James 4

James 4:11

The apostle suggests particular cautions against certain confidence in the events of futurity, or in possessions, which often prove a temptation to luxusion of ruin; and concludes the section with exhorting afflicted and oppressed Christians for the coming of the Lord. James IV. 11.—

JAMES IV. 11.

LET me now charge you, my brethren, that ye speak not evil of one another; for he that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth [his] brother with a rash severity, therein speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law; condemning it as if it were an erroneous rule, in so expressly forbidding such a conduct. But if thou thus judgest the law, and passest, as it were, a condemning sentence upon it, thou art then not a doer of the law, but a judge. And how the arrogance of setting up such a superiority to the great Governor of the universe will pass, when it comes under his final review, it well becomes you seriously to consider. For it is certain, there is one great almighty Law giver, who is able abundantly to assert the honour of his own government; and as he can save his faithful and obedient subjects from the greatest extremity of danger and calamity, so he is also able to destroy the most obstinate and audacious rebel, and to smite him with irrecoverable ruin in the full career of his crimes. Who art thou therefore that judgest another? and darest to invade the office of this supreme and universal Law giver, and thereby exposest thyself to his condemnation?

But to insist no further upon this; let me now turn myself to those who are quite immersed in their worldly schemes, and promise themselves assuredly an opportunity to accomplish them.

Speaketh evil of [his] brother, &c.] mates, that as the ceremonial law was not Dr. Whitby explains this of the unbelieving Jews reproaching their Christian brethren for their non observation of the Mosaic law; and thinks, the apostle inti- originally intended for the Gentiles, this conduct was a reflection upon the wisdom of God in giving it But I choose the more extensive explication.

nor should they presume on the events of futurity.

Come now, ye that say, To day, or To morrow, we will go to such a city, and spend a year there, and traffic, and get gain by our merchandize, and then return and enjoy the fruits of our labours. Alas! upon what an uncertainty do you proceed in such a supposition as this! whereas, instead of being able to count on a year to come, ye know not even what [shall be] on the morrow, and much less, what the days and months of a year may bring forth. For what [is] your life, upon the continuance of which all your worldly projects depend? For it is only like a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then vanishes away, and is seen no more; how gay soever its form might be, and how wide soever it might have extended itself. Whereas ye [ought] to say in consideration of this, If the great Lord of our lives will please to lengthen them, we shall live, and do this or that, intimating even by your manner of speaking, the sense that you have, of his being able at pleasure to cut you short in all your purposes and appointments. But now you rejoice in your boastings; you take pleasure in this arrogant and confident manner of talking: whereas, all such rejoicing is evil, and ought to be corrected: And so much the rather, as you have been better instructed than many others, and therefore ought to shew the good effect of these instructions. For to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is aggravated sin; and it would have been much better for him, that he had wanted that degree of knowledge he had, than that he should thus abuse it.

I direct these things especially to those who have the advantage of the Christian revelation and institutions; but I confine not myself wholly to them. Let others pay them regard, in proportion to the degree in which they have opportunities of attaining Divine knowledge. Let them take the greatest care, that they do not abuse it. And let those especially be careful, whom Providence has distinguished by the fulness of their circumstances; which often proves a temptation to vice, though it should in all reason and gratitude be an engagement to virtue and piety. Experience will soon teach many

They are reminded of their oppression and lu:

such the vanity of those things in which they pride themselves, and which embolden them in their transgressions of the Divine law. Come now therefore, ye rich men, weep, and even howl over the miseries that are speedily coming upon you, in those days which are nearly approaching. You have been solicitous to lay up abundant stores for your future subsistence and security; but your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold, and your silver, which should have been brightened by a generous circulation, have been hoarded up, till they are cankered, and their rust shall be a witness against you in the sight of God, and so bring upon you such awful rebukes from him, that it shall, as it were, eat into your flesh, with an anguish as piercing and corroding as fire itself. Ye have laid up treasures for the last days; for the last days are now coming, and the enemy shall seize and dissipate them all to your infinite vexation and distress. Behold the wages of the labourers, who have reaped your fields, who have been defrauded by you of their due reward, cry for vengeance against you; and the outcries of those who have gathered in your harvest, have come into the ears of the Lord of hosts. Ye have lived delicately and luxuriously upon the earth, indulging yourselves in every desire that rose in your minds, without restraint. Ye have pampered your hearts, as beasts are fed for a day of slaughter; and truly to you it is much nearer than you are aware. And well has the vengeance been deserved by you; for ye have condemned, [and] at last murdered the righteous one, the Son of God him-

b Ye rich men, &c.] Josephus, (Bell. ad. v. 20, 30; iv. 19,) particularly observes, how much the rich men suffered by the Romans in the Jewish war. I have rendered ταυτιμισμία ταυτιμηνια, miseries which are coming upon you, and I think it more agreeable to the original, than our English version; εὐχαμιαν being a participle of the present tense

The last days.] This phrase does not merely signify, for the time to come, but for that period, when the whole Jewish

economy was to close, and when those awful judgments, threatened in the prophets to be poured out upon wicked men in the last days, are just coming. Acts ii. 17; Heb. i. 2; 2 Pet. iii. 3; and the like. Compare Mat. xxiv. 33, 34; 1 Cor. x 11. For a day of slaughter: με τι πυρασμην. There are some who render this, as in a festival, when many sacrifices are slain. But Wolfius observes, that the word is always used in the Seventy to signify not a day of feasting, but of slaughter

Reflections on the duty of the rich.

self ; [and] he doth not yet resist youᵉ with that display of power which he can easily exert to your utter destruction ; but the day will speedily come, when God will avenge his cause, and pour out the judgment he has threatened, on those who have treated him in so base and unworthy a manner.

Since this is the case, since our Divine Master has met with such injurious treatment, and borne it with such steady patience ; be ye therefore, my brethren, longsuffering and patient, even till the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth ; [and] though it does not immediately appear, when sown, or ripen when it appears ; yet he exerciseth patience with respect to it, till he receive the former rain, to produce it, and the latter, to bring it on to perfection. Be ye also patient, and strengthen your hearts in every good resolution ; for the appearance of the Lord is near ; he will quickly come, and reward all your long suffering, and take vengeance on your implacable enemies, for all the outrages they have committed against you.

IMPROVEMENT.

LET the law of that one great Legislator, who is able both to save and to destroy, be always seriously remembered and considered ; that we may not affront his authority in pretending to judge others, nor set up for judges, and in effect condemners of the law, by the severity of those censures which we pass upon our brethren. We are happy in knowing that sacred rule of life, if we obey it ; otherwise, that knowledge of it which adds an aggravation even to sins of omission, will much more aggravate every presumptuous opposition to it.

Let us look on this world as a scene of great uncertainty ; and on life, as a flattering vapour, which vanishes while we are beholding it ; and let a sense of its shortness and uncertainty, and of our own ignorance what shall be on the morrow, engage us to be very careful, that we do not presume upon the future, as if it

ᵉ Not resist you.] Instead of oak, Dr. Memoirs of Literat. Vol. VI. page 173. Bentley would read oak, for o kugl, the Others interpret it of the meek sufferings Lord ; and would render it, and the Lord of the disciples of Christ, in conformity resists you ; that is, you have brought the to the example of their Master. vengeance of his almighty arm upon you.

They should not be incensed against each other ;

SEC. vii. were in our own power ; but set ourselves with all possible diligence to improve the present time, referring the disposal of all future events, to the wisdom of that God on whom it depends to determine whether we shall live, and do this, or that.

chap. v. 1 Let rich men read the address of the apostle to persons in their circumstances, with holy awe, and with a jealousy over themselves, lest their present prosperity be succeeded with misery, and their joy with weeping and howling ; as it undoubtedly will be, if wealth be unjustly gotten, or sordidly hoarded up, or luxuriously employed to pamper their appetites, while the truest and noblest use of it, the relief of the poor, and the benefit of mankind, is forgotten. Especially have they reason to tremble who abuse wealth and power as the instruments of oppression ; soon will all their stores be wasted, soon will they become naked and indigent, and find a terrible account remaining, when all the gaities and pleasures of life are utterly vanished. In the mean time, the saints of God may be among the poor and the oppressed ; but let them wait patiently for the day of the Lord, for his coming is near. They sow in tears, but let them comfort their hearts with the view of the harvest ; in like manner as the husbandman demands not immediately the fruits of that seed he has committed to the furrows. Adored be that kind Providence, which gives the former and the latter rain in its season. To him, from whom we have received the bounties of nature, let us humbly look for the blessings of grace, and trust him to fulfil all his promises, who without a promise to bind him, in particular instances, gives us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts xiv. 17.