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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC59004.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J A M E S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. V.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter the apostle denounces the judgments of God upon those
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rich men who oppress the poor, showing them how great their sin and
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folly are in the sight of God, and how grievous the punishments would
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be which should fall upon themselves,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:1-6">ver. 1-6</A>.
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Hereupon, all the faithful are exhorted to patience under their trials
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and sufferings,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:7-11">ver. 7-11</A>.
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The sin of swearing is cautioned against,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:12">ver. 12</A>.
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We are directed how to act, both under affliction and in prosperity,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:13">ver. 13</A>.
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Prayer for the sick, and anointing with oil, are prescribed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:14,15">ver. 14, 15</A>.
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Christians are directed to acknowledge their faults one to another, and
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to pray one for another, and the efficacy of prayer is proved,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:16-18">ver. 16-18</A>.
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And, lastly, it is recommended to us to do what we can for bringing
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back those that stray from the ways of truth.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jas5_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jas5_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Warnings to the Rich; Motives to Patience under Affliction.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 61.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Go to now, <I>ye</I> rich men, weep and howl for your miseries
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that shall come upon <I>you.</I>
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2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
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3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall
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be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were
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fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
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4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your
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fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries
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of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord
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of sabaoth.
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5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye
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have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
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6 Ye have condemned <I>and</I> killed the just; <I>and</I> he doth not
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resist you.
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7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
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Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
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earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early
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and latter rain.
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8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of
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the Lord draweth nigh.
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9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be
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condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
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10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name
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of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of
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patience.
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11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
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the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the
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Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints.</P>
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<P>
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I. Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James
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seconding what his great Master had said: <I>Woe unto you that are
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rich; for you have received your consolation,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+6:24">Luke vi. 24</A>.
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The rich people to whom this word of warning was sent were not such as
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professed the Christian religion, but the worldly and unbelieving Jews,
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such as are here said <I>to condemn and kill the just,</I> which the
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Christians had no power to do; and though this epistle was written for
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the sake of the faithful, and was sent principally to them, yet, by an
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apostrophe, the infidel Jews may be well supposed here spoken to. They
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would not hear the word, and therefore it is <I>written,</I> that they
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might read it. It is observable, in the very first inscription of this
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epistle, that it is not directed, as Paul's epistles were, <I>to the
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brethren in Christ,</I> but, in general, <I>to the twelve tribes;</I>
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and the salutation is not, <I>grace and peace from Christ,</I> but, in
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general, <I>greeting,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:1"><I>ch.</I> i. 1</A>.
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The poor among the Jews received the gospel, and many of them believed;
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but the generality of the rich rejected Christianity, and were hardened
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in their unbelief, and hated and persecuted those who believed on
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Christ. To these oppressing, unbelieving, persecuting, rich people, the
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apostle addresses himself in the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:1-6">first six verses</A>.</P>
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<P>
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1. He foretels the judgments of God that should come upon them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:1-3"><I>v.</I> 1-3</A>.
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they should have miseries come upon them, and such dreadful miseries
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that the very apprehension of them was enough to make them weep and
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howl--misery that should arise from the very things in which they placed
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their happiness, and misery that should be completed by these things
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witnessing against them at the last, to their utter destruction; and
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they are now called to reason upon and thoroughly to weigh the matter,
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and to think how they will stand before God in judgment: <I>Go to now,
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you rich men.</I>
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(1.) "You may be assured of this that very dreadful calamities are
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coming upon you, calamities that shall carry nothing of support nor
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comfort in them, but all misery, misery in time, misery to eternity,
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misery in your outward afflictions, misery in your inward frame and
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temper of mind, misery in this world, misery in hell. You have not a
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single instance of misery only coming upon you, but miseries. The ruin
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of your church and nation is at hand; and there will come a day of
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wrath, when riches shall not profit men, but <I>all the wicked shall be
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destroyed.</I>"
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(2.) The very apprehension of such miseries as were coming upon them is
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enough to make them weep and howl. Rich men are apt to say to
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themselves (and others are ready to say to them), <I>Eat, drink, and be
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merry;</I> but God says, <I>Weep and howl.</I> It is not said, Weep and
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repent, for this the apostle does not expect from them (he speaks in a
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way of denouncing rather than admonishing); but, "<I>Weep and howl,</I>
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for when your doom comes there will be nothing but <I>weeping, and
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wailing, and gnashing of teeth.</I>" Those who live like beasts are
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called howl like such. Public calamities are most grievous to rich
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people, who live in pleasure, and are secure and sensual; and therefore
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they shall weep and howl more than other people for the miseries that
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shall come upon them.
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(3.) Their misery shall arise from the very things in which they placed
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their happiness. "Corruption, decay, rust, and ruin, will come upon
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all your goodly things: <I>Your riches are corrupted and your garments
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are moth-eaten,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Those things which you now inordinately affect will hereafter
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insupportably wound you: they will be of no worth, of no use to you,
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but, on the contrary, will <I>pierce you through with many sorrows;</I>
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for,"
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(4.) "<I>They will witness against you, and they will eat your flesh as
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it were fire,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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Things inanimate are frequently represented in scripture as witnessing
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against wicked men. Heaven, earth, the stones of the field, the
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production of the ground, and here the very rust and canker of
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ill-gotten and ill-kept treasures, are said to witness against impious
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rich men. They think to heap up treasure for their latter days, to live
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plentifully upon when they come to be old; but, alas! they are only
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heaping up treasures to become a prey to others (as the Jews had all
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taken from them by the Romans), and treasures that will prove at last
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to be only treasures of wrath, <I>in the day of the revelation of the
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righteous judgment of God.</I> Then shall their iniquities, in the
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punishment of them, <I>eat their flesh as it were</I> with <I>fire.</I>
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In the ruin of Jerusalem, many thousands perished by fire; in the last
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judgment the wicked shall be condemned to <I>everlasting burnings,
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prepared for the devil and his angels.</I> The Lord deliver us from the
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portion of wicked rich men! and, in order to this, let us take care
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that we do not fall into their sins, which we are next to consider.</P>
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<P>
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2. The apostle shows what those sins are which should bring such
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miseries. To be in so deplorable a condition must doubtless be owing to
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some very heinous crimes.
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(1.) Covetousness is laid to the charge of this people; they laid by
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their garments till they bred moths and were eaten; they hoarded up
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their gold and silver till they were rusty and cankered. It is a very
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great disgrace to these things that they carry in them the principles
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of their own corruption and consumption--the garment breeds the moth
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that frets it, the gold and silver breeds the canker that eats it; but
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the disgrace falls most heavily upon those who hoard and lay up these
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things till they come to be thus corrupted, and cankered, and eaten.
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God gives us our worldly possessions that we may honour him and do good
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with them; but if, instead of this, we sinfully hoard them up, thorough
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and undue affection towards them, or a distrust of the providence of
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God for the future, this is a very heinous crime, and will be witnessed
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against by the very rust and corruption of the treasure thus heaped
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together.
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(2.) Another sin charged upon those against whom James writes is
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oppression: <I>Behold, the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down
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your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth,</I> &c.,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Those who have wealth in their hands get power into their hands, and
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then they are tempted to abuse that power to oppress such as are under
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them. The rich we here find employing the poor in their labours, and
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the rich have as much need of the labours of the poor as the poor have
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of wages from the rich, and could as ill be without them; but yet, not
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considering this, they kept back the hire of the labourers; having
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power in their hands, it is probable that they made as hard bargains
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with the poor as they could, and even after that would not make good
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their bargains as they should have done. This is a crying sin, an
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iniquity that cries so as to reach the ears of God; and, in this case,
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God is to be considered as <I>the Lord of sabaoth,</I> or <I>the Lord
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of hosts,</I> <B><I>Kyriou sabaoth</I></B>, a phrase often used in the
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Old-Testament, when the people of God were defenseless and wanted
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protection, and when their enemies were numerous and powerful. The Lord
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of hosts, who has all ranks of beings and creatures at his disposal,
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and who sets all in their several places, hears the oppressed when they
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cry by reason of the cruelty or injustice of the oppressor, and he will
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give orders to some of those hosts that are under him (angels, devils,
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storms, distempers, or the like) to avenge the wrongs done to those who
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are dealt with unrighteously and unmercifully. Take heed of this sin of
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defrauding and oppressing, and avoid the very appearances of it.
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(3.) Another sin here mentioned is sensuality and voluptuousness.
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<I>You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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God does not forbid us to use pleasure; but to live in them as if we
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lived for nothing else is a very provoking sin; and to do this on the
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earth, where we are but strangers and pilgrims, where we are but to
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continue for a while, and where we ought to be preparing for
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eternity--this, this is a grievous aggravation of the sin of
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voluptuousness. Luxury makes people wanton, as in
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+13:6">Hos. xiii. 6</A>,
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<I>According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled,
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and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.</I>
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Wantonness and luxury are commonly the effects of great plenty and
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abundance; it is hard for people to have great plenty and abundance; it
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is hard for people to have great estates, and not too much indulge
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themselves in carnal, sensual pleasures: "<I>You have nourished your
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hearts as in a day of slaughter:</I> you live as if it were every day a
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day of sacrifices, a festival; and hereby your hearts are fattened and
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nourished to stupidity, dulness, pride, and an insensibility to the
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wants and afflictions of others." Some may say, "What harm is there in
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good cheer, provided people do not spend above what they have?" What!
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Is it no harm for people to make gods of their bellies, and to give all
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to these, instead of abounding in acts of charity and piety? Is it no
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harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their
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souls, by indulging the appetites of their bodies? Surely that which
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brought flames upon Sodom, and would bring these miseries for which
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rich men are here called to weep and howl, must be a heinous evil!
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Pride, and idleness, and fullness of bread, mean the same thing with
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living in pleasure, and being wanton, and nourishing the heart as in a
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day of slaughter.
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(4.) Another sin here charged on the rich is persecution: <I>You have
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condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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This fills up the measure of their iniquity. They oppressed and acted
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very unjustly, to get estates; when they had them, they gave way to
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luxury and sensuality, till they had lost all sense and feeling of the
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wants or afflictions of others; and then they persecute and kill
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without remorse. They pretend to act legally indeed, they condemn
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before they kill; but unjust prosecutions, whatever colour of law they
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may carry in them, will come into the reckoning when God shall make
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inquisition for blood, as well as massacres and downright murders.
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Observe here, The just may be condemned and killed: but then again
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observe, When such do suffer, and yield without resistance to the
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unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God, to the honour of
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the sufferers and the infamy of their persecutors; this commonly shows
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that judgments are at the door, and we may certainly conclude that a
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reckoning-day will come, to reward the patience of the oppressed and to
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break to pieces the oppressor. Thus far the address to sinners
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goes.</P>
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<P>
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II. We have next subjoined an address to saints. Some have been ready
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to despise or to condemn this way of preaching, when ministers, in
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their application, have brought a word to sinners, and a word to
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saints; but, from the apostle's here taking this method, we may
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conclude that this is the best way rightly to divide the word of truth.
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From what has been said concerning wicked and oppressing rich men,
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occasion is given to administer comfort to God's afflicted people: "Be
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patient therefore; since God will send such miseries on the wicked, you
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may see what is your duty, and where your greatest encouragement
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lies."</P>
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<P>
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1. Attend to your duty: <I>Be patient
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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establish your hearts
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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grudge not one against another, brethren,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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Consider well the meaning of these three expressions:--
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(1.) "<I>Be patient</I>--bear your afflictions without murmuring, your
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injuries without revenge; and, though God should not in any signal
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manner appear for you immediately, wait for him. <I>The vision is for
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an appointed time; at the end it will speak, and will not lie;
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therefore wait for it. It is but a little while, and he that shall come
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will come, and will not tarry.</I> Let your patience be lengthened out
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to long suffering;" so the word here used,
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<B><I>makrothymesate,</I></B> signifies. When we have done our work, we
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have need of patience to stay for our reward. This Christian patience
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|
is not a mere yielding to necessity, as the moral patience taught by
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some philosophers was, but it is a humble acquiescence in the wisdom
|
|
and will of God, with an eye to a future glorious recompense: <I>Be
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patient to the coming of the Lord.</I> And because this is a lesson
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Christians must learn, though ever so hard or difficult to the, it is
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repeated in
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>,
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<I>Be you also patient.</I>
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(2.) "<I>Establish your hearts</I>--let your faith be firm, without
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wavering, your practice of what is good constant and continued, without
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tiring, and your resolutions for God and heaven fixed, in spite of all
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sufferings or temptations." The prosperity of the wicked and the
|
|
affliction of the righteous have in all ages been a very great trial to
|
|
the faith of the people of God. David tells us <I>that his feet were
|
|
almost gone, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:2,3">Ps. lxxiii. 2, 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some of those Christians to whom St. James wrote might probably be in
|
|
the same tottering condition; and therefore they are called upon to
|
|
establish their hearts; faith and patience will establish the heart.
|
|
|
|
(3.) <I>Grudge not one against another;</I> the words <B><I>me
|
|
stenazete</I></B> signify, <I>Groan</I> not one against another, that
|
|
is, "Do not make one another uneasy by your murmuring groans at what
|
|
befalls you, nor by your distrustful groans as to what may further come
|
|
upon you, nor by your revengeful groans against the instruments of your
|
|
sufferings, nor by your envious groans at those who may be free from
|
|
your calamities: do not make yourselves uneasy and make one another
|
|
uneasy by thus groaning to and grieving one another." "The apostle
|
|
seemeth to me" (says Dr. Manton) "to be here taxing those mutual
|
|
injuries and animosities wherewith the Christians of those times,
|
|
having banded under the names of <I>circumcision</I> and
|
|
<I>uncircumcision,</I> did grieve one another, and give each other
|
|
cause to groan; so that they did not only sigh under the oppressions of
|
|
the rich persecutors, but under the injuries which they sustained from
|
|
many of the brethren who, together with them, did profess the holy
|
|
faith." Those who are in the midst of common enemies, and in any
|
|
suffering circumstances, should be more especially careful not to
|
|
grieve nor to groan against one another, otherwise judgments will come
|
|
upon them as well as others; and the more such grudgings prevail the
|
|
nearer do they show judgment to be.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Consider what encouragement here is for Christians to be patient, to
|
|
establish their hearts, and not to grudge one against another. And,
|
|
|
|
(1.) "Look to the example of the husbandman: <I>He waits for the
|
|
precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he
|
|
receive the early and latter rain.</I> When you sow your corn in the
|
|
ground, you wait many months for the former and latter rain, and are
|
|
willing to stay till harvest for the fruit of your labour; and shall
|
|
not this teach you to bear a few storms, and to be patient for a
|
|
season, when you are looking for a kingdom and everlasting felicity?
|
|
Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a
|
|
crown of glory? If you should be called to wait a little longer than
|
|
the husbandman does, is it not something proportionably greater and
|
|
infinitely more worth your waiting for? But,"
|
|
|
|
(2.) "Think how short your waiting time may possibly be: <I>The coming
|
|
of the Lord draweth nigh,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>;
|
|
|
|
behold, the Judge standeth before the door,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Do not be impatient, do not quarrel with one another; the great Judge,
|
|
who will set all to rights, who will punish the wicked and reward the
|
|
good, is at hand: he should be conceived by you to stand as near as one
|
|
who is just knocking at the door." <I>The coming of the Lord</I> to
|
|
punish the wicked Jews was then very nigh, when James wrote this
|
|
epistle; and, whenever the patience and other graces of his people are
|
|
tried in an extraordinary manner, the certainty of Christ's coming as
|
|
Judge, and the nearness of it, should establish their hearts. The Judge
|
|
is now a great deal nearer, in his coming to judge the world, than when
|
|
this epistle was written, nearer by above seventeen hundred years; and
|
|
therefore this should have the greater effect upon us.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The danger of our being condemned when the Judge appears should
|
|
excite us to mind our duty as before laid down: <I>Grudge not, lest you
|
|
be condemned.</I> Fretfulness and discontent expose us to the just
|
|
judgment of God, and we bring more calamities upon ourselves by our
|
|
murmuring, distrustful, envious groans and grudgings against one
|
|
another, than we are aware of. If we avoid these evils, and be patient
|
|
under our trials, God will not condemn us. Let us encourage ourselves
|
|
with this.
|
|
|
|
(4.) We are encouraged to be patient by the example of the prophets
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an
|
|
example of suffering affliction, and of patience.</I> Observe here, The
|
|
prophets, on whom God put the greatest honour, and for whom he had the
|
|
greatest favour, were most afflicted: and, when we think that the best
|
|
men have had the hardest usage in this world, we should hereby be
|
|
reconciled to affliction. Observe further, Those who were the greatest
|
|
examples of suffering affliction were also the best and greatest
|
|
examples of patience: <I>tribulation worketh patience.</I> Hereupon
|
|
James gives it to us as the common sense of the faithful
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>We count those happy who endure:</I> we look upon righteous and
|
|
patient sufferers as the happiest people. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:2-12"><I>ch.</I> i. 2-12</A>.
|
|
|
|
(5.) Job also is proposed as an example for the encouragement of the
|
|
afflicted. <I>You have hard of the patience of Job, and have seen the
|
|
end of the Lord,</I> &c.,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
In the case of Job you have an instance of a variety of miseries, and
|
|
of such as were very grievous, but under all he could bless God, and,
|
|
as to the general bent of his spirit, he was patient and humble: and
|
|
what came to him in the end? Why, truly, God accomplished and brought
|
|
about those things for him which plainly prove that <I>the Lord is very
|
|
pitiful, and of tender mercy.</I> The best way to bear afflictions is
|
|
to look to the end of them; and the pity of God is such that he will
|
|
not delay the bringing of them to an end when his purposes are once
|
|
answered; and the tender mercy of God is such that he will make his
|
|
people an abundant amends for all their sufferings and afflictions. His
|
|
bowels are moved for them while suffering, his bounty is manifested
|
|
afterwards. Let us serve our God, and endure our trials, as those who
|
|
believe the end will crown all.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jas5_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Caution against Swearing; Profaneness Condemned; Confession and Prayer; Efficacy of Prayer.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 61.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by
|
|
heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let
|
|
your yea be yea; and <I>your</I> nay, nay; lest ye fall into
|
|
condemnation.
|
|
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let
|
|
him sing psalms.
|
|
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the
|
|
church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
|
|
name of the Lord:
|
|
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
|
|
shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be
|
|
forgiven him.
|
|
16 Confess <I>your</I> faults one to another, and pray one for
|
|
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
|
|
righteous man availeth much.
|
|
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he
|
|
prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the
|
|
earth by the space of three years and six months.
|
|
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
|
|
brought forth her fruit.
|
|
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one
|
|
convert him;
|
|
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the
|
|
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a
|
|
multitude of sins.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This epistle now drawing to a close, the penman goes off very quickly
|
|
from one thing to another: hence it is that matters so very different
|
|
are insisted on in these few verses.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The sin of swearing is cautioned against: <I>But above all things,
|
|
my brethren, swear not,</I> &c.,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some understand this too restrictedly, as if the meaning were, "Swear
|
|
not at your persecutors, at <I>those that reproach you and say all
|
|
manner of evil of you;</I> be not put into a passion by the injuries
|
|
they do you, so as in your passion to be provoked to swear." This
|
|
swearing is no doubt forbidden here: and it will not excuse those that
|
|
are guilty of this sin to say they sear only when they are provoked to
|
|
it, and before they are aware. But the apostle's warning extends to
|
|
other occasions of swearing as well as this. Some have translated the
|
|
words, <B><I>pro panton</I></B>--<I>before all things;</I> and so have
|
|
made sense of this place to be that they should not, in common
|
|
conversation, <I>before every thing they say,</I> put an oath. All
|
|
customary needless swearing is undoubtedly forbidden, and all along in
|
|
scripture condemned, as a very grievous sin. Profane swearing was very
|
|
customary among the Jews, and, since this epistle is directed in
|
|
general <I>to the twelve tribes scattered abroad</I> (as before has
|
|
been observed), we may conceive this exhortation sent to those who
|
|
believed not. It is hard to suppose that swearing should be one of the
|
|
spots of God's children, since Peter, when he was charged with being a
|
|
disciple of Christ and would disprove the charge, cursed and swore,
|
|
thereby thinking most effectually to convince them that he was no
|
|
disciple of Jesus, it being well known of such that they durst not
|
|
allow themselves in swearing; but possibly some of the looser sort of
|
|
those who were called Christians might, among other sins here charged
|
|
upon them, be guilty also of this. It is a sin that in later years has
|
|
most scandalously prevailed, even among those who would be thought
|
|
above all others entitled to the Christian name and privileges. It is
|
|
very rare indeed to hear of a dissenter from the church of England who
|
|
is guilty of swearing, but among those who glory in their being of the
|
|
established church nothing is more common; and indeed the most
|
|
execrable oaths and curses now daily wound the ears and hearts of all
|
|
serious Christians. James here says,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. <I>Above all things, swear not;</I> but how many are there who mind
|
|
this the least of all things, and who make light of nothing so much as
|
|
common profane swearing! But why <I>above all things</I> is swearing
|
|
here forbidden?
|
|
|
|
(1.) Because it strikes most directly at the honour of God and most
|
|
expressly throws contempt upon his name and authority.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Because this sin has, of all sins, the least temptation to it: it
|
|
is not gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, that can move men to it, but
|
|
a wantonness in sinning, and a needless showing an enmity to God.
|
|
<I>Thy enemies take thy name in vain,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:20">Ps. cxxxix. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is a proof of men's being enemies to God, however they may pretend
|
|
to call themselves by his name, or sometimes to compliment him in acts
|
|
of worship.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Because it is with most difficulty left off when once men are
|
|
accustomed to it, therefore it should above all things be watched
|
|
against. And,
|
|
|
|
(4.) "<I>Above all things swear not,</I> for how can you expect the
|
|
name of God should be a strong tower to you in your distress if you
|
|
profane it and play with it at other times?" But (as Mr. Baxter
|
|
observes) "all this is so far from forbidding necessary oaths that it
|
|
is but to confirm them, by preserving the due reverence of them." And
|
|
then he further notes that "The true nature of an oath is, by our
|
|
speech, <I>to pawn the reputation of some certain or great thing,</I>
|
|
for the <I>averring of a doubted less thing;</I> and not (as is
|
|
commonly held) an appeal to God or other judge." Hence it was that
|
|
swearing by the heavens, and by the earth, and by the other oaths the
|
|
apostle refers to, came to be in use. The Jews thought if they did but
|
|
omit the great oath of <I>Chi-Eloah,</I> they were safe. But they grew
|
|
so profane as to swear by the creature, as if it were God; and so
|
|
advanced it into the place of God; while, on the other hand, those who
|
|
swear commonly and profanely by the name of God do hereby put him upon
|
|
the level with every common thing.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. <I>But let your yea be yea, and your nay nay; lest you fall into
|
|
condemnation;</I> that is, "let it suffice you to affirm or deny a
|
|
thing as there is occasion, and be sure to stand to your word, an be
|
|
true to it, so as to give no occasion for your being suspected of
|
|
falsehood; and then you will be kept from the condemnation of backing
|
|
what you say or promise by rash oaths, and from profaning the name of
|
|
God to justify yourselves. It is being suspected of falsehood that
|
|
leads men to swearing. Let it be known that your keep to truth, and are
|
|
firm to your word, and by this means you will find there is no need to
|
|
swear to what you say. Thus shall you escape the condemnation which is
|
|
expressly annexed to the third commandment: <I>The Lord will not hold
|
|
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. As Christians we are taught to suit ourselves to the dispensations
|
|
of Providence
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing
|
|
psalms.</I> Our condition in this world is various; and our wisdom is
|
|
to submit to its being so, and to behave as becomes us both in
|
|
prosperity and under affliction. Sometimes we are in sadness, sometimes
|
|
in mirth; God has set these one over against the other that we may the
|
|
better observe the several duties he enjoins, and that the impressions
|
|
made on our passions and affections may be rendered serviceable to our
|
|
devotions. Afflictions should put us upon prayer, and prosperity should
|
|
make us abound in praise. Not that prayer is to be confined to a time
|
|
of trouble, nor singing to a time of mirth; but these several duties
|
|
may be performed with special advantage, and to the happiest purposes,
|
|
at such seasons.
|
|
|
|
1. In a day of affliction nothing is more seasonable than prayer. The
|
|
person afflicted must pray himself, as well as engage the prayers of
|
|
others for him. Times of affliction should be praying times. To this
|
|
end God sends afflictions, that we may be engaged to seek him early;
|
|
and that those who at other times have neglected him may be brought to
|
|
enquire after him. The spirit is then most humble, the heart is broken
|
|
and tender; and prayer is most acceptable to God when it comes from a
|
|
contrite humble spirit. Afflictions naturally draw out complaints; and
|
|
to whom should we complain but to God in prayer? It is necessary to
|
|
exercise faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the appointed
|
|
means both for obtaining and increasing these graces in us. <I>Is any
|
|
afflicted? Let him pray.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. In a day of mirth and prosperity singing psalms is very proper and
|
|
seasonable. In the original it is only said <I>sing,</I>
|
|
<B><I>psalleto</I></B>, without the addition of psalms or any other
|
|
word: and we learn from the writings of several in the first ages of
|
|
Christianity (particularly from a letter of Pliny's, and from some
|
|
passages in Justin Martyr and Tertullian) that the Christians were
|
|
accustomed to sing hymns, either taken out of scripture, or of more
|
|
private composure, in their worship of God. Though some have thought
|
|
that Paul's advising both the Colossians and Ephesians to <I>speak to
|
|
one another</I> <B><I>psalmois kai hymnois kai odais
|
|
pneumatikais</I></B>--<I>in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,</I>
|
|
refers only to the compositions of scripture, the psalms of David being
|
|
distinguished in Hebrew by <I>Shurim, Tehillim,</I> and
|
|
<I>Mizmorim,</I> words that exactly answer these of the apostle. Let
|
|
that be as it will, this however we are sure of, that the singing of
|
|
psalms is a gospel ordinance, and that our joy should be holy joy,
|
|
consecrated to God. Singing is so directed to here as to show that, if
|
|
any be in circumstances of mirth and prosperity, he should turn his
|
|
mirth, though alone, and by himself, in this channel. Holy mirth
|
|
becomes families and retirements, as well as public assemblies. Let
|
|
our singing be such as to make <I>melody with our hearts unto the
|
|
Lord,</I> and God will assuredly be well pleased with this kind of
|
|
devotion.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. We have particular directions given as to sick persons, and
|
|
<I>healing pardoning mercy promised</I> upon the observance of those
|
|
directions. <I>If any be sick,</I> they are required,
|
|
|
|
1. To <I>send for the elders,</I> <B> <I>presbyterous tes
|
|
ekklesias</I></B>--<I>the presbyters,</I> pastors or ministers <I>of
|
|
the church,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
It lies upon sick people as a duty to send for ministers, and to desire
|
|
their assistance and their prayers.
|
|
|
|
2. It is the duty of ministers to pray over the sick, when thus desired
|
|
and called for. <I>Let them pray over him;</I> let their prayers be
|
|
suited to his case, and their intercessions be as becomes those who are
|
|
affected wit his calamities.
|
|
|
|
3. In the times of miraculous healing, the <I>sick were to be anointed
|
|
with oil in the name of the Lord.</I> Expositors generally confine this
|
|
anointing with oil to such as had the power of working miracles; and,
|
|
when miracles ceased, this institution ceased also. In Mark's gospel we
|
|
read of the apostle's anointing with oil many that were sick, and
|
|
healing them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+6:13">Mark vi. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
And we have accounts of this being practiced in the church two hundred
|
|
years after Christ; but then the gift of healing also accompanied it,
|
|
and, when the miraculous gift ceased, this rite was laid aside. The
|
|
papists indeed have made a sacrament of this, which they call <I>the
|
|
extreme unction.</I> They use it, not to heal the sick, as it was used
|
|
by the apostles; but as they generally run counter to scripture, in the
|
|
appointments of their church, so here they ordain that this should be
|
|
administered only to such as are at the very point of death. The
|
|
apostle's anointing was in order to heal the disease; the popish
|
|
anointing is for the expulsion of the relics of sin, and to enable the
|
|
soul (as they pretend) the better to combat with the powers of the air.
|
|
When they cannot prove, by any visible effects, that Christ owns them
|
|
in the continuance of this rite, they would however have people to
|
|
believe that the invisible effects are very wonderful. But it is surely
|
|
much better to omit this anointing with oil than to turn it quite
|
|
contrary to the purposes spoken of in scripture. Some protestants have
|
|
thought that this anointing was only permitted or approved by Christ,
|
|
not instituted. But it should seem, by the words of James here, that it
|
|
was a thing enjoined in cases where there was faith for healing. And
|
|
some protestants have argued for it with this view. It was not to be
|
|
commonly used, not even in the apostolical age; and some have thought
|
|
that it should not be wholly laid aside in any age, but that where
|
|
there are extraordinary measures of faith in the person anointing, and
|
|
in those who are anointed, an extraordinary blessing may attend the
|
|
observance of this direction for the sick. However that be, there is
|
|
one thing carefully to be observed here, that the saving of the sick is
|
|
not ascribed to the <I>anointing with oil,</I> but to prayer: <I>The
|
|
prayer of faith shall save the sick,</I> &c.,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
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So that,
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4. Prayer over the sick must proceed from, and be accompanied with, a
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lively faith. There must be faith both in the person praying and in the
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person prayed for. In a time of sickness, it is not the cold and formal
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prayer that is effectual, but the prayer of faith.
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5. We should observe the success of prayer. The Lord shall raise up;
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that is, if he be a person capable and fit for deliverance, and if God
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have any thing further for such a person to do in the world. <I>And, if
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he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him;</I> that is, where
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sickness is sent as a punishment for some particular sin, that sin
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shall be pardoned, and in token thereof the sickness shall be removed.
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As when Christ said to the impotent man, <I>Go and sin no more, lest a
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worse thing come unto thee,</I> it is intimated that some particular
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sin was the cause of his sickness. The great thing therefore we should
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beg of God for ourselves and others in the time of sickness is the
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pardon of sin. Sin is both the root of sickness and the sting of it. If
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sin be pardoned, either affliction shall be removed in mercy or we
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|
shall see there is mercy in the continuance of it. When healing is
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founded upon pardon, we may say as Hezekiah did: Thou hast, in love to
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my soul, <I>delivered it from the pit of corruption,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:17">Isa. xxxviii. 17</A>.
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When you are sick and in pain, it is most common to pray and cry, <I>O
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give me ease! O restore me to health!</I> But your prayer should rather
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and chiefly be, <I>O that God would pardon my sins!</I></P>
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<P>
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IV. Christians are directed to <I>confess their faults one to another,
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and so to join in their prayers with an for one another,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
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Some expositors connect this with
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
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|
As if when sick people send for ministers to pray over them they should
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|
then confess their faults to them. Indeed, where any are conscious that
|
|
their sickness is a vindictive punishment of some particular sin, and
|
|
they cannot look for the removal of their sickness without particular
|
|
applications to God for the pardon of such a sin, there it may be
|
|
proper to acknowledge and tell his case, that those who pray over him
|
|
may know how to plead rightly for him. But the confession here required
|
|
is that of Christians to one another, and not, as the papists would
|
|
have it, to a priest. Where persons have injured one another, acts of
|
|
injustice must be confessed to those against whom they have been
|
|
committed. Where persons have tempted one another to sin or have
|
|
consented in the same evil actions, there they ought mutually to blame
|
|
themselves and excite each other to repentance. Where crimes are of a
|
|
public nature, and have done any public mischief, there they ought to
|
|
be more publicly confessed, so as may best reach to all who are
|
|
concerned. And sometimes it may be well to confess our faults to some
|
|
prudent minister or praying friend, that he may help us to plead with
|
|
God for mercy and pardon. But then we are not to think that James puts
|
|
us upon telling every thing that we are conscious is amiss in ourselves
|
|
or in one another; but so far as confession is necessary to our
|
|
reconciliation with such as are at variance with us, or for gaining
|
|
information in any point of conscience and making our own spirits quiet
|
|
and easy, so far we should be ready to confess our faults. And
|
|
sometimes also it may be of good use to Christians to disclose their
|
|
peculiar weaknesses and infirmities to one another, where there are
|
|
great intimacies and friendships, and where they may help each other by
|
|
their prayers to obtain pardon of their sins and power against them.
|
|
Those who make confession of their faults one to another should
|
|
thereupon pray with and for one another. The
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:13">13th verse</A>
|
|
|
|
directs persons to pray for themselves: <I>Is any afflicted let him
|
|
pray;</I> the
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:14">14th</A>
|
|
|
|
directs to seek for the prayers of ministers; and the
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:16">16th</A>
|
|
|
|
directs private Christians to pray one for another; so
|
|
that here we have all sorts of prayer (ministerial, social, and secret)
|
|
recommended.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. The great advantage and efficacy of prayer are declared and proved:
|
|
<I>The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,</I>
|
|
whether he pray for himself or for others: witness the example of
|
|
Elias,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:17,18">
|
|
<I>v.</I> 17, 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
He who prays must be a righteous man; not righteous in an absolute
|
|
sense (for this Elias was not, who is here made a pattern to us), but
|
|
righteous in a gospel sense; not loving nor approving of any iniquity.
|
|
<I>If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my
|
|
prayer,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+66:18">Ps. lxvi. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Further, the prayer itself must be a fervent, in-wrought, well-wrought
|
|
prayer. It must be a pouring out of the heart to God; and it must
|
|
proceed from a faith unfeigned. Such prayer avails much. It is of great
|
|
advantage to ourselves, it may be very beneficial to our friends, and
|
|
we are assured of its being acceptable to God. It is good having those
|
|
for friends whose prayers are available in the sight of God. The power
|
|
of prayer is here proved from the success of Elijah. This may be
|
|
encouraging to us even in common cases, if we consider that Elijah was
|
|
<I>a man of like passions with us.</I> He was a zealous good man and a
|
|
very great man, but he had his infirmities, and was subject to disorder
|
|
in his passions as well as others. In prayer we must not look to the
|
|
merit of man, but to the grace of God. Only in this we should copy
|
|
after Elijah, that he prayed earnestly, or, as it is in the original,
|
|
<I>in prayer he prayed.</I> It is not enough to say a prayer, but we
|
|
must pray in prayer. Our thoughts must be fixed, our desires firm and
|
|
ardent, and our graces in exercise; and, when we thus pray in prayer,
|
|
we shall speed in prayer. Elijah <I>prayed that it might not rain;</I>
|
|
and God heard him in his pleading against an idolatrous persecuting
|
|
country, so that it <I>rained not on the earth for the space of three
|
|
years and six months. Again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain,</I>
|
|
&c. Thus you see prayer is the key which opens and shuts heaven. To
|
|
this there is an allusion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+11:6">Rev. xi. 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
where the two witnesses are said to have power <I>to shut heaven, that
|
|
it rain not.</I> This instance of the extraordinary efficacy of prayer
|
|
is recorded for encouragement even to ordinary Christians to be instant
|
|
and earnest in prayer. God never says to any of the seed of Jacob,
|
|
<I>Seek my face in vain.</I> If Elijah by prayer could do such great
|
|
and wonderful things, surely the prayers of no righteous man shall
|
|
return void. Where there may not be so much of a miracle in God's
|
|
answering our prayers, yet there may be as much of grace.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. This epistle concludes with an exhortation to do all we can in our
|
|
places to promote the conversion and salvation of others,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:19,20">
|
|
<I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some interpret these verses as an apology which the apostle is making
|
|
for himself that he should so plainly and sharply reprove the Jewish
|
|
Christians for their many faults and errors. And certainly James gives
|
|
a very good reason why he was so much concerned to reclaim them from
|
|
their errors, because in thus doing he should save souls, and hide a
|
|
multitude of sins. But we are not to restrain this place to the
|
|
apostle's converting such as erred from the truth; no, nor to other
|
|
ministerial endeavours of the like nature, since it is said, "If any
|
|
err, and one convert him, let him be who he will that does so good an
|
|
office for another, he is therein an instrument of saving a soul from
|
|
death." Those whom the apostle here calls brethren, he yet supposes
|
|
liable to err. It is no mark of a wise or a holy man to boast of his
|
|
being free from error, or to refuse to acknowledge when he is in an
|
|
error. But if any do err, be they ever so great, you must not be afraid
|
|
to show them their error; and, be they ever so weak and little, you
|
|
must not disdain to make them wiser and better. If they err from the
|
|
truth, that is, from the gospel (the great rule and standard of truth),
|
|
whether it be in opinion or practice, you must endeavour to bring them
|
|
again to the rule. Errors in judgment and in life generally go
|
|
together. There is some doctrinal mistake at the bottom of every
|
|
practical miscarriage. There is no one habitually bad, but upon some
|
|
bad principle. Now to convert such is to reduce them from their error,
|
|
and to reclaim them from the evils they have been led into. We are not
|
|
presently to accuse and exclaim against an erring brother, and seek to
|
|
bring reproaches and calamities upon him, but to convert him: and, if
|
|
by all our endeavours we cannot do this, yet we are nowhere empowered
|
|
to persecute and destroy him. If we are instrumental in the conversion
|
|
of any, <I>we</I> are said to convert them, though this be principally
|
|
and efficiently the work of God. And, if we can do no more towards the
|
|
conversion of sinners, yet we may do this--pray for the grace and Spirit
|
|
of God to convert and change them. And let those that are in any way
|
|
serviceable to convert others know what will be the happy consequence
|
|
of their doing this: they may take great comfort in it at present, and
|
|
they will meet with a crown at last. He that is said to <I>err from the
|
|
truth</I> in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>
|
|
|
|
is described as <I>erring in his way</I> in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>,
|
|
|
|
and we cannot be said to convert any merely by altering their opinions,
|
|
unless we can bring them to correct and amend their ways. This is
|
|
conversion--to turn a sinner from the error of his ways, and not to
|
|
turn him from one party to another, or merely from one notion and way
|
|
of thinking to another. He who thus converteth a sinner from the error
|
|
of his ways <I>shall save a soul from death.</I> There is a soul in the
|
|
case; and what is done towards the salvation of the soul shall
|
|
certainly turn to good account. The soul being the principal part of
|
|
the man, the saving of that only is mentioned, but it includes the
|
|
salvation of the whole man: the spirit shall be saved from hell, the
|
|
body raised from the grave, and both saved from eternal death. And
|
|
then, by such conversion of heart and life, a <I>multitude of sins
|
|
shall be hid.</I> A most comfortable passage of scripture is this. We
|
|
learn hence that though our sins are many, even a multitude, yet they
|
|
may be hid or pardoned; and that when sin is turned from or forsaken it
|
|
shall be hid, never to appear in judgment against us. Let people
|
|
contrive to cover or excuse their sin as they will, there is no way
|
|
effectually and finally to hide it but by forsaking it. Some make the
|
|
sense of this text to be, that conversion shall <I>prevent</I> a
|
|
multitude of sins; and it is a truth beyond dispute that many sins are
|
|
prevented in the party converted, many also may be prevented in others
|
|
that he may have an influence upon, or may converse with. Upon the
|
|
whole, how should we lay out ourselves with all possible concern for
|
|
the conversion of sinners! It will be for the happiness and salvation
|
|
of the converted; it will prevent much mischief, and the spreading and
|
|
multiplying of sin in the world; it will be for the glory and honour of
|
|
God; and it will mightily redound to our comfort and renown in the
|
|
great day. <I>Those that turn many to righteousness,</I> and those who
|
|
help to do so, <I>shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
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