Thomas Manton · 26 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter II. · Part 3

Obs. 7. That the faithful are heirs to a kingdom. Heaven and glory is often set out to us under that notion. You have places every where. Kingdoms are for kings; and every saint is a spiritual king: Rev. i. 6, `He hath made us kings and priests unto God his Father., Suitable to which expression it is said, 1 Peter 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 signifieth 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 be cause 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 possessed of his royalty. Again, there is a very great resemblance between the glory we expect and a kingdom: Luke xii. 32, `Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom., It is called a kingdom in regard of its splendour, festivity, and glory. That is the highest excellency and note of a difference amongst men. And also in regard of attendants; 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 regard of power and dominion. `All things are theirs, 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. They `shall judge the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3; yea, the evil angels. And also in regard of abundance of content and satisfaction. There is `fulness of pleasures for evermore, Ps. 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 attendants, 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. Oh! then, we that expect these things, `what manner of persons ought we to be?, The apostle hath an exhortation suitable to this purpose: 1 Thes. ii. 11, 12, `Walk worthy of God, that hath called you to his kingdom., Live as kings for the present, commanding your spirits, judging your souls, above ordinary pursuits—it is not for eagles to catch flies; above ordinary crosses—cogita te Caesarem esse. Remember thou shalt one day be a king with God in glory. Enter upon thy kingdom by degrees: `The kingdom of God is joy and peace 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 interest themselves in these hopes: Mat. xi. 12, `The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence., It is a kingdom, and therefore men are so violent for it. Oh! 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 promise. 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—We have thy word; there is a `promise wherein thou hast caused us to hope, Ps. cxix. 49. Heaven is not only prepared, but promised. You may not only have loose hopes, but a steadfast confidence.

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 estate. They do not believe that do not love; and they cannot obey that do not love. Look, then, to this grace. Do you love God? When promises 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?, so commune with your own souls, Dost thou love God? Nay, urge the soul with it again, Dost thou indeed love God? The effects and products of love are many. Those which love God, love that which is of God. As (1.) His glory. Their 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 themselves, 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 commandment. They are vexed with those holy laws that thwart their corrupt desires. Natural conscience impresseth a sense of duty, and vile affection worketh a dislike of it. But now, 1 John v. 3, `This is the love of God, that his commandments are not grievous., Duty is their delight, and ordinances their solace: Ps. xxvi. 8, `How have I loved the habitation of thine house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth!, 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, 1 John iii. 14. By these discoveries may you judge yourselves.

Ver. 6. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats?

Here the apostle endeavoureth to work them to a sense of their own miscarriage. For, having proved respect of persons a sin, he falleth. directly upon their consciences; and 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 urgeth a new argument: `Do not rich men oppress you?, He doth, in effect, ask them, whether they would show so much honour to their executioners and oppressors? But you will say, Doth not the apostle herein stir them up to revenge? and are we not `to love our enemies, and to do good to them that hate us,? 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: 3 John 10, `Bid him not God speed., So 2 Kings iii. 14, `Were it not for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look towards thee, nor see thee, (3.) The apostle doth 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 speaketh 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 directed to the persons rather than the order. His argument runneth thus: Will you prefer men for wealth in the church, when you see that none are so mischievous, and such public enemies to the church, as those that are wealthy? To prove that wealth is no sufficient ground of Christian respect, he urgeth the usual abuse of it.

But ye have despised the poor.—He showeth how contrary their practice was to God's dispensation: God hath put honour upon them, but ye dishonour them, as the original word signifieth. The prophet expresseth such a like sin thus: Amos v. 11, `Ye have trodden the poor under foot.,

Do not rich men.—Either he meaneth rich Pagans and Jews that had not embraced Christianity, persecutions 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 towards them. Or, rather, in general, any sort of rich men.

Oppress you.—The word is καταδυναστεύουσι, abuse their power against you, or usurp a power over you which was never given them. In which sense Solomon saith, Prov. xxii. 7, `The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender, Ruleth, that is, arrogateth 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 meaning is, they helped forward the persecution, and implieth the same with that, Mat. x. 17, `They shall deliver you up to councils., Or, if of rich men in the general, to which I rather incline, it noteth the violent practices which they used to the poor, dragging them, as they used to do with their debtors: `He plucked him by the throat, Mat. xviii. 28. And the prophet Isaiah expresseth the same cruelty by `smiting with the fist of wickedness, Isa. lviii. 4. A great liberty the creditor had over the debtor among the Jews, and that our apostle intimateth in the word ἕλκουσι, `they draw you;, and when he addeth `before judgment-seats, he aggravateth this wickedness that was now grown customary 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 everywhere noted in the scriptures. See Ps. x. 9, 10.

The notes are these:—

Obs. 1. From that despised the poor. That known and apparent guilt must be roundly charged. Nathan said to David, 2 Sam. xii. 7, `Thou art the man., When the practice is notorious, a faint accusation doth no good. The prophet striketh David on the breast; this is thy sin. When a city is on fire, will a man come coldly and say, Yonder is a great fire, I pray God it doth no harm? 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 lame 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 you ruin. It is good to be a little warm when the sin is common and the danger imminent.

Obs. 2. From that but you. He opposeth their practice to God's dispensation; 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. It is a kind of gigantomachy, a resisting of God. (1.) It is against the mind of God in their creation: Prov. xxii. 2, `The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them both;, that is, they meet in this, that they have but one maker. There is another meeting, Job iii. 15; they meet in the grave, they meet in their death, and in their maker. Now God never made a creature for contempt. These considerations 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 providence, who hath constituted this order in the world: Prov. xvii. 5, `Whoso reproacheth the poor despiseth his maker;, that is, contemneth 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, Mat. xxvi. 11, The poor you have always present with you., It is one of the settled constitutions and laws of providence, and it is necessary for the uses and services of the world; this preserveth 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 labours, 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 that are poor and despicable in the world; their wit being sharpened by necessity, they may have the clearer use of reason. Naaman's servant saw more than his master, 2 Kings v. 13; and Solomon telleth of `a poor man that delivered the city,, Eccles. ix. 15. Nay, God many times putteth that singular honour of being heirs of salvation upon them. The poor are rich in faith in the context; 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 oppressors. Their wickedness hath 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 providence. Therefore Solomon maketh an oppressing poor men to be a kind of wonder and prodigy. Besides, riches exalt the mind, and efferate it. They have had little experience of misery, and so have little pity. God's motives to Israel were these: Do good to strangers, for thou wert a stranger; and do good to the poor, for thy father was a poor Syrian. 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 inconveniences 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 complaineth, Amos vi., of `the excellency of Jacob, and `the oppression that was in her palaces., Again, wealth often endeth in pride, and pride breaketh 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 filleth their hearts with a ravenous desire to have more of the world, how unjustly soever it be purchased and gotten. You see the reason why they are oppressors and they are 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 putteth men upon the same level, which persons elevated and exalted cannot endure. Besides, they are afraid that the things of Christ will bring some disturbance to their worldly concernments and possessions. The Jewish rulers were afraid of division among the people, and the coming in of the Romans. The Gadarenes were afraid of their hogs. 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 hard, but `with God all things are possible., Wealth is called `the mammon of unrighteousness, Luke xvi. 9. because it is usually the instrument and incentive of it. That of Jerome is harsh, but too often true—Omnis dives aut iniquus est, aut iniqui haeres—that every rich man is either an oppressor himself, or the heir of one. Certainly it is but almost impossible 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, 1 Tim. vi. 17. Boasting, with some contempt of others: Jer. ix. 23, `Let not the rich man glory in his riches;, so injustice: Prov. xxii. 7, `The rich ruleth over the poor;, that is, by force and violence: the word may be read, `domineereth., Then luxury and profuseness. Men abuse the fatness of their portion, and lay it out upon their lusts. Dives `fared deliciously every day., But there are also spiritual evils, which are worse, because they lie more closely and undiscerned. These are—(1.) Forgetting of God, when he hath remembered them most. Men that live at ease have little or no sense of duty. Agur prayeth, `Give me not riches, lest I be full, and deny thee, Prov. xxx. 9. And (2.) creature-confidence. Hence those frequent cautions: 1 Tim. vi. 17, `Trust not in uncertain riches;, and Ps. lxii. 10, `If riches increase, set not your hearts upon them., Usually the creatures rival God; and when we enjoy them in abundance, it is hard 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 speaketh of `riches kept by the owners to their hurt, Eccles. 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: Luke xii. 19, `Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years., These are evils that cleave to wealth, like rust to money. I have but named them, because I would not digress into illustrations.

Ver. 7. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?

He proceedeth 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?

Do not they blaspheme.—Some interpret it of the carnal rich men that professed religion, as if, by the scandal of their practices, 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 an Hebraism, kal for hiphil. The whole stream of interpreters run this way. They urge for it those parallel places: Rom. ii. 24, `Through you is the name of God blasphemed among the Gentiles;, and 2 Peter ii. 2, by them is `the way of truth evil spoken of;, that is, by their means. And that in the 1st epistle to Timothy, chap. vi. 1, Let servants be obedient, `that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed;, and Titus ii. 5, The wives should be discreet and chaste, `that the word of God be not blasphemed., Certainly religion is never more dishonoured than by the lives of carnal professors. But this is the great mistake of this context, to apply what is here spoken to rich Christians. The apostle only giveth an observation of the manners of the rich men of that age; they were usually such as were bitter enemies to Christianity; and thereupon inferreth that wealth was not a valuable consideration 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, καλὸν, `honourable;, as before, ver. 3.—καλῶς, `in a good place, is, in the original, honourably.

By which ye are called.—In the original, τὸ ἐπικληθὲν ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς, `which is called upon you;, and some interpret that thus, `which you call upon., It is made a description of Christians: 1 Cor. i. 2, `All that call upon the name of Christ;, and 2 Tim. ii. 18, `Let him that nameth the name of Christ., Or else thus: Which is called upon over you; that is, in baptism, Mat. xxviii. 19, and Acts ii. 38. Or rather, as we translate, `by which ye are called;, for that is the proper import of that phrase, `called upon you., It is applied to wives, that are called after the name of the husband: Isa. iv. 1, `Let thy name be called upon us;, or to children, as Gen. xlviii. 16, `Let my name be called on them, and the name of my fathers, &c.; and so it implieth the name of Christ, which is put upon his people, who sustain these relations to him of spouse and children.

The notes are these:–

Obs. 1. That wicked rich men, above all others, are most prone to blasphemy. They `set their hearts as the heart of God, Ezek. xxviii. 5, 6. Riches beget pride, and pride endeth in atheism. Besides, they, enjoying a most liberal use of the creature, are apt to talk unseemly. When their hearts are warmed and inflamed 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, Ps. cxxxvii. And it is no feast with many unless John the Baptist's head be brought in a charger. Religion, or religious persons, must be served in to feed their mirth and sportiveness.

Obs. 2. They that love Christ will hate blasphemers. When he would work them into a disesteem of these ungodly wretches, he saith, `Do they not blaspheme that worthy name?, Moses burned with a holy zeal when he heard that one had blasphemed God, Lev. xxiv. 13, 14. And David saith, Ps. cxxxix. 20-22, `They speak against thee wickedly; thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them that hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies, 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 blasphemy putteth upon Christ. Those Gallios of our time, that 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 his enemies that spoke wickedly against his God; but such are their darlings.

Obs. 3. That Christ's name is a worthy name. Christianity will never be a disgrace to you; you may be a disgrace to Christianity. `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, Titus ii. 10. The herd of wicked men they are ignota capita, persons unknown and unobserved; they may sin, and sin again, yet the world taketh no notice of it. But how doth it furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised 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, Eph. iii. 15, `From him the whole family, both in heaven and earth, is named., 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 `Christians., They were called `Nazarites, 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 presseth us to care and holiness. Remember what Christ did: you are called after his name: 2 Tim. ii. 19, `Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity: πᾶς ὁ ὀνομάζων, he that counteth it his honour to use the name of Christ in invocation. Alexander the Great said to one of his captains, that was also called Alexander, 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 unbeseeming, 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?, Shall I, that am named by the name of Christ, do this? Again, this name is an argument which you may use to God in prayer for grace and mercy; his name is upon you, that endeareth you to his bowels. God's promises are made to such, `If the people that are called by my name, &c., 2 Chron. vii. 14. And so there is a notable promise, Deut. xxviii. 10, `And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of God, and they shall be afraid of thee., So you shall see the church pleading this, Jer. xiv. 9, `Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not., So may you go to God: Lord, it is thus with us, but `we are called by thy name.,

Ver. 8. If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scriptures, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well.

Now he comes to discover the ground upon which they did thus preposterously dispense their respects. It was not charity, as they did pretend, 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 hath constituted among men. The apostle supposeth this objection, and answereth it partly by concession: if you do it in obedience to the second table (the tenor of which the apostle expresseth by that general rule `Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,), then, such respect, rightly regulated, and `according to the scriptures, 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 doth openly condemn. The poor, and those whom we may help and relieve, being in the law, or scripture-notion, as much, yea, rather more, the neighbour than the rich.

If ye fulfil, τελεῖτε.—If ye do squarely and roundly come up to the obedience of the law, that part of it which is the rule of outward respects. The word properly signifies, `if ye perfectly accomplish., Sincerity is a kind of perfection. The Papists, among other places, bring this for one to show that a just man may fulfil the law of God. In this place it only implies a sincere respect to the whole duty of the law.

The royal law.—So he calleth it, either because God is the King of kings, and Jesus Christ the King 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 kings, laws. God's laws are royal laws because of the dignity of the author of them. The Syriac interpreter favoureth this sense, for he translateth 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 absolute. Or `the royal law, to show the plainness and perspicuity of it, like `a royal way;, or, as we express it, `the king's highway., So it is said, Num. xxi. 22, `We will only go by the king's way., Suitable to which expression, `the royal law `may imply the highway and road of duty. Or, lastly, a royal law, to note the ingenuity of its precepts. The command of God, that is to guide you in dispensing your respects, doth not oblige you to this servility; the duty of it is more royal and ingenuous.

According to the scriptures; 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 place, have the same words with our apostle. It is often repeated by our Lord, see Mat. 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 implieth that then they were not blameworthy, 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 doth not simply forbid a respect to the rich, but a respect sordid and invested with the circumstances of the context.