Thomas Manton · 7 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter I. · Part 4

Obs. 7. Asking yieldeth a remedy for the greatest wants. Men sit down groaning under their discouragements, because they do not look further than themselves. Oh! you do not know how you may speed in asking. God humbleth us with much weakness, that he may put us upon prayer. That is easy to the Spirit which is hard to nature. God requireth such obedience as is above the power of our natures, but not above the power of his own grace. It was a good saying that, Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis—Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. If God command anything above nature, it is to bring you upon your knees for grace. He loveth to command that you may be forced to ask; and, indeed, if God hath commanded, you may be bold to ask. There is a promise goeth hand-in-hand with every precept: `Let him ask.,

Obs. 8. That giveth. God's dispensations to the creatures are carried in the way of a gift. Who can make God his debtor, advantage his being, or perform an act that may be obliging and meritorious? Usually God bestoweth most upon those who, in the eye of the world, are of least desert, and least able to requite him. Doth not he invite the worst freely? Isa. lv. 1, `He that hath no money, come and buy, without money and without price., Nazianzen, I remember, notably improveth this place, ὤ τῆς εὐχολίας τοῦ συναλλάγματος—Oh, this easy way of contract! δίδωσιν ἥδιον ἢ λαμβάνουσιν ἕτεροι—he giveth more willingly than others sell; ὤνιον σοὶ τὸ θελῆσαι μόνον τὸ ἄγαθον—if thou wilt but accept, that is all the price; though you have no merits, nothing in yourselves to encourage you, yet will you accept? So in the Gospel, the blind and the lame were called to the wedding, Mat. xxii. Whatever is dispensed to such persons must needs be a gift. Well, then, silence all secret thoughts, as if God did see more in you than others, when he poureth out more of himself to you. Merit is so gross a conceit, that, in the light of the gospel, it dareth not appear in so many downright words; but there are implicit whisperings, some thoughts which are verba mentis, the words of the mind, whereby we think that there is some reason for God's choice; and therefore it is said, Deut. ix. 4, `Say not in thy heart, For my own righteousness:, as you dare not say it outwardly, so do not say it in your hearts. Be not conscious to the sacrilege of a privy silent thought that way.

Obs. 9. To all men. The proposals of God's grace are very general and universal. It is a great encouragement that in the offer none are excluded. Why should we, then, exclude ourselves? Matt. xi. 28, 4 Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden., Mark, poor soul, Jesus Christ maketh no exceptions. He did not except thee that hast an heavy load and burden of guilt upon thy back: `Come, all ye., So here; the lack is general, `If any;, and the supply is general, `He giveth to all men., God never told thee that this was never intended to thee, and that thy name was left out of the Lamb's book. And it is a base jealousy to mistrust God without a cause.

Obs. 10. From that liberally, God's gifts are free and liberal. Many times he giveth more than we ask, and our prayers come far short of what grace doth for us. There is an imperfect modesty in our thoughts and requests. We are not able to rise up to the just excess and infiniteness of the divine goodness. The apostle saith, God will `do above what we can ask or think, Eph. iii. 20. As it is good to observe how the answers of prayer have far exceeded the desires of the creature, which usually are vast and capacious, let me give you some instances. Solomon asked wisdom, and God gave liberally; he gave him wisdom, and riches, and honour in great abundance, 1 Kings iii. 13. Jacob asked but food and raiment for his journey, and God multiplieth him from his staff into two bands, Gen. xxviii. 20, with xxxii. 10. Abraham asked but one son, and God gave him issue as the stars in the heavens, and the sand on the sea-shore. Gen. xv. with xxii. Saul came to Samuel for the asses, and he heareth news of a kingdom. The prodigal thought it much to be received as an hired servant, and the father is devising all the honour and entertainment that possibly he can for him—the calf, the ring, the robe, &c., Luke xv. In Mat. xviii. 26, the debtor desired but forbearance for a little time: `Have a little patience, and I will pay thee all: `and in the next verse his master `forgave the debt., Certainly God's bounty is too large for our thoughts. The spouse would be drawn after Christ, but the King brought her into his chambers, Cant. i. 4. David desired to be delivered out of the present danger: Ps. xxxi. 4, `Pull me out of the net;, and God advanced him to honour and dignity: `Thou hast put my feet in a large room, ver. 8. Well, then: (1.) Do not straiten God in your thoughts: `Open your mouths, and I will fill them, Ps. lxxxi. 10. God's hand is open, but our hearts are not open. The divine grace, like the olive-trees in Zechariah, is always dropping; but we want a vessel. That expression of the virgin is notable: Luke i. 46, `My heart doth magnify the Lord, μεγαλύνει, that is, make more room for God in my thoughts. When God's bounty is not only ever-flowing, but overflowing, we should make our thoughts and hopes as large and comprehensive as possibly they can be. When the King of glory is drawing nigh, they are bidden to set open the doors, Ps. xxiv. 7. No thoughts of ours can search out God to perfection; that is, exhaust and draw out all the excellency and glory of the Godhead; but certainly we should rise and ascend more in our apprehensions. (2.) Let us imitate our heavenly Father, give liberally, ἁπλῶς—that is the word of the text—with a free and a native bounty: give simply, not with a double mind. Some men have a backward and a close heart, liberal only in promises. Consider, God doth not feed you with empty promises. Others eye self in all their kindness, make a market of their charity; this is not simply, and according to the divine pattern. Some men give grudgingly, with a divided mind, half inclining, half forbearing; this is not like God neither. Others give in guile, and to deceive men; it is kindness to their hurt, δῶρα ἄδωρα, giftless gifts;—their courtesy is most dangerous. Give like your heavenly Father, liberally, simply.

Obs. 11. From that and upbraideth not. Men are apt to do so, but God giveth in another manner. Observe from hence, First, in the general, that God giveth quite in another manner than man doth. It is our fault to measure infiniteness by our last, and to muse of God according as we use ourselves. The soul, in all her conclusions, is directed by principles and premises of sense and experience; and because we converse with limited natures and dispositions, therefore we do not form proper and worthy thoughts of God. It was the gross idolatry of the heathens to `turn the glory of the incorruptible God into the image of a man., Rom. i. 23; that is, to fancy God according to the shape and figure of our bodies. And so it is the spiritual idolatry of Christians to fancy God according to the model and size of their own minds and dispositions. I am persuaded there doth nothing disadvantage us so much in believing as this conceit that `God is altogether like ourselves, Ps. 1. 21. We, being of eager and revengeful spirits, cannot believe his patience and pardoning mercy; and that, I suppose, was the reason why the apostles (when Christ talked of forgiving our brother seven times in one day), cried out, Luke xvii. 5, `Lord, increase our faith, as not being able to believe so great a pardoning mercy either in themselves or God. And therefore, also, I suppose it is that God doth with such vehemency show everywhere that his heart hath other manner of dispositions than man's hath: Isa. lv. 8, 9, `My thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways; as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts: `I am not straitened in bowels, nor hardened, nor implacable, as men are; as there is a vast space and distance between the earth and the firmament, so between your drop and my ocean. So Hosea xi. 9, `I am God, and not man; and therefore Ephraim shall not be destroyed;, that is, I have not such a narrow heart, such wrathful implacable dispositions as men have. Well, then, consider^ when God giveth, he will give like himself. Do not measure him by the wretched straitness of your own hearts, and confine God within the circle of the creatures. It is said of Araunah that he gave as a king to David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 23. Whatever God doth, he will do as a God, above the rate and measure of the creatures, something befitting the infiniteness and eternity of his own essence.

Obs. 12. From the same clause, upbraideth not, you may more particularly observe, that God doth not reproach his people with the frequency of their addresses to him for mercy, and is never weary doing them good. It is man's use to excuse himself by what he hath done already. They will recount their former favours to deny the present requests. Men's stock is soon spent; they waste by giving, and therefore they soon grow weary. Yea, we are afraid to press a friend too much, lest, by frequent use, kindness be worn out. You know it is Solomon's advice, Prov. xxv, 17, `Let thy foot be seldom in thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee., Thus it is with men; either oat of penury or satiety, they are soon full of their friends. But oh! what a difference there is between our earthly and our heavenly friend. The oftener we come to God, the welcomer; and the more we `acquaint ourselves with him, the more `good cometh to us, Job xxii. 21. His gates are always open, and he is still ready to receive us. We need not be afraid to urge God to the next act of love and kindness: 2 Cor. i. 10, `Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us., One mercy is but a step to another, and if God hath, we may again trust that he will. With men, renewed addresses and often visitings are but impudence, but with God they are confidence. God is so far from upbraiding us with what he hath done already, that his people make it their usual argument, `He hath delivered me from the lion and the bear, therefore he shall from the uncircumcised Philistine, 1 Sam. xvii. 37. Well, then: (1.) Whenever you receive mercy upon mercy, give the Lord the praise of his unwearied love. When God promised to keep up honour upon honour, and privilege upon privilege on David and his line, David saith, 2 Sam. vii. 19, `And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?, Would man do thus? Is this according to his use and custom, to grant request after request, and to let his grace run in the same eternal tenor of love and sweetness? Should we .go to man as often as we go to God, we should soon have a repulse, but we cannot weary infiniteness. (2.) If God be not weary of blessing you, be not you weary of serving him. Duty is the proper correlate of mercy. God is not weary of blessing, so be not you `weary of well-doing, Gal. vi. 9. Let not your zeal and heat be spent, as his bounty is not.

Obs. 13. From that and it shall be given him. Due asking will prevail with God. God always satisfieth prayer, though he doth not always satisfy carnal desires: `Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you, Mat. vii. 7. If we do not receive at asking, let us go to seeking; if not at seeking, let us go on to knocking. It is good to continue fervency till we have an answer. But you will say, Are these promises true? The sons of Zebedee, they asked, and could not find, Mat. xx. 22. The foolish virgins, they knocked, and it was not opened to them, Mat. xxv. 8. So the church seeketh Christ: Cant iii. 1, `By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, and found him not., How, then, can these words of Christ be made good? I shall answer by stating the general case. Prayers rightly qualified want not success; that is, if they come from a holy heart, in a holy manner, to a holy purpose. I remember one prettily summeth up all the requisites of prayer thus, Si bonum petant boni, bene, ad bonum. These are the limitations: (1.) Concerning the person. God looketh after, not only the property of the prayer, but the propriety and interest of the person. Our apostle, chap. v. 16, `The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much., δέησις ἐνεργουμένη—a prayer driven with much force and vehemency; but it must be of a righteous person. The Jews propound it as a known rule, John ix. 31, `God heareth not sinners., It is so frequently inculcated in scripture, that they urge it as a proverb—An unclean person polluteth his own prayers. But of this hereafter. (2.) That which they ask must be good: 1 John v. 14, `Whatever we ask according to his will, he heareth us., It must be according to his revealed will, that is obedience; and with submission to his secret will, that is patience—neither according to our own lusts, nor our own fancies. To ask according to our lusts is an implicit blasphemy, like Balaam's sacrifices, performed out of a hope to draw heaven into the confederacy of his cursed designs. And to make our fancy the highest rule is a presumptuous folly. God knoweth what is best for us. Like children, we desire a knife; like a wise Father he giveth us bread. God always heareth his people when the request is good. But we must remember God must judge what is good, not we ourselves. There cannot be a greater judgment than always to have our own will granted. (3.) We must ask in a right manner, with faith, as in the next verse; with fervency, see chap. v. 16; with patience and constancy, waiting for God's time and leisure. God's discoveries of himself are not by-and-by to the creature. A sack stretched out containeth the more; and when the desires are extended and drawn out to God, the mercy is usually the greater: Ps. xl. 1, `I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry., God loveth to dispense mercies after our waiting. (4.) It must be ad bonum; you must pray to a good end, with an aim and reference to the Lord's glory. There is a difference between a carnal desire and a gracious supplication: James iv. 3, `You ask and have not, because you ask amiss, to spend it on your lusts., Never let your requests terminate in self. That was but a brutish request, Exod. xvii. 2, `Give us water that we may drink., A beast can aim at self-preservation. Prayer, as every act of the Christian life, must have an ordination to God. Well, then, pray thus, and you shall be sure to speed. Carnal requests are often disappointed, and therefore we suspect gracious prayers, and faith is much shaken by the disappointment of a rash confidence. Consider that, John xvi. 23, `Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he shall give it you., Mark, Christ speaketh universally, `whatsoever, to raise our hopes; earnestly, `verily, verily, to encourage our faith. We are apt to disbelieve such promises.

Obs. 14. Lastly, from that it shall be given. He bringeth an encouragement not only from the nature of God, but the promise of God. It is an encouragement in prayer, when we consider there is not only bounty in God, but bounty engaged by promise. What good will the general report do without a particular invitation? There is a rich King giveth freely; ay! but he giveth at pleasure; no, he hath promised to give to thee. The psalmist argueth from God's nature, `Thou art good, and dost good, Ps. cxix. 68. But from the promise we may reason thus, `Thou art good, and shalt do good., God at large, and discovered to you in loose attributes, doth not yield a sufficient foundation for trust; but God in covenant, God as ours. Well, then, let the world think what it will of prayer, it is not a fruitless labour: you have promises for prayer, and promises to prayer; and therefore when you pray for a blessing promised, God doth, as it were, come under another engagement: `Ask, and it shall be given.,

Ver. 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.

Here he proposeth a caution, to prevent mistakes about what he had delivered: every asking will not serve the turn; it must be an asking in faith.

But let him ask in faith.—Faith may be taken—(1.) For confidence in God, or an act of particular trust, as Eph. iii. 12: `We have boldness and access with confidence through the faith of him, (2.) It may import persuasion of the lawfulness of the things that we ask for; that is one acceptation of faith in scripture, Rom. xiv. 23: `Whatever is not of faith, is sin;, that is, if we practise it before we are persuaded of the lawfulness of it. Or, (3.) In faith, that is, in a state of believing; for God will hear none but his own, those that have interest in Jesus Christ, `in whom the promises are yea and amen, 2 Cor. i. 20. All these senses are considerable, but I think the first is most direct and formal; for faith is here opposed to doubting and wavering, and so noteth a particular act of trust.

Nothing wavering, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος.—What is this wavering? The word signifieth not disputing or traversing the matter as doubtful in the thoughts. The same phrase is used Acts x. 20, `Arise, go with them, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, nothing doubting;, that is, do not stand disputing in thy thoughts about thy calling and the good success of it. The word is often used in the matter of believing; as Rom. iv. 20, `He staggered not through unbelief; in the original οὐ διεκρίθη `He disputed not, did not debate the matter, but settled his heart upon God's power and promise: Mat. xxi. 21: `If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed into the depths of the sea, &c. If they could but remove the anxiousness and uncertainty of their thoughts, and settle their hearts upon the warrant, they should do miracles.

For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea, that is tossed to and fro.—An elegant similitude to set out their estate, used by common authors in the same matter, and by the prophet Isaiah, chap. lvii. 20. James saith here, the doubter, ἔοικεν κλύδωνι, is `like a wave of the sea;, and the prophet saith of all wicked men, κλυδωνισθήσονται (as the Septuagint render it), `These shall be like troubled waves, whose waters cannot rest.,

The notes are these:—

Obs. 1. That the trial of a true prayer is the faith of it. Cursory requests are made out of fashion, not in faith; men pray, but do not consider the bounty of him to whom they pray: prayer is a means, not a task; therefore, in prayer there should be distinct reflections upon the success of it. Well, then, look to your prayers; see you put them up with a particular hope and trust; all the success lieth on that: `O woman! great is thy faith; be it to thee as thou wilt, Mat. xv. 28: God can deny faith nothing; `Be it to you as you will., So Mark xi. 24, `Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them, and ye shall have them., Mark that, `Believe, and ye shall have., God's attributes, when they are glorified, they are exercised, and by our trust his truth and power is engaged. But you will say, How shall we do to pray in faith? I answer—There is something presupposed, and that is an interest in Christ. But that which is required in every prayer is:—

1. An actual reliance upon the grace and merits of Jesus Christ: Eph. ii. 18, `Through him we have access with confidence unto the Father., We cannot lift up a thought of hope and trust but by him. If you have not assurance, yet go out of yourselves, and look for your acceptance in his merits. Certainly this must be done; none can pray aright but believers. How can they comfortably be persuaded of a blessing, that have never a promise belonging to them? Therefore, at least you must honour Christ in the duty: you must see that such worthless creatures as you may be accepted in him: Heb. iv. 16, `Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find help in time of need., Through Christ we may come freely and boldly: I am a sinner, but Jesus Christ, my intercessor, is righteous. Men will say, they do not doubt of God, but of themselves: I am a wretched sinner, will the Lord hear me? I answer—This is but Satan's policy to make us say we doubt of ourselves^ not of God; for, in effect, it is a doubting of God; of his mercy, as if it were not free enough to pardon and save; of his power, as if it were not great enough to help. We must come humbly; we are sinners: but we must come in faith also; Christ is a Saviour: it is our folly, under colour of humbling ourselves, to have low thoughts of God. If we had skill, we should see that all graces, like the stones in the building, have a marvellous symmetry and compliance one with another; and we may come humbly, yet boldly in Christ.

2. We must put up no prayer but what we can put up in faith: prayer must be regulated by faith, and faith must not wander out of the limits of the word. If you have a promise, you may be confident that your requests will be heard, though in God's season: you cannot put up a carnal desire in faith. The apostle's words are notably pertinent to state this matter: 1 John v. 14, `This is the confidence that we have concerning him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us., All things are to be asked in faith; some things absolutely, as spiritual blessings,—I mean, as considered in their essence, not degree. Degrees are arbitrary. Other things condition ally, as outward blessings. Let the prayer be according to the word, and the success will be according to the prayer.

3. The soul must actually magnify God's attributes in every prayer, and distinctly urge them against the present doubt and fear. Usually we do not doubt for want of a clear promise, but out of low thoughts of God; we cannot carry his love, power, truth, above the present temptation, and believe that there is love enough to justify us from so many sins, power enough to deliver us from so great a death or danger, 2 Cor. i. 10; and bounty enough to bestow so great a mercy. This is to pray in faith, to form proper and right thoughts of God in prayer, when we see there is enough to answer the particular doubt and exigency: as Mat. viii. 28, 29, Jesus saith to the two blind men, `Believe ye that I am able to do this? and they said, Yea, Lord: then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you., Christ asked first whether they had a right estimation of his power, and then, in the next place, he calleth it faith, and gave them the blessing. Those that come to God had need conceive rightly of him; Christ requireth nothing more of the blind man but a sealing to the greatness of his power. `Believest thou that I am able?, `Yea, Lord;, and that was all. But you will say, Tell us more distinctly, what faith is required in every prayer? I answer—The question has been in a great part already answered.

But, for further satisfaction, take these rules:—[1.] That where we have a certain promise, we must no way doubt of his will; for the doubt must either proceed from a suspicion that this is not the word or will of God, and that is atheism; or from a jealousy that God will not. make good his word, and that is blasphemy; or a fear that he is not able to accomplish his will, and that is downright distrust and unbelief. Therefore, where we have a clear sight of his will in the promise, we may have a confidence towards him, 1 John v. 14.

[2.] Where we have no certain assurance of his will, the work of faith is to glorify and apply his power. Unbelief stumbleth most at that, rather at God's can than will; as appeareth partly by experience.—Fears come upon us only when means fail and the blessings expected are most unlikely; which argueth that it is not the uncertainty of God's will, but the misconceit of his power, that maketh u doubt. The present dangers and difficulties surprise us with such a terror that we cannot comfortably use the help of prayer out of a faith in God's power:—partly by the testimony of the scriptures. Search, and you shall find that God's power and all-sufficiency is the first ground and reason of faith. Abraham believed, because `God was able to perform., Rom. iv. 21. And that unbelief expresseth itself in such language as implieth a plain distrust of God's power; as Ps. lxxviii. 19, `Can the Lord prepare a table in the wilderness?, It is not will, but can: 2 Kings vii. 2, `If the Lord should open the windows of heaven, how can this be?, So the Virgin Mary: Luke i. 34, `How can these things be?, and so in many other instances. Men deceive themselves when they think they doubt because they know not the will of God: their main hesitancy is at his power. Look, as in the case of conversion, we pretend a cannot, when indeed we will not;so, oppositely, in the case of faith, we pretend we know not God's will, when we indeed doubt of his can. Therefore the main work of your faith is to give him the glory of his power, leaving his will to himself. Christ putteth you, as he did the blind men (Mat. ix. 28), to the question, `Am I able?, Your souls must answer, `Yea, Lord., And in prayer you must come as the leper: Mat. viii. 2, `Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean., Whether he grant you or not, believe; that is, say in your thoughts, Lord, thou canst.

[3.] In these cases, his power is not only to be glorified, but also his love. But you will say, in an uncertain case, How must we glorify his love? I answer—Two ways; faith hath a double work. (1.) To compose the soul to a submission to God's pleasure. He is so good, that you may refer yourself to his goodness. Whether he grant or not, he is a wise God and a loving father, and will do what is best; so that, you see, in no case we must dispute, but refer ourselves to God, as the leper was not troubled about God's will, but said, `Lord, thou canst., Cast yourselves upon his will, but conjure him by his power; this is the true and genuine working of faith. When you dare leave your case with God's love, `let him do what seemeth good in his eyes, good he will do; as in scripture the children of God in all temporal matters do resign themselves to his disposal, for they know his heart is full of love, and that is best which their heavenly Father thinketh best, and this taketh off the disquiet and perplexity of the spirit: Prov. xvi. 3, `Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established., They wait with serenity when they have committed their works to God's will with submission. (2.) To incline and raise the soul into some hope of the mercy prayed for. Hope is the fountain of endeavours, and we should neither pray nor wait upon God were it not that we may look up to him because there is hope, Lam. iii. 29. The hypocrite's prejudice was, `It is in vain to seek God, Job xxi. 15. There are some particular promises, you know, concerning preservation in times of pestilence, oppression, famine, &c. (Mal. iii. 14), which, though they are not always made good in the rigour of the letter, yet they are in a great measure fulfilled, and ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, for the most part take place. I say, though they are to be expounded with the exception and reservation of the cross (for God is no further obliged than he is obliged by the covenant of grace, and in the covenant of grace he hath still kept a liberty of `visiting their iniquity with rods, Ps. lxxxix. 33), yet because the children of God have many experiences of their accomplishment, they cannot choose but conceive some hope towards God, and incline rather to think that God will grant. The least that these promises do is to beget some loose hope, they being so express to our case, and being so often accomplished. Nay, how can we urge these in prayer to a good God, and not say, as David, `Remember thy word unto thy servant, wherein thou hast caused me to hope, Ps. cxix. 49? I do not say we should prescribe to God, and limit his will to our thoughts, but only conceive a hope with submission, because of the general reservation of the cross.