244 They should not be incensed against each other : SECT. viii. 10 SECT. VIII. He concludes the epistle with inculcating moderation and fortitude, cautioning them against profane and vain swearing, and recommending prayer, a ready acknowledgment of our faults, and a solicitous concern for the common salvation. James V. 9, to the end. JAMES V. 9. JAMES V. 9. RUDGE not one against another, AND now, to draw to a conclusion, be not GRUDGE inwardly incensed against each other, bre- brethren, lest ye be thren, so as to grudge or envy one another any condemned: behold, the judge standeth be James superior advantages in life, or to harbour even thee the door that malignity of disposition which should groan in secret, while it wants opportunities of mischief; that you yourselves be not condemned, for behold the Judge is standing before the door; he is now present, and sees all the irregularities of your tempers, as well as actions; in consequence of which he will quickly bring these inward disorders of mind into judgment, as well as the enormities of the life. And that you may be fortified against such trying circumstances, my thren the prophets, 10 Take, my brebrethren, take for an example of enduring ad- who have spoken in versity, and of long-suffering under the greatest the name of the Lord, provocations, the holy prophets of old, who spake fering for an affliction, and to our fathers in the name of the Lord, and gave of patience. such convincing evidences of their Divine in11 spiration. (Heb. xi. 36, 37.) Behold, in this respect we esteem them happy, who endure steadily and patiently the trials which God ap- of the patience of Job, points for them. In this view, ye have heard of and have seen the end the celebrated patience of Job, with how much of the Lord: that the honour it is proclaimed from generation to ge- and of tender mercy. Lord is very pitiful, neration; and ye have also seen the end of the Lord, how much to his honour, and how much to example of suf 11 Behold, we count dure. Ye have heard them happy which en a Groan in secret.) Thus I have paraphrased the words, because it is well known, that the original σεναζελε, (as Beza observes,) has this signification. Justin Martyr represents the Jewish converts, as the worst sort of Christians, who were apt to be impatient of the Gentile yoke, and to retain their attachment to the views of a temporal kingdom. Apostle speaks of this, not only as his own It is ob c Seen the end of the Lord.] servable, that in Job xlii. 7, &c. God decides the cause in his favour, and calls him 12 But above all things, my brethren, tion, Cautions against profane swearing. 245 viii. to his comfort, his various and heavy afflictions SECT. Among other effects of that impatience, a-12 swear not, neither by gainst which I am cautioning you, may be reckheaven, neither by the oned the irreverent use of the name of God, earth, neither by any and profane oaths and execrations, into which other oath; but let your yea be yea, and in the transport of their criminal passions, some your nay, nay; lest unhappy wretches are ready to fall; but be you ye fall into condemna- above all things, my brethren, careful, that ye swear not, upon such occasions, or on any other, lightly and profanelyd, neither by heaven the throne of God, nor by earth, his footstool, nor by any other oath; but remember the command of our blessed Lord, (Mat. v. 37,) and let your yea be yea, and [your] nay nay; content yourselves with a simple affirmation or negation, and take care to maintain such constant integrity in all your words, that nothing more may be needful to gain them credit; that ye may not fall under condemnation for profaning the name of God, and lessening the regard due to an oath, when used on the most solemn and necessary occasions. 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick aamong you? let him call for the elders of Accustom yourselves to the frequent exercises 13 of devotion, as what will have the surest tendency to promote the comfort and happiness of your lives in every circumstance. Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray, and cast the burden of his cares and sorrows upon the compassionate God, always ready to sustain his people. Is any cheerful, in easy and agreeable circumstances ? let him rejoice in God, and sing psalms of praise to him in a thankful acknowledgment of his mercies. Is any one among you sick? let him under his 14 confinement call for the elders of the church; the church; and let and let them pray over him for his recovery, them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord anointing him with Jesus Christ, if they feel themselves so instigated to do it by the secret workings of the Spirit of grace upon their minds, as may encourage them Lord: the name of the him his servant Job four times in the compass of a few verses. to 246 SECT. viii. James The sick to be healed by anointing, and the prayer of faith; of faith shall save the to hope for an extraordinary cure: And the 15 And the prayer prayer of faith, in such a circumstance as this, the sick, and the Lord shall save and recover the sick; and the Lord shall raise him up; V. 15. shall, in answer to prayer, raise him up; and if and if he have coin he hath committed sins, which have brought this mitted sins, they shall be forgiven him, sickness upon him by way of extraordinary punishment, they shall be forgiven him; and the Lord shall have mercy upon him, and recover him according to the words of his servant. 16 When you are 16 Confess your faults one to another, fervent prayer of a conscious of having been really to blame, do not perversely vindicate a and pray one for anconduct which your own hearts condemn, but be other, that ye may be frank in acknowledging it. Confess [your] faults healed: The effectual one to another; for we are all too ready to stum- righteous man availeth ble in the way of our duty; and pray for one an- much. other, especially when your brethren are under God's afflicting hand, or have been under any visible declension in religion, that you may be healed, and recovered. The earnest prayer of a righteous man, the effect of good affections wrought in his heart by the energy of the Holy 17 Spirit & is of great efficacy. Many instances of this you know are recorded in scripture; and subject to like passions among others, that of Elijah, who was a man ed earnestly that it subject to the like infirmities with us, (compare might not rain: And Acts xiv. 15,) and had himself no greater command over the clouds and the rain than any of us; yet he prayed with a prayer, that is, with great faith and fervency, that it might not rain; which was not the effect of any resentment he had 17 Elias was a man as we are, and he pray it e The prayer of faith.] I can by no means think, that this is advised merely physically. By the prayer of faith, I anderstand, such a faith as is founded on some more than ordinary impression, by which God intimated an intention of working a miracle; and I look upon it as a very considerable proof, that, as the power of working miracles was not absolutely confined to the apostles, so it might in some instances continue something longer in the church than their days. Lord Barrington indeed thinks, that the expression, of he hath committed sin, &c. reters to the commission of such a sin as had engaged the apostle to deliver them to Satan, in order, to corporeal punishment. But I hardly think an elder of the church would then have been mentioned; and one can. not imagine, that when the apostles were so few, and two of them comparatively so seldom together, the expression, "Send for the elders of the church," should mean, Send for some of the apostles. How vastly different this is from the extreme unction, practised by the papists, not for cure, but only when life is despaired of, I think every reasonable man may easily judge. f Confess [your] faults, &c.] The general candid sense which I have given to the words, and which is a very important one, seems to me utterly to supersede all pretences to claim from them any priestly power, or to the requiring confession in the manner which the church of Rome does. For the confession here mentioned is plainly spoken of as mutual. g Wrought-by the energy of the Spirit.] The word ενέργσμένη, as Bishop Hopkins, (in his Works, p. 749,) observes, seems to imply this sense. I have not confined it to the prayer of miraculous faith. h Three eth the sinner from the He who converts a sinner, shall save a soul from death. 247 it rained not on the had against his country for the ill usage he met SECT. earth by the space of three years and six months. viii. - with, but in obedience to a secret intimation, 18 And he prayed famine to the end of it. And he prayed again, 18 again, and the heaven and the at the end of that time, that God would be earth brought forth her pleased to remove the heavy affliction which gave rain, fruit. him; the drought occasioned ; and the small cloud And now brethren, let me conclude with one 19 19 Brethren, if any exhortation of the greatest importance both to of you err from the truth, and one convert yourselves and others; which is, that you labour to the utmost to promote the spiritual good of your fellow-creatures; for if any one of you wander from the truth, and one turn him back to it, and lead him to tread its forsaken paths, he performs the most important charity that can 20 Let him know, be imagined: For let him know, that he who 20 that he which convert- thus turneth back a sinner from the error and faerror of his way, shall tal wanderings of his way, shall produce a much save a soul f om death, happier effect than any miraculous cure of the and shall hide a multi- body; for he shall save a precious soul from everlasting death, ruin, and condemnation, and so vail, or cover, a multitude of sins; not only procuring the pardon of those committed by the convert, but also engaging God to look with greater indulgence on his own character, and to be less ready severely to mark all he shall have done amiss. tude of sins. h Three years and six months.] Elijah is said, 1 Kings xviii. 1, &c. to have showed himself to Ahab in the third year; that is, from his going to live at Zarephath, 1 Kings xvii. 8, 9, 14, but from the beginning to the end of the famine was three years and six months, according to the account given by St. James, as also in Luke iv. 25. i Save a soul from death, &c.] This way of expression intimates in the strongest manner, the infinite importance of such an IMPROVE event; as to save a soul from death is yet more than hiding the sins of the convert. As to the latter clause, Bishop Atterbury, and Dr. Scott, urge the interpretation giv. en in the last words of the paraphrase. See Atterbury's Serm. Vol. I. p. 46-48; Scott's Christian Life, Vol. I. p. 368. And I have not seen reason, on the most attentive enquiry, to disallow the force of their arguments. Compare 1 Pet. iv. 8, and the note there. 248 Reflections on the concluding section of St. James, SECT. viii. IMPROVEMENT. MAY it ever be remembered by all, and especially by the mi nisters of the gospel, of how great importance it is to be instruVer. mental in saving a soul from death, an immortal soul from ever20 lasting death; that so they may be animated to the most zealous and laborious efforts for that blessed purpose; and think themselves richly rewarded, though it were for the otherwise unsuccessful labours of a whole life, by succeeding even in a single instance. In this view, may there be a care to bring them to 19 the truth, that so they may be converted from their wandering ways that their understandings being convinced of the truth and importance of the gospel, their conduct may be practically influenced by it; and that upon such steady principles, as may effectually prevent their return to their wanderings again. Thus may a multitude of sins be hidden, and the glory of God, and the salvation of men, be effectually promoted. Whatever trials we may meet with in these charitable efforts, or in any other path of duty, may we take the prophets of old, 10 and the apostles of our Lord, for examples of suffering adversity and patience; especially remembering their Lord, and ours; remembering how abundantly the patience of good men has been rewarded, the end of the Lord with respect to holy Job, and many 11 others, who have trod in his steps in succeeding ages; and remem. bering especially, that the Judge stands at the door, that in a very 9 little time he will appear, not only to put an end to the trial of his servants, but to crown their virtues and graces. In the mean time the bowels of his compassion are abundant, and he will not be want11 ing in communicating all necessary consolations and supports. May we be so happy, as to be acquainted with those of devotion, 13 that in our affliction we may pray, and in our cheerfulness, sing psalms; that we may know by blessed experience the efficacy of such a temper to soften the sorrows of life, and to sweeten its enjoyments. And as we desire to be visited of God in our afflictions, may we with Christian sympathy be ready to visit and relieve others in their sickness, or other kinds of distress. It is 14 indeed the special office of the elders of the church, who should be sent for upon such occasions with readiness, and who, if they be worthy of their office, will attend with pleasure. But it is not 15 their office alone. Let us all be ready to pray for each other, in faith and charity; and where offences have been committed, let there 16 be a frank and candid acknowledgment of them on the one side, and |