Thomas Manton · 55 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter V. · Part 5

1. The vehemency of proposal: but above all things.

2. A direction proposed:—

[1.] Negatively, swear not; wherein some forms of oaths are specified, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath.

[2.] Positively, let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay.

3. Here is a comminatory reason and enforcement, lest ye fall into condemnation.

But above all things, πρὸ πάντων, ἄδελφοι.—The phrase hath under gone several constructions, it properly signifieth before all things; therefore Lyra interpreteth the apostle thus, Do not swear before all things; before every word and promise. The exposition were plausible, if the posture of the words were μὴ ὀμνύετε, ἄδελφοι, πρὸ πάντων, `My brethren, swear not before all things;, but it is, `Before all things, my brethren, &c. Therefore I rather take it for a form of vehemency and earnestness, frequent in the apostolical epistles: `Above all things take the shield of faith, Eph. vi. 16. So 1 Peter iv. 8, `Above all things have among yourselves., But you will say, Why doth he press this above all things? The question is grave and weighty. I shall give some reasons, which will occasion so many notes.

Obs. 1. Because it is a great sin to swear lightly and inconsiderately; it is specially forbidden in the Decalogue: `I will not hold him guiltless, Exod. xx. 7. Of all things God is tender of his own name; it is a great sin in regard of the object about which it is conversant, God's name, which ought to be sacred; every thought and mention should be accompanied with reverence. All sin is against God, but this is formally and directly against God. Men are most tender of their credit. It is a great sin in regard of the occasion; it is without a temptation, unless it be such as argueth height of wickedness, either a wantonness in sin, because it is a sport to do evil. Other sins have an external bait; here is nothing but a glorying in our own shame, Phil. iii. 19. Or an obstinate pride. It is a daring of God; they will sin, because they will sin. It is usually found in ruffians that have lost all awe. Oh! let us beware of this sin of rash swearing, of every tendency that way, any irreverent use of the name of God in sudden outcries, O God, O Lord, &c., or any vain jesting with oaths. Those that swear in jest shall go to hell in earnest. The Jews were so tender of the name of God, that they would not pronounce Jehovah in the law, but read Adonai, unless by the high priest once every year. And being given to swearing, they were loath to use their greater oath, Chi Eloah, but swore by the creatures. The heathens would name those but seldom whom they reverenced. Augustus, as Suetonius reporteth, would not have his name obsolefieri, to be worn threadbare. The name of Mercurius Trismegistus was not commonly pronounced, because of great reverence to him.

Another reason why the apostle saith `above all things, is, because it was a sin familiar with the Hebrews, as appeareth by sundry passages in scripture: see those dissuasives, Mat. v. 33, 34, &c.; Mat. xxiii. 16, 17. It was a sin very common amongst them, as among some nations to this day—as the Dutch, French, Scottish, though the English have too much written after their copy. The note is:—

Obs. 2. That common and known sins must be opposed with all earnestness. The apostle saith, `Above all things, swear not, such points are to be pressed above all other. Usually such truths as concern the present age are disliked, when we reflect upon the guilt of the times. Men would have us preach Christ, and the general doctrines of faith and ; which is nothing but a vain cavil, masked with the specious pretence of religion; for you shall see when the preaching of Christ was the main truth in controversy, and the apostles bended their strength that way, the Corinthians cried for wisdom, meaning doctrines of civil prudence, and the softer strains of morality; and that is the reason why Paul said, 1 Cor. ii. 3, I have determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, ναι καὶ τοῦτον ἐσταυρωμένον, yea, and him crucified;, which was the doctrine at which they were most scandalised, and therefore he resolved to take notice of no argument so much as that in his ministry. The work of the ministry is not to contend with ghosts and opinions antiquated, but the errors and sins of the present time. Look, as it is the duty of Christians to spend the heat of their indignation on the main sin with which they are surprised: Ps. xviii. 23, `I kept myself from mine ;, so must ministers chiefly bend their zeal and strength against the present guilt. Were we only to provide for ourselves, we might read to you fair lectures of contemplative divinity, and with words as soft as oil entice you into a fool's paradise, never searching your wounds and sores. But our commission is to `cry aloud, and spare not, &c., Isa. lviii. 1.

Obs. 3. It is a custom that can hardly be left or forsaken; therefore above all things take heed of swearing. Austin urgeth this argument, `Why doth the apostle say, Above all things? is it worse to swear than to steal? worse to swear than to commit adultery? worse to swear than to kill a man? no, but the apostle would fortify as much as he could against a pestilent custom, &c. Certainly, when we have once got it, it is hardly left; every corporal thing being often moved in one and the same manner, receiveth a greater easiness and aptitude to the same motions. So doth the tongue when it is used to the voicing of oaths. Custom hath so great a power upon us, that the word is uttered before the mind can check it. The executions of other sins are slower, as murder, lust, theft, because other members are not so ready as the tongue. A man may sooner command his hand than his tongue. Well, then, let those that, by company or education, have learned to swear, or to use vain, idle expressions, watch with the more care; a custom is soon got, either by our own use, or constant with them that use it. Good Joseph learned to swear in the house of Pharaoh. Watch diligently: thy custom will not excuse thee; if it be thy custom to sin, it is God's custom to destroy sinners.

Swear not, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath.—For the opening of this passage, it may be inquired:—

1. Whether all oaths be forbidden? Divers have been of this judgment. The Essenes thought all oaths as bad as perjury, as Josephus witnesseth, `De Bello Judaico, lib. ii. cap. 7. Jerome chargeth the with the same opinion; it hath been also objected against the Waldenses, how truly I know not. The Anabaptists have been uncertain in this point; sometimes they have professed against all oaths, at other times expressed themselves as denying only rash oaths, as in the conference at Franckendale; and those of that sect amongst us seem to have recanted the ancient rigour herein. Many modern writers of great note seem to incline to the absolute prohibition of oaths, as unbeseeming that faith and simplicity which should be among Christians. Certainly there hath been a great abuse of them in our civil courts, even to the disgrace of our holy profession, as being administered upon every trifling occasion, for a shilling matter, and in businesses of a low concernment. But, however, oaths in themselves are lawful, if taken `in truth, , and judgment, Jer. iv. 2—that is, without fraud, in a lawful matter, and upon a weighty occasion—the apostle saith, an oath is ἀντιλογίας, `an end of strife, Heb. vi. 17. In the Old Testament, in any doubtful case which could not be otherwise determined, they were `to accept the oath of the Lord, Exod. xxii. 11, 12. The commandment itself alloweth a liberty: `Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, which implieth a lawful use of God's name. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul in weighty matters often sweareth and calleth God to witness, see Rom. i. 9, and ix. 1; 2 Cor. i. 23; `God is my record, Phil. i. 8.

2. What oaths are condemned? Answer—Our Saviour and the apostle James do only meet with that wicked custom introduced by the , that a man might swear by the creatures, if there were no mention of the name of God, or things offered to God; as appeareth by considering Mat. v. and Mat. xxiii. The nation of the Jews were guilty of three things—(1.) Frequent swearing; (2.) Swearing by the creatures; (3.) Breaking these oaths as not binding and valid; and these sins being rife in the apostle's days, the prohibition of the text must be chiefly applied to them; so that `swear not, neither by heaven nor earth, must be meant of their usual and accustomed forms, which they had invented to evade the law; for the Jews, so they did omit the great oath of Chi Eloah, thought they were safe. So Philo saith, that it `was a sin and a , ἐπὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν ὁλῶν ἀνατρέχειν, presently to run to God, or the maker of all things, and to swear by him; but that it was lawful to swear by our parents, by heaven and the stars., So it is observed of some of the ancient Greeks, that they did not προπετῶς ὀμνύειν περὶ τῶν θεῶν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τῶν ἐπιτυγχανόντων, that they did not easily swear by the gods, but by the creatures and things before their eyes, and then that there was no harm, and no solemn obligation in these oaths; vain pretences, and excuses; for though the name of God was not interposed, yet it is implied, Mat. xxiii. 20-22; Mat. v. 34, 35, the creature being God's creature, and in an oath made by them implicitly called upon to be God's instrument of vengeance in case of perjury. That other clause, nor by any other oath, is meant of other oaths of that kind, so that the note out of the whole is:—

Obs. That swearing by the creatures is unlawful; swearing is an act of worship, and therefore it must be only done in weighty cases, by the name of God: Deut. vi. 13, `Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and swear by his name., So the prophet reproveth those that `swear by the sin of Samaria, meaning the idol, Amos viii. 14. In such oaths the creature is made use of instead of God, whether it be by way of assertion, as when we say, as sure as there is heaven, or there is light in heaven; or by way of execration, as let heaven blast me, earth swallow me, or devil take me, &c. In all these rude speeches there is a double evil—a rash oath, and an oath made by the creature instead of God; and yet what more common than such forms amongst us? I might instance in many: the Popish oath by the Virgin Mary, and our common word, Yes, marry; so also those sottish vulgar forms, by my head, by this light, by this candle, this bread, by my faith, &c.

Reader, thou art entreated to take notice, that the author being sensible that this book grew somewhat bulkish, purposely omitted those larger discourses which he conceived upon this verse concerning the lawfulness of oaths, the abuse of them in ordinary commerce and courts of civil judicature, as also the discussion of those questions whether the Old Testament did only forbid perjury, and the New added to the law the prohibition of rash and unnecessary oaths, as Papists, Socinians, and some of late think; as also whether it is in any case lawful to swear by the creatures, and whether oaths so made be valid and obligatory. All these inquiries he purposely omitted, and would rather appear in this curt and contracted form than be burden some; especially there being large discourses extant on all these matters. See the writers on the commandments, Grotius on Mat. v. 34, &c., and Mat. xxiii. 20-22; Perkins on Mat. v.; Hammond's Pract. Cat., and Spanheim Dub. Evang., part 3, Dub. 124, et sequentibus; Brochman, Hist. Theol. Act. de Lege Dei, cap. 8, quaest. 1-3: Jacobus ad Portum in Refut. Institut. Ostorodii, ad cap. 25, &c.

But let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay.—Some suppose that this is the same with what our Saviour speaketh, Mat. v. 37, which implieth that a Christian in his ordinary speech should content himself with simple affirmations or negations, that he may abstain from all appearance of an oath; but mark, our apostle doth not say, `Let your speech be yea, yea, nay, nay, but `Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay., Yea and nay were the usual forms and words used in stipulations. Now, saith the apostle, let your yea be always yea, and your nay always nay; that is, let your affirmations and negations be plain and sure-grounded on a mere truth; as Paul saith his preaching of the gospel was not yea and nay, but yea and yea, 2 Cor. i. 18; so here, let your yea be yea. The first yea referreth to the promise, the second to the performance; let there be yea in the promise, and yea in the performance; and herein the apostle seemeth to strike at the root, falsehood being the cause of oaths: and we may observe:—

Obs. That an excellent way to prevent swearing is to use a constant truth in our speeches, then we need not interpose an oath; the credit of our communication will be enough. Oaths give suspicion of men's falseness and lightness. If men were serious and sincere in their discourses, their word would be equivalent to an oath, and their very affirming would be swearing; whereas others in a doubtful case are hardly credited, though they swear never so deeply, because they swear so commonly; for having prostituted the highest and most solemn way of to every trifle, they have nothing left where with to establish a controverted truth.

Lest ye fall into condemnation.—Many read ἵνα μὴ εἰς ὑπόκρισιν πέσητε, least ye fall into hypocrisy, that is, be found liars; but it seemeth by most translations, the Syriac, the Arabic, the Latin, that the original was read as we read it, ὑπὸ κρίσιν πέσητε, fall into judgment. It is an allusion to that commination which in in the law that forbiddeth swearing: `The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain;, where not only perjury, but rash oaths are forbidden; for that word which we translate `in vain, is properly so rendered, according to the use of it in scripture, as the learned prove against the Socinians; so the Septuagint render it; and so Aquila. Note hence.

Obs. That rash and false swearing will bring a sure judgment; for oaths, persons and lands mourn, Hosea iv. If duty doth not move. methinks thou shouldst startle at the danger and punishment. If thou beest not afraid to sin, yet it is strange thou art not afraid to burn. All sins are threatened with death, but this more expressly. God hath engaged himself that he `will not hold him guiltless;, usually they are brought to a speedy trial: Mal. iii. 5, `I will be a swift witness, &c.; and judgment marcheth against them with a swift pace, `the flying roll, &c.; Zech. v. 4. Certainly there is no sin that doth more weary the patience of God, because there is no sin that doth more banish the fear of God out of our hearts.

Ver. 13. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

Here he diverteth to another matter, which is a direction how to behave ourselves either in an afflicted or in a prosperous condition, we being apt to fail or miscarry in both.

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.—Some Latin copies read the whole verse in one sentence, strangely perverting the sense thus: Is any sorry among you? let him pray and sing with an equal mind; but the Greek readeth as we do, `is any among you, &c. He meaneth you that are in the church, that are the flock of Christ. Christianity giveth us no lease of temporal happiness, no exemption from the cross, rather the contrary; `miserable, is one of the church's names: Isa. liv. 6, 10, `thou afflicted.,

Is any merry? εὐθυμεῖ τὶς; `is any of a good mind?,—The effect is put for the state, gladness for prosperity, which is wont to make the heart glad and merry; the word is translated `of good cheer, Acts xxvii. 22, `I exhort you to be of good cheer;, it is εὐθυμεῖν.

Let him sing psalms.—In the original there is but one word, ψαλλέτω, let him sing; but because the apostle is pressing them to religious use of every condition, and because this is the usual acception of the word ψαλλέτω in the church, it is well rendered `let him sing psalms., Certainly, when the apostle biddeth them sing, he doth not mean songs, but psalms; not songs to gratify the flesh, but psalms to refresh the spirit. Merry men are wont to `chant to the sound of the viol, Amos vi. Nature needeth not to be pressed to that; therefore questionless he is to be understood of the duty of singing.

There are many practical notes and inferences deducible from this verse.

Obs. 1. Our temporal condition is various and diverse; now afflicted, and then merry. It is the folly of our thoughts that we cannot be happy, but we think our nest is among the stars: `Man's best estate is altogether vanity, Ps. xxxix. 5. Our prosperity is like glass, brittle when shining. The complaint of the church may be the motto of all the children of God: Ps. cii. 10, `Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down., The church's name, as I said, is `afflicted and tossed with the tempest, Isa. liv. 11.

Obs. 2. This is the perfection of Christianity to carry an equal pious mind in unequal conditions. Paul had learned to walk up-hill and down-hill with the same spirit and pace: `I know both how to be abased, and how to abound, Phil. iv. 12. The prophet saith of Ephraim that he was `as a cake not turned, Hosea vii. 8, baked of one side, but dough of the other. Most men are fit but for one condition. Some cannot carry a full cup without spilling. Others can not bear a full load without breaking. Sudden alterations perplex both body and mind. It is the mighty power of to keep the soul in an equal temper.

Obs. 3. Several conditions require several duties. The Christian conversation is like a wheel, every spoke taketh its turn. God hath planted in a man affections for every condition, grace for every affection, and a duty for the exercise of every grace, and a season for every duty. The children of the Lord are `like trees planted by the rivers of water, that bring forth their fruit in due season, Ps. i. 3. There is no time wherein God doth not invite us to himself. It is wisdom to perform what is most seasonable. There is a time to encourage trust: Ps. lvi. 3, `At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee;, and there is a time to deject security. In misery the duty is prayer, in prosperity, giving of thanks. Sometimes, I confess, these duties may be inverted. We may bless God for giving as well as taking, and in prosperity there may be great need of prayer; but the apostle speaketh of what is ordinary; at least he would show us that there is no condition so good but there is need of duty; there is none so bad as to be past duty. In all estates we must be doing. No exempts you from duty, and cassates the bonds of obedience. It is our folly to betray our duties by our wishes. If it were thus and thus with us, we could serve God readily and cheerfully. Thou fool! there is no condition but grace can improve it to some religious use, for the advantage of some duty or other. It is thy laziness; and the blame of thine own neglects must not be charged upon providence.

Obs. 4. That it is of excellent advantage in religion to make use of the present affection; of sadness, to put us upon prayer; of mirth, to put us upon thanksgiving: Anima nunquam melius agit, quam ex impetu insignis alicujus affectus—the soul never worketh more sweetly than when it worketh in the force of some eminent affection. With what advantage may we strike when the iron is hot! When the affections are stirred up on a occasion, convert them to a religious use: Jer. xxii. 10, `Weep not for the dead, but weep for him that goeth away, &c.; that is, when sorrow is stirred up by your private loss, turn it out into a public channel. So Luke xxiii. 28. So Christ would have them to spiritualise their tears, `Weep not for me, O daughters of Jerusalem, but for yourselves and children., Christ would not have them to bewail his death in a carnal manner, but to bemoan their own sins and their approaching ruin. So for joy and mirth: Eph. v. 4, `Not jesting, but rather giving of thanks., Mentioning his sweet experiences should be a Christian's mirth and jesting. Oh! that we could learn this wisdom, to take the advantage of a carnal motion, not to fulfil it, but to employ it for the uses of the sanctuary. When the affections are once raised, give them a right object, otherwise they are apt to degenerate, and to offend in their measure, though their first occasion was lawful.

Obs. 5. Prayer is the best remedy for sorrows. Griefs are eased by groans and utterance. Such evaporation disburdeneth and cooleth the heart. It is some ease to pour out our complaints into a friend's bosom. Prayer is but the exercise of our graces, and graces exercised will yield comfort. We have great cause in afflictions to use the help of prayer. (1.) That we may ask patience. If God lay on a great burden, cry for a strong back. (2.) That we ask constancy, that you may not `put forth your hands to iniquity, Ps. cxxv. 3. (3.) That we may ask hope, and trust and wait upon God for his fatherly love and care. (4.) That we may ask a gracious improvement. The benefit of the rod is a fruit of the divine grace, as well as the benefit of the word. (5.) That we may ask deliverance, with a submission to God's will: Ps. xxxiv. 7, `I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears., So Ps. cvii., it is four times repeated, `Then they cried unto the Lord, and he saved them out of all their distresses, ver. 6, 13, 19, 28.

Obs. 6. Thanksgiving, or singing to God's praise, is the proper duty in the time of mercies or comforts. It is God's bargain and our promise, that if he would `deliver us, we would `glorify him, Ps. l. 15. The spouse's eyes are `dove's eyes, Cant. iv. Doves peck and look upward. For every grain of mercy there is some return of praise. Look to it then. Mercies work one way or another; they either be come the fuel of our lusts or our praises; either they make us thankful or wanton. Your condition is either a help or a hindrance in religion. Awaken yourselves to this service: every new mercy calleth for a new song. It is sad to hold a great farm by the divine bounty, and pay no rent. You should, as it is in the psalm for the , `show forth his loving-kindness every morning, and his faithfulness every night, Ps. xcii. 2. Our morning hopes are founded in God's mercy, and our evening returns of praise should take notice of his truth or faithfulness. We would have mercy in the morning, but usually we forget praise at night.

Obs. 7. That singing of psalms is a duty of the gospel. Having so fair a leave from the text, it will be good to vindicate this holy and institution. Most practise it out of custom, and in a formal, perfunctory manner, and therefore are apt to lay it aside now it is questioned. Usually the devil taketh that advantage to draw men of a probable faith to atheism; and when they do not know the reasons of a duty they are the sooner won to the neglect of it. This comfortable ordinance and spiritual recreation hath been several ways impugned.

First, Some question the whole duty, as if it were legal worship, because we have no formal and solemn institution of it in the New Testament; but vainly, and without reason. For, (1.) Moral duties, enjoined in the Old Testament, need no other institution in the New. That it is a part of moral worship is discernible by the light of nature; the heathens sang hymns to their gods. As also because in the Old Testament it is always sorted with other duties that are of a perpetual and immutable obligation; as Ps. xcv. 1, 2, &c., where there is a perfect enumeration of all parts of public worship, the word and prayer, &c., and singing is joined with them, as of equal necessity. Yea, it is notable that all those psalms which prophesy of the worship of the under the gospel do mention singing: see Ps. cviii. 2, and Ps. c. &c. (2.) We have the example of Christ and his apostles: `They sang a hymn, Mat. xxvi. 30. The same is recorded of Paul and Silas, Acts xvi. 25. (3.) We have exhortations in the New Testament, as Col. iii. 16, and Eph. v. 19, and the present scripture which we are now upon. (4.) The consent of the churches. Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, mentioneth the Christians, hymnos antelucanos, their morning songs to Christ and God, as a usual practice in their solemn worship. Justin Martyr saith, quaest. 117, ad Orthodoxos, Ὕμνους καὶ προσευχὰς τῷ Θεῷ ἀναπέμπομεν &c.—we send up prayers and psalms to God, c.

Secondly, Others question whether we may sing scripture psalms, the psalms of David, which to me seemeth to look like the cavil of a profane spirit. But to clear this also. I confess we do not forbid other songs; if grave and pious, after good advice they may be received into the Church. Tertullian, in his Apology, showeth that in the primitive times they used this liberty, either to sing scripture psalms or such as were of a private composure. But that which I am to prove, that scriptural psalms may be sung, and I shall, ἐκ περισσοῦ, with advantage over and above, prove that they are fittest to be sung.

1. That they may be sung may be proved by reason; the word limiteth not, and therefore we have no reason to make any restraint. They are part of the word of God, full of matter that tendeth to instruction, comfort, and the praise of God, which are the ends of singing; and therefore, unless we will bring a disparagement upon the scriptures, we cannot deny them a part in our spiritual mirth. Besides, thus it hath been practised by Christ himself, by the apostles, the servants of the Lord in all ages; and there is no reason why, in these dregs of time, we should obtrude novel restraints upon the people of God. That Christ himself sang scripture psalms may be probably collected out of Mat. xxvi. 30, Ὑμνήσαντες, `when they had sung a hymn, &c.; which hymn, that it was one or more of David's psalms, may be proved by these reasons to those that do not wrangle rather than scruple. (1.) By the custom of the Jews; they were wont to end the paschal supper with solemn psalms or hymns; they sang six psalms in the night of the passover, when the lamb was eaten; the psalms were cxiii. to cxix., which were called by the Jews the Great Hallelujah, as Lucas Brugensis, Scaliger, Buxtorf, and others skilled in their customs do inform us; and it is more than probable that Christ followed their custom herein, because in all other things he observed their usual passover rites. (2.) From the word itself, they sang a hymn. Now what shall we understand by this but such a hymn as was usual in that age? If any should report the manner of our assemblies, and should say after such exercises they sang a psalm, without any other description, what can rationally be understood but the psalms in use amongst us? Now the psalms or hymns then in use were the psalms of David. (3.) The evangelists specify no new hymn made for this purpose, who are wont to mention matters of far less moment and concernment. Grotius, indeed, is singular, and thinketh that the 17th of John was this hymn; but that is a solemn prayer, not in metre or measured words, hath not the style of other hymns and songs; and those words were spoken by Jesus alone, the disciples could not so properly join in them: `These words spake Jesus, and lift up his eyes, &c., John xvii. 1.