Thomas Manton · 17 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter I. · Part 14

So much for the fifth observation.

Obs. 6. That God's children are his first-fruits. The word hinteth two things—their dignity and their duty; which two considerations will draw out the force of the apostle's expression.

1. It noteth the dignity of the people of God in two regards:—(1.) One is, they are `the Lord's portion, λάος περιούσιος, his `peculiar people, Titus ii. 14, the treasure people, the people God looketh after. The world are his goods, but you his treasure. The word κτισμάτων in the text.is emphatical. Others are but his creatures, you his first-fruits. He delighteth to be called your God; he hath, as it were, impropriated himself to your use and comfort: `Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord, Ps. 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 yieldeth no comfort. Oh! what a mighty instance is this of the love of God to us, that he should reckon us for his first-fruits, for his own lot and portion! (2.) That they are the considerable part of the world. The first-fruits were offered for the blessing of all the rest: Prov. iii. 10, `Offer thy first-fruits, and so thy barns shall be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with wine., 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 profane 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 taketh in lieu of a whole nation, to convey a blessing to the rest.

2. It hinteth duty; as—;(1.) Thankfulness in all their lives. 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 the mercies of God should persuade us to offer ourselves, Rom. xii. 1. Now, under the gospel, there are no sin-offerings, all are thank-offerings. Well, then, give up yourselves in a reasonable way, λογικὴ λάτρεια, of sacrifice. It is but reason that when God hath begotten us we should be his first-fruits. The principle and motive of obedience under the gospel is not terror, but gratitude: Luke i. 74, `That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve him without fear, &c. Your lives should show you to be first-fruits, to be yielded to God as a testimony of thankfulness. (2.) It noteth 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. You shall see, Jer. xxxii. 30, it is said, `The children of Israel and Judah have only done evil before me from their youth., The Septuagint read, μόνοι ποιοῦντες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, `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.) It noteth consecration. You are dedicate things, and they must not be alienated; your time, parts, strength, and concernments, all is 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:—(1st.) 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 Solomon) that seemeth right in a man's own eyes;, a corrupt mind looketh upon it as good and pleasant, and a corrupt will and desire is ready to run out after it. So the prophet Isaiah, chap. liii. 6, `We are all gone astray, every man to his own way., Oh! remember you are to study the mind and will of God; your own inventions will seduce you, and your own affections will betray you. (2d.) Not to your own ends: 2 Cor. v. 15, `Henceforth we are no more to live to ourselves, to our pleasure, profit, honour, interests: we have no right and property in ourselves, it is all given up to God. Those that gave up all to God did not 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.

Ver. 19. Wherefore, my Moved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, &c.—You see these words are inferred out of the former. The apostle saith, wherefore. Some make the consequence thus: He hath begotten you, therefore walk as men regenerate; for they make these sentences to be of a general concernment, and take them in the largest sense and extent of them. But this seemeth harsh, partly because it is not the use of the gospel to descend 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 common 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 spiritual matter to mere rules of civility: partly because the subsequent context showeth these sentences must be restrained to the matter in hand; for, ver. 21, he sub-inferreth out of these sayings an exhortation to hear the word rightly; therefore I conceive the connection to stand thus: He had spoken of the word of truth as being the instrument of conversion, and upon that ground persuadeth to diligent hearing and reverent 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 hath put on the word, as by it to beget us to himself; therefore `be swift to hear, that is, of a docile or teachable 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 matter 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 garrulity, 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.

The notes are these:—

Obs. 1. From that wherefore. It is a great encouragement to wait upon the ordinances, when we consider the benefits God doth dispense by them. In 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. Thus 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 mere task, but a holy means; and ordinances are appointed, not only in sovereignty, but in mercy. Well, then, Christians are not only to look to the ground of duties, but the end of them, that sweeteneth them to us. God hath required nothing of you but for your own benefit: Prov. ix. 12, `If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself., God hath glory in your approaches, but you have comfort. Oh! 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. Again, from the illative particle wherefore. Experience of the success of ordinances engageth us to a further attendance upon them. He hath begotten you by the word of truth, `wherefore, be swift to hear., Who would baulk a way in which he hath found good, and discontinue duty when he hath found the benefit of it? When God hath given you success, he hath given you a seal of his truth, a real experience of the comforts of his service. The Stancarists, that think ordinances useless 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. Because this proud sect is revived in our times, and many, as soon as they have found the benefit of ordinances, think they are above them, let us a little examine these particulars.

1. They are ignorant of the nature of grace, which always upon a taste longeth for more: Ps. lxiii. 1, 2, `I long to see thy power and glory, as I have seen thee in the sanctuary., When the springs lie low, a little water cast in bringeth up more: so, after a taste, grace longeth for more communion with God; they would see God as they have seen him: so the apostle, 1 Peter ii. 3, 4, `If ye have tasted that he is gracious, come to him as to a living stone;, 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 spiritual 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 disciples, hearts, Acts xiv. 22. We are to look after growth, as well as truth. Now, lest you should think it only concerneth the new-born babes, or the weaker sort of Christians, you shall see those of the highest form found need to exercise themselves herein: the prophets `searched diligently, into the writings of other prophets, 1 Peter i. 11, 12. Daniel himself, though a prophet, and a prophet of high visions, studied books, Dan. ix. 2. And still the greatest have need of praying, meditating, reading, hearing, to preserve the work of grace that is begun in their souls. That place is notable, Luke viii. 18, `Take heed how you hear; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have., Our Saviour upon this ground presseth them to a greater conscience and sense of the duty of hearing, because those that have grace already will have further confirmation and increase; and those that, upon a presumption and pretence of having grace, neglect the means of grace, shall lose that which they seemed to have; that is, shall appear to be just nothing in religion, blasted in gifts, as well as decayed in grace.

3. They are ignorant of the state of their own hearts. Are there no graces to be perfected and increased? no corruptions to be mortified? no good resolutions to be strengthened? no affections to be quickened and stirred up? Is there no decay of vigour and livelihood? no deadness growing upon their spirits? Certainly none need ordinances so much as they that 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 needeth props. Wolves and dogs can rummage and seek 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: 1 Cor. viii. 2, `If any man thinketh he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing as he ought to know., At first truths seem few, and soon learned; and 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 come to be more deeply acquainted with it: and then, Ps. cxix. 18, `Open mine eyes, that I may see wonders in thy law;, then we come to discern 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 perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad, Ps. cxix. 96. We can never exhaust all the treasure and worth that is in the word. (2.) Affections 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 rage, 1 Cor. xiv. 31. All may learn, or all be comforted. The apostle there specifieth 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. From that let every one. This is a duty that is universal, and bindeth all men. None are exempted from hearing and patient learning: `the eye hath need of the foot., Those that know most may learn more. Junius was converted by discourse with a plough man. A simple laic (as the story calleth him) turned the whole Council of Nice against Arianism. G-od may make use of the meanest things for the instruction of the greatest. Paul, the great apostle, calleth 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, Mat. xviii. 2. It is proud disdain to scorn the meanest gifts. There may be gold in an earthen vessel. There is none too old, none too wise, none too high to be taught. Let every one.

Obs. 4. From that be swift, that is, ready. The commendation of duties is the ready discharge of them. Swiftness noteth two things:—(1.) Freeness of spirit; do it without reluctancy when you do it; no offerings are accepted of God but such as are free-will offerings, Ps. cxix. 108. (2.) Swiftness noteth diligence in taking the next occasion; they will not decline an opportunity, and say, Another day. Delay is a sign of unwillingness. You shall see, Ezek. i., the beasts 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 dispatch them. This readiness to take occasions is showed in three things:—(1st.) In restraining all debates and deliberations: `I consulted not with flesh and blood, but immediately I went up to Jerusalem, Gal. i. 10. When the soul deliberateth about duty, it neglecteth it; do not debate when God commandeth, whether it be best or no; the soul is half won when it yieldeth to dispute things. God saith, Gen. ii. 17, `In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die., And Eve repeateth, chap. iii. 3, `Thou shalt not eat, lest ye die;, and Satan saith, ver. 4, `Ye shall not surely die., God affirmeth, the woman doubteth, and Satan denieth. It is not good to allow the devil the advantage of a debate; when you pause upon things, Satan worketh upon your hesitancy. (2d.) In laying aside all pretences and excuses. Duty would never be done if we should allow the soul in 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, Mai xiv. 29; he did not plead the waves between him and Christ. (3d.) In yielding yourselves up to the whole will of God without reservations, do not allow one exception, or reserve one carnal desire: Acts ix. 6, `Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?, The ear and heart was open for every command. So 1 Sam. iii. 9, `Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth., He was ready to receive whatever God would command; but, alas! it is otherwise with us. Christ cometh to offer himself to us, as he did to the blind man: Luke xviii. 41, `What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?, Christ is fain to ask our pleasure, not we his. The master asketh what the servant will command. Yea, we refuse him when he offereth himself to us: Heb. xii. 25, μὴ παραιτήσατε, `See that ye refuse not, &c. The word signifieth, do not urge vain pretences. This is the fourth note, but I must be more particular.

Obs. 5. From that be swift to hear; that is, the word of God, for otherwise it were good to be slow in hearing. We may wish ourselves deaf sometimes, that we may 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 showeth how we should value hearing: be glad of an opportunity; the ear is the sense of learning, and so it is of grace; it is that sense that is consecrated to receive the most spiritual dispensations: Rom. x. 14, `How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?, The Lord beginneth his sermon with `Hear, Israel, Deut. vi. When Christ was solemnly discovered from heaven to be the great prophet of the church, the respect that is bespoken for him is audience: Mat. xvii. 5, `This is my beloved Son, hear him., God is pleased to appoint this way, do not despise it. Beading hath its use, but the voice hath aliquid latentis energiae, a secret force upon the soul, because of the sympathy between the external word and inward reason; I mean, it hath a ministerial efficacy, by which the authority and sovereign efficacy of the Spirit is conveyed. God would insinuate a real efficacy in a moral way, and therefore useth the voice. The apostle had spoken much of the word, and then he saith, `This is the word which is preached to you, 1 Peter 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: `It pleased the Father, &c., 1 Cor. i. 21. Therefore, by the external voice there is meant, then, a ministerial excitation. Reading doth 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 nature; the blood is the continent of life when it is in the proper vessels; but when it is out, it is hurtful, and breedeth putrefactions and diseases.

2. It showeth 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: Mat. iii. 5, `Jerusalem and Judea, and all the region round about, came to hear John., Some of those places mentioned were thirty miles from Ænon beyond Salem, which was the place where John baptized: 1 Sam. iii. 1, `The word of the Lord was precious in those days; for there was no open vision., Heretofore lectures were frequented when they were more scarce. The wheat of heaven was despised when it fell every day: Amos viii. 12, `I will send a famine of the word, and they shall wander from sea to sea, from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro, and shall not find it., 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 showeth the content men should take in hearing the word; but, alas! now men pretend every vain excuse, their merchandise, their farm, and so cannot wait upon the word of God: it may be on the Lord's day, when they dare do nothing else; but few take other occasions and opportunities. David saith, Ps. xxvi. 8, `I have loved the habitation of thy house, the place where thine honour dwelleth., It was comfort to him to wait upon God, to come to the doors of wisdom, a burden to us.

3. It noteth 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 others, gifts; there is none so wise but he may receive some benefit by the different handling of what he himself knoweth. 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. And as we should not contemn their gifts, so we should not contemn their judgments. In this being swift to hear is condemned that ἰδιογνωμοσύνη that private spirit, and over prizing of our own conceits and apprehensions, so that we are not patient to hear anything 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, 1 Cor. xiv. 30, `If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace., You do not know what may be revealed to another; no man is above a condition of being instructed. Divide self from thy opinion, and love things not because they suit with thy prejudices, but truth. `Be swift to hear, that is, to consider what may be urged against you.

4. It noteth 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 gotten by them: every man's `belly is like a bottle full of wind, ready to burst for want of vent, Job xxxii. 19. If we were as patient and swift to hear as we are ready to speak, there would be less of wrath and more of profit in our meetings. I remember when a Manichee contested with Augustine, and with importunate clamour cried, `Hear me, hear me, the father modestly answered, Nec 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 violences and impetuousness of our spirits; when one crieth, 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 reproveth the disorder and tumult that was in the Corinthian assemblies, he adviseth them to speak ἀνὰ μέρος, l by turn or course, 1 Cor. xiv. 27; and ver. 31, `Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all 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 context; slow in speaking of the word of God, and that in several cases.

1. It teacheth men not to adventure upon the preaching of the word till they have a 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, Luke iii. 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius, that was John's thirtieth year. Augustus reigned fifty-five years, and John was born in his fortieth year, and preached in the fifteenth of Tiberius, his next successor. Every one itcheth after the dignity of being a teacher in Israel. There is somewhat of superiority in it (upon which reason the apostle forbiddeth 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 hath fitted them for so great a work and burthen. 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) τὴν πολίαν μάτιν φέρπμτες, 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 of small years, where he instanceth in Daniel, Solomon, Jeremiah, Samuel, Josiah, whose youth was seasoned with knowledge and piety, and concludeth that it is not age but gifts make a minister, and, through the abundance of Spirit, there may be an old mind in a young body; and Timothy, though younger in years, was an elder in the church. For my own particular, I must say, as Pharaoh's chief butler said, Gen. xli. 9, `I remember my faults this day., I cannot excuse myself from much of crime and sin in it; but I have been in the ministry these ten years, and yet 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 and reached forth by the most unworthy instruments. But to return. Tertullian hath a notable observation concerning some sectaries in his time, Nunquam citius proficitur quam in castris rebellium, ubi ipsum illic esse promereri est—that men usually have a quick dispatch and progress in the tents of heresy, and become teachers ere they are scarce Christians. He goeth on: Neophytos collocant, ut gloriâ eos obligent, quia veritate non possunt—they set up young men to teach, that they may win them by honour, when they cannot gain them by truth. Certainly this is a bait that pride soon swalloweth; and that which hath drawn many into error, is a liberty to teach before they are scarce anything in religion. Oh! 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 a while to be slow to speak. Aquinas, when he heard Albertus, was called Bos mutus, the dumb ox, because for a great while he was altogether silent. It is not the Spirit of God, but the spirit of vainglory which putteth men upon things which they are not able to wield and manage. It is good to take notice of those compressions and constraints that are within our spirits; but it is good also to take heed that they do not arise from pride, or some carnal affections.