02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 27

James 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Here the apostle cometh to the positive part of the trial. As he must not do hurt, lest his religion prove vain; so he must do good, that it may be found pure and undefiled. From the context observe:—

Obs. Negatives in religion are not enough: he must refrain his tongue, and he must visit the fatherless. Our duty should carry proportion with the divine grace to us. God’s mercies are not only privative but positive; he doth not only bring us out of hell, but put us under an assurance of glory. It was Absalom’s misery to be only acquitted from the punishment, but not to see the king’s face. God’s grace is more entirely dispensed; we are taken out of a state of wrath into a state of love. God’s terms to Abraham were, to be ‘a shield and an exceeding great reward;’ to be a protector, and a saviour; and to all the faithful, ‘a sun and a shield,’ Psalms 84:11. A shield against danger, and a sun, the cause of all vegetation, life, and blessing. Now we should imitate our heavenly Father; we should not rest in a bare removal of evil, but be careful of that which is good: there should be not only an abstinence from grosser sins, but a care to maintain communion with God. The descriptions of the word are negative and positive: ‘Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, but walketh in the ways of the Lord,’ Psalms 1:1-2; so Romans 8:1, ‘Walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.’ Some are not drunkards, not outwardly vicious; but are they godly? Is there any savour and power of religion? Are there any motions and feelings of the spiritual life within their souls? God, that hateth sin, delighteth in grace; to be less evil, at the best, will but procure you a cooler hell. It is vulgarly observed, that the Pharisee’s religion ran upon nots, Luke 18:11. It is not enough to live civilly and do no man wrong; there must be grace, and the exercise of grace. I observe, that sins trouble the conscience more than want of grace, partly because conscience doth not use to smite for spiritual defects, and partly because sins work an actual distemper and disturbance to reason. Oh! but consider; he that wanteth good works is as much hated of God as the outwardly vicious; and the barren tree is cut down as well as the poisonous tree—if it bear no fruit as well as if it bear ill fruit. It is not enough for a servant that he doth his master no hurt; he must do his master’s work: in the Gospel, he had not misspent his talent, but hid it in a napkin. But I come to the words. In the verse he presseth them to works of charity, and an holy conversation, that so they might both show themselves to be truly religious, and that their profession was that pure and immaculate faith which Christian religion propoundeth.

Pure religion, and undefiled.—He doth not set down what is the whole nature of religion, but only some particular testimonies of it. Religion also requireth faith and worship, but the truth of these is evidenced by charity and an holy life; and, therefore, the anti-scripturists of our days grossly pervert this place, and the scope of the apostle, when they would make all religion to consist in these outward acts; for the apostle is dealing with hypocrites, who pretended faith and worship, neglecting charity.

Before God and the Father is this; that is, before God, who is the Father of Christ, and us in him. The like phrase is used in many other places: 2 Corinthians 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;’ so Ephesians 1:3; so Ephesians 5:20, ‘To the God, and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ:’ and he saith, ‘Before God,’ that is, in his eye, and his esteem. Hypocrites may deceive men, for they see only what is without; but God the Father judgeth rightly. And also this is mentioned to imply the sincerity of such Christian offices; they should be done as in the presence of God. To visit.—Under this word by a synecdoche are comprehended all duties of love. To visit, is to comfort them in their misery, to relieve them in their necessities; and under this one kind of charity are comprehended all duties to our neighbour. The fatherless and the widows.—These are specified, but others are not excluded: there are other objects of charity, as the poor, the sick, the captive, the stranger, which are also spoken of in scriptures. But the fatherless and widows do most usually want relief, and are most liable to neglect and oppression. They are often mentioned elsewhere in scripture; as Isaiah 1:17, ‘Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow;’ so Psalms 146:9; so Proverbs 15:25, and Proverbs 23:10. In their affliction; that is, in their straits, and when most oppressed; and this is added lest men should think their duty performed by visiting those amongst the fatherless and widows that are rich and wealthy. And to keep himself unspotted.—This is coupled with the former duty, to show the inseparable connection that should be between charity and holiness, and to show that that religion is false which doth not teach holiness as well as charity: as Papists sever them, and cry up charity as a merit to expiate the defect of holiness. From the world.—The world, when it is taken in an ill sense, is sometimes put for the men of the world, and sometimes for the lusts of the world: 1 John 2:15, ‘Whatever is in the world is either the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, or the pride of life.’ Now, to ‘keep ourselves unspotted from the world,’ is to keep ourselves from the taint and infection of an evil example, and the prevalency and sovereignty of worldly lusts.

Out of this verse observe:—

Obs. 1. That it is the glory of religion when it is pure: Psalms 19:1-14, ‘The commandment of the Lord is pure;’ no doctrine so holy in itself, and maketh such provision for good life. False religions are descried by their impurity. God suffereth false worshippers to fall into obscenities, that they may draw a just scorn upon themselves, Romans 1:1-32. Popery is no friend to good life: pardons set at sale make way for looseness. The true Christian religion is called ‘a holy faith,’ Jude 1:20. No faith goeth so high for rewards, nor is so holy for precepts. Well, then, an impure life will not suit with a holy faith. Precious liquor must be kept in a clean vessel, and ‘the mystery of the faith’ held ‘in a pure conscience,’ 1 Timothy 3:9. We never suit with our religion more than when the way is undefiled and the heart pure: ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way,’ Psalms 119:1; and again, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart,’ Matthew 5:8.

Obs. 2. That a pure religion should be kept undefiled. A holy life and a bounteous heart are ornaments to the gospel. Religion is not adorned with ceremonies, but purity and charity. The apostle speaketh of making the doctrine of God our Saviour comely, Titus 2:10. It is with us either to credit or to stain our religion: ‘Wisdom is,’ or should be, ‘justified of her children,’ Matthew 11:19. By the innocency of their lives they bring a glory to their way. So also a bountiful man is an honour to his profession, whereas a covetous man sullieth it; as the apostle saith, Romans 5:7, ‘For a righteous man would one scarcely die, but for a good man would one even dare to die.’ A man of a severe innocency is hated rather than loved, but a good or bountiful man gaineth upon the hearts of others; they would even die for him.

Obs. 3. A great fruit and token of piety is provision for the afflicted. In Matthew 25:1-46 you see acts of charity fill up the bill. Works of mercy do well become them that do expect or have received mercy from God; this is to be like God, and we should never come to him, or go away from him, but with somewhat of his image in our hearts: dissimilitude and disproportion is the ground of dislike. Now one of the chief glories in the Godhead is the unweariedness of his love and bounty: he visits the fatherless and the widows; so should we: the spirit of our religion is forgiving; and therefore the cruel hard heart is made by Paul a kind of ‘denying the faith,’ 1 Timothy 4:8.

Obs. 4. Charity singleth out the objects that are most miserable. The apostle saith, ‘the widows and fatherless,’ and that ‘in their afflictions.’ That is true bounty when we give to those that are not able to make requital: Luke 14:12-14, ‘When thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy brethren, or friends, or rich neighbours,’ &c. We cannot do the least duty for God but we have some self aims. We make our giving many times to be a kind of selling, and mind our advantage in our charity. Oh! consider, our sweetest influences should fall on the lower grounds: to visit the rich widows is but courtesy; to visit the poor, and that in their affliction, that is charity.

Obs. 5. This charity to the poor must be performed as worship, out of respect to God. The apostle saith to visit the fatherless is θρησκεία, worship. A Christian hath a holy art of turning duties of the second table into duties of the first; and in respect to man, they worship God. So Hebrews 13:16, ‘To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifice God is well pleased.’ To do good is a duty of the second table; and sacrifice, while it was a part of God’s worship, a duty of the first. Well, then, alms should be sacrifice; not a sin-offering, but a thank-offering to God. This is the difference between a Christian and others, he can make commerce worship. In common business he acteth upon reasons and principles of religion, and whatever he doth to man, he doth it for God’s sake, out of love to God, fear of God. The world is led by interest, and they by conscience. The men of the world are tied one to another, like Samson’s foxes by their tails, by their mutual intertwisted interests; but they, in all their relations, do what they do as in and to the Lord, Ephesians 5:22; so Ephesians 6:1; so ver. Ephesians 6:7, et alibi. Well, then, we must be tender of the end and reason of our actions in civil respects: alms is worship and sacrifice, and therefore not to be offered to the idol of our own credit and esteem, or to be done out of private ends, but in obedience to God, and for his glory.

Obs. 6. From that before God. True religion and profession is rather for God’s eye than man’s. It aimeth at the approbation of God, not ostentation before men. David saith, Psalms 18:23, ‘I have been upright before thee, and kept myself from my iniquity.’ That is a fruit of true uprightness, to draw all our actions into the presence of God, and to do what we do before him. So Psalms 16:8, ‘I have set the Lord always before me.’ In every action he was thinking of the eye of God; will this be an action for God’s notice and approbation? So Psalms 119:168, ‘I have kept thy testimonies; for all my ways are before thee.’ He maketh that to be the reason of the integrity of his obedience, ‘My ways are before thee;’ under the observance and inspection of God. Hypocrites cannot endure such thoughts. The prodigal was for a far country, away from his father; and it is said, Job 13:16, ‘A hypocrite will not come before him;’ that is, be under God’s eye and sight.

Obs. 7. From that before God and the Father. We serve God most comfortably when we consider him as a Father in Christ. Lord, Lord, is not half so sweet as Our Father. Duty in the covenant of grace is far more comfortable, not only as we have more help, but because it is done in a sweeter relation. We are not servants, but have received the adoption of sons. Get an interest in God, that his work may be sweet to you. Mercies yield the more sweetness when they come not only from a Creator, but a Father; and duties are done with the more confidence when we can come into the presence of God, not as servants, but sons. A servant may use greater industry and pains than a son, and yet please less.

Obs. 8. The relieving of the afflicted and the unspotted life must go together. As the apostle coupleth them, so doth Christ: Matthew 5:7-8, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;’ and then presently, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ A man that is charitable and not pure, is better to others than to himself. Goodness and righteousness are often coupled in the Old Testament: Micah 6:8; so Daniel 4:27. It is strange that men should so grossly separate what God hath joined. There are some that are ‘pure in their own eyes,’ but content themselves with a cheap and barren profession. Others are vicious and loose, and they are all for acts of charity and mercy; and so covetousness lurketh under the veil of profession on the one side, and on the other men hope to recompense God for the excesses of an ill life by a liberal profusion, as if the emptying of the purse were a way to ease the conscience. Well, then, let the hand be open and the heart pure. You must ‘visit the fatherless and the widow,’ and ‘keep yourselves unspotted from the world.’

Obs. 9. The world is a dirty, defiling thing. A man can hardly walk here but he shall defile his garments. (1.) The very things of the world leave a taint upon our spirits. By worldly objects we soon grow worldly. It is hard to touch pitch and not to be defiled. We see in other things that our minds receive a tincture from those objects with which we usually converse. Christ prayeth, John 17:15, ‘I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil of the world.’ Christ knew what a temptation it is to live here in the midst of honours, and pleasures, and profits. It was a happy thing that Paul could say, Galatians 6:14, ‘I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me.’ The world hated him, and he did not care for the world. The world is crucified to many, but they are not crucified to it; they follow after a flying shadow. (2.) The lusts of the world, they stain the glory and deface the excellency of your natures: ‘Corruption is in the world through lust,’ 2 Peter 1:4. Your affections were made for higher purposes than to be melted out in lusts. To love the pleasures of the world, it is as if you should defile your bed with a blackamoor, and be so sick of lust as to hug nastiness. and embrace the dung, Lamentations 4:5. (3.) The men of the world are sooty, dirty creatures. We cannot converse with them but they leave their filthiness upon us. The apostle saith, 2 Timothy 2:21, ‘If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel of honour, sanctified and meet for the master’s use.’ From these, that is, from the leprosy of evil examples, for the apostle speaketh of those vessels of dishonour that are in the great house of God, the world, which a man cannot touch without defilement. A man cannot hold any communion with them, but he shall be the worse for them. ‘These are spots in your love-feasts,’ Jude 1:12; they defile the company.

Well, then—(1.) Let us more and more grow weary of the world. A man that would always live here is like a scullion that loveth to lie among the pots. In those blessed mansions that are above, ‘there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,’ Revelation 21:27. There we shall have pure company, and be out of the reach and danger of temptations. There are no devils in heaven; they were cast out long since, 2 Peter 2:6, and you are to fill up their vacant rooms and places. The devil, when he was not fit for heaven, he was cast into the world, a fit place for misery, sin, arid torment; and now this is the devil’s walk. He compasseth the earth to and fro. Who would be in love with a place of bondage? with Satan’s diocese? that odd, dirty corner of the universe, where a man can hardly move back or forth, but he shall be defiled? (2.) While we live here, let us keep ourselves as unspotted as we can. In a place of snares, we should walk with the more care: Revelation 3:4, ‘There are a few names that have not defiled their garments; they shall walk with me in white.’ There are some, though few, that escape the taint of the world. You are kept by the power of God; yet, in some sense, you must keep yourselves: you are to ‘watch, and keep your garments,’ Revelation 16:15. You are to act faith upon the victory of Christ, by which ‘he hath overcome the world,’ 1 John 5:4. You are to commend yourselves to God in prayer, that he may keep and ‘present you faultless before the presence of his glory,’ Jude 1:24. You are to discourse upon the promises, and to work them into your hearts by spiritual reasoning, that you may ‘escape the corruption that is in the world through lust,’ 2 Peter 1:4, and 2 Corinthians 7:1. You are to avoid communion with the lepers of the world: we should learn a holy pride,¹ and scorn such company. A man that keepeth ill company is like him that walketh in the sun, tanned insensibly. All these things you must do. It is a folly to think that because the power is from God, therefore the care should not be in ourselves.

¹ ‘Discamus sanctam superbiam, et sciamus nos esse illis meliores.’—Hieron.