vi. 5, when they were at ease, in Zion, they would prostitute David's music to their sportiveness and common banquets; they “invent to themselves instruments of music, like David.” But for this God threatens to scatter them, and to remove them from their houses of luxury and pleasure; and when they were driven to the land of a stranger, they were served in their own kind, the Babylonians required of them temple music, “saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion,” Psal. exxxvii. 3. Nothing but a holy song would serve their profane sport. And so in all such-like cases, when we are weary of God in our houses and families, Chrysost. in Heb. Xl. Cap. our houses are weary of us. David’s house was out of order, and then he was forced to fly from it, 2 Sam. xv. O then, when you walk in the midst of your comforts, your stately dwellings and houses of pomp and pleasure, be not of Nebuchadnezzar's spirit, when he walked in the palace of Babylon, and said, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” Dan. iv. 30. Pride grew upon him by the sight of his com- forts. Nor of the spirit of those Jews, who, when they dwelt within cieled houses, cried, The time to build the Lord’s house is not come, Hag. i. 2, 4. They were well, and at ease, and therefore neglected God. But of David’s spirit, who when he went into his stately palace, serious thoughts and purposes of honouring God arose with his spirit; Shall I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God dwell within curtains P 2 Sam. vii. 2. Observe the different workings of their spirits: Nebuchadnezzar walking in his palace grows proud; “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” The Jews in their cieled houses grow care- less; The time to build the Lord’s house is not come. David in his curious house of cedar grows religious; What have I done for the ark of God, who has done so much for me? Well, then, honour God in your houses, lest you become the burdens of them, and they cast you out. The twelve tribes were scattered. (2.) The infallibility of his truth; they were pun- ished, “as their congregation had heard,” as the prophet Hosea speaks, chap. vii. 12. In judicial dis- pensations it is good to observe, not only God’s justice, but God’s truth. No calamity befell Israel but what was in the letter foretold in the books of Moses. A man might have written their history out of the threatenings of the law : see Lev. xxvi. 27, 33, “If ye walk contrary unto me, I will scatter you among the heathens, and will draw out a sword after you.” The like is threatened in Deut. xxviii. 64, “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.” And you see how suitable the event was to the prophecy. And therefore I conceive James uses this expression of “the twelve tribes,” when that distinction was anti- quated, and the tribes much confounded, to show that they who were once twelve flourishing tribes, were now, by the accomplishment of that prophecy, sadly scattered and mingled among the nations. (3.) The tenderness of his love to the believers among them; he has a James for the Christians of the scattered tribes. In the severest ways of his justice he does not forget his own, and he has special consolations for them when they lie under the com- mon judgment. When other Jews were banished, John, amongst the rest, was banished out of Ephesus into Patmos, a barren, miserable rock or island, but there he had those high revelations, Rev. i. 9. Well, then, wherever you are, you are near to God; he is a God at hand, and a God afar off; when you lose your dwelling, you do not lose your interest in Christ; and you are every where at home, but there where you are strangers to God. VERSE 2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. “My brethren;” a usual compellation in the Scrip- tures, and very frequent in this Epistle; partly, after the manner of the Jews, who were wont to call all of their nation brethren; partly, because of the custom of the ancient Christians, who in courtesy used to call B 2 4 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. f. the men and women of their society and communion brothers and sisters; and partly, out of apostolical kindness, and and. liber 5. that the exhortation might be seasoned Stromat. with more love and good will. “Count it,” hyāgagés; that is, though sense will not find it so, yet in spiritual judgment you must so esteem it. - - “All joy;” that is, matter of chief joy, Trägav. “All” is thus used in the writings of the apostles; as in 1 Tim. i. 15, Trdanc &Toëoxic &étog, “worthy of all acceptation ;” that is, of chief acceptation. “When ye fall,” &ray tspuréants. The word signi- fies such troubles as come upon us unawares, as sud- den things discompose the mind most; but, however, says the apostle, “when ye fall,” and are suddenly circumvented, yet you must look upon it as a trial and matter of great joy; for though it seems a chance to us, yet it falls under the ordination of God. “Divers.” The Jewish nation was infamous, and generally hated, especially the Christian Jews, who, beside the scorn of the heathens, were exercised with Sundry injuries, rapines, and spoils from their own brethren, and people of their own nation, as appears by the Epistle of Peter, who wrote to the same per- Sons that our apostle does, and also speaks of divers or “manifold temptations,” I Pet. i. 6. And again by the Epistle to the Hebrews, written also to these dispersed tribes: see Heb. x. 34, “Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods;” that is, by the fury of the multitude, and base people, against whom the Christians could have no right. “Temptations,” Traipaopioic. So he calls afflictions, which to believers are of that use and habitude. Vid. Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39. et Just. Mart. in fine Apol. 2. et OBSERVATIONS. 1. Christians are linked to one another in the bond of brotherhood. “My brethren.” It was an ancient use, as I showed before, for Christians of the Same communion to call one another brothers and sisters, which gave occasion of scorn to the heathens then ; Quod fratres nos vocamus, infamant, saith Ter- tullian; and it is still made matter of reproach. What scoff more usual than that of “holy brethren P” If we will not keep up the title, yet the affection, which be- comes the relation, should not cease. The term hints duty to all sorts of Christians: meekness to those that excel in gifts or office, that they may be not stately and disdainful to the meanest in the body of Christ. It is Christ's own argument, “Ye are brethren,” Matt. xxiii. 8. And it also suggests love, and mutual amity : who should love more than those who are united in the same Head and hope? Eodem sanguine Christ; glutinati, as Augustine said of himself and his friend Alipius; that is, cemented with the same blood of Christ. We are all travelling homeward, and expect to meet in the same heaven; it would be sad that brethren should fall out by the way, Gen. xlv. 24. It was once said, Aspice, ut se mutuo dili- gunt Christian? / See how the Christians love one anotherſ Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39. But, alas, now we may say, See how they hate one another Obs. 2. Miseries are sweet or bitter, according as we will reckon of them. “Count it.” Seneca said, Levi's est dolor si nihil opinio adjecerit, Our grief lies in our own opinion and apprehension of miseries. Spiritual things are worthy in themselves, other things depend upon our opinion and valuation of them. Well, then, it behoves us much to make a right judgment; therein lies our misery or comfort; things are according as you will count them. That your judgments may be rectified in point of af- flictions, take these rules. (1.) Do not judge by sense: “No affliction for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous,” Heb. xii. 11. Theophylact observes, that in this passage two words are em- phatical, Troör rô trapöv, and Öoksi, “for the present,” and “seemeth;” “for the present” denotes the feeling and experience of sense, and “seemeth” the apprehension and dictate of it: sense can feel no joy in it, and sense will suggest nothing but bitterness and sorrow; but we are not to go by that “count” and reckoning. A Christian lives above the world, because he does not judge according to the world. Paul’s scorn of all sublunary accidents arose from his spiritual judgment concerning, them : “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,” Rom. viii. 18. Sense, that is altogether for present things, would judge quite otherwise; but, saith the apostle, “I reckon,” i. e. reason by another manner of rule and account. So, it is said, that Moses “esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” Heb. xi. 26. His choice you see was founded in his judgment and esteem. (2.) Judge by a supernatural light. Christ's eye- salve must clear your sight, or else you cannot make a right judgment. There is no proper and fit ap- prehension of things till you get within the Veil, and see by the light of a sanctuary lamp. “The things of God knoweth no man, but by the Spirit of God,” I Cor. ii. II. He had said before, “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,” &c., ver. 9, i. e. na- tural senses do not perceive the worth and price of spiritual privileges; for I suppose the apostle speaks not there of the incapacity of our understandings to conceive of heavenly joys, but of the unsuitableness of spiritual objects to carnal senses; a man that hath no other light but reason and nature, cannot judge of those things. God’s riddles are only open to those that plough with God's heifer, and it is by God’s Spirit that we come to discern and esteem the things that are of God; which is the main drift of the apostle in that chapter. So David, “In thy, light shall we see light,” Psal. xxxvi. 9; that is, by his Spirit we come to discern the brightness of glory or grace, and the nothingness of the world. C. (3.) Judge by supernatural grounds. Many times common grounds may help us to discern the lightness of our grief, yea, carnal grounds; your counting must be a holy counting. Those in the prophet said, “The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones,” Isa. ix. 10; it is a misery, but we know how to remedy it. So many despise their troubles; We can repair and make up this loss again, or know how to deal well enough with this misery. All this is not a right judgment, but vain thoughts: So the pro- phet calls their carnal debates and reasonings, “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” Jer. iv. 14; that is, carnal shifts and contrivances, by which they despised the judgment, rather than im- proved it. True judging and counting always fol- lows some spiritual discourse and reasoning, and are the result of some principle of faith or patience; as thus, It is a misery, but God will turn it to our good; God’s corrections are sharp, but we have strong cor- ruptions to be mortified; we are called to great trials, but we may reckon upon great hopes. Obs. 3. Afflictions to God’s people do not only minister occasion of patience, but great joy. “All joy.” The world has no reason to think religion a black and gloomy way. As the apostle says, “The weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men,” I Cor. i. 25: so grace's worst is better than the world’s best; “all joy,” when in divers trials | A Christian is a bird that can sing in winter as well as in spring; he can live in the fire like Moses's Theoph. in loc. VER. 2. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. - - 5 bush; burn, and not be consumed; nay, leap in the fire. The counsel of the text is not a paradox, fitted Only for notion and discourse, or some strain and reach of fancy; but an observation, built upon a common and known experience: this is the fashion and manner of believers, to rejoice in their trials. Thus Heb. x. 34, “Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods:” in the midst of rifling and plundering, and the incivilities of rude and violent men, they were joyful and cheerful. The apostle goes one step high- er; “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation,” 2 Cor. vii. 4. Mark that, itspreptorosiopal tº xapá, I Superabound or overflow in joy: certainly a de- jected spirit lives much beneath the height of Chris- tian privileges and principles. Paul, in his worst estate, felt an exuberance of joy; “I am exceeding joyful:” may, you shall see in another place he went higher yet; “We glory in tribulations,” Kavyºus9a, Rom. v. 3: it denotes the highest joy, joy with a boasting and exultation; such a ravishment as can- not be compressed. Certainly Christians are the world’s wonder, and there is nothing in their lives but what men will count strange; their whole course is a riddle, which the multitude understand not. “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing,” dic AvTroöpsvot, dist Öé xaípovtsc, 2 Cor. vi. 10, is Paul’s riddle, and may be every Christian's motto and symbol. Obj. But you will say, Does not the Scripture allow us a sense of our condition ? how can we rejoice in that which is evil P Christ's soul was heavy unto death. Solut. I answer, (1.) Not barely in the evil of them; that is so far from being a fruit of grace, that it is against nature: there is a natural abhorrence of that which is painful, as we see in Christ himself; “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say P Father, save me from this hour,” &c., John xii. 27. As a private person, Christ would manifest the same affections that are in us, though as Mediator he freely chose death and sufferings: the mere evil is grievous. Besides, in the sufferings of Christ there was a concurrence of our guilt taken into his own person, and of God’s wrath; and it is a known rule, Coelestis ira quos premit miseros facit, humana nullos. No adversary but God can make us miserable; and it is his wrath, not man's, that puts vinegar and gall into our sufferings. (2.) Their joy is from the happy effects, or conse- quents, or comforts, occasioned by their sufferings. I will name some. - [1..] The honour done to us; that we are singled out to bear witness to the truths of Christ. “Unto you it is given to suffer,” Phil. i. 29. It is a gift, and an act of free grace. To be called to such special service is an act of God’s special favour; and so far from being a matter of discouragement, is a ground of thanksgiving : “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him glorify God on this behalf,” I Pet. iv. 16; not accuse God by murmuring thoughts, but glorify him. This consideration had an influence upon the primitive saints and martyrs. It is said that “they went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ,” &rt karmátuſ&mday &rºpagóñ- val, Acts v. 41; that they were honoured to be dis- honoured for Christ. It is a great dignity and honour put upon us, to be drawn out before angels and men as champions for God and his truth; and this will warrant our joy. So Christ himself; “When men say all manner of evil against you falsely, and for my name’s sake, rejoice, and be exceeding glad,” Matt. v. 12. , Luke has it, “Rejoice, and leap for joy,” chap. vi. 23; which denotes such exiliency of affec- tion, as is stirred up by some sudden and great comfort. the great bait and motive by which men [2] The benefit the church receives. Resolute. defences gain upon the world. The church is like an oak, which lives by its own wounds; r. wa." and the more limbs are cut off, the X:#4% more new sprouts appear. Tertullian ºść" 3.2. 11] UIT3.1. says, the cruelty of the heathens was Exquisition quae- que crudelitas vestra illecebra est magis sectae, plures efficimur quoties metimur a vobis, &c. Tertul. in Apol. Ligabantur, in- cludebantur, caedebantur, tor- quebantur, tirebantur, lani- abantur, trulci - \º dabantur, et were drawn into the Christian religion. And Austin reckons up all the methods of destruction by which the heathens sought to suppress the growth of Chris- tianity, but still it grew the more; they were bound, butchered, racked, stoned, burned, but still they were multiplied. The church was at first founded in * - - blood, and it thrives best when it is ...º. moistened with blood; founded in the i. 32. de Civit.” blood of Christ, and moistened or * * * watered, as it were, with the blood of the martyrs. Well, then, they may rejoice in this, that religion is more propagated, and that their own death and suf- ferings any way contribute to the life and flourishing of the church. [3] Their own private and particular comforts. God has consolations proper for mar- tyrs and his children under trials. Let me name a few. Sometimes it is a greater presence of the word: “Ye re- ceived the word in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost,” I Thess. i. 6. Great affliction but the gospel will e counterpoise all. Usually it is a clear * evidence and sight of their gracious estate. The sun shines many times when it rains; and they have sweet glimpses of God’s favour when their outward condition is most gloomy and sad: When men revile you, and persecute you, rejoice, for yours is the kingdom of heaven, Matt. v. 10–12. God clears up their right and interest; “yours.” So also distinct hopes and thoughts of glory. Martyrs, in the act of suffering and troubles, have not only a sight of their interest, but a sight of the glory of their interest ; there are some thoughts stirred up in them which come near to an ecstasy, a happy pre-union of their souls and their blessedness, and such a fore-enjoy- ment of heaven as gives them a kind of dedolency in the midst of their trials and sufferings; their minds are so wholly swallowed up with the things that are not seen, that they have little thought or sense of the things that are seen, as the apostle seems to intimate, 2 Cor. iv. 18. Again, they rejoice because of their speedy and swifter passage into glory. The enemies do them a courtesy to rid them out of a troublesome world. This made the ancient Chris- - - tians rejoice more when they were con- *ś, *: demned than absolved ; to kiss the fººter- stake, and thank the executioner, be- “"“” cause of their earnest desires to be with Christ. So Justin Martyr, Apol. 1. adversus Gentes: Gratias agimus, quod a molestis dominis liberemur, We thank you for delivering us from hard task-masters, that we may more sweetly enjoy the bosom of Jesus Christ. Obj. But some will say, My sufferings are no kin to martyrdom; they come not from the hand of men, but Providence, and are for my own sins, not for Christ. Solut. I answer, It is true, there is a difference be- tween afflictions from the hand of God, and perse- cutions from the violences of men. God’s hand is just, and guilt will make the soul less cheerful; but remember the apostle's words are “divers trials.” Sickness, death of friends, and such things as come from an immediate providence, are but trials to the children of God. In these afflictions there is re- Philip, the land- grave of Hessia, being asked how he could endure his long and tedious imprison- ment ; Professus est se divinas martyrum conso- lationes sensisse. 6 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. quired not only mourning and humbling, but a holy courage and confidence: “At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,” Job v. 22: there is a holy great- ness of mind, and a joy that becomes the saddest providences. Faith should be above all that befalls us; it is its proper work to make a believer triumph over every temporary accident. In ordinary crosses there are many reasons of laughing and joy: as the fellow feeling of Christ: if you do not suffer for Christ, Christ suffers in you, and with you ; he is afflicted and touched with a sense of your afflictions. It is an error in believers to think that Christ is altogether unconcerned in their sorrows, unless they are endured for his name’s sake; and that the com- forts of the gospel are only applicable to martyrdom. Again, another ground of joy in ordinary crosses is, because in them we may have much experience of grace, of the love of God, and our own sincerity and patience; and that is ground of rejoicing : “We glory in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience,” Rom. v. 3, 4. The rule holds good in all kind of tribula- tions or sufferings; they occasion sweet discoveries of God, and so are matter of joy. See also 2 Cor. xii. 9, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me;” and ver. 10, “Therefore I take pleasure in in- firmities,” &c. They are happy occasions to discover more of God to us, to give us a greater sense and feeling of the power of grace; and so we may take pleasure in them. Lastly, all evils are alike to faith; and it would as ill become a Christian hope to be de- jected with losses, as with violence or persecution. You should walk so that the world may know you can live above every condition, and that all evils are much beneath your hopes. Well, then, from all that has been said, we see that we should with the same cheerfulness suffer the will of Christ, as we would suffer for the name of Christ. Obs. 4. That evils are the better borne when they are undeserved and involuntary; that is, when we fall into them, rather than draw them upon our- selves. “When ye fall into.” It was Tertullian’s error to say, that afflictions were to be sought and desired. The creature never knows when it is well; sometimes we question God’s love because we have no afflictions; and anon, because we have nothing but afflictions. In all these things we must refer our- selves to God’s pleasure; not desire troubles, but bear them when he lays them on us. Christ has taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” It is but a fond presumption to cast ourselves upon it. Phi- lastrius speaks of Some who would compel men to kill them out of an affectation of martyrdom; and so does Theodoret: this was a mad ambi- tion, not a true zeal. And no less fond are they that seek out crosses and trou- bles in the world, rather than wait for them, or by their own violence and miscarriages draw just hatred upon themselves. Peter's rule is, “Let none of you Suffer as an evil-doer,” I Pet. iv. 15. We lose the comfort of our sufferings when there is guilt in them. Obs. 5. God hath several ways wherewith to exer- cise his people. “Divers temptations.” Divers miseries come one in the neck of another. As the lunatic in the gospel fell sometimes in the water, sometimes in the fire; so God changes the dispensa- tion, sometimes in this trouble, sometimes in that. Paul gives a catalogue of his dangers and sufferings, 2 Cor. xi. 24–28: “In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils, by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the city, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.” Crosses seldom come single. When God Theod. iih. 4. Haeret. Fabul. begins once to try, he uses divers ways of trial; and indeed there is great reason; divers diseases must have divers remedies: pride, envy, covetousness, V worldliness, wantonness, ambition, are not all cured by the same physic. Such an affliction pierces the bladders of pride, another checks our desires that are apt to run out in the way of the world. Do not murmur then if miseries come upon you, like waves, in a continual succession. Job’s messengers came thick, and close, one after another, to tell of oxen, and house, and camels, and sons and daughters, and all destroyed; messenger upon messenger, and still with a sadder story, Job i. We have “divers lusts,” Tit. iii. 3, and therefore have need of divers trials. In the 6th of the Revelation, one horse comes after another, the white, the red, the black, the pale. When the sluice is once opened, several judgments succeed in order. In the 4th of Amos the prophet speaks of blasting, and mildew, and cleanness of teeth, pestilence, and war; all these judgments one after another. So Christ threatens Jerusalem with wars, and rumours of wars; and adds, “there shall be fa- mines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places,” Matt. xxiv. 7. O then “stand in awe, and sin not,” Psal. iv. 4: when the first brunt is over, you cannot say the bitterness of death is past; other judgments will have their course and turn. And learn too from hence that God has several methods of trial, confiscation, banishment, poverty, infamy, reproach: some trials search us more than others; U. we must leave it to his wisdom to make choice. Will- suffering is as bad as will-worship. Obs. 6. The afflictions of God’s people are but trials. “Temptations.” He calls them not afflic- tions or persecutions, but “temptations,” from the end for which God sends them. The same word is elsewhere used; “The Lord knoweth how to de- liver the godly out of temptation,” 2 Pet. ii. 9. Now affliction is called temptation, not in the vulgar sense, as temptation is put for an occasion or in- ducement to sin, but in its proper and native sig- nification, for trial and experience; and so we have it positively asserted that this is the end of God: He “fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end,” Deut. viii. 16. The afflictions of the saints are not judgments, but corrections, or trials; they are God’s discipline to mortify sin, or his means to discover grace, and to prove our faith, love, pa- tience, sincerity, and constancy. Well, then, behave thyself as one under trial; let nothing be discovered in thee but what is good and gracious: men will do their best at their trial. O watch over yourselves with the more care, that no impatience, vanity, mur- muring, or worldliness of spirit may appear in you. VERSE 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh - - patience. HERE is the first argument to press them to joy in afflictions, taken partly from their nature, and partly from their effect. Their nature, they are a trial of faith; their effect or fruit, they beget or work pa- tience. Let us a little examine the words. “Knowing,” Yvoſokovtsc, either implies that they ought to know, as Paul saith elsewhere, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,” 1 Thess, iv. 13. So some VER. 3. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 7 suppose James speaking as exhorting; “knowing,” that is, I would have you to know. Or else it is a report; “knowing,” that is, ye do know, being taught by the Spirit and experience. Or rather, lastly, it is a direction, in which the apostle acquaints them with the way in which the Spirit settles joy in the hearts of persecuted Christians, by a lively knowledge, or spiritual discourse, by their thoughts acting upon the nature and quality of their troubles; and so “knowing” is distinctly considering. “That the trying of your faith.” Here is a new word used for afflictions: before it was retpaguoic, “temptations,” which is more general; here it is Öokiutov, trial, which denotes such a trial as tends to approbation. But here arises a doubt, because of the seeming contradiction between Paul and James. Paul saith that patience worketh Sokujy, trial or ex- perience, Rom. v. 4; and James seems to invert the order, saying, that Öokiptov, trial or experience, work- eth patience. But I answer, I. There is a difference between the words; there it is Óokuň, here 3ociutov; and so fitly rendered there “experience,” here trial. 2. There Paul speaks of the effect of suffering, ex- perience of God’s help, and the comforts of his Spirit, which work patience; here, of the suffering itself, which from its use and ordination to believers he calls trial, because by it our faith and other graces are approved and tried. “Of your faith;” that is, either of your constancy in the profession of the faith, or else of the grace of faith, which is the chief thing exercised and proved in affliction. “Worketh patience,” karspyážsrat, perfecteth pa- tience. . But this is a new paradox, how affliction or trial, which is the cause of all murmuring or impa- tience, should work patienceſ I answer, I. Some expound the proposition of a natural patience, which, indeed, is caused by the mere affliction. When we are accustomed to them, they are less grievous; passions being blunted by continual exercise, grief becomes a delight. But I Suppose this is not in the aim of the apostle; this is stupidity, not patience. 2. Then I suppose the meaning is, that our trials minister matter and oc- casion for patience. 3. God’s blessing must not be excluded; the work of the efficient is often given to the material cause, and trial is said to do that which God does; by trial he sanctifies afflictions to us, and then they are a means to beget patience. 4. We must not forget the distinction between punishment and trial: the fruit of punishment is despair and murmuring; but of trial, patience and sweet sub- mission. To the wicked every condition is a snare; Eum nulla adver, they are corrupted by prosperity, and iº dejected by adversity: but to the godly prospel itas w g † ºriumpit." Greg. every state is a blessing; their pros- Mor. perity works thanksgiving, their ad- versity patience. Pharaoh and Joram grew the more mad for their afflictions; but the people of God the more patient. The same flail that purges the corn, bruises the stalk ºn or reed; and in that fire in which the *ºllit. chaff is burnt gold sparkles. So true ;: *** is that of the psalmist, “The Lord try- * eth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth,” Psal. xi. 5. Well, then, the sum of all is, that afflictions serve to examine and prove our faith, and by the blessing of God to bring forth the fruit of patience; as the quiet fruit of righteousness is ascribed to the rod, Heb. xii. II, which is indeed the proper work of the Spirit. He saith the “chastening yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised there- by;” as our apostle saith, the trial “worketh patience.” Ignis non est di- V el SuS tamen di- VerSd agit, palearn OBSERVATIONS. 1. Ignorance is the cause of sorrow. “Knowing that the trial.” When we do not rightly discern evils, we grieve for them : our strength, as men, lies in reason; as Christians, in spiritual discourse. Paul was instructed, Phil. iv. 11, T2, and that made him walk with such an equal mind in unequal conditions. Solomon saith, “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength,” Prov. xxiv. 5; and he says afterwards, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is but small,” ver. 10; that is, thou hast but little prudence or knowledge: there lies the weakness of our spirits. Children are scared with every trifle. Did we know what God is, and whereto his dealing tends, we should not faint. Well, then, labour for a right discerning. To help you, consider, (1.) General knowledge will not serve the turn. The heathens had rô yvögrov, excellent notions, con- cerning God in the general, Rom. i. 19, but they were “vain in their imaginations,” #v roic Čuašoytoplotſ, ver. 21, in their practical inferences: when they were to bring down their knowledge to particular cases and experiences, they had a great deal of knowledge in general truths, but no prudence to apply them to particular exigences and cases. Many can discourse well in the general; as Seneca, when sense predi. he had rich gardens, could persuade to Vitishortos. patience, but fainted when himself came * to suffer. So Eliphaz charges it upon Job, that he was able to instruct and strengthen others; “But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it touch- eth thee, and thou art troubled,” Job iv. 5. There- fore it must not only be knowledge, but prudence, to make application of general truths, that in particular cases we may not be disturbed and discomposed. (2.) Our knowledge must be drawn out in actual thoughts and spiritual discourse. This brings in seasonable succour and relief to the soul, and therein lies our strength. Observe, and you shall always find, that the Spirit works by seasonable thoughts. Christ had taught the apostles a great many comforts, and then he promiseth, “The Comforter shall come,” kai Ütropºvăget, “ and he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you,” John xiv. 26. The proper office of the Comforter is to come in with powerful and seasonable thoughts to the relief of the soul. The apostle ascribes their fainting to forgetting the exhortation, Heb. xii. 5; nay, observe it generally throughout the word, Gur strength in duties or afflictions is made to lie in our distinct and actual thoughts. Would we mortify cor- ruptions P It is done by a present acting of the thoughts, or by spiritual discourse ; therefore the apostle saith, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,” Rom. vi. 6. So, would we bear afflictions cheerfully P “Ye took it joyfully, know- ing in yourselves that you have a better and more enduring substance,” Heb. x. 34; and, “Knowing that tribulation worketh experience,” Rom. v. 3. And so in many other places of Scripture we find that the Spirit helps us by awakening and stirring up proper thoughts and discourses in the mind. (3.) Those thoughts which usually beget patience are such as these : I. That evils do not come by chance, or the mere fury of instruments, but from God. So holy Job, “The arrows of the Almighty are within me,” Job vi. 4. Mark, “the arrows of the Almighty,” though Satan had a great hand in them; as you may see, Job ii. 7: God’s arrows, though shot out of Satan’s bow. And then, 2. That where we see any thing of God, we owe nothing but reverence and submission; for he is too strong to be resisted, 8 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. too just to be questioned, and too good to be suspect- ed. But more of this in the fifth chapter. Obs. 2. The use and ordination of persecution to the people of God is trial. Aokiutov, the trial. God makes use of the worst instruments, as fine gold is cast into the fire, the most devouring element: innocence is best tried by iniquity. But why does God try us? Not for his own sake, for he is omni- scient; but either, (I.) For our sakes, that we may know ourselves. In trials we discern the sincerity of grace, and the weakness and liveliness of it, and so are less strangers to our own hearts. Sincerity is discovered: a gilded potsherd may shine till it is scoured: in trying times God heats the furnace so hot, that dross is quite wasted; every interest is crossed, and then hirelings become changelings. Therefore, that we may know our sincerity, God uses severe ways of trial. Sometimes we discover our own weakness; we find that faith weak in danger, which we thought to be strong out of danger; as the blade in the stony ground was green, and made a fair show, till the height of summer, Matt. xiii. 5, 6. Peter thought his faith impregnable, till that sad trial in the high priest's hall, Matt. xxvi. 69. In pinching weather weak persons feel the aches and bruises of their joints. Sometimes we discern the liveliness of grace: stars shine in the night that lie hid in the day. It is said, “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints,” Rev. iii. 10; that is, the time when these graces are exercised, and discovered in their height and glory. Spices are most fragrant when burnt and bruised; so have saving graces their chief- est fragrancy in hard times. The pillar that con- ducted the Israelites appeared as a cloud by day, but as a fire by night. The excellency of faith is be- clouded till it is put upon a thorough trial. Thus for ourselves, that we may know either the sincerity, or the weakness, or the liveliness of the grace that is wrought in us. (2.) Or for the world’s sake: and so, 1. For the present to convince them by our con- stancy, that they may be confirmed in the faith, if weak and staggering; or converted, if altogether un- called. It was a notable saying of Luther, Ecclesia totum mundum convertit sanguine et oratione, The church converts the whole world by blood and prayer. We are proved, and religion is proved, when we are called to suffer. Paul’s bonds made for the further- ance of the gospel; “Many of the brethren in the Dord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear,” Phil. i. 14. In prosperous times religion is usually stained with the scandals of those who profess it, and then God brings on great trials, to honour and clear the renown of it again to the world; and usually these prevail. Justin Martyr was converted by the constancy of the Christians, Niceph. lib. 3. cap. 26. Nay, he himself con- fesses it; when he saw the Christians so willingly choose death, he reasoned himself; Surely these men must be there is somewhat eminent in their principles. So I remember the author of the Council of Trent saith, concern- ing Anne du Burg, a senator of Paris, who was burnt for protestantism, That the death and constancy of a man so conspicuous, made many curious to know what religion that was for which he had courageously endured punishment, and so the number was much increased. 2. We are tried with a respect to the day of judgment: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Probatio innocen- tjøe nostrate est IniqultaS vestra, Tertul. in Apol. 2 & ſº a Aöövgºrov tov- TO US 619 KO. K& Cº. KCl t ‘puxnäoyia iT&p- 2K6 ty. ust1n Mart...in Apol. 2. circa finem. thus within honest, and See Iſist. of the Council of ‘l’rent, pag. 418. 2 edit. Jesus Christ,” I Pet. i. 7. God will justify faith before all the world; and the crown of patience is set upon a believer's head in that solemn day of Christ. You see the reasons why God tries his church. Well, then, it teaches us to bear afflictions with constancy and patience. God tries us by these things. For your comfort consider four things: (1.) God’s aim in your afflictions is not destruc- tion, but trial; as gold is put into the furnace to be fined, not consumed. Wicked men’s misery is “an evil, an only evil,” Ezek. vii. 5. In their cup there is no mixture, and their plagues are not to fan, but destroy. But to godly men miseries have another property and habitude: “And some of them of un- derstanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white,” Dan. xi. 35; that is, in times of many persecutions, as was that of Antiochus, the figure of antichrist. (2.) The time of trial is appointed: “They shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed,” Dan. xi. 35. You are not in the furnace by chance, or at the will of your enemies; ºr the time is appointed, set by God. (3.) God sits by the furnace prying and looking after his metal: “He shall sit as a refiner and puri- fier of silver,” Mal. iii. 3. It denotes his constant and assiduous care that the fire be not too hot, that nothing be spilt and lost. It is a notable expression of Isaiah, “For my praise will I refrain; I have re- fined thee, but not as silver,” chap. xlviii. 9, 10; that is, not so thoroughly; silver or gold is kept in the fire till the dross be wholly wrought out of it: if we should be fined as silver, when should we come out of the furnace P Therefore God saith he will choose us in the furnace, though much dross still remain. (4.) Consider, this trial is not only to approve, but to improve. We are tried as gold, refined when tried. So 1 Pet. i. 7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth.” Or more clearly in Job xxiii. 10, “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” The drossy and scorious part or matter is severed, and the corruptions that cleave close to us are purged and eaten out. Obs. 3. The chief grace which is tried in persecu- tion is faith. So in I Pet. i. 7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold.” Of all graces Satan has most spite at faith; and of all graces God delights that the perfection of it should be discovered. Faith is tried, partly, because it is the radical grace that preserves the life of a Christian. “The just shall live by his faith,” Hab. ii. 4. We work by love, but live by faith. Partly, because this is the grace most exercised: sometimes in keeping the soul from using ill means and unlaw- ful courses : “He that believeth shall not make haste,” Isa. xxviii. 16; that is, to help himself before God will. Believing makes the soul stand to its proof and trial. By faith those that were tortured would not accept deliverance, Heb. xi. 35; that is, which was offered to them upon ill terms, of refusing God and his service. Sometimes it is exercised in bringing the soul to live upon gospel comforts, in the absence or want of worldly; and to make a Christian fetch water out of the rock when there is none in the fountain. Many occasions there are to exercise faith. Partly, because it is the grace most oppugned and assaulted; all other graces march under the conduct of faith: and therefore Satan’s cunning is to fight, not against small or great, but to make the brunt and weight of his opposition to fall upon this grace; nay, God himself seems an enemy, and faith’s work is to believe him near, when to sense he is withdrawn. Well, them, WER. 3. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES, 9 Ose 1. You that have faith, or pretend to it, must look for trials. Graces are not crowned till they are exercised. Never any yet went to heaven without combats and conflicts. Faith must be tried before it be found to praise and honour. It is very notable, that wherever God bestows the assurance of his favour, there presently follows some trial: “After ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflic- tions,” Heb. x. 32. Some are cast upon troubles for religion soon after their first conversion, as these, as soon as illuminated. When Christ himself had re- ceived a testimony from heaven, “This is my be- loved Son,” immediately Satan comes with an “If thou be the Son of God:” compare Matt. iii. 17, with Matt. iv. 1, 3. After solemn assurance he would fain make you question your adoption. So Gen. xxii. 1, “It came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham.” What things were these ? Solemn intercourses between him and God, and express as- surance from heaven that the Lord would be his God, and the God of his seed. When the castle is victualled, then look for a siege. Use 2. You that are under trials, look to your faith. Christ knew what was most likely to be assailed, and therefore tells Peter, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,” Luke xxii. 32. When faith fails, we faint ; therefore we should make it our chief work to maintain faith. Chiefly look after two things. (1.) Hold fast your assurance in the midst of the saddest trials. In the furnace call God Father : “I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them : I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God,” Zech. xiii. 9. Let not any hard dealing make you mistake your Father's affection. One special point of faith under the cross is the faith of our adoption: “The exhortation speak- eth unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,” Heb. xii. 5. It is the apostle's own note, that the afflicted are styled by the name of sons. Christ had a bitter cup; but, saith he, my Father hath put it into my hands: “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” John xviii. II. It is a bitter cup, but he is still my Father. (2.) The next work of faith is, to keep your hopes fresh and lively. Believers always counter- balance the temptation with their hopes. There is no grief or loss so great, but faith knows how to despise it in the hope of the reward; therefore the apostle describes faith to be #Mart&opévov ºróaraguc, “the sub- stance of things hoped for,” Heb. xi. 1, because it gives a reality and present being to things absent and future, opposing hope to the temptation, and making the thing hoped for as really to exist in the heart of the believer, as if it were already enjoyed. Well, then, let faith put your hopes in one balance, when the devil hath put the world, with the terrors and profits of it, in the other; and say, as Paul, Aoyićopat, “I reckon,” or compute, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,” Rom. viii. 18. All this is nothing to our hopes; what is this com- pared with glory to come P Obs. 4. Many trials cause patience, by the blessing of God upon them. Karāpyažsrat, “worketh,” or per- fecteth, “patience.” Habits are strengthened by frequent acts; the more you act grace, the stronger it becomes; and frequent trials put us upon frequent exercise. The apostle saith, “Chastening yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness” roig ói' airijg yeyvyavaopiévouc, “unto them which are exercised there- by,” Heb. xii. 11. The fruit of patience is not found after one affliction or two, but after we are ex- we cannot be men without it. ercised and acquainted with them. The yoke after a while begins to be well settled; and by much bearing we learn to bear with quietness, for use perfects; as we see those parts of the body are most solid which are most in action; and trees - often shaken are deeply rooted. Well, then, (1.) It shows how careful you should be to exercise your- selves under every cross : by that means you get habits of grace and patience. Neglect causes decay; and God withdraws his hand from such as are idle. In spirituals, as well as temporals, diligence maketh rich, Prov. x. 4. (2.) It shows, that if we murmur or miscarry in any providence, the fault is in our own hearts, not in our condition. Many blame Provi- dence, and say they cannot do otherwise, their troubles are so great and sharp. O consider, trials, yea, many trials, where sanctified, work patience ; that which you think should cause you to murmur, is a means to make you patient. The evil is in the un- mortifiedness of your affections, not in the misery of your condition. By the apostle's rule, the greater the trial, the greater the patience ; for the trial worketh patience. There is no condition in the world but gives occasion for the exercise of grace. Obs. 5. It is an excellent exchange to part with outward comforts for inward graces. “Trial of your faith worketh patience.” The apostle comforts them with this argument, that they should gain patience; as if that would make amends for all the Smart of their sufferings. Fiery trials are nothing if you gain Fº Sickness, with patience, is better than ealth; loss, with patience, is better than gain. If earthly affections were more mortified, we should value inward enjoyments and experiences of God more than we do. Paul says, “Most gladly there- fore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,” 2. Cor. xii. 9. Misery and calamities should be welcome, be- cause they gave him further experiences of Christ. Certainly, nothing makes afflictions burdensome to us but our own carnal affections. Obs. 6. That patience is a grace of an excellent use and value: we cannot be Christians without it; Not Christians; for it is not only the ornament, but the conservator of other graces: how else should we persist in well- doing, when we meet with grievous crosses P. There- fore the apostle Peter bids us “add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience,” 2 Pet. i. 5, 6: here are all the requisites of true godliness. It is grounded in faith, directed by knowledge; defend- ed on the right hand by temperance, against the al- lurements of the world; on the left, by patience, against the hardships of the world. You see we cannot be Christians without it. So also not men. Christ saith, “In your patience possess ye your souls,” Luke xxi. 19. A man is a man, and enjoys himself and his life, by patience; otherwise we shall but create needless troubles and disquiets to our- selves, and so be, as it were, dispossessed of our own lives and souls, that is, lose the comfort and the quiet of them. Ferendo discimus perferre; soli- dissiuna pars est corporis, quam frequens usus agitavit. Seneca. VERSE 4. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. HERE he comes to show what patience is right, by way of exhortation, pressing them to perseverance, 10 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. integrity, and all possible perfection. I will open what is difficult in the verse. "Epyov ráAstov, “her perfect work.” For the open- ing of this, know, that in the apostle's time there were divers that with a great deal of zeal bore out the first brunt, but being tired, either with the di- versity or the length of evils, they yielded and faint- ed; therefore he wishes them to tarry till patience were thoroughly exercised, and its perfection dis- covered. The highest acts of graces are called the perfection of them; as of Abraham's faith, we say in ordinary speech, There was a perfect faith: so when patience is thoroughly tried by sundry and long af- flictions, we say, There is a perfect patience. So that the perfect work of patience is a resolute perseverance, notwithstanding the length, the sharpness, and the continual succession of sundry afflictions. One trial discovered patience in Job; but when evil came upon evil, and he bore all with a meek and quiet spirit, that discovered patience perfect, or sufficiently ex- ercised. It follows, “. That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” The apostle's intent is not to assert a possibility of perfection in Christians: “In many things we offend all,” James iii. 2. And all that we have here is but in part: “We know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is per- fect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away,” I Cor. xiii. 9, 10. Here grace must needs be imperfect, because the means are imperfect. But his meaning is, either that we should be sincere, as sin- cerity is called perfection in Scripture: “Walk be- fore me, and be thou perfect,” Gen. xvii. 1; in the original, and marginal reading, it is “be thou up- right.” Or else it is meant of the perfection of dura- tion and perseverance. Or rather, lastly, that per- fection is intended which is called the perfection of parts; that we might be so perfect, or entire, that no necessary grace might be lacking; that having other gifts, they might also have the gift of patience, and the whole image of Christ might be completed in them; that nothing might be wanting which is ne- cessary to make up a Christian. Some indeed make this a legal sentence, as implying what God may in justice require, and to what we should in conscience aim; namely, exact perfection, both in parts and de- grees. It is true, this is beyond our power; but be- cause we have lost our power, there is no reason Aug. in lib. de God should lose his right. Austin says, Çorrept. et Grat. O homo, in praeceptione cognosce quid de- Cap. 3. beas habere, et in correptione cognosce tuo te vºtio non habere. Such precepts serve to show God’s right, and quicken us to duty, and humble us with the sense of our own weakness. So much God might re- quire, and so much we had power to perform, though we have lost it by our own default. This is true, but the former interpretations are more simple and genuine. OBSERVATIONS. 1. The perfection of our graces is not disco- vered till we are exercised with many and great trials. As a pilot's skill is discerned tem tranquillum in a storm, so is a Christian’s grace in tº many and great troubles. Well, then, §."...:” in all that befalls you, say, Yet patience §ºat has not had its perfect work. Expect- gºt. ation of a worse thing makes lesser cap. 5. troubles more comportable; yet trustand patience are not drawn out to the height. The apostle saith, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin,” Heb. xii. 4. Should we faint in a lesser trial, before the perfect work comes to be discovered P Job was in a sad condition, yet he puts a harder case; If he should kill me, yet I Gubernatoris ar- will trust him, Job xiii. 15. should not faint or murmur. Obs. 2. That the exercise of grace must not be in- terrupted till it is full and perfect, till it come to āpyov ráAstov, a perfect work. Ordinary spirits may be a little raised for a time, but they fall by and by again: “Ye did run well; who did hinder you ?” Gal. v. 7. You were in a good way of faith and pa- tience, and went happily forward; but what turned you out of the way P Implying, there was as little, or rather less, reason to be faint in the progress, as to be discouraged in the beginning. Common prin- ciples may make men blaze and glare for a while, yet afterward they fall from heaven like lightning. It is true of all graces, but chiefly of the grace in the text; patience must last to the end of the providence, as long as the affliction lasts; not only at first, but when your evils are doubled, and the furnace is heat- ed seven times hotter. Common stubbornness will bear the first onset, but patience holds out when troubles are continued and delayed. The apostle chides the Galatians because their first heat was soon spent: “Are ye so foolish P having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Gal. iii. 3. It is not enough to begin ; our proceedings in religion must be answerable to our beginnings. To falter and stagger after much progress, shows turpeest ceders we are not “fit for the kingdom of ºn God,” Luke ix. 62. The beasts in the semei recepisti ; prophet always went forward: see Ezek. ..." i. 12. And crabs, that go backward, º are reckoned among unclean creatures, ipsa erum diffi. Lev. xi. 10. Nero's first five years aré “* * famous; and many set out well, but are soon dis- couraged. Liberius, the bishop of Rome, was zealous against the Arians, and was looked upon as the Samson of the church, the most earnest maintainer of orthodoxy, and suffered banishment for the truth; but, alas, he afterward failed, and to re- cover his bishopric, saith Baronius, sided with the Arians. Well, them, while you are in the world, go on to a more perfect discovery of patience, and follow them that through faith, and a continued patience, inherit the promises, Heb. vi. 12. Obs. 3. That Christians must aim at and press on to perfection. The apostle saith, “That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (1.) Christians will covet and aspire to absolute perfection. We are led on to growth by this aim and desire. They hate sin so perfectly, that they cannot be quiet till it is utterly abolished. First they go to God for justification, that the damning power of sin may be taken away; then for sanctification, that the reigning power of sin may be destroyed; then for glorification, that the very being of it may be abolished. And as they are bent against sin with a mortal and keen hatred, so they are carried on with an earnest and importunate desire of grace. They that have true grace will not be contented with a little grace; no half measures will serve their turn. “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrec- tion of the dead,” saith Paul, Phil. iii. 11; that is, such a state of grace as we enjoy after the resurrec- tion: it is a metonymy of the subject for the adjunct. Free grace, you see, has a vast desire and ambition; it aims at the holiness of the glorious and everlasting state; and indeed this makes a Christian press on- ward, and be so earnest in his endeavours, as Heb. vi. I, with 4; “Let us go on unto perfection;” and then, ver. 4, “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened;” implying that men go back when they do not go on to perfection: having low aims, they go backward, and fall off. In a higher trial I Non incepisse sed perfecisse virtutis est. Aug. ad Frat. in Eremo, Ser. 8. Baronius ad an- num Christi, 357. VER. 5. II THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. (2.) Christians must be actually perfect in all points and parts of Christianity: as they will have faith, they will have patience; as patience, love and zeal. In l Pet. i. 15, 16, the rule is, “Be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Every point and part of life must be seasoned with grace; therefore the apostle saith, ēv Trdo'ſ dwagtpop.j, in every creek and turning of the conversation. So 2 Cor. viii. 7, “As ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.” Hypo- crites are always lacking in one part or another. The Corinthians had much knowledge and utterance, and little charity : as many professors pray much, know much, hear much, but do not give much; they do not abound in this also. As Basil saith in his Sermon ad Divites, I know many that fast, pray, sigh, love ardoav Trºv diódtravov sińd Gstav, all cheap acts of re- ligion, and such as cost nothing but their own pains; being sordid and base, they withhold from God and the poor. Ti ÖpsAoç rovroic rāg Aoiträg &pgrâc, what profit have they in their other graces when they are not perfect P There is a link and cog- nation between the graces; they love to go hand in hand, to come up as in a dance and consort, as some expound the apostle's word, étrixopmyńoats, “Add to faith virtue,” &c., 2 Pet. i. 5. One allowed mis- carriage or neglect may be fatal; say then thus with- in yourselves: A Christian should be found in nothing wanting. Oh but how many sad defects are there in my soul! if I were weighed in God’s balance, I should be found much wanting. O strive to be more entire and perfect. (3.) Christians aim at the perfection of duration; that as they would be wanting in no part of duty, so in no part of their lives. Subsequent acts of apostacy make our former crown to wither. They lose what they have wrought, 2 John 8. All their spiritual labour formerly bestowed is to no purpose; and what- ever we have done and suffered for the gospel, in re- gard of God, is lost and forgotten. So Ezek. xviii. 24, When he “turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned.” As under the law, if a Nazarite had defiled himself, he was to begin all anew : “The days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled,” Numb. vi. 12; as if he had fulfilled the half part of his vow, or three parts of his vow, yet all was to be null and lost upon every pollution, and he was to begin again : so in apostacy, after, by a solemn vow and consecration, we have separated ourselves to Christ, if we do not endure to the end, all the righteousness, zeal, and patience of our former profession is forgotten. VERSE 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him. THE apostle having spoken of bearing afflictions with a mind above them, here prevents an objection, which might be framed thus: This is a hard saying, to keep up the spirit not only in patience, but joy. When all things are against us, who can abide it? Duty is soon expressed, but how shall we get it prac- tised? The apostle grants it is hard, and it will require a great deal, of spiritual skill and wisdom; which if you want, (saith he,) God will furnish you, if you ask it of him: and upon this occasion digresses into the rules and encouragements of prayer. In this verse he encourages them by the nature and promise of God. But to the words. “If any of you.” This “if” does not argue doubt, but only infers a supposition. But why does the apostle speak with a supposition P. Who does not lack wisdom P May we not ask in the prophet's question, “Who is wise? who is prudent?” Hos. xiv. 9. I answer, 1. Such expressions more strongly aver and affirm a thing, as Mal. i. 6, “If I be a father, where is mine honour? if I be a master, where is my fear?” Not as if God would make a doubt of these things, but such suppositions are the strongest affirm- ations, for they imply a presumption of a concession; You will all grant that I am a father, and a master, &c. So here, “If you lack wisdom;” you will grant you all lack this skill. So Rom. xiii. 9, “If there be any other commandment,” &c. The apostle knew there was another commandment; but he proceeded upon that grant. So 2 Thess. i. 6, stirsp, if it be “a righteous thing,” &c. The apostle takes it for grant- edit is righteous to render tribulation to the troubler, and proceeds upon that grant; and therefore we render it affirmatively, “seeing it is,” &c. So James v. 15, “If he have committed sins:” why, who hath not P It is, I say, a proceeding upon a presumption of a grant. 2. All do not lack in a like manner; some want only further degrees and supplies; therefore, “If you lack,” with a supposition if you lack it wholly, or only more measures. “Wisdom” is to be restrained to the circumstances of the text, not taken generally; he intends wisdom or skill to bear afflictions, for in the original the beginning of this verse plainly catches hold of the heel of the former, év pnóevi Astrópavot, “lacking nothing,” and then, si è rig judjv Asiatsrat, “if any of you lack.” “Let him ask it;” that is, by serious and earnest prayer. * “Of God,” to whom our addresses must be imme- diate. “That giveth to all men.” Some suppose it im- plies the natural beneficence and general bounty of God: as indeed that is an argument in prayer, God. that giveth to all men will not deny his saints: as the psalmist makes God’s common bounty to the creatures to be a ground of hope and confidence to his people; “Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing,” Psal. cxlv. 16; and upon this his trust grow- eth, “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him,” ver. 19. He that satisfies every living thing cer- tainly will satisfy his own servants. There is a general bounty of God, which though liberally dis- pensed, yet not specially. But this sense the con- text will not bear. By “all men” then may be understood all kinds of persons, Jew, Greek, or bar- barian, high or low, rich or poor. God gives not with a respect to outward excellence, he gives to all men. Or else, and most suitably to the context, to all askers, all that seek him with earnestness and trust. However, it is thus generally expressed, that none might be discouraged, but apply himself to God with some hope. “Liberally.” The word is & TAdjc, which properly signifieth simply ; but usually in matters of this na- ture it is taken for bountifully. I note it the rather, to explain many other places; as Matt. vi. 22, Christ would have the eye single, that is, bounteous, not looking after the money we part with. So Rom. xii. 8, “He that giveth, let him do it” #y dºornri, “with simplicity;” we read in the margin “liberally,” or bountifully. So 2 Cor. viii. 2, “The riches of your singleness,” we translate “liberality;” and 2 Cor. ix. 11, the same word is used for bounty. And this word 12 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. simplicity is thus often put for bounty, to show, 1. That it must come from the free and single motion of our hearts; as they that give sparingly give with a hand half shut, and a heart half willing; that is, not simply, with a native and free motion. 2. That we must not give deceitfully, as serving our own ends, or with another intent than our bounty seems to hold forth. So God gives simply, that is, as David ex- º it, “ according to his own heart,” 2 Sam. WI1. 2, 1. “And upbraidethnoman.” Here he reproves another usual blemish of man’s bounty, which is to upbraid others with what they have done for them; and that eats out all the worth of a kindness; the laws of courtesy requiring that the re- ceiver should remember, and the giver Haec beneficii in- ter duos lex est, alter oblivisci de- bet dati statin, lºgº ºn. forget. But God upbraideth not. But IT). *~ ſº * e & j.ici.” “ you will say, What is the meaning then of those expostulations concerning mercies received P and why is it said, “Then he be- gan to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done?” Matt. Xi. 20. Because of this objection some expound this clause one way, some another. Some suppose it implies he does not give proudly, as men do, upbraiding those who receive with their words or looks: so God upbraideth not, that is, does not disdainfully reject the asker, or re- proach him with his unworthiness; or does not refuse because of present failings, or former infirmities. But I think it rather notes God’s indefatigableness to do good. Ask as oft as you will, he upbraids you not with the frequency of your accesses to him; he does not reproach us with asking, though he reproves us for the abuse of what we have received upon ask- ing. He does upbraid, not to begrudge his own bounty, but to bring us to a sense of our shame, and to make us own our ingratitude. “And it shall be given him.” Besides the nature of God, here he urges a promise, “Let him ask of God, and it shall be given him.” The descriptions of God help us to form right thoughts of him, and the promise, to fasten upon him by a sure trust. OBSERVATIONS. I. That all men are concluded and shut up un- der an estate of lacking. “If any of you.” This supposition, as we showed before, is a universal affirmative. God’s wisdom suffers the creatures to lack, because dependence begets observance; if we were not forced to hang upon Heaven, and live upon the continued supplies of God, we would not care for him. We see the less sensible men are of the con- dition of mankind, the less religious. Promises usually invite those that are in want, because they are most likely to regard them : “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” &c., Isa. lv. 1. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,” Matt. xi. 28. The poor in spirit, and they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, Matt. v., being humbled by their own wants and needs, they are most pliable to God’s offers. Well, then, do not think your lot is above the lot of the rest of the creatures. God only is airápicnc, self-happy, self-sufficient; other things are encom- passed with wants, that they may look after him. “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing,” Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. The creatures are made up of de- sires, that their eyes may be upon God. Certainly they want most that want nothing. Be sensible of your condition. Obs. 2. Want and indigence put us upon prayer. “If any of you lack.” Our addresses to Heaven be- gin at the sense of our own needs. The father would not have heard from the prodigal, had he not “be- gan to be in want,” Luke xv. 14. Observe, the crea- ture first begins with God out of self-love: the first motive and allurement is the supply of our wants. But remember, it is better to begin in the flesh, and end in the Spirit, than to begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh. It is well that God sanctifies our self- love to so blessed a purpose. If there had not been so many miseries of blindness, lameness, possessions, palsies, in the days of Christ's flesh, there would not have been such great resort to him. The first mo- tive is want. Obs. 3. That there is need of great wisdom for the , right managing of afflictions. shows us. Cheerful patience is a holy art and skill which a man learns of God : “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound,” Phil. iv. 12. Such a hard lesson needs much learning. There is need of wisdom in several respects: (1.) To discern God’s end in it, to pick out the language and mean- ing of the dispensation. “Hear ye the rod,” Micah vi. 9. Every providence has a voice, though some- times it be so still and low that it requires some skill to hear it. Our spirits are most satisfied when we discern God’s aim in every thing. (2.) To know the nature of the affliction, whether it be to fan or to destroy ; how it is intended for our good, and what uses and benefits we may make of it: “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law,” Psal. xciv. 12. The rod is a blessing when instruction goes along with it. (3.) To find out your own duty; to know the things of obedience in the day of them : Oh that thou wert wise in this thy day ! Luke xix. 42. There are seasonable and proper duties which be- come every providence. It is wisdom to find them out, to know what to do in every circumstance. (4.) To moderate the violence of our own passions. He that lives by sense, will, and passion is not wise. Skill is re- quired of us to apply apt counsels and comforts, that our hearts may be above the misery that our flesh is under. The Lord gives counsel in the reins, and that calms the heart. Well, then, 1. Get wisdom, if you would get pa- tience. Men of understanding have the greatest command of their affections. Our hastiness of spirit comes from folly, Prov. xiv. 29; for where there is no wisdom, there is nothing to counterbalance affec- tion. As discretion sets limits to anger, so it does to sorrow. Solomon says, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger,” Prov. xix. l l ; so it checks the excesses of his grief. 2. To confute the world’s cen- sure. They count patience simplicity, and meekness under injuries to be but stupidity. No, it is a calm- ness of mind upon holy and wise grounds. But it is no new thing with the world to call good evil, and to baptize graces with a name of their own fancying. As the astronomers call the glorious stars, bulls, snakes, dragons, &c.; so they miscall the most shin- ing and glorious graces. Zeal is fury; strictness, a mere niceness; and patience, folly; and yet James says, “If any lack wisdom,” meaning thereby pa- tience. 3. Would ye be accounted wise P Show it by the patience and calmness of your spirits. We naturally desire to be thought sinful, rather than weak. We all affect the repute of wisdom, and would not be accounted blind or foolish. Consider, then, a man of boisterous affections is a fool, and he that has no command of his passions has no understanding. Obs. 4. In all our wants we must immediately re- pair to God. “Ask of God.” The Scriptures do not direct us to the shrines of saints, but to the throne of Sapiens ad om- nem incursum munitus et inten- tus, non si pau- pertas, non si ig- nominia, non si golor impetum faciant, peden) referet; interritus et contra, illa ibit, et inter ilia. Senec. This the context y VER. 5. 13 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. * grace. You need not use the saints' intercession ; Christ has opened a way for you into the presence of the Father. Obs. 5. More particularly observe, wisdom must be sought of God. He is wise, the fountain of wis- dom, an unexhausted fountain ; his stock is not spent by giving. See Job xxxii. 8, “There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding:” men have the faculty, but God gives the light; as the dial is capable of show- ing the time of the day when the sun shines on it. It is a most spiritual idolatry to lean to our own un- derstanding. True wisdom is a Divine ray, and an emanation from God; men never obtain it but in the way of humble trust. When we see our insufficiency, and God’s all-sufficiency, then the Lord undertakes for us, to direct us and guide us. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. ... In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths,” Prov. iii. 5, 6. When men are conceited, and think to relieve their souls by their own thoughts and care, they only per- plex themselves the more. God will be acknow- ledged, that is, consulted with, in all our undertakings and conflicts, or else we shall miscarry. The better sort of heathens would not begin any thing of mo- ment without asking counsel at the oracle. As all wisdom is to be sought of God, so especially this wisdom to bear afflictions. There is nothing more abhorrent to reason than to think ourselves happy in misery. We must go to another school than that of mature. I confess, reason and nature may offer some rules that may carry a man far in the art of pa- tience; but what is a grammar school to a univer- sity P The best way will be, not to go to nature, but to Christ, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wis- dom and knowledge,” Col. ii. 3. Obs. 6. God will have every thing fetched out by prayer. “Let him ask of God.” . He gives nothing without asking. It is one of the laws according to which Heaven's bounty is dispensed; “Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them,” Ezek. xxxvi. 37. God will have us see the author of every mercy by the way of obtaining it. It is a comfort and a privilege to receive mercies in a way of duty. It is 'better to ask, and not receive, than to receive, and not ask. Prayer coming between our desires and the bounty of God, is a means to beget a due respect between him and us. Every audience increases love, thanks, and trust, Psal. cxvi. 1, 2. We usually wear with thanks what we win by prayer; and those comforts are best improved which we receive upon our knees. Well, then, wisdom and every good gift is an alms; you have it for asking: mercies at that rate do not cost dear. Oh! who would not be one of that number whom God calls his suppliants P Zeph. iii. 10; of “the generation of them that seek him P” Psal. xxiv. 6. Obs. 7. Asking yields a remedy for the greatest wants. Men sit down groaning under their dis- couragements because they do not look further than themselves. Oh, you do not know how you may speed in asking ! God humbles us with much weakness, that he may put us upon prayer. That is easy to the Spirit which is hard to nature. God requires such obedience as is above the power of our natures, but not above the power of his own grace. That was a good saying, Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis, Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. If God command any thing above nature, it is to bring you upon your knees for grace. He loves to command, that you may be forced to ask. And indeed if God has commanded, you may be bold to Clem. Alex. lib. . Strom. ask. There is a promise which goes hand in hand with every precept. Obs. 8. God’s dispensations to the creatures are carried in the way of a gift. “That giveth.” Who can make God his debtor, advantage his being, or perform an act that may be obliging and merito- rious P. Usually God bestows most upon those who, in the eye of the world, are of least desert, and least able to requite him. Does not he invite the worst freely P “He that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,” Isa. lv. 1. Nazianzen, I remem- ber, notably improves this place, "Q ràc Greg. Na, orat. sūgxoxiac roi; ovva»Adyparoc, Oh this easy %. De Baptismo, way of contract Atówow #3tov # Naugd- *** vovow Śrspot, He gives more willingly than others sell. "Qviov got to Sexijoat póvov Tó àya.0ov, If thou wilt but accept, that is all the price. Though you have no merits, nothing in yourselves to encourage you, yet will you accept? So in the gospel, “the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind,” Luke xiv. 21, were called to the wedding. Whatever is dis- pensed to such persons must needs be a gift. Well, then, silence all secret thoughts, as if God saw more in you than in others, when he pours out more of himself to you. Merit is so gross a conceit, that in the light of the gospel it dares not appear in so many downright words. But there are implicit whisperings, some thoughts which are verba mentis, the words of the mind, whereby we think that there is some reasor, for God’s choice; and therefore it is said, “Speak not thou in thine heart, For my righteousness,” &c. Deut. ix. 4. As you dare not say it outwardly, so do not say it in your hearts. Be not conscious to the sacrilege of a private silent thought that way. Obs. 9. The proposals of God’s grace are very general and universal. “Giveth to all men.” It is a great encouragement, that in the offer none are excluded; why should we then exclude ourselves P “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,” Matt. xi. 28. Mark, poor soul, Jesus Christ makes no exceptions; he did not except thee who hast a heavy load and burden of guilt upon thy back, “Come, all ye.” So here, the lack is general, “if any;” and the supply is general, “he giveth to all men.” God never told thee that this was not in- tended for thee, and that thy name was left out of the Lamb's book; and it is a base jealousy to mis- trust God without a cause. Obs. 10. God's gifts are free and liberal. “To all men liberally.” Many times he gives more than we ask; and our prayers come far short of what grace does for us. There is an imperfect modesty in our thoughts and requests; we are not able to rise up to the just excess and infiniteness of the Divine good- ness. The apostle says, God will “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” Eph. iii. 20. It is good to observe how the answers of prayer have far exceeded the desires of the creature, which usually are vast and capacious. Let me give you some instances. Solomon asked wisdom, and God gave liberally; he gave him wisdom, and riches, and honour in great abundance, 1. Kings iii. 13. Jacob asked but food and raiment for his journey, Gen. xxviii. 20, and God multiplied him from his staff into two bands, Gen. xxxii. 10. Abraham asked but one son, and God gave him issue as the stars in the heavens, and the sand on the sea-shore, Gen. xv. Saul came to Samuel for the asses, and he hears news of a king- dom, I Sam. ix. The prodigal thought it much to be received as a hired servant, and the father is devising all the honour and entertainment, that he possibly can for him; the calf, the ring, the robe, &c., Luke xv. In Matt. xviii. 26, the debtor desired 14 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. but forbearance for a little time, Have a little “pa- tience with me, and I will pay thee all ;” and in the next verse, his master “forgave the debt.” Certainly God’s bounty is too large for our thoughts. The spouse would be drawn after Christ; but the King brought her into his chambers, Cant. i. 4. David desired to be delivered out of the present danger, “Pull me out of the net,” Psal. xxxi. 4; and God advanced him to honour and dignity, “Thou hast set my feet in a large room,” ver. 8. Well, then, (1.) Do not straiten God in your thoughts: “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” Psal. lxxxi. 10. God’s hand is open, but our hearts are not open. The Divine grace, like the Olive.trees in Zechariah, is always dropping, but we want a vessel. That expression of the Virgin is notable, “My heart doth magnify the Lord,” usva- Xövst, Luke i. 46, that is, maketh more room for God in my thoughts. When God’s bounty is not only ever flowing, but overflowing, we should make our thoughts and hopes as large and comprehensive as possible. When the King of glory is drawing nigh, they are bidden to set open the doors, Psal. xxiv. 7. No thoughts of ours can search out God to perfec- tion; that is, exhaust and draw out all the excellency. and glory of the Godhead: but certainly we should rise and ascend more in our apprehensions. (2.) Let us imitate our heavenly Father, “give liberally,” &rAóg, that is the word of the text, with a free and a native bounty. Give simply, not with a double mind. Some men have a backward and a close heart, liberal only in promises. Consider, God does not feed you with empty promises. Others eye self in all their kind- ness, make a market of their charity : this is not simply, and according to the Divine pattern. Some men give grudgingly, with a divided mind, half inclining, half forbearing : this is not like God either. Others give in guile, and to deceive men; it is kindness to their hurt, Time, panaos ºpa dºoga, giftless gifts: their courtesy e; dona ferentes. is most dangerous. Give like your hea- Virg. venly Father, liberally, simply. Obs. 11. That God gives quite in another manner than man doth. Men are apt to upbraid, but God “giveth, and upbraideth not.” It is our fault to measure infiniteness by our last, and to muse of God according as we use ourselves. The soul in all her conclusions is directed by principles and premises of sense and experience; and because we converse with limited natures and dispositions, therefore we do not form proper and worthy thoughts of God. It was the gross idolatry of the heathens, to turn “the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,” Rom. i. 23; that is, to fancy God according to the shape and figure of our bodies: and so it is the spiritual idolatry of Christians, to fancy God according to the model and size of their own minds and dispositions. I am persuaded nothing disadvantages us so much in believing, as the con- ceit that God is altogether such a one as ourselves, Tºsal. 1. 21; we, being of eager and revengeful spirits, cannot believe his patience and pardoning mercy. And that, I suppose, was the reason why the apos- tles, when Christ talked of forgiving our brother seven times in one day, cried out, “Increase our faith,” Luke xvii. 5, as not being able to believe so great a º; mercy, either in themselves or God. And therefore, also, I suppose, it is that God with such vehemency shows every where that his heart has other manner of dispositions than man’s : “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 'Eutrøpigv wói M- Now # x&ptv Tº Q & O U ºf t M . Isocrates. Non est sportula guaº negotiatur. Martial. thoughts,” Isa. lv. 8, 9. I am not straitened in bowels, nor hardened, nor implacable, as men are: as there is a vast space and distance between the earth and the firmament, so between your drop and my ocean of mercy. So Hos. xi. 9, “I will not ex- ecute the fierceness of mine anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim : for I am God, and not man;” that is, I have not such a narrow heart, such wrath- ful, implacable dispositions, as men have. Well, then, consider, when God gives he will give like himself; do not measure him by the wretched strait- ness of your own hearts, and confine God within the circle of the creature. It is said of Araunah, that he gave as a king to David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 23. Whatever God does, he will do as a God, above the rate and measure of the creatures, something befitting the in- finiteness and eternity of his own essence. Obs. 12. That God does not reproach his people with the frequency of their addresses to him for mercy, and is never weary of doing them good. He “ upbraideth not.” Man excuses himself by what he has done already ; they will recount their former favours to deny the present requests. Men's stock is soon spent; they waste by giving, and there- fore they soon grow weary; yea, we are afraid to press a friend too much, lest by frequent use kind- riess be worn out. You know it is Solomon’s advice, Let thy foot be seldom in “thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee,” Prov. xxv. 17. Thus it is with men, either out of penury or satiety, they are soon full of their friends. But oh what a difference there is between our earthly and our heavenly Friend! the oftener we come to God, the welcomer; and the more we acquaint ourselves with him, the more good comes to us, Job xxii. 21. His gates are always open, and he is still ready to receive us. We need not be afraid to urge God to the next act of love and kindness: “Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us,” 2 Cor. i. 10. One mercy is but a step to another; and if God has, we may again trust that he will. With men, re- newed addresses and often visitings are but impu- dence; but with God they are confidence. God is so far from upbraiding us with what he has done al- ready, that his people make it their usual argument, He hath delivered me from the lion and the bear, therefore he shall from the uncircumcised Philistine, 1 Sam. xvii. 37. Well, then, (1.) Whenever you re- ceive mercy upon mercy, give the Lord the praise of his unwearied love. When God promised to heap up honour upon honour, and privilege upon privilege, on David and his line, David saith, “And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?” 2 Sam. vii. 19. Would man do thus? Is this according to his use and custom, to grant request after request, and to let his grace run in the same eternal tenor of love and sweetness P Should we go to man as often as we go to God, we should soon have a repulse; but we cannot weary infiniteness. (2.) If God be not weary of blessing you, be not you weary of serving him. Duty is the proper correlate of mercy. , God is not weary of blessing, so be not you weary of well-doing, Gal. vi. 9. Let not your zeal and heat be spent, as his bounty is not. - - Obs. 13. Due asking will prevail with God. “And it shall be given him.” God always satisfies prayer, though he does not always satisfy carnal desires. “Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you,” Matt. vii. 7. If we do not receive at asking, let us go to seeking; if not at seeking, let us go on to knocking. It is good to continue fervency, till we have an answer. But you will say, Are these promises true? WER. 5. 15 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. missi sunt. | The sons of Zebedee asked, and could not find, Matt. xx. 22. The foolish virgins knocked, and it was not opened to them, Matt. xxv. 11. So the church sought Christ: “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth : I sought him, but I found him not;” Cant. iii. 1. How then can these words of Christ be made good P.. I answer, by stating the general case: Prayers rightly qualified want not success; that is, if they come from a holy heart, in a holy Grotius in annot manner, to a holy purpose. I remem- in Matt. cap. iś, ber one prettily sums up all the re- V. 19. quisites of prayer thus, Si bonum petant boni bene ad bonum. These are the limitations: (1.) Concerning the person. God looks after, not only the property of the prayer, but the propriety and interest of the person. Our apostle says, “The effectual fer- vent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” 8émoig #vspyoupévy), chap. v. 16: a prayer driven with much force and vehemency; but it must be Šucatov, of a righteous person. The Jews propound it as a known rule, “God heareth not sinners,” John ix. 31. It is so frequently inculcated in Scripture, that they urge it as a proverb. An unclean person pollutes his own prayers. But of this hereafter. (2.) That which they ask must be good. “If we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us,” 1 John v. 14. It must be according to his revealed will, that is Obedience; and with submission to his secret will, that is patience: neither according to our own lusts, nor our own fancies. To ask according to our lusts is a direct blasphemy, like Balaam’s sacrifices, per- formed out of a hope to draw Heaven into the con- federacy of his cursed designs; and to make our fancy the highest rule is a presumptuous folly. God knows what is best for us: like children, we desire a knife; like a wise father, he gives us bread. God always hears his people when the request is good. But we must remember God must judge what is good, not we our- selves. There cannot be a greater judgment, than always to have our own will granted. (3.) We must ask in a right manner, with faith, as in the next verse; with fervency, see chap. v. 16; with patience and constancy, waiting for God’s time and leisure. God’s discoveries of himself are not always immediately to the creature. A sack stretched out contains the more; and when the de- sires are extended and drawn out to God, the mercy is usually the greater. “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry,” Psal. xl. 1. God loves to dispense mercies after Our Waiting. (4.) It must be ad bonum ; you must pray to a good end, with an aim and reference to the Lord's glory. There is a difference between a car- nal desire and a gracious supplication: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts,” James iv. 3. Never let your requests terminate in self. That was but a brutish request, “Give us water that we may drink,” Exod. xvii. 2. A beast can aim at self-preservation. Prayer, as every act of the Christian life, must have a direction to God-ward. Well, then, pray thus, and you shall be sure to speed. Carnal requests are often disappointed, and therefore we suspect gracious prayers; and faith is much shaken by the disap- pointment of a rash confidence. Consider John xvi. 23, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” Mark, Christ speaks universally, “whatso- ever,” to raise our hopes; earnestly, “Verily, verily,” to encourage our faith: we are apt to disbelieve such promises. Sancti ad salutem per onnia exau- diumtur, sed non ad voluntatem, ad voluntatem etiam daemones exauditi sunt, et ad porcos quos petiverant ire Aug. in F. pist. Johan. tract. 6. et serm. 53, de Verb. Do- mini. Quid pro- Sit medicus novit, 11On &grotus. Obs. 14. It is an encouragement in prayer, when we consider there is not only bounty in God, but bounty engaged by promise. “It shall be given him.” He brings an encouragement not only from the nature of God, but from the promise of God. What good will the general report do without a par- ticular invitation P. There is a rich King gives freely. Yes, but he gives at pleasure. No, he has promised to give thee. The psalmist argues from God’s na- ture, “Thou art good, and doest good,” Psal. cxix. 68; but from the promise we may reason thus, Thou art good, and shalt do good. God at large, and dis- covered to you in loose attributes, yields not a suffi- cient foundation for trust; but God in coverlant, God as ours. Well, then, let the world think what it will of prayer, it is not a fruitless labour. You have pro- mises for prayer, and promises to prayer; and there- fore when you pray for a blessing promised, God does, as it were, come under another engagement, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” VERSE 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. HERE he proposes a caution to prevent mistakes about what he had delivered. Every asking will not serve the turn, it must be asking “in faith.” “But let him ask in faith.” Faith may be taken, 1. For confidence in God, or an act of particular trust; as Eph. iii. 12, “We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” 2. It may im- port persuasion of the lawfulness of the things that we ask for; that is one acceptation of faith in Scrip- ture: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” Rom. xiv. 23; that is, if we practise it before we are persuaded of the lawfulness of it. Or, 3. “In faith;” that is, in a state of believing; for God will hear none but his own, those that have interest in Jesus Christ, in whom “all the promises are yea and amen,” 2 Cor. i. 20. All these senses are considerable, but I think the first is most direct and formal; for faith is here opposed to doubting and wavering, and so denotes a particular act of trust. “Nothing wavering,” pumöèv Ötakpwépus voc. What is this wavering P The word signifies disputing or traversing the matter as doubtful in the thoughts. The same phrase is used Acts x. 20, “Arise, go with them,” undév Óuakptuópswog, “nothing doubting;” that is, do not stand disputing in thy thoughts about thy calling, and the good success of it. The word is often used in the matter of believing; as Rom. iv. 20, “He staggered not through unbelief,” oi, Šusicpt0m; he disputed not, did not debate the matter; but settled his heart upon God’s power and promise. “If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall say to this moun- tain, Be thou removed” into the depths of the sea, &c., Matt. xxi. 21. If they could but remove the anxiousness and uncertainty of their thoughts, and settle their hearts upon the warrant, they should do miracles. “For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea” that is tossed to and fro. An elegant similitude to describe their state, used by profane authors in -> the same matter, and by the prophet ...}. Isaiah, chap. lvii. 20. James saith here, fººt, the doubter touce KA680 wi, “is like a tº wave of the sea;” and the prophet says nunc in sublime * z allevatos nunc in of all wicked men, k\vöwvwo 6 floovrat, as intima allisos ra- I6 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. the Septuagint render it, They shall be it. Senec. de e like troubled waves, whose waters can- ita Beata. not rest. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the trial of a true prayer is the faith of it. Cursory requests are made out of fashion, not in faith. Men pray, but do not consider the bounty of him to whom they pray. Prayer is a means, not a task; therefore in prayer there should be distinct reflections upon the success of it. Well, then, look to your prayers; see you put them up with a particular hope and trust, all the success lies in that: “O woman, great is thy faith : be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” Matt. xv. 28. God can deny faith nothing; “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” So Mark xi. 24, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark that, “believe, and ye shall have.” God’s attributes, when they are glorified, are exercised; and by our trust his truth and power are engaged. But you will say, How shall we do to pray in faith? I answer, There is something presupposed, and that is an interest in Christ. But that which is required in every prayer is, (1.) An actual reliance upon the grace and merits of Jesus Christ: “Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father,” Eph. ii. 18. We cannot lift up a thought of hope and trust but by him. If you have not assurance, yet go out of your- selves, and look for your acceptance in his merits. Certainly this must be done. None can pray aright but believers. How can they comfortably be per- suaded of a blessing, who have not a promise belong- ing to them P. Therefore, at least, you must honour Christ in the duty. You must see that such worthless creatures as you may be accepted in him : “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” Heb. iv. 16. Through Christ we may come free- ly and boldly. I am a sinner, but Jesus Christ my In- tercessor is righteous. Men will say they do not doubt of God, but of themselves. I am a wretched sinner, will the Lord hear me? I answer, This is but Satan's policy, to make us say we doubt ourselves, not God; for, in effect, it is a doubting God; his mercy, as if it were not free enough to pardon and save; his power, as if it were not great enough to help. We must come humbly, we are sinners; but we must come in faith also, Christ is a Saviour. It is our folly, under colour of humbling ourselves, to have low thoughts of God. If we had skill, we should see that all graces, like the stones in the building, have a mar- vellous symmetry and compliance one with another; and we may come humbly, yet boldly, in Christ. (2.) We must put up no prayer but what we can put up in faith. Prayer must be regulated by faith, and faith must not wander out of the limits of the word. If you have a promise, you may be confident that your requests will be heard, though in God's sea- son; you cannot put up a carnal desire in faith. The apostle's words are notably pertinent to state this matter; “This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us,” I John v. 14. All things are to be asked in faith: some things absolutely, as spiritual bless- ings, I mean, as considered in their essence, not de- gree; degrees are arbitrary; other things condition- ally, as outward blessings. Let the prayer be accord- ing to the word, and the success will be according to the prayer. (3.) The soul must actually magnify God's attri- butes in every prayer, and distinctly urge them against the present doubt and fear. Usually we do not doubt for want of a clear promise, but out of low thoughts of God; we cannot carry his love, power, truth above the present temptation, and believe that there is love enough to justify us from so many sins, power enough to deliver us from so great a death or danger, 2 Cor. i. 10, and bounty enough to bestow so great a mercy. To pray in faith is to form proper and right thoughts of God in prayer, when we see there is enough to answer the particular doubt and exigence; as in Matt. ix. 28, 29, Jesus saith to the two blind men, “Believe ye that I am able to do this P And they said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” Christ asked first whether they had a right estimation of his power; and then, in the next place, he calls it faith, and gives . them the blessing. Those that come to God should form right conceptions of him. Christ requires nothing more of the blind man but a sealing to the greatness of his power, “Believest thou that I am able P Yea, Lord;” and that was all. But you will say, Tell us more distinctly what faith is re- quired in every prayer P I answer, The question has been in a great part already answered. But for further satisfaction take these rules: [I.] That where we have a certain promise, we must no way doubt of his will. For the doubt must either proceed from suspicion, that this is not the word or will of God, and that is atheism; or from jealousy, that God will not make good his word, and that is blasphemy; or from fear, that he is not able to ac- complish his will, and that is downright distrust and unbelief. Therefore where we have a clear sight of his will in the promise, we may have a confidence towards him, 1 John v. 14. [2] Where we have no certain assurance of his will, the work of faith is to glorify and apply his power. Unbelief stumbleth most at that, rather at God’s can than his will, as appears partly by experience. Fears come upon us only when means fail, and the blessings expected are most unlikely, which argues, that it is not the uncertainty of God’s will, but the misconception of his power, that makes us doubt. The present dangers and difficulties surprise us with such terror, that we cannot comfortably use the help of prayer with faith in God's power. Partly by the testimony of the Scriptures. Search, and you shall find, that God’s power and all-sufficiency is the first ground and reason of faith. Abraham believed because God was able to perform, Rom. iv. 21. Unbelief expresses itself in such language, as implies a plain distrust of God’s power; as Psal. lxxviii. 19, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” It is not will, but can : “If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be P” 2 Kings vii. 2. So the Virgin Mary, “How shall this thing be?” Luke i. 34; and so in many other instances. Men deceive themselves, when they think they doubt because they know not the will of God; their main hesitancy is at his power. Look, as in the case of conversion, we .. pretend a cannot, when indeed we will Nº. ~ not; so, oppositely, in the case of faith, gºincause est. we pretend we know not God’s will, - when we indeed doubt of his can. Therefore the main work of your faith is to give him the glory of his power, leaving his will to himself. Christ puts to you, as he did to the blind men, the question, Am I able P Your souls must answer, “Yea, Lord.” And in prayer you must come as the leper, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,” Matt. viii. 2. Whether he grant you or not, believe; that is, say in your thoughts, “Lord, thou canst.” [3] In these cases his power is not only to be glorified, but also his love. But you will say, In an uncertain case VER. 6. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 17 how must we glorify his love? I answer, Two ways. Faith has a double work: 1. To compose the soul to a submission to God’s pleasure. He is so good, that you may refer yourself to his goodness: whether he grant or not, he is a wise God, and a loving Father, and will do what is best. So that you see in no case we must dispute, but refer ourselves to God; as the leper was not troubled about God’s will, but said, “Lord, thou canst.” Cast yourselves upon his will, but conjure him by his power. This is the true and genuine working of faith; when you dare leave your case with God’s love, let him do what seemeth good in his eyes; good he will do: as in Scripture, the children of God, in all temporal matters, resign themselves to his disposal; for they know his heart is full of love, and that is best which their heavenly Father thinks best, and this takes off the disquiet and perplexity of the spirit: “Commit thy ways unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass,” Psal. xxxvii. 5. They wait with serenity when they have committed their ways to God’s will with submission. 2. To incline and raise the soul into some hope of the mercy prayed for. Hope is the fountain of endeavours; and we should neither pray nor wait upon God, were it not that we may look up to him because there is hope, Lam. iii. 29. The hypocrites’ prejudice was, It is in vain to seek God, Job xxi. 15; Mal. iii. 14. There are some par- ticular promises, you know, concerning preservation in times of pestilence, oppression, famine, &c., which though they are not always made good in the rigour of the letter, yet they are in a great measure fulfilled, and #Tri Tô TAsiorov, for the most part take place. I say, though they are to be expounded with the ex- ception and reservation of the cross, (for God is no further obliged than he is obliged by the covenant of grace, and in the covenant of grace he has still kept a liberty of visiting “their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes,” Psal. lxxxix. 32,) yet because the children of God have many expe- riences of their accomplishment, they cannot choose but conceive some hope towards God, and incline rather to think that God will grant. The least that these promises do, is to beget some loose hope, they being so express to our case, and being so often ac- complished. Nay, how can we urge these in prayer to a good God, and not say, as David, “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope P” Psal. cxix. 49. I do not say we should prescribe to God, and limit his will to our thoughts; but only conceive a hope with submission, because of the general reservation of the cross. [4] Some who have more near communion with God, may have a particular faith of some particular oc- i currences. By some special instincts in prayer from the Spirit of God they have gone away, and said, with David, “In this will I be confident,” Psal. xxvii. #3. I do not say it is usual, but sometimes it may be |so. We cannot abridge the Spirit of his liberty of i revealing himself to his people. But, remember, i privileges do not make rules. These are acts of * God’s prerogative, not according to his standing law and rule. However, this I conceive is common, that, in a particular case, we may conceive the more hope when our hearts have been drawn out to God by an actual trust; that is, when we have urged a particu- lar promised by God, in prayer, with submission, yet with hope; for God seldom fails a trusting soul. They may lay hold on God by virtue of a double claim, partly by virtue of the single promise that first invited them to God, and then by virtue of another promise made to their trust; as Isa. xxvi. 3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.” An ingenuous {. man will not disappoint trust; and God saith for that reason, because they trust in him, he will do them good. Therefore, now having glorified God’s power, and with hope referred themselves to his will, they have a new argument of hope within themselves. In Psal. xci. 2, 3, there is a dialogue between the Spirit of God and a believing soul: the soul saith, “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my for- tress; my God; in him will I trust:” there is a reso- lution of a humble and actual trust. The Spirit answers, “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence,” ver. 3: there is a promise under an averment, “Surely,” which certainly would do nothing, if it did not at the least draw out the more hope. - Thus I have given you my thoughts of this com- mon and useful case, praying in faith. Obs. 2. Man’s nature is much given to disputes against the grace and promises of God. “Nothing wavering,” or disputing. The pride of reason will not stoop to a revelation; and where we have no assurance but the Divine testimony, there we are apt to cavil. All doubts are but disputes against a promise; therefore what is said in our translation, “lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubt- ing,” 1 Tim. ii. 8, is in the original xopic 8taxoytopov, without reasoning or dispute. A sure word is com- mitted to the uncertainty of our thoughts and de- bates, and God’s promises are cited before the tribunal of our reason. Well, then, cast down those Xoytoplovc, those imaginations, or reasonings rather, for so the word properly signifies, which exalt , themselves against the knowledge of God in Christ. Carnal reason is faith’s worst enemy. It is a great advantage, when we can make reason, which is an enemy to faith, to be a servant to it: Aoytčeq6s, saith the apostle, “Reckon,” or reason, “yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Rom. vi. 11. Then is our reason and discourse well employed, when it serves to set on and urge conclusions of faith. Obs. 3. That the less we doubt, the more we come up to the nature of true faith. The use of grace is to settle the heart upon God: to be fast and loose argues weakness; “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matt. xiv. 31. I do not say it is no faith, but it is a weak faith: a trembling hand may hold somewhat, but faintly. Well, then, seek to lay aside your doubts and carnal debates, espe- cially in prayer; come “without wrath and doubt- ing;” without “wrath” to a God of peace, without “doubting” to a God of mercy. Do not debate whether it is better to cast yourselves upon God’s promise and disposal, or to leave yourselves to your own carnal care: that is no faith, when the heart wavers between hopes and fears, help and God. Our Saviour says, Mij persopt&sq6s, “Be ye not of doubtful minds,” Luke xii. 29; do not hang between two, like a meteor hovering in the air, so the word signifies, not knowing what God will do for you. A thorough belief of God’s attributes, as revealed in Christ, takes off all disquiets and perplexities of spirit. Well, then, get a clear interest in Christ, and a more dis- tinct apprehension of God’s attributes. Ignorance perplexes us, and fills the soul with misty, dark reasonings; but faith settles the soul, and gives it a greater constancy. - - Obs. 4. Doubts are perplexing, and torment the mind. “Like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro.” An unbeliever is like the waves of the sea, always rolling; but a believer is like a tree, much shaken, but firm at root. We are under misery and bondage as long as we are tossed upon the waves of our own affections; and till faith gives a certainty there is 18 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. no rest and peace in the soul : “Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee,” Psal. cxvi. 7. Faith shedding abroad God’s love in our sense and feeling, begets a calm. They that teach a doctrine of doubting, exercent car- nificinam animarum, saith Calvin, only keep con- science upon the rack, and leave men to the torment of their own distracted thoughts. Romish locusts are like scorpions, with “stings in their tails,” and “men shall desire to die” that are stung with them, Rev. ix. 6, 10. Antichristian doctrines yield no comfort and ease to the conscience, but rather sting it and wound it, that, to be freed from their anxiety, men would desire to die. Certainly there cannot be a greater misery than for man to be a burden and a terror to himself, and there is no torment like that of our own thoughts. Well, then; go to God, and get your spirit settled. He that cherishes his own doubts, hugs a distemper instead of performing a duty. VERSE 7. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. “LET not that man think.” It is either put to show that they can look for nothing, nor rise up into any confidence before God. He does not say, He shall receive nothing, but, “Let not that man think he shall receive:” whatever God’s overflowing bounty may give them, they can expect nothing. Or else, “Let not that man think,” to check their vain hopes. Man deceives himself, and would fain seduce his soul into carnal hope; therefore, saith the apostle, “Let not that man think;” that is, deceive himself with a vain surmise. “That he shall receive any thing.” Such doubt- ing as ends not in faith frustrates prayers, and makes them altogether vain and fruitless. There are doubts in the people of God, but they get the victory over them ; and therefore it is not to be understood as if any doubt made us incapable of any blessing, but only such as is allowed, and prevails. “Of the Lord,” trapá roi, Kvptov; that is, from Christ; Lord, in the idiom of the New Testament, being most usually applied to him as Mediator; and Christ as Mediator is to commend our prayers to God, and to convey all blessings from God. There- fore the apostle saith, “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him,” I Cor. viii. 6. The heathens, as they had many gods, many ultimate objects of wor- ship, so they had many lords, many intermediate powers, that were to be as agents between the gods and men, to convey the prayers and supplications of men to the gods, and the bounty and rewards of de- votion from the gods to men. “But to us,” saith the apostle, “there is but one God,” one sovereign God, the Father, the first spring and fountain of bless- ings; and “one Lord,” that is, one Mediator, Jesus Christ, 6t’ of Tà Tâvra kai husic 3' airoij, by whom are all things which come from the Father to us, and by whom alone we find access to him. Obs. 1. That unbelievers, though they may receive Something, yet they can expect nothing from God. “Let him not think.” They are under a double misery: (1.) They can lift up no thoughts of hope and comfort, for they are not under the assurance of a promise. Oh what a misery is this, to toil, and still to be left at an uncertainty; to pray, and to have no sure hope When the task is over, they cannot look for acceptance or a blessing. The children of God are upon more sure terms: “I so run, not as uncer- tainly,” I Cor. ix. 26; that is, not as one that is in danger or doubt of having run in vain. So Solomon saith, “To him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward,” Prov. xi. 18. They have God’s infal- lible promise, and may expect a blessing. But the wicked, whether they run or sit, they cannot form their thoughts into any hope; whether they run or sit still, they are in the same condition : if they run, they run uncertainly ; if they pray, they pray un- certainly ; like a slave that does his task, and knows not whether he shall please; so, when they have done all, they are still left to, the puzzle and unger- tainty of their own thoughts. And indeed it is a punishment that well enough suits with their dispo- sitions; they pray, and do not look after the success of prayer; they perform duties, and do not observe the blessing of duties; like children that shoot their arrows at rowers, with an uncertain aim, and never look after them again. Those that live best among carnal men, live by guess, and some loose devout aims. (2.) If they receive any thing, they cannot look upon it as coming by promise, or as a return of prayers. When the children are fed, the dogs may have crumbs. All their comforts are but the overflowings of God’s bounty. And truly this is a great misery, when we cannot see love in our enjoyments, and blessings are given us by chance rather than cove- nant; they cannot discern mercy and truth in any of their comforts, as Jacob did, Gen. xxxii. 10. Well, then, let the misery of this condition make us come out of it; get a sure interest in Christ, that you may be under a sure hope and expectation; unbelief will always leave you in uncertainty. Doubting is a new provocation; and when a man makes a supplication a provocation, what can he look for P. A man may be ashamed to ask God, who is so backward to honour him. Obs. 2. Men usually deceive themselves with vain hopes and thoughts. “Let him not think.” They are out in their thinking: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father,” Matt. iii. 9. Carnal confidence is rooted in some vain prin- ciple and thought. So men think God is not so just, hell is not so hot, the devil is not so wicked, nor the Scriptures so strict, as they are made to be. The apostles every where reply to these carnal thoughts; as I Cor. vi. 9, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not de- ceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulter- ers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.” They were apt to deceive themselves with some such hope. So Gal. vi. 7, “Be not de- ceived, God is not mocked.” Men are persuaded that if they can devise any shift to excuse themselves from duty, all will be well enough : God is not mock- ed with any pretences, this is but a vain thought. Well, then, look to your private thoughts. All corrupt actions are founded in some vain thought, and this vain thought is strengthened with some vain, word; therefore the apostle saith, “Let no man deceive you with vain words,” Eph. v. 6. All practical errors are but a man’s natural thoughts cried up for a value able opinion, and they all tend either to excuse sin, or to secure us from judgment, or to seduce us into a vain hope; and thus foolish man becomes his own cheater, and deceives himself with his own thinking. In all natural and civil things we de- - sire to know the truth. Many deceive, but none would willingly be deceived; but in spiritual things we think our- selves never more happy than when we Multos expertus sum qui velint fallere, qui autem falli neminem. Aug. lib. 10. Confes. cap. 13. VER, 7. 19 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. have seduced our souls into a vain hope, or gotten them into a fool’s paradise. Obs. 3. The cause why we receive not upon ask- ing is not from God, but ourselves. “Let him not think that he shall receive.” He giveth liberally, but we pray doubtingly; he would give, but we can- not receive. We see men are discouraged when they are distrusted, and suspicion is the ready way to make them unfaithful ; and certainly when we distrust God, it is not reasonable we should expect aught from him. Christ said to Martha, “If thou wouldest be- lieve, thou shouldest see the glory of God,” John xi. 40; that is, power, love, truth discovered in their lustre and glory. Omnipotence knows no restraint, only it is discouraged by man’s unbelief; therefore it is said, “And he could there do no mighty work,” Mark vi. 5. He could not, because he would not; not for want of power in him, but for want of dispo- sition in the people, ver. 6. So Mark ix. 22, 23: The father comes for a possessed child, Master, “if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us:” Christ answereth, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The distressed father says, “If thou canst do any thing:” our holy Lord says, “If thou canst believe:” as if he had said, Do not doubt of my power, but look to thy own faith; I can, if thou canst. If we were dis- posed to receive as God is fitted to give, we should not be long without an answer. Omnipotent power can save to the uttermost, infinite love can pardon to the uttermost, if we could but believe. “All things are possible to him that believeth;” that is, God can ido all things for the comfort and use of believers. Faith is his immutable ordinance, and he will not go out of his own way. Well, then, if you receive not, it is not for want of power in God, but want of faith in yourselves. Obs. 4. That God thinketh the least mercy too good for unbelievers. “Receive any thing;” neither wisdom, nor any thing else. He thinks nothing too good for faith, and any thing too good for unbelief. It is observable, in the days of Christ's flesh, that faith was never frustrated, he never let it pass with- out some effect; nay, sometimes he offers all that you can wish for : “Great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” Matt. xv. 28. Faith gives Christ content, and therefore he will be sure to give the be- liever content; crave what you will, and he will give it. But, on the contrary, “let not that man think that he shall receive any thing.” How are the bowels of mercy shrunk up at the sight of unbelief! Believers shall have all things, and you nothing. Obs. 5. That the fruit of our prayers is received from the hands of Christ. “From the Lord.” He is the middle person, by whom God conveys blessings to us, and we return duty to him. See John xiv. 13, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Mark, I will do it; Christ receives the power to con- vey the blessing: we must ask the Father, but it comes to us through him ; and all this, not that the Father might be excluded, but glorified. We are unworthy to converse with the Father, therefore Christ is the true Mediator: God is glorified when We come to him through Christ. In times of know- ledge God would have your thoughts in prayer to be more distinct and explict; you must come to the Father in the Son’s name, and look for all through the Spirit: and as the Spirit works as Christ's Spirit, to glorify the Son, John xvi. 14; so the Son will give, to glorify the Father. What an excellent ground of hope and confidence have we, when we reflect Mirum novum- que dictu quod patri exhibeatur petitio et filius exaudiat, cum exauditio ad eum pertineat cui est g; petitio. Šimon de Cassia, lib. 13. cap. 2. upon these three things in prayer, the Father's love, the Son's merit, and the Spirit's power | No man com- eth to the Son, but by the Father, John vi. 65. “No man cometh unto the Father, but by the Son,” John xiv. 6. No man is united to the Son, but by the Holy Ghost; therefore we read of the “unity of the Spirit,” Eph. iv. 3. VERSE 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. * HE proceeds to a general consideration of the un- happiness of unbelievers, and saith two things of them, that they are “double-minded,” and “un- stable.” Possibly there may be a secret antithesis, or opposition, between the temper of these men, and what he had said before of God; God gives dºt\gic, with a single mind, and we expect with a double mind, our trust being nothing so sure as his mercy is free. But let us examine the words more particularly. “A double-minded man,” 6t/vyog ávrīp. The word signifies one that hath two souls; and so it may im- ply, 1. A hypocrite, as the same word is used to that purpose, “Purify your hearts, ye double-minded,” Šipoxol, James iv. 8. As he speaks to open sinners to cleanse their hands, so to close hypocrites, whom he there calls double-minded, as pretending one thing and meaning another, to purify their hearts, that is, to grow more inwardly sincere: , and so it suits very well with that phrase by which the He- brews express a deceiver; “With a double heart do they speak,” Psal. xii. 2; in the original, With a heart and a heart, which is their form of speech, when they would express a thing that is double or deceitful; as divers or deceitful weights, is, a weight and a weight, in the original, Prov. xx. 23. As Theophrastus saith of the partridges of Paphlagonia, that they had two hearts; so every hypocrite hath two hearts, or two souls. As, I remem- ber, I have read of a profane wretch that boasted he had two souls in One body, one for God, and the other for any thing. 2. It implies one that is dis- tracted and divided in his thoughts, floating between two different ways and opinions, as if he had two minds, or two Souls; and certainly there were such in the apostle's days, some judaizing brethren, that sometimes would unite with the Jews, sometimes with the Christians, and did not use all due endeavours to be built up in the faith, or settled in the truth. Long before this time, it is said of others, “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods,” 2 Kings xvii. 33; they were divided between God and idols, which indifference the prophet expresses by a double or divided heart; “Their heart is divided ; now shall they be found faulty,” Hos. x. 2. Thus Athanasius applied this description to the Eusebi- ans, who sometimes held one thing, and anon another, that a man could never have them at any stay or certain pass. 3. And more expressly to the context, it may denote those whose minds were tossed to and fro with various and un- certain motions; now lifted up with a billow of pre- sumption, then cast down in a gulf of despair, be- ing divided between hopes and fears, concerning their acceptance with God. I prefer this latter sense, as most suiting with the apostle's purpose. “Is unstable,” drarcíararog ; has no constancy of Professus est Se habere duas ani- nas in eodem corpore, unann Deo dicatam, al- teram unicuique illam vellet. Callenucius, lib. 5. Hist. Neap. The Arians, so called from Euse- bius the Arian - bishop of Nico- media, who re- canted, and fell again to his heresy. Socrat. Scholast. lib. 1. cap. 25. \P C 2 20 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF soul, being as ready to depart from God as to close with him; no way fixed and resolved in the religion he professes. “In all his ways.” Some apply it chiefly to prayer, because those who are doubtful of success often in- termit the practice of it, regarding it only now and then in some zealous pangs, when conscience falls upon them. But I suppose rather it is a general maxim, and that prayer is only intended by conse- quence; for the apostle saith, “in all his ways.” Note, “way,” by a known Hebraism, is put for any counsel, action, thought, or purpose; and so it im- plies that all their thoughts, motions, and actions float hither and thither continually. \ OBSERVATIONS. I. That unbelieving hypocrites are men of a double mind. They want the conduct of the Spirit, and are led by their own affections, and therefore cannot be settled. Fear, the love of the world, carnal hopes and interests, draw them hither and thither, for they have no certain guide and rule. It is said of godly men, “They shall not be afraid of evil tidings; their heart, is fixed, trusting in the Lord,” Psal. cxii. 7 : they walk by a sure rule, and look to sure promises; and therefore, though their condition is changed, their heart is not changed, for the ground of their hopes is still the same. Carnal men's hearts rise and fall with their news; and when affairs are doubtful, their hopes are uncertain, for they are fixed upon uncertain ob- jects; they are “confounded, for they have heard evil tidings,” saith the prophet, Jer. xlix. 23. Upon every turn of affairs they have, as it were, another heart and soul. . That request of David is notable for the open- ing of this double mind, “Unite my heart to fear thy name,” Psal. lxxxvi. 11; that is, make my heart one, apply it only and constantly to thy fear; implying, that where men are divided between God and secular interests, they have, as it were, two hearts: one heart inclines them to a care of duty, the other heart dis- courages them by fears of the world. The heart is not povaxºjc, which is Aquila's word in that place, after One manner and fashion. This double mind in car- nal men bewrays itself two ways, in their hopes, and their opinions. (I.) In their hopes. They are dis- tracted between expectation and jealousy, doubts and fears; now full of confidence in their prayers, and anon breathing forth nothing but sorrow and despair: and possibly that may be one reason why the psalmist compares the wicked to chaff, Psal. i. 4, because they have no firm stay and subsistence, but are driven to and fro by various and uncertain motions, leading their lives by guess rather than any sure aim. (2.) In their opinions. Hypocrites usually waver and hang in suspense, being distracted between conscience and carnal affections; their affections carry them to Baal, their consciences to God; as the pro- phet saith to such men, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” I Kings xviii. 21. They are usually guilty of a promiscuous compliance, which, though used by them in carnal policy, yet often tends to their hurt; for this indifference is hateful to God and men. God loathes it ; “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou Wert cold or hot. So then because thou art luke- warm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth,” Rev. iii. 15, 16. Lukewarmness is that temper that is most ungrateful to the stomach, and therefore causes nausea; so are lukewarm Chris- tians to God: his ways are not honoured but by a Zealous earnestness. And man hates it. Solon did not judge him a good citizen that in a civil war took neither part: usually such neutrals, like those that come between two fencers, Méggs &ei äu- 907éptov kolcós suffer on both sides. I confess, some- agaze, Naz. times godly persons may be at a stand. * * Those that make conscience of things are not rash in choice; and therefore usually there is some hesi- tation before engagement, which, though it be an infirmity, yet God winks at it as long as they en- deavour satisfaction: but certainly a child of God should not rest in such a frame of spirit. Sincerity is much tried by an establishment “in the present truth,” 2 Pet. i. 12; that is, by uprightness in the con- troversies of our age and time. Antiquated opinions, that are altogether severed and abstracted from pre- sent interests, are no trial; therefore it is good to be positive and settled év tá trapoton &Amósia, in the truth that now is. I confess, such cases may happen, where the pretences of both sides are so fair, and the mis- carriages so foul, that we know not which to choose; and as Cato said of the civil wars between Caesar and Pompey, Quem fugiam video, quem sequar non video, We can better see whom to avoid, than whom to close with and follow; and thereupon there may be hesitation and indifference: but this is neither al- lowed for the present, nor continued out of interest, but conscience, and never descends to any base compliances for advantage. - Obs. 2. That doubtfulness of mind is the cause of uncertainty in our lives and conversations. Their minds are double, and therefore their ways are un- stable. First there is (as Seneca saith) nusquam residentis animi volutatio, un- certain rollings of spirit; and then vita pendens, a doubtful and suspensive life; for our actions often bear the image and resemblance of our thoughts; and the heart not being fixed, the life is very uncer- tain. The note holds good in two cases: 1. In fixing the heart in the hopes of the gospel. 2. In fixing the heart in the doctrine of the gospel: as faith sometimes implies the doctrine which rides que erºdi. is believed, sometimes the grace by tur,et fides qua which we believe. A certain expecta- * tion of the hopes of the gospel produces obedience, and a certain belief of the doctrine of the gospel pro- duces constancy. (1.) None walk so evenly with God as they who are assured of the love of God. Faith is the mother of obedience, and Sureness of trust makes way for strictness of life. When men are loose from Christ, they are loose in point of duty, and their floating be- lief is soon discovered in their inconstancy and un- evenness of walking. We do not with any alacrity or cheerfulness engage in that, of the success of which we are doubtful; and therefore when we know not whether God will accept us or no, when we are off and on in point of trust, we are just so in the course of our lives, serve God by fits and starts, only when some zealous moods and pangs come upon us. It is the slander of the world to think assurance is an idle doctrine. Never is the soul so quickened and enabled for duty, as it is by the joy of the Lord: “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” Neh. viii. 10. Faith filling the heart with spiritual joy, yields a strength for all our duties and labours; and we are carried on with life and vigour, when we have most lively apprehensions of Divine grace. Bonus animus nunquam errainti obsequium ac- commodat. Ambros. Sen. lib. de Tranquil. IIpoaipmats, oi k éotiv čvygºt gov. Arist. Ethic. W- (2.) None are so constant in the profession of any truth as they who are convinced and assured of the grounds of it. When we are but half convinced, we are usually unstable. I remember the apostle speaks of a thing which he calls tétov armptypov, our Own stedfastness; “Lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness,” 2 Pet. iii. 17. Every believer has, or should have, a WER. 9. 2I THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. proper ballast in his own spirit, some solid rational grounds that may stay and support him; otherwise when the chain of consent is broken, we shall be Soon scattered. So elsewhere a believer is bidden to render Aóyov, “a reason of the hope that is in him,” I Pet. iii. 15; that is, those inward motives that constrained his assent to the truth. Thus also the apostle Paul charges us, first to “prove all things,” and then to “hold fast that which is good,” 1 Thess. v. 21. It is unsafe to engage till we have a full conviction, or to resolve without evidence; for there is no likelihood of holding fast till we have proved. Well, then, labour to understand the grounds of your religion. If you love a truth ignorantly, you cannot love it constantly; there is still a party left in the Soul to betray it into the hands of the opposite error. To take up ways without any trial is but a simple credulity, which will soon be abused and mis- led; and to take up ways upon half conviction is hypocrisy, which by that other part of the mind, not yet gained, will be soon discovered. Look upon it then as brutish to follow the track, and base to pro- fess before you have ascertained. VERSE 9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is ea'alted. THE apostle having finished that necessary digres- sion about prayer, returns to the main matter in hand, which is bearing afflictions with joy; and urges another reason in this verse, because to be depressed in the world for righteousness' sake is to be exalted towards God; and in consideration of their spiritual comforts and privileges, they had rather cause to boast and glory, than to be made sorry. Let us see the force of the words. “Let the brother ;” that is, a Christian : the people of God are expressed by that term, because the truest friendship and brotherhood is among the good and godly. Combinations of wicked men are rather a faction and a conspiracy than a brother- hood; therefore you find this in Scripture notion always appropriated to the people of God. When it is said indefinitely, a brother, you may understand a Saint; as here, James does not say, a Christian, but, “let the brother.” So Paul, I Cor. xvi. 20, “All the brethren greet you,” that is, all the saints. And sometimes it is expressed with this addition, “holy brethren,” 1 Thess. v. 27; whereas in the same place he had said, “Greet all the brethren,” ver. 26. This loving compellation, and use of calling one another brothers and sisters, continued till Tertul- lian’s time, as we showed before. - - “Of low degree,” ratstvoc, which, as the Hebrew word "xy signifies both humble and base, the grace and condition, affliction and humility. It is here put for the condition, not the grace; and therefore we well render it “ of low degree,” for it is opposed to the term “rich,” in the next verse. It is thus understood elsewhere, as Prov. xvi. 19, “Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” By “lowly” he means the lowly in condition, not in heart, for it is opposed to divid- ing the spoil. So Luke i. 48, “He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid,” Tºv ratstvojaw, the hu- mility of his handmaid. The grace and the condi- tion are expressed by the same term, because a “low estate” is the great engagement to a lowly heart. But remember, by “low degree” is not intended one that is poor simply, but one that is poor for Christ; as persecutions and afflictions are often expressed by the word humility and humiliation. Thus Psal. ix. 12, “He forgetteth not the cry of the humble;” the margin reads, afflicted: and in ver. 13, “Consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me;” in the original, my humiliation. So here, &6=\pog Tai- Trewoc, the humble brother, is one that is humbled or made low by the adversaries of religion. “Rejoice,” cavydo60, boast, or glory, as it is in the margin. It is the highest act of joy, even when joy begins to degenerate, and pass the limits and bounds of reason; I say, it is the first degeneration of joy, and argues the soul to be surprised with great excess and height of affection, for the next step be- yond this is verily wicked. Joy begins to exceed when it comes to exultation, but when it comes to insultation it is stark naught. Therefore how should they boast or glory P is that lawful? I answer, (1.) It may be understood as a concession of the lesser evil, thus, Rather than murmur under afflictions, or faint under them, or endeavour to come out of them by ill means, you may rather boast of them; rather than groan under them as a burden, you may boast of them as a privilege; it is the lesser evil. Such concessions are frequent in Scripture; as in Prov. v. 19, the force of the original is, Thou shalt err in her love; which the Septuagint render, 'Ev yáp Tà rairng pi\ig Treptºspépévoc TóN\oorog Égy, Thou shalt be over- much in her love : we translate the clause, “And be thou ravished always with her love;” which cer- tainly implies an unlawful degree, for ecstasies and ravishments in carnal matters are sinful. How is it then to be understood? Does the Scripture allow any vitiosity and excess of affection ? No, it is only a notation of the lesser evil; Rather than lose thyself in the embraces of a harlot, let thy wife's breasts satisfy thee at all times, be overmuch, or err, in her love. (2.) It may only imply the worth of our Chris- tian privileges, Let him look upon his privileges as matter of boasting; how base and abject soever your condition seem to the world, yet suffering for Chris- tianity is a thing whereof you may rather boast than be ashamed. (3.) It may be the word is to be mol- lified with a softer signification, as our translators, instead of, let him boast or glory, say, let him rejoice; though, by the way, there is no necessity for such a mitigated sense, for the apostle Paul says directly in the same terms, We boast, or “glory, in tribulations,” &c., Rom. v. 3. But more of this in the observations. “In that he is exalted,” #y rij čiſ/st airoij, in his sublimity. This may be understood two ways: (1.) More generally, in that he is a brother or a member of Christ; as the worth and honour of the spiritual estate is often put to counterpoise the misery and obscurity of afflictions. Thus Rev. ii. 9, “I know thy poverty, but thou art rich;” poor outwardly, but rich spiritually. (2.) More particularly, it may note the honour of afflictions, that we are thought worthy to be sufferers for any thing in which Christ is con- cerned, which is certainly a great preferment and exaltation. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the people of God are brethren. I ob- served it before, but here it is direct. “Let the bro- ther of low degree.” They are begotten by the same Spirit, by the same immortal seed of the word. They have many engagements upon them to all social and brotherly affection. Jure matris natu- rae, (as Tertullian saith,) By the com- mon right of nature all men are bre- thren ; but vos male fratres quia parwm hom?nes, saith he to the persecutors, the church can ill call you Tertul. in Apol. cap. 22 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF . brethren, because ye are scarce men. Well, then, consider your relation to one another; you are bre- thren, a relation of the greatest endearment; partly as it is natural, not founded in choice, as friendship, but nature; partly as it is between equals. The re- º between parents and children is natural, but in that part of it which ascends from inferiors to su- periors there is more of reverence than sweetness. In equals there is (if I may so speak) a greater sym- metry and proportion of spirit, therefore more love. Ah, then, live and love as brethren. Averseness of heart and carriage will not stand with this sweet re- lation. The apostle speaks with admiration, “Bro- ther goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers ſº I Cor. vi. 6. There are two aggrava- tions; one from the persons striving, brother with brother; the other before whom, they made infidels conscious of their contention. So Gen. xiii. 7, “And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and Perizzite dwelled then in the land.” The Canaanite was yet unsubdued, ready to take ad- vantage of their divisions, yet they strove. But see how Abram takes up the matter, “Let there be no strife, I pray you; for we be brethren.” O consider, no discords are like those of brethren ; the nearer the union, the greater the separation upon a breach; for natural ties being stronger than artificial, when they are once broken, they are hardly made up again; as seams, when they are ripped, may be sewed again, but rents in the whole cloth are not so easily reme- died : and so Solomon saith, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their con- tentions are like the bars of a castle,” Prov. xviii. 19; that is, they are as irreconcilable as a strong castle is impregnable. But this is not all that is re- quired, merely to avoid what misbecomes the relation; but we must also practise the duty that it enforces; there should be mutual endeavours for each other’s good : “For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee,” Psal. cxxii. 8; that is, because of the relation he would be earnest with God in prayer for their welfare. Obs. 2. Meanness does not take away church re- lations. “The brother of low degree.” He saith, of low degree, and yet brother. Christian respects are not to be measured by these outward things: a man is not to be measured by them, therefore certainly not a Christian, I had almost said, not a beast. We choose a horse sine phaleris et ephippio, by his strength and swiftness, not the gaudiness of his trappings. That which Christians should look at is not these outward additions, but the eminence of grace: “Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of per- sons,” James ii. 1; that is, do not esteem their grace according to the splendour or meanness of the out- ward state and condition. Tespising the poor is called a despising the church of God; “What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in P or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not P” I Cor. xi. 22. At their love-feasts they were wont to slight the poor, and discourage those that were not able to defray part of the charge, which, the apostle Saith, is a despising the church, that is, those that are members of Christ and the church as well as themselves; for he does not oppose ék- k\notav to oikov, as a public place to a private, but a public action to a private action ; as if he had said thus, In your houses you have a liberty to invite whom you please, but when you meet in a public assembly, you must not exclude such a considerable part of the church as the poor are. Obs. 3. It is not poverty, but poor Christianity, that Apuleus alicubi. Vid. Spanhemius 1)ub. Evange). 3 Par. Dub. 77. occasions joy and comfort. “The brother of low degree.” Not a man of low degree, but a “brother.” Many please themselves because they suffer afflic- tions in this world, and therefore think they should be free in the world to come ; as many ungodly poor men think death will make an end of their troubles, as if they could not have two hells. O consider, mere meanness is no comfort; the brother only can rejoice in his misery and low estate. It is said, . “Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause,” Exod. xxiii. 3. . One would have thought it ought to have been rather said, the rich; but there is a foolish pity in man, and we are apt to say, He is a poor man, and so omit justice. Well, then, God that condemns it in man, will not pity you for your mere poverty. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Matt. v. 3; mark that, Trvsögart, “in spirit,” not in purse. Many men's sufferings here are but the pledges and prefaces of future misery, “the begin- ning of sorrows,” Matt. xxiv. 8. For the present your families are full of wants, your persons oppressed with misery and reproach; but all this is but a shadow of hell that comes after. Every Lazarus is not car- ried into Abraham’s bosom; you may be miserable here and hereafter too. God will not pity you be-, cause of your suffering, but punish you rather, for these give you warning. O consider, then, is it not sad to you, when you see the naked walls, the ragged clothes, and hear the cries of the hungry stomachs within your families, and you yourselves much bitten and pinched with want, and become the scorn and contempt of those that dwell about you? Yes, but it will be more sad to consider that “these are the be- ginning of sorrows:” you cry for a bit now, and then you may howl for a drop to cool your tongue; now you are the scorn of men, then the scorn of God, men, and angels. O be wise; now you may have Christ as well as others, as the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom to make an atonement for their souls, Exod. xxx. 15; but if not, you will perish as well as others; as God will not favour the rich, so he will not pity the poor. Obs. 4. That the meanest have the greatest reason and engagement to be humble. Their condition always makes the grace in season. Poverty and pride are most unsuitable. It was one of Solomon’s odd sights, to see “servants on horseback, and princes walking as servants upon the earth,” Eccles. X, 7. A poor proud man is a prodigy and wonder of pride; he has less temptation to be proud, he has more reason to be humble. Nebuchadnezzar was more ex- cusable, for he had a great Babel, and that was a great temptation. Besides the feeling which should exist in your affections, there is somewhat in your condition to take down the height of your spirits. It is not fit for those of the highest rank to turn fashionists, and display the ensigns of their own vanity; but when servants, and those of a low de- gree, put themselves into the garb, it is most intoler- able. But alas, thus we often find it. Men usually walk unsuitably to their condition, as if they would supply in pride what is lacking in estate and Suf- ficiency; whereas others that excel in abilities are most lowly in mind, as the sun when at the highest casts the least shadows. Obs. 5. God may set his people in the lowest rank of men. A brother may be tdººrstvoc, base and ab- ject, in regard of his outward condition. The Captain of salvation, the Son of God himself, was “despised and rejected of men,” Isa. liii. 3, as we render it; in the original, tºw's 9-in desitio virorum, that is, the leaving off of men; implying, that he appeared in such a form and rank, that he could scarce be said to be man, but as if he were to be reckoned among VER. 9. 23 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. some baser kind of creatures: as Psal. xxii. 6, David saith, as a type of him, “I am a worm, and no man;” rather to be numbered among the worms than among men; of so miserable a being, that you could scarce call him man; rather worm, or some other notion that is fittest to express the lowest rank of creatures. Well, then, in the greatest misery say, I am not yet beneath the condition of a saint; a brother may be base and abject. * * * Obs. 6. That the vilest and most abject condition will not excuse from murmuring. “Let the brother of low degree rejoice.” Though you are Tctºrswoc, base, yet you may rejoice and glory in the Lord. A man cannot sink so low as to be past the help of spiritual comforts. In the place of dragons there is somewhat to check murmurings, somewhat that may allay the bitterness of our condition, if we had eyes to see it. Though the worst thing were happened to you, poverty, loss of goods, exile; yet in all this there is no ground of impatience. “The brother of low degree” may pitch upon something in which he may glory. Well, then, do not excuse passion by misery, and blame your condition when you should blame yourselves. It is not your misery, but your passions, that occasion sin: wormwood is not poison. But, alas, the old Adam is found in us: “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” We blame Providence, when we should smite upon our own thighs. It is a foolish excuse to say, Never such sufferings as mine. Is there “any sorrow like unto my sorrow P” Lam. i. i2. Men pitch upon that circumstance, and so justify their murmurings. But remember, the greatness of your sufferings cannot give allowance to the exorbi- tancy of your passions. The “low degree” has its comforts. Obs. 7. There is a concession of some kind of boasting to a Christian; he may glory in his privi- leges. To state this matter, I shall show you, (I.) How he may not boast. [I.] Not to set off self, self-worth, self-merits. So the apostle's reproof is just, “Who maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive P now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory,” the same word used here, “as if thou hadst not received it?” I Cor. iv. 7. That is an evil glorying, to #. in ourselves, as if our gifts and graces were of our own purchasing, and ordained for setting off of our own esteem; all such boasting is contrary to grace; as the apostle saith, IIoi; otiv 5 caäxmaic, “Where is boasting P It is excluded by grace,” Rom. iii. 27. [2] Not to vaunt it over others: the Scripture gives you no allowance to feed pride. It is the language of hypocrites, “Stand by thyself, come not near me; for I am holier than thou,” Isa. lxv. 5. To despise others as carnal, as men of the world, and to carry ourselves with an imperious roughness towards them, is a sign we forget who made the difference. The apostle chides such kind of persons, Ti čov6sveig, “Why dost thou set at nought thy brother ?” Rom. xiv. 10. Tertullian reads it, Cur nullificas 2 Why dost thou nothing him? He that makes nothing of others, forgets that God is all in all to himself. Grace is of another temper: “Show all meekness to all men, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish and disobedient,” Tit. iii. 2, 3. So think of what you are, that you may not forget what you were before grace made the distinction. (2.) How he may boast. [I.] If it be for the glory of God, to exalt God, not yourselves: “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord,” Psal. xxxiv. 2; of his goodness, mercy, power. This is well, when we see we have nothing to boast of but our God; neither wealth, nor riches, nor wisdom, but of the Lord alone : “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, saith the Lord,” Jer. ix. 23, 24. This not only quickens others to praise him, but argues much affection in yourselves: as when we prize a thing, we say we have nothing to glory of but that; so it is a sign the Soul sets God above all, when it will glory in none other. [2] To set out the worth of your privileges. The world thinks you have a hard bargain to have a crucified Christ; glory in it. Thus Rom. v. 3, “We glory in tribulations.” The apostle does not say we must glory or boast of our tribulations or sufferings, but “glory in tribula- tions.” There is poor comfort in offering our bodies to the idol of our own praise, and to affect a martyr- dom to make way for our repute or esteem, that we may have somewhat whereof to boast; that is not the apostle's meaning: but this glorying is to let the world know the honour we put upon any engagement for Christ, and that they may know we are not ashamed of our profession, when it is discountenanced and persecuted. The apostle Paul is excellently ex- plained by the apostle Peter; “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf,” I Pet. iv. 16. They think it is a disgrace, and you think it is a glory, to suffer for Christ. Look, as divines say, in the case of eyeing the reward, then it is done most purely, when it is done to extenuate the temptation by the esteem and presence of our hopes; as Christ counted it a light shame, in comparison of “the joy that was set before him,” Heb. xii. 2, and Moses the treasures of Egypt nothing, in comparison of “the recompence of the reward,” Heb. xi. 26. So here, in this cause you may glory, that is, to counterbalance the shame of the world with the dignity of your profession and hopes. Well, then, you see how you may glory, to declare your valuation and esteem of God and his ways. Obs. 8. That grace is a preferment and exaltation. “He is exalted.” Even those of low degree may be thus exalted. All the comforts of Christianity are such as are riddles and contradictions to the flesh. Poverty is preferment; servants are free-men, “the Lord’s free-men,” I Cor. vii. 22. The privileges of Christianity take off all the ignominy of the world. Christian slaves and vassals are yet delivered from the tyranny of Satan, and the slavery of sin; there- fore he saith, they are “the Lord’s free-men.” So James ii. 5, “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?’” Spiritual treasure and inward riches are the best. A Christian’s life is full of mysteries; poor, and yet rich; base, and yet exalted; shut out of the world, and yet admitted into the com- pany of saints and angels; slighted, yet dear to God; the world’s dirt, and God’s jewels. In one place it is said, “We are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things,” I Cor. iv. 13. And in another, “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,” Mal. iii. 17. Not a foot of land, yet an interest in the land of promise, a share in the inheritance of the saints in light: you see every thing is amply made up in another way. Do but consider the nature of your privileges, and you cannot but count them a pre- ferment. You are called to be “sons of God,” John i. 12. He vouchsafed them ééovatav, the privilege, or prerogative, “to become the sons of God.” So also, * members of Christ;” and what a door of hope does that open to you! So also, “heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ,” Rom. viii. 17. So also, “par- takers of the Divine nature,” 2 Pet. i. 4; and what a privilege is that! that we should be severed from 24 CHAP. T. AN EXPOSITION OF the vile world, and gilded with glory, when we might have stood like rotten posts that we should be united to Christ, when, like dried leaves, we might have been driven to and fro throughout the earth ! Well, then, (1.) Never quarrel with Providence. Though you have not other things, rejoice in this, that you have the best things: sole adoption is worth all the world. Do not complain that you have not the gold, if you have the kiss. I allude to that known story in Xeno- phon. Never envy the world’s enjoyments, no, though you see men wicked and undeserving; to murmur under any such pretence is but disguised envy. Con- sider, God has called you to another advancement; you sin against the bounty of God, if you do not value it above all the pomp and glory of the creatures; they are full and shining, but your comforts are bet- ter and more satisfying: “Godliness with content- ment is great gain,” i Tim. vi. 6; or it may be read, Godliness is great gain with contentment, in opposi- tion to worldly gain. Men may gain much, but they are not satisfied; but godliness is such a gain as brings contentment and quiet along with it; for I suppose that place of the apostle is parallel to that of Solomon, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it,” Prov. x. 22. (2.) Refresh your hearts with the sense of your privileges. You who are the people of God are ex- alted in your greatest abasements. Are you naked P you may “be arrayed in fine linen,” Rev. xix. 8, which is Ta Śukawſuara, the righteousness of the saints: that plural word implies justification and sanctifica- tion. Are you hungry P God’s mountain will yield you “a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,” Isa. xxv. 6: wines on the lees are most generous and sprightly. Are you thirsty P you have “ a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” John iv. 14. Are you base? you have glory, you have a crown. The word uses these expressions, to show that all your wants are made up by this inward Supply. Obs. 9. That the greatest abasements and suffer- ings for Christ are an honour to us. They rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name,” Acts v. 41. It was an act of God’s grace to put this honour upon them. Well, them, do not look upon that as a judgment which is a favour; re- proaches for Christ are matter of thanksgiving rather than discontent. In ordinary sufferings God’s people have this comfort, that as nothing comes without merit, so nothing goes away without profit. But here, whatever is done to them is an honour, and a high vouchsafement. Oh how happy are the people of God, who can suffer nothing from God or men but what they may take comfort in VERSE 10. But the rich, in that he is made low : because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. HE takes occasion from the former exhortation, which urged them to rejoice in miseries, to speak of the opposite case, prosperity. Some suppose the words to be an irony, wherein the apostle discovers his low conceit of worldly glory. All their exaltation is humiliation; and therefore if he will glory, let him glory in his wileness, and the unsettledness of his condition; that is all they can boast of, a low enjoyment that may be Theo. Lyra. soon lost. But I suppose it is rather a direction, for he speaks by way of advice to the rich Christian, or brother; which will appear more fully by a view of the words. & “But the rich.” It denotes the noble, the honour- able, those who are dignified with any outward ex- cellence, more especially those who as yet remain untouched or unbroken by persecution. Some ob- serve he does not say the rich brother, as before, “the brother of low degree,” but only generally “the rich;” few of that quality and rank give their names to Christ: but this may be too curious. “In that,” &c. You see a verb is wanted to make the sense entire and full. What is to be understood P CEcumenius saith, aioxvvsø00, let him be ashamed, considering the uncertainty of his estate; others much to the same sense, ratswoão 60, let him be humbled “in that he is made low,” as if the opposite word to kavydo,000 were to be introduced to supply the sense: so it would be a like speech with that, 1 Tim. iv. 3, where in the original it runs thus, kwxwóvrov yapugiv, dréx800at 6popudºrov, “forbidding to marry, and to ab- stain from meats;” where there is a defect of the contrary word, commanding, which we in our trans- lation supply, and read, “forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats;” as Epiphanius, citing that place, reads it with that addition, cºváv- row Yapışiv kai IceAsvávrov & réxsobat 6popudrov. So 1 Tim. ii. 12, “I suffer not a woman to teach,” &c., “but to be in silence;” the opposite word to suffer not, or forbid, is understood, that is, I command her to be in silence. So here, Let the brother of low degree glory in that he is exalted; and then, the rich be humbled in that he is made low. Many go this way; but this seems somewhat to disturb the series and order of the words. I always count that the best sense which runs with a smooth plainness; therefore I rather like the opinion of others, who re- peat kavydo60, used in the former verse, Let him re- joice, the poor man in that he is spiritually exalted, the rich in that he is spiritually humbled: so that grace makes them both even and alike to God, and in regard of Divine approbation they stand upon the same level; the poor, that is too low, he is exalted, the rich, that is too high, he is humbled, which to both , is matter of glory or joy. “He is made low.” Some say outwardly, and in providence, when his crown is laid in the dust, and he is stripped of all, and brought into the condition of the brother of low degree: but this is not so pro- per; for the apostle speaks of such a making low as will consist with his being rich; made low whilst TAoûgioc, rich, and high in estate and esteem. Some more particularly say, therefore made low, because though honourable for riches, yet because a Chris: tian, no more esteemed than if poor, but accounted base and ignominious. But this does not agree with the reason at the end of the verse, “because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.” . More pro- perly then it is understood of the disposition of the heart, of a low mind in a high condition: and So it notes either such humility as arises from the con- sideration of our own sinfulness, and they are happy indeed whom God has humbled with a sense of their sins; or from a consideration of the uncertainty of all worldly enjoyments. When our hearts are drawn from a high esteem of outward excellencies, and we live in a constant expectation of and preparation for the cross, we may be said to be made low, though never so much exalted, which I suppose is chiefly intended; and so it suits with the reason annexed, and is parallel with that of the apostle, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches,” I Tim. WER. 10. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. - 25. vi. 17: the meaning is, that the glory of their condi- tion is, that when God hath made them most high, they are most low in their own thoughts. “Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.” He renders a reason why they should have a lowly mind in the midst of their flourishing and plenty, because the pomp of their condition is but as a flower of the field, which fades as soon as it dis- plays its glory. The similitude is often used in Scripture: “They shall soon be cut down like the rass, and wither as the green herb,” Psal. xxxvii. 2. So Job xiv. 2, “He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down.” So Isa. xl. 6, 7, “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth : be- cause the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.” So also in many other places. I shall improve the similitude in the notes; only observe here, that the apostle does not say that his riches shall pass away as a flower, but “he shall pass away;” he and his riches also. If we had a security of our estate, we have none of our lives; we pass, and they pass, and that with as easy a turn of providence as the flower of the field fadeth. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Riches are not altogether inconsistent with Christianity. Let “the rich,” that is, the rich brother. Usually riches are a great snare. It is a hard matter to enjoy the world without being entangled with the cares and pleasures of it. The moon never suffers an eclipse but when it is at the full; and usually in our fulness we miscarry; and therefore our Saviour saith, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” Matt. xix. 24. It is a Jewish proverb to note an impossibility; rich men should often think of it. A camel may as soon go through a needle's eye, as you enter into the kingdom of God. That were a rare miracle of nature indeed, to see a camel or an elephant pass through a needle's eye; and it is as rare a miracle of grace to see a rich man gained to Christ, and a love of heaven; of all persons in the world, they are least apprehensive of spiritual excel- lencies. . Christ himself came in poverty, in a preju- dice, as it were, to them that love riches. Plato, a heathen, saith the same almost with Christ, that it is impossible for a man to be eminently rich, and eminently good. The way of grace is usually so strait, that there is scarce any room for them that would enter with their great burdens of riches and honour. But you will say, What will you have Christians to do then? in a lavish luxu- ry to throw away their estates P or in an excess of charity to make others full, when themselves are empty P I answer, No ; there are two passages to mollify the rigour of our Lord’s saying. One is in the context, “With God all things are possible,” Matt. xix. 26. Difficulties in the way to heaven serve to bring us to a despair of ourselves, not of God; he can loosen the heart from the world, that riches shall be no impediment; as Job by providence was made eminently rich, and by grace eminently godly, “none like him in the earth,” Job i. 8. The other passage is in Mark x. 23, 24, Jesus said, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and Saith, unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the king- dom of God!” It is not the having, but the trusting in. Riches in the having, in the bare possession, are 'A'ya 6öv čvra , ôtºpépóvtwº kai TAGüovov clvat ðto pepôvºrſos cióð- by Otto y, ato. Non possunt in coelum aspicere, quonian mens eorum in hunnum prona, terraeque defixa est; virtu- tis autem via non capit magna Onera portantes. Lactan. lib. sept. not a hinderance to Christianity, but in our abuse of them. The sum of all is, It is impossible to trust in riches, and enter into the kingdom of God; and it is to us impossible to have riches, and not to trust in them. Well, then, of all men, rich men should be most careful: a man may be rich and godly, but it is because now and then God will work some miracles of grace. Your possessions will not be your ruin till your corruptions mingle with them. Under the law the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom, Exod. xxx. 15; intimating, they may have interest in the same Christ. Austin observes, that servator pauper poor Lazarus was saved in the bosom º of rich Abraham. Riches in themselves ###"...”in are God’s blessings that come within a * * promise. It is said of him that feareth the Lord, that “wealth and riches shall be in his house,” Psal. cxii. 3; that is, when God sees good; for all tem- poral promises must be understood with an excep- tion. They do not intimate what always shall be, but that whatever is comes with a blessing; the fruit of a promise, not of chance, or a looser providence. Yea, riches with a blessing are so far from being a hinderance to grace, that they are an ornament to it. So Prov. xiv. 24, “The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.” A rich wise man is more conspicuous: an estate may adorn virtue, but it cannot disguise folly. A wise man that is rich has an advantage to discover himself which others have not; but a fool is a fool still; as an ape is an ape, though tied with a golden chain. And to this sense I suppose Solomon speaks, when he saith, “Wisdom is good with an inheritance,” Eccl. vii. 11; that is, more eminent and useful. And thus you see riches are as men use them, blessings promis- cuously dispensed; to the gºod, lºst panºr ºn they should be thought altogether evil; jºi..." to the bad, lest they should be thought ...”.” only good. . - • Obs. 2. That a rich man’s humility is his glory. Your excellency does not lie in the pomp and splen- dour of your condition, but in the meekness of your hearts. Humility is not only a clothing, “Put on humbleness of mind,” Col. iii. 12; but an ornament, I Pet. v. 5, Be decked with humility, Śykopfftºgao 0s; it comes from a word that signifies a knot, that or- naments when things are fitly tied. Men think that humility is a debasement, and meekness a derogation from their honour and repute. Ah, but you see God counts it an ornament. It is not a disguise, but a decking: none so base as the proud in the eyes of God and men. Before God you must not value your- self by your estate and outward pomp, but by your graces: a high mind and a low condition are all one to the Lord, only poverty has the advantage, because it is usually gracious. If any may glory, they may glory who have most arguments of God’s love ; now a lowly mind is a far better testimony of it than a high estate. And so before men, as Augustine said, He is a great man that is not lifted up because of his greatness. You are not better than others by your estate, but by your meekness. The apostles possessed all things, though they had nothing; they have more than you if they have a humble heart. - Obs. 3. That the way to be humble is to count the world's advantages our abasement. The poor man must glory “in that he is exalted; but the rich, in that he is made low.” Honours and riches set us beneath other men, rather than above them, and rather abate from you, than add any thing to you. It may be you have less of the Spirit, because you have more of the world; God does not customarily flow in both ways. Well, then, get this mind in the midst of your abundance; it is nothing what you do 25 Char. I. AN EXPOSITION OF at other times. Men dispraise that which they want, as the fox the grapes, and ignorant men learning. But when you are rich, can you glory in that you are made low, and say, All this is but low, in regard of the saints' privileges P. This would keep the heart in a right frame, so that you could lose wealth, or keep it: if you lose it, you only lose a part of your abase- ment; if you keep it, you only keep that which sets you the higher or the nearer to God. This is, to possess all things as if you possessed them not, I Cor. vii. 30; not to have them in your hearts, when you have them in your houses; and the truth is, this is the way to keep them still, to be humble in the pos- session of them. “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted,” Matt. xxiii. 12. Riches will be your abasement, if you do not think them so. Obs. 4. If we would be made low in the midst of worldly enjoyments, we should consider the uncer- tainty of them. This is the reason rendered by the apostle, “Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.” We are worldly, because we forget the world’s vanity, and our own transitoriness: “Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names,” Psal. xlix. 11. Either we think that we shall live for ever, or leave our riches to those that will continue our memory for ever; that is, to our children, which are but the parent multiplied and continued; which is, as one saith, nodosa atermitas, a knotty eternity: when our thread is spun out and done, their thread is knit to it, and so we dream of a continued succession in our name and family. But, alas, this inward thought is but a vain thought, a sorry refuge, by which man would make amends for the loss of the true eternity, but in vain, for we perish and our estate too : both your persons and your condition are tran- sitory. The apostle saith, he shall pass away like the flower of the grass: man himself is like the grass, soon withered; his condition is like the flower of the grass, gone with a puff of wind. So I Pet. i. 24, “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.” Many times the flower is gone when the stalk remains; so man sees all that he has been gathering a long time soon dissipated by the breath of Providence; and he, like a withered, rotten stalk, lives scorned and neglected. The Scriptures make use of both these arguments. Sometimes our own transitoriness, as Luke xii. 20, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Here men toil, and beat their brains, and tire their spirits, and rack their consciences; and when they have done all, like silk-worms, they die in their work, and God takes them away ere they can roast what they get in hunting. Sometimes the transitoriness of these out- ward things: if we do not leave them, they may leave us; as many a man has survived his happiness, and lived so long as to see himself, when his flower is gone, cast out upon the dunghill of scorn and con- tempt ; and truly it is a madness to be proud of that which may perish before we perish, as it is the worst of miseries to outlive our own happiness. The apostle saith, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches,” I Tim. vi. 17. Trust should have a sure object, for it is the quiet repose of the soul in the bosom of an immutable good; therefore that which is uncertain cannot yield a ground of trust; you may entertain it with jealousy, but not with trust. So Prov. xxiii. 5, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” Outward riches are so far from being the best things, that they rather are not any thing at all; Solomon calls them that which is not; and who ever loved nothing, and would be proud of that which is not P Obs. 5. The uncertainty of worldly enjoyments may be well resembled by a flower; beautiful, but fading. The similitude is elsewhere used. I gave you places in the exposition, let me add a few more. See Psal. ciii. 15, 16, “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” When the flower is gone, the root, as afraid, shrinks into the ground, and there remains neither remnant nor sign; so many a man that maintains a bustling and active life in the world is soon snapped off by Provi- dence, and there does not remain the least sign or memorial of him. So I Pet. i. 24, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.” It is repeated and returned to our consideration, “all flesh is grass,” and then, “the grass withereth,” to show that we should often in- culcate it upon our own minds. In short, from this resemblance you may learn two things. (I.) That though the things of the world are spe- cious, yet they should not allure us, because they are fading. Flowers are sweet, and affect the eye, but their beauty is soon scorched. The soul is for an eternal good, that it may have a happiness suitable to its own duration; an immortal soul cannot have full contentment in that which is fading. But this is a point that calls for meditation rather than de- monstration; it is easy to declaim upon the vanity of the creature, it is every man’s object, and every man's subject. O but think of it seriously, and de- sire God to be in your thoughts. When the creatures tempt you, be not enticed by the beauty of them, so as to forget their vanity. Say, Here is a flower, glorious, but fading; glass that is bright, but brittle. (2.) The fairest things are most fading. Crea- tures, when they come to their excellency, then de- cay; as herbs, when they come to flower, begin to wither; or as the sun, when it comes to the Zenith, declines. “Werily every man at his best state is altogether vanity,” Psal. xxxix. 5; not at his worst only, when the feebleness and inconveniences of old age have surprised him. Many, you know, are blast- ed and cut off in their flower, and wither as soon as they begin to flourish. Paul had a messenger of Satan presently after his ecstasy, 2 Cor. xii. 7. So the prophet speaks of a “grasshopper in the begin- ning of the shooting up of the latter growth,” Amos vii. 1. As soon as the ground recovered any verdure and greenness, presently there came a grasshopper to devour the herbage; the meaning is, a new afflic- tion as soon as they began to flourish. Well, then, suspect these outward things when you most abound in them. David thought of overthrows when God had given him a great victory, as Psal. lx. : compare the psalm with the title. So it is good to think of famine and want in the midst of plenty. A man does not know what overturnings there may be in the world. The woman that stood not in need of the prophet, 2 Kings iv. 13, “I dwell among mine own people,” that is, I have no need of friends at court; yet afterward stood in need of the prophet's man, 2 Kings viii. 5. The Lord knows how soon your condition may be turned; when it seems to flourish most, it may be near withering. WER. 11. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. - 27 VERSE i !. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but ºt withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth; so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. HE pursues the similitude, and in the close of the verse applies it. The latter clause only needs illus- tration. “So shall;” that is, so may ; for the passage is not absolutely definitive of what always shall be, but only declarative of what may be, and therefore the future tense is used for the potential mood. We See, many times, that “the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power; their seed is establish- ed in their sight with them, and their offspring be- fore their eyes; their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them,” Job xxi. 7–9. There- fore I say the apostle shows not what always comes to pass, but what may be, and usually falls out, and what at length certainly will be their portion. “The rich man” is either to be taken generally for the rich, whether godly or ungodly, or more espe- cially for the ungodly person that trusts in his riches. “Fade away,” papavóñasrat; a word proper to herbs when they lose their verdure and beauty. “In his ways.” Some read, as Erasmus and Gag- neus, Šv Taic Tropiate airtov, with his abundance; which reading Calvin also approves, as suiting better with the context, so shall the rich and all his abundance fade away. Dut the general and more received read- ing is that which we follow, §v táic tropstaic airov, “ in his ways,” or journeys: the word is emphatic, and imports that earnest industry by which men compass Sea and land, run hither and thither, in the pursuit of wealth, and yet, when all is done, it fades like the flower of the grass. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the vanity of flowers should hint thoughts to us about the vanity of our own comforts. We de- light in pictures and emblems; for then the soul, by the help of fancy and imagination, has a double view of the object in the similitude, which is, as it were, a picture of it, and then the thing itself. This was God’s ancient way, to teach his people by types: still he teaches us by similitudes, taken from common and Ordinary objects, that when we are cast upon them, Spiritual thoughts may be awakened; and so every ordinary object be, as it were, hallowed and consecrated to a heavenly purpose. Well, then, let this be your field or garden of meditation: when you see them decked with much beauty, remember all this is gone in an instant when the burning heat ariseth, 6 #Atog Gºv tº Kaūgovt, the sun with a burning wind; for kağawy, the word used here, is usually put for a scorching wind, which in the hot and eastern countries was wont to accompany the rising of the Sun; as Jonah iv. 8, “It came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind:” and therefore we read of the drying east wind, Ezek. xvii. 10; and in many places of Hosea, it was a hot piercing wind that blasted all things, and was the usual figure of God’s judgments; and so the psalmist Saith, “The wind passeth over it, and it is gone,” Psal. ciii. 16. But this by the way, because I omitted it in the exposition. When, I say, you walk in a garden or field, (as Isaac did to meditate, Gen. xxiv. 63,) think thus with yourselves; Here is a goodly show and painting, but, alas, these things are but for a season, they would fade away of their own accord, but the breath of the east wind will soon dry them up; so are all worldly comforts like flowers in the spring, good in their season, but very vanish- ing and perishing. Obs. 2. That our comforts are perishing in them- selves, but especially when the hand of Providence is stretched out against them. The flower fades of itself, but chiefly when it is scorched by the glowing, burning east wind. Our hearts should be loose at all times from outward things, but especially in times of public desolation : it is a sin against Providence to affect great things. When God is overturning all, then there is a burning heat upon the flowers, and God is gone forth to blast worldly glory: “The Lord saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekcst thou great things for thyself?” Jer. xlv. 4, 5; that is, a prosperous condition in a time of public desolation; as if a man should be planting flowers, when there is a wind gone forth to blast them. Well, then, take heed you do not make Providence your enemy; then your comforts will become more perishing; you can- not then expect a comfortable warmth from God, but a burning heat. There are three sins especially by which you make Providence your enemy, and so the creatures more vain. (1.) When you abuse them to serve your lusts. Where there is pride and wantonness, you may look for a burning; certainly your flowers will be scorched and dried up. Pleasant Sodom, when it was given to “pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idle- ness,” met with a burning heat indeed, Ezek. xvi. 49: in Salvian's phrase, God will rain plºt, hell out of º rather than not visit º º, for such sins. de Provid. lib. (2.) When you make them objects of trust. God can brook no rivals. Trust being the fairest and best respect of the creatures, it must not be intercepted, but ascend to God. If you make idols of the creatures, God will make nothing of them. The fire of God’s jealousy is a burning heat. God took away “from Judah the stay and the staff.” Isa. iii. 1; that is, that which they made so, excluding him; for that is the case in the context. So when you trust in your wealth, as if it must needs be well with your families, and you were secured against all judgments and turns of Providence, certainly God will take away “the stay and the staff,” and show that riches are but dead helps, when they are preferred before the living God, 1 Tim. vi. 17. (3.) When you get them by wrong means. Wealth thus gotten is flesh (like the eagles from the altar) with a coal in it, that devours the whole nest : “Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be de- livered from the power of evil l’’ Hab. ii. 9. You think it is a ready way to advance you; no, this is the ready way to ruin all: “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire,” James v. 3; that is, draw the fire and burning heat of God’s wrath upon yourselves and families. Obs. 3. Worldly men pursue wealth with great care and industry. “The rich man shall fade away in his ways.” . The rich turns hither and thither; he has several ways whereby to accomplish his ends. In self-denial, covetousness is the ape of grace; “it beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,” I Cor. xiii. 7: what pains do men take for things that perish Observe their incessant care, earnest labour, and unwearied industry, and say, How well would this suit with the heavenly treasure : It is pity a plant that would thrive so well in Canaan should still grow in the 28. CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF soil of Egypt; that the zealous earnestness of the soul should be misplaced, and we should take more pains to be rich unto the world, than to be rich towards God, Luke xii. 21. Man fallen is but the anagram of man in innocency; he has the same af- fections and delights, only they are transposed and misplaced; therefore we offend in the measure, be- cause we mistake in the object. Or else, secondly, observe their pains and care, and say thus; Shall a lust have more power over them, than the love of God in me? I have higher motives, and a “reward more sure,” Prov. xi. 18; they are more earnest for an earthly purchase, and to heap up treasure to them- selves, than I am to enrich my soul with spiritual and heavenly excellencies. Surely grace is an active thing, of as forcible an efficacy as corruption; why then do we act with such difference and dispropor- tion P. The fault is not in grace, but in ourselves. Grace is like a keen weapon in a child’s hand, it makes little impression, because it is weakly wielded. Worldly men have the advantage of us in matter of principle, but we have the advantage of them in matter of motive: we have higher motives, but they more entire principles, for what they do they do with their whole heart; but our principles are mixed, and therefore grace works with a greater faintness than corruption : but, however, it is sad. Pambus, in ecclesiastical history, wept when he saw a harlot dressed with much care and cost, partly to see one take so much pains for her own undoing, partly be- cause he had not been so careful to please God, as she had been to please a wanton lover. And truly when we see men cumber themselves with much Serving, and toiling and bustling up and down in the world, and all for riches, that “make themselves wings, and fly away;” we may be ashamed that we do so little for Christ, and they do so much for wealth; and that we do not lay out our strength and earnest- ness for heaven with any proportion as they do for the world. Obs. 4. All our endeavours will be fruitless, if God’s hand be against us. As the flower to the burning heat, so is the rich man in his ways; that is, notwithstanding all his industry and care, God may soon blast him. They earned wages, but “put it into a bag with holes,” Hag. i. 6; that is, their gains did not thrive with them. Peter toiled all the night, but caught nothing till he took Christ into the boat, Luke v. 5. So you will catch nothing, nothing with comfort and profit, till you take God along with you. “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep,” Psal. cxxvii. 2. Some take this place in a more particular and restrained sense; as if David would in- timate, that all their agitations to oppose the reign of Solomon, though backed with much care and indus- try, should be fruitless; though Absalom and Adonijah were tortured with the care of their own ambitious designs, yet God would give Jedidiah, or his beloved, rest; that is, the kingdom should quietly and safely be devolved upon Solomon, who took no such pains to court the people, and to raise himself up into their esteem, as Absalom and Adonijah did. They ground this exposition partly on the title of the psalm, A Psalm for Solomon; partly on the name of Solomon, who was called Jedidiah, or the beloved of the Lord, 2, Sam. xii. 24, 25, the word used here, he giveth his beloved rest. But I suppose this sense is too curious; for though the psalm is entitled for Solomon, yet I think not so much by way of prophecy as di- rection : for as the 72nd Psalm &; also bears title for Solomon) represents to him the model of a kingdom and its affairs; so this psalm the model of a family, with the incident cares and blessings of it; and therefore the passages of it are of a more univer- sal and unlimited application, than to be appropriated to Solomon. And it is not to be neglected that the Septuagint render the Hebrew word plurally, roic &yarnroig airoij Širvov, to his beloved ones sleep, show- ing that the sentence is general. The meaning is, then, that though worldly men fare never so hardly, excite their brains, tire their spirits, rack their con- sciences; yet many times all is for nothing; either God does not give them an estate, or not the comfort of it. But his beloved, without any of these racking cares, enjoy contentment; if they have not the world, they have sleep and rest; with silence submitting to the will of God, and with quietness waiting for the blessing of God. Well, then, acknowledge the pro- vidence, that you may come under the blessing of it. Labour without God cannot prosper; against God, and against his will in his word, will surely miscarry. VERSE 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him, HERE the apostle concludes the former discourse with a general sentence. I shall despatch it very briefly, because the matter of it often occurs in this Epistle. - “Blessed;” that is, already blessed. They are not miserable, as the world judges them. It is a Christian paradox, wherein there is an allusion to what is said, Job v. 17, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth.” It is a wonder, and therefore he calleth the world to see it, “Behold!” So the apostle, in an opposition to the judgment of the world, saith, “Blessed.” “Is the man,” dwijp. The word used is only proper to the masculine sex, and therefore some have forced and obtruded some misshapen conceits upon this scripture; whereas through- out the Epistle we shall observe our apostle delights in the use of this word for both sexes, as wer. 23, "Avôpt kara- voojvrt, “A man beholding his face,” &c.; intending a man or woman, for it answers to the Hebrew word vºs under which the woman also was comprehended. “That endureth,” &c intropévet; that is, that pa- tiently and constantly bears temptation. A wicked man suffers, but he does not endure; they suffer, but unwillingly, with murmuring and blasphemy: but the godly man endures; that is, bears the affliction with patience and constancy, without murmuring, fainting, or blaspheming. Enduring is taken in a good sense, as Heb. xii. 7, “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.” God is not perceived to deal as a Father but when the affliction is patiently borne, which the apostle calls enduring there. - - “Temptation.” Affliction is so called, as before: in itself it is a punishment of sin, but to the godly only a trial; as death, the king of terrors, or highest of afflictions, is in itself the wages of sin; but to them, the gate of eternal life. - “For when he is tried,” &rt 66kipocysvöusvoc. The word is often translated approved; Rom. xiv. 18, “Ap- proved of man,” dripog. So I Cor. xi. 19, “that” of ôókpot, “they which are approved may be made mani- fest.” So here, when he is made or found approved, that is, right and Sound in the faith. It is a metaphor Beatus vir, non mollis vel effo”- minatus, Sed vir, digtus a virtute . animi virore fidei, vigore spei. Aquinas in lo- CUl In, VER. 12. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 29 taken from metals, whose excellency is discerned in the fire. “He shall receive;” that is, freely; for though none be crowned without striving, 2 Tim. ii. 5, yet they are not crowned for striving: as the Scripture says in many places, God will give every man ac- cording to his work, yet not for his work; for such passages only imply, (as Ferus a papist also grants,) that as evil works shall not remain un- punished, so neither shall good works be unrewarded. “A crown of life.” It is usual in Scripture to set forth the gifts of God by a crown; sometimes to de- note the honour that God puts upon the creatures: “Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour,” Psal. viii. 5. Sometimes to denote the all-sufficiency of God’s love; it is a crown; on every side there are experiences of it: he “crowneth thee with loving- kindness and tender mercies,” Psal. ciii. 4. But most usually it is applied to the heavenly estate: 1. Partly to denote the honour of it, as a crown is the emblem öf majesty; and so it betokens that im- perial and kingly dignity to which we are advanced in Christ: “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me,” Luke xxii. 29. Christ, that left us the cross, has left us his crown also. One of Christ's legacies to the church is his own cross; therefore Luther saith, Ecclesia est haeres crucis, The church is heir of the cross. So you see in this place he saith, 6tart}spat, I do by will and testament (so the word signifies) dispose a kingdom to you; and that is one reason why heavenly glory is expressed by a crown. 2. To denote the endless and perpetual fulness that is in it. Roundness is an emblem of plenty and perpetuity; there is somewhat On every side, and there is no end in it. So Psal. Ferus in Mat. - 27. cap. 16. v. xvi. 11, “In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” 3. To denote that it is given after striving. It was a re- ward of conquest. There was a crown set before those that ran a race; to which use the apostle alludes, I Cor. ix. 24, 25, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incor- ruptible:" that is, in the races and Isthmian games near Corinth, the reward was only some garland of flowers and herbs, which soon faded; but we run for an incorruptible crown of glory ; or, as another apostle calls it, “a crown of glory that fadeth not away,” I Pet. v. 4. Thus you see why heaven is ex- pressed by a crown. Now sometimes it is called “a crown of glory,” to denote the splendour of it; some- times “a crown of righteousness,” 2 Tim. iv. 8, to denote the ground and rise of it, which is God’s truth engaged by a promise, called “God’s righteousness” in Scripture; sometimes it is called “a crown of life,” as Rev. ii. 10, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,” because it is not to be had but in eternal or everlasting life; or else to denote the duration of it; it is not a dying, withering crown, as the garland of flowers, but a living crown, such as will flourish to all eternity. “Which the Lord hath promised.” This is added, partly to show the certainty of it, we have the as- surance of a promise; partly to denote the ground of expectation, not by virtue of our own merits, but by God’s promise. Now there is no particular promise alleged, because it is the general drift of the whole word of God. In the law there is a promise of “mercy unto thousands of them that love him,” Exod. xx. 6. When all things were after the manner of a carnal commandment, the expressions of the promises were also carnal; and that is the reason why, in the Old Testament, the blessings of the promises are expressed by “a fat portion, long life,” and “a blessing upon posterity;” for all these expressions were not to be taken in the rigour of the letter, but as figures of heavenly joys, and eternal life: and therefore what was in the commandment, “mercy to thousands of them that love him,” is, in the apostle, a “crown of life to them that love him;” the mystery of the ex- pression being opened and unveiled. “To them that love him.” A usual description of the people of God, But why them that “love him,” rather than them that serve or obey him, or some other description ? I answer, I. Because love is the sum of the whole law, and the hinge upon which all the commandments turn : this is the one word into which the decalogue is abridged ; therefore Paul Saith, Rom. xiii. 10, that “ love is.” TXàpapua vöptov, “ the fulfilling of the law.” 2. Because it is the great mark of our interest in Christ. Faith gives a right in the promises, and love evidences it ; there- fore is it so often specified as the condition of the promises, the condition that evidences our interest in them; as James ii. 5, “The kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him.” He does not say fear him, or trust in him, though these graces also are implied, but chiefly to them that love him. So Rom. viii. 28, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called ac- cording to his purpose;” where love of God (you see) is made the discovery both of effectual calling and election. 3. Because patience is the fruit of love. Avihil est quod non tolerat qui perfecte diligit, He that loveth much will suffer much ; and therefore when the apostle speaks of enduring temptations, he en- courages them by the crown of life promised to them that love God. A man would not suffer for him, un- less he loved him. obs ERVATIONS. I. Afflictions do not make the people of God miserable. There is a great deal of difference be- tween a Christian and a man of the world; “his best state is altogether vanity,” Psal. xxxix. 5, and a Christian’s worst state is happiness. He that loves God is like a die, cast him high or low he is still upon a square; he may be Tºrpéºp. sometimes afflicted, but he is always • happy. There is a double reason for it : Because outward misery cannot diminish his happiness. Be- cause sometimes it increases it. (1.) Afflictions cannot diminish his happiness. A man is never miserable till he has lost his happiness. Our comfortlies muchin the choice of our chiefest good. They that say, Happy is the people that is in such a case, that is, where there is no complaining in their streets, sheep bringing forth thousands, garners full, oxen strong to labour, &c., Psal. cxliv. 13–15, they may be soon miserable; all these things may be gone with an easy turn of Providence, as Job lost all in an instant. But they that say, Happy is the peo- ple whose God is the Lord, that is, that count it their happiness to enjoy God when they lose all, they may be happy, because they have not lost God. Our af- flictions discover our choice and affections. When outward crosses are the greatest evil, it is a sign God was not the chiefest good; for our grief, in the ab- sence of any comfort, is according to the happiness that we fancied in the enjoyment of it. One who has set up his rest in God can rejoice in his interest, though “ the fig-tree should not blossom, neither should fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olives should fail, and the fields should yield no meat; the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there should be 30 & AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. 1. no herd in the stalls.” These are great evils, and soon felt by a carnal heart; yet the prophet, in the person of all believers, says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation,” Hab. iii. 18. In the greatest defect and want of earthly things there is happiness and comfort enough in a covenant in- terest. (2.) Sometimes afflictions increase their happiness, as they occasion more comfort, and further expe- rience of grace. God seldom afflicts in vain. Such solemn providences and dispensations leave us better or worse. The children of God gain profit by them; for it is God’s course to recompense outward losses with inward enjoyments. “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abound- eth by Christ,” 2 Cor. i. 5; that is, inward comforts and experiences, according to the rate of outward sufferings. Now he has not the heart of a Christian, who can think himself more happy in temporal com- modities than in spiritual experiences. A wilderness that gives us more of God, is to be preferred above all the pleasures and treasures of Egypt. Learn, then, that they may be blessed whom men count miserable. They are not always happy to whom all things hap- pen according to their desires, but they that endure evil with victory and patience: the world judges ac- cording to outward appearance, and therefore is often mistaken. Zwemo aliorum sensu miser *"º Pei, estsed suo, saith Salvian; A godly man's . happiness or misery is not to be judged by the world’s sense or feeling, but his own. His happiness and yours differ. The apostle says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,” I Cor. xv. 19. . If worldly en- joyments were our blessedness, a Christian might not only be miserable, but most miserable. The main difference between a worldly man and a gracious man is in their chiefest good, and their utmost end; and therefore a worldly man cannot judge of a spirit- ual man’s happiness. But saith the apostle, “He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man,” I Cor. ii. 15. You think that their estate is misery, but they know that yours is vanity; you cannot judge them, but by the light of the Spirit they judge all things. They that count God their chiefest good know no other evil but the darkening of his countenance; in all other cases, blessed is he that endureth ; they lose nothing by affliction but their sins. Obs. 2. Of all afflictions those are sweetest which we endure for Christ's sake. The apostle saith, Blessed are they that endure temptation; that is, persecution for religion’s sake. The immediate strokes of Providence are more properly corrections; the vio- lences of men against us are more properly trials. There is comfort and blessedness in corrections, namely, when we receive profit by them : “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teach- est him out of thy law,” Psal. xciv. 12. Mark, when the chastening is from the Lord, there is comfort in it, if there be instruction in it. But it is far more sweet when we are called to suffer for a good con- science: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,” Matt. v. 10: there is the blessedness more clear. Corrections aim at the mor- tifying of sin, and so are more humbling; but trials aim at the discovery of grace, and so are more com- fortable. Corrections imply guilt; either we have sinned, or are likely to sin, and then God takes the rod in hand : but trials befall us that the world may know our willingness to choose the greatest affliction before the least sin, and therefore must needs be matter of more joy and blessedness to us. In short, corrections are a discovery and a silent reproof of our corruptions; but trials a discovery and public manifestation of our innocence, not a reproof so much as an honour and grace to us. Well, then, when you are called to suffer for Christ, apply this comfort. It is a blessed thing to endure evil for that cause, only be sure your hearts are upright, that it be for Christ indeed, and that your hearts are right with Christ. (1.) That it be for Christ. It is not the blood and suffering that makes the martyr, but the cause. We are all apt to entitle our quarrel to Christ, there- fore we should go upon the more sure grounds. The glory of our sufferings is marred, when there is some- what of an evil deed in them, I Pet. iv. 15. And we cannot be so cheerful as in a cause purely religious. Evils are not welcomed that come mixed in our thoughts, partly trial, and partly punishment. (2.) That your heart be right with Christ. The form of religion may many times draw a persecution. upon itself, as well as the power: the world hates both, though the form less. Oh how sad is it, when a man comes to suffer, and has nothing to bear him out but an empty form | Either such kind of per- sons make shipwreck of a good conscience, or else, out of obstimacy to their faction, sacrifice a stout body to a stubborn mind; or, which is worse, have nothing to support them but the low principles of vain-glory and worldly applause. O consider, there is no blessedness in such sufferings: then may you suffer cheerfully, when you appeal to God’s omniscience for your uprightness, as they do in the psalm, “The Lord knoweth the secrets of the heart: yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long,” Psal. xliv. 21, 22. Can you appeal to the God that knoweth Secrets, and say, For thy sake are we exposed to such hazards in the world P r . Obs. 3. That before crowning there must be a trial. “When he is tried.” We have no profit at all by the affliction, neither grace nor glory, till there be some wrestling and exercise. For grace, the apostle shows plainly, “it yieldeth the quiet fruits of right- eousness” toic yeyvpavaapāvouc, “to them that are ex- ercised thereby,” Heb. xii. 11. The pleasantness and blessedness is not found immediately, but after much struggling and wrestling with God in prayer, and long acquaintance with the affliction. So for glory, the apostle shows here, “when he is tried, he shall receive a crown.” In the building of the temple the stones were first carved and hewed; that the sound of hammer might not be heard in God's house; so the living stones are first hewn, before they are set in the New Jerusalem. The apostle saith, “If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully,” 2 Tim. ii. 5; that is, unless he perform the conditions and laws of the exercise in which he is engaged, he cannot expect the reward: so neither can we from God, till we have passed through all the stages of Christianity. The trial does not merit heaven, but always goes before it. Before we are brought to glory, God will first wean us from sin and the world, which the apostle calls a being “made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,” Col. i. 12. And this work is helped on by many afflictions: those serve to make us meet for the communion of Saints, Deus nihil not to merit it. When God crowns us, ºa. he crowns his own gifts in us. Well, #;".” then, bear your trials with the more. patience. It is said, that Paul confirmed “the Souls of the disciples,” showing “ that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God,” Acts xiv. 22: it is the common lot; none go to heaven without their trial. As the way to Canaan lay through a howling wilderness and desert, so the path to heaven lies through much affliction. He that VER. 12. 31 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. passes his life without trial knows not himself, and has no opportunity to discover his uprightness. Obs. 4. That it is good to oppose the glory of our hopes against the abasure of our sufferings. Here are trials, but we look for a crown of glory. This is the way to counterpoise the temptation, and in the conflict between the flesh and spirit to come in to the relief of the better part. Thus Paul saith the in- ward man is strengthened, when “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,” 2 Cor. iv. 18. A direct opposition of our hopes to our suf- ferings makes them seem light and easy. Thus our Saviour bids us consider, When you are persecuted for righteousness' sake, yours is the kingdom of heaven, Matt. v., 10. Though ye are deprived of all you have, yet ye cannot be deprived of heaven; re- member, heaven is still yours: you may lose an estate, but you have an assurance of a crown of glory. Thus Basil speaks of some martyrs, who were cast out all night naked in a cold frosty time, and were to be burnéd the next day, how they comforted themselves in this man- ner; The winter is sharp, but para- dise is sweet; here we shiver for cold, ...A.ey, but the bosom of Abraham will make ; §§. … amends for all, &c. Well, then, make fºx;, &c. use of this heavenly wisdom. Consider #. your hopes, both the glory of them, and the truth of them. (1.) The glory of them. There are two things trouble men in their sufferings, disgrace and death. See what provision God has made against these fears; he has promised a crown against the ignominy of your sufferings, and against temporal death a grown of life. A man can lose nothing for God, but it is abundantly recompensed and made up again; the crown of thorns is turned into a crown of glory, and losing of life is the ready way to save it, Matt. X. 39. Thus it is good to oppose our hopes to our Sorrows, and not altogether to look to the present dangers and sufferings, but to the crown, the crown of life that is laid up for us. Extreme misery, without hope of re- dress, overwhelms the soul; and there- fore the promises every where oppose a proper com- fort to that case where the feeling is like to be sorest, that faith may have a present and ready answer to such extremities as sense urges: as Stephen, in the midst of his sufferings, “ looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus stand- ing on the right hand of God,” Acts vii. 55. There Was, somewhat of miracle and extraordinary ecstasy in that vision, the glory of heaven being not only re- presented to his soul, but to his senses; but it was a pledge of that which ordinarily happens in the suf- ferings of God's children, for their hearts are then usually raised to a more fixed and distinct con- sideration of their hopes, whereby the danger and temptation is defeated and overcome. It is very ob- servable, that when Moses and Elijah came to speak with Christ about his sufferings, they appeared in such forms of glory as allayed the sharpness of the message; for it is said they “appeared in glory, and Spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem,” Luke ix. 31 : intimating that the crown of thorns should put us in mind of the crown of glory; and when we are clothed with shame and sorrow, wé should think of the shining garments; for the mes- º of the cross were apparelled with a shining glory. . (2.) The truth of them. It is not only a crown of glory that you expect, but “a crown of righteousness, Aptufts 6 xetutov, 2 * * * t &AA; 'YAvküç 9 trapºtēētoros' &X- yet!!! in ſuffiº, &\X #ósia # citróNºvorts' |Ult" Pericula non respicit martyr, coronas respicit. Basil ubi supra. which the Lord, the righteous Judge,” will surely be- stow upon you, 2 Tim. iv. 8; for though God makes, the promise in grace, yet, it being once made, his truth, which is often called his righteousness in Scripture, obliges him to perform it. p.a...: §§ then, consider thus: # have the .."; promise of the righteous God to assure ** me, and shall I doubt or draw back P. He is too holy to deceive : “God, that cannot lie,” Tit. i. 2. So immutable and faithful, that he cannot repent and change his mind, Numb. xxiii. 19. So omnipotent and able, that he cannot be disappointed and hin- dered, Job ix. 12. So gracious, that he will not for- get : “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Oh that our trust were as sure as his promises, and there were no more doubt to be made of our interest than of his truth ! Every promise is built upon four pil- lars; God’s justice or holiness, which will not suffer him to deceive; his grace or goodness, which will not suffer him to forget; his truth, which will not suffer him to change; his power, which makes him able to accomplish. Obs. 5. That no enduring is acceptable to God but such as arises from love. The crown which God hath promised, he does not say, to them that suffer, but, to them that love him. A man may suffer for Christ, that is, in his cause, without any love to him, but it is nothing worth : “Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing,” I Cor. xiii. 3. Through natural stoutness and stubbornness men may be constant in their way, and, as I said before, yield a stout body to a stubborn mind; and yet, when they are burning in the fires, their souls burn with no zeal or love to God’s glory. There are many who would die for Christ, if they were put to it, yet will not quit a lust for him. Vicious persons that die in a good cause, are but like a dog's head cut off for sacrifice. Well, then, do not think that mere suffering will excuse a wicked life. It is observable, that Christ saith last of all, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,” Matt. v. 10; as intimating that a martyr must have all the preceding graces: first, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are the pure in heart;” then, “Blessed are they which are persecuted.” First, grace is required, and then martyrdom. The victory is less over outward inconveniences than inward lusts; for these, being more rooted in our nature, are more hardly overcome. Under the law, the priests were to search the beasts brought for burnt-offerings, to see if they were diseased or imperfect. A burnt- offering, if faulty, is not acceptable to God. In short, that love which keeps the commandments is best able to make us suffer for them. Philosophy may teach us to endure hardships, as Calanus in Curtius ..., willingly offered his body to the fires; but grace only can teach us to overcome lusts. We read of many that, out of greatness or sullenness of spirit, could offer violence to nature, but were at a loss when they came to deal with a corruption; so easy is it to cut off a member rather than a lust 1 and to withstand an enemy rather than a temptation Therefore the Scriptures, when they describe an outward enemy, though never so fierce, call him flesh, With him is an arm of flesh ; but when they speak of the spi- ritual combat, they make it a higher work, and of another nature, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood,” &c., Eph. vi. 12. Learn, then, to do for God, that you may the better die for him; for a wicked man, as he profanes his actions, so his sufferings; his blood is but as swine's blood, a defilement to the altar. - Other notes might be observed out of this verse, 32 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF but they may be collected either out of the exposi- tion, or supplied out of observations on chap. ii. 5, where suitable matter is discussed. VERSE 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. - HE describes now another kind of temptations; for having spoken of outward trials, he takes occasion to speak of these inward temptations, that thereby he might remove a blasphemous error concerning the cause of them. It is clear that those outward trials are from God, but these inward trials, or temptations to sin, are altogether inconsistent with the purity and holiness of his nature, as the apostle proves in this and the following verses. - “Let no man when he is tempted,” pumöetc. ºrsipa.o- psvoc; that is, tempted to sin, for in this sense is the word used in Scripture. As Óokipºdżety, or trial, is the proper word for the other temptation; so Trépáčew is the proper word for temptations to sin. Thus the devil is called 6 respážov, “the tempter,” Matt. iv. 3; and in the Lord’s prayer we pray that we may not be led sic arsipaapāw, “into temptation,” chiefly in- tending that we may not be cast upon solicitations to evil: so here, “when he is tempted,” that is, so so- licited to sin that he is overcome by it. “Say ;” that is, either in word or thought, for thought is verbum mentis, the saying of the heart, and some that dare not lisp out such a blasphemy cer- tainly dare imagine it; for the apostle implies that the creature is apt to say, to have some excuse or other, - “I am tempted of God;” that is, it was he soli- cited or enforced me to evil; or if he would not have me sin, why did he not hinder me? “For God cannot be tempted with evil.” Here is the reason drawn from the unchangeable holiness of God, he cannot any way be seduced and tempted into evil. Some read it actively, he is not the tempter of evil; but this would confound it with the last clause. ‘Asgao, ºn . Some, as Salmeron out of Clemens àgéºpºgrºsſ apó Romanus, render the sense thus, God Top Geó. €l I] . . ſº † Tºom. lib. 2. is not the tempter of evil persons, but Const, cap. 8, only of the good, by afflictions; but that is a nicety which will not hold true in all cases, and does not agree with the original phrase; for it is not Töv caköv, as referring it to evil persons, but simply without an article, kaköv, as referring it to evil things. The sum is, God cannot, by any external applications, or ill motions from within, be drawn aside to that which is unjust. “Neither tempteth he any man;” that is, doth not love to seduce others, willing that men should be conformed to the holiness of his own nature. He tempts not, either by inward solicitation, or by such an inward or outward dispensation as may enforce us to sin, - * OBSERVATIONs. 1. That man is apt to ascribe to others the guilt of his own miscarriages. “Let no man say.” When they are seduced by their own folly, they would fain transfer the guilt and blame upon others. Thus Aaron shifts his crime upon the people, and on their solicitations; “They said, Make us gods,” &c., and “I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.” Exod. xxxii. 23 24, Mark, “there came out,” as if it were a work of chance rather than art. So Pilate, upon the Jews' instigation, crucified Christ, and then said to the Jews, Look ye to it, Matt. xxvii. 24. So ignorant men cast their errors upon their teachers. If they are wrong, they have been taught so; and there- fore Jeremiah says, “Ah, Lord God! Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people,” chap. iv. 10; that is, O Lord, they will say thou hast deceived them, it was thy prophets told them so. So Saul, I Sam. xv. 15, “The people spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen;” and ver. 24, “I feared the people.” It was out of fear of others who entreated me; the people would have it so. So many, if they are angry, say they are provoked; if they swear, others urged them to it; as Shelomith's son blasphemed in strife, Lev. xxiv. 10; so, if drawn to excess of drink, or abuse of the creatures, it was through others that enticed them. Well, then, (1.) Beware of these vain pretences; silence and owning of guilt is far more becoming. God is most glorified when the creatures lay aside their shifts. “The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head-bare, and he shall put a cover- ing upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, un- clean,” Lev. xiii. 45: all was to be naked and open but only his upper lip, he was not to open his mouth in excuses. It is best to have nothing to say, nothing but confession of sin. Leprosy must be acknow- ledged. The covering of the upper lip, among the Hebrews, was the sign of shameful conviction. (2.) Learn that all these excuses are vain and frivolous, they will not hold with God. Aaron is re- proved, notwithstanding his evasion. Pilate could not wash off the guilt when he washed pºst, Eccles his hands. He that crucified our Sa- ifist. Tib. 2. cap. viour, crucified himself afterward. Ig- ". morance is not excused by ill teaching: “The blind lead the blind,” and not one, but “both fall into the ditch,” Matt. xv. 14; the blind guide, and the blind follower. So Ezek. iii. 18, “The man shall die in his iniquity; but his soul will I require at thy hand.” It will be ill for the teacher, and ill for the misled soul too. So Saul is rejected from being king, for obeying the voice of the people rather than the Lord, 1 Sam. xv. 23. Shelomith’s son was stoned, though he blasphemed in spite, Lev. xxiv. 14. And it went ill with Moses, though they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips, Psal. ciii. 33, 34. Certainly it is best when we have nothing to say but only, Unclean, unclean. - Obs. 2. Creatures, rather than not transfer their guilt, will cast it upon God himself. They blame the Lord in their thoughts. It is foolish to cast it altogether upon Satan, to say, I was tempted of Satan : alas, if there were no Satan to tempt, we should tempt ourselves; his suggestions and temptations would not work, were there not some intervening thought, and that makes us guilty. Besides, some sins have their sole rise from our own corruption ; as the imperfect animals are sometimes bred ea putri materia, only out of putrid matter. It is useless to cast it upon others, I was tempted of others: actions cannot be accom- plished without our own concurrence, and we must bear the guilt. But it is blasphemous to cast it upon God, to say, “I am tempted of God;” and yet we are apt to do so, partly, to be clear in our own thoughts. Men would do any thing rather than think basely of themselves; for it is man’s disposition to be right “in his own eyes,” Prov. xvi. 2. We love those glasses which make us appear fairest. It is against nature for a man willingly to possess and own his own shame: “If I covered my transgressions as Adam,” Job xxxi. 33, i. e. more hominum, as Adam and all Adam's children do, men would be clear and VER, 13. 33 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. better than they are. Partly, because by casting it upon God the soul is most secure. When he that is to punish sin bears the guilt of it, the soul is relieved from much horror and bondage; therefore in the way of faith, God’s transferring our sin upon Christ is most satisfying to the spirit: “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” Isa. liii. 6. Now we would lay it upon God by odious aspersions of his power and providence; for if we could once make God a sinner, we should be secure. You see we do not fear men who are as faulty as ourselves; they need pardon as well as we ; and therefore is it that the soul so wickedly designs to bring God into a partner- ship and fellowship of our guilt. Partly, through a wicked desire which exists in men to blemish the being of God. Man naturally hates God, and our spite is shown this way, by polluting and profaning his glory, and making it become vile in our thoughts; for since we cannot raze out the sense of the Deity, we would destroy the dread and reverence of it. Plutarch says, Malo de medici nullum esse Plutarchum quam malum esse Plutarchum, de Deo male sentire quam Deum esse negare pejus duco. We cannot deny God, and therefore we débase him, which is worse; as it is better not to be, than to be wicked: we think him altogether such an one as ourselves, Psal. 1. 21; and the apostle saith we turn his “truth into a lie,” Rom. i. 25. Well, then, beware of this wickedness, of turning sin upon God; the more natural it is to us, the more should we take heed of it. We charge God with our evils and sins divers ways. (1.) When we blame his providence; the state of things, the times, the persons about us, the cir- cumstances of providence, as the laying of tempting objects in our way, our condition, &c., as if God’s disposing of our interests were calling us to sin. Thus Adam, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat,” Gen. iii. 12. Mark, it is obliquely reflected upon God, “The woman whom thou gavest me.” So many will plead the greatness of their distractions and en- Cumbrances; God has laid so many miseries and dis- couragements upon them, and cast them upon such hard times, that they are forced to such shifts; whereas, alas, God sends us miseries not to make us worse, but to make us better, as Paul seems to argue in I Cor. x. 13, 14. If they did turn to idolatry, the fault was not in their sufferings and trials, but in themselves. Thus you make God to tempt you to sin, when you transfer it upon providence, and blame your condition rather than yourselves. Providence may dispose of the object, but it does not impel or excite the lust; it appoints the condition, but Satan sets up the snare. It was by God’s providence that the wedge of gold lay in Achan's way, that Bath- sheba was offered naked to David’s eye, that the sen- sual man has abundance, that the timorous is sur- prised with persecution; all these things are from God, but the fault lies not here; the outward estate, or the creatures which have been the occasions of our sinning, cannot be blamed; as beauty in women, pleasantness in wine, these are good creatures of God, meant for a remedy, but we turn them into a Snare. The more of God’s goodness or glory is seen in any creature, the greater check it is to a tempta- tion, for so far it is a memorial of God; and therefore Some have observed, that desires simply unclean are most usually stirred up towards deformed objects. Beauty in itself is some stricture and resemblance of the Divine majesty and glory, and therefore cannot but check motions altogether brutish. That passage of the apostle Peter is very observable, “The cor- ruption that is in the world through lust,” 2 Pet. i. 4. The world is only the object, the cause is lust. D The reason why men are covetous, or sensual, or effeminate, is not in gold, or wine, or women, but in men's naughty affections and dispositions. So also it is very observable, that when the apostle John sums up the contents of that world which is opposite to the love of God, he does not name the objects, but the lusts; the fault is there: he does not say, Whatsoever is in the world, its pleasures, or honours, or profits, but “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life;” and adds, these are “not of the Father, but are of the world,” I John ii. 16; that is, not of God, as riches, and honour, and other outward things are; but these are parts of that world which man has made, the world within us; as the poison is not in the flower, but in the spider's nature. (2.) By ascribing sin to the defect and faint opera- tion of Divine grace. Men will say they could not do otherwise, they had no more grace given them by God: “The foolishness of man perverteth his ways; and his heart fretteth against the Lord,” Prov. xix. 3. They say it was because God did not give more grace; they corrupt themselves in what they know naturally, Jude 10, and then complain God gave no power. Men naturally look upon God as a Pharaoh, requiring brick where he gave no straw. The serv- ant in the gospel would make his master in fault why he did not improve his talent; “I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed; and” therefore “I went and hid thy talent,” Matt. xxv. 24, 25, as if that were all the cause. (3.) When men lay all their miscarriages upon their fate, and the unhappy stars that shone at their birth. These are but blind flings at God himself, veiled under reflections upon the creature. Alas, who is it that bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his sea- son P that ordereth the stars in their course P is it not the Lord? To this sort you may refer them that storm at any creatures, because they dare not openly and clearly oppose themselves against Heaven ; as Job curseth the day of his birth, Job iii. 3, as if it had been unlucky to him, and others curse some lower instruments. (4.) When men are angry they know not why. They are loth to spend any holy indignation upon them- selves; therefore, feeling the stings and gripes of con- science, they fret and fume, and know not why; they would fain break out against God, but dare, not : as David himself, 2 Sam. vi. 8, “David was dis- pleased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah;” he was angry, but could not tell with whom to be angry; he should have been angry with his own folly and ignorance. Wicked men break out openly : “And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God,” Isa. viii. 21. Sin proving un- happy vexes the soul, and then men curse and rave, and break out into indecencies of passion and mad- ness, accusing God, and providence, and instruments, and any but themselves. So Rev. xvi. 11, they “blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores:” the madness of their rage breaks out into open blasphemy: but in the children of God it is more secretly carried; there is a storming in their hearts, but they dare not give it vent; as in Jonah, chap. iv., he was vexed and surcharged with passion, but knew not upon whom to disgorge it. (5.) Most grossly, when you think he uses any suggestion to the soul, to persuade it and incline it to evil. Satan may come, and by the help of fancy and the senses transmit evil counsel to the soul; but God does not, as more fully hereafter. “Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil,” Matt. v. 37; ir roi trovnpoi, not only of the evil heart, but of the 34 Char. I. AN EXPOSITION OF . evil serpent; from the devil and our corruption, if it be beside the rule : there is Satan’s counsel in all this, not the Lord’s. (6.) When you misunderstand and misinterpret his decrees, as if they necessitated you to sin. Men will say, Who can help it? God would have it so; as if that were an excuse for all. Though God has de- creed that sin shall be, yet he neither infuses evil, nor enforces you to evil. God does not infuse evil; that which draws you to it is your own concupiscence, as in the next verse: he does not give you an evil nature or evil habits; these are from yourselves: he does not enforce you, either physically, by urging and inclining the will to act; or morally, by counsel- ling and persuading or commanding you to it. God leaves you to yourselves, casts you in his providence, and in pursuance of his decrees, upon such things as are a snare to you; that is all that God does, as anon will more fully appear. I only now take notice of that wickedness which is in our natures, whereby we are apt to blemish God, and excuse ourselves. Obs. 3. That God is so immutably good and holy, that he is above the power of a temptation. “He cannot be tempted with evil.” Men soon warp and vary, but he cannot be tempted. There is a wicked folly in man, which makes us measure God by the creature; and because we can be tempted, we think God can be tempted also. Suppose they are enticed to give way to their sins; why else do they desire him to prosper them in their projects P to further un- just gain, or unclean intents P as the harlot had her vows and peace-offerings, Prov. vii. 14, to prosper her in her wantonness. Generally we deal with God as if he could be tempted and wrought to a com- pliance with our corrupt ends; as Solomon speaks of sacrifice offered with “a wicked mind,” Prov. xxi. 27; that is, to gain the favour of Heaven in some evil undertaking and design. Thus the king of Moab hoped to entice God by the multitude of his sacri- fices, “seven altars, seven oxen, seven rams,” Numb. xxiii. 1. And the prophet Zechariah speaks of some that thought to draw God into a liking of their op- pression; “They that sell them say, Blessed be God, for I am rich,” chap. xi. 5. So in these times, wicked men have a pretence of religion, as if they would allure the Lord to enter into their secret, and come under the banner of their faction and con- || Oh what base thoughts have carnal men off spiracy. God | No wonder the word of God is made a nose of wax, when God himself is made an idol or puppet, that moves by the wire of every carnal worshipper. O check this blasphemy; God cannot be tempted, he is immutably just and holy: “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity,” Hab. i. 13. Iniquity shall never have a good look from him. O then how should we tremble, that are easily carried aside with temptation How can you stand before the God that cannot be tempted P (l.) Use this as an inducement to get an interest in God, and more communion with him. A believer is made “partaker of the Divine nature,” 2 Pet. i. 4. Now the more of the Divine nature in you, the more you are able to stand against temptations. We are easily carried aside, because we have more of man than God in us, We are so mutable, that if all memory of sin and Satan were abolished, man him- self would become his own devil; but God is at the same stay. O let us covet more of the Divine na- ture, that when the tempter comes, he may find the less in us. In nothing we so much resemble God as in immutable holiness. - + (2.) You may make use of it to the purpose in hand. When natural thoughts arise in us, thoughts against the purity of God, say thus, Surely God can- not be the author of sin, who is the avenger of it; he is always in the same state of holiness, and cannot warp aside to evil. Especially make use of it, when anything is said of God in Scripture which does not agree with that standing copy of his holiness, the righteous law which he has given us; do not think it any variation from that immutable tenor of purity and justice which is in his nature, for he cannot be tempted. As when he bade Abraham offer his son, it was not evil, partly because God may require the life of any of his creatures when he will; partly be- cause, being the Lawgiver, he may dispense with his own law; and a peculiar precept is notin force when it derogates from a general command, namely, that we must do whatsoever God requires. So in bidding them spoil the Egyptians. God is not bound to our rule. In all such cases observe the glory of God, for he is àTsipaaroc caköv, altogether incapable of the least sin or evil. Obs. 4. That the Lord is no tempter. “Neither tempteth he any man.” The author of all good can- not be the author of sin. God uses many a moving persuasion to draw us to holiness, not a hint to en- courage us to sin: certainly they are far from the nature of God that entice others to wickedness, for he tempts no man. Man tempts others many ways. (1.) By commands, when you contribute your authority to the countenancing of it. It is the cha- racter of Jeroboam, that he “made Israel to sin;” “Jeroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin.” It is again and again repeated; the guilt of a whole nation lies upon his shoulders; Israel ruined him, and he ruined Israel. So 2 Chron. xxxiii, 9, “Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Je- rusalem to err, and do worse than the heathem.” Mark, he made them; their sins are charged upon his score. In the 7th of the Revelation, where the tribes are numbered, Dan is altogether left out, and Ephraim is not mentioned. Dan was the first lead- ing tribe that by example went over to idols, Judg. xviii., and Ephraim by authority. So some give the reason. Men tempt others to sin, (2.) By their solicitations and entreaties, when men become panders to others' lusts. “With much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him,” Prov. vii. 21. Mark, “she caused him to yield,” and then “forced him;” first he began to incline, and then he could no longer resist. When such Eves lay forth their apples, what evil comes by it! Solicitations are as the bel- lows to blow up those latent sparks of sin into a flame which are hidden in our nature. (3.) Those tempt to sin who soothe or encourage men in their evil ways; calling evil good, and good evil. Like Ahab's prophets, their word is, “Go up, and prosper;” they cry, Peace, peace, to a soul ut- terly sunk and lost in a pit of perdition. Oh how far are these from the nature of God . He tempteth no man; but these are devils in men's shape, their work is to seduce and tempt; murderers of Souls, yea, (as Epiphanius calls the Novatians,) murderers of repentance. Dives in hell had more charity, he would have some to testify to his brethren, “lest they also should come into that place of torment,” Luke xvi. 28. But these are factors for hell, negociate for Satan, strengthen the hands of the wicked, and (which God takes worse) discourage and set back those that were look- ing towards heaven. So the apostle, “They allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wan- tonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error,” 2 Pet. ii. 18; rotic ēvrwg & Tropsy- yóvrac, really or verily escaped, that is, had began to profess the gospel; or, as some copies have, \tywg Toys povets tris Metavotas. Epiphan. VER. 13. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMEs. 35 diroſhevyóvrac, having a little escaped from error; thence the Vulgate, eos qui paululum effugiunt, with which the Syriac and Arabic translations agree : and so it - shows how ill God takes it, that the early growth and budding of grace should be blasted; and as soon as they began to profess any change, that a seducer should drive them back again, and entangle those that had made some escape, and were in a fair Way to a holy life. This is Satan's disposition out- right. The dragon watched for the man-child as Soon as he was born, Rev. xii. 4; and these make ad- Yantage of those early tendencies and disposition to faith which are in poor souls; for while they are deeply affected with their sins, and admiring the riches and grace of Christ, they strike in with some erroneous representations, and under a colour of liberty and gospel reduce and bring them back to their old vicious habits. If God tempteth no man, then it informs us that God cannot be the author of sin. ... I shall here take occasion a little to enlarge upon that point: I shall first clear those passages of Scripture which seem to imply it; then, secondly, show you what is the efficiency and concurrence of God about sin. .. I. For the clearing of the places of Scripture. They are of divers ranks. There are some places which seem to say that God does tempt, as Gen. xxii. 1, “God did tempt Abraham;” so in many other places: but that was but a trial of his faith, not a solicita- tion to sin. There is a tempting by way of trial, and a tempting by way of seducement. God tries their obedience, but does not stir them up to sin. But you will say there are other places which seem to hint that God solicits, incites, and stirs up to sin; as I Chron. v. 26, God stirred up the spirit of Pul, the king of Assyria, to carry away the Jews captive. But that was not evil, to punish a hypocritical nation; but just and holy, a part of his corrective discipline; and God’s stirring implies nothing more than the designation of his providence, and the ordering of that rage and fury in them which was stirred up by ambition, and other evil causes, as a correction to his people. So also 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, “The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David” to num- ber the people. I, and you shall see it is said, “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel;” and so some explain one place by the other, and re- fer that “he” to Satan, “The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he,” that is, the devil. Or it may be referred to the last antecedent, “the Lord,” whose anger is said to be kindled; “he moved,” that is, permitted Satan to move, by withdrawing himself from David. God moved permissive, Satan efficaciter; God suffered, Satan tempted; for God is often in Scripture said to do that which he only permits to be done; as to awaken the sword against the man, his fellow, Zech. xiii. 7; that is, to stir up all that rage which was exercised upon Christ. The reason 9f such expressions is, because of the activeness of his providence in and about sin; for he does not barely permit it, but dispose circumstances and oc- casions, and limit and overrule it, so as it may be for good. Thus also Psal. cv. 25, “He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.” The meaning is, God only offers the oc- casion, by doing good to his people; the Egyptian pursued them out of envy and jealousy. God, I say, only gave the occasion, did not restrain their malice; therefore he is said to do it. There are other places which imply that God hardens and blinds sinners, delivers them over to a reprobate sense, sends them Vid. Jerom, lib. 3, contra Jovin. et Aug. de Fide et Operibus, cap. 25. Iliabclus tentat, Deus probat. Tertul. de Orat. But compare it with 1 Chron. xxi. a strong delusion, as Rom. i. ; 2 Thess. ii. I I, and many other places. I answer in general to them all, God by doing these things does not tempt the good, that they may become evil, but only most justly punishes the evil with evil: this hardening, blinding, is not withdrawing a good quality from them, but a punishment according to their wickedness. Particu- larly God is said to harden, when he does not soften; he does not infuse evil, but only withhold grace: hardness of heart is man’s sin, but hardening God’s judgment. So again, God is said to make blind, when he does not enlighten; as freezing and dark- ness follow upon the absence of the sun; he does not infuse evil, or take away any good thing from them, but only refuses to give them more grace, or to confirm them in the good they have. So also God is said to give up to lusts, when he does not restrain us, but leaves us to our own sway, and the temptations of Satan. So God is said to send a strong lie, when he suffereth us to be carried away with it. God indeed foresees and knows how we will behave ourselves in these temptations, but the foresight of a thing does not cause it. Against this view some urge I Kings xxii. 22, “I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also : go forth, and do so.” But that is only a para- bolical scheme of Providence, and implies not a charge and commission so much as a permission. Others urge those passages which directly seem to refer sin to God; as Gen. xlv. 5, 8, “Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves; it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” The very sending, which was a sinful act, is taken off from man, and appropriated to God. So I Kings xii. 15, “ The king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord.” That rebellion is said to be from the Lord. I answer, These things are said to be of the Lord, because he would dispose of them to his own glory, and work out his own designs and decrees. There are some other places urged, as where God is said to deliver Christ, to bruise and afflict him, which were,evil acts; but these only imply a providential assistance and co-operation, by which God concurs in every action of the creatures, as shall be cleared elsewhere. II. I am to state the efficiency and concurrence of God about sin. All that God does it may be given you in these propositions. I. It is certain that without God sin would never be ; without his prohibition an action would not be sinful. The apostle saith, “Where no law is, there is no transgression;” but I mean chiefly without his permission and foreknowledge, yea, and I may add, without his will and concurrence, without which nothing can happen. It cannot be beside the will of God, for then he were not omniscient; or against his will, for then he were not omnipotent. There is no action of ours but needs the continued concur- rence and support of his providence; and if he did not uphold usin being and working, we could do nothing. 2. Yet God can by no means be looked upon as the direct author of it, or the proper cause of that obliquity which is in the actions of the creatures; for his providence is conversant about sin without sin; as a sunbeam rests upon a dunghill without being stained by it. This is best cleared by a collection and summary of all those actions whereby, from first to last, Providence is concerned in man’s sin ; which are briefly these : (1.) Foreknowledge and preordination. God in- tended and appointed that it should be. Many who grant prescience deny preordination, lest they should make God the author of sin; but these fear where no fear is. The Scripture speaks roundly, ascribing D 2 36 CHAP. i. AN EXPOSITION OF both to God; “Him, being delivered by the fore- knowledge and determinate counsel of God,” Acts ii. 23. Mark, Peter saith not only tº Trpoyvögs, “b the foreknowledge,” but diptapévy 6ovXà, by the “de- terminate counsel,” which implies a positive decree; now that cannot infer any guilt or evil in God, for God appointed it, as he meant to bring good out of it. Wicked men have quite contrary ends. Thus Joseph speaks to his brethren, when they were afraid of his revenge, “Am I in the place of God?” Gen. l. 19; that is, Was it my design to bring these things to pass, or God’s decree P and who am I, that I should resist the will of God P And then again, ver. 20, “But as for you, ye thought evil, but God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive;” that is, God decreed it otherwise than you designed it; your aim was wholly evil, his good. (2.) There is a permission of it. God’s decrees imply that sin shall exist, but they do not impel or enforce; for he leaves us to the liberty of our own hearts, and our own free choice and work; he is re- solved not to hinder us: “Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways,” Acts xiv. 16. God was not bound to hinder it, therefore permission in God cannot be faulty: “Who hath given him first?” If grace were debt, it would be injustice to withhold it; and did God act from a servile neces- sity, the creatures might rest the blame Homo Deum non nisi ex sensu suo 1.net it ur, nec de authºritate ejus cogitat, quin eam circumcidat, nec de libertate quin ei fibulam im- positam velit; Pelagiani omnes nascinnur imno cum supergilio ſharisaico hic claracter vix de- lebilis est; homo sibi obnoxium ID-um existimat, non Se Deo, &c. Spanhem. de Gratia Univer- Sali, in PI acf. all .ect. ness of his operation : but God being free, neither obliged by necessity of nature, nor any external rule and law, nor by any foregoing merit of the creatures, may do with his own as it pleaseth him; and it is shameless impu- dence in man to blame God because he is free, when himself cannot endure to be bound. (3.) There is a concurrence to the action, though not to the sinfulness of it. It is said, “In him we live, and move, and have our being,” Acts xvii. 28. When God made the creatures, he did not make them independent and absolute; we had not only being from him, but still we have it in him; we are in him, we live in him, and we move in him, kivočuš0a, we are moved or acted in him. All created images and appearances are but like the impress of a seal upon the waters; take away the seal and the form vanishes: subtract the influence of Providence, and presently all creatures return to their first nothingness; theré- fore to every action there needs the support and con- Currence of God: so that the bare action or motion is good, and from God; but the deordination and ob- liquity of it is from man ; it comes from an evil will, and therein is discerned the free work of the Creatures. (4.) There is a desertion of a sinner, and leaving him to himself. God may suspend, yea, and with: draw, grace out of mere sovereignty, that is, because he will; but he never does it but either out of jus- tice or wisdom. Out of wisdom, for the trial of his children; as in the business of the ambassadors, God left Hezekiah, “ that he might know all that was in his heart,” 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. So sometimes in justice, to punish the wicked; as Psal. lxxxi. 12, “I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.” When grace is with- drawn, which should moderate and govern the affec- tions, man is left to the sway and impetuous violence of his own lusts. Now God cannot be blamed in all this ; partly, because he is not bound to give or con- tinue grace; partly, because, when common light and restraints are violated, he seems to be bound rather of their miscarriages upon the faint-. to withdraw what is already given; and when men put their finger in the eye of nature, God may put it out, that they who will not may not see. If the hedge be continually broken, it is but justice to pluck it up; and then if the vineyard be eaten down, who can be blamed P. Isa. v. 5. Partly, because the Subsequent disorders arise from man’s own counsel and free choice; therefore upon God giving them up it is said, “they walked in their own counsels;” that is, according to the free motion and inclination of their own spirits. (5.) There is a concession and giving leave to wicked instruments to stir them up to evil, as carnal company, evil acquaintance, false prophets. I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets; and God said, Go forth, I Kings xxii. 22. In that scheme and draught of Providence, the evil spirit is brought in, asking leave for wicked instruments. So in Job xii. 16, it is said, “The de- ceived and the deceiver are his.” He is sovereign Lord over all the instruments of deceit, so that they are restrained within bounds and limits, that they can do nothing further than he will give leave. (6.) There is a presenting of occasions, and dis- posing of them to such providences as become a Snare; but this can reflect no dishonour upon God, because the providences and objects are good in themselves, and in their own nature motives to duty, rather than temptations to sin. Wicked men abuse the best things; the word irritates their corruption. Sin gets strength by the commandment: Go, “make the heart of this people fat,” Isa. vi. 10; that is, dull and heavy; as the ass, which of all creatures has the fattest heart, and is the dullest. The prophet is bidden to make their hearts fat: the preaching of the word, which should instruct and quicken, makes them more gross and heavy. So also they abuse mercies and miseries; “Let their table become a snare before them : and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap,” Psal. lxix. 22. A sinner, like a spider, sucks poison out of every thing; or, like the sea, turns the sweet influences of the heavens, the fresh supply of the rivers, into salt water: so their table, their welfare, all becomes a curse and a snare to them. In this sense God says, “I will lay stum- bling-blocks before this people,” Jer. vi. 21; that is, such occasions and providences as are a means to ruin them; in all which God most righteously pro- motes the glory of his justice. (7.) A judicial transfer and delivering them up to the power of Satan, and their own vile affections; as Rom. i. 26, “God gave them up unto vile affections.” This is when God suffers those kówag ävvótag, those common notices, to be quenched, and all manner of restraints to be removed: the truth is, we rather give up ourselves; only because God serves his ends of it, it is said he giveth. (8.) A limitation of sin. As God appoints the measures of grace according to his own good pleasure, so also the stint of sin; it runs out so far as may be for his glory: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain,” Psal. lxxvi. 10. So far as it may make for God’s glory, God lets the fierceness of man to have its scope; but when it is come to the stint and bounds that Pro- vidence has set to it, it is quenched in an instant. . (9.) There is a disposal and turning of it to the uses of his glory. Our unrighteousness commendeth his righteousness, and the truth of God more abound- eth through our lie unto his glory, Rom. iii. 5, 7. God is so good, that he would not suffer evil, if he could not bring good out of it. In regard of the issue and event of it, sin may be termed (as Gregory Plutarch. WER. 14. THE GENERAL EPHSTLE OF JAMES. 3% said of Adam's fall) felia, culpa, a happy fall, because it makes way for the glory of God. It is good to note how many attributes are advanced by sin; mercy in pardoning, justice in punishing, wisdom in ordering, power in overruling it: every way does our good God serve himself of the evils of men . The picture of providence would not be half so fair, were it not for these black lines and darker shadows. Well, then, let me never blame that God for permit- ting sin, who is willing to discover so much mercy in remitting it. VERSE 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. HE now shows the true and proper cause of sin, having removed the pretended cause, namely, God’s providence and decree. The true procreating cause of sin is in every man’s soul, it is his lust; he carries that which is fons et fomes, the food and fuel of it in his own bosom. Now this lust works two ways, by force and fraud, drawing away and enticing, as in the explication will more fully appear. “But every man is tempted.” He speaks so uni- versally, because none is free but Christ. “When of his own lust.” He saith “his own,” be- cause though we all have a corrupt nature in com- mon, yet every one has a particular inclination to this or that sin rooted in his nature; or rather “own,” to exclude foreign force, and all violence from with- Out: there is not a greater enemy than our own na- ture. “His own lust.” That I may show you what is meant by lust, I must premise something. 1. The Soul of man is chiefly and mainly made up of desires; like a spunge, it is always thirsting, and sucking something to fill itself. All its actings, even the first actings of the understanding, come out of some Will, and some desire, as the apostle speaks of “the desires of the mind,” Eph. ii. 3; a place I shall touch upon again by and by. 2. At least this will be granted, that the bent of the soul, the most vigorous, commanding, swaying faculty of the soul, is desire; that 6ivapucºrºupinrik) is (I say) the most vigorous bent of the soul. 3. Since the fall, man rather con- Sults his desires than any thing else, and there all action and pursuit begins; so that this faculty is eminently corrupted, and corrupts and sways all the rest; and therefore gross lusts, the lower and baser desires, are called the law in the members, Rom. vii. 23; desires or lusts giving law to the whole soul. Upon these reasons I suppose it is that all sin is ex- pressed by lust, which, if taken in a proper and re- strained sense, would not teach the obliquities of the whole nature of man, but only of one faculty; but because there seems to be in the creature a secret will and desire, by which every act is drawn out, and desire is the most vigorous faculty, bending and en- gaging the soul to action, the Spirit of God chooses to express sin by lust, and such words as are most proper to the desires of the creatures. In the Old Testament it is expressed by a word proper to the understanding, by “inventions,” or “imaginations,” or “counsels;” whence those phrases, “walking ac- cording to their own imaginations,” and “walking in their own counsels.” But the New Testament de- lights rather in the expressions of “concupiscence” and “ lust,” words proper to the desires; the reason of which difference I conceive to be, partly the man- ner of the Hebrews, who frequently use words of the understanding to denote suitable affections; partly the state of the world, who at first were brutish in their conceits, and prone to idols; and therefore the Old Testament runs in that strain, “imaginations, counsels,” &c.; and at length were brutish in their desires, and more prone to gross sins; and therefore in the New it is “lusts, concupiscence,” &c. How- ever, this I observe, that in the Old Testament there is some word belonging to the will and desires joined to those words of the understanding, as “the imaginations of their own hearts, the counsels of their own hearts;” that is, such imaginations as were stirred up and provoked by their own hearts and desires. All this is premised to show you why the Scripture chooses to express sin by “lust” and “concupiscence.” Now lust may be considered two ways, as a power, and as an act. I. As a power; and so it denotes that habitual, primitive, and radical indisposition to good, and a disposition to evil, which is in all the faculties, the whole dunghill of corruption, which reeks sometimes in the understanding by evil thoughts, sometimes in the will by lusts and corrupt desires, and is the mother out of whose womb all sin comes; and as it is called lust or concupiscence, so it is called flesh, the opposite contrary principle to spirit: “The flesh lusteth against the spirit,” Gal. v. 17; there it is called flesh, and its radical act lusting. - 2. Look upon it as an act, an actual lust or con- cupiscence, and it is nothing else but the risings and first motions of this fleshly nature which is in us. These lustings are of two sorts, those of the lower, and those of the upper soul ; the apostle calls them “the desires of the flesh, and of the mind,” Eph. ii. 3. (I.) The desires of the flesh are those lower and more brutish appetites, which are the rise of lust, wantonness, drunkenness, gluttony, called, by way of emphasis, the lusts of the flesh: “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” I John ii. 16. By the lusts of the flesh are meant the neighings of the soul after outward pleasures, and all manner of sensual and carnal delights. Now these, when they are improved into gross and irregular actions, stink in the nostrils of nature. In Aristotle they are called #Tru6vutat 0mpuéðsig, brutish and belluine, not only because we have them in com- mon with the beasts, but because they degenerate into a brutish excess. Thus you see what lusts of the flesh are. I confess they are sometimes taken more largely for any risings of corrupt nature, it be- ing most natural to us to be enslaved by sensual and fleshly objects: the part is put for the whole. (2.) The desires of the mind are the first risings of the corruption which is in the upper Soul, as fleshly reasonings, thoughts, and inclinations, covet- ousness, ambition, pride, envy, malice, &c.; these are rooted in the corrupt risings or stirrings of the mind, will, &c. These things I thought good to hint, to show you what the Scripture intends by lust, the vicious inclinations of our own spirits, chiefly those first risings of original sin. “He is drawn away, and enticed,” iás), cóptsvog kai ês) sačáušvoc. There is some variety among inter- preters in opening these two words. Some conceive that in them the apostle gives two causes of sin; one internal, which is lust, as if that were hinted in the former word, “drawn away by his lust;” and the other external, namely, the pleasure which adheres to the object, which is as the bait to entice the Soul, for the word signifies enticed as with a bait; and (as Plato Saith) jãov) 6éAsap caköy, pleasure is the bait of sin. Thus Piscator and our translators seem to Arist. Ethic. lib. 7, cap. 6. 38 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. favour it, in putting the words thus, “when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed;” as if they would intimate to us this sense, drawn away by his own lust, and enticed by the object; whereas the posture of the words, in the original, refers both to lust, thus, when he is drawn away and enticed by his lust. Others make these words to hint several degrees in the admission of sin, thus, first drawn away from God, then enticed by sin; then, in the next verse, sin conceiveth, then bringeth forth. Others, as Pareus, Grotius, &c., make these to be the two parts of sin, and by “drawn away” (say they) is meant the departure from the true good, and by “enticed,” the cleaving to evil: for as in grace there is something privative and something positive, a departure from evil and a cleaving to good; so, on the contrary, there is in sin a withdrawing from that which is good, and an insmaring by that which is evil. I cannot altogether disallow this sense, though I rather incline to think that neither the object nor the parts of evil are here hinted, but only the several ways which lust takes to undo us; partly by force, to describe which the apostle uses £8MKópavog, he is drawn aside, or haled with the rage and impetuous violence of his desires; partly by blandishment and allurements, to describe which he uses ós), sa&ópevoc, “he is enticed,” and beguiled with the promise and appearance of pleasure and satisfaction to the soul. OBSERVATIONS. I. That the cause of evil is in a man’s self, in his own lusts, Tijg iètag #Tru%upſtag, the Eve in our own bosoms. Corrupt nature is not capable of an excuse. Sin knows no mother but your own hearts. Every man’s heart may say to him, as the heart of Apollo- dorus in the kettle, "Eyo) got rotºrov airta, I have been the cause of this. Other things may concur, but the root of all is in yourselves. A man is never truly humbled till he smite upon his own thigh, and expresses most in- dignation against himself. Do not say it was God, he gave me a pure soul, only it met with viciously dis- posed matter. It is not the light, but the putrid matter, that made the torch stink, though, it is true, it did not stink till it was lighted. You can- not altogether blame Satan. Suggestion can do nothing without lust. Nazi- anzen saith, Tô Tüp Tap' pºv, jôs pXóź toū Trvsöparoc, The fire is in our wood, though it be the devil’s flame. You cannot blame the world; there are allurements abroad, but it is your fault to swallow the bait; if you would have resisted embraces, as Tamar did Amnon’s, the world could not force you. Do not cry out of ex- amples; there is somewhat in thee that made thee close with the evil before thee: examples provoke abhorrence of the sin, if there be nothing in the man to suit with it. Lot was the more righteous for living in Sodom, and Anacharsis the more temperate for living in Scythia. Ungodly examples are per- mitted to increase detestation, not to encourage imi- tation. Do not cry out of occasions. David saw Bathsheba naked, but he saith, “I have sinned and done this evil,” Psal. li. 4. To not cast all the blame upon the iniquity of the times. Good men are best in worst times, most glorious when the genera- tion is most crooked, Phil. ii. 15, most careful of duty when the age is most dissolute, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil,” Eph. v. 16; like fire, that scorcheth most in the sharpest frost, or stars, that shine brightest in the darkest nights. Do not blame the pleasantness of the creatures; you may as well say you will rebel against the prince because he has bestowed power upon you, and by his bounty you Plut. de sera Num. Vindict. Diaboli decipi- entis calliditas, et hominis consen- tientis voluntas. ug. de Peccat. Orig. lib. 2. cap. 37. are able to make war against him : it is true, there is much in these things, but there is more in your hearts; it is your venomous nature that turns all to poison. - Obs. 2. That, above all things, a man should look. to his desires. All sin is called étrušºvputa, lust or de- sire. God calls for the heart, “My son, give me thy heart,” which is the seat of desires. The children of God, when they plead their innocence, urge their desires; they fail in duty, but their desires are to the remembrance of his name, Neh. i. 11; Isa. xxvi. 8." The first thing by which sin discovers itself is by lust or desire. All actions have their rise from some inclination and tendency of the desire towards the object. Before there is any thought or consultation in the soul, there is Špság, a general tendency or bent in the soul. Well, then, look to your lusts or desires, the whole man is swayed by them ; men are worldly or heavenly as their desires are ; appetite follows life; the spirit has its lustings as well as the flesh. See how it is with you. Obs. 3. The ways which lust takes to insnare the Soul are either force or flattery, either “drawn away” or “enticed.” - - (1.) By violence, Aköpisvoc, “drawn away,” haled with it. One way of knowing desires to be irregular, is, if they are violent and over-pleasing to the flesh. When affections are impetuous, you have just cause to suspect them, not to satisfy them. David would not touch the waters of Bethlehem when he longed for them, 2 Sam. xxiii. 17. Rage of desires can never be lawful. Greediness is a note of unclean- ness, Eph. iv. 19. When the heart boils or pants, it is not love, but lust. When you find any such force upon your spirits towards carnal objects, if you would be innocent, complain and cry out; as the ravished virgin under the law, if she cried out, she was guiltless. It is a sign that sin has not gained your consent, but commits a rape upon your souls, when you cry out to God, “O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me?” Rom. vii. 24. You may discern this force upon your souls, [1..] When your desires will not endure consulta- tion, or the consideration of reason, but you are car- Tied on by a brutish rage, as Jer. v. 8, “They were as fed horses; every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.” They had no more command of themselves than a fed horse. So Jer. viii. 6, “Every one turn- eth to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.” The rage of the horse is stirred up by a warlike noise, and then they confront danger, and rush upon the pikes, and the heat of the battle; so they go on with an unbridled licence, against all reason and re- Straints, without any counsel and recollection. Your lusts will not allow you the pause of reason and re- flection. - [2.] When they grow more outrageous by opposi- tion, and that little check which you give them is like the sprinkling of water upon the coals, the fire burns the more fiercely. This is that which the apostle calls ºrd $og #TiSuptaç, the passionateness of lust; we translate it a little too flatly, “the lust of concupiscence,” I Thess. iv. 5. It notes a raging earnestness. This violence is most discerned in the irregular motions of the sensual appetite, which are most sensible, because they disturb reason, vex the Soul, oppress the body; but it is also in other sins: the apostle speaks of it elsewhere, they “burned in their lust one toward another,” Rom. i. 27. It is when reason is so disturbed and oppressed, that there can be no resistance; yea, grace itself is overborne. [3] When they urge and vex the soul till fulfilled, which is often expressed in Scripture by a languor and sickness. Now this is such a height and ex- VER. 14. , 39 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. cess of affection as is only due to objects that are most excellent and Spiritual; otherwise it is a mark of the power of lust. To be “sick of love” (Cant. ii. 5) for Christ is but a duty; so worthy an object will war- rant the highest affection: but to be sick for any out- ward and carnal object, denotes the impetuousness and violence of sin in the soul. Thus Amnon was sick for Tamar, 2 Sam. xiii. 2; that was a sickness to death, the sickness of lust and uncleanness. Ahab was sick of covetousness, 1 Kings xxi. 4, and Haman for honour, Esth. v. All violent affections urge the soul, and make it impatient; and because affections are the nails and pins that tie body and soul together, leave a faintness and weakness in the body. This violence of lust may inform us, I. Why wicked men are so mad upon sin, and give themselves over to it to their own disadvantage. They “draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope,” Isa. v. 18. As beasts that are under the yoke put out all their strength to draw the load that is behind them, so these draw on wickedness to their disadvantage; commit it, though it be difficult and inconvenient; as it is said, that they “weary themselves to commit iniquity,” Jer. ix. 5. What is the reason of all this? There is a violence in sin which they cannot withstand. 2. Why the children of God cannot do as they would, withstand a temptation so resolutely, and perform duties so acceptably. Lusts may be strong upon them also. It is observable, that James saith “every man is tempted,” taking in the godly too. A wicked man does nothing but sin, his works are merely evil; but a godly man’s are not purely good: “The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do,” Rom, vii. 19. Though they do not resolve and harden their faces in a way of sin, yet they may be discouraged in a way of grace. So Gal. v., 17, “Ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Their resolutions are broken by this vio- lence and potent opposition. (2.) Observe, the next way of lust is by flattery, ôāAsačájusvog, “enticed.” It comes wrapt up in the bait of pleasure, and that mightily prevails with men : “Serving divers lusts and pleasures,” Tit. iii. 3. That is one of the impediments of conversion, lust promises delight and pleasure. So Job xx. 12, Wickedness is sweet in his mouth, and he hideth it under his tongue. It is an allusion to children, who hide a sweet morsel under their tongues, lest they should let it go too soon. Neither is this only meant of sensual wickedness, such as is connected with meats, drinks, and carnal comforts; but spiritual, as envy, malice, griping plots to undo and oppress others. They “rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked,” Prov. ii. 14. Re- venge is sweet, oppression is sweet, to a carnal heart. So Prov. x. 23, “It is as sport to a fool to do mis- chief.” They are enticed with a kind of pleasure of that which is mischievous to another. Well, then, [1..]_Learn to suspect things which are too delight- ful. Carnal objects tickle much, beget an evil de- light, and so fasten upon the soul. It is time to put a knife to the throat, when you begin to be tickled with the sweets of the world. Your foot is in the snare, when the world comes in upon you with too much delight. That which you should look after in the creatures, is their usefulness, not their pleasant- º . ... ness; that is the bait of lust. The phi- ^"####" losopher could say that natural desires g are properly Tpoc tà divaykaia, to what is necessary. Solomon saith, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright,” Prov. xxiii. 31. You need not create allurements to your fancy, and by the eye invite the taste. There are stories of heathens that would not look upon excellent beauties, lest they should be insnared. Pleasures are but enticements, baits that have hooks under them. The harlot's lips drop honey in the greeting, and wormwood in the parting, Prov. vii.; like John's book, honey in the mouth, and wormwood in the bowels, Rev. x. 9, 10. God has made man of such a nature, that all carnal delights leave impressions of Sorrow at their departure. - [2] Learn what need there is of great care. Pleasure is one of the baits of lust. The truth is, all sins are rooted in love of pleasure; therefore be Watchful : noon-day devils are most dangerous; and Such things do us most mischief, as betray us with Smiles and kisses. The heathens were wrong, who advised to indulge in pleasures, that by experience We might be weaned from them; as M. T. cicero in Tully says of youth, Voluptates experien- ºat, prorege do contemnat, By use of pleasures let it * learn to disdain them, as the desires are cooled and weakened to an accustomed object. But, alas, this is the bait of lust, rather than the cure; poor souls, they did not know a more excellent way ! It is true, Some curiosity is satisfied by experience, but the Spirit grows more sottish and sensual. Wicked men, when once they are taken in that Snare, are in a most sad condition, and think that they can never have enough of sensual pleasures; all delight seems to them too short : as one wished for a crane's neck, that he might have the longer relish of meats and drinks; and Tacitus speaks of another glutton, that though he could satisfy his stomach, yet not his fancy or lust; quod edere non potwit oculis devoravit. VERSE 15. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. “THEN when lust.” After this he goes on in de- scribing the progress of sin. After that lust has by violence withdrawn, and by delight insnared the soul, then sin is conceived; and after conception, there is a bringing forth; and after the birth, death. “Hath conceived;” that is, as soon as sin begins to form motions and impulses into desires, and to ripen things into a consent; for sin, or corrupt na- ture, having inclined the Soul to a carnal object, by carnal apprehensions labours to fix the soul in an evil desire. Now the delight which arises from such carnal thoughts and apprehensions is called the con- ception of sin. “It bringeth forth; ” that is, perfects sin, and brings it to effect, within us, by a full consent and decree in the will, and without us, by an actual exe- cution; the one is the forming and cherishing in the womb after conception, the other as the birth and production. “Sin;” that is, actual sin; for the papists go be- side the scope, when they infer hence, that lust with- out consent is not truly sin. Our Saviour says plainly that the first desires are sinful; “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart,” Matt. v. 28. Though there be but such an imperfect consent as is occasioned by a glancing thought, it is adultery. But you will say, How is this place to be reconciled with that of Paul, Rom. vii. 8, where he says, “Sin wrought in him all manner of concupiscence;” and here it is said, “Lust bringeth forth sin?” I answer, 40 . AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. By “sin,” Paul understands that which James here calls “ lust,” that is, evil nature, or the wicked bent of the spirit; and by lust, the actual excitation of evil nature : but by sin James understands the actual formation and accomplishment of those imperfect desires which are in the soul. “And sin, when it is finished;” that is, actually accomplished, and by frequent acts strengthened and settled into a habit. But why does the apostle say, “when it is finished P” Are all the rest venial, all corrupt motions, till sin be drawn either to a full consent, or an actual accomplishment, or a perfect habit P I answer, I. The apostle does not distin- guish between sin and sin, but speaks of the entire course and method of the same sin, of the whole flux and order; and so rather shows what death and hell follow, than how they are deserved. Every sin is mortal in its own nature, and binds over the sinner to death and punishment; but usually men consum- mate and perfect sin ere they light upon them. 2. Death may be applied as the common fruit to every degree in this series, to the conception as well as the production, and to the production as well as the con- summation of it. The grandfather and great-grand- father have an interest in the child, as well as the immediate parent; and death is a brat that may be laid not only at sin’s door, but at lust’s door. 3. It is good to note that James speaks here according to the appearance of things to men. When lust brings forth, and the births and conceptions of the soul are perfected into a scandalous gross sin, men are sensible of the danger and merit of it. “Bringeth forth;” that is, binds the soul over to it; for in this succession there is a difference; lust is the mother of sin, but sin is the merit of death; and so Cajetan well remarks, generat meritorie, it brings forth as the work yields the wages. “Death.” It is but a modest word for damnation. The first and second death are both implied; for as the apostle shows the supreme cause of sin, which is lust; so the last and utmost result of it, which is death : not only that which is temporal, for then the series would not be perfect; but that other death, which we are always dying, and is called death, be- cause life is neither desired, nor can it properly be said to be enjoyed. Vivere molunt, mori mesciunt, they would not live, and cannot die. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That sin encroaches upon the spirit by degrees. The apostle goes on with the pedigree of it: lust be- gets strong and vigorous motions, or pleasing and de- lightful thoughts, which draw the mind to a full and clear consent, and then sin is hatched, and then dis- closed, and then strengthened, and then the person is destroyed. To open the process or successive in- clination of the soul to sin, it will not be amiss to give the whole traverse of any practical matter in the soul. There is first opećic, which is nothing but the irritation of the object, provoking the soul to look after it; then there is Šppu), a motion of the sensitive appetite, or lower soul, which receiving things by the fancy, represents them as a sensual good, and so a man inclines to them, according as they are more or less pleasant to the senses; and then the understanding comes to apprehend them, and the will inclines, at least so far as to move the understanding to look more after them, and to advise about some likely means to accomplish and effect them, which is called 60t)\matc, consultation ; and when the understanding has consulted upon the motion of the will, there follows 80%Xn, a decree of the will about it; and then aipmatc, the actual choice of the thing; and then 80%}\mua, a perfect desire; and then action: and so sin is represented by the fancy to the appetite, and then fancy, being a friend, blinds the understanding, and then the soul begins to be engaged in the pursuit of it. If this course and method be a little too large for your thoughts, see it contracted in this passage of our apostle: there is concupiscence, or corrupt nature, then lust, or some inclinations of the Soul to close with sin, then de- light, then full consent, and then action, and then death. David observes somewhat a like progress, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,” Psal. i. 1. Sin is never at a stay; first ungodly, then sinners, then scorners; first counsels, then way, then seat: and again, first walk, then stand, then sit. You see distinctly there three different terms for the persons, the objects, the actions: first men like wickedness, then walk in it, then are habituated; first men are withdrawn-into a way of sin, then confirmed, then profess it. To do any thing that the Lord hates, is to walk, “in the counsel of the ungodly;” to go on with delight, is to stand “in the way of sinners;” to harden our hearts against checks of conscience and reproofs, is to commence in the highest degree, and to sit (as it is there expressed) in the seat of scorners; or as it is in the Septuagint, #Ti ka0:30& Aotuſºv, to affect the honour of the chair of pestilence. Thus you see men go on from assent to delight, from delight to obduracy. - Use I. Oh that we were wise then to rise against sin betimes that we would “take the little foxes,” Cant. ii. 15, even the first appearances of corruption that we would dash Babylon’s “little ones against the stones 1’’ Psal. cxxxvii. 9. Hugo's gloss is pious, though not so suitable to the scope of that place, sit nihil in te Babylonicum, the least of Babylon must be checked; not only the grown men, but dash the little ones against the stones. A Christian's life should be spent in watching lust: the debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended; and, without the mercy of God, that may be done in little more than an instant that may undo us for ever. It is dangerous to give place to, Satan, Eph. iv. 27; the devil will draw us from motions to action, and from thence to reiteration, till our hearts be habituated and hard- ened within us: “The beginning of the words of a foolish man’s mouth is foolishness : and the end of his talk is mischievous madness,” Eccl. x. 13: from folly they go on to downright passion. Small breaches in a sea-bank occasion the ruin of the whole, if not timely repaired. Sin gains upon us by insensible degrees; and those that are once in Satan’s snare, are Soon taken by him at his will and pleasure. Use 2. It reproves those who boldly adventure upon a sin, because of the smallness of it. Besides the offence done to God, in standing with him for a trifle; as the selling of the righteous is aggravated in the prophet by the little advantage, “for a pair of shoes,” Amos i. 6; consider the danger to your- selves. Great faults do not only ruin the soul, but lesser. Dallying with temptations is of a sad conse- quence. Caesar was killed with bodkins. Look, as it is murder to stifle an infant in the womb, so it is spiritual murder to suppress and choke the concep- tions of the Spirit: but, on the other side, it is but a necessary rigour to suppress sin in the conception and growth, ere it be ripened and perfected. We are so far to abhor sin, as to beware of the remote tendencies, yea, to avoid the occasions of it, I Thess. v. 22. If it be but male coloratum, (as Bernard re- marks,) of an ill look and complexion, it is good to stand at a distance. - Obs. 2. Lust is fully conceived and formed in the WER. 15. 4] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. Soul, when the will is drawn to consent; the decree in the will is the ground of all practice. As duties come off kindly, when once there is a decree in the will: “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,” Psal. xxxii. 5. David had gotten his will to consent to acts of repentance, and then he could no longer keep silence. So, on the other side, all acts of sin are founded in the fixed choice and resolution of the will: “I will pursue, I will overtake,” said mad Pharaoh, Exod. xv. 9, and that engaged him in acts of violence. Now this decree of the will is most dangerous in the general choice of our way and course. For as religion lies in the settled resolution of the soul when we make it our work and business; as Barnabas exhorted the new converts, “that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,” Acts xi. 23, rij. Tpo6égst Tijg kapātac, that they would resolvedly decree for God in the will. So when the apostle speaks of his holy manner of life, he calls it Tp60sow, his “purpose,” 2 Tim. iii. 10. So also the state of sin lies in a worldly or carnal choice; as the apostle saith, he “that will be rich, I Tim. vi. 9; that is, that has decreed, and fixed a resolution in his soul, to make it his only study and care to grow rich and get an estate, he is altogether carnal. A child of God may be overborne, but usually he does not fix his will; “I do that which I would not,” Rom. vii. 16; or if his will be set, yet there is not a full consent, for there will be continual dislikes from the new nature. I confess sometimes, as there is too much of deliberation and counsel in the sins of God’s children, (as you know David’s sin was a continued series and plot,) so too much of resolution and the will ; but this is in acts of sin, not in the course and State; their manner of life and purpose is godly. Well, then, if lust has insinuated into your thoughts, labour to keep it from a decree, and gaining the con- sent of the will ; sins are the more heinous, as they are the more resolved and voluntary. Obs. 3. What is conceived in the heart, is usually brought forth in the life and conversation. “Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin.” That is the reason why the apostle Peter directs a Christian to spend the first care about the heart; “Abstain from fleshly lusts,” and then have “your conversation honest,” I Pet. ii. 11, 12. As long as there is lust in the heart, there will be no cleanness in the conversa- tion; as worms in wood will at length cause rotten- ness to appear. How soon do lusts betray them- selve Pride runs into the eyes, therefore we read of haughty eyes, Prov. vi. 17; or into the feet, causing a strutting gait or gesture. A wanton mind peeps out through wanton eyes and a gazing look. A garish, frothy spirit betrayeth itself in the vanity of apparel, and a filthy heart in the rottenness of com- munication: the eyes, the feet, the tongue, the life, easily betray what is seated in the heart. Momus, in the fable, quarrelled with God for not making a window in every man’s breast, that others might see what was in it. There needs no such discovery. Time shows what births there are in the womb ; so will the life what lusts are conceived and fostered in the heart, for lust delights to bring forth. Well, then, (1.) Learn that hypocrites cannot always be hid- den; disguises will fall off. Men flatter themselves in their hidden sins, but they will “be found hate- ful,” Psal. xxxvi. 2; that is, scandalous and incon- venient. God has peremptorily determined that their “wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation,” Prov. xxvi. 26; some misbehaviour will bring it to light: art and fiction are not durable. The apostle saith, “They that are otherwise cannot be hid,” l Tim. v. 25; that is, otherwise than good. (2.) Learn the danger of neglecting lusts and thoughts. If these be not suppressed, they will ripen into sins, and acts of filthiness. While we are negligent, and our care is intermitted, the business of sin thrives and goes on ; allowed thoughts bring the mind and the temptation together. David mused on Bathsheba's beauty, and so was all on fire. It is ill dallying with thoughts. (3.) Learn what a mercy it is to be hindered of our evil intentions; that sinful conceptions are still- born, and when we wanted no lust, we should want an occasion. Mere restraints are a blessing; we are not so evil as otherwise we should be: lust would bring forth. God would have Abimelech to acknow- ledge mercy in a restraint; “I withheld thee from sinning against me,” Gen. xx. 6. David blessed God that the rash executions of his rage were pre- vented; “Blessed be the God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me,” I Sam. xxv. 32. Christ Smote Saul from his horse, and so took him off from persecution, when his heart boiled with rancour and malice against the saints, Acts ix. O, take notice of such instances, when your way of sin has been hedged up by Providence, Hos. ii. 6; and though lusts be not checked, yet the execution is disap- pointed: you were mad, and would have gone on furiously, but that God hedged up your way with thorns. Obs. 4. That the result and last effect of sin is death. Thus speaks Paul, “The end of these things is death,” Rom. vi. 21; it comes with a pleasing and delightful sweetness, promising nothing but satis- faction and contentment, but the end is death. So Ezek. xviii. 4, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” It is an express law that brooks only the exception of free grace; it shall die temporally, die eternally. This is a principle impressed upon nature; the very heathens were sensible of it; “Knowing the judg- ment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,” Rom. i. 32. Mark, the apostle saith the heathens knew it; conscience, being sensible of the wrong done to the Godhead, could fear nothing else from angry justice. Draco, the rigid lawgiver, be- ing asked, Why, when sins were not equal, he appoint- ed death to all P answered, He knew that sins were not all equal, but he knew the least deserved death. This made the heathens at such a loss for a satisfaction to Divine justice, because they could find none sufficient to redeem their guilty souls from the dread of death; and therefore the first effect of the blood of Christ upon the conscience, is “purging from dead works,” Heb. ix. I4; that is, from that sentence of death which the conscience receives by reason of our works. The papists, in this point worse than the heathen, hold some sins venial in their own nature. It is true, it is said, “There is a sin not unto death,” I John v. I7; but that place speaks of the event, not the merit : words, evil thoughts, the least sins, deserve death. Do not think God will be so extreme; if you have no better plea, that will be a sorry refuge in the day of wrath. David a Mauden, a learned pavid a Mauden papist, saith, Those sins are only to be in Prefat, Com- counted mortal, I. Which are said to **** be an abomination to God, and hated by him in Scripture. 2. To which a vae, or woe, is expressly denounced. Or, 3. Are distinctly said to be worthy of eternal death. Or, 4. To exclude and shut out from the kingdom of heaven. Or, 5. Such as by the law of nature are directly repugnant to the love of God or our neighbour. But, alas, all this is to be wise without the word. It is true, God hath ex- pressly declared more of his displeasure against these sins than others, and therefore we are more bound and engaged to avoid them; but they are all mortal in their merit. 42 - AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. C/se 1. It teaches us how to stop the violence of lust. The end will be death and damnation. O consider it, and set it as a flaming sword in the way of your carnal delights. Observe how wisely God has ordered it. Much of sin is pleasant; yes, but there is death in the end, and so fear may counterbalance delight. Another part of sin is serious, as worldli- ness, in which there is no gross act; and so there being nothing foul to work upon shame, there is Something dreadful to work upon fear. Well, then, awaken the soul; consider what Wisdom saith, “Hé that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death,” Prov. viii. 36. It is against nature for a creature to love its own death ; all natural motions are for self-preservation. Oh why then should I satisfy my flesh, to endanger my soul P. God himself beseechingly reasons thus with us, “Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Ezek. xviii. 31. Why will you wilfully throw away your own souls? Why will ye, for a superfluous cup, ad- venture to drink a cup of wrath unmixed P for a little estate in the world, make hell your portion ? It is Sweet for the present, but it will be death: sin’s best is soon spent, the worst is always behind. Use 2. It shows what reason we have to mortify sin, lest it mortify us. No sins are mortal but such as are not mortified; either sin must die, or the sin- ner. The life of sin, and the life of a sinner, are like two buckets in a well; if the one goes up, the other must go down : when sin liveth, the sinner must die. There is an evil in sin, and an evil after sin; the evil in sin is the violation of God’s law, and the evil after sin is the just punishment of it. Now those that are not sensible of the evil in sin, shall be sen- sible of the evil after sin. To the regenerate person, all God’s dispensations are to save the person, and destroy the sin: “Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their in- ventions,” Psal. xcix. 8. God spared the sinner, and took vengeance on the sin; but the unmortified per- son spares his sins, and his life goes for it; as the apostle Paul speaks of himself, when the power of the word came first upon him, “Sin revived, and I died,” Rom. vii. 9. Sin was exasperated, and he felt nothing but terror and condemnation. O then con- sider, it is better sin should be condemned than you should be condemned; as the apostle speaks of the condemnation of sin, Rom. viii. 3, “For sin, he con- demned sin in the flesh;” that is, Christ being made a Sacrifice for sin, sin was condemned to save the sinner. Reason thus within yourselves, It is better sin should die than I should die. Thy life goes for its life, as it is in the prophet’s parable, I Kings xx. 39; therefore let me destroy my sin, that my soul may escape. Oſse 3. Bless God, who has delivered you out of a sinful state. , Your soul has escaped a snare of death. O never look back upon Sodom but with detesta- tion ; bless God that you are escaped. Blessed be “the Lord, who hath given me counsel,” Psal. xvi. 7. I might have been Satan’s bond-slave, lust's vassal, and have earned no other wages but my own death; but he has called me to life and peace. Con- version is in one place expressed by a calling out of darkness into marvellous light, that is much ; but in another by a translating from death to life, that is more. It is no less a change than from death to life. I might have wasted away my days in pleasure and vanity, and afterward gone to hell. Oh blessed be the name of God for evermore, who has delivered me from so great a death. VERSE 16. Do not err, my beloved brethren. THE apostle having disputed the matter with them about God being the author of sin, he dissuades them from this blasphemy. There is no difficulty in this VeTSG. - “I)o not err,” pu) TXavāošs, do not wander; a me- taphor taken from sheep; and sometimes it denotes errors in practice, or going off from the word as a rule of righteousness; as Isa. lxiii. 17, “To err from thy ways.” Sometimes errors in judgment, or going off from the word as the standard and measure of truth, which we most commonly express by this term, error. “My beloved brethren.” Dealing with them about an error, he deals with them very meekly, and there- fore is the compellation so loving and sweet. OBSERVATIONS. 1. It is not good to brand things with the name of error, till we have proved them to be so. After he had disputed the matter with them, he saith, “Err not.” (1.) Loose accusations will do no good. To play about men with terms of heresy and error only prejudices their minds, and enrages them against Our testimony. None but fools will be afraid of hot words. Arguments do far better than invectives. Usually that is a peevish zeal that stays in generals, It is observable in Matt. xxiii., from ver, 13 to 33, that when our Saviour denounces a woe, he imme- diately renders a reason for it; “Woe unto you ! for ye shut the kingdom of heaven;” and again, “Woe unto you ! for ye devour widows’ houses,” &c. You never knew a man gained by violent invectives; the business is to make good the charge, to discover what is heresy, and what is antichristianism, &c. (2.) This is an easy way to blemish the holy truths of God. How often do the papists spread the livery upon us of heretics and schismatics : “They speak evil of those things which they know not,” Jude 10. When men are loth to descend to the trial of a way, they blemish it: the way which they call heresy, we worship the God of our fathers, Acts xxiv. 14. Men condemn things suddenly and rashly, and so often truth is miscalled. If matters were despatched by arguments rather than censures, we should have less differences. The most innocent truths may suffer under an odious imputation. The spouse had her veil taken from her, and represented to the world as a prostitute, Cant. v. 7. The Christians Tacit. Annal. were called, Genus hominum superstiti- is Sueton in Ne- on is maliſicae, A wicked sort of men, “” “* * and Christianity a witchery and superstition. Oh that in this age we would practise this; be less in passion, and more in argument ; that we would condemn things by reasoning rather than miscall- ing; that we dealt less in generals, and more parti- cularly This is the way to stablish men in the present truth. In morals the word seldom does good, but when it is brought home to the very case. Thunder at a distance does not move us so much as a clap in our own zenith; that makes us startle. General invectives make but superficial impressions; show what is an error, and them call it so : truly that was the way in ancient times. At first, indeed, for peace sake, some have observed that the fathers declaimed generally Vid. Usser. de Tritann. Eccl. | against errors about the power of na- ...” ture, not meddling with the persons tº e or particular tenets of Pelagius and his disciples; but afterward they saw cause for being more par- WER. 16. 43. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. ticular. Loose discourses lose their profit. Blunt iron, that strikes many points at once, does not enter, but bruises; but a needle, that touches but one point, enters to the quick. When we deal particu- larly with every man’s work, then the fire tries it, I Cor. iii. 13. I the rather urge this, because usually ungrounded zeal rests in generals, and those that know least are most loose and invective in their dis- COUII'SGS. Obs. 2. We should as carefully avoid errors as vices. A blind eye is worse than a lame foot; yea, a blind eye will cause it; he that has not light is apt to stumble. First they were given up sic voijv d6ókt- uov, to a vain mind, and then “to do those things which were not convenient,” Rom. i. 28. Some opinions seem to be remote, and to lie far enough from practice, and yet they have an influence upon it; they make the heart foolish, and then the life will not be right. There is a link and relation be- tween truth and truth, as there is between grace and grace; and therefore speculative errors only make way for practical. Again, there are some errors that seem to encourage strictness, as free will, uni- versal grace, &c.; but, truly weighed, they are the greatest discouragement; and therefore it has been the just judgment of God, that the broachers of such opinions have been most loose in life, and (as the apostle Peter makes it the character of all erroneous persons, 2 Pet. ii.) vain and sensual. The apostle Paul presses strictness and our work the more earnestly, because God must work all, Phil. ii. 12, 13. , Well, then, beware of erroneous conceits; your spirit is debased by them. Men think nothing is to be shunned but what is foul in act, and so publicly odious. Consider, there is filthiness in the spirit as well as in the flesh, 2 Cor. vii. 1, and a vain mind is as bad and as odious to God as a vicious life. Error and idolatry will be as dangerous as drunken- ness and whoredom; and therefore you should as carefully avoid them that would entice you to errors, as those who will draw you to sin and profaneness; for error being the more plausible of the two, the de- lusion is the more strong: natural conscience will Smite for profaneness. Many, I am persuaded, dally with opinions, because they do not know the dan- gerous result of them. All false principles have a Secret, but pestilent, influence on the life and con- Versation. Obs. 3. That where truths cannot be plainly and easily made out to the apprehension, men are apt to Swerve from them. “Do not err;” that is, do not mistake in this matter. Because it is a hard thing to conceive how God concurs in the act, and not in the evil of the act; how he should be the author of all things, and not the author of sin; therefore he Saith, However it be difficult to conceive, “do not err.” Many truths suffer much because of their intricacy. Errors may be so nearly alike, that it is hard to distinguish them. The nature of man is prone to error; and therefore when the truth is hard to find out, we content ourselves with our own preju- dices. All truths are encumbered with such a diffi- culty, that they which have a mind to doubt and Wrangle easily stumble at them. “This is a hard say- Ing, who can hear it?” that is, understandit; and then, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him,” John vi. 60, 66. When there is something to justify our prejudices, we think we are safe enough. God leaveth justly such difficulties for a stumbling-block to them who have a mind to be offended. The Pharisees, and people who had followed Christ, thought them- Selves safe enough, because of the darkness of Christ's expressions, as if it justified their apostacy. So when there are some involucra veritatis, Some covers of dif- ficulty, in which trath is wrapped up from a common eye, we think our assent may be excused. As Jews say that surely Christ was not the Messiah, because he did not come in such a way as to satisfy all his own countrymen; so many refuse truth because it will require some industry and exercise to find it out. God never meant to satisfy hominibus praefracti ingenii, men of a captious and perverse wit; and therefore truth is represented in such a manner, that though there is plainness enough to those who desire to know, yet difficulty enough to harden others to their own ruin. Men would fain spare the pains of prayer, study, and discourse; they are loth to cry after knowledge, to “seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures,” Prov. ii. 4; they love an easy, short way to truth, and there- fore run away with those mistakes which come next to hand, vainly imagining that God does not require belief to such things as are difficult and hard to be understood. They do not look to what is sound and solid, but what is plausible, and at first blush re- concilable with their thoughts and apprehensions. Use I. You see then what need you have to pray for gifts of interpretation, and a door of utterance for your ministers, and a knowing heart for yourselves, that you may not be discouraged by the difficulties that fence up the way of truth. Pray that God would give us a clear spirit, a plain expression, and your- selves a right understanding: this will be better than to cavil at the dispensation of God, that he should leave the world in such doubt and suspense. Chry- sostom observes, that the Saints do not pray, Lord, make a plainer law; but, Lord, open my eyes, that I may see the wonders of thy law. It were an un- just demand for blind men, or they that willingly shut their eyes, to desire God to make such a sun that they might see. It is better to desire gifts of the Spirit for the minister, that the Scriptures might be opened; and the grace of the Spirit for ourselves, that our understandings might be opened, that so we may discern the mind of God. Use 2. It shows how much they are to blame that darken truth, and make the things of God more ob- scure. They darken counsel by words, which by method, or manner of speaking, perplex the under- standing, that people can hardly reach the letter of things delivered. Many men have a faculty to raise a cloud of dust with their own feet, and so darken the brightness and glory of the Scriptures: certainly such men either envy the commonness of knowledge, or serve their own esteem, when they draw all things to a difficulty, and would seem to swim there where they may easily wade, yea, pass over dry-shod, Obs. 4. That errors about the nature of God are very dangerous. “Do not err.” Consider the weighti- ness of the matter: ah, would you err in this point, in a business that so deeply intrenches upon the honour of God? The mistake being so dangerous, he is the more earnest; O do not err. There is nothing more natural to us than to have ill thoughts of God, and nothing more dangerous. All practice depends upon keeping the glory of God unstained in your apprehensions. Paul says, they “ changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four- footed beasts, and creeping things; wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness,” Rom. i. 23, 24. Idolatry is often expressed by whoredom. Bodily and spiritual uncleanness usually go together. Ill thoughts of God debauch the spirit, and make men lose their sense and care of piety. Well, then, take heed of committing this error; let not the nature or glory of God be blemished in your thoughts; abhor whatever Camero de Eccles. 44 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF comes into your mind, or may be suggested by others, if it tend in any way to abate your esteem of God, or to eclipse the Divine glory in your apprehensions. Obs. 5. Gentle dealing will best become dissuasives from error. “My beloved brethren.” One saith, We must speak to kings pāuage 3vooivotg, with silken words. Certainly we had need use much tenderness to persons that differ from us, to speak to them in silken words: where the matter is likely to displease, the manner should not be bitter. Pills must be sugared, that they may go down the better. Many a man has been lost through violence, and engaged to the other party ; as Tertullian, when he had spoken favourably of the Montanists, by the violence of the priests of Rome was forced into their fellowship. Meekness may gain those that are not engaged. Men - of another party will think all is spoken out of rage and anger against them; and it is good to give them as little cause as may be, especially if but inclining through weakness to an error. O “do not err, my beloved brethren.” I would to God we could learn this wisdom in this age; “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God per- adventure will give them repentance to the acknow- ledging of the truth,” 2 Tim. ii. 25. Others will brook sharpness better than they. Every man who is of a contrary opinion, thinks that he has the vantage ground of another, as being in the right; and pride is always touchy. Outward gross sins fill the Soul with more shame, and upon conviction there is not that boldness of reply, for a man is so far under another, as he may be reproved by him ; but here, where every man thinks himself upon equal or higher terms, we had need deal the more meekly, lest pride take prejudice, and out of distaste of the º Snuff at the matter itself. But of this else- W Ilere. Prorsus in Mon- tani partes transi- vit. Pamel. in vita Tertul. VERSE 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. HE takes occasion from the former matter, which was to show you that God was not the author of sin, to show you that God is the author of all good, especially the spiritual gifts and graces bestowed on us; in which there is an argument secretly couched, the author of all good cannot be the author of evil: now “every good and perfect gift” is of God; and in order that the argument might be more strong, he represents God in the latter part of the verse by an sºon to the sun, as essentially and immutably good. “Every good gift.” The Vulgate reads, the best gift, properly enough to the sense, but not to the original words. The gift is called good, either, 1. To exclude those gifts of Satan, which are indeed in- juries rather than gifts; a blind mind, 2 Cor. iv. 4, “vile affections,” Rom. i. 26. These gifts which are from beneath are not good. 2. To denote the kind of gifts of which he speaks; not common mercies, but good gifts, such as the apostle calls elsewhere arvey- zraruccig sixolytaç, “spiritual blessings,” Eph. i. 3. It is true, all common gifts come from the Divine bounty; but the apostle intends here special bless- ings, as appears, partly, by the attributes good and perfect. Some distinguish between the two clauses, making 66aic dyadi), or “good gift,” to imply earthly blessings, and Öaſomua réAstov, “perfect gift,” to imply heavenly or spiritual blessings; but I think this is too curious: these two words imply the same mercies with a different respect. Partly, because such mercies suit with the context, look upon it forward or back- ward. In the foregoing verses he speaks about God being the author of sin, and no argument is so fit to batter down that conceit, as that God is the author of special and Saving grace; and in the following verse he instances his power and love in regenera- tion. Partly, because those mercies are most clearly from God, and need little of the concurrence of second causes. “And every perfect gift ;” that is, such as in any way conduce to our perfection; not only initial and first grace, but all progress in the spiritual life; and at last perfection, and eternal life itself, is the gift of God. Though eternal death be wages, yet eternal life is a gift; and therefore the apostle diver- sifies the phrase when he compares them both to- gether, Rom. vi. 23. The sum is, that not only the beginning, but all the gradual accesses from grace to glory, are by gift, and from the free mercy of God. “Is from above;” that is, from Heaven. The same phrase is elsewhere used; “He that cometh from above is above all,” John iii. 31; that is, from Hea- ven; and Heaven is put for God, as Luke xv. 21, “I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight;” that is, against God and his earthly father. And I Sup- pose there is some special reason why our blessings are said to be from above, because they were designed there, and thither is their aim and tendency, and there are they perfectly enjoyed; and therefore are we said to be “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,” Eph. i. 3; “in heavenly places,” because thence was their original, and there is their accomplishment. And descendeth, or “cometh down.” Not falleth down, to show (saith Aquinas) that we have not blessings by chance, but in the way of regular means. “From the Father of lights;” that is, from God. The word father is often used for the author or first cause, as Gen. iv. 20, 21, “The father of such as dwell in tents; the father of all such as handle the harp;” that is, the author and founder. So God is elsewhere called “Father of spirits,” Heb. xii. 9, because they do not run in the material channel of a fleshly de- scent, but are immediately created by God. Well, but what is meant by “Father of lights P” Some conceive that it intends no more than “most glorious Father,” as it is usual with the Hebrews to put the genitive case for an epithet, and the genitive plural for the superlative degree. But I conceive rather God is here spoken of in allusion to the Sun, who im- . parts and streams out his light to all the stars; and so God being the author of all perfections, which are also signified and expressed by light, is called here “ the Father of lights;” therefore it is usual in the Scriptures to attribute light to God, and darkness to the devil, as Luke xxii. 53, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness;” that is, of Satan. More of this term in the observations. “With whom is no variableness,” Trapa)\\ayj. It is an astronomical word or term taken from the heavenly bodies, which suffer many declinations and revolutions, which they call parallaxes, a word which has great affinity with this used by the apostle. The heavenly lights have their vicissitudes, eclipses, and decreases; but our sun shines always with equal brightness and glory. “Neither shadow of turning,” TpóTrijg dittoo ciaopia. The allusion is continued. Stars, according to their different site and posture, have divers adumbrations; as the nearer the sun is to us, the less shadows it WER. 17. 45 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES, casts; the farther off, the greater; so that we know the various motions and turning of the sun by the difference of the shadows. But the Father of spirit- ual lights is not like the father or fountain of bodily; with him is no “shadow of turning;” that is, he is without any motion or change, any local accesses and recesses, and remains always the same. This is a Sun that does not set or rise, cannot be overcast or eclipsed. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That all good things are from above, they come to us from God. Mere evil is not from above: the Same fountain doth not yield “sweet water and bit- ter,” James iii. 11. God is good, and immutably good, and therefore it cannot be from him; which was Plato's argument, Evils do not come from God, because he is good: which reasoning is true, if it be understood of evils of sin; for otherwise, “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it P” Amos iii. 6; but good flows clearly from the upper spring. There are indeed some pipes and conveyances, as the word, and prayer, and the seals, and for ordinary blessings your industry and care; but your fresh springs are in God; and in all these things we must, as chickens, sip and look upwards. It is, I confess, the waywardness of flesh and blood to look to the next hand, (as children thank the tai- lor for the new coat,) and suffer the immediate helps to intercept their trust and respect ; and therefore God often curses the means, and blasts our endea- vours. The Divine jealousy will not brook a rival. God delights in this honour of being the sole author of all our good, and therefore cannot endure that we should give it to another. When God was about to work miracles by Moses's hand, he first made it leprous, Exod. iv. 6; there he was aforehand with this sin: first or last the hand of the creature is made leprous. This note, that God is the author of all the good that is in us, is useful to prevent many cor- ruptions; as, (1.) Glorying in ourselves: who would magnify himself in that which is from above 2 We count it odious for a man to set out himself in another man's work and glory; as the apostle saith, that he would not boast in another man’s line of things made ready to his hands, 2 Cor. x. 16. Now all good is made ready to your hand, it is the bounty of Heaven to you; it is not your line and work, but God's. (2.) Insult or vaunting over others. Had we all from ourselves, the highest in gifts might have the highest mind; but who made you to differ P I Cor. iv. 7. Carnal and weak spirits feed their lusts with their enjoyments. A straight pillar, the more you lay upon it, the straighter it is, and the more stable; but that which is crooked bows under its weight. So the more God casts in upon carnal men, the more is their spirit perverted. (3.) Envy to those who have received most. Our eye is evil, when God’s hand is good. Envy is a rebellion against God himself, and the liberty and pleasure of his dis- pensations. God distributes gifts and blesings as he will, not as we will; our duty is to be contented, and to beg grace to make use of what we have received. Obs. 2. Whatever we have from above, we have it in the way of a gift. We have nothing but what we have received, and what we have received we have received freely. There is nothing in us that could oblige God to bestow it. The favours of Heaven are not set to sale. When God invites us to mercy, he does not invite us as a host, but as a king; not to buy, but to take; they are most welcome that have no money, Isa. lv. I, that is, no confidence in their own merits. Some divines say that in innocency we could not merit; when the covenant seemed to hang upon works, we could, in their sense, impetrari, but not mereri ; obtain by virtue of doing, but not deserve. Merit and desert are improper notions to express the relation between the work of a creature and the re- ward of a Creator; and much more incongruous are they since the fall: sin bringing in a contrariness of desert, makes mercy much more a gift; so that now in every giving there is somewhat of forgiving; and grace is the more obliging, because in every blessing there is not only bounty, but pardon. It was long since determined by the schools, that penitents had more reason to be thankful than innocents ; sin giving an advantage to mercy to be doubly free in giving and pardoning, and so the greater obligation is left upon us. Oh then that we were sensible of this! that in all our actions our principle might be a sense of God’s love, and our end or motive a sight of God’s glory. Obs. 3. That among all the gifts of God, spiritual blessings are the best. These are called here good and perfect, because they make us good and perfect. It is very observable, that it is said, “If ye then, be- ing evil, know how to give good gifts unto your chil- dren, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him P” Matt. vii. 11. Now in the parallel place in Luke xi. 13, it is “give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him;” that is giving good gifts, to give the Holy Spirit. ZVihil bonum sºme summo bono, g There can be nothing, good where **i.i.” there is not the Spirit of God. Other blessings are promiscuously dispensed, these are blessings for favourites. The men of God’s hand, Psal. xvii. 14, that is, violent, bloody men, may have abundance of treasure; but the men after God’s heart have abundance of the Spirit. A man may be weary of other gifts; an estate may be a Snare, life itself a burden; but you never knew any weary of spiritual blessings, to whom grace or the love of God was a burden, therefore it “is better than life,” Psal. lxiii. 3. Well, then, they are profane spirits that prefer pottage before a birthright, vain delights before the good and perfect gift. David makes a a wiser choice in his prayer; “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation,” Psal. cvi. 4. Not every mercy will content David, but the mercy of God's own people; not every gift, but the good and perfect gift. The like prayer is in Psal. cxix. 132, “Look upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.” Mark, not the mercies that he used to bestow upon the world, but the mercies he used to bestow upon his people and favourites. Nothing but the best mercy will content the best hearts. Obs. 4. That God is the Father of lights. Light being a simple and pure quality, and, of all those which are bodily, most pure and spiritual, is often put to decipher the essence and glory of God, and also the essences and perfections of creatures as they are from God. The essence of God: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,” 1 John i. 5. There light, being a creature, simple and unmixed, is used to denote the simplicity of the Divine essence. So also the glory of God: He dwelleth in light, inac- cessible, I Tim. vi. 16, that is, in unconceivable glory. So Jesus Christ, as he received his person- ality and subsistence from the Father, is called in the Nicene Creed, poje Šic dºjrog, Osóg &\#Suvog ák 080i, &Amstvov, Light of Light, and very God of very God. So also the creatures, as they derive their perfections from God, are also called lights; as the angels, “angels of light,” 2 Cor. xi. I4; the Saints, “chil- dren of light,” Luke xvi. 8. Yea, reasonable crea- 46 - - AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. tures, as they have wisdom and understanding, are said to be lights: so John i. 9, “This is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;” that is, with the light of reason: all the candles in the world are lighted at this torch. In short, reason, wisdom, holiness, happiness are often expressed by light, and they are all from God. As the stars shine with a borrowed lustre, so do all the creatures; where you meet with any brightness and excellency in them, remember it is but a streak and ray of the Divine glory. As the star brought the wise men to Christ, so should all the stars in the world bring up your thoughts to God, who is the Fountain and Father of lights. Thus Matt. v. 16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify,” not you, but “your Father which is in heaven.” If you see a candle burn brightly and purely, remember it was lighted and enkindled by God; if there is any light in them, i.e. a sight and sense of the mysteries of the gospel, if they are burning and shining lights, i. e. if they give out the flame of a holy conversation, still re- member they only discover that lustre and glor which they received from above. Well, then, if God be the Father of lights, (1.) It presses you to apply yourselves to God. If you want the light of grace, or knowledge, or com- fort, you must Shine in his beam, and be kindled at his flame : we are dark bodies till the Lord fill us with his own glory. Oh how uncomfortable should we be without God! In the night there is nothing but terror and error; and so it is in the soul, without the light of the Divine presence. When the sun is gone, the herbs wither; and when God, who is the Sun of spirits, is withdrawn, there is nothing but dis- comfort, and a sad languishing in the soul. O pray, then, that God would shine in upon your soul, not by flashes, but with a constant light. It is too often thus with us, in comfort and grace; holy thoughts arise, and, like a flash of lightning, make the room bright, but the lightning is gone, and we are as dark as ever. But when God shines in by a constant light, then we give out the lustre of a holy conversa- tion: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee,” Isa. lx. 1. We, like the moon, are dark bodies, and have no light rooted within ourselves; the Lord must arise upon us ere we can shine. So also in point of comfort; “They looked unto him, and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed,” Psal. xxxiv. 5. (2.) It shows the reason why wicked men hate God. “Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil,” John iii. 19. And again, They come not to the light, lest their “deeds should be reproved,” ver. 20. Men that delight in darkness cannot endure God, nor any thing that represents God. Rachel could not endure Laban's search, nor wicked men God’s eye; he is the Father of lights; he has a dis- cerning eye, and a discovering beam. (3.) It presses the children of God to walk in all purity and innocence. “Ye were sometimes dark- ness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light,” Eph. v. 8. Walk so as you may resemble the glory of your Father. Faults in you, like spots in the moon, are soon discerned. You that are the lights of the world should not shine dimly ; nay, in the worst times, like stars in the blackest night, you should shine brightest ; therefore the apostle saith, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harm- less, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world,” Phil. ii. 14, I5. Obs. 5. That the Lord is unchangeable in holiness and glory. He is a Sun that shines always with equal brightness. God, and all that is in God, is un- changeable; for this is an attribute which, like a silken string through a chain of pearl, runs through all the rest: “His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations,” Psal. c. 5. So his strength; and therefore he is called “the Rock of ages,” Isa. xxvi. 4. So his counsel; Mutat sententiam sed non decretum, (as Bradwardine,) He may change his sentence, the outward threatening or promise, but not his inward decree; he may will a change, but not change his will. So his love is immutable; his heart is the same to us in the diversity of out- ward conditions : we are changed in estate and opinion, but God is not changed; therefore when Job saith, “Thou art become cruel unto me,” chap. xxx. 21, he speaks only according to his own feeling and apprehension. Well, then, 1.) The more mutable you are, the less you are like God. Oh how should you loathe yourselves, when you are so fickle in your purposes, so changeable in your resolutions ! God is immutably holy, but you have a heart that loveth to wander. He is always the same, but you are soon removed, Gal. i. 6; “ soon shaken in mind,” 2 Thess. ii. 2, whirled with every blast, Eph. iv. 14, borne down with every new emer- gency and temptation. The more you “continue in the things which you have learned, and been as- sured of,” 2 Tim. iii. 14, the more you resemble the Divine perfection. (2.) Go to him to establish and settle your spirits. God, that is unchangeable in himself, can bring you into an immutable estate of grace, against which all the gates of hell cannot prevail; therefore be not quiet till you have gotten such gifts from him as are without repentance, the fruits of eternal grace, and the pledges of eternal glory. - (3.) Carry yourselves towards him as to an im- mutable good. In the greatest change of things see him always the same. When there is little in the creature, there is as much in God as ever: “They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end,” Psal. cii. 26, 27. All creatures vanish, not only like a piece of cloth, but like a garment; cloth would rot of itself, or be eaten out by moths, but a garment is worn and wasted every day: but God does not change, there is no wrinkle upon the brow of Eternity; the arm of Mercy is not dried up, nor do his bowels of love waste and spend themselves. And truly this is the church’s comfort in the saddest condition, that how- ever the face of the creatures is changed towards them, God will be still the same. It is said some where, that the name of God is as an ointment poured out; certainly, this name of God’s immuta- bility is as an ointment poured out, the best cordial to refresh a fainting soul. When the Israelites were in distress, all the letters of credence that God would give Moses were these, “I AM THAT I AM hath sent me unto you,” Exod. iii. 14. That was comfort enough to the Israelites, that their God remained in the same tenor and glory of the Divine essence; he could still say, “I am.” With God is no change, no past or present; he remains in the same indivisible point of eternity, and therefore saith, “I am.” So the prophet, Mal. iii. 6, "Eya Küplog 3 080g juov, Kai oik #AAotopat, “I am the Lord, I change not,” or am not changed; “therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con- sumed.” Our safety lies in God’s immutability; we cannot perish utterly, because he cannot change. VER. 18. 47 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. WERSE 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. THE apostle shows that his main aim was to set forth God as thes author of spiritual gifts, and therefore instances regeneration as one of those gifts. “Of his own will,” Bow) m3sic, because he would, or being willing. The word is used, 1. To deny compulsion or necessity, God needed not to save any. And, 2. To exclude merit, we could not oblige him to it; it was merely the good pleasure of God; for this 3ov\m$sic is equivalent to that which Paul calls sióokia, the natural bent, purpose, and inclination of God’s heart to do the creatures good. 11, it is called the “counsel of his own will;” and elsewhere “abundant mercy;” “According to his abundant mercy he hath begotten us again unto a lively hope,” I Pet. i. 3; in other places, the plea- sure of the Father. “Begatheus.” A word that properly imports natural generation, and sometimes is put for creation ; and so as we are men, we are said to be his yévoc, “offspring,” Acts xvii. 28; and indeed so some understand it here, applying these words to God’s creating and forming . us, and making men to be his first-fruits, or the choicest piece in the whole creation; or, as Zoroastres called him, roMampotórnç Tüc pigeog áyāNua, the mas- ter-piece of overdaring nature: but this is beside the Scope ; for he speaks of such a begetting as occurs by “the word of truth,” which, in the next verse, he urges as an argument of more conscience of the duty of hearing; therefore begetting is used to imply the work of grace upon our souls. The same metaphor is elsewhere used, 1 Pet. i. 23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” So ver. 3, “Begotten unto a lively hope.” I have brought these two places to show you the two parts in the work of grace; the one is qua regeneramur, by which we are begotten, the other qua renascimur, by which we are born again; the one is God’s act purely, the other implies the manifestation of life in our- Selves; a distinction that serves to clear some con- troversies in religion. But I go on with my work. By “the word of truth.” Here is the instrument stated. Those who refer this verse to the creation understand it of Jesus Christ, who is the eternal un- created Word of the Father, and by him were all things made : see John i. 1–3; Heb. i. 3. But clearly it is meant of the gospel, which is often called the word of truth, and is the ordinary means whereby God begets us to himself. “That we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.” Those who apply the verse to the crea- tion, say the apostle means here that man was the choicest and chiefest part of it; for all things were subjected to him, and put “under his feet,” Psal. viii. 6. But I conceive it denotes rather the dignity and prerogative of the regenerate: for as it was the privilege of the first-fruits of all the sheaves to be consecrated; so believers and converts, among all men, were set aside for the uses and purposes of God. The first-fruits of all things were the Lord's, I. Partly to testify his right in that people. 2. Partly for a witness of their thankfulness; they having received all from him, were to give him this acknowledg- ment: “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase,” Prov. iii. 9; that was the honour and the homage they were to do to God. Now this is every where attributed to the people of God; as to Israel, because they were In Eph. i. God’s peculiar people, called out from all the nations; “Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first- fruits of his increase,” Jer. ii. 3; that is, of all people they were dedicated to God. So the holy worship- pers, figured by those virgins in Rev. xiv. 4, are said to be “redeemed from among men, being the first- fruits unto God and the Lamb :” these were the chiefest, Christ's own portion. So the church is called the “church of the first-born,” Heb. xii. 23. All the world are as common men, the church are the Lord’s. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That which engaged God to the work of re- generation was merely his own will and good pleasure. “Of his own will begat he us.” “He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth,” Rom. ix. 18. God’s will is the reason of all his actions. You will find the highest cause to be will, love, and mercy; God can have no higher motive, nothing without himself, no foresight of faith and works, he was merely inclined by his own pleasure. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” John xv. 16: he begins with us first. When Moses treats of the cause of God’s love to Israel, he assigns nothing but love, Deut. vii. 7, 8, He loved you because he loved you; he had no mo– tive, and can expect no satisfaction. So Psal. xviii. 19, “He delivered me, because he delighted in me;” that was all the reason why he did it, because he would do it. So Hos. xiv. 4, “I will love them. freely :” there is the spring and rise of all. This is applicable divers ways. (1.) To stir us up to admire the mercy of God, that nothing should incline and dispose his heart but his own will. The same will that begat us passed by others; whom he will he saveth, and whom he will he hardeneth. Man’s thoughts are very unsober in the inquiry, why God should choose some, and leave others; when you have done all, you must rest in this supreme cause, God’s will and pleasure. “Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight,” Matt. xi. 26. Christ himself could give no other reason, and there is the final result of all disputes. O ad- mire God, all ye his saints, in his mercy to you. This circumstance gives us the purest apprehensions of the freeness of God’s love, when you see that it was God’s own will that determined mercy to you, and made the difference between you and others; nay, in some respects it puts a difference between you and Christ. Eöpévéla IIdroog o' &rok- retvet, "wa dx^oic yiyumrat cornpia, The good-will of the Father slayeth, thee, and saveth others; he willed Christ's death, and your salvation. In the same verse Christ’s bruises and Our salvation are called Yen, “the pleasure of the Lord:” “It pleased the Lord to bruise him,” Isa. liii. 10; and then, “The pleasure of the Lord,” that is, in the salvation of the elect, “shall prosper in his hand.” - (2.) It informs us the reason why in the work of regeneration God acts with such liberty. God acts according to his pleasure. The Holy One of Israel must not be limited and confined to our thoughts: “The wind bloweth where it listeth,” John iii. 8. All is not done after one tenor, but according to the will of the free Spirit; as in giving means you must leave God to his will : there are mighty works in Chorazin and Bethsaida, when there are none in Tyre and Sidon. Israel had statutes and ordinances, when all the world had nothing but the glimmering candle of their own reason. So for the work of the Spirit with the means; some have only the means, others the work of the Spirit with the means: “How Nazianz, in his Christus Patiens. 48 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world P” John xiv. 22. They have choice revelations. The spouse was brought into the cham- bers, Cant. i. 4, when the virgins, common Chris- tians, stay only in the palace of the great King. TXo but observe two passages: Acts ix. 7, it is said of Paul’s companions, that they heard a voice; and yet, Acts xxii. 9, it is said, they that were with him heard not the voice. Solomon Glassius reconciles these two places thus: They heard a sound, but they did not hear it distinctly as Christ's voice. Some only hear the outward sound, the voice of man, but not of the Spirit, in the word; there is a great deal of dif- ference in the same auditories. So also for the mea- sure of grace; to some more is given, to some less; though all have a vital influence, yet all have not the same measure of arbitrary influences. He giveth “both to will and to do,” card rºv sióoctav, according to “his good pleasure,” Phil. ii. 13. So the manner is very diverse and various. God begins with some in love, with others by terrors, plucking them out of the fire. Some are gained by a cross and affliction, others by a mercy; some are caught by a holy guile, (as the apostle saith of the Corinthians,) others are brought in more sensibly, and with greater constern- ation. Upon some the Spirit comes like a gentle blast, grace insinuating itself; upon others like a mighty rushing wind, with greater terror and en- forcement. So for the time, some are longer in the birth, and wait at the pool for many years; others are surprised and gained of a sudden : “Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi- nadib,” Cant. vi. 12. Therefore we should not limit God to any one instance, but still wait upon him in the use of means for his good pleasure to our Souls. Obs. 2. That the calling of a soul to God is, as it were, a new begetting and regeneration. “He begat us.” There must be a new framing and making, for all is out of order, and there is no active influence and concurrence of our will ; therefore grace is called katun kriotç, a new creation, 2 Cor. v. 17. All was a chaos and vast emptiness before. Hence it is ex- pressed by being “born again,” John iii. 7; and so believers are called Christ’s seed, Isa. liii. 10. The point being obvious, I shall the less stay on it. It is useful, (I.) To show us the horrible defilement and de- pravation of our nature : mending and repairing would not serve the turn, but God must new-make and new-create us, and beget us again: like the house infected with leprosy, scraping will not serve the turn; it must be pulled down, and built up again. They mince the matter that say of nature as those of the damsel, “She is not dead, but sleepeth;” as if it were a languor, or a swoon, into which Adam and his posterity fell ; no, it was a death; and therefore are those two notions of creation and resurrection solemnly consecrated by the Spirit of God to express our regeneration, or new birth. (2.) To show us that we are merely passive in our conversion. It is a begetting; and we, as the infant in the womb, contribute nothing to our own forming: “It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves,” Psal. c. 3; we had no hand in it. (3.) It shows us two properties of conversion : i. There will be life; the effect of generation is life. Natural men are said to be “alienated from the life of God,” Eph. iv. 18; they are altogether strangers to the motions and operations of the Spirit. But now, when the soul is begotten, there will be acting, and moving, and spiritual feeling; the soul will not be so dead towards God. Paul saith, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me,” Gal. ii. 20. A man cannot have interest in Christ but he will receive life from him. 2. There will be a change. At the first God brings in the holy frame, all the seeds of grace, and therefore there will be a change ; of profane, carnal, careless hearts, they are made spiritual, heavenly, holy. “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord,” Eph. v. 8. You see there is a vast difference. If men remain the same, how can they be said to be begotten P they are filthy still, car- mal still, worldly still ; there will be at least a disso- lution of the old forms and frames of spirit. Obs. 3. It is the proper work of God to beget us. “He begat us.” It is sometimes ascribed to God the Father, as here; and so in other places to God the Son : believers are his seed, Isa. liii. 10. Some- times to the Spirit, John iii. 6. God the Father's will; “Of his own will begat he us.” God the Son's merit; through his obedience we have the adoption of sons, Gal. iv. 5. God the Spirit's effi- cacy ; by his overshadowing the soul is the new crea- ture brought forth. It is ascribed to all the three Persons together in one place; “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ,” Tit. iii. 6, 7. In another place you have two Persons mentioned; “For we are his workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works,” Eph. ii. 10. It is true, the ministers of the gospel are said to beget, but it is as they are instruments in God’s hand. So Paul saith, “I have begotten you,” I Cor. iv. 15; and of Onesimus he saith, “Whom I have begotten in my bonds,” Philem. I0. God loves to put his own honour often upon the instruments. Well, then, (1.) Remove false causes. You cannot beget your- selves, that were monstrous ; you must look up, above self, and above means, to God, who must form you after his own image. It is said, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of . the will of man, but of God,” John i. 13. Not in the outward impure way, that is meant by “not of blood;” “ nor of the will of the flesh,” that is, in the carnal manner, as man begets man, to satisfy a fleshly will or desire; “nor of the will of man,” that is, by any workings or desires of our will; but only by the power of the Spirit: for the intent of that place is to remove gross thoughts, and wrong causes, that we might justly apprehend its nature, and look up to the right cause of it. (2.) It shows what an honourable relation we are invested with by the new birth. “He begat us.” God is our Father; that engages his love, and sym- pathy, and care, and every thing that can be dear and refreshing to the creature. “Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things,” Matt. vi. 32. This relation is often urged by the children of God; “Doubtless thou art our Fa- ther, though Abraham be ignorant of us,” Isa. lxiii. 16. There is comfort in a father, much more in a heavenly Father. Evil men may be good fathers, Matt. vii. 11; they cannot but obey those natural and fatherly impressions which are in their consti- tution: how much more will a good God be a good Father | Tam pater memo, tam piws ne- e ‘º º mo, None can be so good and so much **ś.” a father as he. Obs. 4. The ordinary means whereby God begets us is the gospel. He begat us by “the word of truth.” “In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel,” I Cor. iv. 15; there is the in- strument, the author, the means: the instrument, Paul, “I have begotten you;” the means, by “the gospel;” the author, “in Jesus Christ.” So I Pet. i. 23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God:” the word is, Ven. 18. 49 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. as it were, the seed, which being ingrafted in the heart, springs up in obedience; it is by the word, and that part of the word which is properly called gospel. Moses may bring us to the borders, but Joshua leads us into the land of Canaan; the law may prepare and make way, but that which conveys the grace of conversion is properly the gospel. Well, then, let us wait upon God in the use of the word; it is not good to frustrate the known and ordinary ways of grace. Wisdom's dole is given at Wisdom's gates; “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watch- ing daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors,” Prov. viii. 34. It was a great advantage to the decrepit man to lie still at the pool, John v. God’s means will prove successful in God’s time. Urge your soul with the necessity of the means: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Rom. x. 17. Without grace I cannot be saved, without the word I cannot have grace; reason thus within yourselves, that you may awaken the Soul to a greater conscience of waiting upon God in the word. It is true, Divine grace does all, he be- gets us; but remember it is by “the word of truth.” The influences of the heavens make fruitful seasons, but yet ploughing is necessary. It is one of the sophisms of this age, to urge the Spirit's efficacy as a plea for the neglect of the means. Obs. 5. The gospel is “the word of truth.” It is so called, not only in this, but in divers other places: see 2 Cor. vi. 7; Eph. i. 13; Col. i. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 15; the same expression is used in all these places. You may constantly observe, that in matters evangelical the Scriptures speak with the greatest averment and certainty; the comfort of them is so rich, and the way of them is so wonderful, that there we are apt to doubt most ; and therefore there the Scriptures give us the more solemn assurance, as 1 Tim. i. 15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, That Christ Jesus came to save sinners.” We are apt to look upon it as a doubtful thing, or at best but as a probable truth; therefore Paul prefaces, “This is a faithful saying.” So Isa. liii. 4, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Thou say- est, Surely I am a sinner, but it is as sure that Christ is a Saviour: naturally we are more sensible and sure of sin than of the comforts of Christ. The apostle speaks of heathens, that they knew “the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,” Rom. i. 32. Natural conscience will give us a sight and sense of sin, but usually we look upon gospel comforts with a loose heart and doubtful mind, and therefore the Scrip- ture uses such forms of certainty. Is it sure thou art a sinner P so sure is it that he has borne our sins, and carried our sorrows. So Rev. xix. 9, “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb : these are the true sayings of God.” So Rev. xxii. 6, when he had spoken of the glory of heaven, he saith, “These sayings are faithful and true.” The Spirit of God foresaw where we are most apt to doubt, and therefore has presented those truths in Such solemn security, as the asseverations of God, beforehand. Thus Christ's priesthood is ushered in with an oath, “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek,” Psal. cx. 4. Points so far above the reach and apprehension of nature are hard to be believed, therefore are they prefaced with deep as- Severations and oaths. Use. The use is, to press us to put to our seal to these truths, to adventure our souls upon the warrant of them. How strange is it that our hearts should be most loose towards those points which have a special note of truth and faithfulness annexed to them "Well E may it be said, “He that believeth not hath made God a liar,” I John v. 10; for these things are propounded to you, not only in assertions, but asseverations; he has told you they are faithful and true sayings; therefore you implicitly give God the lie, when you think these things are too good to be true, or behave yourselves with a carelessness and uncertainty to- wards them, or in despair think there cannot be comfort for such sinners as you are. This is to lift up your own sense and experience against the oaths and protestations of God, which are every where in- terlaced with the proposals of the gospel. Q do not hang off; bring up assent to the greatest certainty that can be ; check those vile thoughts which secretly lurk in all our hearts, that the gospel is some fine device and rare artifice to cheat the world; some golden fancy to make fools trifle with, as that profane pope said, fabula Christi, the fable of the gospel. O consider, all the wit of the creatures could not con- trive or design such a system of truths so satisfying to the conscience as the gospel is; and therefore all assents that do not amount and come up to assur- ance are beneath the dignity of it. Assents are of divers kinds, some are very imper- fect: there is conjecture, which is but a lighter in- clination and propensity of the mind to that which is only probable, it may or may not be true : this is discerned by carelessness and disrespect towards things which are excellent; men only guess, and have but loose thoughts of them. Higher than this there is opinion, when the mind is strongly swayed to think a thing true, however there is formido oppositº, a fear of the contrary, which is opposed to believing with all the heart, Acts viii. This is enough to engage to profession, for a man follows his opinion. The next degree above this is ÓAlyotrioria, weak faith, which engages the soul not only to profession, but to some affection and adherence to the truths acknow- ledged; they look upon them as true and good, but cleave to them with much brokenness and imperfec- tion. Higher than this there is assurance, I mean of the truths of the gospel, not of our interest in the comforts of it; this is intended by the apostle, when he said the Thessalonians received the word “ in much assurance,” I Thess. i. 5. They were un- doubtedly, and beyond all contradiction, persuaded of the truths of the gospel. The same apostle calls it the “riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God,” Col. ii. 2; that is, such an apprehension of the truths of the gospel, as is joined with some experience, and a resolution to live and die in the profession of it. Quest. You will say, What shall we do to ripen our assents to such a perfection P What are those proper mediums or arguments by which, next to the infal- lible persuasion of the Spirit, the soul is assured that the gospel is the word of truth P i- Answ. This question is worth answering at all times, because atheism is so natural to us: if there were no atheists in the world, yet there is too much of the atheist in our own bosoms. But in these times especially, the reigning sin being atheism or scepti- cism in matters of religion, occasioned, partly, by corrupt and blasphemous doctrines, which have a marvellous compliance with our thoughts. Partly, by the sad divisions among the people of God; every one pretending to be in the right, we suspect all; there- fore Christ prayed for unity in the church upon this argument, “That the world may know that thou hast sent me,” John xvii. 23. When there are di- visions in the church, usually there is atheism in the world. Partly, by the scandals and villanies com- mitted under a pretence of religion, by which Christ is, as it were, denied, Tit. i. 16; and again crucified, 50 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF . “ and put to an open shame,” Heb. vi. 6; that is, ex- posed to the derision and scorn of his enemies, and represented as a malefactor. Now, if ever then, it is needful to ballast the mind with solid and rational grounds, and to establish you in the holy faith. Many arguments are urged by the fathers and school- men in behalf of the gospel; but I have always pre- ferred the arguments of the fathers, as of Lactantius, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Cyril, &c., before those of the schoolmen, as being more practical and natural, and so having a greater and a more constant awe upon the conscience; whereas those of the school- men, who, questionless, were worse men, are more subtle and speculative, and so less apt to be under- stood, and are not so always present with the soul, as those are which are founded in practical truths. Briefly, then, you may know the gospel to be the word of truth, because whatever is excellent in re- ligion, is in an unparalleled manner found in our religion, or in the doctrine of the gospel. The glory of a religion lies in three things; the excellency of rewards, the purity of precepts, and the suremess of principles of trust. Now examine the gospel by these things, and see if it can be matched elsewhere. 1. The excellency of rewards. This is one of the chief perfections of a religion; therefore the apostle proposes it as a principle and foundation of religion and worship, to “believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” Heb. xi. 6. “He that cometh to God,” that is, to engage in his worship, next to his being, must believe his bounty; and the reason is, because a man, in all his endeavours, expects some happiness and reward. Now since the fall there are many inventions, Eccles. vii. 29. As the Sodomites, when they were smitten with blind- ness, groped about Lot's door; so we grope and feel, here and there, for a reward that may be adequate and of full proportion with our desires. The heathens were at a sad loss and puzzle. Austin out of Varro reckons up two hundred Cap. 1. and eighty-eight opinions about the chief good. Some placed it in pleasures, and such things as gratified sense; but this is to make brutes of men, for it is the happiness of beasts to enjoy pleasures without remorse. Tully saith, He is not worthy the name of a man qui wrium diem velit esse £n voluptate, that would entirely spend one whole day in pleasures. Alas! this is a way so gross, so op- pressive, and burdensome to nature, so full of dis- turbance and distraction to reason, that it can never satisfy. Some went higher for a reward of virtue, and talked of victory over enemies, long life, and a happy old, age; but many that were good wanted these blessings. Others dreamed of a kind of eter- mity, and placed it in fame, and the perpetuity of our name and renown, which is a kind of shadow of the true eternity; but this was a sorry happiness to those that lived and died obscurely. Those who went highest could go no higher than the exercise of virtue, and said that virtue was a reward to itself; that a man was happy, if virtuous, in the greatest torments, even in the brazen bull of Phalaris. But, alas, if our happiness were in this life only, we were “Of all men most miserable,” I Cor. xv. 19. Chris- tianity would scarce make amends for the trouble of it. But now the gospel goes higher, and propounds a pure and sweet hope, most pure and fit for such a Sublime and reasonable creature as man; and most Sweet and contenting, since it promises him the eter- mal and happy enjoyment of God in Christ in the life to come; not a Turkish paradise, but chaste and rational pleasures at his right hand for evermore, Psal. xvi. I l ; complete knowledge, perfect love, the filling up of the soul with God. August. de Civit. Dei, lib. 19. check the lust. forbids sins, but lusts: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts,” I Pet. ii. 11. showed before, by a holy murder must be dashed against the stones. manding love, not only to friends, but enemies; the law is spiritual, and therefore in all points perfect: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul,” Thus the gos- pel, you see, has excelled all religions, propounding a fit and most excellent reward to the holy life. 2. Purity of precepts. In the Christian religion all moral duties are advanced and heightened to their greatest perfection; the “commandment is exceed- ing broad,” Psal. cxix. 96, of vast extent and lati- tude, comprising every motion, thought, and circum- stance. The heathens contented themselves with a shadow of duty: the apostle saith, that rô Épyov roi; vó- pov, the work of the law, was written upon their hearts, Rom. ii. 15; that is, they had a sense of the outward. work, and a sight of the surface of the command- ment. They made conscience to abstain from gross acts of sin, and to perform outward acts of piety and devotion, as sacrifice, and babbling of hymns and prayers to their gods. All their wisdom was to make their life plausible, to refrain themselves; as it is said of Haman when his heart boiled with rancour and malice against Mordecai, “Haman refrained himself.” Esth. v. 10. Lactantius proves against them that they had not a true way of mortification, and were not spiritual enough in their apprehensions of the law: sapientia eorum plerumque abscondit vºtia, mom abscindit; all their wisdom was to hide a lust, not to quench it; or rather to prevent the sin, not to But now our holy religion not only Babylon's children, as we The precepts are exact, com- Psal. xix. 7; that is, not only guiding the offices of the exterior man, but piercing to the thoughts, the first motions of the heart. We have a perfect law. 3. The sureness of the principles of trust. One of the choicest marks of respect in the creature to the Godhead is trust and dependence; and trust, being the rest and quiet of the soul, must have a sure found- ation. Now stand in the ways, and survey all the religions in the world, and you will find no founda- tion for trust but in the gospel. Refer it to any object, either trusting in God for a common mercy, or trusting in God for a saving mercy. (1.) For a common mercy. There are no such representations of God to the soul as in the gospel. The Gentiles had but loose and dark thoughts of God, and therefore are generally described by this character, “men without hope,” I Thess. iv. 13. I remember when our Saviour speaks against carping and anxiousness about outward supports, he dissuades thus: “Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? for after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” Matt. vi. 31, 32: im- plying such solicitude to be only excusable in hea- thens, who had no sure principles; but you that know Providence, and the care of a heavenly Father, should not be thus anxious. It is true, the heathens had some sense of a Deity, they had rô yvögrow roë esot, some knowledge of the nature of God, Rom. i. 19; but the apostle saith in the 21st verse, that they were “vain” ºv roic 6taxoytopoug airwy, “in their imagina- tions,” that is, in their practical inferences and dis- courses; when they came to represent God as an object of trust, and to form practical thoughts and apprehensions of his majesty, there they were vain and foolish. But in the gospel God is represented as a fit object of trust, and therefore the Solemn and purest part of Christian worship is faith; and it is judiciously observed by Luther, Id agit tota Scriptura .." WER. 18. 51 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. wt credamus Deum esse misericordem, It is the design of the whole Scripture to bring the soul to a steady belief and trust; therefore the psalmist, when he speaks of God’s different administrations in the world and in the church, when he comes to his administra- tions in the church, saith, “The testimonies of the Lord are very sure,” Psal. xciii. 5. God deals with us upon sure principles, though he has discovered his attributes to the world only in his works. (2.) For saving mercies. And indeed that is the trial of all religions; that is best which gives the soul a sure hope of salvation. In Jer. vi. 16, God bids them, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk there- in, and ye shall find rest for your souls;” intimating, they should choose that for the best religion whic yields most peace of conscience. Now there are three things that trouble the soul; our distance from God, our dread of angry justice, and a despair of retaining comfort with a sense of duty: and therefore ere the conscience can have any solid rest and quiet, there must be three matches made, three couples brought together; God and man, justice and mercy, comfort and duty; all these must mutually embrace and kiss each other. [l.] God and man must be brought together. Some of the wise heathens placed happiness in the nearest access and approach to God that could be obtained; as Plato for one : and Caelius Rhodiginus saith Aristotle delighted much in that verse of Ho- Imer, where it is said, that it would never be well till the gods and mortal men came to live together. Certain we are that common instinct makes us grope and feel after an eternal good: They felt after God, Acts xvii. 27. Now how shall we come to have any commerce with God, there being, besides the dis- tance of our beings, guilt contracted in the soul? How can stubble dwell with devouring burnings, guilty creatures, think of God without trembling, approach him without being devoured and swallowed up of his glory? The heathens were sensible of this in some part, and therefore held, that the supreme gods were defiled by the unhallowed approaches of sinful and mortal men, and therefore invented heroes and half gods, a kind of middle powers, that were to be mediators to convey their prayers to the gods, and the blessings of the gods back again to them : so Plu- tarch, Ată răv čaipovićv Träga Čutxia kai Ötösicroc us- raēē 086), kai div6pārov, That by these intermediate powers commerce and communion were maintained between the gods and men. To this doctrine of the heathens the apostle alludes, I Cor. viii. 5, “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many, and lords many.” As they had many gods, many ultimate ob- jects of worship; so many lords, that is, mediators: “But to us,” saith he, “there is but one Lord, and one God;” that is, one Supreme Essence, and one Mediator, which is that excellent and sure way which the Scriptures lay down for our commerce with God. The device of the heathens, being fabulous and absurd, could yield no comfort; but in the gospel there is excellent provision made for our comfort and hope, for there the Godhead and manhood are re- presented as met in one nature. The Son of God was made the Son of man, that the sons of men might be the sons of God. Therefore the apostle Peter shows that the great work of Christ was to “bring us to God,” I Pet. iii. 18, to bring God and man together. So the apostle Paul saith, We may draw near through the veil of his flesh, Heb. x. 20. It is an allusion to the temple, where the veil hid the glory of the sanctum sanctorum, and gave entrance to it. So Christ's incarnation did, as it were, abate the edge of the Divine glory and brightness, that crea- tures may come and converse with Deity without terror. Christ is the true Jacob's Ladder, John i. 51, the bottom of which toucheth earth, there is his humanity; and the top reacheth heaven, there is his Divinity; so that we may climb this Ladder, and have communion with God; ascende per hominem et pervenies ad Deum, as that father said; climbing up in hope by the manhood of Christ, we have social access to the Godhead. [2] Justice and mercy must be brought together. We want mercy, and fear justice. Guilt impresses a trembling upon the spirit, because we know not how to redeem our souls out of the hands of angry justice. The very heathens were under this bondage and tor- ment, because of the severity of the Divine justice; “Knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,” Rom. i. 32. There the great inquiry of nature is, how we shall appease angry justice, and redeem our souls from this fear: you know the question, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?” Micah vi. 6. The heathens, in their blindness, thought to oblige the Godhead by meri- torious acts; either by costly sacrifices, rivers of oil, thousands of rams, burnt-offering, and whole burnt- offerings, hecatombs of sacrifices; or by putting themselves to pains or tortures, as Baal's priests. gashed themselves; or by doing some act that is un- welcome and unpleasant to nature, as by offering their children in sacrifices, those dear pledges of affection, which certainly was an act of great self- denial, natural love being descensive, and like a river running downward; yea, this was not all, the best of their children, their first-born, in whom all their hopes were laid up, they being observed to be most fortunate and successful. This custom also the carnal Jews took up ; for bare outward sacrifice was but a dull way, either to satisfy God, who had “the cattle upon a thousand hills,” Psal. 1. 10, or to pacify conscience; for though it were a worship of God’s own appointing, yet it did “not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience,” Heb. ix. 9; that is, the worshipper that looked no further could never have a quiet and perfect con- science, and therefore they caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. Such a barbarous custom could not be taken up barely by imitation; nothing but horror of conscience could tempt men to an act so cruel and unnatural; and the prophet plainly intimates that they gave their first-born for the sin of their soul. Thus you see all ways are at a loss, because they could not yield a recompence to offended justice. But in the gospel “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other,” as in Psal. lxxxv. 10; and we may sing, “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous,” Psal. cxvi. 5. Our “Beloved is white and ruddy,” Cant. v. 10. For there is a God satisfying, as well as a God offended; so that mercy and justice shine with an equal lustré and glory; yea, justice, which is the terror of the world, in Christ is made our friend, and the chief ground of our hope and support, as I John i. 9, The Lord “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” A man would have thought faithful and gracious had been a more proper term than faithful and righteous, pardon being most properly an act of free grace; but justice being satisfied in Christ, it is no derogation to his righteousness to dispense a pardon; so the crown of glory is called “a crown of righteousness,” 2 Tim. iv. 8. A whole vein of scriptures runs that way, which makes all the comfort and hope of a Christian to hang upon God’s righteousness; yea, if you will believe the apostle Paul, you shall see that E 2 52 - - AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. God’s great intent in appointing Christ, rather than any other redeemer, was to show himself just in pardoning, and that he might be kind to sinners without any wrong to his righteousness; in short, that justice being satisfied, mercy might have the more free course. Hear the apostle, and you shall see that he speaks full to this purpose; “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remis- sion of sins,” Rom. iii. 25. And lest we should lose the emphatical word, he redoubles it, “To de- clare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which be- lieveth in Jesus,” ver, 26; that is, in the matter of justification, where grace is most free, God makes his righteousness shine forth, having received satis- faction from Christ. [3] Comfort and duty are brought together. The end of all religion is, ut anima sit subjecta Deo et pacata sºbi, that the soul may be quiet in itself, and obedient to that which is supposed to be God. Now how shall we do to retain a care of duty with a sense of comfort P. Conscience cannot be stified with loose principles. The heathens could not be quiet; and therefore when their reason was discomposed and disturbed with the rage of sensual lusts, and they knew not how to bridle them, they offered violence to nature; pulled out their eyes, because they could not look upon a woman without lusting after her; and raged against their innocent members, instead of their unclean affections. But we who have the light of Christianity know much more that we cannot have comfort without duty; for though true peace of conscience is founded on Christ’s satisfaction, yet it is found only in his service: “Come unto me, and I will give you rest,” Matt. xi. 28. But in ver. 29 he shows how it is to be expected, “Take my yoke upon you, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” As we must come to Christ for comfort, so we must stay under his discipline, if we would have a sense of it in our own souls. Well, now, you shall see how ex- cellently these are provided for in the gospel: there is Spirit against weaknesses, and merit against de- fects and failings; so that duty and comfort are pro- vided for. They need not despair under weaknesses, having the assistance of a mighty Spirit. They need not put out their eyes, having. a God to quench their lusts. They need not despair under the sense of their de- fects, there being such a full merit in the obedience of Christ. In short, when they have largest thoughts of duty, they may have sweetest hopes of comfort, and say with David, “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy commandments,” Psal. cxix. 6. Obs. 7. That God’s children are his first-fruits. The word hints two things, their dignity and their duty; which two considerations will draw out the force of the apostle's expression. --- (1.) It denotes the dignity of the people of God in two respects: 1. One is, They are the Lord’s por- tion, Adog treptočavoc, his “peculiar people,” Tit. ii. 14, the treasure people, the people God looks after. The world are his goods, but you his treasure. The word krugudrov in the text is emphatical. Others are but his creatures, you his first-fruits; he delights to be called your God; he has, as it were, impro- priated himself to your use and comfort: Blessed is the “people whose God is the Lord,” Psal. cxliv. 15. He is Lord of all, but your God. One said, Tolle meum, et tolle Deum. It is the relation to God that is sweet, and a general relation yields no comfort. "Oh what a mighty instance is this of the love of God Democritus ex- cCecavit Seipsum duod mulieres Sine concupiscen- tia aspicere non posset, et doleret Sinon esset poti- tus ; at Christi- anus Salvis oculis foeminam videt ; animo adversus Hibidinem coecus -est. Tertul. in A pol. cap. 46. to us, that he should reckon us for his first-fruits, for his own lot and portion 2. That they are the con- siderable part of the world. The first-fruits were offered for the blessing of all the rest; “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine,” Prov. iii. 9, 10. So here, the children of God, they are the blessing in the cluster; others fare the better for their neighbourhood; they are the strength, the chariots and horsemen, of a nation. It was a pro- fane suggestion in Haman to say, it was “not for the king's profit to suffer them” to live. These are the first-fruits that God takes in lieu of a whole na- tion, to convey a blessing to the rest. (2.) It hints our duty. As, I. Thankfulness in all our lives. The first-fruits were dedicated to God in token of thankfulness. Cain is implicitly branded for unthankfulness, because he did not offer the first- fruits. You that are the first-fruits of God, should, in a sense of his mercy, live the life of love and praise. The apostle saith, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service,” Rom. xii. 1. Now under the gospel there are no sin-offerings, all are thank- offerings. Well, then, give up yourselves in Aoyuki) Adrpsta, a reasonable way of sacrifice. It is but reason that, when God has begotten us, we should be his first-fruits. The principle and motive of obedience under the gospel is not terror, but gratitude; “that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies should serve him without fear, in holiness and right- eousness before him, all the days of our life,” Luke i. 74, 75. Your lives should show you to be first-fruits, to be yielded to God, as a testimony of thankfulness. 2. Holiness. The first-fruits were holy unto the Lord. God’s portion must be holy; and therefore of things that were in their own nature an abomination, the first-fruits were not to be offered to God, as the first-born of a dog or ass, but were to be redeemed with money. God can brook no unclean thing. Sins in you are far more irksome and grievous to his Spirit than in others. . In Jer. xxxii. 30, it is said, “The children of Israel and Judah have only done evil before me from their youth:” the Septuagint reads, uévot trotoivreg rö Tovmpöv car' 660a)\pioëc pov, they alone, or they only, have been sinners before me; as if God did not take notice of the sins of other nations. Israel, God’s portion, are the only sinners. 3. Conse- cration. You are dedicated things, and they must not be alienated; your time, parts, strength, and employ- ments are all the Lord’s ; you cannot dispose of them as you please, but as it may make for the Lord's glory. You are not first-fruits when you seek your own things; you are not to walk in your own ways, nor to your own ends; you may do with your own as it pleaseth you, but you cannot do so with what is the Lord's. First-fruits were passed over into the right of God, the owner had no property in them. Well, then, [1..] You are not to walk in your own ways; your desires and wills are not to guide you, but the will of God: “There is a way” (saith Solo- mon) “that seemeth right” in a man’s own eyes. A corrupt mind looks upon it as good and pleasant, and a corrupt will and desire is ready to run out after it. So the prophet Isaiah, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” chap. liii. 6. O remember you are to study the mind and will of God; your own inventions will seduce you, and your own affections will betray you. [2] Nor to live to your own ends. Henceforth we are not to live to ourselves, 2 Cor. v. 15; to our pleasure, profit, honour, interests; we have no right WER. [9. 53 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. and property in ourselves, it is all given up to God. Nºt ºne Those who gave up all to God did not parcer. Jujihil reserve a liberty for self-pursuits and §.” self-interests. All pleasures, honours, - - profits are to be refused, or received as they make us serviceable to the glory of God. VERSE 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. “WHEREFoRE, my beloved brethren.” You see these words are inferred out of the former. The apostle saith, “wherefore.” Some make the con- sequence thus, He hath begotten you, therefore walk as men regenerate; for they make these sentences to be of a general application, and take them in their largest sense and extent. But this seems harsh, partly because it is not the use of the gospel to de- scend to such low civilities as the ordering of speech, and the like; much less would it urge such a weighty argument as regeneration in a matter of such com- mon importance; and indeed the inference in that sense is no way clear, and it would be a great gap and stride to descend from such a weighty and spirit- ual matter to mere rules of civility. Partly because the subsequent context shows these sentences must be restrained to the matter in hand; for, ver, 21, he infers out of these sayings an exhortation to hear the word rightly; therefore I conceive the connexion stands thus: he had spoken of the word of truth as being the instrument of conversion, and upon that ground persuades them to diligent hearing and reve- rent speaking of it; for so these sentences must be restrained, and then the coherence is more fluent and easy. As thus, You see what an honour God has put on the word, as by it to beget us to himself; there- fore “be swift to hear,” that is, of a docile or teach- able mind; be ready still to wait upon God in the word. “Be slow to speak;” that is, do not rashly precipitate your judgment or opinion concerning things of faith. Be “slow to wrath;” that is, be not angrily prejudiced against those that seem to differ and dissent from you. Thus you see, if we consider these directions under a special reference to the mat- ter in hand, the context is easy. I confess it is good to give Scripture its full latitude in application, and therefore rules may be commodiously extended to repress the disorders of private conversation; as gar- rulity, when men are full of talk themselves; and morosity, when they cannot endure to hear others; and So also anger and private revenge; especially when any of these is found (as usually they are) in Christian meetings and conventions, little patience, and much talk and anger. But the chief aim of the apostle is to direct them in the solemn hearing of the word. OBSERVATIONS. 1. It is a great encouragement to wait upon the ordinances, when we consider the benefits God dis- Fº by them. “Wherefore be swift to hear.” n the institution of every duty there is a word of command, and a word of promise; the command for Our Warrant, the promise for our encouragement; the command that we may come in obedience, and the promise that we may come in faith. Hence it is said, Isa. lv. 3, “Hear, and your soul shall live.” “Hear,” that is the command; “ your soul shall live,” there is the promise. It is God’s mercy that no duty is a Souls. mere task, but a holy means; and ordinances are ap- pointed not only in sovereignty, but in mercy. Well, then, Christians are not only to look to the ground of duties, but the end, which sweetens them to us. God has required nothing of you but for your own benefit: “If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself,” | Prov. ix. 12. God has glory in your approaches, but you have comfort. O consider, then, every time you come to hear the word, the high privileges you may enjoy by it. Say thus when you come to hear, I am to hear, that my soul may live; I am going to the word that is to beget me, to make my soul partaker of the Divine nature. Christians do not raise their expectations to such a height of mercies as are offered to them in the ordinances. Obs. 2. Experience of the success of ordinances en- gages us to a further attendance upon them. He hath begotten you by the word of truth; “where- fore be swift to hear.” Who would turn from a way in which he has found good, and discontinue duty when he has experienced the benefit of it? When God has given you success, he has given you a seal of his truth, a real experience of the comforts of his service. The Stancarists, who think ordinances use- less for believers, fit to initiate us in religion, and no further, are ignorant of the nature of grace, the state of their own hearts, and the ends of the word. Be- cause this proud sect is revived in our times, and many as soon as they have found the benefit of ordi- nances think they are above them, let us a little ex- amine these particulars. - (1.) They are ignorant of the nature of grace, which always upon a taste creates a longing for more: “My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary,” Psal. lxiii. 1, 2. When the springs lie low, a little water cast in brings up more; so after a taste, grace longs for more communion with God; they would see God. as they have seen him. So the apostle, 1 Pet. ii. 3, “If ye have tasted that he is gracious ;” that is, if you have had any taste and experience of Christ in the word, which is the case in the context, you will be coming to him for more. However it is with spirit- ual pride, grace is quickened by former success and experience, not blunted. (2.) They are ignorant of the intent and end of the word, which is not only to beget us, but to make the saints perfect, Eph. iv. 12, 13. The apostles, when they had established churches, returned to confirm the souls of the disciples, Acts xiv. 22. We are to look after growth as well as truth. Now, lest you should think it only concerns the new-born babes, or the weaker sort of Christians, you will find those of the highest form found need to exercise themselves herein. The prophets searched diligently into the writings of other prophets, I Pet. i. 11, 12. Daniel himself, though a prophet, and a prophet of high visions, studied books, Dam. ix. 2. And still the greatest have need of praying, meditating, reading, hearing, to preserve the work of grace begun in their That is a notable passage, Luke viii. 18, “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.” Our Saviour upon this ground presses them to a greater conscience and sense of the duty of hearing; because those who have grace already, will have further confirmation and increase; and those who, upon a presumption and pretence of having grace, neglect the means of grace, shall lose that which they seemed to have ; that is, shall ap- pear to be just nothing in religión, blasted in gifts as well as decayed in grace. 54 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF (3.) They are ignorant of the state of their own hearts. Are there no graces to be perfected and in- creased P no corruptions to be mortified P no good resolutions to be strengthened? no affections to be quickened and stirred up 2 Is there no decay of vigour and livelihood P. no deadness growing upon their spirits? Certainly none need ordinances so much as they that think they do not need them. The spirit is a tender thing, soon discomposed. Things that are most delicate are most dependent. Brambles grow of themselves, but the vine needs props. Wolves and dogs can search and hunt abroad in the wilderness, but the sheep need a pastor. They that look into their hearts would find a double need of ordinances. [1..] Knowledge is imperfect. It is Some good degree of knowledge to be sensible of our own ignorance; none so proud and contented as they that know least : “If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he Ought to know,” I Cor. viii. 2. At first truths seem few, and soon learned; but it is some good progress in any learning to be sensible and humbled with the imperfections of knowledge; and it is so in divine matters. We see little in the word till we are more deeply acquainted with it, and then we say, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law,” Psal. cxix. 18; then we dis- cern depths, and such wisdom as we never thought of. The word is an ocean, without bottom and banks. A man may see an end of other things, and get the mastery over an art; “I have seen an end of all per- fection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad,” Psal. cxix. 96. We can never exhaust all the trea- sure and worth which are in the word. [2] Affec- tions need a new excitement. Commands must be repeated to a dull servant: such is our will; we need fresh enforcements of duty upon us. Live coals need blowing, and a good soldier the trumpet to stir up his warlike courage. “All may learn,” or “all be comforted,” I Cor. xiv. 31. The apostle there specifies the two ends of prophecy, which is either that we may learn, or be comforted, or exhorted: the word is indifferent to both those significations, either the improving of knowledge, or the exciting of languishing affections. Obs. 3. Hearing the word is a universal duty, and binding on all men. None are exempted from hear- ing and patient learning. The eye has need of the foot. Those who know most may learn more. Ju- nius was converted by discourse with a ploughman. A simple laic (as the story calls him) turned the whole council of Nice against Arianism. God may make use of the meanest things for the instruction of the greatest. Paul, the great apostle, calls Priscilla and Persis, two women, his fellow helpers in the Lord, Rom. xvi. Torches are many times lighted at a candle, and the most glorious saints advantaged by the meanest. Christ would teach his disciples by a child; he took a child, “and set him in the midst of them,” Matt. xviii. 2. It is proud disdain to scorn the meanest gifts. There may be gold in an earthen vessel. There are none too old, none too wise, none too high, to be taught. “Let every man be swift to hear.” Obs. 4. The commendation of duties is the ready discharge of them. “Swift;” that is, ready to hear. Swiftness denotes two things: (1.) Freeness of spirit; do it without reluctance when you do it; no offerings are accepted of God but such as are “free-will offer- ings,” Psal. cxix. 108. (2.) Swiftness denotes dili- gence in taking the next occasion; they will not decline an opportunity, and say another day. Delay is a sign of unwillingness. In Ezek. i., the beasts Socrates Scholast. lib. 2. Eccles. Hist. cap. 8. 'Aet ynodiako , TroMX& 316aorkó- puévos. Solon. had four faces, and four wings; they had four faces, as waiting when the Spirit would come upon them; and four wings, as ready to look and fly into that part of the world into which God would despatch them. This readiness to take occasions is showed in three things: [1] In restraining all debates and de- liberations; “I conferred not with flesh and blood,” Gal. i. 16. When the soul deliberates about duty, it neglects it: when God commands, do not debate whether it be best or no; the soul is half won when it yields to dispute things. God saith, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” Gen. ii. 17; and Eve repeats, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die,” chap. iii. 3; and Satan saith, “Ye shall not surely die,” ver, 4. God affirms, the woman doubts, and Satan denies. It is not good to allow the devil the advantage of a debate: when you pause upon things, Satan works upon your hesitation. . [2.] In laying aside all pre- tences and excuses. Duty would never be done, if we should allow the soul every lesser scruple; there will still be a lion in the way, and opening to the spouse will be interpreted a defiling of the feet. Peter, as soon as he heard the voice of Christ, cast himself into the sea; others came about by ship; he did not plead the waves between him and Christ, Matt. xiv. 29. [3] In yielding yourselves up to the whole will of God without reservations; do not allow one exception, or reserve one carnal desire. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts ix. 6. The ear and heart was open for every command. So I Sam. iii. 9, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant hear- eth.” He was ready to receive whatever God would command; but, alas, it is otherwise with us. Christ comes to offer himself to us as he did to the blind man, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee P” Luke xviii. 41. Christ is fain to ask our pleasure, not we his. The Master asks what the servant will command. Yea, we refuse him when he offers him- self to us. Mr) traoavrāo no.6s, “See that ye refuse not,” &c., Heb. xii. 25. The word signifies, do not urge vain pretences. Obs. 5. “Be Swift to hear;” that is, the word of God; for otherwise it were good to be slow in hear- ing. We may wish ourselves deaf sometimes, that we might not hear oaths, impurities, railings; as old Maris was glad that he was blind, that he could not see such a cursed apostate as Julian. Divers things are implied in this precept; I shall endeavour to draw out the sense of it in these particulars. (1.) It shows how we should value be glad of an opportunity to hear. The ear is the sense of learning; and so it is of grace; it is that sense which is consecrated to receive the most spirit- ºg ual dispensations. “How shall they tº believe in him of whom they have not fººt * heard P” Rom. x. 14. The Lord, by the mouth of his servant Moses, saith, “Hear, O Israel,” Deut. v. 1; vi. 3, 4. When Christ was solemnly announced from heaven to be the great Prophet of the church, the respect that is bespoken for him is audience, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him,” Matt. xvii. 5. God is pleased to appoint this way, do not despise it. Reading has its use, but the voice has aliquid la- tentis energiae, a secret force upon the soul, because of the sympathy between the external word and in- ward reason; I mean, it has a ministerial efficacy, by which the authority and sovereign efficacy of the Spirit is conveyed. God would insinuate a real effi- cacy in a moral way, and therefore uses the voice. The apostle had spoken much of the word, and then saith, “This is the word which by the gospel is hearing, and Plus est in auri- bus quan, in ocu- lis situn), quo- niam doctrina et Sapientia percipi WER. 19. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 55 preached unto you,” I Pet. i. 25. It is not the word read, but the word preached. You may judge it a vain artifice, count it the foolishness of preaching, but it is under the blessing of a solemn institution; “for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolish- ness of preaching to save them that believe,” 1 Cor. i. 21. Therefore by the external voice used in the way of an ordinance there is more than a ministerial excitation. Reading does good in its place; but to slight hearing, out of a pretence that you can read better sermons at home, is a sin. Duties mistimed lose their efficacy. The blood is the preserver of life when it is in the proper vessels; but when it is out, it is injurious, and breeds putrefactions and diseases. (2.) It shows how ready we should be to take all occasions to hear the word. If ministers must preach in season and out of season, a people are bound to hear. It is observed, that a little before the French massacre protestants were cloyed with the word, and so it is now. Heretofore they would run far and near to enjoy such an opportunity. “Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about,” came to hear John, Matt. iii. 5. Some of those places mentioned were thirty miles from AEmon beyond Salem, which was the place where John baptized. “The word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision,” 1 Sam. iii. 1. quented, when they were more scarce. The wheat of heaven was despised when it fell every day. “Be- hold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord : and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it,” Amos viii. 11, 12. Then they would go far and near for a little comfort and counsel. This is one of those enjoyments which is valued when it is wanted. When manna is a common food, men lust for quails; “Nothing but this manna.” This swiftness here shows the content men should take in hearing the word; but, alas, now men pretend every vain ex- cuse, their merchandise, their farm, and so cannot wait upon the word of God. On the Lord’s day they attend, when they dare do nothing else; but few take other occasions and opportunities. David saith, “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth,” Psal. xxvi. 8. It was a comfort to him to wait upon God, to º: to the doors of wisdom; but a burden to many OI UIS. (3.) It inculcates a readiness to hear the sense and mind of others upon the word. We should not be so puffed up with our own knowledge, but we should be swift to hear what others can say. It is a great evil to contemn the gifts of others. No man is so wise but he may receive some benefit by the different handling of truths which he already knows. It is an advantage to observe the different breathings of the Spirit of God in divers instruments. Job would not despise the cause of his servants, Job xxxi. 13. And as we should not contemn their gifts, so we should not contemn their judgments. In this being “Swift to hear” is condemned that iótoyvouogövm, that private spirit, and overprizing of our own concep- tions and apprehensions, so that we are not patient to hear any thing against them. Men are puffed up with their own mind, though it be fleshly and carnal, Col. ii. 18. They make a darling and an idol of their own thoughts. The apostle saith, “If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace,” I Cor. xiv. 30. You do not Heretofore lectures were fre- know what may be revealed to another : no man is above the condition of being instructed. Divide self from thy opinion, and love things, not because they agree with thy prejudices, but with truth. “Be swift to hear;” that is, to consider what may be urged against you. (4.) It instructs us what we should do in Christian meetings. They are apt to degenerate into noise and clamour. We are all swift to speak, but not to hear one another; and so all our conferences end in tumult and confusion, and no good is obtained by them. Most men are so swift to speak, that they are “like wine which hath no vent; ready to burst, like new bottles,” Job xxxii. 19. If we were as patient and swift to hear as we are ready to speak, there would be less wrath and more profit in our meetings. I remember, when a Manichee contested with Augus- time, and with importunate clamour cried, Hear me, hear me; the father modestly answered, AVec ego te, nec tu me, sed ambo audiamus apostolum, Neither hear me, nor I thee, but let us both hear the apostle. It were well if we could thus repress the violence and impetuousness of our spirits: when one cries, Hear me, and another, Hear me; let us both hear the apostle, and then we shall hear one another; he saith, “Be swift to hear, slow to speak.” When Paul reproved the disorder and tumult in the Co- rinthian assemblies, he advises them to speak divá pušpec, by turn or course, 1 Cor. xiv. 27. And ver. 31, “Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted;” that every one should have free liberty to speak, according as their part and turn came, and not in a hurry and clatter, which hindered both the instruction and comfort of the assembly. Obs. 6. That there are many cases wherein we must be slow to speak. This clause must also be treated of according to the restriction of the con- text; slow in speaking of the word of God, and that in several cases. (I.) It teaches men not to venture upon preaching the word till they have good spiritual furniture, or are stored with a sufficiency of gifts. It is not for every one that can speak an hour to adventure upon the work of teaching. John was thirty years old when he preached first; “in the fifteenth year of Tiberius,” Luke iii. I, that was John’s thirtieth St - º - apyld. in year. Augustus reigned fifty-five years, fººt. Moral. and John was born in his fortieth year, º. * and preached in the fifteenth of Tibe- rius his next successor. Every one covets the dig- nity of being a teacher in Israel; there is somewhat of superiority in it, (upon which reason the apostle forbids women to teach, 1 Cor. xiv. 34, because by the law of their creation they cannot be superiors,) and somewhat of profit, and therefore the time is hastened and precipitated. Few stay till their youthful heats be spent, and thirty years’ experience has fitted them for so great a work and burden. It is observable, that Jesus Christ had also fulfilled thirty years ere he entered upon his public ministry. Though I do not tie it merely to the years; either too young or too weak, it is all one to me. There are (as Ignatius Saith: in his Epistle to the Magnesians) rºv TroMiav uáruv pÉpovréc, some that in vain hang out the bush of grey hairs when they have no good wine to vend or utter. Indeed the drift of that whole Epistle is to persuade them to reverence their bishop, though but youthful ; where he instances Daniel, Solomon, Jeremiah, Samuel, Josiah, whose youth was seasoned with knowledge and piety; and concludes, that it is not age, but gifts, which make a minister. Through the abundance of Spirit there may be an old mind in a young body; for Timothy, Sub initio Epist. 56 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF though young in years, was an elder in the church. For my own part, I must say, as Pharaoh’s chief butler said, “I remember my faults this day,” Gen. xli. 9; I cannot excuse myself from much crime and sin in it; but I have been in the ministry these ten years, and yet have not fully completed the thirtieth year of my age; the Lord forgive my rash intrusion. Whatever help or furtherance I have contributed to the faith and joy of the saints by my former public labours, or my private ministerial endeavours, or shall do by this present work, I desire it may be wholly ascribed to the efficacy of the Divine grace, which is many times conveyed through the most un- worthy instruments. But to return, Tertullian has a notable observation concerning some sectaries in his time, Munquam citius proficitur quam in castris rebellium, ubi ipsum illic esse promereri est, That men usually have a quick progress in the tents of heresy, and become teachers ere they are scarcely Christians. He goeth on, AWeophytos collocant, ut gloria eos obligent, quia veritate non possunt, They set up young men to teach, that they may win them by honour, when they can- not gain them by truth. Certainly this is a bait which pride soon swallows; and that which has drawn many into error, is a liberty to teach before they are scarce any thing in religion. O consider, hasty births do not fill the house, but the grave. Men that obtrude themselves too soon upon a calling do not edify, but destroy. It is good for awhile to be “slow to speak.” Aquinas, when he heard Al- bertus, was called bos mulus, the dumb ox, because for a great while he was altogether silent. It is not the Spirit of God, but the spirit of vain-glory, which puts men upon things which they are not able to wield and manage. It is good to take notice of those impressions and constraints which are within our spirits; but it is good also to take heed that they do not arise from pride, or some carnal affections. (2.) It shows that we should not be precipitate in our judgment concerning doctrines and points of divinity; that we may not rashly condemn or de- fend any thing that is contrary to the word of God, or of which we have certainty from the word. “Be slow to speak;” that is, do not speak till you have a sure ground. The sudden conceptions of the mind are not always the best. To take up things hastily engages a man to many inconveniencies. Moses would not give an answer suddenly; “Stand still,” he said, “ and I will hear what the Lord will command con- cerning you,” Numb. ix. 8. That great prophet was at a stand till he had spoken with God. Under the law, the tip of the priest’s ear was to be sprinkled with blood ; first he must hear Christ, and then speak to the people. Well, then, be not too hasty to defend any opinion till you have tried it. How muta- ble do men of a sudden spirit and fiery nature appear to the world ! rashly professing, according to their present apprehensions, they are forced to change often. There should be a due pause ere we receive things, and a serious deliberation ere we defend and profess them. - (3.) It teaches that we be not more forward to teach others than to learn ourselves. Many are hasty to speak, but backward to act, and can better act the master and prescribe to others than practise themselves, which our apostle notes, “My brethren, be not many masters,” James iii. 1; that is, be not so forward to discipline others, when you neglect your own souls. The apostle speaks earnestly, as if he meant to rouse a benumbed conscience, “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” Rom. ii. 21; and I have heard that a Tertul. in lib. de Praescrip. ad- versus Haeret. scandalous minister in reading it was struck at the J Sive; and therefore a heathen could heart, and converted. Since the fall, & & g e "Air ëar light is more directive than persua: ; ; ; eis rô vov6 nºréiv & tº x a'épot, 3rgv 3 avrot, Towuev, Alopot oil yttyvcog- observe, that it is far more easy to in- kouey. Menand. struct others than to practise ourselves. (4.) It instructs that we do not vainly and emptily talk of the things of God, and put forth ourselves above what is meet. It is good to take every occa- Sion, but many times indiscreet speaking does more injury than silence. Some will be always betraying their folly, and in every meeting engross all the dis- course: “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise,” Prov. x. 19. We should weigh our words before we utter them. When men are swift to speak, and much in talk, they bewray some folly which is a stain to them. So Prov. xvii. 27, “He that hath knowledge spareth his words.” Empty vessels sound loudest; and men of great parts, like a deep river, glide on with the least noise. (5.) It teaches us not to be over-ready to frame ob- jections against the word. It is good to be dumb at a reproof, though not deaf. Let not every proud thought break out into thy speeches. Guilt will re- coil at the hearing of the word, and the mind will be full of vain surmises and carnal objections; but, alas, how odious would men appear, if they should be swift to utter them if thoughts, which are the words of the mind, should be formed into outward words and expressions ! Thoughts may be corrected upon further information, but words cannot be recalled. Thoughts only stain our own spirits, words convey a taint to others. Thoughts are more indeliberate than words; in thoughts we sin with our mind only, in words with our mind and tongue. Obs. 7. That renewed men should be “slow to. wrath.” You must understand this with the same reference that you do the other clauses, and so it implies that the word must not be received or de- livered with a wrathful heart. It concerns both hearers and teachers. (1.) The teachers. They must be “slow to wrath” in delivering the word. I. Let not the word wait upon private anger: spiritual weapons must not be used in your own case; you have not a power to cast men out of Christ at your own pleasure. The word is not committed to you for advancing your esteem and interests, but Christ's. The apostle had venge- ance in readiness, 2 Cor. x. 6, but it was for dis- obedience to Christ, not for disrespect to his own person. Men who quarrel for esteem bring a just reproach and scandal upon their ministry. 2. Do not easily deliver yourselves up to the sway of your own passions and anger. People will easily dis- tinguish between this mock thunder and Divine threatenings. Passionate outcries only fright easy and over-credulous souls, and that only for the pre- sent; proofs and confirmations do a great deal more good. Snow, that falls soft, soaks deep. In the tem- pest Christ slept: when passion is up, true zeal is usually asleep. (2.) The people. It teaches them patience under the word. Do not rise up in arms against a just re- proof; it is natural to us, but be slow to it, do not yield to your nature. David said, “I have sinned against the Lord,” 2 Sam. xii. 13, when Nathan set home his fact with all the aggravations. And it is an accusation against a king, “He humbled not him- self before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord,” 2 Chron. xxxvi. 12. Mark, it is not said, before the Lord, but “before Jeremiah.” God was angry with a great king for not humbling himself before a poor prophet. Anger only betrays our guilt. One was reported to have uttered some- . WER. 19. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. - - 57. thing against the honour of Tiberius; the crafty tyrant the more strongly believed it, because it was the just report of his own guilt, quia vera erant dicta, credebantur, saith the histo- rian. So many think we aim at them, intend to dis- grace them, because indeed there is a cause, and so storm at the word. Usually none are angry at a re- proof but those that most deserve it; and when con- viction, which should humble, irritates, it is an ill sign. Those who were “pricked in their hearts” were much better tempered than those who were “cut to the heart,” Acts ii. 37; vii. 54; as humilia- tion is a better fruit of the word than impatience. You will observe that the children of God are most meek, when the word falls upon their hearts most directly. David saith, “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head,” Psal. cxli. 5. Reproof to a gracious soul is like a sword anointed with balsam, it wounds and heals at the same time. So Hezekiah said, “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken,” Isa. xxxix. 8. It was a sad word, a heavy threaten- ing; yet the submission of his sanctified judgment called it good. In such cases you should not storm and rage, but give thanks, and say, as David to Abi- gail, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me,” I Sam. xxv. 32. Bless God for meeting with you in the word. Obs. 8. That it is some cure of passion to delay it. “Be slow to wrath.” Anger grows not by degrees, like other passions, but at her birth she is in her full growth; the heat and fury of it is at first, and there- fore the best cure is deliberation: “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger,” Prov. xix. 11; that is, the revenge which anger meditates. Many men are like tinder or gunpowder, take fire at the least spark of offence; and by following their passions too closely run themselves into inconve- niencies; therefore it is good to check these precipi- tant motions by delay and due recourse to reason. “He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly,” Prov. xiv. 29: when men are quick and short of spirit, they are transported into many indecencies, which dishonour God, and wound their conscience, and afterward have cause enough, by a long repentance, to bewail the sad effects of a short and sudden anger. Atheno- dorus advised Augustus, when he was surprised with anger, to repeat the alphabet, which advice was so far good, as it tended to cool a sudden rage, that the mind, being diverted, might afterward deliberate. So Ambrose counselled Theodosius the Tacitus. Maximum reme- dium irae dilatio est, ut primus ejus fervor relan- guescat et caligo, quae premit men- tem, aut resiliat aut minus densa sit; graves, habet impetus primo. Senec. lib. 2. de Ira, cap. 28. et I. 3. c. 12. Ruff. 1.2. IIist, § 13. Theoſ, lib. Great, after he had rashly massacred Hist. cap. 26. the citizens of Thessalonica, to decree, That in all sentences that concerned life the execu- tion of them should be deferred till the thirtieth day, that so there may be a space for showing mercy, if need required. Well, then, indulge not the violence and Swiftness of passion ; sudden apprehensions usually mistake; the ultimate judgment of reason is best. Motions vehement, and of a sudden irruption, run away without a rule, and end in folly and in- convenience. It is a description of God, that he is slow to wrath; certainly a hasty spirit is most un- like God. It is true, some good men have been ob- Beza in vita cal. Served to be 6�xot, hasty, and soon vini, p. 109. moved, as Calvin; Augustine observes #... the like of his father Patricius; and praecipups, ità some observe the same of Cameron; but for the most part these motions in those servants of God were but, as ira fervidus. Aug. Confess. l. 9. c. 9. Jerom calls them, pro-passions. Sud- ’9&#xoxos qui- dem et adversus notos et famili- den and irresistible alterations that were ares facile irrita- º to them, and which they *##"iro. by religious exercises in a great mea- lºº.º.º. tro SUII’é j and ºci ; and if §º: anger came soon, it staid not long. #'é;bus. Solomon says, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools,” Eccles. vii. 9. That anger is most culpable which soon comes, but rests or stays long, as being indulged. So Solomon saith elsewhere, “He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated,” Prov. xiv. I7; implying, that sud- den anger is an effect of folly and weakness, which may be incident to the best ; but to concoct anger into malice is an argument of wickedness, and is found only in the most depraved natures. In short, it is contemptible to be angry suddenly, but to plot revenge abominable. g - WERSE 20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. HERE he renders a reason of the last clause, why they should take heed of this indignation and rising of their hearts against the word, because the “wrath of man” would hinder them from attaining that “righteousness,” and accomplishing that duty, which God requires in his word. “For the wrath of man.” There is an emphasis in that word; he does not say wrath in general, for there is always a righteousness in the wrath of God; as the apostle saith, Rom. i. 18, it “is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness:” or rather “the wrath of man,” to show that, under what disguises soever it appears, it is but human and fleshly ; there is nothing of God, but much of man in it. - “Worketh not;” oi karspyáčerat, does not attain, does not persuade, or bring forth any righteous action ; yea, it hinders God from perfecting his work IIl U.S. “The righteousness of God;” that is, say some, justice mixed with mercy, which is the righteous- ness the Scriptures ascribe to God, and anger will not suffer a man to dispense it; but this seems too much strained and forced. Others say the meaning is, it does not execute God’s just revenge, but our own malice. But rather “the righteousness of God” is put for such righteousness as God requires, God approves, God effects. In this sense in Scripture things are said to be of God, and of Christ, which are effected by his power, or commanded in his word: thus faith is said to be the “work of God,” John vi. 29, because he commandeth we should labour in it, which plainly is the intent of that context; and the apostle uses the word righteousness, because anger puts on the form of justice and righteousness more than any other virtue. It seems to be but a just displea- sure against an offence, and looks upon revenge not as irrational excess, but a just punishment, especially such anger as carries the face of zeal, which is the anger spoken of in the text. Rage and distempered heats in controversies of religion, and about the sense of the word, such carnal zeal, how just and pious soever it seem, is not approved and acquitted as righteous before God. It is observable that there is a litotes in the apostle's expression, more is intended than said; for the apostle means. it is so far from 58 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF working righteousness, that it works all manner of evil; witness the tragical effects of it in the world, the slaughters that Simeon and Levi made in She- chem. Sarah in her anger breaks two command- ments at once, takes the name of God in vain, and falsely accuses Abraham, Gen. xvi. 5. OBSERVATIONS. 1. The worst thing that we can bring to a religious controversy is anger. The context speaks of anger occasioned by differences about the word: usually no affections are so outrageous as those which are en- gaged in the quarrel of religion; for then that which should bridle the passion is made the fuel of it, and that which should restrain undue heats and excesses engages them : however, this should not be. Chris- tianity, above all religions, is the meekest and most humble; it is founded upon the blood of Christ, who is a Lamb slain; it is consigned and sealed by the Spirit of Christ, who descended like a dove: both are emblems of a meek and modest humility; and should a meek religion be defended by our violence, and the God of peace served with wrathful affections, and the madness of an evil nature betray itself in the best cause P Christ’s warfare needs not such carnal weapons: as Achish said, “Have I need of mad-men P” I Sam. xxi. 15; so, hath Jesus Christ need of our passions and furies P heaven need a tongue “set on fire of hell?” James iii. 6. Michael the archangel was engaged in the best cause against the worst adversary, with Satan about the body of Moses; and yet the purity of his nature would not permit him to profane his engage- ment with any excess, and indecency of passion; he “durst not bring against him a railing accusation,” Jude 9. And as the wrath of man is unsuitable to the matters of God, so it is also prejudicial. When tongue is sharpened against tongue, and pen against pen, what follows P. Nothing but mutual animosities and hatred, whereby if we gain aught of truth, we lose much of love and goodness. Satan would fain be even with God: the devil’s kingdom is mostly ruined by the rage of his own instruments, and you Affectaxit quan cannot gratify Satan more than when tº you wrong the truth, by an unseemly flºcomºters, defence of it; for then he seems to l, ert. be quits with Christ, overturning his kingdom by those which are engaged in the defence of it. Briefly, then, if you would do good, use a fit means : the barking dog loses the prey; violence and furious prosecution seldom gains. Those engage most successfully, who use the hardest arguments and the softest words; whereas railings and revilings, as they are without love, are also without profit. Be watchful; our religious affections may often out- Set us. Obs. 2. Anger is not to be trusted. “Worketh not the righteousness of God.” It is not so just and righteous as it seems to be. Of all passions, this is most apt to be justified. As Jonah said to God, “I do well to be angry,” chap. iv. 9; so men are apt to excuse their heats and passions, as if they only ex- pressed a just indignation against an offence and Wrong received. Anger, like a cloud, binds the mind, and then tyrannizes over it; there is in it somewhat of rage and violence; it vehemently excites a man to act, and takes away the rule according to which he ought to act. All violent concitations of the spirit disturb reason, and hinder clearness of de- bate; and it is then with the soul as it is with men in a mutiny, the gravest cannot be heard. And there is in it somewhat of mist and darkness; by which, reason being beclouded, it is rather made a party than a judge, and not only excuses our passion, but Does the God of . feeds it; as being employed in representing the in- jury, rather than bridling our irrational excess. Well, then, do not believe anger; men credit their passion, and that foments it. In an unjust cause, when Sarah was passionate, you see how confident she is ; “The Lord judge between me and thee,” Gen. xvi. 5. It would have been ill for her, if the Lord had umpired between her and Abraham. It was a strange confidence, when she was in the wrong, to appeal to God. You see anger is full of mistakes, and it seems just and righteous, when it doth nothing less than work the righteousness of God. The heathens suspected themselves when under the power of cºuise, tº his * •. * ISI their anger; I would beat thee, (saith irºtus essein. one,) if I were not angry. When you "* are under the power of a passion, you have just cause to suspect all your apprehensions; you are apt to mistake others, and to mistake your own spirits: passion is blind, and cannot judge; it is furious, and has no leisure to debate and consider. Obs. 3. That a wrathful spirit is a spirit most un- suitable to God. “Anger of man,” and “righteous- ness of God.” Note the opposition ; for there is an emphasis in those two words, “man” and “God.” God, being “ the God of peace,” Rom. xv. 33; I Thess. v. 23, requires pacatum animum, a quiet and composed spirit. Thunder is in the & e lower regions, all above is quiet. Interºlink Wrathful men are most unfit, either to & act grace, or to receive grace : to act grace by draw- ing nigh to God in worship, for worship must carry proportion with the object of it; as the God that is a Spirit will be served “in spirit,” John iv. 24, so the God of peace with a peaceable mind, Heb. xii. 11; James iii. 17. So to receive grace from God: angry men give place to Satan, but grieve the Spirit, and so are more fit to receive sin than grace, Eph. iv. 26, 27, 30. God is described to “sit in the heavens,” Psal. ii. 4, which denotes a quiet and com- posed posture; and truly as he sits in the heavens, so he dwells in a meek and quiet spirit. Obs. 4. That man’s anger is usually evil and un- righteous. Anger and passion is a sin with which the people of God are many times surprised, and too often do they swallow it without grief and remorse, out of a conceit partly that their anger is lawful and allowed; partly that it is but a venial evil, and of sud- den intrusion, for which there is a pardon of course. I shall therefore endeavour to show you what anger is sinful, and how sinful and great an evil it is. I. Show what anger is sinful. All anger is not sinful; one sort of it falls under a concession, an- other under a command, another under the just re- proofs of the word. (1.) There are some indeliberate motions, which Jerom calls pro-passions, sudden and moorage.a. non irresistible alterations, which are the # *š. te © º a tº - e Spist. ad Demet. infelicities of nature, not the sins; toler- . able in themselves, if rightly limited. iiigitates. A man is not to be stupid and insensate. ** Anger in itself is but a natural motion to that which is offensive, and is lawful as long as it does not make us omit a duty, or dispose us to a sin, or exceed the value of its impulsive cause. So the apostle saith, “Be ye angry, and sin not,” Eph. iv. 26. He allows what is natural, and forbids what is sinful. (2.) There is a necessary holy anger, which is the whetstone of fortitude and zeal. So it is said, Lot's righteous soul was vexed, 2 Pet. ii. 7. So Christ himself, He looked round about him with anger, Mark iii. 5. So “Moses's anger waxed hot,” Exod. xxxii. 19. This is but an advised motion of the will guided by the rules of reason. Certainly they are angry, and sin not, who are angry at nothing but WER. 20. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 59 sin. It is well when every passion serves the in- terests of religion. However, let me tell you, this being a fierce and strong motion of the spirit, it must be used with great advice and caution. [1..] The prin- ciple must be right. God’s interests, and ours are often twisted; and many times self interposes the more plausibly, because it is varnished with a show of religion; and we are more apt to storm at indig- nities and affronts offered to ourselves than to God. The Samaritans rejected Christ, and in the name of Christ the apostles presently called for fire from heaven; but our Lord saith, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” Luke ix. 55. It is good to look to the impulses by which our spirits are acted: pride and self-love are apt to rage at our own con- tempt and disgrace; and the more securely, when the main interest is God’s. A river many times loses its purity when mingled with other streams; and zeal, that boils up upon an injury done to God, may prove carnal when it is fed with the accessions TIpaeig uév \lºx” of our own contempt and interest. It is º:#" observed of Moses, that he was most §ºil meek, in his own cause; when Miriam ... resin and Aaron spoke against him, it is said, * “The man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth,” Numb. xii. 3. But when the law was made void, he broke the tables, and his meek spirit was heightened into some excess of zeal. By that action you would have judged his temper hot and furious. Dot's spirit was vexed, but it was with Sodom’s filthiness, not with Sodom's injuries. Zeal is too good an affection to be sacrificed to the idol of our own esteem and intefests. [2] It must have a right object. The heat of indignation must be against the crime, rather than against the person. Good anger is always ac- companied with grief; it prompts us to pity and pray for the party offending: Christ “ looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,” Mark iii. 5. False zeal has mischief and malice in it; it would have the offender rooted out, and purposes revenge rather than correction. [3] The manner must be right. See that you be not tempted to any undecency and unhandsomeness of expression : violent and troubled expressions argue some carnal commotions in the spirit. Moses was angry upon a good cause, but “he spake unad- visedly with his lips,” Psal. cvi. 33. In religious contests men are more secure, as if the occasion would warrant their excesses; and so often anger is vented the more freely, and lies unmortified, under a pretence of zeal. (3.) There is a sinful anger, when it is either, 1. Hasty and indeliberate: rash and sudden motions are never without sin. Some pettish spirits are like fine glasses, broken as soon as touched, and all on fire upon every slight and trifling occasion; when meek and grave spirits are like flints, that do not send out a spark but after violent and great collision. Feeble minds have a habit of wrath, and, like broken bones, are apt to roar with the least touch : it argues much unmortifiedness to be so soon moved. Or, 2. Im- moderate, when it exceeds the merits of the cause, as being too much, or kept too long. Too much, when the commotion is so immoderate, as to discompose the spirit, or to disturb reason, or to interrupt prayer, and the free exercise of the spiritin duties of religion; when men have lost that patience in which they should possess and enjoy themselves, Luke xxi. 19. There is a rational dislike which may be allowed, but such violent commotions are not without sin. Too long : anger should be like a spark, soon ex- tinguished; like fire in straw, rather than like fire in iron. . Thoughts of revenge are sweet, but when they stay long in the vessel, they are apt to become sour. New wine is heady, but if it be kept long it grows tart. Anger is furious, but if it be detained it is digested and concocted into malice. Aristotle reckons three degrees of angry men, each of , t * which is worse than the former; some ºf "###. are hasty, others are bitter, others are ºthic. lib. 4. cap. implacable. Wrath retained desists not 18. without revenge. O consider, this spirit is most unchristian ; the rule of the word is, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,” Eph. iv. 26. This is a fire that must be covered ere we go to bed. If the Sun leave us angry, the next morning he may find us malicious. Plutarch saith of the Py: no..…..…, thagoreans, that if any offence had #. †: fallen out in the day, they would before ..., sun-set mutually embrace one another, ºº, and depart in love. And there is a º #. story of Patricius and John of Alexan- ;....'...}, dria, between whom great anger had $464,39;sº dº. passed; but at evening John sent to ºf him this message, The sun is set; upon to "“” which they were soon reconciled. TOr, 3. Causeless, without a sufficient ground: “Whosoever, is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment,” Matt. v. 22. But now the great inquiry is, What is a sufficient cause for anger? Are injuries? I answer, No. Our religion forbids re- venge as well as injury, for they differ only in order; the ill doing of another does not loosen and take away the bond of our love. When men are provoked by an injury, they think they may do any thing; as if another's injury had exempted them from the obe- dience of God’s law. This is but to repeat and act over their sins: it was bad in them, it is worse in us; for he that sinneth by example sinneth twice, because he had an instance of the odiousness of it in another. To “answer a fool according to his folly” is to be “like him,” Prov. xxvi. 4, to practise that myself which I judge odious in another; and cer- tainly it cannot be any property of a good man purposely to be evil, because another is so. But are disappointments fººt. and afflictions a cause P I answer, No ; mus esse nulio this were not only anger, but murmur- }ºvero ing, and a storming against Providence, ºu lib.o. cap. by which all events, that are to us * casual, are determined. But is the misconduct of children and servants a cause P I answer, If it be in spiritual matters, anger justly moderated is a duty : if in moral and civil only, a rational and temperate displeasure is lawful; for it is but a natural dislike and motion of the soul against what is unbecoming and troublesome ; but we must see that we regard measure and time, and other circumstances. Or, 4. Such as is without a good end. The end of all anger must be the correction of offences, not the exe- cution of our own malice. Always that anger is evil which has somewhat of mischief in it; which aims not so much at the conviction and reclaiming of an offender, as his disgrace and confusion. The stirring of the spirit is not sinful till revenge mingle with it. Well, then, as there must be a good cause, there must be a good end. Cain was angry with Abel without a cause, and therefore his anger was wicked and sinful; but Esau had some cause to be angry with Jacob, and yet his anger was not ex- cusable, because there was mischief and revenge in it, Gen. iv. 5; xxvii. 41. - 2. My next work is to show you how sinful it is. I have been larger in the former part than my method permitted; I shall the more contract myself in this. Consider an argument or two. Qui exemplo pec- cat, bis peccat. Qui referre inju- riam nititur, eum ipsum a quo lae- sus est gest it imi- tari ;.. et qui ma- 60 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF (1.) Nothing makes room for Satan more than wrath. “Be ye angry, and sin not;” and it follows, “neither give place to the devil,” Eph. iv. 26, 27; as if the apostle had said, if you give place to wrath, you will give place to Satan, who will further and further close with you. When passions are neglected, they are ripened into habits, and then the devil. has a kind of right in us. The world is full of the tragical effects of anger; and therefore when it is harboured and entertained, you do not know what may be the issue of it. - - (2.) It much wounds your own peace. When the apostle had spoken of the sad effects of anger, he adds, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, where- by ye are sealed unto the day of redemption,” Eph. iv. 30: the Spirit cannot endure an unquiet mansion and habitation. Wrathful and froward spirits usually want their seal, that peace and establishment which others enjoy ; for the violence of anger not only dis- composes reason, but disturbs conscience. The Holy Ghost loves a sedate and meek spirit; the clamour and tumult of passion frights him from us; and it is but just with God to let them want peace of con- science, who make so little conscience of peace. (3.) It disparages Christianity. The glory of our religion lies in the power that it has to sanctify and meeken the spirit. Now when men that profess Christ break out into such rude and indiscreet ex- cesses, they stain their profession, and debase faith beneath the rate of reason; as if morality could bet- ter cure the irregularities of nature than religion. Heathens are famous for their patience under in- juries, discovered not only in their sayings and rules for bridling passion, but in their practice. . Many of their sayings were very strict and exact; for by the progressive inferences of reason they fancied rules of erfection, but indeed looked upon them as calcu- ated for talk rather than practice. But when I find them in their lives passing by offences with a meek spirit, without any disturbance and purpose of re- vengeful returns, I cannot but wonder and be ashamed that I have less command and rule of my own spirit than they had, having so much advantage of rule and motive above them. As when I read that Lycurgus had one of his eyes struck out by an insolent young man, and yet used much lenity and love to the party that did it; how can I choose but blush at those eager prosecutions which rise in my own spirit upon every light distaste? that I must have limb for limb, tooth for tooth; and cannot be quiet till I have returned reviling for reviling P Certainly I cannot dishonour the law of Christ more, than to do less than they did by the law of nature. Plutarch. in vita Lycurgi. VERSE 21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. THE apostle having formerly spoken of the power of the word, and from thence inferred that it should be heard willingly, and without a cavilling or contra- dicting spirit; and to that purpose having showed the evil of wrath; in this verse again enforces the main exhortation of laying aside all wrathful affec- tions, that they might be fitter to entertain the word with an honest and meek heart for their comfort and salvation. There is in the verse a duty, and that is receiving of the word; the help to it, and that is lay- ing aside evil frames of spirit: then there is the manner how this duty is to be performed, “with meekness;” then the immediate end, and that is en- grafting the word; then the last end, which is pro- pounded by way of motive, “which is able to save your souls.” “Wherefore;” that is, because wrath is such a hinderance to the righteousness which God requires; or it may be referred to the whole context, upon all these considerations. “Lay apart,” &ro06.p.svot. The force of the word implies, we should put it off as an unclean rag, or worn garment. The same metaphor is used by the apostle Paul, Eph. iv. 22, “That ye put off concern- ing the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;” and Col. iii. 8, in a very similar case, “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” “All filthiness,” Tāoav Švarapíav. The word is sometimes used for the discharge of ulcers, and for the pollution of the body through perspiration, and is here put to stir up greater abomination against sin, which is elsewhere called “the filth of the flesh,” 1 Pet. iii. 21. Some suppose the apostle intends those lusts which are most beastly, and have greatest turpitude in them : but either the sense must be more general, to imply all sin; or more particularly restrained to filthy and evil speaking; or else it will not so well suit with the context. “And superfluity of naughtiness,” rºw Treptoastav kartac. It may be rendered, the overflowing of malice, and so it denotes scoffs, railings, and evil speakings, which are the superfluity of that in which every thing is superfluous; and these are specified in a parallel place of the apostle Peter, I Pet. ii. 1, to which James might allude, as he wrote after him. Beza renders it, the excrement of wickedness. Some make it an allusion to the garbage of the sacrifices in the brook Kidron. Most take it generally for that abundance of evil and filthiness which is in the heart of man. “And receive.” A word often used for the appro- priation of the word, and admitting the power of it into our hearts. “Receive;” that is, give it more way to come to you; make more room for it in your hearts. Thus it is charged upon them, “that they received not the love of the truth,” 2 Thess. ii. 10. So it is said of the natural man, où 6&srat, “He re- ceiveth not the things of God.” This is a motion so proper to this matter, that the formal act of faith is expressed by it; “But as many as received him,” John i. 12. . . “With meekness;” that is, with a teachable mind, with a modest, submissive spirit. “The engrafted word,” rôv šupwrov Xóyov. Some refer it to reason, others to Christ, but with much absurdity; for this word denotes the end and fruit of hearing, that the word may be planted in us; and the apostle shows, that by the industry of the apostles the word was not only propounded to them, but rooted in them by faith. The like metaphor is else- where used : “I have planted,” I Cor. iii. 6; that is, God by his means had planted: and the metaphor is continued Col. i. 6, Aóyog captropopotpusvog; a phrase that denotes the flourishing and growing of the word, after the planting of it in the soul. r “Which is able to save;” that is, instrumentally, as it is accompanied with Tivine grace; for the gos- pel “is the power of God unto salvation,” Rom. i. 16. “Your souls;” that is, yourselves, bodies and, souls. Salvation is attributed to the soul by way of eminence, the principal part being put for the whole: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,” VER. 21. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 61 Rom. xiii. 1; that is, every person. So in other places the same manner of expression is used in this very matter: “Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls,” I Pet. i. 19. So Matt. xvi. 26, “Lose his own soul;” that is, himself. In such forms of speech the body is not excluded, because it always follows the state of the soul. . OBSERVATIONS. 1. Before we come to hear the word there must be preparation. “Laying aside.” They that look for the Bridegroom had need trim their lamps. The in- strument must be tuned ere it can make melody. Rash entering upon duties is seldom successful. God may meet us unawares; such is his mercy; but it is a great adventure. The people were to “wash their clothes” when they went to hear the law, Exod. xix. I0. Something must be done to prepare and fix the heart to seek the Lord. Solomon saith, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,” Eccl. v. 1. The heathens had one in their temples to remind those who came to worship of their work; he was to cry, Hoc age, Mark this. Many come to hear, but they do not consider the weight and importance of the duty: Christ saith, “Take heed how ye hear,” Luke viii. 18. It would be well if there were such a sound in men’s ears in the times of their approaches to God, some one to cry to them, O take heed how you hear. It is good to be swift to hear, but not to be rash and incon- siderate. Do not make such haste as to forget to take God along with you. You must begin duties with duties. Special duties re- quire a special setting apart of the heart for God, but all require something. Inconsiderate addresses are always fruitless. We come, and go, and that is all: we do not come with expectation, and we go without satisfaction. Well, then, when you come to wait upon God, come with more advised care; look to your feet, and come prepared. Let me speak one word by way of caution, and another by way of direction. (1.) By way of caution. 1. Do not exclude God out of your preparations. Usually men mistake in this matter, and hope by their own care to work themselves into a fitness of spirit. Preparation con- sists much in laying aside evil frames; and before you lay aside other evil frames, lay aside self-confi- dence. “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord,” Prov. xvi. I. The very dispositions and motions of the spirit are from him. It is a wrong to that text to expound it so, as if the preparation were from man, and the success from God; both are from the Lord. God’s children have entered comfortably upon du- ties, when they have seen God in their preparations: “I will go in the strength of the Lord God,” Psal. lxxi. 16; that is, to the duty of praises, as is clear in the context. 2. Though you cannot get your hearts into such a frame as you do desire, trust God: “Faith is the evidence of things not seen,” Heb. xi. 1, and that help which is absent to sense and feeling may be present to faith. A bell may be long in rising, but it rings loud when it is once up. You do not know how God may come in. The eunuch read, and understood not, and God sent him an interpreter, Acts viii. When you begin duty, you are dead and indisposed; but you do not know with what sensible approaches of his grace and power he may visit you ere it be over. It is not good to neglect duty out of discouragements; this were to commit one sin to ex- cuse another. Say not, “I am a child,” Jer. i. 6; * I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue;” for “who hath made man’s mouth P or who maketh Iter ad pietatem est intra pieta- term. the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord P” Exod. iv. 10, 11. (2.) By way of direction. I cannot mention all the several particulars of preparation, how the heart must be purged, faith exercised, repentance renewed, wants and weaknesses reviewed, God’s glory consi- dered, the nature, grounds, and ends of the ordinances weighed in our thoughts; only, in general, so much preparation there must be as will make the heart reverent. God will be served with a joy mixed with trembling. The heart is never right in worship, till it be possessed with an awe of God: “How dreadful is this place l’’ Gen. xxviii. 17. And again, such preparation as will settle the bent of the spirit heavenward. It is said some where, They set them- selves to seek the Lord; and David saith, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed,” Psal. lvii. 7; that is, composed to a heavenly and holy frame. And again, such preparation as will make you come humble and hungry. Grace is usually given to the desiring soul; “He hath filled the hungry with good things,” Luke i. 53. Again, such as erects and raises the heart into a posture of expectation. . It was often said, “Be it unto thee according to thy faith.” They that look for nothing find nothing. Christ’s “greater things” are for those that believe, John i. 50. Obs. 2. Christian preparation consists most in lay- ing aside and dispossessing evil frames. Weeds must be rooted out before the ground is fit to receive the seed: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns,” Jer. iv. 3. There is an unsuitable- ness between a filthy spirit and the pure, holy word; and therefore they that will not leave their accus- tomed sins are unfit hearers. The matter must be prepared ere it can receive the form. Some trans- late, Aokipaśāra, §§ {v6owtrog Éavröv, I Cor. xi. 28, Let him purge himself, get away his dross and corrup- tion. All this shows the need of renewing repentance before hearing the word, that sin being dispossessed, there may be room for the entrance of grace. Noxious weeds are apt to grow again in the best minds; therefore as the leper under the law was still to keep his hair shaven, Lev. xiv., so should we cut and shave, that though the roots of sin remain, they may not grow and sprout. There is an extraordinary vanity in some men that will lay aside their sins be- fore some solemn duties, but with a purpose to return to the folly of them; as they fable the serpent lays aside his poison when he goes to drink. They say to their lust, as Abraham to his servants, Tarry you here, for I must go yonder and worship; I will come again to you, Gen. xxii. 5. They do not take an everlasting farewell of their sins. But, however, they are wiser than those who come reeking from their sins into God’s presence: this is to dare him to his face. The Jews are reproved for praying with their hands “full of blood,” Isa. i. 15. They came boldly before they had been humbled for their op- pression: “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days P” Numb. xii. 14. After great rebellions, there should be a solemn humbling and purging. What can men who come in their sins expect from God P. Their state confutes their worship. God will have nothing to do with them, and he marvels they should have any thing to do with him. He hath nothing to do with them; he will not “help the evil-doers,” Job viii. 20; in the original, he will not take the wicked by the hand. And he wonders they should have any thing to do with him; “What hast thou to do to de- clare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth P” Psal. 1. 16. & Obs. 3. Sin must be left with an utter detestation. “Laying aside,” &roššusvol. Put it off as a filthy 62 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. l. garment. “Thou shalt cast them away as a defiled cloth; thou shalt say, Get thee hence,” Isa. xxx. 22. Sin is often expressed by abomination; it is so to God, it should be so to men. Faint resistance argues some inclination of the mind to it. Here affections should be drawn out to their height; grief should become contrition, anger should be heightened into rage and indignation, and shame should be turned into confusion: no displeasure can be strong and keen enough against sin. Obs. 4. We must not lay aside sin in part only, but all sin. “All filthiness.” So in Peter the particle is universal, Trägav kaktav, “all malice,” 1 Pet. ii. 1; and David saith, “I hate every false way,” Psal. #º . cxix. 104. True hatred is sic tà yéum, to . . *ś in the whole kind. . When we hate sin as • . sin, we hate all sin. The heart is most sincere when the hatred is general. The least sin is dangerous, and in its own nature deadly and destruc- tive. Caesar was stabbed with bodkins. We read of some that have been devoured of wild beasts, lions and bears; but of others that have been eaten up of vermin, mice or lice. Pope Adrian was choked with a gnat. The least sins may undo you. You know what Christ speaks of a little leaven. Do not neglect the least sins, or excuse yourselves in any Rimmon ; carry out yourselves against all known sins, and pray as Job, chap. xxxiv. 32, “That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.” Obs. 5. Sin is filthiness. It sullies the glory and beauty of the soul, and defaces the image of God. This expression is often used: “Filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” 2 Cor. vii. 1; where not only gross wickedness, such as proceeds from fleshly and brutish lusts, is called filthiness, but such as is more spirit- ual, unbelief, heresy, &c.; nay, original corruption is called so, Job xiv. 4, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean P” So Job xv. 14, “What is man, that he should be clean P” Nay, things glorious in the eyes of men. Duties are called dung, because of the iniquity that is found in them; “I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts,” Mal. ii. 3. So it was in God’s eyes. The Spirit of God every where uses comparisons taken from things that are most odious, that our hearts may be wrought into the greater detestation of sin. Cer- tainly they are much mistaken who think sin an or- nament, when the Spirit of God calls it dung and filthiness. But more especially I find three sins called filthiness in Scripture: First, Covetousness, because it debases the spirit of man, and makes him stoop to such indecencies as are beneath humanity: hence it is called “filthy lucre,” I Pet. v. 2. Then, secondly, Lust, which in Scripture dialect is called filthiness, or the sin of uncleanness, 1 Thess. iv. 7, because it makes a man subject or submit his desires to the beasts' happiness, which is sensual pleasures. Thirdly, In this place anger and malice are called filthiness: we please ourselves in them, but they are filthiness. It is brutish to yield to our rage, and the turbulent agitation of our spirits, and not to be able to withstand a provocation; it is worse than poison in toads or asps, or what may be conceived to be most filthy in the creatures: poison in them hurts others, it cannot hurt themselves; anger may not hurt others, it cannot choose but hurt us. Well, then, all that has been said is an engagement to us to resist sin, to detest it as a defilement; it will darken the glory of our natures. There are some spots that are not the spots of God’s children, Deut. xxxii. 5; Zech. iii. 4–6. O let us get rid of these filthy garments, and desire change of raiment, the righteousness of Christ. Yes, but there are some lesser sins that are spots too; “the garment spotted by the flesh,” Jude 23; and unseemly words are called “filthiness,” Eph. v. 4. . Obs. 6. That there is abundance of wickedness to be purged out of the heart of man. “Superfluity of naughtiness;” such a fulness as runs over, a deluge of sin. “Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually,” Gen. vi. 5; it runs out into every thought, into every desire, into every purpose. As there is saltness in every drop of the sea, and bit- terness in every branch of wormwood; so sin in every thing that is framed within the soul. Whatever an un- clean person touched, though it were holy flesh, it was unclean; so all our actions are poisoned with it. In Dan. ix. 27, we read of “the overspreading of abomin- ations;” and David saith, “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy,” Psal. xiv. 3; all, and all over. In the understanding there are filthy thoughts and purposes, there sin begins: fish stink first at the head. In the will, filthy motions. The affections mingle with filthy objects. The memo- ry, that should be like the ark, the chest of the law, retains, like the grate of a sink, nothing but mud and filthiness. The conscience is defiled and stained with the impurities of our lives. The members are but in- struments of filthiness. A rolling eye provokes, a wanton fancy, and stirs up unclean glances: “Having eyes full of adultery,” 2 Pet. ii. 14; in the original, plotya)\tóoc, full of the adulteress. The tongue betrays the rottenness of the heart in filthy speaking. Oh what cause have we to bless God that there is “a fountain opened for uncleanness | * Zech. xiv. I. Cer- tainly conversion is not an easy work, there is such a mass of corruption to be laid aside. . Obs. 7. Our duty in hearing the word is to receive it. “Receive the engrafted word.” In the word there is the hand of God’s bounty reaching out com- fort and counsel to us; and there must be the hand of faith to receive it. In receiving there is an act of the understanding in apprehending the truth, and musing upon it: so Christ saith, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears,” Luke ix. 44; let them not float in the fancy, but enter upon the heart, as Solomon speaks of wisdom entering into the heart, Prov. ii. 10. And there is an act of faith, the crediting and believing faculty is stirred up to entertain it: so the apostle saith, “The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it,” Heb. iv. 2; that is, closely applied to their hearts. And there is an act of the will and affections to embrace and lodge it in the soul, which is called a receiving the love of the truth; when we make room for it, that carnal affections and prejudices may not eject it again. Christ complains in John viii. 27, that his word had no place in them, 3rt à Aáyoc 3 éuðc oil Xopsi év Špiv; it cannot find any room or be safely lodged in you, like unpleasant food which the stomach rejects. Obs. 8. The word must be received with all meek- ness. Christ was anointed “to preach good tidings unto the meek,” Isa. lxi. 1. They have most right in the gospel. The main business will be to show what this meekness is. Consider its opposites. Since the fall graces are best known by their contraries. It excludes three things: 1. A wrathful fierceness; by which men rise in a rage against the word; when they are admonished, they revile: deep conviction provokes many times fierce opposition; “The word of the Lord is unto them a reproach,” Jer. vi. 10. They think the minister rails when he only discovers their guilt to them. 2. A proud stubbornness, when men are resolved to hold their own; and though the premises fall before the word, yet they maintain the conclusion: “Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst,” Jer. ii. 25; that is, Why WER. 21. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. - 63 will you trot to Egypt for help ? you will get nothing but barrenness and thirst: but they said, Strangers have we loved, and them will we follow ; that is, Say what thou wilt, we will take our own way and course. So Jer. xliv, 16, 17, “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee; but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth.” Men scorn to strike sail before the truth; and though they cannot maintain an opposition, yet they will continue it. 3. A contentious wrangling, which is found in men of an unsober wit, that scorn to capti- vate the pride of reason, and therefore stick to every shift. The psalmist saith, “Good and upright is the Lord : therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way,” Psal. xxv. 8, 9. Of all sin- ners, God taketh the meek sinner for his scholar : there is difficulty enough in the Scripture to harden the obstinate. Camero observes, that the Scriptures are so penned, that they who have a mind to know may know; Camer. lib. de notis Verbi Dei. and they who have a mind to wrangle, may take oc- | casion enough of offence, and justly perish by the rebellion of their own reason : for, saith he, God never meant to satisfy hominibus praefract ingenii, men of a stubborn and perverse wit. And Tertullian had observed the same long before him ; that God had so disposed the Scriptures, that they who will not be satisfied might be hardened. Certain we are that our Saviour Christ saith, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand,” Mark iv. II, I2; that is, for a just punishment of wilful blindness and hardness, that those who would not see, might not see. So elsewhere our Lord saith, that if any man will do the will of God, “he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God,” John vii. 17. When the heart is meekened to obey a truth, the mind is soon opened to conceive of it. My next work is to show what it includes. I. Humility and brokenness of spirit. There must be insection before insition, meekness before ingrafting. Gospel revivings are for the contrite heart, Isa. lvii. 15. The broken heart is not only a tamed heart, but a tender heart, and then the least touch of the word is felt. Those that tremble at my word, Isa. lxvi. 2. 2. Teachableness and tractableness of spirit. There is an ingenuousness as well as a culpable fa- cility. “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,” James iii. 17. It is good to get a tractable frame. The servants of God come with a mind to obey, they only wait for the discovery of their duty; “We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God,” Acts x. 33. They came not with a mind to dispute, but to practise. O consider, perverse opposition will be your own ruin. It is said, Luke vii. 30, they “rejected the counsel of God,” but it was “against themselves,” that is, to their own loss. So Acts xiii. 46, “Ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of ever- lasting life.” Disputing against the word is a judg- ing yourselves; it is as if, in effect, you should say, Non periclitor dicere ipsas Scripturasita dispositas esse, ut materiam submi- mistrarent hae- reticis. Tertul. I care not for God, nor all the tenders of grace and glory which he makes to me. Obs. 9. The word must not only be apprehended by us, but planted in us. God promises, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts,” Jer. xxxi. 33; that is, he will enlighten our minds to understand his will, and frame our hearts and affections to obey it; so that we shall not only know duty, but have an inclination to it, which is the true ingrafting of the word. Then “the root of the matter is found in us,” Job xix. 28; that is, the comfort of God’s promises is rooted in the heart. So I John iii. 9, “His seed remaineth in him;” that is, the seed of the word sown in the heart. Look to it, then, that the word be ingrafted in you, that it do not fall like seed on the stony ground, so that it can- not take root. You will know it thus : I. If it be ingrafted, it will be Aóyog captropopoijuevoc, a fruitful word, Col. i. 6; it will spring up in your conversa- tion: the “rod of wickedness” will not grow so much as the word, Ezek. vii. 11. 2. The graft draws all the sap of the stock to itself. All your af. fections, purposes, cares, thoughts will serve the word: Eig &v traps36Smrs rötrov Čičaxfic, They were de- livered over into the stamp and mould of the word that was delivered to them, Rom. vi. 17. All affec- tions and motions of the spirit are cast into the mould of religion. Obs. 10. That the word in God’s hand is an in- strument to save our souls. It is sometimes called the “word of truth,” at other times “the word of life;” the one denotes the quality of it, the other the fruit of it. It is called the “power of God,” Rom. i. 16, and “ the arm of the Lord,” Isa, liii. I, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed P” By our report God’s arm is conveyed into the soul. The use to which God has deputed the word should beget a reverence to it. The gospel is a saving word, let us not despise the simplicity of it. Gospel truths should not be too plain for our mouths, or too stale for your ears. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” (saith the apostle,) “for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” Rom. i. 16. Obs. 11. That the main care of a Christian should be to save his soul. This is propounded as an argu- ment why we should hear the word, it will save your souls. Usually our greatest care is to gratify the body. Solomon saith, All a man’s labour is for the mouth; that is, to support the body in a decent state. Oh but consider this is but the baser part; and who would trim the scabbard, and let the Sword rust? Man is in part an angel, and in part a beast : why should we please the beast in us rather than the angel? In short, your greatest fear should be for the soul, and your greatest care should be for the soul. Your greatest fear; “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: , but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell,” Matt. x. 28. There is a double argument: the body is but the worse part, and the body is alone; but on the other side, the soul is the more noble part, and the state of the body depends upon the well or ill being of the soul. He is “able to destroy both body and soul in hell-fire,” and therefore it is the greatest imprudence in the world, from a fear of the body, to betray the soul. So your greatest care. Riches and splendour in the world are the conveniences of the body, and what good will they do you when you come to be laid in the cold, silent grave? “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?” Matt. xvi. 26. It is but a sorry exchange, to hazard the eternal welfare of the soul for a short fruition of the world. So Job xxvii. 8, “What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?” There is many a carnal man that pursues the world with a fruitless and vain attempt : they “rise up early, sit up late, and eat the bread of sorrows,” Psal. cxxvii. 2; yet all will not do. But 64 . - AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. I. suppose they have gained, and taken the prey in hunting, yet what will it profit him P when body and soul must part, and though the body be decked yet the soul must go into misery and darkness with- out any furniture and provision for another life, what hope will his gain minister to him P Oh that we were wise to consider these things that we would make it our work to provide for the soul, to clothe the soul for another world ! that we would wait upon God in the word, that our souls may be furnished with every spiritual and heavenly excellency, that we may “not be found naked,” saith the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 3. Obs. 12. That they that have received the word must receive it again. Though it were ingrafted in them, yet receive it that it may save your souls. God has deputed it to be a means not only of re- generation, but of Salvation; and therefore till we come to heaven we must use this help. They that live above ordinances do not live at all, spirit- ually, graciously. Painted fire needs no fuel. The word, though it be an immortal seed, yet needs con- stant care and watering. VERSE 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, de- ceiving your own selves. THIS verse takes up the argument of the former. He had spoken of the fruit of the word, the salvation of the soul; that it may be obtained, he shows, that we should not only hear, but practise. “But be ye doers of the word;” that is, real ob- servers. There is a sentence of Paul that for sound is like this, but is indeed quite to another sense, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified,” Rom. ii. 13. “T)oer” is there taken for one that satisfies the law, and fulfils it in every tittle; for the apostle's drift is to prove, that the Jews, notwithstanding their privilege of having the oracles of God committed to them, were never a whit the nearer justification be- fore God. But here, by “doers” are implied those who receive the work of the word into their hearts, and express the effect of it in their lives. There are three things which make a man rounrºv Xóvov, a doer of the word, faith, love, and obedience. - “And not hearers only.” Some neither hear nor do; others hear, but they rest in it : therefore the apostle does not dissuade from hearing. Hear, saith he, but not only. - “Deceiving,” Trapakoyuáópsvot. The word is a term of art, it implies a sophistical argument or syllogism, which has an appearance or probability of truth, but is false in matter or form, and is put by the apostle to imply those false discourses which are in the con- sciences of men. Paul uses the same word to imply that deceit which men impose upon others by colour- able persuasions ; “And this I say, lest any man” Tagayoytºn, “should beguile you with enticing words,” Col. ii. 4. “Your own selves.” The argument receives force from these words. If a man would baffle other men, he would not put a paralogism upon himself, deceive himself in a matter of so great consequence. Or else it may be a monition, You deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive God. OBSERVATIONS. ... l. That hearing is good, but should not be rested in. The apostle saith, “Be not hearers only.” Many go from sermon to sermon, hear much, but do not digest it in their thoughts. The Jews were accus- tomed to turn over the leaves of the Scriptures, but did not weigh the matter of them; therefore I Sup- pose our Saviour reproves them, John v. 39, You “search the Scriptures:” that ēpsvvārs there seemeth to be indicative rather than imperative, especially since it follows, “for in them ye think ye have eter- nal life.” They thought it was enough to be busy in the letter of the Scripture, and that bare reading would yield them eternal life. So others rest in hearing. They that stay in the means are like a foolish workman that contents himself with having tools. It is a sad description of some foolish women, that they are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,” 2 Tim, iii. 7. Much hearing will increase our judgment, if there be not a lively impression upon our hearts. The heart of man is so sottish, that they content themselves with the bare presence of the ordinances in their place. It is satisfaction enough that they have a Levite to their priest, Judg. xvii. 13. Others content them- selves with their bare presence at the Ordinances, though they do not feel the power of them. Obs. 2. That the doers of the word are the best hearers. That is good, when we hear things that are to be done, and do things that are to be heard. That knowledge is best which is most practical, and that hearing is best which ends in practice. David saith, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” Psal. cxix. 105. That is light in- deed which directs you in your paths and ways. “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and do- eth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock,” Matt. vii. 14. That is wisdom, to come to the word so that we may go away the better. Divers hearers propound other ends. Some come to the word that they may judge it; the pulpit, which is God’s tribunal, is their bar; they come hither to sit judges of men's gifts and parts: “Thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge,” James iv. 11. Others come to hear pleasing things, to delight themselves in elegance of speech, novel thoughts, and what is finely couched and ordered, not what is proper to their case: this is not an act of religion so much as curiosity; for they come to hear a sermon with the same mind they would to a comedy or tragedy; the utmost that can be gained from them is commendation and praise. “And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an in- strument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not,” Ezek. xxxiii. 32. They were taken with the tinkling and tunableness of the expressions, but did not regard the heavenly matter. So that fond woman suddenly breaks out into a commendation of our Lord, but it seems regarded the person more than the doctrine; “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked,” Luke xi. 27; for which our Saviour corrects her in the next verse, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” You are mistaken, the end of preaching is not to exalt men, but God. You will say, An excellent sermon but what do you gain by it? The hearer’s life is the preacher's best com- mendation, 2 Cor. iii. 1, 2. They that praise the man, but do not practise the matter, are like those that taste wines, that they may commend them, not buy them. Others come that they may better their parts, and increase their knowledge. Every one de- sires to know more than another, to set up them- selves; they so much excel others as they excel them in knowledge: and therefore we are all for notions, and head light, little for that wisdom that WER. 22. 65 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. entereth into the heart, and serves to better the life, Prov. ii. 10; like children in the rickets, that have large heads, but weak joints. This is the disease of the age: there is a great deal of curious knowledge and airy notions, but practical, saving truths are an- poni esedesia tiquated, and out of date. Seneca ob- rant simulag docti served of the philosophers, that when * * they grew more learned, they were less moral; and generally we find now great zeal with the growth of notion and knowledge, as if the waters of the Sanctuary had put out the fire of the sanc- tuary, and men could not be at the same time learned and holy. Others hear, that they may say they have heard; conscience would not be pacified with- out some worship: “They come unto thee as the people cometh,” Ezek. xxxiii. 31 ; that is, according to the fashion of the age. Duties by many are used as a sleepy Sop, to allay the rage of conscience. The true use of ordinances is, to come that we may profit. Usually men speed according to their aim and expectation : “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby,” I Pet. ii. 2. So David professes his aim, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,” Psal. cxix. 11. The mind, like the ark, should be the chest of the law, that we may know what to do in every case, and that truths may be always pre- sent with us, as Christians find it a great advantage to have truths ready and present to talk with them upon all occasions, Prov. vi. 21, 22. Oh it is sweet when we and our reins can confer together, Psal. xvi. 7. If you cannot find present profit in what you hear, consider how it may be useful to you for the future. Things, I confess, are not so acceptable when they do not reach the present case; but they have their season; and if it come to you, you may bless God that ever you were acquainted with them. “Who among you will give lear to this P who will hearken and hear for the time to come P” Isa. xlii. 23. You may be under terrors, and under miseries, and then one of these truths will be exceedingly refreshing. Or you may be liable to particular snares when you are engaged in the world, or versed in such employments; therefore treasure up every truth of God. Provision argues wisdom ; it may concern you in time. In Jer. x. 11, the prophet teaches them how they should defend their religion in Babylon ; therefore that sentence is in Chaldee, that he might put words in their mouths against they came to converse with the Chaldeans; “Thus shall ye say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” It is good to provide for Babylon whilst we are in Zion, and not to reject truths as not pertinent to our case, but to reserve them for future use and profit. - Obs. 3. That self-deceit is founded in some false argument or reasoning. Iſaga)\oyuzópsvot, cheating themselves with a fallacy or false argument. Con- Science supplies three offices, a rule, a witness, and a judge ; and so accordingly the act of conscience is threefold. There is avvrāomouc, or a right apprehen- Sion of the principles of religion; so conscience is a rule. There is ovvato 0ngic, a sense of our actions compared with the rule or known will of God, or a testimony concerning the proportion or dispropor- tion that our actions bear with the word. Then, lastly, there is kptaic, or judgment, by which a man applies to himself those rules of Christianity which concern his fact or state. All these acts of con- science may be reduced to a syllogism, or argument. As, for instance, he that is wholly carnal has no in- terest in Christ; there is the first act, knowledge: F but I am wholly carnal; there is the second act, conscience: therefore I have no interest in Christ; there is the third act, judgment. The first act of conscience makes the proposition, the second the assumption, the third the conclusion. Now all self. deceit is in one of these propositions: sometimes conscience is incorrect as a law, in the very prin- ciple; sometimes as a witness, in the assumption; Sometimes as a judge, it suspends and hides the con- clusion. Sometimes, I say, it fails as a law, by making an erroneous principle to be the foundation of a strong hope; as here, the principle is naught, They that hear the word shall be saved. At other times it errs in the application of the rule, as I John i. 6, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” The principle was right, They that have fellowship with God are happy; but, “We have fellowship with God,” that was false, because they “walked in darkness.” So as a judge it does not pass sentence, but out of self- love forbears to judge of the quality of the action or state, that the soul may not be affrighted with the danger of it. You see the deceit; how shall we help it P I answer severally to all these acts and parts of conscience. First, That you may build upon right principles, (I.) It is good to hide the word in our hearts, and to store the soul with sound knowledge, and that will always rise up against vain hopes; as he that would get weeds destroyed must plant the ground with contrary seeds. When there is much knowledge, your own reins will chasten you; and those sound principles will be talking to you, and speaking by way of check and denial to your sudden and rash presumptions: Bind the law to thine heart, and when thou wakest, it shall talk to thee, Prov. vi. 21, 22. (2.) In the witnessing of conscience observe the reason of it, and let the principle be always in sight. Do not credit a single testimony without a clear rule or positive ground. A corrupt conscience usually gives in a bare report, because the grounds are so slender and insufficient that they come least in sight; for upon a trial conscience would be ashamed of them : as, for instance, this is the report of conscience, Sure I am in a good condition. Now ask, Why? and the conscience will be ashamed of the paralogism in the text; I hear the word, make much of good ministers, &c. And yet this is the secret and inward, thought of most men, upon which they build all their hopes; whereas true grounds are open and clear, and are urged together with the report, and so beget a firm and steady confidence in the spirit: as I John ii. 3, “Hereby we do know that we know him ;” that is, enjoy him, have communion with him ; for knowing there is knowing him by sense and experience. Now whence did this confidence arise P you shall see from an open and clear ground; “we do know that we know him, if" (saith he) “we keep his command- ments.” (3.) The ground upon which conscience goes should be full and positive. There are three sorts of marks laid down in Scripture : Some are only ex- clusive, others inclusive; and between these a middle sort of marks, which I may call positive. For exclu- sive marks, their intent is to deceive a false hope, or to shut out bold pretenders, by showing them how far they come short of an interest in Christ; and usually they are taken from a necessary common So 1 John ii. 4. work, as hearing the word, praying in secret, attend- ance upon the ordinances; he that does not these things is certainly none of God's; but in case he does them, he cannot conclude his state to be gracious. It is the paralogism mentioned in the text, to reason from negative marks, and the common works of 66 - AN EXPOSITION OF - CHAP. I. Christianity. It is true, all go not so far; therefore Athanasius wished, Utinam omnes essent hypocrita, Would to God that all were hypocrites, and could undergo the trial of these exclusive marks. All are not diligent hearers; but, however, it is not safe to be hearers only. But then there are other marks, which are inclusive, which are laid down to show the mea- sures and degrees of grace, and are rather intended for comfort than conviction; which if they are found in us, we are safe, and in the state of grace; but if not, we cannot conclude a nullity of grace. Thus faith is often described by such effects as are proper to the radiancy and eminent degree of it, and pro- mises are made to such or such raised operations of other graces. The use of these notes is to comfort, or to convince of want of growth. But again, there is a middle sort of marks between both these, which I call positive; and they are such as are always and only found in a heart truly gracious, because they are such as necessarily infer the inhabitation of the Spirit, and are there where grace is at the lowest ; such the apostle calls rà éxáueva Tijg awryptaç, Heb. vi. 9, “things that accompany salvation,” or which necessarily have Salvation in them, the sure symp- toms of a blessed state. He had spoken before of a common work, enlightening, and slight tastes and feeling, ver. 4, 5, 6; “But,” saith he, “we are per- suaded better things of you,” and that you have those necessary evidences to which salvation is infallibly annexed. Now these must be by great care collected out of the word, that we may be sure the foundation and principle is right. Secondly, That conscience as a witness may not fail you, take these rules. (1.) Observe the natural and first report of it, ere art has coloured it. Sudden and indeliberate checks at the word, or in prayer, being the immediate births of conscience, have the less of deceit in them. I have observed, that the deceitfulness which is in a wicked man’s heart is not so much in the testimony itself of his conscience, as in the many shifts and evasions he uses to avoid the sense of it. Every sinner's heart reproaches and condemns him ; but all their art is how to choke this testimony, or to slight it. You know the apostle John refers the whole decision of all doubts concern- ing our estate to conscience, 1 John iii. 20, 21. For certainly the first voice of conscience is genuine and unfeigned; for it being privy to all our actions, can- not but give a testimony concerning them ; only we elude it. And therefore let wicked men pretend what peace they will, their conscience witnesses rightly to them ; and were it not for those sleights by which they put it off, they might soon discern their state. The apostle saith, they are “all their lifetime subject to bondage,” Heb. ii. 15. They have a wound and torment within them which is not always felt, but soon awakened, if they were true to themselves. The artificial and second report of conscience is deceitful and partial, when it has been flattered or choked with some carnal sophisms and principles; but the first and native report, which of a sudden pinches like a stitch in the side, is true and faithful. (2.) Wait upon the word. One main use of it is to help conscience in witnessing, and to bring us and our hearts acquainted with one another. “The word is quick and powerful, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” Heb. iv. 12; it reveals all those plots and disguises by which we would hide our actions from our own privity and conscience. He saith there it divideth asunder soul and spirit: the soul cleaves to sin, and the spirit or mind plots pretences to hide it ; but the word discovers all this self-deceiving sophistry. So I Cor. xiv. 25, “The Secrets of his heart are made manifest ;” that is, to himself, by the conviction of the word. (3.) Cite conscience often into the presence of God. “The answer of a good conscience toward God,” I Pet. iii. 21. Will it witness thus to the all-seeing God? When Peter’s sincerity was questioned, he appealed to Christ's omniscience, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee,” John xxi. 17. Can you appeal to God's omniscience, and assure your hearts before him P. So I John iii. 20, “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” God’s omniscience is there mentioned, because that is the solemn attribute to which conscience appeals in all her verdicts; which are the more valid, when they can be avowed before the God that knoweth all things. Thirdly, That conscience may do its office as a judge, you must do this: (1.) When conscience is silent, suspect it. If so, we are careless, and our heart is grown senseless and stupid with pleasures. A dead sea is worse than a raging sea. This is not a calm, but a death. A tender conscience is always witness- ing; and therefore when it never saith, “What have I done P” it is a sign it is seared. There is a continual parley between a godly man and his conscience; it is either suggesting duty, or humbling for defects; it is their daily exercise to judge themselves. As God after every day’s work reviewed it, and saw it was good, Gen. i.; so they review each day, and judge of the actions of it. (2.) If conscience do not speak to you, you must speak to conscience. David Saith to insolent men, “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your beds, and be still,” Psal. iv. 4. Take time to parley and speak with yourselves. The prophet complains, “No man repent- ed him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?” Jer. viii. 6. There should be a time to ask questions of our own souls. (3.) Upon every doubt bring things to some issue and certainty. Conscience will some- times lisp out half a word; draw it to a full convic- tion. Nothing makes the work of grace so doubtful and litigious asthis, that Christians content themselves with semi-persuasions, and do not get the case fully cleared one way or another. The Spirit delights in a full and plenary conviction; 'EXéyès, “He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousnesss, and of judg- ment,” John xvi. 8. Conviction is a term of art; it. is done when things are laid down so tº a smaro, clearly, that we see it is impossible it #AAº XºAX’ should be otherwise. Now this the ...&#" Spirit does, whether it be in a state of **** sin or righteousness. God, said the prophet, would deal with his people so, that they might remember, and be confounded, and never open their mouth any more because of their shame, Ezek. xvi. 63; that is, leave them so convinced, that they might not have a word to say, but “Unclean, unclean.” It is good upon every doubt to follow it so close, that it may be brought to a certain and determinate issue. Obs. 4. That men are easily deceived into a good opinion of themselves by their bare hearing. We are apt to pitch upon the good that is in any action, and not to consider the evil of it; I am a hearer of the word, and therefore I am in a good case. Christ's similitude implies, that men build upon their hear- ing, and make it the foundation of their hopes, Matt. vii. 24–29. Watch over this deceit ; such a weighty Structure should not be raised upon so sandy a found- ation. (1.) Consider the danger of such a self-deceit; hearing without practice draws the greater judgment upon you. Uriah carried letters to Joab, and he thought the contents were for his honour and prefer- ment in the army, but it was the message of his own destruction. We hear many sermons, and think to come and urge this to God; but out of those sermons WER. 23, 24. THE GENERAL, EPISTLE OF JAMES. 67 will God condemn us. (2) Consider how far hypo- crites may go in this matter. They may sever them- selves from following errors, and hear the word con- stantly: “He that heareth, and doethnot,” &c., Luke vi. 49. They may approve of the good way, and applaud it: “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked,” &c., Luke xi. 27, 28. They may hold out a great deal of flattery and false affection: “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things...which I say P” Luke vi. 46. They may be endowed with church gifts of prophecy and miracles, be able to talk and discourse savourily of the things of God, do much for the edification of others: “Many will say to me in that day,” &c., Matt. vii. 22. They may have a vain persuasion of their faith and interest in Christ, and call him “Lord, Lord,” Matt. vii. 21. They may make some progress in obedience, abstain from grosser sins, and things publicly odious: “Herod did many things,” Mark vi. 20. But Christ saith, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit,” &c., Matt. vii. 19. There must be something positive. There may be some external | does it show us P conformity, but there is no effectual change made ; the tree is not good, Matt. vii. 18. Well, there- fore outward duties with partial reformation will not serve the turn. (3.) Consider the easiness of deceit: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and des- perately wicked : who can know it P” Jer. xvii. 9. Who can trace and unravel the mystery of iniquity that is in the soul P Since we lost our uprightness we “have sought out many inventions,” Eccl. vii. 29, shifts and wiles whereby to avoid the stroke of con- Science; but “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly,” Prov. xx, 27. As in that part of man the inwards are folded and rolled up one within another, so are there turnings and crafty devices in the heart of man. VERSE 23, 24. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he 200.S. HERE James amplifies the former reason, which was taken from the vanity and unprofitableness of bare hearing, by a similitude taken from a man look- ing in a glass. “If any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer;” that is, contents himself with bare hearing or bare knowing the word of God, and does not come away with impulses of zeal, and resolutions of obedience. “Is like a man,” &vöpi; a word proper to the male sex, and therefore some frame a criticism : The apos- tle does not say, like a woman; they are more dili- gent and curious; they view themselves again and again, that they may remove every spot and deform- ity. But this is more witty than solid. The apostle uses àvijo promiscuously for man and woman; as ver. 12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation;” the man or woman; only the masculine is specified as most worthy. “That beholdeth his natural face,” rô rpógwrov tàg yeyégswg, the face of his nativity. What is in- Some say, the face as God made it tended by that P at his birth, that he may behold God’s work in it, and so take occasion to condemn painting, and the artificial varnish of the face. tº Or his natural face, upon which men bestow least care : in painting there is more exactness. Or natural face, as importing a glance; as a man passes by a glass, and sees that he has the face of a man, not exactly surveying the several lineaments. Others think the apostle hints the thing intended by the similitude, our natural and original deformity, represented in the words; and that he complicates and folds up the thing signified with the expressions of the similitude; but that seems forced. I suppose by natural face he meaneth his own face, the glass representing the very face which nature gave him. “He goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” He forgets the fashion of his countenance, the spots represented therein ; and so it fitly denotes those weak impres- sions which the discoveries of the word leave upon a careless soul; who, after his deformity is repre- sented, is not affected with it so as to be brought to repentance. OBSERVATION &. 1. That the word of God is a glass. But what I answer, (I.) God and Christ. “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory,” 2 Cor. iii. 18. A glass implies the clearest representation that we are capable of here upon earth. I confess a glass is sometimes put for a dark vision; as I Cor. xiii. 12, “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.” Then we shall see God himself, “we shall see him as he is,” I John iii. 2; but here we have his image and reflection in the word: as sometimes the heart of flesh is put for an earthly mind, sometimes for a tender heart. In opposition to a heart of stone, the heart of flesh is taken in a good sense; but in oppo- sition to pure and sublime affections, in a bad sense. So in opposition to the shadows of the law, seeing in a glass imports a clear discerning ; but in opposition to face to face, but a low and weak conception of the essence of God. O study the glory of God in the word. Though you cannot exhaust and draw out all the Divine perfections in your thoughts, yet your ear may receive a little thereof, Job iv. 12. When we want the sun, we do not despise a candle. (2.) The word is a glass to show us ourselves. It dis- covers the hidden things of the heart, all the deform- ities of the soul. “There is nothing hid which shall not be manifested,” Mark iv. 22. The Maculae sunt word discovers all things. Our sins are j. the spots which the law discovers; jºuis Christ's blood is the water to wash them ºne. off, and that is discovered in the gospel. ". The law discovers sins: “I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died,” Rom. vii. 9. We think ourselves well, and in a good case, till the law falls upon the spirit with full conviction, and then we see all the spots and freckles of our souls. The gospel discovers how we may do away our sins, and deck.and attire our souls with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Use. It ministers a meditation to you. When you are at your glass, consider, The word of God is a glass; I must look after the estate and complexion of my soul. Take but a part of the law, and exercise your- self with it every day, and you will soon see the de- formity of your own spirit. Do not look in a flattering glass. We love a picture that is like us, rather than that which is flourished and varnished with more art. Obs. 2. That the knowledge of formal professors is but slight and glancing. Like a man beholding his face in a glass, or like the glaring of a sun-beam upon a wave, it rushes into the thoughts, and it is gone. The beast under the law that did not chew F 2 68 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF the cud was unclean. There is much in meditation, and a constant light. Some men, if they would be considerate, would undo all their false hopes; there- $ore usually carnal men's thoughts are but slight and trivial ; they know things, but are loth to let their thoughts pause upon them. In Luke ii. 19, it is said, “Mary pondered all these things.” A slippery, vaun, inconsistent mind will be hardly held to truths, When we apprehend a thing, curiosity being satisfied, we begin to loathe it; and therefore it is a difficult matter to agitate the thoughts again to that point to which they have once arrived; the first apprehension as it were deflours it. Obs. 3. Wain men go from the ordinances just as they came to them. “He beholdeth, and goeth away.” Like the beasts in Noah's ark, they went in unclean, and came out unclean ; so many come unhumbled and unmortified, and so they go away. O let it never be said of you. Obs. 4. Slight apprehensions make very weak im- pressions. Things work when the thoughts are serious and ponderous : musing makes the fire burn, Psal. xxxix. 3. When God’s arrows stick 'fast, they make us roar to the purpose, Job vi. 4. And David, when he would express his deep affec- tion, saith, “My sin is ever before me,” Psal. li. 3; it would not go out of his thoughts. Well, then, a weak impression is an argument of a slight appre- hension : thoughts always follow affection. They that heal their hurts slightly, Jer. vi. 14, show that they were never soundly touched and pricked at heart. Men thoroughly affected say, I shall remem- ber such a sermon all my lifetime. David saith, “I will never forget thy precepts; for with them thou hast quickened me,” Psal. cxix. 93. Others let good things slip, Heb. ii. 1, because they never felt the power of them. VERSE 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. IN this verse you have the third reason why they should hear the word so as to practise it. The first was, they would but deceive themselves, and go away with a vain mistake. The next, that bare hearing would be of little benefit; no more than for a man to glance his eye upon a glass, and to have a slight view of his countenance. Tand now, because due and right hearing will end in blessedness. This verse is full of matter ; I shall drop it out as the order of the words yields it. “But whoso looketh,” 6 38 trapaciºpac; a metaphor taken from those that do not only glance upon a thing, but bend their body towards it, that they may pierce it with their eyes, and narrowly pry into it. The same word is used for the stooping down of the disciples to look into Christ’s sepulchre, Luke xxiv. 12; John XX. 4, 5; and that narrow search which the angels use to find out the mysteries of salvation, “Which things the angels desire to look into,” I Pet. i. 12; where there is a plain allusion to the cherubim, whose faces were bowed down towards the ark, as desirous to see the mysteries therein contained. The word implies three things: (1.) Deepness of meditation. He does not glance upon, but “look into the perfect law of liberty.” (2.) Diligence of in- quiry. They do not content themselves with what is offered to their first thoughts, but accurately pry into the mind of God revealed in the word. (3.) Liveliness of impression. They so look upon it as to find the virtue of it in their hearts; “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory,” 2 Cor. iii. 18; such a gaze as brings the glory of the Lord into our hearts; as Moses's face shone by talking with God; and we, by conversing with the word, carry away the beauty and glory of it in our spirits. “Into the perfect law.” Some understand the moral law, in opposition to the ceremonial, as not being clear and full, and not able to justify, though men rested in the observances of it; and not perfect, because not durable, and was not to remain for ever: thus “the law made nothing perfect, but the bring- ing in of a better hope did,” Heb. vii. 19. A man could not be sanctified, justified, saved, without Christ, by the dispensation of Moses. So Heb. ix. 9, that service “could not make him that did the ser– vice perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.” The soul could find no ease and rest in it without looking to Christ. But though this sense is probable, I rather understand the whole doctrine and word of God, and chiefly the gospel, to be intended. The will of God in Scripture is called a law. So a godly man is said to meditate in the law day and night, Psal. i. 2; and, “Thy law do I love, Psal. cxix. 113; where by law is understood the whole word; and the gospel is called vôpog Triorsøg, “the law of faith,” Rom. iii. 27. Now this law is said to be perfect, because it is so formally in itself; and they that look into it will see that there needs no other word to make the man of God perfect. “Of liberty.” It is so called, partly because of the clearness of revelation, it is the counsel of God to his friends; or, saith Piscator, because it spares none, but deals with all freely, without respect of persons, though they be higher, richer, stronger than others; but rather because it calls us into a state of freedom. See other reasons in the notes. “And continueth therein;” that is, perseveres in the study of this holy doctrine, and remains in the knowledge, belief, and obedience of it. “He being not a forgetful hearer,” drpoar:}g #TiNijo- povic, a hearer of oblivion ; a Hebraism ; and he uses this term to answer the former similitude of a man's forgetting his natural face. “But a doer of the work;” that is, labours to refer and bring all things to practice. He is said to be a doer that studies to do, though his hand does not perfect the work; but is mindful of the business cut out to him in the word. . “He shall be blessed in his deed;” that is, so be- having himself, or so doing; or, as some more gener- ally, he shall be blessed in all his ways; whatsoever he does shall be prosperous and happy. For they conceive it to be an allusion to the words of the first Psalm, ver. 3, “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper:” for the psalmist speaks there of doing the law, and meditating in the law; as James speaks here of looking “into the law of liberty,” and walking in it. But here the papists come upon us, and say, Lo, here is a clear place that we are blessed for our deeds. But I answer, It is good to mark the distinctness of Scripture phrase; the apostle doth not say for, but “in his deed.” . It is an argument or evidence of our blessedness, though not the ground of it; the way, though not the cause. OBSERVATIONS. I. That we should, with all seriousness and earnest- ness, apply ourselves to the knowledge of the gospel. WER. 25. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 69 He “looketh.” There should be deep meditation and diligent inquiry. Your first duty, Christians, is to admit the word into your serious thoughts. “In his law doth he meditate day and night,” Psal. i. 2. He ruminates on it, as the word man implies, and we should always be chewing and sucking out the sweet- ness of this cud. So in Psal. xlv. 1, “My heart is inditing a good matter.” The word rendered “is in- diting” is wrin, which signifies primarily to bake or fry, containing an allusion to the mincah, or meat- offering, which was baked or fried in a pan. Truths are concocted and ripened by meditation. And then there must be diligent inquiry, that we may not con- tent ourselves with the surface of truth, but get into the marrow of it: “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently,” I Pet. i. 10. Though they had a more immediate assistance of the Spirit, yet they would more accurately look into the depths and mysteries of the gospel, and consider their own prophecies. “Search for wisdom as for hid treasures,” Prov. ii. 4. Jewels do not lie upon the surface; you must get into the caverns and dark receptacles of the earth for them. No more do truths lie in the surface and outside of an expression. The beauty and glory of the Scriptures is within, and must be fetched out with much study and prayer. A glance cannot discover the worth of any thing to us. He that only casts his eye upon a piece of em- broidery, discerns not its ingenuity and art. So to know Christ in the bulk works not half so kindly with us, as when we search out the breadth, and the depth, and the length, the exact dimensions of his love to us. Obs. 2. The gospel is a law. It is often invested with this title and appellation: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death,” Rom. viii. 2. The cove- nant of works is there called “the law of sin and death,” because the use of it to fallen man is to con- Vince of sin, and to oblige and bind over to death. But the gospel, or covenant of grace, is called “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ,” because the in- tent of it is by faith to plant us into Christ, whose life we are enabled to live by the Spirit; and it is called the law of this life, because every thing that concurs to the right constitution and making of a law is found in the gospel. As, (1.) Equity, with- out which a law is but tyranny. All the precepts of the gospel are just and equal, most proportionate to the dignity of man’s nature; it is a law holy, good, and comfortable. (2.) There is promulgation, which is the life and form of the law, and without which it were but a private snare to catch men and entrap them. Now by it liberty is proclaimed “to the cap- tives,” Isa. lxi. 1; it must be preached “to every creature,” Mark xvi. 15. (3.) The author, without which it were sedition; God, who can only prescribe to the creature. (4.) The end, public good, without which a law were tyrannous exaction, and the end is the salvation of our souls. Well, then, look upon the gospel as a law and rule, according to which, l. Your lives must be conformed. “Peace be on as many as walk according to this rule,” Gal. vi. 16; that is, the direction of the gospel. 2. All controversies and doctrines must be decided. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,” Isa. viii. 20. 3. Your estates must be judged. “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel,” Rom. ii. 16. The whole word carries the face of a law, according to which you shall be judged; nay, the gospel itself is a law, partly as it is a rule, partly because of the commanding, prevailing power it has over the heart. So it is the “law of the Spirit of life;” so that they who are in Christ are not with- out a law ; not divouai, but Évyopol, So the apostle, I Cor. ix. 21, “Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ;” that is, under the rule and direction of the moral law; as adopted and taken in as a part of the gospel by Christ. Obs. 3. The word of God is a perfect law. So it is in divers respects: (1.) Because it makes perfect. The nearer we come to the word, the greater is the perfection and accomplishment of our spirits. The goodness and excellency of the creature lies in the nearest conformity to God’s will. (2.) It direets us to the greatest perfection, to God blessed for ever, to the righteousness of Christ, to perfect communion with God in glory. (3.) It concerns the whole man, and has a force upon the conscience. Men go no further than outward obedience; but “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul,” Psal. xix. 7. It is not a lame, defective rule; besides outward observances, there is somewhat for the soul. (4.) It is a perfect law, because of the invariable tenor of it; it needs not to be changed, but is always like itself; as we say, That is a perfect rule that needs no amendment. (5.) It is pure, and free from error. There are no laws of men but there is some blemish. in them. Of old, wickedness was enact- ed by a law, adultery by a law of the 9sº." Glo". Syrians, the virgins were to prostitute themselves before marriage. So in the laws of every country there are some marks of human error and frailty; but, “Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it,” Psal. cxix. 140. (6.) Because it is a sufficient rule. Christ has been faithful in all his house, in all the appointments of it. Whatever is necessary for knowledge, for regulating life and wor- ship, for confirmation of true doctrines, for confuta- tion of false, it is all in the word; “that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works,” 2 Tim. iii. 17. Well, then, 1. Prize the word: we love what is perfect. 2, Suffer nothing. to be added to it: “Ye shall not add unto the word. which I command you,” Deut. iv. 2. So the whole Bible is concluded, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book,” Rev. xxii. 18. It will be a sad adding that incurs those plagues. The plagues written in that book were those dreadful judgments. that should be executed upon antichrist and his ad- herents; they are most for adding, coining new doc- trines of faith, piecing up the word with their own inventions. And, indeed, as they add by obtruding upon the world their traditions and usages of men, so others add by imposing upon men’s reverence their own inventions and imaginations. They cry up their fancies, without the word, and private illu- minations. God would not leave the world at so great an uncertainty. Others urge the commands of men. Certainly God never intended that the souls of his people should be left as a prey to the present OW 62]”. p Obs. 4. That the gospel, or word of God, is a law of liberty. As it is a perfect, so it is a free law, in divers respects: (1.) Because it teaches the way to true liberty and freedom from sin, wrath, and death. Naturally we are under the law of sin and death; entangled with the yoke of our own corruptions, and bound over to eternal misery; but the gospel is a doctrine of liberty and deliverance : “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free in- deed,” John viii. 36. There is no state so free as that which we enjoy by the gospel. (2.) The bond of obedience that is laid upon us is in deed and in truth a perfect freedom. For, gº [I.] The matter of our obedience is freedom. 70 CHAP. T. AN EXPOSITION OF [2.] We act upon free principles. [3] We have the help of a free Spirit. [4.] We live in a state of freedom. [I.] The matter of our obedience is freedom. Duty is the greatest liberty, and sin the greatest |bondage. You cannot have a worse restraint than to be left to walk in the ways of your own hearts. The sinning angels are said to be kept “in chains under darkness,” Jude 6. A wicked man is in bond- age here and hereafter; now in snares, then in chains; here “taken captive by Satan at his will,” 2 Tim. ii. 26, and hereafter bound up with Satan in “chains under darkness.” Sin itself is a bondage, and hell a prison, I Pet. iii. 19. Were there nothing in sin but the present slavery, it is enough to dissuade us not to commit it. Who would be a vassal to his own lusts P at the command of pride, and every unclean motion P But, alas, the present thraldom is nothing to what is future. The condition of a sinner for the present is servile, but hereafter woeful and dreadful. Satan’s work is drudgery, and his reward is death. How can we remain in such a state with any plea- sure P From the beginning to the end it is but a miserable servility. Why should we account Christ's service a burden, when it is the most happy liberty and freedom P. The world is for breaking these bands asunder, and casting away these cords from them, Psal. ii. 3. Which would you have P the cords of duty, or the chains of darkness? We cannot en- dure the restraints of the word, or the severe, grave precepts of Christianity; we look upon them as an infringement of our carnal ease and liberty. O consider these are mot burdens, but ornaments: “I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts,” Psal. cxix. 45; Honºn at large. That is the only free life which is spent in loving, enjoying, and praising God. O do not count it the only free and pleasant life, to know nothing, to care for nothing, in matters of religion. Who would dote upon his shackles, and think fetters a liberty P “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage,” 2 Pet. ii. 19. The apostle alludes to the law of nations, by which it is lawful to make slaves of those who are overcome and taken in war. Now those that preach carnal doctrine, and tell men they may live as they list, help on the victory of Sin, and so bring men into a vassalage and servitude to their own lusts. So Rom. vi. 20, “When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from right- eousness.” You expatiated and ran at large, and you thought this was freedom; but all the while you were servants, and servants to the basest master, your own sin. It was Ham’s curse to be “a servant of servants.” It is a goodly preferment, is it not P to be Satan’s vassal, lust’s slave. Austin saith of Rome, that she was the great mistress of the world, and the drudge of sin. And Chrysostom saith that Joseph was the free-man, and his mis- tress was the servant, when she obeyed T}omitrix gen- tium, et captiva vitiorum. Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. Chrysos. Hom. 19. in priorem ep. ad Corinth. her lusts. [2] We act upon free principles. Whatever we do, we do it as “the Lord's free-men,” I Cor. vii. 22, upon principles of love and thankfulness. God might rule us with a rod of iron, but he urges the soul with constraints of love. In one place, “I be- seech you by the mercies of God,” &c., Rom. xii. 1. In another, Grace teacheth us, &c., Tit. ii. 12. The motives of the gospel are mercy and grace, and the obedience of the gospel is an obedience performed out of gratitude or thankfulness. ... [3] We have the assistance of a free Spirit. . He disentangles our souls, and helps us in the work of obedience. David prayeth, “Uphold me by thy free Spirit,” Psal. li. 12. A free Spirit, because he makes us free, helps us to serve God willingly and freely. There is spirit and life in the commandment, some- what besides a dead letter, and that makes it a perfect law of liberty. Of old, there was light in the com- mandment to guide their feet, but not fire to burn up their lusts; there was no help to fulfil it; the light was directive, but not persuasive. [4] We live in a state of freedom, in a state of son- ship, and well-pleasing. “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” Rom. viii. 15. When a man is under a covenant of works, the testimony of his conscience is suitable to his state; and therefore in his natural condition his spirit is servile, and all that he does he does as a servant: but when he is regenerated, and claims by the tenure of grace, the dispositions of his spirit are more filial and child-like ; he acts as a son, with an ingenuous liberty and confidence. Adam himself in innocency, because under a covenant of works, was but as an honourable servant. “We are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free,” Gal. iv. 31. The new covenant gives us another kind of state and spirit. So Luke i. 74, “Being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we serve him without fear; ” that is, without such a scrupulous awe and bondage as otherwise would remain upon the soul. Use. Well, then, consider whether you are under a law of liberty or no. To this end, (1.) Ask your souls which is a bondage to you, sin or duty P When you complain of the yoke, what is grievous to you, the commandment or the transgression ? Do you delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man P Is corruption, that hangs on so fast, a sad burden P The carnal heart has a spite at the law, not its own lusts, Rom. viii. 7. (2.) When you are engaged in duty, what is the weight that draws your spirits to it P Your warrant is the command, but Amor meus est - your weight should be love. (3.) What pond us meurn, eo is your strength for duty P reason, or .4%.” the assistance of the free Spirit P. He that comes in his own name usually stands upon his own foundation. When our dependence is on Christ, our tendency is to him. (4.) Would you have the work accepted for its own sake, or your persons ac- cepted for Christ’s sake P It is an ill sign, when a man's thoughts run more upon the property and quality of the work, than upon the propriety and interest of his person. In the law of liberty, or covenant of grace, God’s acceptance begins with the person; and though the services are accompanied by much weakness, deadness, coldness, and dulness, yet they are accepted, because done in a free state. Works can never be so vile as our person was when we first found favour with God. If it be thus with you, you have cause to bless God for your freedom, to consider what you shall render again. Requite God you cannot, till you pay back as much as he gave you. He has given his Son to free you, and you should give up yourselves. Obs. 5. This commends us to continue in our know- ledge of and affection to the word. “And abideth therein.” Hypocrites have a taste, some men's hearts eror. Aug. burn under the ordinances, but all is lost and drowned in the world again. tº e then are ye my disciples, indeed,” John viii. 31. There may be good flashes for the present, but Christ saith, “If ye continue; ” if ye ripen them to good affections. So 2 John 9, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not | God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” “If ye continue in my word, He that hath WER. 25. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 7| not God hath lost himself, and he that hath God hath all things: now so great a privilege is promised to perseverance. The corrupt angels lost their glory when they left their love to the truth; their sin is thus expressed, they “abode not in the truth,” John viii. 44. Now to this abiding in the word two things are opposite. (1.) Apostacy, when we go away from our former profession and zeal for God; a sad case “It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them,” 2 Pet. ii. 21. gression. Apostates sin against more conviction. “Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes,” Psal. cxix. 118. God treadeth them | under feet as unsavoury salt, because they have lost Hos. vii. 12. When the prophets are dead and gone, they may remember they were taught such things a long time since. their savour. (2.) There is firspoëlèaoka)\ta, other gospelling ; “Soon turned unto another gospel,” Gal. i. 6. So I Tim. i. 3, “Charge them that they teach no other doctrine.” Men would have some- thing new and strange, which is usually the ground of heresy. So I Tim. vi. 3, “If any man teach other- wise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing.” This desire to differ, and hear another gospel, is very dangerous: new ways loved are the highway to an old error. Well, then, if we must abide in the word, 1. Be Sure to cherish good motions, if they come upon your hearts; you are to abide therein. Though the Spirit break in upon the soul suddenly, let it not go so. Usually our religious pangs are but like a sudden | being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer.” hearers are negligent. flash of lightning into a dark place. 2. Be careful to observe the first decays and languishments of your spirits, that you may “strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die,” Rev. iii. 2. If the candle of the Lord does not shine as it was wont to do, complain of the first dimness and decay. Obs. 6. That hearers must take heed that they do not forget the good things dispensed to them. “ Be- ing not a forgetful hearer.” Helps to memory are these : (1.) Attention. Men remember what they heed and regard. “Attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings: let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart,” Prov. iv. 20, 21; that is, in such a place where nothing can come to take them away. Where there is atten- tion, there will be retention. The memory is the chest and ark of Divine truths, and a man should see them carefully locked up. “Who among you will give ear to this P who will hearken and hear for the time to come P” Isa. xlii. 23. Hearkening denotes reverence and seriousness; as it is said, “The ears of them that hear shall hearken,” Isa. xxxii. 3. Now reverence in the admission of the word helps us in keeping it; truths are lost by slight hearing. (2.) Affection is a great friend to memory. Men remem- ber what they care for. An old man will not forget where he laid his bag of gold. Delight and love are always renewing and reviving the object upon our thoughts. Psal. exix., David often asserts his delight in the law, and therefore it was always in his thoughts: “Oh how love I thy law it is my medi- tation all the day,” ver, 97. (3.) Application and appropriation of truths. We remember that which concerns ourselves. In a public edict, a man will be Sure to carry away that which is proper to his case and tenure. “Hear this, and know thou it for thy good,” Job v. 27: there he spake to me; this I must remember for my comfort. So Prov. ix. 12, “ Be wise for thyself:” this is for your souls, and concerns you nearly. (4.) Meditation, and holy care to cover the word, that it be not snatched from us by vain || The less law, the less trans- | make old truths come to mind afresh. Then they remembered he had spoken of destroying the Spirit's keeping and charge. ÖTouvilast, “shall bring things to your remembrance,” John xiv. 26. Christ charges the Holy Ghost with his own sermons; the disciples’ memories were too memories; as Job viii. 13, They forget God. Psal. cxix. 139, “ Mine enemies have forgotten thy ii. 5. Scripture all duty is expressed by this word “remem- thoughts; that the fowls of the air do not pick up the good seed, Matt. xiii. You should often revolve and revive it upon the thoughts; as an apple, when tossed in the hand, leaves the odour and smell of it behind when it is gone. “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart,” Luke ii. 19. She kept them, because she pondered them. (5.) Ob- servation of the accomplishment of truths. You will remember things spoken long since, when you see them verified: “And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up,” John ii. 17. Such occasions observed will So wer. 22, the temple in three days. So God saith, “I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard,” (6.) Practise what thou hearest. You will remember the good you get by it: “I will never forget thy precepts; for with them thou hast quickened me,” Psal. cxix. 93. Christians can discourse of the circumstances of that sermon by which they have received profit. (7.) Commit it to “ The Comforter” slippery. And truly this is the great advantage which they have, that interest in the promise of the Spirit, that truths are brought fresh to mind in the very season wherein they concern them. Obs. 7. Sin comes for want of remembering. “He Forgetful “To such as keep his cove- nant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them,” Psal. ciii. 18. A godly man has a re- tentive memory, he remembereth to do. Wicked men are often expressed and set out by their bad SO words;” that is, they do not practise them. Yea, the sins of God’s people are usually sins of forgetfulness and incogitancy; as Peter would never have been so bold and daring upon the danger, and done what he did, if he had remembered: the text saith, when he remembered, he “wept bitterly,” Luke xxii. 61, 62. So when they fainted under affliction; “Ye have for- gotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,” Heb. xii. 5. A bad memory is the cause of a great deal of mischief in the soul. So for distrust; “Having eyes, see ye not P and having ears, hear ye not P and do ye not remember P’’ Mark viii. 18; they did not actually consider the former expe- rience of the loaves and fishes, and so distrusted. So for murmuring and impatience; David murmured till he “remembered the years of the right hand of the Most High,” Psal. lxxvii. 10. We find that season- able truths give a great deal of relief and ease to the mind in a temptation; “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope,” Lam. iii. 21 ; whereas others are troubled with every event of providence, because they do not remember the comforts which the Scrip- ture has provided in such a case. They that came to the sepulchre were troubled about the death and resurrection of Christ, because they had forgotten what he had spoken to them in Galilee, Luke xxiv. 6, 8. So when the Thessalonians were troubled at the growth of errors, and extremely shaken in their confidence, Paul saith, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” 2 Thess. It is very observable, that in many places of ber,” as if it necessarily implied suitable actions and 72 AN EXPOSITION OF - CHAP. I. affections. So Exod. xx. 8, “Remember the sabbath. day,” as if then they must needs sanctify it. So in Eccles. xii. 1, “Remember now thy Creator.” It is put for all that reverence, duty, and worship which we owe to God. In other places the link between memory and duty is plainly asserted: “That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God,” Numb. xv. 40. A seasonable recall- ing of truths does much. You see out of all this that we should not only get knowledge, but remem- brance; that we should not only faithfully lay up truths, but seasonably lay them out: it is great skill to do so, and we had need call in the help of the Spirit. There are some truths that are of a general use and benefit, others that serve for some cases and Seasons: in general, hide the whole word in your heart, that ye may have a fresh truth to check sin in every temptation, Psal. cxix. 11. So lay up the mer- cies of God that you may be thankful; “Forget not all his benefits,” Psal. ciii. 2. Your sins, that you may be humbled: “Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilder- ness,” Deut. ix. 7. So remarkable experiences, the years of God’s right hand, that you may be confident. Labour thus to get a present ready memory, that will urge truths in the season when they concern us. Obs. 8. The word lays out work for us. “But a doer of the work.” It was not ordained only for specu- lation. It is a rule of duty to the creatures. There is the work of faith, John vi. 29, the labour of love, Heb. vi. 10, and fruits worthy repentance, Matt. iii. 8. All this work is cut out for us in the gospel, faith, love, and new obedience. Do not content yourselves then with a model of truth; the apostle calls it póppwolv Štriotăung, a “form of knowledge,” Rom. ii. 20; with a winter sun, that shines, but warms not. Let not the tree of knowledge deprive you of the tree of life; work the works of God; faith is your work, repentance is your business, and the life of love and praise your duty. Obs. 9. There is a blessedness annexed to doing the work of the word. “Shall be blessed in his deed.” Not for the work’s sake, but out of the mercy of God. See then that you hear so that you come within the compass of the blessing ; the blessing is usually pronounced at the time of your addresses to God in this worship. See that your own interest be clear, that when the minister in God’s name saith, “Blessed is he that heareth the word, and keepeth it,” you may echo again to God, and bless him in your reins, because he hath bowed your heart to the obedience of it. VERSE 26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. THE apostle having showed the blessedness of those which are doers of the word, lest any should seem to challenge a share in it to whom it does not belong, he discovers who are hearers only and not doers of the word; men that allow themselves in any known sin ; and he instances the evils of the tongue. Before I_open the words any further, I shall in- quire why James lays so much weight upon this one particular; it seeming so inconsiderable in itself, and having so little respect to the context. The reasons assigned in the answer will afford us so many notes. Reas. I. Because this is a chief part of our respect to our neighbour. True love to God will be mani- fested by love to our neighbour. They do not usually detract from others whom God has pardoned. He that said, “Thou shalt love God,” has also said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour;” though the object be diverse, yet the ground for obedience is the same : therefore the apostles usually bring this argument to unmask and discolour hypocritical persuasions, as I John ii. 9, “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.” So I John iii. 17, If he “shut up his bowels of compassion from his brother, how dwelleth the love of God in him P” How can it be imagined, that those who are sensible of the love of God, should be mer- ciless towards others P So I John iv. 20, “He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen P” The good that is in others is an object of attraction to the senses, and usually makes a strong impression. Well, then, do not flatter yourselves with duties of worship in the neglect of duties of commerce. Reas. 2. Because of the natural proneness that is in us to offend with the tongue. Censuring is a pleasing sin, extremely compliant with nature. How propense the nature of man is to it, I shall show you in the third chapter. Speech is the discovery of reason, corruption soon runs out that way: well, then, watch over it; the more natural corruptions are, the more care should we use to suppress them. “I will take heed to my ways, that Isin not with my tongue;” Psal. xxxix. l ; there needs special caution for that: and as you should watch, so you should pray, and desire God to watch over your watching; “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth ; keep the door of my lips,” Psal. cxli. 3. The awe of God is a great restraint. Reas. 3. Because it was the sin of that age ; as appears by his frequent dissuasives. See ver. 19. So chap. iii.; iv. II, &c. The note is, It is an ill sign to be carried away with the evil of the times. It is a description of wicked men, that they “walked according to the course of this world,” Eph. ii. 2; rará têv aidjva, according to the age, as the manner of the times went. So Rom. xii. 2, “Be not con- formed to this world; ” Tjaijve rerº, to this age : the meaning is, do not get into the garb of the times. Many do so; they walk after the fashion and trade of the country and times in which they live. O con- sider, this is the sure note of a vain profession. Sins, when they grow common, become less odious, and therefore slight spirits commit them without remorse. Reas. 4. Because it seems so small a sin. Having laid aside grosser sins, they the more securely con- tinued in the practice of it. They were not adulterers or drunkards; and therefore, flattering themselves with a show of holiness, they more freely censured and traduced others. Note, Indulgence in the least sin cannot stand with grace. Your religion is vain, if you do not refrain your tongue. They are miserably mistaken, who hope to redeem their souls from the guilt of one sin by abstaining from the practice of another. Some are precise in small things, that they may be excused for non-observance of the weightier things of the law; as the stomach, when it cannot digest solid food, naturally desires such light food as induces flatulence, and not strength. The Pharisees tithed mint and cummin, &c. Others avoid grosser sins, and hope that is an excuse for other corruptions which are not so odious. We all plead, “Is it not a little one P and my soul shall live,” Gen. xix. 20. - Reas. 5. Because this is usually the hypocrites’ sin. Hypocrites, of all others, are least able to bridle their tongue; and they that seem to be religious are most free in censuring; partly, because, being acquainted -- ~ WER. 26. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 73 with the guilt of their own spirits, they are most apt to suspect others. Nazianzen saith ºf his father, otºrs ti Tūjv trovmptºv airóg trapačáxn, &c., he being of an innocent and candid soul, was less apt to think evil of others; and he gives this reason, 3pačº yáp gig intróvotav kakoč, rö Trøðg kakiav Švakivmrov, goodness is least suspicious, and plain hearts think all like themselves. Partly, because they use to be much abroad, that are so little at home. Censuring is a trick of the devil to take off the care from their own hearts; and therefore, to excuse indignation against their own sins, their zeal is passionate in declaiming against the sins of others. Gracious hearts reflect most upon themselves; they do not seek what to reprove in others, but what to lament in themselves. Partly, because they are not so meek and gentle as true Christians. When a man is sensible of his own failings, he is very tender in reflecting upon the weak- nesses of others. “Ye which are spiritual,” carapri- Ǻrs, “restore such an one in the spirit of meekness,” Gal. vi. I. They which are most spiritual, are most tender to set a fallen Christian in joint again. Partly, because a hypocrite is a proud person ; he would have every one to be his own foil, and therefore he blemishes others. Diotrephes would be prating against John, because he loved the pre-eminence, 3 John 9, 10. Partly, because hypocrites are best at their tongue, and therefore cannot bridle it. When men make religion a talk, their way is to blemish others; it is a piece of their religion. The Lord give you to look into your own souls, and discern whether these dispositions be in you or no. Reas. 6. Because there is such a quick intercourse between the tongue and the heart, that the tongue is the best discovery of it. Therefore (saith the apostle) is their religion vain, if they cannot bridle their tongues. Seneca said that the speech is the express image of the heart; and a greater than he said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” Matt. Xii. 34. The quality of many men's religion may be discerned by the intemperateness of their language; words are but the overflow of their wickedness. A man may soon discern of what re- ligion they are, (saith Pareus of the Jesuits,) qui theo- logiam in caninam maledicentiam transferunt, that, like angry curs, cannot pass by one another without Snarling. These reasons being premised, the opening of the verse will be the more easy. “If any man seemeth to be religious,” to him- self or others, by the practice of some few things, by worship, and some duties of the first table. “And bridleth not his tongue;” that is, does not abstain from the evils of the tongue, such as railing, reviling, censuring, and detraction; which latter, I Suppose, is chiefly intended. - “But deceiveth his own soul.” It may be under- stood two ways: 1. Though he detract from others, yet he has too good an opinion of himself. Self-love is the ground of hypocrisy; they do not search them- selves, or suspect themselves. Judas said last, “Mas- ter, Is it I ?” They are too equal to themselves, though too severe to others. 2. The other sense may be, he comes at length to flatter himself, to deceive his own soul, as well as to seem to others. “This man's religion is vain;” that is, either he makes his graces, and the good things which are in him, to be vain and unprofitable; or rather, his re- ligion is pretended to no purpose. OBSERVATIONS. Qbs. I. There may be religion only in pretence and seeming. “Seemethto be religious.” So I Cor. viii. 2, “If any man among you think that he know- | eth any thing;” that is, pleases, flatters himself in the conceit of his knowledge. So Gal. vi. 3, “If any man think himself to be something, when he is nothing;” proudly overvalues his own worth. Well, then, rest not in “a form of godliness,” 2 Tim. iii. 5, or in a “form of knowledge,” Rom. ii. 20; in a naked speculation, or in a varnished profession : these things may carry a fair show and semblance in the world, but are of no account before God. Still put to yourselves this question, Am I yet beyond a hypocrite P Be what you would seem to be. Obs. 2. It is a great part of religion to bridle the tongue. “ Bridleth not his tongue.” There are several evils that must be restrained, lying, swearing, cursing, railing, ribaldry. I shall speak of these five. (1.) Lying: beware of that with all the kinds, equivocation and dissimulation; truth is the ground of commerce : it is a sin destructive to the good of man- kind. The devil, who is the accuser, is called the liar too. O do not cry up a report of others till you have sifted it: “Report, say they, and we will report it,” Jer. xx. 10, that is, Bring us any thing, and we will blaze it; and so a little water is evaporated into a great deal of steam and Smoke. Crassa negligentia dolus est, say the civilians; If you do not try it, you are guilty. (2.) Cursing: there is corruption at the heart, when the tongue is so blistered. It is observi able, that when God would have the curses pro- nounced upon Mount Ebal, he employed the servile tribes about it; only Reuben was amongst them that prostituted his father's bed. There is seldom any blessing for them that use themselves to curses. (3.) Swearing. It is said the righteous feareth an oath, Eccl. ix. 2; not only those false-mouthed oaths, but minced oaths, and vain speeches, and peremptory asseverations in the slightest matters. Men that lavish away deep asseverations upon every trifle, are accustomed to that which, if the matter be more serious, should be the last reserve, an oath. (4.) Railing. I take it not only for the gross railing, but privy defamations and whisperings to the prejudice of others, meddling with other men's matters. As the apostles often speak against these, so commending with a “but,” as the Scripture saith of Naaman, “A great man, an honourable man, a mighty man, but he was a leper,” 2 Kings v. 1. They say, He is thus and thus, but—and so wound while they pretend to kiss; they make their praise but a preface to their reproach, which is but as an archer that draws back his hand, that the arrow may fly with the more force. It was a great praise that Jerom gave Assella, Habe- bat silentium loquens, She was silent when she spake; for she spake only of religious and necessary things, not meddling with others’ persons or fame. (5.). Ribaldry; “filthy communication,” Col. iii. 8, fool- ish talking. Many travel under the burden of a pro- fane jest: oh the filthy breath that comes out of their mouths All foolish jesting comes under this head. Aristotle’s virtue sirpatrskta, is a sin with Paul, Eph. v. 4. Obs. 3. Hypocrites come at length to deceive them- selves. “But deceiveth himself.” A liar, by re- peating his lies, begins to believe them. Natural conscience is pacified with a show. It is just with God to punish deceit with deceit. And as they cheat others, so they deceive their own souls; as the carver fell in love with an image of his own making, and thought it living. Hypocrisy ends in hardness and gross blindness; and by custom men dote upon that which at first they knew was but paint and varnish; as if God would be as easily mocked and deceived £1S [ſ] CI] . Obs. 4. Pretended religion will be fruitless. “This Quod videri vis, illud esse debes. 74 CHAP. I. AN EXPOSITION OF man’s religion is vain.” Shows are as nullities with God. Of all things, a man cannot endure that his serious actions shall be in vain, and to no purpose; for there usually hope is more strong, and therefore the disappointment must needs be the more vexatious. This will be no small part of your torment in hell, to think that all your profession is come to this: I pro- phesied in Christ's name, in his name I wrought mira- cles; I conferred, repeated, closed with the better side, to my loss and disadvantage, and yet am I now in hell. Oh how sad will such discourses be in the place of torments O consider, the greater rise your hope had, the more bruising and crushing will your fall be; as a stone that falls from a high place is broken to powder. VERSE 27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father as this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. HERE the apostle comes to the positive part of the trial. As he must not do hurt, lest his religion prove vain; so he must do good, that it may be found pure and undefiled. He presses them to works of charity, and a holy conversation, that so they might both show themselves to be truly religious, and that their profession was that pure and immaculate faith which the Christian religion propounds. “Pure religion and undefiled.” He does not set down what is the whole nature of religion, but only some particular testimonies of it. Religion also re- quires faith and worship, but the truth of these is evidenced by charity and a holy life; and therefore the antiscripturists of our days grossly pervert this place, and the scope of the apostle, when they would make all religion to consist in these outward acts; for the apostle is dealing with hypocrites, who pre- tended faith and worship, neglecting charity. “Before God and the Father is this;” that is, be- fore God, who is the Father of Christ, and us in him. The like phrase is used in many other places: 2 Cor. i. 3, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So Eph. i. 3. So Eph. v. 20, “Unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He saith, “before God;” that is, in his eye and his esteem. Hypocrites may deceive men, for they see only what is without; but God the Father judges rightly. And also this is mentioned to imply the sincerity of such Christian offices; they should be done as in the presence of God. “To visit.” Under this word by a synecdoche are comprehended all duties of love. “To visit,” is to comfort them in their misery, to relieve them in their necessities; and under this one kind of charity are comprehended all duties to our neighbour. “The fatherless and widows.” These are speci- fied, but others are not excluded. There are other objects of charity, as the poor, the sick, the captive, the stranger, which are also spoken of in Scripture; but “the fatherless and widows” most usually want relief, and are most liable to neglect and oppression. They are often mentioned elsewhere in Scripture; as Isa. i. 17, “Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” So Psal. cxlvi. 9; Prov. xv.25; xxiii. 10. “In their affliction;” that is, in their straits, and when most oppressed. And this is added, lest men should think their duty performed by visiting those amongst the fatherless and widows who are rich and wealthy. makes such provision for good life. draw a just scorn upon themselves, Rom. i. “And to keep himself unspotted.” This is coupled with the former duty, to show the inseparable con- nexion which should exist between charity and holi- ness, and to show that that religion is false which does not teach holiness as well as charity; as papists sever them, and cry up charity as a merit, to expiate the defect of holiness. “From the world.” The world, when it is taken in an evil sense, is sometimes put for the men of the world, and sometimes for the lusts of the world. All that is in the world, is either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, I John ii. 15. Now to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, is to keep ourselves from the taint and infec- | tion of an evil example, and the prevalence and sovereignty of worldly lusts. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Negatives in religion are not enough. He must refrain his tongue, and he must visit the fatherless. Our duty should carry proportion with the Divine grace to us. God’s mercies are not only privative, but positive; he does not only bring us out of hell, but put us under an assurance of glory. It was Ab- salom's misery to be only acquitted from the punish- ment, but not to see the king's face. God’s grace is more entirely dispensed; we are taken out of a state of wrath into a state of love. God’s terms to Abra- ham were, to be a shield and an exceeding great reward, to be a protector and a saviour ; and to all the faithful, “a sun and a shield,” Psal. lxxxiv. 11 : a shield against danger; and a sun, the cause of all vegetation, life, and blessing. . Now we should imitate our heavenly Father; we should not rest in a bare removal of evil, but be careful of that which is good. There should be not only an abstinence from grosser sins, but a care to maintain communion with God. The descriptions of the word are negative and positive; “Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly;-his delight is in the law of the Lord,” Psal. i. 1, 2. So Rom. viii. 1, “Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Some are no drunkards, not outwardly vicious; but are they godly P Is there any savour and power of religion P Are there any motions and feelings of the spiritual life within their souls P God, that hates sin, delights in grace. To be less evil, at the best, will but procure you a cooler hell. It is vulgarly observed, that the Pharisees’ re- ligion ran upon nots, Luke xviii. 11. It is not enough to live civilly, and do no man wrong; there must be grace, and the exercise of grace. I observe, that sins trouble the conscience more than want of grace, partly because conscience does not custom- arily smite for spiritual defects; and partly because sins work an actual distemper and disturbance to reason. O, but consider; he that wants good works is as much hated of God as the outwardly vicious; and the barren tree is cut down as well as the poisonous tree; if it bear no fruit, as well as if it bear ill fruit. It is not enough for a servant that he doth his master no hurt, he must do his master’s work. In the gospel he had not misspent his talent, but hid it in a napkin. Obs. 2. That it is the glory of religion when it is pure. “The commandment of the Lord is pure,” Psal. xix. 8 ; no doctrine so holy in itself, and False religions are descried by their impurity. God suffers false worshippers to fall into obscenities, that th; may opery is no friend to good life. Pardons set at sale make way for looseness. The true Christian religion is called a “most holy faith,” Jude 20. No faith reaches so high for rewards, nor is so holy for precepts. Well, WER. 27. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 75 then, an impure life will not suit with a holy faith. Precious liquor must be kept in a clean vessel, and “the mystery of the faith” held “in a pure con- science,” I Tim. iii. 9. We never suit with our re- ligion more, than when the way is undefiled, and the heart pure. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way,” Psal. cxix. I. And again, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” Matt. v. 8. Obs. 3. That a pure religion should be kept unde- filed. A holy life, and a bounteous heart, are an Ornament to the gospel. Religion is not adorned with ceremonies, but purity and charity. The apos- tle speaks of adorning “ the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,” Tit. ii. 10. It is with us either to credit or to stain our religion. “Wisdom is,” or should be, “justified of her children,” Matt. xi. 19. By the innocency of their lives they bring a glory to their way. So also a bountiful man is an honour to his profession, whereas a covetous man sul- lies it; as the apostle saith, “For scarcely for a right- eous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die,” Rom. v. 7. A man of a severe innocence is hated rather than loved, but a good or bountiful man gains the hearts of others, they would die for him. Obs. 4. A great fruit and token of piety is provision for the afflicted. In Matt. xxv., you see acts of charity fill up the bill: works of mercy well become them that expect or have received mercy from God; this is to be like God; and we should never come to him, or go away from him, but with somewhat of his image in our hearts: dissimilitude and disproportion is the ground of dislike. Now one of the chief glo- ries in the Godhead is the unweariedness of his love and bounty; he visits the fatherless and the widows, so should we. The spirit of our religion is for giving; and therefore the cruel, hard heart is made by Paul a kind of denying the faith, 1 Tim. v. 8. Obs. 5. Charity singles out the objects that are most miserable. The apostle saith “the widows and fatherless,” and that “in their affliction.” That is true bounty, when we give to those that are not able to make requital: “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours,” &c., Luke xiv. 12–14. We cannot do the least duty for God but we have some self-aims. We make our giving many times to be a kind of selling, and mind our advantage in our charity. O consider, our sweetest influences should fall on the lower grounds. To visit the rich widows is but courtesy; to visit the poor, and that in their affliction, is charity. Obs. 6. This charity to the poor must be performed as worship, out of respect to God. The apostle saith “to visit the fatherless” is Spngiceta, worship. A Chris- tian has a holy art of turning duties of the second table into duties of the first; and in respects to man they worship God. So Heb. xiii. 16, “To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacri- fices God is well pleased.” To do good is a duty of the second table; and sacrifice, while it was a part of God’s worship, a duty of the first. Well, then, alms should be sacrifice; not a sin-offering, but a thank-offering to God. This is the difference between a Christian and others, he can make commerce wor- ship. In common businesses he acts upon reasons and principles of religion; and whatever he does to man, he does it for God’s sake, out of love to God, and fear of God. The world is led by interest, and they by conscience. The men of the world are tied one to another, like Samson’s foxes by their tails, by their mutual intertwisted interests; but they, in all their relations, do what they do as in and unto the Lord, Eph. v. 22. So Eph. vi. I, 7. Well, then, cause it is done in a sweeter relation. we must be tender of the end and reason of our ac- tions in civil respects. Alms is worship and sacrifice, and therefore not to be offered to the idol of our own credit and esteem, or to be done out of private ends; but in obedience to God, and for his glory. - Obs. 7. True religion and profession is rather for God’s eye than man’s. “Before God.” It aims at the approbation of God, not ostentation before men. David saith, “I was also upright before him, and kept myself from mine iniquity,” Psal. xviii. 23. That is a fruit of true uprightness, to draw all our actions into the presence of God, and to do what we do before him. So Psal. xvi. 8, “I have set the Lord always before me.” In every action he was thinking of the eye of God; Will this be an action for God’s notice and approbation P So Psal. cxix. 168, “I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies; for all my ways are before thee.” He makes that to be the reason of the integrity of his obedience, “My ways are before thee;” under the observance and inspection of God. Hypocrites cannot endure such thoughts. The prodigal was for a far country, away from his father, Luke xv. And it is said, “An hypocrite shall not come before him,” Job xiii. 16; that is, be under God’s eye and sight. Obs. 8. We serve God most comfortably, when we consider him as a Father in Christ. “Before God and the Father.” “Lord, Lord,” is not half so sweet as “Our Father.” Duty in the covenant of grace is far more comfortable; not only as we have more help, but be- We are not servants, but have received the adoption of sons. Get an interest in God, that his work may be sweet to you. Mercies yield the more sweetness, when they come, not only from a Creator, but a Father; and duties are done with the more confidence, when we can come into the presence of God, not as servants, but sons. A servant may use greater industry and pains than a son, and yet please less. Obs. 9. Relieving the afflicted, and the unspotted life, must go together. As the apostle couples them, so does Christ : “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,” Matt. v. 7; and then presently, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” ver. 8. A man that is charitable, and not pure, is better to others than to himself. Goodness and righteousness are often coupled in the Old Testa- ment, Micah vi. 8. So Dan. iv. 27. It is strange that men should so grossly separate what God has joined. There are some that are pure in their own eyes, but content themselves with a cheap and barren profes- sion ; others are vicious and loose, and they are all for acts of charity and mercy: and so covetousness lurks under the veil of profession on the one side; and on the other men hope to recompense God for the excesses of an ill life by a liberal profusion, as if the emptying of the purse were a way to ease the conscience. Well, then, let the hand be open, and the heart pure. You must visit the fatherless and the widows, and keep yourselves unspotted from the world. Obs. 10. The world is a dirty, defiling thing. A man can hardly walk here but he shall defile his garments. (I.) The very things of the world leave a taint upon our spirits. By worldly objects we soon grow worldly. It is difficult to touch pitch, and not to be defiled. We see in other things that our minds receive a tincture from those objects with which we usually converse. Christ prayeth, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil,” John xvii. 15. Christ knew what a temptation it is to live here in the midst of honours, and pleasures, and profits. It was a happy thing that Paul could say, “The world 76 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,” Gal. vi. 14. The world hated him, and he did not care for the world. The world is crucified to many, but they are not crucified to it; they follow after a flying shadow. (2.) The lusts of the world, they stain the glory and deface the excellency of your natures. “Corruption is in the world through lust,” 2 Pet. i. 4. Your affections were made for higher purposes than to be melted out in lusts. To love the pleasures of the world is as if you should “embrace dunghills,” Lam. iv. 5. (3.) The men of the world are sooty, dirty creatures; we cannot converse with them but they leave their filthiness upon us. The apostle Saith, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use,” 2 Tim. ii. 21. “From these,” that is, from the leprosy of evil examples; for the apostle speaks of those vessels of dishonour that are in the great house of God, the world, which a man cannot touch without defilement. A man cannot hold any communion with them but he shall be the worse for them. “These are spots in your feasts of charity,” Jude 12; they defile the company. Well, then, [i.] Let us more and more grow weary of the world. A man that would always live here, is like a scullion that loves to lie among the pots. In those blessed mansions that are above “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,” Rev. xxi. 27. There we shall have pure company, and be out of the reach and danger of temptations. There are no devils in heaven; they were cast out long since, 2 Pet. ii. 4, and you are to fill up their vacant rooms and places. The devil, when he was not fit for hea- ven, was cast into the world, a fit place for misery, sin, and torment; and now this is the devil’s walk; he compasseth the earth to and fro. Who would be in love with a place of bondage? with Satan's dio- cess P that odd, dirty corner of the universe, where a man can hardly move back, or forth, but he shall be defiled P [2.] While we live here, let us keep our- selves as unspotted as we can. In a place of snares we should walk with the more care. There are “a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white,” Rev. iii. 4. There are some, though few, that escape the taint of the world. You are kept by the power of God; yet, in some sense, you must keep yourselves. You are to watch, and keep your garments, Rev. xvi. 15. You are to act faith upon the victory of Christ, by which he hath overcome the world, I John v. 4. You are to commend yourselves to God in prayer, that he may “keep you from falling, and present you faultless before the presence of his glory,” Jude 24. You are to discourse upon the promises, and to work them into your hearts by spiritual reasoning, that you may escape the corruption that is in the world through lust, 2 Pet. i. 4; 2 Cor. vii. 1. You are to avoid communion with the lepers of the world. We should learn a holy pride, and scorn such com- pany. A man that keeps ill company is, like him that walks in the sun, tan- ned insensibly. All these things you must do. It is a folly to think, that because the power is from God, therefore the care should not be in ourselves. T)iscamus sanc- tain superbiam, et SC 13. In llS in OS 6SSé illis meliores. Hieron. C H A P T E R II. V E R S E I. MY BRETHREN, HAVE NOT THE FAITH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE LORD or GLORY, witH RESPECT OF PERSON S. THIs chapter contains two special admonitions, which were very needful, as the state of things then were: The first is against respect of persons because of outward advantages, especially in church matters. The other is against a vain opinion and ostentation of faith, where there was no presence or testimony of works to commend it. He deals in the former ad- monition from the first verse to the fourteenth ; and in the latter, from thence to the end of the chapter. In this first verse he propounds the evil to them which he would have them avoid, respect of persons because of some outward excellency, which has no kind of affinity or pertinency to religion. The sense will be most clear by a particular explication of the words. - - “My brethren.” A usual compellation through- out the Epistle. Some think he chiefly intends in this expression the presbyters and deacons, who had a great hand in giving every one their convenient places. But I know no reason why we should so restrain it, it being applied, in all the other passages of the Epistle, to the whole body of those to whom he wrote. And here, where he dissuades them from respect of persons, it seems to have a special respect, as denoting the equal interest of all Christians in the same Father. “Have not the faith.” Faith is not taken strictly, but more generally for the profession of the Christian religion, or the manifestations of the grace of Christ in the souls of his people. The meaning is, have not grace, have not religion, &c. “Of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” He does not mean the personal faith of Christ, or, as some accommodate the expression, faith wrought by Christ. This man- ner of speech does not denote the author so much as the object. Faith of Christ, in the intent of the Scripture, is faith in Christ; as Gal. ii. 20, “I live by the faith of the Son of God.” So Eph. iii. 12, “We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” So Phil. iii. 9, “The righteousness which is through the faith of Christ:” and so else- where. Now Christ is here called “our Lord,” be- cause it is the proper term for him, as Mediator and Head of the church, and by virtue of our common and equal interest in him : the head is dishonoured in the disrespect of the members. - “The Lord of glory.” Some read, the faith of the glory of Christ with respect of persons; that is, do not measure the glorious faith by these outward and secular advanges, or the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ; for we supply the word Lord, which is but once in the original, partly, because he is called so in other places: “They would not have crucified the Lord of glory,” I Cor. ii. 8. Partly, VER. I. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 77 because it is fitly repeated out of the context. Partly, because in this place it has the force of an argument. Christianity being a relation to the Lord of glory, puts honour enough upon men, though otherwise poor and despicable; and if men believed Christ was glorious, they would not so easily despise those in whom there is the least of Christ. - “With respect of persons,” #v ºrpoowtroXmptatg. Respect of persons is had, when in the same cause we give more or less to any one than is meet, because of something in his person which has no relation to that cause. The word properly signifies accepting of one’s face, or outside, and so denotes a respect to others out of a consideration of some external glory that we find in them. Thus we find in Gen. xix. 21, is Tºp ºnsvi rendered in the Septuagint by 30aúpacá see Cartwr in gov Tpogórov, I wondered at thy face, OC. as being overcome and dazzled at the beauty of it; which probably gave occasion to that expression of St. Jude, ver. 16, Savpdźovrsg trpógotra, which we render, “having men's persons in admir- ation.” But, before we go on, we must rightly state the offence from which our apostle dissuades, for otherwise absurdities will follow. Civility and humanity call for outward respect and reverence to them that excel in the world. To rise up to a rich man is not simply evil. If all difference of persons, and respect to them, were sinful, there would be no place for government, and mastership. Therefore I shall inquire, I. What respect is sinful. 2. The particular abuse which the apostle taxes and notes in this expression. - First, What respect of persons is sinful. There is a holy and warrantable respect of persons either by God or men. (1.) By God; he is said to accept the faces of his people, Gen. xix. 21, -ºs insvi and so elsewhere God is often said to respect their persons; their persons first, and then their services. (2.) By men, when we prefer others from a due cause, their age, calling, gifts, graces; yea; it is lawful to put a respect upon them, because of that outward glory and excellence wherewith God has furnished them. There is a respect proper and due to their persons, though not so much for their own sakes, as for the bounty of God to them; as they that bowed before the ass that carried about the rites of Isis, non tibi, sed religioni, did obeisance to the religion, not the beast. But then there is a vicious respect of persons, when the judgment is blinded by some external glory and appearance, so that we cannot discern truth or right; and a cause is overbalanced by such foreign circum- stances as have no affinity with it. Thus it is said, “Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty; but in righteous- ness shalt thou judge thy neighbour,” Lev. xix. 15. Neither swayed with foolish pity, on the one hand; nor with respect to might, power, friendship, great- ness, on the other: as usually those are the two prejudices against the execution of justice; either carnal pity saith, He is a poor man ; or else carnal fear Saith, He is a great man; and so the outward accidents of life are rather valued than the merits of the cause. So Deut. i. 17, “Thou shalt not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as great.” - - Secondly, What is this particular offence which the apostle calls having the faith of Christ in respect of persons, which was the sin of those times? I answer, (I.) In the general, their having too great a care of these differences and outward regards in their church administrations, both in their worship, and courts, and censures, as we shall show in the next verse. In the things of God all are equal, rich and poor stand upon the same level and terms of advantage: our salvation is called a “common salvation,” Jude 3; and the faith of all, for the essence and object of it, a “like precious faith,” 2 Pet. i. 1. But now their respects were only carried out to those that lived in some splendour in the world, with a manifest and sensible contempt of their poor brethren, as if they were unworthy their company and converse; as appears not only by the present context, but by chap. i. 8, 9, where he comforts the poor despised brethren, show- ing that grace was their preferment; and 1 Cor. xi., from ver. 20, onward: every one took his own supper, but despised the church of God, ver, 22; that is, ex- cluded the poor, who were the church as well as they. So that, mark, there was not only a difference made between the poor and the rich, but great reverence showed to the one, with a proud contempt of the other. (2.) More particularly, 1. They over-esteemed the rich, doing all the grace and reverence they could devise in the congregation and courts of judicature; yea, they went so far as to esteem the wicked rich above the godly poor; honouring and observing those that were apt to hale them to the judgment-seats. 2. They debased the poor, not considering them ac- cording to their eminency in grace, and high station in Christianity; passing by the appearance of God in them without any mark or notice; yea, they offered injury and contumgly to them, because of their out- ward abasure and despicableness, from a proud inso- lence, scarce behaving themselves towards them as men, much less as Christians. OBSERVATIONS. I. That respect of persons in religious matters is a sin. We may be many ways guilty of it. (1.) By making external things, not religion, the ground of our respect and affection. The apostle saith, “Hence- forth know we no man after the flesh : yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now hence- forth know we him no more,” 2 Cor. v. 16. ISnow- ing after the flesh is to love and esteem any one from secular and outward advantages. Paul, when a Pharisee, looked for a Messiah coming in outward pomp and glory; but, being converted, he laid aside those fleshly thoughts and apprehensions. It is true, as Solomon saith, “Wisdom with an inheritance is good.” When grace and outward excellency meet together, it makes the person more lovely; but the ground and rise of our affection should be grace. Love to the brethren is an evidence, but we should be careful of the reason of that love, that we love them because they are brethren, because of that of God which we see in them. That saying of Tertullian is usual, We must not judge of faith by persons, but of persons by faith. (2.) When we do not carry out the measure and proportion of affection according to the measure and proportion of grace, and pay Our respects where we find the ground of love most emi- nent. David’s delight was in the saints that were “in the earth, and to the excellent,” Psal. xvi. 3; that is, to those which were most eminent among them. Some prefer a cold, neutral profession before real grace; will not own mean Christians by any familiar- ity and converse, though the power and brightness of God’s image shine forth most clearly in them, The apostle saith, We bestow most honour upon the uncomely parts, 1 Cor. xii. 23. Those who have least of worldly pomp and grace, if they excel in Christ, should have most of Christian respect and honour. (3.) When we can easily make greatness a cover for baseness, and excuse sin by honour, whereas that is the aggravation. The advantage of greatness makes sin the more eminent and notable. It is good to note Non judicamus ex personis fiden), sed ex fide per- Somas. Tertul. 78 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. II. with what freedom the Scriptures speak of wicked persons in the highest honour : He giveth king- doms to the basest of men, Dan. iv. 17. The world cannot think so basely of the children of God, but the word speaks as basely of them. The Turkish empire, as great as it is. (Saith Luther Turcicum impe- pire, as g , ( ..) rium quantum . quantum est, mica est quam pater- familias canibus projicit. Luth. son, he is to them a vile person. How low was that evil king in the eyes of the holy prophet ! “Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee,” 2 Kings iii. 14. (4.) When we yield religious respects, give testimonies to men, for advan- tage, and under pretence of religion servilely addict ourselves to men for base ends. This Jude marks in that expression, “having men's persons in admira- tion because of advantage,” Jude 16. The apostle speaks of some heretics who were otherwise proud, but yet for advantage fawning and servile; as usual- ly none so base-spirited as the proud are, when it ut dominatºr may make for their worldly profit. It aliis prius servit; was observed of our late bishops, by ‘....”.” one of their own party, that (though tur. Ambros. they were otherwise of a proud, insult- #.; ing spirit) they were willing to take gºtº, e. Ham's curse upon them, that they might 20, p. 407 - domineer in the tents of Shem; to be servi servorum, slaves to greatmen’s servants, that they might bear rule over the tribe of Levi. But to re- turn. This is a clear respect of persons, when men keep at a distance and are proud to the poor servants of God, but can crouch, and comply, and do any It was a brave reso- lution of Elihu, “I know not to give flattering titles,” (5.) When church administrations are not carried on with an indifferent and even hand thing for profit and advantage. Job xxxii. 22. to rich and poor, either by way of exhortation or censure. By way of exhortation: Christ died for both, and we must have a care of both. The poor and rich were to give the same atonement for their Souls, Exod. xxx. 15. Their souls were as precious to Christ as those that glitter most in outward pomp. The apostle saith, We are debtors “both to the wise and to the unwise,” Rom. i. 14. Christ saith to Peter, “Feed my lambs,” as well as “Feed my sheep,” John xxi. 15, 16. So for censure : Micaiah feared not Ahab ; nor John Baptist, Herod and the Pharisees. It was an excellent commendation which they gave to Christ, “Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man; for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth,” Mark xii. 14. Ah! we should learn of our Lord and Master. We are never true ministers of Jesus Christ, till we deal alike with persons that are alike in themselves. (6.) When we contemn the truths of God because of the persons that bring them Omnia dicta tanti to us. existimantur, §.;; golden treasure so much as the earthen tam dictionis vim r * * * * atdue virtutem vessel. It was the prejudice cast upon quam dictatoris Cogitant dignita- tem. Salvia. º A varit. ib. 1. º & e ge jº of council brings it. Matheo Langi, archbishop of Trent. edit. ... Lond. 1629, p. 55. is but a morsel which the Master of the house throws to dogs. David makes it a description of a godly man, “In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord,” Psal. xv. 4. Let him be what he will, if he be a wicked per- Usually we regard the man rather than the matter, and not the Christ, “Is not this the carpenter's son?” We look upon the cup rather than the liquor, and consider not what, but who of Salzburg, told every one that the reformation of the mass was needful, the liberty of meats convenient, and to be disbur- dened of so many commands of men just; but that a poor monk (meaning Luther) should reform all, was not to be endured. So in Christ's time, the question was common, Do any of the rulers believe in him? Thus you see we are apt to despise excel- lent things, because of the despicableness of the instrument. The poor man delivered the city, (saith Solomon,) but he was forgotten, Eccl. ix. 15, 16. The same works have a different accept- ation, because of the different esteem and value of the persons engaged in them. Erasmus observed, that what was accounted orthodox in the fathers, was eondemned as heretical in Luther. + Thus you see how many ways in re- ºr " ligious matters we may be guilty of Card. Mogunt. respect of persons. ." Use. O consider these things. It is a heinous evil, and a natural evil. We are marvellously apt to think that there is no eminence but what consists in out- ward greatness: this is to undervalue the members of Christ; yea, to undervalue Christ himself. He that mocketh the poor, though they be but the com- mon poor, “reproacheth his Maker,” Prov. xvii. 5. But to despise poor Christians who are again renewed in the image of God, that is a higher sin; and it is the highest of all when a Christian despises Chris- tians; as it is far worse for a scholar to undervalue scholarship, or a soldier his profession, than for other men. It is not so bad in worldly men, who are ac- quainted with no higher glory. O consider what a dishonour it is to Christ, for you to prefer mammon before him; as if wealth could put a greater value upon a person than grace. Obs. 2. That Jesus Christ is a glorious Lord. Not only in respect of his own person, which is the brightness of his Father's glory, Heb. i. 3. Or in regard of his present exaltation, whereby he hath “a name which is above every name,” Phil. ii. 9; not only as he enjoys it in himself, but as he dispenses it to others. He will give you as much glory as your hearts can wish for. He puts an honour upon you for the present. You may be sure you shall not be disgraced by him, either in your hope; for it is such as will not make you ashamed, Rom. v. 5: false worshippers may be ashamed, as Baal’s were of their trust in their god, I Kings xviii. Or of your enjoyments; you are made comely through his comeliness, Ezek. xvi. 14; and the church is called the “fairest among women,” Cant. v. 9. Or of your service; your work is an ornament to you. God himself “is glorious in holi- ness,” Exod. xv. 11. But for the future you will always find him a Lord of glory; sometimes in this world, after you have been a long time beclouded under dis- grace, reproach, and suffering. When hair is shaven, it grows thicker, and with a new increase: So when the razor of censure has made your heads bare, and brought on the baldness of reproach, be not dis- couraged; God has a time to “bring forth thy right- eousness as the light, and your judgment as the noon-day,” Psal. xxxvii. 6; by an apparent con- viction to dazzle and discourage your adversaries. The world was well changed when Constantine kissed the hollow of Paphnutius's eye, that was ere while put out for Christ. Scorn is but a little cloud that is soon blown over. But if Christ do not cause your enemies to bow to you, yet he will give you honour among his people; for he has promised to honour those that honour him, 1 Sam. ii. 30; and he is able to do it, for the hearts of all men are in his hands, and he can dispose of their respects at pleasure. That sentence of Solomon intimates that God is resolved upon it, “A man shall be commended ac- cording to his wisdom,” Prov. xii. 8. But, however, suppose all this were not; in the next World you shall be sure to find Christ a Lord of glory, when Compertum est damnata ut hae- retica in libris I,utheri, quae in Bernardi, Au. - gustinique libris ut orthodoxa. immo et pia le- WER. I. 79 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES.” he comes to put the same glory upon the Saints which the Father hath put upon himself, John xvii. 22, 24. In that day (as the apostle saith) “he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,” 2 Thess. i. 10. It is a notable expression; not only admired in himself, but in his saints; as if he accounted the social glory, which results to his person from the glory of his children, a greater honour to him than his own per- sonal glory. Well, then, look to your thoughts of Christ. How do you consider him P as a Lord of glory P , The apostle saith, to them that believe Christ is precious, 1 Pet. ii. 7 ; ripº), an honour. They account no honour like the honour of having relation to Christ. You will know this disposition by two notes: (1.) All other excellencies will be as nothing; birth, “an Hebrew of the Hebrews;” dignity, “a Pharisee;” moral accomplishments, “touching the law blameless;” beauty and esteem in the world, “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more;” yet “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” Phil. iii.4—6,8. (2.) All other abasures will be nothing. Tatarstvoc, the brother of base degree, may count his baseness for Christ a pre- ferment; let him “rejoice in that he is exalted,” James i. 9. So of Moses it is said, he esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” Heb. xi. 26. Mark, he did not only en- dure the reproaches of Christ, but counted them trea- Sures, to be reckoned among his honours and things of value. So Thuanus reports of Ludovicus Marsa- cus, a knight of France, when he was led with other martyrs that were bound with cords to execution, and he for his dignity was not bound, he cried, Give me my chains too; let me be a knight of the same order. Cer- tainly it is an honour to be vile for God, 2 Sam. vi. 22. To a gracious Spirit nothing is base but sin and tergiversation. Disgrace itself is honourable, when it is endured for the Lord of glory. Obs. 3. Those that count Christ glorious, will ac- count Christianity and faith glorious. The apostle makes it an argument here. “The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” He that prizes the person of Christ prizes all his relatives; as among men, when we love a man, we love his picture, and whatever has relation to him. Grace is but a ray, a derived excellency from Christ. A Christian is much known by his esteem : what then do you account most excellent in yourselves or others ? (1.) In yourselves. What is your greatest honour and trea- sure P What would you desire for yourselves or others? What would you part with first? Theodo- sius valued his Christianity above his empire. Lu- ther said he had rather be Christianus rusticus, than ethnicus Alexander ; a Christian clown, than a pagan emperor. (2.) In others. Who are most precious with you? those in whom you see most of the image of Christ P. We honour the servants of glorious kings. “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour,” Prov. xii. 26. Who is the best neigh- bour to you? those that fear God P and do you like them best when their conferences are most religious P You shall see this indefinite proverb is restrained by another, Prov. xix. 1, where Solomon intimates that the righteous poor man is better than his rich neigh- bour: there indeed is the trial. Communion with Curnon et me uoque torque tionas, et insignis hujus ordinis militem creas 2 Thuan. Hist. holy and gracious spirits is far better than the coun- tenance and respects of a great man to you. O do not despise those jewels of Christ that lie in the dirt and dunghill. David could see silver wings in those doves that had lain among the pots. WExSF 2–4. For ºf there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say untô him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool : are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? * - I HAVE put all these verses together, because they make but one entire sentence. The apostle proves how guilty they were of this evil, from whence he dissuades them by a usual practice of theirs in their ecclesiastical conventions. “If there come unto your assembly;” sic tºy ovvaiya- yńv inóv, into your synagogue. By which some under- stand their Christian assembly for worship; but that is not so probable, because the Christian assembly is no where, that I can remember, expressed by ovvaywyſ), synagogue, but by ékkAngia, church; and in the church meeting there may be, without sin, several seats and places appointed for men of several ranks and dignities in the world; and it is a mistake to apply the censure of the apostle to such a practice. Others apply it to any common convention and meeting for de- cºi lic ciding controversies, establishing public tºº order, and disposing of the offices of ºt. the church; and by synagogue they is legibus et arbi, understand the court where they judged #.” all causes belonging to themselves. .iii. Austin seems to incline to this sense for in iod." & one part of it, namely, for a meeting to jº. dispose of all offices that belonged to tº the church, which were not to be in- ;...” trusted to men according to their out- ºr, e g $ em Domininos- ward quality, but inward accomplish- tº jest, Chrij ments; there being the same abuse in ...#. fashion in the primitive times, which, tº hºle. to our grief, has been found among us; º; that men were chosen and called to . . . office, out of respect to their worldly ºcclesiæ con. lustré, rather than their spiritual en- ºt dowments; and the gold ring was pre- A.º.º. ferred before the rich faith: a practice wholly unconsonant with the Christian religion, and with the dispensation of those times; God himself having immediately called fishermen, and persons otherwise despicable, certainly of little note and re- mark in the world, to the highest offices and employ- ments in the church. If we take the words in this restrained sense, for a court or meeting, to dispose of ecclesiastical offices and functions, the context may be accommodated with a very proper sense; for ac- cording to their offices, so had they places in all church meetings; and therefore the apostle Paul uses that phrase, “He that occupieth the room of the un- learned,” rotov roi; iówórov, 1 Cor. xiv. 16, the place of the private person. The elders sat by themselves, then others that were more learned, then the ignorants; the º church herein following the custom of ºi. the synagogue, which (as the author of sº the Comment upon the Epistles, that i.i.at goes under the name of Ambrose, ob- ‘g serves) was wont to place the elders in 35 Per conventum Significantur cCetus Seu congre- Præsident probati quique Seniores, seniores (ſignitate in cathedris, Sequentes in sub- 80 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF chairs, the next in rank on benches, the novices at their feet on mats ; and thence came the phrase of sitting at the feet of any one for a disciple, as it is said Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. And for the women, Grotius tells us, that the first place was given to the widows of one man, then to the virgins, then to the matrons. Now, because - they assigned these places preposter- ously, out of a regard of wealth rather than grace, and said to the rich, Sit thou here, ca)\gjc, honourably, and to the poor, however qualified, Stand thou there, or sit at my feet, the place of learners and idiots; the apostle with such severity condemns the abuse, namely, their carnal partiality in distributing the honours of the church. Thus you see the context will go on smoothly. But I must not limit the text to this one use of the court or synagogue; and there- fore if we take in the other sense of deciding all causes and differences between the members of the church, &c., every passage in the context will have its full light and explication. For the apostle speaks of judging, and of such respect of persons as is con- demned by the law, wer. 9, which is an accepting of persons in judgment, Lev. xix. 15. And therefore I understand this synagogue of an assembly met to do justice; in which thought I am confirmed by the judgment and reasons of a late learned writer, who Herbert Thorn proves that it was the fashion of the º, Jews to keep court in their synagogues; §risºº; and therefore we so often read those * P. * * phrases, “they will scourge you in their Synagogues,” Matt. x. 17; beaten “in every syna- gogue,” Acts xxii. 19; “I punished them oft in every synagogue,” Acts xxvi. 11; because (as he Saith) “where sentence was given, there justice was executed;” and it is probable that, being converted to Christianity, they still held the same course. And that is very notable which he quotes out of Maimo- nides' Sanhedrim, cap. 21, “That it is expressly pro- vided by the Jews' constitutions, that when a poor man and a rich plead together, the rich shall not be bidden to sit down, and the poor stand, or sit in a worse place; but both sit, or both stand.” Which is a circumstance that has a clear respect to the phrases used by the apostle here; and the rather to be noted, because our apostle writes to the twelve tribes, He- brews by nation, with whom these customs were familiar, and of known use. So that out of all we may collect, that the synagogue here spoken of is not the church assembly, but the ecclesiastical court, Or convention, for the decision of strifes, wherein they were not to favour the cause of the rich against the poor; which is an explication that clears the whole context, and prevents the inconveniencies of the received exposition, which so far pleads the cause of the poor, as to deny civility and due respect to the rich and honourable in Christian assemblies. - “A man with a gold ring,” Xpwoodactixtoc, a gold- fingered man, is the force of the original word. The gold ring was a badge of honour and nobility; there- fore Judah had his signet, Gen. xxxviii. 18, 25; and Pharaoh, as a token that Joseph was promoted to honour, “took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen,” Gen. xli. 42. So Ahasuerus dealt with Mordecai, Esth. viii. 8. “In goodly apparel.” dignity. “Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau,” Gen. xxvii. 15; by which Some understand the gorgeous priestly ornaments which belonged to him, as having the birthright. So, when the prodigal returned, the selliis, novissimi In pavimento Super mattas. Ambros. in pri- mam ad Cor. Primus locus viduis univiris, proximus virgini- bus, deinde ma- tronis, Grot, in loc Lightfoot in Gen. This also was a note of “ father, to do him honour, calls for the best robe, and a ring; some marks and ornaments of honour which were put on upon solemn days. But the luxury of after-times made the use more common. It is said of the rich man in the gospel, that he “was clothed with purple and fine linen, and fared sump- tuously every day,” Luke xvi. 19. - - “A poor man in vile raiment,” #v Švirapé ša'6;frt, filthy, sordid raiment. It is the same word which the Septuagint uses in Zech. iii. 3, 4, where men- tion is made of the high priest’s filthy garments, which was a figure of the calamitous state of the church ; where the Septuagint have iud rta fivtrapd. “And you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing.” 'Etruſ&Aérgiv, is to gaze and observe with some admiration and special reverence. “Sit thou here in a good place,” Kakác, in an honourable or worthy place; and so it notes either the rash disposal of the honours of the church into their hands, or the favouring of them in their cause, as before. “Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool.” Expressions of contempt and disrespect. Standing, or sitting at the feet, was the posture of the younger disciples. Sometimes standing is put for those that stood upon their defence; as Psal. cxxx. 3, “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand P” that is, in curia, in court, as those that make a bold defence. So Eph. vi. 13, “Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to with- stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand;” that is, before God’s tribunal : it is an allusion to the posture of men in courts. This different respect of the poor and rich brings to my mind a passage of Bernard, who when he chanced to espy a poor man meanly apparelled, he would say to himself, Truly, Bernard, this man with more patience bears his cross than thou. But if he saw a rich man delicately clothed, then he would say, It may be that this man, under his delicate clothing, has a better Soul than thou hast under thy religious habit. An excellent charity and a far better practice than theirs in the text, who said to him in the goodly raiment, Sit; to the poor, Stand: to the rich they assigned a good place, but to the poor, the room under the footstool. “Are ye not partial in yourselves P” kai oi čuškpt- 0nre àv Šavroic. This clause is variously rendered, because of the different significations of the word êiskpt0mrs. Some translate it without an interrogation, thus, Ye were not judged in yourselves, but, &c.; as if the sense were, Though they were not judged themselves, yet they judged others by these inevi- dent signs. But it is better with an interrogation; and yet then there are different readings. Some thus, Are ye not condemned in yourselves P that is, Do not your own consciences fall upon you ? Cer- tainly the apostle applies the faet to their consciences by this vehement and rousing question. But I think ðisko,0nts must not be here rendered condemned. Others thus, Have ye not doubted or questioned the matter in yourselves P for that is another sense of the word in the text; but here it seems most harsh and incongruous. Another sense of the word is, to make a difference; so it is often taken : Ötakpuépévot, “making a difference,” Jude 22; otöèv Čiekpivs, “and put no difference,” Acts xv. 9; and so it may be fitly rendered here, Have ye not made a difference P that is, an unjust difference, out of carnal affection, rather than any true judgment. And therefore, for more perspicuity, we explain, rather than interpret, when we render, “are ye not partial P” It is an appeal to their consciences, in making such a difference: Are ye not counterpoised with perverse respects P Many times we may know the quality of an action by the VER. 2–4. 8} THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. verdict of conscience. Is not this partiality P Doth not conscience tell you it is making a difference which God never made P Sins directly dispropor- tionable to our profession are against conscience, and in such practices the heart is divided. There are some disallowing thoughts, which men strive to smother. “And become judges of evil thoughts.” From the running of the words in our translation, I should have guessed the sense to be this, that by these outward appearances of meanness and greatness in the world they judged of men's hearts; which is here expressed by what is most transient and inward Genitiºus Menon in the heart, the thoughts. But this es: objecised at kpurai Öta\oytoplºjv trovnpöv is to be taken * * in quite another sense; the meaning is, You altogether judge perversely, according to the rule of your own corrupt thoughts and intentions. Their esteem and their ends were not right, but perverted by carnal affections. They esteemed outward pomp above spiritual graces, which was contrary to reason and religion; and they proposed to themselves other ends than men should observe in acts of choice and judicature. They had men's persons in admiration, because of advantage; and did not weigh so much the merits of the cause, as the condition of the per- sons contending. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That men are marvellously apt to honour world- ly greatness. To a carnal eye nothing else is glo- rious. A corrupt judgment taints the practice. A child of God may be guilty of much worldliness, but he has not a worldly judgment. David's heart went astray; but his judgment being right, that brought him about, again, Psal. lxxiii.; compare the whole Psalm with the last verse, “It is good for me to draw near to God.” The uprightness of Moses and his love to the people of God were from his esteem ; “Esteeming the reproach of Christ,” &c., Heb. xi. 26. When men have a right esteem, that will make them prize religion, though shrouded under poor sorry weeds. But when their judgments and con- ceits are prepossessed and occupied with carnal principles, nothing seems lovely but greatness; and exalted wickedness has more of their respect than oppressed grace. But you will say, May we not show honour and respect to men great in the world, if they are wicked P - I answer, There is a respect due to the rich, though wicked; but if it be accompanied with a contempt of the mean servants of God, it is such a partiality as does not become grace. More particularly, that you may not mistake in your respects to wicked men, take a direction or two : (1.) Great men in the world must have respect due to their places, but the godly must have your converse and familiarity: My delight is in the excellent of the earth, Psal. xvi. 3. A Christian cannot delight in the converse of a wicked man, as he can in the children of God: be- sides that the object in the eye of grace has more loveliness, there is the advantage of sweet counsels, and spiritual communion; “Comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me,” Rom. i. 12. (2.) You must be sure not to be ashamed of the meanest Christians, to vouchsafe all due respects to them. Onesimus was a mean servant, yet, when converted, Paul counted him “above a servant, a brother beloved,” Philem. I6. So the messengers of the churches are called “ the glory of Christ,” such as Christ will boast of, 2 Cor. viii. 23. Christ is ashamed of none but those that are ashamed of him. It is glory enough in the eye of Christ and grace that they are holy. (3.) You must own them G for brethren in their greatest abasures and afflictions, as Moses did the people of God, Heb. xi. 25. (4.) Be sure to drive on no self-design in your respects; be not swayed by a corrupt aim at advantage : this will make us take Egyptians for Israelites, and per- versely carry out our esteem. It chiefly concerns ministers to mind this; that they may not gild a potsherd, and comply with wicked men, for their own gain and advantage. It is a description of false teachers, “Through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you,” 2 Pet. ii. 3. They apply themselves to those among whom they may drive on the trade best; not to the Saints, but to the rich, and soothe up them; where there is most gain, not where most grace : “They made the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies,” Hos. vii. 3. . Obs. 2. To bring us to a sense of things, it is good to put questions to our consciences. “Are ye not partial?” Because then we directly return upon our own souls. Soliloquies and discourses with your- selves are of excellent advantage : “Commune with your own hearts, and be still,” Psal. iv. 4. It is a difficult matter to bring a man and himself together, to get him to speak a word to himself. There are many that live in the world for a long time, some forty or fifty years, and all this while they cannot be brought to converse with their own hearts. This questioning of conscience will be of use to you, in humiliation, faith, and obedience. (I.) In your humbling work. There are several questions proper to that business; as in the examination of your state, when you bring your ways and the commandment together, which is the first rise of humiliation. You will find the soul most awakened by asking questions. Oh, “what have I done P” Jer. viii. 6. Do I walk according to the tenor of this holy law P Can I say, My heart is clean P Prov. xx. 9. When guilt is dis- covered, the rigour of the law felt, every violation of it seen as worthy of death, and the certainty of Divine wrath following transgression, then there is a second question, Will God be partial for my sake? His jealousy shall smoke against that man that saith, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagina- tion of mine heart,” Deut. xxix. 19. Then there are other questions about the dreadfulness of wrath : “Can my heart endure, or can my hands be made strong, in the days that God shall deal with me?” Ezek. xxii. 14. Shall I be able to bear up under torments without measure and without end ? Can I dwell with those devouring burnings? Then there is a fourth question, after a way of escape; “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life P” Mark_x. 17. Or, as it is in the prophet, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?” Micah vi. 6. With what recompence shall I appease his angry justice P Thus you see the whole business of humiliation is carried on in these interrogative forms. (2.) For the work of faith. Questions are serviceable here to quicken the soul to the consideration of the offer of God; as when the apostle had disputed of free justification, he enforces all by a question, “What shall we then say to these things?” Rom. viii. 31. Soul, what canst thou ob- ject and urge against so rich mercies : Paul, all the while before, had been but drawing the bow, now he lets the arrow fly, “What shall we say P” Then they make us more sensible of the danger of not be- lieving; “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Heb. ii. 3. If I neglect God’s second offer, what will become of me? Thus it is a help to the work of faith. (3.) In the work of obe- dience these questions are serviceable; as when a temptation is like to overcome the Soul, it is good to 82 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. II, come in with a smart question; “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Gen. xxxix. 9. So if the heart drive on heavily in duties of worship; “Offer it now to the governor; will he be pleased with me, or accept my person P” Mal. i. 8. Would I do thus to an earthly prince in an earthly matter P Thus you see questions are of singular use in every part of the holy life. Be more frequent in them ; and in every matter take occa- sion to discourse with your own souls. Obs. 3. Evils begin first in the thoughts. “Judges of evil thoughts.” “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,” Matt. xv. 19; they stand in the front of that black roll. Affections pervert the thoughts, and thoughts stain the judgment. Therefore when God would express the wickedness of the old world, he saith, “The imagination of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually,” Gen. vi. 3. The reason of atheism is blasphemy in the thoughts. All their thoughts are, that there is no God, Psal. x. 4. The reason of worldliness is some wretched thought that is hidden in the bosom. “ Their in- ward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever,” Psal. xlix. 11. You see then there is reason why you should go to God to cleanse your spirit from evil thoughts; why you should be humbled under them, why you should watch against them. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,” Isa. lv. 7. Mark, not only his way, but his thoughts. | Trace every corrupt desire, every inordinate prac- tice, till you come up to some inward and hidden thought. There are implicit thoughts, and thoughts explicit. Explicit are those which are impressed upon the conscience, and are more sensible. Im- plicit are those which the Scripture calls hidden thoughts, and the sayings of the heart. Though the desires, purposes, actions are according to them, yet we do not so sensibly discern them ; for they are so odious, that they appear least in sight. Many such there are; as this was the hidden thought implied in the text, that wealth is to be preferred before grace; and that made them judge so perversely. It is good therefore to wait upon the word, which dis- cerns “the thoughts and intents of the heart,” Heb. iv. 12, that upon every experience you may refer things to their proper head and cause: Surely there has been a vile thought in me, That there is no God, That the world is for ever, That riches are better than grace, That the pleasures of sin are better than the hopes of life, &c. It is good to interpret every action, and to observe the language couched in it. Your lives only speak out these thoughts. Obs. 4. That men are to be valued by their out- ward excellency is an evil thought. It is against the dispensation of God, who puts the greatest glory upon those who are of least esteem in the world. It is against the nature of grace, whose glory is not Sensible, not obvious to the senses, but inward and hidden : “The King's daughter is all glorious with- in,” Psal. xlv. 13. A Christian’s inside is best; all the world’s glory is in show, fancy, and appearance. Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, Acts xxv. 23, pusrā troXAïc pavragiac, with much show and fancy. Painted things have a greater show with them than real. Nazianzen saith, The world is Helena without, and Hecuba within. There is nothing answerable to the appearance; but grace is under a veil, “it doth not yet appear what we shall be,” 1 John iii. 2. Thus in Cant. i. 5, the church is said to be “black, but comely;” full of spiritual beauty, though outwardly wretched and deformed with af. flictions; which is there expressed by two simili- tudes, like “the tents of Kedar,” and “the curtains of Solomon.” “The tents of Kedar :” the Arabians lived in tents, which were but homely and slender, in comparison of city buildings; obscure huts, Sullied and blacked with the weather, but rich within, and full of costly utensils; therefore we hear of “the glory of Kedar,” Isa. xxi. 16. And Solomon’s cur- tains may possibly signify the same thing. Josephus Saith, Solomon had Babylonian curtains, of a baser stuff and work, to hide the curious imagery that was carved on the marble walls. The greatest glory is within the veil. The hidden man of the heart is an ornament of great price, I Pet. iii. 4. And as it is against the nature of grace, so it is against all right reason ; we do not judge so in other cases. We do not prize a horse for his gaudy saddle and trappings, but for his strength and swiftness. That painter was laughed at, who because he could not draw Helena fair, he drew her rich. We do not therefore judge it a good sword because it has a golden belt. Well, then, if it be against providence, and grace, and reason, go by a wiser rule in valuing things and per- sons than outward excellency. Do not think that faith best which the ruler professes, John vii. 48; nor those persons best that glitter most with worldly lustre. Christ comes often in a disguise to us as well as the Jews; to us in his poor members. VERSE 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him 2 *. aw IN this verse the apostle urges another argument against respect of persons. You will despise those whom God, out of his wise ordination, has called to the greatest honour. He instances a threefold dig- nity which the Lord puts upon the godly poor; they are “chosen” of God, “rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.” “Hearken, my beloved brethren.” He excites their attention, and still gives them the loving com- pellation which he had formerly used. In all grave and weighty matters, it is usual, in the Scripture, to preface and premise some craving of attention : “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,” Matt. xiii. 9. So James, in the council of Jerusalem, “Men and brethren, hearken unto me,” Acts xv. 13. Here the apostle uses this preface, partly to stir them up to consider the dispensation proper to that age. So I Cor. i. 26, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called;” that is, seriously consider the manner of God’s calling in these times. He is about to urge a warm argument against the perverseness of their partial respect. And when the matter concerns our case, it calls for our best attention. “ Hath not God chosen;” that is, by the special designment of grace he has singled out the poor to be heirs of life: you will find it so for the most part; but in those times especially. Partly to confute the pride of great persons; as if God should respect them for their outward dignity. The first choice that God made in the world was of poor men; and therefore we so often read that the poor received the gospel; not only the poor in spirit, but the poor in purse. God chose fishermen to preach the gospel, and poor persons to receive it; few were won who were of any rank and quality in the world. And WER. 5. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 83 partly that we might not think that wonderful in- crease and spread of the gospel came to pass by the advantage of human power, fleshly aids and props; but by the virtue of Divine grace. *. “The poor of this world;” that is, in regard of outward enjoyments. 1 Tim. vi. 17, there he speaks of the “rich of this world.” There is another world which has its riches, but they who have an estate there are usually poor and despicable. The Saints are described as those who have not their hope in this life, I Cor. xv. 19, or, poor in this world; that is, in the opinion of the present world they are vile and abject. “Rich in faith.” So they may be said to be two ways: either in regard of high measures and raised degrees of faith; as Abraham was said to be “strong in faith,” Rom. iv. 20; or that woman, Matt. xv, 28, “O woman, great is thy faith.” So when the apostle presses them to a spiritual abundance in gifts and graces, he saith, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you” TAovatoc, “richly,” Col. iii. 16; or rich, in opposition to worldly poverty, as denoting the recompence made to them for their outward poverty in their hopes and privileges. And mark, God is said to choose “rich in faith;” that is, to be rich in faith. It is such an expression as is used Rom. viii. 29, “He also did predestinate conformed to the image of his Son;” that is, to be conformed to the image of his Son; which is plainly averred by the apostle, Eph. i. 3, “He hath chosen us in him before the founda- tion of the world, that we should be holy;” not be- cause we are good, but that we might be good. This place cannot be urged for the foresight of faith; for as he chose us rich in faith, so he chose us heirs of glory: and therefore it does not show the reason of God’s choice, but the end; not that they were so, but that they might be so. “Heirs of the kingdom.” Glory is often set out by a kingdom, and the faithful as princes under years. * “Which he hath promised.” Promises of this nature are every where: “I love them that love me,” Prov. viii. 17. So Exod. xx. 6, “showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me.” “To them that love him.” Why this grace is specified, see the reasons alleged in the explication and notes of the twelfth verse of the first chapter. Only observe the order used by the apostle; first he places election, then faith, then love. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That oftentimes God chooses the poor of this world. The lion and the eagle are passed by, and the lamb and the dove chosen for sacrifice. The gospel, that was hidden from the wise and prudent, was revealed to babes, Matt. xi. 25. This God doth, partly, to show the glory of his power in preserving them, and truth amongst them, that were not upheld by worldly props. The church is called “the con- gregation of the poor,” Psal. lxxiv. 19; a miserable sort of men, destitute of all worldly advantages. Usually he shows his power by using weak means. The hand of Moses was made leprous be- fore it wrought miracles, Exod. iv. 6; Jericho was blown down with rams’ horns; and Goliath slain with a sling and a stone. Partly, because God would show the riches of his goodness in choosing the poor. All must now be ascribed to mercy. At the first God chose the worst and the poorest, which was an argument that he was not moved with out- Ward respects; the most sinful, and the most obscure, Adverte coeleste consilium, non Sapientes aliquos, non divites, non nobiles, sed pis- catores et publi- canos quos di- rigeret, elegit; ne tradii Xisse poten- tia, redemisse divitiis, nobilita- fisque authoritate traxisse aliquos videretur, et veri- tatis ratio non disputationis grafia praevaleret. Ambr. in Luke, cap. 6. Sect. 3. that all flesh might “glory in the Lord,” I Cor. i. 31. A thief was made § {..., the delight of paradise, and Lazarus sed. Biscatºres, taken into Abraham's bosom. Those º who had not the least pretence for ś." glorying in themselves are invited to forei, digere; grace. Partly, because God would dis- º cover his wisdom by making up their ...” outward defects by this inward glory. Ea miſi, inquit, Levi, who had no portion among his jº.” brethren, had the Lord for his portion. † God is wanting to no creature; the sequere..." rich have somewhat, and the poor have flºº the favour of his people, Psal. cvi. 4, special mercies. The buyers, and sellers, and money- changers were whipped out of the temple; the rich have least interest there. Partly, that the members might be conformed to the Head, the saints to Christ, in meanness and suffering : “Thy King cometh unto thee” poor, Zech. ix. 9. Partly, because poverty is a means to keep them upright. Riches are a great snare. The moon is never eclipsed but when it is at the full: certainly God’s people are then in most danger. They say the sun never moves slower than when it is highest in the zodiac. Usually men are never more flat in duty, and dead in service, than when mounted high in worldly advantages. A pirate never sets upon an empty vessel. The devil is most busy in the fulness of our sufficiency. Those that were taken up with the pleasantness of the country, and saw it fit for sheep, would not go into Canaan. The disciples pleaded, Lord, we have left all things, and followed thee; as if the keeping of an estate, and the keeping of Christ, were hardly compatible. Well, then, - (1.) You that are poor, bless God; it is all from mercy that God should look upon you. It is a com- fort in your meanness; rejected by the world, chosen by God. He that is happy in his own conscience, cannot be miserable by the judgment of others. “Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry tree; for I will give him an everlasting name,” Isa. lvi. 3, 5. Be not discouraged, though outwardly mean. The poor man is known to God by name; he has a proper name, Lazarus; whereas the rich man is called by an ap- pellative name, Luke xvi. 19, 20. Among men it is otherwise; Divitum nomina sciumtur, pauperum mesci- wntur, saith Cajetan; However we forget the poor, we shall be sure to remember the rich man’s name and title. (2.) You that are rich, consider this is not the favour of God’s people. Be not contented with common bounty. You may have an estate, and others may have higher privileges. As Luther, profess that you will not be con- ..."...º.º.º.” tented so; you will not be quiet, till you tº satiari. have the tokens of his special mercy. " Obs. 2. There are poor in this world, and poor in the world to come. Dives, who fared deliciously every day, and was clothed in fine linen, yet wanted a drop to cool his tongue. Desideravit guttam, (saith Austin,) qui non dedit micam, He wanted a drop, that would not give a crumb. “Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my serv- ants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty : behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed,” Isa. lxv. 13. Ye are left to your choice, to be rich in this world, but poor in the world to come. Though here you swim and wallow in a sea of pleasures, yet there you may want a drop to cool your tongue. Obs. 3. The poor of this world may be spiritually rich. The apostle's riddle is made good, “As having nothing, yet possessing all things,” 2 Cor. vi. 10; nothing in the world, and all in faith. Obs. 4. Faith makes us truly rich. It is the open G 2 84 CHAP. } #. AN EXPOSITION OF hand of the soul to receive all the bounteous supplies of God. If we are empty and poor, it is not because God’s hand is straitened, but ours is not opened. A man may be poor, notwithstanding the abundance of wealth. It puts a difference between you and others for a while, but in the grave “the small and great” meet together, Job iii. 19 ; that is, are all in the same state without difference. In the charnel-house all skulls are in the same case, not to be distinguished by the ornaments or abasures of the temporal life. It is grace alone that will make you to excel for ever. Nay, riches cannot make you always to differ in this world; they “make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven,” Prov. xxiii. 5. Well, then, you that are poor, do not envy others' plenty; you that are rich, do not please yourselves in these enjoyments: Ista divitiae nec vera sunt, nec vestrae, They are neither true riches, nor can you always call them your own. - . Obs. 5. The Lord loves only the godly poor. There are a wicked poor, whose hearts are ignorantly stub- born, whose lives are viciously profane. Christ saith, “Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God,” Luke vi. 20. In the evangelist Matthew it is explained, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Matt. v. 3. David saith, “The abjects gathered themselves together against me,” Psal. xxxv. 15. Many times men of that quality are malignant opposers of the children and cause of God; saucy dust, that will be flying in the faces of God’s people; and their rage is the more fierce, because there they have neither knowledge, political restraints, or civil or ingenuous education, to break the force of it. Obs. 6. All God’s people are heirs. They are heirs, and they are but heirs. They are heirs, that comes to them by virtue of their sonship: “If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” Rom. viii. 17. Jesus Christ was the natural Son, and the natural Heir; and we being adopted sons, are adopted heirs. He is called the “Heir of all things,” Heb. i. 2; and he has invested us with his own privileges. Consider what an heir a child of God is, one that is received into the same privileges with Christ; and therefore the apostle saith he is a joint- heir. In a spiritual manner, and as we are capable, we shall possess the same glory that Christ does. Again, they are heirs whose right is indefeasible. Men may appoint heirs, and alter their purpose, especially concerning adopted heirs; but God never changes. In assurance of it we have earnest, 2 Cor. i. 22, and we have first-fruits, Rom. viii. 23. We have earnest to show how sure, we have first-fruits to show how good, our inheritance is; a taste how good, and a pledge how sure. Well, then, you that have tasted of the grapes of Eshcol, and have had any Sense of your adoption, you may be confident, God will never alter his purposes of love. Again, they are heirs that not only look to inherit the goods of their heavenly Father, but his person. God does not only make over heaven to you, but himself; “I will be your God:” quantus quantus est, God is yours. So Psal. xvi. 5, “The Lord is the portion of mine in- heritance.” Again, they are heirs that possess in their Father's lifetime. Men give their estates to us when they can possess them no longer. But this is our happiness, that God and we possess it together; and therefore it is said, “glorified with him.” Again, they are heirs to an estate that will not be diminished by the multitude of co-heirs. Many a fair stream is drawn dry by being dispersed into several channels; but here, the more, the greater the privilege. What a happiness is it to enjoy God among all the saints “They shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.” We may jointly inherit without envy. The company is a part of the blessing. It is one of the apostle's motives, “Ye are come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born,” Heb. xii. 22, 23. It was a foolish question that, Who shall be “greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Matt. xviii. 1; for when God is all in all, he will fill up every vessel. Such a question suits with our present state. But in glory, as there is no sin to provoke such curiosity, so there is no want to occasionit. They are but heirs. Alas, now they groan and wait for the adoption, Rom. viii. 23; that is, for the full enjoyment of the privileges of it. So I John iii. 2, “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” We have a right, but not full possession. Hope cannot conceive what the estate will be when it comes in hand. There is much goodness laid out, but more laid up, Psal. xxxi. 19. It is observable, that all Christian privileges are spoken of in Scripture as if they did not receive their accomplishment till the day of judgment. I have spoken already of adoption, that the saints wait for it. For justification, then we shall know the com- fort of it, when Christ, in his solemn and most imperial day, in the midst of the triumph of his justice, shall remember only the services, and pass by the sins, of the faithful. Then shall we know the meaning of that promise, “I am he that forgiveth your iniquities, and will remember your sins no more.” Our comfort now is mixed, and we are often harassed with doubts and fears; but when our pardon is solemnly pro- claimed before all the world, then shall we indeed know what it is to be absolved: therefore the Scripture speaks as if an act for our justification were only passed then. “Repent ye therefore, and be con- verted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord,” Acts iii. 19. And possibly that may be the reason of that expression that intimates forgive- ness of sins in the world to come ; “It shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come,” Matt. xii. 32; i. e. an act of pardon can neither now be really passed, nor then solemnly de- clared. So for redemption; we shall not understand that privilege till we are redeemed from death and the grave, and have a full and final deliverance from all evils: therefore we are said to wait “for the re- demption of our body,” Rom. viii. 23; and, “Lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh,” Luke xxi. 28. And that possibly may be the reason why the apostle, when he numbers the fruits of our union with Christ, puts redemption last, I Cor. i. 30. Here we have “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,” but in the world to come we have redemption; therefore the day of the Lord is called “the day of redemption,” Eph. iv. 30. So also for union with Christ; it is begun here, but so often in- terrupted, that it is rather an absence than an union: “While we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord,” 2 Cor. v. 6. The apostle speaks so, because we do not so freely enjoy the comforts of his presence. So Phil. i. 23, “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ.” A Christian is with Christ here, but rather without him. Then shall we know what it is to be with him, when we shall in body and soul be translated into heaven, and be always in his eye and presence. So for sanctification: there is so much of the old nature remaining, that there is scarce any thing of the new ; and therefore the day of judgment is called traXiyyevsota, “the regeneration,” Matt. xix. 28; that is, the time when all things are made new, when we come to be settled in our ever- lasting state; and that may be the occasion of the apostle's expression, “To the end he may stablish VER, 5. 85. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints,” I Thess. iii. 13. Thus you see, in all points of Christian privilege, we are, though heirs, yet but heirs. Well, then, you that have the first-fruits of the Spirit, come and rejoice in your hopes; “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,” 1 John iii. 1. We were strangers, yet we are made sons, nay, heirs. We were of low degree, it may be poor, beggarly in the world; yet have we this £ovatav, this dignity, John i. 12, put upon us, to be chosen to the fairest kingdom that ever was and will be. We were enemies, rebel- lious as well as despicable, yet still heirs; from chil- dren of wrath made heirs of glory. God needed not such an adoption; he had a Son who is called his delight and rejoicing before all worlds, Prov. viii. 22—31; and yet he would make thee, that wast a stranger to his family, a rebel to his crown, so base in the world, a joint-heir with his only Son. Oh what love and thankfulness should this beget in us! Every person of the Godhead shows his love to us: the Father, he adopts us, “Behold, what man- ner of love the Father,” &c.; the Son for a while resigns and lays aside his honour, nay dies, to pur- chase our right, Gal. iv. 5; and “the Spirit itself bear- eth witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God,” Rom. viii. 16. O adore the love of the Trinity with high and raised thoughts. Consider what a comfort is here against all the discouragements and abasures that we meet with in the world. Princes in disguise are often slighted, and the heirs of heaven are made the world’s reproach. But why should you be dejected P “Why art thou, being the King's son, lean from day to day P” 2 Sam. xiii. 4. Are not you heirs of the kingdom of glory? And, by the way, here is some advice to the world. Do not contemn the meanest that are godly, they are heirs. Every one worships the rising sun, and observes the heir. O make you friends of them, they will help you an- other day. “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations,” Luke xvi. 9; that is, with that wealth, which is usually abused to sin, make you friends of the poor godly saints; they, with Christ, “shall judge the world,” I Cor. vi. 2. Make them friends, that they may give their suffrage to you, and receive you into heavenly joys. A main thing that Christ takes notice of at the day of judgment is this, Thus have ye done to one of my naked brethren, Matt. xxv. 40. Obs. 7. That the faithful are heirs to a kingdom. Heaven and glory are often set out to us under that notion : you have proofs every where. Kingdoms are for kings, and every saint is a spiritual king : “He hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father,” Rev. i. 6; suitably to which expression it is said, I Pet. ii. 9, that we are a royal priesthood. These two dignities are joined together, because heretofore their kings were priests, and the heads of the families were the priests of it. Cohen signifies both a prince of Midian, and a priest of Midian. But to return. They are kings, because of that spiritual power they have over themselves, sin, Satan, and the world; and because they are kings, therefore their glory must be a kingdom. Again, Christ is a King, and therefore they are kings, and his kingdom is their kingdom; being united to Christ, they are pos- sessed of his royalty. Again, there is a very great resemblance between the glory we expect and a kingdom : “Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom,” Luke xii. 32. It is called a kingdom for its splendour, festivity, and glory; that is the highest excellency and mark of Dost thou indeed love God P difference amongst men. And also in regard of at- tendants; angels are “ministering spirits,” Heb. i. 14; they are so already; but there they are as porters standing at the twelve gates of our city, Rev. xxi. 12. Nay, Christ himself will gird himself, and serve those whom he findeth watching at his second coming, Luke xii. 37. And it is a kingdom in re- gard of power and dominion. All things are theirs, 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. They “shall judge the world,” I Cor. vi. 2, 3; yea, the evil angels. And also in regard of abundance of content and satisfac- tion; there is “fulness of pleasures for evermore,” Psal. xvi. 11. All these things concur to make it a kingdom ; it is a state of the highest honour and glory, great pleasure and contentment, noble attend- ants, vast dominion. To all these you may add the great liberty and freedom which we shall enjoy from sins and troubles; we shall be above the control of Satan, and the opposition of a vile heart. O then, we that expect these things, what manner of persons ought we to be P The apostle has an exhortation suitable to this purpose ; “Walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom,” I Thess. ii. l 1, 12. Live as kings for the present, commanding your spirits, judging your souls: above Ordinary pur- suits; it is not for eagles to catch flies: above ordi- nary crosses; cogitate Caesarem esse ; remember thou shalt one day be a king with God in glory. Enter upon your kingdom by degrees. “The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,” Rom. xiv. 17. But now for others, who as yet remain at the best but in an uncertain estate, it is a motive to press them to do what they can to in- terest themselves in these hopes. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,” Matt. xi. 12. It is a kingdom, and therefore men are so violent for it. O consider, it is for a crown, and that will encourage you to all earnestness of pursuit : a lazy wish, a drowsy prayer, is not enough. Obs. 8. That heaven is a kingdom engaged by pro- mise. It is not only good, to tempt your desires, but sure, to support your hopes. Look upon it, not only as a kingdom, but as a promised kingdom; and judge him faithful that hath promised. None can comfort themselves in these hopes but they that have interest in the promise; they can plead with God for their own souls, “Remember thy word unto thy servants, upon which thou hast caused us to hope,” Psal. cxix. 49. Heaven is not only prepared, but promised. You may not only have loose hopes, but a stedfast con- fidence. Obs. 9. That the promise of the kingdom is made to those that love God. Love is the effect of faith, and the ground of all duty; and so the best discovery of a spiritual state. They do not believe who do not love; and they cannot obey that do not love. Look then to this grace; Do you love God? When pro- mises have the condition specified in them, we cannot take comfort in the promise till we are sure of the condition. As Christ asked Simon Peter, “Lovest thou me P” so commune with your own souls, Dost thou love God? Nay, urge the soul with it again, The effects and pro- ducts of love are many. Those which love God, love that which is of God. As, (I.) His glory. Theil great desire and delight is to honour him, that they may be any way serviceable to the glory of God. The sin mentioned 2 Tim. iii. 2, “ lovers of their own selves,” is the opposite frame to this. When all that men do is with a self-respect, they have little love to God. (2.) His commandments. I observed before, that usually men love sin, and hate the com- mandment: they are vexed with those holy laws that thwart their corrupt desires. Natural conscience 86 AN EXPOSITION OF CHAP. II. impresses a sense of duty, and vile affection works a dislike of it. But now, “ This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his command- ments are not grievous,” I John v. 3. Duty is their delight, and ordinances their solace. “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth,” Psal. xxvi. 8. They will desire to be often in the company of God, to be there where they may meet with him. (3.) His friends. They love Christians as Christians, though otherwise never so mean. Love of the brethren is made an evidence of great importance, I John iii. 14. By these discoveries may you judge yourselves. VERSE 6. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men op- press you, and draw you before the judgment-seats 3 HERE the apostle endeavours to work them to a sense of their own miscarriage. For having proved respect of persons to be a sin, he falls directly upon their consciences; You have been guilty of it, you “have despised the poor.” And then, to show that their practice was not only vain and evil, but mad and senseless, he urges a new argument; “Do not rich men oppress you?” In effect, he asks them whether they would show so much honour to their execution- ers and oppressors. But you will say, Does not the apostle herein stir them up to revenge P and are we not to love our enemies, and to do good to them that hate us P I answer, (1.) It is one thing to love enemies, another to esteem them out of some perverse respect. And there is a difference between fawning, and offices of humanity and civility. (2.) Some have deserved so ill of the church, that they cannot challenge the least civil respect from the people of God: “Neither bid him God speed,” 2 John 10. So 2 Kings iii. 14, “Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosha- phat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.” (3.) The apostle does not speak to the persons, but to the case: Will you honour wealth, which is the visible cause of all mischief? You see that men of that rank and order are usually persecutors and blasphemers. He speaks of rich men in general, not such as used to frequent the church and synagogue; for otherwise you mistake the apostle’s argument, if you think the words di- rected to the persons rather than the order. His argument runs thus; Will you prefer men for wealth in the church, when you see that none are so mis- chievous, and such public enemies to the church, as those that are wealthy P. To prove that wealth is no sufficient ground of Christian respect, he urges the usual abuse of it. “But ye have despised the poor,” jusic & ºrtuágars Töv artwyðv. He shows how contrary their practice was to God’s dispensation. God has put honour upon them, but ye have dishonoured them, as the original word signifies. The prophet expresses such a like sin thus, “Your treading is upon the poor,” Amos v. 11. “Do not rich men.” Either he means rich pagans and Jews who had not embraced Christianity; per- secutions usually arising from men of that sort and order, as the scribes, Pharisees, and high priests. The chief men of the city were stirred up against Paul and Barnabas, Acts xiii. 50. Or else pseudo Christians, who being great and powerful, oppressed their brethren, and used all manner of violence to- wards them. Or rather, in general, any sort of rich IY1621], - “Oppress you.” The word is karaövvaarsvogw, abuse their power against you, or usurp a power over you which was never given them ; in which sense Solomon saith, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender,” Prov. xxii. 7. “Ruleth,” that is, arrogates a power, though not invested with the honour of magistracy. “And draw you before the judgment-seats.” If it be understood of the unconverted Jews, the mean- ing is, they helped forward the persecution; and implies the same with that Matt. x. 17, “They will deliver you up to the councils.” Or if of rich men in general, to which I rather incline, it denotes the violent practices which they used to the poor; drag- ging them, as they used to do with their debtors: “He laid hands on him, and took him by the throat,” Matt. xviii. 28. And the prophet Isaiah expresses the same cruelty, by smiting “with the fist of wick- edness,” Isa. lviii. 4. A great liberty the creditor had over the debtor among the Jews, and that our apostle intimates in the word áAkovow juác, they “draw you;” and when he adds “before judgment-seats,” he aggravates this wickedness that was now grown cus- tomary among them; which was not only violent usage of the poor, but oppressing them under a form of law; either wearing them out by vexatious suits, or defrauding them presently of their right, through the favour which they obtained by their power and greatness : a practice common among all nations, but especially among the Jews; and therefore is it jº where noted in the Scriptures. See Psal. x. , 10. •. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That known and apparent guilt must be roundly charged. “Despised the poor.” Nathan said to David, “Thou art the man,” 2 Sam. xii. 7. When the prac- tice is notorious, a faint accusation does no good. The prophet strikes David on the breast; This is thy sin. When the city is on fire, will a man come coldly and say, Yonder is a great fire, I pray God it may do no harm 2 No ; he will cry, Fire, fire; you are undone if you do not quench it. So when the practice is open, and clearly sinful, it is not good to come with a contemplative lecture, and tame homily, but to fall to the case directly: “Ye have despised the poor.” Sirs, this is your sin; and if you do not reform it, this will be your ruin. It is good to be a little warm, when the sin is common, and the danger imminent. Obs. 2. That despising the poor is a sin, not only against the word and written will of God, but his mind and intent in his works and dispensations. He opposes their practice to God’s dispensations. It is a kind of gigantomachy, a resisting of God. (1.) It is against the mind of God in their creation. “The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the Maker of them all,” Prov. xxii. 2; that is, they meet in this, that they have but one Maker. There is another meeting, Job iii. 13, &c. They meet in the grave, they meet in their death, and in their Maker. Now God never made a creature for contempt. These con- siderations should restrain it; They were made as we were, and they die as we do. The poor man is called our own flesh, Isa. lviii. 7 ; Adam’s child, as we are. (2.) It is against God’s providence, his common pro- vidence, who has constituted this order in the world: “Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker,” Prov. xvii. 5; that is, contemns the wise dispensation of God, who would have the world to consist of hills and valleys, and the poor intermingled with the rich. Therefore Christ saith, “Ye have the poor always with you,” Matt. xxvi. 11. It is one of the settled constitutions and laws of Providence; and it is necessary for the uses and services of the world; this VER. 6. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. - 87 preserves order. There are many offices and functions which human societies cannot want; and therefore Some men's spirits are fitted for handicrafts, and hard manual labour, to which men of a higher spirit and delicate breeding will not condescend. (3.) It is also against God’s special providence, by which, many times, the greatest gifts are bestowed upon them who are poor and despicable in the world; their wit being sharpened by necessity, they may have the clearer use of reason. Naaman’s servants saw more than their master, 2 Kings v. 13. And Solomon tells of a poor man that delivered the city, Eccl. ix. 15. Nay, God many times puts that singular honour of being heirs of salvation upon them; though “poor, rich in faith.” And then injury must needs redound to him; for they are his friends and children; and friends have all things common, both courtesies and injuries. Obs. 3. Rich men are usually persecutors or op- pressors. Their wickedness has the advantage of an occasion; and usually when a disposition and an occasion meet together, then sin is drawn forth and discovered. Many have will, but have no power. The world would be a common stage to act all manner of villanies upon, were it not for such restraints of Pro- vidence. Therefore Solomon makes an oppressing poor man to be a kind of wonder and prodigy, Prov. xxviii. 3. Besides, riches exalt the mind, and harden it. They have had little experience of misery, and so have little pily. God’s motives to Israel were these: “Love ye the stranger: for ye were strangers,” Teut. x, 19; and, Do good to the poor, for “a Syrian ready to perish was your father,” Deut. xxvi. 5. Such reasonings are frequent in Scripture. But now, when men live altogether at ease, their hearts are not meekened with a sense of the accidents and in- conveniences of the common life; and therefore, having power in their hands, they use it, as beasts do their strength, in acts of violence. The prophet often com- plains of the excellency of Jacob, and the oppression that was in her palaces, Amos vi. Again, wealth often ends in pride, and pride breaks all common and moral restraints; and so men make their will a law, and think as if "the rest of the world were made to serve their pleasures. And besides, the world fills their hearts with a ravenous desire to have more of the world, however unjustly it is purchased and ob- tained. You see the reason why they are oppressors and persecutors, because commonly the meanest are most forward in religion. The spirit of the world and the Spirit of Christ are at enmity. The gospel puts men upon the same level, which persons elevated and exalted cannot endure. Besides, they are afraid that the things of Christ will bring some disturb- ance to their worldly interests and possessions. The Jewish rulers were afraid of division among the people, and the coming in of the Romans, John xi. 48. The Gadarenes were afraid of their swine, Luke viii. 26–37. Many such reasons might be given. Well, then, rich men should be more careful to avoid the sins that seem to cleave to their rank and order. It is very difficult, “but with God all things are pos- sible.” Wealth is called “the mammon of unright- eousness,” Luke xvi. 9, because it is usually the in- strument and incentive of it. That of Jerom is harsh, but too often true; Omnis dives aut iniquus est, aut in?qw? hares; That every rich man is either an oppressor himself, or the heir of one. Certainly it is but almost possible to be rich and righteous. There are many evils incident to your state. Moral evils, such as heathens discerned, as pride; “Charge them that they be not high-minded,” I Tim. vi. 17. Boasting, with some contempt of others; “Let not the rich man glory in his riches,” Jer, ix. 23. So injustice; “The rich ruleth over the poor,” Prov. xxii. 7; that is, by force and violence: the word may be read, domineers. Then luxury and profuseness; men abuse the fatness of their portion, and lay it out upon their lusts, Dives “fared sumptuously every day,” Luke xvi. 19. But there are also spiritual evils, which are worse, because they lie more closely and undiscerned. These are, (1.) Forgetting of God, when he has re- membered them most. Men who live at ease have little or no sense of duty. Agur prays, “Give me not riches, lest I be full, and deny thee,” Prov. xxx. 8, 9. And, (2.) Creature confidence. Hence those frequent cautions: “Trust not in uncertain riches,” 1 Tim. vi. 17; and, “If riches increase, set not your hearts upon them,” Psal. lxii. 10. Usually the crea- tures rival God ; and when we enjoy them in abundance, it is difficult to keep off the heart from trust in them. (3.) Worldliness : we are tainted by the objects with which we usually converse ; and the more men have, the more sparing for God’s uses and their own. Solomon speaks of “ riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt,” Eccl. v. 13. And there is an expression in the book of Job, chap. xx. 22, “In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits.” There is no greater argument of God’s curse, than to have an estate, and not to enjoy it. So, (4.) Security : “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,” Luke xii. 19. These are evils that cleave to wealth, like rust to money. I have but named them, because I would not digress into illustrations. VERSE 7. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which gye are called 2 HE proceeds in reckoning up the abuses of riches. Who are the enemies of God, and of religion, the scorners of the worthy name of Christians, but the rich P - “Do not they blaspheme,” oijk airoi 3\agſpmuoãot. Some interpret it of the carnal rich men that pro- fessed religion, as if by the Scandal of their prac- tices they had brought an odium and ill report upon Christianity itself; so that “they blaspheme,” in their sense, is, they cause to blaspheme. They think it is a Hebraism, kal for hiphil. The whole strain of interpreters run this way. They urge for it those parallel places: “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you,” Rom. ii. 24; “By reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of,” 2 Pet. ii. 2; “Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blas- phemed,” I Tim. vi. 1; and, The wives should “be dis- creet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed,” Tit. ii. 5. Certainly religion is never more dishonoured than by the lives of carnal pro- fessors. But this is the great mistake of this con- text, to apply what is here spoken to rich Christians. The apostle only gives an observation of the man- ners of the rich men of that age, they were usually such as were bitter enemies to Christianity ; and therefore infers that wealth was not a valuable con- sideration in the church, to prefer men to places of rule and honour, or to further their cause whenever it came into debate. - “That worthy name,” ca)\öv, honourable; as ver. 3, raxóc, “in a good place,” is in the original, honourably. 88 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF “By the which ye are called,” rô TrikNmSév šp’ juác, which is called upon you; and some interpret that thus, which you call upon. It is made a description of Christians: “All that call upon the name of Jesus Christ,” 1 Cor. i. 2; and 2 Tim. ii. 19, “Let him that nameth the name of Christ.” Or else thus, which is called upon over you ; that is, in baptism, Matt. xxviii. 19; Acts ii. 38. Or rather, as we trans- late, “by which ye are called;” for that is the pro- per import of that phrase. Called upon you; it is applied thus in the Septuagint to wives, who are , called after the name of the husband: Let thy name be called upon us, Švoua rô göv kek}\haëa, śp' juág, Isa. iv. 1; and in Gen. xlviii. 16, to children, My name shall be called on them, śTrucâmóñosrat āv airoic tö ôvouá uov; and so the name of Christ is put upon his people, who sustain these relations to him of spouse and children. - OBSERVATIONS. 1. That wicked rich men, above all others, are most prone to blasphemy. They set their hearts “as the heart of God,” Ezek. xxviii. 6. Riches beget pride, and pride ends in atheism. Besides, enjoying a most liberal use of the creature, they are apt to talk unseemly. When their hearts are warmed and in- flamed with wine and mirth, they cannot contain, but must needs disgorge their malice upon the ways and servants of Christ. The merry and full-fed Babylonians must have a Hebrew song, Psal. cxxxvii. And it is no feast with many, unless John Baptist’s head be brought in a charger. Religion or religious persons must be served in to feed their mirth and Sport. Obs. 2. They who love Christ will hate blasphem- ers. When he would work them into a disesteem of these ungodly wretches, he saith, “Do not they blas- pheme that worthy name P” Moses burned with a holy zeal, when he heard that one had blasphemed God, Lev. xxiv. 10–16. And David saith, “They speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee P and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee P I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies,” Psal. cxxxix. 20–22. Love is tender of the least wrong done to the thing beloved; more especially will it sparkle and burn with a fiery Zeal, when such high contempt is cast upon it as blas- phemy puts upon Christ. Those Gallios of our time, who can so tamely, and without any indignation, hear the worthy name of Christ profaned with execrable blasphemies, show how little love they have to him. David counted them who spoke wickedly against their God, his enemies; but such are their darlings. Obs. 3. That Christ’s name is a worthy name. You may be a disgrace to Christianity, but Chris- tianity will never be a disgrace to you. “I am not ashamed” (saith the apostle Paul) “ of the gospel of Christ,” Rom. i. 16. Many are ashamed to own their profession in carnal company, as if there could be any disgrace in being Christ’s servant. Oh it is an honour to you; and as Christianity is an honour to you, so should you be an honour to it, that you may not stain a worthy name. Adorn the gospel, Tit. ii. 10. The herd of wicked men are ignota capita, persons unknown and unobserved; they may sin, and sin again, yet the world takes no notice of it. But how does it furnish the triumphs of the uncir- cumcised, to see men of a worthy name overtaken in an offence The Hams of the world will laugh to see a Noah drunk. Spots and stains in white are Soon discerned. - Obs. 4. The people of Christ are named and called after Christ's name. Christians from Christ. The apostle saith, “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,” Eph. iii. 15. The name was first given them at Antioch, Acts xi. 26. They were called disciples before, but to distinguish themselves from false brethren they named themselves Chris- tians. They were called Nazarenes and Galileans by their enemies; and about this time there was a sect of that name half Jews and half Christians. Now the very name urges us to care and holiness. Re- member what Christ did; you are called after his name. “Det every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity,” 2 Tim. ii. 19; träg 6 ðvogdăov, he that counts it his honour to use the name of Christ in invocation. Alexander the Great said to one of his captains, who was also called Alex- ander, Recordare nominis Alexandri, See you do nothing unworthy the name of Alexander. So, see you do nothing unworthy the name of Christ. And, as another said, speaking of Something unbecoming, I could do it, if I were not Themistocles; so, I could do it, if I were not a Christian. Or, as Nehemiah, “Should such a man as I flee P.” Shall I, that am named by the name of Christ, do this P. Again, this name is an argument which you may use to God in prayer for grace and mercy; his name is upon you, that endears you to his heart. God’s promises are made to such : “If my people, which are called by my name,” &c., 2 Chron. vii. 14. And so there is a notable promise, “And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee,” Deut. xxviii. 10. So you shall see the church pleading this; “Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not,” Jer. xiv. 9. So may you go to God; Lord, it is thus with us, but we are called by thy name. - VERSE 8. If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. HERE he discovers the ground upon which they thus preposterously dispensed their respects. It was not charity, as they pretended, but “having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.” For this verse is a prolepsis, or a prevention of an excuse foreseen, which might be framed thus; that they were not to be blamed for being too humble, and giving respect there where it was least due; and that they did it out of relation to the common good, and a necessary observance of those ranks and degrees which God has constituted among men. The apostle. supposes this objection, and answers it, partly by concession; If you do it in obedience to the second table, (the tenor of which the apostle expresses by that general rule, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,”) then such respect rightly regulated, and “according to the Scripture,” is but a duty: partly by way of conviction; Your inordinate respect of the rich, with contempt of the poor, is such a flattery and partiality which the law openly condemns; the poor, and those whom we may help and relieve, be- ing in the law, or Scripture notion, as much, yea, rather more, the neighbour than the rich. “If ye fulfil,” rexsirs, if ye come up to the obedience of the law, that part of it which is the rule of out- ward respects. The word properly signifies, if ye perfectly accomplish. Sincerity is a kind of perfec- tion. The papists, among other scriptures, bring this for one, to show that a just man may fulfil the WER. 8. 89 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. law of God. In this place it only implies a sincere respect to the whole duty of the law. . “The royal law.” So he calls it, either because God is the King of kings, and Jesus Christ the “Ring of saints,” Rev. xv. 3; and so the law, either in God’s hands or Christ’s hands, is a royal law, the least deflection from which is rebellion. You would not easily break the king’s laws. God’s laws are royal laws, because of the dignity of their author. The Syriac interpreter favours this sense; for he translates it, the law of God. Or they may be called so from their own worth : that which is excellent, we call it royal. Or else because of its great power upon the conscience. Men's laws are but properly ministerial and explicatory, God’s is royal and ab- solute. Or “the royal law,” to show the plainness and perspicuity of it, like a royal way, or, as we express it, “the king’s high way.” So it is said, “We will go along by the king's way,” Numb. xxi. 22; suitably to which expression the royal law may imply the high way and road of duty. Or, lastly, a royal law, to denote the ingenuousness of its precepts. The com- mand of God, that is to guide you in dispensing your respects, does not oblige you to this servility; the duty of it is more royal and ingenuous. “According to the Scripture; ” that is, as the tenor of it is often set down in the word. The form here specified is often repeated, Lev. xix. 18. The Septuagint in the translation of that passage have the same words as our apostle. It is often repeated by our Lord; see Matt. xxii. 39: and often by the apostles; see Rom. xiii. 9; Gal. v. 14. The full import of this rule we shall anon open. “ Ye do well.” The same form is used Phil. iv. 14, and implies that then they were not blame- worthy, and might justly be absolved and acquitted from the guilt charged in the context. And by the way, we may hence gather, that the apostle does not simply forbid a respect to the rich, but a sordid re- spect, and invested with the circumstances of the COntext. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the vilest wickedness will have a fair covert and pretence. Sin loves to walk under a disguise; the native face of it is ugly and odious. There- fore Satan in policy, and our own hearts deceived by ignorance and self-love, seek to mask and hide it, that we may spare ourselves; and this should urge us to greater heed. Never seek a cover of duty for a vile practice, and to excuse checks of conscience by some pretence from the law. It is Satan’s cunning some- times to dress up sins in the form and appearance of duty, and at other times to represent duty in the garb of sin; as Christ's healing on the sabbath day. Be the more suspicious, especially in a matter wherein your private advantage is concerned, lest base com- pliance be reputed a necessary submission, and unjust gain be counted godliness. Examine the nature of the practice by the rule; Is the royal law applicable to such servility P Examine your own hearts; Is my aim right as well as my action ? It is not enough to do what the law requires, but it must be done in that manner which the law requires. Matter of duty may be turned into sin, where the respect and aim are carnal. Obs. 2. That coming to the law is the best way to discover self-deceits. If it be according to the law, (saith the apostle,) it is well. Paul died by the coming of the commandment, Rom. vii. 9; that is, in convic- tion upon his heart saw himself in a dead and lost state. So Rom. iii. 20, “By the law is the knowledge of sin; ” and therefore we should often talk with the commandment, consult with it in all practices. Obs. 3. That the Lord’s law is a royal law. (1.) It has a kingly author. The solemn motive to obe- dience is, “I am the Lord.” Marcion blasphemed in saying, The law came from an evil God. Many now speak so contemptuously of it, as if they had a Mar- cionite's spirit. The same Lord Jesus that gave the gospel gave also the law; therefore it is so often said that the law was given by an angel, Acts vii. 30; that is, the Angel of the covenant. So Heb. xii. 25—29, the apostle proves that it was the voice of the Lord Jesus that shook Mount Sinai. It is a known rule in divinity, that the Father never appeared in any shape; and therefore, that all those apparitions in the Old Testament were of the Second Person. (2.) It requires noble work, fit for kings; service most approportioned to the dignity of a man’s spirit. Service is an honour, and duty a privilege. “The great things,” it is in the Vulgate honorabilia legis, the honourable things, “ of my law,” Hos. viii. 12. It is said of Israel, that no nation was so high in honour above all nations, because they had God’s statutes, which was their wisdom, Deut. vii. The brightest part of God’s glory is his holiness; and therefore it is said, “glorious in holiness;” and it is our dignity to be holy. That must needs be a royal law, that makes all those kings who fulfil it. (3.) It be- stows royal wages, no less than all of you to be made kings and princes unto God. Enter into “the king- dom prepared for you.” And, “Henceforth is laid up for me a crown,” 2 Tim. iv. 8. This is the entertain- ment that ye shall have from God hereafter, to be all crowned kings and princes. O then give the law this honour in your thoughts. Naturally men adore strictness. How great is the excellency of God’s statutes | Check yourselves, that you can no more come under the power of them. In the ways of sin you have a bad master, worse work, and the worst wages. There is a bad master, his lusts “ye will do,” John viii. 44. They are Satan’s lusts, he is the author of them. There is bad work; sin is the greatest bondage and thraldom, 2 Pet. ii. 19, the heart matu- rally rises against it. Then there is bad wages; “The wages of sin is death,” Rom. vi. 23. Well, then, press these disproportions, and say, What iniquity have I found in God P Jer. ii. 5. Has God or sin been a land of darkness to me? I have served him these eighty years, (said Polycarp,) cai oijk ſjötkmore ué, and he never did me harm. Reason with yourselves; will you sin against a royal Lord, such royal work, such a royal reward P Obs. 4. That the rule which God has left us is laid down in the Scriptures. There is the signification of his will, and from thence must it be sought. They are able to make the man of God perfect. Obs. 5. The Scriptures require we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Paul saith, “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this ; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Gal. v. 14. All the law; that is, all that part of the law which concerns our duty towards others: or all the law, by worshipping God in discharging our duty towards man; and so turning both tables into one. Christ saith, “This is the law and the prophets,” Matt. vii. 12; that is, the sum of the whole word, and that standard of equity which is erected therein. “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them :” for which saying Severus reverenced Christ and Christianity. But must a man love his neighbour with the same proportion of care and respect with which he loves himself? The special love of a man to his wife is expressed by this, “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies,” Eph. v. 28 : and the Hebrew expression is the same in all other places; Let him love his neighbour as his own 90 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF body. And must he now love every one with those singular respects and proportions of affection which he bears to himself and his wife P I answer, The strictness of the precept should not amaze us. Christ raises it one peg higher; “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one an- other; as I have loved you, that ye also love one an- other,” John xiii. 34. There is another manner of pattern. Christ's love was intense, and the measures of it beyond the conceit of our thoughts; yet, as I love, so must ye love one another. But, for the opening of this matter, I shall first show you, Who is your neighbour. Secondly, What kind of love is required to him. (1.) Who is your neighbour? A question necessary to be propounded. It was propounded to Christ himself; “Who is my neighbour P” Luke x. 29. The solution may bega- thered out of Christ's answer. First, in the general, Every man to whom I may be helpful. And the term “neighbour” is used, because our charity is most ex- ercised and drawn out to those who are near us, and the objects that are about us: but it must not be confined there; for Christ proves that a stranger may be a neighbour, Luke x. 36. All people that have the face of a man are called our flesh, Isa. lviii. 7, and our blood, Acts xvii. 26; one blood; cousins at a remoter distance. Any man is a neighbour, with respect to the nearness of our first original, and as he is capable of the same glory and blessedness which we expect; and so a stranger, an enemy, may be a neighbour, and an object of such love as we bear to ourselves. By gospel rules we are bound to desire his good, by virtue of his manhood, as we would our own. Secondly, There are more especial neighbours, who dwell about us, and are more frequently with us, whose necessities must provoke us to greater acts and expressions of love. And as they are more or less near unto us, so are we to proportion our love to them. Those who dwell with us before strangers. Thus the Hebrews preferred the men of their own nation before the Grecians, in the daily ministration, Acts vi. 1. And then our kindred, and those of our family, before a common neighbour; as the apostle saith, “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,” I Tim. v. 8. He speaks upon the case of showing piety at home. And then Our children are in the next rank before them, and the wife of the bosom before them all; and accord- ingly must all acts of bounty and provision be dis- pensed. Thirdly, There are spiritual neighbours, and they are those who are begotten by the same Spirit to the same hopes, who are to have a special prefer- ment in our affection; I mean, in that kind of affec- tion which is proper to Christianity: and for all out- ward acts of bounty and love, they are to have the pre-eminence, children and our families only except- ed, which by the law of nature in this case are to be looked upon as a part of ourselves. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men; especially unto them who are of the household of faith,” Gal. vi. 10. In short, in the love of bounty, the poor and necessitous man is the special neigh- bour. In the love of delight, the godly man is to have the preferment; “To the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my de- light,” Psal. xvi. 3; which also is Bernard’s deter- mination, Meliori major affectus, indigentiori major effectus, tribuendus est; The best must have most of our affection, the poorest most of our bounty. When thou makest a feast, call not thy rich neighbours, &c., Luke xiv. 12–14. He does not condemn honest courtesies, but reproves the error of the Pharisees, who thought by these things to satisfy the com- mandment; just as these in the text, who would seem to make that an act of charity which was but an act of covetousness, and called that love which was base servility and compliance. And we still see that many esteem that Christian communion which is indeed but a carnal visit, and pretend courtesy to excuse charity. (2.) What kind of love is required in this expres- sion, we are to love them as ourselves? I answer, The expression shows the manner of our love, not the measure of it; a parity and likeness for kind, not for proportion. It cannot be understood in the same degree, partly because in some cases a man is bound to love his neighbour more than himself; as I John iii. 16, “We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren;” my single life to save the whole com- munity. And so we ought to help on one another's spiritual good with the loss of our temporal. We may expose ourselves to uncertain danger, to hinder another's certain danger. The apostle Paul, in a glorious excess of charity, could prefer the common good of the salvation of all the Jews before the par- ticular salvation of his own soul: “I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,” Rom. ix. 3. And Moses, for the general safety of Israel, could wish himself to be blotted out of God’s book, Exod. xxxii. 32. Cases may happen, wherein a public good may be more considerable, and better in itself, than my particular happiness; and then in self-de- nial I am bound to love others better than myself. And partly because, on the other hand, in ordinary cases it is impossible I should be as strongly moved, or as industriously active, in another man’s case as I would in my own. Therefore, as I said, the rule in- tends the kind of affection, and the way of it; that is, with what mind and in what course I should pur- sue the good of others, with the same heart and in the same way I would my own ; and chiefly aims at the prevention of a double evil, usual among men, self-love and injury : self-love, when men, out of the privacy and narrowness of their spirits, only mind their own things; and injury, when men care not how they deal with others. First, It prevents self- love, by urging us, [1..] To mind the good of others. “Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth,” I Cor. x. 24; their comfort and content- ment, by all offices of humanity suitable and con- venient to their necessities; especially to promote their spiritual good, labouring to procure it, pray- ing for them, though they are enemies, as David fasted for his enemies, Psal. xxxv. 13. But, alas, this love is quite decayed in these last ages of the world. They are mightily defamed in the Scriptures for self-seeking, 2 Tim. iii. 2. One said, The world was once destroyed propter ardorem cupidinis, with water, for the heat of lust; and it will be again destroyed propter teporem charitalis, with fire, for the coldness of love. These duties are quite out of date and use. [2.] To mind their good really, as truly, though not as much. The apostle saith, “Let love be without dissimulation,” Rom. xii. 9. And St. John speaks often of loving in truth. Though we are not every way as earnest, yet we must be as real, in promoting their good as our own, without any self-end and re- flections upon our own advantage and profit. Second- ly, It prevents injury, by directing us to deal with others as we would have them to deal with ourselves; wishing them no more injury than we would wish our own souls; I mean, when we are in our right reason, and self-love is regular; hiding their defects and infirmities as you would your own, pardoning their offences as you desire God should do yours, Ludolphus de vita Christi. WER. 9. 9] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. and in all contracts and acts of converse putting your souls in their stead. Would I be thus dealt with ? If I had my own choice, would not I be otherwise used? In all our commerce it is good to make fre- quent appeals to our consciences: Would I have this measure measured into my own soul ? And thus I have opened the great rule of all com- merce, “Love thy neighbour as thyself;” whose intent is (as I said) partly to prevent self-love, by showing we must do others good as well as ourselves; and partly to prevent injury?that we may do others no more evil than we do ourselves. VERSE 9. But ºf ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. HERE is the second part of the apostle's answer. In the former part there was the concession, Ye do well, if you give this respect in obedience to the law; but here is the correction, You give it contrary to the direction of the law, and so it is not a duty, but a sin. “But if ye have respect to persons; ” that is, if, in distributing the honours and censures of the church, you judge altogether according to men's outward quality and condition, as before was cleared. “Ye commit sin; ” that is, it is not a duty, as you pretend, but a sin; and whatever you think, the law, which is the rule of Christ's process, will find you guilty. “And are convinced of the law.” This may be understood either generally, that whatever their pre- tences were, yet the law would find them out, and distinguish their unjust partiality from a necessary respect. Or else more especially it may be under- stood of the law which they urged, “Love thy neigh- bour as thyself;” which required an equal respect to the neighbour, however distinguished, whether rich or poor. Or else the apostle intends the law against respect of persons: “Ye shall do no unrighteous- ness in judgment : thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty : but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour,” Lev. xix. 15; to which place I suppose the apostle alludes, because it is so fair for his purpose, and be- cause in that context the general maxim of love to the neighbour is repeated; see ver. 18, in which the Septuagint have the very same words which the apostle uses ver. 8. “As transgressors.” ‘Qc, the word for as, implies reality, not only similitude and likeness; that is, that you are indeed transgress- ors. I the rather note it, for opening a like expression in a matter important and weighty; it is in John i. 14, “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father;” that is, not like the glory of the Son of God, but that he was indeed so. Little is to be observed out of this verse, because the matter of it is handled in the context. Only, Obs. 1. That the word and rule discover wickedness when our blind consciences do not. Conscience has but a weak, light, and that light is partial. Favour thyself, is the language of corrupt nature; and there- fore, that we may not be injurious to our own repose, deluded conscience is apt to mistake every pretence for duty, and the outward work of every duty for the power and life of it. Therefore the apostle saith of the heathens, who had but a little light, that they only minded pyov vópov, “the work of the law,” Rom. ii. 14; that is, the external matter of the command- Veritatem, non similitudinem. Laurent. in loc. ment. Nay, those who have more light are every way as unfaithful in the use of it. Paul rested con- tented with his Pharisaism and outward righteous- ness, till, by a serious application of the rule, he found that to be a merit of death, which he had formerly reckoned upon as a plea for life. That I suppose he intends, when he saith, “I was alive with- out the law once; but when the commandment came sin revived, and I died,” Rom. vii. 9. Well, then, we see we have need to attend upon the word, and con- sult with the law, not the crooked rule of our own consciences. Obs. 2. It is but a crafty pretence, when one part of the law is pleaded, to excuse obedience to another. For when we pick and choose, we do not fulfil God’s will, but our own. These pretended submissive respect to the rich, as due by the law, but forgot those other precepts which established a duty º to the poor. Conscience must be satisfied with some- thing; therefore men usually please themselves with so much of obedience, as is least contrary to their interests and inclinations, and have not an entire uniform respect to the whole law; as if a servant should think himself dutiful, when he goes to a feast or a fair when his master bids him; when in the mean time he declines errands of less trouble, but of more service: whereas in such matters he does not obey his master's will, but his own inclination. So in commands easy and compliant with our own humours and designs, we do not so much serve God as our own interests; and there is more of design than of duty and religion in such actions; and there- fore they lose their reward with God. As to instance a matter suitable to the context: God has required that persons should be hospitable. Now men of a social nature will soon hear in that ear, and think themselves liberal and bountiful, because they spend much in festivity and entertainment, or in feasting with their rich neighbours; whereas little or nothing is done out of a well-tempered charity, and in refresh- ing the poor members of Christ. Now this is no more accepted of God than the offering of a dog's head in sacrifice, because all this is but a lust fed and served under pretence of religion, joviality under the disguise of Christian charity and bounty ; and therefore the apostle makes entertainments to be but sowing to the flesh, Gal. vi. 8. For I suppose the drift of that context is to distinguish between what is spent in charity and luxury. And in the process of the last day, described Matt. XXV, Christ does not ask what thou hast done to the rich, but to his poor members, to the hungry, the naked, &c. Well, then, beware of such a partial, disproportionate obe- dience. Hypocrites divide between the tables, be- tween duty to God and duty to man; and in the respects due to man they are swayed more by their own humours and interests than the true motives of obedience: and therefore, though they usually ex- ceed in their duty and submission to the rich, yet they neglect, if not contemn, the poor; either in their suffrages and elections to ecclesiastical honours and offices, or in acts of judicature, or in duties of private charity, in visits and entertainments; which respect of persons our apostle justly disapproves, tax- ing it for a transgression, and not a duty. Qui facit solum- modo ea qila vult facere, non domi- nicam voluntatem implet, sed suam. Salvian. 92 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF VERSE 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend ºn one point, he is guilty of all. THE connexion between this verse and the former is thus: They had pleaded that their respect of the rich was but a necessary civility, and a duty of the law ; or, at least, that it was but a small offence, such as might be excused by their innocent intention, and obedience in other things; which was an opinion rife in those days. And that some make the occasion of this sentence, that the apostle might disprove that conceit which was then so common, that obedience in some things made amends for their neglect and disobedience in other things. That the idea was common, appears by several passages of Christ and the apostles. Our Saviour charges it often upon the Pharisees. Ben Maimon in his Treatise of Repentance has such a passage as this is: Every one (saith he) hath his merits and his sins. He whose merits are equal to his sins, he is Tzadoc, the righteous man. He whose sins are greater than his merits, he is Rashang, the wicked man. But where the sins and the merits are equal, he is the middle man; partly happy, and partly miserable. This was the sum of the Jewish doctrine in the more corrupt times. And some think the apostle might meet with this error in this verse, by showing that the least breach rendered a man ob- noxious to the danger of the violation of the whole law. Rather I suppose it lies thus: They satisfied themselves with half duty, using over-much observe ance to the rich, and to the poor nothing at all. He had before said, Et uévrot väuov rejºire 3agiNiköy, “If ye fulfil,” or perfect, “the royal law.” Now they minded that part of it which was advantageous to them : it was not full or perfect obedience, to cut off so much duty as was less profitable ; therefore the law con- Vinced them as transgressors. The royal law saith, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;” and man is not to make such exceptions as please him best, to defalcate and cut off such a considerable part of duty at his own pleasure. God saith, “Thy neighbour,” I must not say, My rich neighbour only. There must be an even and adequate care to comply with the whole will of God, or else it is not obedience, but you are in the danger of transgressors. This hint makes much for the opening of the verse, a place in Aug. Iib. 2. Re- itself difficult. Augustine consulted with jº; ; et Jerom about the sense of it in a long pist. 102. ad º º - o exodium.étepist. epistle; and indeed at the first view the *** sentence, seems harsh and rough. I shall first open the phrase, remove false inferences from it, and then establish the true notes and observ- ations, that this scripture may have its due and proper force upon the conscience. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law.” He Speaks upon supposition; Suppose a man should be exact in all other points of the law; which yet is im- possible: we may suppose things that never can be. Or else he speaks according to their pretences and presumptions; they supposed they were not to be taxed or convinced as transgressors in any other matter: Grant it, saith the apostle. Or else he speaks of the whole of this commandment, “Thou shalf love thy neighbour,” &c.; suppose your duty to rich men, and where it may make for your advantage, be whole and entire. - - See Camero, last ed. fol. p. 170. “And yet offend in one point;” willingly, con- stantly, and with allowance from conscience; with thought of merit and excuse, because of his obedience in other matters. “He is guilty of all;” liable to the same punish- ment, stands upon the same terms of hope and ac- ceptance with God, as if he had done nothing. A man may violate totam legem, though not totum legis; sin against the dignity and authority of the whole law, though he doth not actually break every part of it. Yes, but you will say as the apostles, “Who then can be saved P” Matt. xix. 25. Here is a terrible sentence that will much discourage God’s little ones, who are conscious to themselves of their daily fail- ings. I answer, That which the apostle aims at is the discovery of hypocrites, not the discouragement of saints. As Zuinglius, when he had flashed the thunder and lightning of God in the face of sinners, was wont to come in with this proviso, Bone Chris- tiane, hac nihil te; Poor Christian, this is not spoken to thee: so this is not spoken to discourage God’s children; yet it may be of use to them, to make them more humble, cautious, and watchful; as lions will tremble when dogs are beaten. To clear the place, before I come to lay down the notes, I shall, accord- ing to promise, remove the false inferences. (1.) You cannot conclude hence that all sins are equal. They are all damning, not all alike damning. Some guilt may be more heinous, but all is deadly. And that is it which James asserts; he saith, “He is guilty of all,” but not equally guilty. . The apostle would in- fer an equality of care and respect to the whole law, but not an equality of sin. All that can be collected is this, that one allowed, wilful, deliberate breach and violation forfeits our righteousness, and make us be- come obnoxious to the curse of the whole law; and the sinner shall no less die, than if he had broken all by actual transgression. So that although all allowed sins deserve death, yet there is a difference still remaining in the several degrees of guilt and the curse. (2.) You cannot hence conclude, that total rebellion is simply and in itself better than formal profession. Christ loved the man for the good things that were in him from his youth, and tells him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” We read of greater sins, and more intolerable judgment. Good moral heathens may have a cooler hell. (3.) You cannot apply it to them whose care of obedience is universal, though the success is not answerable. “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments,” Psal. cxix. 6; not when I have observed, but when I have respect. Gracious hearts look to all, when they cannot accom- plish all; and upon every known defect and failing they humble themselves and seek mercy. It does not exclude them, for then it would exclude all. But when men allow and please themselves in a partial obedience, without forecare, present striving, and after grief, they come under the terror of this sentence. God will dispense with none that can dispense with themselves in any known failing. (4.) You must not urge this sentence to the exclusion of the comforts of the gospel, and the hopes that we have by the grace of God in Christ; for this sentence in itself is legal, the very rigour of the law : and such sayings brook the exceptions of repentance and free grace; for the rigour of the law can only take place on those who are under the bond of it, and are not freed by Christ. That this is the voice of the law is plain, because it consents with that sum and tenor of it which is laid down ; “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them,” Deut. xxvii. 26. If they failed but in a circumstance, in a ceremony, they were under the power of the curse. So the apostle urges it; “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are writ- | ten in the book of the law to do them,” Gal. iii. 10. VER. 10. 93 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMEs. Now Christ has redeemed all those who have interest in him, from this curse, by “being” (as the apostle saith there, ver. 13) “made a curse for us?” so that there is a remedy in Christ, of which we are possessed by faith and repentance. And let it not seem strange to any that I say the sentence is legal, for many of that nature are here and there intermixed and scattered throughout the gospel, because they are of excellent use and service for gospel ends and purposes : as, to convince hypocrites, whose obedi- ence is always partial; to drive men to the grace re- Vealed in the gospel; and for the guidance and rule of Christians, that they may know the whole will of God. For though we are freed from the rigour of the law, yet we ought to look to the whole rule, and as much as in us lies to strive uſ) arraísºv v švi, not to offend in one point and tittle; not to rest in our imperfections, but to strive against them. Christ has again revived this strictness; “Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the king- dom of God,” Matt. v. 19 ; that is, shall not be owned for a gospel minister. Christ is chary of his least saints and least commandments. Though there be a pardon of course for infirmities and failings, yet Christ has not abated any thing of the strictness of the law. The Pharisees thought that some com- Imandments were little and arbitrary; and therefore the lawyer came to Christ, “ Master, which is the great commandment in the law P’’ Matt. xxii. 36. It is true, some duties are more excellent; but the ques- tion was propounded according to the mind of the Pharisees, who accounted outward devotionary acts most singular, and their own conditions weighty things; now he comes to see if Christ liked the dis- tribution. (5.) You must not urge this sentence to pervert the order of the commandments; as if a man, in committing theft, committed adultery; and, in committing adultery, he committed murder. It is remarkable, the apostle does not say, he transgresses all, but, “he is guilty of all.” The precepts are not to be taken disjunctim, but conjunctim and completive; not severally, but all together, as they make one en- tire law and rule of righteousness; the contempt re- flecting upon the whole law, when it is wilfully violated in one part; as he that wrongs one member, wrongs the whole man or body of which it is a part. The text being vindicated, I shall sum up the whole verse into one OBSERVATION. That voluntary and allowed neglects of any part of the law make us guilty of the violation of the whole law. . Many reasons might be urged to mollify the Seeming asperity and rigour of the point; as, partly, because the contempt of the same authority is mani- fested in the breach of one as well as of all. All the commands are equal with respect to God; they are all ratified by the same authority, which man con- temns when he makes his own will the measure of obedience. Partly, because the same curse is de- served, which, when neglects are voluntary, takes place. Partly, because the law is but one copulative, like a chain which is dissolved by the loosening of one link. Partly, because all sin proceeds from the - - same corruption. The least sin is con- ãº. trary to love, as well as the least drop ja. "Aug. Epist. of water to fire. Partly, because amongst 29. men it is counted equal: one condition not observed forfeits the whole lease. And partly, because one sincere duty has much promised to it; and therefore one sin has its proportionable guilt. True love is called a fulfilling of the law, Rom. Contra eam cha- xiii. 8. And, in God’s account, he that sincerely re- pents of one sin repents of all. And so, on the con- trary, one allowed sin is virtually a violation of the whole law; and therefore, when some went to gather manna on the sabbath day, God said, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws P’’ Exod. xvi. 28; implying, that in the breach of that one they had broken all. There are many uses of this note: because they are of profit and concernment to you, in the right application of this place, I shall give them you in their order. - - (1.) It shows how tender we should be of every command. , Wilful violation amounts to a total neg- lect; therefore, (as Wisdom advises,) “Keep my law as the apple of thine eye,” Prov. vii. 2. The least dust offends the eye; and so the law is a tender thing, and soon wronged. Lest you forfeit all your righteousness at once, it is good to be careful. (2.) That partial obedience is an argument of in- sincerity. When we neglect duties, which either thwart carnal desires, or prejudice carnal interests, we do not please God, but ourselves. We are to walk in all God’s statutes, Luke i. 6. David ful- filled Trávra rā Sexhuara, all the wills of God, Acts xiii. 22. - (3.) That it is a vain deceit to excuse defects of one duty by care of another. Sometimes men ante- date, sometimes they postdate, an indulgence. They antedate it, when they sin upon a presumption they shall make amends by repentance, or that their future good deeds shall be a sufficient expiation or satisfaction. They postdate it, when from duties already done they take liberty or an occasion to sin the more freely. “If he trust to his own righteous- ness, and commit iniquity;” that is, if upon that occasion of righteousness so done, called or thought to be so in his apprehension, he shall adventure upon sin, the doom is, “he shall die,” Ezek. xxxiii. 13. We see many men's hearts grow loose and vain after duties, and they are the more presump- tuous and careless from a vain conceit, that Superero- gating in somethings will excuse obedience in others. (4.) That upon any particular failing we ought to renew our peace with God. I have done that now which will make me guilty of the whole law; there- fore, soul, run to thy Advocate. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” I John ii. 1. O go to Christ, that he may sue out your pardon. Your hearts are not right with God, if you do not use this course. After daily trans- gressions, sue out a daily pardon. The children of God are like fountains, when mud is stirred up, they do not leave till they can get themselves clear again. Particular sins must have particular applications of grace; for in themselves, in their own merit, they leave you under a curse. It is good to deprecate it, as David does, “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure,” Psal. vi. 1. (5.) That we must not only regard the work of duty, but all the circumstances of it. And so pro- portionably, not only the acts of sin, but the vicious motions and inclinations of it. One point is danger- ous. The Pharisees were for external duties, and the avoiding of gross sins, but securely allowed them- selves in sins more hidden, which yet are of a dan- gerous consequence. Malice is murder; and there- upon John saith, “Whoso hateth his brother is a murderer,” 1 John iii. 15. And lust is adultery, Matt. v. 28: a look, a glance, a thought, a desire is in itself damnable, and brooks only the exception of the Divine grace. (6.) That former profession will do no good in case there is a total revolt afterward. A little poison 94 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF in a cup, and one leak in a ship, may ruin all. A man may ride right for a long time, but one turn in the end of the journey may bring him quite out of the way. Gideon had seventy sons, and but one bastard, and yet that bastard destroyed all the rest, Judg. viii. 31; ix. 5. It is said, “One sinner destroyeth much good,” Eccl. ix. 18. Once a sinner, all is lost; the ancients expound it that way. So Ezek. xxxiii. 13, “ All his righteousnesses shall not be remember- ed;” that is, all will be to no purpose. As the sins of one that repents are carried into a land of dark- ness, so are their duties who apostatize. (7.) That the smallness of sin is a poor excuse. It is an aggravation rather than an excuse. . It is the more sad that we should stand with God for a trifle. Luke xvi. 21, he would not give a crumb, and this wonderfully displeased God ; he did not receive a drop. God’s judgments have been most remarkable when the occasion was least. Adam was cast out of Paradise for an apple: so gathering of sticks on the sabbath day, looking into the ark, &c. God’s com- mand binds in lesser things as well as greater; though the object is different, the command is still the same. “I did but taste a little honey (saith Jonathan) with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and, lo, I must die,” I Sam. xiv. 43. It will be sad to you to go to hell for a small matter. One of the prophet’s aggravations is, that they sold the poor for a pair of shoes, Amos ii. 6. Would you contest with God for a small thing, and of little consequence P as it is im- prudence, so it is unkindness. VERSE ll. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. AVow if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. HERE is a proof of the intent of the former sentence, that we are not to look to the matter of the command, how it complies with our desires and interests, but to the authority of the Lawgiver. He gives an instance in the sixth and seventh commandments. God that gave one hath given both; they are precepts of the same law and Lawgiver; and therefore in the viola- tion of one of these laws the authority of the law is violated. “He that said, Do not commit adultery;” that is, that threatened adultery with death, Deut. xxii. 22, threatened also murder with death, Lev. xxiv. 17; Teut. xix. 13; and the apostle uses that phrase, “he that said,” as alluding to the preface of the law : “God spake all these words, saying,” Exod. xx. 1. He instances such sins as are not only digested into the sum of the moral law, but are more directly against the light of nature, that so his argument might be the more strong and sensible; which is to be noted, lest we should think that only a uniform- ity of obedience is required to those precepts that forbid sins openly gross and heinous. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That we must not so much dispute the matter of the command, as look to the will of the Lawgiver. He proves that the whole law had an equal obliga- tion upon the conscience, because he that said the one said the other. God’s will is motive enough to obedience, I Pet. ii. 15: I. Thess. v. 18; iv. 3. Every sin is an affront to God's sovereignty, as if his will were not reason enough ; and to his wisdom, as if he did not know what were good for men; and to his justice, as if the ways of God were unequal. When your hearts stick at any duty, shame your- selves with these considerations : It is a trial of sin- cerity; then duty is well done, when it is done ‘ntuitu voluntatis, with a bare sight of God’s will. And it is a motive to universal obedience ; this duty is required as well as other duties, and enjoined by the same will. Obs. 2. Tuties and sins are of several kinds, ac- cording to the several laws of God. Man has several affections, every one must have a special law; he has several essential parts, God gives laws to all; he is disposed to several providences, which need a distinct rule; he is under several relations and obligations to God, which call for duties of a different nature and respect. Well, then, be not contented, with Herod, to hear many things gladly, but practise somewhat. He that calls you to pray calls you to hear, to redeem time for meditation and other holy purposes. All commands are equally commanded, and must be equally observed. And be not secure, though you are not guilty of such sins as are reproved in others. Other diseases are mortal besides the plague. Though you are not for the farm, you may be for the mer- chandise. Though thou art not a thief or harlot, yet thou mayst be covetous and worldly. There is, as Hippocrates said, Ötzrxià pavia, a double madness, a Sober madness as well as a toying madness. You may be dead in sins, though not dissolute; and though the life may be gravely ordered, yet the heart may be averse from God. The Pharisee could say, I am no adulterer; but he could not say, I am not proud, I am not self-confident. t - VERSE 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. OUT of the whole discourse he infers a seasonable exhortation, that they would order their speeches and actions so as to endure the test and trial of the law, especially in the matter of impartial respects, because commanded by an impartial law. The rea- Son of it is this, those that would be judged by the law should not omit the least part of it. But you desire to be judged by the moral law, evangelized, or made a law of liberty; in which term he hints the re-enforcement of the duties of the law of Moses in the gospel, which require as exact a care in our speeches and actions as the law: for though believers are freed from the terror of the law, yet not from the obedience of it; yea, if they continue in any known and allowed neglects, they lose their privilege, and are not judged by a law of liberty, but fall under the utmost rigour and severity of the sentence fore- mentioned. h “So speak ye, and so do.” He joins the matter hinted in the close of the former chapter concerning speech, ver. 27, and the matter of the present chapter concerning impartial respects, together; and saith, “So speak,” as relating to those directions; “so do,” as relating to the present case ; and the rather, because not only actions, but speeches, fall under the judgment of God and the law. “As they that shall be judged.” Some read, as those that will judge, as applying it to the direct context; and they make out the sense thus. In the Old Testament differences of persons were not so expressly forbidden; but now, as differences of nation, so of relation, are taken away by the law of liberty ; “bond and free are all one in Christ Jesus,” Gal. iii. 28; and therefore you are to judge without WER. 12. 95 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. any respect of persons. But this seems more acute than solid. It is better to keep our own reading, “as those that shall be judged,” that is, either in con- science here, or rather at the tribunal of God hereafter. “By the law of liberty.” The same expression is used in the 25th verse of the former chapter. But what is the force of it here P The lowest reason may be, because their observance of rich men was servile, and the law commanded nobler and freer respects, more separate from base aims and self-advantage. Or else in this expression the apostle may anticipate an objection which might be framed against the rigour of the former sentence; they might pretend they had an exemption by Christ. The apostle grant- eth there was a liberty, but not a licence; for still there is a law, though to the elect a law of liberty : but, saith he, see that your interest be good; to wicked men it is still a bondage, and a hard yoke; therefore walk so that you may not be judged in a legal way, for then the least failing makes you ob- noxious to the curse; which rigour, if you would not undergo, see that you walk so that you may give evidence that you are come under the banner of love, and the privileges of the gospel, and then when you come to be judged, you will be judged upon gospel terms; otherwise there is no liberty or freedom for any that allow themselves in the least breach or voluntary neglect, nothing to be expected but judg- ment without mercy. - OBSERVATIONS. l. That the law in the hands of Christ is a law of liberty. (1.) It is a law. I am not àvouoc, “without the law, but” #vvopog, “under the law to Christ,” I Cor. ix. 21. There is a yoke, though not an unsupportable burden; though there is not rigour, yet there is a rule still. It is directive ; “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good,” Micah vi. 8. The acceptable will of God is discovered in the law of ten command- ments, and the moral part of the Scripture is but a commentary upon it. And it is also imperative; it is not arbitrary to us whether we will obey or no. Laws are obliging : the will of the Creator being signified to us in the law, we are under the com. manding power of it. Things moral and just are perpetually obliging; “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good,” Rom. vii. 12. It is holy, it discovers true strictness; it is just, or suitable to those common notices of right and equity which are impressed upon the creature; and it is good, that is, profitable, useful for man; all which things infer a perpetual obligation : and if the law were not obliging, there could be no sin; for where there is no obligation, there is no transgres- sion. “ Whosoever committeth, sin transgresseth also the law : for sin is the transgression of the law,” 1 John iii. 4. Now natural conscience would soon be offended at that doctrine that should make mur- der, incest, or adultery no sins; and therefore it is but the vain conceit of profane men in these times to think that the gospel frees us from the obligation of the law, because it frees us from the curse of it, for then all duty would be will-worship, and sin but a fond conceit. (2.) It is a law of liberty; for there is a great deal of freedom purchased by Christ. [1..] We are freed from the law as a covenant of works. We are not absolutely bound to such rigour and exactness as that required; life and ‘glory are not offered upon such strict terms. We ought to aim at exactness of obe- dience, but not to despair if we cannot reach it. We are so far to eye perfect obedience, as if it were still the matter of our justification, as to be humbled for defects. A gracious heart cannot offend a good God without grief. Sin is still damning in its own nature, still a violation of a righteous law, still an affront to God. Nay, there are new arguments of humiliation, as sinning against God’s love and kindness, the for- feiting of our actual fruition of the comforts of the covenant, though not our right in it. And as to be humbled for our defects, so to be as earnest in our endeavours. You have more reason to be strict, be- cause you have more help. Lea ſubet, gratia juvat ; we have more advantages, and therefore we should have more care of duty. I press on, “if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead,” Phil. iii. 11; that is, the holiness of that state. A Christian's actions are much below his aims. They have no grace who can be content with a little grace. So that you see we ought to look to the law's ut- most, though we be not judged by the law's rigour. Failings not allowed are pardoned, and weaknesses passed by ; the obedience required of us being not that of servants, but children: “I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,” Mal. iii. 17. [2] We are freed from the curse and condemna- tion of the law. The law may condemn the actions, it cannot condemn the person; it judges actions ac- cording to their quality, but it has no power over the person. So we are said to be “dead to the law,” Gal. ii. 19, and the law to us, Gal. iv. 6; and there- fore the apostle saith, “There is therefore now ’’ oběšv cardikpupa, “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” Rom. viii. 1. The curse may be proposed to a believer, but it cannot take hold of a believer. Not only colts, but horses already broken, need a bridle. [3] We are freed from the curse and irritation of the law. “Sin taking occasion by the command- ment,” Rom. vii. 8. Carnal hearts grow worse for a restraint, as waters swell and rage when the course is stopped; the very prohibition is an occasional provocation: but to a gracious heart it is motive enough to a duty, because God wills it. [4.] We are freed from bondage and terrors. By natural men duties are done servilely, and out of slavish principles. We “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,” Rom. viii. 15. The great principle in the Old Testament, when the dispensa- tion was more legal, was fear; therefore it is said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Prov. ix. 10. And, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his command- ments: for this is the whole duty of man,” Eccl. xii. 13. Fear is represented as the great principle of duty and worship in the Old Testament, as suitable. to that dispensation; but in the New we read that “love constraineth,” 2 Cor. v. 14; that love keepeth the commandments, 1 John v. 2, 3. To the old world God more discovered his will, to us his grace; and therefore our great constraint is to arise from love and sweetness. . Use. It shows us the happiness of those who are in Christ. The law to a believer is a law of liberty, to another it is the law of bondage and death. We may “serve him without fear,” Luke i. 74; that is, without slavish fear. Beasts are urged with goads, and things without life haled with cart-ropes; but Christians are led by sanctified affections, motives of grace, and considerations of gratitude. O look to yourselves then, whether you be in Christ or no. How sweet is this, when we are free from righteous- ness and do not complain of the commandment, but of sin and look upon the transgression as a bondage rather than duty The same apostle that groaned under the body of death, delighted in the 96 ° CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF law of the Lord “after the inward man,” Rom. vii. 22. God’s restraints are not a bondage, but our own corruptions. And again, how sweet is this, when the command gives us a warrant, and love a motive and we can come before God as children, not as hirelings Obs. 2. That we shall be judged by the law at the last day. See Rom. ii. 12, “As many as have sin- ned in the law shall be judged by the law.” The apostle's drift is to prove that all men out of Christ are under a condemnation, whether they had a law promulged, or a law inbred; a law written in tables of stone, as the Jews, or in tables of the heart, as the Gentiles. All are judged according to the declara- tions of his will that God has made to them. They who have gospel, by gospel, or the law of faith, Rom. iii. 31. “The words that I have spoken, the same shall judge them at the last day,” John xii. 48. They who have only the law of nature, by the law natural. They who had the law written, by the law of tables. Believers, by the law of liberty. Christ's obedience shall be put upon their score. However their actions are brought to be scanned by a law and rule, their faith shall be judged and approved by their works; which though they are not the causes of glory, yet they are the evidences; as motion is not the cause of life, but the effect and token of it. That works are brought into judgment appears by that scheme, Matt. xxv. So Rev. xx. 12, “The books were open- ed: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” The Judge of the world will show that he acts rightly. The works of the wicked are produced as the merit of their ruin, the works of the godly as evidences of glory; and therefore the apostle, when he speaks of the process of God with the godly and wicked, mentions the reward and recompence of the godly in a different term and phrase: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life,” Rom. vi. 23. The works of the wicked are produced to show the equity of their wages; the works of the godly, to declare their interest in his gift. Well, then, if the law is the rule of judgment then, let it be so now. If your confidence will not stand before the word, it will not stand before Christ at his ap- pearing. . We might anticipate and prevent the sen- tence of that day, if we would go to the law and to the testimony. This is usual in experience, that persons the most ignorant are the most presuming; and men that contemn and neglect the means of grace have highest hopes: the reason is, because they cherish a confidence which the word would soon confute; and therefore, out of a secret conscious- ness of their own guilt, shun that way of trial. They come not to the light, lest their “deeds should be reproved,” John iii. 20. Oh, if you dare not stand before the word now as it is opened by a minister, what will you do when it is opened by Christ! Therefore when the word reproves, regard it with all reverence and fear: This word judged me now, and it will judge me at the last day. Many fret at the light; as the Ethiopians once a year solemnly curse the sun. Oh but how will they gnash the teeth, when this word shall be brought against them at the coming of Christ in the clouds ! Again, if we shall be judged according to the mea- sure of light and knowledge that we have of the law, it urges us to bring forth fruits answerable to the dispensation of God. It is sad to put a finger in nature's eye, much more to grow black in the sun- shine of the gospel. As God looks to the rule, so to our proportions and measures of light. “If I had not spoken to them, they had not had sin,” saith Christ; that is, no such sin, not that kind of sin, not so much of sin. Gentiles shall answer for their knowledge, and we according to our proportion. In sins of knowledge there is more of sin; for according to the sense that we have of the law forbidding, so is sin increased: and there is more of malice; therefore apostates, who have most knowledge of the truth, are (as Arnobius saith) maa'imī osores sui ordinis, the greatest enemies to their own order and profession. The prophet remarks, “The revolters are profound to make slaughter,” Hos. v. 2. Certainly there is more unkindness to God, when we sin against a direct sight and intuition of his will; and therefore David aggravates his adultery, because it was committed after God had made him know wisdom in the inward part, Psal. li. 6; which certainly is the intent of the Hebrew text there, though we read somewhat other- wise in our translation. It is sad that, after the law is written upon the heart, it should be transgressed; in such acts there is a kind of violence offered to the principles and suggestions of our own bosom. Obs. 3. It is a great help to our Christian course to think of the day of judgment. They best prepare themselves to the spiritual battle, who always hear the sound of that day’s trump. Do not think it is against the liberty of the gospel to think of these severe accounts, or a talk only for novices; it is use- ful for the children of God: though they are deliver- ed from the rigour of that day, yet they ought still to reflect upon it with reverence. I confess, there are some servile reflections which beget nothing but torment and bondage in the spirit; these will not become the children of God: but still a holy awe and reverence is necessary; you will find it of special use to quicken you to Christian care and watchful- ness. There are evangelical reflections, which serve to make the spirit strict, but not servile. It is folly in them who think this argument is wholly legal. The apostle Paul makes the doctrine of judgment to come to be a part of the gospel; “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel,” Rom. ii. 16; that is, according as I have taught in the dispensation of the gospel. And in- deed it is a branch of the most glorious part of the doctrine of the gospel; Christ's judging being the highest and most imperial act of his kingly office. The truth is, it is of excellent use to invite wicked men to repentance; and therefore Paul chose this argument at Athens; He “now commandeth all men every where to repent, because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in right- eousness,” Acts xvii.30, 31. Three reasons may be given why he uses that motive to them at first: one is in- timated in the text, because it is a forcible and press- ing motive to repentance; and the other two may be easily conjectured, or collected out of the context; as, secondly, to prevent their plea, that if they had been in a wrong way, they had found it a happy way, no judgment or plague had lighted upon them. The apostle anticipates this objection, by telling them, “The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” And if they did not repent now, however they escaped here, they should be sure to meet with judg- ment to come. And thirdly, because the heathens themselves had some kind of dread and expectation of such a day, conscience being but the counterpart of this doctrine; and therefore when Paul spoke of judgment to come, Felix trembled, though a heathen, Acts xxiv. 25. The philosophers had some dreams of a severe day of accounts, as appears by Plato's Gorgias, and many passages in Tully. And possibly herein the light of nature might be much helped by tradition. So that for the first and inviting motive, it serves excellently. Nay, the people of God, who VER. 12. 97 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. are already brought to Christ, find a great deal of sweet use and profit by exercising their thoughts in it. The strictness of it serves to scare them out of their own righteousness. Nothing but Christ's right- eousness will serve for Christ's judgment: “That I may be found in him,” &c., Phil. iii. 9. When wrath comes thus solemnly to make inquisition for sinners, it is comfortable to be hidden in the clefts of the rock, to be found in him. So also it is useful to make them more strict and watchful, that they may keep faith and grace in constant exercise, and so be fit to meet the Lord when he cometh with joy and bold- ness. The preacher, when he had propounded the whole duty of man, enforces it upon this motive, “For God shall bring every work into judgment,” Eccl. xii. 13, 14. Again, it is useful to make them more faithful in their callings. Whatever things are omitted at the day of judgment, our carriage in our callings is chiefly noted and produced, it being that particular sphere to which we are limited and confined for serving the great ends of our creation. And as all callings are respected, so especially those high callings, wherein there is some peculiar and special ministration to God, or some charge and employment for the public good. Paul himself, though a chosen vessel, a man of strong affections to Christ, yet thought it needful sometimes to use the spur; and though he professed that he chiefly acted out of the constraints of love, yet he also took the advantage of fear: “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men,” 2 Cor. v. 10, II; implying that a reflection upon the severity and strictness of the day of judgment was a great en- forcement to urge him to faithfulness in the minis- try: and having found the use of it in his own spirit, he presses Timothy by the same motive; “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season,” 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2. It is a most vehement persuasive to diligence, when we consider that we must give an account of our work. So also to make them faithful. There cannot be a greater argument of praise, than when we consider our deliverance from wrath; when wrath is drawn out to the height, that we can look Christ in the face with comfort, I John ii. 28. And we may begin our tri- umph, when others are overwhelmed with terrors. So the apostle saith, “Herein is our love made per- fect, that we may have boldness in the day of judg- ment,” I John iv., 17; that is, therein is the height and perfection of the Divine love discovered, that when others call upon mountains to cover them, we may lift up our heads with comfort, and may call the world's Judge our Friend and Father. Lastly, to awaken their souls to an earnestness of desire and expectation. The good servant expects his master's coming, Matt. xxiv. 45, 46. And the bride saith, Come, Rev. xxii. 17. The day of judgment is the day of Christ's royalty, and your espousals. Here we are betrothed, not married. When Christ went out of the world, there were mutual and interchangeable pledges of love and affection. AWobis dedit arrhabonem Spiritus; a nobis acce- pit arrhabonem carnis ; He left us the pledge of his Spirit, as Elijah ascending left his mantle; he took from us the pledge of our flesh and nature: therefore certainly all who have an interest in Christ must needs love the day of his appearing, 2 Tim. iv. 8. Use. Well, then, often exercise your thoughts in this matter. Think of the Judge, of his majesty, of the glory of his appearance; when the graves are Tertullianus. opened, and the rocks are rent; when Christ's un- H speakable glory shall break forth like lightning through the heavens; when he shall come riding on the clouds, environed with flames of fire, attended with all the host of the elect angels, and the great shout and trump shall summon all before the royal throne of his judgment. Consider also his purity and holiness. When God discovered himself in a particular judgment, they said, “Who is able to stand before this holy God?” I Sam. vi. 20. But when Christ comes to judge all the world, with a “garment white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool,” Dan, vii. 9, how will guilty, spotted creatures appear in his presence? Christ's throne is a “white throne,” Rev. xx. 11, and black sinners cannot stand before it. None have confidence in that day, but either such as are of unspotted innocence, as the an- gels; or those who are washed in Christ's blood, as the saints. Consider his strict justice: nothing so small and inconsiderable but, if it be sinful, God hates it. Idle and light words weigh heavy in God’s balance, Matt. xii. 36. Nothing so hidden and secret but is then opened ; deadness, irreverence, unsavouriness in holy duties; the least failing or de- fect in circumstance, manner, or end. A man should never think of the severity of that day but he should cry out, “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand P” Psal. cxxx. 3. “Stand;” that is, rectus in curia, be able to make a bold defence in that day. Those sins which, through the com- monness and easiness of error, seem to challenge a pardon of course, and in which we are most indulgent to ourselves, as the follies and excesses committed through the heat of youth, which in man’s account, who has but a drop of indignation against sin, are venial, shall be then produced. “Know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee to judg- ment,” Eccl. xi. 9. O think of these things to an evangelical purpose, that ye may trust in nothing but Christ's righteousness against Christ's judgment. Obs. 4. That not only our actions, but our speeches, in which we are less deliberate, come under the judi- catory of God and the word. “So speak, and so do.” “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment: for by thy words thou shalt be justified, by thy words thou shalt be condemned,” Matt. xii. 36, 37. Usually we forget ourselves in our speeches, and make light account of them; but for idle words, not only evil, but idle, we shall be judged in the last day. Evil words show a wicked heart, and idle words a vain mind. There is a quick inter- course between the heart and the tongue; and what- ever abounds in the heart comes uppermost, and finds vent in the speech. Therefore let wicked men beware, lest “their own tongue fall upon them,” Psal. lxiv. 8. Better have a whole mountain than one evil tongue fall upon us; this will crush you to pieces in the day of wrath. Well, then, it shows how foolish their excuse is, who hope they are not so bad as they make themselves in their words. Alas ! this is one of the nearest and clearest dis- coveries of what is in thy heart. Thy tongue should be thy glory, and it is thy shame. Evil words have a cursed influence. That odºrpog Aóyog, rotten com- munication, Eph. iv. 29, passes through others like lightning, and sets them all on fire. Behold a great deceit, in good things men think their talking should excuse their walking; in bad, they hope their hearts are good, though their communications are vile and base. A stinking breath argueth corrupt lungs; such putrid and cankered speeches come from a foul heart. Christ asked his disciples, “What manner of com- munications are these that ye have one to another?” Luke xxiv. 17. Xenophon and Plato give rules, that 98 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF men's speeches at meals, and such-like meetings, should be written, that they might be more serious. O consider, God writes them. What a shameful story will be brought out against you at the day of judg- ment, when all your rotten and unsavoury speeches shall be numbered and reckoned up to you ! It is observable, when Paul makes an anatomy of a natural man, he speaks more of the organs of speech than all the other members; “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,” Rom. iii. 13, 14. The inward dunghill reeks and sends forth its stench most this way. VERSE 13. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy ; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. HE applies the former direction to the matter: “So speak, and so do,” as those that would not come under the rigour of the covenant of works; for if you allow yourselves in any sin, or do any thing against any part of the royal law, you can expect nothing but judgment without mercy. But to be cruel to your brethren with allowance and indulgence is a sin that will put you into that state; not only as it is an allowed transgression of the law, but a special sin, that in equity seems to require such a judgment; it being most meet that they should find no mercy who would show none. “For he shall have judgment without mercy.” In which expression he intimates the effect of the cove- nant of works, which is judgment without any mix- ture and temper of mercy, the law abating nothing to the transgressor. As also to imply the retaliation of God; severe men justly meet with hard dealing and recompence. - “That showed no mercy.” As if he had said, Mercy is not for those who only honour rich men, but for them who are full of bowels and bounty to the poor. For, by showing no mercy, he either in- tends shutting up compassion against the necessities of the poor, or using them with contumely, injury, and reproach. They were so far from giving due respect, that they were guilty of undue disrespect; a practice which certainly will leave us ashamed at the day of judgment, when the Lord shall slight our persons, and leave us to our own just horrors and discouragements. “And mercy rejoiceth over judgment.” . The word is carakavyāra, boasteth, lifteth up the head, as a man will when anything is accomplished with glory and success. This latter clause has been tortured and vexed with diversity of expositions; it were fruitless to number up all to you. They may be referred to two general heads. Some take mercy here for God's mercy, others for man's mercy. They that apply it to God, either expound it thus; They have a severe judgment; and if it be not so with all, it is merely the mercy of God, which has rejoiced and triumphed over his justice. So Fulgentius among the fathers. But this is too forced. Others, as Gregory, &c., in- terpret it with more probability thus; Though un- merciful men be severely handled, yet, in the behalf of others, “mercy rejoiceth over judgment;” that is, in the conflict and contest between the attributes about sinners, mercy gets the victory, and so re- joiceth, as men when they divide the spoil. Piscator makes out this sense yet more subtilly, taking kai, which we translate and, for though, or yet, as it is often in Scripture; and then the sense is, Though mercy itself would fain rejoice over judgment, acts of pity and kindness being exercised with more of God’s delight, yet at the sight of unmercifulness its compassions shrink up and retire. I should incline this way, but that the apostle speaks of that mercy which man shows to man. For there seems to be a thesis and an antithesis, a position and an oppo- sition, in the verse. In the position, the apostle asserts that the unmerciful shall find no mercy. In the opposition, that mercy finds the judgment not only tempered, but overcome ; that is, he that shows mercy is not in danger of damnation; for God will not condemn those who imitate his own goodness; and therefore he may rejoice over his fears, as one that has escaped. Now the orthodox, who apply it to man’s mercy, do not make this disposition a cause of our acceptance with God, but an evidence; mercy showed to men being an assured pledge of that mercy which he shall obtain with God. I confess this is rational. But look to the phrase of the text, and you will find some inconvenience in this opinion. For it will be a speech of a most harsh sound and construc- tion, to say that our mercy should rejoice against God’s judgment; for then man would seem to have somewhat wherewith to glory before God; which is contrary to David, who denies any work of ours to be justifiable in his sight, Psal. cxliii. 2, or to be able to hold up the head or neck against his judgment; contrary to Christ, who forbids this rejoicing against the Divine judgment, though we are conscious to ourselves of performing our duty, Luke xvii. 10; and contrary to Paul, who saith there is no glory- ing before God, Rom. iv. 2. All the rejoicing we have against God’s justice is in the victory of his mercy. Therefore I believe these two senses may be well compounded and modified each by the other, thus: It is the mercy of God that rejoiceth over his justice, and it is mercy in man that causes us to re- joice in the mercy of God. Therefore the wisdom of the apostle is to be observed, in framing the speech so that it might be indifferently compliant with both those senses. Yea, upon a more accurate and intimate consideration of the words, I find that the opposition in the apostle's speech does not lie so much between unmercifulness and mercy, as between judgment without mercy, and judgment overcome by mercy. Therefore, upon the issue of the whole debate, I should judge that the apostle's speech is ecliptical, and more must be understood than is expressed; mercy in God being expressed as the rise of our triumph, and mercy in man being under- stood as the evidence of it: and the sum is, that the merciful man may glory as one who has received mercy; for, the mercy of God rejoicing over the justice of God in his behalf, he may rejoice over Satan, sin, death, hell, and his own conscience. In the court of heaven the mercy of God rejoices, in the court of conscience the mercy of man. The one denotes a victory over the Divine justice, the other a victory over our own fears. OBSERVATIONS. 1. The condition of men under the covenant of works is very miserable. They meet with justice without any temper of mercy. The word speaks no comfort to them. Either exact duty or extreme misery are the terms of that covenant. Do, and live, and, Do, and die, is the only voice you shall hear, whilst you hold by that tenure. God asked of Adam, “What is this that thou hast done P” not, Hast thou repented P So in the prophet, Ezek. xviii. 20, “The WER. 13. 99 THE GENERAL EPHSTLE OF JAMES. \ soul that sinneth shall die.” The least breach is fatal. To fallen man the duty of that covenant is impossible, the penalty of it is intolerable. Fore- going sins cannot be expiated by subsequent duties. Paying of new debts does not quit the old score. Will you hope in God’s mercy P One attribute is not exercised to the prejudice and wrong of another. In that covenant God intends to glorify justice, and you are engaged to a righteous law; and both law and justice must have satisfaction. As the word speaks no comfort, so providence yields none. All God’s dispensations are judicial: “An evil, an only evil,” Ezek. vii. 5. Their crosses are altogether curses. There is nothing befalls them that are under the covenant of grace but there is some good in it; something to invite hope, or to allay sorrow. In wrath God remembers mercy, Hab. iii. 2. The rod is not turned into a serpent, and therefore comforts, Psal. xxiii. 5. Whereas to these every comfort is salted with a curse. In their discomforts there is nothing but an appearance of wrath. But the worst of the covenant of works is hereafter. When he deals with his people all in mercy, he will deal with them all in judgment. A cup of wrath unmixed, Rev. xiv. 10; that is, simple and bare ingredients of wrath. Yet it is said that the cup of the Lord is full mixed, Psal. lxxv. 8; full mixed with all sorts of plagues, but unmixed without the least drop or temperament of mercy. Oh how will ye do to suffer those tor- ments that are without ease and without end to have your “part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched : * Rev. xxi. 8; Mark ix.46. Nothing more painful to the sense than fire; no fire more noisome, or more scalding, than brimstone; and all this for ever and ever. There is an eternity of extremity ; it is without measure and without end; which is the hell of hell, that after a thousand of years are passed over, that worm dieth not, and that fire is not quenched. The brick hills and the furnace of Babel are but shadows to it. There was a sad howling and yelling in Sodom, when God rained hell out of heaven. How did the poor scalded creatures run up and down in that deluge of brim- stone, and shriek and howl because of their pains ! Oh but what weeping and gnashing will there be in hell, when a fiery stream shall issue and come forth from before God, Dan. vii. 10, and poor lost creatures shall wallow hither and thither, and have not a drop to cool their tongues Well, then, it should awaken those who are under the covenant of works to come under the banner of grace. Those who are con- demned in one court, have liberty of appeal to an- other; and when ye are dead and lost to the first law, you may be alive to God, Gal. ii. 19. Let the avenger of blood make you flee to the city of re- fuge. But you will say, Who are now under the covenant of works P. There is a vulgar prejudice abroad, which supposes that the first covenant was repealed and disannulled upon the fall, and that God now deals with us upon new terms; as if the covenant of grace wholly shut out the former con- tract, wherein they think Adam only was concerned. But this is a gross mistake, because it was made not only with Adam, but with all his seed. And every natural man, whilst natural, whilst merely a son of Adam, is obliged to the tenor of it. The form of the law runs universally, “ Cursed is every one that,” &c., Gal. iii. 10; which rule allows no exception but that of free grace and interest in Christ. Every child, even those born in the church, is obnoxious to the curse and penalty of it: “Children of wrath, even as others,” Eph. ii. 3. And therefore are natural men described by this term, those “that are - H 2 under the law,” Gal. iv. 5; that is, under the bond and curse of the law of works. If the law of works had been repealed and laid aside immediately upon Adam’s fall, Christ had not come under the bond and curse of it as our substitute and surety; for he was to take our debt upon him, to submit to the duty and penalty of our engagement: therefore it is said, in the place last quoted, he was “made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” So also Gal. iii. 13, He was “made a curse for us;” that is, in our room and place. And again, the law is not repealed, because it is an unchangeable rule, accord- ing to which God proceeds. Mia repata, Not a tittle of the law shall pass away “till all be fulfilled,” Matt. v. 18; either by the creature, or upon the creature; by us, or by our Surety. It is the covenant of works that condemns all the sons of Adam. The rigour of it brought Christ from heaven to fulfil it for believers. Either we must have Christ to fulfil it, or for the breach of it we must perish for ever. And therefore our apostle saith, that at the day of judgment God proceeds with all men according to the two cove- nants; some are judged by the law of liberty, and some have judgment without mercy. The two cove- nants have two principal confederate parties that contracted for them and their heirs, Adam and Christ; therefore as long as thou art Adam's heir thou hast Adam’s engagement upon thee. . The covenant of works was made with Adam and his seed, who were all natural men; the covenant of grace with Christ and his seed, who are believers, Isa. liii. 10. God will own no interest in them that claim by Adam. As Abraham was to reckon his seed by Isaac, not by Ishmael, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called;” so God’s children are reckoned by Christ. Others, that have but a common interest, cherish a vain hope : “God that made them will not have mercy upon them,” Isa. xxvii. 11. - But you will say, How shall we more distinctly know what is our claim and tenure ? I answer, (1.) It is a shrewd presumption that you are under the old bond, if you cannot discern how your copy and tenure is changed. The heirs of promise are described to be those that flee “for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before” them, Heb. vi. 18. God’s children are usually frighted out of themselves by some avenger of blood; and the more earnestly come under the holy bond of the new oath, and flee to Christ, by considering the misery of their standing in Adam. The apostle supposed that wrath made inquisition for him, and therefore cried out, Oh that I might “be found in him,” Phil. iii. 9. They who presume they had always faith and a good heart towards God grossly mistake. . That justiciary said, “All these things have I kept from my youth,” Matt. xix. 26. - (2.) Much may be discerned from the present state and frame of your hearts. If they carry a proportion with the covenant of works, it is to be feared you hold by that title and copy. As, [1..] When the spirit is legal. There is a suitable spirit both to law and gospel; a servile spirit is the spirit of the law, a free spirit is the spirit of the gospel. It is the character of men under works, they are “all their lifetime subject to bondage,” Heb. ii. 15. Religion is care- ful, but a foolish scrupulosity and servile awe argue bondage: see Rom. viii. 15; 2 Tim. i. 7. [2.] When we seek a righteousness of our own, Rom., X. 3, and settle our life and peace upon a foundation of our own works. The covenant of works is natural to us. Common people hope to be saved by their works and good meaning, and by their good prayers to be accepted with God. “What shall, we do?” is the language of every convinced man. And the Jews said, tº e ,s © o º ge • * * * o º 3. • © #00 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” John vi. 28. We would fain engage the Divine grace by our own works. But this disposition reigns most in such as either, 1. Plead their works; as those in the prophet, who took de- light in approaching to God; that is, to expostulate and contend with him about their works, for so it follows in the next verse, “Wherefore have we fasted?” Isa. lviii. 2, 3. So the Fharisee, Luke xviii. 11. And hypocrites are brought in by Christ pleading their works, as denoting the secret ground of their confidence: “Have we not prophesied in thy name P and in thy name have cast out devils P and in thy name done many marvellous works P” Matt. vii. 22. The saints of God own no such thing: “When saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee P or naked, and clothed thee P” &c., Matt. xxv. 37, 38. They wonder Christ should remember such sorry things. As they perform duties with more care, so they overlook them with more self-denial ; whereas others build upon their great gifts, their employment in the ministry, and urge every petty thing as an engagement upon God. 2. When they take more liberty to sin, hoping to make amends by their duties. Conviction would not let them prose- cute their sins so freely, if they did not make fair promises of reformation. It is usual with men to carry on a sin the more securely, out of a presump- tion of a former or after duty. Sir Edwin Sands ob- serves, that the Italians are imboldened to sin, that they may have somewhat to confess. And Solomon speaks of bringing sacrifice “with a wicked mind,” Prov. xxi. 27. And Balaam built seven altars, and offered seven rams, &c., Numb. xxiii., from a vain hope to ingratiate God, that he might curse the people. And the prophet speaks of committing ini- quity out of a trust in righteousness, Ezek. xxxiii. 13. (3.) You may collect much from the unsuitable- ness of your hearts to the state of grace; as, [1..] If you live under the reign of any sin. When it is con- stant and allowed, that rule holds good, He that is guilty of one is guilty of all, James ii. 10. Then the devil has an interest in you, not Christ. Habitu- ated dispositions, good or bad, show who is your father. That of Rom. vi. 14 is remarkable, “Sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” An interest in grace cannot consist with a known sin. [2] If you abuse grace. . For then you make grace an enemy, and then justice will take up the quarrel of abused mercy. Usually men please themselves if they be right in doctrine, but do not take notice of that taint which is insensibly conveyed into their manners. O consider, when out of a pretence of gospel you grow neglectful of duty, less circumspect and wary in your ways, more secure, and slighting the threat- enings of the word, you offend grace so much that it turns you over to justice. There are Antinomians in life as well as doctrine. Good Christians are angry that others make that an occasion to lust, which is to themselves a ground of hope, “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness,” Jude 4. Therefore the man that makes it fuel for sin, has a naked apprehension of, not a sure interest in it. Obs. 2. Unmerciful men find no mercy. (i.) It is a sin most unsuitable to grace. Kindness makes us pity misery. Thou wast a stranger, be kind to strangers. He that was forgiven, and took his fel- low servant by the throat, had his pardon recalled, Matt. xviii. We pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” Matt. vi. 12. God’s love to us melts the soul, and affects us not only with con- tritian towards God, but compassion to our brethren. Atºtirich, when the gospel was first preached, they Wide Sanctium in locum. 4, -, * e •o gave liberty to their captives and prisoners, out of a sense of their own deliverance by Christ. (2.) It is unlike to God; he gives and forgives. How will you look God in the face, if you should act so contrary Dissimilitude and disproportion are the It is a disposition that will check your prayers, beware of it. Unmercifulness is two- fold, when we neither give nor forgive. It denotes, 1. A defect in giving or shutting up our compassion. They ask, and your hearts are as flint or steel. We are as faulty when we do not what we should, as when we do what we should not. Covetousness and vio- lence will weigh alike heavy in God’s balance; and you may be as cruel in neglect as injury. 2. In de- nying pardon to those who have wronged us. They have done you hurt, but you must be like your heavenly Father. No man can do thee so much in- jury as thou hast done God; sin is more opposite to his nature than wrong can be to your interests. Would you have God as slack in giving, as backward to forgive P What would you say if God should deal thus with you, either for grace or pardon? Certainly boun- teous and piteous hearts pray with most confidence. Obs. 3. God usually retaliates and deals with men according to the manner and way of their wicked- ness. Sin and suffering oft meet in some remarkable circumstance. Babylon has blood for blood. Jacob comes as the elder to Isaac, and Leah comes as the younger to Jacob. He that denied a crumb wanted a drop, Luke xvi. Asa, who set the prophet in the stocks, had a disease in his feet, 2 Chron. xvi. 10, 12. Well, then, when it is so, know the sin by the judgment, and silence murmuring. Adonibezek, a heathen, observed, “As I have done, so hath God requited me,” Judg. i. 7. And it shows you what reason you have to pray that God would not deal with you according to your iniquities, your manner of dealing either with him or men; and walk with the greater awe and strictness. Would I have God to deal thus with me P Would I have the recom- pences of the Lord to be after this rate P Obs. 4. God exercises acts of mercy with delight. His mercy rejoiceth over justice. ... So in the pro- phet, “He delighteth in mercy,” Micah vii. 18. So in another prophet, “I will rejoice over them to do them good,” Jer. xxxii. 41. God is infinitely just as well as merciful, only he delights in gracious dis- pensations and discoveries of himself to the creature. This should encourage you in your approaches to God. Mercy is as acceptable to God as to you. In 2 Sam. xiv. 1, when Joab “perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom,” he set the woman of Tekoah to make request for him. The King's heart is set upon mercy, your requests gratify his own bowels. And again, if mercy hath rejoiced over judgment, so should you too. Go and triumph over death, hell, devil, damnation, and make your boast of mercy all the day long. “O death, where is thy sting P. O. grave, where is thy victory P” I Cor. xv. 55. You have another triumph, Rom. viii. 33, Who shall lay any thing to our charge P. And though the devil be the accuser of the brethren, yet because mercy hath rejoiced over judgment, therefore we may rejoice over Satan, and go to heaven singing. Obs. 5. Mercy in us is a sign of our interest in God’s mercy. “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy,” Matt. v. 7. “They shall ob- tain;” God will deal kindly with them, but it is mercy which they obtain, not a just reward. So Prov. xi. 25, “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” The widow of Sarepta's barrel had no bottom. I will show you what to him P grounds of dislike, this mercy is. It is manifested, 1. In pitying miseries. Jesus had “compassion on the multitude,” Matt. xv. 32, so should we. It is not mercy, unless it arises WER. 14. 101 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. from compassion: “If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,” Isa. lviii. 10. Heart and hand must go together; bounty begins in pity. 2. In relieving wants by counsel and contribution. It is not enough to say, “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body,” James ii. 16. 3. In for- giving injuries and offences. “Until seventy times seven,” Matt. xviii. 22; that is, toties quoties. It is an allusion to Peter's number, Must I forgive seven times P Yea, saith Christ, “seventy times seven:” an uncertain number for a certain. God multiplies pardon; “abundantly pardons,” Isa. lv. 7 ; and so should we. As Tully said of Caesar, Nihâl oblivisci soles, nisi injurias; That he forgot nothing but in- juries; so should you. Secondly, I will show you when it is a pledge of mercy. 1. When it is done as duty, and according to the manner God has required; To distribute forget not, “for with such sacrifice God is well-pleased.” Alms must be sacrifice, given to men for God’s sake; not merely done as a commend- able act, but in conscience of the rule. 2. The grounds must be warrantable. The right spring of mercy is from sense of God’s mercy; it is a thank- offering, not a sin-offering. VERSE 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works 2 can faith save him? HERE is the second exhortation against boasting of an idle faith, and it suiteth with the last argument urged in behalf of the former matter. He had spoken of a law of liberty; now, lest this expression should justify the misconception of some false hypo- crites, who thought they might live as they list, so that they professed faith in Christ, he disproves its vanity by divers arguments. “What doth it profit, my brethren P” that is, how will it further the ends of a profession, or a religion? So the apostle, when he confutes another such pre- sumptuous persuasion, saith, Oščáv sipu, “I am no- thing,” I Cor. xiii. 2; that is, of no esteem with God, upon the supposition that his gifts were without charity. “Though a man say he hath faith.” “Say;” that is, boast of it to others, or pride himself in the conceit of it. It is remarkable that the apostle does not say, if any hath faith, but, if any man say he hath faith. Faith, where it is indeed, is of use and profit to sal- vation; and he who has faith is sure of salvation, but not always he that saith he hath faith. In this whole discourse the apostle's intent is to show, not what justifies, but who is justified; not what faith does, but what faith is : and the drift of the context is not to show that faith without works does not justify, but that a persuasion or assent without works is not faith; and the justification of which he speaks is not So much of the person as of the faith. “And have not works; ” that is, if there be no fruits and issues of holiness from it. It is the foſſy of the papists to restrain it to acts of charity. There are other products of faith; it being a grace that has a universal influence in all the offices of a holy life. “Can faith save him P” that is, a pretence of faith: for otherwise faith Saves, that is, in that way of con- currence in which any act of the creatures can be said to save. So Paul, Ti) yúp xdpur, gegoapávot 3id Tic Triorsøg, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” Eph. ii. 8. And therefore certainly our apostle means a pretence of faith, otherwise there would be a direct contradiction; and it may be collected out of all the whole discourse. The two next verses show he means such a faith as is in the tongue and lips, such a faith as is alone and by itself, ver. 17, such a faith as the devils may have, ver. 19, such a faith as is dead, that is, which no more can be accounted faith than a dead man can be accounted a man. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That pretended graces are fruitless and unprofit- able. Formal graces, as well as formal duties, bring in no grace, no comfort to the spirit for the present, and can beget no hope of glory for the future. Pre- tences of the truth are a disadvantage; for they argue a conviction of the truth, and yet a refusal of it. It is a kind of practical blasphemy to veil an impure life under a profession of faith; for we do as it were tack on and, fasten the errors and excesses of our lives upon religion: therefore it is said, “I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and are not,” Rev. ii. 9. There is less dishonour brought to God by open opposition, than by profession used as a cover and excuse for profaneness; and in the gospel it is determined, in that parable, Matt. xxi. 28–31, that that son was less culpable, who said, I will not, than the other, who said, I will, and did not. All this is spoken to illustrate that passage, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith? Obs. 2. Pretences of faith are easy and usual. Men are apt to say they have faith: when they see the vanity of works, and cannot stand before God by that claim, they pretend to faith. In so free a dis- covery of the gospel men are apt to declaim against resting in works, but it is as dangerous as to rest in a false faith. Obs. 3. That where there is true faith there will be works. “And have not works.” He proves it is but a saying they have faith, if there be not works and fruits of it. There are three things that will incline the soul to duty; a forcible principle, a mighty aid, a high aim ; all these are where faith is. The forcible principle is God’s love, the mighty aid is God’s Spirit, the high aim is God’s glory. (1.) For the principle; where there is faith, there will be love. Affection follows persuasion ; and where there is love, there will be work; therefore we often read of the “labour of love,” I Thess. i. 3; Heb. vi. 10; and “faith which worketh by love,” Gal. v. 6. Faith, which is an apprehension of God’s love to us, be- gets a return of love to God, and then makes use of so sweet an affection to carry out all its acts and services of thankfulness : it first begets love, and then makes use of it. (2.) There is a mighty aid received from the quickening Spirit. Help engages to action. Man’s great excuse is want of power. Faith plants into Christ, and so receives an influence from him. He liveth in us by his Spirit, and we live in him by faith; and therefore we must needs “bring forth much fruit,” John xv. 5. In the 17th and 26th verses, the apostle calls a workless faith a dead or lifeless faith, void of the life and quickening of the Spirit. Where there is life, there will be acting. Operation follows being. Hypocrites are said to be “twice dead, plucked up by the roots,” Jude 12. “Twice dead; ” dead in their natural condition, and dead after their profession : and then “plucked up;” that is, plainly discovered to be those that never had any vital influence from Christ. (3.) Where there is faith, there will be aims to glorify God. Faith, that receives grace, returns glory: that “they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation,” I Pet. ii. 12. When God visits 102 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF their souls in mercy, they will be devising how they may do him glory; for faith is ingenuous, it cannot think of taking without giving ; and when it appre- hends mercy, it contrives what shall be rendered unto the Lord. Well, then, try your faith; it is not a naked assent, or an unactive apprehension: there will be effects, some works, which you may know to be good, if they are done in Christ; Xógic poij, “With- out me,” or out of me, “ye can do nothing,” John xv. 5. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” Phil. iv. 13; that is, by the actual influence of his grace. And for Christ; that is, for his sake and glory; 'Euoi yöp rô &#v, Xotorog, Phil. i. 21. Paul’s whole, life, his 16 Zijv, was consecrated to Christ, for the uses and purposes of his glory. In short, they that work in Christ, as united to him by faith, work by Christ, by the continual supply of his grace, and for Christ, with an aim at his glory. Obs. 4. We should cherish no other confidence than such as will abide the day of the Lord, and hold out to salvation. “Can faith save him P” That is, Will you come before God with these hopes for sal- vation ? Will this be a plea then, when all mankind is either to be damned or saved, to say, You made profession P. The solemnity of Christ's coming is the circumstance that is often used for detecting un- grounded hopes, 1 John ii. 28; and Luke xxi. 36, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man;” that is, without shame and remorse at his coming. So I John iv. I?, “That we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” Men consider what will serve for present purposes, what will quiet the heart, that they may follow their business or pleasures with the less regret. O but consider what will serve you for salvation; what will serve turn at the day of death, or the day of judgment. No plea is sufficient but what may be urged before the throne of the Lamb. Well, then, urge this upon your souls; Will this faith save me? interest me in Christ, so that I may have boldness at the day of judgment P As Christ asked Peter thrice, “Lovest thou me?” so put the question again and again unto your souls, Can I look Christ in the face with these hopes P Sincere graces are called rà éxópsva garn- piac, “things that accompany salvation,” Heb. vi. 9. This is the issue and result of all self-inquiries, Is it a saving grace P Nothing should satisfy me but what can save me. VERSE 15, 16. If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; 'notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? “IF a brother or sister.” The apostle compares faith and charity, and shows that pretences of faith avail no more than pretences of charity. By “brother or sister”, he means Christians united together by the bond of the same profession, terms oft used in that sense in this Epistle. “Be naked;” that is, ill clothed: so nakedness is often taken. So I Cor. iv. 11, “We hunger, and thirst, and are naked;” that is, destitute of necessary apparel. So Job xxii. 6, “Thou hast stripped the naked of their clothing;” that is, the ill clothed are brought to worse poverty by thy extortion. So when men have not a decent garment, or becoming their state. Saul prophesied naked, I Sam. xix. 24; that is, without the vestment of a prophet. “And destitute of daily food;” that is, not only of moderate supplies, but such as are extremely neces- sary. They have not from hand to mouth, or where- with to sustain life for a day. Christ calleth it diprov Štruočgiov, present bread, Matt. vi. 11. Under the notions of nakedness, thirst, and hunger, he comprehends all the necessities of human life; for these are the things utterly necessary. Therefore Christ saith, “Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat P or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” Matt. vi. 31. “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content,” 1 Tim. vi. 8. And Jacob promises worship, if God would give him “bread to eat, and raiment to put on,” Gen. xxviii. 20. Till the world grew to . a height of luxury, this was enough. ...º.” The bill of provisions was very short, ºnorum. “food and raiment.” * “And one of you say unto them;” that is, he who has ability otherwise to do them good; for else good wishes are not to be despised; and some can only give a cheap alms, prayers and counsel. “Depart in peace,” virgiyers áv siphun. A solemn form of salutation; which is as much as, I wish you well. See Mark v. 34; Luke ii. 29; vii. 50; viii. 48; and 2 Kings v. 19, where is only a salutation, not an allowance or grant of a request; Naaman’s words containing rather a resolution, than the state- ment of a difficulty for the prophet’s solution. “Be ye warmed and filled.” After the general form, he instances good wishes, suitable to the double necessity before mentioned. “Be warmed;” that is, be clothed; it is opposed to naked. So Job xxxi. 20, If the poor “were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep.” The Septuagint has it, &Trô 68 si pur) kov- pāg &pavóv plov #9spp.dv0mgav. “Be filled;” that is, I wish you food to sustain your hunger. : “Notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body;” that is, when you are able; otherwise a hearty wish is of use and ac- ceptance. So “a cup of cold water” is welcome, Matt. x. 42; and it is not reason that other men should be eased, and we burdened, 2 Cor. viii. 13. His chief aim was to shame the rich, who thought to satisfy their duty by a few cheap words and charitable wishes; which offence was as common as a pretence of faith, as appears, I John iii. 18, “Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” “What doth it profit P” that is, the poor. The stomach is not filled with words, or the back clothed with wishes. This is but like that mad person, who thought to pay his debts with the noise of money, and instead of opening his purse shook it. The poor will not thank you for good wishes, neither will God for saying you have faith. OBSERVATIONS. I. That an excellent way to discover our deceitful dealing with God is to put the case in a sensible in- stance, or to parallel it with our own dealings one with another. You will not count words liberality, neither will God count pretences faith. This is the reason of parables; matters between God and us are stated by instances of like matters between man and man. The judgment has the best view of things when they are presented in a third person, and is not so blinded and perverted as in our own case. David could determine, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die,” 2 Sam. xii. 5. If the case had been represented in a downright re- proof, no doubt he would have been more favourable. WER. 15, 16. } 03. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. Again, by this means they are made more plain and sensible; for heavenly things, being represented in an earthly form, come clothed with our own notions. We can see the sun better in a bason than in the firmament; and interpret heaven's language, when it speaks to us in the dialect of earth. Well, then, use this art, put the case in a temporal matter. “Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person P” Mal. i. 8. Would men account this fair dealing, to come with a gift so sickly and imperfect? So sometimes suppose the case your own; Would I be thus dealt withal? Thus Christ made the Pharisees to give judgment against themselves, Matt. xxi. Those that despised, abused, persecuted the messengers, killed the son, saith Christ to them, What will the lord of the vineyard do with them P They answer, “He will miserably destroy them, and let out his vineyard to other men,” ver. 41. So will God do to you, saith Christ, ver, 43. And thus God appeals to Jews upon a parable ; Judge between me and my people, Isa. v. 3. We shall soon see the irrationality of our inferences in divine matters, when we put the case in terms proper to human affairs; as when grace is turned into wan- tonness, how absurd and illogical is the consequence, when we infer carelessness of duty out of the abund- ance of grace It is as if you should say, My Master is good, therefore I will offend him, and displease him. Thus you may do in many cases, especially when the word gives you the hint of a metaphor; only take heed you do not reason thus in the matter of believing and expecting mercy from God, lest you straiten free grace, which is not dispensed after the manner of man, 2 Sam. vii. 19. God will accept a returning prostitute, which man will not, Jer. iii. 1; otherwise it will be of special use to shame us with neglect, to open a gap to conviction, to shame us with the absurdity and irrationality of our inferences in matters of religion. Obs. 2. God’s own people may be destitute of necessary outward supports. “If a brother or a sis- ter.” They “ of whom the world was not worthy, wandered about, destitute, afflicted, tormented,” Heb. xi. 37. It is true, David saith, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging bread,” Psal. xxxvii. 25. But either he speaks merely upon his own experience, or asserts that they were not forsaken, though begging bread; or else he speaks of the shameful trade of begging, which among the Jews was a token of God’s curse; as Psal. lix. 15, “Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.” So Psal. cir. 10, “Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg.” Cer- tainly the Jews had more of the carnal and outward blessings of the covenant than believers under the gospel, they being more suitable to their dispensation. Obs. 3. Bare words will not discharge or satisfy duty. Good words are good in themselves, and be- come a Christian mouth, but they must not be rested in. Some cannot go so far in profession as good words, religious conference, and holy discourse. Words argue that you have a knowledge of duty; and bare words, that you want a heart for it. Obs. 4. That a few charitable words are not enough. Some men's words are fierce and cruel, others love in word and in tongue, I John iii. 18; but this is not enough. Words are cheap, compli- ments cost nothing; and will you serve God with that which cost nothing P Words are but a cold kind of pity: the stomach is not filled with V*...* words, but meat; nor is the back clothed e with good wishes. Words are but a derision: you mock the poor, when you bid them be warmed, be filled, and do not minister to their neces- sities; nay, it is a kind of mocking of God; “Be not deceived; God is not mocked,” Gal. vi. 7. He speaks of such as would fain be accounted liberal and chari- table, but it was only in words and excuses. VERSE 17. . Even so faith if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. HERE he accommodates the instance and similitude, and shows that a naked profession of faith is no bet- ter than a verbal charity. God looks upon it as dead, cold, and useless. “Even so faith.” He speaks according to their presumption, You call it faith; and, according to ap- pearance, it has some likeness to faith, but it is dead in itself. “If it hath not works.” He does not only intend acts of charity, but all other fruits and operations of faith. - “Is dead.” The apostle speaks in allusion to a corpse, or a dead plant, which has only an outward similitude and likeness to those which are living. It is dead in regard of root, and dead in regard of fruit; it is void of the life of Christ, and it is void of good fruits. Operation, or motion, is an argument and effect of life. | - “Being alone.” KaS' avráv, it is dead by itself, or dead in itself; that is, how great soever it be, it is all dead. We translate it “being alone,” as noting the emptiness, barrenness, and nakedness of such profession and general assents; and so it suits with that known maxim among the protestants, Sola ſides justificat, sed non ſides quae est sola; That faith alone justifies, but not that faith which is alone; not a naked assent or bare profession; which interpretation is suitable enough to the context. : Obs. That false faith is a dead faith. It can no more act than a dead body can arise and walk. It is dead, because it does not unite us to Christ. True faith plants us into Christ, and so receives vir- tue and life from him. “I live by the faith of the Son of God,” Gal. ii. 20. It is dead, because it does not discover itself in any motions or operations of life: you may know there is life by the beating of the pulse. A living faith will be active, and betray itself in some gracious effects; there will be liveliness in holy duties. “Dead works” do not become the “living God,” Heb. ix. 14. . There will be somewhat more than morality in duties of conversation ; yea, there will be life in death itself. Faith is the life of our lives, the soul that animates the whole body of obedience. Faith is not always alike lively, but where it is true, it is always living. We read of a lively faith, and “a lively hope,” I Pet. i. 3; and then we have a greater feeling of the motions of the spiritual life. At other times it is only living ; and then if you are not sensible of life, you will be sensible of dead- ness. Sense is the lowest token of life; you will be complaining and groaning under corruptions. Well, then, hereby you may try your faith; Does it receive life from Christ P does it act P If Christ be in you, he would live in you. Never think of living with Christ, unless you live in Christ; and no one lives in Christ but “bringeth forth much fruit,” John XV. 5. 104 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF VERSE #8. Pea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. THE apostle amplifies the present argument against an empty, solitary faith, by supposing a dialogue be- tween a believer, that can manifest his faith by his works, and a boasting hypocrite, who can produce no such effect and experience; so that the dispute does not lie so much between faith and works, as between faith pretended and faith discovered by works: for the apostle does not introduce them speaking thus, Thou standest upon thy faith, and I upon my works; but, “Show me thy faith without works, and I will,” &c.; that is, Show me a warrant for thy faith, and I will soon prove mine. “Yea, a man may say ; ” that is, some true believer may come and plead thus with a boasting hypocrite. “Thou hast faith.” Let it be as thou sayest, but that is all thou hast, a naked profession of faith, or, at best, but some historical assent; for the apostle #. that, ver. 19, yea, not only to them, but to the 6VIIS. “And I have works.” He does not mean without faith, that is contrary to an expression in the text, “I will show thee my faith by my works.” Works without faith are as a building without a foundation, but acts of nature shining with common graces. Thou boastest with thy tongue of faith; I shall not boast, but produce works, which are but a real apology and commendation. Christ produces no other testi- mony but his works, Matt. xi. 4, 5. Our works best praise us in the gates, Prov. xxxi. 31. “Show me thy faith without thy works.” This clause is diversly read in the original. Some, as CEcumenius, read only, Ösiéóv uot rºw triarty goû, show me thy faith, and I will soon warrant mine. Most copies read, Šic Töv špywy gov, that is, prove it from thy works; since they are such inseparable fruits of faith, where are they P But the most approved copies have, xàpic rāv Épywy gov, without thy works; and the meaning is, thou wantest the truest testimony and discovery of faith. Now, show me such a faith; that is, make it good by any warrant from the prin- ciples and maxims of our religion. “And I will show thee my faith by my works;” that is, soon evidence it to the world, or soon evince it to be true faith out of the word. OBSERVATIONS. 1. A great means to convince hypocrites, is to show how grace works in true Christians. The apostle institutes a dialogue between both. Thus Christ compares the two builders, Matt. vii. 24–27, and the wise virgins and the foolish, Matt. xxv. This awak- ens emulation; it shows that the austerities of Chris- tianity are possible. Others can go higher than your form. Take this course, Do we live as they do? as they that through faith and patience inherit the promises P Obs. 2. In all our hopes and conceptions of grace we should always look to the warrant we have for them. “Show me thy faith without works,” &c. Can I show or prove this to be faith or love by any rational grounds, or Scripture arguments? If Christians would look to the warrant of their hopes, they might dis- cern more of the guile of their spirits. Presumption is a rash trust, without the sight of an actual or clear ground. He that built on the sand built hand over head, not considering whether the foundation was Sufficient to support the structure; but he that built on the rock, not only considered whether it would bear up such a stress, but was clearly resolved in his mind of the strength and sufficiency of the found- ation. It is good to believe as the Scripture saith, John vii. 38; to cherish no persuasion without an actual sight of a clear and distinct warrant, that we may be able to show our faith upon all cavils and challenges ; that is, evince it to be good. Obs. 3. Works are an evidence of true faith. Graces are not dead, useless habits, they will have some effects and operations when they are weakest and in their infancy. It is said of Paul as soon as he was re- generate, “Behold, he prayeth,” Acts ix. 11. New- born children will cry, at least before they are able to go. This is the evidence by which we must judge, and this is the evidence by which Christ will judge. (I.) The evidence by which we must judge. It is the drift of many scriptures to lay down evidences taken from sanctification and a holy life, they were written to this very purpose; as, more especially, Psal. cxix., and the First Epistle of John ; see I John v. 13. Yea, conclusions are drawn to our hands. It. is said, Hereby we may know, &c.; see 1 John iii. 14, 19. In many places promises are given with —descriptions annexed, taken from the meekness, piety, good works of the Saints; as Psal. i. 1–3; xxxii. 1, 9; Rom. viii. 1. Good works are the most sensible discovery; all causes are known by their effects. The apples, leaves, and blossoms are evident, when the life and sap is not seen. (2.) This is the evidence according to which Christ proceeds at the day of judgment. They “were judged out of those things written in the books, according to their works,” Rev. xx. 12. So Matt. vii. 23, “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” They made profession, but their works were naught. So Matt. xxv. 41–43. Use. You may make use of this observation to judge yourselves, and to judge others. 1. To judge yourselves. When the causes are hidden, the effects are sensible; therefore you may try graces by their fruits and operations. Works are not a ground of confidence, but an evi- dence; not the foundation of faith, but Hºunt the encouragement of assurance. Com-ºnari. fort may be increased by the sight of ...sti. good works, but it is not built upon lºº. them : they are seeds of hope, not props ºnenta, future of confidence ; sweet evidences of elec- º: tion, not causes; happy presages and beginnings of glory. In short, they can manifest an interest, but not merit it. We have peace with God by the righteousness of Christ, and peace of con- science by the fruits of righteousness in ourselves. But more of this anon. 2. Others may be judged by their works. Where there is knowledge, and a good life, it is not Christian to suspect the heart. The devil said, when he had nothing to object against Job’s life, “Doth Job fear God for nought?” If men are instructed, and profess Christ, and are fruitful in good works, it is an injury to say they are only civil, moral men. Profession may be counterfeited, but when it is honoured with works, you must leave the heart to God: “Pure re- ligion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the world,” James i. 27; this is the great mark and discovery of it. Empty profession may have more of party in it than of power, but profession honoured with works is charity’s rule to judge by. WER. I.Q. 105 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. VERSE 19. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well ; the devils also believe, and tremble. THIS instance shows what faith he disputes against, namely, such as consists in bare speculation and knowledge; which can no more save a man, than looking on the sun can translate a man into the sphere or orb of it. “Thou believest ;” that is, assentest to this truth. The lowest act of faith is invested with the name of believing. “There is one God.” He instances this proposi- tion, though he limits the matter only to this, partly because this was the first article of the creed, the primitive truth in religion, that there is “one God;” by it intending also assent to other articles of re- ligion. Partly because this was the critical differ- ence between them and pagans, and the shibboleth of the Christian profession as to heathens. “Thou doest well.” It is an approbation of such assent so far as it is good, and not rested in : though it is not saving, yet so far as it is historical it is good; good in its kind, as a common work and preparation; for so it is required: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord,” Deut. vi. 4. And so in another article of religion it is said, “Every spirit that con- fesseth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God,” I John iv. 2; that is, so far of God. “The devils also believe;” that is, assent to this truth and other truths revealed in the word. “And tremble,” ºpto.govoi. The word signifies extreme fear and horror of spirit; it comes from ºpté, a word that implies that noise which is caused by the commotion of the sea. Now this clause is added, they “tremble,” not to imply (as some suppose) that they do more than assent, as having an experience of Some work upon their affections, but to disprove this Kind of faith, and to show that it is not saving; they have an assent which causes horror and torment, but they have not a faith which causes confidence and peace, the proper fruit of that faith which is justifying, Rom. v. 1; Eph. iii. 12. OBSERVATIONS. Obs. 1. Bare assent to the articles of religion does not infer true faith. True faith unites to Christ, it is conversant about his person; it is not only assensus aa’iomati, an assent to a gospel maxim or proposition; you are not justified by that, but by being one with Christ. It was the mistake of the former age, to make the promise rather than the person of Christ the formal object of faith: the promise is the warrant, Christ the object; therefore the work of faith is ter- minated on him in the expressions of Scripture. We read of coming to him, receiving him, &c. We can- not close with Christ without a promise, and we must not close with a promise without Christ. In short, there is not only assent in faith, but consent ; not only an assent to the truth of the word, but a consent to take Christ; there must be an act that is directly and formally conversant about the person of Christ. Well, then, do not mistake a naked illumi- nation, or some general acknowledgment of the ar- ticles of religion, for faith. A man may be right in opinion and judgment, but of vile affections; and a carnal Christian is in as great danger as a pagan, or idolater, or heretic; for though his judgment be sound, yet his manners are heterodox and heretical. True believing is not an act of the understanding only, but a work of all the heart, Acts viii. 37. I confess some expressions of Scripture seem to lay much stress upon assent, as 1 John iv. 2; v. 1; 1 Cor. xii. 3; Matt. xvi. 17; but these places either show that assents, where they are serious, and upon full conviction, come from some special revelation ; or else if they propound them as evidences of grace, we must distinguish times: the greatest difficulty lay then upon assent, rather than affiance. The truths of God suffered under many prejudices; the gospel was a novel doctrine, contrary to the ordinary and received principles of reason, was persecuted in the world, and no friend to carnal affections, and there- fore apt to be suspected. The wind that blows in our backs blew in their faces; and that which draws on many to assent to the gospel was their discourage- ment. Consent and long prescription of time, the countenance and favour of the world, beget a venera- tion and reverence to religion; and therefore assent now is nothing so much as it was then, especially when it is trivial and arreptitious rather than deli- berate : for this is only the fruit of human testimony, and needs not supernatural grace. Therefore do not please yourselves in naked assents; these cost nothing, and are worth nothing. There is a “form of know- ledge,” Rom. ii. 20, as well as “a form of godliness,” 2 Tim. iii. 5. A form of knowledge is nothing but an idea or model of truth in the brains, when there is no power or virtue to change and transform the heart. Obs. 2. It is good to own the least appearance of good in men. “Thou doestwell.” So far it is well, saith the apostle. To commend that which is good, is the ready way to mend the rest. This is a sweet art of drawing on men further and further; so far as it is good own it. “In this I praise you,” saith Paul; and again, “In this I praise you not,” I Cor. xi. 2, with 17. Jesus loved the young man for his moral excellency, Mark x. 21 ; it was a hopeful step. It is good to take off the scandal of being severe censurers, not to be always blaming. It reproves them that blast the early buddings of grace, and discourage men as soon as they look toward religion by their severe rigour; like the dragon that watched to devour the child as soon as it was born, Rev. xii. 4. The infant and young workings of grace should be dandled upon the lap of commendation; or, like weak things, fostered with much gentleness and care. Obs. 3. The devils assent to the articles of the Christian religion. It comes to pass partly through the subtlety of their natures, they are intellectual essences; partly through experience of providences, and sight of miracles. They are sensible of the power of God in rescuing men from their paws; so that they are forced to acknowledge there is a God, and to consent to many truths in the Scriptures. There are many articles acknowledged at once in Matt. viii. 29, “Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to torment us before the time P” They acknowledge God, Christ the Son of God, not in an ordinary adoptive way; for it is, Luke iv. 34, “I know thee who thou art; the holy one of God:” then a day of judgment; which will occasion more torment to themselves and other sinners. Paul adjured the devil by “the name of Jesus Christ,” Acts xvi. 18. And the devil answered the sons of Sceva, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” Acts xix. 15. They acknowledged that Jesus as the Master, Paul as the servant and messenger, had mightily shaken their power and kingdom. So it is said, “Things under the earth,” Phil. ii. 10, that is, the devils who are turned into hell, which is represented as a subterranean place, do bow the knee at the name of Jesus. Well, then, never rest in the devils’ faith. Can the devils be justified, or be saved P. They believe there is a God, that there is a Christ, that Christ died for sinners. A Christian is to exceed 106 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF and go beyond devils; nay, beyond other men, be- yond pagans, nay, beyond hypocrites in the church, nay, beyond himself; he must “forget the things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” Bhil. iii. 13, 14. It is an excellent check to atheist- ical thoughts, Should I be worse than devils P David said, “I was as a beast before thee,” Psal. lxxiii. 22. And Agur, “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man,” Prov. xxx. 2. Whilst we go about to ungod God, we only unman ourselves. Nay, worse, an atheist is not only a beast, but a devil: Christ called Judas “ devil,” John vi. 70. Nay, worse than devils; the devils are under the dread of this truth : we are stupid, insensible of providence, careless of judgments, when “the devils believe and tremble.” The Lord might well expostulate thus; “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not ; which have ears, and hear not : Fear ye not me? saith the Lord,” Jer. v. 21, 22. Obs. 4. Horror is the effect of the devils’ know- ledge. The more they know of God, the greater trembling is there impressed upon them. They were terrified at a miracle, or any glorious discovery of Christ's power on earth : “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time P” Well, then, hence you may collect, (1.) Light that yields us no com- fort is but darkness. The devils have knowledge left, but no comfort, therefore they are said to be “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness,” Jude 6. The more they think of God, the more they tremble. It is miserable to have only light enough to awaken conscience, and knowledge enough to be self-condemned ; to know God, but not to enjoy him. The devils cannot choose but abominate their own thoughts of the Deity. O rest not then till you have gotten such a knowledge of God as yields comfort. “In thy light shall we see light,” Psal. xxxvi. 9; there is light in this light, all other light is darkness. (2.) All knowledge of God out of Christ is uncomfortable. That is the reason why the devils tremble; they cannot know God as a Father, but as a Judge; not as a Friend, but as an Enemy. Faith looking upon God as a Father, and as a Friend, yields peace to the soul, Rom. v. 1. And fear is cast out, “ because fear hath torment,” 1 John iv. 18. This is the misery of devils, and damned men, and natural men, that they cannot think of God without horror; whereas this is the great solace and comfort of the saints, that there is a God. “My meditation of him shall be sweet,” Psal. civ. 34. “Thy name is as ointment poured forth,” Cant. i. 3, full of fragrancy and refreshing. Salt waters being strained through the earth become sweet. God’s attributes, which are in themselves terrible and dreadful to a sinner, being conveyed to us through Christ, yield comfort and sweetness. The children of God can long for the day when Christ's appearance will be most ter- rible. “Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” VERSE 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead 2 HERE he re-enforces the dispute against a carnal pro- fessor; the disputation is not about the cause of lºcation, but what we should think of an empty aith. * “But wilt thou know?” that is, wilt thou rightly understand and consider the matter, or hearken to what can be said against thy faith ? The same form of speech is used Rom. xiii. 3, “Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?” that is, be taught how not to fear it. “O vain man,” (J &v6pots icsvá, an empty man; a metaphor taken from an empty vessel; it is the parallel word to Raca, which is forbidden, Matt. v. 22. The Septuagint render pºp” by ávöpsg kevoi, Judg. xi. 3. You will say, Was it lawful for the apostle to use such words of contempt and disgrace P I answer, 1. Christ does not forbid the word, but the word used in anger. You shall see “fool,” another term there forbidden, is elsewhere used by Christ himself; “Ye fools and blind,” Matt. xxiii. 17. And Luke xxiv. 25, “O fools, and slow of heart to be- lieve.” And so Paul, “O foolish Galatians,” Gal. . iii. 1. There is a difference between necessary cor- rections, and contemptuous speeches or reproofs. The apostle does not direct this to any Hic notapturnon One person, but to such an order or sort certi hººd of men. Such speeches to private per- ºin sons savour of private anger; but being * - directed to such a sort of men, only mark the just detestation of a public reproof. - “That faith without works is dead.” Mark, he does not say faith is dead without works, but “faith without works is dead:” there is a difference in these predications; as, if he had said faith is dead without works, it would have argued that works are the cause which gave life to faith, whereas they are effects that argue life in faith. As, for instance, a man without motion is dead, is proper, but, a man is dead without motion, is a predication far different. Briefly, in this dispute the apostle proceeds upon the supposition of several maxims: as, (1.) That the way to know graces is by their effects and operations, as causes are known by their necessary effects. (2.) That works are an effect of faith; “faith without works is dead,” and works are dead without faith. So that gracious works are proper, perpetual, and inseparable effects of faith; such effects as do not give life to faith, but declare it; as apples do not give life to the tree, but show it to be alive and flourishing. & OBSERVATIONS. 1. Presumers are either ignorant or inconsiderate. “Wilt thou know P” False and mistaken faith is usually a brat of darkness; either men do not un- derstand what faith is, or not consider what they do. Ignorance and thoughtlessness cause such unwarrant- able conceits to escape without censure. - Obs. 2. Temporaries are but vain men. “O vain.” or empty “man.” Like empty vessels, full of wind, and make the greatest sound; they are full of windy presumptions, and boasting professions. 1. Full of wind; they have a little airy knowledge, such as puffeth up : “Barren and unfruitful in the know- ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 2 Pet. i. 8. There is knowledge, but it is a barren and unfruitful know- ledge; they are void and destitute of any solid grace. 2. Of a great sound and noise; can talk of grace, boast of knowledge, glory in their faith. Usually presumers are of a slight, frothy spirit, that are all for tongue and an empty profession. A vain faith and a vain man are oft suited and matched. Obs. 3. Hypocrites must be roused with some as- perity and sharpness. So the apostle, “O vain man;” so Christ, “Ye fools and blind;” so John the Bap- tist, “O generation of vipers,” Matt. iii. 7. Hypo- crites are usually inconsiderate, and of a sleepy con- science, so that we must not whisper, but cry aloud. VER. 21. 107 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES, An open sinner has a constant torment and bondage upon his spirit, which is soon felt, and soon awaken- ed; but a hypocrite is able to make defences and replies. We must, by the warrant of those great ex- amples, deal with him more roughly ; mildness only soothes him in his error. . . Obs. 4. That an empty, barren faith is a dead faith. I noted this before, let me touch on it again. It is a dead faith, (1.) Because it may stand with a natu- ral state, in which we are dead in trespasses and sins. (2.) It is dead, because it receives not the quickening influences of the Spirit. (3.) It is dead, because it wants the effect of life, which is operation. All life is the beginning of operation, tends to operation, and is increased by operation; so faith is dead, like a root of a tree in the ground, when it cannot pro- duce the ordinary effects and fruits of faith. (4.) It is dead, because unavailable to eternal life, of no more use and service to you than a dead thing. O pluck it off; who would suffer a dead plant in his garden? “Why cumbereth it the ground?” Luke xiii. 7. VERSE 21. Was not Abraham our father justifted by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar 2 HERE he propounds the demonstration that might convince the vain man, which is taken from the ex- ample of Abraham ; the believers of the Old and New Testament being all justified the same way. “Was not Abraham our father P” He instances Abraham, because he was the prime example and idea of justification, because many were apt to plead that instance urged by Paul, Rom. iv. 1–5, and be- cause he was a man of special reverence and esteem among the Jews. He calls him “our father,” because he was so to those to whom he wrote, to the twelve dispersed tribes; and because he is to all the faithful, who are described to be those that “walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,” Rom. iv. 12. And indeed this is the solemn name and title given to Abraham in the Scriptures, “Abraham our father :” See John viii. 53; Acts vii. 2; Rom. iv. 2. “Justified by works;” that is, declared to be just by his works before God and the world. But you will say, Is not this contrary to Scripture P it is said, “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,” Rom, iii. 20; and particularly it is said of Abraham, that he was not “justified by works,” Rom. iv. 2. How shall we reconcile this difference P I shall not enter upon the main question till I come to the 24th verse; only, for clearing the present doubt, give me leave to return something by way of answer. Some distinguish justification, that it is either in foro Divino or humano, in heaven or before men; and that is again either in our own con- Sciences, or in the sight of others: in the two latter senses they grant that works justify, though not be- fore God, yet in the court of conscience, and before the world. The distinction is not altogether without warrant of Scripture; for Rom. iii. 20, “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” Mark that, in his sight ; implying there is another justification before men which may take in works. So also Rom. iv. 2, that Abraham had not whereof to glory before God. That clause implies he could avouch his sincerity (as Job also did, chap. xxxi.) before men. Well, then, according to this opinion these two places may be thus reconciled; Paul speaks of the use and office of faith in foro Divino, before purposed it, and if God had continued the command, would actually have done God, and James speaks of the effects and qualities of faith by which it justifies before men. Thus the business may be fairly accommodated, but that I believe there is somewhat more in it, because he speaks of some special justification that Abraham received upon his offering of Isaac ; and you shall find that from God he then received a justification of his faith, though thirty years before that he had received a justification of his person. When he was an idolater and ungodly, then God called him out of grace, Gen. xii. 1; Josh. xxiv. 2, and justified him ; as it is said, “He believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness, Gen. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 5. He was justified by imputation, and absolved from guilt and sin, so as it could not lie upon him to damnation. But now when he offered Isaac, his faith was justified to be true and right, for that command was for the trial of it; therefore upon his obedience God did two things, renewed the pro- mise of Christ to him, Gen. xxii. 16, 17, and gave him a testimony and declaration of his sincerity, ver. 12, “Now I know that thou fearest God,” saith Christ to him, who is there called the Angel of the Lord. I conceive, as works are signs in foro humano, to men, by which they may judge of the quality of faith; so in foro Divino, before God; God judging ac- cording to our works, as it is distinctly said, Rev. xx. 12. God will evince the faith of his saints to be right by producing their works, and will discover the ungrounded hopes of others by their works also ; for great and small are all judged according to that rule. And not only hereafter, but now also, God judges ac- cording to works; that is, looks upon them as testi- monies and declarations of faith. “Now I know that thou fearest God; ” that is, now I have an ex- perience; upon which experience Abraham was jus- tified, and the promise renewed. . I conceive our apostle alludes to that experience, for he speaks as in a known case, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” that is, upon this did not he receive a testimony and declaration from God that he was justified ? And suitable to this the author of the Book of Maccabees saith, “Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness?” I Macc. ii. 52. “Found faithful” is a phrase equivalent to that which James uses, “was justified.” Therefore Paul and James may be thus reconciled; Paul speaks of the justifying of a sinner from the curse of his natural condition, the accusations of the law, and accepting him into the favour of God, which is of grace, and not of debt; James, of the justifying approbation of that faith by which we are thus accepted with God. God gives us the com- fort of our former justification by such experiences and fruits of faith; for in them we are found faithful, that is, before God and man approved to have a right faith. And to this purpose Diodate excellently ex- pounds the passage, That justification in Paul is op- posite to the condemnation of a sinner in general, and justification in James is opposite to the condemn- ation of a hypocrite in particular. In Paul’s sense a sinner is absolved, in James's sense a believer is approved; and so most sweetly, and, for aught I can see, without exception, the apostles are agreed. I shall handle the popish exceptions ver. 24. “When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar.” Mark, though Abraham never actually offered him, but only in purpose and vow, yet it is said he offered. So Heb. xi. 17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered Isaac ; ” he Bºssi eus filium jussit, pater obtulit et quantum ad de- functionem cordis it. God counts that to be done which perfinet, immo- lavit. Salvian de is about to be done, and takes notice of §§. Dei, lib. 1. 108 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF what is in the heart, though it be not brought to practice, and actual accomplishment. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Those who would have Abraham’s privileges, must look to it that they have Abraham's faith. You claim kindred of him as believers. How was it with Abraham P. Two things are notable in his faith : (1.) He received the promises with all hu- mility; “And Abram fell on his face,” Gen. xvii. 3, as mightily abashed, and abased in himself, to see God deal thus with him. (2.) He improved them with much fidelity, being upright before God, and walking in all relations for his glory. . Two instances there are of his obedience upon which the Holy Ghost has set a special mark and note. One was leaving his father's house, Gen. xii. 1, wherein he denied himself in his possessions. The other was the sacrificing of his son, Gen. xxii. 1, wherein he de- nied himself in his hopes. O “ look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged: look unto Abraham your fa- ther,” Isa. li. 1, 2. Do you receive mercies so humbly P improve them so thankfully P. Who would not stick at those commands wherewith Abraham was exercised and tried? God calls every believer more or less to deny something that is near and dear to him. Obs. 2. Believers must see that they honour and justify their faith by works. Never content your- selves with an empty profession. Profession shows to what party we addict ourselves, but holiness shows we addict ourselves to God. Disagreeing parties may accord in the same guilt and prac- tices: “What do ye more?” Matt. v. 47. Chris- tianity may be professed out of faction, by them that have a pagan heart under a Christian name. All natural men, however they differ in interest, agree in one common rebellion against God. But the chief thing which I would urge is, to press them that pro- fess themselves to be justified by grace, to make good their interest in grace, to look to the evidence of works. Libertines press men absolutely to believe that they are justified from all eternity; and, to lull them asleep in a complete security, make it a sin to doubt of or question their faith, whether it be right see saltmann on or no. Saltmarsh saith, that we are Frºðrice, c. 3. no more to question faith than to ques- p. 62–64. tion the promise, and that Christ and his apostles did not press men to ask the question, whether they did believe or no; and that Christ's commands to believe are not to be disputed, but obeyed, &c. Vain allegations ! There is a difference between questioning the command, and questioning our obedience; though we are not to dispute against the duty, yet we are to examine whether we per- form it. The apostle speaks directly to this pur- pose; “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith,” 2 Cor. xiii. 5. There is no other way to un- deceive the soul, and to discover false conceptions from true graces. How sad was it for the foolish virgins that never doubted of their faith till it was too late It is the vulgar mistake, to think that the ex- cellency of faith lies in the security and strength of persuasion; and that whoever can make full ac- count that Christ died for him, or that he shall go to heaven, believes ; whereas the difference between faith and presumption does not lie in the security of persuasion, but in the ground of it: see Matt. vii. 24–27. The two buildings there might be raised in equal height and comeliness, the difference was in the foundation. A hypocrite may have as fair and as full a confidence as a believer, but it is not as well built and raised; and, if the Scripture shall give sentence, he is not most happy that has least trouble, but he that has least cause ; therefore you had need look to your faith and confidence, that it may be justified, justified by your works: this is a sensible evidence, and most in sight. I confess, by some it is decried as litigious, by others as legal. Some think that because there are so many shifts, and circuits, and wiles in the heart of man, it is an un- certain, if not an impossible, way of trial. I confess, if in trial we were only to go by the light of our conscience and reason, the objection would seem to have weight in it. Who can discover “the inward parts of the belly” without the Lord's own candle P. Prov. xx. 27. The main certainty lies in the Spirit's witness, without which the witness of water is silent, I John v. 8. Graces shine not without this light. God’s own interpreter must show a man his righteousness, Job xxxiii., otherwise there will be many shifts in the heart, and we shall still be in the dark. Under the law every thing was to be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses, Deut. xvii. 6; so here are two witnesses, the Spirit with our spirits, the Spirit with our ‘renewed consciences, Rom. viii. 16. It is the Holy Ghost who gives light, whereby we may discern the truth of grace; he imprints the feeling and comfort, and by satisfying the soul be- gets a serenity and calmness within us. Therefore the apostle pitches the main certainty upon the Spirit’s evidence; “I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,” Rom. ix. 2; that is, my conscience is assured by the Holy Ghost that I do not err or lie. Others cry it up for legal, as, by pressing men to look to works as an evidence, we went about to establish their confidence in their own righteousness, or a merit in themselves. Cer- tainly it is one thing to judge by our graces, another thing to rest or put our trust in them. There is a great deal of difference between declaring and deserv- ing. Works as fruits may declare our justified estate. There is a difference between peace with God and peace of conscience; peace and amity with God we have merely by grace and free justification, that siphum Trpèg röv 6869, Rom. v. 1, but in the court of conscience there must be some evidence and mani- festation. A broken man has peace in court as soon as the surety has paid his debt, but has the comfort of it within himself when it is signified to him by letter or otherwise. Free justification is the ground of our comfort, but works the evidence that intimate it to us. However, we had need be cautious. An undue use of marks will keep the soul full of doubts;. and we want the comfort that we seek, when we do not found it upon Christ according to his free pro- mises. Above all things a Christian should be most delicate and tender in founding his hopes. God is impatient of a copartner in the creature's trust, he will not give that glory to another; and if you do, he will declare his anger by leaving you to a con- stant uncertainty and dissatisfaction. Always when we think to warm ourselves by our own sparks we lie down in Sorrow. Because the business is of great concernment, I shall give you a few directions how you may reflect upon your graces, or works, as evi- dences of your state. - (1.) You must be loyal to Christ. Many seek all their happiness in the gracious disposi- tions of their own souls, and so neglect º' Christ; this were to prize the love- faith triumph. token before the lovely person. To "**** rectify it, it is good to go to work this way : [1..] Let there be a thorough going out of yourselves; be sure to keep the heart right in point of righteousness; and in founding your hopes, see that you do not neglect the Corner-stone. Paul reckons up all his, WER. 21. 109 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. natural privileges and moral excellencies, nay, his own righteousness, what he did as a Pharisee, what as a Christian. If any might have confidence in the flesh, Paul might; but he renounces all, nay, counts it loss, i. e. dangerous allurements to hypocrisy and self-confidence, Phil. iii. It is good to have such actual and fresh thoughts in ourselves when we pro- ceed to trial, that our souls may be rather carried to than diverted and taken off from Christ. Usually assurance is given after a solemn and direct exercise of faith; “After that ye believed, ye were sealed by the Spirit of promise,” Eph. i. 13: where the apostle shows the order of the Spirit's sealing, after believing or going to Christ; and the quality under which the Spirit seals, as a “Spirit of promise;” implying that when the thoughts have been newly and freshly ex- ercised in the consideration of our own unworthiness, and God’s free grace and promises, then are we fit- test to receive the witness and certification of the Spirit. [2] In the very view and comfort of your graces still keep the heart upon Christ. See what would become of you, were it not for free grace. God could find matter of condemnation against you, not only in the worst sins, but in the best duties. The most regenerate man durst not adventure his soul upon the heavenliest thought that ever he con- ceived. When Nehemiah had performed a zealous action, he subjoins, “Remember me, O my God, con- cerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy,” Neh. xiii. 22; intimating that therein God might find enough to ruin him. So Paul, I Cor. iv. 4, “I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified.” He knew no unfaithful- ness in his ministry, yet this would not make him righteous before God. So that in the presence of the greatest evidences, you should see free grace is the surest refuge. Jehoshaphat, when he had all the strength of Judah, who are numbered to be five hundred thousand, yet goes to God, as if there were no presence of means; “We have no might; our eyes are upon thee,” 2 Chron. xx. 12. So in the fairest train of graces you should still keep Christ in the eye of faith, and let the soul stay upon him. Or, as in a pair of compasses, one part is fixed in the centre, whilst the other foot wanders about the circumfer- ence; so must the soul stay on Christ, be fixed on him, whilst we seek after evidences and additional comforts. [3] After the issue and close of all, you must the more earnestly renew your addresses to Christ, and exercise faith with more advantage and cheerfulness. You have much more encouragement to close with him, when you surveyed his bounty to your souls, and considered those emanations of grace by which you are enabled to good works. So ! John v. 13, “These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may |believe on the name of the Son of God.” ing is, that upon assurance they might renew the act of faith with the more cheerfulness; as Thomas, when he felt Christ's wounds, had the greater reason to believe, John xx. 27, 28; non nova sed aucta ſide, as Estius observes, by a renewed and increased faith. So when you have a feeling and sense of Christ's bounty to you, and by good works have cleared up your interest in eternal life, you have the greatest reason to cast yourselves again upon Christ by faith and confidence: for, as the apostle saith, “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith,” Rom. i. 17. The whole business of our justification before God is carried on by a continual act of faith, from one act and degree to another. In short, what- ever comfort we seek in our works and graces, Christ must still lie as a bundle of myrrh between our His mean- breasts, Cant. i. 12; be kept close and near the heart, always in the eye of faith and the arms of love. (2.) You must go to work evangelically, and with a spirit suiting the gospel. Consider and understand your evidences and graces, not in a legal perfection, but as sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. . If you .. for love, fear, faith, hope, in that perfection which the law requires, the heart will still be kept unsettled. Your business is to look to the truth rather than the measure of your graces. Usually men bring their graces to the balance and weigh them, rather than to the touchstone to try them, as if the quantity and measure were more considerable than the essence and nature. It is good to own grace, though mingled with much weakness. The children of God have pleaded the truth of their graces, when conscious to themselves of many fail- ings; “I am black, but comely,” Cant. i. 5. There is grace, though under the veil and cloud of much weakness. So Cant. v. 2, “I sleep, but my heart waketh.” The spouse hath a double aspect, to what was evil, and what was good. So he in the Gospel could with confidence plead his faith, though hum- bled with sad relics and remains of unbelief; “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief,” Mark ix. 24. We must not bear false witness against others, much less against ourselves; and therefore own a little good, though in the midst of much evil. (3.) You must go to work prudently, understand- ing the nature of marks, and the time to use them. Every thing is beautiful in its season. There are times of desertion, when graces are not visible. In darkness we can neither see black nor white. times of great dejection and discouragement the work of a Christian is not to try, but believe: “Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God,” Isa. 1. I0. It is most seasonable to encourage the soul to acts of faith, and to reflect upon the abso- lute promises rather than conditional: the absolute promises were intended by God as attractives and encouragements to such distressed souls. There is a time when the soul is apt to slumber, and to be sur- prised with a careless security, then it is good to In awake it by a serious trial: to a close carnal spirit. an absolute promise is as poison; to a dejected spirit, as cheering wine. When the soul lies under fear and sense of guilt, it is unable to judge, therefore ex- amination only increases the trouble. But again, when the heart is drowsy and careless, trial is most seasonable; and it is best to reflect upon the condi- tional promises, that we may look after the qualifica- tions expressed in them ere we take comfort. When David was in a state of depression, he labours to maintain faith, and outbrave discouragements; Psal. iii. 2, the enemies said, “There is no help for him in God.” He had fallen scandalously; and that Psalm was penned upon occasion of Absalom's rebellion, which was ordered by way of correction of David’s sin, and this made them vaunt, Now God is his enemy. Now David does not mention the sin, but awakens his trust: in the very face of the temptation he maintains his confidence; “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head,” wer. 3. And elsewhere he professes that this was his general practice; “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee,” Psal. lvi. 3. In times of dis- couragement, and when terror was likely to grow upon his spirit, he would look after arguments and supports of trust and dependence. So, on the con- trary, when the heart grows secure, it is good to use Nazianzen's policy; when his heart be- gan to be corrupted with ease and plea- sure, Toic Spivotg ovyytyvouat, Saith he, circa med. • © & I use to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah; oxºte".” - • * y & Nazian. Oratºš. e” 110 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF . inure his mind to matter sad and lamentable. spiritual cases it is good to deal prudently, lest we put ourselves into the hand of our enemy, and further the devices of Satan. (4.) Your great care must be to be humbly thank- ful. Thankful, because all is from God. It is a vain spirit which is proud of what is borrowed, or glories because he is more in debt than others. Who made thee differ P and what hast thou which thou hast not received? I Cor. iv. 7. Whatever we find upon search, it must not be ascribed to free will, but to free grace : He giveth will and deed according to his pleasure, Phil. ii. 13. Free will stablishes merit, free grace checks it. The sun is not beholden to us because we borrow light from it; or the fountain, because we draw water. We may all say as David, “Of thine own have we given thee;” Lord, this is thy bounty. Then humble we must be, because as every good work comes from God’s Spirit, so it passes through thy heart, and there it is defiled. Partus sequitur ventrem, Our good works have more of the mother in them than the Father; and so our right- eousnesses become dung, Phil. iii. 8, and filthy rags, Isa. lxiii. 6. Thus, lest pride taint the spirit by the sight of our graces, it is good to make distinct and act- ual reflections on God’s bounty and our own vileness. Obs. 3. That serious purposes of obedience are ac- cepted for obedience. “When he offered Isaac.” Isaac is counted offered, because he was so in Abra- ham’s purpose. God has bestowed pardon upon a purpose of returning; “I said I would confess, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,” Psal. xxxii. 5. Only remember they must be such purposes as are like Abraham's : (1.) Serious and resolved, for he prepared himself to the performance; not vain purposes, to betray present duties, when men hope to do that to-morrow which they should do to-day : these are vanishing and flitting motions, which God takes no notice of God knoweth the secrets of hearts, Psal. xliv. 21, and that such delays are but modest denials, or deceitful offers, to put off the clamour and importunity of conscience. Nothing more usual than such purposes for the future to jus- tify present neglects. God will search it out. Abra- ham was ready. (2.) They must be such as end in action, unless in the case of allowable hinderances. When is that? [I.] When we are hindered, as Abra- ham was, from Heaven; he by Divine command, we by providence. “Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart,” I Kings viii. 18. When mere providence diverts us from holy intentions, God ac- cepts the will. [2] By invincible weakness: “To will is present with me; but to perform that which is good I find not,” Rom. vii. 18. The apostle could not karsp- yáčeg Sat, come up to the rate of his purposes: in such a case God looks to what is in the heart. Well, then, I. It serves for comfort to the people of God, who, because they do not perform duty as they would, are much discouraged. . God taketh notice of the pur- pose, and judges of you, as physicians do of their patients, not by their eating, but by their appetite. Purposes and desires are works of God's own stirring up, the free native offers and motions of grace. Practices may be overruled, but such earnest pur- poses as make you do what you can are usually serious and genuine. The children of God who can- not justify their practices plead the inward motions and desires of their hearts ; “Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that I love thee,” John .**i. 17. “Desire to fear thy name,” &c., Neh. i. 11. ... . . 2. It is useful for advice to us, to be ..º...” “ careful of our purposes. Many would ... “ be more wicked, were they not bound * º & In all up. God takes notice of what is in their hearts. “He that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath com- mitted adultery with her in his heart,” Matt. v. 28. So also Seneca, Incesta est et sine stupro quae stuprum cupit; The purpose makes guilty, though the act be restrained. God took notice of the king of Babylon’s purposes and intentions; “It is in his heart to de- stroy and cut off nations not a few,” Isa. x. 7. Mo- tions and inclinations should be watched over. 3. It shows God’s readiness to receive returning sinners; he met his son while “he was yet a great way off.” Luke xv. 20. As soon as the will lays down the weapons of defiance, and moves towards God, the Lord runs to embrace and fall upon the neck of such a poor soul, that he may satisfy it with some early comforts. So Isa. lxv. 24, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Acts of grace anticipate and often pre- vent acts of duty. “Turn me,” saith Ephraim, and then, a dear and pleasant son, Jer. xxxi. 18–20. As soon as you set your faces towards God, he runs towards you. 4. It shows how we should entertain . the purposes and promises of God; look upon them in the promise with such certainty, as if they were actually accomplished. “Babylon is fallen, is fall- en,” Rev. xiv. 8. God can read duty in the purpose; we have much more cause to read accomplishment in the promise: “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Thath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Numb. xxiii. 19. His will is not change- able as ours, neither is his power restrained. Obs. 4. Faith is not genuine unless it produce such actions as Abraham’s. “Offered Isaac his son upon the altar.” He brings this as the great argument of the truth of Abraham's faith. Such as will engage you to self-denial are troublesome to the flesh : David scorned such service as cost nothing. There where we must deny our own reason, affections, in- terest, that is an action fit to try a believer. Let us see what is observable in this action of Abraham, that we may go and do likewise. (1.) Observe the greatness of the temptation. It was to offer his own son, the son of his love, his only son, a son longed for, and obtained when his body was dead, and Sarah's womb dead; nay, the son of the promise. Had he contended only with natural affection, it had been much : descensive love is always vehement, but for love to Isaac there were special endearing reasons and arguments. Abraham was not only to conflict with natural affection, but reason ; not only with reason, but faith. He was as it were to execute all his hopes; and all this was to be done by himself, with his own hand he was at one stroke to cut off his comforts: the execution of such a sentence was as harsh and bitter to flesh and blood, as to be his own executioner. O take shame to yourselves, you that cannot so little deny yourselves for God, that attempt duties when they are only easy and obvious, never care to recover them out of the hands of difficulty and inconvenience. Public duties, if well done, are usually against carnal interests, private duties against carnal affections. Can you give up all that is near and dear to you? Can you offer up your Isaac P your ease and pleasure for private duties P. your in- terests for public P Every action is not a trial of faith, but such as engages to self-denial. (2.) Consider the readiness of his obedience. As Abraham is the pattern of believing, so of obeying; he received the promises as a figure of our faith, he offered up his son as a figure of our obedience, Heb. xi. 17. [...] He obeyed readily and willingly. “Abraham rose up early in the morning,” Gen. xxii. 3. In such a service some would have delayed all the time they could, but he is up early : usually we straitem duty VER. 22. ..] If THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. rather than straiten ourselves, we are not about that work early. [2] Resolutely. He conceals it from his wife, servants, and from Isaac himself, that so he might not be diverted from his pious purpose. Oh who is now so wise to order the circumstances of a duty, that he may not be hindered in it? [3.] He denied carnal reason. In difficult cases we seek to elude the command; dispute how we shall shift it off, not how we shall obey it: if we had been put upon such a trial, we should question the vision, or seek some other meaning; perhaps offer the image of Isaac, or some youngling of the flock, and call it Isaac ; as now we often pervert a command by dis- tinctions, and invent shifts to cheat our souls into a neglect of duty; as the heathens, when their gods called for pwrà, a man, they offered pajra, candles; or as Hercules offered up a painted man instead of a living. But Abraham does not so, though he had a fair occasion, for he was divided between believing the promise and obeying the command. God tried him in his faith; his faith was to conflict with his natural reason, as well as his obedience with his natural affection. But he accounted “ that God was able to raise him from the dead,” Heb. xi. 19. And he reconciled the command with the promise. How easily could we have slipped out at this door, and disobeyed out of pretences and reasons of religion But Abraham offered Isaac. VERSE 22. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect 3 HAVING alleged the instance, he now urges it by an apostrophe to the boasting hypocrite, who nourished an impure life under pretence of faith. “Seest thou?” (3Aérsic. He seeks to awaken the secure carnalist by urging this instance upon his conscience, “Seest thou?” that is, Is it not clear P Or without an interrogation, Thou seest. “How faith wrought with his works.” Many senses are given of this phrase. The papists urge it to prove that faith needs the concurrence of works in the matter of justification, as if works and faith were joint causes; but then the apostle would have said that works wrought with his faith, and not faith with his works. Among the orthodox it is variously expounded. The sense which I prefer is, that his faith rested not in a naked, bare profession, but was operative; it had efficacy and influence upon his works, co-working with all other graces; not only exerted and put forth itself in acts of believing, but also in working. “And by works was faith made perfect.” This clause also has been tortured into several senses. The papists gather hence, that in the work of justifi- cation faith receive its worth, value, and perfection from works; a conceit prejudicial to the friends of God’s love, and contrary to the constant doctrine of the Scriptures; for faith rather gives a value to works, than works to faith, Rom. xiv. 23; Heb. xi. 4–6; and works are so far from being chief, and the more perfect cause of justification, that they are not respected there at all. This sense being justly disproved, divers others are given: as, (1.) “Made perfect;” that is, say some, made known, and dis- covered; as God’s strength is said to be made perfect in our weakness, 2 Cor. xii. 9. None will be so mad as to say Opera non sunt causa quod all- quis justus sit apud Deum, sed potius Sunt ex- that our weakness adds any thing to | the power of God; that is incapable ecutiones et mani. of increase and decrease, and has no #.”.” need to borrow.aught from the weak- ºn in Gal. 3. º ect. 4. ness of man. It is made perfect, be- - cause it has the better advantage of discovery, and more singularly puts forth and shows itself: so faith is made perfect; that is, more fully known and apparent. And the reason of the expression is, l. Because excellent things, whilst kept private, suffer a kind of imperfection. Or, 2. Because it is an argu- ment that faith is come to some maturity and per- fection of growth, not only living, but lively, when it can produce its proper and necessary operations. This sense is probable. But, (2.) Others understand it thus, That faith or profession is not full and com- plete till works are joined with it; faith and works being the two essential parts which make up a be- liever; which interpretation suits well enough with the scope of the apostle. (3.) The exposition which I take to be most simple and suitable is, that faith co-working with obedience is made perfect; that is, bettered and improved; as the inward vigour of the spirits is increased by motion and exercise: and so, in short, (as Dr. Jackson explains it,) works do not perfect faith by com- munication and imputation of their perfection to it, but by stirring, exercising, and increasing the na- tural vigour of it. - • - Jackson on Faith. OBSERVATIONS. I. Faith has an influence upon all a Christian’s actings. In Heb. xi., faith is made the grand prin- ciple; acts are there spoken of which more formally belong to other graces. But we say the general won the day, though the private soldiers did worthily in the high places of the field, because it was under his conduct and direction. So because all other graces march, and are brought up in their order to fight, under the conduct of faith, the honour of the day and duty is devolved upon it. The influence of faith is great in all the offices of the heavenly life: (1.) Because it has the advantage of a sweet principle, it works by love, Gal. v. 6. It represents the love of God, and then makes use of the sweetness of it by way of argument; it urges by such melting entreaties, that the believer cannot say, Nay. Paul intimates the argument of faith; “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,” Gal. ii. 20. When the soul is backward, faith saith, Christ loved you, and gave himself for you ; he was not thus backward in the work of salvation. As the soldier said to Augustus when he refused his petition, I did not serve you so at the battle of Actium. (2.) It presents strong encouragements. It sees assistance in the power of God, acceptance in the grace of God, reward in the bounty of God. When you are weakened with doubtings and dis- couragements, faith saith, Do your endeavour, and God will accept you. When Christ came to feast with his spouse, he saith, “I have eaten my honey- comb with my honey,” Cant. v. 1. Though it were mixed with wax, and embased with weakness, Christ will accept it. When jealousy makes the heart faint, and the hands feeble, lest we should drive on heavily, faith shows the soul an angel that standeth “at the altar, having a golden censer,” with “much incense,” Rev. viii. 3. Duty coming immediately out of our hands would yield an ill savour, therefore Christ intercepts it in the passage, and so it is perfumed in the hands of a Mediator. Again, are you discouraged with weakness P faith will reply, Thou art weak, but God will enable thee. It is an advantage, not a dis- couragement, to be weak in ourselves, that we may “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his i i2 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF * ' Ward.” might,” Eph. vi. 10. When the bucket is empty, it can be the better filled out of the ocean. Paul saith, “When I am weak, then am I strong,” 2 Cor. xii. 10. There is no heart so dead but God can quicken it, and he is willing. It is said, “God helped the Levites,” I Chron. xv. 26, when the work was bodily ; and we are less apt to be indisposed for bodily labour. God helped them by discharging this lassitude; so certainly he will much more give in- ward strength, more love, joy, hope, which are the strength of the soul, Neh. viii. 10. Again, if the heart be lazy and backward, or stick at ease and pleasure, faith can present the glory of the reward, the pleasures of God’s right hand, &c. (3.) It breaks the force of opposite propensions. If the world stands in the way of duty, faith “overcometh the world,” I John v. 4, partly by bringing Christ into the combat, partly by spiritual replies and arguments. Reason tells us we must be for ourselves, faith tells us we must be for God. Reason saith, If I take this course, I shall undo myself. Faith, by looking within the veil, sees it is the only way to save all, 2 Cor. iv. 15–18. Reason presents “the treasures in Egypt,” and faith “the recompence of the re- From hence are thosè bickerings and coun- terbuffs which a believer feels sometimes within himself. Well, then, out of all this we may infer, [1..] That we had need get faith. There is as great a necessity of faith as of life. It is the life of our lives, and the soul of our souls; the primum mobile, the first pin, that moves all the wheels of obedience; like the blood and spirits which run through the whole body. There is by the ordination of God as great a necessity of faith as of Christ. What good will a deep well do us without a bucket P He that has a mind to work would not be without his tools; and who would be without faith that makes conscience of duty P [2.] Act it in all your works. No works are good till faith work with them; they are not acceptable, nor half so kindly. By faith Abel offered TAstova Svatav, not only a better sacrifice, as we render it, but more sacrifice, as the word will bear, Heb. xi. 4. Faith is the best support you can have; carnal ends make us mangle duty, doubts weaken us in duty. - Obs. 2. That faith is bettered and made more per- fect by acting. . Neglect of our graces is the ground of their decrease and decay. Wells are the sweeter for draining. Christians get nothing by dead and useless habits. Talents hid in a napkin gather rust. The noblest faculties are embased, when not improved in exercise. The apostle wishes Timothy divałotupsiv, to excite and enliven his gifts, 2 Tim. i. 6. It is an allusion to the fire of the temple, which was always to be kept burning. Well, then, be much in duty, draw out the acts of your graces. . Many live, but are not lively. Decays insensibly make way for deadness. Tº ºppéata čvav- * g TNovuéva Aextico X. J. - êortt. Basil'. VERSE 23. And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for right- eousness : and he was called the Friend of God. To strengthen the former argument from the example of Abraham, he produces a testimony of Scripture to #. that Abraham had true faith, and that Abra- nam was truly justified. . - “And the Scripture was fulfilled.” You will say, How can this be, since that saying was spoken of Abraham long before P compare Gen. xv. 6, with Gen. xxii.; and the apostle Paul Saith that scripture was fulfilled in him, “ yet being uncircumcised,” Rom. iv. 11, which was before Isaac’s birth, cer- tainly before his being offered. Luther upon this ground rejects this Epistle with some incivility of expression. The ºdiº e - g erba Mosis papists seek to reconcile the matter violentº.jacobo thus, That though faith were imputed jie torqueri, to Abraham for righteousness before he offered Isaac, yet our apostle would prove that faith was not enough to justify him, but there needed also works; for, say they, his righteousness was not complete and full, till it was made perfect by the ac- cession of works. And the Socinians pipe after the same tune and note, but without ground and warrant; for Paul quotes the very same words for justifi- cation without works, and proves that he had such a justification as made him completely happy and blessed, Rom. iv. 1–8. If James should go about to superinduce the righteousness of works, he would be directly contrary both to . Moses and Paul; the words of Moses can no way bear that sense, who plainly avers faith to be im- puted to him for righteousness. Briefly then for opening the place you must note, that a scripture is said to be fulfilled in several senses, sometimes when the main scope of the place is urged, at other times when a like case falls out ; and so a scripture is quoted, and said to be fulfilled, not by way of argu- ment, but allusion ; sensu transumtºvo, as divines speak; and they give a note whereby the allusive sense may be dis- tinguished from that which is chief and proper. When a text is quoted properly, it is said, that it might be fulfilled, as noting the aim and scope of the place; when it is quoted by allusion, or to suit it with a parallel instance, it is said, then it was fulfil- led, as implying that such a like case fell out. So here, “And the Scripture was fulfilled;” that is, upon this instance and experience of his faith it might be again said that faith was imputed to him for righteousness; and we may rather own this ex- position, because this sacrifice of his son, Gen. xxii., was a greater manifestation and discovery of his faith than that sacrifice mentioned Gen. xv., when this honour was first put upon him. And things are said to be fulfilled, when they are most clearly mani- fested ; as in that known place of Acts xiii. 33, where those words, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,” are said to be fulfilled at Christ's resurrection, because then he showed himself to be the Son of God, Rom. i. 4. So here, this being the evident discovery of Abraham's faith, it appeared how truly it was said of him, that he believed, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. By that ac- tion he declared he had a true justifying faith; and so the author of the Book of Maccabees regards it, 'Aépačp oixi čv Telpaguſ; sūpā0m trigróg, kai śNoyiq6m airff sic 6tkatooivny; 1 Macc. ii. 52; and after this trial we find the Lord saying unto him, “Now I know that thou fearest God,” Gen. xxii. 12. And I suppose he the rather uses this expression, to pre- vent an objection that might be drawn from Genesis, or the doctrine of Paul; and also to intimate that his doctrine tended not to press men to renounce the righteousness of faith, but to get their interest therein cleared; the testimony of Abraham’s righteousness being every way compliant with the doctrine pro- posed. “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” The original meaning Luth. Praef, in hanc, epistolam, ubi dicit hapc Tides, nisi bo- norum operum fructibus perfici- atur, justifica- tionem perfectam ac Salutem sempi- ternam conciliare hominibus non potest, ut aper- tissime testatur Jacobus. Volkel. de vera Religione, 1. 4. c. 3. p. 139. Spanheim. Dub. Evang. par. 2. Dub. 64. et alibi. VER. 23. | 13 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. of that phrase, “it was counted unto him for right- eousness,” is only to show that the thing was ap- proved and accepted by God; and so it is often used in the Old Testament: as the zeal of Phinehas is said to be “counted unto him for righteousness;” “Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for ever- more,” Psal. cvi. 30, 31. And therefore in this phrase the Scripture does not declare what is the matter of our justification, but only what value the Lord is pleased to put upon acts of faith and obe- dience, when they are performed in the face of dif- ficulty and discouragement. True, it is quoted by the apostle to prove the righteousness which is of faith without that of works; “What saith the Scrip- ture P Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness,” Rom. iv. 3. But I suppose the apostle does not quote the rigour of the expression, as if he would infer that faith is the matter of our righteousness, but only that the first testimony and solemn approbation which Abraham had from God was because of his faith. When Scriptural expressions are rigorously urged, without considering their first and constant use, no wonder that mistakes and controversies arise. For those great disputes about the matter of justification, I would not intermeddle; let it suffice to note, that the general current of Paul’s Epistles carries it for the righteous- ness of Christ; which being imputed to us, makes us just and acceptable before God; and this right- eousness we receive by faith. See Rom. iv. 23–25; v. 19; I Cor. i. 30; 2 Cor. v. 21; Phil. iii. 9. So that faith justifies not in the popish sense as a most perfect grace, or as a good work done by us, but in its relation to Christ, as it receives Christ, and his Satisfactory righteousness; and so whether you say it justifies as an instrument, a sole working instru- ment, or as an ordinance, or relative action, required on Our parts, all is to the same issue and purpose. To contend about mere words, and bare forms of speech, is to be too precise and critical. “And he was called the Friend of God.” The apostle Saith, “he was called,” that is, he was ; as Isa. xlviii. 8, “And wast called a transgressor from the womb;” that is, thou wast a transgressor. So in the New Testament, to “be called the sons of God,” I John iii. 1; that is, to be the sons of God. Or it alludes to the solemn appellation where with Abraham is invested in Scripture; as Isa. xli. 8, “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.” So 2 Chron. xx. 7, Thou art our God, and thou gavest this land “to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever.” And this title was given to Abraham because of his frequent communion with God, he had fre- quent visions; and because of his frequent covenant- ing with God; a great condescension, such as the kings of the earth use only to their equals and friends: and therefore in the places where this title is given to Abraham there is some respect to the covenant; and here it is said to be given to him upon that testimony of his faith and obedience in offering Isaac, when the covenant was solemnly re- newed and confirmed to him by oath. OBSERVATIONS. l; Works ratify the Spirit's witness. The apostle Saith, then it was fulfilled; that is, seen that Abra- ham was a believer indeed, according to the testi- mony of God. The Spirit assures us sometimes by expressions, speaking to us by some inward whisper and Voice; sometimes by impressions, implanting gracious dispositions, as it were writing his mind to l us. It is well when both are sensible, and with the witness of the Spirit we have that of water, 1 John v. 8. To look after works is the best way to prevent delusion: here is no deceit, as in flashy joys. Fanatic spirits are often deceived by sudden flashes of com- fort. Works being a more sensible and constant pledge of the Spirit, beget a more solid joy. “Here- by we know that we are of the truth, and shall as- sure our hearts before him,” I John iii. 19; that is, by real acts of love and charity. The way of imme- diate revelation is more flitting and inconstant; such actings of the Spirit being like those outward mo- tions that came upon Samson, the Spirit came upon him at times; and so upon every withdrawment new scruples and doubts arise; but the trial by grace is most constant and durable, being a continual real pledge of God’s love to us. , Flashes of comfort are only sweet and delightful while felt; but it is said of grace, the “seed remaineth in him,” I John iii. 9; and “the anointing” #y juiv påvst, “abideth in you,” I John ii. 27. This is a standing glory, and the continual repast of the soul ; whereas those ravishings are like delicacies which God tenders to his people in the times of festivity and magnificence. Well, then, learn, (1.) That good works are not a doubtful and litigious evidence. Men of dark spirits and great fancy will be always raising scruples; but the fault is in the persons, not the evidence. (2.) Learn to approve yourselves to God with all good conscience in times of trial; this will ratify and make good those imperfect whispers and mutterings in your souls concerning your interest in Christ. Do as Abraham did, upon a call he forsook his country; though he were childless, he believed the promise of a numerous issue ; when God tempted him, he offered Isaac. When God tries your faith or obe- dience with some difficulty, then is the special time to gain assurance by being found faithful. Obs. 2. Believers are God’s friends. This was not Abraham’s title alone, but the title of all the right- eous: thus Christ saith, “Our friend Lazarus sleep- eth,” John xi. 11. And more expressly, “Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends,” John xv. 15. Now they are friends to God, (1.) Because they are perfectly reconciled to him in Christ. We were enemies by nature; but God would not only pardon us, but receive us into friendship, Col. i. 21. Absa- lom was pardoned, but he could not see the king’s face. In other breaches, when the wound is healed, the scar remains; but now we are not only restored, and brought into an estate of amity, but advanced to higher privileges: God not only spares converts, but delights in them. Periissemus nisi periissemus, We had been lost if we had not been lost: the fall made way for the more glorious restoration; as a broken bone, when well set, is strongest where united. (2.) All dispensations and duties that pass between them are passed in a friendly way. As, [I.] Communication of goods. Philo's reasoning is good; Tà Tây pixwy ºrdvra cowd, Friends have all things in common; but God is our Friend, and there- fore we cannot want. In the covenant, God is ours, and we are his, Jer. xxxi. 33; xxxii. 38, 39; Zech. xiii. 9; he makes over himself to us, quantus quantus est, as great as he is; and so by an entire resignation we are given up to him. The covenant is like a con- jugal contract, and may be illustrated by that of the prophet; “Thou shalt not be for another man; so will I also be for thee,” Hos. iii. 3. God makes over himself and all his power and mercy to us; so that no dispensation comes to us but in the way of a blessing: if it be so common a mercy as rain, “the rain shall be a rain of blessing,” Ezek. xxiv. 26; if we give up ourselves to God, even to the lowest in- 114 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF terest and enjoyment: “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness to the Lord,” Zech. xiv. 20: all is consecrated. [2.] Communica- tion of secrets. So our Lord urges this relation; “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my JFather I have made known unto you,” John xv. 15. Servants are only acquainted with what concerns their duty and work. The master commands, but does not tell them the reason of the command. But now Christ had dealt more socially and sweetly with the apostles; he had opened all the secrets of the Father concerning his own resurrection, the mis- sion of the Holy Ghost, the calling of Gentiles, the last judgment, and eternal life. And so shall you that lie in Christ’s bosom know his secrets: “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” Gen. xviii. 17. He will acquaint you with every thing that concerns your salvation and peace. So on the other side believers open their secrets to God; they come with boldness “to the throne of grace:” the word is, usra traffāngiac, with liberty of speech; or, as it more strictly signifies, liberty to speak all our mind, Heb. iv. 16. We may use some freedom with God, and acquaint him with all our griefs, and all our fears, and all our wants, and all our desires; as a friend would pour out his heart into the bosom of another friend; as it is said, “The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,” Exod. xxxiii. 10. [3] Conformity and cor- respondency of will and affections. True º' friendship is built upon, likeness, and lºitia'est.” sal- consent of wills. God and the soul wills * * * the same thing; holiness as the means, and God’s glory as the end. “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you,” John xv. 14; to do otherwise is but false affection. It is the com- mendation of Ephesus, “Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate,” Rev. ii. 6. No friendship like that, where we love and hate the same things; to hate what God hates, and love what God loves. See Prov. viii. 13: so see Psal. cxxxix. 21:... [4.] By mutual delight and complacency. They delight in God, and God in them : “The Lord de- lighteth in thee,” Isa. lxii. 4; in their persons, their graces, their duties: so they delight in God, in their addresses to him, in his fellowship and presence; they cannot brook any strangeness and distance; they cannot let a day pass, or a duty pass, without Some communion and intercourse with God. It is said of the hypocrites, that they will not delight themselves in God, Job xxvii. 10. Formal duties are a burden : “What a weariness is it !” Mal. i. 13; though it were a sickly lamb. The prodigal thought it best to be out of the father's eye, best in a far country, Luke xv.; but it is their delight to be with Christ; his work is sweet to them, his statutes their Songs, Psal. cxix. 54; duties come from them freely, as graces do from God; he rejoices over them to do them good; and they can say every one of them, How do I delight in thy law [5.] By the special favour and respect God bears them. Others have but common mercies, they saving; they have “hid- Iſlem velle, atque jden, nolle, ea. den manna,” joys which others cannot conceive, Rev. ii. 17. Others are brought into the palace, Psal. xlv. 15, but they into the chambers of the great King, Cant. i. 4; they have closet mercies, a Sweet fellowship with God in all their ways. Others have the letter, they the power; others have the work of an ordinance, they the comfort. “Eat, O friends,” &c., Cant. v. I. Well, then, 1. Here is comfort to the righteous, to those who have found any friend-like affection in themselves towards God, of Heaven. any care to please him. God is your Friend; you were enemies, but you are made near through Christ. God delights in your persons, in your prayers, in your graces, in your outward welfare. It is a great honour to be the king's friend; you are favourites This is your comfort, O ye who delight in his presence, who walk in his ways as much as you can, though not as much as you should. 2. Here is caution to you: your sins go nearest to God’s heart; It was my familiar friend, Psal. lv. 13. It was sad to Christ to be betrayed by his own dis- ciple; it is a like grief to his Spirit, when his laws are made void by his own friends; “Is this thy kindness to thy friend?” 2 Sam. xvi. 17. It was David’s aggravation, “Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,” Psal. xli. 9. Unexpected in- juries surprise us with the more grief. O walk care- fully, watchfully. & VERSE 24. Pºe see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. “YE see then.” It is either a consectary out of the whole discourse, or out of the particular example of Abraham : he alludes to Paul’s manner of reasoning, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” Rom. iii. 28. And probably this discourse is intended to correct the abuse of that doctrine. “How that by works;” that is, by the parts and offices of the holy life. “A man is justified ;” that is, acquitted from hypocrisy; for he is said to be justified, in the phrase of our apostle, whose faith appears to be good and right, or who is found just and righteous; as Christ is said to be “manifested in the flesh,” but “justified in the Spirit,” 1 Tim. iii. 16; that is, approved to be God. “And not by faith only.” Not by a bare, naked profession, or a dead, vain faith, such as consists in a mere assent, or empty speculation, which is so far from justifying, that it is not properly faith. The main work in the discussion of this verse is to reconcile James with Paul; the conclusions seem directly opposite: , see Rom. iii. 28; Gal. ii. 16. Paul also brings the instance of Abraham against justification by works. Much ado there has been to reconcile this seeming difference. Some upon this ground deny the authority of the Epistle. So Luther, and many of the Lutherans at first. Camerarius speaks boldly and rashly, as if heat of contention had obtruded the apostle "º" upon the contrary extreme and error; but this is to cut the knot, not to untie it. The apostles, acted on by the same Spirit of truth, could not deliver contrary assertions; and though men usually out of the extreme hatred of one error em- brace another, yet it cannot be imagined without blasphemy of those who were guided by an infallible assistance. They show more reverence to the Scrip- tures, who seek to reconcile both places, than to deny the authority of one. Many ways are propounded, I shall briefly examine them, that with good advice and evidence we may pitch upon the best. 1. The papists say that Paul speaks Paulus loguitar of the first justification, by which a man de prima justific of unjust is made just; and that by .;; works he understands works done with- 9per: Qué fººt * sine fide et gratia, out faith and grace, by the sole power solis viribušiiberi VER. 24. I 15 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMEs. ºilº, and force of free will. But James speaks *::::: *, *. of the second justification, whereby of jº º just he is made more just; and by cap. 13 sect. 12, works he understands such as are per- formed in faith, and by the help of Divine grace. To this I answer, (1.) That it confounds justification with sanctification. (2.) That the distinction is false, and has no ground in Scripture. We can merit no- thing after we are in a good state, and are saved by grace all our lives: “Fortherein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith,” Rom. i. 17. If the righteousness whereby a sinner is justified is wholly absolved by faith, there is no place for works at all; but the apostle saith, throughout the whole life it is revealed from faith to faith; besides the apostle Paul excludes all works, even those done by grace. This error is less than that of the Pelagians, who said that by natural abilities the law might be kept to justification; however, it is not enough to ascribe justificatory works to the grace of God. So did the Pharisee, Luke xviii. 11, 12; “God, I thank thee,” not myself; yet he went not away justified. It is ill to associate nature with grace, and to make man a co- adjutor in that in which God will have the sole glory. (3.) It is little less than blasphemy to say, We are more just by our own works ...'s...” than by the merits of Christ received ..º.º. by faith; for to that justification where- G 110° 11, 1]OSt ris º e tº opéribus consistii by a man is made more just they admit ...'...}... works. (4.) The phrase of being more .*Pººl, Peum just suits not with the scope of the Quann primam jº sºiºnito apostle, who does not show how our º *...*.* righteousness is increased, but who has jºjº an interest in it; neither will the ad- am justificatio- º ... • tº ji, ºn versaries grant, that those against .*.*.* whom the apostle disputes had a first tº Trident. and real righteousness: and beside, it - -- *-*** - is contradicted by the example of Ra- hab, who according to their explication cannot be said to be justified in their second way of justification, and yet in our apostle's sense she is justified by works: and therefore the popish gloss will not remove the seeming contrariety between the apostles. 2. The Arminians and Socinians go another way to work; and, that they may deceive with the fairer pretence, seem to ascribe all to grace, and to condemn the merit of all sort of works, because poor, weak, and imperfect; but they make new obedience the in- Contumeliosum est in Sanctum meritum Chris’i, strument of justification, and say that the free grace of God is only seen in the acceptance of our imper- fect obedience. So doth Socinus, and others; and the way of reconciliation which they propose between the apos- tles is this: Paulus cum negat nos ea. operºbus justificari, nomine operum per- fectam per totam vitam legis divinae ob- servationem intelligit, mec aliud quid quam dicere vult, nisi nos ea merito psorum operum nequaquam justificari coram Deo, non autem ad nos coram ipso justificandos Socin. Fragm. de Justificat, p. 9. Confes. Armin. Cap. 18. Sect. 3. T}r. Hammond ºt. p. 47. first €(1. nulla opera nostra requiri; sunt enim opera, id est obedientia quam Christo praestamus, licet mec efficiens, • nec meritoria, tamen causa sine qua non *ś" justificationis coram Deo atque aeterna salutis : “When Paul denies that we are justified by works, by works he means a perfect observance of the Divine law during the whole life- time; and intends not to assert that no works of our own are required to justify us before God, but that in his sight we are by no means justified in consequence of the merit of the works themselves; for works, that is, the obedience which we owe to Christ, al. though neither the efficient nor meritorious cause, yet are the condition without which we cannot be law, but the sincere obedience of the justified before God, nor obtain eternal salvation.” In this sentiment he is generally followed by the men of his own school. But to this I reply, First, That the apostle Paul not only excludes the exact obedience of the Patilus ea a fide opera removet . quae perpetuani perfectissiman) - que per othnen) vitae cursum obe- dientiam conti- ment; Jacobus . vero ea intelligit opera quae homi- nes, spe praemi- orum divinorum ducti, ex animo, onnibusque viri- bus perficiunt, quanwis onni prolapsione ne- quaquam carent, habitus tamen gospel, all kind of works from the business of justification, as appears by the frequent disjunction or opposition of faith and works throughout the Scriptures. Take these for a taste: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast,” Eph. ii. 8, 9.. So Rom. xi. 6, ... lºº “If by grace, then is it no more of omnium autºn’’ works: otherwise grace is no more ..."...evi. grace. But if it be of works, then is it tºpºiºni, no more grace: otherwise work is no véra Religion, more work.” The two ways of grace “P. & P. 19% and works are incompatible. A mixed and patched way of works and grace together will never be ac- cepted of God. The new cloth sewed on upon the old confidence makes the rent the worse. It was the error of those against whom Paul deals in his Epis- tles, to rest half upon Christ, and half upon works; and therefore is he so zealous every where in this dispute: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace,” Gal. v. 4. For they went about to mix both covenants, and so wholly destroyed their own interest in that of grace. Secondly, It is a matter of dangerous consequence to set up works, under what pretence soever, as the matter or condition of our justification before God; it robs God of his glory, and weakens the comfort of the creature. God’s glory suffers, because as far as we ascribe to ourselves, so much do we take off from God. Now when we make our own obedience the matter or con- dition of our righteousness, we glory in ourselves, contrary to that Rom. iv. 2, 3, and detract from free grace, by which alone we are justified, Rom, iii. 24; and the creature suffers loss of comfort, when his righteousness before God is built upon so frail a foundation as his own obedience. The examples of the children of God, who were always at a loss in themselves, show how dangerous it is to stand upon the foundation of our works. Take a few places: “How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand,” Job ix. 2, 3. So wer. 20, “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” So ver. 30, 31, “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.” So also David shows that he was never able to enter upon this plea, to justify himself by his own obedience, Psal. cxliii. 2; cxxx. 3. And in the New Testament abundantly do the saints disown their obedience and righteousness, as not daring to trust it, yea, their new obedience, upon gospel terms: “I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justi- fied,” I Cor. iv. 4. He did what he was able, was conscious to himself of no crime and unfaithfulness in his ministry and dispensation; yet all this will not justify. So Phil. iii. 9, “That I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteous- ness.” He durst not trust the inquiry and search of justice with any act or holiness of his own. Briefly, to clear this point more fully, let me lay down a few propositions. . . (1.) Whosoever would be accepted with God must be righteous. “Thou art of purer eyes than to be- I 2 i 16 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF hold iniquity,” Hab. i. 13. God cannot give a sin- ner, as a sinner, a good look. (2.) Every righteous- ness will not serve the turn; it must be such as will endure the pure eyes of his glory : hence those phrases, justified in thy sight, Psal. cxliii. 2; Rom. iii. 20; Gal. iii. 11, and glorying before God, Rom. iv. 2, &c. (3.) Such a righteousness can be found in no man: our obedience is a covering that is too short. “What is man, that he should be clean P and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous P’” Job xv. 14. So I Sam. vi. 20, “Who can stand before this holy Lord God?” The least defect leaves us to the challenge of the law, and the plea of justice. (4.) This righteousness is only to be had in Christ; there is no other name given under him: there indeed it is to be found; therefore he is called, “The Lord our righteousness,” Jer. xxiii. 6; and he is “made unto us righteousness,” I Cor. i. 30. Therefore we are bidden to “seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” Matt. vi. 33. We must seek God’s righteousness, if we would enter into God’s kingdom. (5.) This righteousness is made ours by faith. Ours it must be, as in the first proposition, and ours it is only by faith : “Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith,” Rom. i. 17. From first to last the benefit of Christ's righteousness is received by faith; it is the fittest and most self-denying grace, it is the grace that begins our union with Christ; and when we are made one with Christ, we are possessed of his right- eousness and merit as our right, for our comfort and use. So see Rom. iii. 22; Phil. iii. 9, where “ the righteousness which is of God by faith” is opposed to our “ own righteousness, which is of the law ;” which intimates to us that this righteousness is of God, and that it is made ours by faith. (6.) Those who receive the righteousness of Christ are also Sanctified by him. New obedience is an inseparable companion of justification. “Righteousness and Sanctification,” I Cor. i. 30: by virtue of the union we have both. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,” 2 Cor. v. 17. So that obedience is not the condition of justification, but the evidence; not the condition and qualification of the new cove- nant, so much as of the covenanters. Faith justifies, and obedience approves; it must be in the same subject, though it has not a voice in the same court. 3. The orthodox, though they differ somewhat in words and phrases, yet they agree in the same com- mon sense, in reconciling James and Paul. while some say Paul disputes of the cause of justifi- cation, and so excludes works ; James, of the effects of justification, and so enforces the presence of them : and others say Paul disputes how we are justified, and James how we shall evidence ourselves to be justified; the one takes justification for acquittance from sin, the other for acquittance from hypocrisy; the one for the imputation of righteousness, the other for the declaration of righteousness: or, as others, Paul speaks of the office of faith, James of the quality of faith; Paul pleads for saving faith, James pleads against naked assent ; the one speaks of the justify- ing of the person, the other of the faith, &c.; all these answers are to the same effect, either subordi- nate to one another, or differing only in expression, and very well-suit with the scope of the apostle. You see every where he seeks to disvalue and put a dis- grace upon that faith of which he speaks; he calls it a vain, dead faith, a faith which is alone, &c. And when he fixes the scope of the disputation, he saith, “Show me thy faith without thy works;” where he plainly discovers what was the matter in controversy, to wit. the evidencing of their faith. And it is See Mr. Ball on §. Covenant, p. Thus, notable, that when he begins to argue, the proposi- tion which he lays down is this, that a bare profes- sion of faith without works will not save. True, it is delivered by way of question; “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works P can faith save him.?” ver. 14; or, as it is in the original, can j trioric, can that faith save him P Now such questions are the strongest way of denial, for they are an appeal to the conscience; and you see that the conclusion is this always, that faith which is alone, and without works, is dead; which plainly shows what was the rô &nrotusvov, or the thing in question, to wit, the unjustifiableness of that faith which is without works. - OBSERVATIONS. 1. That in the Scriptures there is sometimes a seeming difference, but no real contrariety. The rô #vavraopavěc, the seeming difference, is ordered with good advice. God would prevent misinterpretations and errors on every side; and the expressions of Scripture are ordered so, that one may alºn, i. relieve another. As, for instance, some ailera posit opern hold that Christ had only an imaginary ...* body, and was man but in appearance; therefore, to show the reality of his human nature, you have that expression, “The Word was made flesh,” John i. 14. Others, straining that expression, held a change of the Godhead into the humanity; to correct which excess we have another expression, “God was manifest in the flesh,” 1 Tim. iii. 16. To a Valentinian, urging that place in Timothy for Christ’s fantastic and imaginary body, we may oppose that in John, “The Word was made flesh;” to a Ce- rinthian, pleading for a change of the Godhead, we may oppose that in Paul, “God was manifest in the flesh.” So in some places we are bid to work out our own salvation, Phil. ii. 12, 13, and the whole business of salvation is charged upon us to check laziness; in other places, the will and deed is alto- gether ascribed to God, to prevent self-confidence. Thus Paul, having to deal with pharisaical justiciaries, proves invincibly justification by faith without works; James, having to deal with carnal gospellers, proves as strongly that a profession of faith without works is vain. The Scripture has so poised and tempered all doctrines and expressions, that it might wisely prevent human mistakes and errors on every hand; and sentences might not be violently urged apart, but measured by the proportion of faith. gº Obs. 2. That a bare profession of faith is not enough to acquit us from hypocrisy. Christ would not own them that professed his name, but wrought , iniquity, Matt. vii. 21, 22; so also the church should not own men for their bare profession. In these times we look more at gifts and abilities of speech than good works, and empty prattle weighs more than real charity. VERSE 25. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way ? HERE he brings another instance. But why does he mention Rahab P 1. Because this act of hers is made an effect of faith; “By faith the harlot, Rahab erished not with them that believed not, when she ad received the spies with peace,” Heb. xi. 31. It was indeed a great act of faith, for one who had lived VER. 25. i 17 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMEs. among heathens to be persuaded of the power of the God of Israel, and of the right they had to that land; which faith was wrought in her by Divine instinct, upon the report which was made of God and his works. 2. Because this instance is well annexed to the former. They might object, that every one could not go as high as Abraham, the great idea and pat- term of all believers. Yes, but the lowest faith must produce works as well as the highest; and therefore he brings Rahab for an instance of the weakest faith. (1.) For her person; she was a woman, a harlot, a heathen, when God wrought upon her: there being so many disadvantages, it is to be presumed this was as low an instance as could be brought. (2.) For the act itself, it was accompanied with weakness, with a lie, which indeed is suppressed, or not mentioned, lest it should deface the glory of her faith. (3.) Be- cause there might be some doubt of this instance. They might object, that bare profession was account- ed faith in Rahab, and she a harlot. He replies, that in Rahab the doctrine might be made good; for her faith, how weak soever, yielded some self- denying act or fruit. But you will say, How is this pertinent to the pur- pose, to prove that pretence or profession of faith without works is not enough to acquit us of hypo- crisy P I answer, You must conceive it thus; if she had only said to these messengers, I believe the God of heaven and earth has given you this whole land - for a possession, yet I dare not show you any kind- ness in this city, it had been but such a dead, barren faith as he here treats of; but this belief prevailed So far with her, that she performed a grateful office to them, though she incurred present danger, and the tortures which the rage of her citizens would in- flict upon her for harbouring spies. I come now to the words. “Likewise also.” instance of Abraham. “Was not Rahab the harlot.” Lyramus thinks that the word nºt which we translate “harlot,” was her proper name ; others think it only signifies that she was a hostess, or victualler: so the Chaldee paraphrase renders it, a woman that kept a tavern, sn'pºstin Yvvaika travôolcsúrptay; the Chaldee version being formed from the Greek, they derive the ori- ginal H-Y from II which signifies to feed, though others derive it from Hoy he played the adulterer; and they think it altogether improbable for a prince of Judah to marry a common harlot. But the article i) Tógvm, that harlot, so commonly used in Scripture, and because this is still repeated as a noted circum- stance, and the Syriac has a word that properly and only signifies harlot, seem to infer that she was in- deed a woman of a vicious and infamous life, and it is but folly to excuse that which God would have made known for his own glory. Probably she might be both a hostess and a harlot too, as many times such are of evil fame. She lived from her parents, no mention is made of husband and children; if her pretence had not been to keep a place of entertain- ment, it is not likely that the spies would turn into a brothel, unless ignorant of it, or by Divine Provi- dence guided thither. - . . “Justified by works;” that is, approved to be sin- cere, and honoured by God before all the congrega- tion, there being a special charge to save her and her household, when all her countrymen were slain, and she being afterward joined in marriage with a prince of Israel. “When she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way.” Second of Joshua. But is not this act questionable P Is it not treachery P Did she not sin against that This has relation to the former The story is in the love and faithfulness that she owed to her country P Abulensis thinks she had not sinned if she had be- trayed the messengers; but vainly, and against the direct testimony of Scripture: she sinned not, be- cause she had a warrant and particular revelation from God, that the land of Canaan, and so her town, was given to the Israelites, Josh. ii. And being gained to the faith, she was to leave her Gentile relation, and to be amassed into one body with the people of Israel, and so bound to promote their interest, as Calvin well observes. But you will say, If there be no sin, wherein lies the excellency of the action ; what is it more than civility, or necessary pru- dence and caution, she being thus per- suaded ? I answer, I. There was much faith in it, in believing what she had heard of God in the wilderness, and the desert places of Arabia, and mag- nifying his power and ability to destroy the people of her city, who were in great strength and prosperity; they thought themselves safe within their walls, and were not sensible of their sins and ensuing dangers. And besides, God having revealed it to her by some special instinct, she was confident of future success; “The Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath,” Josh. ii. 11. “I know that the Lord hath given you the land,” ver. 9. And So, as Origen observes, she acknowledges what is past, believes what is present, and foretells what is to come. 2. There was obedience in it; for whatever she did herein, she did it out of a reverence and dread of God, whom she knew to be the author of this war; and though there was some weakness in the action, yet, for the main of it, it was a duty. 3. There was self-denial in it; it was an action that might have been of very dangerous consequences to her; but, to manifest her fidelity to God, she over- looked the threats and cruelties of her citizens, the promiscuous events of war, the burning of her country, which she would never have done, if she had thought a profession of confidence enough. Sola cognitio Tei, quam Deus alimt; ejus indidit, eam eximit a culpa tanguam solutatn communi lege, quamvis ad eum usque diem ob- stricta fuisset suis popularibus, uiyi tainen co-optafa fuisset in corpus ecclesiae, nova conditio manu- missio fuit a jure societatis quo jure inter se devincium- tur cives. Calvin in Josh. ii. 4 Illa quae aliquan- do erat ineretrix, jam spiritu sancto repleta est, et de praeteritis quidem confitetur, de pre- Sentibus vero cre- dit, prophetat et praenunciat de fu- turis. Origen. Idom. 3. in Jo- SUla.[1]. Non minae civil- um, non bellorum pericula, non in- cendia patriae, non suorum peri- cula terrent, (iisce vir, disce Christi- ane, quomodo ve- rum Jesunn Sequi debeas, quando foemina contemsit omnia sua. A m- bros. in Enarrat. Psal. xxxvii. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Many times God may choose the worst of sin- ners. Faith in a harlot is acceptable. “The last shall be first;” that is, those who set out late for heaven often make more way than an early pro- fessor. No women are reckoned in the genealogy of Christ but such as were stained with some infamy ; idolatrous women, adulterous women, in Christ’s own line, such as Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Tamar. Chrysostom gives the reason, 'Qg iatpog oùx ac Čukagrºg trapayáyovey, He came as a physician, not as a judge; he came to save sinners, and therefore would be known to come of sinners, according to the flesh. . Manasseh was received after witchcraft, Paul after blasphemy, I Tim. i. 13, and all as precedents, in which God would show forth mercy and long-suffering; as Ra- hab here. So it is said, “publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God,” Matt. xxi. 31. The most odious and despised sinners, when they turn, to §: by repentance, find grace and place in Christ's eart. º - Obs. 2. The meanest faith must justify itself by works and gracious effects. Rahab, a Gentile con- vert, not only professes, but preserves the spies, Let Chrysostom, |Homil. 3. in att. } 18 CHAP. II. AN EXPOSITION OF not hypocrites plead, Every one is not like Abraham. Are you like Rahab P Can you produce any evidence of your faith ? The lowest degree will show itself by some effect or other. Christ in the garden takes notice of the “green figs,” Cant. ii. 13. The small- est faith, though it be but like a grain of mustard seed, will have some branches. Obs. 3. Believers, though they justify their pro- fession, are still monuments of free grace. It is “Rahab the harlot,” though “justified by works.” The Scars and marks of old sins remain not to our dishonour, but to God’s glory. Obs. 4. Ordinary acts are gracious when they flow from faith, and are done in obedience. As Rahab’s receiving the messengers: entertainment in such a case is not civility, but religion. “A cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,” is not courtesy, but duty, and shall not lose its reward, Matt. x. 42. In Heb. xi., many civil and secular acts are ascribed to faith, as fighting of battles, &c., because by faith directed to spiritual ends, and performed by superna- tural strength. A carnal man performs his religious duties for civil ends, and a godly man his civil duties for religious ends; and in offices natural and human he is spiritual. Certainly there is no chemistry like to that of grace; there brass is turned into gold, and actions of commerce made worship. A Christian is always doing his great work, whether in the shop or in the closet, obeying God, and glorifying God, in his respects to men. Obs. 5. Acts of self-denial are the great trial of faith. Such was Rahab's, to prefer the will of God before the safety of her own country; and such was Abraham’s in the former instance. Self-denial is the first thing that must be resolved upon in Christianity, Matt. xvi. 24. A man is not discovered, when God’s way and his own lie together. Your great inquiry should be, Wherein have I denied myself for God? thwarted any lust P hazarded any interest ? No trial like that, when we can part with some convenience in sense, upon the proper and sole encouragements of faith. Obs. 6. The actions and duties of God’s children are usually blemished with some notable defect. As Rahab's entertainment with Rahab’s lie. “Moses Smote the rock twice,” Numb. xx. 11; there was anger mixed with faith. Abraham offered Isaac, but equivocated with his servants; “I and the lad will come again to you,” Gen. xxii. 5; and yet he went with a mind to sacrifice him. Thus we still “plough with an ox and an ass” in the best duties, and discover corruption in the very trials of grace, Deut. xxii. 10. Obs. 7. God hides his eyes from the evil that is in our good actions. Here is mention made of receiving the messengers, but no mention of the lie. He that drew Alexander while he had a scar upon his face, drew him with his finger upon the scar. God puts the finger of mercy upon our scars. See James v. 11, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job:” we have heard of his impatience, his cursing the day of his birth, &c.; but no murmurings are mentioned. How unlike are wicked men to the Lord! They only pitch upon the evil and weakness of his people, and overlook the good; like flesh-flies, that pitch upon the sores; or vultures, that fly over the gardens of delight, and light upon a carrion; one blemish shall be enough to stain all their glory: but the Lord pardons much weakness, where he finds any thing of grace and sincerity. It is said, “Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord,” I Pet. iii. 6. The place alluded to is Gen. xviii. 12. Sarah’s whole sentence is full of unbelief; “After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also P” There was but one good word, that of “lord,” the note of respect and reverence to her husband, and that the Spirit of God takes notice of Cer- tainly it is good serving that Master, who is so ready to reward the good of our actions, and to pardon the evil of them. VERSE 26. ! For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. HERE the apostle concludes the whole dispute, show- ing how little is to be ascribed to an empty profession of faith without works; it is but as the body without the vital spirit; a carcass, not only useless, but noi- some. There needs not much illustration of this verse, the matter of it being already discussed in ver. 17 and 20. - - “For as the body without the spirit.” There is some difference about the meaning of the word Trvsöparoc' we read in the margin, breath; in the text, spirit : many prefer the marginal reading, because it is not puxic, as the body without the soul, but “as the body without the spirit,” or breath. Of this opinion is Cajetan, whose words are notable, because they fully accord with the protestant doctrine. By Spirit (saith he) is not meant the soul, but the breath; for as the body of a beast when it does not breathe is dead, so is faith without works dead; breathing be- ing the effect of life, as working is of living faith. Whence it is clear what the apostle means, when he saith, “faith is dead without works;” not that works are the soul of faith, but that works are the companions of faith, as breathing is - inseparable from life; by which ex- ...” position their doctrine, that charity is is ſiden, sicut. the soul of faith, and their distinction lº. of inform and formed faith, fall to the lººſe” ground. But, however, I rather think - that Trvsöparog in the text is not to be translated breath, but spirit, or soul, that substance which quickens and animates the body; which is elsewhere expressed by this word, as in those noted places, Luke. xxiii. 46, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit;” and Acts vii. 59, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And that respiration which is the effect of life is expressed by other words, Trvoi) and dwarvoſ), as Acts xvii. 25, “He giveth” &wijv kai Trvojv kai ra. Tavra, “life, and breath, and all things.” The mean- ing is then, as a body without a soul, so is faith without works. And yet hence it will not follow, that charity, or the works, are the soul of faith; for the comparison does not hold in regard of animation and information, but in regard of operation. As in the body without soul there are only the outward proportions and lineaments, but nothing to discover life; so in empty profession there are some linea- ments of faith, but no fruits to discover the truth and life of it, it differing as much from faith as a carcass does from a man. “Is dead;” that is, cannot perform the functions and offices of life, or of a man. “So faith without works.” The papists under- stand true justifying faith, for they suppose it may be without works ; but dead faith cannot be true faith, as a carcass is not a true man, and a true faith cannot be without works, Gal. v. 6. We must un- derstand then an external profession of belief, which, because of some resemblance with what is true, is called faith. * - - Unde apparet quo sensu dicit. fiden sine operi- bus mortuam esse, non quod Sentiat opera esse formam fidei, Sed VER. I. 110 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. “Is dead ;” that is, false, or useless to all the ends and purposes of faith. For the practical notes, see ver. -17, 20. Only observe, That naked profession, in respect of true faith, is but as a dead body and carcass. It is so in two re- spects: 1. It is noisome as a rotten carcass. A car- nal Christian is the carcass of a true Christian; there are the lineaments with corruption: an impure life veiled under profession is as noisome to God as a dead body is to you. When carnal professors draw nigh to Christ, he goes further off, as you would from what offends. “Depart from me, ye that work selves of his righteousness, or give you iniquity,” Matt. vii. 23; I cannot endure your pre- sence. When they come to him in prayer, “the sacri- fice of the wicked is an abomination,” Prov. xv. 8, like the breath that comes from rotten lungs. 2. It is useless, as to all the purposes of faith; it cannot unite you to Christ, that you may possess your- Qööéy képôos tºytoi's ariseos Tſis ToAvreias 3464)- tappiévns. Chiy- sost. lib. 4. de Sacerdotio. a feeling of his Spirit. In short, it brings no glory to God, yields no comfort to him that has it, and no benefit to others; of no more use than a dead body, when the spirits are gone. C H A P T E R III. W ERSE I. MY BRETHREN, BE NOT MANY MASTERS, KNOWING THAT WE SHALL RECEIVE THE GREATER CONIDEMINATION. HERE the apostle diverts to another matter, re-en- forcing what he had said in the first chapter of the evil of the tongue: however this discourse is with good reason subjoined to the former. Those who vainly boast of their own faith, are most apt to censure others; and they who only pretend to religion, are wont to take the greatest liberty in rigid and bitter reflections upon the errors of their brethren. “My brethren.” The compellation, though fa- miliar and usual to our apostle, has here a special emphasis. I. Good men are many times surprised, and usurp too great a liberty over the failings of others. 2. He would not deal too rigidly himself, and therefore tempers his reproof with sweetness. 3. The title carries the force of an argument; bre- thren should not affect a mastership over each other. “Be not many masters.” What is the meaning P The word master has divers significations: some- times it is taken for an absoluteness of power and authority in the church; thus Christ alone is a Mas- ter, Matt. xxiii. 10. His word is a law, his will is authentic. Sometimes it is taken for a subordinate teaching and opening the counsels of God, and those | who do so by way of office are called “masters of Israel,” John iii. 10; and so some take it in this place, and make the sense of the apostle's dissuasive to be, that every one should not easily or unlawfully invade the office of public teaching. And the reason, “knowing that we shall receive,” &c., they open thus; because God requires more of them who are teachers than of others, and so by rash entering into the office they run the hazard of the greater judgment. But the context will not bear this sense, the bent and drift of it being against the ill use of the tongue; and the reason annexed will not gratify it without much straining; and the Scripture saith, that for not reproving and warning we draw the greater judg- ment upon ourselves, rather than by teaching or re- proving, Ezek. xxxiii. 6. Therefore this second sense is not proper; neither can the first be applied, as master is taken for authority in the church, though Austin and Beda seem so to understand it, as if the apostle had dissuaded them from setting up them- selves as masters and heads of factions, and broach- ing novel doctrines, that they might appear in the head of a train, or, in the Scripture phrase, draw dis- ciples after them: but this is wholly alien and foreign to the apostle's scope. Master, then, is sometimes taken in the worst sense, kataxpmarticóc, for a Super- cilious reprover; for one that is seated in a chair of arrogance, whence he pro imperio, magisterially in- weighs against the practices of other men; and so it is taken here. And the apostle makes choice of this expression, “be not many masters,” I. To show he does not speak of public and authorized reproof. God has set some in the church who are to be cen- Sores morum, masters of manners, as the teacher, and ecclesiastical magistrate; but because God has al- lowed a few, let not every one be a master, or turn censurer. “Be not many;” we are all apt, but this desire must be killed. 2. To show that he does not forbid private brotherly admonitions, such as proceed from Christian care and love, but such a reproving as was supercilious and masterly, managed with as much sharpness and rigour as a man would use to his slave, or a master to a scholar of the lowest class and standing. And so some understand that, troAAoi Štěčoka)\ot, be not much masters, as if troX\ot were taken for troXè, many for much. “Knowing that we shall receive the greater con- demnation.” This is the first reason the apostle produces against the pride of censuring, which is grounded upon a consideration of the danger of the sin, or the severity of judgment following it; usićov kpiua, a greater judgment, either from men ; cen- surers have their own measure usually returned into their bosoms, Matt. vii. 1, 2; or from God: who can expect pardon from him that is severe to others P Matt. xviii. 32, 33. I chiefly understand judgment and condemnation from God, which is the more severe to censurers upon a threefold ground. I. The justice of retaliation; we condemn others, and God condemns us; we are severe to their failings, and how can we expect that God should be merciful to ours? 2. Because God is the avenger of injuries, Rom. xii. 19.; and, among them, blasting the reputa- tion of others is the greatest. 3. A censurer’s sins are more aggravated, because of that garb of indig- nation that he seems to put on against them : see Rom. ii. 1. In censuring others we do but pronounce our own doom and judgment, which the Scriptures manifestly represent to us in those known instances of David, 2 Sam. xii., and Ahab, I Kings xx. 35–43. 120 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF OBSERVATION S. 1. The best need dissuasives from proud censuring. The apostle saith, “My brethren, be not many mas- ters;” and afterward he puts himself in the number, “If we,” &c. It is the natural disease of wit, a pleasing evil. It suits with pride and self-love, and feeds conceit. Proud nature thinks itself somebody, when it can get into a chair of arrogance, and cast out censures according to its own will and pleasure; as if God had advanced us to some higher rank and sphere, and all the world had been made to be our scholars. It suits with self-love, because it diverts the care of our souls: they who so narrowly look after the mote forget the beam. And it strengthens self-conceit; so many evils in others make our own the less odious. It serves vain-glory, and provides for our esteem abroad: we demolish the esteem of others, that out of the ruins of it we may raise a structure of praise to ourselves. Now all these evils are in the best of God’s children. “Pride of life.” is last mentioned, 1 John ii. 16, because it is last mortified; it grows with the decrease of other sins, and thrives by their decay. Well, then, “suffer the word of exhortation,” Heb. xiii. 22. Some religious persons think such dissuasives as to them are either superfluous or injurious : this touchiness argues guilt; no evil is more natural, no evil desires less to be touched; insensibly it steals from our hearts into our tongues: we sin, and do not think of censuring. Pride being crossed rages. Hear such matters pa- tiently. James speaks to the brethren, “Be not many masters.” Obs. 2. Censuring is an arrogation of mastership over others. All teaching, especially reproof, is an act of power, and therefore the apostle forbids it to women, I Cor. xiv. 34, because they cannot have power over a man. Well, then, when you are about to censure, check it with this thought : What power has God given me over my fallen brother? “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth,” Rom. xiv. 4. It is a wrong to God to put myself in his room, it is a wrong to my neighbour to arrogate a power over him which God never gave me. We all stand upon the same level. Needless and unprofitable censuring is but a bold usurpation, and besides the idleness of the words, we shall give an account for the sauciness of them. Obs. 3. Christians should not affect this mastership Over their brethren. You may admonish, reprove, warn, but it should not be in a masterly way. How is that P (1.) When we do it out of pride and self- conceit, as conceiving ourselves more just, holy, wise, &c. “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men,” Luke xviii. 11; he speaks in- definitely. With praise a Christian may say he is not as some men; some are as brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed; and with thankfulness Non dicit, ut ali- qui, modestiae fuisset istud ; sunt enim aliqui pro- fecto daemones humana specie larvati : univer- Salis naturam sor- titur indefinitus enunciandi mo- dus. Dr. Hall Serim. Syn. Dor a. their riot. he were above common weakness. Re- store with meekness, considering yourselves, Gal. vi. 1. We are all involved in the same state of frailty. (2.) When we do it as vaunting over their infirmities and frailties, in a braving way, rather to shame than to restore them; as Ham laughed at Noah's drunk- enness : this does not argue hatred of the sin, but envy and malice against the person. Paul's temper was truly Christian; “I have told you often, and now I tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ,” Phil. iii. 17. A good man takes mo delight to rake in a dunghill, others' failings can- we may acknowledge that God has not suffered us to run into the excess of: The Pharisee speaks as if | not serve his mirth and triumph : “My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride,” Jer. xiii. 17. Censures are full of passion, but Christian reproofs of compassion; such a difference there is between reproving out of pride, and out of love and charity. (3.) When the censure is unmerciful, and we remit nothing of extreme rigour and severity, yea, divest the action of those extenuating circumstances of which the matter is capable : the censure should be extended no further than what may be necessarily inferred from the fact. Jealousy collects more than is offered, but charity “thinketh no evil,” I Cor. xiii. 5, où Aoyićsrat rô kaków, it reasons no evil ; that is, does not seek to make sins, but cover them; as when an action is capable of two interpretations, it does not fasten upon that which is evil, or interpret doubtful things in the worst sense, or conclude a sin from an inevident sign; as Eli, from Hannah’s fervency, con- cluded her drunkenness, I Sam. i. 9—18. Or if there be evil in it, it does not by undue surmises make it worse; as judge the heart by the fact, or by one or more single actions infer a habit or malignity in the offender. Or if that be visible, it does not prejudge their future condition. Though charity be not blind, it looks upon things as they are; yet charity is not jealous, to argue things into what they are not. It is against all law and right to be judge and accuser too, and to hunt out an offence, and then censure it. (4.) When we infringe Christian liberty, and con- demn others for things merely indifferent; this is to master it indeed, and lay snares upon the conscience; a wrong not so much to our brethren as to God’s own law, which we judge, as if it were an imperfect rule, James iv. 11. In habits and meats there is great latitude; and as long as rules of sobriety and modesty are not violated, we cannot censure, but must leave the heart to God: see Rom. xiv. (5.) When men do not consider what may stand with charity, as well as what will agree with truth: there may be censure, where there is no slander. Many religious persons think they are safe, if they can speak only of others what is true. But this is not all, every evil must not be divulged, some must be covered with the cloak of love; there may be malice in reporting the truth. An eager desire to spread a fault wants not sin : “Report, say they, and we will report it,” Jer. xx. 10. Nay, if there be no ill intent, such prattle will come under the charge of idle words, for which we are responsible. The apostle forbids whispering, and meddling in others’ matters; at best it is but a wanton vanity: all that we do herein should be to promote some aim of love and charity, that the offender may be seasonably reproved; or for some common good, that by the uncasing of a hypocrite others be not deceived and insnared. (6.) When we do it to set off ourselves, and use them as a foil to give our worth the better lustre, and by the report of their scandals to climb up into a better esteem. In the whole mat- ter we are to be acted by love, and to aim at the Lord’s glory. Well, then, look to yourselves in your reproofs, that they be not censures; they are so when they are supercilious and magisterial, the issues of pride rather than love. Envy often goes under the mask of zeal; we had need be careful, especially in times of public difference. For remedies, (1.) Cherish a humble sense of your own vileness and frailty. Others fall sadly and foully; but what are we ? we were as bad, Tit. iii. 2, 3, we may be Aut sumus, aut worse, 1 Cor. x. 12. Bernard tells of ſimus, ºut i. a man who, hearing of a fallen brother, i.” " fell into a bitter weeping, crying out, Bernard de Re- He is fallen to-day, and I may to-mor-_**". row. 2. Exchange a sin for a duty; “If any see his brother sin, let him pray,” I John v. 16. This will WER. 2. 121 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. be a holy art and means to spend your zeal with least danger and most profit. Obs. 4. A remedy against vain censurers is to con- sider ourselves, Gal. vi. 1. “Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” How is it with us? Gracious hearts are always looking inward; they inquire most into themselves, are most severe against their own corruptions. (I.) Most inquisitive after their own sins. “The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth,” Prov. xvii. 24, always abroad; like the windows of the temple, broad outward, nar- row inward ; curious to sift the lives of others, care- less to reform his own. But with good men it is otherwise, they find deceit enough in their own hearts to take up their care and thoughts. (2.) Most severe against themselves. A good heart is ready to throw the first stone against itself, John viii. 1–11; others can with much heat inveigh against other men's sins, and with a fond indulgence cherish their own; hatred against the person takes advantage of the miscarriage to shroud itself from notice and censure; and though they hate the traitor, yet they love the treason. Obs. 5. Rash and undue judging of others, when we are guilty ourselves, makes us liable to the greater judgment. The apostle proceeds upon that suppo- sition. Sharp reprovers had need be exact, other- wise they draw a hard law upon themselves, and in judging others pronounce their own doom; their sins are sins of knowledge, and the more knowledge the more stripes. Ignorant persons have this ad- vantage, ut mitius ardeant, they have a cooler hell. Well, then, rest not in talking and prescribing bur- dens to others, it is a cheap zeal; but “thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judg- ment of God P” Rom. ii. 3; and ver. 21, “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” There is little sincerity in that, as well as little self-denial; and hypocrisy will render us liable to condemnation. Hell is the hypocrite’s fee- simple, Matt. xxiv. 51. The phrase. of “receiving the greater damnation,” is also applied to the Phari- sees, Matt. xxiii. 14, because of their hypocrisy. So that those who reprove, whether out of office or charity, had need look to themselves; their sins are sins against knowledge, and so have more of malice and hypocrisy in them, and therefore draw on the greater judgment. Lewd ministers could not but tremble in their hearts, if they were sensible of their work. God purified Isaiah before he sent him to reprove Israel, Isa. vi. 7. Your first works should begin at your own hearts, and then you will carry on the duty with more comfort and boldness. VERSE 2. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. - HE proceeds to dissuade from supercilious censures. In this verse he urges two arguments. The first is the common frailty incident to all men, which may be two ways urged. 1. Wilt thou condemn them for that from which no men are exempted P. The excuse of weakness, and failings is the unhappy privilege of all mortal men. Or, 2. Will you not show them that tenderness which you need yourselves P You may also fail; we all of us offend in many things. The next argument, the diſficulty of not sinning by the tongue; he that can do that, can do any thing in Christianity. “In many things we offend all.” He saith, “we,” including himself, though an apostle of great holi- ness. Eusebius saith he was for his virtue surnamed The Just. And in- Pºist. deed none are exempted, not even the blessed Virgin, who is taxed in Scripture for some slips, Luke ii. 49; John ii. 3, 4. For that question, Whether God can, by the singular assistance of grace, keep any one in the animal and bodily life totally pure from sin P is altogether curious, and of no use and profit, God’s pleasure being declared the other way. And to that other question, Whether some very short or transient action of a renewed man, whether civil, moral, or natural, may not be without actual sin P I answer in these propositions: 1. That in our deliberate actions, especially those which are moral, there is some mixture of sin. In this sense you may take Eccl. vii. 20, “There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” You may understand that “sinneth not” in doing good, for he does not say simply, there is not a just man that sinneth not, but, “a just man, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” And to this purpose is that saying of Luther so much upbraided by the papists, That the best works of the regenerate are sins, if examined by God. Gregory the Great has a saying of the same sound and sense, That man’s merit is but sin, and his righteousness unright- eousness, if it should be called to a strict account. Yea, the prophet Isaiah before them both, That “all our right- eousnesses are as filthy rags,” Isa. lxiv. 6. No work of ours is so pure but there is some taint and filth of sin cleaving to it, which without a Mediator in the rigour of the law would be damnable. So that though the essence of the work be good and holy, yet because of the fleshly adherences, it cannot any way undergo the strictness of Divine judgment; man being in part holy, and in part carnal; the effect cannot exceed the force of the cause; and as there is a mixture in the faculties and principles of opera- tion, so there will be in the actions themselves, especially in religious actions, corrupt nature return- ing and recoiling with more force against resolutions of duty. 2. There may be, I conceive, an action, so short, that there is no room or scope for corruption to put forth itself; as in a sudden holy glance, or thought, we may conceive a motion or lust of the spirit, or renewed nature, in itself, and as preceding a lust of the flesh, or the opposition of the old na- ture, which though it be not perfectly, yet is purely holy. Besides, in some actions the force and vigour of corrupt nature may be wholly suspended by the power of God; as it is in conversion, in which divines say we are wholly passive; and though Deus in ipso re. God does not take away the power of gº. oten- resisting, yet he bridles it, and suspends in juniºn it, that corruption cannot put forth it.- :::::::::::"...” self, but lies hid in its own root. Be- tº prºxima pº & © * * illo tempore sus- sides, in some actions which are merely pºndalºreno. natural, as in walking a step or two, ... there is not the least provocation to tºº. draw forth sin; and therefore I cannot ºus but justly condemn that unnecessary ...}ce rigour in some, who say that a renewed delitescene per- man in every action, whether moral, civil, or natural, be it but the walking of two or three steps, actually sins; a fond nicety which, under the colour of a deeper Opus bonum op- time factum mor- tale peccatum est; et paulo post, omne opus justi damnabile est, et mortale peccatum, si ju- dicio Dei judice- tur. Luther in Assert. Art. 31, 32, 35, 36. Omne virtutis nostrae meritum est vitium, et om- nis humana jus- titia injustitia est, si stricte judice- fur. Greg. Moral 9. cap. 1. al.d 14, mittit. 'I hedl. Britan. in Synod. Dord. Art. de Conversione. 122 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF humility, destroys true humiliation. We need not make man more guilty, it is enough to humble us that “in many things we offend all.” But the devil loves to cheat men of true humility by that which is affected and strained; and when fancy invents sup- posed crimes, conscience is the less troubled for those which are real; curiosity being a kind of excuse for due remorse. 3. Those actions are not acceptable with God for their own sakes; partly because though they are pure, or free from sin, yet they are not per- ‘fect, they might be more holy; and partly because they are done by a person who has a corrupt nature, and is stained with the guilt of other actual sins, the least of which renders him obnoxious to the curse of the whole law, James ii. 10. So that these actions also need a Mediator ; and, as the apostle saith, where we know nothing by ourselves, we are not thereby justified, I Cor. iv. 4. Or, as Job speaks, “If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him One of a thousand,” chap. ix. 3. For one such inno- cent action, there are a thousand stained and pol- luted. Another question may be, Whether there are not some sins, which in their own nature are so foul, that a child of God cannot fall into them P I answer, 1. There are some gross corruptions which are very contrary to grace, ra pučopata toû kóopov, corruptions “of the world,” 2 Pet. ii. 20; sins that stink in the nostrils of nature : therefore the apostle saith the lusts “of the flesh are manifest,” Gal. v. 19 ; that is, to sense and reason; as adultery, drunkenness, &c., which nature has branded with marks of shame and contempt; into these a child of God may fall, though rarely, and very seldom. We have instances of Noah’s drunkenness, Lot's incest, and David’s adul- tery; therefore may conclude that the children of God do not only sin freely in thought, but sometimes foully in act; however not usually, not but upon Special temptation; they are not ad pocula faciles, given to women or to wine. The usual practice is a note of God’s hatred. “The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein,” Prov. xxii. 14. These sins there- fore are not of usual incidence, as wrath, and world- liness, and pride are. 2. There are other sins which are extremely contrary to nature itself, as sodomy, bestiality, &c., into which a renewed man cannot fall; partly for the great dishonour such a fact would reflect upon religion; partly because it is a mark of God’s tradition or giving up a man or woman to sin, Rom. i. 26, 27. These things are so far from being practised by Saints, that they are not to be named amongst them, Eph. v. 3. “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.” Here is the second argument; bridling the tongue is a mark of some perfection and effectual progress in grace. “Offend not in word;” that is, speaks only a known truth, and that seasonably, chari- tably, without vanity, or folly, or obscenity, or rash oaths, as Gregory Nyssen fully ex- pounds it. “Is a perfect man.” You may take the words as a supposition; If any man avoid the evils of the tongue, I will make bold to call him a perfect man, such another as is not found among mortals. Thus we say often, when we propose an unlikely practice, He that could do this were a perfect man indeed. Or you may take it positively and assertively, and so it is another argument against supercilious censures: If you offend not in word, you are perfect; that is, upright, sincere. Those that are so, because they do not divide and balk with God, are expressed by the term perfect. Or else perfect is put here for some ripeness and growth in Mji Aaxeſy TG wóTata, eiðéyat Katpov ſcort pletpa. kai. Nóyov &vgy- katov Kat a Tokpº. Ortv’ evortoxov, Atr1 NaNetv, diggv0- gºs, uh, xq.Aa- Çouv rows &vrvy- Xavov tas ſº orglo- Öpórn Tu, ysse- nus trepi et Totèas. Christianity. In the Jewish discipline there were two sorts of persons, do knºtai, beginners, that exer- cised themselves in virtuous actions and endeavours; then there were others, whom Philo calls. TsAstou, perfect; they were those who had attained and made some progress in the matters learned. Thus perfect is taken I Cor. ii. 6, “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect.” However weaklings are taken with toys, mortified Christians will discern. wisdom and sublimity in the plain preaching of Christ crucified. And this sense may be accommo- dated to this place; He that bridles his tongue, is not dokmrºc, a beginner, or learner, one that tries experi- ments in religion, but Těstog, a perfect man, one that has made some progress. “And able also to bridle the whole body.” By body Grotius understands the church, which is called the body, I Cor. xii. 20; Eph. iv. 12; and he makes the sense out thus ; He that can bridle himself in disputation is able to govern the church : an expo- sition curious, but strange to this context. By bridling the body is meant, then, governing, all his other actions, which are expressed here by the term body, because they are acted by the members of the body, eyes, hands, feet, &c. Why he lays so much weight upon this matter of governing the tongue, I shall show you in the *. OBSERVATIONS. 1. None are absolutely freed and exempted from sinning. “If we say that we have no sin, we de- ceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” I John i. 8. The doctrine of the Catharists is a lying doc- trine. “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin P” Prov. xx. 9. Solomon makes a challenge to all the world. Many may say so boldly, but who can say so truly P All of us offend in many things, and many of us mabitat, seamon in all things. There is in all a cursed regnatºmanº, root of bitterness, which God mortifies, i. º but not nullifies; it is cast down, but lºgº. not cast out. Like the wild fig tree or sum; i.jectiºn, ivy in the wall; cut off stump, body, jº. bough, and branches, yet some strings ºsal. sc. or other will sprout out again, till the similitio procli wall be plucked down: God will have trºphan. it so, till we come to heaven. Well, & Wºº, ſº . then, (1.) Walk with more caution ; you carry a sinning heart about you. As long as there is fuel for a temptation, we cannot be secure: he that has gunpowder about him will be afraid of sparkles. (2.) Censure with the more tenderness; give every action the allowance of human frailty, Gal. vi. I. We all need forgiveness; without grace thou might- est fall into the same sins. (3.) Be the more earnest with God for grace. God will keep you still depend- ent, and beholden to his power. “Who shall deliver me?” Rom. vii. 24. (4.) Magnify the love of God with more praise. Paul groans under his corruption at the latter end of Rom. vii., and then in the com- mencement of the following admires the happiness of those who are in Christ; they have many sins, and yet are condemned for none. - Obs. 2. The sins of the best are many. The apostle saith, “we offend.” God would not abolish and de- stroy all at once. There is a prayer against outward enemies; “Slay them not, lest my people forget : scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield,” Psal. lix. 11. He would not have them utterly destroyed, but some relics pre- served as a memorial. So God deals in respect of sin ; it is brought down, but not wholly slain, some- thing is still left as a monument of the Divine grace. As Peter of Alexandria, when he destroyed the rest WER. 2. 123 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. of the idols, left one that was most monstrous and misshapen, to put them in mind of their former idolatry. God will still honour free grace: the con- dition of his own people is mixed, light checkered with darkness; those who walk in the light may stumble. O then, (1.) Be not altogether dismayed at the sight of failings. A godly person observed that Christians were usually to blame for three things: They seek for that in themselves, which they can only find in Christ; for that in the law, which shall only be had in the gospel; and that upon earth, which shall only be enjoyed in heaven. We complain of sin; and when shall the earthly estate be free ? You should not murmur, but run to your Advocate. You complain; and so do all that have the first-fruits of the Spirit; “The same afflic- tions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world,” I Pet. v. 9. They are all troubled with a busy devil, a corrupt heart, and a naughty world. (2.) However you bewail these failings, evils abound in your hearts, and in your duties, so that you can- not serve God as entirely as you served Satan; your evil works were merely evil, but your good works are not purely good; there your hearts ÉÉexíSmoav, were poured out, Jude 11, here they are restrained; there is filthiness in your righteousness, Isa. lxiv. Obs. 3. To be able to bridle the tongue is an ar- gument of Some growth and happy progress in grace. You shall see not only our apostle, but the Scripture every where, makes it a matter of great weight and moment. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” Prov. xviii. 21 : upon the right or ill using of it a man’s safety depends. And Test you should think the Scripture only intends temporal safety or ruin, see Matt. xii. 37, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned:” one of the prime things that shall be brought forth to judgment are your words. So Prov. xiii. 3, “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life; but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.” He intimates a similitude of a city besieged; to open the gates betrays the safety of it; all watch and Ward are about the gates. So the tongue is the gate or door of the soul, by which it goes out in converse and communication; to keep it open, or loose guard- ed, lets in an enemy, which proves the death of the Soul. So in other places it is made the great argu- ment and sign of spiritual and holy prudence: “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise,” Prov. x. 19. Empty vessels are full of sound; discreet silence, or a wise ordering of speech, is a token of grace. So Prov. xvii. 27, “He that hath knowledge spareth his words; and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.” In the original it is, of a cool spirit, not rash and hot, ready to pour out his soul in wrath. So David makes it to be a great argument or sign of our interest in the promises; “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Reep. thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile,” Psal. xxxiv. 12, 13; that is the first direction. $o elsewhere he makes it the character of a godly man, Psal. xv. 3, . I have heaped up these scriptures, that the matter of keeping the tongue may not seem light and trivial. The Spirit of God, you see, gives ex- hortation upon exhortation, and spends many scrip- tures upon this argument. There were also special reasons why our apostle should be so much in press- ing it. (1.) Because this was the sin of that age, as appears by the frequent dissuasions from vain boast- ing of themselves, and detracting from others, in the first and second chapters; and it is a high point of grace not to be snared with the evils of our own times. (2.) It is the best discovery of the heart; proud censures. speech is the express image of it; “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” Matt. xii. 34. When the heart is full, it overflows in speech. The story of Loquere ut vided m is common, Speak that I may see thee; so Socrates to a fair boy. . We know metals by their tinkling. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment: the law of his God is in his heart,” Psal. xxxvii. 30, 31. Good men will be always discovering themselves, and give vent to the fulness of their hearts. (3.) It is the hypocrites’ sin; they abstain from grosser actions, but usually offend in their words, in boasting professions, and See James i. 26. , (4.) All of us are apt to offend with the tongue many ways; most of a man’s sins are in his word. One reckons up twenty-four several sins of the tongue, and yet the number may be increased; lying, railing, swearing, ribaldry, scoffing, quarrelling, deceiving, boasting, tattling, &c. At first indeed there was no other sin in society but lying; but now to how many evils does this one member subject us! It is observable, that when the apostle gives us the anatomy of wick- edness in all the members of the body, he stays longest on the organs of speech, and goes over them all. “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,” Rom. iii. 13, 14. There is much need you see of reforming and polishing this member. So Prov. xii. 13, “The wicked is snared by the trans- gression of his lips;” that is, not only by which he takes others, but by which he is taken himself, to his own ruin and destruction. (5.) It is a sin into which we usually and easily fall; partly, by reason of the quick intercourse between the tongue and the heart, we sin in an instant ; and partly, because speech is a human act, which is performed without labour; and so we sin that way incogitantly, without noting or judging it. “Our lips are our own,” Psal. xii. 4. Such natural deeds are performed without thinking of the weight and consequence of them. And partly, because the evils of the tongue are very pleasing, marvellously compliant with nature. Well, then, take care, not only of your actions, but of your speeches. “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue,” Psal. xxxix. I. He would take heed to the whole course of his life, but chiefly watch his tongue. Iniquity and offence were likely to shoot forth soonest that way. Next to keeping our hearts, Solomon bids us to keep our tongues; “ICeep thy heart with all diligence;” then, “Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee,” Prov. iv. 23, 24, First the heart, then the tongue; then, ver. 26, the feet, “Ponder the path of thy feet.” Consider, 1. Your speeches are noted. Xenophon would have all speeches written, to make men more serious. They are recorded, James ii. 12. Every idle word is brought into judgment, Matt. xii. 36. Light words weigh heavy in God’s balance. Consider, 2. They are punished. “They shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves,” Psal. lxiv. 8. Better a mountain should fall upon you than the weight of your own tongue. Origen observes out of that ex- pression, which intimates that the rich man desired a drop to cool his tongue, Luke xvi. 24, that his tongue was punished, quia lingwa plus peccaverat, because he had sinned most with his tongue; but the expression there intends only ease and comfort. Other passages are more clear. See Prov. xiv. 3, “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride; but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.” We boast and in- sult; God will make it a rod to scourge us. It is not 124 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF a sword, but a rod, because God will punish con- tempt with contempt, both in this life and that to come. Consider, 3. What a vile thing it is to abuse the tongue to strife, censure, or insult. The tongue is called the glory of man in the Psalms; “Awake up, my glory,” Psal. lvii. 8. It should not accom- modate itself to such vile uses and purposes; we per- vert it from its proper use. God made it to celebrate his own praise, to convey the holy conceptions of the soul to others. Man’s excellency should not be thus debased; better be dumb than of a wicked tongue. Consider, 4. It is not of small regard, that God in nature would show that he has set bounds to the */~ * tongue; he has hedged it in with a row PPººr" of teeth. Other organs are double, we - have two eyes, two ears, but one tongue. Children have not a use of their tongue naturally, till they have a use of reason. Certainly therefore it was never intended to serve passion, and pride, and every idle humour. For apt remedies, 1. Get a pure heart. There is the tongue's treasury and storehouse. A good man is always ready to discourse; not forced by the company, but because the law of God is in his heart: “The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish does not so,” Prov. xv. 7. By virtue of the op- position it should be, the tongue of the foolish; but whatever is in the tongue comes from the heart; his heart does not incline his tongue. A stream rises not above the fountain. Out of the heart come blasphemies and evil speakings, Matt. xv. 19. 2. Watch and guard your speech. “I said, I will take heed to my ways,” Psal. xxxix. 1. “I said;” that is, penitus decrevi, I took up such a resolution: nay, he saith, “I will keep my mouth as with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.” The tongue had need be restrained with force and watchfulness, for it is quick and ready to bring forth every wicked conception: you must not only watch over it, but bridle it. It is good to break the force of these constraints within us, and to suffocate and choke them in the first conception. David, though enraged, would keep in his spirit as with a bridle. Pambus, in the Tripartite history, was long in learning this lesson. So see Prov. xxx. 32, §r thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth;” that is, to bridle and stifle those thoughts of anger, revenge, or any other ill design: do not deal too softly with un- ruly evils, but strongly resist and compress them. This rule should chiefly be observed in worship, “Be not rash with thy mouth,” Eccl. v. 2. Our words should be more advised; a hasty carelessness engages to sin. “The preacher sought out words.” Certainly in worship we should see our thoughts ere they escape from us. 3. All our endeavours are nothing. Go to God: “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips,” Psal. cxli. 3. He desires God to keep him from speaking amiss when he was in deep afflictions. It is God alone that can tame the tongue; desire then the custody of his Spirit: “The answer of the tongue is from the Lord,” Prov. xvi. 1. When the heart is prepared, the tongue may faulter. In preaching and praying we are sometimes stopped in the midst of the work, though the matter be medi- tated. The saints sometimes desire God to open their mouth, Eph. vi. 19; Psal. li. 15, sometimes to shut it; he doth all in this matter. 4. That you may not offend in your words, let them be oftener employed about holy uses. It is not enough to abstain from evil speaking: “Let no cor- rupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying,” Eph. iv. 29. So Eph. v. 4, “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks,” sixáptorua, that is, thank- fully remembering your sweet experiences. You may have joy, if Christians, in other things; you may communicate to one another your experiences of God; and that is better mirth than foolish jesting. As we must then avoid the evil of the tongue, so we must commune one with another more fruitfully, quickening one another to a sweet apprehension of the benefits of God. The spouse's lips dropped honeycombs, Cant. iv. II. Many possibly avoid con- ferences grossly evil; but how slow are we to good! Solomon, who describes the sad effects of an evil tongue, every where discovers also the fruits of a good tongue. For a taste take these scriptures: “The tongue of the just is as choice silver,” Prov. x. 20; not only as it is purged from the dross of vanity, and lies, and filthy speaking, but because of the worth and benefits of it. In another place he saith it “is a tree of life,” Prov. xi. 30, whose leaves are medicinal. And, “The tongue of the wise is health,” Prov. xii. 18. All which should shame us, because we are so backward in holy discourse, to re- fresh and heal one another. And out of the whole we may learn, that Christianity does not take away the use of speech, but rule it; and does not make us dumb in converse, but gracious. VERSE 3, 4. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. THESE two verses being spent in comparisons and similitudes, need the less of comment and illustration. The drift of them is to show that little things are able to guide great bodies, as a bridle and a rudder; and so the guiding of the tongue, a little member, may be of as great use and consequence in moral matters. By the bridle we keep the horse from stum- bling, and by the rudder the ship from rocks. So answerably Solomon saith, “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trou- bles,” Prov. xxi. 23. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That it is good to illustrate Divine things by similitudes taken from earthly. (I.) Our knowledge is by sense. By things known we the better appre- hend those that are unknown; and by an earthly matter, with which we are acquainted, we conceive of the sweetness and worth of that which is heavenly and spiritual. (2.) In a similitude the thing is doubly represented, and with a sweet variety : though we know the man, we delight to view the picture. Christians should use their parts more this way; there is much benefit in it, fancy is polished. We are more fit for occasional meditation, and we ap- prehend spiritual things with more clearness and affection. - Obs. 2. Nature, art, and religion show, that the smallest things, wisely ordered, may be of great use. Neglect not small things; we are often snared by saying, “Is it not a little one P” Gen. xix. 20. And we lose much advantage by “despising the day of small things,” Zech. iv. 10. V. |ER. 5. 125 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. Obs. 3. God’s wisdom is much seen by endowing man with an ability of contrivance and rare inven- tion. That so fierce and wild a creature as the horse should be tamed with a bridle, that things of so great bulk as ships should be turned about, and that against the violence of boisterous winds, with a small helm, As a , sax, Aristotle, proposes as a worthy matter ñºw of consideration. These crafts are all §.º.º. from the Lord: “Behold, I have created Öğvgutu èxet, &c. º tº Arist. 3 inxavt- the Smith that bloweth the coals in the ôv, c. 5. & e Rºy fire, and that bringeth forth an instru- ment for his work.” Isa. liv. 16. He Reliquit haec * ****, * !.º.º.ma left these inventions to human industry, nis ingeniis eru- enda; tamen fieri non potest quin ipsius Sint omnia, qui et sa- ientiam tribuit nomini ut inveni- ret, et illa ipsa quae possunt in- yenirl primus but he gives the wit and ability. The heathens had a separate god for every separate craft, as the papists have now a tutelar saint. But the Lord giveth wisdom ; as for embroidery; Bezaleel was filled with the Spirit of God, &c., †, ºnt. Exod, xxxi. 3. Every art is a common j."...# gift of the Spirit. So for husbandry: see Isa. xxviii. 23–26. So for war, Psal. cxliv. 1. Well, then, bless God for the various dispensations of his gifts for the good of mankind, and wait upon him, that you may understand the matter of your callings, and find good in them : “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he,” Prov. xvi. 20. You must wait upon the Lord for skill and for success; he teaches to tame the horse, and to steer the ship. . Obs. 4. That men, for their natural fierceness and wantonness, are like wild beasts. Man affected to be God, but became “like the beasts that perish,” Psal. xlix. 12. The psalmist saith, “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee,” Psal. xxxii. 9. To keep them from doing harm, they Imust be held in with bit and bridle. So there is a wantonness, by which we are apt to kick with the heel against God’s precepts, Deut. xxxii. 15. It is God’s mercy that we are restrained. This natural fierceness may be discerned to be abated by the guid- ance of the tongue. VERSE 5. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire Kindleth / - “Even so the tongue is a little member.” the reddition of the similitude; the tongue is a bridle and rudder, small in bulk, and yet of great use. The apostle's word is usya.Navyči, “boasteth great things; ” this indeed is the proper signification of the word. By the force of the context James should have said, doeth great things; for the thing to be proved was, that he that can govern his tongue is able to govern his whole body. To take off the prejudice that might arise against such a proposition, he pro- duces two similitudes, wherein he would insinuate, that things little, by good management, may be of great use; and thereupon, in the accommodation of the similitudes to the present purpose, he should have inferred, that the little member the tongue, well or- dered, can do great things; that is, the government of it is of singular use in man’s life. But he rather, and that according to the use of the apostles, repeats the main proposition in such terms as imply another ar- gument. “And boasteth great things : ” as if he Here is but in their progress and ultimate issue. had said, The tongue witnesses for itself; for by it men trumpet out their confidences and presumptions, and boast they can bring great things to pass. And he instances boasting, not only as most agreeable to his matter, but, I. Because it is the usual sin of the tongue: this is a member that most of all serves pride, a sin from whence most of the errors and mis- carriages of the tongue proceed. 2. Because this is usually the sin of those who have no command of their spirits and actions. Hypocrites and vain men are proud boasters. “Flattering lips,” and “the tongue that speaketh proud things,” are joined to- gether, Psal. xii. 3. So Prov. xiv. 3, “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride.” True grace hum- bles, false puffeth up. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth !” Another similitude, to show that great inconveniences come from the abuse of so small a member. A man would think that words, which pass away with the breath in which they are uttered, had not such weight and deadly influence; but saith the apostle, a little fire kindleth much wood. Small things are not to be neglected in nature, art, religion, or providence. In nature matters of moment grow up from small beginnings; nature loves to have the cause and seed of every thing small; a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; thin exhalations descend in great show- ers; and small breaches in a sea-bank let in great inundations. OBSERVATIONS. 1. A usual sin of the tongue is boasting. Some- times the pride of the heart shoots out by the eyes; therefore we read of haughty eyes, and “a proud look,” Prov. vi. 17; but usually it is displayed in our speech. The tongue trumpets it out, (I.) In bold vaunts. Rabshakeh threatened he would make them eat their own dung, and drink their own water. So Isa. xiv. 13, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.” He threatens battle against God himself, and then against his people. See Hannah’s dissuasion, 1 Sam. ii. 3, “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth.” (2.) In a proud ostentation of our own worth and excellence. “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” Tan. iv. 30. First we entertain our spirits with whispers of vanity, and suppositions of applause; and then the rage of vain-glory is so great, that we trumpet out our own shame. It is against reason that a man should be judge in his own cause. In the Olympic games the wrestlers did not put the crowns upon their own heads. That which is lawful praise in another's lips, in our own is but boasting. (3.) In contemptuous challenges of God and man. Of God: “Who is the God of the Hebrews, that I should let you go?” And Psal. xii. 4, “Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” Of man: daring, provoking speeches are recorded in the word: Solo- mon saith, “A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes,” Prov. xviii. 6. Cartwright on that place instances those forms of irritation or provocation, Do and thou durst; and, Thou sordid fellow ; which he saith are as the alarum of war, and as drums to beat up to the battle. (4.) In bragging promises, as if they could achieve and ac- complish great matters, above the reach of their gifts and strength: “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil,” Exod. xv. 9. Obs. 2. Small things are to be regarded; and we must not consider matters in their beginning only, A little sin does a great deal of mischief, and a little grace is 126 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF of great efficacy. “The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is mischievous madness,” Eccl. x. 13. At first men toy, wrangle for sport and pastime, but afterward break out into furious passion, and so from folly go on to madness. Contention at first is but as a spark, but afterward, being fomented and blown up by unsober spirits, “it devoureth the great deep,” Amos vii. 4, puts whole kingdoms into combustion. “The be- ginning of strife is as when one letteth out water,” Prov. xvii. 14. It is easy to open the sluices, and let it out, but who can call the floods back again P Strife is sometimes compared to fire, sometimes to water; they are both unmerciful elements when once they are let loose. “As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife,” Prov. xxvi. 21: when the burning is once begun, it is easily propagated and continued. So heresy at first is inconsiderable; but it creeps like a gangrene, from one place to another, till it has destroyed the whole body. Arius, a small Alexandrian spark, enkindled - all the world in a flame. So also Pro- §º jº, vidence begins great matters upon small fºlata occasions. Luther's reformation was penes reºt occasioned by opposing pardon-mongers. infºre belium. Men begin to quarrel one with another §º" about trifles, but God introduces great mutations and changes of states and The young men's playing may prove In Alexandria . una scintilla fuit, Sed quia non Sta- kingdoms. bitterness in the issue, 2 Sam. ii. I2–17. Christ's kingdom at first was despised, a poor tender branch, a little stone crumbled from the mountains; but after- ward it filled the whole earth, Dan. ii. 44,45. Well, then, out of all this, (1.) Learn not to neglect evils that are small in their rise and original. Resist sin betimes; “Neither give place to the devil,” Eph. iv. 27. You know not the utmost issue of Satan's tyranny and encroachment. So for contention; neither meddle with it at all, or leave off betimes. So for heresy; “Take the little foxes,” Cant. ii. 15; watch over the first and most modest appearances of error. “To whom we give place by subjection, no, not for an hour,” saith the apostle, Gal. ii. 5. (2.) Learn not to despise the low beginnings of Providence and deliverance. There is a day of small things, Zech. iv. 10. God useth to go on when he hath begun a good work. Philpot said, The martyrs had kindled such a light in England, as should not easily go out. WERSE 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it deftleth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. HERE he applies the similitude of a little fire to an evil tongue; “And the tongue is a fire,” &c. I shall open the phrases that are most difficult. “A world of iniquity.” Things that are exuberant and abounding are expressed by this proverbial Speech, “a world.” It implies that the force and power of the tongue to hurt is very great; as the world º of all kind of things, so the tongue of all kind Of SII]. “So is the tongue among our members;” that is, of so great regard; it is but one, and that a small, member among the rest, and yet of such a cursed in- fluence, that it often draws guilt upon all the rest of the members. “That it defileth the whole body.” Ephraim riences of it. Syrus understands this clause without a figure; he thinks it is an allusion to the punishment of leprosy, with which Miriam and Aaron were smitten for the abuse of their tongues. But that agrees not with this place. The meaning is therefore, it blots and infects the whole man with sin and guilt; and so possibly there may be an allusion to what is said Eccl. v. 6, “Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin;” where by “flesh” is meant the whole man, as also here by “body;” which term the apostle used be- fore, ver. 3, and with good advice : 1. Because he speaks of the tongue, which is a member of the body, and so the rather carries the expression in terms suitable. 2. Because sin, though it begins in the soul, is executed and accomplished by the body; and it is some grace, when we cannot stop it in the con- cupiscible, to stop it in the locomotive power; if not in the lust, yet in the members. Or, 3. “Body,” be- cause of that resemblance the Scriptures make be- tween the sin of all the members and a body; and therefore the course of our actions, whether good or bad, are expressed by this term; as Matt. vi. 22, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body is full of light,” where body is put for all the actions of the soul; if the understanding and aim be rightly directed, all the motions are right. Now the tongue defiles this whole body, as it persuades to sin; or else utters and bewrays sin, and so shows the whole man to be de- filed. It also engages to sin; the tongue often en- gages the hand to smite with the fist of wickedness, and by its brawling and contention other members are involved in sin and inconveniences. So also for other sins; men speak evil, and then commit it: one member infected makes way for the corruption and defilement of another; and the tongue, being of so sovereign an influence, taints all. “And setteth on fire.” He shows the further efficacy of this tongue-fire; it not only blacks and Sullies, but it devours and destroys. He expresses it by this phrase, “setteth on fire,” because of the comparison foregoing; and it is very proper, partly in regard of the effects of the tongue, which are usually false heats, passion, wrath, raging, violence; contrary to which is that cool spirit which Solomon saith is in the prudent man, Prov. xvii. 27. Partly in regard of the tongue's männer of working in con- tentions, it is rapid and violent; men are by the tongue transported and heated into inconveniences. And it is also disorderly, like raging fire, causing great confusions; and therefore in any heat we had need look to the rise and quality of it. Be sure to watch over your spirit when it begins to grow furious and inflamed. - “The course of nature.” In the original it is rôy Tpóxov Tijg yewijøewc, which some render, the wheel of our nativity, by which he intends the whole course of our lives; there is no action, no age, no estate privileged from the influence of it. The Syriac inter- preter has, “all our generations,” as if the sense were, that all ages of the world are conscious of the evils of the tongue, and can produce instances and expe- But the word rather signifies our natural course, or the wheel of human conversation. “And it is set on fire of hell.” He shows whence the tongue has all this malice and mischief; from hell, that is, from the devil, who is the father of lies, the author of malice and virulency; and by the tongue, as a dexterous instrument, or fit servant, trans- mits lies, slanders, and strifes, for inflaming and en- kindling the world. ... Some read, Ø\oytoopévn, it shall be “set on fire of hell,” as implying the punishment; but in all approved copies it is pXoytčopévn, “is set on fire,” as noting the original. - VER. 6. 127 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. OBSERVATIONS. 1. There is a resemblance between an evil tongue and fire : (1.) For the heat of it; it is the instru- ment of wrath and contention, which is the heat of a man, a boiling of the blood about the heart. Solomon saith, “A man of understanding is of a cool spirit,” Prov. xvii. 27. Hot water boils over; so do passions in the heart boil out in the words. Of the ungodly man it is said, “In his lips there is as a burning fire,” Prov. xvi. 27. (2) For the danger of it; it kindles a great burning; the tongue is a power- ful means to kindle divisions and strifes. You know we had need look to fire; it is a bad master, and a good servant; where it prevails, it soon turns houses into a wilderness: and you have as much need to watch the tongue. Solomon saith, “As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport P* Prov. xxvi. 18, 19. We throw fire abroad, scalding words, and do not think of the danger of them. (3.). For the scorching of it : reproaches penetrate like fire; David compares them to “coals of juniper,” Psal. cxx. 4, which burn hottest and longest; they may be kept a whole year. The Sep- tuagint have roic &vSpdéu Toig #pmuukoic, desolating coals. Fire is a most active element, and leaves a great sense of pain; so do reproachés, like the living coals of juniper. (4.) Because it is kindled from hell, as in the close of the verse. Zeal is a holy fire that comes from heaven, this from hell. Isaiah's lips Were touched with a coal from the altar, Isa. vi. 6. And the Holy Ghost descended in cloven tongues of fire, Acts ii. 3. But this is fire from beneath, of an infernal original. O labour then for a cool spirit. A tongue that is set on fire from hell, shall be set on fire in hell. You know who wished for a drop to cool his tongue. Hot words of wrath, strife, and censure, come from Satan, and lead to Satan. When you feel this heat upon your spirit, remember from what hearth these coals were gathered. God’s word was as fire in Jeremiah's bones; so is wrath many times in ours; yet though wrath boil, keep anger from being a scorching fire in your tongues. See Psal. xxxix. 1–3. & Obs. 2. There is a world of sin in the tongue. It is an instrument of many sins; by it we induce our- selves to evil, by it we seduce others. Some sins are formal, and proper to this member, others flow from it; it acts in some sins, as lying, railing, swearing, &c.; it concurs to others, by commanding, counsel- ling, persuading, seducing, &c.; it is made the pan- der to lust and sin. Oh how vile are we, if there be a world of sin in the tongue, in one member | Some have reckoned as many sins in the tongue as there are letters in the alphabet. Where shall we find a rule and account, to number up the sins of every member P All the imaginations are evil, Gen. vi. 5. As there is saltness in every drop of the sea, and bitterness in every branch of wormwood, there is an “overspreading of abomina- tions” (Dan. ix. 27) throughout the whole man. Again, we may consider the ingratitude of man; our tongue is our glory, it is the member by which we discover and show forth our reason, it fits us for z/ Jºy commerce, Psal. cviii. 1 ; Psal. xvi. ºx. 9, compared with Acts ii. 16. Speech ſº ºf Pol. makes man a sociable creature, yet there & Jº, tº p. 2. & fº º * ſº is a world of iniquity in the tongue. Obs. 3. Sin is a defilement and a blot. " It de- fileth.” We hear of filthy communication, filthy lucre, and filthy lusts; the very show of sin is called “fil- thiness of the flesh,” 2 Cor. vii. I. Scandalous sin- ners are the stain of their society: “These are spots Laurent. in loc. upper spokes will come down again. in your feasts of charity,” Jude 12; it will be your own disgrace. When you give up yourselves to the practice of sin, you get to yourselves a blot; “Their spot is not the spot of his children,” Deut. xxxii.5. And it will be your eternal disadvantage; “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth,” Rev. xxi. 27. In short, sin is such a filthi- ness that it is ashamed of itself; it seeks to hide itself from those that most love it, and goes shrouded under the disguise of virtue. There needs no other argument to make it odious than to see it in its own colours. - Obs. 4. Tongue sins do much defile. They defile others: we communicate evil to others, either by carnal suggestions, or provoke them to evil by our passion. They defile ourselves: by speaking evil of them, we contract guilt upon ourselves; either they deserve it not, and so it is a lie, which is a great blot; or if the crime imposed be true, their sin is made ours by an undue speaking of it. •. Obs. 5. An evil tongue has a great influence upon other members. “It defileth the whole body.” When a man speaks evil, he will commit it; when the tongue has the boldness to talk of sin, the rest of the members have the boldness to act it. “Evil com- munications corrupt good manners,” I Cor. xv. 33. First we think, then speak, and then do. Men will say it is but talk: be not deceived; a pestilent tongue will infect other members. Obs. 6. Man’s life is like a wheel. “The course,” or wheel, “ of our nativity.” It is always in motion; we are always turning and rolling to our graves. “Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Re- turn, ye children of men,” Psal. xc. 3. The meaning is, they are turned into the world, and returned to the grave. It notes also the uncertainty of any worldly state; the spokes are now up, and now down ; sometimes in the dirt, and sometimes out. The bishops of Mentz give a wheel for their arms; it is but the emblem of our lives, and the inconstancy of every condition of life. When you see the wheel, improve the occasion to some good meditation. There is a story of Bajazet, as also of another taken by an ancient king of France, when they saw the wheel of the conqueror's chariot, they smiled, saying, The Here we are always moving, sometimes up, sometimes down, but still towards the grave. Obs. 7. The evils of the tongue are of a large and universal influence; they diffuse themselves into all conditions and states of life. There is no faculty which the tongue does not poison, from the under- standing to the locomotive; it violently stirs up the will and affections, makes the hands and the feet “swift to shed blood,” Rom. iii. 15. There is no action which it does not reach; not only those of ordinary conversation, by lying, swearing, censuring, &c.; but holy duties, as prayer, and those direct and higher addresses to God, by foolish babbling and carnal requests. We would have God revenge our private quarrel. Pulpits are made stages and cock- pits, on which men play their prizes and masteries, and set on private passions. There is no age ex- empted; it is not only found in young men, who are of eager and fervid spirits, but in those whom age and experience has more matured and ripened. Other sins decay with age, this many times increases; and we grow more forward and pettish as natural strength decays, and the days come on in which is no plea- sure, Eccl. xii. 1. I say, when other sins lose their vigour, as being tamed and subdued by the infirmities of old age, we see the spirit grows more tart, nature being drawn down to the dregs, and the expressions Peccatum quod alter incurrit ope- rando, tuum facis obloquendo. 128 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF more passionate. No calling is exempted; the trades- man in his shop abuses his tongue for gain: “The get- ting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death,” Prov. xxi. 6. The woman at home, in idle tattling and vain censures. Ministers in the pulpit often prostitute the sacred- ness of their function to the corruption of the tongue, by preaching for gain, by being rash with their mouths to utter any thing before God, Eccl. v. 2, or by being furiously passionate. There is no temper so meek and humble but may be perverted. Holy Moses, the meekest man upon earth, was angry at the waters of strife, and brake out into a passion; “He spake unadvisedly with his lips,” Psal. cvi. 33. Meek Christians in a disease, how froward are they ! injurious even to God himself. David well prayed in a great cross, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips,” Psal. cxli. 3. Well, then, none of us should think these exhortations unneces- sary. It is a vain scoff, and it argues horrible light- ness of spirit, to charge this only upon the female sex; through the strength and pregnancy of imagina- tion or fancy they may be given to talk; but you See men, the best and highest, are apt to offend. The apostle saith, it “setteth on fire the course of nature.” No part of man more noxious and hurtful, no part of a man more fierce and unbridled, no part more easy and apt to err. Obs. 8. A wicked tongue is of an infernal original. The prophets’ fires, as I told you, were kindled from heaven; like the chaste fires of the Roman vestals, which, if let out, were to be re-enkindled by a sun- beam. In all heats it is good to see whence they come. Heat in good matters, out of a selfish aim, is a coal fetched not from the altar, but the kitchen. Calumnies and reproaches are a fire blown up by the breath of hell. The devil has been a liar from the beginning, John viii. 44, and an accuser of the bre- thren, and he loves to make others like himself. Learn then to abhor revilings, contentions, and re- proaches, as you would hell-flames ; these are but the eruptions of an infernal fire. Slanders are the devil's slaves and instruments. Again, if blasted with contumely, learn to slight it. Who would care for the suggestions of the father of lies? The mur- derer is a liar. In short, that which comes from hell will go thither again. “Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire,” Matt. v. 22. Wrath being expressed in a word of reproach, you see how deadly and grievous it is. By nourishing an evil tongue, you nourish and keep in hell-flame, which hereafter will break out to your destruction. VERSE 7, 8. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind; but the tongue can no man tame ; *t is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. HAVING showed the cursed influence of the tongue, he shows how difficult the cure is. Wild beasts are more tractable, and may be sooner brought to hand, than an evil tongue; it is wilder than the wildest beast. “Every kind of beasts, and birds, and serpents, and things in the sea.” The enumeration is the more full, that he may show how far human art can reach. For instances and stories, interpreters abound in them. How lions have been tamed, and brought to hunt as dogs, or draw the chariot as horses, you may see in Pliny’s Natural History, lib. 8. cap. 16, and Ælian, lib. 15. cap. 14. How birds have been taught, you may see in Plin. lib. 10, cap. 42, and Macrob. lib. 2., Saturn. cap, 10. Of elephants, Lip- sius, cent. prima, Epist. 50. In short, nothing is so violent and noxious by nature, but human art and industry have made it serviceable to human uses. This is a fruit and relic of that dominion God gave man over the creatures at first: by an instinct put into their natures they were all to obey him and serve him; but man revolting lost imperium suum and imperium sui, the command of himself and the command of the creatures; he rebelling against God, the creatures rebelled against him, to avenge the quarrel of the Creator. But now by art and indus- try, and some relics of the image of God in himself, and the help and concurrence of a general provi- dence, he in part recovers his dominion over the creatures, but over himself he cannot by any means, no, not over his tongue, a little member; for to that end is this illustration brought here. “Is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind.” As if he had said, It not only has been done in ancient times, but we see it still done. He uses this distinctness of expression, to show that he not only intends the subjection of the creatures before the fall, which was füll and voluntary, or some miracu- lous effects, as when the whale hurts not Jonah, chap. ii., or the lions, Daniel in the den, Dan. vi., or the viper, Paul, Acts xxviii.; but what is usual and ordinary, and often happens in common experience. “But the tongue can no man tame.” The old Pelagians, wholly wresting this place, reads it as an interrogation; as if the sense were, Man can tame all other things, and then can he not tame himself? which is quite contrary to the apostle's scope, which is to show what an unruly and an untractable evil the tongue is. Others, to avoid the seeming harsh- ness of the sentence, say, He speaks of other men's tongues; who can stop them P as if it were a º; of a like sense with that, Psal. cxx. 3, “What shall. be given unto thee P or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?” how shall I prevent it? But this also does not agree with the apostle's scope, who does not show how we should bridle other men’s tongues, but guide our own. The meaning is, then, no man can do it of himself; and we have not such an absolute concurrence of the Divine grace as to do it wholly. “It is an unruly evil,” &cardoxerov kaków. Some take it causally, it is the cause of sedition and unruliness; but rather it signifies what was formerly expressed, an evil that will not be held in. It is a metaphor taken from beasts kept within rails or chains. God has in the structure of the mouth appointed a double rail to it, teeth, and lips; and by grace laid many restraints upon it; and yet it breaks out. - “Full of deadly poison.” It is an allusion to such creatures as hurt by poison. The tongue is as deadly, and hath as much need to be tamed, as venomous beasts: besides, some beasts carry their poison in their tongues, as the asp in a bladder under the tongue, which, when they bite, is broken, and then the poison comes out; therefore it is said, “They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips,” Psal. cxl. 3. OBSERVATIONs. From the seventh verse you may observe, 1. The tractableness of the beasts to man, and the disobedience of man to God. Beasts are tamed, serpents are charmed by our skill; but we are not charmed by all the allurements of Heaven. “ Their poison is like the poison of a serpent : they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not VER. 7, 8. 129 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely,” Psal. lviii. 4, 5. It is an allusion to the fashion of the asp, which, when he sees the charmer, lays one ear close to the ground, and covers the other with his tail. But now we read in the text serpents have been tamed, and are tamed ; but all the magic of the gospel, the sweet spells of grace, will not cure the heart of man. So the ox, a creature of great strength, is obedient to man, a weaker creature : but we kick with the heel against God; as the prophet, “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know ; my people doth not consider,” Isa. i. 3. Fallen man may go to school to the beasts to learn mildness and obedience; and yet God hath more power to subdue, and we have more reason to obey. Obs. 2. The greatness of man's folly and impotency in governing his own soul. Though he tames other things, he does not tame himself. We seek to re- cover our loss of dominion over the creatures, but who seeks to recover that power which he once had over his own soul P How can we look to have our dominion entire over beasts and inferior creatures, when by the irregularity of our lusts we make our- selves as one of them P “ He is like the beasts that perish,” Psal. xlix. 12. We all affect sovereignty, but not holiness. Men seek to conquer others, but not themselves. Solomon saith, Prov. xvi. 32, “He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city: ” that is the nobler conquest, but we effect it not. We would recover our lordship over the crea- tures, but still remain captives to our own lusts. Domat feram, non domat linguan ; it was Austin’s complaint, We do not tame the beast in our own bosoms. The evil tongue is the worst serpent, and the most rabid and cursed of all the fierce beasts is the railer; and therefore Solomon saith, Prov. xxi. 19, “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a con- tentious and an angry woman.” In the wild desert there are lions, and bears, and tigers, but these assault us but now and then, and these can but rend the skin; but a contentious wife is like a tiger, that still lieth in our bosoms with sharp and bitter words, ever ready to fret out our hearts. Qbs. 3. The deepness of man’s misery. Our own skill is able to tame the fiercest beasts, and make them serviceable; beasts as strong as lions and ele- phants, fishes that as it were inhabit another world, birds as swift almost as a thought, serpents hurtful and noxious. But, alas, there is more rebellion in our affections; sin is stronger, all our art will not tame it. . We may teach beasts to do things contrary to their fierceness and natural dispositions; elephants to crouch, horses to dance; but man is Shotov čvousra- Xeiptorov, as Plato called him, a beast that will not easily come to hand. We see in children much stub- bornness,ere they come to be ripened and habituated in sin. A man would think their inclinations should be more flexible; but “foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.” Certainly man's will is the tough- est sinew in the whole creation. Obs. 4. Qur art and skill to subdue creatures are a relic and argument of our old superiority. The Sanctius his ani- heathens discerned we had once a do- ºile minion, and the Scriptures plainly as- deeratadhuc, et sert it; “Let them have dominion over 3..."." " the fish of the sea, and over the fowl Rºhºmºest, of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,” Gen. i. 26. Aug. Serm. 4. de Verbis Domini. Ovid Met, lib. 1. Next to God’s glory, they were ordained for man’s service and benefit: we had a right and a grant from God; and therefore all the beasts were to come to - K Adam to receive their names, which was a kind of formal submission to his government, and a present- ing of their homage and fealty to him. For main- taining this government, God gave man wisdom, and planted an instinct in the creatures, by which they should be ready to obey him, fearful of doing him harm and offence; and therefore when the grant was in part renewed, it is said to Noah and his sons, “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered,” Gen. ix. 2. So that then Adam could converse amongst the beasts without fear, (as Noah and his sons did afterward in the ark by singular dispensation,) and command them at his beck and will ; there would have been on man’s part no such difficulty to subdue them to human uses; Adam, in the great wisdom with which he was then furnished, knowing how to accommodate himself to the dispo- sitions of the beasts, and on the beasts' part there would have been no repugnancy. But, alas, ever since the fall this right was forfeited, and the creatures withdrew themselves from man’s obedience, and proved hurtful and rebellious; therein representing to us our own treason and disloyalty ; and therefore usually wild beasts are made an instrument of Di- ºr vine vengeance; “The Lord sent lions feiai. Aug. jr. among them,” 2 Kings xvii. 25. So **** Ezek. xiv. 15, “If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it.” The insurrec- tion and rebellion of the creatures against us, is a memorial of our unfaithfulness and rebellion against God. . But yet though this grant be forfeited it is not wholly extinguished. A wicked man has lost his right, but not the use, which to him is continued out of God's patience and general providence for the preservation of human society. And the elect have a new title and right by Christ, which will at length fully instate them in the absoluteness . , a º of the old dominion; when the crea- šº. ture being freed from the bondage of pºrti. guest. 61, corruption, shall willingly be subject to the children of God, Rom. viii. 19–22. But for the present the dominion is exercised in a much lower way than it was in innocency. Though we have some skill to subdue them and govern them for human uses, either of profit or delight; and though there be some instinct of fear in the hurtful creatures, and therefore they do not come abroad at such times as man is supposed to be in the field, Psal. civ. 20–23; yet this subjection is not with such willingness as formerly on the creatures' part, Rom. viii. 20, nor with such easiness on ours, it being a matter of more difficulty and toil. Besides that, there are many creatures which by their swiftness and fierceness wholly escape the reins of man’s sovereignty. From the eighth verse observe, 1. The tongue is hardly tamed and subdued to any right use. I say, hardly; for he doth not say none, but “no man can ;” no human art and power can ever find a remedy and curb for it. And in this life God does not give absolute grace, so as to avoid every idle word. The note is useful to refute the patrons of free will; it cannot tame one member; it also condemns the Per- fectists. Do but consider the offences of the tongue, and you will see that you have cause to walk humbly with God. If he should but charge the sins of your own tongue upon you, what will become of you ? But if it cannot be tamed, what shall we do P why do you bid us bridle it? I answer, (1.) If we have lost our power, God must not lose his right. Weak- ness does not exempt from duty; we must bridle it, Quia per pecca- tum deseruit homo eum sub quo esse debet, Subditus est iis su- i 30 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF though we cannot of ourselves. (2.) Though we cannot bridle it, yet God can. It is a hard matter for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God; “but with God all things are possible,” Matt. xix. 26. Difficulty and impossibility, as to the creatures’ endeavours, are left, that we may fly to God. The horse does not tame himself, nor the camel himself, nor man himself; man tames the beast, and God tames man: Attendite simili- tudinem ab ipsis bestiis quas do- Imamus ; equus mon Se domat, camelus non se domat, aspis non Se domat; sic et homo non se do- Imat, Sed ut do- metul equus, bos, gamelus, elephan- tus, leo, aspis, quaerit homo; ergo Deus quaerat ut dometur homo. Aug. Tom. 10. Serm. 4. de Ver- bis Domini. make it; God made thee, and shall he not tame thee P, Imago Dei domat fe- ram (Saith Austin) domabit Deus ima- gînem suam. The work is done by the next highest power. (3.) To those who attempt it, and do what they are able, God will give grace; he never fails a diligent waiting soul. When God has given you rô Sexsiv, to will, he will give you rô #vspygiv, to do; the first motions are from him, and so is the accomplishment: offer your- selves to his work. (4.) Though we cannot be alto- gether without sin, yet we must not altogether leave off to resist sin. Sin reigns where it is not resisted, it only remains in you where it is opposed. But you will say, What is our duty P I answer, 1. Come before God humbly, bewail the depravity of your natures manifested in this untamed member. This was one of the sins which Austin confessed, he said his tongue was formaa mali, an AEtna that was always vomiting up distempered fires and heats: complain of it to God; “O wretched man who shall deliver me?” 2. Come earnestly : this was one of the occasions upon which Austin in his Confessions sobbed out his Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis, Lord, give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. He spake it upon the occasion of lust, and he spake it upon the occasion of the evils of the tongue. Your applications to grace must be the more earnest and frequent ; cry for a remedy: “ Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips,” Psal. cxli. 3. - Obs. 2. There is an unbridled licence and violence in the tongue. “An unruly evil.” “Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles,” Job xxxii. 19. When the mind is big with the conception, the tongue is earnest to utter it: “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned,” Psal. xxxix. 3. There- fore in the remedy we should use not only spiritual care, but a holy violence: “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me,” Psal. xxxix. 1. And you had need look to the heart; it comes from the abundance of ini- quity; naughtiness must have some vent for its su- perfluity. And from the heat of wrath, get a cool Spirit; and from the itch of vain-glory, let a man’s honour seem a very small thing, I Cor. iv. 3; and from the height of discontent, full vessels will plash over. Meeken the heart into a sweet submission, lest discontent seek the vent of murmuring. Obs. 3. A wicked tongue is venomous and hurtful. “Full of deadly poison.” Bernard observes, it kills three at once; him that is slandered, his fame by ill report; him to whom it is told, his belief with a lie; and himself with the sin of detraction. Bless God when you escape these deadly bites, the fangs of detraction. A good name is a precious ointment, and a slanderous tongue is a deadly poison; nothing will secure you but the antidote of innocence : but if it be your lot, bear it with patience; there is a resurrection of names as well as of persons. Though you are Aug. Confess. Vid. Cornel. A Lapide in hunc }ocum. thou tamest a lion, and thou didst not || º poisoned by the tongue of detraction, yet remember he is wont to give a cordial in whose mouth there is no guile, I Pet. ii. 22. It may also dissuade men from the sin, we would not poison one another; slander is poison. VERSE 9. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and there- with curse we men, which are made after the simili- tude of God. HERE he shows the good and bad use of the tongue; the good to “bless God,” the bad to “curse men;” and the absurdity of doing both with the same tongue: you put the same member to the best and worst use. Things employed in worship, because of their relation, are wont to be accounted holy; cer- tainly too worthy to be submitted or debauched to mean, at least to the vilest uses and purposes; that were a monstrous and unbeseeming levity. I shall open the phrases in the OBSERVATIONS. 1. The proper use of the tongue is to bless God. “O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise,” Psal. 1. 15. If God give speech, and abilities of utterance, he must have the glory, it is the rent we owe to him. This is the ad- vantage we have above the creatures, that we can be distinct and explicit in his praises. “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee,” Psal. cxlv. 10. The creatures offer the mat- ter, but the saints publish it. The whole creation is as a well-tuned instrument, but man º the music. Speech, being the most excellent facul- 7 - ~ : . should be consecrated to Divine àº'à" uses. “Neither filthiness, nor foolish ** talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks,” sixdiptoral, Eph. v. 4; thank- fully remembering your sweet experiences. It is a Christian’s work and recreation ; While I have breath I will praise the Lord, saith the psalmist. God gave us these pipes and organs for that purpose; your breath cannot be better spent. When they spake with other tongues, they spake the wonderful works of God, Acts ii. 4, 11. Well, then, go away and say, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth,” Psal. xxxiv. 1. This is to begin heaven upon earth. Some birds sing in winter as well as in spring. Stir up one another, Eph. v. 19, as one bird sets all the flock chirping. Obs. 2. We bless God most cheerfully, when we consider him as a Father. “God, even the Father;” that is, of Christ, and in him of us; you had the same speech chap. i. 7. Thoughts of God as a Judge can- not be comfortable. Our meditations of him are sweet, when we look upon him as a Father in Christ. The new song and the new heart best suit. Every one cannot learn ... the Lamb’s “new song,” Rev. xiv. 3. Praise comes from us most kindly, when it comes from us like water out of a fountain, not like water out of a still ; out of a sense of love, not out of a fear of wrath. Wicked men can howl, though they cannot sing. Pharaoh in his misery Canticum novum et vetus homo ina- le concordant. Aug. in Psalm. could say, The Lord is righteous. Obs. 3. The same tongue should not bless God and curse men. “And therewith curse we men.” It is hypocrisy. Acts of piety are counterfeited, when acts of charity are neglected. “Unto the wicked WER. 9. 13] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. God Saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth P Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother ; thou slanderest thine own mother's son,” Psal. 1. 16, 19, 20. Hypocrites are most censorious, but true piety makes men meek and humble. It is storied of Cranmer, that he never miscalled a servant, or used words of disgrace and contempt to them. Religion begets a grave awe and reverence. The seraphim never revile, but only praise God: he “durst not bring a railing accusation against the devil,” Jude 9. Some are of a wicked temper, can only curse, like dogs, non pro feritate, sed pro consuetwdine latrant, that bark not so much out of fierceness as custom. They know not how to pray, their mouths are so inured to cursing and evil-speak- ing. Others there are that can curse and bless at the same time; “They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly,” Psal. lxii. 4. Others, that curse and rail under a pretence of piety and zeal. The evils of the tongue, where they are not restrained, cannot consist with true piety. Obedience is counterfeit where it is not uniform: one table cannot be kept with the violation of another. O check yourselves then, when you are about to break into passion : Shall I pray and brawl with the same tongue? and divert from worship to railing P With this tongue I have been speaking to God, and shall it presently be set on fire of hell ? Obs. 4. Man is made after God’s own image. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” Gen. i. 26. In other creatures there are vestigia. We may track God by his works, but man is his very image and likeness. ... I shall not be large in this argument. This image of God consists in three things: (1.) In his nature, which was intellectual. God gave him a rational soul, spiritual, simple, immortal, free in its choice; yea, in the body there were some rays and strictures of the Divine glory and majesty. (2.) In those qualities of knowledge, Col. iii. 10, upright- ness, Eccl. vii. 29, “in righteousness and true holi- ness,” Eph. iv. 24. (3.) In his state; in a happy con- fluence of all inward and outward blessings, as the enjoyment of God, power over the creatures, &c. But now this image is in a great part defaced and lost, and can only be restored in Christ. Well, then, this was the great privilege of our creation, to be made like God; the more we resemble him, the more happy. O remember the height of your original. We press men to walk worthy their extraction. Those potters who were of a servile spirit disgraced the kingly family and line of which they came, 1 Chron. Quoties diugeni- iv. 22. Plutarch saith of Alexander, § ſº that he was wont to heighten his .."; courage by remembering he came of ºntius pug the gods. Remember you were made º after the image of God; do not deface it in yourselves, or render it liable to contempt, by giving others occasion to revile you. Obs. 5. It is a dissuasive from slandering and evil- speaking of others, to consider they are made after God’s image. ... I shall inquire, how this can be a motive, and wherein the force of it lieth. (1.) How can this be a motive, since the image and likeness of God is defaced and lost by the fall P I answer, He speaks of new creatures, especially in whom Adam's loss is repaired and made up again in Christ., “Ye have put on the new man, which is re- newed in knowledge after the image of him that cre- ated him,” Col. iii. 10. So Eph. iv. 24, “That ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” God is tender of his new creatures. Intemperance of tongue against Saints is dangerous. As he said, “Take heed what you do, this man is a Roman;” so, Take heed what you speak, these are Christians, created after God's image, choice pieces, whom God has restored out of the common ruins. 2. He may speak it concerning all men, for there are some few relics of God’s image in all, as Epiphanius well argues out of Gen. ix. 6, “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man;” in which reason there would be no force, if there were not after sin some relics of God left in man, though much deformed. So this saying in James, being promiscuously spoken of all kinds of men, it argues, that in them as yet remains some similitude of God, as the simplicity and immortality of the soul; some moral inclinations instead of true holiness; some common notices of the nature and will of God instead of saving knowledge; which though they cannot make us happy, serve to leave us inexcusable. So also some pre-eminence above other creatures, as we have a mind to know God, capable of Divine illumination and grace; and in the fabric of the body and countenance there is some majesty and excellency above the beasts; as also in the relics of dominion and authority spoken of before. And look as we reverence the mouldering picture of a friend, and the ruins of a stately edifice, so some re- spect is due to these remains of our primitive integrity. . (2.) Wherein lies the force of the argument, cursing man made after the image of God? I an- swer, 1. God has made man his deputy, to receive love and common respects: higher respects of trust and worship are to be carried out to God alone; but in other things Christians, the poorest of them, are Christ's receivers. Hence those expressions, “He that despiseth you despiseth me,” Luke x. 16; and, “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me,” Matt. xxv.45. 2. The image of God is that which we can come at: we would blast all excellency; we go as far as our malice can reach. As they say the panther, when she cannot come at the man, rends his picture; so do we deal with God. 3. God himself is wronged by the injury done to his image; as, among men, the con- tempt and despite is done to the king himself, which is done to his image or coin ; as Matt. xxiii., to “swear by the altar,” which was the symbol of God’s presence, was to swear by God. 4. This is the sense God has placed against injury : “For in the image of God made he man,” Gen. ix. 6. It is referred not to the slayer, as if he had sinned against those common notices of justice and right continued in his conscience; but of the man slain, he is the image of God. God has honoured this lump of flesh by stamping his own image upon him, and who would offer violation to the image of the great King? Now, to speakevil against him, is to wrong the image of God. All God’s works are to be looked upon and spoken of with reverence, much more his image. Well, then, in your carriage towards men, let this check injury and undecency of speech, he is God’s image. Though images are not to be worshipped, yet the image of God is not to be bespattered with reproaches; especially if they have a new creation, and a new forming, these are vessels of honour. Consider against whom the sin is in its latest result, a despite done to God himself, because done to his work and image. Solomon saith, “Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker,” Prov. xvii. 5. God is the Maker of all, but he instances the poor, because they are the usual objects of our scoffs and reproaches; though poor and mean, they are the image of God as well as thou. This should beget a ‘H roſ, elkévos tºun et, ſo irpo- TOTU ºr Oly dº wo." /3aívgt. Basil de Spiritu Sancto, Cap. 18. K 2 - 132 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF restraint and reverence. by a special reason; their persons are the image of God, and the condition is the work of God. Besides creation, there is an ordination of Providence; you afflict a man, and you afflict misery, which are both of God’s making; and though they cannot avenge the injury, God can, whose command you have not only violated, but his image. VERSE 10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. HE amplifies the absurdity by a repetition or new proposal of it. His meekness is observable: he might have reproved them sharply; but dissuading them from the evils of the tongue, he would himself give them a pattern of modesty and gentleness: “These things ought not so to be ;” that is, they should be quite otherwise. It is a phrase savouring of apos- tolical meekness; Paul uses it in almost a like case; “Speaking things which they ought not,”, l Tim. v. 13; and Tit. i. 11, “Teaching things which they ought not.” - OBSERVATIONS, I. That blessing and cursing do not become the same mouth. This is like him in AEsop, that blew hot and cold with the same breath. A good man should be uniform and constant: the same heart can- not be occupied by God and the devil, nor the same tongue be employed to such different uses. The Pharisee prayed and censured at the same time, Luke xviii. 10; and many pray and curse, pray and rail, in the same breath: this is most unseemly : one part condemns and destroys the other; the good aggra- vates the evil, and the evil disproves the good. Rail- ing is the worse, because of the solemnity of the action; and praying is but a revengeful eructation, when thus managed and accompanied. When the tongue is employed in prayer, it is as it were hallowed and consecrated; and therefore must not be alienated to common and vile purposes. They were carnal wretches that said, “Our lips are our own,” Psal. xii. 4; thine are given up to God. Obs. 2. We must look not to what we desire to do, but what ought to be done. “These things ought not so to be.” Lust, or the bent of the spirit, is not the rule of duty. Many advise with no other coun- sellor but their own hearts. Carnal constraints are an ill warrant. Beasts are led by strength of instinct and natural impulse. outward rule. There is a higher Lord than your own will. Look then not to the earnestness of your motions, but the regularity of them; not at what you would, but what you ought. - VERSE 11, 12. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter 2 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries 2 either a vine, figs 2 so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. HERE are several illustrations taken from the course of nature, to show that one cause and original can have but one orderly and kindly birth. He reasons from what is impossible in nature, to what is absurd in manners. In the similitudes he speaks of what Nay, the poor are secured | Creatures. Man is to be governed by an falls out for the most part. If any rare instances can be brought to the contrary, it prejudices not the apostle's scope, which is to show what falls out in the wonted course and influence of causes, and there- by to declare how incompatible with true religio the evils of the tongue are, if not restrained. . OBSERVATION. Nature abhors hypocrisy and double-dealing. Con- trary effects from the same cause are monstrous. It is against the whole ordination of God among the There is not a surer note of hypocrisy than deformity of effects and practices. It is true, a Christian has a double principle, flesh and spirit, but not a double heart. All the productions of the soul are like the yeanings of Laban’s sheep, “speckled and spotted,” Gen. xxx. 39; but in a hypocrite's life there is an utter dissonancy and disproportion. Hate this double-dealing, when you profess religion and live in sins; see how contrary it is to the whole course of nature: say, Sure this cannot come from an uniform and good heart. Especially use these illustrations to check the deformities of your speech; when you are apt to bless and curse, pray and revile, say, This would be monstrous in nature: is there such another cause in the world as the tongue is? of such different uses and employments? - WERSE 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amon * § g e */ow 3 let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. HE now diverts to another matter, though that which is near of kin with the former, which is an exhorta- tion to meekness, as opposed to envy and strife. “Who is a wise man and endued with know- ledge among you?” Some apply this, as all the former discourse, to the ministry; as if the meaning of the question or supposition were, if any be quali- fied for this dispensation; and they are strengthened in this supposition by the words here used, göpog rai #Trigrhawv, which hold forth the two gifts necessary for the ministry. The apostle elsewhere calls them “the word of knowledge,” and “the word of wis- dom,” I Cor. xii. 8; but the very structure of the words shows them to be generally intended. He speaks of wisdom and knowledge, because all the former evils come from a presumption of greater skill and ability than others, or because they affected the repute of prudent knowing Christians. Now, saith the apostle, if you would be so indeed, you must unite meekness with godliness. The questionary proposal intimates the rare contemperation of these two qualities; wisdom and knowledge are very seldom coupled. Knowing he might grant these censors to be, but not wise. “Let him show out of a good conversation.” The first requisite of true wisdom is to honour knowledge with practice, that being the end of all information; and the knowing person having a greater obligation to duty than others. - “His works with meekness of wisdom.” Here is the second requisite, prudent meekness in converse; wisdom being most able to consider of frailties, and to bridle anger. obs.FRVATIONS. I. Wisdom and knowledge do well together; the one to inform, the other to direct. They are else- where coupled; “Who is wise, and he shall under- W.E.R. 13. 133 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. stand these things P prudent, and he shall know them P’’ Hos. xiv. 9. There is a difference between these two, knowledge and wisdom, wisdom and pru- dence, as appears by Prov. viii. 12, “I wisdom dwell with prudence.” A good apprehension and a good judgment make a complete Christian. Where hea- venly wisdom is, there will be also prudence; a practical application of our light to the occurrences of life. And where God gives knowledge, he gives also wholesome and needful counsels for ordering the conversation. Prudence dispenses the light of knowledge according to particular occasions. Faith is opposed to folly as well as ignorance; “O fools, and slow of heart to believe,” Luke xxiv. 25. Faith is a wise grace, a spiritual prudence, more for practical inferences than nice speculations. Well, then, do not rest in a form of knowledge, Rom. ii. 20, couple it with wisdom. A Christian is better known by his life than discourse. Bare knowledge puffeth up, I Cor. viii. 1, gets into the head or tongue; then it is right, “when wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul,” Prov. ii. i0. Men of abstracted conceits and sublime specu- lations are but wise fools; like the lark that soars high, peering and peering, but falls into the net of the fowler. Knowledge without wisdom may be soon discerned, it is usually curious and censorious. Obs. 2. That true wisdom ends in a good convers- ation. Surely the practical Christian is the most wise : in others, knowledge is but like a jewel in a toad's head. “Keep therefore and do these sta- tutes; for this is your wisdom,” Deut. iv. 6: this is saving knowledge, the other is but curious. What greater folly, than for learned men to be disputing of heaven and religion, while others less knowing attain to both ! This is like him that gazed upon the moon, but fell into the pit. One property of true wisdom, is to be able to manage and carry on our work and business; therefore none so wise as they that walk circumspectly, Eph. v. 15. The careless Christian is the greatest fool, he is heed- less of his main business. Another part of wisdom is to prevent danger; and the greater the danger, the more caution should we use. Certainly then there is no fool like the sinning fool, that ventures his soul at every cast, and runs blindfold upon the reatest hazard. I might enlarge my- self in all points of wisdom, but I for- get the laws of this exercise. The use of all is, to check those that please themselves in a false wisdom. (1.) The worldly wise. Men are cunning to spin a web of vanity, and to effectuate their carnal purposes; alas, this is the greatest folly : “Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?” Jer. viii. 9. Who would dig for iron with mattocks of gold P. The strength of your spirits, your serious cares, are better worth than vanity. Usually Providencemakes fools of the worldly wise; their understanding undoeth them, as it is said of Babylon, Isa. xlvii. 10; they overwit and outreach themselves. (2.) Such as content themselves with human knowledge. Some can almost, with Beren- garius, dispute de omni scibili; or, with Solomon, un- ravel nature from the cedar to the hyssop; but know not God, know not themselves: like the foolish Virgins, make no provision for the time to come, and so do but wisely go to hell. Some of the heathens had large endowments, but “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” Rom. i. 22. (3.) Such as hunt after notions and sublime speculations, knowing only that they may know. A poor soul that looks heaven- ward has more true wisdom than all the great rabbies Surgunt indocti, et rapiunt coelum, et nos cum omni- bus doctrinjs nos- tris detrudimur in Gehennam. See Dr. Sibbs on ‘Hos. xiv. 8. Sapientes sapien- ter, descend unt in infernum. Hieron. “The testimony of the Lord is sure, ſº of the world. making wise the simple,” Psal. xix. 7. And in an- other place, A good understanding have all they that do thereafter. Others may have sharper wits, but they have more savoury apprehensions; as blunt irons, if heated, pierce deeper than those that are sharp and edged, if cold. (4.) Such as are sinfully crafty, have wit enough to brew wickedness. O it is better be a fool in that craft : “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children,” I Cor. xiv. 20. Happy they, whose souls never enter into sin’s secrets! “I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil,” Rom. xvi. 19. It is best be one of the devil’s fools, simple as to wicked enterprises. They that affect the glory of acuteness in sin do but resemble their father the devil, who is of great knowledge, but much malice. - - Obs. 3. The more true wisdom, the more meekness. Wise men are less angry, and more humble. (1.) Less angry. There is much spoken of a fool’s wrath: “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both,” Prov. xxvii. 3. He wants judgment and understanding to allay and moderate the rage of it; so that where it falls, it falls with the whole strength and weight of it. The more wisdom a man has, the more can he give check to passion ; they can oppose wise considerations, the frailties of nature, their own slips, their need of pardon from God; at least they will not trust such a furious passion, and let it out without restraint. . “A wise man deferreth his anger, lest it burn with too hot a flame,” Prov. xxix. 11. Once more we hear of the wrath of a fool; “Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly,” Prov. xvii. 12; that is, in the heat of his rage, as the si- militude implies; and it is called folly, for then men are most foolish. (2.) They are more humble. “With the lowly is wisdom,” Prov. xj. 2. Pride and folly always go together, and so do lowliness and wisdom. The world many times looks upon meekness as folly, but it is heavenly wisdom. Moses is renowned in Scripture for wisdom and meekness. Men who are but morally wise, we see are most meek. The laden clusters will bow the head. Well, then, we all affect the repute of wisdom ; discover it in meekness, in bearing with others, in being lowly within yourselves: other wisdom may serve your carnal ends best, but this is true wisdom, this pleases God best; “The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price,” I Pet. iii. 4. The world counts it an effeminate softness, God counts it an ornament: this is the best Christian temper. Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but this to his enemies; he is a Lamb to his followers. Fierce, ruffianly spirits do not become Christianity more than the wolves would the lamb’s bosom. There are excellent fruits of meekness that discover the use of it; either in setting on doctrine. Man is won by love; “In meekness instruct those that op- pose themselves,” 2 Tim. ii. 25. This is like the small rain -upon the tender grass. Or in preventing contention ; A soft answer pacifieth strife. Abigail stopped David’s fury, 1 Sam. xxv. Obs. 4. Meekness must be a wise meekness. It is said, “meekness of wisdom; ” it not only notes the cause of it, but the quality of it; it must be such as is opposite to fierceness, not to zeal. The Spirit appeared in cloven tongues of fire, as well as in the form of a dove; and the apostle saith there is a “spirit of power and of love,” which may well consist and stand to- gether, 2 Tim. i. 7. Obs. 5. A Christian must not only have a good heart, but a good life. “Let him show forth.” In his I34 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF conversation show forth the graces of his spirit; “Ilet your light shine,” &c., Matt. v. 16.. We must study to honour God, and honour our profession. It is one thing to do works that may be seen, and another to do them that they might be seen; “that they may see your goodworks:” va, or the word for “that,” is taken #x3artkūc, not airwoxoyukóc; it marks not isost, in loc. Chrysost, in loc the scope, but the event. VERSE 14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. HAVING showed what was the effect and token of true wisdom, he infers, that if the contrary were found in them, they had little cause to glory, rather to be ashamed; and opposes two things to the for- mer double effect of wisdom, to meekness and good, works, envy and strife. “But if ye have.” The apostle's modesty in re- proving is observable; he does not positively tax them, but speaks by way of supposition. So also chap. i. 25; ii. 15. In reproofs it is wiser to pro- ceed by way of supposition than direct accusation. “Ye have bitter envying.” He notes the root of tongue evils; we pretend zeal and justice, but the true cause is envy. He calls it Zij\ov trirpov, “bitter envying,” to distinguish it from that &yaS) épug, holy emulation, which makes us strive who shall excel each other in the ways of godliness; as also from true zeal for God’s glory, which they pretended; as if he had said, It is a zeal, but a bitter zeal. Also to note the original of it; it proceeds from the overflow of gall and choler, that root of bitterness that is in the heart. It also notes the effects of it; it is bitter to ourselves and others, it makes us unpleasant to those with whom we converse; and though it be sweet for the present, yet, when conscience is opened, and we taste the fruits of it, it proves bitterness in the issue. And it shows whither that similitude, ver. 11, tends, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” “And strife in your hearts.” This is the usual effect of envy, and he saith, “in your hearts;” be- cause though it be managed with the tongue or hand, it is first contrived in the heart, and because this aggravates the matter. Breaches may fall out be- tween Christians in their converse besides intention ; but where they are affected and cherished, they are abominable. “Glory not;” that is, either of your Christianity, an evil so contrary to it being allowed; or of your zeal, it being so deeply culpable; or of any special wisdom and ability, as if able to reprove others: this most probably, for the main bent of the discourse is against opinionative wisdom. You have no reason to boast of your wit and zeal in censuring or conten- tion, as men are wont to do in such cases, unless you will glory in your own shame; rather you have cause to be humbled, that you may get these vile affections mortified. “And lie not against the truth.” Some say, by a carnal profession. Hypocrisy is a practical lie. Some speak lies, others do them ; “He that doeth truth cometh to the light,” John iii. 21. Rather by false pretences of zeal and wisdom. It is a pleonasm, usual in the apostle's writings: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not,” Rom. ix. I ; and, “We lie, and do not the truth,” I John i. 6. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That envy is the mother of strife. They are often coupled: “Full of envy,” then follows “mur- der and debate,” Rom. i. 29. So Rom. xiii. 13, “Not in strife and envying.” “There is among you envying, and strife, and divisions,” I Cor. iii. 3. . So 2 Cor. xii. 20, “Envyings, wraths, strifes.” And Gal. v. 20, “Emulations, wrath, strife, seditions.” These things being so solemnly coupled in Scrip- ture, intimate to us that envy is but a cockatrice’ egg, that soon brings forth strife. The world had an early experience of it in Cain and Abel; and afterward in Abraham and Lot's herdmen; then in Joseph and his brethren; “When his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his bre- thren, they hated him, and could not speak peace- ably unto him,” Gen. xxxvii. 4. They envied him, and they conspired to slay him. So in Saul and David; “And Saul eyed David from that day and for- ward,” I Sam. xviii. 9. So also in the priests against Christ; “For envy they delivered him,” Matt. xxvii. 18. There were two sins which were Christ’s sorest enemies, covetousness and envy ; covet- ousness sold Christ, and envy delivered him. These two sins are still enemies to Christian profession; covetousness makes us sell religion, and envy perse- cute it. The church has had sad expe- rience of it; it is the source of all here- sies. Arius envied Peter of Alexandria, and thence those bitter strifes and per- secutions. It must needs be so. Envy is an eager desire of her own fame, and a maligning of that which others have; it is compounded of carnal desire and car- nal grief. Well, then, “let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory,” Phil. ii. 3. Scorn to act out of that impulse. Should we harbour that corruption which betrayed Christ, enkindled the world, and poisoned the church 2 Obs. 2. There is nothing in the life but what was first in the heart. “Strife in your hearts.” “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adul- teries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,” Matt. xv. 19; there is the source of sin, and the fountain of folly. As the seeds of all creatures were in the chaos, so of all sins in the heart. Well, then, look to the heart; keep that clean, if you would have the life free from disorder and distempers; “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life,” Prov. iv. 23. The Jews were banished . England for poisoning fountains. The heart is the fountain, keep it clean and pure; be as careful to avoid guilt as shame. If you would have the life holy before men, let the heart be pure before God; especially cleanse the heart from strife and envy, strife in the heart is worst; the words are not so abominable in God’s eye as the will and purpose. Strife is in the heart when it is kept and cherished there, and anger is soured into malice, and malice betrays itself by debates, or desires of revenge : clamour is wrong, but malice is worse. The apostle forbids kpaşymy, clamour, or loudness of speech, Eph. iv. 31. But, “Woe to them that devise injquity, and work evil upon their beds !” Micah ii. 1. Studied wickedness is worst of all. Obs. 3. Envious or contentious persons have little reason to glory in their engagements. Envy argues Puerunt quidam nostrorum, veh minus stabilita ide, vel minus docti, vel minus cauti, qui dissi- dium facerent unitatis vel eccle- siam dissiparent, sed ii quorum fides fift lubrica, cum deum nosse Se aut colere si- mularunt, augen- dis opibus et ho- nori studentes af. fectabant maxi- mum sacerdo- tium, et a potio- ribus victi sece- dere cum suffra- gatoribus Suis maluerunt quam eos ferre praepo- sitos quibus concupiebantipsi raºponi. &c. ſº lib. 4. In- Stit. Cap, uſt. either a nullity or a poverty of grace; a nullity where it. reigns, a weakness where it is resisted, but not overcome. “They thät are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust,” Gal. v. 24. WER. 14. 135 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. ºf He is a carnal man that is carried away with an in- ordinate affection or lust. Now of all lusts this is most natural : “The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy,” James iv. 5. Children betray it first: Pidi zelantem parvulum, I saw (saith Augustine) a little child looking pale with envy. As it is natural, so it is odious. It is injurious to God and his dispensa- tions, as if he had unequally distributed his gifts. It is hurtful to others; we malign the good that is in them, thence hatred and persecution. It is painful to ourselves, therefore called “the rottenness of the bones,” Prov. xiv. 30. In short, it arises from pride, it is carried out in covetousness and evil desire, and ends in discontent. O then beware of bitter envy- ing and strife: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger be put away from you,” Eph. iv. 31. It is hateful to God, prejudicial to others, troublesome to yourselves; and it is its own punishment. Nothing more unjust than envy, and yet nothing more just, saith Nazianzen. Will you know what it is P Discontent- edness at another man’s good and prosperous estate, holiness, esteem, renown, and parts. In carnal things it is sordid, in higher things it is devilish; in the one we partake with the beasts, who ravenously seek to take the prey from one another; in the other with the devils and evil angels, who, being fallen from happiness, now malign and envy those that enjoy it. Envy discovers itself, (1.) By grief at others’ enjoy- ments. Cain is sad because Abel's sacrifice was ac- cepted, Gen. iv. 5. Their having is not the cause of our want, but our envying it. (2.) In rejoicing at their evils, disgrace, and ruin. “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him,” Psal. xxii. 7, 8. David, on the contrary, fasted for an enemy's sickness. (3.) By incommunication. Men would have all things en- closed within their line and pale; are vexed at the commonness of gifts, because they would shine alone. Moses, contrarily, “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets ’’ Numb. xi. 29. Consider these things, how unsuitable to your profession 1 So also for strifes, they do not º that should * coine be cemented with the same blood of §º iii. Christ. All strifes are bad; your heart Uğ. was never the better when you came from them: but envious strifes are worst of all; and yet usually this is the sum of our contest, who shall be greatest. Opinions are drawn in for the greater gloss and varnish, as Paul said, some preached the gospel out of envy, Phil. i. 15; but usually that is the main quarrel; and so religion, which is the best thing, is made to serve the vilest affection. Obs. 4. Envy and strife go often under the mask of zeal. These were apt to glory in their carnal strifes. It is easy to tack on a pretence of religion, and to baptize envious contests with a glorious name. One faction at Corinth entitled their sect to the name of Christ ; “I am of Christ,” I Cor. i. 12; they are reckoned among the rest of the factions. “I am of Christ,” in the apostle’s sense, is as bad as, “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos,” and, “I am of Cephas.” Well, then, examine those affections that are drawn forth under a disguise of religion; there may be zeal in the pretence, and bitter envy at the bottom. Sin is often arrayed in the garments of virtue: there are So many things that look like zeal, but are not; and Our own interest is so often concerned in the interests of religion, that we have need to suspect ourselves, lest the wild gourds of frowardness and passion be mistaken for “the planting of the Lord,” zeal and righteousness. There are two shrewd presumptions, upon which, if you cannot absolutely condemn such motions, you have cause to suspect them. One is, when they boil up into irregular and strange actions. True zeal, though it increase the stream, does not usually overflow the banks, and break one rule to vindicate another. The other is, when we are apt to glory and boast, as in this place. We usually boast of graces of our own making. “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord,” 2 Kings x. 16, was in effect but, Come and discern my pride and hypocrisy. Hypocrites have so little of the power of religion, that they adore their own form. Obs. 5. Hypocrisy and carnal pretences are the worst kind of lies. The Lord complains, They com- pass me about with lies. The practical lie is worst of all; by other lies we deny the truth, by this we abuse it ; and it is worse sometimes to abuse an enemy than to destroy him. It had been more mercy in Tamerlane to have executed Bajazet, than to have carried him up and down in scorn as his footstool. Hypocrites not only feign against religion, but carry it up and down as a footstool, upon which they step into their own interests and advancement. The practical lie is little better than blasphemy : “I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not,” Rev. ii. 9. It is a lie against the truth indeed, and a blasphemy, when we entitle it to our unclean intents. VERSE 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. To justify the truth whose glory they had impugned, he adds these words, wherein he shows, that though they had a pretence of zeal and wisdom, yet it was not heavenly wisdom, but such as came from the devil, or the corrupt heart of man. There is a great deal of difference between cunning and holy wisdom. “This wisdom descendeth not from above.” “From above;” that is, from God, as chap. i. 17; whom we worship as above, because his glory chiefly shines forth in the heavens; true wisdom is of that descent. Some observe a criticism in the word karépysrat, “ descendeth ;” it properly signifies returneth; we lost it in Adam, and we receive it again from above : Āristotlem, "Än- the sense is then, This is no wisdom of #.” God's giving. , But you will say, All ºit common knowledge is from God, even iº" that which is employed about earthly Pro*" in 19e. matters. I answer, The apostle speaks not of skill, but carnal wisdom, and shows it is not such as the Holy Ghost gives, but is inspired by the spirit of darkness. “But is earthly.” Here he shows the properties of carnal wisdom; he reckons up three, suiting with the three sorts of lusts mentioned 1 John ii. 16, as anon more fully. Earthly it is called, because it suits with earthly minds; it is employed about earthly things to a carnal or earthly purpose. So Paul speaks of Some that are gopoi čv rq, aid,v. roëtq), only wise for this world, 1 Cor. iii. 18. “Sensual,” puxicº), which the Vulgate renders animalis, animal ; it is elsewhere rendered natural, as I Cor. ii. 14, div$ptotrog ſixtkoc, “the natural man,” one guided by carnal reason; for he is opposed, ver. 15, to rvsöpidricoc, the spiritual man, one that is fur- nished with Divine illumination. It is again used Jude 19, Lüxicot, Tveipia ur) #xovtsc, and translated Non dicit #pxe- Tat Sed Katëpxe- rat. Is apud Demosthenem et 136 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF as here, sensual men, not having the Spirit. The word properly signifies those who have a soul, or a rising from the soul; and it is usually opposed to the light and saving work of the Spirit. It is good to know upon what grounds it is translated sensual: I suppose the reason is, partly from that passage of the apostle, 1 Thess. v. 23; where he distinguishes body, soul, and spirit, as the three parts and subjects of the sanctifying and renewing work of the Holy Ghost : the words are Trvsöpia, būxn, oùua' by Trvsöua he understands the intellectual or rational part; by pixm, the mere animal or sensitive part, the sensual appetite, that faculty that we have in common with the beasts; by adjua, that which is commonly under- stood by it, the body, as it is the organ and instru- ment of the soul; so that pixm being in the apostle’s distinction put for our mere animal part, or sensual appetite, the translators render lºvyukoi, which is the word that comes from it, by “sensual.” Partly be- cause man, being left to himself, to mere soul light, or soul inclinations, can bring forth no other fruits than such as are carnal, the bent of nature being altogether for present satisfaction, the conveniences and delights of this present life; and therefore where it is left to its liberty and power, it only minds these things. Thus you see why that word, which in its proper and native signification signifies animal, is sometimes translated natural, and sometimes sensual. Thus Tertullian, when leavened with Montanism, called the orthodox psychicos, meaning sensual, be- cause they did not with Montanus condemn second marriages. “Devilish.” This is the third character of false wis- dom. So it is called, I. Because Satan is the author. Carnal men are taught of hell. The devil teaches them not only to brew wickedness, but to turn and wind in the world: “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,” 2 Cor. iv. 4; Eph. ii. 2. 2. Because it is such a wisdom as is in the devil; he is wise to injure others; he ap- peared in the form of the serpent, a subtle creature. So pride, ambition, envy, wrath, revenge are Satan’s lusts. There are some sins which the Scripture calls fleshly lusts, and there are other sins which are called Satan’s lusts: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do,” John viii. 44. Man hath somewhat in common with the beasts, and somewhat in common with the angels. Adultery, riot, &c., these make a man brutish ; envy, pride, malice, slander, &c., these make a man devilish. The devil does not commit adultery, steal, &c.; but he is proud, envious, slanderous. Pride is his original sin, therefore called “the condemnation of the devil,” 1 Tim. iii. 6. Envy and slander are his actual sins: he envies lost man; he is wise to devise calum- nies and reproaches; it is his work to be accusing and ripping up the sins and faults of others. This latter sense is most proper. Invidentia vitium diabolicum quo Solus diabolus reus est et inex- Piabiliter reus, non enirn dicitur diabolo ut damne- tur, adulterium commisisti, fur- tum fecisti, villam alienam rapuisti, ...sed hoministanti lapsus invidisti. Aug. lib. de Dis- ciplina Chris- tiana, cap. 1. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That we should look after the original of that which we conceive to be wisdom. Is it from above, or from beneath P The quality is oft known by the original. True wisdom is inspired by God, and taught out of the word; see for both Job xxxii. 8: Proy. ii. 6; and fetched out by prayer, I Kings iii. 9; Psal. xxv. 4, 5., Men have a natural faculty to un- derstand and discourse, but without the assistance, counsel, and illumination of the Spirit, we can do nothing in divine matters; we have it from God, from his word and Spirit, after waiting and prayer. God’s mind is revealed in Scripture, but we can see nothing without the spectacles of the Holy Ghost. The quickest, sharpest eye needs light: “He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding,” Dan. ii. 21. Well, then, you that pretend to wisdom in religion, may from hence know of what kind it is, if you were wise in- deed. Prayer will be a great part of your duty, the word will be your rule, and the Spirit your Counsellor; and * then there needs but one character more, thankful- ness to your Teacher. Wisdom, as it comes from God, will carry the soul to God; as the rivers return into the sea from whence they came. Obs. 2. That the wisdom of man is corrupt. There is a maim in the intellectual and higher faculties, not only in the sensual appetite: “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,” Rom. viii. 5. All the discourses of the understanding, till it be sanctified, are but sottish and foolish. And after- ward, ver. 7, “The carnal mind is enmity.” If wis- dom be merely natural, it will be presently devilish. How vain are men without the Spirit of God in their worship ! how disorderly in their conversation If left to ourselves, what gross thoughts should we have of religion The heathens, “professing themselves to be wise, became fools,” Rom. i. 22. O then lean not upon your own understanding: soul light is not enough, there must be Spirit light; the whole man is corrupted, head, and heart, and feet, and all. Obs. 3. Carnal wisdom is either earthly, or sensual, or devilish. It is a perfect distribution, like that I John ii. 16, “For all that is in the world,” is either “ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life.” The evils of the world may be re- duced to these three heads, sensuality, covetousness, and pride; suitable to the treble bait that is in the world, pleasures, honours, profits; these, like the three darts that struck through the heart of Absa- lom, pierce the hearts of all worldly men. Thus the devil assaulted our first parents, Gen. iii. 6. It was for fruit, there is “the lust of the flesh;” it was for the eyes, there is “the lust of the eyes;” for wisdom, there is “the pride of life.” Thus he assaulted Christ, Matt. iv.; he tempted him to command stones to become bread to satisfy appetite; showed “him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” to tempt his eyes: “Cast thyself down;” there is presumption, and indiscreet confidence. This is contrary to the three graces commended by the gospel, sobriety, righteousness, and piety; the grace of God teaches us to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world,” &c., Tit. ii. 12. Soberly, in opposition to the lusts of the flesh; righteously, in opposition to the lust of the eyes; and piously, to check the pride of life. So also you may consider the three duties illustrated by Christ in his sermon, Matt. vi., alms, fasting, prayer. Fast- ing, to wean us from sensuality; alms, from covet- ousness; and prayer, from pride. In short, the three great ends of our creation are our salvation, the good of others, and the glory of God. When men melt away their days in pleasure, they neglect the great salvation. Covetousness is the bane of charity; and pride and self-seeking quite divertus from serving God’s glory. All sins you see grow upon these roots. Well, then, walk with caution; there are many snares, of divers sorts. Satan knows our tem- per, and how to proportion the bait. We must not be secure; this life is nothing but a continued temptation: here you may offend by a glance of the eyes, there by a taste of pleasures, and anon by a vain thought. If a man escape one Bene orasse est bene studuisse. uther. Nemo securus esse debet in ista vita quae tota ten- tatio nominatur. Aug. Conf. lib. VER. 16. 13.7 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. Snare, he may be caught by another. Usually in- deed lusts take the throne by turns: but yet there are Some inclinations in a man’s heart to one sin more than another; “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” Isa. liii. 6. We are all out, but some have their par- ticular course : “They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchan- dise,” &c., Matt. xxii. 5. Do not say, I am not a sinner, unless you reckon all the kinds. Many are not sensual, but they are covetous; some are not proud, but they are sensual. Every sinner has his way; the devil’s slaves are not all of a sort. Obs. 4. That wisdom is to be suspected for naught which you find to be earthly. A Christian should be wise for the kingdom of heaven. “The children of this world are wise in their generation,” Luke xvi. 8. Oh it is sad to be a fool for duty, and wise for the world ! to be serious in trifles, and to trifle in serious matters . To the children of God it is said, “Set your affections on things above,” Col. iii. 2; the word is ºpovčiv, we must be wise for them. So Rom. viii. 5, minding things of flesh and Spirit is to be wise in either kind. There are some un- savoury spirits that relish nothing but earth and the world, think of nothing but spreading their nets, please and entertain their spirits with carnal pro- jects, and images, and suppositions of worldly profit. Obs. 5. Sensual wisdom is but folly. Such as tends to gratify the senses, and is spent upon outward pleasures. Brutes, that have no election, excel us in temperance; they are contented with as much as natural instinct inclines them to; and yet to enjoy pleasures without remorse is their happiness. Vain men rack their wits, employ their understandings, to rear up their lusts; and to make the provocation more strong, they sacrifice their time, and care, and precious thoughts upon so vain an interest as that of the stomach. Certainly our despite is great against the Lord; when we dethrone him, we set up the basest things in his stead: “Whose god is their belly,” Phil. iii. 19. Thoughts, the noblest offspring of the human spirit, were made for a higher purpose than to be spent upon the satisfactions of the appe- tite; and yet the apostle saith, there are some who “make provision for the flesh,” trotojvreg trpóvoay, Rom. xiii. 14; their care and projects are to gratify their lusts and please their senses. Obs. 6. Fallen man has not only somewhat of beast, but of the devil in him. “I)evilish.” Christ had but twelve disciples, and one of them was a devil, John vi. 70; full of devilish wisdom and policy. It is said of Judas, when he plotted against Christ, “Then entered Satan into Judas,” Luke xxii. 3; and then (saith Luther) there was a devil in a devil. All wicked men are Satan's slaves, they drudge in his work; some are as it were devils themselves, in contriving mischief, hatching wickedness, slandering the godly, and envying the gracious estate of their brethren. VERSE 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. HE proves that such devilish wisdom as serves envy and strife cannot be good wisdom, for it brings forth quite contrary effects; that is for holiness and meekness, this is for confusion and profaneness. The sentence may be understood either in a public or private reference. First, In a private reference; and then the sense is, that in what heart soever envy and contention reigns, there is also great disorder and wickedness ; and then the note is, That an envious and contentious spirit is an un- quiet and wicked spirit. 1. It is an unquiet and dis- orderly spirit. Envy is the rottenness of the bones, nothing more discomposes the mind. The content- ment and felicity of others proves our sorrow. An envious man is his own Achan, the worst sort of can- nibal, that not only troubleth, but eateth his own flesh, Prov. xi. 17. 2. An envious spirit is a wicked spirit; there is no wickedness but they will under- take and accomplish it; it is a raging passion, that puts men upon sad inconveniences. We gave you a catalogue of the fruits of it before. The devil works upon nothing so much as envy and discontent; such a spirit is fit for Satan's lure. Well, then, look to the first stirrings of it, and check it as soon as the soul begins to look sour upon another's happiness and advancement; you do not know how far the devil may carry you. The first instances that we have of sin are Adam's pride and Cain's envy ; the first man was undone by pride, and the second de- bauched by envy. The whole world, though other- wise empty of men, could not contain two brothers when one was envied. Pride gave us the first merit of death, and envy the first instance of it; the one was the mother, the other the midwife, of human ruin. Adam was a sinner, but Cain a murderer; there envy tasted blood, and ever since it is glutted with it. Cain's envy tasted the blood of Abel, but Saul’s thirsted for David's, and Joab’s gorged itself with that of Abner and Amasa. And still, if the severity of laws restrain it from blood, it pines if it be not fed with injury. Secondly, It may be understood in a public sense, that among such a people where envy and strife reigns, there will be confusions, and tumults, and seditions, and all licentiousness; strife follows envy, and sedition follows strife, and all manner of wicked- ness is the fruit of sedition. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That where envy and strife is, there will be tumults and confusions. Ill affections divide as much as ill opinions. Lust is the great makebate. An envious, proud spirit may undo a commonwealth. Look to your hearts then; it is a sad thing to be the plague and pests of your country; if you would not be noted with such a black coal, mortify your vile affections. We learn hence also, that religion is a friend to civil peace; it strikes not only at disorder in the life, but lusts in the heart, at envy and pride, the privy root of contention. Why should the world hate it P. It represents a God, who is the God of peace, and not of confusion, 1 Cor. xiv. 33. It holds forth a gospel that is the gospel of peace, Acts x. 36. It establishes a wisdom which prescribes all ways of peace, Heb. xii. 14; Rom. xii. 18. It increases the number of the godly, who are men of peace, and act best in any community : mortified spirits are most peaceable. Pride, envy, self-seeking, hurry others into confusions, and they shake all to serve their own lusts and interests. Obs. 2. Through confusion and contention every evil work abounds. Wickedness then takes heart and courage, and acts without restraint. This day is this scripture fulfilled before our eyes; we need no other comment but our own experience. Envy makes us quarrel one with another, and quarrelling opens a gap to all looseness. Never had the devil such a harvest in England as since these unhappy differ- ences; one party debauching the country with vice, 138 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF another poisoning it with error. Christ has got some ground indeed, but when shall the dregs of the war be purged out? Thus usually it is, in the midst of contentions laws are silent, religion loses its awe, and then men do what is right in their own eyes. There cannot be a better argument than experience to make us see the benefit of public order and peace. VERSE 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and with- out hypocrisy. HE now reckons up the fruits of true wisdom. He calls it “the wisdom that is from above,” because, as I said before, all wisdom is known by its descent. He giveth it several properties, they will be best ex- plained in the OBSERVATIONS. 1. True wisdom is a pure and holy wisdom. "Ayvn, the word which we translate pure, signifies chaste, Dr. Hammond modest. There is a double purity : #. Cat, in such as excludes mixture; so we say att. V. 8. e * = e * ... tº pure wine, when it is not sophisticated and embased : and such as excludes filthiness; so we say pure water, which is not muddied and defiled : in the former sense purity is opposed to double-mind- edness, or hypocrisy, in the latter to filthiness or uncleanness, which is the proper consideration of this place; the word, as I intimated, signifying chaste. But you will say, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin P” Prov. xx. 9. The answer will be best given in opening the term. I shall do it by six pairs or couples. (1.) It is a cleanness in heart and life. Christ saith, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” Matt. v. 8. And David saith, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way,” Psal. cxix. I. The heart must be pure, and the way undefiled. So James iv. 8, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double- minded.” Persons scandalous, whom he intends by “sinners,” must cleanse their hands; hypocrites, noted in the other expression, “double-minded,” must make their hearts clean. The first care must be spent about the heart: a pure spirit will not brook filthy thoughts, unclean desires, fleshly counsels. Christ condemns the glance, Matt. v. 28. And Peter speaks of some that had eyes uéorovc uotyaxiàoc, full of the adulteress, 2 Pet. ii. 14; intimating the impure roll- ings of the fancy. True Christians abstain from the lusts of the flesh, I Pet. ii. 11, as well as mortify the deeds of the flesh, Rom. viii. 13. Then after this we must look to the life, that it be void of scan- dals and blots; that as we do not incur blame from inward guilt, so we do not procure just shame from the outward conversation; that the good conscience may be a feast to give a cheerful heart, and the good name an ointment to give a cheerful countenance. As in the soul there should not be ºrdSoc triºvutac, the passionateness of lust; so the body must be kept in sanctification and in honour, I Thess. iv. 4, 5. This inhe first pair and couple, a pure spirit and a pure II6. - (2.) It will not brook the filthiness either of error or sin. Error is a blot as well as sin. The way of God is called “the holy commandment,” and Gentilism “the pollutions of the world,” 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21. Jude calls false teachers “filthy dreamers,” ver. 8. “Dream- ers,” because of the folly and dotage that is in error; and “filthy,” because of the defilement of it; and there- fore pure wisdom must be made up of truth and holi- ness. It is said of deacons, “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience,” 1 Tim. iii. 9. Precious liquors are best kept in clean vessels. Some are zealous against errors, that yet are slaves to their own lusts. It is as great a judgment to be delivered up to vile affections as to a vain mind. Jerom speaks of some, quº agebant vitam paganam sub Chris- tiano nomine, were heathens not in opinion, but con- versation. The bishop of Aliff said in the Council of Trent, that the protestants had orthodoaos mores, but haereticam fidem, that they were in life orthodox, how- ever faulty in belief. But, alas, now it may be said, that many have an heretical conversation, and some of the worst heterodoxism is in their manners. These are like Ithacius, of whom Sulpitius Severus saith, There was nothing good or notable in him, but only the hatred of the Priscillian heresy. Others, on the contrary, are of a plausible behaviour, but of a vain mind; sober in regard of fleshly delights, but drunk with error: see Rom. xii. 3. There is less shame and remurmuration of conscience go along with error, and therefore do we not startle at it so much as at sin. Julian the apostate was a very vide petri Ma. just, temperate, strict man, but a bitter rentini græf, in enemy to Christ. So Swenkfield, a *P* man devout and charitable, notable in prayer, famous for alms, but of a very erroneous and fanatical spirit. It is excellent when we can see truth and holiness matched. Sound in faith, fervent in love; how well do these agree together! (3.) In word and deed. We read of the pure life and the pure lip, Zeph. iii. 9. There is a communi- cation that becomes Canaan, the lip of Canaan, Isa. xix. 18; and there is a life that becomes that lan- guage. Many securely sin with the tongue, and would not be mistaken for so bad as they appear in their talk: but your tongues are not your own; they “defile the whole body,” James iii. 6. The apostle condemns “corrupt communication,” and “foolish talking,” Eph. iv. 29; v. 4. There is a sanctified discourse that becomes the children of God. On the other side, many affect a luscious kind of discoursing, and such a flaunting phraseology as is proper to de- ceivers : “They speak great swelling words of vanity,” itépoyka rāg paratórntoc, 2 Pet. ii. 18. So many now-a-days bluster with the terms of Divine teachings, glorious illumina- tions, the bosom of God, the inward root, - &c., and such-like “swelling words,” Jude 16, which are but a cover and preface to corrupt doctrine or a rotten heart; a vanity and fondness which have always been discovered in men of an heretical communiser- spirit. Calvin observed it in the liber- ºgne spreto, ex- tines of his days; and Jerom noted the jºb like in Jovinian: Descripsit apostolus ;...º Jovinianum loquentem bucci's tumentibus, affºruń, Calv. in et inflata verba trutinantem. Hieron. lib. ** I. adversus Jovin. Such windy discourses argue an unsavoury, proud mind. (4.) There must be both an evangelical and a moral cleanness. That is, there must be not only an abstinence from grosser sins, but the heart must be washed in the blood of Christ, cleansed from unbe- lieving, distrustful thoughts. The pure are principally those that believe the pardon of their sins in Christ, and are renewed by the Holy Ghost. There is not only an abstinence from sin, but a purging of their consciences, and a washing of their hearts in the “fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness,” Zech. xiii. 1; 1 John i. 7. Now many little mind this; they are civilly moral, lead a fair life in the Belmen, and others. VER. 17. 139 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. world, but they are not washed and made clean “in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,” I Cor. vi. 11. Others are for an evangelical, but not for a moral cleanness; cry up justification to exclude sanctification; certainly to the neglect of civil righteousness, pretend an interest in Christ, though the heart were never purified. True purity is when the spirit is purged both from guilt and filth ; the “conscience from dead works,” Heb. ix. 14, and the “heart sprinkled from an evil conscience,” Heb. x. 22. The “conscience from dead works;” that is, from the death that is in it by reason of our works. And the “heart from an evil conscience;” that is, that inward pollution, whereof the conscience is witness and judge; absolved from guilt, and cleansed from sin; the one by the merit, the other by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (5.) It must be in our inward frame, and our out- ward administrations. Man loves to divide where God has joined. Purity of heart and purity of ordi- nances must go together. Many are for a pure ad- ministration, and yet of an unclean spirit, as if out- ward reformation were enough. When the conscience is purged, then it is meet “to serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14. It is an allusion to legal uncleanness, which debarred from worship. So Mal. iii. 3, “He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Public care should not excuse private; the first work is to look to otir own spirits. But now others think all care of reforma- tion is confined to a man’s own heart. Let a man look to himself, and all is well enough. Satan is busy on every hand. When outward endeavours are perilous, and put us to trouble, then we think it is enough to look to ourselves; as if former times were better when administrations were less pure. As a man is to look to himself, so to others: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” Heb. iii. 13. , So Heb. xii. 15, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” The whole body is pol- luted, not only by the infection and contagion, but the guilt of the peccant member. Scandalous sins are a blot upon the body, till effectual remedies be used. True purity betrays itself uniformly in pub- lic and private reformation. (6.) It avoids real defilements, and defilements in appearance. “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” 2 Cor. vii. 1. What is the meaning 2 To keep the flesh or body pure from the show of sin, as to keep the heart pure from the guilt of sin. The case presented was about being present at idol feasts, though they knew the idol to be nothing; the apostle dissuades them by the promises of God's dwelling amongst them, and then infers, Having therefore these promises, let us keep ourselves from all flesh filthiness, that is, de- filing the body with such outward presence or idol- atrous rites; as well as spirit filthiness, that is, de- filing the soul with idolatry itself. So Jude 23, “Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” It is a phrase taken from legal uncleanness, which was contracted by touching the houses, the vessels, the garments of unclean persons: detest the show of participating with men in their uncleanness. Socrates speaks of two young men that flung away their belts, when being in an idol temple, the lustrating water fell upon them, detesting, saith the historian, “the garment spotted by the flesh.” The true Christian is loth to go too far, and therefore “abstains from all appear- Socrates Scholas- ticus, Eccles. Hist. lib. 2. ance of evil,” I Thess. v. 22. Bernard glosses, Quicquid est male coloratum, Whatever is of an ill. show, or of ill report. That he may neither wound conscience nor credit, this is pure wisdom indeed. All this is required of those who would be truly pure; and this will be your wisdom, Deut. iv. 6, how troublesome soever it be in the flesh, and incon- venient in the world. The flesh may judge it folly, and the world a fond scrupulosity ; but it is a high point of wisdom to be one of the world’s fools, 1 Cor. iii. 18. The wisdom required in the word is a holy innocency, not a Machiavelian guile, Matt. x. 19. What is more wise, than to manage actions in the fear of God, direct them to the glory of God, and conform them to the will of God? Others may be more able to spin out a web of sin, or for worldly contrivance; but no matter though your souls enter not into that secret. It is the glory of a man to be a fool in sin, and wise in grace : let it be your care then to drive on the great design of holiness; this will conform you to God, which is man’s excellency, Matt. v. 8; and bring you to enjoy God, which is man’s happiness, Heb. xii. 14. Obs. 2. True wisdom is peaceable, and void of strifes and contentions. Solomon, the wisest king, had his name from peace. Christ, who is the Wis- dom of the Father, is also our Peace. It is one of the honours of God, the God of peace, 2 Thess. iii. 16; I Cor. xiv. 33. Peace is the purchase of Christ, the work of the Spirit. The great design of Heaven was to make peace between two of the greatest enemies, God and sinful man. It is one of the great privileges of heaven, all is quiet and peaceable there. Thunder is in the lower regions: in the lower parts are heat and cold, moisture and drought, contrariant qualities and creatures. It were easy to expatiate upon so sweet an argument: but loose praises only entice the fancy into pleasing imaginations; distinct dis- cussions usually are more powerful ; to which I must gird up the discourse more closely. There is a sweet connexion between peace and wisdom. Moses is renowned for wisdom and meekness; the wisest, and yet the meekest man upon earth in his time. The more cool the spirit is, the more freedom for wise debate. Holiness is a Christian’s ornament, and peaceableness is the ornament of holiness. The Koran saith, God created the angels of light, and the devils of the flame. Certainly God’s children are children of the light; but Satan's instruments are furious, wrathful, all of a flame. But you will say, Wherein must we be peaceable? I answer, True Christians will strive to keep peace, to make peace, to preserve it where it is, and to re- duce it where it is lost; they are sipºvikov, peaceable, and sipmvótrotot, peacemakers. First, They are “peaceable ;” neither offering wrong to others, nor revenging wrong when it is offered to themselves, which indeed are the two things that preserve human societies in any quiet, whereas violence and rigorous austerities disturb them. This is your wisdom, then, to be harmless and inno- cent; the world may count it an effeminate softness, but it is the truest prudence, the ready way to a blessing. It is said, “The meek shall inherit the earth,” Matt. v. 5. Others keep a bustle, invading other men's right and propriety; yet when all is done, the meek have the earth. A man would think they should lose their patrimony, yet they hold by the safest and surest tenure. And as they offer no wrong, so they pardon it when it is offered to them : those who see they have so much need of pardon from God, pardom others. God is not inexorable; how often does he overcome evil with good And truly when God is so ready to hear, men should be I40. CHAP. III. AN, EXPOSITION OF more ingenuously facile. Men think it is generous to keep up their anger; alas, it is but a sorry weak- ness; infirmitas animositatis, (as Austin calls it,) the weakness of strength of stomach. David, the wrong- ed party, sought peace, Psal. cxx. 7 : it is more suitable to the pattern. God, the party injured, loved us first, 1 John iv. 19. And Jesus Christ, in “the night in which he was betrayed,” I Cor. xi. 23, instituted the supper; consigning to man the highest mysteries, when man did him the most spite. So when he was crucified, he prayed for his enemies. Christians have little reason to think of recompens- ing evil for evil: no spirit more unsuitable to your profession than revenge ; it is sweet to you, but very odious to God. Certainly they must needs be pre- judiced against the expectation of pardoning mercy, that examine all things by extreme right. Some ob- serve, that David was never so rigid as when he lay under his sins of adultery and murder; then he put the Ammonites “under saws and harrows of iron, and made them pass the brickkiln,” 2 Sam. xii. 31. And as the children of God are careful of civil peace, so also of church peace. True wisdom looks not only at what may be done, but what should be done, in such a juncture of time and affairs; it will do any thing but sin, that we may not give just offence. Basil, by reason of the preva- lency of the adversaries, abstained from offensive words in the doctrine of the Holy Ghost. Unsober spirits draw their liberty to the highest, and in indifferent matters take that course that will offend. There is little of the wisdom that is from above in such a spirit. True wisdom, as it is careful not to offend Christ by a sin, so not to offend the brethren by a scandal; as it will not sin against faith by error, so not against love by schism. By faith, we are united to Christ; by charity, one to another; it is careful that neither band be broken. I know the imputation of schism may be unduly charged; and the spouse, being despoiled of her own ornaments, may be clothed with this infamy: but, however, they that separate had need look to their spirits. The Scripture has put sad marks upon separation. Cain was the first separatist; he “went out from the presence of the Lord,” Gen. iv. 16. God is every where; the meaning is, from the church. Jude saith they are “sensual, having not the Spirit,” Jude 19. Korah made a cleft in the congregation, and God made the earth to cleave and open upon him. The good mother would rather lose the child than see it divided. It is said of love, it “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, en- dureth all things,” I Cor. xiii. 7; that is, all such things as are proper to the allowance of charity. However, the terms being universal, it shows men should do much, endure much, before they go off from the communion of any church; not upon such slight grounds as many do, merely to accommodate a fond desire. Whatever we are forced to do by Providence and conscience, it must be done with grief; as all acts of extremity are sinful if they be not done renitenti animo, with some reluctance. The question of se- paration lies much in the dark; en- forcements to love are clear and open : such withdrawment is a mighty ex- asperation ; therefore we should be careful in the circumstances of it. The modesty of Zanchy is well worth no- tice: I Jerom Zanchy testify to the church of God to all eternity, that I separated from the church of Rome with no other intent, but to turn again Nazianz. alicubi. Ab ecclesia ſto- mana non alio discessinous ani- inno, quain ut, si correcta ad pri- or em ecclesiae forman redeat, nos quºque ad illam revertamur, t’t corn innunion ein cum illa in suis Horro ( Oeſilji is haheamus ; quod uſ tandem fiat, foto animo Domi- nt : in J -stºm pre- Camur : quit enim pio cuique opfatius, quam ubi per baptis- mum renati Su-. mus, ibi etian) in finem usque viva- mus, modo in omino; Ego Hieronymus Zanchius, Septua- to communion with it as soon as I ºº may with a good conscience; which hoc voigtotiegº that it may be should be my prayer to ::::::::::::::::::: God, &c. - tenn. Secondly, They are peace-makers, striving to re- duce it where it is lost. It is a thankless office to intermeddle with strife; but there is a blessing pro- mised: “Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God,” Matt. v. 9. They have the greater encouragement from heaven, because they meet with so much scorn upon earth. Men that desire to make up the breach meet with the displeasure of both sides; as those that interpose between two fencers receive the blows: péoog dir’ dupotéptov kaköv Táoxst, but the glory of the duty recompenses the in- - convenience of it; and those endeavours that want success among men do not want a blessing with God. Well, then, they are far from true wisdom that love to live in the fire; that cherish contentions, and trouble the waters that they may fish in them; that increase the difference, and add oil to the flame, that they may promote their private interests. Obs. 3. That true wisdom orders the first and chiefest care for purity. “First pure, and then peaceable.” You shall see this order in other places: “Blessed are the pure in heart;” and then, “Blessed are the peace-makers,” Matt. v. 8, 9. So 2 Kings xx. 19, “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days P” There is the sum of Hezekiah’s wish ; truth has the first place. Of all blessings purity and religion are the best; as God is the best of beings, so religion is the best of blessings. A people may be miserable under peace, x º z but not under purity. A wilderness śa. with God is better than the plenty of 9” & “”. Egypt with idols. Troubles and distractions far ex- cel a sinful peace. When the devil possessed the nations, they were in great peace. “When a strong man keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace,” Luke xi. 21. If we would be contented sidimidio Christi with half Christ, all would be quiet. º.º. In this sense Christ saith that he came join." to send a sword; and it is happy that * he does. Besides, all true peace is founded in purity and holiness. Be it civil peace: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him,” Prov. xvi. 7. The best way is to make peace with God, and then he can bend and dispose hearts to every purpose. . So for ecclesiastical peace. Holiness meekens spirits; and the purest and surest agreement is in the truth. First there is a pure language, and then one shoulder, Zeph. iii. 9. One faith is urged by the apostle as a ground of union, Eph. iv. 5; he will bring it to that at length. The world looks at purity as the makebate, but it is the great reconciler. There are two corollaries which may be drawn from hence: (1.) If the chiefest care must be for purity, then peace may be broken in truth’s quarrel. It is a zealous speech of Luther, That ..., rather heaven and earth should be fººt blended together in confusion, than one ºr ºverit” jot of truth perish. It is a sleepy zeal " e that lets errors go away quietly without conviction. If the gospel provoke an uproar in Ephesus, Acts xix., yet it is better it were preached than forborne. Though shrine-makers lose their craft, it is better than the whole city should lose their souls. Calm lectures of contemplative divinity please more, but the wolf must be hunted out as well as the sheep foddered. (2.) Truth must never be violated for peace' sake, nor any accommodation agitated to Nazianzen, Orat. 2. de Pace. z Kpsiqa ov güirg- flows &Movoius h Offèev girºs &xv- pôv Tpès etphyny. cºs trept tou {so} ovg ºptovia. 32. ubi Šu pra. VER. 17. 141. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. Nedum the disservice of religion, lest while Nedum humana º foºijº- we make peace with man we make a .."...a breach with God. The world would fºntur. Amº have stirs ended; desire peace, but not e with holiness. “Have salt in your- selves, and have peace one with another,” Mark ix. 50. Doctrine must be kept wholesome, and truth retain its savour and acrimony, and then look after peace. Well, then, [1..] Truth must not be embased by unworthy mixtures for peace' sake, as in the design of the Interim. God hates those cothurnos, socks in religion, when truth is made to serve every man’s turn, and is mollified to a compliance with all factions. Nazianzen observes of his father, that he always hated this daub- ing and temporizing, when truth is made to speak half in the language of Canaan, and half in the language of Ashdod. [2] Truth must not be in- jured by promiscuous tolerations; this were to love our ease more than God. [3] Truth must not be proscribed and suppressed; men double their troubles by hoping to free them- selves this way. The Jews rolled a stone against Christ's sepulchre, and set men to watch it, but Christ rose again. Though carnal policy conspire against it, yet truth will have a resurrection. The Romans came, though the Pharisees thought to pro- vide against that fear by killing Christ, John xi. 48. Maximinus, that he might enjoy a continued peace, interdicted the profession of Christianity, and then presently followed a civil war, which was his undoing. The dwellers on earth rejoiced when the witnesses were slain, but they revived again to their woe and torment, Rev. xi. 10–13. Carnal policy lifted up against truth never thrives. Obs. 4. Next to purity we must regard peace. He not only says, “first pure,” but “then peaceable.” Truth is to be preferred, yet peace is not to be neg- lected. We are bidden to follow after, Övöksw rºw siphunv, to prosecute peace, Heb. xii. 14. There are many commendations of it in Scripture: It is a good and pleasant thing, Psal. cxxxiii. 1. It is a note of religion, “By this shall all men know,” &c., John xiii. 35. The curtains of the tabernacle were to be looped together; so should Christians. It is the beauty, the glory of the church; “My dove, my un- defiled is but one : the daughters saw her, and blessed her,” Cant. vi. 9. It is the church's strength against common adversaries; broken forces are soon dissipated. When Gebal and Ammon and Amalek combine, should we stand single P. It is the nurse of piety; truths have less power when controverted. It is the pleasure which the godly have in the world; the best part of the present world is the church. Now, when the church grows full of strifes, the godly grow weary of it: My soul hath too long dwelt with them that hate peace, Psal. cxx. 6. Strigelius de- sired to die, to be freed ab implacabilibus odiis theo- logorum, from the implacable strifes of divines. Well, then, use all endeavours to purchase this great bless- ing: see how it is enforced; “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men,” Rom. xii. 18. Deal with God, treat, yield, comply with men as far as you can with religion and a good conscience. “The Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means,” 2. Thess. iii. 16. We must be earnest with the Lord, use all ways and means with man: you should not stick at your own interests and concern- ments. . Curtius, a heathen, ran into the gulf to save his country. Nazianzen saith, If I be the Jonah, throw me into the sea to allay the storm. *Usually we stick here: “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's,” Phil. ii. 21. Oji Kará toūs vuv aftſpous kata- k\ºvópºevos oë6é texvikºs koi ué- Oſtºjº TOU KCR huās Noyov ºrpo- to tduevos. Naz. See my Sermon before the Parlia- ment, on Zech. xiv. 9. Nay, mostly our strifes are for carnal interests, sove- reignty and greatness, who shall bear sway; as the disciples were in controversy, who should be greatest, till their noise awakened Christ’s zeal. O consider, the Lord himself has given us a fair pattern. One end why he abolished the ceremonial law, was for peace' sake, Eph. ii. 15–17. And though we cannot quit ordinances, because they are not in our power, yet certainly there may be a suspension of practice, or a forbearance of profession in matters of a lesser or lower importance for the better advantage of re- ligion. As in nature many things act contrary to the rule of their particular nature, for the conserva- tion of the universe; so many of the smaller things of religion may be forborne for the general peace. It were good to consider how far the case of continu- ing circumcision may be a precedent. Obs. 5. That true wisdom is gentle. The word is #Trustki)c ; Beza renders it aqua, equal, or just with moderation : So we translate étrusiksta, “Let your moderation be known unto all men,” Phil. iv. 5. Elsewhere we translate it by patience; the deacon must be ärtsicſ}c, “patient,” 1 Tim. iii. 3. When men stand upon terms of extreme right, contentions are engendered, and all patience is lost. This gentle- ness then is opposite to severity of practices, and rigour of censures, and insobriety of disputes. And so a truly wise Christian is moderate, (L.) In his censures; not always making the worst of matters, but charitably and favourably judging, where things are capable of a candid interpretation. Those ákpt- (306traot, that examine all things by rules of extreme right, and use harder terms than the quality of man’s actions requires, though they would seem more wise and quick-sighted than others, show that they want much of this true wisdom which the apostle com- mends. Austerity is the note of folly. Wise Chris- tians, in weighing an action, always cast in the allowance of human frailty. (2.) In his opinions; not urging his own beyond their weight, nor wresting those of his adversaries beyond their intention to odious consequences which they disclaim ; a fault which has much disturbed the peace of Christendom. Charity should con- sider not what follows of itself upon any opinion, but what follows in the conscience of those that hold it; though usually these uncharitable deductions and inferences are rather forced by the disingenuity of the adver- sary, than found in the opinions of the author. A man may err in logic that does not err in faith; and though he may be urged with the consequences of his opinion, yet he may not be charged with them : you have no reason to infame him with the brats of your own malice. To make any man worse than he is, is the way to disgrace an adversary, not re- claim him. (3.) In his conversation; going off from his own right for peace' sake; otherwise, while we seek to do ourselves the greatest right, we do our- selves the greatest wrong: revenge proves our own trouble. “Be not righteous over-much ; neither make thyself over-wise: why shouldest thou die be- fore thy time?” Eccl. vii. 16, 17. That See Davenant Sent. de Pace Procur. and Dr. Hall's Christian Moderation, lib. 2. Sect. 1 1. See I)r. Hall's rule is of great extent and use in the Šimºn cºdies. ** **, e º vi. 16, as recorded affairs of human life ; among other ºff..."; the Syuod of senses and intents of it, this is one, to t Oſt. forbid a rigid innocency and severe prosecution. When magistrates deal extremely in all cases, the name of justice is made a cover for cruelty. The severity of the laws must be mitigated, not in an indulgence to sin, but upon just and con- venient reasons; and the equity must still be pre- ferred before the letter. So also it concerns private Christians, when they stand upon right, and will not 142 CHAP. HIH. AN EXPOSITION OF part with it upon any considerations, how conducible soever it be to the glory of God and our peace with others. David saith, “I restored that which I took not away,” Psal. lxix. 4. Our Lord paid tribute to avoid scandal, though º he were not bound, a Mr portin, Matt. xvii. 27. We are not only to sº look to what is lawful, but what is iv. 5. equal and convenient. Obs. 6. That true wisdom is easy to be entreated; šutsiénc, exorable, and of an ingenuous facility, either to be persuaded to what is good, or dissuaded from what is evil. Men think it is a disgrace to change their mind, and therefore are headstrong, wilful, unpliable to all suggestions and applications used towards them. But there is not a greater piece of folly than not to give place to right reason. I confess there is a faulty easiness. Some are of the temper of those Asiatics, that could not say, Où, No, no ; or like that king in the prophet, Jer. xxxviii. 5, “The king is not he that can do any thing against you ;” easily drawn by company and evil counsel. It is better to be stiff, than thus flexible to every carnal insinuation. In the way of religion, to be deaf to entreaties, is not obstinacy, but resolution. Thus Paul, though they brake his heart, they could not break his purpose, Acts xxi. 13. And Galeacius Carracciolus broke through the entreaties of friends, the embraces of his wife, the cries of his children, that he might keep his purpose to God. The easi- ness to be entreated that is here commended must be shown, (1.) In a condescension to all honest and just motions and requests: it becomes not them that find God’s ear so ready to hear, to be inexorable. The crying of the poor has such a resemblance to our addresses to God, that I wonder how they that expect mercy should not find more ready compas- Sion. The unjust judge was won by the widow’s importunity, Luke xviii. (2.) In yielding to the persuasions of the word; this is that which is in- tended in the promise of the “heart of flesh,” Ezek. xxxvi. 26, a heart docile and tractable. Some harden their hearts against God’s fear; will not be either persuaded to good; the apostle calls such drótrovc, absurd, “unreasonable men,” 2 Thess. iii. 2; or dis- suaded from evil. “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone,” Hos. iv. 17. The Septuagint read, Méroxog tåv sióðXwv, incorporated with his idols : there is no disjoining him and idols; leave him to his mad perversity. So see Jer. ii. 25; xliv, 17–19, where there is a perfect description of our English Vulgus. (3.) In yielding to the counsels of others when better reason is discovered. Job would not despise the counsel of his servant, Job xxxi. The same is recorded of Naaman, 2 Kings v. 12. So David was persuaded by Abigail, 1 Sam. xxv. 33. (4.) In matters of dispute, not jangling beyond so- briety. Many out of pride will hold fast their first conclusion, though manifestly disproved. “The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason,” Prov. xxvi. 16. Usually we find it thus, men will not let go their prejudices, and , what is wanting in argument is made up in obstinacy; as if matters were to be decided by the strength of will rather than reason; “self-willed,” 2 Pet. ii. 10. , Men think that a dis- paragement which indeed is the great- est praise, to strike sail to a represented Laudem non veniam meretur repudium agniti erroris. Tertul. A pol. truth. Obs. 7. The next qualification of wisdom is, “full of mercy;” which is either shown to those that offend, or to those that want. (1.) To those that offend. It is the glory of a man “to pass over a transgression,” Prov. xix. 11. Men think it is a dis- grace; as if clemency argued a man void of courage and spirit: but in the judgment of the word it is your honour; there is more generosity in pardon than in revenge. (2.) To those that want. “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,” Col. iii. 12: that is a good gar- ment for a Christian, without which he is naked and filthy before God. t Obs. 8. The next qualification is, “full of good fruits,” by which he understands all offices of hu- manity, which will become good nature and grace. A scandal brought upon religion is, that it is too sour and morose; whereas it is kind and affable, full of a holy sweetness. And he calls these offices of humanity “good fruits,” because they are from mercy, as from a root. Well, then, religion is not a barren tree; the godly are the best neighbours. Common offices are performed out of a principle and engagement of grace. It is the great fault of some, that when they begin to be religious, they leave off to be humane; as if there were no fruit that grew in Christ's garden but crabs. Obs. 9. Another property of true wisdom is dél- &kptroc; we render it in the text, “without partiality,” in the margin, without wrangling. The word will bear other senses, without suspicion, or, without judging; all are proper enough to the matter in hand. “Without partiality;” that is, making no difference between person and person because of outward respects, which indeed is a high point of wisdom. Fools are dazzled with outward splendour, and, like children, count nothing good but what is gay and adorned with pomp ; this the apostle calls knowing things “ after the flesh,” 2 Cor. v. 16. True Wisdom weighs nothing in a carnal balance. If you render it, without wrangling, the sense is thus, True Wisdom is an enemy to brawling disputes; Passion dwells at the sign of the Fool. ſf, without suspicion, or, curious inquiry, thus, True Wisdom does not suspiciously inquire after other men's faults; when we desire to make others worse than they are, we make ourselves worse than they ; in- quisitiveness argues malice. Solomon condemns listening; “Take no heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee,” Eccl. vii. 21. When men will be hearkening to every word that is spoken, they are often acquainted with their own disgrace. Or you may render it, without judging or censuring. Fools are the greatest cen- surers; what they want in worth is made up in pride; and because they cannot raise themselves to an equality with others, endeavour by censures to take them down, that they may be as low as themselves. Obs. 10. The last property is, “ without hypo- crisy.” In true wisdom there is much light, but no guile. The greatest care of a Christian is to be what he seems to be, and to account godliness the chief- est cunning. Carnal men count them wise that can manage their matters with most craft and guile, and gratify their interests by a plausible dissimulation; but this the Lord hates. The hypocrite is the great- est fool, and puts the greatest cheat upon himself in the issue; all that he gains by his designs is but the fee of hell: He shall “appoint him his portion with the hypocrites,” Matt. xxiv. 51. Well, then, reckon sincerity as the highest point of wisdom : “Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our con- science, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we had our conversation in the world,”’ &c., 2 Cor. i. 12. Avoid hypocrisy in all the actions of your life, not only in addresses to God, but in your respects to men. The Scriptures that require “faith unfeigned,” 1 Tim. i. 5; 2 Tim. i. 5, also require “love un- feigned,” I Pet. i. 22; 2 Cor. vi. 6; Rom. xii. 9. VER. 18. 143 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. “Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth,” I John iii. 18. We should be as willing to do them good as to proffer it ; to re- prove, as to flatter ; to pray to God for them in secret, as to make professions of respect to them in public. VERSE 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. THESE words are the conclusion of the whole dis- course, intimating the happiness of them who have the wisdom formerly described. The words have been diversly expounded. Some thus, That peace- able men sow a seed that afterward will yield sheaves of comfort into their bosoms; as if the mean- ing were, that in their peaceable endeavours they sowed the seed of the everlasting reward which afterwards they should receive in heaven. Others thus, That though with a great deal of modesty and sweetness they bear with many evils, yet do they not leave off to sow the seed of righteousness. The first sense makes it an argument of persuasion, the next an anticipation of an objection; the first notes the happiness of the reward, the last the quality of their endeavours. Which is to be preferred 2 I answer, I suppose they may be compounded and drawn into one; their sowing implying the hope and expectation of the reward, and their sowing the fruit of righteousness the quality of their endeavours, which will appear by a fuller explication of the terms. “The fruit of righteousness.” It is an expression elsewhere used ; as Phil. i. 11, “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” So Rom. vi. 22, * Have your fruit unto holiness,” &c. And again, Heb. xii. 11, Afflictions yield captröv sipmvuköv Čikato- oivng, “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” In short, “the fruit of righteousness,” either that fruit which is of righteousness, to wit, eternal life, which is the reward that God has promised to sanctifica- tion; or else it is put for holiness and sanctification, which are called fruits in Scripture; and that in many regards: 1. In regard of the Root, Christ, John xv. 5, 16. 2. Because they are the free, na- tive, and noble offspring of the Spirit in us; whereas lusts and sins are a servile drudgery: that is the reason why the apostle expresses himself with such difference, Gal. v. 19, tà épya rāg gépkoç, “the works of the flesh;” but, ver. 22, § 68 kāpiróc row Trvsöuaroc, “the fruit of the Spirit.” 3. Because of the increase and growth; as fruits by degrees come to maturity and ripeness. So Phil. i. 11. Thus in the Canticles we read of the buds and tender grapes. 4. Because of its excellent and happy reward; it will be fruit, not an empty and dry tree. “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life,” Rom. vi. 22. 5. In regard of the delay of this reward; it will be fruit, though now seed; therefore he said, “the fruit of righteousness is sown,” which is the next term. “Is sown.” It implies either their care of holi- ness, they have sown it; or the sureness of the re- ward of grace, it is not as water spilt upon the ground, but as seed cast into the ground: you do not lose your labour; such endeavours will yield an in- crease. “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assur- ance for ever,” Isa. xxxii. 17. Or lastly, it implies their non-enjoyment of the reward for the present; they do not reap, but sow. Now the harvest of a peaceable righteousness is not so soon had. . It is usual in Scripture to express such effects and con- sequents of things as do not presently follow by Sowing and ploughing. “In peace.” The meaning is, either in a peace- able and sweet way, but that seems to be expressed in the last clause, “that make peace;” or else with much spiritual tranquillity and comfort, much rest and peace in their souls for the present. So Heb. xii. 11, captów siphytkov čucatogávng, “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” Righteousness or sanctifica- tion brings forth peace with it. “Of them that make peace.” So Christ saith, “Blessed are the peace-makers,” Matt. v. 9. It im- plies not the event and success, but the endeavour or care; the notion of making in Scripture phrase be- longing to the bent of the soul; as to make a lie, is to be given to lying. So I John ii. 29, ‘O troudjv Tijv 6tkatooivny, “Every one that doeth” or maketh “right- eousness;” and I John iii. 8, "O troujy rºw &papriav, He that doeth or maketh sin; notes the full bent and inclination of the soul. So to “make peace,” is to have strong and hearty affections this way. So that you may take the words as a direction to duty; and the sense is, That they who are studious of peace, ought to have a care of sowing righteous- ness. Or as a promise of a blessing, and then thus; They that with their peaceable endeavours couple a care of righteousness, they shall have a threefold blessing, increase of grace, with peace for the pre- sent, and shall reap the crop of all hereafter. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Whatever we do in this life is seed. As we sow, so we reap. See how the Scripture follows this metaphor, using it of all moral actions, both in respect of sin and of duty. In sin : see Gal. vi. 8; Job iv. 8. So Prov. xxii. 8; Hos. viii. 7. It may be long first, but the crop will be according to the seed: “They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirl- wind.” The whirlwind is nothing but wind im- prisoned in the bowels of the earth; and so it is an excellent allusion to note the damage and ruin which they receive who study nothing but vain things. In duty or good actions : “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you,” Hos. X. 12; that is, endeavour good works, and you will find God pro- pitious : they are the way, not the cause. God shows mercy according to works, though not for works. So in particular it is applied to charity; “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly,” 2 Cor. ix. 6. So to penitent tears; “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” Psal. cxxvi. 5. There is an in- timate connexion between our endeavours and the Lord’s recompences. (I.) Let it press us to a care of our actions: they are seed; they fall upon the ground, not to be lost, but to grow up again; we may taste the fruits of them long after they be com- mitted: be sure you sow good seed. To help you, consider there must be subactum solum, a ground pre- pared. If you would “reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground,” Hos. x. 12. So Jer. iv. 4. The heart is like waste ground, till it be prepared by breaking. Then let the actions be good for principle, manner, and end. We must not only do good, but do well; a man may sin in doing good, but not in doing well. Chiefly you must regard the end, God’s glory; a tree bears fruit for the owner: “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself,” 144 CHAP. III. AN EXPOSITION OF Hos. x. l. Actions done with a carnal aim are not seed, they lose their fruit and reward with God, Ilieue on semi Matt. vi. 1. (2). Have a care of the navit, venit estas season, it is the seed time; a husbandman *** would not lose that. Eternity depends upon this moment; now we sow our everlasting woe or weal. Take heed of sowing nothing, then you can expect nothing; he had not a drop that would not give a crumb. And take heed of sowing to the flesh; when others have their bosoms full of sheaves, you will be empty; the foolish virgins made a great cry when their vessels were empty. (3.) Here is ground of hope to the children of God; their works are not lost, they are seed that will spring up again. “Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days,” Eccl. xi. 1. “Thy bread;” that is, thy bread corn. Faith, which is the evidence of things not seen, can look for a crop out of the waters. If the reward were sure, men would act more uniformly and proportionably to their hopes. O consider, whatever you do to God, or for God, it is seed. Wicked men count it lost, a vain profusion, or as foolish a course as ploughing the ocean, or scattering seed upon the sea. Yes, but you will find it again; there is no loss by serving God, Mal. iii. 14. (4.) It is comfort to us. Here we are miserable, it is our seed time; that is usually in tears; you must ex- pect the harvest: “Light is sown for the righteous,” Psal. xcvii. 11. It is buried out of sight, but it will Spring up again. The corn must first die in the ground; you cannot sow and reap in a day. The patient abiding of the righteous shall not perish for eVej". Obs. 2. That a care of righteousness brings peace with it. All good actions cause an év$vutav, serenity in the mind. The kingdom of grace yields “joy unspeakable,” I Pet. i. 8, though not glory unspeak- able. We have “songs in the house of our pilgrim- age,” Psal. cxix. 54. God will have us to enter upon our possession by degrees: joy enters into us before we enter into our Master's joy. We have first the day-star, then the sun. What a good Master do we serve, that gives us a part of our wages ere we have done our work | Whilst we are sowing we have peace, the conscience and contentment of a good action. There is no work like God’s, in the keeping of his commands there is reward, Psal. xix. 11. " Sin brings shame and horror, but gracious actions leave a savour of sweetness, and diffuse a joy throughout the soul. There is no feast to that of a good con- science. What iniquity did your fathers find in me? Jer. ii. 5. Did you ever lose by communion with God P A man cannot do an ill action without blame. But how quietly do we enjoy ourselves when we have enjoyed our God! Conscience of duty gives the purest contentment to the mind. Base comforts and sinful satisfactions are bought with clamour of con- science, and then they are bought very dear. What a great reward may we expect, since we have so much joy and peace in the expectation of it! How great are the joys of heaven, since the very interest in them casts such a lightsome brightness upon the Soul | If the taste be such, what is the fulness! If the morning glances and forerunning beams be so glorious, what will the high noon be ſ If there be songs in your pilgrimage, you will have hallelujahs in your country. - Obs. 3. It is the duty of God’s children to sow the fruit of righteousness in peace. The oil of grace and the oil of gladness do well together. That you may not lose the comfort of grace, live socially with God, and sweetly with men. (I.) Socially with God. Maintain a constant and intimate communion and commerce between you and heaven, that your fellowship may be indeed “with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,” I John i. 3. Neglect of God makes the conscience restless and clamorous: “Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace,” Job xxii. 21. When David had discontinued his in- tercourse and communion, he lay roaring in the dis- quietness of his heart, Psal. xxxii. Things can never be quiet out of their centre: after gross neg- lects and strangeness, conscience will scourge you. (2.) Sweetly with men. An austere man troubles his own flesh. There is a holy amiableness, as well as a strict righteousness. It is said of Jesus Christ, “He increased in favour with God and man,” Luke ii. 52. We should walk in his steps in a holy strictness and an amiable sweetness. Athanasius was magnes and adamas, an adamant and a loadstone; neither of a loose easiness, nor of an uncivil austerity. Do this, and you will increase in comfort and grace, couple a sweet goodness with a severe righteousness. Obs. 4. That true lovers of peace are and must be also lovers of righteousness. “Them that make peace.” Peace without righteousness is but a sordid compliance, righteousness without peace is but a rough austerity. They are not true friends to peace that can haunt with wicked men, digest violations of God’s law, truth, and worship, because ease is good, and go on with a sleepy and careless silence, can violate truth, debase it, stupidly bear with errors without witnessing against them : these, whilst they seek to knit with men, disjoin themselves from God; and whilst they would make up a strife with others, make a greater between God and their own souls. So, on the other side, they are not true friends to righteousness that have no care of making peace. Hypocrites carry on all things with a blind and brawling violence. It is true, God's children can- not choose but speak warmly ; but I intend those that care not what ruptures they make, how they dis- advantage the cause of religion, so that they may dis- charge or disgorge their rage and passion. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” John xiii. 35 : as to men, that is the badge or note. Sons of God are not usually sons of the coal. Oh that we could learn this holy art of coupling righteousness with peace; that we could reprove with faithfulness, and yet bear with meekness; that we might not do the office of an executioner, but a surgeon ; be zealous, and yet with temperateness and moderation. But of this before. Obs. 5. That a righteous peaceableness is blessed with grace here, and glory hereafter. The verse is a promise as well as a direction. This is our comfort against all the difficulties and inconveniences that holy and peaceable endeavours meet with in the world; your reward is with God, you have a pledge of it in your own souls; whilst strife lessens grace in others, you grow and thrive, and you shall reap in glory. WER. 1. I45 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. CHA PTER IV. VERSE I. FROM WIHENCE COME WARS AND FIGHTINGs AMONG You P COME THEY NOT HENCE, EVEN OF YOUR LUSTS THAT WAR IN YoUR MEMBERs P - HE had in the former chapter spoken against strifes, as proceeding from envy, and pressed them to a holy wisdom. He here speaks against strifes and con- tentions, as proceeding from other carnal lusts; as ambition, covetousness, &c., which made them vex one another, and break out into unseemly brawlings. He proceeds by way of question and conviction, as appealing to their consciences. “From whence come wars and fightings among you?” These words, TróAspot kai pictyat, “wars and fightings,” are usually applied to their private con- tentions; either strifes and contentions about riches, greatness, and outward pomp, or else vexatious law- suits, and that before unbelieving judges. And the reason alleged for this exposition is, because the Christians of those times durst not openly invade one another in a hostile way; they must of necessity then have disturbed the peace of the places where they were scattered. But how plausible soever this exposition may seem, to me it is frivolous, I. Be- cause it is harsh to render tróAspot cai padyaw by private strifes and contentions. 2. Because these wars the apostle speaks of did go as far as bloodshed; “Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war, yet ye have not,” ver. 2. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews they went so far as slandering, the true Christians being spoiled and rifled by the coun- terfeit, Heb. x. 34. And, 3. Histories speak of wars and tumultuary agita- tions that then were between Jew and Jew, as Acts v. 37; and in these pro- bably many of the pseudo-christians were engaged. 4. The apostle out of his special relation in this Epistle not only writes to the believers, but the whole nation of Israel, as appears by many passages of the Epistle, and has been once and again cleared. “Come they not hence, even of your lusts P” #k rôv jóovåv učv, from your pleasures, as it is in the margin. Lust and pleasure are often put for each other, and sometimes they are coupled; as Tit. iii. 3, “Serving divers lusts and pleasures;” both note the affection of a wicked man to sin. Lust notes properly the earnest motion of the soul after sin; pleasure, the contentment it finds in sin. Sin is a pleasure to wicked men, it takes up their desires or delights: “They that count it pleasure to riot in the day time,” 2 Pet. ii. 13. “Had pleasure in unrighteousness,” 2 Thess. ii. 12. Pleasure is a sign of a perfect habit, and it is hardly left. Beware of a delight in sin, when acts of uncleanness or thoughts of revenge are Vid. Joseph. 1. 18. c. 1. 4. et 10. et l. 20. et Grot. in locum. sweet to you ; or when you please yourself in sur- mises of vanity, and proud reflections upon your honour and greatness in the world. Lord, if ever sin overcome, let it be my burden, and not my plea- sure. It is a sad and high degree of iniquity to re- joice to do evil. “That war in your members.” There are several Sorts of wars in the heart of man. In a wicked man’s heart there may be combats, 1. Between a man and his conscience. A heathen could say, e aražuděst airów Wix), their soul is in a mutiny; and elsewhere, speaking of a wicked man, oùs 'pěc Šavròy pºtkóg Éxel, he is not friends with himself. A wicked man and his conscience are at T, Arist. Ethic. . odds and difference. 2. Between conviction and cor- ruption. Sin storms at the light that discovers it, and “the law in the members” rises up against “the law of the mind.” 3. Between corruption and cor- ruption. Lusts are contrary one to another, and there- fore justle for the throne, and usually take it by turns. As our ancestors sent for the Saxons to drive out the Picts, so carnal men drive out one lust by another; and, like the lunatic in the gospel, fall sometimes into the water, and sometimes into the fire, Matt. xvii. 15. As diseases are contrary, not only to health, but to themselves; so are sins, not only to grace, but to one another; and we ought not to seek to cure a dead palsy by a burning fever. But in a godly man the war is between sin and grace, fleshly coun- sel and enlightened reason. Now these wars are said to be in their members: by members, are under- stood both inward and outward faculties, which are employed as instruments of sin; and the inward faculties are called members elsewhere: “The law in my members,” Rom. vii. 23. He means the strong inclination and bent of the will and affections against the knowledge of the truth. So Rom. vi. 13, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness;” that is, your faculties, which are exercised in and by the members of the body, and because of the analogy and proportion they bear to the outward members; as the eye to the un- derstanding, the will to the hand, &c. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Lust is the incendiary in a community. Covet- ousness, pride, and ambition make men injurious and insolent." (1.) Covetousness makes us contend with those that have any thing that we covet, as Ahab with Naboth : hence those injurious and vexatious suits be- tween neighbour and neighbour: hence public contentions. Men º: how they overturn all public welfare, so # they may attain *: things upon fºllº which their covetous and carnai desires #" " have fastened. The Assyrian king had it “in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few,” to add to the greatness of his empire, Isa. x. 7. (2.) Pride is the cockatrice' egg that discloses the fiery flying serpent: “By pride cometh conten- tion,” Prov. xiii. 10. Pride endures no equals. *Haman’s thirst of blood came from his haughtiness. The apostles strove who should be greatest. (3.) Ambition. Diotrephes's loving the pre-eminence dis- turbed the churches of Asia, 3 John 9. (4.) Envy. Abraham and Lot's herdmen fell out, Gen. xiii. 7. Two great ones cannot endure one another near them. “Let us not be desirous of vain-glory, pro- voking one another, envying one another,” Gal. v. 26. Obs. 2. When evils abound in a place, it is good to look after the rise and cause of them. Men en- gage in a heat, and do not know wherefore. Usually Just is at the bottom; the sight of the cause will shame us. Is it not because I would be greater than others P more pompous and high than they? Gram- marians talk of finding out the root, and philosophers of finding out the cause; so may Christians also. It is good to sift things to the bran and bottom: Ex Cupiditatibus, odia, dissidia, discordiae, se- 146 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF From whence does this come P “Whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal P” I Cor. iii. 3. It is good to check the fervour of an engagement by such a pause and con- sideration. Obs. 3. Lust is a tyrant that wars in the soul, and wars against the soul. (1.) It wars in the soul. It abuses your affections to carry on the rebellion against Heaven. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit,” &c., Gal. v. 17. The Spirit no sooner pre- sents a good motion, but the flesh rises up in defiance againstit in pride, passion, earthly-mindedness, envy, sensuality, unbelief, self-seeking, and carnal policy: as soon as you purpose to repent, believe, or pray, these are ready to hinder you, to distract you, that you cannot do the things that you would. Nay, the flesh sometimes lusts against the flesh : sin is a bur- densome taskmaster, it commands contrary things. How often is a man divided between his pomp and his sparing, his luxury and his covetousness! (2.) It wars against the soul. “Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul,” I Pet. ii. 11. You carry an enemy in your own bosoms, which defaces the beauty, disturbs the order, and enthrals the liberty of the soul. Instead of God’s image, there is Satan’s likeness; and instead of subjection to reason, there is the rebellion of appetite and vile affections; instead of freedom for righteousness, there is a sad bondage, which we may discover, but cannot help. Before I go off from this verse, I must handle two questions: one is concerning outward wars, and the other concerning inward. Quest. I. Concerning outward wars. The apostle's speech is indefinite, and at first seems to condemn all wars, as if they were of a base origin and descent, of the lineage of lust; therefore I shall inquire whether any wars are lawful or no. Besides the in- sinuation of the text, a further cause of doubting is the unsuitableness of it to a Christian spirit, it being the most dreadful way of retaliating and revenging wrongs, which is contrary to Christianity, and a course not only questioned by some modern Anabap- tists, but by antiquity itself. The eleventh canon of the Nicene Council enjoins penance to them that take up arms after their conversion to Christianity. And to this very day it is decried by the whole So- cinian School, as contrary to evangelical meekness and patience; and that course of defence which Christ has instituted, to wit, martyrdom, or shedding of our own blood, not spilling that of others. I answer briefly, I. There is nothing in Scripture expressly against it, nothing but strained conse- quences, as that of Matt. v. 43, 44, concerning love of enemies, which is forced; for nothing is there commanded but what is commanded in the Old Testament; now there wars are approved, yet ap- pointed by God; and that saying of Christ concerns private persons, toºk rivate revenge, passions, and animosities. And so tº Matt. v. 39, where we are forbidden to resist, must be understood of the retaliations of private revenge. And so that of Rom. xii. 19–21, “Avenge not yourselves,” &c. The magistrate’s vengeance is God’s vengeance, he is a person authorized by the Lord; therefore it is for- bidden to a private man, he is not God’s minister, to avenge them that do ill. 2. If there were something in the letter against it, it were to be modified by Some commodious interpretation, rather than com- monwealths should be deprived of such a necessary support. If the avoiding of a personal inconveni- ence (as one argues well) has by all men been ac- counted a sufficient reason to expound literal scrip- tures to a spiritual sense, as those of cutting off the right arm, and the right eye, then questionless the tizes Cornelius without requiring him letter of such scriptures must be made receptive of other signification, lest human societies should be destroyed, and disarmed of so necessary defence, and the world be turned into one universal rout and con- fusion; for religion is reasonable and innocent, and would establish no such inconveniencies to mankind. 3. There seems to be somewhat in the letter of the Scripture for it. Wars in the Old Testament are ap- proved and commanded by God. In the Apocalypse there is a manifest approval, if not excitation, of the people of God in their wars against antichrist. Be- sides, that they are not simply unlawful, it may be pleaded, that John being asked con- cerning the duty of soldiers, instructs them, but does not deny their calling, Luke iii. 14. And again, Peter bap- Quibus propri- um stipendium sufficere debere praecepit, militare utique non pro- hibuit. Aug. Epist. 5. ad Mar- cellinum. Et alibi, nisi justa bella suscipi pos- to give over his military employment, Acts x. ; he continued in it when re- * łeret ligious, ver. 2; and he sends to Peter i..., grpartórny sigsgå, “a devout soldier of ..."...; them that waited on him continually,” Faustam, i. 22. ver. 7. So-Christ commended the cen- *** turion, without disallowing his office. So Paul used a band of soldiers against the treachery of the Jews. All which instances yield probable arguments. 4. It may be proved lawful by such reasons and conse- quences as well suit with the analogy of faith, and the intent of the Scripture. Christ came not to destroy communities. Now war is the solemn instrument of justice, the restraint of vice and public insolencies, the support of a body politic against foreign inva- sions and domestic rebellions. It were against the interest of all government to deny them this power, to resist and withstand the insolencies of foreigners, or the mutinies of subjects; they are higher powers, ordained for God to resist evil, Rom. xiii. 4; that is, for the punishment of vice, which cannot be done without war many times, as in the story of the Book of Judges, chap. XX., and with us now. We are bidden to give all necessary supports to them that are in authority for the main- tenance of justice; “Render unto Caesar,” &c., Matt. xxii.; Rom. xiii. 6, 7. 5. There is so little in Scrip- ture about it, because nature of itself is prone to such cruel and violent remedies, it being revengeful and ambitious. You shall see in all such-like cases, where man is very ready to practise, the Scripture is very sparing in licensing or requiring. We all desire to sin cum privilegio, with a warrant from Heaven; and to say as those in the prophet, Thou hast de- ceived us, Jer. iv. 10; or, This we do by Divine war- rant. Therefore the Scripture in many matters uses great silence and reservation, lest by frequent in- junctions it draw out our natural cruelty and revenge, which it seeks every where to restrain. 6. There are several other reasons why Christianity should be so sparing in directions and injunctions concerning war: partly, to take off the scandal of being a make- bate, the usual consequent of the gospel being a sword through the corruption of the world. Partly, to keep people patient, and in a peaceable cohabitation, as long as equity and common safety may permit; and that there may be an exercise for faith, expecting the recompences of God for all the wrong done to us; and of thankfulness, forgiving for Christ's sake. Partly, to restrain cruelty and delight in war; that is a character of profane men, how lawful soever the quarrel be: “They are for war,” Psal. lxviii. 30; cxx. 7. It is a barbarous and beastly disposition. Partly, to show that peace must not be broken but upon urgent necessity; every discontent with present Hocºet ratio doc- tis, et necessitas barbaris, et mos gentibus, et feris natura ipsa prae- scripsit, ut on- nem semper vim, quaculmdue ope possent, a cor- pore, a capite, a vita sua propul- Sarent. Cic. Orat. pro Milone. WER. I. 147 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. affairs will not warrant so desperate a remedy; a thing so highly penal and afflictive should be the last refuge. Partly, to prevent unlawful wars. But you will say, What wars are unlawful? I answer, To make a war lawful there must be a con- currence of several things. There must be offensio patientis, the merits of the cause; jurisdictio indicen- tis, the warrant of authority; intentio finis convenien- tis, the uprightness of intention; and aequitas prose- quentis, the form of prosecution. (I.) When there is not a good cause, the assailed may cry as David, Lord, “they hate me without a cause.” Every slight pretence will not warrant it, nor every real cause, till other means are tried; for war being the highest act of windictive justice, must never be undertaken but upon weighty reasons. It is good to look to this circumstance; if the cause be good, and you are moved with other particular reasons, you sin. (2.) When there is no good authority to warrant it, the power of the civil sword is committed to magistracy, though for the people’s good. It is not for every one that is discontented with the present government to take up arms at pleasure; that lays a ground for all dis- order and confusion. But now what authority is necessary may be gathered from the particular con- stitution of every kingdom : distinct societies have their distinct forms and administrations; in most, the Supreme power does not consist in one, but more persons. (3.) When there is not a right end in those that raise the war, and in all that engage in it, which must be not only the glory of God in the general, but those particular civil and righteous ends which are proper to war, as the just defence of the commu- nity, or the punishment of such enormous offences as cannot otherwise be redressed. In short, the end of all war should be a righteous peace; not merely to enlarge territories, as Alexander, hence justly called totius orbis praedo, the public robber of the world; not to revenge affronts, to weaken a growing power; not to feed a desire of gain; not to give vent to pride by a discovery of our force and puissance; not to trouble the waters that we may fish the bet- ter; not to work public changes and innovations for the accomplishing of such things as our covetous- ness and ambition desires; not for honour or pay; but in obedience to the higher powers, and a sense of the common good. (4.) When it is not managed in a righteous way, as with cruelty and oppression. Before engagement there should be treating, Deut. xx. 10. They were first to proclaim peace. So 2 Sam. xx. 18, “They shall surely ask counsel at Abel; and so they ended the matter.” We should not run upon one another, like beasts, not staying for any capitulations. In the battle you must shed as little blood as possibly may be ; after the battle you should take nothing from the vanquished but the power of hurting. Briefly, nothing should be done but what suits with the just ends of the war, nothing that violates the law of nature or nations. Many things might be spoken to this purpose, but I would not dwell upon the discourse; one scruple I shall but touch upon, and that is, Whether religion is to be defended with arms, or no? I answer, Spiritual things are best defended with spiritual weapons; Christ's warfare is not carnal: but yet sometimes the outward exercises of religion and wor- ship may be established and secured by laws, and among other privileges and rights the liberty of pure worship may be one, which if it be invaded by vio- lence, may be defended with arms. So a magistrate may arm his subjects against an invading idolater. The estates of a kingdom may maintain their religion against the tyranny and malice of the prince, if, after faith given to maintain the laws and the religion established, he should go about to violate it; but if the prince be absolute, and not under former obliga- tions, we have no other remedy left but prayers, and tears, and meek defences. Out of all you may learn, 1. Not to cry up a con- federacy with every one that cries up a confederacy. Wars may easily be unrighteous, and it is dangerous to come under the guilt of them. Here we walk upon the brink; it is the most solemn and severe act of vindicative justice, and therefore must not be un- dertaken slightly. 2. If we may so many ways sin in war, what cause have we to be humbled, if any of us have been guilty of an undue concurrence to so great an evil, either by irregular engagement, or perverse intentions ! The more universal the in- fluence or sad consequences of a sin are, the more grievous should it be in the remembrance; besides the hurt done to our own souls, there is a wrong to others. Quest. 2. The next question is, Whether lusts war in the heart of a godly man P. The occasion of doubt- ing is, because he writes to Christians, and saith, “lusts that war in your members.” And Peter, writing to the same, saith, “Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul,” I Pet. ii. 11. I answer, Yes. The life of a Christian is a wrest- ling, conflicting estate; there is a double nature in the best, flesh and spirit, Gal. v. 17. We carry an enemy in our bosoms; the Canaanite is not wholly cast out. It was a good prayer of him that said, Lord, deliver me from one evil man, and it shall suffice, meaning himself. Flesh and spirit, like the twins in Re- bekah’s womb, war and struggle ; yea, lusts stir and rage more in a godly heart to sense and feeling than in a wicked. “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace,” Luke xi. 21 : there is no stir; wind and tide go together. Conviction may sometimes awaken drowsy lusts, otherwise all is still and quiet. But usually there is more trouble with sin after conversion, especially presently upon conversion. A bullock is most un- ruly at first yoking, Jer. xxxi. 18; and green wood, as soon as it begins to be fired, casts much smoke. The devil rages when he has but a short time, Rev. xii. 12. And the like you must expect, though in a less degree, in all the duties of holiness. When Joshua came before the Lord, Satan was at his right hand ready to resist him, Zech. iii. 1. Since the fall it is some evidence of grace to find this contrariety; since the admission of sin, grace is more discerned by the combat than by the absolute victory. But you will say, How does this war in a godly man differ from that in a wicked man? The ground of inquiry is, because conviction and common illu- mination may make wicked men hate some sins; there is in them a war between the natural light of conscience and sensual courses, and their hearts will reproach them for gross sins, or gross neglects. I answer, There is a great deal of difference: (1.) Partly in regard of the grounds. A gracious man opposes sin, as it crosses God’s holiness, a wicked man as it crosses God’s justice; the one saith, God hates this, the other saith, God will punish this; the one works out of a principle of love, the other of fear; the one hates sin as defiling, the other as damning; the one as disabling him for good, Rom. vii. 18; Gal. v. 17, the other because” of incommo- dity and sensible inconvenience, otherwise they can brook sin well enough. He does not oppose sin as it interrupts his communion with God. A wicked man cares not to be with God, so that he might be securely without him. In short, in a godly man the two seeds and natures are opposite; but in the wicked Libera me a malo homine, a meipso. L 2 148 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF ºthere is only some foreign awe impressed upon the conscience, and his dislike is rather from a present anger than a settled hatred. (2.) Partly in regard of the manner: in the one, sin is opposed volun- tarily, willingly, readily, because he hates. Sin, and loves the commandment; in the other, God’s restraint is more grievous than corruption. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” Rom. viii. 7. They snarl at the restraint; they would be will- ingly ignorant, 2 Pet. iii. 5. A child of God does the evil that he hates, but resistance in wicked men is nothing but the rising of a carnal will against an enlightened understanding. (3.) Sometimes in re- gard of the help; in the one the Spirit wars against the flesh, in the other most commonly flesh against flesh; as our fathers drove out the Picts by the Saxons, so they extrude one lust by another. A godly man rises against sin upon such considerations as the Spirit suggests; “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Gen. xxxix. 9; but a wicked man is mostly moved by carnal con- siderations. (4.) Partly in regard of the extent. A godly man’s resistance is universal, he hates sin as sin; and true hatred is trpèg rà yávn, against the whole kind: “I hate every false way,” Psal. cxix. 104. A wicked man hates some gross and staring sins, others which are plausible and profitable are reserved as a sweet morsel under their tongues. The hatred of a godly man is per- petual and irreconcilable ; that of a wicked man may be pacified, he distastes sin when conscience is roused. A man’s heart rises against a sword when it is drawn against him, but after it is laid down he will take it up ; that resembles a wicked man’s re- sistance. A man’s heart rises against a toad, so that he will not touch it dead or alive; that resembles the natural and constant enmity that is between a gracious heart and sin. (5.) In regard of the effects. A gracious soul is more humbled and cast down : “O wretched man that I am l’’ &c., Rom. vii. 24. It puts him upon humble and pious addresses to God by prayer, and makes him more jealous and watch- ful over his own heart: but a convinced man loses ground, conflicting with sin in his own strength; by his own thoughts he comes at length to lose all awe and fear. Arist. Rhet. VERSE 2. Pºe lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain : ye ſight and war, yet ye have not, be- cause ye ask not. - IN the context the apostle applies himself to the cure of carnal desires; he mentioned one effect in the first verse, inward and outward trouble, both in the world, and in our own members: he now comes to another argument, the dissatisfaction and success- lessness of those endeavours which come from lust; they distract the head with cares, and engage the heart in sins, and all to no purpose. “Ye lust,” #TriSvučirs, ye desire; but usually it is taken in an ill sense, for inordinate and passionate desires; therefore it is well rendered, “ye lust.” “And have not.” It may be taken two ways; either you never obtained, or have now lost: male parta male dilabuntur, ill means seldom arrive to possession; or if they do, possession is soon lost. Grotius supposes the apostle intimates the great want and dearth they sustained in the days of Claudius, Acts xi. 28; all their violent practices could not se- cure them against the inconveniences of those times. There is somewhat a like expression with this Prov. xiii. 4, “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing;” but there the word speaketh of empty wishes and lazy desires, here of passionate desires; there of the soul of the sluggard, here of the soul of the covetous. “Ye kill.” Calvin, Beza, Cajetan, Erasmus, and others, read, p$ovºirs, ye envy, though most Greek copies read as we do, povsösrs, “ ye kill.” The other reading was the rather embraced, because the charge seemed harsh to say, “ye kill,” when in the received exposition the wars here mentioned were only pri- vate contentions and lawsuits. But we cleared it before, that wars are here taken properly, and there- fore are not urged with this inconvenience, and need not understand it, as CEcumenius does, of spiritual killing, as if the sense were, ye kill your own souls; or of interpretative murder, mentioned 1 John iii. 15; but may expound it in the usual and received import of the word, covetousness going as high as murder, as I Kings xxi.; and Prov. i. 19, “So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.” In those public tumults, occasioned by their rapine and avarice, many were slain. “And desire to have,” kai &m Noërs, ye emulate, or are given to envy. The word is sometimes taken in a good sense: “Forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts,” I Cor. xiv. 12; the word is &#Nørat. There is a good emulation, when we strive to imi- tate them that excel in virtue, or to go beyond them; but there is also a carnal emulation, which chiefly respects outward enjoyments, and notes a grief that any should enjoy any outward excellency equal with us, or beyond us, and a strong covetous or am- bitious desire of appropriating that excellency to ourselves. In the first there is malice, in the second covetousness; we take it chiefly for the latter act of emulation, and therefore render it, “ ye desire to have.” “And cannot obtain,” of Šávadºs étrurvysiv: the words are emphatical, ye cannot arrive to happiness; that is, either to their happiness whom ye thus envy or emulate, or else to the happiness you fancy; car- nal desires being either disappointed, or else in- creasing with enjoyment; it is a distemper that will not be satisfied. The language of lust is, Give, give; it is an appetite without bound or measure : if we had one world, yet we are not happy, we would covet another; carnal desire is a gulf that is never filled up. Enjoyments seem little, because there is still so much in hope; like children, that greedly desire a thing, and when they have it despise it; or like drunkards, who are always pour- ing in, yet do not quench, but inflame the appetite: see Eccl. iv. 8; v. 10. Well may it be said then, “ye cannot obtain :” carnal men possess much, but have nothing. “Ye fight and war, yet ye have not;” that is, though their violence and carnal desires had broken out, so far as public insurrections and tumults, yet still they were at a loss. - “Because ye ask not;” that is, ye do not use the lawful means of prayer. But how can it be said, “ye ask not,” since in the next verse he saith, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss P” I answer, 1. Possibly here he may task one abuse, there another; here that they hoped to help them- selves by their own endeavours without prayer, there INovis Semper cu- piditatibus occu- pati, non quid ha- bemus, sed quid petamus, inspici- mus ; non in id quod est, sed quod appetitur intente. Senec. lib. 3. de Benef. cap. 3, that their prayers were conceived to a carnal pur- pose. 2. Because prayers not conceived in a humble WER. 2. 149 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. and holy manner are no prayers; lust's prayers are no prayers, eructations of lusts, not spiritual Sup- plications; a howling, Hos. vii. 14, which God re- gards not. . OBSERVATIONS. 1. Lustings are usually disappointed. “Ye lust, and have not.” God loves to cross desires when they are inordinate; his hand is straitened when our desires are enlarged. Sometimes out of mercy. It is a blessing to meet with disappointment in the ways of sin; you cannot have a worse judgment than to have your carnal desires filled up. Oh unhappy men, whom God leaves to themselves without re- straint “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways; and a good man shall be satis- fied from himself,” Prov. xiv. 14. The cursed apos- tate shall have enough of honours, and pleasures, and preferments. It was a mercy to the church to be disappointed: “She shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them : then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now,” Hos. ii. 7. Pros- perous and successful wickedness encourages a man to go on in that way; some rubs are an advantage. What we desire with greediness we enjoy with sur- feit; to disappoint and check our lust, God in mercy fences up our way with thorns. Sometimes in judg- ment, that he may torment men by their own lusts; their desires prove their just torture. The blood heated by intemperance, and the heart enlarged by desire, are both of them sins that bring with them their own punishment, especially when they meet with disappointment. Amnon and Ahab were both sick; the one with lust, the other with covetous- 3.162SS. Use (1.) Learn, then, that when the heart is too much set upon anything, it is the ready way to miss it. Rachel’s desires of children made her the more barren. The fool talked of greater barns, and that night his soul was taken away. When you forget to subject your desires to God’s will, you shall under- stand the sovereignty of it. When the heart is strongly set upon a thing, there is no reservation of God's good pleasure. We say, I will; and God saith, I will not. We will have such a thing, “I will go after my lovers,” as if we were petty gods; God will have his will against your wills, “I will fence thy way with thorns:” there is an implicit and interpretative contest between us and God. Again, when desires mistake in their object, they miss of their end. God cannot endure that the same affection should be lavished on outward things, which is only proper to himself and his grace. Violence would become the kingdom, Matt. xi. 12. When Amnon is as sick for Tamar as the spouse is for Christ, it begets a jea- lousy: affections should rise according to the worth of the object. “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto ever- lasting life,” John vi. 27. Your industrious desires would become a better object; your strength should be laid out for everlasting bread; that is a labour without sin and without disappointment. Use (2.) Be not always troubled when you cannot have your will; you have cause to bless God. It is a mercy when carnal desires are disappointed: say as David, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me,” I Sam. xxv. 32. Your hearts have been set on great estates, and you thought with the fool in the gospel of enlarging your barns, and exalting your nest, and of a sudden God came in and blasted all these carnal projects. Bless God for such providences; how secure, or sensual, so are many wicked men, a composition or carnal would your spirit have been else ! It was a mercy that the world was crucified to Paul, as well as Paul crucified to the world, Gal. vi. 14. So when you have been crossed in the pursuit of some lust or uncleanness, you may afterward kneel down, and adore the wisdom and seasonableness of such providences. Possidonius in the Life of Austin has a memorable history; he being to visit a place with his guide, mistook the way, fell into a by-path, and so escaped the hands of some bloody Donatists that lay in ambush to take away his life. God may lead you beside your intentions, to avoid some dangerous sins that would else have destroyed your souls: “I will hedge up thy way with thorns,” Hos. ii. 6. Some cross providences may be a hedge to keep thee from further misery. Use (3.) It teaches you what reflections to make upon yourselves in case of disappointment. When we miss any worldly thing that we have desired, say, Have not I lusted after this P Did not I covet it too earnestly P Absalom was the greater curse to David, because he loved him too much : inordinate longings make the affections miscarry. Observe it, those objects seldom prove happy that have too much of our hearts. We find it often, that men of great care are successless; they turn and wind hither and thither, and are still like a door upon the hinges, in, the same state and case. “It is vain for you to rise early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows,” Psal. cxxvii. 2. A carking industry may be in vain, and to no purpose; the success of human endeavours lies in God’s blessing and concurrence; it is the preroga- tive he has reserved to himself, he keeps it as a bridle over mankind, to keep them in obedience, duty, and dependence. Providence sometimes weans us from lust to grace, and shows us that a blessing is sooner had by faith than worldly care. “Surely every man walketh in a vain show : surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them,” Psal. xxxix. 6. Man goes and comes, and tosses to and fro, and is gathering of riches, and increases the heap, and God of a sudden scatters all. How often have you seen a covetous, carking man like a mill-horse, still going round, and yet always in the same place Obs. 2. That where there is covetousness, there is usually strife, envy, and emulation. 'Ezrt0upsirs, ye lust; povečers, ye kill; &m)\oirs, ye emulate: these hang in a string. As there is a connexion and a º between virtues and graces, they go hand in hand; so there is a link between sins, they seldom go alone: if a man be a drunkard, he will be a wanton; if he be covetous, he will be envious. Christ cast seven devils out of one Mary Magdalene, and another man was possessed with a legion. When the heart is brought under the power of any sin, it lies equally obnoxious to all sin. , Covetousness may be known by its companions, strife, envy, and emu- lation : “Being filled with covetousness, malicious- ness; full of envy,” Rom. i. 29. Self-love is the root of all the three; it makes us covet and desire what is good and excellent, and it makes us envy that others should enjoy it; and then to break all bonds of duty or charity, that we may wrest it from them. A covetous man is a full wicked man; he en- larges his desires for himself, but is much straitened towards others, his eye is evil when God’s hand is good. We often meet with strange compounds and prodigies of vice and sin: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blas- phemers,” &c., 2 Tim. iii. 2. It is said Monstrum ex- of Catiline, that he was a compound º.º.e.gue g e et inter se pug- and bundle of warring lusts and vices: manibus naturis. conflatum. 150 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF of many sins, which seem to differ in their essence, but spring from the same root of corruption. Obs. 3. “Ye lust, ye kill, ye fight and war.” Lust and covetousness are most apt to trouble neighbour- hoods and vicinities. Solomon saith, “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house,” Prov. xv. 27; we may add, yea, and all the houses near him; he is truly “the troubler of Israel.” Man is by na- ’Av6 2 ture a sociable creature, fit for com- §...oxf merce. A covetous man is a wen of ##". Arist the body politic, not a member. . A wen, by sucking the nourishment due to other parts, grows monstrous and ugly in itself, and robs the body; so he, being altogether for private gain, perverts that which is the cement of all con- federacies and societies, a care of the commonwealth. Bodies are preserved when the members “have the same care one for another,” l Cor. xii. 25. But this is not all, covetousness is a base affection, that will put a man upon the basest and most unworthy prac- tices ; men given to it trouble their families by exacting all their labours, and trouble human society by unjust contentions; they quarrel with those that possess that which they covet. Ahab spilt Naboth's blood for his vineyard’s sake. They promote public changes and innovations, that they may feather their nests with the common spoils. Besides all this, they bring down God’s judgments upon their people ; Achan’s covetousness troubled all Israel, Josh. vii.; especially if high in place and honour; as when magistrates build their own houses upon others' ruins, and purchase large revenues and estates with the public purse, or detaining the hire of the poor: see Jer. xxii. 13. Well, then, no wonder that covetous men meet with public hatred and detestation; they are not only injurious to God, but to society; they are a sort of men neither moved with arguments of na- ture or grace. It is a character of a bad spirit, that he neither feared God, nor regarded man, Luke xviii. 2. These two restraints God has laid upon us; his own fear to preserve religion, and the shame of the world to preserve human societies. Now some men are moved with neither. It was a character of the Jews in their depravation, “They please not God, and are con- trary to all men,” I Thess. ii. 15; they agree with none but themselves. So elsewhere it is said, “That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men : for all men have not faith,” 2. Thess. iii. 2; neither grace, nor good nature, nor faith, nor reason. So Lactantius saith of Lucian, ZVec diis mec homini- bus pepercit, He spared neither God nor man. Covet- ousness makes men of such a harsh and sour disposi- tion; toward God it is idolatry, it robs him of one of the flowers of his crown, the trust of the creature; and it is the bane of human society. Why are men’s hearts besotted with that which is even the reproach and defamation of their natures P Obs. 4. That lust will put men not only upon dis- honest endeavours, but unlawful means, to accomplish their ends ; killing, warring, and fighting. Bad means will suit well enough with base ends; they resolve to have it, rem, quocumque modo rem; any means will serve the turn, so they may satisfy their thirst of gain: “They that will be rich fall into tempta- tion and a snare,” I Tim. vi. 9. “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent,” Prov. xxviii. 20. If God will not enrich them, Satan shall ; and what they cannot get by honest labour they make up by the deceitful bag. Learn, then, what a tyrant lust is ; if God does not bless us, it makes us And again know, that that is rank go to the devil. lust which puts you upon dishonest means. Obs. 5. That let wicked men do what they can, when God setteth against them, their endeavours are frustrate. Ye lust, and have not; and again, ye kill, and emulate, and have not; and again, ye fight and war, and have riot. Let them try all ways, yet still they are disappointed: “He maketh the devices of the people of none effect,” Psal. xxxiii. 10. God will not let his creatures be too hard for him; in all strifes he will overcome, and have the best of it, Rom. iii. 4. But when does God set himself to frustrate the endeavours of the creature ? I answer, When the creature sets itself to frustrate his counsels and intents. That may be done several ways. (1.) When we will do things in despite of Providence. They are disappointed once and twice in an evil way, yet they will try again, as if they would have the mastery of God; as the king of Israel would adven- ture the other fifty after two fifties were destroyed, 2 Kings i. Pharaoh would harden his heart after many plagues. Balaam would smite his ass three times, Numb. xxii. 28; and after that he would build altar upon altar to curse Israel. (2.) When men seek by carnal policies to make void God’s promises or threatenings. God had said, I will cut off Ahab's posterity; to avoid this, he begets children; he had seventy children, that were all brought up in seventy strong cities, yet all beheaded by Jehu. Herod, that he might make sure work of Christ, killed all the children of Bethlehem, and some say his own son, nursed there; whereupon Augustus said, Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium, It is better to be Herod’s swine than his son; and yet Christ was kept safe. “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord,” Prov. xxi. 30. He uses many words, to show that all the exquisiteness and choiceness of parts will not be able to manage the contest against Providence. (3.) When men crossed by Providence seek happiness elsewhere by unlawful acts and means; as violence, cozenage, ex- tortion, deceit ; as if Satan could make them more prosperous than God. See if these men do not go back in their estates; if their families, which they seek to raise by such means, be not ruined. The old world would build a tower, as if there were more se- curity in a tower than a promise, Gen. xi. 4. Many devices there are in man’s heart to compass their ends, but they are all blasted and marked with the curse of Providence. (4.) When you say, “I will,” without God’s leave : see Exod. xv. 9; James iv. 13—15. Such confident purposes and presumptions as are not subjected to God’s pleasure are seldom prosperous. (5.) By reiterated endeavours against the church : see Isa. viii. 9, 10. They are still “broken in pieces,” though they join force to policy, combine themselves in leagues most holy, and renew their assaults with united strength; therefore the prophet repeats it so often, “Ye shall be broken in pieces; ye shall,” &c. - Obs. 6. That it is not good to engage in any under- taking without prayer. “Because ye ask not;” that is, ask not God’s leave in humble and holy prayer. In prayer you ask God’s leave, and show your action is not a contest with him. The families that call not upon God’s name must needs be cursed; in their actions they do, as it were, say they will be happy without God. We learn hence, (1.) That that argu- ment against prayer is vain: God knows our requests already; and God’s decrees are immutable, and can- not be altered by our prayers. So argued of old Maximus Tyrius, a heathen philosopher; and so many libertines in our days. I answer, Prayer is not for God’s information, but the creature's submis- sion; we pray that we may have his leave. And again, God’s decrees do not exclude the duty of creatures, and the work of second causes. “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel,” WER, 3. 151 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. Ezek. xxxvi. 37. So Jer. xxix. 11, 12, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an ex- pected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.” (2.) That no actions must be taken in hand but such as we can commend to God in prayer; such recrea- tions as we are ashamed to ask a blessing upon must not be used; such enterprises we must not engage in as we dare not communicate to God in our supplica- tions. “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord!” Isa. xxix. 15; that is, design their enterprises, and never inquire after the will of God, or communicate their purpose to him in prayer. verse 3. Pºe ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. IN this verse he anticipates and prevents an objec- tion. They might say, We do ask, and go to God (Suppose) by daily prayers. The apostle answers, You ask indeed, but because of your vicious inten- tion you cannot complain of not being heard: would you make God a servant to your lusts P For to con- vince them, he shows what was the aim of their prayers, the conveniencies of a fleshly life; “Ye ask, that ye may consume it upon your lusts,” or plea- | their sins, and would engage the Divine blessing | upon a revengeful and carmal enterprise ; as the | thief kindled his torch at the lamps of the altar that There are several points notable in this verse, they of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when Sures, Šv raig jöovaig judjv. OBSERVATIONS. may be reduced to these three. 1. That we pray amiss, when our ends and aims | Foolish creatures vainly imagine to entice Heaven are not right in prayer. 2. That our ends and aims are wrong, when we ask blessings for the use and encouragement of our | men hope by fasts and prayers to draw God into 3. That prayers so framed are usually successless; - | theft and unjust practices. lusts. we miss when we ask amiss. 1. I begin with the first, That we pray amiss, when our ends and aims are not right in prayer. The end is a main circumstance in every action, the purest off Practices and affections may be overruled; this is the genuine immediate birth and We may instance in all sorts of actions; we know the quality of them not by the matter, but the end. . In indifferent things the property of the action is altered by a wrong end. To eat out of necessity, is a duty we owe to nature; So in all things instituted and commanded, the end de- Jehu's slaying of Ahab's chil- spring of the soul. issue of the human spirit. to eat out of wantonness, is an effect of lust. termines the action. dren was not obedience, but murder, because done for his own" ends: God required it, 2 Kings x. 30; and yet God saith, “I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu,” Hos. i. 4. God required it as a righteous satisfaction to justice, Jehu spilt it out of ambition; therefore so many persons slain, so many murders. So in these actions of worship, they are good or bad as their end is. Speaking to God may be prayer, if it come from zeal; it may be howling, if it come from lust, Hos. vii. 14: then it is but á brutish cry; as beasts out of the rage of appetite howl for the prey or things they needſ: for worship must never have an end beneath itself. We act pre- posterously, and not according to reason, when the means are more noble than the end. When we make self the end of prayer, it is not worship of God, but self-seeking. All our actions are to have a reference and ordination to God, much more the acts that are proper to the spiritual life; it is called a “living unto God,” Gal. ii. 19. The main difference between the carnal life and the spiritual, the one is a living to our- selves, the other is a living to God. Now especially acts of worship are to be unto God, and for God, for there the soul sets itself to glorify him; and the ad- dresses being directly to him, must not be prostituted to a common use. Well, then, consider your ends in prayer; not the manner only, nor the object only, but the end. It is not enough to look to the vehemency of the affections; many make that all their work, to raise themselves into some quickness and smartness of spirit, but do not consider their aim. It is good to come with full sails; fervent prayer is like an ar- row drawn with full strength, but yet it must be godly prayer. A carnal spring may send forth high tides of affection; the motions of lust are usually very earnest and rapid. It is not enough to look to the fluency and serviceableness of invention; carnal af- fections and imagination joined together may engage the wit, and set it to work: invention follows affec- tion. It is not enough to make God the object of the prayer, but the end also. Duty is expressed sometimes by serving God, at other times by seek- ing God; serving notes the object, seeking notes the end; in serving we must seek. Obs. 2. That our ends and aims are wrong in prayer, when we ask blessings for the use and en- couragement of our lusts. Men sin with reference to the aim of prayer several ways. (1.) When the end is grossly carnal and sinful. Some seek God for he might steal by it. Solomon saith, “The sacrifice he bringeth it with a wicked mind P” Prov. xxi. 27. to their lure. Balaam builds altars out of a hope that God would curse his own people, and wicked Others seek a blessing upon their The harlot had her vows and peace-offerings for the prosperity of her unclean trade, Prov. vii. 14. This was a thing which heathens condemned. Juvenal laughed at it in one of his Satires; Plato forbids it in his Alcibiades; Pliny detests it as a stupid impudence, to profane the re- ligion of the temples, by making it conscious to un- clean requests. The impious stories of see Dr. Kinet's their quarrel. prayers commended to the Virgin Mary Apology, for th: º e Virgin Mary, lib. for a blessing upon thefts and adulteries, 3... iśćt which yet they say were granted, be- *P* cause of the devoutness of the supplicants in the Psal- ter and Rosary, are worthy of all Christian abomina- tion. (2.) When men privily seek to gratify their lusts. Men look upon God tanquam aliquem magnum, as some great power, that must serve their carnal turns; as he came to Christ, “Master, speak to my brother, to di- vide the inheritance,” Luke xii. 13. We would have somewhat from God to give to lust: health and long life, that we may live pleasantly; wealth, that we may fare deliciously every day; estates, that we may raise up our name and family; victory and success, to ex- cuse ourselves from glorifying God by suffering, or to wreak our malice upon the enemies; church de- liverances, out of a spirit of wrath and revenge. As they were ready to call for fire from heaven, not knowing of what spirit they were, Luke ix. 55; so some pray for the assistance and quickenings of the Spirit to set off their own praise and glory, and per- vert the most holy things to common uses and secular advantages. Simon Magus would have gifts, that 152 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF he might be rig påyag, a man of great repute in his place, Acts viii. 9. The Divine grace, by a vile sub- mission and diversion, is forced to serve our vain- glory. (3.) When we pray for blessings with a selfish aim, and not with serious and actual designs of God’s glory ; as when a man prays for spiritual blessings with a mere respect to his own ease and comfort, as for pardon, heaven, grace, faith, repent- ance, only that he may escape wrath : this is but a carnal respect to our own good and welfare. God would have us mind our own comfort, but not only : God’s glory is the pure spiritual aim ; then we seek these things with the same mind that God offers them. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved,” Eph. i. 6. Your desires in asking are never regular, but when they suit with God’s ends in giving. God’s glory is a better thing, and beyond our welfare and salvation. So in temporal cases, when men desire outward provisions merely that they may live the more comfortably, not serve God the more cheerfully. Agur measures the convenience and inconvenience of his outward estate, as it would more or less fit him for the service of God: Not poverty, lest I deny thee; not riches, lest I forget thee,” Prov. xxx. 8, 9. So in public cases of church deliverance, when we do not seek our own safety and welfare so much as God’s glory: “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake,” Psal. cxv. 1; that is, not for our merits, not for our revenge, our safety, but that mercy and truth may shine forth. But you will say, May we not seek our own good and benefit P I answer, Not ultimately, nor absolutely; but only with submission to God’s will, and subordination to God’s glory. The main end why we desire to be saved, to be sanctified, to be delivered out of any danger, must be that God may be honoured in these experiences, in comparison of which our own glory and welfare should be nothing. But you will say, How shall we know that God's glory is the utmost aim P A deluded heart will pre- tend much. - I answer, You may discern it, (1.) By the work of your own thoughts: the end is first in intention, and lastin execution; therefore the heart works upon it. Now what runs often in the thoughts P When you pray against enemies, do you please yourself with suppositions and surmises of revenge, or hopes of the vindication of God’s name P So in prayers for strength and quickening, do not you entertain your spirit with whispers of vanity, dreams of ap- plause, and the echoes and returns of your own praise P or enchant your minds with the sweet music of public acclamations P. By these inward and secret thoughts the soul sallies out after carnal success and advantage. lutely for God’s glory, but in all other things with a Sweet submission to God’s will. “Save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy name,” John xii. 27, 28. Christ is absolute in that request, and so receives an answer. It is enough to a gracious heart, if God will glorify his own name. . But now carnal aims make the spirit impetuous and impatient of check and denial; they are all for being saved from this hour. Rachel must have children, or die. When the heart is set upon earthly success, or pleasure, or comfort, they cannot brook a denial. (3.) By the disposition of your hearts. When prayers are accomplished when we do not ask for God’s glory, we abuse mercies to re- Venge, luxury, excess. Dust is an earnest craver, Effice quicquid novisti nomini tuo honorificum. Junius in loc. (2.) By the manner of praying, abso- but when it receives any comfort, it consumes it in ease and pleasure. We deceive ourselves with no- tions; the time of having mercies is the time of trial. But what shall I do to get my ends right in prayer P It is a necessary question; nothing makes a man see the necessity of the Divine help and concurrence to the work of prayer so much as this. To act for a holy end requires the presence of the Spirit of grace; supernatural acts need supernatural strength. It is true, in these inward productions, “that which is of the flesh is flesh;” water cannot rise higher than its fountain; bare nature aims at its own welfare, ease, and preservation; therefore go to God, beg upright- ness, it is his gift as well as other graces. The help that we have from the Spirit, is to make requests kara esöv, “according to the will of God,” Rom. viii. 27; or, as it is in the original, according to God; that is, to put up godly requests for God’s sake. Besides, there should be much mortification: that which lies uppermost will be soonest expressed; “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” God’s people are ready in holy requests, because their hearts are exercised in them: “My heart is inditing a good matter,” &c., Psal. xlv. I. Worldly cares, worldly sorrows, worldly desires, must have vent. Wessels give a sound according to the metal they are made of Hypocrites will howl for carnal comforts. Beat away these carnal reflections when they rush into your minds. Abraham drove the fowls away, Gen. xv. When you feel the heart running out by a perverse aim, disclaim it the more solemnly ; “ Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.” Obs. 3. That prayers framed out of a carnal in- tention are usually successless. Prayers that want a good aim also want a good issue. God’s glory is the end of prayer, and the beginning of hope, otherwise we can look for nothing. God never undertook to satisfy fleshly desires; he will own no other voice in prayer but that of his own Spirit: “He that search- eth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,” Rom. viii. 27. What is a fleshly groan P and what is a spiritual groan P. A carnal aim expressed is but a supplication with a confutation; it is the next way to be denied. Spiritual sighs and breath- ings are sooner heard than carnal roarings; they that cannot ask a mercy well, seldom use it well; in the enjoyment there is more temptation. Usually our hearts are more devout when we want a blessing, than when we enjoy it; and therefore when our prayers are not directed to the glory of God, there is little hope that when we receive the talent we shall employ it to the Master's use. Besides all this, prayers made with a base aim put a great affront and dishonour upon God; you would make him a servant to his enemy: “Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins,” Isa. xliii. 24. We would commit sin, and we would have God to bless us in it. It is much you should be servants of sin, but that you should make God administrum peccati, a fellow servant, and yoke him with yourselves in the same servility, is not to be endured. Well, then, it teaches us what to do when our prayers are not granted; let us not charge God foolishly, but examine ourselves: were not our requests carnal P Suppose you prayed for quicken- ing, and God left you to your own deadness, did not your heart fancy your own praise P If for safety, you would live in ease, in pleasure; if for an estate, you were pleasing yourself in the suppositions of great- ness and esteem in the world. O brethren, as we mind success, let us not come to God with an evil mind; holy desires have a sure answer, Psal. x. 17; cxlv. 19. WER. 4. 153 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. VERSE 4. Pe adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God 2 choso- ever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. BECAUSE they were so overcome with worldly lusts, that their very prayers and devotionary acts looked that way, he shows the danger and heinousness of these lusts. The arguments of this verse are two : I. They will make you commit adultery. 2. They will make you enemies to God. - “Ye adulterers and adulteresses.” This must be understood spiritually, as appears by the following words, and the drift of the context, which is to in- veigh against those lusts and pleasures which in- veigle the soul, and withdraw it from God. Now these are spiritual adulterers, whom the love of the world alienates and estranges from the Lord. The metaphor is elsewhere used: This “evil and adul- terous generation,” Matt. xii. 39; xvi. 4. “Know ye not P” He appeals to their consciences; it is a rousing question. Worldly men do not sin out of ignorance so much as incogitancy; they do. not consider. “That the friendship of the world.” By 5 pixia toū kóquov, he understands an emancipation of our affections to the pleasures, profits, and lusts of the world. Men study to please their friends; and they are friends of the world therefore that seek to gratify worldly men or worldly lusts, and court outward vanities rather than renounce them ; a practice un- suitable to religion. You may use the world, but not seek the friendship of it. Those that would be dandled upon the world’s knees lose a friend of Christ: as to instance in pleasing the men of the world; “If I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” Gal. i. 10. So for gratifying of worldly lusts; we may use the comforts of the world, but we may not serve the lusts and pleasures of it; that is a description of the carnal state, Tit. iii. 3. “Is enmity with God.” When you begin to please the world, you wage war against Heaven, and bid open defiance to the Lord of hosts; the love of God, and care of obedience, is abated just as much as the world prevails in you. There is a like expression Rom. viii. 7, “The carnal mind is enmity against God;’ averse and adverse. So the world not only withdraws the heart from God, but opposes him. Å man can hardly serve two masters, though of the same judgment; but God and the world are opposite masters, they command contrary things: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” I John ii. 15. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” Matt. vi. 24. They that match covetous- ness with profession seek to reconcile two of the most unsuitable things in the world. “Whosoever therefore.” General truths must be enforced by applicative inferences, and so they fall directly upon the Soul: “So it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good,” Job v. 27. “Will be a friend of the world.” Bow\noff notes the aim and serious purpose. All do not find the world to favour them; do what they can, the world is crucified to them; but they are not, as Paul was, “crucified to the world,” Gal. vi. 14. Therefore the Scripture takes notice, not of what is in the event, but the aim. Besides, the serious purpose and choice discovers the state of the soul; he is absolutely a worldly man that will be a friend of the world. So I Tim. vi. 9, oi 30w),ópsvot T\ovtsiv., “they that will be rich.” In heavenly matters the deliberate choice and full purpose discovers grace: “That with pur- pose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,” Acts xi. 23. Therefore Christians should look to their purpose and aim. What is it? What do you give your minds to ? When a man sets himself to grow rich, to lay up treasures upon earth, he is a worldly man; as when he gives his heart, and mind, and whole man to do what God requires, whatever comes of it, he is a true servant of the Lord. To this purpose are those speeches of Solomon: “Labour not to be rich,” Prov. xxiii. 4; that is, do not give up thy heart and endeavours to find out and follow all ways to increase thy wealth and estate. So Prov. xxviii. 20, “He that maketh haste to be rich,” &c.; has set up that for his purpose. Now this purpose of the soul may be known, partly by a resolute carry- ing on the end without weighing the means and con- sequences, partly by the diligence and earnestness of the spirit. When the end is fixed, we are patient of all labour, but impatient of check and disappoint- ment. “Is the enemy of God.” Actively and passively it makes a man hate God, and to be hated by God. Duty will either make us weary of the world, or the world will make us weary of duty. The children of God have experience of the one, and hypocrites of the other. OPSERVATIONS. 1. That worldliness in Christians is spiritual adul- tery. It dissolves the spiritual marriage between God and the soul; of all sins it is most unsuitable to the marriage covenant, the covenant of grace, where- in God propounds himself to be all-sufficient, Gen. xvii. 1. We have enough in God, but we desire to make up our happiness in the creatures; this is plain adultery : “Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee,” Psal. lxxiii. 27; that is, those which sought that in the world which is only to be found in God. There are degrees in this adultery. You know there may be adultery in affection when the body is not defiled; unclean glances are a de- gree of lust. The children of God may have some outrunning and straggling thoughts: when the devil is at their elbows, the world may be greatened in their esteem and imagination; “Happy is that peo- ple, that is in such a case,” Psal. cxliv. 15: but they presently correct themselves, and return to the bosom of God; “Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” In others there is a higher degree; they settle those affections upon the world which are only due and proper to God, as their care, delight, desire, fear, hope, which should be kept chaste and loyal to Jesus Christ: yet there is still some profession; as a woman that is not contented with one husband, and yet still retains the colour and pretence of the first marriage: this is in hypocrites, who divide their hearts between God and the world. There are others who plainly leave the Creator for the creature, and prefer the world before God, the profits and pleasures of it before communion with him in holy duties. To let the world share with God is an evil, but to prefer the world before God is an impiety. As a faithless wife prefers every one before her own hus- band; so do the profane, who live as professed pros- titutes. Their love is wholly withdrawn from God as a Husband, and their obedience from him as a Lord; “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,” 2 Tim. iii. 4. Well, then, check worldly inclina- tions; when your hearts are too passionately drawn forth to present comforts and contentments, or when your thoughts are raised into too great admiration of them, or when worldly ease and pleasure hinders and withdraws you from duty, or are apt to prefer 154 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF carnal satisfaction before communion with God, re- You are not your own, but given up to God: “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ P shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the God forbid,” I Cor. vi. 15. member at such time this is adultery. members of an harlot? This love is Christ's; these admiring thoughts, these pains, time, care, earnestness, they are all Christ's; and shall I give that which is Christ's to the world P God has fenced us against outward adultery by fear and shame. Some countries punish it with whipping, others with death. terer or an adulteress to God? How will this expose me to the scorn of men and angels trusted in the abundance of his riches 1” house of God! Spiritual harlots will not be able to look good men and angels in the face. There is danger in it too; God is a jealous God. Whoring under the law was punished with death: Every one that goeth a whoring from thee wilt thou destroy, Psal. lxxiii. 27. There is nothing provokes the Lord so much as this, that base things should be preferred before him. Obs. 2. That women have special need to take heed of worldly pleasures and lusts. “Ye adulteresses.” The Syriac translation has not this word, the Vulgate has only adulteri, yet the Greek copies have it. It is not usual in Scripture to speak to women ; the speeches of the apostles in their Epistles are usually directed to men; therefore it is the more notable. Adulteress is a name of reproach, you cannot endure it; ah, be not adulteresses spiritually, doting too much upon outward pleasure and pomp. You are loyal to your earthly husbands; ah, be so to Jesus Christ. Men's hearts are usually distracted with worldly cares, but yours are apt to be besotted with worldly pleasures; we usually call it softness and effeminacy. The apostle speaks of some women that “wax wanton against Christ,” I Tim, i. 11; that is, when they begin to renounce the inward morti- fication of fleshly lusts. Remember you have a heavenly Husband; let not soft delicacy so corrupt your minds as to make you forget your duty to him. Your tenderness, and the examples of others, will, without care, be great snares to you. Obs. 3. That to seek the friendship of the world is the ready way to be God’s enemy. God and the world, are contrary; he is all good, and the world lieth in wickedness; and they command contrary things. . The world saith, Slack no opportunity of gain and pleasure; if you will be so peevish as to stand nicely upon conscience, you will do nothing but draw trouble upon yourselves. Deny yourselves, take up your cross, renounce the world. The world saith, Wilt thou take thy bread, and thy water, and thy flesh, and give it unto men, whom thou knowest not whence they be P 1 Sam. Xxv. 11. xii. 33. contrarieties. we mingle with the world, so far are our hearts deadened and estranged from God; and by the en- croachment of worldly delights and vanities upon the spirit the love of God decays. It is a vain con- ceit to think we can serve God and our lusts too. There is baseness and danger also in spiritual adultery. There is baseness: affec- tions are impure, so far as they are let out upon other things rather than God. Shall I be an adul- At the last day they will come pointing, as in Psal. lii. 7, “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but This is a Gadarene, that loved his swine more than Christ that preferred a game at cards before communion with God! a cup, a drunken meeting, before the the honour and respect of the world. Now God saith, But God saith, “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide bags which wax not old,” Luke It were easy to instance in several such We find by experience, that so far as The world and grace are incompatible, they may be together sometimes; as a rusty dial may be right by chance. But you will be put to trial, and when God and the world come in competition, you may see whose friendship you desire. When a worldly man must do the one or the other, you shall see where his heart is ; he will rather offend God, than lose | riches, pleasures, or preferment; he is loth to be bound up by the allowance of conscience and re- ligion; and though he would gild all with a pre- tence of respect to God, yet carnal reasons oversway, and he takes the world’s part against God. Well, now you see the enmity between God and the world. (1.) "Think of it seriously, when you are about to mingle with earthly comforts and delights, and can neglect God for a little carnal convenience and satis- faction: This is to be an enemy to God; and can I make good my part against him P. He is Almighty, and can crush you. What are our feeble hands to the grasp of Omnipotence 1 . See Ezek, xxii. 14. And he is a terrible enemy, when he “whetteth his glittering sword,” Deut. xxxii. 41. Nay, if none of all this were to be feared, the very estrangement from God is punishment enough of itself. Shall I renounce the love and favour of God, and all com- merce and communion between him and me, for a little temporal delight and pleasure ? God forbid. (2.) Learn how odious worldliness is; it is direct en- mity to God, because it is carried on under sly pre- tences: of all sins this seems most plausible. Usually we stroke it with a gentle censure, and say, He is a good man, but a little covetous and worldly : that is enough to entitle him God’s enemy. The world reckons sins not by the inward contrariety to God, but by the outward excesses, and acts of filthiness; and therefore because covetous persons do not break out into acts foul and shameful, they have much of “ This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings,” Psal. xlix. 13; that is, praise and esteem such a kind of life. Sensual persons are like beasts, and therefore the object of common scorn; but worldliness suits more with carnal reason, and is a sin more human and rational. They “bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth,” Psal. x. 3. The Lord abhors them, but men bless them; for they do not measure sins so much by the inward en- mity as by the outward excess. God’s hatred arises from his own purity, but man’s from the external in- conveniencies of disgrace and loss. VERSE 5. | Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy 2 THIS scripture has been much tortured with the several expositions of those that have considered it, because it does not easily appear of what scripture or of what spirit the apostle speaks. Two opinions are most worthy of regard. Some interpret it of the Spirit of God, others of the corrupt spirit of man. Those that refer it to the Spirit of God read it with a double interrogation, thus; Doth the Scripture speak in vain? Doth the Spirit that dwelleth in us lust to envy P And they interpret it thus; Do the Scriptures speak in vain to this drift and purpose, to which I have spoken to you? meaning the sentences last spoken, which are every where scattered throughout the word. Doth the Spirit that is in us lust to envy P that is, the Spirit of God, doth it lust in such a car- VER, 5. 155 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. nal manner P Their reasons are three : 1. Because the sentence supposed to be in the latter part of the text is no where found in Scripture, and therefore some are forced to fly to the shift of some ancient book of piety now lost. 2. The next is, because of that phrase, “the spirit that dwelleth in us,” which is most properly and most usually applied to the Spirit of God, who is given to us, that he may dwell in us; but is not so proper to our corruption, which usually is not called a spirit, or at least not a spirit dwelling in us. 3. The third is taken from the first clause of the next verse, “But he giveth more grace;” which “he”, being a relative, must have an antecedent, and that is the Spirit of God here in- tended. These are the arguments. The other opinion, that refers it to the wicked spirit of man, expounds the place thus ; “Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain?” that is, it is not for nothing that the Scripture saith. What doth it say? That “the spirit that dwellethin us;” that is, our corrupt nature; some say Satan; more probably the former; “lusteth to envy;” that is, is mightily carried forth that way. To this opinion I incline, and my reason is the easiness and commodiousness of the sense; the other is more harsh and intricate : as also the suitableness of it with the scope of the apostle, which is to prove that carnal lusts are na- tural to us, and do not become him that would be a friend of God; those that are wholly carried to evil cannot be his friends: and so both text and context runs smoothly. But how shall we answer the contrary arguments? I answer, Thus: 1. The first is, That this saying, “the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,” is no where found in Scripture. the express words; and when Scripture is quoted generally, the sense is sufficient. The apostle writing to Jews, who were versed in Scripture, quotes it generally, and at large; as also Peter in many places. And so Paul, I Cor. xiv. 21, “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people.” So ver. 34, “Women are tº: to be under obedience, as also saith the a W.” used, but are the drift of many scriptures. v. 14, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleep- est,” &c., where there is a general citation. So here is the drift of many scriptures to speak of the corrupt nature of man, and a wicked spirit dwelling in us; though I conceive there is a special allusion to one place, as there is in all those other citations men- tioned; and the place alluded to here is Gen. viii. 21, “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” And though there be no mention of envy, yet with good reason the apostle might apply a general place to his particular purpose. 2. The second argument is taken from the property of the phrases, “spirit,” and cargſkmasy, “dwelleth,” or has taken up his habitation in us; but this may be very fitly applied to that natural and corrupt spirit which we now have. I have observed, that it is usual in the Scripture to call the bent and strong propension of the soul either to good or evil, spirit; as, “We have received, not the spirit of the world,” I Cor. ii. 12. And the phrase of “dwelling in us” is used by the apostle, and applied to sin, Rom. vii. 17. Neither is there any emphasis in the word to cause it to be peculiar to the gift of the Holy Ghost, for it only notes promiscuously any intimate abode. 3. The third argument is taken from the beginning of the next verse. I answer, If you render it, “it giveth more grace,” it is referred to the Scriptures; if “he giveth more grace,” it is referred to God, mentioned To which I reply, That the sense of it is found in Scripture, though not Now these words are no where expressly So Eph. in ver. 4. But we shall examine that passage when We come to ver. 6. - OBSERVATIONS. 1. Though sin be natural to us, it is not therefore the less evil. It is the apostle's argument against envy and lust, The spirit that is in us lusteth to it. Poison by nature is more than poison by accident. We pity that which is poisoned, we hate that which is poisonous; as we pity a dog that is poisoned by chance, but hate a toad that is poisonous by nature. We use it as an excuse, We are sinners, and so are all by nature : ah, this is the greatest aggravation. So David; “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and | in sin did my mother conceive me,” Psal. li. 5. Lord, I have committed adultery, and I have an adulterous heart and nature. We should set against those sins with the more care, and be humbled for them with the more grief, that are natural to us. Obs. 2. The Scripture saith that which may be in- ferred from the scope of it, and by just consequence. “Doth the Scripture say in vain P” Immediate in- ferences are as valid as express words. Christ proves the resurrection not by direct testimony, but by argument, Matt. xxii. 32. What the Scripture im- ports therefore by good consequence, should be re- ceived as if it were expressed. Obs. 3. Carnal persons make the Scriptures speak in vain as to them. “We beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain,” 2 Cor. vi. 1; that is, the offers of the gospel. When the word of God has not an answerable effect, it is to us a vain and dead letter. O do not let the Scriptures by way of comfort, counsel, or reproof speak in vain to you. When you meet with any moving passage, ask with- in yourselves, Wherefore was this spoken in the word of God? was it spoken in vain P or shall I make it so P Obs. 4. Naturally we have all a wicked spirit that dwelleth in us. “The spirit that dwelleth in us.” We commit sin, as heavy bodies move downward, not from an impression without, but from our own spirit and nature. Oh be the more earnest to par- take of the Divine nature, and be more watchful over yourselves: your own spirit is the cause of sin; in- ward concupiscence is the worst enemy, James i. 14. Obs. 5. A carnal spirit is strongly carried out in the ways of sin. IIpóc Sóvov čtvirošči, “lusteth to envy,” or desireth towards envy. It desires after it. Suspect such desires as are too vehement; panting after earthly matters comes from lust. Obs. 6. Natural corruption most of all betrays itself by envy. “To envy.” We have it as soon as we come into the world, and it is º: matter to leave it ere we go out of it again; children v. jºi. The devi º first envied us the favour of God, and ** ever since we have envied one another. The chil- dren of God are often surprised; so Joshua, Numb. xi. 29. So Peter envied John, as excelling him in the love of Christ, John xxi. 20, 21. It is a sin that breaks both tables at once; it begins in discontent with God, and ends in injury to man; it is the root of hatred against godliness. They that are at the bottom of the hill fret at those that are at the top, and men malign what they will not imitate. Wicked men would have all upon the same level. Abel's sacrifice was better than Cain's, and therefore Cain murdered him. Man would have his own weaknesses lie hid under the common defects; or else out of self-love, like the sun, he would shine alone; and thence come outrages in the world. “Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy P” Prov. xxvii. 4. The heat of 156 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF anger is soon spent, but envy is a settled crooked malice, that only watches advantage to destroy. VERSE 6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. “BUT he giveth more grace.” applying it to the Scripture; it giveth grace, because it offereth it, and is a means in God’s hand of work- ing it. But I rather suppose it is to be applied to God, for it is spoken in opposition to the spirit in us that lusteth to envy; and so suits the scope of the context, which is to show that a worldly spirit is contrary to God. This clause, as thus applied, has been severally expounded; but because the differ- ence is mostly in the formality of expression, and the senses are all pious, and subordinate one to another, it will not be amiss to improve them into so many several observations. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That an envious disposition is very contrary to God. You may refer it to the context thus; Our “spirit lusteth to envy; but he giveth more grace;” that is, we are envious, and God is bountiful. It is usual in Scripture to oppose God’s liberality to our envy, his good hand to our evil eye, Matt. xx. 15. Damascene calls God &q&ovoc, one without emvy, be- cause he is most liberal. God is for communication, and we for confinement. We would have all blessings within our line and pale; we malign the good of others, but God delights in it. This may make envy odious to us; we all affect to be like God. Our first pa- rents greedily swallowed the bait, “Ye shall be as gods;” we would be so in a cursed self-sufficiency, why are we not so in a holy conformity ? To set on this thought, consider, (1.) God has no need to dis- Tpto. #ativ; ěv ole 3iaq’épov. čgtiv Ó eós, itätótnrt £oſis, Treptovaig Övvcºuegos, kat raj * z & pun 3to Neitew, 6 UT O& 6 t 1/ TO US Cº.1/- 6pºrovs'. The- mistius. pense his blessings; we stand in need of one another, the highest monarch of the meanest subject. God was happy enough within himself before there was any creature. He needed nothing, Acts xvii. 25. The Trinity was not solitary; the Persons solaced themselves in one another before there was hill or mountain, Prov. viii. 30. Now for us to desire all good things enclosed, whose happiness is dependent, and consists in a mutual communication, must needs be exceeding vile. (2.) It is not only an unlikeness to God, but an injury to him ; we would have him less good, and so do not only accuse the wisdom of his dispensations, but would straiten the goodness of his nature. Certainly, then, there is little of the Spirit of God where there is such an envious spirit. Grace stands in conformity to God, and therefore it is expressed by a participation of the Divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. Grace is nothing else but an introduc- tion of the virtues of God into the soul. Now God delights in giving more grace; and therefore such as are not communicative and diffusive of their good to others, or are all for an enclosure of blessings, or cannot rejoice in the parts, services, or excellences of others, have nothing at all, or very little, of the nature of God in them. Obs. 2. There is enough in God to help the crea- ture, in its sorest conflicts. Our spirit is strongly carried to envy, but God giveth more grace; that is, there is enough in him to check sins that are most impetuous and raging. See Matt. xix. 20–26, It Some read, it giveth, can hear it P” John vi. 60, is impossible “ for a rich man to enter into the king- dom of God; but with God all things are possible.” Usually we measure infiniteness by our last, and bring down Divine attributes to the rate of creatures, judging of God by our own scantling; as if what is impossible to our endeavours were so also to Divine grace. “If it be marvellous in the eyes of the rem- nant of this people, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts,” Zech. viii. 6. There is more in God than there can be in nature, and Satan is not so able to destroy as Christ is to save. Well, then, when lusts are strong, think of a strong God, a mighty Christ, upon whom help is laid. You cannot cure your spirits of envy, pride, self-confi- dence, or vain-glory; but “God giveth more grace.” Sense of weakness should not be a discouragement, but an advantage. So it was to Paul, when he was weak in himself, he was always most strong in Christ, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10. Usually we vex ourselves with idle complaints; “This is an hard saying; who These are austerities which nature can never endure, corruptions which we shall never overcome: and so are discouraged, and draw back. O consider, though nature be not only envious, but átrúroStiv Trpèc pSövov, “lusteth to envy,” yet “he giveth more grace.” . If there were a will, you would not want power; the chief thing that God requires of the creature is choice and will; “If ye be willing and obedient,” &c., Isa. i. 19. All God’s aim is to bring you upon your knees, and to take power out of the hands of his mercy. Obs. 3. God takes occasion many times to discover the more grace by our sinfulness. Though we are wicked and sinful, God will make his grace abound the more; our “spirit lusteth to envy,” and “he giveth more grace.” So Rom. v. 20, “Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” What a wise God do we serve, that can make our sins abound to his glory ! and what a good God, that will take occa- sion from our wickedness to show the more grace It is some kind of claim, Lord, I am a dog, Matt. xv. 27; and if Christ died for sinners, I am sure I can plead that “I am chief” of that number, 1 Tim. i. 15. If you have no other plea, offer yourselves this way to God, and take hold of the dark side of the promises. Obs. 4. The old spirit and the new spirit are quite different. Naturally it is thus with us, but “he giveth more grace;” when you are renewed and converted to the faith of Christ, you have another manner of spirit; you are not carried by the old envious spirit that dwelleth in you, but by a more gracious spirit which God hath given you. You will be otherwise by grace than what you were by nature; conversion is discovered by a change. Oh what a sad thing is it when Christians are what they ever were ! OUI should have more grace; your word should be, Ego non sum ego, I am not I now; or, Munc oblita mihi, These were my old courses; or, as the apostle, The time past may suffice to have walked in the lusts of the flesh, I Pet. iv. 3. Obs. 5. That which the world gives is not com- parable to what God gives. His is “more grace;” that is, more for better, as often in the Scriptures. If you would seek God in a humble manner, you would be acquainted with richer matters; you would not so envy and contend with one another about out- ward enjoyments. So John xiv. 27, “Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” Blessings more ex- excellent! Here we cumber ourselves with much serving, but “God giveth more grace.” Faith will show us greater things than these. The main reason why men dote upon the world is, because they are not acquainted with a higher glory. Men ate acorns WER. 6. 157 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. till they were acquainted with the use of corn: a candle is much ere the sun arises. We have not a right apprehension of grace, till we can see it yields us more than the world can yield us. Creatures give us a temporary refreshing; the world serves its season; but grace a full and everlasting joy. “Wherefore he saith.” How comes in this sen- tence P I answer, He applies it to his drift, which is to take them off from carnal pursuits, and to press them to humble addresses to God; and therefore they do ill who leave it out ; as Erasmus, who thinks it only noted at first in the margin, and put into the text by some scribe. But to the points. OESERVATIONS. 1. God not only offers grace, but discovers the way how we may partake of it. Therefore he saith in Scripture, or defines the way how we may apply ourselves to him. God is hearty and in good earnest in the offers of grace, he not only offers, but teaches, nay, draws, John vi. 44, 45. Thus Christ discovers the riches of his grace; “All things are delivered unto me of my Father,” Matt. xi. 27; then offers them, “Come unto me,” &c., ver. 28; then shows the way, “Learn of me,” &c., ver. 29. Usually the soul sticketh at this; There is enough in Christ, but how shall I obtain it? God will teach you, draw you; he is as willing to give faith as to give salvation. Obs. 2. Those that would have grace must take the right way to obtain it. “Wherefore he saith.” Not only consider what God giveth, but what he Saith. God, that has decreed the end, has decreed the means. That is the reason why we have not only promises in Scripture, but directions; it checks those that would have the blessing, but would not use the means. Most content themselves with lazy wishes; vellent sed molunt, they would have grace, but lie upon the bed of ease, and expect to be rapt up to heaven in a fiery chariot, or that grace should drop to them out of the clouds. God, that saith he will give grace, Saith something else, that you must be humble to receive it. Obs. 3. It is an excellent art to rank scriptures in their order. “Wherefore he saith.” To know wherefore every thing is spoken in the word, that we may suit absolute promises with conditional, and put every truth in its proper place, according to that analogy and proportion that they bear one to another; as James links the general offers of grace with another promise, “He giveth grace to the humble.” It is good to know truth in its frame. There is a compages, or sweet frame, in which all truths are joined by natural couples and connexions; as the curtains of the tabernacle were looped to one another. Indis- tinct apprehensions only dispose to error or loose- ness. Truths awe most when we are sensible of that cognation or kin by which they respect and touch one another. “Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart,” Luke ii. 19; the word is avpſ3á\\ovoa, comparing them one with another. A hint here, and a hint there, makes men loose and careless; as when absolute promises are not con- sidered in the analogy of faith. Absolute promises may be our first encouragement, but conditional promises must be our direction; they are a plank cast out to save a sinking soul, but these show us the way how to get into the ark. Well, then, be not contented with sermon hints, till you have gotten a pattern of sound words, and can discern the intent of God in the several passages of Scripture, that you may rank them in their order; as the apostle here shows the reason why God saith, “He giveth grace to the humble.” “He saith.” Where does God say so P. Some dif- ference exists about referring this place to the right scripture from whence it is taken. Some conceive it was a holy proverb or known sentence among the Jews: but this cannot be; the phrase, “he Saith,” seems to allude to some passage of Scripture. Some refer it to Psal. xviii. 28, “Thou wilt save the afflicted people, but wilt bring down high looks.” But that is wide; for humility here does not imply a low, vile, and abject condition, but a grace and dis- position of the mind; and that place cited speaks only of saving the afflicted people of God. Many refer it to other general places; but most probably it has respect to Prov. iii. 34, where it is said, “Surely he scorneth the scorners; but he giveth grace unto the lowly.” The only doubt is, how “he scorneth the scorners,” is here rendered “he resisteth the proud.” I answer, It is done upon good grounds: partly because scorning and contempt of others is an immediate effect of pride; and partly because it is so rendered by the Septuagint, Örepnºdivoug &vrutdoorstat. The apostles in their citations usually brought the words of that translation, because it was much in use, both among Jews and other nations. Some suppose James alludes to Peter, 1 Pet. v. 5–8; for this is but an epitome of that place, and written after it, and so he may assert the Divine authority of that Epistle. But I rather rest in the former opinion. “ God resisteth the proud,” divrutdoorstat, stands in battle-array, or in direct defiance and opposition against them. The proud man has his tactics, and God has his anti-tactics. The word shows that there is a mutual opposition between God and the proud. They bring forth their battalia against God, and God his battalia against them. And I the rather note it, because in the Proverbs it is said, “He scorneth the scorners.” They slight God, and God slights them. “Who is the Lord, that I should fear him P” and, “What is this Pharaoh P” They stand aloof from others, and God from them : “The proud he knoweth afar off.” Psal. cxxxviii. 6, just as Magnum miracu- they do others; they ruin others to sº; advance themselves, and God ruins effigitate.” them : God still counteracts the proud. ** “The proud.” In the Proverbs it is “the scorn- ers.” Scorning is a great sign of pride. Tisdain of others comes from overvaluing ourselves. God has made every man an object of respect or pity; it is pride that makes them objects of contempt, and in them their Maker, Prov. xvii. 5. It is a description of wicked men, to “sit in the seat of the scornful,” Psal. i. 1. It is a sin so hateful to God, that he takes notice of disdainful gestures; “the putting forth of the finger” in a scoff, Isa. lviii. 9. “But giveth grace.” . It is meant spiritually of such help and grace whereby they may overcome their carnal desires; carnal lusts cannot be Overcome but by the assistance of grace. “To the humble.” It is not taken for a vile and abject condition, but for the disposition of the soul; and yet not for a moral humility, but for a holy brokenness and contrition; as by proud in a spiritual sense are meant stiff-necked and unhumbled sinners. OBSERVATIONS, I. That of all sins God sets himself to punish the sin of pride. 'Avrträggsrat. He abhors other sin- ners, but against the proud he professes open defi- ance and hostility. One asked a philosopher what God was doing. He answered, Totam ipsius occu- pationem esse in elevatione humilium, et superborum dejectione, That his whole work was to lift up the humble, and cast down the proud. It is the very business of Providence; the Bible is full of examples. This was the sin that turned angels into devils; they 158 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF would be above all, and under none, and therefore God tumbled them down to hell. ZVoluit Deus pati cohabitationem superbiae, (as one saith,) God could not endure to have pride so near him. . Then it wrecked all mankind, when it crept out of heaven into Para- dise. You may trace the story of it down all along by the ruins and falls of those that entertained it. The time would fail me to speak of all: Pharaoh, and Herod, and Haman, and Nebuchadnezzar are sad instances, and loudly proclaim that all the world cannot keep him up that does not keep down his own spirit. Herod did but endure the flatteries of others; he had on a suit of cloth of ...º., silver, and the sun-beams beating upon º; it, the people cried, “The voice of a god, £ºnav- and not of a man,” because the angels %;"...º.º. were wont to appear in shining gar- Áe, populaipov ri ºftºp.ºroſs ments; now because he rebuked them tºes. not, he was eaten up of worms: see Josephus. Acts xii. Nay, I observe, God has punished it in his own people; there are sore in- stances of his displeasure against their pride. Uz- ziah’s heart was lifted up, 2 Chron. xxvi., and then smitten of leprosy, and so died diró Avarſig cai d6vuiac, out of grief and sorrow, as Josephus saith. David’s numbering the people, and glorying in his own great- ness, cost the lives of seventy thousand. So Heze- kiah, 2 Chron. xxix. 8, “The wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem.” These judgments on pride are sure and resolved: “A man’s pride shall bring him low,” Prov. xxix. 23. . If they do not visibly light upon the first person, they overtake the posterity: “The Lord will destroy the house of the proud,” Prov. xv. 25. All their aim is to advance their house and family, but within two or three ages they are utterly wasted and ruined. And I observe, that judgments on pride are very shameful, that God may pour the more contempt upon them : “When pride cometh, then cometh shame,” Prov. xi. 2; not only ruin, but shame. Herod in his royalty eaten up of worms; Pharaoh is not assaulted with armies, but with gnats and flies; Miriam Smitten with leprosy, a loathsome and shameful disease; Goliath, the swell- ing giant, falls by the cast of a stone out of the sling of a ruddy youth. What should be the reason of all this, that God should so expressly set himself against pride P I answer, Because of all sins he hates this sin, Prov. xvi. 5. Other sins are more hateful to man, because they bring disgrace, and have more of baseness and turpitude in them; whereas pride seems to have a kind of bravery in it. But now the Lord hates it, because it is a sin that sets itself most against him. Other sins are against God’s laws, this is against his being and sovereignty. Pride does not only with- draw the heart from God, but lift it up against God. It is a direct contention, who shall be acknowledged the author of blessing and excellency. They set their “heart as the heart of God,” Ezek. xxviii. 2. So Nine- veh speaks in the name and style of God; “I am, and there is none beside me,” Zeph. ii. 15. And as pride rises against the being, so against the providence of God; it sets up an anti-providence, entertains crosses with anger, blessings with disdain, and cites God be- fore the tribunal of its own will. So also it is the greatest enemy to God’s law; there is pride in every sin. Sinning is interpretative confronting of God, and “ despising the commandment,” 2 Sam. xii. 9. The will of the creature is set up against the Creator. But the sin of pride is much more against the law of God; it is a touchy sin, and cannot endure the word that reproves it. Other sins disturb reason, this humours it. Drunkenness is more patient of reproof, conscience consenting to the checks of the word; but 3, Evêa roºts arptº- pride first blinds the mind, and then arms the affec- tions; it lays the judgment asleep, and then awakens anger. Besides, pride is the cause of all other sins. Covetousness is the root of evil, and pride is the soul of it : covetousness is but pride's purveyor. We pursue carnal enjoyments, that we may puff up our- selves in the possession of them; and usually that which is pursued in lust is enjoyed in pride. It is but the complacency of the soul in an earthly ex- cellence. He is a proud man, and therefore “en- largeth his desire as hell,” Hab. ii. 5. The use of all is, first, To caution us against pride. There are two sorts of pride : one in the mind, and the other in the affections ; self-conceit, and an aspiring after worldly greatness: both are natural to us, especially the former. (1.) We are marvellously apt to be puffed up with a conceit of our own excel- lency, be it in riches, beauty, parts, or grace. The apostle calls it “the pride of life,” I John ii. 16, be- cause it spreads throughout all the employments and comforts of life. Other lusts are limited, either by their end, as “lusts of the flesh,” to content the body; or by their instrument, as “lusts of the eyes:” but pride is of universal and unlimited influence. It is “the pride of life;” the whole life is but sphere enough for pride. Those that have nothing excel- lent cannot excuse themselves from fearing it. We many times find that men who have nothing to be proud of are most conceited. Bloaty spirits are soon puffed up, like bladders filled with wind. We see it in our natures. Man was never more proud than since he was wretched and miserable. Pride came in by the fall, and that which should take down the spirit has raised it. But much more have they that excel cause to suspect themselves; as rich men: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded,” I Tim. vi. 17. It is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and not to lift up ourselves when we are raised up by God. Persons that grow up into an estate out of nothing are most apt to be proud ; partly because not able to digest a sudden change; such happiness is a strange thing to them, and therefore soon oversets the spirit. Partly because they look upon them- selves as the makers of their own fortune : “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” Dan. iv. 30. Other men’s estates descend upon them; but here there is some concurrence of their own industry, and so they are more apt to “sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag ; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous,” Hab. i. 16. When you are thus apt to pride yourselves in your present greatness, and entertain your souls with such whispers of vanity, remember this is a sure prognostic of a sudden fall. And as rich men are liable to this evil, so men of parts. Parts, especially if exercised with public applause, are like a strong liquor, it makes men giddy and drunk with pride. It is difficult to go steady, when a consciousness of parts within, and public acclamations without, like violent winds, fill the sail. Knowledge of itself is apt to puff up, I Cor. viii. 2, especially when pub- licly discovered; therefore the apostle Saith that young preachers are prone to “fall into the con- demnation of the devil,” I Tim. iii. 6. O consider God’s judgments upon pride in parts. Staupicius was proud of his memory, and God smote it. We find nothing causes mad- ness so much as pride. Nebuchadnez- zar lost his reason, and turned beast, when he grew proud. Many young men that were proud of their gifts, have by the just judgment of God lost all the quickness and smartness of them, and quenched their vigour in fleshly and carnal delights. Remember Melchior Adamus in vita Staupicii. WER. 6. I59 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. whatever we have was given of grace; and if we grow proud of it, it will soon be taken away by justice. Nay, not only men of parts, but of much grace and mortification, may be surprised with pride; it once crept into heaven, then into Paradise; the best heart can have no security. Christians are not so much in danger of intemperance and sensual lusts as of pride; it grows by the decrease of other sins; and therefore pride is put last, 1 John ii. 16, as being Satan's last engine. They that are set upon the pinnacles of the temple, are in danger to be thrown down this way. Paul was apt to grow proud of his revelations, 2 Cor. xii. 7. In heaven only we are most high and most humble. A worm may breed in manna. Strong comforts, raised affections, and strange elevations, may much puff up, and by gracious enjoyments we sometimes grow proud, secure, self- sufficient, and disdainful of others, Rom. xiv. 10. But this will cost you a shrewd decay. (2.) For the other part of pride, aspiring after worldly greatness; by such fond pursuits you engage God to oppose you. Many men mistake ambition, and think that desire of great places is only unlawful when it is sought by unlawful means; but to affect greatness is contrary to the rules of the gospel. We should refer our advancement to the sweet invitation of Providence, and stay till the Master of the feast bids us sit higher. contented with a tolerable supply of necessaries. “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased,” Luke xiv. 11; not whosoever is exalted. In the Olympic games the wrestler never put on his own crown and garland. “Christ glorified not himself to be made an High Priest,” Heb. v. 5, but was “called of God, as was Aaron.” When we do not stay for the call of Providence, it is but an untimely desire of promotion, which either God crosses, or else it proves a curse and snare to us. - Secondly, The next use is, that we should no more envy a proud person than we would a man upon the gallows; they are but lifted up, that they may be A.….. cast down for eyer. We are apt to pity Sº, the drunkard, but envy the proud, is §:#; ;... Chrysostom's observation. You had : §34u need pity them too, for they are near a Čhºost. Orat. fall. “Better it is to be of a humble ** Gloria spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud,” Prov. xvi. 19; that is, better be of the depressed party, than to cry up a con- federacy with those that grow proud upon their Sll CCéSS. Thirdly, The next use is to observe the instances of God’s displeasure against pride upon yourselves, or those that are near you. Paul took notice of that thorn that was in his flesh; “lest” (saith he) “I should be exalted above measure,” 2 Cor. xii. 7. So you may often say, This was an affliction to correct and abate my pride, a prick at the bladder of my flatuous and windy spirit. So on others related to you; near experiences work more effectually upon us, and leave the greater impressions of awe. See Dam. v. 22, “And thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this.” God takes it ill, when we do not improve the marks of vengeance upon our nearest friends: we see others how their gifts are blasted for pride, chil- dren taken away for pride, estates wasted for pride, and we do not lay it to heart. Obs. 2. God’s grace is given to the humble. We lay up the richest wine in the lowest cellars; so God the choicest mercies in humble and lowly hearts. Christ did most for those that were most humble; as for the centurion, “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,” Matt. viii. 8. So for In our private choice, we should be the Syrophoenician woman; I am a dog, Matt. xv. 27. There is excellency enough in God; he requires only sense of emptiness in us. God loves to make all his works creations; and grace works most freely when it works upon nothing. It is not for the honour of God that the creatures-should receive ought from mercy, till they are brought upon their knees; the condition which he proposes is, “Only acknowledge thine iniquity,” Jer. iii. 13. Lumps of unrelenting guiltiness are as vessels closed up, and cannot receive grace; humility fits a man to receive it, and makes a man esteem it. The humble are vessels of a larger bore and size, fit to receive what grace gives out. You may learn hence why humble persons are most gracious, and gracious persons most humble; God delights to fill up such; they are vessels of a right bore. The valleys laugh with fatness, when the hills are barren; and the loaden boughs will bend their heads. WERSE 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will ſlee from you. THE connexion is illative; he applies the former promise, and by a just inference enforces the duty therein specified; “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” But you will say, Wherein does the force of the reason lie P I answer, 1. It may be inferred out of the latter part of the sentence thus: God giveth grace to the humble, therefore submit yourselves; that is, come humbly, and seek the grace of God. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That general hints of duty must be particularly and faithfully applied, or urged upon our own souls. Doctrine is but the drawing of the bow, application is the hitting of the mark. How many are wise in generals, but vain Šv Šta\oytopoic, in their practical inferences ! Rom. i. 21, 22. Generals remain in no- tion and speculation; particular things work. We are only to give you doctrine, and the necessary uses and inferences, you are to make application. When- ever you hear, let the light of every truth be reflected upon your own souls; never leave till you have gained the heart to a sense of duty, and a resolution for duty. (1.) A sense of duty : “Know thou it for thy good,” Job v. 27. If God has required humble addresses, I must submit to God; if the happiness and quiet of the creature consists in a nearness to God, then “it is good for me to draw near to God,” Psal. lxxiii. 28. Thus must you take your share out of every truth, I must live by this rule. When sinners are invited to believe in Christ, say, “I am chief.” I Tim. i. 15. (2.) A resolution for duty, that your souls may conclude, not only I must, but I will. “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek,” Psal. xxvii. 8. The command is plural, “Seek ye;” the answer is singular, “I will?” the heart must echo thus to Divine precepts. So Jer, iii. 22, “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your back- slidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.” e Obs. 2. The creature must be humbled either actively or passively. This may be inferred out of the former clause thus: “He resisteth, the proud, therefore submit yourselves;” that is, therefore let the Lord have a willing and spontaneous subjection 160 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF from you. If you have not a humble heart, God has a mighty hand: “ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,” I Pet. v. 6. He will either break the heart, or break the bones. You must judge yourselves, or else God will judge you, 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32. God has made a righteous law; sin must be judged in one court or another, that the law may not seem to be made in vain. If at the last day, when the judgment is set, and the books are opened, and sinners stand trembling before the white throne of the Lamb, and you are conscious to the whole process, Christ should then make you such an offer, Judge yourselves, and you shall not be judged, with what thankfulness would you accept of the motion and the next work would be to in- quire into your own hearts. O consider, thus it must be ; we must judge, or be judged; be humble, or be humbled. It were better to anticipate acts of vengeance by acts of duty. Pharaoh and Nebuchad- nezzar were humbled, but to their cost. Passive humiliations are sore and deadly. It were better that we should humble a proud heart, than that God in the threatening of Scripture should humble our proud looks, and we should feel that which we would not do. You will not judge yourselves; ah, but how terrible will it be when the Lord comes to judge us for all our “hard speeches” and “ungodly deeds !” Jude 15. When justice takes up the quar- rel of despised mercy, it will be sad for us; and then we shall know the difference between God’s inviting and God’s inflicting. Obs. 3. Those that would seek the friendship of God must submit to him. “ Submit yourselves to God.” He speaks of getting in with God, which must be in a humble way. There is an infinite dis- tance between God and his creatures; we must come with reverence. But we are not only creatures, but guilty creatures, and therefore we must come with a holy awe and trembling. I shall inquire, first, What this subjection is P The word úrordynts signifieth to place ourselves under God, and so notes the whole duty of an in- ferior state. (1.) There must be a subjection to God’s will; the whole man to the whole law of God. To submit to God, is to give up ourselves to be go- verned by his will and pleasure; our thoughts, our counsels, our affections, our actions, to be guided according to the strict rules of the word. Usually here the work of conversion sticks, we are loth to resign and give up ourselves to the will of God. Some commands of God, as those which are inward, are contrary to our affections; others, as those which enforce duties external, are contrary to our interests: but we must take Christ's yoke, Matt. xi. 29. A main thing to be looked at in our first applications to God is this; Are we willing to give up ourselves to the will of God without reservation P Can I subject all without any hesitancy and reluctance of thought to the obedience of Christ P 2 Cor. x. 5. (2.) It im- plies humble addresses. “Submit yourselves to God;” that is, lay aside your pride and stubborn- ness, humbly acknowledging your sins; come as lost, undone creatures, lying at the feet of mercy. Ah, how long is it ere our mouths are put in the dust 1 Lam. iii. 27, ere we can come and say in truth of heart, If we be damned it is just, if we be saved it is of much mercy (3.) A referring ourselves to the disposal of God’s providence. “The will of the Lord be done,” Acts xxi. 14, is a true Christian speech. Discontent is plain rebellion ; we would have our will done, and not God's; when we mur- mur, God and we contend; his will must be done upon us as well as by us. Thus you see there is a threefold submission; of our carnal hearts to his “I made haste, and delayed not to keep holiness, our proud hearts to his mercy, our stormy minds to his sovereignty, that we may be obedient, humble, patient. Secondly, I shall inquire in what manner this submission must be performed P I answer, (I.) Sin- cerely; we must do his will because it is his will, 2ntuitu voluntatis. God’s will is both the rule and the reason of duty. So it is urged, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification,” I Thess. iv. 3. So 1 Thess. v. 18; 1 Pet. ii. 13. This is enough, war- rant enough and motive enough, God, will have it so. Hypocrites do the matter of the duty, but they have other motives. This is indeed to do a duty as a duty, when we do what is commanded because it is commanded. (2.) Freely : subjection is best when it is willing. ...If the beast came strug- observatum as a gling and unwillingly to the altar, they sacrificantibus, it never offered it to their gods, but ....” counted it unlucky. Certainly the true . º: vehemen- e tel' reluctata OS- God looks most after the ready mind. tendissetoue se invitam altaribus admoveri, amove- thy commandments,” Psal. cxix. 60; ºur; quiº invito eo eam offerri without doubting, disputing, consulting putabant."jué, with flesh and blood. To offer Isaac ...º.º.d was a hard duty, and yet that morning flººri j. Abraham was up early: see Gen. xxii. º.º. ** 3. (3.) Faithfully, to the Lord’s glory, *. not to our own ends. The Christian life must be “unto God,” Gal. ii. 19, according to God’s will, for God’s glory. It was a testimony of Joab’s homage and fealty to David, that when he had conquered Rabbath, he sent for David to take the honour. The hardest task of the creature is to subject our ends to God’s ends, as well as our ways to God’s will. Thirdly, I shall inquire what considerations are necessary to urge this duty upon the soul ? Man is a stout creature, and we are apt to break all cords and restraint ; our language is, “Who is lord over us?” Therefore for answer to this last question, con- sider, (1.) The necessity of it. “ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,” I Pet. v. 6. It is a madness to contend with him that can command legions: what are we to God? “Are we stronger than he P” I Cor. x. 22. Who is so foolish as to stand out against the Almighty P Men fawn upon them that have power. God can ruin us with a breath; “By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed,” Job iv. 9. So with a beck or frown; “They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance,” Psal. lxxx. 16. This power we shall feel, if we do not stoop to it. They are broken by the power of his providence, that are not drawn by the power of his Spirit. God has sworn, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,” Rom. xiv. 11; that is, Count me not a living God, if I do not make the creature stoop. Hearken to this, you that stand out against the power of the word; can you stand out against the power of Christ when he comes in glory P “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee P” Ezek. xxii. 14. You whose hearts are stout against God, how will your faces gather blackness and darkness before him, when you shall be adjudged to that Tophet “ ordain- ed of old,” the pile whereof “is fire, and much wood, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brim- stone doth kindle it!”. Isa. xxx. 33. (2.) The no- bleness of it. Submission seems base, but to God it is noble; all other subjection is slavery and vassal- age, but this is the truest freedom. Wain men think it a freedom to live at large, to gratify every carnal desire ; this is the basest bondage that may be, 2 Pet. ii. 19. Wicked men have as many lords as lusts. If conscience be but a little wakened, they VER, 7. 16] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. are sensible of the tyranny ; they see it is ill with them, and they cannot help it; they are drunkards, worldlings, unclean persons, of a carnal and volup- tuous spirit, and know not which way to be otherwise. (3.) The utility and benefit of it; this will make Almighty power to be the ground of your hope, not your fear. “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may be at peace with me; and he shall make peace with me,” Isa. xxvii. 5. This submission is the highway to exaltation, I Pet. v. 6. How do men crouch for worldly ends, and admire every base per- son for secular advantage As Otho in Tacitus did, projöcere oscula, adorare vulgus, et omnia serviliter pro timperio; kiss the people, even adore the basest, and all to make way for his own greatness. Ah, should we not rather stoop and submit to the Lord? There is no baseness in the act, and there is much glory in the reward. “Resist the devil.” precept with the former ? ceived several ways. Thus: If you will humbly submit to God, you must expect to resist Satan. What connexion has this I answer, It may be con- OBSERVATIONS. 1. That true obedience finds much opposition by the devil. , Since the fall, a godly life is not known by perfection of grace, so much as by conflicts with sin. Satan is still busiest where he has least to do. Mortality is a still way, that puts us to little trouble. Pirates do not set upon empty vessels, and beggars need not fear the thief. "Those that have most grace feel most trouble from Satan; he envies they should enjoy that condition and interest in God which he himself has lost. The devil is loth to waken those that are in his own power: When the strong man keepeth the house, all the goods are in peace, Luke xi. 21. But for the godly, he desires to sift them as wheat, Luke xxii. 32. Sometimes he vexes and buffets them with sad injections, at other times with carnal temptations. We cannot appear before God but he is at our right hand ready to resist us, Zech. iii. 1. . We cannot set upon a duty but he suggests lazy thoughts, carnal counsels. Well, then, you cannot judge yourselves forsaken of God because tempted by Satan. No brother in the flesh but has had his share, I Pet. v. 9. Such conflicts are not inconsistent with faith, and piety. He adventured upon Christ himself after he had a testimony from heaven, Matt. iv. Paul was troubled with one of Satan’s messengers, 2 Cor. xii. 7. And the best are exercised with the sorest conflicts. When the thief breaks into the house, it is not to take away coals, but jewels. The connexion may be conceived thus: If you would submit to God, you must beware of those proud suggestions, wherewith Satan would puff up your spirits. Obs. 2. That one of Satan's chief temptations is pride. Therefore when the apostle speaks of sub- mission, he presently adds, “resist the devil.” B this Satan fell himself; therefore it is called “the condemnation of the devil :” that is the cause for which the devil was cast out of heaven. He would fain have more company, and draw us into his own Snare. It is a bait soon swallowed, it is natural to us; our parents caught at that, “Ye shall be as gods.” He offered to tempt Christ himself to a vain-glorious action. Certainly we all desire to be Set on high pinnacles, though we run the hazard of a fall. We had need then to be the more watchful against such thoughts and insinuations; places liable to assault have usually the greatest guard. And we may admire the wisdom of God, who can overcome | Satan by Satan. Satan's messenger wherewith Paul was buffeted was to cure his pride, 2 Cor. xii. 7. It may be the occasion of the direction in this place was only thus : He having told them what sub- mission is required, he would also tell them what resistance is lawful; you must submit to God, but not to Satan. The Scriptures, that they may speak with clearness and distinction, often thus make ex- ception of necessary duties. So I Cor. xiv. 20, “In malice beye children, but in understanding be men.” So Rom. xvi. 19, “I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” Which are speeches much suiting with this of the apostle; you must submit, and yet resist. But to the words, “resist the devil.” Observe, instead of carnal lusts he mentions Satan; the apostle does not say, resist sin, but, resist Satan. . OBSERVATIONS. 1. That Satan has a great hand and stroke in all sins. Survey the pedigree of sin, and you shall see it may call the devil father. Carnal desires are called his lusts, John viii. 44. And it is said, “Whatever is more than these cometh” #ic roi; Trown- poij, from the evil one, Matt. v. 37; that is, from the devil. Giving place to anger is, in the apostle's language, giving “place to the devil,” Eph. iv. 26, 27. Survey the iniquities of every age, and is not Satan’s hand in all this P. Because our first parents brought death into the world by his suggestion, as also because of the act of Cain, he is called “a mur- derer from the beginning,” John viii. 44. It is said of Judas's treason again Christ, the devil, put it into his heart, John xiii. 2. So to Ananias, “Why hath Sa- tan filled thine heart to lie P” Acts v. 3. So i Chron. xxi. 1, “Satan provoked David to number Israel.” So Matt. xvi. 23, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” The heathen, who understood not the operation of the devil, thought all our conflicts were against internal passions. Now the apostle is clear, that we fight not only against lusts and carnal desires, “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked- ness in high places,” Eph. vi. 12; which argues the fight to be the more sore. Sometimes the devil be- gins the temptation, sometimes we ; he began with Judas, he put it into his heart by the injection and immission of evil thoughts. At other times, our own corruption working freely, the devil may adjoin him- self. As Zanard speaks of the outward power of the devil over tempests; sometimes he may raise the matter; at other times, the matter being prepared, Satan may adjoin himself, and make the tempest more impetuous. , Well, then, all sin being from the devil, as we defy him, let us defy his works and lusts too. We desire Satan as the pursuivant of Divine justice, but we honour him as head of the carnal state; we love his lusts, and so call him father, and keep the crown upon his head. Many rail on him, and yet honour him; though he be a proud spirit, he cares not for praise or dispraise; all his aim is at homage and obedience, so that he may engross our spiritual respects; other things do not move him. As Christ loves not a glavering respect when we violate his laws, so Satan is not exasperated with ill language; his policy is to blind the mind, and carry on his kingdom covertly in the darkness of this world. Every sinner is really the devil's drudge. Obs. 2. That it is the duty of Christians to resist Satan. The point is of great use in the Christian life, and a subject in which many men of note and eminency in the church of God have travelled. But you know under the law rich men were to leave their gleanings for the poor; therefore we may come and - IM ió2 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF glean up something after the reapers; possibly, as Boaz did for Ruth, Ruth ii. 16, they might let fall some handfuls of purpose for others' diligence and industry. I shall endeavour to open four things. (1.) The commerce between Satan and a sinner, and how he insinuates his temptations. (2.) What it is to resist him; the purport and in- tent of this great duty. (3.) The way and means of maintaining this war and conflict. (4.) The most persuasive arguments and motives to engage us to the battle. First, To begin with the first thing proposed, That the devil has a great hand in all sins, we cleared be- fore. Over wicked men he has almost as great a power as the Spirit of God over holy men. The same word is used to imply the efficacy of Satan, and the influence of the Spirit; “it is God which worketh in you,” 5 §vspyöv čv Špiv, Phil. ii. 13; and Satan, “the spirit that now worketh.” roß vöv Švspyojvrog, “in the children of disobedience,” Eph. ii. 2. The only dif- ference is, the Spirit's works are creations; they sup- pose and need no matter within. The Spirit by a sweet, and yet strong, power, can compel the soul to t assent or consent; but not Satan; his advantage lies in our own wickedness; we do not resist him ; he may solicit, but not compel. The Spirit of God gives a new heart, Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Prov. xxi. 1. But Satan has a strong operation upon the wills and under- standings of men by their consent; he works indeed by way of imperious sug- gestion, but without any violation and enforcement of man’s will. Upon the godly he works by way of imposture and deceit, upon the wicked by way of imperious command and sovereignty. He does not only put into the heart such fancies and conceits as may stir up sensual and worldly lusts, but also such as may blind the spirit and understanding. Satan, that stirs up some to un- cleanness, stirs up others to error and blasphemy; therefore it is said that antichrist’s “coming is after the working of Satan in all deceivableness,” 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10. The communications of spirits are insensible and imperceptible. It is true, we are most sensible of his force when tempted to bodily lusts, because they most of all affright conscience, discom- pose reason, and oppress the body; and because between every temptation and sin there is an inter- vening explicit thought, to which the soul is con- scious: but insinuations of error are most silent and plausible. Satan selects a proper bait for every spirit; though he does not know the heart, yet being of a spiritual nature and essence, he can the more easily insinuate with our understanding and affec- tions. The Scriptures every where intimate that great height of understanding and policy which is in the evil spirits; therefore we read of their “snares,” 2 Tim. ii. 26; “wiles,” Eph. vi. 11; “devices,” vohuara, 2 Cor. ii. 11 ; all which words imply a great deal of cunning and dexterity, which is much increased by experience and observation. He con- sidered Job, chap. ii. 3. He observes and considers us, and knows how to suit the bait; partly by sup- position and conceit, as imagining by what corrupt aims most men live; partly by external signs, he observes our prayers, discourses, passions, and the motions of the bodily spirits; he can interpret the silent language of a blush, a smile, a frown, a look, the glance of a lustful eye, the gait and carriage of the body. Now, to work upon us, he uses sometimes the ministry and subserviency of men, as our nearest friends; so he made use of Peter to Christ, Matt. Infirm is hostis es quinon potest vincere nisi vo- lentenn. Hieron. ad Demetriadem. Diabolus suaderé et sollicitare po- test, cogere om- nino non potest ; non enim diabo- lus cogendo sed Suadendo nocet, nec extorquet a nobis consensum Sed petit. Aug. lib. 5. Hom. 12. xvi. 23; or of cursed deceivers, 2 Cor. xi. 15. Some- times he makes use of our own bodies; by the out- ward commotion of the humours he stirs up to re- venge, uncleanness, passion, and all sensual lusts; . and therefore you had need keep the body in a good frame, that the humours of it be not armed against your souls. Sometimes by presenting the object : as he dealt with Christ, representing the world’s glory to him in a map or landscape; so he stirs up lust by the eye: “Eyes full of adultery,” 2 Pet. ii. 14; in the original, polyaxiàoc, of the adulteress. Objects are first presented, then he causes them to dwell upon the fancy, till the heart be insnared. Some- times through the immission of thoughts, through the help of fancy: this must needs be one way; how should the devil else tempt to despair? or to spiritual sins P or blind the mind by carnal imaginations and conceits, and obstinate prejudices against the truth P. And these thoughts, once immitted, may be continued into a discourse or dispute, and the devil, guessing at the answer, may come on with a reply; therefore we find that he sets on Christ with new temptations, because he had received so full an answer. - Secondly, The next question is to show what it is to resist him. I answer, (1.) Negatively, we must not fear him; the devil has no enforcing power, but only a persuading sleight. Distrustful fear gives him advantage; we are to resist him “stedfast in the faith,” I Pet. v. 9. And again, we must not give place to him, Eph. iv. 27. Anger may make way for malice; and when the first risings of sin are not grievous, the accomplishment of it is not far off. (2.) Positively. So we must manifest our resistance, partly by refusing to commune with him. Some- times he must be checked with a mere rebuke and abomination ; as when the temptation tends to a direct withdrawment from obedience, it is enough to say, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” and to chide the thought ere it be settled. So Psal. xi. 1, “How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain P” He abominates the motion; as if he had said, Avaunt, evil thoughts. Sometimes we must oppose gracious reasons and considerations; as when the temptation has taken any hold upon the thoughts, and corrup- tion rises up in the defence of the suggestion; this is called a “withstanding in the evil day,” and a quenching of his fiery darts, Eph. vi. 13, 16. Thirdly, The next thing is, the way and means of maintaining this war and conflict; not by crossing ourselves, spitting at his name and mention, but by the graces of God's Holy Spirit. I shall mention the chiefest. There is, (1.) Faith, 1 Pet. v. 9. You had need of faith, that you may overcome mystically, by taking hold of the victory of Christ; and morally, that you may reflect on the glorious recompences appointed for them that stand out in time of trial, and the spiritual assistances at hand to encourage us in the fight and combat. Faith is necessary every way; it is called “ the shield,” Eph. vi. 16. The shield covers the other parts of the armour; so faith confirms the other graces when assaulted, by borrow- ing help, and by drawing them forth upon high en- couragements. (2) Prayer. Never cope with a tempt- ation alone, but strive to bring God into the combat; making “all prayer and supplication in the spirit.” Eph. vi. 18. By spirit, he means the heart or soul; when you are assaulted, lift up the spirit in holy groans to God. (3.) Sobriety, I Pet. v. 8. We had need be watchful, and take heed to every lust and every distemper; and we had need be sober too, in the use of all comforts, creatures, and businesses. For I suppose by sobriety the apostle means a moderation of our affections in worldly things, which is necessary to this purpose, all temptations being VER, 7. 163 THE GENERAL EPISTELE OF JAMES, insinuated under the baits of pleasure, honour, pro- fit, &c., and therefore a heart drowned in the world is soon overcome. (4.) Watchfulness. Those that carry gunpowder natures about them, had need take care not only of fiery darts, but of the least sparks. God is soon offended, therefore we must walk with “fear and trembling,” Phil. ii. I2. Our hearts are Soon overcome, and therefore we had need be watch- ful; looking to what comes in, lest it prove a tempt- ation; and to what goes out, lest it be found a cor- ruption. In the fight we should have an eye to victory, and in the victory to the fight again. (5.) Sincerity. The apostle speaks of the girdle of truth, Eph. vi. 14. A double-minded man is his own tempter; and unsettled souls invite Satan to take part with their own doubts and anxious traverses. The mixture of principles, like civil wars in a coun- try, makes us a prey to the common enemy. Fourthly, The most persuasive arguments to engage us in this fight and warfare. I shall but touch upon them. Consider the necessity; either you must re- sist him, or be taken captive by him, there is no middle course; you can make no peace with him but to your own harm; to enter into league with Satan is to be overcome. He who now tempts here- after will accuse; so, in Matt. iv. 3, he is called 6 Tsipóźwy, “the tempter,” and in Rev. xii. 10, 6 katſiyo- poc, “the accuser” of the brethren. Satan may now flatter the creature, but the snares of sin will at length prove chains of darkness. We look at the trouble of resistance, but the sweetness of victory will abundantly recompense it. Usually we mistake in the courses of our minds; we reckon upon the Sweetness of sin, and the trouble of resistance, and so create a snare to ourselves; the right comparison is between the fruit of sin, and the fruit of victory. We have often had experience what it is to be over- come, let us now make trial how sweet victory will be. . Nothing discovers the power and comfort of Christianity so much as the spiritual conflict. Men that swallow temptations, and commit sins without trouble and remorse, no wonder that they are so cold and dead in the profession of religion, that their evidences for heaven are always so dark and litigious; they never tried the truth and power of grace, nor tasted the sweetness of it; the spiritual combat, the victories of Christ, are riddles and dreams to them. Besides all this, consider the hope of prevailing; Satan is a foiled adversary, Christ has overcome him already. All that is required to the victory is a Strong negative, No, no ; make him no more reply. To resist him, not to yield to him, is the only way to be rid of him ; you have a promise, “Resist, and he will flee from you.” Christ has foiled the enemy, and he has put weapons into your hands that you may foil him. He trod upon this old serpent, when his heel was bruised upon the cross, Gen. iii. 15; only he would have you set your feet upon his neck; “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,” Rom. xvi. 20. You need not doubt of help ; if Satan be a roaring lion, Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah to resist him; if Sa- tan be an accuser, Christ is an Advocate : there is the Spirit of God to strengthen us against the sug- gestions of the evil spirit; and the good angels wait upon us, while the bad angels molest us, Heb. i. 14. Consider the spectators of the combat; thou main- tainest God’s cause in his own sight; Christ and the good angels are looking upon thee, how thou dost. acquit thyself in the battle. Ahasuerus said of Ha- man, “Will he force the queen before my face P” so, Wilt thou commit adultery in the presence of thy spouse P and yield to Satan when Christ and all the- blessed saints and angels stand as witnesses of the conflict P Do not fear being deserted; when thou art in Satan’s hands, Satan is in God’s hands. Jesus Christ himself was tempted, and he knows what it is to be exposed to the rage of a cruel fiend; and therefore he will succour those that are tempted, Heb. iv. 15, 16. They that have been ill of the stone, will pity others when racked with that pain and torture. Israel was a stranger, and therefore to be kind to strangers. Christ's heart is intendered by his own experience; ever since he grappled with Satan he is full of compassion to all that are infested by him. “And he will flee from you.” Here is the pro- mise annexed as an encouragement to the duty. But you will say, How is it to be understood P. Does Satan always flee when he is resisted P. The children of God by sad experience find that he renews the battle, and prevails sometimes by the second or third assault. I answer, (1.) Every denial is a great dis- couragement to Satan. Sin is a giving place, Eph. iv. 27. He is like a dog that stands looking and waving his tail to receive somewhat from those that sit at table, but if nothing be thrown out he goes his way. So Satan watches for a grant, as Benhadad’s servants did for the word brother. He looks for a passionate speech, an unclean glance, gestures of wrath and discontent; but if he find none of these, he is discouraged. (2.) After a denial he may continue to trouble thee. Jesus Christ was assaulted again and again after a full answer; nay, after all this said, “He departed from him for a season,” Luke iv. 13. Therefore Peter bids us always watch, I Pet. v. 8. (3.) If we continue our resistance, Satan will surely be a loser. A Christian has the best of it, though he repeat his assaults a thousand times; he can never overcome you without your consent: and though the conflict put you to some trouble, yet it brings you much spiritual gain, more sensible ex- periences of the virtue of Christ, a more earnest trust; as dangers make children clasp about the parent more closely. Besides, it is honour enough to foil him in each particular assault, though usually a Christian not only comes off with victory, but triumph; and Satan not only does not prevail, but flees from us. VERSE 8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh, to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners ; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. HE comes again to the main thing in question, the success of humble addresses to God; showing we shall not want the Divine help, if we only make way for it. God is never wanting to us, till we are first wanting to ourselves. We withdraw our hearts from God, and therefore no wonder if we do not feel the effects of his grace. All the world may judge be- tween God and sinners, who shall bear the blame of our wants and miseries, Providence or our own hearts. If the foolishness of man pervert his ways, there is no cause why we should fret against God, Prov. xix. 3. “Draw nigh to God.” You may look upon the words as spoken to sinners or to converts. First, To sinners, or men uncalled ; and then the sense is, “Draw nigh to God,” that is, seek him by faith and repentance; “and he will draw nigh to you,” that is, with his grace and blessing. Thence observe, M 2 ! 64 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF OBSERVATIONS. 1. That every man by nature needs to draw nigh to God. Drawing nigh impliès an absence and de- parture. We are “estranged from the womb,” Psal. lviii. 3. As soon as we were able "to go we went astray. In Adam we lost three things; the image of God, the favour of God, and fellowship with God. As soon as man sinned God spake to Adam as lost; “Adam, where art thou ?” Mon es ubi privas eras, as Austin glosseth ; Thou art not where thou wert be- fore. So when Christ would resemble our apostate nature, he does it by a prodigal’s going into “a far country,” Luke xv. 13. And the apostle gives the reason how we came to lose the fellowship as well as the favour of God, when he thus describes the natural estate of the Gentiles; “Alienated from the life of God,” Eph. iv. 18. We are strangers to God’s life, and therefore no wonder if we have lost his company. Trees do not converse with beasts, nor beasts with men, because they do not live the life of each other. Sense must fit the trees to converse with beasts, and reason the beasts to converse with men ; and grace must fit men to converse with God. There is a distance you see. Now men alienate themselves more and more, partly by their affections, and partly by their practices. By their affections; they care not for God, desire not his company. “Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways,” Job xxi. 14. Fallen man is grown obstimate, little worse than the devils, who said, “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time P” Matt. viii. 29. God’s presence is their torment. Men care not to hold communion with him, because of a hatred to his ways; they wish the annihilation and destruction of his being. It is a pleasing thought to carnal spirits, to suppose that if there were no God, they might let loose the reins to vile affections. So also by their peccata elongant practices. All sins divide between God hos voluntate non and the soul; “Your iniquities have loco. separated between you and God,” Isa. lix. 2. Sin makes us shy of his presence; guilt can- not endure a thought of the judge; and it makes God offended with us. How can a holy nature de- light in an impure creature ? And as sin in the general does this, so there are some special sins that separate between God and the soul: as pride; “The proud he knoweth afar off.” Psal. cxxxviii. 6. God stands at a distance, and will have no communion with a proud spirit. So creature-confidence and self-satisfaction keep us off from God; we stand at a distance, as if we had enough of our own: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord,” Jer. xvii. 5. The nearest union is wrought by faith, that makes the soul stay in him; and the greatest separation when we go to other confidences, for then there is a plain leaving of God. Well, then, con- sider your condition by nature, aliens from God. That you may resent it the more, consider the cause and the effects of it. (I.) The cause; the heart is set upon sin, and therefore estranged from God. “Alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works,” Col. i. 21 ; or it may be rendered, by your minds in evil works; mente operibus malis intenta, that is, because the mind is set upon sin. Likeness is the ground of love. There being such a disproportion between us and God, we delight not in him. So Job xxi. 14, “Depart from us;” why P “for we de- sire not the knowledge of thy ways.” We do not love holiness, and therefore do not love God. What ‘pi\ov kg)\ofuev &uoſov Öuoiºp RC, T opetrºv. Plato de Leg. 8. a madness is this, to part with God for sin . If you will not be saints, be men, be not devils; they cannot endure God’s presence upon that ground. (2.) The effects of it. You that flee from God as a friend, you will find him an enemy; you may depart from him as a friend, you cannot escape him as an enemy. It is a sweet passage of Austin, Te not amit- tit nisi qui dimittit; et qui te dimittit *.*.*. quo fugit 2 nisi a te placato ad te ird- - tum ? §. that cannot endure the presence of God, or a thought of him, where will you go from him P “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit P or whither shall I flee from thy presence P. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, be- hold, thou art there,” Psal. cxxxix. 7, 8. Where then will you go? “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?” Jer. xxiii. 23. God is here, and there, and every where; you will find him wherever you go. Surely then it is better to draw near to him as a friend, than to run from him as an enemy. Obs. 2. A great duty that lies upon the fallen crea- ture is drawing nigh to God. I do not mean to handle the duty at large. I shall only open three things. º How God and the creature may be said to be near one to another, or to draw nigh P God’s special presence is in heaven, and we are on earth; and his general presence is with all the creatures, and so he is not far from any one of us, Acts xvii. 27. I answer, It is to be understood spiritually ; we draw nigh unto him, non vestigiis corporis, sed animi, not by the feet of the body, but the soul. Spirits may have converse with one another, though at a distance. Now God’s children are with him in their thoughts, in the affections and dispositions of their souls. Their Toxirsvua, business and negociation, is in heaven, Phil. iii. 20. Their heart and their treasure is there, Matt. vi. 20, 21. Their desires are there; the world is but a larger prison. But it is more especially meant of their communion with God in duties, wherein their souls and their prayers are said to go up before him, Acts x. 4, and he is said to come down to meet them, Isa. lxiv. 5. And also it notes the continual intercourse between God and them in all their ways. The First Epistle of John was written to this purpose, that they might have fellowship and communion with the Father and the Son, I John i. 3. (2.) How is this effected and brought about, since we cannot endure the thought of God? The ques- tion is necessary. This was the great design of Heaven, to find out a way to bring man into fellow- ship again with his Maker; and God has found out a new and living way by Christ, and therefore he is said to be the way to the Father, John xiv. 6. And the main intent of his incarnation and death was to bring us to God, 1 Pet. iii. 18. To bring strangers and enemies together is a mighty work. But how does Christ effect it? I answer, [1..] Partly by doing. something for us, satisfying God’s justice, and “bear- ing our sins in his own body on the tree,” I Pet. ii. 24; otherwise guilt could have no commerce with wrath, or stubble with devouring burnings. God is a consuming fire, and we are as stubble At * fully dry; now Christ is a screen drawn fºi º between us. The Divine glory would º. swallow us up, but §§ flesh is a Deo. Hieron. veil that abates the edge and brightness of it, Heb. x. 19, 20. [2] Partly by doing something in us. Christ's work in bringing a soul to God is not ended upon the cross; he gives us the graces of his Holy Spirit, which fit us for communion with God. The -principal are these: Faith, which is nothing else but a coming to God by Christ for grace, mercy, and VER. 8. I65 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. salvation : “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,” Heb. x. 22. Unbelief is a departing from God, Heb. iii. 12, and faith a coming to him, Zeph. iii. 2. Then love, the grace of union : by desire it makes us go out to God, by delight it keeps us there; the one is the thirst, the other the satisfaction of the soul. Love runs out upon the feet of desire, and rests in the bosom of delight. Then holiness: God will be sanctified in those that come nigh him, Lev. x. 3. . Holy hearts are fittest to deal with a holy God, otherwise we should not endure God, nor God us. Then fear, by which the soul walks with God, and is near to him : there where the thoughts are, there we are spiritually. Of wick- ed men it is said, “God is not in all their thoughts;” but the godly always keep God in their eye; “I foresaw the Lord always before my face,” Acts ii. 25. Fear still keeps them in his company. Then humility : because of our distance and guilt, we can- not come to God unless we come humbly, and upon our knees. “Come, let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker,” Psal. xcv. 6; that is the fittest posture in approaches to God. God will dwell with the humble, Isa. lvii. 15. Now all these graces, being exercised in the conversation, or in holy duties, where the addresses to God are more direct, make the soul near to him. (3.) The last question is, What special acts does the soul put forth when it draws nigh to God? The answer may be given you from what was said before. There must be an act of faith in our wants; by faith we must see that in God which we stand in need of in sense. Fear must be acted in all our ways, keeping us in God’s eye. Persons loose and regardless are far from God; “Walk before me, and be thou perfect,” Gen. xvii. 1. Then love and humility must be acted in holy duties. Drawing nigh chiefly implies humble and fervent addresses; when you come naked to God, as the rich man that will clothe you; hungry to God, as the bountiful man that will feed you; sick to God, as the Physician that will cure you; as servants to your Lord, as disciples to your Master, as blind to the light, as cold to the fire, &c. The creatures’ ad- dresses are best, when they begin in want, and end in hope, when there is a rare mixture of humility and confidence; and love there must be in every duty, for God must be sought as well as served. Well, then, let us all mind this duty; sin is a de- fº from God, grace a returning; draw nigh to im, make out after the comforts and supports of his presence. The way is by Christ, but you must resolve upon it; I must, and I will : “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek,” Psal. xxvii. 8. There must be a care to bring the soul to this resolution. Mark that place, Jer. xxx. 21, “I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? Saith the Lord;” that is, By my Spirit I will comfort them; but will you engage your hearts P Out of a convic- tion of the necessity and excellency of the duty issue forth a practical decree; David doth, Psal. lxxiii. 28, “It is good for me to draw near to God.” Objection. There is one doubt in the text which must be cleared before we go further, and that arises from the phrase used, “ draw nigh to God,” as if it were in our own power. The old Pelagians abused this place; and the Rhemists in their notes say, that free-will and man’s own endeavour are neces- sary in coming to God, and that man is a cause of making himself clean, though God’s grace be the principal. Usually two things have been built upon this place. I. That the beginning of conversion is in man’s power. 2. That this beginning merits or impetrates further grace from God; for, say they, God will not draw near to man, ere he first draw near to him. Therefore before special grace the begin- ning of conversion must be in man, and upon this beginning God will come in. I answer, I. This place and the like show not what man will do, but what he ought to do; we left God ere he left us, therefore we should be first in returning, as we were first in forsaking. The wronged party may in justice tarry for our submis- sion; but yet such is the Lord’s kindness, that he loves us first, 1 John iv. 19. 2. Precepts to duty are not measures of strength. There is no good argument a mandato ad effectum, from what ought to be done, to what can or shall be done. These things are ex- pressed thus for another purpose; to show God’s right, to convince the creature of weakness, to show us our duty, that man’s endeavour is required, and that we should do our utmost to convince us wherein we have failed. 3. These precepts are not useless: to the elect they convey grace. God fulfils what he commands. Evangelical commands carry their own blessing with them; for by the co-working of the Spirit, by this means they are stirred up, and made to draw near to God. Towards others they are con- vincing, and show us our obstinacy and contumacy; we will not come to God, and lie at the feet of his sovereignty, saying, O Lord, thou hast said, Turn to me, and I will turn to you: turn thou us, and we shall be turned; draw thou us, and we shall draw near to thee, Jer. xxxi. 18; Cant. i. 4. Men pre- tend cannot, the truth is they will not come, hungry to the table, thirsty to the fountain; they will not lie at God’s feet for grace: so that those precepts convince the reprobate, and leave them without ex- cuse. I shall conclude all with that sweet saying of Bernard; AVemo te quaerere potest, nisi qui privas in- venerit; vis igitur inveniri wit quaeraris, quaere ut in- ventaris; potes quidem inveniri, non tamen praeveniri : None can be aforehand with God; we cannot seek him till we have found him; he will be sought that he may be found, and found that he may be sought: it is grace that must bring us to grace; and the stray sheep cannot be brought home, unless it be upon Christ's shoulders. Secondly, The next consideration of the words is, as they respect Christians already converted and called; and so the sense is, Draw more near to God every day in a holy communion, and you shall have more grace from him. - Obs. That gracious hearts should always berenewing their accesses to God by Christ. So coming to Christ as unto a living stone, 1 Pet. ii. 5; always coming to him, in every duty, in every want. This maintains and increases grace, and makes your lives sweet and comfortable. Drawing nigh to God is not the duty of an hour, or in season only at first conversion, but the work of our whole lives. - “And he will draw nigh to you;” that is, he will make us find that he is near to us by his favour and blessing. You have the like promise Zech. i. 3, “Turn unto me, and I will turn unto you.” So Mal. iii. 7, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.” OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the way to have God turn to us in mercy, is to turn to him in duty. This is the standing law of Heaven, God will not vary from it; it is the best way for God’s glory, and for the creature’s good. Mercies are most sweet and good to us when we are prepared for them by duty; do not divide them between mercy and duty. Expectations in God’s way cannot be dis- 166 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF appointed. The prophet saith, “Ephraim is an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn,” Hos. x. 11. The mouth of the beast that treadeth out the corn was not to be muzzled; in that work they had plenty of food. The meaning; Ephraim would have blessings, but could not endure . the yoke of obedience. We are apt to lie upon the bed of ease, and securely look what God will do, but do not stir up ourselves to what we should do. Obs. 2. God will be near those that are careful to hold communion with him. See Psal. cxlv. 18, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” Nigh to bless, to com- fort, to quicken, to guide, to support them. , Let it encourage us to come to God, yea, to run to him; we are sure to speed. The father ran to meet the re- turning prodigal, Luke xv. 18. He will prevent us with loving-kindness; “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am,” Isa. lviii. 9. What have you to say to me? what would you have from me? Here am I to satisfy all your desires. Nay, elsewhere it is said, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear,” Isa. lxv. 24. When they address themselves to seek God, he is nigh to coun- sel, to quicken, to enlighten, to defend; ready with blessing ere your imperfect desires can be formed into a request. So Psal. xxxii. 5, “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the imiquity of my sin.” As soon as David had but conceived a repenting purpose, he felt the comfort of a pardon. “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners,” &c. From the connexion of this precept with the former, you may Obs. That unclean persons can have no commerce with God. You must be holy ere you can draw nigh to him; conformity is the ground of communion. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God,” Matt. v. 8. So Josh. xxiv. 19, “Ye cannot serve the Lord; for he is an holy God,” &c. With- out holiness God cannot endure our presence ; He will not “help the evil-doers,” Job viii. 20. And we cannot endure his presence; “The sinners in Zion are afraid,” Isa. xxxiii. 14. Well, then, when you would have free converse with God, come with a holy heart; there is special purgation required before worship. The Israelites were to wash themselves when they heard the law, Exod. xxix. And David saith, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord,” Psal. xxvi. 6. He has respect to the solemn washing which God had appointed for such as came to the altar, Exod. xl. 12. Again, if you would have sweet converse with God in your ways, walk holily; the Spirit of God loves to dwell in a clean place: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord P or who shall stand in his holy place P He that hath clean hands and a pure heart,” Psal. xxiv. 3, 4. Generally it was the custom of the eastern countries to wash before wor- ship. The very heathen gods would be served in white, the emblem of purity. “Cleanse your hands.” It notes good works; as pureness of heart implies faith and holy affections. Thus it is often taken in Scripture: as, “The right- eous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger,” Job xvii. 9. Therefore washing the hands was a sign of innocency; as Pilate did in the matter of Christ. Thus the apostle Paul bids us to “lift up holy hands, without wrath and doubting,” I Tim. ii. 8. So God tells the , Israelites, “Your hands are full of blood: wash you, make you clean,” &c., Isa. i. 15, 16. When we come to lave out of the Fountain of goodness, we must not do it with impure hands. The hands in all these places are put synecdochically for the whole body, and all the external organs of the soul, because they are principally employed in the accomplishing of many sins; as in bribes, rapine, lust, and fights. “Ye sinners.” In this first clause he speaks to men openly vicious, such as were tainted with the guilt of open and manifest sins; so the word “sin- ners” is used in this place, as elsewhere, where it is put indefinitely. So John ix. 31, “Now we know that God heareth not sinners;” that is, men of a corrupt life. So Mary Magdalene is called “a sin- ner,” Luke vii. 37; that is, openly profane. So, He eateth and drinketh with sinners, Wi. xi. 19; Luke xv. 2. Now the chief work of open sinners is to cleanse the hands, or reform the life, that by such representations they may be beaten off from the fond presumption of a good heart whilst the life is Scandalous. “Purify your hearts.” He speaks this, partly be- cause in this latter clause he deals with hypocrites, whose life is plausible enough, their main care should be about their hearts; partly because all comes out of the heart. - OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the Lord hath required not only holy hearts, but holy hands. The goodness of your hearts must appear in the integrity of your conversation. When men’s actions are naught, they pretend their hearts are good. Is there no evil in the hand? The heart must be pure, and the way undefiled, that we may neither incur blame from within, nor shame from without ; and when sin is once committed, the hand must be cleansed as well as the heart. It is in vain to pretend repentance and washing the heart, when the hand is full of bribes or ill-gotten goods, and no restitution is made. Obs. 2. If you would have a holy life, you must get a clean heart. True conversion begins there. Spirit- ual life, as well as natural, is first in the heart. So I Pet. ii. 11, 12, “Abstain from fleshly lusts—having your conversation honest.” First mortify the lusts, then the deeds of the body of sin. If you would cure the disease, purge away the impure matter, not only stop the flux of the humours; lest sin return again, cast salt into the spring. “Let the wicked for- sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,” &c., Isa. lv. 7. Mark, not only his way, or course of life, but his thoughts, the frame of his heart; the heart is the womb of thoughts, and thoughts are the first issues and outgoings of corruption. “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulte- ries,” &c., Matt. xv. 19. First the thoughts, then the practices. Well, then, they are foolish and vain men that are over-industrious about the outward man, washing the outside of cups and platters, Mark vii., altogether for dressing up a garb and pretence of religion. That which God looks after and loves is “truth in the inward parts,” Psal. li. 6. God will easily find us out under our disguise, as the prophet did Jeroboam’s wife. Be not careful merely of honour before the people, but of your hearts before God; and let conscience be dearer to you than credit. Many are sensible of failings in the carriage, because they betray and expose us to shame; you should be as sensible of distempers in the heart; lusts must riot be digested without regret and remorse any more than sins. “Ye double-minded,” 8tpuxot. The word signifies, of two hearts, or two souls. A hypocrite has a heart and a heart, which is odious to God; they halt be- tween God and Baal, and deny the religion which they profess; their thoughts are divided, and their VER. 9. 167 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. affections hover always in a doubtful suspense be- tween God and the world. See the notes on chap. i. 8. VERSE 9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep : let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. HE now prescribes another remedy against their carnal affections and practices; it is proposed with the more earnestness, because of the calamity then ready to fall upon the people and nation of the Jews. “Be afflicted,” taxatrophoars. What is the mean- ing P must we draw affliction and unnecessary trou- bles upon ourselves? I answer, It must be under- stood of some commendable afflicting ourselves; and therefore must either, 1. Imply that our corporal afflictions and distresses ought to be borne patiently. “Be afflicted;” that is, if God bring it upon you, bear it, be content to be afflicted; it is our duty to be what God would have us to be; let your will be done when the Lord’s is done. Or else, 2. I(now your misery, be sensible of it: it is some happiness to know our misery. Man in a proud obstinacy chokes his grief, and stifles conviction. Or else, 3. It notes compassion and fellow feeling of others’ sor- rows. A member is sensible of pain as long as it holds the body; “As being yourselves also in the body,” Heb. xiii. 3. A pinch or wound in the arm discom- poses the whole body; members will have a care of one another. Or else, 4. And so most properly to the context, humbling and afflicting the soul for sin; Sorrow seems to be made for that purpose and use. “And mourn, and weep.” Why so many words to one purpose P The whole verse and the next is of the same strain. I answer, 1. It is a difficult duty, and needs much enforcement. oBSERVATIONs. 1. If we would not be afflicted of God, we should afflict ourselves for sin. Voluntary humiliations are always best and sweetest; they please God best, and do us most good. Christ was wounded with one of the Spouse's eyes, Cant. iv. 9. The angels rejoice at the creature’s repentance, Luke xv. 10. Some say there shall be godly sorrow in heaven, because there will be memory and remembrance of sins in heaven, and because it is rather a perfection than an oppres- sion of nature: but that is a strain beyond Elah ; there all tears are wiped from our eyes. But, however, it is pleasing to heaven, to God, and angels. And then these self-afflictings do us must good. Voluntary mournings prevent enforced ; “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted,” Matt. v. 4; that do it freely, and of their own accord. It is one of the attributes of God, he “comforteth those that are cast down,” 2 Cor. vii. 6. You see it prevents misery; if not, it comforts in misery: this mourning hath always a joy going along with it. Chrysostom observes, that the greatest mourner in Israel was the Sweet singer in Israel. A Christian is never more Surely joyful than after, yea, in godly sorrow. True conviction of sin is caused by the Comforter, John xvi. 8. There is consolation mixed with it. Besides, it is of great profit to the soul. The rain makes the ground flourish ; and melted metals are fit to receive any stamp. “By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better,” Eccl. vii. 3. It is bitter physic, but it procures health. Holy tears are the spunge of sin; a hard heart must be soaked, and a filthy heart must be washed, in this water. We are most con- siderate when most pensive. Besides all this, the issue and end of it is very sweet. God will “revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the heart of the contrite ones,” Isa. lvii. 15. Well, then, be af. flicted; it is a hard duty, but of great profit. Make your sorrow to draw water for the sanctuary : affec- tions, like the Gibeonites, must not be abolished, but kept for temple uses. Obs. 2. Flesh and blood must be much urged to acts of sorrow. They are painful to the body, and burden- some to the mind. Frothy spirits love their pleasure and ease : “The heart of fools is in the house of mirth,” Eccl. vii. 4. A loose, garish spirit does not love to converse with mournful objects, or to be pressed to mourning duties. It shows how instant and earnest we should be in pressing such duties as these : O weep, mourn, be afflicted. It is one of the fancies now in fashion, men would be altogether honied and oiled with grace; the wholesome severi- ties of religion are distasted. Some that would be taken for Christians of the highest form are alto- gether prejudiced against such doctrines as this is, and think we are legal when we press humiliation. How may the poor ministers of the gospel go to God, and say as Moses did, “The children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me?” Exod. vi. 12. Lord, the professors will not brook such doctrine as this is, how shall we hope to prevail with the poor, blind, carnal world? Cer- tainly it is very sad, that that which was wont to be a badge of profaneness men should now adopt it into their religion; I mean, scoffing at doctrines of re- pentance and humiliation. Obs. 3. Those that will be Christians must expect to mourn. It is a necessary duty. The Spirit de- scended in the form of a dove, to note both meekness and mourning. Christian affections will be tender. God’s glory cannot be violated, but your heart will even bleed if it be right. “Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law,” Psal. cxix. 136. When sins are common, your souls will “weep in secret places,” Jer. xiii. 17. If afflictions light on God’s heritage, you will have a fellow feel- ing, Rom. xii. 15. Nay, there will be not only oc- casions offered without, but within ; your own sins, your own wants. Your sins; “Woe unto us, that we have sinned l’” Lam. v. 16. Times shall come, when you shall have occasion to mourn like the doves of the valleys; Oh woe the time that ever I sinned against God | Your wants and needs; all gracious supplies are to be fetched out this way. The dis- ciple is not above his Lord: By “prayers and suppli- cations with strong crying and tears,” &c., Heb. v. 7. His requests were uttered with deep sighs. Christ, who shed his blood, also shed tears; and if he were a man of sorrows, certainly we must not be men and women of pleasures. Well, then, do not call mourn- ing melancholy. The world deals perversely with the children of God; they provoke their sorrow, and then upbraid them with it; your sins and injuries give them occasion to mourn, and then you blemish the holy profession, as if it were mopishness and melancholy. Those tears that you see upon the eyes of God’s children are either shed for their own sins or yours. If for yours, you should not upbraid them, but bear them company; mourn with these doves of the valleys. If for their own, a stranger doth not in- termeddle with their joys. The sun shines sometimes while it rains. There may be joy in their hearts whilst there are tears in their eyes. Again, it serves to press us to this duty: better be a mourner in Zion, than a sinner in Zion. The mourners were marked for preservation. Though it be a duty against the heart and hair, yet imitate those holy ones of God, 168 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION () F that watered their couches with their tears, Psal. vi. 6; that wished their heads were waters, and their eyes a fountain of tears, Jer. ix. 1. It is likely you will come short of them, but high aims and attempts in duty will do you no hurt. He that shoots at the sun, though he come far short, will shoot higher than he that aims at a shrub; it is best to eye the highest and worthiest examples. Again, it shows how little of a Christian is found in them that are strangers to godly sorrow, that bathe and steep their souls in fleshly delights. Christ was a man of sorrows, and the Spirit is a mourning dove. f confess some Chris- tians are of a sadder temper than others; the Spirit acts with differency and variety; in some more mournfully, in others more raisedly. Some men’s lives are spent in the silence of meditation, others in the heat of service, in doing and suffering for God. Thé one makes use of Christ’s love, like holy Niobes, to dissolve and melt away their souls in tears; the other to quicken themselves to action and more reso- lution for God. But certainly every Christian is of tender heart, and will find frequent occasions of mourning; and unless we be well humbled, we can hardly do well or suffer well. The next reason of this multiplication of words is, to show that we must continue and persevere in it. We would soon turn over our hard lesson, and love not to dwell upon sad thoughts; therefore the apostle returns the duty again and again to our care. Be afflicted, and then mourn, and then weep. Obs. 4. Sorrow doth not work till it be deep and constant, and the arrows stick fast in the soul. David saith, “My sin is ever before me,” Psal. li. 3. We must be held to it; slight sorrows are soon cured. Mourning is a holy exercise, by which the soul is every day more and more weaned from sin, and drawn out to reach after God. Well, then, it checks those that content themselves with a hasty sigh, and a little blowing upon the matter; judge you, is this being afflicted, and mourning, and weep- ing P Check such a vain heart as would presently run out into the house of mirth again. But you will say, Would you have us turn Heraclites, to be always weeping P I answer, (1.) True it is, that sorrow be- fits this life rather than joy. Now we are absent from the Lord, under the burden of a vile body and vicious affections; it is our pilgrimage; we have only a few songs, God’s statutes, Psal. cxix. 54. The communion that we have with God in ordinances is but little. Grace is mixed with sin, faith with doubts, knowledge with ignorance, and peace with troubles. Now we groan, Rom. viii. 23. We are waiting and groaning for a full and final deliverance. We are as they that “pass through the valley of Baca;” the Septuagint read Öakpāov, of tears, Psal. lxxxiv. 6. (2.) There are some special seasons and Occasions of mourning, as chiefly in the time of God’s absence: When the bridegroom is gone, then shall they mourn, Matt. ix. 15; when we have lost the comforts and refreshings of God’s presence, or the quickening influences of his Spirit. The absence of the sun makes the earth languish; when you have lost the shine of his countenance, you should cry after him. So in times of great guilt, public or per- Sonal. Deep calleth on deep, and floods to floods; the deluge of sins upon the flood of holy tears. So in times of great distempers, and the growing of car- nal lusts. The persons to whom the apostle speaks were envious, proud, covetous, ambitious, and he bids them weep and mourn. Salt water and bitter potions kill the worms; so does bitter weeping fleshly lusts. The exercises of repentance are the best means for the mortifying of carnal desires. So in times when judgments are threatened. Thunder usually causes rain, and threatenings should draw tears from us. So in times of calamity, when judg- ments are actually inflicted : “Then the Lord doth call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth,”, Isa. xxii. 12. So also in times of great mercies; it is a fit season to re- member our unkindness; the warm sun melts. The woman in the gospel wept much, because much was forgiven her; when Christ had washed her soul with his blood, she washed his feet with her tears, Luke vii. 38, 47. - - “Let your laughter be turned to mourning.” He means their carnal rejoicing in their outward comforts and possessions, they being begotten by rapine and violence, as in the context. - “And your joy to heaviness.” . In all the context he notes them as carnal, and as glorying in oppress- ing one another. Such a joy and laughter is intended, by which secure sinners please themselves in their present success, putting off all thoughts of imminent judgments. OBSERVATIONS. I. That it is a good exchange, to put away carnal joy for godly sorrow. For then we put away a sin for a duty, brass for gold; yea, we have that in the duty which we expected in the sin, and in a more pure, full, and sweet way. God will give us that in sorrow which the world cannot find in pleasure, serenity and contentment of mind. When the world repent of their joy, you will never repent of your sorrow, 2 Cor. vii. 10. Solomon saith, “The end of that mirth is heaviness,” Prov. xiv. 13. Worldly comforts in the issue and close grow burdensome ; but who ever was the sadder for the hours of repent- ance P Job cursed the day of his birth, but who ever cursed the day of his new birth P In this ex- change of laughter for sorrow, you give that which is good for nothing for that which is useful to your souls. “I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it P” Eccl. ii. 2; that is, it brings forth no solid comfort or profit, When we turn our laughter into mourning, God will turn our mourning into laughter: “ Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy,” John xvi. 20. Out of these salt waters God brews the wine of spiritual consola- tion. It is the curse of wicked men, that their joy will be bitterness in the issue. Their wine proves at length to be like the gall of asps, a cup of deadly drink to their conscience. Well, then, be not pre- judiced against godly sorrow. Planctus lugentium are better than plausus theatrorum, the saddest duties are sweeter than the greatest triumphs; and the worst and most afflicted part of godliness is better than all the joys and comforts of the world. It is better to have your good things to come than here. He lived in jollity, but his good days were past, Luke xvi. 25. Do not measure things by the present sweetness, but by the future profit; that which drops honey may prove wormwood. See Luke vi. 25, “Woe unto you that laugh now ! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Obs. 2. That an excellent way to moderate the ex- cess of joy is to mix it with some weeping. He speaks to men drunk with their present happiness, and his drift is to awaken them out of their senseless stupor. The way to abate one passion is to admit the contrary; in abundance there is danger; there- fore in your jollity think of some mournful objects. Nazianzen reports of himself, that when his mind was likely to be cor- rupted with happiness, &c., his practice was to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, roig Spěvoug ovyytyvo- pat, and to inure his soul to the consideration of Naz. Orat. 13. VER. 10. , \ I69 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. / * “s. matters sad and mournful. Yºswas God's own physic but not new wine and old bottles. Duties that re- to Belshazzar, in the midst of his cups, to-Jºng him quire much spirit and soul acts are too strong for to think of his ruin by a handwriting on ‘Sºval]-4 Well, then, when your monºlain stands strong, think of changes; evils conne upon us unawares, when we give up our hearts to joy. The secure carnalist would not sº much as suppose a possibility of his death that night, Luke xii. 19. Better it was with Job; “The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,” Job iii. 25. The cockatrice killeth us not if we see ſit first. Obš. 3. That prosperous oppression is rather matter of sºrrow than joy to us. You laugh now, but God wilº'ſ laugh hereafter, when your calamities and fears cºme, Prov. i. 27; Psal. xxxvii. 12, 13. Wicked men Žºnd carnal oppressors have never so much cause to be humbled as when they are prosperous; it is but a sure pledge of their speedy ruin, Now you despise others, scoff at the servants and ways of God; you puff, and the children of God sigh : see Psal. xii. 5. Oh how will you hang the head, when the scene is changed, and you are become objects of public scorn and contempt, and the children of God in a holy admiration shall say, as those in the prophet, “Where is the fury of the oppressor l’” Isa. li. 13. Oh that men would awaken conscience, and say, I am laugh- ing and triumphing, have I not more cause to howl and mourn VERSE 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. THE apostle goes on inculcating and pressing the same duty upon them; and lest they should rest in external exercises, he uses a word which more pro- perly implies the inward acts of the soul. “. In the sight of the Lord.” The like passage is in I Pet. v. 6, but there it is, “ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” That expression im- plies a motive or consideration to enforce the duty, but this in our apostle the sincerity of it. “And he shall lift you up.” What does this promise imply P I answer, It is meant of any kind of happiness and felicity; either deliverance out of trouble; The Lord heareth the desires of the humble, Psal. x. 17; advancement in the world to honour, or any outward dignity. “A man’s pride shall bring him low; but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit,” Prov. xxix. 23. Though places of advance- ment are slippery, yet the humble shall be continued and upheld. So for advancement in grace or glory; “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” Matt. xviii. 4; that is, have most grace and glory. - OBSERVATIONS. 1. God looks not after the outward expressions in mourning, but the humble heart. God, that is a Spirit, does not reckon so much of bodily exercise. Tears, and cries, and beating of the body may all be counterfeit, or else done without a principle of grace; and many times there may be inward humiliation, where a dry brain does not yield tears. Godly sor- row does not always keep the road, and vent itself by the eyes. Papists place much in tears, and afflict- ing the body. The spirit work is the more difficult: old wine and old bottles may well agree together, *k, ſº I allude to Christ's expression concern- ing spiritual fasting, Matt. ix. 15, 16. Old carnal hearts cannot endure the rigour of such spiritual duties. Well, then, in your fast duties, see that ye do not only mourn and weep, but humble your souls. When ye confess sins, words and tears God looketh not after, but a deep shame and feeling of the evil of your natures, iniquities of life, and defects in obe- dience. When you pray, look not so much at the outward heat and vehemency ; the bodily spirits being agitated, there will be much contention and earnestness of speech; but see that the soul reach forth after God, by the tendency of holy ardours and desires. In confessing public sins, it is not the exact enumeration, apt language, but zeal for God’s glory, compassion for others’ good, holy desires of pro- moting righteousness, which the Lord looks after. Ashes and sackcloth are nothing to the work of the soul: “Is it such a fast that I have chosen P a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him P wilt thou call this a fast, and an ac- ceptable day to the Lord?” Isa. lviii. 5. Obs. 2. That duties are then truly done, when they are done as in God’s sight. The dread and reverence of God makes the heart more sincere. So James i. 27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God,” &c. So 1 Pet. iii. 20, “The answer of a good conscience toward God,” &c., i. e. in the presence of God would you make such an answer P So Psal. cxix. 168, “I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies; for all my ways are before thee:” there was David’s motive. Well, then, in all duties of worship remember that you are before God; there is a broad and pure eye of glory fixed upon you. You have to do with God that telleth man his thought, that discerns your spirits better than you do yourselves. That is a right address which is described Acts x. 33, “Now there- fore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” Here we come to pray, to hear, to humble ourselves before God. The soul will have a double advantage by such thoughts; the work will be more spiritual, and more pure and upright. More spiritual; I am not to be humbled before man, but before God. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God on the frame of the heart, 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Will this satisfy God? Is it such a fast as he hath chosen P Isa. lviii. 5. So also more pure and upright; whatever a man does to God, he will do it for God’s sake. Religious du- ties will be performed upon reasons of religion, not for custom and company, but for God, and to God. Obs. 3. The sight of God is an especial help to humiliation. The soul becomes humble by the true knowledge of God and ourselves : “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” Job xlii. 5, 6. When he had a glorious apparition of God, he vanished into nothing in his own thoughts. The stars vanish when the sun arises; and our poor candle is slighted into a dis- appearance, when the glory of God arises in our thoughts. We see our wants in God’s fulness: the ocean makes us ashamed of our own drop. And we see our vileness in God’s majesty. What is the dust of the balance to a mountain P and our wickedness in comparison of God’s holiness P Elijah “wrapped his face in his mantle” when God’s glory passed be- fore him, I Kings xix. 13. So Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me ! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips,” when God showed him his glory, Isa. vi. 5. Upon any apparition of God to the faithful 170 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION, OF _2^ they were filled with a fear, because of their own weakness and corruption. Well, then, it directs us how to be humble in our addresses to & large and comprehensive thoughts of him as you can ; see his glory, if you would know your own baseness. Men are slight in duties, because they have low thoughts of God. They offered “the Lord a corrupt thing,” because they did not consider he was “a great King,” Mal. i. 14. The elders that saw God in his glory fell down upon their faces, Rev. V. I.4. Obs. 4. That submission and humility is the true way to exaltation. It is often repeated in the gospel, “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” Luke xiv. ! I ; Matt. xxiii. 12. We are all by nature proud, and would be exalted : the way to rise is to fall. God gave us a pattern of it “in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name,” Phil. ii. 5–9. Well, then, would you have deliverance P humble yourselves: the lion spares the prostrate prey. Omnipotence will not be your terror, but protection. Would you have grace P see more of God: he that is in the low pits seeth stars in the day time. Would you have your outward station firm P the Lord will uphold the humble. Would you have the comforts of the Spirit, and the preferment of grace P the Lord will “revive the spirit of the humble,” Isa. lvii. 15. You are God’s second heaven; “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a humble and con- trite spirit.” The world looks upon humility as the way to make us contemptible; when we stoop, we think every one will tread upon us. You see in the vote and sentence of the promises it is the way to be exalted, either in the favour of God or men. Lastly, out of all we may be encouraged to wait upon God with a holy humility and confidence in our low estate. “When men are cast down, thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person,” Job xxii. 29. When all thy affairs go to decay, thou mayst bear up on these hopes. In Peter it is, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,” I Pet. v. 6. Wait God’s leisure, and the promise shall Surely be fulfilled; only be humble, not only morally, but graciously. Gracious humiliation is a deep sense of our misery and vileness, with a desire to be recon- ciled to God upon any terms. VERSE II. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speak- eth evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speak- eth evil of the law, and judgeth the law; but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. HERE the apostle dissuades them from another sin, of which he had impleaded them guilty before, and that is detraction, and speaking “evil one of an- . Other.”” - “Speak not evil one of another, brethren;” pº kara- XaXáirs &AAñ\ov, speak not one against another. The words imply any speaking which is to the prejudice _---- .* of another, be it truſe of false; the Scripture I'ê- quirings fººt our words should suit with love as well Gºerke *i-43s tº - * * > . . OBSERVATION. That speaking evil one of another does not become brethren and Christians. A citizen of Zion is thus described; “He backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour,” Psal. xv. 3. So in Lev. xix. 16, there is an express law, “Thou shalt not \go, up and down as a tale-bearer among the people.”W ºn (Saith Ainsworth) signifies to trade of traffic as a merchant up and down with Sººn spices ; thence the word 9°5", there . … v. used for one that wanders from place to place, utterº ing slanders as wares: these pedlers will be always \. opening their packs, Thus I have heard of such and such a one, &c.; these were not to be suffered in Israel. There are several kinds of evil-speaking; they may be all ranked under two heads, whispering and backbiting : whispering is a private defamation of our brother among those that think well of him; backbiting is more public, before every one promis- cuously. Now both may be done many ways; not only by false accusations, but by divulging their Secret evils, by extenuating their graces, by in- creasing or aggravating their faults, and defrauding them of their necessary excuse, and mitigation; by depraving their good actions through the supposi- tion of sinister aims; by mentioning what is culpable, and enviously suppressing their worth. It were easy to run out upon this argument, but I contain myself. Well, then, if all this misbecometh brethren, do not give way to it in yourselves, nor give ear to it in others. (1.) Do not give way to it in yourselves; nature is marvellously prone to offend in this kind, therefore you must lay on the greater restraints, especially when the persons whom you would blemish profess religion. “Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses P” Numb. xii. 8. Mark the Tá00c, or emphasis, of that expression: What against my servant P against Moses P you should be afraid to speak against any one, much more against those whom God has a mind to honour. This is the devil's proper sin; he is “the accuser of our brethren,” Rev. xii. 10. He does not commit adul- tery, or break the sabbath, these are not laws to him ; but he can bear false witness, dishonour pa- rents, accuse the brethren. And yet what more com- mon amongst us? John Baptist’s head in a charger is a usual dish at our meals. When men's hearts are warm with wine and good cheer, then God’s children are brought in, like Samson among the Philistines, to make them sport. O consider, God will surely recompense this into your bosoms; either in this life: They that judge are judged, Matt. vii. 1. Men are bold with their names, because they were not tender in meddling with others. Or in the life to come, without repentance. It is said, of the wicked, “They shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves,” Psal. lxiv. 8. How unsupportable is the weight of the sins of this one member 1 (2.) Do not give way to it in others; your ears may be as guilty as their tongues; therefore such whisperings should never be heard without some expression of dislike. Solomon commends a frown and the se- verity of the countenance; “The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a back- biting tongue,” Prov. xxv. 23. They are discouraged when they do not meet with compliance. David would not have such to dwell in his house, Psal. ci. 7. Certainly our countenancing them draws us into WER. i. 1. 171 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. a fellowship of the guilt. Now if we must not re- ceive these whispers against an ordinary brother, much less against a minister; there is express pro- vision for the safety of their repute and credit; “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but be- fore two or three witnesses,” I Tim. v. 19.; partly, because men are apt to hate him that reproves in the gate, and so they are liable to be traduced; partly, because men in office are most observed and watched; see Jer. xx. 10; and partly, because their credit is of most concernment for the honour of the gospel; therefore we should not easily hear those that are talking of them by the walls and doors of the houses, as it is in the prophet, Ezek. xxxiii. 30. “He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother.” In that word “judgeth” the apostle shows what their censuring amounted to, a usurping of God’s office, and passing sentence upon their brethren; and also what kind of evil-speaking he principally intended, that is, for things merely indif- ferent, as observation of days, meats, and the like: See Rom. xiv. 3, 4. Obs. That censuring is a judging. You arrogate an act of power which does not belong to you. When you are advanced into the chair of arrogance and censure, check yourselves by this thought, Who gave me this superiority ? The question put to Moses may well be urged, in behalf of our wronged brethren, to our own souls; “Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?” Exod. ii. 14. Paul uses the same dis- Suasion; “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant P to his own master he standeth or falleth,” Rom. xiv. 4. “Speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law.” How can this be? Several ways may this sentence be made good: I shall name the principal. First, Thus: Every sin is a kind of affront to the law that forbids it; for by doing quite contrary we in effect judge the law not fit or worthy to be obeyed. AS, for instance, in the present case, the law forbids rash judgment, and speaking evil one of another, but the detractor approves that which the law condemns, and so in effect judges the law to be not good or equal. From hence, Obs. That sin is a judging of the law. It is said to David, “Wherefore hast thou despised the command- ment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?” 2 Sam. xii. 9. In the rage of his lust David looked upon it as a slight law. Observe it when you will, you will find that in sinning there are some implicit evil thoughts by which the law of God is disvalued and disapproved; we think it unworthy, hard, or envious, or unequal. Those wretches speak out that which is the silent language of every sinful action; “The way of the Lord is not equal, the way of the Lord is not equal,” Ezek. xviii. 25. The heart of man is by nature obstinately and vehemently set upon lust, revenge, censuring ; therefore in all these cases we are most apt to think the law of God hard, and in- jurious to the liberty of man, and that God has dealt enviously with our natures to deny them the pleasures which we so strongly pursue. This was the devil’s first insinuation against God, he seeks to work Adam into hard thoughts of God’s restraint; “God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,” Gen. iii. 5. And still it is Satan’s great policy to represent God as a hard taskmaster, and to make us think evil of the law. Therefore Paul seeks to prevent such thoughts, when the law checked his lusts, and brought him into a sense of inevitable misery; “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good,” Rom. vii. 12. But was that good which caused death to him P Yes, saith he, I look upon it still as a rule of right; it is I who am carnal, my heart is wicked, &c. Well, then, you see how to make sin odious; it is a despising of the law, a speaking evil of the law; it slights that rule which it violates. Secondly, Thus: They were wont in that age to condemn one another for things indifferent, merely upon their own will and sense, without any warrant and sentence from the word, as you may see, Rom. xiv. Now this was a kind of condemning the law, as if it were not full and exact enough, but need to be pieced up by man’s institutions. Obs. That to make more sins than God hath made is to judge the law. You imply it to be an imperfect rule. Men will be wise beyond God, and bind others in chains of their own making. It is true, there is an obedience of faith, by which the understanding must be captivated to God, but not to men; to the word, not to every fancy. There is a double superstition, positive and negative; the one when men count that holy which God never made holy, the other when men condemn that which God never condemned: they are both alike faulty; we are not in the place of God; it is not in our power to make sins or du- ties. “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” were the ordinances and precepts of false teachers, Col. ii. 19. There are three things exempted from man’s judi- catory; God’s counsels, the Holy Scriptures, and the hearts of men. We should not dogmatize and sub- ject men to ordinances of our own making, press our own austerities and rigorous observances as duties. Justice and wisdom is good; but to be just over- much, or wise over-much, is stark naught, Eccl. vii. 16, that is, to be just or wise beyond the rule. Man is a proud creature, and would fain make his mo- rosity a law to others, and obtrude his own private sense for doctrine. It is usual to condemn every thing that does not please us, as if our magisterial dictates were articles of faith. We must not come in our own name, but judge as the word judges, or else we judge the word. The Lord grant we may consider it in this dogmatizing age, wherein every one cries up his private conceit for law, and men make sins rather than find them. Thirdly, You may conceive it thus: They might discommend and censure others for that which the word approved and allowed, and so did not so much condemn private persons as the law itself. If you take in this consideration, Obs. That to plead for sins, or to asperse graces, is to judge the word itself. . Thus you set the pride of corrupted wit against the wisdom of God in the Scriptures. “Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter 1’’ Isa. v. 20. Usually thus it is in the world, grace meets with calumny, and sin with flattery. Open and gross sins are the more gently stroked, be- cause they have the hap to go away under a good name; drunkenness is good fellowship, censure is conference and good discourse, error is new light, re- bellion is zeal for public welfare; but grace has the hap to suffer under some ill resemblance. As they were wont to deal with Christians in the primitive times, to put them in bears' skins, and then to bait them; so graces are miscalled and misrepresented, and then hooted at. The law saith, Be zealous, be peaceable, &c.; but in the world's reckoning zeal is fury, peaceableness and holy moderation is time- serving and base compliance, pressing humbling doc- trine is legalism, &c. Thus many deceive them- selves with names. But do not you judge the law in all this? The law saith sitting at the wine all day is drunkenness, and you call this good fellowship. 172 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF “But if you judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge ;” that is, when thou exer- cisest such a rash superiority over the law, thou dost clearly exempt thyself from obedience and subjection to it. Obs. Those that judge the word, no wonder if they be given over to the disobedience of it. It is done grossly by those that either deny the Divine author- ity of the Scriptures, or accuse it (as the papists do) as an uncertain rule, or examine all the doctrines of it by their private reason, or the writings and pre- cepts of men. And it is done more closely by those that come to judge the word, rather than to be judged by it. It is true, we have a liberty to examine, but we should not come with a mind to cavil and cen- sure; the pulpit, which in a sense is God’s tribunal, should not be our bar. The matter delivered must be examined by Scripture modestly and humbly, but we must not despise and slight God’s ordinance, and come hither merely to sit judges of men’s parts or weaknesses; this is the ready way to beget an ir- reverent and fearless spirit; and then when men lose their awe and reverence, their restraint is gone, and they grow loose, or desperately erroneous; God will punish their pride with some sudden fall. Look to your ends, Christians, you will find a great deal of difference between coming to hear and coming to censure; if you come with such a vain aim, see if you get any thing by a sermon but matter of carp- ing, and see if that do not bring you to looseness, and that to atheism. Usually this is the sad pro- gress of proud spirits; first preaching is censured, not examined, then the manners are tainted, then the word itself is questioned, and then men lose all fear of God and man. VERSE 12. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to de- stroy: who art thow that judgest another 2 HE persists in the same argument. God the Law– giver is the only Judge; and who art thou, that thou invadest or usurpest his office P “There is one Lawgiver.” But you will say, We can name many others, Lycurgus, Zaleucus, Solon, &c.; many who had also potestatem vita et necis, power of life and death ; and many now that make and dis- pense laws: how is this sentence true P I answer, Grotius supposes the apostle intends Christ by this expression in opposition to Moses, as arguing against those that would continue the use of the ceremonies, and observe difference between days and meats. Now, saith he, we in the Christian church have but one Lawgiver, Christ, and not Moses; these must not be yoked and coupled together. But this is too argute, and offers too much force to the context. More pro- bably then he means, (1.) That there is but one ab- solute and Supreme Lawgiver, whose will is the rule of justice; others are directed by an external rule, and prudent considerations of equity and safety, and therein they are but as God’s deputies and substitutes, either in church or commonwealth : “And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment,” 2 Chron. xix. 6. (2.) In spiritual things, none else can give laws to the conscience. In exter- mal policy the laws and edicts of meh are to be ob- served. But he speaks of the internal government of the conscience, where God alone judges by the word; for he speaks against those that in indifferent things would set up their own will as a rule of sin or duty. “Who is able to save and to destroy.” It notes God’s absolute power to do with man either tempo- rally or spiritually as he pleases. This power is every where given to God: “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal : neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand,” Deut. xxxii. 39. So I Sam. ii. 6; Isa. xliii. 13. “Who art thou that judgest another ?” that is, What a distance is there between thee and God! what a sorry judge to him You have the same question Rom. xiv. 4. It is good to shame pride with the consideration of God’s glory and our ow baseness. He “is able to save and to destroy ;” but, ** who art thou ?” OBSERVATIONS. 1. That God alone can give laws to the conscience. So Isa. xxxiii. 22, “The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; he will save us.” Take them in a spiritual sense, and the words are exclusive; God, and no other; our only Judge, our only Lawgiver, &c. God only knows the conscience, and therefore God only must judge it, and give laws to it. God only can punish the con- science for sin, and therefore he only can make a sin. It is the privilege of his word to convert the soul, Psal. xix. 7. Object. There may be an objection framed against this doctrine out of Rom. xiii. 5, where it is said, “Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake;” so that men's commands seem to oblige the conscience. Sol. I answer, They do in a sort, but not in that order and manner that God’s do. (1.) Not directly and immediately, but by the intervention of God’s command; as a Christian is bound to perform all civil duties upon reasons of religion. We are bound in conscience, though human laws under that qua- temus do not bind conscience. So I Pet. ii. 13, “Sub- mit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” It is God’s command that binds my conscience to observe man’s. So Eccl. viii. 2, “I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God;” that is, not only for fear of men, but chiefly for wronging thy con- science towards God. (2.) Not so universally and unlimitedly. I must obey God intuitu voluntatis, upon the bare sight of his will; but I must examine the laws of men, whether they be just and equal, suiting with charity and public safety; and in many cases active obedience must be withheld. Peter and the apostles said, “We ought to obey God rather than men,” Acts v. 29. Many such cases there are; but now towards God conscience is bound, though it can see no reason for it, no good from it. (3.) Not so absolutely. Whatever God commands, I am bound to do it even in secret, though it be to my absolute prejudice; but now submission to man may be per- formed by suffering the penalty, though the obedi- ence required be forborne; and in some cases a man may do contrary in private, where the thing is in- different, and there is no danger of scandal and con- tempt of authority. Well, then, hear no voice but God’s in your consciences, no doctrines in the church but Christ’s. When they brought in foreign doc- trines, it is said, they did not hold the Head, Col. ii. 19. No offices, institutions, and worship must be allowed but such as he has appointed. Antiquity without Scripture is no sure rule to walk by. We must not look what others did before Non attenden- us, but what Christ did before them all. dum quid alii WER. 12. I73 THE GENERAL EPISTILE OF JAMES. ante nos fecerint, Sed quid Domi- nus, qui ante omnes fecerit, Cyprian, Epist. de Eucharist. So not the authority of the church; she is the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15, sensu forens; non archº- tectonico ; that is, to hold forth Christ’s mind, as a post doth a king’s proclamation. Some power the church has in rites of decency, and expe- diency, and order, by virtue of that general canon, “Izet all things be done decently and in order,” I Cor. xiv. 40 (though that text carries the face of a restraint rather than an allowance, and does not So much enlarge as moderate church power, as I have elsewhere cleared); but in the main matters the church can only declare laws, not make them; and though in matters indifferent she can direct to what is suitable to order and decency, yet those directions should be so managed that they do not take away the nature of the thing; and though Christian liberty be restrained, it must not be in- fringed. It is the injury of antichrist to usurp an authority over the church of God; and this is the very spirit of antichristianism, to give laws to the conscience. Calvin saith, Men would have us more modest than to call the pope antichrist; but as long as he exercises a tyranny over the conscience we shall never give over the term; nay, we shall go further, (saith he,) and call those members of antichrist that take such snares upon their consciences. The setting up another lawgiver is properly antichristianism; for then there is one head set against another, and human author- ity against Divine. It is Paul’s character of anti- christ, “That he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God,” 2 Thess. ii. 4; that is, making himself absolute lord of con- sciences, bringing them to his obedience, working them to his advantage. Obs. 2. That absolute supremacy becomes none but him that has absolute power. The power of magistrates is limited by the will of God, because they depend upon him, and can do nothing but as they are enabled and authorized by him, John xix. 10, 11. Obs. 3. God has an absolute and supreme power on men, and can dispose of them according to his will and pleasure. And therefore we must, (1.) Keep close to his laws with more fear and trembling. There is no escaping this Judge, 2 Cor. v. 10. Eter- nal life and eternal death are in his disposal, Matt. x. 28. (2.) Observe them with more encouragement. Live according to Christ's laws, and he is able to pro- tect you : “He that is our God is the God of salva- tion ; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death,” Psal. lxviii. 20. He can save his people, and he has many ways to bring his enemies to ruin. Your Friend is the most dreadful enemy; he has the keys of hell and of death, Rev. i. 18. (3.) Be the more humbled in case of breach of his laws. Oh what will you do with this Lawgiver, who with the rebuke of his countenance can turn you into hell ! “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that he shall deal with thee?” Ezek. xxii. 14. Have you courage and strength enough to withstand God? What will you do with him that “is able to save and to destroy P” Wool overcomes the strokes of iron by yielding to them. There is no way left but submission and humble ad- dresses. He may be overcome by faith, but not by power. Take hold of his strength, that you may make peace with him, Isa. xxvii. 5. By humble supplications you may as princes have power with God, and prevail, Gen. xxxii. 28. Calv. in locum. VERSE i3. Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain. HAVING formerly spoken against those that con- temned the law, he now speaks against those that contemned providence, promising themselves a long time in the world, and a happy accomplishment of . their carnal projects, without any sense or thought of their own frailty, or the sudden strokes of God. In this verse he does as it were personate them, and give a most accurate representation of their thoughts. “Go to now,” dye vöv. The Vulgate reads ecce, as if it were tâov, see now, do ye rightly P. But we render it better. It is a phrase that provokes them to consideration, as awakening the attention of con- science, or as citing them before the presence and tribunal of God. The same adverb is used chap. v. 1. “Ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city.” By an imitation he recites the speeches or thoughts of the Jewish factors or merchants; Now we will go to Alexandria, or to Damascus, or to Antioch, which were the places of their usual * traffic. “We will continue there,” trothoropsy, we will factor it there. He chiefly instances trading, and accom- modates his words to the merchant's profession, be- cause too often, and too sensibly, are these carnal thoughts, hopes, and confidence found in merchants, and men versed in worldly trading; though he in- tends to speak against all sorts of men that under- take any thing in the confidence of their own wisdom and industry, without the leave and blessing of Pro- vidence. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That if we would know the evil of our actions, it is good to use reviews and reflecting thoughts. We sin, and go on in sin, because of incogitancy. There should be wise consideration aforehand to prevent the sin, and faithful recollection to prevent going on in sin. God complains, Jer. viii. 6, “No man re- pented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done P” This recollection cites the soul before three bars: (1.) Conscience ; (2.) God’s eye; and, (3.) God’s throne or tribunal. It rouses up the light of conscience by comparing the action or speech with a principle of reason, or the word, as in the present case, thus: Am I lord of future events, that I do so confidently determine or define them P Do those things hang on my will P Is my life or actions in mine own power P It draws the soul into the pre- sence of God thus; Would I have the jealous God, that disposes of human events and successes, to take notice of such speeches P So before God’s judgment- seat thus; Would I defend such, actions or speeches before the tribunal of God? Will these carnal de- liberations endure the severe search and trial of the great day P Thus should you in all cases review your actions, and, as the prophet saith, “see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done,” Jer. ii. 23. Obs. 2. That carnal hearts are all for carnal pro- jects. Thoughts are the purest offspring of the soul, and discover the temper of it. Men are according to their devices: “The vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity. The instruments also of the churl are evil : but the liberal deviseth liberal things,” Isa. xxxii. 6–8. Carnal men are projecting how to spend their days and months in buying, and selling, and getting gain. The fool in the gospel is thinking of enlarging his barns, and 174 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF plucking down his houses, and building greater, Izuke xii. 17, 18; this engrosses all his thoughts. One apostle describes such men thus; “who mind earthly things,” Phil. iii. 19. Another thus; “an heart they have exercised with covetous practices,” 2 Pet. ii. 14; that is, with earnest contrivances how to promote their gain and earthly aims. A gracious heart is for gracious projects, how they shall be more thankful, Psal. cxvi. 12, how more holy, more useful for God, more fruitful in every good work; what they shall do to inherit eternal life. O consider, this is the better care, that more suits the end of our creation, and the nature of our spirits. We are sent into the world, not to grow great and pompous, but to enrich our souls with spiritual excellencies. Obs. 3. That carnal men send out their thoughts to forestall and fore-enjoy their contentments ere they obtain them. It is usual with men to feed themselves with the pleasure of their hopes. The “wise ladies” of the mother of Sisera looked through the lattice, pleasing themselves in the thought of a triumphant return, Judg. v. Thoughts are the spies and messengers of the soul; hope sends them out after the thing expected, and love after the thing beloved. When a thing is strongly expected, the thoughts are wont to spend themselves in creating images and suppositions of the happiness of enjoy- ment. If a poor man were adopted into the succes- sion of a crown, he would please himself in the supposi- tion of the future honour and pleasure of the kingly state. Godly men, that are called to be co-heirs with Christ, are wont to preoccupy the bliss of their future state, and so in a manner feel what they do but expect. So also carnal men charm their souls with whispers of vanity, and feed themselves with the pleasant anticipation of that carnal delight which they look for; as young heirs spend upon their hopes, and riot away their estate, ere they possess it. Well, then, look to it: it is a sure mark of fleshli- ness, when the world runs so often in your thoughts, and you are always deflouring carnal contentments by these anticipations of lust and sin; and you have nothing to live upon, or to entertain your spirit withal, but these suppositions of gain and pomp, and the reversion of some outward enjoyment. Obs. 4. That carnal affections are usually accom- panied with, certainly much encouraged by, carnal confidence. “We will go, and continue there a year.” They are doubly confident; of the success of their endeavours, “we will get gain;” of the con- tinuance of their lives, “we will continue there a year.” Lust cannot be nourished without a presump- tion of success. When men multiply endeavours, they little think of God, or of the changes of provi- dence. It is enough to undo lust to suppose a dis- appointment. Besides, when there is such a presence of means, we ascribe little to the highest cause. First the world steals away our affections, and then it intercepts our trust: there is not only adultery in it, James iv. 4, but idolatry, Eph. v. 5. It is not only our darling, but our god; and that is the reason why worldly men are always represented as men of a se- cure presumption; as Luke xii. 19, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” So Job xxix. 18, “I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.” So in that Apocryphal passage, “I have found rest, and will eat continually of my goods; and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him,” Ecclus. xi. 19. They think now they have enough to secure them against all chances. Well, then, look to your confidence and trust. When you are getting an estate, is your expectation founded in faith, or lust? When you have gotten an estate, where lies the as- surance of your contentment, in the promises, or your outward welfare? Obs. 5. Carnal men are not only confident of present, but future welfare. “To-day or to-morrow, we will tarry there a year.” Which argues a heart stupidly secure, and utterly insensible of the changes of pro- vidences. “ To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant,” Isa. lvi. 12. “Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever,” Psal. xlix. 11. Men love to enjoy their carnal com- forts without interruption, thought of death, or change. Every day is as a new life, and brings sºn, dº sufficient care with it; we need not jºi. look out for so long time. But worldly tº men in their cares do not only provide vitae; huntip; for the morrow, but the next year, in . ."..." their possessions; do not only please gº.” themselves in their present happiness, e but will not so much as suppose a change. Obs. 6. That merchants are very liable to thoughts and discourses savouring of carnal presumption and confidence. In their burses and exchanges they are always talking of wares, and gain, and traffic, without any thought of God. “He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand,” Hos. xii. 7. In the original, He is a Canaanite. Canaan’s posterity, upon whom the curse fell, was most happy in this course of life; and being driven out of the land by the via sam, p. Israelites into the maritime towns, they chart. Bhaiég. were most famous for navigation. It *P* is your ordinary calling to go from place to place; take God along with you wherever you go. Of all men you should be most cautious. In your commerce be mindful of God and of yourselves, of God’s pro- vidence and your own frailty, that you neither be too much in the world, nor too much of your own industry. Obs. 7. From the scope of the whole verse, That it is a vain thing to promise ourselves great matters . without the leave of Providence. To say, “We will go,” we will do thus and thus, it is vain; for we are not lords of our lives, nor lords of our own actions. “My times are in thy hand,” Psal. xxxi. 15. So Prov. xxvii. 1, “Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; for . thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” To-day we are, and to-morrow not. We cannot tell what may be in the womb of the next morning. So for our actions; “Their works are in the hand of God,” Eccl. ix. I ; the performance of them, and the success of them: we need counsel and a blessing. The prophet speaks of it as of a known case; “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,” Jer. x. 23. But when do men promise themselves great matters without the leave of Providence? I answer, Many ways. The principal are these : (1.) When they undertake things without prayer. You may speak of success when you have asked God’s leave: Acquaint thyself with God, then thou shalt “ decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee,” Job xxii. 28. (2.) When they are too confi- dent of future contingencies and events, without any submission and reservation of the will of God, and boast upon mere human likelihoods. See Exod. xv. 9, 10; Judg. v. 28–30. Thus Benhadad; “The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that fol- low me. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Tlet not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.” He would plunder Samaria so bare, that he would not leave any dust there; but God disappointed him, 1 Kings xx. 10–21. (3.) When men's endeavours are set up in God’s stead. We think all depends upon the course VER. 14. 175 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. quageSlimo In of sublunary causes, and so neglect God. (4.) When men promise themselves a time to repent hereafter. Many think within themselves, I will follow my pleasure and profits, and then spend my old age in a devout and retired privacy. First build, and trade, and bustle in the world, and adjourn God to the aches and dull phlegm of their age. Foolish man decrees all future events, as if all were in his own hands. Well, then, in all cases remember God: it is useful for princes and men em- ployed in counsels for public welfare; how often do they prove unhappy because they do not seek God! We should ask counsel of the oracle before we take . . it from one another. The heathens saw **...* a need to begin with God. So for sol- diers; how soon is a battle turned It is not for you to say, “I will pursue, I will over- take,” &c. Solomon saith, “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,” Eccl. ix. II. So for traders; you must not say, I will send out a ship, and get gain ; how often are carnal presumptions checked! So for Christians; do every thing in the name of the Lord Jesus: you cannot believe, repent, when you will, nor pray as you will. Samson was mistaken when he said, “I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself,” Judg. xvi. 20. The natural exercise of your faculties, and the Divine as- sistances of grace, all hang upon God’s good pleasure. Audies plerosque dicentes, a quin- otium secedam, sexagesimus, an- nus ab officiis me dimittet; et quain tandem iongioris vitae º 3C- cipis 2 quis ista, sicuti dispomis, ire patiatur ! ... Se- bec. de Brevitate Vitae. VERSE 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life 2 It is even a vapour, that ap- peareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. HAVING discovered their carnal presumption, he now disproves it by two arguments: I. The casualties of the next day. 2. The uncertainty of their own lives. Both which give a notable check to such fond con- fidence. “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the mor- row.” As if he had said, You talk of a long time, and you know not what shall happen the next day. Every day brings new providences and events with it. But you will say, Is it simply unlawful to pro- vide for the morrow, or for time to come P I answer, No. Solomon bids us to learn of the ant; “Consider her ways, and be wise; who having no guide, over- seer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest,” Prov. vi. 6–8; xxx. 25. It is but a wise foresight to secure ourselves against visible inconveniencies. Joseph is commended for laying up “food in the cities against the years of famine,” Gen. xli. 35, 36. And it was the practice of the apostles to lay up in store for the brethren at Jerusalem against the famine foretold by Agabus, Acts xi. 29. Only remember this must be done with caution; such provision must not arise from distrust, or a thought prejudicial to the care of Providence, Matt. vi. 30. It must not hinder us from the great care of our lives, provision for heaven, Matt. vi. 33. It must be with submission to God. God may soon disappoint all, and after we have caught in hunting we may not roast. “For what is your life P it is even a vapour.” Brevity of life is set forth by many comparisons in Scripture: by “the flower of the field,” Isa. xl. 6, 7; by “the wind,” Job vii. 7; “a leaf driven to and fro,” Job xiii. 25; by “a shadow,” Job xiv. 2. And in Job ix. 25, 26 there is a heap of similitudes: “Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the Swift ships: as the eagle hasteth to the prey.” . The word uses the more similitudes, that by every fleeting and decaying object we might be reminded of our own mortality; as also to check those proud desires which are in man, of an eternal abode and lasting happiness in this life. In that place of Job there is a monument of man's frailty set forth in all the elements: go to the land, and there is “a post;” go to the sea, and , there is a “swift ship;” look to the air, and there is an “eagle.” The heathen poets are much given to de- ciphering the frail estate of man. Hºschylus saith, Man’s life is carvov aſkia, the shadow of Smoke; and Pindarus, aktag övap, the dream of a shadow : the si- militude used here is that of a vapour. It were to trifle to show the resemblance in other things; it is brought only to show the swift passage of it, and because man’s life is but a little warm breath turned in and out by the nostrils; a narrow passage, and Soon stopped, Isa. ii. 22. • OBSERVATIONS. Observe out of the whole verse these two points: I. That we have no assurance of our lives and comforts, and the events of the next day. It is a common argument; heathens remark Nemo tam divos much on it. Well, then, let every tºº. day’s care be enough for itself, and jº. live every day as i. last day. Pe- ; raturi trarch tells of one, who, being invited tº º to dinner the next day, answered, Ego a jº" multis annis crastinum non habui, I have * not had a morrow for these many years. And Ludovicus Capellus tells us of one Rabbi Eleazar, that advised men to repent but one day before their death, that is, presently, it may be the next before the last. It is a sad thing to promise ourselves many years, and to have our souls taken away that night; to measure out our time and years by our carnal projects, and of a sudden we and all our fair thoughts perish, Psal. cxlvi. 4. Godly men wait for their change; upon others it comes unexpected. It is observable, that of bad men it is said, their souls are not resigned, but taken away : “What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?” Job xxvii. 8. “This night thy soul shall be required of thee,” Luke xii. 20. Wicked men would dwell longer in the body, their carnal projects are never at an end; but of a sudden God comes and snatches away their souls. Obs. 2. Man’s life is very short. It is a vapour that soon appears and disappears, dispersed as soon as raised: “Surely every man walketh in a vain show,” Psal. xxxix. 6. Though they toss to and fro, yet the whole course of their lives is but as a flying shadow, a little spot of time between two eternities. Austin doubts whether to callit a dying Nescioandicenda life or a living death. (I.) This checks ºftºº, & wº n vitalis mors. those that pass away their time rather Aug. i.i."Č. than redeem it; prodigal of their pre- * cious time, as if they had too much of it. Our season is short, and we make it shorter. It is time for all of us to say, “The time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the flesh,” I Pet. iv. 3; or, as it is Rom. xiii. 11, “It is high time to awake out of sleep,” which was the scripture that converted Austin. (2.) If life be short, then moderate your worldly cares and projects; do not cumber your- selves with too much provision for a short voyage: the ship goes the swifter the less it is burdened: men take in too much lading for a mere passage. (3.) Be more in spiritual projects, that you may lay i.76 CHAP. IV. · AN EXPOSITION OF - up a foundation for a longer life than you have to live here; do much work in a little time. Shall we lose any part of that which is so short? or in a short life make way for a long misery P. The apostle Peter saith, “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remem- brance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle,” 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. We are all shortly to divest ourselves of the upper garment of the flesh; let us do all the good that we can. Christ lived but thirty-two years, or thereabouts; therefore he went about doing good, and healing every sickness, and every disease. Ministers pack their matters close when they have but a little time; so should you; you have but short time, be the more diligent. VERSE 15. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. HAVING disproved their confidence, he proceeds to rectify it by pressing them to a holy and reverent remembrance of God’s providence and their own frailty. “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will.” Here a doubt arises. Must we always of necessity use this form of speech, or such an express exception and reservation of Providence P I answer, 1. It is good to accustom the tongue to holy forms of speech; it is a great help : the heart is best when there are such explicit and express exceptions of Providence: If the Lord please, If the Lord will, If it please the Lord that I live. A pure lip becomes a Christian, that they may be distinguished by their holy forms, as others are by their oaths, rotten speech, and un- holy solicitations. Besides, it is useful to stir up reverence in ourselves, and for others’ instruction. Such forms are confessions of Divine Providence, and the uncertainty of human life. 2. The children of God use them frequently: “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will,” I Cor. iv. 19. So I Cor. xvi. 7, “I trust to tarry awhile with you, if the Lord permit.” So Rom. i. 10, “Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.” So Phil. ii. 19, “I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus unto you shortly.” The children of God know that all their goings are ordered by the Lord, therefore they often use these reservations of his will and power. See also Gen., xxviii. 20; Heb. vi. 3. 3. The very heathens by the light of nature were wont to use these forms with some religion, and would seldom speak of any purpose of theirs without this holy parenthesis. Plato brings in Alcibiades asking Socrates how he should speak; he answers, Before every work thou must say, If God will. By the Greeks, Ośv Šsqj, By the leave or blessing of God, was commonly used in the beginning of every undertaking. What was the practice of the Oriental nations, with the story in Bensira, you may see in Gregory's Ob- Servations on some Passages of Scripture, cap. 20, And for the story of the Great Turk's murdering one of his bashaws for mentioning a confident purpose without any reservation of God’s pleasure, you may see it in Lorinus and Salmeron, on this place. 4. When we use these forms, the heart must go along with the tongue: common speeches, wherein God’s name is used, if the heart be not reverent, are but "AAA& Tós Xph Néºyety ; cui re- Spondet Socrates, ‘Ort écºv 6éðs . §6éX11. Plato in Timão. Vid. Brisson. de Formulis, lib. 1. p. 68, 69. profanations. It is Austin’s counsel, Do you learn to have in your hearts what every one hath in his tongue: the speeches are common, but the sig- nification is useful. 5. It is not always pºpula is est. necessary to express these forms; though jºis, there must be always either implicitly Aug; in Psal; tº e tº xxxii. Conc. 1. or expressly a submission to the will of God, yet we cannot make it a sin to omit such phrases. Holy men of God have often purposed things to come, and yet not formally expressed such conditions; as in the Third Epistle of John, ver. 10, “Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds.” And Rom. xv. 24, “Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you :” and in other places. “We shall live, and do this, or that.” Mark, it is not enough that God suffers us to live, but he must also by the same will suffer us to do or act. Discite habere in corde, qugd habet onnis homo in lingua, Quod vult Deus hoc agat; ipsa lingua , OBSERVATIONS. 1. All our undertakings must be referred to the will of God. Not only sacred, but civil actions. Our journeys must not be undertaken without asking his leave; as Abraham’s servant prays, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this day,” Gen. xxiv. 12; and Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 20–22. No wonder, if this be neglected, that you meet with so many cross accidents; they do not come from your hard luck, but your profane neglect. But what is it to submit all our actions to the will of God P I answer, (1.) To measure all our actions by his revealed will, that is the rule of duty; we can look for no blessing but upon those ways that suit with it. There must be a submission to his secret will, but first a conformity to his revealed will. Lust hath its SEAftwara, its wills, Eph. ii. 3, but we are to serve the will of God till we fall asleep. (2.) We must the more determinedly undertake any action when we see God in it. So Paul, when he saw the vision of the man of Macedonia praying him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us,” assuredly gathered that the Lord had called him “for to preach the gospel unto them,” Acts xvi. 9, 10. So when we see God in the sweet means and course of his providence, or by inward instinct, guiding and leading us, we may with more encouragement walk in the way that he has opened to us. (3.) When in our desires and requests we do not bind the counsels of God; “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt,” Matt. xxvi. 39. In temporal things we must submit to God’s will, both for the mercy, the means, and the time of attainment. Creatures that cannot ascribe to themselves must not prescribe to God, and give laws to Providence, but must be content to want or have as the Lord pleases: if any thing suc- ceed not well, The Lord would not; that is enough to silence all discontents. (4.) We must constantly ask his leave in prayer, as before was urged. (5.) We must still reserve the power of God’s providence; If the Lord will, If the Lord permit. God would not have us too carnally confident; it is good to inure the soul to changes. Two things we should often consider to this purpose, and they are both in the text: 1. The sovereignty and dominion of Provi- dence. The Lord can blast your enterprise, though managed with never so much wisdom and contrivance; he can nip it in the bud, or check it in the very article of execution; and I have observed, that God is very tender of his honour in this point, and usually frustrates proud men that boast of what they will do, and conceive unlimited purposes, without any thought of the check they may receive in Providence. It is a flower of the imperial crown of heaven, and the bridle that God has upon the reasonable creature, to WER. 15. 177 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. dispose of the success of human affairs; therefore herein God will be acknowledged. “A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps,” Prov. xvi. 9. Man designs, but the execution de- pends wholly upon God’s will and providence. In peremptOry resolutions there is a contest between us and Heaven about will and power, therefore in such cases the answer of Providence is more express and decisive to the creature’s loss, that God may be ac- knowledged as Lord of success, and the first Mover in all means and causes, without whom they have no force and efficacy. 2. Consider the frailty and un- certainty of your own lives; our being is as uncertain as the events of Providence. If we live, and God will, are the exceptions of the text, and imply that there must be a sensible impression of our own frailty, as well as of the sovereignty of Providence, that the heart may the better submit to God. It is said, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish,” Psal. cxlvi. 4. . Frail men are full of thoughts and pro- jects; this they will do, and that they will do, go to such a city, promote their interests by such an alli- ance, gain so much by such a purchase, and then they will raise up some stately fabric which shall continue their name and memory to succeeding generations, and all this because they do not mind the earth, which they carry about them, and how Soon the hand of Providence is able to crumble it into dust. Certainly man will never be wise till he is able to number his days, and sufficiently to possess his soul of the uncertainty of his abode in this world, Psal. xc. 12. Obs. 2. That God’s will concurs not only to our lives, but actions. We may live, and yet not be able to do anything for the promotion of our designs. For if God Suspend his concurrence, the creatures cannot act, at least not with any towardliness and success; which quite crosses the doctrine of the heathen philosophers. Seneca said, Quod vivamus, deorum munws est; quod bene vivamus, nostrum : That we live, it is by the be- nefit of the gods; that we live well, it is of ourselves. So Tully; Judicium hoc omnium mortalium est, &c.; This is the judgment of all men, that prosperity is to be sought of God, but wisdom is to be acquired by ourselves. But in the Scriptures we are taught otherwise; not only to seek success of God, but di- rection; he gives abilities to perform, and a blessing when the action is finished. Without the efficacious as well as permissive will of God, we can do nothing; he must give us life, and all things necessary to ac- tion. We must not only look up to him as the Author of the success, but the Director of the action. It is by his conduct and blessing that all things come to pass. Our very counsels and wills are subject to the Divine government, and he can “turn them whither- soever he will,” Prov. xxi. 1; and therefore we must not only commit our ways to his providence, but com- mend our hearts to the tuition of his Spirit. In short, all things are done by his will, and must be ascribed to his praise. VERSE 16. But now ye rejoice in your lºſing: : all such rejoicing 2S 62?22'. - HERE the apostle charges more closely their arrogant presumption of outward success upon their con- Sciences, especially it being aggravated by professed acknowledgment and avowing of it against the threatening of the word. N “But now ye rejoice in your boastings.” It is not easy to define what boastings the apostle means. The persons to whom he wrote are charged with glorying in their riches, and afterward for relying upon a mere profession of godliness, and glorying in their supposed religion, chap. ii.; after that he charges them with glorying in a presumption of wisdom, manifested in their censorious insultations over the failings of others, chap. iii.; and now last of all for their glorying in their carnal hopes, or fond prognostications of the success of their own endea- vours, as if their lives and actions were in their own power, and exempted from the dominion and govern- ment of Providence : probably all these may be in- tended, for the apostle's expression is plural, &\ačo- vstate, ye glory in your boastings; though I conceive the latter is principally intended, their avowing their confidence, notwithstanding the many threatenings which were ready to be executed upon them. For though the apostle's doctrine be of general use, and at all times we must conceive our purposes with sub- mission to the will of God; yet his chief drift is to check the security, carelessness, and carnal confidence of their hearts. Judgments were now approaching, and the happiness of the Jewish affairs running low, even to the bottom and dregs. For you shall see in the beginning of the next chapter he presently rings them a loud peal of threatenings, and represents the avenging Judge as at the door, or at hand, to recom- pense their iniquities. Now because they would justify their confidence, yea, glory in it, what sad thoughts soever others had of the times, he saith, “Ye rejoice,” or glory, “in your boastings.” “All such rejoicing is evil;” that is, though you think it a brave confidence, yet certainly it is but a carnal security. He saith no more of it, but it is evil, because they defended it as good: it is evil as coming from an evil cause, pride, and wretched se- curity; it is evil in its own nature, as being an out- braving of the word; it is evil in its effects, as hin- dering you from good, and putting you upon traffic, and aspiring projects, when you should more solemnly mind humbling duties, and be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, &c., as is pressed before, ver. 9. And this I conceive is the mind of the apostle in this verse, which is usually passed by interpreters slightly, without that necessary regard which should be had to the scope of the context and Epistle. - OBSERVATIONS, 1. That such is the degeneracy of human nature, that it not only practises sins, but glories in them. Man fallen is but man inverted and turned up- side down ; his love is where his hatred should be, and his hatred where his love should be ; his glory where his shame should be, and his shame where his glory should be. Many count strictness a disgrace, and sin a bravery. The apostle saith, they “glory in their shame,” Phil. iii. 19. It comes to pass sometimes through ignorance; men mistake evil for good, and so call revenge valour or resolu- tion, and prosperity in an evil way the blessing of Providence upon their zealous endeavours, and pre- sumptuous carelessness a well-built confidence. God charged it upon his people, that they had made great feasts of rejoicing, when they had more cause to mourn: “The holy flesh is passed from thee: when thou dost evil, then thou rejoicest,” Jer. xi. 15. Usually by our fond mistakes thus it is, we are bless- ing and praising God, when we have more cause to humble and afflict our souls. Sometimes it is through stupidness and sottishness of conscience; when men have worn out all honest restraints, then they “re- joice to do evil, and, delight in the frowardness of 178 CHAP. IV. AN EXPOSITION OF the wicked,” Prov. ii. 14. The drunkards think there is a bravery in their strength to pour in wine, and can boast of the number of their cups; the soaken adulterer, of so many acts of uncleanness; the swear- er thinks it the grace of his speech to interlard it with oaths; and proud persons think conceited apparel is their best ornament. Good God, whither is man fallen I First we practise sin, then defend it, then boast of it. Sin is first our burden, then our custom, then our delight, then our excellency! Obs. 2. That we have no cause to rejoice or glory in our carnal confidence. It seems to come from a generous bravery, but indeed from lowness and base- ness of spirit. It is but a running away from evil, not a mastering of it. Men dare not lay it to heart, because they know not how to fortify themselves against it. Faith and true confidence always sup- poses and prepares for the worst, but hopes the best; it meets the adversary in open field, and vanquishes it. The fool in the gospel durst not think of his death that night, Luke xii. 16–20. This is the baseness of carnal confidence, to put off trouble when it cannot put it away; and however it may scorn the threatening, it fears the judgment, and is so ill provided to bear it, that it durst not so much as think of it. - VERSE 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. IN this verse the apostle takes off the prejudice and cavil whereby his admonition might be slighted and evaded. They might reply, We have no need to be taught such a plain lesson; we know that life is short, and that God’s providence governs all things. Do you (saith the apostle) know all this P then you are the more obliged to subject your desires to his will and pleasure, which he proves by this general rule. There is nothing difficult in the verse but in the words “to him it is sin,” air; duapria șorw, that is, sin indeed; there is more of the nature of sin, there is more of the effects of sin, which he shall find in his own conscience, and in hell-torments, and God’s judiciary dispensations. Like sayings you have elsewhere : John ix. 41 ; xv. 22. But you will say then, Are those that sin out of ignorance wholly free from sin P I answer, No: for, I. Sins of ignor- ance are sins, though more remissible, 1 Tim. i. 13, though not so highly punished, Luke xii. 47. God's law was once impressed upon our natures, and we are obliged to all that was written upon Adam's heart. 2. Affected ignorance renders us highly cul- pable, 2 Pet. iii. 5; when men shut the windows, and resist the light; for then they might know, but would not. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That it is not enough to know good, but we must do it also... Gifts in the mind without a change in the heart will not stead you. Often we find that men of much knowledge are apt to be enslaved by their appetites, the lower and more brutish faculties, and though they be orthodox, yet are unmortified; keen against errors, but indulgent to vices. O con- sider, you should add to knowledge temperance, 2 Pet. i. 5, otherwise what will it avail you ? Others are ignorant of God in their minds, and you deny him in your lives; others question the truth of re- ligion, and you deny the power of it. Besides, it serves to check slighting thoughts of a plain truth; we are apt to say, I know this enough already; ah, but do I practise it? Is not this a new hint from God to convince me of my negligence P Surely God seeth I do not live up to this knowledge; therefore the same truth, this common truth, is returned to my mind. Obs. 2. Sins of knowledge are most dangerous. They are greater sins than others, as having more of malice and contempt in them. There is more con- tempt both of the law of God and of God's kindness: see Matt. xi. 20. It is a sign you love sin as sin; for when you know what it is, you adventure upon it. Besides, sins against knowledge have more of the marks of God’s vengeance upon them. In the re- probate they are punished with great despair and horror of conscience: see Prov. v. 11–14. Or with hardness of heart. Iron oft heated and oft quenched grows the harder. It is just with God to punish contempt of light with obduracy. Or with madness against the truth. The most moral heathens were the sorest persecutors, as Severus, Antoninus, &c. This is sensibly and clearly discerned Apostate sunt in apostates, who are carried on with maximiosores most wilful malice against the truths "** which they once professed: “The revolters are pro- found to make slaughter,” Hos. v. 2. Forward pro- fessors turn violent persecutors ; they would fain quench the light shining in their own bosoms. Alexander was once a disciple, but he made ship- wreck of the faith, 1 Tim. i. 20; and he is the man that must set on the mul- titude against Paul: The Jews drew out Alexander; and he beckoned with the hand, Acts xix. 33. The same man is intended; for he dwelt at Ephesus, as we learn by both the Epistles to Timothy. Now the Jews set him up as the fittest accuser of Paul; he knew his doctrine, and he must appear to turn all the blame of the uproar upon the Christians. Once more we read of this Alexander as a desperate enemy of the truth, 2 Tim. iv. 14. Certainly the rage and malice of such men is the greater, because of the abundance of their light which they have renounced. No vinegar so tart as that which is made of the sweetest wine. “They that forsake the law praise the wicked,” Prov. xxviii. 4; that is, do not only commit sin, but approve it in others. Still they are the most violent and forward men. Sometimes God gives them up to sottishness: see Rom. i. 21–23. It is very notable, see Despaigne's and exceedingly verifies the apostle's ... ºr observation, that the most refined and Šº the moral heathens (who are presumed to **** have most light) were given up to the most beastly errors about the nature of God; as the Romans and Grecians worshipped fevers and human passions, deam cloacinam, every paltry thing for God; whereas the Scythians, and more barbarous nations, worship- ped the thunder, the sun, things terrible in them- selves; which plainly discover God’s just judgment in darkening their foolish heart, because they were not thankful in the improvement of light received. But the greatest displeasure of God against sins of knowledge is declared hereafter in the torments of hell, where the proportions of everlasting horrors rise higher and higher, according to the several ag- gravations of sin, Luke xii. 48. Thus God punishes sins of knowledge in the reprobate; but his own children also perceive the difference between these and other sins ; nothing breaks the bones and scourges the Soul with such a sad remorse as sins against light. This broke David’s heart; Thou hadst put knowledge in my inward parts, Psal. li. 6. He had committed adultery against checks of conscience, and the watchful light of his inward parts. I might See Grotius in Acts xix. 33. WER. 1. 179 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. speak much more upon this argument, but that I only intend hints. Concerning the danger of sins of knowledge, you may see more in Mr. Thomas Good- win’s treatise, called Aggravations of Sins of Know- ledge, whose judicious observations being so full and express, I shall presume to add no more. - Obs. 3. Sins of omissipn are aggravated by know- ledge as well as sins of commission. The apostle saith, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not.” Usually in sins of commission natural light is most working, because there is an actual disturb- ance, by which the free contemplation of the mind is hindered; and because foul acts bring more shame, and impress more horror, than bare neglects; yet to omit a duty against knowledge may be as bad as to tell a lie against knowledge. The rule is positive, enforcing duty, as well as privative, forbidding sin; and according to the knowledge of it, so is the obli- gation. Oh that we might be more conscientious in this matter, and be as tender of omitting prayer against light, and neglecting to meditate and examine conscience against light, as we are of committing adultery against light ! C H A P T E R. V. VERSE I. BEFoRE I come to the particular verses of this para- graph, it will be necessary to premise somewhat con- cerning the persons to whom it is to be referred; for it seems strange that any should be so vile under the Christian name and profession, as to oppress and persecute their brethren, and that even to death, in these times of persecution, to condemn and kill the just, and draw them before the judgment-seats. Briefly, then, though the main of the Epistle con- cerns the godly, and the principal intent be their in- struction and comfort; yet he takes occasion many times to speak to the ungodly and unconverted amongst them. The ancient holy seed was now upon the dregs, guilty of oppression, injury, and all man- ner of profaneness; and because these lived dispersed and intermingled with the godly, and those that were gained to the Christian faith, he takes occasion to divert and direct his speech to them. That you may not look upon this as an uncertain conjecture, give me leave to produce my grounds and reasons. (1.) I may argue from the inscription of the whole Epistle, “To the twelve tribes,” promiscuously, with- out any express mention of their holy calling or faith, which is usual in the other apostolical Epistles. (2.) From the common and civil form of salutation, Xaipeiv, “greeting;” the apostles writing to Christians, solemnly wish them “grace and peace.” (3.) From the style, which is more rousing and pressing than usual, as intended for the awakening of secure sin- ners, or persons carnal. (4.) The last verses of the Epistle seem to intimate that much of his scope was to convert unbelievers: see James v. 19, 20. (5.) Here he plainly speaks to rich wicked men, though the truth is, not so much for their sakes as the sake of the godly, to encourage them to patience. For I like Calvin’s judgment well, that these six verses are not so much an admonition as a denunciation, where- in the apostle does not so much direct them what to do, as foretell what should be done to them, that the godly might be encouraged to more patience under their oppressions; for that the apostle infers plainly, ver. 7.... I have been long in prefacing, but I hope you will judge it necessary, it conducing much not only to the opening of this paragraph, but of many other places in the Epistle. From the whole we may learn, Itafideleinstruit , That we must not so altogether mind #"º, believers, but that we must give unbe- * * lievers their portion, terror to whom Go To Now, YE RICH MEN, weep AND HowL FOR YOUR MISERIES THAT SHALL COME UPON YOU. terror belongs, as well comfort to whom comfort. Christ’s sermon chiefly aimed at the disciples’ profit, but yet there are many lessons for the multitude: Jesus, when he saw the multitude, called his dis- ciples, and taught them, Matt. v. 1, 2, the disciples, in the people's hearing ; and so interspersed many things which are of general use and profit. “Go to now,” &ys viv. The phrase we opened be- fore, it is a kind of a citing or calling them to the throne of God’s judgment. “Ye rich men,” of TAoûgiot. He does not threaten rich men simply, but such as are afterwards described, carnal rich men, such as were drowned in pleasures, puffed up with pride, worldly, wicked, oppressive ; and though he use the word “rich,” yet the threat- ening is applicable not only to those that abuse their wealth, but also their greatness, public place, au- thority, power, as to princes, judges, magistrates, and their officers. Because the apostle speaks indefinitely, “ye rich men,” something is notable. “Weep and howl,” k\aúgars ÓAoAö&ovrsc, weep howling. The first word is proper to the sorrow of man, the other to the unreasonable creatures, and so it notes the height of the calamity; it would be such as would make them howl like wolves of the even- ing. Howling is a sign of great grief; nature over- burdened strives to give it vent by loud complaints. Some observe an allusion; they that had lived after the manner of beasts, like hounds and “wolves, are here bidden to howl like beasts; but this may be a strain of wit. That inquiry is most necessary and solid, whether this be spoken here by way of counsel or commination ? Some think it spoken by way of counsel, as if he would have them prevent their judgments by godly sorrow. The truth is, this is the way to escape judgments, when we mourn for them before they come. After great showers the air is clear. It is better to weep and howl in a way of duty than in a way of judgment. There will be weeping and howling hereafter, but it will be to no purpose: “Cast him out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matt. viii. 12. But I rather look upon it as a threatening and de- nunciation of judgment than an advice or invitation to repentance; partly, because it is usual with the prophets to utter their threatenings in an imperative and commanding form, especially when they would note the Sureness of judgments as if already come; as here, “weep, howl:” and the prophets do so, to check N 2 - 180 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF the present security and jollity of those to whom they speak: see the 15th and 16th chapters of Isaiah, and Jer. xlviii. 36. Partly, because our apostle seems to cut off all hope from them; “for your miseries that shall come upon you,” not lest miseries shall come upon you. Partly, because his main drift is to speak to the poor Christians, that they might be the more patient under the oppression of these great men, by showing that their prosperity should not always last. “For your miseries that shall come upon you,” ra- Nautropiac ipêv raig &rspxopévaig. But what are these P Partly sore afflictions in this life, partly hell-torments in the life to come; both may be understood. l. The temporal miseries which lighted upon Jerusalem ; Christ foretold them, Luke xix. 43,44, and they came to pass about forty years after his ascension; as also the calamities which every where attended the people of the Jews wherever they were scattered, especially in Alexandria, a city in which the Jews were two parts of five; yet were they ransacked, and by the command of Flaccus forced into a confined place of the city, without sustenance, food, or fresh air, where they were not able to stir one for another; and if any straggled abroad, they were knocked down and slain; many were smoked and choked to death in a fire, where they wanted fuel to burn them outright; thirty-eight of their counsellors and rich men were sent for, dragged through the streets, and scourged to death. This may be intended in part. 2. Hell-torments, which are indeed miseries to come; the other are but the beginning of sorrows, to what Dives or the rich man in the gospel felt in the flames, Luke xvi. 24. See Joseph. An- tiq., lib. 18. Phil. in Hist, Legat, ad Caium. And Lightfoot in Comment. on Acts. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That it is hard to possess riches without sin. Riches are called “the mammon of unrighteous- ness,” Luke xvi. 9, because they are usually pos. sessed by wicked men, the men of God’s hand, Psal. xvii. 14; and because they are most adored and admired by wicked men; and because they are often gotten by unrighteous dealing, and hardly kept with- Out sin. It is a difficult matter to have them, and not to be hindered from heaven by them, Matt. xix. 23–26; not to grow proud, sensual, injurious, car- nal, and worldly. We see the beasts, as boars and bulls, when they are full and in good plight, grow fierce : so men wax insolent in the midst of their abundance. Well, then, do not covet riches so much, or please yourselves in the enjoyment of them, but look to your hearts with the more care; it is an easy matter to offend in the midst of outward fulness. A long coat will soon be draggled, and turned into a dirty rag, and a short will not cover nakedness; the mean is best. See Agur's choice, Prov. xxx. 8, 9; when he saith, Give me not riches, he adds, “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord P” There is no condition of life begets insolency and con- tempt of God so much as a luxurious fulness. But you will say, What would you have us do?’ throw away our estates? I answer, No; but, (1.) Prize them less; when you possess them, let them not possess you : Shall I value unrighteous mammon, the portion of the men of God’s hand P No, let me have the favour of God’s people, Psal. cvi. 4, 5; cxix. 132. A man cannot know love and hatred by all that is be- fore him. Riches are given to the good, lest they should be thought evil; to the bad, lest we should think them the only and chiefest good. (2.) Do the more good. Duties recovered out of the hand of difficulty are the more commendable : “Make to Dantur bonis, ne putentur mala ; malis, ne puten- turbona. yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteous- ness,” Luke xvi. 9. It is usually the matter of sin, do you make it the matter of duty. The more liable we are to sin in any estate, the more commendable every way is the duty of it. (3.) Seek God the more earnestly for grace; in a full estate you need it much. It is not simply and absolutely impossible for a rich man to go to heaven. Poor $ tº - Lazarus rests there in the bosom of rich £º, Abraham. God can loosen the heart Alºhamidivitis. from the world, so as riches shall be no “ - impediment to hinder you from heaven. Whatever difficulties we are told of in the way to heaven, they serve only to make us despair of our own strength and abilities, Matt. xix. 26. Obs. 2. That many who frolic away their days have more cause to weep and howl. “Go to now,” &c.; that is, You are merry, and voluptuous, and dream of nothing but golden days, without the least thought of the miseries that are hastening upon you. After Sultry weather comes a storm, and when the wind is still the great rain falls. They that were to go first into captivity had their merry banquets, Amos vi. 1–7. Well, then, learn that they are not most happy who have least trouble, but who have least cause. - - Again, you may observe from his pressing the rich to howl, and his endeavour to wean them from their jollity, “Go to now,” &c., - Obs. 3. That riches and outward enjoyments aré a sorry ground of rejoicing. This is a joy that may end in sorrow; the rich are called to howling. When rich men are troubled, we ask what such a man should ail. The barbarous Irish ask why they mean to die. But the judgment of God and the world are contrary; his “ thoughts are not as your thoughts,” Isa. lv. 8. The world thinks that none have more cause to rejoice, and God that none have more cause to mourn. Well, then, look to the ground of your rejoicing. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul,” Psal. xciv. 19. Christians should look to the rise of their con- tentment, and be sure their comforts are such as flow from God. What a difference is there between David and the carnal fool in the gospel ! David bids his soul be merry upon this ground, “God is the health of my countenance,” Psal. xlii. 11. And the fool saith, “Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Upon what ground P “Thou hast much goods laid up for many years,” Luke xii. 19. Obs. 4. Rich sinners are most incurable. and howl.” Nothing but woe to them, …, Aris- as if they were past hope and counsel, tº Fº. and only left to terror and threatening. * * He had said “Go to now * before to the ambitious traffickers, James iv. 13 ; them he instructs, but these he only threatens. The reason is, prosperity begets security: “And Ephraim said, Yet I am be- come rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin,” Hos. xii. 8. Because they were rich, they were not sensible of their evil crafts and subtleties. Besides, these are seldom faithfully reproved; and when they are, are most unwilling to bear a reproof; they storm at it, as if their greatness would bear them out. I went, “to the great men, but these have alto- gether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds,” Jer. v. 5. The meaning is, they had cast off all manner of respect and subjection to the law of God. Well, then, you that have great estates, beware of these two things, security in sin, and storming at the re- proofs of sin. Salvian saith that he could not speak against the vices of great men, but one si agen, in so or other of them would be objecting, esse novitàu. “Weep WER. I. 181 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. There he meant me, he hit me, and so storm and fret. Alas, (as he replies,) it is not we who speak to you, but your own consciences; we speak to the order, but conscience speaks to the person. Obs. 5. That sore miseries and judgments shall come upon wicked rich men. “Yerich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.” Thou saly, lib. 1. ad shalt, not be miserable as a murderer §º Caº or a fornicator, (as Salvian glosses,) but ~~~ as a rich man, because thou hast ill used thy wealth, at least not employed it for God’s glory. See what a strain of threatenings there is against rich men: “Woe unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full ! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now ! for ye shall mourn and weep,” Luke vi. 24, 25. So Isa. v. 8, “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth !” . It is notable, that in both these places words which merely imply riches are used, though the worldly man is intended, that places all his de- light, love, care, confidence, and glory in his riches. To rich men much is committed; they have more opportunities and obligations to do good than others, and yet usually have least hearts, and therefore they are called to a more severe account, in this world, and the world to come. Sometimes in this world God reckons with them; in all changes rich men have the greatest proportion of calamity. The winds shake the tallest cedars most sorely. God loves to bear down the strong oaks, Amos ii. 9. But in the world to come they sadly know what it is to have a portion only in this world. God will not give you a double heaven; oh who would for a temporal heaven adventure an eternal hell ! O then if there be any worldly wicked rich man, that hears me this day, loquor, non hoc a mea lingua dici existimet, sed a conscientia sua. Saly. de Guber. Dei, lib. 4. go to now, weep and mourn for the calamities that . are come upon you. You will say, We do no hurt with our wealth. Aye, but what good, do you do? “Your garments are moth-eaten,” and your money rusted; you are wretched and worldly, negligent in religion, careless to lay out your substance for good uses; and “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” So also the poor may learn hence not to envy worldly pomp and glory. A little with righteousness is a greater blessing, and a pledge of more; all their great treasure brings but a trouble and a curse. See Psal. xxxvii. 16, “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” ... Your little may bring you more comfort, than if all their store were cast into one heap, and bestowed upon you. So the word of our God assures us, “Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith,” Prov. xv. 16: but these are principles that are only relished by men of a mortified and contented mind. r- VERSE 2, 3. Four riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth- eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the vust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. treasure together for the last days. HERE the apostle comes particularly to discover their sin, and the reason of God’s judgment. The method is observable; he first threatens, and then aims par- ticularly to convince. Note hence, That every solemn threatening must be accom- Pºe have heaped panied with sound conviction. This heads the arrow, and makes it enter. Every “woe” must have a “for,” Matt. xxiii., otherwise men will not care for terrible words. Such brutish thunder becomes a Mahometan derwise, rather than a preacher of the gospel. The success of our work depends upon evidence, and the “demonstration of the Spirit,” I Cor. ii. 4. “Your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver is cankered.” It is observable that he speaks of all kind of wealth. “Your riches are corrupted;” that is, corn, and wine, and oil, all things subject to corruption. “Your gar- ments are moth-eaten;” that is, silks, clothes, linens, and all such kind of wares.- Then by the rust of gold and silver he intends the decay of all kind of metals. Now by these circumstances the apostle, 1. Evinces their sin; that they would hoard up their goods and money, and suffer them to be eaten out by moths and rust, and so be corrupted or perish with- out any profit at all, rather than lay them out for good uses, the supply of the poor, and public com- modity. 2. Upbraids their folly; that they were such fools to place their confidence in that which is of so perishing and frail a nature, as to be eaten out by rust and moths. 3. The apostle may produce these circumstances as the first pledges of God’s displeasure against them, and the preface and introduction of the curse upon their hoards and treasures, in that they were defaced or destroyed by moths, wet, or rust. “And the rust of them shall be a witness against you.” It is usual in Scripture to ascribe a testimony to things inanimate against the unthankful and wicked. As to the gospel; “For a witness unto all nations,” Matt. xxiv. 14. The preaching of the word will be a witness that men had warning enough. So to the dust of the apostles’ feet; “Shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them,” Mark vi. 11; that is, it shall be clear that you are free of their blood; if there be no other witnesses, this dust shall witness it. . So to the rust here, it shall be a witness; that is, for the present it is an argument of conviction that you had enough, though you would not lay it out; and hereafter it shall be brought by the supreme Judge, as a circumstantial evidence for your condemnation. Your own consciences remem- bering the moth and rust, shall bring to remem- brance your covetous hoarding. “And shall eat your flesh as it were fire.” Some interpret this of those anxious and piercing cares, wherewith covetous men cumber their lives, and eat out the vigour of their own spirits, 1 Tim. vi. 9; but with little probability. They come much nearer to the scope of the apostle, who interpret this “eating as it were fire” of the means and cause of their ruin. It is usual in Scripture to compare the wrath of God to fire, whether expressed by temporal judgments, or eternal torments: see Psal. xxi. 9; Isa. xxx. 27; and xxxiii. 11, “Your breath, as fire, shall devour you.” So Mark ix. 44, “Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Now the effects of wrath are also ascribed to the meritorious cause of it; for what wrath is said to do, that sin is said to do; as in the places cited, and here, the rust shall eat as fire; that is, shall hasten the wrath of God, which shall burn as fire, either in your temporal or eternal ruin. Pos- sibly here may be some latent allusion to the manner of Jerusalem's ruin, in which many thousands perish- ed by fire, and which was a pledge of the general judgment. “Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” This clause has undergone several construc- tions. Some by “the last days” understand the latter part of their lives, as if the apostle in this ex- pression taxed that carnal distrust whereby covetous 182 CHAP. V. AN EXPOSITION OF men think they shall never have enough to suffice their needy old age. Such kind of men are always distrustful of future events, and carking for the mor- row ; what shall become of them and their children, and how they shall live when they are old; a sinful anxiety, however veiled under the appearance of ne- cessity. God gave the Israelites manna but for one day, and our Lord taught us to pray for daily bread. Every day’s trouble is ordained by God for our ex- ercise, and is enough to take up our thoughts. We do but anticipate our cares, and create a needless distraction to ourselves, by carking for the last days; and yet usually this dis- position increases with age, and the older men grow, the more solicitous about world provisions. Thus some explain the apostle, but with little reason; for it is not a descrip- tion, but a threatening; and the apostle is not now inti- mating their disposition, but their judgment and ruin. Others expound the clause of treasuring and storing up wrath against the day of judgment; as the apostle Paul uses such another phrase, Rom. ii. 5. Calvin inclines to this sense, because of the former expres- sion, “shall eat your flesh as it were fire;” and in- deed some translations (as the Syriac and Arabic) read that clause, “as fire,” with this last sentence, You have treasured up riches as it were fire for the last days ; that is, as Tliodati expounds it, Whereas you thought to lay up treasures for time to come, you shall in effect find that you have laid up God’s wrath. I confess this is probable, because of the particular allusion to their hoarding, and because of the known resemblance between wrath and a treasure; it is long gathering, but every day the sum increases; and the longer it is ere it be opened, the greater the heap. As Jehoiada's chest, which was not to be opened Plus viatici quae- ritur, quo minus restat viae. Seneca. till the sum was considerable; so it is here, God’s Wrath increases by degrees, the slower always the g & © more sharp in the issue; so that it is §; some kind of mercy to meet with a sud- º den punishment, and to have our world- ly practices checked with an early dis- Sed cum sentio te † e iratum, tunc appointment, lest wrath grow with our maxime confido §§ Fºr estates, and we do not treasure up money arCi, *II), ë e sº e fºrm So much as judgments, which will be a g sad gain when the chest of God’s pa- tience is broken open, Job xxvii. 8 ; Prov. xi. 4. It were far better to scatter than to increase such a heap; as those that fly in battle scatter their wealth, that they may not be pursued. God gave us riches as a means to escape wrath, by a liberal and chari- table distribution of them to his own glory; certainly we should not use them as a means to treasure up Wrath. Thus you see the words may be fitly accom- modated with this sense. But I rather prefer a third, because there is no cogent reason why we should take this #0mgavpicars, “ye have heaped trea- Sures,” in a metaphorical sense, especially since with good leave from the context, the scope of the apostle, and the state of those times, the literal may be retain. ed. I should therefore simply understand the words as an intimation of their approaching judgments; and so the apostle seems to me to tax their vanity in hoarding and heaping up wealth, when those Scattering and fatal days to the Jewish common- wealth were even ready to overtake them : all that treasure, which with such wrong to others, hazard of their own contentment, and violation of their con- Sciences, they had heaped up together, was but heaped up for the spoiler, and the violence of the last days. OBSERVATIONs. 1. That Sordid sparing is a sure sign of a worldly heart. Covetousness is all for keeping; as the fool in the gospel talked of laying up in his barns, Luke xii. 18. Those that are enamoured will not part with their pictures of desire, and let their dar- ling go out of sight; that which God would have communicated and laid out, they are all for keeping and laying it up. God gave us wealth, not that we should be hoarders, but dispensers. The noblest act of the creature is communication to others’ neces- sities; but a covetous man does not dispense to his own; a spiteful envy keeps him from the supply of others, and a carnal esteem from sparing to himself. Seneca calls covetous men chests. ° Hominem illum think them men, and they are but cof- judicas, arca est: fers ; who would envy a trunk well §§". stored P. Well, then, beware of “with- videº Seneca. holding more than is meet,” Prov. xi. 24, of a delight in hoarding; it is a sure note that the world hath too much of your heart. Obs. 2. Keeping things from public use till they are corrupted or spoiled is sordid sparing. When you lay them not out upon God, or others, or your- self, you are justly culpable. The word for money is xpijua, which signifies use; you abuse it when you make it crijua, a possession; then you might as well have so many stones as so many treasures. It is against the ordination of God and the common good of human society. Scourge your souls with remorse for this baseness. Your meat putrifies when many a hungry belly wants it; your clothes are eaten with moths, which would cover the nakedness of many a poor soul in the world; your money rusts, which should be laid out for public defence. The inhabit- ants of Constantinople would afford no money to the emperor Constantinus Palaeologus, when he begged from door to door for a supply for the soldiers; but what was the issue P the barbarous enemy won the city, and got all. The like story there e - © is of Musteatzem, the covetous caliph *ś" " of Babylon, who was such an idolater of his wealth and treasures, that he would not ex- pend any thing for the necessary defence of his city, whereupon it was taken, and the caliph famished to death, and his mouth by Haalon the Tartarian con- queror filled with melted gold. Obs. 3. Covetousness brings God’s curse upon our estates. He sends corruption, and the rust, and the moth. There is nothing gotten by rapine or tenacity; by greedy getting, or close withholding. Not by greedy getting; when men will snatch an estate out of the hands of Providence, no wonder if God snatch it away again; ill gains are equivalent to losses. “Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked P” Micah vi. 10; that is, have they them still P Not by undue withholding ; it draws man’s curse and God’s too upon us. “He that with- holdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but bless- ing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it,” Prov. xi. 26. God can easily corrupt that which we will not bestow, and cause a worm to breed in manna. Certainly there is a withholding that tends to po- verty, Prov. xi. 24. Well, then, learn the meaning of that gospel riddle, That he that will save must lose ; and the best way of bringing in is laying out. Obs. 4. There is corruption and decay upon the face of all created glory. “Riches corrupted, gar- ments moth-eaten, gold and silver cankered.” It is madness to set up our restin perishing things. “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” Prov. xxiii. 5. It is not only against grace, but reason. Confidence should have a sure and stable ground. Well, then, take Christ's advice, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,” &c., Matt. vi. 19, 20. We are apt to seek treasures here, but the moth and the rust WER. 3. 183 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. checks our vanity. These are like treasures of snow, that melt in our fingers. So Luke xii. 33, “Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approach- eth, neither moth corrupteth.” A man should look after a happiness that will last as long as his soul lasts. Why should we who have souls that will not perish look after things that perish in the using P. These things pass away, and the lust of them also, 1 John ii. 17. Time will come, when the "world will not relish with us. When we are about to leave the world, then we complain how it has abused us. Obs. 5. That God has several ways wherewith to blast our carnal comforts. Sometimes by the moth, sometimes by the thief, by rust, or robbery; they may either rot, or be taken from us. Well, then, let the greater awe be impressed upon your thoughts. Usually we look no further than the present likeli- hoods. Sometimes God can arm the fire, sometimes a great wind, and anon the Sabeans. Job has mes- senger upon messenger, chap. i. There is nothing keeps the heart so loose from earthly comforts, as the consideration of the several ways they may be taken from us. This evinces our near depend- ence upon God, and the absolute dominion of Provi- dence. Obs. 6. That in the day of judgment the least cir- cumstances of our sinful actions shall be brought forth as arguments of conviction. God cannot want wit- nesses; the rusty iron, the cankered silver, the moth- eaten clothes shall be produced; that is, by the re- cognition of our consciences. “The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it,” Hab. ii. 11; that is, the materials of the house built up by oppression shall come as joint witnesses. The stones of the wall shall cry, Lord, we were built up by rapine and violence; and the beam shall answer, True, Lord, even so it is. The stones shall cry, Vengeance, Lord, upon our ungodly Owner; and the beam shall answer, Woe to him be- cause he built his house with blood. The circum- stances of sin are as so many memorials to put us in mind of guilt, and to put God in mind of vengeance. Well, then, think of these things for the present; This rust may be produced against me, this pile of building, these musty clothes in the wardrobe. Con- science is a shrewd remembrancer, it writes when it does not speak. Many times for the present it is silent, and seems to take no notice of those circum- stances of guilt; but they are all registered, and pro- duced at the last day; the very filth of thy fingers in telling money will be an evidence that thou hast defiled thy soul with the love of it. Obs. 7. That the matter of our sin shall in hell be- come the matter of our punishment. The rust of hoard- ed treasures is not only witness, but executioner; as it has eaten out the silver, so it shall eat your flesh, and gnaw upon your consciences. When you are burning in hell-flames, reflections upon the rust will be sad and horrible. The vexation and anger at your past folly will heighten your present sufferings. Conscience Aug. de civitate and a sense of the wrath of God are a ºb. 21. great part of that fire which burns Cap. 4. Souls, and the outward pains are much increased by remembering the past circumstances of sin; the revenging image and representation of them always runs in the thoughts, and their flesh is eaten, but not consumed. O consider of it, the rust that eats out the money is but a pledge of those devouring torments. It will be sad to think hereafter that so much money as you hoarded up, so much fire you kept in your chests, to your own eternal ruin. It is a part of heaven's happiness to know as we are known; that is, to look back upon the circumstances of our past lives, and to see what we were enabled to do by the care and help of grace. And so it is a part of hell’s torment to review the passages of a sinful life, and with horror and a despairing remorse to look back upon the known evidences and circumstances of their own guilt; their present delights prove their future torments. - Obs. 8. The misery of covetousness here and here- after; now it burns the soul with desires and cares, and hereafter with despair and remorse of conscience; here pierced with thorns, and there scorched with fires. Oh what a hard service have these drudges of Satan care for the present, and horror hereafter 1 They labour and toil, and all that they may go to hell with just nothing. What do you gain by Satan? Every sinner is first taken in his Snares, and then bound in chains of darkness ; but you, above all others, begin your hell by eating out all your quiet with carking care, that you may eternally undo your souls with the more pains. - Obs. 9. That usually men are most secure and carnal before their own judgment and ruin. What wretched men were here fallen upon the lot of the last days? Usually thus it is, men are most full of carnal pro- jects when God is about to break down and pluck up. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord,” Jer. xlv. 5. Foolish men are like a com- pany of ants, storing their nests when their hill or burrow is like to be turned up; and there is never more general security than when judgments are at hand. A little before the flood, “they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in mar- riage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all,” Luke xvii. 27. And in verses 28 and 29 of the same chap- ter the same is observed of Sodom; “They bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” When men earnestly apply themselves to worldly business, and find no time to care for their souls, it is a sad prognostic; they do but bring forth for the murderer, and heap up for the plunderer; “For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruc- tion cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape,” I Thess. v. 3. When security runs riot, and is like to degenerate into utter contempt of God, men are not likely to profit by the word ; therefore God takes the rod in hand, that by the severity of discipline he may teach men that which they would not learn by kinder and milder persuasions. Plethoric bodies müst have their veins opened. And when a people are grown to such wanton fulness, God will send the emptiers to empty them out, Nah. ii. 2. - VERSE 4. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down g/our fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. HERE is another argument of conviction produced, that is to say, the oppression of their servants and labourers, in defrauding them of their reward; a sin so injurious, and of such a heinous quality, that it cries to God for vengeance. The phrases will be opened in the - gº 184 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF OBSERVATIONS. 1. That there is no sin so heinous and base but covetousness may be a mother or a nurse to it. What more sordid, than for a rich man to detain the la- bourer's wages P. It was base to hoard up their own treasures till corrupted with moth or rust; but a practice most accursed, after they had sucked out the strength and sweat of the labourer, to deprive him of his reward. Yet usually thus it is, men that do not part with their own right, will not make conscience of invading another's. First men are sparing, and then injurious. Detest this sin with the more aver- sion, you know not how far it will carry you; the apostle saith, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” I Tim. vi. 10. Obs. 2. Some sins are crying, and more especially require vengeance at the hands of God. This crying is applied to blood; “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth,” Gen. iv. 10; not his soul, but his blood. So to the wickedness of Sodom; “The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,” Gen. xviii. 20. So to op- pression of God’s servants; they are dear to him. “God heard their groaning;” and, “The cry of the children of Israel is come unto me,” Exod. ii. 24; iii. 9. So to oppression of the widows and father- less; “Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry,” Exod. xxii. 22, 23. And, wer. 27, to taking the neighbour's necessary garment to pledge; “And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.” In short, all sins that disturb human society, that are committed with impudence and public liberty, that are of so heinous a nature, that God in honour is bound as it were to mark them out with some severe stroke of vengeance, that are neglected by men because of the power and great- ness of those that commit them, or else done in secret, and so past human cognizance, as Cain's murdering of Abel; so all sins which are past the help of the oppressed; all such sins are said to cry: not that God wants evidence, or that his justice needs excitation, but because some of those sins even dare vengeance, and provoke Divine justice to take notice of them; and in other of these sins God is ap- pealed to by the oppressed as witness and avenger; human justice wanting will, or power, or fit means of convic- tion to proceed against them. Besides, this crying in some cases shows the un- willingness of God to punish, till he be solicited and urged thereunto by the importunity and provocation of our own sins. Obs. 3. As all oppression cries to God, so especially the oppression of poor servants, and those that live by hand labour. It is twice repeated in the text; “who have reaped down your fields;” and then again, “the cries of them which have reaped:” and the reason is, because it is their life, and so an act of the great- est unmercifulness. And besides you disappoint them of the solace of their labours: He hath set his heart upon it, Deut. xxiv. 15 ; this is that he reckons upon, his wages at the end of the day. But you will Say, How many ways may we oppress the poor la- bourer? I answer, 1. When through greatness you challenge their labours without reward; as the gentry use the peasants of many countries. “Woe unto him that useth his neighbour's service without wages!” Jer. xxii.13; meaning, Jehoiakim, who, in his pompous buildings, used his subjects’ labour without hire. 2. When you give them not a proportionate hire, working upon their necessities, for then a great part Ostendit T)omi- nus quam invitus puniat etiam gra- V1SS1mos pecca- tores, dicens quod clamor Sodomo- rum ad se ascen- derit; hog est dicere, Miseri- cordia quidem measuadet ut - Fº Salvian, ib. 1. de Provid. of their labour is without reward; and it is flat covet- ousness to “exact all your labours,” Isa. lviii. 3, when your reward is scanty and short. 3. When by cunning ye defraud them of their reward, either through bad payment or crafty cavils. The Lord saith, “I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages,” Mal. iii. 5; so it is in the text, “kept back by fraud.” God knows what is op- pression, though veiled under crafty pretences. 4. When you diminish or change their wages; as it is said of Laban, that he changed Jacob’s wages ten times, Gen. xxxi. 41. 5. When you delay payment. God commanded the Jews to do it ere sun-set : see Deut. xxiv. 14, 15; Lev. xix. 13. It is a maxim of the law, Minus solvit, qui minus tempore solvit, That not to pay it at the time is to pay the less, because of the ad- vantage of improvement. And in the text it is said, “kept back by fraud;” though not wholly taken away, yet the keeping back was sinful. The Lord (you know) rewards his servants ere they have i. their work; we have much of our wages afore- and. Obs. 4. Though the poor should not cry, the very hire and money would cry, and require vengeance against oppressors. The apostle saith, not only the reapers cry, but “the hire crieth.” So Job saith, “If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain,” Job xxxi. 38. God can- not want witnesses against cruelty; the hire shall cry, the poor shall cry, the beam and the stone out of the wall shall cry, Hab. ii. 11; the very affliction shall cry, as it is said, Gen. xvi. 11, he heard Hagar's affliction, when Sarah had used her harshly and imperiously. So in Lam. ii. 18, “Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thy- self no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.” Their groans clamour, and their tears have a loud voice. O then consider this, secret wrongs will be known to God. The children of God may not know who harmed them; wicked men act at a distance; like a spider, when she has weaved a net, goes out of the way: but yet the Lord knows ; their very afflictions will cry against you, when they know not against whom to cry. - 7 T - ~ “The Lord of sabaoth ;” that is, the Lord of hosts; a name often used in the prophetical books, but most commonly in Isaiah and Zechariah. It is not usual in the New Testament, God’s titles being there more full of sweetness and grace; and the reason why it was so much used then, was because the people of God were in great misery, needed much defence and protection, and were in danger to let fall their hopes out of fear of men. It was a name of God so commonly known and used, that the Septua- gint retained the Hebrew term by which it was ex- pressed: and so also it is kept in the New Testa- ment, Küptog Gaffaë0, as by Paul, Rom. ix. 29, and by James in this place; not religiously, out of any mystery in the syllables, as Jerom supposes, but be- cause this appellation of God was so familiar among the Jews, and so easily known to the nations that conversed with them. Now the Lord is called “the Lord of sabaoth,” or Lord of hosts, because all his creatures are ranked in such an order, that they are always ready to serve and accomplish his will. Obs. 5. That the Lord is a Lord of hosts, Command- er-in-chief of all the creatures, angels, men, thunder, lightnings, storms, showers, lions, fevers, &c.; they are all at his beck, waiting for his word. He can send lightnings, that they may go; they say unto him, Here we are, Job Kxxviii. 35; that is, Lord, whither shall we go? here we are, ready to fulfil thy VER. 4. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. word. It were easy to expatiate on so copious an argument; but because it has been handled by others, I shall but touch upon things. God’s command reaches from the highest angels to the lowest crea- tures. The angels are principally called God’s host: see 1 Kings xxii. 19; Luke ii. 14. And of what power are they, since one angel destroyed in a night “an hundred fourscore and five thousand 1’’ 2 Kings xix. 35. Then the heavens are intended; “All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved,” Isa. xxxiv. 9. That which Peter calls arouxsia, the elements, the prophet calls the hosts. So it is said, Judg. v. 20, “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera;” that is, by their influence and efficacy upon the clouds and meteors: for Jo- g sephus, speaking of that battle, Saith, ºf That there suddenly fell astorm mixed with hail, which the wind drove against the faces of the Canaanites, and took away their sight, and benumbed their hands, that they could not hold their targets, or sling their darts; but beat- ing upon the backs of the Israelites, it imboldened them the more. So also men are called the hosts of the Lord; as Israel, Exod. xii. 41. And it is said, “The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle,” Isa. xiii. 4. Nay, lower creatures, locusts, are called God’s army, Joel ii. 25; and God is said to reserve the snow and hail “against the day of battle and war,” Job xxxviii. 22, 23. Against Egypt he sent armies of frogs, and lice, and flies; against the idolatrous people armies of lions, 2 Kings xvii. 25, 26. Nay, God can arm the humours of thy body against thee, cause thine own passions and thoughts to fall upon thee like so many armed men. He needs no forces from without; there is enough to overwhelm man in the reflections of his own conscience. O then, do not contend with Him that can command legions, and draw Omnipotence about thy ears: “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker : Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth,” Isa. xlv. 9. Oh how sad is it, that when all the creatures serve God, your hearts only should war against him that the Lord of hosts should not be Lord of your souls Obs. 6. That the Lord of hosts is the avenger of the poor; the God of angels and thunders is the God that comforts them that are cast down. Their cries are come into the ears of the Lord of hosts; that is, he hath taken notice of their wrong, and will take care to avenge their quarrel. You may be high and rich in the world, able to contest with poor creatures and crush, them ; but can you contend with the Almighty 2 O take heed of wronging the poorest servants of God: Christ speaks of offending his little ones, Matt. xviii. 10; as little as they are, they have a great Champion. The worm Jacob is looked after by the Lord of hosts, Isa. xli. 14. So the poor, the servant, the widow, the fatherless, they are called his people, as belonging chiefly to his care : They eat up my people as bread. Take heed what you do, your poor servants have a Master in heaven that will call you to an account. Jerusalem is threatened with captivity, for their breach of covenant, and un- kindness to their servants, Jer. xxxiv. II; therefore defraud them not, leave them not shiftless. God will visit this sin upon many gentlemen, who turn off their old servants shiftless and helpless, and have more care of their dogs than of them. O see what an Avenger they have, one that is powerful enough. A good man should have a care of his beast, Prov. xii. 10, much more of his servants. See Mr. Bur- roughs’ flord of Hosts. And Dr. Chappel on Psal. cili. 21. VERSE 5. Pe have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been pleas • *. wanton ; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. THE apostle instances another discovery of the wicked abuse of their riches, and that is sensual or delicate living; in matter of charity, or giving the poor their due, they were sparing and tenacious enough, but easily and largely lavished out their substance upon pleasures, and the gratifications of the flesh; like that epicure in the gospel, that fared deliciously every day, but denied a crumb to Lazarus the beg- gar, Luke xvi. 19. Thus lusts, though they dispute every inch with grace, easily give way to succeeding corruptions. “Ye have lived in pleasure.” The word signifies indulging the delicacies and delights of the senses in meats, drinks, and apparel. “On earth;” that is, say some, like beasts, which prona spectare terram, in the posture of their bodies look earthward; it is indeed their happiness to live in pleasure, to enjoy pleasures without remorse. But in any congruity of language you cannot thus inter- pret the apostle's speech. His meaning is, that in this earthly life they placed all their happiness, and their spirits altogether run after earthly comforts and earthly contentments, as having no higher abode. OBSERVATIONS. I. Indulgence is a sin very natural to us. There were but two common parents of all mankind, Adam the protoplast, and Noah the restorer, and both mis- carried by appetite; the one fell by eating, and the other by drinking. We had need be careful; Christ saith, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunken- ness,” to his own disciples, Luke xxi. 34. Obs. 2. The sin is natural to all, but chiefly in- cident to the rich. There is, I confess, a difference in tempers; wealth makes some covetous, and others prodigal; but the usual sin in the rich is luxury. Bride, idleness, and fulness of bread were the sins of Sodom, and they are usually found in great men's houses; they should therefore be the more wary. Obs. 3. Though delicate living is a sin incident to wealthy men, yet their abundance does not excuse it. It is charged upon the rich man in the gospel, that he fared deliciously every day, Luke xvi. 19. God gave wealth for another purpose than to spend it in pleasures. It is prodigious in poor men to guzzle and drink away their days, which should be spent in honest labour; but it is not excusable in the rich ; though God allows them to live more liberally according to their condition and estate, yet not inordinately. Intemperance is odious to God, be it in any whatsoever they be. God threatens them for their delicacy that had “beds of ivory,” Amos vi. 4; so also the fat cows and kine of Basham, Amos iv. 1. Obs. 4. Luxury is living in pleasure, šrpvſhāgars. God allows us to use pleasures, but not to live in them ; to take delights, but not that they should take us: to live always at the full is but a wanton luxury. Obs. 5. That all the pleasure that wicked men have is upon earth ; here, and no where else. “Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,” Luke xvi. 25. O it is sad to outlive our happiness; when we come to live indeed, then to want our com- forts and joys. “They have their reward,” Matt. vi. 2: your heaven is past. It is the folly of worldly 186 CHAP. V. AN EXPOSITION OF men, to be merry only in the place of their banish- ment and pilgrimage; they live in pleasure here, where they are absent from God. “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave,” Job xxi. 13. Alas, then, their best days are past; here they laugh, and there they howl. Ah fondness 1 to sell the birthright for a mess of pottage and let go heaven for a little earthly contentmentſ How should this sour your carnal joys, when you re- member, All this is only upon earth, it cannot be for ever !. There will be a time when we shall go down to the grave, and then we may with Adrian sadly warble it out to our own souls, O poor Soul, whither dost thou now go P thou shalt never jest it more, sport it more These things were upon earth, but into - what a gulf am I now falling ! The earth is a place of labour and exercise; we were not put into it, as leviathan into the sea, to take our fill of pleasure. “And are wanton,” &c traraXhoars. The same word is used of the carnal widow, 68 orata\Goa, Čága rēšwn- ks, 1 Tim. v. 6, where we translate it, “she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” The word signifies such a delicacy as brings a brawn softness and deadness upon the spirit, and therefore we trans- late it well by “wanton.” So that this part of the charge implies, 1. That luxury is always accompanied with carnal security and contempt of God. “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked,” Deut. xxxii. 15. “According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me,” Hos. xiii. 6. Through too much fat- ness and plenty the soul becomes wanton and un- tamed. 2. That a full use of pleasures brings us to a wantonness, and contempt of ordinary provisions. Lustful Israel desired quails. First we contemn God, and then his creatures. It is a great sign sen- suality has prevailed upon you, when the soul desires dainty food. Nature itself is not wanton and deli- cate till it be made so by constant use. It is strange to see how nature degenerates by degrees, and desires increase with use. At first we are pleased with what is plain and wholesome, but afterwards we must have curious mixtures: sea and land will scarce yield bits dainty enough for a gluttonous appetite. Cleopatra must have a draught of dissolved pearls. “Ye have nourished your hearts.” What is that P Indulgere genio, to rear up lust, rather than to satisfy nature. It is the same which the apostle Paul ex- presses by troudèvrsg troovotav, making “provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Rom. xiii. 14. The heart is the seat of lusts and desires, so it chiefly signifies in theology; now to nourish the heart, is to offer fuel to our lusts, to take in by excess that we may unlade and put it out again in lust. “As in a day of slaughter,” #v juápa opayńg. Some says, as Brixianus, that the meaning is, they did but fatten themselves for the slaughter; but that is forced. Beza renders it, as in a day of feast, which Heinsius taxes with undue rigour. Certainly there is an al- lusion to the solemn festival of the Jews. Their thanksgiving days were called days of slaughter, wherein many beasts were killed for sacrifice and food; for in thank-offerings a great part was reserved for the use of the worshipper, Lev. vii. 12–21; they were to carry it home, and to eat it with their friends. Hence that expression, “Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife,” Prov. xvii. 1; that is, of good cheer, as was usual in the time of peace or thank offerings. So also that other, “I have peace-offerings with me; O animula vagu- la, blandula, quos nunc ad ibis locos . nec dabis, ut so- Jebas, jocos, &c. Platina. this day have I paid my vows,” Prov. vii. 14; that is, the flesh of thank-offerings wherewith to feast and entertain thee. Now the fault wherewith these sen- sualists are charged is double. I. That they made every day a festival. 2. That they gave that to their lusts which was due only upon special occasions to religion. OBSERVATIONS. I. Pleasures nourish the heart, and fatten it into a senseless stupidity. Nothing brings a dulness upon it more than they. Plutarch observes of the ass, which is of all creatures the dullest, that it has the fattest heart: thence that expression in Scripture, “Make the heart of this people fat;” that is, gross and dull. There is a fish which they call évoc, the ass-fish, which has its heart in its belly; a fit em- blem of a sensual epicure. The heart is never more dull and unfit for the severities and masculine heights of religion than when burdened with luxurious ex- cess; therefore Christ uses that expression, Luke xxi. 34, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness,” &c. Ah, do but consider how many reasons we have to be wary in our pleasures. Will the inconveniencies they bring to your estates move you ? “The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,” Prov. xxiii. 21. How often has the belly brought the back to rags Or will the mischiefs they bring upon the body move you?, Lust, which is but the last end and consummation of all pleasures, sucks the bones, and, like a cannibal, eats your own flesh, Prov. xi. 5. Ah, but chiefly think of the in- convenience which your precious souls Sustain; your hearts will be nourished and fattened. Pleasure infatuates the mind, quenches the radiance and vigour of the spirit: “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart,” Hos. iv. 11; that is, the generous sprightliness of the affections. So the apostle speaks of persons given to pleasures, that they are past feeling, Eph. iv. 19; they have lost all the Smart- ness and tenderness of their spirits. Oh that men would regard this, and take heed of nourish- ing their hearts while they nourish their bodies You should starve lust when you feed nature; or, as Austin, come to your meat as your medicine, and use these outward refreshments as remedies to cure infirmities, not to cause them. Or, as Bernard, refresh the soul when you feed the body; and by Christian meditations on God’s bounty, Christ's sweetness, the fatness of God’s house, keep the heart from being nourished, whenever you repair nature. Obs. 2. It is a wanton luxury to make every day a day of slaughter. He “fared sumptuously every day,” Domine hoc me docuisti, ut quem- admodum medi- camenta, ita ali- menta Sumpturus accedam. ug. Confess. Cum manducas, nequaquain totus manduces, sed corpore tuo suam refectionem pos- tulante, mens suam non negli- gat, memoria. suavitatis Domi- ni vel Scriptura- rum poscat medi- tationes. Bernar. Luke xvi. I9; that is an aggravation, that he made it his constant practice. Some men do nothing but knit pleasure to pleasure, their lives are nothing else but a diversion from one carnal pleasure to another. There is a time to feast, and “a time to mourn,” Eccl. iii. 4. Such men disturb the order of Seasons. Nature is relieved with changes, but clogged with continuance; frequency of pleasures begets a habit: and besides, this puts men upon novel curiosities when ordinary pleasures by common use grow stale; pleasure itself must have pleasure to refresh it, ac- customed delights becoming our clog and burden. Obs. 3. Usually this is the vanity of men, to be- stow the allotments of worship upon their lusts, and by a cursed sacrilege to serve their belly as a god, as zeal serves the great God of heaven and . earth. No music will serve the epicures in the pro- WER. 6. 187 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. phet but temple music; they “invent to themselves instruments of music, like David,” Amos vi. 5. As choice and excellent as David was in the service of the temple, so would they be in their private feasts. Belshazzar's draughts are not half so sweet in other vessels as in the utensils of the temple; he “com- manded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem,” Dan. v. 2. So the Babylonian humour is pleased with nothing so much as with one of the songs of Zion; not an ordinary song, but “sing us one of the songs of Zion,” Psal. cxxxvii. 3. No jest relishes with a profane spirit so well as when Scripture is abused, and made to serve their sportive jollity. Vain man thinks he can never put honour enough upon his pleasures, and scorn enough upon God and holy things. VERSE 6. Pºe have condemned and killed the just ; and he doth not resist you. THE apostle comes now to another sin, and that is tyrannous and oppressing cruelty, which is also an effect of riches, where there is no grace to sanctify the enjoyment of them. “Ye have condemned.” The apostle now instances their cruelty and oppression, masked with a pre- tence and colour of law. Before they would kill, there was some form of a legal process, they con- demned. Again, the apostle saith, “Ye have condemned;” and so, ye have “killed;” they procured it by their authority and wealth, corrupting judgment, and using evil arts to destroy the just. “And killed.” This is added to show that oppres- sion will proceed as far as death; wickedness knows no bounds and limits; as also to show the reason why miseries were coming upon them. “The just,” rôy 6tratov. It may be put indefinitely for any just person, as Isa. lvii. 1, “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart.” But be- cause the apostle speaks in the singular number, and with an article, therefore some understand it of John the Baptist; others of Stephen with more probability, whom the Jews stoned; others with most probability of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because I strongly incline to this, I shall produce my reasons. 1. Jesus Christ is elsewhere by way of emphasis called “that Just One,” rôv Čikatov, Acts xxii. 14. 2. There seems to be a direct parallel to this, Acts iii. 14, “But ye de- nied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a mur- derer to be granted unto you.” 3. This was the great reason and cause of judgment on the Jews, I Thess. ii. 15, 16, which is the scope and argument of this Fº and indeed the text runs that way most fluent- y. 4. The illation of the next verse, or persuasion to patient hope, most sweetly arises from this con- sideration ; the former part of the verse holding forth their injury, and so the cause of their ruin, which is the argument of hope the apostle pro- pounds; and the latter part Christ's patience, the great example and pattern of ours. I know the great prejudice against this exposition is, that all this is supposed to be spoken to Christian Jews; but that we disproved in the first verse. Neither is that exception of Brochmand of any weight, how this could be charged upon these sensual rich men, since they that condemned and killed Christ, and the main promoters of his sufferings, were the Pharisees and chief priests, dissembling hypocrites, since the guilt lay upon the whole nation, and they had taken the curse of his blood upon themselves and their children; and therefore the apostle assigning the cause of approaching judgments, might well say to these, “Ye have killed.” Neither let it seem strange to any that the apostle does not call Christ Lord or Saviour, since he speaks to unconverted Jews; and the fittest medium of conviction he could use to them is that of his righteousness or innocence, as also Beter and John do, Acts iii. 14, “The Holy One and the Just;” for those that would not acknowledge him a Saviour, by a plain evidence of his life might ac- knowledge him a just person, as Pilate's wife does, “Have thou nothing to do with that, just man,” Matt. xxvii. 19. However, lest the exposition should seem too critical, I shall carry the observations both ways. “And he doth not resist.” The present tense is put for the past; if you understand it generally, it is to be understood of the weakness and meekness of in- nocent men. 1. Of their weakness; they are not able to withstand, and therefore you oppress them. 2. Of their meekness; it is their duty not to be re- vengeful: “But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil,” Matt. v. 39; they must not satisfy and ac- complish their own private revenges. OBSERVATION S. 1. That plenty begets injury; and when all things are possible, men think all things lawful. Rich and great men, if they are higher than others, do not think of Him that is higher than they. “If thou Seest the oppression of the poor, and violent pervert- ing of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter : for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they,” Eccl. v. 8. Obs. 2. That God takes notice of the injuries done to his people under the form of a legal procedure. Not only of open violence, but that which is closely managed. “Shall the throne of iniquity have fel- lowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law P” Psal. xciv. 20. God takes it more heinously when public authority, which is the defence of in- nocency, is made the pretence of oppression. Many make conscience of forms of law, that do not make conscience of oppressing the godly. “And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood,” Matt. xxvii. 6; yet in their account it was lawful to spill the blood of Christ. Obs. 3. That any concurrence to the destruction of the innocent brings us under the guilt of their blood, and sins committed by our instigation become ours by just imputation. Christ was put to death by author- ity of the Roman empire, and executed by the Ro- man soldiers; yet it is charged upon the Jews, upon the whole nation, because done by their instigation and connivance: “Him, being delivered by the de- terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain;” and again, “The same Jesus whom ye have crucified,” Acts ii. 23, 36. So I Thess. ii. 15, They “killed the Lord Jesus.” Do not flatter thyself be- cause thou art not the immediate executioner: Jeze- bel was punished for Naboth's death, though the judges and false witnesses were the next agents, I Kings xxi. 13. Beware how you provoke others to blood, the guilt will fall upon your own consciences. God looks upon the instigators as the principals. Ahab “ did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife provoked,” 188 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF 2 Kings xxi. 25. That was a sorry answer of the priests to Judas, “See thou to that,” Matt. xxvii. 4; they had need see to it too, since it was by their plot and conspiracy. Obs. 4. When oppression goes as far as blood, God will surely take vengeance. “He maketh inquisition for blood,” Psal. ix. 12. And blood is one of the crying sins, Gen. iv. 10. The blood of an ordinary man cries for vengeance, as that of the Gibeonites that were of the race of Canaan; therefore is that clause inserted, “Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites,” 2 Sam. xxi. 2. Much more the blood of the Saints, which is precious in God’s eyes; much more the blood of Christ, which is the case here. Obs. 5. That innocency itself cannot escape the fangs of oppression. Taking the expression gener- ally, as denoting any just person. The Just was condemned and killed. So the Scripture speaks of “the blood of righteous Abel,” Matt. Xxiii. 35. Men hate what they will not imitate ; and it is God’s wisdom that the worst should hate the best, lest the world should judge perversely of their sufferings. “They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood,” Psal. Xciv. 21 : thus it hath been, is, and will be. Gregory saith, I would suspect him not to be Abel that has not a Cain. Obs. 6. That Christ died not as a malefactor, but as a just person. Understanding it particularly of Christ. There were several circumstances that evinced his innocency ; the disagreeing of the witnesses, Pilate's wife's letter, Pilate's own acknowledgment, Judas’s confession. Certainly he died not for his own sins, but ours; “the just for the unjust,” I Pet. iii. 18. Our sacrifice was a Lamb without spot and blemish. It is true, he loved our justification better than his own reputation; and therefore when his innocence was taxed, he would not answer a word. Obs. 7. Weakness is usually oppressed. Men are the more bold with them that want means of defence and resistance. Oh but consider, the less outward defence men have, the more is the Lord of hosts en- gaged in their quarrel; he is the Patron of the father- less and widows : “The poor committeth himself to thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless,” Psal. x. 14. Weak innocence has a strong Avenger. Obs. 8. Meekness invites injury, but always to its own cost. That speech of Publius Mimus is true, though spoken to an ill end; Veterem ferendo inju- ºriam invitas novam, By bearing a former injury you only invite a second. Patience may be trampled upon, but God will ordain a defence. Wicked men are mad without a provocation. You have seen crows On a sheep's back picking wool; it is but an emblem. of oppressed innocence. Wicked men do not con- sider who deserve worst, but who will suffer most. Obs. 9. Jesus Christ was condemned and slain with- Out resistance. It is most true that he resisted not; he came to suffer, and therefore would not resist. He would declare his obedience to his Father by his pa- tience before men: “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth,” Isa. liii. 7. Swine will howl, but the sheep is dumb in the butcher's hands. “I gave my back to the Smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting,” Isa. l. 6. Christ as it were offered himself to the affronts and indignities done to his person: Father, since it is thy pleasure, here is a back for smiters, here are cheeks for them that pluck off the hair, here is a face for shame; lo, I come to do all thy will. Well, then, we have a lucky Sacrifice, that did not struggle, but came to the altar willingly. It is notable, that Christ with the same Severity checks the devil tempting him to idolatry, and Peter dissuading him from suffering; words of similar import are spoken to both : compare Matt. iv. 10, with xvi. 23. When he was to suffer, he forbade the “ daughters of Jerusalem” to weep, Luke xxiii. 28. Being about to wipe away all tears by the bene- fit of his cross, he would have none shed to hinder him from it. Thus our Saviour resisted not ; Sºbº sold injuriosus fuit, saith Tertullian; All the injury he did was to himself. Ah, who would not be willing to do for him that was willing to die for us? He Struggled not when he was going to the cross; and why do we struggle, and find such reluctations, when we are going to the throne of grace? Shall we be more unwilling to pray than Christ was to Suffer P VERSE 7. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the pre- cious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for 7t, until he receive the early and latter rain. HE now diverts from the rich oppressors, unto the poor faithful brethren that were oppressed; by the illative particle “therefore,” we may see the former paragraph was for their sakes. The rich men shall be punished for their wickedness and oppression, therefore be you patient. “Be patient therefore, brethren,” uakpoSvphoars. The word is put for long-suffering, and so usually translated, which is a further degree of patience; for patience is a sense of afflictions without murmur- ing, and of injuries without revenge; now long-suf- fering is patience extended, and lengthened out to that which our apostle calls its “perfect work.” “ Unto the coming of the Lord.” Here is an ar- gument to enforce the duty; God will come and right your injuries. But of what coming does he speak? Every manifestation of God’s grace or judg- ment is called a coming of the Lord. It is in vain in so known a case to heap up texts. More especially his solemn judgments on a church or people are ex- pressed by that term. So to the Ephesian church in the Revelation; “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, ex- cept thou repent,” Rev. ii. 5. To Pergamos; “Re- pent, or else I will come unto thee quickly,” Rev. ii. 16. So to Sardis; “I will come on thee as a thief.” Rev. iii. 3. Any solemn progress and march of God in a judicial way is expressed by coming; but most chiefly it is applied to Christ's glorious appearing in the clouds, called his second coming. But you will reply again, Which then is meant here? any parti- cular coming of Christ, or else his solemn coming to general judgment? I answer, Both may be intended; the primitive Christians thought both would happen together. 1. It may be meant of Christ's particular coming to judge these wicked men. This Epistle was writ- ten above thirty years after Christ's death, and there was but a little time between that and Jerusalem’s last days; so that “unto the coming of the Lord,” is until the overwhelming of Jerusalem, which is also in John xxi. 22 expressed by Christ's coming, if we may believe Chrysostom and CEcumenius, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” that is, come (say they) to Jerusalem’s destruction. Thus God often comes to his people. VER, 7. 189 THE GENERAL EPISTTE OF JAMES. 2. It is meant of the general day of judgment, which is the day of their vengeance, and your recom- pences. “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 2. Thess. i. 6–8; which is not to be understood as if they should not be punished nor we rewarded before that day; but then both are more full and complete: the wicked that are now in chains of darkness looking for a more terrible day; and glorified souls for a more full reward, their bodies as yet remaining under the dominion of death. “Behold, the husbandman waiteth.” Here the apostle anticipates an objection: Yes, but we wait long. So does the husbandman (saith the apostle) for that which is nothing so precious as your hopes. Clemens saith, that James and his bro- ther Jude were husbandmen, and there- fore they so often bring similitudes from their own calling, of trees, plants, and fruits of the earth,” &c. “For the precious fruit of the earth,” rôy riptov kaparov. “Precious,” because it costs hard labour, and because it is a choice blessing of God for the sustentation of life. This term is used to show that though the fruit is dear to the husbandman, as de- liverance is to you, yet he waits for it, and, as the apostle saith, “ hath long patience for it.” “ Until he receive the early and the latter rain;” that is, the former, which falls a little before sow- ing; and the latter, a little before the ripening of the corn. These are phrases often used in the prophets. The meaning is, then, he looks till in an "ordinary way of Providence it may be ripened. So Hos. vi. 3, “As the latter and former rain unto the earth.” We hear of especially “the latter rain;” for the latter rain that fell somewhat afore harvest was a rain that fell seldom in that country, but was much desired for the refreshing of the corn, and other fruits and blessings of the earth. I.ib. 2. Constit. A post. cap. 63. OBSERVATIONS. 1. It is the duty of the children of God to be pa- tient under their sufferings, though they be long and sharp. It is easier in a calm and sedate condition to discourse of patience, than to exercise it in time of trial. Philosophers have discoursed of it, and com- mended it; but Christians themselves have staggered, When they have been exercised with a sharp sensé of evils. When God gives up his people to the lust of adversaries, then it is sad, and we are apt to mur- mur ; and yet the apostle saith we should suffer with a “long patience.” I shall spare motives, and a little show you what Christian patience is. It differs from Security and stoical insensibleness; there can be no patience, where there is no sense of evil. Christianity does not abrogate affections, but regu- late them. Carnal men put off that which they can- not put away, and are not patient, but stupid and careless. There are other remedies in Christianity than quenching our sorrows in the wine of pleasures. Again, it differs from moral patience, which is nothing but a yielding to necessity, and is usually accom. panied with “vain thoughts,” and carnal workings of spirit, Jer. iv. 14. When God lays on crosses, men please themselves with suppositions of worldly profit, and how their present condition may conduce to secular advancement; as when God takes away wife and children, men do not think of submission to the hand of God, but the capacity of augmenting their worldly estate. In short, Christian patience supposes a sense of evil, and then in the formality of it, it is a submission of the whole soul to the will of God. Wherein observe, (1.) The nature, it is a sub- mission of the whole soul. The judgment subscribes; “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken,” Isa. xxxix. 8. Though it were to him a terrible word, yet the submission of a sanctified judgment can call it good. Then the will accepts; “If they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity,” Lev. xxvi. 41; that is, take it kindly from God that it is no worse. Then the affections are re- strained, and anger and sorrow brought under the commands of the word. Then the tongue is bridled, lest discontent splash over: “Aaron held his peace,” Lev. x. 3. (2.) Consider the grounds and proper considerations upon which all this is carried on. Usually there is such a progress as this in the spirit- ual discourse. 1. The soul sees God in it: “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it,” Psal. xxxix. 9. 2. It sees God acting with sove- reignty. None can say unto him, “What doest thou?” Job ix. 12. And, “He giveth not account of any of his matters,” Job xxxiii. 13. 3. Lest this should make the heart storm, it sees sovereignty mo- dified and mitigated in the dispensation of it with several attributes. With justice; when every curse was pronounced, they were to say Amen, if it come to pass; Amen, it is but a righteous dispensation, Deut. xxvii. 14–26. With mercy; “Thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserved,” Ezra ix. 13. They were afflicted, they might have been destroyed; they were in Babylon, they might have been in hell. With faithfulness; they look upon afflictions as federal dispensations, as append- ages of the covenant of grace; “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes,” Psal. cxix. 71. When they are threshed, it is but to lose their stalk and husk; God’s faithful- ness would not suffer them to want such a sweet help. With wisdom; “The Lord is a God of judgment,” Isa. xxx. 18; it is meant in his dispensations. Let God alone, he is too just to do us wrong, and too kind and wise to do us harm. Obs. 2. That Christians, to assuage their griefs, should often think of Christ's coming to their rescue and deliverance. Have a little patience, and when your Master comes, he will put an end to your afflic- tions. Long for the coming of Christ, but wait for it; do not bind the counsels of God. Usually his coming is when he is least looked for : “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth P” Luke xviii. 7, 8; that is, confidence that he will avenge; will any look for him then P “At mid- night there was a cry made, The bridegroom cometh,” Matt. xxv. 6. Who would look for the bridegroom at midnight? Usually, because our expectations are earnest to be satisfied, we give over waiting. Our time is always present, and flesh and blood is soon tired; yet long as it seems it is but a short time. “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,” Heb. x, 37. Obs. 3. That a spiritual argument of patience is a thought of the day of judgment. Here we are beaten by enemies and fellow servants, but then the Lord will come, and all will be well, Matt. xxiv. 50. Oh it will be sweet when we shall be hugged in the arms of Christ, and he shall say, Well done, well suffered, my good and faithful servant, and he shall put the crown upon our heads with his own hands. Well, then, “love the appearing” of Christ, and “ hasten unto it,” 2 Tim. iv. 8; 2 Pet. iii. 12. “Surely I come quickly; Amen:’ do you cry as the spouse, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” Rev. xxii. 20. I90 C HAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF Obs. 4. We must behold outward objects to a heaven- ly purpose. “Behold, the husbandman.” Every or- dinary sight should be improved. So doth Christ in his parables; so elsewhere he sends us to learn of the lilies, as James does to the husbandman. So Job bids us confer with the beasts, and ask of the fishes, Job xii. 7, 8; that is, by meditation to draw useful collections from them. But you will say, How shall we improve common objects P I answer, Two ways; in an argumentative and representative way, by reasoning from them, by viewing the resemblance between them and spiritual matters; as in the pre- sent case and similitude of the apostle. I. In me- ditation argue thus: If a husbandman, upon ordinary principles of reason, can wait for the harvest, shall not I wait for the coming of the Lord, the day of re- freshing P. The corn is precious to him, and so is the coming of Christ to me; shall he be so patient, and endure so much for a little corn, and not I for the kingdom of heaven P He is willing to stay till all causes have had their operation, and he has received the former and the latter rain; and shall not I till the Divine decrees be accomplished P 2. In meditation make the resemblance and discourse thus within yourselves: This is my seed-time, heaven is the har- vest; here I must labour and toil, and there rest. I see the husbandman’s life is a great toil. We can obtain no excellent thing without labour, and an ob- stinate patience. I see the seed must be hidden in the furrows, rotten and corrupted, ere it can spring forth with any increase: our hopes are hidden, and “light is sown for the righteous,” Psal. xcvii. II ; all our comforts are buried under the clods, and after all this there must be long waiting; we cannot sow and reap in a day; effects cannot follow till all ne– cessary causes have first wrought. It is not in the power of the husbandman to ripen fruits at pleasure: Our times are in the hands of God; therefore it is good to wait; a long-suffering patience will reap the desired fruits. VERSE 8. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts : for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. HERE he applies the similitude, again enforcing patience; it is a lesson that needs much pressing. “Stablish your hearts,” armpičars rāg kapātaç juov. The Septuagint use the same word for the holding up of the hands of Moses, Kai 'Aapºv kai "Qp othpūoy rac xéipac atroë, &c., cai #yévovro at x&ipsc Movo'ſ £orm- 9typévav Šwç Övapāv Ātov, Exod. xvii. 12. And here it notes an immovableness in the faith and hope of Christianity, notwithstanding the many oppressions they had met with. In short, it implies two things; firmness of faith, and constancy in grace. 1. Firm- ness of faith, when out of the encouragement of a sure trust we can sit down under God’s will and good pleasure. 2. Constancy in grace, when we are not so bowed with our troubles and sorrows as to depart from our innocency. “For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Either first, to them by a particular. judgment; for there were but a few years, and then all was lost ; and probably that may be it which the apostles mean when they speak so often of the nearness of Christ's coming, Phil. iv. 5; Heb. x. 25; #axárm &pa, 1 John ii. 18. But you will say, How could this be propounded as an argument of patience to the godly Hebrews, that Christ would come and destroy the temple and city P I answer, 1. The time of Christ's solemn judiciary process against the Jews was the time when he acquitted himself with honour upon his adversaries, and the scandal and reproach of his death was rolled away. 2. The approach of this common judgment ended the persecution; and when the godly were provided for at Pella, the unbe- lievers perished by the Roman sword. Secondly, It may be meant of the day of general judgment, which, because of the certainty of it, and the un- certainty of its particular approach, has been always represented to the church as at hand; or else, in regard of eternity, all that efflux of time between Christ's ascension and his second coming seems nothing. g OBSERVATIONS. 1. That it is the duty of God’s children in time of their troubles to stablish their hearts, and to put on a holy courage and magnanimity. It is said of a good man, that “his heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his ene- mies,” Psal. cxii. 8; that is, neither discouraged in regard of trust and hope, nor miscarrying in regard of constancy and perseverance. Oh that we would labour for this establishment 1 We lose our hope, and therefore we lose our patience; we are of a soft and easy heart, and so soon overborne: there is a holy obstinacy, and hardness of heart, which is nothing but a firmness in our Christian purposes and resolu- tions; we have need of it in these times. There are persecutions and troubles; soft and delicate spirits are soon tired : error and delusions; wanton and vain spirits are soon seduced: scandals and offences by the miscarriages of false brethren; weak and easy hearers are soon discouraged; as in Nehemiah's time, there were troubles without, delusions from the Sa- maritans and Tobiah, oppression, and working on the necessities of the people by false brethren, Neh. iv. 7, 8; v. 6—13. To fortify you against all these, consider, those that draw back the Lord hates. The crab is reckoned among the unclean creatures, Lev. xi. 10. The four prophetical beasts “went every one straight forward,” Ezek. i. 9. If you know not how to get this holy hardness, or strength of Spirit, go to God for it; man’s strength is but small, and soon overborne: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart,” Psal. xxvii. 14. So I Pet. v. 10, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you.” Desire him to give you courage, and to strengthen and settle it against all temptations and dangers. - Obs. 2. That the world’s duration, in regard of eter- nity, is but short. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” 2 Pet. iii. 8. Men count time long, because they measure it by the terms of their own duration; but God comprehending all ages in the indivisible point of eternity, all is as nothing to him, as a moment, as a “watch in the night,” Psal. xc. 4. So Isa. liv. 7, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee,” &c. Though there was more than a space of two thousand years between the first separation and the calling of the Gentiles, yet God saith, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee.” The word judges not accord- ing to sense and appearance. We (being impatient of delays) reckon minutes, and count moments long; but God does not judge of these things “as some men count slackness,” 2 Pet. iii. 9; that is, as flesh con- ceives. To short-lived creatures a few years may seem an age ; but Scripture in its computations, measuring all things by the existence of God, reckons WER. 9. 191 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. otherwise. Human reason sticks alto- gether in the outward sense and feel- ing, and therefore as man measures his happiness by temporal accidents, so iniºn'ſsa. his duration by temporal existences. liv. 7. Oh when shall we look within the veil, and learn to measure things by faith, and not by sense We count moments long, and God, that is of an eternal duration, counts thousands of years a small moment. All outward accidents have their periods, beyond which they cannot pass; but eter- nity is a day that is never overcast with the shadows of a night : certainly all space of time should be small to them that know the greatness of eternity. As in permanent quantity, so it is in successive. The whole globe of the earth is but as a little point to the vast circumference of the heavens; so is this life but a moment to eternity. If we valued all things ac- cording to the computation and valuation of the word, it would not be so irksome to us to wait for Christ’s coming; it is too much softness that cannot brook a little delay. . Ratio humana tantum in prae- senti Semsu haeret, nihil aliud audit, intelligit, sentit, videt, cogitat. . Sapienti nihil . magnum est cui nota est aeternita- tis magnitudo. VERSE 9. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned : behold, the judge standeth before the door. IN this verse the apostle lays down the danger of evil #º using the same argument as before, the near and speedy approach of judgments. “Grudge not one against another,” uſ) orévdźers kar’ d’AX}\ov. The word signifies, Groan not one against another. Because it is not easy to find out what is the particular sense and intent of the apostle, the phrase has been diversly expounded. Some open it thus, Do not sigh out your murmuring complaints into one another’s bosom ; as if God were unjust in punishing his children, and letting the wicked be prosperous : but this cannot be the meaning; it is in the original car' dºñNov, against one another. Others thus, Do not in a groaning manner require vengeance at the hand of God, but forgive, that God may forgive you; but certainly it is lawful to com- plain to God of our injuries, though not with a re- vengeful spirit. Much ado there has been to state this groaning spoken of in the text. Groans in them- selves are not unlawful; the apostle must needs mean such groaning as arises from an evil cause, as dis- content at Providence, murmuring groans, so some; or despondency and weakness of mind, distrustful groans; or some revenge and stomach against their oppressors, vindictive groans, so others; or else from envy at those that suffered less than they did. If any man’s condition be more tolerable, we are apt to murmur, and to say, No sorrow like our sorrow ; and So fretting against God makes us angry with men: thus the apostle would understand envious groans; and to this sense our translators render orsydäers, by “grudge not;” that is, at the happiness of those that are not exercised with sufferings, or with the same degree of sufferings that you are. I should easily subscribe to this sense, as unwilling to recede from our own translation, but that I see no cause why we should not retain the proper sense of the word, Groan not one against another, brethren; for the apostle seems to me herein to tax those mutual in- juries and animosities wherewith the Christians of those times, having banded under the names of cir- cumcision and uncircumcision, grieved one another, and gave each other cause to groan; so that they did not only sigh under the oppressions of the rich persecutors, but under the injuries which they sus- tained from many of the brethren, who, together with them, professed the holy faith; which exposi- tion will well suit with the state of those times and the present context. The apostle is persuading them to patience; now because the pressures arose, not only from enemies, but brethren, he seeks to dissuade them from a practice so scandalous, lest they should all be involved and wrapped up in the common ruin. What should brethren grudge one against another ? Take heed, such practices seldom escape without a quick revenge. My thoughts are the more confirmed in this exposition, because here seems to be a tacit allusion to the history of Cain and Abel, where the blood of one brother cried or groaned against the other, and God told him that “sin lieth at the door,” Gen. iv. 7, intending the punishment of sin; as the apostle tells these, that “the Judge standeth before the door,” meaning the judgments hanging over their heads. “Lest ye be condemned;” tva pū) karakptóñrs, lest ye be judged; that is, lest God punish you; or lest by mutual allegations you provoke a condemning sentence to pass against you both, and you be also involved in the common ruin. “Behold, the Judge standeth before the door.” He had said before, “the coming of the Lord draw- eth nigh;” now he adds that he “standeth before the door;” a phrase that not only implies the sure- ness, but the suddenness, of judgment: thus Matt. xxiv. 33, “ Know that it is near, even at the doors :” so that this phrase intended also the speediness of the Jewish ruin. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Many times differences may so far be height- ened among brethren, that they may groan one against another as much as against the common enemy. Paul, speaking of the state of the primitive times, shows how Christians did “bite and devour one another,” Gal. v. 15. To show their rage, he uses words proper to the fights and quarrels of beasts: thus usually it happens, when contests arise in the church, religious hatreds are most deadly. Thus Luther complains, that he never had a worse enemy than Carolostadius; and Zuinglius, That the papists were never so bitter to him as his friends. It is sad when we dispute one against another, and tongue is armed against tongue, and pen against pen; but it is sadder when we groan one against another, and prayer is set against prayer, and appeal is set against appeal, lambs acting the wolves’ part. Obs. 2. That false brethren shall also meet with their judgment. Not only the rich oppressors, but you that groan one against another, shall be condemned. Hell is the hypocrites’ portion: He “shall appoint him his portion with the hypocrites,” Matt. xxiv. 51; in Luke it is perá rày dirtorov, “with the un- believers,” chap. xii. 46. Possibly our Saviour might use both expressions, hypocrites and unbelievers, to show that open enemies and secret shall meet with the same judgment. Obs. 3. Mutual groanings and grudgings between brethren are usual forerunners of judgment. After biting and devouring there follows consuming, Gal. v. 15. It comes to pass, partly by the providence and ordination of God: wanton contests are not cured but by deep afflictions; and when spirits are once exulcerated, there is no likelihood of agreement but Infensior est mihi quam ulli hacte- nus fuerint inimici. Non sic me pa- pistae, lacerant ac illi amici In OStri. I92 CHAP. V. AN EXPOSITION OF . in a prison: the warm sun makes the wood warp and cleave asunder. In prosperity, we wax wanton, and divide; when the dog is let loose, the sheep run together: usually in troubles there are not so many scatterings and divisions in Christ's flock. Partly by the course of ordinary causes: our divisions give the adversary an advantage; we would be as wise to reconcile ourselves, as they to combine against us. Nazianzen was wont to call them koivovg 6ta\\dicrag, the common reconcilers; but party-making and fac- tion make men blind; engaged persons will not con- sider till all be undone. A little before Dioclesian’s persecution there were sad divisions in the church; ratc Troög &\\?\ovg ptAovskiac àvsp}\#yovro, Saith Euse- bius; they burned with mutual intestine discords. Obs. 4. The nearness of the Judge should awe us into duty. To sin in calamitous times is to sin in the presence of the Judge; to strike (as it were) in the king’s presence, and to provoke justice when punish- ments hang over our heads: this is like king Ahaz, who trespassed the more for his stripes: when God holds up his hand, you do as it were even dare him to strike. Obs. 5. If we are ready to sin, God is ready to judge. “If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door,” Gen. iv. 7; that is, the punishment, like a serjeant or messenger of justice, doth but lie in wait to arrest us. Thus it is, many times the punishment takes the provocation by the heel; and whilst we are bustling and beating our fellow servants, our Lord is at the door, and comes ere we look for him, Matt. xxiv. 42–51. VERSE 10. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an eacample of suffering afflic- tion, and of patience. ! HERE the apostle persuades to patience by the ex- ample of the Saints, who though they were dear to God, and employed in high and special services, yet were exercised with sundry sharp afflictions. Two ways are they an example to us; in their sufferings, and in their patience: they are famous for kakordøsta and pakpoéupta, hard sufferings and great patience. An example of sufferings, that we may not flinch from them, or sink under them, when we meet with them in the way of duty. An example of patience, that we may write after their copy by a meek submission. Their sufferings are produced to allay discomfort; and so Christ urges them, “So per- secuted they the prophets which were before you,” Matt. v. 12. Their patience, to stir up imitation ; Let us be “followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises,” Heb. vi. 12: never any yet went to heaven but those two graces were first exercised, faith and patience; faith, in expecta- tion of the future reward; patience, in sustaining the present inconveniences. But to the words. “Take for an example.” The word is bróðstyua; it denotes such an example as is propounded to imi- tation ; the same word is used when Christ com- mended his washing of the disciples’ feet to their imitation, John xiii. 15. “The prophets.” . He instances them as the cap- tains and leaders of the church: every purpose of life has its chieftains and princes. The Roman war- riors can talk of their Camilli, Fabricii, Scipios; the philosophers of their Aristotle, Plato, and Pythago- j but religion propounds the example of the pro- phets. “Who have spoken in the name of the Lord;” that is, were employed by God, and authorized to speak to the people in his stead, and specially gifted and supplied by his Spirit. Though they spake by . Divine inspiration, and were as God’s mouth ; yet they could not escape, but were molested and ma- ligned in the world, even to cruel death and suffer- ings, for the faithful discharge of their message. This Christ charges upon the Jews; “O Jerusalem, Jeru- salem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which were sent unto thee,” Matt. xxiii. 37. So does Stephen; “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted P and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One,” Acts vii. 52. Now if this were done to the prophets, who seemed to be sheltered under the buckler of their special commission, and the singular innocence and holiness of their lives, certainly private be- lievers have less reason to promise themselves free- dom and exemption. “Of suffering afflictions, and of patience;” that is, when God makes us like them in sufferings, we should be like them in patience : it is comfortable to come into their lot, and to be bound up in the same bundle of honour with them. Their example is produced, partly, to take off prejudice : the matter is not strange, it is not our case alone. We are apt to say, Never man in such a case as I, “Is any sorrow like unto my sorrow P” Lam. i. 12. Yes, this was the lot of all the prophets. Partly, to allay the shame; we do not suffer with the rude multitude, but with the prophets. Partly, to encourage our imitation: ex- amples have a singular efficacy, man is apt to be led by company. OBSERVATIONS. 1. The examples of the Saints encourage us much to patience. Man is a ductile creature, more apt to be led by the eye than the ear. We look upon pre- cepts as calculated for notion and fancy, practices are a great confirmation; the strictest and severest ways are not impossible, nor untrodden; that which has been may be done. Besides, they are a check to delicacy; we may say as Elijah, “I am not better than my fathers,” I Kings xix. 4: can we look for more privilege than the prophets? Minors are ashamed when they cannot endure that which men of a higher order have endured. Micaiah was in prison, Jeremiah in the dungeon, Isaiah sawed asunder; and shall we stick at a little suffering P our betters have endured far worse. Besides, good com- pany is a great encouragement: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,” saith the apostle, “let us run with pa- tience the race that is set before us,” Heb. xii. 1. It is an allusion to the pillar of the cloud that guided the Israelites; being in such goodly company, having such a pillar going before us, we may travel to heaven the more cheerfully. ge Obs. 2. Afflictions light on all ranks of saints, but especially upon the prophets. The cross predicare nihil is kindly to our order: to preach is alſº nothing but to bait the world; we are ºil." God’s ambassadors, but we are often Puther. “ambassadors in bonds,” Eph. vi. 20. What recom- pence did the prophets receive for all their pains and expense of spirits, but saws, and Swords, and dun- geons P It is almost as necessary a character of a minister to be much in afflictions, as to be much in spirit, and much in labours. God has reserved us, in these latter days, for all the contempt and scorn that villany and outrage can heap upon our persons; but it is no matter, it is the badge of our order, and we know where to have better entertainment. No WER. I i. 193 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. matter though the world count us scurf and refuse, when Jesus Christ counts us his own glory: the mes- sengers of the churches are “the filth of the world,” I Cor. iv. 13, but the “glory of Christ,” 2 Cor. viii. 23; it wére suspicion enough that we were not true to our Master, when we are dandled on the world’s knees. Obs. 3. Sufferings are comfortable when they over- take us in the way of duty. “Who have spoken in the name of the Lord.” It denotes the cause of their sufferings, the faithful discharge of their office, only for speaking in God’s name. It is sad to be spued out of God’s mouth, and to be made contemptible for being partial in the law, Mal. ii. 9. When the Lord makes us base before the people, it is indeed his usual course with corrupt dispensers of holy myste- ries; it is others’ malice, but God’s judgment. But now if it be for the faithful performance of your place, for speaking boldly in the name of the Lord, you may bind it as a crown to your head; why should we care for the scorns of an unthankful world, when we have such a good Master P it is an honour for us to lose our name for God’s ; and it is no matter though we be nothing, so Christ be all in all. A minister should be like one in a crowd, that lifts up another to public view, though himself be justled and lost in the throng; so Christ be exalted, it is no matter though we suffer loss. VERSE 11. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Pe have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. & THE drift of the context is to persuade to patience; in this verse many things are offered to that purpose. “ Behold, we count them happy that endure.” “We ;” it may imply, First, The judgment of all men; mere men are wont to have high thoughts of them that can bear the brunt of afflictions. Secondly, “We’’ may imply the judgment of the visible church; the whole Christian church acknow. ledges the slain prophets happy, and celebrate their memory. Makapićew, the word in the text properly signifies to make or declare happy. So the clause nilº ºnws ºr “for the daughters will call me bless- ed,” Gen. xxx. 13, the Septuagint render by 3rt pakaptoãot pus ai yuvaiksg; and in Luke i. 48, “all generations shall call me blessed,” is in the original, pakaptoijat put tróoat at yewsai. Thirdly, “We” may imply (and so I think chiefly) the judgment of the children of God, as it is opposed to the judgment of the world; “Behold, we count them happy which endure,” we that are enlightened by the Spirit of God. I prefer this last considera- tion, because this sentence hath reference to a passage of Scripture, “Blessed is he that waiteth,” Dan. xii. 12, where the Septuagint have uakapioc & brouévov. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That meek patience in afflictions is a taking thing even in the eyes of men. There is a double reason implied in the words, roëg iroušvovrag, those | that endure misery, and fortitude in misery; now misery works, upon pity, and fortitude calls for praises; miseries work upon weak spirits, and con- stancy in miseries upon generous spirits; fortitude in miseries is more taken than elsewhere, there is more of choice in it than of furious and brutish C) valour. Scmeca observes, that the burn- ing of the hand of Mutius was a greater token of his courage than fighting an enemy. Those that are engaged in a good cause need not despair; we shall gain somewhat with mere men : a reso- lute constancy and a meek patience may recover those friends, which the miscarriages of a prosperous condition have lost; Providence orders such things for good : but remem- ber you cannot take this comfort but in a good cause; sometimes wicked ones àre the depressed party : all would entitle their sufferings to persecution, as the Donatists did in Austin’s time; and therefore though sufferings are creditable, yet we must know that the persecuted cause is not always the best. Non dubito quin magislaudaverium truncam istam manum Mutii uam cujuslibet ortissimi salvain; Inelius est hosteni amissa manu vi- cisse quatin arma- ta. Seneca. Sarah was a type of the true church, and Hagar of the false; now Sarah corrected Hagar. There is an unquiet generation, when they suffer any thing, they call it F.” when it is but just punishment. As the oabites, when they saw the waters look ruddy, through the reflection of the morning Sun, thought them mingled with blood; so many voice up perse- cution and martyrs’ blood, when their insolencies are but a little corrected and restrained. Obs. 2. That it is often the condition of God’s people to live envied and persecuted, but to die Sainted. We account the slain prophets happy, and celebrate the memory of those which endure. The scribes and Pharisees garnished the tombs of the dead prophets, but killed the living, Matt. xxiii. 29–33. They pretended honour to the Saints departed, but in the mean time were injurious to the saints alive. So John v., the Jews pretended love to Moses, but showed hatred to Christ. It comes to pass partly by the providence of God, who after death clears up the in- nocency and holy conversation of his servants; pos- terity acknowledges them whom the former age destroyed. Partly because living Saints are an eye- sore; by the severity of their lives and reproofs they trouble and torment the world; dead Saints do not stand in the way of their lusts, for objects out of sight do not exasperate. This may comfort God’s children against the abasures of the present age, “The day shall declare it,” I Cor. iii. 13. When the heat of oppression is over, that which is now called heresy and antichristianism will then be ac- counted worship; and your sufferings will speak you not malefactors, but martyrs. Men cannot discern “the present truth,” 2 Pet. i. 12, because blinded with interests; but it may be truth itself may be the interest of the next age, and the bleak wind that blows now in our faces may be then in our backs; there are strange revolutions. Again, this may serve for caution to us: let us not rest in fond affection to Saints and worthies departed; the memory of Judas is not so accursed to us as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were to the carnal Jews in Christ's time; Moses was gº- as dear to them as Christ and the apostles to us. . That is the best affection which is expressed by imitation; and stableness in the present truth is a great trial of our sincerity. Dead saints are out of our envy; how are we affected to the living, that walk in their ways P. It is good to examine what proportion and likeness there is between the case of the present hated parties, and the case of Christ and his apostles in the primitive times. Obs. 3. That the judgment of the saints, and the judgment of the world, about afflictions, is far differ- ent. They have different principles, the spirit of the world, and the Spirit of God; they have different lights and rules, that of faith, and that of sense. A carnal man judges by appearance, but a spiritual man looks within the veil; the world judges aſilictions miserable, 194 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF ¥ they account them a happiness. It is notable, that all the beatitudes are affixed to unlikely conditions, Matt. v., to show that the judgment of the word, and the judgment of the world, are contrary. Well, then, do not hearken to the judgment of the world about afflictions, but to the judgment of the Spirit; not to what sense feels, but to what faith expects. The men of the world are infeliciter felices, miserable in their happiness, but the children of God are happy in their misery. But you will say, Wherein P I an- swer, (1.) The very suffering for righteousness' sake is a kind of grace which Göd doth us; “But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye,” ! Pet. iii. 14. So, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,” Matt. v. 10; and, They rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name,” Acts v. 41. God forgive me this great unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy, (Saith Bradford,) that he chooseth me for one in whom he will suffer. (2.) Ye have gain by the afflictions, experience, hope, and grace, Rom. v. 3, 4; Heb. xii. I l; as also the sweet sense of Di- vine consolations, 2 Cor. i. 5. (3.) God has promised bountifully to reward it: there is a blessing in hand, but more in hope, James i. 12. “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.” He in- stances Job, because he was an eminent instance of misery. From the citation we may make these OBSERVATIONS. I. That the Book of Job was not a parable, but a history of what was really acted. Obs. 2. Affliction maketh saints emi- “ Ye have heard.” We had never heard of Job, had he not been brought so low. Job’s poverty made him rich in honour and esteem. Stars do not shine but in the night: the less we are made by Provi- dence, the greater. You may oppose this against the temptation of lowness and baseness; God’s children never gain so much honour as in their troubles. Many, whose names now breathe forth a fresh perfume in the churches, would have lived and died obscurely, and their bones have been cast into some unknown charnel, undis- tinguished from other relics of mortality, but that God drew them forth into public notice by eminent sufferings. Obs. 3. Where the bent of the heart is right, the infirmities of God’s people are not mentioned. “The patience of Job.” He showed much impatience and murmuring, cursing the day of his birth, &c., but not a word of all this. So Heb. xi. 31, there is no mention of Rahab's lie, but only of her faith and peaceable behaviour towards the spies: where God sees grace, he as it were hides his eyes from those circumstances that might seem to deface the glory of it. So in Sarah's speech, though the whole sentence is full of distrust and unbelief, God takes notice of her reverence to her husband ; she called Abraham lord, I Pet. iii. 6. Wicked men watch for our halting, and feed their malice with our failings; they can oversee a great deal of good, and pitch only upon what is evil; but the Lord, where the heart is sin- cere, pardons the defects. Job murmured, but the word saith, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job;” there was patience in the main. Job often submits to God, sometimes blesses God, dislikes those mur- murings extorted from him by the sense of his suffer- ings, often corrects himself as soon as he had spoken any unbecoming word of God or providence; and when he was reproved of God, he humbled himself, Job xl.-xlii. 'Atro Tris Trévigs, Nautporéposé)t- nent. veto. "Chrys. Cicuta Socratem magnum fecit. Sen. See the note on chap. ii. ver. 2. Obs. 4. We should often in our afflictions propound Job’s pattern and example. He was famous for miseries, various in their kind; now Chaldeans, then Sabeans; now wind, then fire, &c. When afflictions come, like waves, one in the neck of another, and you are put upon divers trials, think of Job. They light upon all his comforts: his goods; a life is no life without a livelihood: his children, those dear pledges of affection; you lose one, Job many; when you lose all, it is but as Job: then upon his own body, he was rough-cast with sores. God’s afflictions usually come closer and closer, till they touch our very skins: in the plague you may remember how Job’s body was smitten with Sores, nay, his soul was exasperated with the censures of his friends: this goes closer and closer, God’s immediate hand si- lences the spirit; we take injuries from man very unkindly, especially injuries from friends; these were stabs to the very heart. Perils among false brethren was Paul’s sorest trial. It is grievous to suffer from an enemy, worse from a countryman, worse than that from a friend, and worst of all from godly friends; but yet this was Job’s case, he complains that they were miserable comforters. Thus you see Job was famous for misery, and as famous for patience; it would be too long to survey it. In all the expres- sions of it two are notable, which run through every vein of the whole book; his advancing God, and de-f basing himself; good thoughts of God, and low i thoughts of himself: “Blessed be the name of the Lord,” Job i. 23; and, “I have sinned,” Job vii. 20. Well, then, in all your afflictions look upon this spec- tacle of misery, and example of patience. “And have seen the end of the Lord.” It may be applied to Christ or Job. Some apply it to Christ for these reasons: 1. Otherwise the main pattern of patience will be left out. 2. The change of the verb, “ye have heard of Job, and ye have seen the end of Christ:” the adding of this new word “seen” seems to be done by way of contradistinction to heard. These reasons, when I first glanced upon this text, inclined me to that opinion, especially when I after- ward saw the same reasons urged by learned Paraeus. Many of the ancients go this way, as Austin, Beda, Lyra, Aquinas; which last improves it more than I have seen any : Job and Christ, (saith he,) the two famous in- stances, are well coupled; Job in the Old Testament, Christ in the New ; in the one we have a pledge of a temporal, in the other of an eternal recompence; you have heard of the one, and seen the other: Job suffers, but not to death; therefore, that they might have a com- plete pattern, he reminds them of the end of the Lord. Thus far Aquinas. If this were the sense, the point would be, That Christ's death is the great spectacle and glass of patience. But modern divines go another way, and with good reason : 1. Because the drift of the con- text is to propound not only a perfect pattern of miseries, but a happy end out of miseries; he had spoken of Job’s patience, but, if the former sense were true, nothing of his happy issue; a thin most suitable to his purpose, and most remarkable in the story. 2. The apostle in the former verse shows he would instance some prophets and holy men of God, not the Lord himself. 3. The Syriac translation hath plainly finem quem ei fecit Dominus, the end which the Lord made to him. 4. The latter clause in the text cannot so commodiously agree to the former sense, to wit, that God is pitiful, and of ten- der mercy: but with this latter sense it fitly suits; De Job et Christo Specialiter exem- plificat, Job in Veteri Testamen- to, Christo in Novo,guorum uni reddita sunt tem- poralia, alteri 82terna ; sufferen- tiam Jobi audist is, quanta sustinuit a diabolo, a prae- donibus, ab uxore, ab amicis, et finem Domini vi- distis oculis sci- licet vestris in gruce pendentern, longanimiter pa- tientem, &c. Thomas in loc. See ver. 6, 7. WER. 11. 195 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. the end that the Lord made with him, because he is of great mercy. The former arguments may be easily answered: 1. To the first ; we must not teach the apostles how to reason, or what instances to bring; possibly the example of Christ's patience is purposely omitted, because the main things in question, where- in their constancy was assaulted, was their belief in Christ; and therefore it was not so necessary to pro- pound his example so much as that of other holy men, who were afflicted, that they might not be scandalized at the cross, and from their great afflic- tions suspect the way which they professed. To all this I may add, that the sufferings of Christ are mentioned ver. 6, as we cleared before. 2. To the second argument, which is grounded upon the change. of the verb “heard” and “seen,” I answer, Both words, implying the acts of the outward sense, are put for acts of knowledge and understanding ; and “seen,” which is the clearer way of perception, is used in the latter clause, because God’s recompence was so ample, and far more visible than Job’s pa- tience. And let not the phrase seem too curt, there being special reason why the issue of Job's afflic- tions should be called “the end of the Lord.” OBSERVATIONS. 1. That the afflictions of God’s children must not be considered in their nature and beginning, but in their issue and end. “No affliction for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous,” Heb. xii. 11: there are two words emphatical; irpèg uév rô Trapöv, “for the present;” and oi, Šoksi, “seemeth:” they are smart in the apprehension of the flesh, and smart only for the present. It is but childish to judge of afflictions by present sense; it is always worst with Christians in the present time. See Rom. viii. 18; I Cor. xv. 19; 2 Cor. iv. 16–18. Well, then, do not measure afflictions by the smart, but by the end of them : besides our everlasting hopes, usually that end which is seen, and liable to common observance, is glorious. When Israel was dismissed out of Egypt, it was with gold and earrings, Exod. xi. So the Jews were dismissed out of Babylon with gifts, jewels, and all necessary utensils, Ezra i. So when “the Lord turned the captivity of Job, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before,” and every one of his friends “also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold,” Job xlii. 10, 11. O wait for the end then. The beginning is usually Satan's, but the end is the Lord’s ; at the beginning the power of darkness may have an hour, but at the end the Lord will be seen. Obs. 2. The Lord must give a happy end to all afflictions. (1.) A temporal end ; man may be- gin, but God, must make an end. The beginning of strife (saith Solomon) is as the opening of the waters; a fool may pull up the sluices, but there is no turning of the stream. Penes reges est inferre bellum, penes autem Deum terminare; When man be- gins, the Lord will exercise his own dominion and sovereignty ere the end cometh. (2.) A gracious end; the fruit of it is to take away sin, Isa. xxvii. 9 : now this is God’s work. God’s rod, as well as God’s word, does nothing without his blessing, other- wise they are both poor, dead, and useless means. “I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit,” Isa. xlviii. 17; that is, by afflictions. (3.) A glorious end; it is the Lord’s gift, not our merit. O, then, let us do our duty, and God will not be wanting; let us wait upon him with Job’s patience, and he will give Job's end. - “That the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mer- cy.” This clause expresses partly the cause, partly the manner, of God’s appearance in Job’s end. I. The cause why Job had so good an end of his troubles was God’s mercy, not his own merit; it was his hap- piness that he had to do with a pitiful and merciful God. 2. The manner of God’s appearance in the end of afflictions; you will find God merciful and pitiful, whatever the flesh saith to the contrary; in the beginning you think him cruel, but in the end you find him merciful. Here are two words that ex- press God’s goodness; the first is, “very pitiful;” in the original, troXào TXayyvoc, of much or many bowels; these are the tender parts, in which we feel a com- motion upon every strong affection, as the mother's bowels are said to yearn to the infant when he was to be divided, 1 Kings iii. 26; therefore we are bid to put on “bowels of mercies,” Col. iii. 12. The next word is, “ of tender mercy,” oilcrippayy; it is the word which is opposed to the hard heart, and there- fore we do not render it the merciful, but “of tender mercy.” Now the proper use and distinction of these words in this place may be conceived thus: 1. The one has respect to our miseries, the other to our sins; pitiful, in feeling for our miseries; mer- ciful, in pardoning our sins. 2. The , , , one notes affection, the other acts suit- º able, inward and outward mercy. From ...” hence you may observe several notes. OBSERVATIONS. 1. God's mercy is seldom spoken of without some addition of much, or great, or tender. “Very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Most commonly in the Old Testament it is expressed plurally, mercies and lov- ing-kindnesses, and very often are those additions of much and great annexed: “Great in mercy,” Exod. xxxiv. 6. His mercies are very great, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. So Psal. cxxx. 7, “With him there is plenteous redemption.” With him “abundant mer- cy,” I Pet. i. 3, and “exceeding riches of grace,” Eph. ii. 7. God delights to discover this attribute in its royalty and magnificence. Certainly there is more in God’s mercy than in men's sins; our ephah is full, but God’s mercy is over-full. And there is enough in God to supply all our wants; when you can exhaust overflowing mercy, then you may com- plain. And there is enough in God to satisfy every particular believer; we all drink of the same foun- tain, and yet cannot draw it dry. Oh when shall we learn of our heavenly Father, not only to do good works, but to abound in them more and more P He is rich in mercy, when shall we be rich in good works? Obs. 2. God is very tender to his people in misery. Sense does but make lies of God; when we hearken to the voice of our own feeling, we are apt to Say, as Job, “Thou art become cruel to me,” Job xxx. 21 ; or at least as David, “I am cut off from before thine eyes,” Psal. xxxi. 22, though at that very time God had a gracious respect to him; “nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications.” Israel is chidden for saying, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God,” Isa. xl. 27; that is, God has left me out of the count of providence, and the roll of those whom he is to look after ; he does not take notice of my case. To but wait a little while, and you shall see that the Lord is very pitiful and tender. God’s children have been at length ashamed of their hasty words; and when providence has had its course, they can easily see, that though the outside and bark of it was rough and harsh, yet it was lined with pity and mercy. Obs. 3. God has every way provided for the com- fort of his people. Pitiful and merciful. He has pity for their afflictions, and pardon for their sins; he was sensible of Job’s misery and Job’s weakness. His compassion might be discouraged by our mur- o 2 #96 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF murings, but that he is merciful as well as pitiful. Afflicted persons may hence comfort themselves, and answer the objections of their sad spirits; when you have injuries from men, you shall find pities in God. Yes, but I have sinned. I answer, There is mercy in him as well as pity. Obs. 4. There is in God, first bowels, and then bounty. “Very pitiful,” and then “of tender mer- cy.” So Exod. xxxiv. 6, “Merciful and gracious.” Oh, then, let us learn of our heavenly Father, when we do good, to do it with all our hearts; let the spring be within us. “Draw out thy soul to the hungry,” and then “satisfy the afflicted soul,” Isa. lviii. 18. * VERSE 12. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath ; but let your yea be yea, and your may, may : lest ye fall into condemnation. FoR the context; some say this is the coherence be- tween the former matter and the present verse: men in affliction are usually impatient, and impa- tience betrays itself by oaths and curses. A conceit very injudicious, and no way complying with the in- tent of the apostle. We need not stick at method and connexion ; it is usual with James and the other apostles to divert from one matter to another, ac- cording as the necessity of the times required, with- out any curiosity or observation of the laws of method. In this verse there is an admonition or dissuasive from swearing; in which you may note, 1. The vehemency of proposal, “But above all things.” - 2. A direction proposed : (1.) Negatively, “ Swear not;” wherein some forms of oaths are specified, “neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath.” (2.) Bositively, “Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay.” 3. Here is a comminatory reason and enforcement, “Lest ye fall into condemnation.” “But above all things,” IIpê Távrov č, ćexpot. The phrase has undergone several constructions; it roperly signifies, before all things; therefore Lyra interprets the apostle thus, Do not swear before all things, before every word and promise. The exposition were plausible, if the posture of the words Were, ur) épºvěsts &ós) ſpot ºrpè ºrdvrov, my brethren, swear not before all things; but it is, before all things, my brethren. Therefore I rather take it for a form of vehemency and earnestness, frequent in the apostolical epistles : “Above all taking the shield of faith,” Eph. vi. 16. So I Pet. iv. 8, “Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves.” But you will say, Why does he press this above all things P. The question is grave and weighty; I shall give some reasons, which will occasion so many notes. 1. Because it is a great sin to swear lightly and inconsiderately. It is especially forbidden in the decalogue; “The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain,” Exod. xx. 7. Of all things God is tender of his own name. It is a great sin in regard of the object about which it is convers- ant, God’s name, which ought to be sacred; every thought and mention should be accompanied with reverence: all sin is against God, but this formally and directly against God; men are most tender of Ne praepomatis Juramentum om- nibus verbis et promissis. their credit. It is a great sin in regard of the occa- sion; it is without a temptation, unless in such as argue height of wickedness: either a wantonness in sin, because it is a sport to do evil; other sins have an external bait, here is nothing but a glorying in our own shame, Phil. iii. 19: or an obstinate pride; it is a daring of God; they will sin, because they will sin; it is usually found in ruffians that have lost all awe. O let us beware of this sin of rash swearing, of every tendency that way, any irreverent use of the name of God in sudden outcries, O God, O Lord, &c., or any vain jesting with oaths. Those that swear in jest shall go to hell in earnest. The Jews were so tender of the name of God, that they would not pronounce Jehovah in the law, but read Adonai, unless by the high priest once every year; and be- ing given to swearing, they were loth Jara, werp, per to use their greater oath, Chi Eloah, Anºialam. but swore by the creatures. The hea. ** thens would name those but seldom whom they reverenced. Augustus (as Suetonius reports) would not have his name obsolefieri, to be worn threadbare. The name of Mercurius Trismegistus was not com- monly pronounced, because of great reverence to him. 2. Another reason why the apostle Saith “above all things,” is, because it was a sin familiar with the Hebrews, as appears by Sundry passages in Scrip- ture : see those dissuasives, Matt. v. 33–37; xxiii. 16–22. It was a sin very common amongst them, as among some nations to this day; as the Dutch, French, Scotch, though the English have too much written after their copy. OBSERVATIONS. I. That common and known sins must be opposed with all earnestness. The apostle saith, “Above all things swear not;” such points are to be pressed above all other. Usually such truths as concern the present age are disliked; when we reflect upon the guilt of the times, men would have us preach Christ, and the general doctrines of faith and repentance; which is nothing but a vain cavil, masked with the specious pretence of religion; for you shall see when the preaching of Christ was the main truth in con- troversy, and the apostles bent their strength that way, the Corinthians cried for wisdom, meaning doc- trines of civil prudence, and the softer strains of morality; and that is the reason why Paul said, “I determined not to know any thing among you, Save Jesus Christ,” kai rośrov ša ravpopuévov, “and him cru- cified,” I Cor. ii. 2; which was the doctrine at which they were most scandalized; and therefore he re- solved to take notice of no argument so much as that in his ministry. The work of the ministry is not to contend with ghosts, and opinions antiquated, but the errors and sins of the present time. Look as it is the duty of Christians to spend the heat of their indignation on the main sin with which they are sur- prised; “I kept myself from mine iniquity,” Psal. xviii. 23; so must ministers chiefly bend their zeal and strength against the present guilt. Were we only to provide for ourselves, we might read to you fair lectures of contemplative divinity, and with words as soft as oil entice you into a fool’s paradise, never searching your wounds; but our commission is, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins,” Isa. lviii. 1. Obs. 2. It is a custom that can hardly be left or forsaken ; therefore above all things take heed of swearing. Austin urges this argument: Why doth the apostle say “above all things?” Is it worse to swear than to steal? worse to swear than to commit Quare ante om- nia 2 Jurare pe- jus est quam fu- rari 2 Jurare pejus est quam adulterare 2 Ju WER. 12. I97 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. adultery P worse to swear than to kill a man P No.; but the apostle would omnia 2 fortify as much as he could against a n I) 1a : Ine Surre- º e pºpis consue. pestilent custom. Certainly when we tºº." have once gotten it, it is hardly left; suetudimen inten- every corporal thing being often moved Sissimum redde- . t ºf "Aºm. in one and the same manner, receives º" a greater easiness and aptitude to the same motions; so the tongue when it is used to the voicing of oaths. Custom has so great a power upon us, that the word is uttered before the mind can check it. The executions of other sins are slower, as murder, lust, theft, because other members are not so ready as the tongue: a man may sooner command his hand than his tongue. Well, then, let those that by company or education have learned to swear, or to use vain, idle expressions, watch with the more care; a custom is soon gotten, either by Our Own use, or constant conversation with them that use it. Good Joseph learned to swear in the house of Pharaoh. Watch diligently, thy custom will not excuse thee. If it be thy custom to sin, it is God’s custom to destroy sinners. “Swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath.” For the opening of this passage, it may be inquired, 1. Whether all oaths are forbidden P Divers have been of this judg- ment. The Essens thought all oaths as bad as perjury, as Josephus witnesses, lib. 2. de Bello Ju- daico, cap. 7. Jerom charges the Pelagians with the Same opinion ; it has been also objected against the Waldenses, how truly I know not. The Anabaptists have been uncertain in this point; sometimes they have professed against all oaths, at other times ex- pressed themselves as denying only rash oaths, as in the conference at Franckendale; and those of that Sect amongst us seem to have recanted the ancient rigour herein. Many modern writers, of great note, seem to incline to the absolute prohibition of oaths, as unbeseeming that faith and simplicity which should be among Christians. Certainly there has been a great abuse of them in our civil courts, even to the disgrace of our holy profession, as being administered upon every trifling occasion for a shilling matter, and in businesses of a low concernment. But, how- ever, oaths in themselves are lawful, if taken “ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness,” Jer. iv. 2; that is, without fraud, in a lawful matter, and upon a weighty occasion. The apostle saith an oath is Trépag duriNoytaç, an “end of strife,” Heb. vi. 16. In the Old Testament, in any doubtful case which could not be otherwise determined, they were to accept “the oath of the Lord,” Exod. xxii. 11, 12. The commandment itself allows a liberty; “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;” which implies a lawful use of God’s name. In the New Testament the apostle Paul in weighty mat- ters often swears, and calls God to witness, Rom. i. º I ; 2 Cor. i. 23; “God is my record,” Phil. l. 85. 2. What oaths are condemned 9 Answ. Our Sa- viour and the apostle James only meet with that wicked custom introduced by the Pharisees, that a man might swear by the creatures, if there were no mention of the name of God, or things offered to God, as appears by considering Matt. v. and xxiii. The nation of the Jews were guilty of three things: 1. Frequent swearing. 2. Swearing by the crea- tures, 3, Breaking these oaths as not binding and valid. And these sins being rife in the apostle's days, the prohibition of the text must be chiefly ap- plied to them, so that “Swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth,” must be meant of their usual rare pejus est. quan) hominem occidere 2 Absit, quare ergo ante and accustomed forms, which they had invented to evade the law; for the Jews, so that they omitted the great oath of Chi Eloah, thought they were safe. So Philo saith, that it was a sin and a philo in lit, vanity, Śwº róv Tarápa kai troumri) v \@v ºgº róvºy etàe. &varpéxsw, presently to run to God, or * the Maker of all things, and to swear by him; but that it was lawful to swear by our parents, by heaven, and the stars, So it is observed of some of the ancient Greeks, ºrpotrertöc àpivöstv Tspi Töv 0805u, 3AXa kará ràv Štrutvyxavóvrov, that they did not easily swear by the gods, but by the creatures, and things before their eyes, and then that there was no harm. and no solemn obligation in these oaths. Vain pretences and excuses for though the name of God was not interposed, yet it is implied, Matt. xxiii. 20–22; v. 34, 35; the creature being God’s creature, and in an oath made by them implicitly called upon to be God’s instrument of vengeance in case of perjury. That other clause, “neither by any other oath,” is meant of other oaths of that kind. “But let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay.” Some suppose that this is the same with what our Saviour speaks, Matt. v. 37, which implies that a Christian in his ordinary speech should content him- self with simple affirmations or negations, that he may abstain from all appearance of an oath. But mark, our apostle does not say, let your speech be yea, yea; nay, may ; but, “let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay. Yea and nay were the usual forms and words used in stipulations. Now, saith the apostle, let your yea be always yea, and your may always may ; that is, let your affirmations and nega- tions be plain, and sure grounded on a mere truth. As Paul saith his preaching of the gospel was not yea and nay, but in Christ yea and yea, 2 Cor. i. 18; so here, “let your yea be yea:” the first yea re- fers to the promise, the second to the performance; let there be yea in the promise, and yea in the per- formance. And herein the apostle seems to strike at the root, falsehood being the cause of oaths. “Lest ye fall into condemnation.” Many read, tva pur) sic inrókgtaw Trégnts, lest ye fall into hypocrisy; that is, be found liars. But it seems by most transla- tions, the Syriac, the Arabic, the Latin, that the original was read as we read it, Úſtó kptaw Téants, fall into judgment: it is an allusion to that commination in the law that forbids swearing, “The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain;” where not only perjury, but rash oaths, are forbid- den; for sºv', which we translate “in vain,” is pro- perly so rendered, according to the use of it in Scrip- ture, as the learned prove against the Socinians: the interpretations given by 'º' the Septuagint and Aquila confirm this. … OBSERVATIONS. 1. That swearing by the creatures is unlawful. Swearing is an act of worship, and therefore it must be only done in weighty cases, by the name of God: “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name,” Deut. vi. 13. So the prophet reproved those that “swear by the sin of Sa- maria,” meaning the idol, Amos viii. 14. In such oaths the creature is made use of instead of God; whether it be by way of assertion, as when we say, As sure as there is heaven, or there is light in hea- ven; or by way of execration, as, Let heaven blast me, earth swallow me, or the devil take me, &c. In all these rude speeches there is a double evil; a rash oath, and an oath made by the creature instead of God; and yet what more common than such forms amongst us? I might instance in many; the popish oath, By the Virgin Mary, and our common word, Yes marry ; so also those sottish vulgar forms, By 198 CHAP. V. AN EXPOSITION OF my head, By this light, By this candle, this bread, By my faith, &c. Obs. 2. That an excellent way to prevent swearing is to use constant truth in our speeches; then we need not interpose an oath, the credit of our com- munication will be enough. Oaths give suspicion of men’s falseness and lightness; if men were serious and sincere in their discourses, their word would be equivalent to an oath, and their very affirming would be swearing ; whereas others in a doubtful case are hardly credited, though they swear never so deeply, because they swear so commonly; for having prosti- tuted the highest and most solemn way of assurance to every trifle, they have nothing left wherewith to establish a controverted truth. Obs. 3. That rash and false swearing will bring a sure judgment. For oaths, persons and lands mourn, Hos. iv. 3, 4. If duty does not move, methinks thou shouldst startle at the danger and punishment; if thou art not afraid to sin, yet it is strange thou art not afraid to burn. All sins are threatened with death, but this more expressly; God has engaged himself that he “will not hold him guiltless.” Usually they are brought to a speedy trial; “I will be a swift wit- ness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers,” Mal. iii. 5; and judg- ment marched against them with a swift pace, “The flying roll shall enter into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name,” Zech. v. 4. Certainly there is no sin that does more weary the patience of God, because there is no sin that does more banish the fear of God out of our hearts. Reader, thou art entreated to take notice, that the author being sensible that this book grew somewhat bulkish, purposely omitted those larger discourses which he conceived upon this verse, concerning the lawfulness of oaths, the abuse of them in ordinary commerce and courts of civil judicature; as also the discussion of those questions, whether the Old Testa- ment did only forbid perjury, and the New added to the law the prohibition of rash and unnecessary oaths, as papists, Socinians, and some of late think; as also, whether it is in any case lawful to swear by the creatures, and whether oaths so made be valid and obligatory. All these inquiries he purposely omitted, and would rather appear in this contracted form than be burdensome ; especially there being large discourses extant on all these matters. See the writers on the commandments: Grotius on Matt. v. 34, &c.; xxiii. 20–22. Perkins on Matt. v. Ham- mond’s Pract. Cat. and Spanheim. Dub. Evang. part 3. Dub. 124. et sequentibus. Brochm. Syst. Theol. Act. de Lege Dei, cap. 8. quest. 1, 2, 3. Jacobus ad I’ortum in refut. institut. Ostorodii ad cap. 25, &c. Non peccare The tuunt, Sed ar- dere. Aug. VERSE 13. Js any among you afflicted 2 let him pray. Is any merry 3 let him sing psalms. HERE he diverts to another matter, which is a direc- tion how to behave ourselves either in an afflicted or in a prosperous condition, we being apt to fail and miscarry in both. “Is any among you afflicted P let him pray.” Some Latin copies read the whole verse in one sentence, strangely perverting the sense, thus; Is any sorry among you ?, let him pray and sing with an equal mind. But the Greek reads as we do, “Is any among you,” &c. P. He means you that are in the church, that are the flock of Christ. Christianity gives us no lease of temporal happiness, no ex- emption from the cross, rather the contrary; misera- ble, is one of the church’s names; “O thou afflicted,” Isa. liv. II. “Is any merry P” stºupsi tic; is any of a good mind? the effect is put for the state, gladness for prosperity, which is wont to make the heart glad and merry. The word is translated, of good cheer; “I exhort you” si6vusiv, “to be of good cheer,” Acts xxvii. 22. “Let him sing psalms.” In the original there is but one word, pax\éro, “let him sing;”, but because the apostle is pressing them to the religious use of every condition, and because this is the usual accept- ation of the word paNNära in the church, it is well rendered, “let him sing psalms.” Certainly when the apostle bids them sing, he does not mean Songs, but psalms; not songs to gratify the flesh, but psalms to refresh the spirit. Merry men are wont to “chant to the sound of the viol,” Amos vi. 5. Nature needs not to be pressed to that; therefore questionless he is to be understood of the duty of singing. There are many practical notes and inferences de- ducible from this verse. OBSERVATIONS. 1. Our temporal condition is various and diverse. Now afflicted, and then merry. It is the folly of our thoughts, that we cannot be happy but we think our nest is among the stars: “Man at his best state is altogether vanity,” Psal. xxxix. 5. Our prosperity is like glass, brittle when shining. The complaint of the church may be the motto of all the children of God; “Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down,” Psal. cii. 10. The church’s name (as I said) is, “afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,” Isa. liv. II. Obs. 2. This is the perfection of Christianity, to carry an equal pious mind in unequal conditions. Paul had learned to walk up-hill and down-hill with the same spirit and pace; “I know both how to be abased, and how to abound,” Phil. iv. 12. The pro- phet saith of Ephraim, that he was as “a cake not turned,” Hos. vii. 8; baked of one side, but dough of the other. Most men are fit but for one condition. Some cannot carry a full cup without spilling, others cannot bear a full load without breaking. Sudden alterations perplex both body and mind. It is the mighty power of grace to keep the soul in an equal temper. Obs. 3. Several conditions require several duties. The Christian conversation is like a wheel, every spoke takes its turn. God has planted in a man affections for every condition, grace for every affec- tion, and a duty for the exercise of every grace, and a season for every duty. The children of the Lord are like trees planted by the rivers of water, that | bring forth their fruit in due season, Psal. i. 3. There is no time wherein God does not invite us to himself; it is wisdom to perform what is most seasonable. There is a time to encourage trust; At “what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee,” Psal. lvi. 3; and there is a time to deject security: in misery the duty is prayer; in prosperity, giving of thanks. Some- times, I confess, these duties may be inverted; we may bless God for giving as well as taking, and in prosperity there may be great need of prayer; but the apostle speaks of what is ordinary, at least he would show us that there is no condition so good but there is need of duty, there is none so bad as to be past duty: in all estates we must be doing; no provi- . dence exempts you from duty, nor makes void the bonds of obedience. It is our folly to betray our duties by our wishes; If it were thus and thus with WER. 13. 199. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. us, we could serve God readily and cheerfully. Thou fool, there is no condition but grace can improve it to some religious use, for the advantage of some duty or other; it is thy laziness, and the blame of thine own neglects must not be charged upon Providence. Obs. 4. That it is of excellent advantage in religion to make use of the present affection. Of sadness, to put us upon prayer; of mirth, to put us upon thanks- giving. Anima nunquam melius agit, quam ea impetu *nsignis alicuffus affectus, The soul never works more sweetly than when it works in the force of some eminent affection. With what advantage may we strike when the iron is hot | When the affections are stirred up on a carnal occasion, convert them to a re- ligious use: “Weep ye not for the dead, neither be- moan him : but weep sore for him that goeth away,” &c., Jer. xxii. 10; that is, when sorrow is stirred up by your private loss, turn it out into a public channel. So Luke xxiii. 24. So Christ would have them to spiritualize their tears; “Daughters of Je- rusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.” Christ would not have them bewail his death in a carnal manner, but bemoan their own sins, and their approaching ruin. So for joy and mirth; “Nor jesting, but rather giving of thanks,” Eph. v. 4 ; mentioning his sweet experi- ences should be a Christian's mirth and jesting. Oh that we could learn this wisdom, to take the ad- vantage of a carnal motion, not to fulfil it, but to employ it for the uses of the sanctuary When the affections are once raised, give them a right object; otherwise they are apt to degenerate, and to offend in their measure, though their first occasion was lawful. Obs. 5. Prayer is the best remedy for sorrows. Griefs are eased by groans and utterance ; such evaporation disburdens and cools the heart. It is Some ease to pour out our complaints into a friend’s bosom; prayer is but the exercise of our graces, and graces exercised will yield comfort. We have great cause in afflictions to use the help of prayer: (1.) That we may ask patience; if God lay on a great burden, cry for a strong back. (2.) That we ask constancy, that you may not “put forth your hands unto iniquity,” Psal. cxxv. 3. (3.) That we may ask hope and trust, and wait upon God for his fatherly love and care. (4.) That we may ask a gracious improvement; the benefit of the rod is a fruit of Divine grace, as well as the benefit of the word. (5.) That we may ask deliverance with a Submission to God’s will: “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears,” Psal. xxxiv. 7. So Psal. cvii., it is four times re- peated, “Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses,” ver. 6, 13, 19, 28. Obs. 6. Thanksgiving, or singing to God’s praise, is the proper duty in the time of mercies or comforts. It is God’s bargain, and our promise, that if he would deliver us, we would glorify him; “I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,” Psal. l. 15. The spouse's eyes are doves' eyes, Cant. iv. 1. Doves peck and look upward; for every grain of mercy there is Some return of praise. Look to it, then; mercies work one way or another, either they become the fuel of our lusts or our praises, either they make us thank- ful or wanton; your condition is either a help or a hinderance in religion: awaken yourselves to this Service, every new mercy calls for a new song. It is sad to hold a great farm by the Divine bounty, and pay no rent. You should, as it is in the Psalm for the sabbath, “show forth his loving-kindness in the morning, and his faithfulness every xcii. 2. Our morning hopes are founded Qui majores ter- ras possident, JT, 1 l) Ores CellSuS Solvunt. Parisi- ensis de Ingratis. night,” Psal. in God’s mercy, and our evening returns of praise should take notice of his truth or faithfulness. We would have mercy in the morning, but usually we forget praise at night. Obs. 7. That singing of psalms is a duty of the gospel. Having so fair a leave from the text, it will be good to vindicate this holy ordinance and institu- tion. Most practise it out of custom, and in a formal perfunctory manner, and therefore are apt to lay it aside now it is questioned. Usually the devil takes that advantage, to draw men of a pro- bable faith to atheism; and when they do not know the reasons of a duty, they #."º. are the sooner won to the neglect of it. ſiden portant. This comfortable ordinance and spi- ‘’” ritual recreation has been several ways impugned. First, Some question the whole duty, as if it were legal worship, because we have no formal and solemn institution of it in the New Testament ; but vainly, and without reason. For, (I.) Moral duties, en- joined in the Old Testament, need no other institu- tion in the New. That it is a part of moral worship is discernible by the light of nature; the heathens sang hymns to their gods: as also because in the Old Testament it is always sorted with other duties that are of a perpetual and immutable obligation; as Psal. xcv., where there is a perfect enumeration of all parts of public worship, the word, and prayer, &c., and singing is joined with them, as of equal necessity. Yea, it is notable, that all those psalms which prophesy of the worship of the Gentiles under the gospel mention singing: Psal. c., cyiii. 2, &c. (2.) We have the example of Christ and his apostles; they “sung an hymn,” Matt. xxvi. 30. The same is recorded of Paul and Silas, Acts xvi. 25. (3.) We have exhortations in the New Testament; as Col. iii. 16; Eph. v. 19, and the present scripture which we are now upon. (4.) The consent of the churches: Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, mentions the Chris- tians' hymnos antelucanos, their morning songs to Christ and God, as a usual practice in their solemn worship. Justin Martyr saith, quest. 117. ad Ortho- doxos, "Yuvovg kai Trpoosvyāg tº està diva Trépºropsy, &c., We send up prayers and psalms to God. Secondly, Others question whether we may sing Scripture psalms, the Psalms of David, which to me seems to look like the cavil of a profane spirit. But to clear this also ; I confess we do not forbid other songs; if grave and pious, after good advice they may be received into the church. Ter- tullian in his Apology shows that in the primitive times they used this liber- ty, either to sing Scripture psalms, or such as were of a private composure. But that which I am to prove, that Scrip- tural psalms may be sung; and I shall, éc Treptogoń, with advantage over and above, prove, that they are fittest to be sung. 1. That they may be sung, may be proved by rea- son; the word limits not, and therefore we have no reason to make any restraint. They are part of the word of God, full of matter that tends to instruction, comfort, and the praise of God, which are the ends of singing; and therefore, unless we will bring a dis- paragement upon the Scriptures, we cannot, deny them a part in our spiritual mirth. Besides, thus it has been practised by Christ himself, by the apostles, the servants of the Lord in all ages; and there is no reason why, in these dregs of time, we should obtrude novel restraints upon the people of God. That Christ himself sang Scripture psalms may be pro- bably collected out of Matt. xxvi. 30, Yuujigavrég, “When they had sung an hymn,” &c.; which hymn, that it was one or more of David's Psalms, may be Non exploratis rationibus tradi- Post aquam nua- nualem et ſunni- na, ut quisque de Scripturis wel . proprio ingenio potest, provoca- tur in medium Deo camere. Tertul. in Apol. c. 29. See the Notes of Pame- lius on that place. 200 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF proved by these reasons, to those that do not wrangle rather than scruple. (1.) By the custom of the Jews; they were wont to end the paschal supper with Solemn psalms or hymns; they sang six Psalms in the night of the passover, when the Lamb was eaten; the Psalms were cziii.-cxix., which were called by the Jews the Great Hallelujah, as Lucas Brugensis, Scaliger, Buxtorf, and others skilled in their customs, inform us; and it is more than pro- bable that Christ followed their custom herein, be- cause in all other things he observed their usual passover rites. (2.) From the word itself, “they sung an hymn.” Now what shall we understand by this, but such a hymn as was usual in that age P. If any should report the manner of our assemblies, and should say, After such exercises they sang a psalm, without any other description, what can rationally be understood but the psalms in use amongst us 2 Now the psalms or hymns then in use were the Psalms of David. (3.) The evangelists specify no new hymn made for this purpose, who are wont to mention mat- ters of far less moment or concernment. Grotius indeed is singular, and thinks that the 17th of John was this hymn ; but that is a solemn prayer, not in metre or measured words; it has not the style of other hymns and songs; and those words were spoken by Jesus alone, the disciples could not so properly join in them : “These words spake Jesus, and lift up his eyes,” &c., John xvii. 1. That hymn which Paul and Silas sang, Acts xvi. 25, was probably also a Scriptural hymn; such were used in that age. Certainly it must be such a hymn as both were acquainted with, or else how could they sing it together 2 If the practice of the apostles may be interpreted by their instructions, the case will be clear. In Col. iii. 16, and Eph. v. 19, Paul bids us “speak to one another” paxploic kai čuvoic kai 66aig Tvevuarukaic, “in psalms, and hymns, and spirit- ual songs.” Now these words (which are the known division of David's Psalms, and expressly answering to the Hebrew words, Shurim, Tehillim, and Mizmo. rim, by which his Psalms are distinguished and en- titled) being so precisely used by the apostle in both places, plainly point us to the Book of Psalms. 2. Scripture psalms not only may be sung, but are fittest to be used in the church, as being indited by an infallible and unerring Spirit, and are of a more diffusive and unlimited concernment than the pri- vate dictates of any particular person or spirit in the church. It is impossible any should be of such a a large heart as the penmen of the word, to whom God vouchsafed such a public, high, and infallible conduct; and therefore their excellent composures and addresses to God being recorded and consigned to the use of the church for ever, it seems a wonderful arrogance and presumption in any to pretend to make better, or that their private and rash effusions will be more edifying. Certainly if we consult with our own experience, we have little cause to grow weary of David's Psalms; those that pretend to the gift of psalmody, venting such wild, raw, and indigested stuff, belching out revenge and passion, and mingling their private quarrels and interests with the public worship of God. But suppose men of known holi- ness and ability should be called to this task, and the matter propounded to be sung be good and holy; yet certainly then men are like to suffer loss in their reverence and affection, it being impossible that they should have such absolute assurance and high esteem of persons ordinarily gifted as of those infallibly as- sisted. Therefore upon the whole matter I should pronounce, that so much as an infallible gift excels a common gift, so much Scriptural psalms excel those that are of private composition. Thirdly, There are divers other lesser scruples which I shall handle briefly. Some will have no singing with the voice at all, because the apostle saith, “singing within your hearts.” Yes, but the apostle saith, there too, “ speaking to yourselves:” the inward part must not exclude the outward; the lively voice does not only give vent to affections, but increases them. David speaks often of praising God with his tongue, and with his glory, Psal. cviii. 1, by which he means his tongue; as Psal. xvi. 9, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth,” which in Acts ii. 26 is rendered, “Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad.” Besides all this, the benefit we may convey to others by loud singing; one bird sets all the flock a chirping. Austin speaks how much he was moved with the melody and singing of the church at Milan; Quantum flevimus in hymnis et canticis Suavisonantis ecclesiae, &c. Others will have the psalmist only to sing, and the congregation say Amen, which seems to have been the fashion in the church of Corinth, I Cor. xiv. 14—16. But mark, that singing spoken of there was the fruit of an extraordinary gift, by which they were able to dictate a psalm in any tongue; which gift being for confirmation, could not be discerned if all should join. I confess this practice was, after the expira- tion of the age of miracles, kept up in the church, as appears by that passage of Tertullian cited before, and among us in our cathedrals, where often one alone chanted, the rest being silent. But yet I should judge that the most simple performance of this duty is as it is now practised, the whole congre- gation joining; this is most suitable to the precedents of Scripture, where the duty is spoken of without any relation to that extraordinary gift; as Exod. xv. 1, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord.” So it is said, 2 Chron. v. 13, they made “one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord.” So Christ and his apostles sang a hymn, and Paul and Silas joined in the same €XerCHSe. Others scruple the Psalms, because they are done in metre and rhyme; a vain cavil. Many learned men, as Gomarus and others, prove that the Psalms of David were penned in measure, and with musical accents. Certainly as we read them in our translation a com- mon ear may discern that they are of a different style and cadence from other scriptures. So Jose- phus saith, The song of Moses was penned in He- brew hexameter verse; now there is no reason but that verse may be done into verse, or such metre with which nations are most accustomed. If the scruple continues, such may sing the reading psalms, as hath been used in cathedrals; and as Austin re- ports of Athanasius, that he was pronunciant quam canenti vicinior, that his singing was rather a more deliberate and extended pronunciation. - Some scruple singing as a set and usual ordinance, urging this scripture which we are now upon, “Is any merry P let him sing psalms;” in which clause the apostle shows the chiefest season, not the only time of performance, as in the other duty. Prayer, it is to be practised at other times besides in afflic- tion, though then it is most needful. So also for singing, it is not only useful when we are merry, that we may turn the course of our affections into a re- ligious channel, but sometimes to beget spiritual mirth, and to divert our sadness. Paul and Silas sang in prison; and the disciples sang a hymn after the supper of the Lord, though our Lord was pre- sently to suffer, and they were troubled at it, as ap- pears, Mark xiv. 26: in that sad hour they sang. Some scruple singing of Scriptural psalms as set by others, because the matter does not suit with their VER e -14. 20} THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. case, but belongs to other men and other times. I answer, It is a folly to think that whatever we sing must expressly suit with our case; you may as well say that whatever we read should so suit. We are to meditate upon the psalm which is sung, that we may receive comfort and hope from it, as from other scriptures, Rom. xv. 4. I confess there must be always application. Some psalms have direful im- precations. We are not so to sort them to our case as to wish the like judgments on our private adver- saries, but to think of the horrible judgments of God on unbelievers. Other psalms contain sad nar- ratives of the sufferings of the church or of Christ, which, though we sing them, cannot be conceived as remonstrances of our particular case and state to God; but we are to use them as an occasion to awaken meditations on the afflicted state of the church, or the agonies which Christ endured for our sakes. But this scruple is of the less weight, because the Psalms most commonly contain matter of such general and comprehensive concernment, that they readily offer matter to us to present our own case to God. Some scruple singing with company of whose gracious estate they can have no assurance, rather shrewd presumptions to the contrary. I confess “praise is comely for the upright,” Psal. xxxiii. 1, but yet it is obligatory to all mankind. Wicked men are bound, and you have no reason to discon- tinue your own acts of obedience, because they are in some sort mindful of theirs. You may as well re- fuse to hear with them or pray with them; singing being a part of such kind of worship as is not pecu- liar to a church as a church. Yea, upon this ground the saints may refuse to bless God, because all the creatures join in concert with them : “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee,” Psal. cxlv. 10. Lastly, Some scruple the present translation of the Book of Psalms; the metre being so low and flat, and coming so far short of David's original. I con- fess this is a defect that needs public redress and reformation. But it is good to make use of present means, though weak, when we have no better; as the martyrs did of the first translations of the Bible, which in many places were faulty and defective. At least it is far more safe to sing the Psalms as now tränslated, than to join in the raw, passionate, and revengeful eructations of our modern psalmists. Besides, for those that conscientiously and modestly Scruple this, the Lord has provided some help by the more excellent translations of Sands, Rous, Bar- ton, and others. Thus I have showed how many ways the devil seeks to divert men from this com- fortable ordinance. I confess a psalmodical history would be of great use and profit, and might be easily collected by them that are versed in antiquity; but our leisure and present intendment will not now per- mit it. - VERSE 14. Is any sick among you ?, let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. HAVING given general directions, he descends now to particulars, and instances one special kind of af. flictions, in sickness. 1. He supposes the case as likely to be frequent among them; “Is any sick among you ?” 2. Proposes the duty, (I.) Of the sick Christian, “Let him call for the elders of the church.” (2.) Of the elders, which is twofold. 1. One ordinary and immutable, “ and let them pray over him.” 2. The other temporary, and suiting with the gifts of those times, “anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” This scripture has occasioned much controversy. Though in this exercise I would mainly pursue what is practical, yet when a matter lies obvious and fair, like the angel in the way of Balaam, it cannot be avoided without some dispute and discussion. I shall therefore first open the phrases, then clear the con- troversy, then give you the observable notes. “Is any sick among you ?” &00sysi rig #y juiv; is any weak, and without strength P so the word sig- nifies. Sickness is often expressed by this word: ag- 0evoúvrag 6spatrsists, Matt. x. 8; 0.0%ungs, “he had been sick,” Phil. ii. 26, 27. In the next verse the apostle changes the word; “the prayer of faith shall Save” kapºvovra, him that labours under a disease, we translate “the sick.” From this change of the word, the papists collect that extreme unction is not to be administered but to those that are mortally sick; but Cajetan, a cardinal of theirs, well replies, that James does not say, Is any sick unto death P but, “Is any sick P” It is true, there is somewhat in the change of the word; it shows that the elders must not be sent for upon every light occasion, as soon as the head or foot aches, (as Serarius scoffs at our ex- position,) but in such grievous diseases wherein there is danger and great pain; though it be an abuse of the papists to interpret it of extreme danger, and when the body is half putrid. “Let him call,” ºrpooka)\gado.60. The motion coming from them is a call which we cannot withstand. “The elders.” The word is of promiscuous use. Sometimes it is put for our ancestors, and those that lived before us: oi Tpsoft rept, “the elders obtained a good report,” Heb. xi. 2; that is, the fathers of the Old Testament. So Matt. xv. 2, “the tradition of the elders.” So it cannot be taken in this place. Sometimes it is put for elders in years and wisdom; elder men, and elder women, I Tim. v. 1, 2. Aretius saith, such are here understood, any ancient and discreet Christians in the vicinage; but that is a private opinion without ground: the apostle Saith, rotic Trosoftwrépovc rijcárk\matac, “the elders of the church.” Thirdly, then there are elders by office : now the term elder is given to all the offices and administra- tions in the church, from the apostle to the deacon; apostles, pastors, teachers, ruling brethren, deacons, are all called elders: principally here is understood that order of elders who are elsewhere called bishops, whether ruling or teaching elders, chiefly the latter. In sickness we call in the best helps; and it is to be supposed that the best gifts reside in them who are called to teach in the church; and to add the greater seal to their ministry, and to supply the want of physicians, many of them were endued with the gift of healing. Now mark, he saith plurally, roic Tpsg- Borépovc, “the elders,” because (saith Grotius) in those Eastern countries seven elders were usually called to this service. Certainly in the primitive times there was great love in the several churches and societies of the faithful, and many elders would go to one sick man. Some say it is an enallage, “let him call the elders of the church;” that is, one of the elders; as if the speech implied the order rather than number : as we say, Send him to the Schools; that is, to some school: so, Call for physicians; that is, go to men of that rank. This sense is consider- able; though I believe the apostle speaks plurally, because in every church there were many; and as they were associated in all acts of superiority and AEtate seniores in quavis vicinia aut societate fideli- um. Aret. in loc. government, so in all acts of courtesy and charity : 202 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF and indeed visiting of the sick is an act of such great skill, I mean, to apply ourselves to them for their comfort and salvation, that it should be done with joint consent. “And let them pray over him.” Here is the first duty of the elders; “over him,” that is, for him, say some ; but #7P airföv does not easily bear that con- struction. It either implies that ancient rite of cover- ing the diseased body with the body of him that prayed, as Elijah did one child, I Kings xvii. 21, and Elisha another, 2 Kings iv. 34; Paul did Euty- chus, “And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him,” Acts xx. 10; a rite that expressed much fervency, and a desire that the dying party might as it were partake of his own life. Or by prayer “over him” he means laying hands on the sick, which was used by the apostle in cures, Mark xvi. 18. So Paul healed the father of Publius, by laying hands on him. So Cyril on Leviticus, citing this place, instead of, that they may “pray over him,” reads, ut imponant ei manus, that they may lay their hands on him. The ceremony had this significancy, they did as it were point at the sick man, and present him to God’s pity: as you know present things do the more stir affections; as Christ would not pray for Lazarus till he could pray over him; for when the stone was taken away, and the object was in his sight, then it is said Jesus prayed, John xi. 41. “Anointing him with oil.” There is but one place more in the Scriptures that speaks of using oil in the healing and cure of diseases, and that is Mark vi. 13, “ They cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” Oil among the Hebrews was a usual symbol of the Divine grace, and so fitly used as a sign of that power and grace of the Spirit which was discovered in miracu- lous healing; it was an extraordinary sign of an ex- traordinary and miraculous cure. It was the error of Aretius to think that the apostle meant some me- dicinal oil; he renders it, salubria medicamenta mon negligant. He was not the first that was in that mistake. Wickliffe before him held those oils in Palestine excellent and medicinal, and therefore used. But this I say is a mistake; for oil was not used as an instrument, but as a symbol of the cure. The apostle does not mention what kind of oil it should be; probably oil olive; as wine is put to sig- nify the wine of the grape, which is the most com- mon. Therefore, by the way, that extreme unction used by the papists is but a ridiculous hypocrisy, and carries little proportion with this rite; for they require oil olive, mixed with balsam, consecrated by a bishop, who must nine times bow the knee, saying thrice, Ave sanctum oleum, and thrice more, Ave sanc- tum chrisma, and thrice more, Ave sanctum balsamum. But of this more anon. “In the name of the Lord ;” that is, either by his authority, calling upon him to operate by his power according to the outward rite; or in his stead, as his ministers; or to his glory, to the honour of Christ, signified here in the term “Lord,” that being his proper appellation as Mediator. All these miracles and cures were wrought in his name; “In my name shall they cast out devils,” Mark xvi. 17. So Acts iii. 6, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk;” and ver. 16, “His name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong.” Having opened the phrases, I come now to open the controversy, Whether this anointing with oil is a standing ordinance in the church? The papists make it a sacrament, which they call the sacrament of extreme unction; others in our days would revive it as a standing ordinance for church members, ex- pecting some miraculous cure; therefore I must deal with both. I know that the intricacies of dispute are unpleasant to a vulgar ear, therefore I shall not traverse arguments to and fro, but cut the work short by laying down some propositions, that may prevent both the error of the papists, and the novelism of those that would revive this rite in our days. The propositions are these : -> 1. In the very apostles' time, when it was most in use, it was not absolutely necessary, nor instituted by Christ. Some protestants, I confess, say that it was instituted by Christ as a temporary rite, which is denied even by some among the papists, as Lombard, Cajetan, Hugo, who all found it upon apostolical practice. For my part, I think it was only approved by Christ, and not instituted and taken up as a usual practice among the Hebrews; as I remember, Gro- tius, in his Commentary on the Evangelists, proves that it was a usual rite among the people, it being their custom to express every thing inward and spiritual by some hieroglyphic and visible symbol; and therefore God, in condescension to them, ap- pointed so many rites and figures, suitable to the genius of that nation ; and therefore when they prayed for the sick, they would anoint them with oil, as a token of that ease and joy which they should obtain from God. This rite was imitated by the apostles, and by the primitive Christians, with such preciseness and constancy, that they would never give or take any medicine with oil; so that I think verily it was nothing but an imitation of a Jewish rite, which Christ approved, but never instituted; for when Christ sent out the apostles, and the power of healing was so solemnly conferred upon them, we hear of no such commands of anointing with oil: he bid them “heal the sick,” Luke x. 9; Matt. x. 8, but prescribed not the manner. This you will grant at least, that it never had that solemn ratification, “till the Lord come,” which other standing ordi- nances have. Yea, I find it to be a mere arbitrary. rite in the apostle's practice, oil being seldom used; they healed by touch, by shadow, by handkerchief, by laying on of hands, by word of mouth, &c. So that was an arbitrary rite which the Lord approved so far as thereby to discover his power. Something may be objected against both, as, Why then does James press the elders to anoint with oil P I answer, That they might not neglect the grace of God, which in those times was usually dispensed in a concomi- tancy with this rite; as long as the gift remained, the accustomed rite and symbol might be used. But you will say, He couples it with a moral duty, with prayer, which is an act of perpetual worship. I answer, It is not unusual in Scripture to couple an ordinary duty with an extraordinary rite; prayer, and laying on of hands; baptism, and laying on of hands; and So here, prayer, and anointing with oil. But you will say, God honoured it with a miraculous effect. I answer, So did he the water of Siloam to heal the blind, John ix. 7, the pool of Bethesda to cure the diseased, John v. 4, Jordan for Naaman’s leprosy, &c.; and yet these cannot be set up as Sacraments and standing ordinances. 2. In the apostles' time, it was promiscuously used and applied to every member of the church, but with great prudence and caution; for the apostles only anointed those of whose recovery they were assured by the Holy Ghost; as James here seems to restrain it to such an object, where they could pray in faith: he that gave the gift always suggested the seasons of using it; with the power he gave discretion, that by a common use they might not expose the gift to the scorn. It was a mistake in our learned Whitaker to say that oleum symbolum eral valetudini's recuperatae, VER. 14. 203 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. et quod apostoli nullos ungerent nisi, a morbo liberatos; that anointing was a symbol of health already re- covered, and that the apostles anointed none but those that were in a fair way of recovery. However, it is true that they anointed none but those whom they were persuaded would recover; otherwise the apostle Paul would never have left Trophimus sick at Miletum, 2 Tim. iv. 20, or sorrowed so much for the sickness of Epaphroditus, if he could so easily have helped it by anointing with oil, Phil. ii. 27. But now, among the papists, it is not given but to those that are half dead, or at the point of death; so the Council of Florence decreed, Hoc Sacramentum Willi, de cujus morte non timetur, dar; non debet. 3. In the more common use of it afterward; all were not healed that were anointed. God gave out his grace and power as he saw good; for the effect did not depend upon anointing, but the prayer of faith; and if all that were anointed had recovered, there would have been no mortality in the primitive times. God wrought then as he works now, by ordi- nary means, sometimes blessing them, sometimes leaving them ineffectual, all depending upon his free pleasure and operation. 4. When it ceased we cannot tell; when it should cease we may easily judge, if we will but understand the nature, use, and end. The rite ceased when the gift ceased, which God hath taken from the world almost these 1500 years: gifts of healing are coupled with other miraculous gifts, Matt. x. 8; Mark vi. 13; xvi. 17, 18, and ceased when they ceased. At the first mission of the apostles, to gain the world, Christ invested them with these gifts. As a tree newly set needs watering, which afterwards we dis- continue; so after some space of time these dispensa- tions ceased; for miracles would not have been mira- cles, but reckoned among ordinary effects, if still continued. He still provides for his own, but not in that supernatural way; and heals as he sees cause. When men can restore the effect, let them restore the rite; otherwise why should we keep up a naked and idle ceremony P Thus we see when it should cease; but when miracles did cease, is not easy to be defined. If the story be true in Ter- tullian, they continued some two hun- dred years after Christ; for he speaks of one Proculus a Christian that anointed Severus, and recovered him; Proculum Christianum, qui Tor- pacion nominabatur, Evodiae procuratorem, qui eum per oleum aliquando curaverat, et in palatio suo habutt w8- que ad mortem ejus. Some suspect the story because of the strangeness of the names, Proculus and Evodia, and the silence of other authors about this thing; though Pamele saith, that in the Martyrologies, on the Calends of December, there is mention made of one Proculus, a priest near Rome, in a place where Severus used to resort; ever since that passage there is a deep silence of it in histories. 5. Popish anointing, or extreme unction, is a mere hypocritical pageantry. It must be prepared by a bishop, heated with many breathings, enchanted by the utterance of so many words. The members anoint- ed are their eyes, ears, nose, mouth; and for greater entireness, the reins and feet; in women the navel. The form ; By this holy oil, and his most tender mercy, God forgive thee whatever thou hast sinned by thy sight, thy hearing, thy smell, thy touch. Nay, to make the blasphemy more ridiculous, AEgidius Conink, a schoolman, saith those words, per pissimam misericor- diam, by his most tender mercy, may be left out. The administrator must be a priest, may be a bishop; the object, a person that must be believed to be at the point and danger of death. The end of it they Tertuſ. ad Sca- pulam. Piissimam mise- ricordiam. your corruptions. tokens of God’s displeasure. make to be the expulsion of the relics of sin, healing the soul, and helping it against temptations, and in the congress with Satan, or combat with the powers of the air. So the form of Milan and Venice, which are somewhat different from others, Ungo te oleo Sanc- to in nomine Patris, &c., wt more militis praeparatus, &c. To propose these things is to confute them; for the most ignorant cannot but see a great difference be- tween a miracle and a sacrament, curing the body and the expulsion of sin. Besides, in the circum- stances of it, there is a great deal of difference among themselves. But let this suffice ; I come to the - OBSERVATIONS. I. Christ's worshippers are not exempted from sickness, any more than any other affliction. “Is any among you sick?” God may chasten those whom he loves; “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick,” John xi. 3. Those that are dear to God have their share of miseries. Austin asks, Si amalur, quomodo infirmatur 2 If he were beloved, how came he to be sick? In the outward accidents of life God would make no difference. It is usual in providence, that they who have God’s heart, should feel God’s hand most heavy. I have observed it, that God’s children never question his love so much as in sick- ness: our thoughts return upon us in such retire- ment; and the weakness of the body discomposes the mind, and deprives us of the free exercise of spiritual reason; to sense and feeling all is sharp. Besides, in sickness we have not that express com- fort from Christ's sufferings which we have in other troubles. It is a sweet help to the thoughts, when we can see that Christ went through every miserable condition to which we are exposed. Now Christ en- dured want, nakedness, trouble, reproach, injustice, &c., and not sickness. Yes, but he had passions like sickness, hunger, thirst, and weariness, wherewith his body was afflicted. Christ by experience knows what it is to be under the pains and inconveniencies of the body. But if you have not the example of Christ, you have the example of all the Saints. Paul had a racking pain, which he expresses by gróAoil, rij odpęt, “a thorn in the flesh,” 2 Cor. xii. 7–9, and could have no other answer but only “My grace is sufficient for thee.” He alludes to such a kind of punishment as slaves, or men not free, were put to for great offences ; they sharpened a stake, and pointed it with iron, and put it in at his back till it came out at his mouth, and so with his face upward he died miserably. And therefore by that expres- sion the apostle intends some bodily distemper and racking pain; suppose the stone, the gout, the strangury, inward ulcers, or some like disease. Of this mind is Cyprian among the fathers; career, ºn the word āq9tvia, which we translate in- tºta firmity, but is usually put in the New ...; Testament for sickness, confirms it. Certainly he speaks of such infirmities in which he would glory, because of concomitant grace, and such as were apt to cure pride; and therefore it cannot be meant of sin, or some prevailing lust, as is usually expounded. Therefore comfort yourselves; God’s dearest saints may have experience of sorest sick- nesses; and if God afflict you with an aching head, you will have abundant recompence, if thereby he gives you a better heart; and if he make your bones sore, bear it, if thereby he breaks the power of It is no unusual thing for Saints to chatter like cranes, as Hezekiah did, Isa. xxxviii. 14; and for healthy souls to be troubled with a weak body, as Gaius was, 3 John 2. Sicknesses are not It was the folly of Job’s 204 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF §' friends to judge of him by his calamity. Usually men smite with the tongue, where God has smitten by his hand. Alas, the children of God have bodies of the same make with others; and in this case all things come alike to all. Hezekiah, Job, David, Epaphroditus, they were all corrected, but not con- demned. It was popish malice to upbraid Calvin with his diseases; You may see what he is (say they) by his sicknesses and diseases. He was indeed a man of an indefatigable industry, but of a sickly, weak body; and the same has befallen many of the precious servants of the Lord. Obs. 2. That the chief care of a sick man should be for his soul. “Let him call for the elders.” If any be sick, the apostle does not say, let him send for the physician, but “the elders.” Physicians are to be called in their place, but not first, not chiefly; it was Asa's fault, that “in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians,” 2 Chron. xvi. 12. Sickness is God’s messenger to call us to meet with God. Do not as the most do, send for the bodily physician, and when they are past all hope and cure, for the divine. Alas, how many do so and ere a word of comfort can be administered to them, are sent to their own place. Obs. 3. The elders must be sent for. “Let him call.” A man who has continued in opposition is loth to submit at the last hour, and to call the elders to his spiritual assistance. I remember Aquinas saith, Sacramentum eatrema wnctionis non nisi petenti- bus verbo vel signo dari debet, That this last office must not be performed but to those that require it. Possidius in the Life of Austin saith, That Austin was wont of his own accord to visit the poor, the father- less, and the widow; but the sick never till he was called. It is indeed suitable to true religion “to visit the fatherless,” James i. 27, but the sick must “call for the elders.” Truly sometimes I have been afraid to prostitute the comforts of Christianity to persons Sottishly neglecting their own souls. I confess some- times, where we know our company will not be un- welcome, and in some other cases, we may go un- called, that we may learn of our Master, and “be found of them that sought us not,” Isa. lxv. 1. Obs. 4. For our comfort in sickness, it is good to call in the help of the guides and officers of the church. They excelling in gifts, are best able to in- struct and pray. They can with authority, and in a way of office, comfort and instruct; the prayers of prophets have a special efficacy. So God saith to Abimelech of Abraham, “He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live,” Gen. xx. 7. This was the special work of the prophets, to pray for the people; and they had more solemn promises of success: “If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make inter- cession to the Lord of hosts,” Jer. xxvii. 18. They that speak God’s word to you, are fittest to commend your case to God. Well, then, do not despise this help. Acts done by virtue of an office are under a more solemn assurance of a blessing: “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them,” is not spoken to every believer. They can authoritatively minister comfort. It is not false divinity to say, God will hear their prayers, when he will not hear the prayers of others. “Go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept; lest I deal with you after your folly,” Job xlii. 8. Though they were good men, yet God would hear Job; there- fore in Ezekiel Job is proverbially used for a praying prophet, Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. Use their help then; it is help in the way of an ordinance, and then you may the better expect a blessing. When Hezekiah was sick, Isaiah the prophet comes to give him faithful counsel, 2 Kings xx. Obs. 5. Visiting of the sick should be performed with the joint care of church officers. It is a weighty work, and needs many shoulders; the diversity of gifts for prayer and discourse seems to call for it; it is the last office we can perform to those of whom the Lord has made us overseers. Obs. 6. One necessary work in visiting is com- mending sick persons to God. Let them pray with them. And this prayer must be made by them or over them, that their sight may the more work upon us, and our prayers may work upon them. . . Obs. 7. The first preachers of the gospel of Christ had power to do miracles. “And anoint him with oil.” Observe the condescension of God. The dec- trine itself, being so rational and satisfactory, de- served belief; but God would give a visible confirm- ation, the better to encourage our faith: when Christ had ended his sermon upon the mount, then he wrought miracles; before there was a great rest and silence of prodigy and wonder. “We know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou dost, except God be with him,” John iii. 2. This was the satisfaction God would give the world, concerning the person of the Mes- siah. Now those miracles are ceased, Christ having gotten a just title to human belief, and that we might not be left to uncertainty. The devil can do strange things, though not such as are truly miraculous ; and therefore, lest we should be deceived, Christ has foretold that we can expect nothing but the “ lying wonders” of antichrist, 2 Thess. ii. 9; and that “there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,” Matt. xxiv. 24. Obs. 8. That the miracles done in Christ's name were wrought by power, but ended in mercy. In the very confirmation of the gospel God would show the benefit of it. The miracles tended to deliver men from miseries of soul and body, from blindness, and sickness, and devils; and so best suited with that gospel which gives us promises of this life, and that which is to come. These miracles were a meet pur- suance of his doctrine; not only confirmations of faith, but instances of mercy and charity; not miracles of pomp, merely to evince the glory of his person, but miracles of mercy, and actions of relief, to show the sweetness of his doctrine; as also to teach us that in the gospel God would chiefly manifest his power in showing mercy. Obs. 9. All the miracles that were wrought were to be wrought in Christ's name. “In the name of the Lord.” The apostles and primitive Christians, though they had such an excellent trust, did not abuse it to serve their own name and interests, but Christ's, teaching us that we should exercise all our gifts and abilities by Christ's power, to Christ's glory: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise,” Psal. li. 15; that was a right aim. To desire quickening for our own glory, is but like him that lighted his candle at one of the lamps of the altar to steal by, or to beg the aid and contributions of heaven for the service of hell. The name and form were made use of by the sons of Sceva, but to their own ends, and therefore to their own ruin, Acts xix. 13—20. To do things in his name, that is, by abilities received from him, with a pretence to his glory, when we design our own, will succeed but ill with us, as that attempt did to them. Christ will be honoured with his own gifts, and in dispensing every ability expects the return of praise, WER. 15. 205 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMEs. VERSE 15. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sºns, they shall be forgiven him. HERE he shows the effect of this anointing and pray- ing, though it is notable he ascribes it rather to the prayer than to the oil; the moral means being much more worthy than the ritual and ceremonial; and therefore he does not mention the anointing, but the prayer of faith: as also to show that this is the standing spiritual means of cure, the other being but an arbitrary rite suited to those times. “The prayer of faith;” that is, made out of or in faith. This is added to show that this remedy should only be effectual when they had a special revelation or persuasion of the success of it, there being required to the miracle faith both in the elders and person sick; faith in him that did the miracle, and faith in him upon whom it was wrought; otherwise the one was not to attempt it; or to the other, if adminis- tered, it would not prove successful. We see unbelief did pomere obicem, let and hinder, our Saviour's opera- tion; “And he did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” Matt. xiii. 58. “Shall save the sick;” gºast, save. He speaks of a corporal infirmity, and therefore it is meant of a corporal salvation; that is, shall restore to health: so saving is used for healing, Matt. ix. 21; Mark vi. 56, Égéčovro, were saved, or “made whole.” “And the Lord shall raise him up,” £yspsi. It is used for a resurrection from death, and a restoration to health from sickness; not only here, but else- where: “He came and took her by the hand,” kai ºystosu airijv, “ and lifted her up,” or raised her up, Marki. 31. So Matt. viii. 15, 'Eyāp$n cai Simkóvel abroic, She was raised up, and ministered to them. The reason of the word is, because sick persons lie upon their beds; and when they are recovered, we say, He is up again, upon his legs again. “The Lord shall raise him up;” this is added to show by whose power it is done. Faith's worth and efficacy lies in its ob- ject, so that it is not faith properly, but God called upon in faith, that saves the sick. “And if he have committed sins.” Why does the apostle speak hypothetically P who is there that can Say, “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin P” Prov. xx. 9. I suppose the apostle would imply those special sins by which the disease was contracted and sent of God; now herein he might speak by way of supposition, sicknesses being not always the fruit of sins, but sometimes laid on as a means to discover God’s glory : “Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him,” John ix. 3. “They shall be forgiven him.” But how can another man’s prayer or faith obtain the remission of my sins P I answer, Very well in God’s way; they procure means of conversion and repentance for me; not as if because they pray and believe, though I do what I will, I shall be forgiven; but they pray, and therefore God will give me a humble heart, and in the way of the gospel the comfort of a pardon; for certainly we are to ask spiritual matters for others as well as temporal; and if we ask, there must be Some hope at least that God will grant. OBSERVATIONS. 1. That means, whether moral or ritual, are no further effectual than they are accompanied with faith. Anointing will not do it, prayer will not do it; but “the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” In the primitive times, when miracles were in their full force and vigour, the effect is always ascribed to faith; “Thy faith hath made thee whole,” Matt. ix. 22. Christ does not say, thy touching my garment, but, thy faith. You shall see it is said, Mark vi. 56, that “they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.” And therefore the woman thought that the emanation was natural, and not of free dis- pensation. To instruct her, Christ shows it was not the rite, but her faith. So Acts iii. 16, “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong.” Mark, that place shows, that as means cannot work without faith, so neither will the princi- pal cause; “his name through faith in his name.” The disciples, though invested with high gifts, could not cure the lunatic for want of faith : “And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him : then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation,” Matt. xvii. 17. Well, then, learn that in all duties and means we should mind the exercise of faith, and we should strive to make the persuasion as express and particular as the promises will give leave. Acts of trust are engaging, and the way to get God’s power exercised is to glorify it in our own dependence. Obs. 2. That all our prayers must be made in faith. Our apostle beats much upon that argument; “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering,” James i. 6. Faith is the fountain of prayer, and prayer should be nothing else but faith exercised; none can come to Christ rightly but such as are persuaded to be the better for him ; all worship is founded in good thoughts of God: we have no reason to doubt; we always find a better welcome with him than we can expect. Therefore in all your addresses, to God pray in faith; that is, either magnifying his power by counterbalancing the difficulty, or magnifying his love by referring the success to his pleasure. Obs. 3. Prayers made in faith are usually, heard and answered. Christ is so delighted with it, that he can deny it nothing; “O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” Matt. xv. 28. Christ speaketh there as if a believer obtained as much as he can wish for. Obs. 4. The efficacy of faith in the use of means is not from its own merits, but from God’s power and grace. The apostle saith, faith saveth; but adds, “the Lord shall raise him up.” Faith is but the in- strument; it is a grace that has no merit in itself; it is the empty hand of the soul, and deputed to such high services, because it looks for all from God. The papists look upon it as an act in us; and because reason will suggest that it is not of worth enough, and sufficient for such high effects, they piece it up with works, which they say give it value and merit. Obs. 5. That sins are often the cause of sicknesses. We may thank ourselves for our diseases. The rab- bins say, that when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, his head ached; certainly there was the rise and root of man’s misery. “For this cause,” on account of transgression, “many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep,” I Cor. xi. 30. The body is often the instrument of sins, and therefore the object of diseases. The plague and sore of the heart causes those of the body. It is very notable, that Christ in all his cures points at the root of the disease; “Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee,” Matt. ix. 2. It would have been an ineffectual cure without a pardon ; while sin remains you carry the matter of the disease about you. “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee,” John v. 14. Obedience is the best physic: 206 CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF while sin remains, the distemper may be stopped, but not cured, it will break out in a worse sore and scab. The prophet Isaiah saith of Christ, “He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” Isa. liii. 4; the meaning is, the punishment of our sins. So St. Peter applies it; “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” I Pet. ii. 24; which is the express reading of the Septuagint. But now Matthew applies it to Christ’s cure of sicknesses; “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,” Matt. viii. 17. How shall we reconcile those places? I answer, Thus; in taking away sickness, which is the effect, Christ would represent taking away sin, which is the cause; Christ's act in taking away sickness was a type of taking away sin; now Matthew applies that to the sign, which more properly agreed to the truth itself, or thing signified. For you may observe, for the clearing of this and other scriptures, that as the patriarchs in their actions, and in what they did, were types of Christ; so Christ's own actions were in a manner types of what he him- self would more peculiarly do. As casting out devils signified the spiritual dispossessing of Satan, and therefore there happened so many possessions in Christ's time; so the curing of blindness, the giving of spiritual sight, and taking away of sicknesses, the pardoning of sins. Well, then, if sin be the cause of sickness, if we would preserve or recover health, let us avoid sin. “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee,” Exod. xv. 26; otherwise you may, as that woman, spend your whole estate upon the physicians, and yet the cause continue. You see, in Deut. xxviii. 21, 22, sin is threatened with the consumption, fever, and inflammation : usually the disease answers the sin; the distempered heats of lust are punished by an inflammation. Asa put the prophet in the stocks, and he himself “was diseased in his feet,” 2 Chron. xvi. 10, 12. There were times when God more visibly plagued disobedience; as in the times of the law, when dispensations were more corporal, diseases were a part of God’s coercive discipline: however, now and then God uses the like dispensations; sinners are met with according to the kind of their offence, though many I confess are left to be eaten out by their own rust, and like chimneys are let alone so long foul, till at length they take fire. But how many adulterers have we seen going up and down like walking spittals | how many beastly epicures, whose skins have been set on fire by their own riot and gluttony Obs. 6. That is the best cure which is founded in a pardon. The apostle saith, “shall save the sick; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” O my brethren, it were ill if any of us should be cured without a pardon, if the stripe and wound should remain upon the conscience, when the body is made sound and whole: therefore first sue out your pardon; that is proper physic which works upon the cause: , David saith, “Bless the Lord, who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases,” Psal. ciii. 2, 3: there is the right method. A sick man’s work first lies with God, and then with the physician. Asa went first to the physician, and therefore it sped but ill with him. When God takes away the disease, and does not take away the guilt, it is not a deliverance, but a reprieve from present execution. - WERSE 16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. For the connexion, many copies have očv, confess your faults therefore, as inferring this direction from what was said before : however it be, there is a con- nexion between the verses, for therefore would he have the special fault acknowledged, that they might the more effectually pray one for another. From whence & Obs. That there is a connexion between pardon and confession. The apostle saith, “His sins shall be forgiven him;” and then, “Confess your faults.” See the like in other places: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and for- saketh them shall have mercy,” Prov. xxvii. 13. So I John i. 9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is the ready way to par- don, it is the best way to clear the process of heaven; that which is condemned in one court is pardoned in others. God has made a law against sin, and the law must have satisfaction ; sin must be judged in the court of heaven or in the court of conscience, by God or us. In confession the Divine judgment is anticipated, I Cor. xi. 31, 32; it is the best way to honour mercy; when sins abound in our feeling, mercy is the more glorious. God will have pardon fetched out in such a way in which there is no merit; by confession justice may be glorified, but not satis- fied. We cannot make God satisfaction, and there- fore he requires acknowledgment. “He will not keep anger for ever; only acknowledge thine iniqui- ty,” Jer. iii. 12, 13. It is the most rational way to settle our comfort; griefs expressed are best eased and mitigated. All passions are allayed by vent and utterance. TXavid roared when he kept silence, but “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,” Psal. xxxii. 5. Besides, it is the best way to bring the soul into a dislike of sin. Confession is an act of mortification, it is as it were the vomit of the soul; it breeds a dislike of the sweetest morsels, when they are cast up in loathsome ejections: sin is sweet in commission, but bitter in the remembrance. God’s children find that their hatred is never more keen and exasperated against sin than in confessing. Well, then, come and open your case to God without guile of spirit, and then you may sue out your pardon. David makes it an argument of his confidence, “Ac- cording unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions;–for I acknowledge my transgressions,” Psal. li. 1, 3. Confession does not offer a bill of indictment to God’s justice, but a sad complaint to God’s pity and compassion. O set up- on this duty; it is irksome to the flesh, but salutary and healthy to the spirit. Guilt is shy of God’s pre- sence; the Lord is dreadful to wounded consciences. Yes; but consider this is the only way to sue out your pardon; gracious souls would not have pardon but in God's way. Domine da prius poenitentiam, et posted indulgentiam ; Lord, give me repentance, and then give me pardon, saith Fulgentius. But you will say, We confess, and find no comfort. I answer, It is be- cause you are not so ingenuous with God as you should be ; you do not come with a necessary clear- ness and openness of mind. David saith none have the comfort of a pardon but those in whose spirit there is no guile, Psal. xxxii. 2. Usually there is some sin at the bottom which the soul is loth to cast VER, ió. 207 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. up, and then God lays on trouble; as David lay roar- ing as long as he kept Satan’s counsel. Moses had a private distress, which he would not disclose. He pleads other things, insufficiency, want of elocution; but carnal fear was the main; therefore God gently touches this distress in Exod. iv. 19, “And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.” He had never pleaded this, but God knew what was the inward let. So it is with Christians, some distemper is harboured in the soul; this guile is shaken off with difficulty, but always kept with damage. So you see in the history of Job; Job had complained that he did not know the reason of his hard usage; one of his friends answers that “.God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not;” therefore God lays on trouble upon trouble, and temptation upon tempt- ation, and all for want of ingenuous and open deal- ing with him, till at length we confess; and then that rare messenger, the “interpreter, one among a thou- Sand,” comes to seal up our comforts to us; for God will not open his heart to us till we open our hearts to him. “He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light,” Job XXXiii. 14–33. Usually thus it is, there is some sin at the bottom, and God continues trouble. There- fore it is best to take David’s course; “I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me,” Psal. cxix. 26. He opened his whole state to God, and then God gave him the light and comfort of grace. - “Confess your faults one to another,” #opoxo- yśio 6s &\\?\otc. This clause has been diversly applied. The papists make it the ground of auricular confes- Sion, but absurdly; for then the priest must as well confess to the penitent person, as the penitent person to the priest; for James speaks of such a confession as is reciprocal, as the words imply. Therefore Non heasts. Some of the more ingenuous, papists mode confissione have disclaimed this text. Others ap- ply it to injuries: as the sick person must reconcile himself to God, that he may recover; so to his neighbour whom §ºliº.” he hath wronged or offended: but tra- fººt Paezio parrºgara, “faults,” are of a larger * signification than to be restrained to injuries. Some understand it of those sins in which we have offended by joint consent; as if a woman has humbled herself to the lust of another, she must confess her sin to him; and consequently and reci- procally he must acknowledge his sin to her, that they may by mutual consent quicken themselves to repentance. But this interpretation and application of the words is too restrained and narrow. I suppose the apostle speaks of such sins as most wound the conscience in sickness, as the special cause of it; and therefore joins this advice of confession with healing and prayer; this being a means most conducible to quicken others to actions of spiritual relief, as the application of apt counsels, and the putting up of fit prayers. Things spoken at random have not usually Such an efficacy and comfort in them. , Obs. That there is a season of confessing our Sins, not only to God, but to man. I will not digress into controversy; I shall briefly show, 1. The evils and inconveniences of that confession which the papists require. 2. The seasons wherein we must confess to man. First, For auricular confession, or that confession which the papists require, I shall describe it to you. The papists call it the sacrament of penance, by which a man is bound, at least once a year, to confess to a priest all the sins he hath committed since he Sacramentali ; Sacrainental is eniin confessio non fit invicem, Sed Sacerdotibus tantum. Cajetan. was last shriven, with all the circumstances of them ; quis, quid, wbi, quºbus awaziliis, &c.; and from this law none are exempted, neither prince nor king, no, not the pope himself; in it they place a great deal of merit and opinion of sanctity. The truth is, this is the great artifice and engine by which they keep the people in devotion to their interests; Scire volunt knowledge of secrets rendering them the . . . more feared. Now that which we dis- $º timer. prove in it is, (1.) The absolute neces- sity of it; confession to men being a thing only ne- cessary in some cases; in others confession to God may be enough: necessity indeed is laid upon that, I John i. 9. (2.) The requiring of such a precise and accu- rate enumeration of their sins, with all their circum- stances, under the pain of an anathema ; which being impossible, makes it one of those pépria Svogato- rakra, unsupportable burdens, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. In short, this scrupu- lous enumeration is nothing else but a rack to the conscience, invented and exercised without any rea- son, no man’s memory being so happy as to answer the requiry; “Who can understand his errors P cleanse thou me from secret faults,” Psal. xix. I2. (3.) Their making of it a part of a sacrament of Divine institution. The jure-divinity of it they plead from this place, but wretchedly. One of the most modest of their own writers, Gregory de Valentia, reckons up many papists that say the ground of it was only universal tradition; although indeed it was instituted twelve hundred years after Christ, among other superstitions, by Innocent the Third. (4.) The manner as it is used, and the consequences of it, make it justly odious. It is tyrannical, dangerous to the security and peace of princes, betraying their coun- sels; infamous and hazardous to all men. I know they talk of the seal of confession; but let a man in Rome or Spain confess but an ill thought of the court of Rome, or any just scruple of the vanities there professed, and by bitter experience they fraresis esteri. will find how soon this seal is broken men quod nec open, and the secrets of confession di- *** vulged. Besides, it is profane, as appears by the filthy and immodest questions enjoined to be put by the confessarius, mentioned in Buchardus, Sanchez, and others. Secondly, We are not against all confession, as the papists slander us, besides that to God. We hold many sorts of confessions necessary before men ; as, (I.) Some public, and so by the church in ordinary or extraordinary humiliation. The congregation, by the mouth of the priest, were to confess their sins over the head of the sacrifice, Lev. xvi. 21. So Neh. ix. 3, one part of the day they read the law, the other part they confessed. Thus by the church. So also to the church; and that either, 1. Before en- trance and admission, in which they solemnly dis- claimed the impurities of their former life, professing to walk suitably to their new engagement for time to come. They “were baptized of him in Jordan, con- fessing their sins,” Matt. iii. 6. So also the apostles, in receiving members into the church, required the profession of faith and repentance, though there was not that scrupulous and narrow prying into their hearts and consciences which some practise ; as John did not take a particular confession from every one of that multitude, it was impossible. So Acts xix. 18, “And many that believed came, and con- fessed, and showed their deeds;” that is, solemnly disavowed their former life and practice. Or, 2. Upon public scandals after admission, for of secret things the church judgeth not; but those Scandalous acts, being faults against the church, cannot be re- mitted by the minister alone; the offence being pub- 20s CHAP. W. AN EXPOSITION OF lic, so was the confession and acknowledgment to be public; as the apostle saith of the incestuous Corinthian, that his punishment “was inflicted of many,” 2 Cor. ii. 6. And he bids Timothy, “Them that sin rebuke before all,” I Tim. v. 20, which Aqui- nas refers to ecclesiastical discipline. Now this was to be done, partly for the sinner's sake, that he might be brought to the more shame and conviction ; and partly because of them without, that the community of the faithful might not be represented as an ulcer- ous, filthy body; and the church not be thought a receptacle of sin, but a school of holiness; and there- fore, as Paul shook off the viper, so these were to be cast out, and not received again, but upon Solemn acknowledgment. So Paul urges, I Cor. v. 6, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump;” and Heb. xii. 15, “Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” in which places he does not mean so much the contagion of their ill example, as the taint of reproach, and the guilt of the outward scandal, by which the house and body of Christ was made infamous. (2.) Private confession to men; and so, l. To a wronged neighbour, which is called a turning to him again after offence given, Luke xvii. 4; and pre- scribed by our Saviour, Matt. v. 24, “Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be re- conciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” God will accept no service or worship at our hands till we have confessed the wrong done to others. So here, “Confess your faults one to an- other” may be referred to injuries: in contentions there are offences on both sides, and every one will stiffly defend his own cause. 2. To those to whom we have consented in sinning, as in adultery, theft, &c., we must confess and pray for each other. Dives in hell would not have his brethren come “into this place of torment,” Luke xvi. 28. It is but a necessary charity to invite them that have shared with us in sin to a fellowship in repentance. 3. To a godly minister, or a wise Christian, under deep wounds of conscience. It is but folly to hide our sores till they be incurable; when we have disburdened ourselves into the bosom of a godly friend, conscience finds a great deal of ease. Certainly they are then more capable to give us advice, and can the better apply the help of their counsel and prayers to our particular case, and are thereby moved to the more pity and commiseration; as beggars, to move our pity, not only represent their general want, but uncover their sores. Verily it is a fault in Christians not to dis- close themselves, and be more open with their spirit- ual friends, when they are not able to extricate them- selves out of their doubts and troubles. You may do it to any godly Christians, but especially to ministers, who are solemnly intrusted with the power of the keys, and may help you to apply the comforts of the word when you cannot yourselves. 4. When in some special cases God’s glory is concerned ; as when some eminent judgment seizes upon us because of a foregoing provocation, which provocation is suf- ficiently evidenced to us in gripes of conscience, it is good to make it known for God’s glory. Thus David, when stung in conscience, and smitten with a sud- den conviction, said, “I have sinned against the Lord,” 2 Sam. xii. 13. So when Achan was marked by lot, Joshua advises him, “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make con- fession unto him,” Josh. vii. 19. So when Divine revenge pursues us till we are brought to some fear- ful end and punishment, it is good to be open in ac- knowledging our sin, that God’s justice may be the more visibly cleared ; for hereby God receives a great deal of glory, and men a wonderful confirma- tion and experience of the care and justice of Provi- dence. “And pray one for another.” . From thence Obs. That it is the duty of Christians to relieve one another by their prayers. John, in the close of his Epistle, gives the same charge; “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death,” I John v. 16; that is, God shall pardon him, and by that means free him from everlasting death. Because particulars affect us more than general considerations, let me tell you, I. You must pray for the whole community of saints, every member of Christ’s body; not only our familiars, but those with whom we are not acquainted. Make “supplication for all saints,” Eph. vi. 18; this is indeed the church’s treasury, the common stock of supplications. Paul prayeth for them that had never seen his face; “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,” Col. ii. I. A Christian is a rich merchant, who hath his factors in divers countries, some in all places of the world, that deal for him at the throne of grace; and by this means the members of Christ's body have a communion one with another, though at a distance. 2. It is our duty to pray for those especially to whom we are more nearly related; as Paul, Rom. ix. 3, for his own countrymen. So for our kindred, that they may be converted, and be to us, as Onesi- mus to Philemon, dear “in the flesh, and in the Lord,” Philem. 16. So for the same particular society and assembly of the faithful in which we are engaged. So the minister for his people, and the people one for another; “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Eph. iii. 14. Certainly we do not improve this interest so much as we should do. 3. More especially yet for magistrates and officers of the church. For magistrates; “For all that are in authority,” 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2: this is the best tribute you can pay them. So for ministers; the weightiness of their employment calls for this help from you; in praying for them you pray for yourselves. If the cow has a full udder, it is the benefit of the owner. With what passionateness doth the apostle Paul call for the prayers of the people ! “For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers,” Rom. xv. 30. O do not let us stand alone, and strive alone; va, soli; single prayers are like the single hairs of Samson, but the prayers of the congregation like the whole bush. Therefore you should, in Tertul- lian’s phrase, quasi manu facta, with a holy conspi- racy, besiege heaven, and force out a blessing for your pastors. - 4. The weak must pray for the strong, and the strong for the weak ; there is none but should im- prove his interest. When there is much work to do, you give your children their parts; as those busy idolaters; “The children gather wood, and the fa- thers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough,” Jer. vii. 18; all bore a part in the service. So in the family of Christ, none can be exempted; “The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you,” I Cor. xii. 21. God delights to bind | us to each other in the body of Christ, and therefore will not bless you without the mutual mediation and intercession of one another's prayers; for this is the true intercession of saints; and so, in a sense, the living saints may be called mediators of intercession. But chiefly the strong, and those that stand, are to VER. 16. 209. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. pray for them that are fallen; for that is the intent of this place. Oh then that we would regard this neglected duty not to pray for others is unchari- tableness; not to expect it from others is pride. Do not stand alone; two, yea many, are better than one : joint striving mutually for the good of each other makes the work prosper. Especially, brethren, pray for us, for us in the ministry; our labours are great, our corruptions are strong, our temptations and snares are many; possibly the more for your sakes, that our hearts may sympathize with you, and be the fitter to apply reproof, comfort, and counsel to your souls. O pray that we may have wisdom and faithfulness, and speak the word of the Lord boldly. So also pray for one another: some are in better temper to pray for others than they for themselves; or it may be your prayers may be more acceptable. Job's friends were good men, yet (as we noted before) the Lord saith, I will not hear you, “my servant Job shall pray for you,” Job xlii. 8. “That ye may be healed.” The word is of general use, and implies freedom from the diseases either of soul or body; and the context suits both; for he speaks promiscuously of sins and sickness. If you understand it of corporal healing, with respect to sickness, you may observe, - 1. That God will have a particular confession of the very sin for which he laid on sickness before healing. But I chiefly understand this healing spirit- ually: Confess, and the Lord will purge you from your sins, and heal the wounds of your consciences. So healing is taken elsewhere in Scripture: “Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee,” Psal. xli. 4; and I Pet. ii. 24, “By whose stripes ye were healed.” I observe hence, 2. That sin is the soul’s sickness. There are many fair resemblances. (1.) Distemper: the soul is disordered by sin, as the body is distempered by sickness. (2.) Deformity: therefore of all diseases under the law sin was figured by leprosy, which most spots and deforms the body. (3.) Pain: sick- ness causes pain; so doth sin, a sting in the con- science, horrors in the hour of death, I Cor. xv. 56. (4.) Weakness: the more sin, the more inability and feebleness for any gracious operation. The apostle saith, “We were yet without strength,” Rom. v. 6; weak, sickly souls that could do no work. Thus we were in the state of nature: yea, after grace there is a feebleness; we never have perfect health till we come to heaven. Thus you see there is a general re- semblance between sin and sickness. So in particular between the kinds of sin and the kinds of sickness. Original sin is like the leprosy of Naaman, which God threatened should cleave to Gehazi, and to his Seed for ever, 2 Kings v. 27; so that every child born of that line was born a leper, as every one born of Adam is born a sinner. So there is the tympany of pride, the burning fever of lust, the dropsy of covet- ousness, the consumption of envy, &c. These al- lusions are obvious. So Solomon calls tenacity a disease : when a man has abundance, and has no power to use it, this is (saith he) “vanity, and it is an evil disease,” Eccl. vi. 2. As if a man were hungry, and had abundance of meat, yet out of dyscrasy of stomach could not taste it. Well, them, avoid sin as you would avoid sickness; and when you have admitted it, complain of it as the plague and sore of your souls, 1 Kings viii. 38. Many cry because of the plague of their bodies; but when they regard the plague of their hearts, saith the Lord, then will I hear from heaven. The diseases of the soul are worst : bodily diseases tend only to the death of the body, but these to the eternal death of body and soul. Other diseases are but consequents P of sin; sin is the strength of diseases, the sting of death, and the cause of eternal horror and torment. O run to Christ, then, he is the great Physician of souls; his skill to cure you cost him dear; by “his stripes we are healed,” Isa. liii. 5. - “For the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This is added by way of en- couragement. In this sentence there are three things. 1. The qualification of the prayer, “fervent, effectual.” 2. The qualification of the person, “of a righteous man.” 3. The effect of the whole, “availeth much.” First, For the qualification of the duty, Śēmoig #vep- youpévn. The word in the original is so sublime and emphatic, that translations cannot reach the height of it. It has been diversly rendered. The Vulgate, assidua precatio, daily prayer; but without any reason. Beza, oratio efficaa, effectual, prayer; but it is not vspyºg, but ávspyovuávn' and besides, this rendering would impose a tautology upon the sen- tence, effectual prayer is effectual. Others render it, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit; as they that were possessed with an evil spirit were called čvspyoëuevot. Our translators, because they know not what fit ex- pression to use, translate it by two words, “fervent, effectual.” The phrase properly signifieth a prayer wrought and excited; and so implies both the efficacy and influence of the Holy Ghost, and the force and vehemency of an earnest spirit and affection. The word will yield us two observations. - 1. That a true prayer must be an earnest, fervent prayer. The ancient token of acceptance was firing the sacrifice. Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits. Prayer was figured by “wrestling:” compare Gen. xxxii. 25, with Hos. xii. 4: certainly that is the way of prevailing. So it is resembled to his immodesty that would take no de- nial, Ijuke xi. 8, where what we translate impor- tunity, is in the original divatóstav, impudence. It is said, Acts xxvi. 7, that the tribes served God in- stantly, Šv Škrevsiſt, to the utmost of their strength. Under the law the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they ascended. To this Solomon alludes, when he saith, “Who is this that cometh in pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankin- cense P” Cant. iii. 6. The expression manifestly re- lates to the smoke that went up out of the censers. O look to your affections; get them fired by the Holy Ghost, that they may flame º towards God in devout and religious ascents. It is the usual token for good, that you shall prevail with God as princes. Luther said, Utinam eodem ardore orare possem, Would to God I could always pray with a like ardour! for then I had always this answer, Fiat quod velis, Be it unto thee as thou wilt. O be earnest and fervent, then, though you cannot be eloquent : there is language in groans; and sighs are articulate. The child is earnest for the breast when it cannot speak for it. Only beware that your earnestness does not arise from fleshly lusts and concernments. The sacrifices and perfumes were not to be burned with strange fire. When your censers are fired, let not the coal be taken from the kitchen, but the altar. God has undertaken to satisfy spiritual desires, but not fleshly lusts.