214 i. Blessed is the man who endureth temptation. 10 But the rich, in pass away. SECT. stances do really give him such advantages for religion, by placing him under a shelter from James many temptations, that he has a much fairer 1.9. probability than others, of rising to some emi10 nence in the heavenly world. But let the rich man be greatly cautious, and if he allow that he is made low: himself to rejoice, let it not be in the height of because as the flower his circumstances; but in the humiliation of f of the grass he shall his mind; for all other occasions of rejoicing are very precarious. And as for his distinction in this world, as the flower of the grass he shall quickly pass away. For [no sooner] is the sun risen with a scorching heat, [but] immediately the grass, which in spring looks so fair and flou- burning heat, but it rishing, is dried up, and the flower thereof, that withereth the grass, adorned it, loses its painted glories yet much falleth, and the grace sooner; it falleth to the ground, and all the of the fashion of it pebeauty of its lovely form is perished; so shall riseth: so also shall the rich man also fade away in his paths, and in his ways. the rich man fade away though he may by prudent management, or remarkable success, grow richer and richer, he dies in the midst of all his wealth, and it can no longer either delight or adorn him. 12 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a and the flower thereof 12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when promised to them that You will be exercised with trials while you continue in the present world; but repine not at them; happy [is] the man who with a proper he is tried, he shall re steadiness and fortitude of mind endures tempta- ceive the crown of life, tion; for being approved by such a course of which the Lord hath them as the infinite wisdom of God shall ap- love him. point, he shall receive the crown of eternal life, which the Lord Jesus Christ has graciously promised to all them that love him, and express their 13 love by such fidelity and zeal. Let no man who is tempted, say, I am tempted of God for when he is tempted, God is himself, by virtue of his boundless know- for God cannot I am tempted of God; ledge and almighty power, incapable of being tempted with be tempted by evils; and such is the perfect recti. neither tempteth he Mr. f The rich man in his humiliation.] 13 Let no man say tude any man. evil, Greek language,) that reywols, the word here used by St. James, expresses rather the disposition of a man's mind, than his state and condition, which is properly Taming; though it must be confessed, this distinction is not always observed. g Tempted of God.] The phrase it seems had formerly been in use; and there is a sense in which it is allowable. But the obnoxious sense is so much more obvious, that the apostle thought proper to advise it should be avoided for the future. Ferhaps the word might have altered its signification,as it is certain many words do. h Being No man when he is tempted, is tempted of God. 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. it 15 Then when lust hath conceived, bringeth forth sin: and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. .i. 215 tude and benevolence of his nature, that he SECT. tempteth not any man; but on the contrary, abhors all sin, and lays no man, in any imagina- James bie circumstances, under any necessity of com- I. 13. mitting it: But every man is tempted by the 14 innate weakness of his own nature, in concurrence with the circumstance of life in which he is placed, being allured by his own lusts, and for want of wisely and resolutely opposing the first rising of them, being ensnared to the actual commission of sin: For the gradation is much 15 more swift and fatal than the generality of mankind are aware; and indeed lust having conceived brings forth, actual sin, by a speedy birth, where perhaps the full indulgence of it was not intended; and sin, when it is finished, or perpetrated', is impregnated with death, and tends in its consequences to the final ruin both of soul and body, as naturally as the conception of an animal does 16 Do not err, my to the birth. Therefore be not deceived, my 16 beloved brethren, by its flattering form, nor venture to trifle with temptations, under a fond conceit that you shall be able to break the connec tion, by stopping yourselves at pleasure in the advance of the danger, or recovering yourselves again when sin has been committed. beloved brethren. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn this holy caution, and guard against those baits of Ver. lust under which death is concealed; remembering that God has 16 made us with a power of determining our own actions, that he 14, 15 tempts none to evil, nor appoints to any such temptations as he knows 13 to be in their own nature irresistible. Be our spiritual enemies ever so powerful, or ever so artful, they cannot do us any hurt, till we betray ourselves into their hands. Yet certain it is, that their arti fice and their power, in conjunction with the advantage which the corruption of our own hearts gives them, make it requisite, that 5 conscious to ourselves of our deficiency in wisdom, we should ask h Being allured and ensnared : ¿§iλxoμevos ani dihealoμevos ] The original words have a singular beauty and elegance, containing an allusion to the method of drawing fishes out of the water with a hook, concealed under the bait, which they greedily devour. i Finished, or perpetrated: amoliλug. it Juoα.] The word is used in this sense k Therefore be not deceived.] This is 216 i. Reflections on the temptations of good men. SECT. it of God. Let the liberality with which he gives it, and the royal freedom with which he has promised it, encourage us to ask it Ver. with such constancy, that we may receive daily supplies; and 6, 7 with firm confidence in his goodness, that we may not waver, and be like a wave of the sea tossed with the wind. on. Trusting in that supply of grace we receive from him, let us go 2 forth calmly and chearfully to meet such trials as the infinite wisdom of God shall appoint for us, how various and pressing soever 3, 4 they may be; remembering they tend to improve our patience, and by patience to perfect every other grace; and that if we be not overcome, we shall be approved, and made more meet to receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. 12 And O, that the love of this blessed Lord, who has procured as well as promised it, may always render us superior to every trial, and more than conquerors through him that hath loved us, and thereby hath acquired to himself so just a claim to our supreme affectiWith hearts faithfully engaged to him, and established in the 9, 10 firmest resolutions for his service, let us look with indifference upon those worldly circumstances, about which they who have no sense of a higher interest are exceedingly solicitous; and let us regulate our value of all the good things of life, by a regard to their aspect upon our religious characters and hopes.-If low circumstances may improve these, let us look upon them as true exaltation; and if wealth, and dignity, and applause, may endanger these, let us rather fear them, than aspire to them. Whatever we have obtained of those things which the men of the world are most ready to covet and admire, is transitory and fading as the grass, or even as the flower of the field; and sometimes like those beautiful, but tender productions of vegetable nature, is consumed by the excess of those causes to which it owes its existence and its beauty, "Give us, O Lord, durable riches, and righteousness, and that honour which cometh from thee, and is immortal, as its great Original." SECT. Every good gift cometh from the Father of lights; 217 SECT. II. The Apostle exhorts them to remember and acknowledge the manifold goodness of God, in the various blessings bestowed upon them; more especially in that of his regenerating grace, which should constrain them to the exercise of every virtue; especially to an ingenuous and candid reception of his word, and a concern resolutely and constantly to adhere to its directions; particularly by bridling their tongues, and succouring such as were afflicted James I. 17. to the end. JAMES I. 17. EVERY good gift and whom is no variable turning. JAMES I. 17. SECT. ii. every perfect gift, THAT ye may be fortified against every tempis from above, and tation, and may be animated to behave in James cometh down from the a manner becoming your christian profession, I. 17. Father of lights, with remember, that every good gift, and every perness, neither shadow of fect gift which the children of men can receive, is from above; and the more compleatly excellent the benefit is, the more reason have they to acknowledge it, as descending from the great and eternal Father of lights, the blessed God, from whom reason and light and joy are deriv ed. The sun itself is but a feeble image of his glory, with whom there is no variableness, nor so much as any shadow of turning, whereas the sun is continually varying, and has no sooner arrived to its meridian, but it begins to descend to the a Father of lights.] It is the opinion of Glassius that this phrase only expresses the majesty and glory of God, as if the apostle had said, The most illustrious and glorious Father. But the accurate Bos most justly imagines, that the allusion to the sun which there is in the following words, begins here; and that the phrase refers to the heathens calling that glorious luminary, the Father of light, and the author of light; some instances of which he produces. See Exercitat. Philolog. in loc. The learned Albert cites a passage from Macrobius, in which the same title is applied to Jupiter. Observ. Philolog. in loc. b Every good gift, &c.] It is observable that the apostle makes use of two different words to express gift; the one of which is more poetical and sounding than the other; and he has placed the words in such an order that they make an heroic verse. So that were they to be rendered, "Every good gift, and every boon complete," it might perhaps give the English reader a more exact idea of the original; but as there is all imaginable reason to believe 218 ii. James Who hath impregnated us with the word of truth. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his crea tures. 19 Wherefore, my SECT. the west, or to its summer height, but it verges towards the winter again; causing the direction of the shadows it occasions, proportionably to 1. 18. vary. But the immutable and everlasting God has condescended to multiply those favours upon us, as Christians, which should bind our souls to him in the bonds of unchangeable love; for of his own sovereign will he impregnated us with the powerful word of his Divine and evangelical truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures, more excellent than others, and in a peculiar manner separated and consecrated to him from among the rest of mankind. Let us be conscious of the honour he has hereby done us, and take heed that we do not sacrilegiously alienate ourselves from his 19 service. Therefore, my beloved brethren, that beloved brethren, let we may be thus religiously sacred to him, and every man be swift to ever employed to the purposes he has directed, hear, slow to speak, let every man be swift to hear the instructions of slow to wrath. his word, and all the good advices which may be given him agreeable to the tenor of it; but be slow to speak, guarding solicitously against every rash and especially every proud and dictatorial expression; and slow to wrath, not easily yielding to provocations, how injuriously 20 soever he may be treated; For the wrath of 20 For the wrath of man, even where it may be most ready to assume the title of religious zeal, worketh not, but on the contrary greatly obstructs the righteousness of God; instead of promoting the cause of true religion in the world, it is a reproach to it, and a means of exciting the pre21 judices of mankind against it. Endeavour there- 21 Wherefore lay fore to regulate your passions by these great max- apart all filthiness, and ims; and laying aside all inward, or outward superfluity of naughtifilthiness on the one hand, and all overflowing of malignity man worketh not the righteousness of God. ness, and receive with meekness but it is indeed so much the general infirmity of human nature, as unhappy experience teaches us, that the caution is of universal concern. e Worketh not the righteousness of God.] Some think the meaning is, simply, A man, who is often a prey to angry passions, is incapable of performing that obedience which God requires; but promoting the interest of the kingdom of God may be included in the meaning of working his righteousness; and this false zeal is so often defended under that notion, that I was willing in the paraphrase to point out that idea plainly. f In |