Thomas Manton · 52 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter V. · Part 2

Obs. 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 projects when God is about to break down and pluck up: Jer. xlv. 5, `Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; for I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord., Foolish men are like a company 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 ate, they drank, they married wives, and were given in marriage, and then the flood came, and destroyed them all, Luke xvii. 27. And the same is observed of Sodom: `They bought, they sold, they builded, they planted, &c., ver. 28. When men generally apply themselves to worldly business, it is a sad prognostic; they do but bring forth for the murderer, and heap up for the plunderer: 1 Thes. v. 3, `When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape., When security runneth not, and is like to degenerate into utter contempt of God, men are not likely to profit by the word, therefore God taketh 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 must have their veins opened. And when a people are grown to such a wanton fulness, God will send `the emptiers to empty them, Nahum ii. 2.

Ver. 4. Behold, the hire of your labourers which have reaped down your 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, viz., 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 crieth to God for vengeance. The phrases will be opened in the points. Observe—

Obs. 1. From the context, 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 labourer's wages? 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 aversion, you know not how far it will carry you; the apostle saith, it is `the root of all evil, 1 Tim. vi. 10.

Obs. 2, From that crieth. Some sins are crying, and do more especially require vengeance at the hands of God. This crying is applied to blood, Gen. iv. 10, `Thy brother's blood crieth;, not his soul, but his blood. So to the wickedness of Sodom, Gen. xviii. 20, `The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is grievous., So to oppression of God's servants; they are dear to him: Exod. ii. 24, and iii. 9, `God heard their groaning, and `the cry of the children of Israel is come up unto me., So to oppression of the widows and fatherless: Exod. xxii. 23, `If thou afflict the widow and the fatherless, and they cry unto me, I will surely hear their cry., So ver. 27, to taking the neighbour's necessary garment to pledge, `I will hear his cry, 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 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 greatness of those that commit them, or else done in secret, and so past human cognisance, 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 wanteth evidence, or that his justice needeth excitation, but because some of these sins do even dare vengeance, and provoke divine justice to take notice of them; and in other of these sins God is appealed to by the oppressed as witness and avenger, human justice wanting will, or power, or fit means of conviction to proceed against them. Besides, this crying in some cases showeth the unwillingness 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 crieth to God, so especially the oppression of poor servants, and those that live by handy labour. It is twice repeated in the text, `which have reaped your fields, and then, again, `the cry of them which have reaped., And the reason is, because it is their life, and so an act of the greatest unmercifulness; and besides, you disappoint them of the solace of their labours. See Deut. xxiv. 15, `He hath set his heart upon it;, this is, that he reckoneth upon his wages at the end of the day. But you will say, How many ways may we oppress the poor labourer? I answer—(1.) When through greatness you challenge their labours without reward, as the gentry use the peasants of many countries: Jer. xxii. 13, `Woe be to him that useth his neighbour without wages;, 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 of their labour is without reward; and it is flat covetousness 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, Mal. iii. 5, `I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages., So it is in the text, `by fraud kept back., God knoweth what is oppression, 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 before sunset: see Deut. xxiv. 14, 15; Lev. xix. 30. 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 advantage of improvement; and in the text it is said, `kept back by fraud;, though not wholly taken away, yet `kept back, entitled them to sin. The Lord, you know, rewardeth his servants ere they have done their work; we have much of our wages aforehand, &c.

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 see Job xxxi. 38-40, `If my land cry against me, and the furrows thereof likewise complain; if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life, &c. God cannot 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.; the very affliction shall cry. It is said, Gen. xvi. 11, he heard Hagar's affliction when Sarah had used her harshly and imperiously. So the church saith, Lam. ii. 18, `The apple of mine eye shall not keep silence., Their groans clamour, and their tears have a loud voice. Oh! 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 hath weaved a net, goeth out of the way: but yet the Lord knoweth; their very afflictions will cry against you when they know not against whom to cry.

Obs. 5. From that, 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 fuller 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 Septuagint retained the Hebrew term by which it was expressed. And so, also, it is kept in the New Testament, κύριος ΣαβαὼΘ, as by Paul, Rom. ix. 27, and by James in this place; not religiously, out of any mystery in the syllables, as Jerome supposeth, but because 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. The note is, that the Lord is a Lord of hosts, commander-in-chief of all the creatures, angels, men, thunders, 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 xxxviii. 35; that is, Lord, Whither shall we go? here we are, ready to fulfil thy word. It were easy to expatiate in so copious an argument; but because it hath been handled by others, I shall but touch upon things. God's command reacheth from the highest angel to the lowest creatures. The angels are principally called God's host; see 1 Kings xxii. 9; Luke ii. 14. And of what power are they, since one angel destroyed in a night a hundred fourscore and five thousand, 2 Kings xix, 35. Then the heavens are intended: Isa. xxxiv. 9, `All the hosts of the stars shall be dissolved., That which Peter calleth στοιχεῖα, the elements, the prophet calleth the hosts. So it is said, Judges v. 20, `The stars in their courses fought against Sisera;, that is, by their influence and efficacy upon the clouds and meteors. For Josephus, speaking of that battle, saith that there suddenly fell a storm 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 fling their darts; but beating upon the backs of the Israelites, it emboldened them the more. So, also, men are called God's hosts; as Israel, Exod. xii. 41; and it is said, `He mustereth the host of the battle, Isa. xiii. 9. Nay, lower creatures, locusts, are called God's army, Joel ii.; and God is said to reserve the snow and hail against the day of battle, 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. 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 needeth no forces from without; there is enough to overwhelm man in the reflections of his own conscience. Oh! then, do not contend with him that can command legions, and draw omnipotency about thy ears: `shall the potsherds of the earth strive with the Lord of hosts?, 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. From that 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. The note is, that the Lord of hosts is the poor's avenger; the God of angels and thunders is the God that comforteth them are cast down. 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? Oh! take heed of wronging the poorest servants of God. Christ speaketh of offending his little ones. Mat. xviii. 10; as little as they are, they have a great champion. The worm Jacob is looked after by the Lord of hosts. 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 unkindness to their servants, Jer. xxxiv. 11; therefore defraud them not, leave them not shiftless. God will visit this sin upon many gentlemen who turn off their old servants shift less and helpless, and have more care of their dogs than of them. Oh! 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.

Ver. 5. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

The apostle instanceth in 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 did easily and largely lavish 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 beggar, Luke xvi. 19. Thus lusts, though they dispute every inch with grace, do easily give way to succeeding corruptions.

Ye have lived in pleasure.—The word signifieth indulging the deli cacies and delights of the senses, in meats, drinks, and apparel.

Obs. 1. A sin very natural to us. There were but two common parents of all mankind, Adam the protoplast, and Noah the restorer, and both miscarried by appetite; the one fell by eating, and the other by drinking. We had need be careful. Christ saith, `Take heed of surfeiting and drunkenness, to his own disciples, Luke xxi. 34.

Obs. 2. The sin is natural to all, but chiefly incident to the rich. There is, I confess, a difference in tempers; wealth maketh some covetous, and others prodigal, but the usual sin in the rich is luxury. Pride, idleness, and fulness of bread were the sins of Sodom, and they are usually found in great men's houses; they should be the more wary.

Obs. 3. Though delicate living be a sin incident to wealthy men, yet their abundance doth not excuse it. It is charged upon the rich man in the Gospel that he fared deliciously every day, Luke xvi. 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 alloweth 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 threatened them for their delicacy that had beds of ivory, Amos vi. 4; so also the fat cows and kine of Bashan, Amos iv.

Obs. 4. Luxury is living in pleasure, ἐτρυφήσατε. God alloweth us to use pleasures, but not to live in them; to take delights, but not they should take us; to live always at the full is but a wanton luxury.

On earth; that is, say some, like beasts, which do 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 interpret the apostle's speech. His meaning is, that in this earthly life they placed all their happiness, and their spirits did altogether run after earthly comforts and earthly contentments, as having no higher abode. Note:—

Obs. That all the pleasure that wicked men have is upon earth; here, and nowhere else: Luke xvi. 25, `Remember that in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things., Oh! it is sad to outlive our happiness; when we come to live indeed, then to want our comforts and joys: Mat. vi. 2, `They have their reward., Your heaven is past. It is the folly of worldly men to be merry only in the place of their banishment and pilgrimage; they live in pleasure here, where they are absent from God: Job xxi. 13, `They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave., Alas! then their best days are past; here they laugh, and there they howl. Ah, fondness! to sell the birthright for a mess of pottage, and let go heaven for a little earthly contentment! How should this sour your carnal joys, when you remember 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, Oh! poor soul, whither dost thou now go? 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, ἐσπαταλήσατε.—The same word is used of the carnal widow, ἡ δὲ σπαταλῶσα ζῶσα τέθνηκε, 1 Tim. v. 6. We translate, `she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth., The word signifieth such a delicacy as bringeth a brawn softness and deadness upon the spirit, and therefore we translate it well by wanton. So that this part of the charge implieth:—

Obs. 1. That luxury is always accompanied with carnal security and contempt of God: Deut. xxxii. 15, Israel waxed fat, and kicked with the heel: Hosea xiii. 6, `According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart is exalted; they have forgotten me., Through too much fatness and plenty the soul becometh wanton and untamed.

Obs. 2. That a fulness of pleasures bringeth 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 sensuality hath prevailed upon you when the soul desireth dainty food. Nature itself is not wanton and delicate till it be made so by constant use. It is strange to see how nature degenerateth 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, &c.

Ye have nourished your hearts.—What is that? Indulgere genio, to rear up lust, rather than to satisfy nature. It is the same which the apostle Paul expresseth by ποιοῦντες προνόιαν, `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 signifieth 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. Observe hence:—

Obs. Pleasures nourish the heart, and fatten it into a senseless stupidity: nothing bringeth a dulness upon it more than they. Plutarch observeth of the ass, which is of all creatures the dullest, that it hath the fattest heart. Thence that expression in scripture, `Go make their hearts fat;, that is, gross and dull. There is a fish which they call ὄνος, the ass-fish, which hath its heart in its belly; a fit emblem 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 excess; therefore Christ useth that expression, Luke xxi. 36, `Let not your hearts be overcharged, &c. Ah! do but consider how many reasons we have to be wary in our pleasures. Will the in conveniences they bring to your estates move you? Prov. xxiii. 21, `He that loveth corn, and wine, and oil, shall be poor., How often hath 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, sucketh the bones, and, like a cannibal, eateth your own flesh, Prov. v. 11. Ah! but chiefly think of the inconveniency which your precious souls sustain; your hearts will be nourished and fattened. Pleasure infatuateth the mind, quencheth the radiancy and vigour of the spirit: wine and women take away the heart, Hosea iv. 11; that is, the generous sprightliness of the affections. So the apostle speaketh of persons given to pleasures, that they are past feeling, Eph. iv.; they have lost all the smartness and tenderness of their spirits. Oh! that men would regard this, and take heed of nourishing 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, &c., keep the heart from being nourished whenever you repair nature.

As in a day of slaughter, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς.—Some say, as Brixianus, that the meaning is, they did but fatten themselves for the slaughter; but that is forced. Beza rendereth, as in a day of feast, which Heinsius taxeth with some undue rigour. Certainly there is an allusion to the solemn festivals 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. ii. 15, they were to carry it home and to eat it with their friends. Thence that expression, Prov. xvii. 1, `Better is a dry morsel, than an house full of sacrifices with strife;, that is, of good cheer, as was usual in the time of peace or thank-offering. So also that other, Prov. vii. 14, `I have peace-offerings with me this day;, that is, the flesh of thank-offerings, wherewith to feast and entertain thee. Now the fault wherewith these sensualists are charged, is double:—

1. That they made every day festival.

Obs. It is a wanton luxury to make every day a day of slaughter: Luke xvi., `He fared deliciously every day;, that is an aggravation, that he made it his constant practise. Some men do nothing but knit pleasure to pleasure; their lives are nothing else but a diversion from one carnal pleasure to another: Eccles. iii., `There is a time to feast and a time to mourn., Such men disturb the order of seasons. Nature is relieved with changes, but clogged with continuance; frequency of pleasures begetteth a habit; and besides, this putteth men upon novel curiosities, when ordinary pleasures by common use grow stale; pleasure itself must have pleasure to refresh it, accustomed delights becoming our clog and burden.

2. That they gave that to their lusts which was due only upon special occasions to religion.

Obs. Usually this is the vanity of men, to bestow the allotments of worship upon their lusts, and by a cursed sacrilege to serve god the belly, Phil. iii. 19, as zeal serveth the great God of heaven and earth. No music will serve the epicures in the prophet but temple music: Amos vi. 5, `They invent to themselves instruments of music like David., 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: Dan. v. 2, `He commanded to bring forth the golden and silver vessels, that were taken out of the house of God., 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 your songs of Zion, Ps. cxxxvii. 3. No jest relisheth with a profane spirit so well as when scripture is abused, and made to lackey upon their sportive jollity. Vain man thinketh he can never put honour enough upon his pleasures, and scorn enough upon God and holy things.

Ver. 6. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

The apostle cometh 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. From the context observe:—

Obs. That plenty begetteth injury; and when all things are possible, men think all things lawful. Rich and great men, if they be higher than others, do not think of him that is higher than they: Eccles. v. 8, `If there be oppression of the poor, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they.,

Ye have condemned.—The apostle now instanceth in their cruelty and oppression, masked with a pretence and colour of law. Before they would kill, there was some form of a legal process; they condemned. Note hence:—

Obs. That God taketh 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: Ps. xciv. 20, `Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with thee, which frameth wickedness by a law?, God taketh it more heinously when public authority, which is the defence of innocency, is made the pretence of oppression. Many make conscience of forms of law, that do not make conscience of oppressing the godly. See Mat. xxvii. 6, `It is not lawful to put the price of blood into the treasury;, yet it was lawful to spill the blood of Christ in their account.

Again, the apostle saith, Ye have condemned, and so ye have killed; they did but procure it by their authority and wealth, corrupting judgment, and using evil arts to destroy the just. Note:—

Obs. That any concurrence to the destruction of the innocent bringeth us under the guilt of their blood; and sins committed by our instigation become ours by just imputation. Christ was put to death by authority of the Roman empire, and executed by the Roman soldiers; yet it is charged upon the Jews, upon the whole nation, because done by their instigation and connivance: as Acts ii. 23, `Whom by wicked hands ye have taken and slain;, and ver. 36, `This is Jesus whom you have crucified;, so 1 Thes. ii. 15, `They killed the Lord Jesus., Do not flatter thyself because thou art not the immediate executioner. Jezebel was punished for Naboth's death, though the judges and false witnesses were the next agents, 1 Kings xiii. 23. Beware how you provoke others to blood; the guilt will fall upon your own consciences: God looketh upon the instigators as the principals: `Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife provoked, 1 Kings xxi. 25. It was a sorry answer that of the priests to Judas, `See thou to it, Mat. xxvii. 4: they had need see to it too, since it was by their plot and conspiracy.

And killed.—This is added to show that oppression will proceed as far as death; wickedness knoweth no bounds and limits; as also to show the reason why miseries were coming upon them. Note:—

Obs. When oppression goeth as far as blood, God will surely take vengeance. `He maketh inquisition for blood, Ps. ix.; and blood is one of the crying sins, Gen. iv. 10. The blood of an ordinary man crieth for vengeance; as that of the Gibeonites that were of the race of Canaan; therefore is that clause interserted, 2 Sam. xxi. 2, `Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites., 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.

The just, τὸν δίκαιον.—It may be put indefinitely for any just person; as Isa. lvii. 1, `The righteous perish, &c. But because the apostle speaketh 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., τὸν δίκαιον, Acts xxii. 14. (2.) There seemeth to be a direct parallel place to this, Acts iii. 14, `But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, (3.) This was the great reason and cause of judgments on the Jews, 1 Thes. ii. 15, 16, which is the scope and argument of this place; and indeed the text runneth that way most fluently. (4.) The illation of the next verse, or persuasion to patient hope, doth most sweetly arise from this consideration; 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 propoundeth; and the latter part Christ's patience, the great example and pattern of ours. I know the great prejudice against this exposition is, because 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 doth not call Christ Lord or Saviour, since he speaketh to unconverted Jews; and the fittest medium of conviction he could use to them is that of his righteousness or innocency, as also Peter and John do, Acts iii. 14, `That just and holy one;, for those that would not acknowledge him a Saviour, by a plain evidence of his life might acknowledge him a just person, as Pilate's wife doth, Mat. xxvii. 19, `Have nothing to do with that just person., However, lest the exposition should seem too critical, I shall carry the observations both ways.