A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter I. · Part 13

Obs. 3. It is the proper work of God to beget us: `he begat., It is sometimes ascribed to God the Father, as here, and so, in other places, to God the Son: believers are `his seed, Isa. liii. 10. Some times to the Spirit, John iii. 6. God the Father's will: `Of his own will begat he us. God the Son's merit: through his obedience we have `the of sons, Gal. iv. 5. God the Spirit's efficacy: by his overshadowing the soul is the new creature hatched and brought forth. It is ascribed to all the three persons together in one place: Titus iii. 5, 6, `By his mercy he hath saved us, through the renewing of the , which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ., In another place you have two persons mentioned: Eph. ii. 10, `For we are his workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works., It is true, the ministers of the gospel are said to beget, but it is as they are instruments in God's hands. So Paul saith, `I begat you, 1 Cor. iv. 15; and of Onesimus he saith, `Whom I begat in my bonds, Philem. 10. God loveth to put his own honour many times upon the instruments.

Well, then—1. Remove false causes. You cannot beget yourselves, that were monstrous; you must look up above self, and above means, to God, who must form you after his own image. It is said, John i. 13, that we are `begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God., Not in the outward impure way that is meant by that `not of blood; nor by the will of the flesh, that is, in the manner, as man begetteth man to satisfy a fleshly will or desire; `nor of the will of man, that is, any workings or desires of our will; but only by the power of the Spirit; for the intent of that place is to remove gross thoughts and wrong causes, that we might apprehend it right for the nature of it, and look up to the right cause of it.

2. It showeth what an honourable relation we are invested with by the . He begat us. God is our Father; that engageth his love, and bowels, and care, and everything that can be dear and refreshing to the creature: Mat. vi. 32, `Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things., This relation is often urged by the children of God: Isa. lxiii. 16, `Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us., There is comfort in a father, much more in a heavenly Father. Evil men may be good fathers, Mat. vii. 11; they cannot but obey those natural and fatherly impressions that are upon their bowels; how much more will a good God be a good Father? Tam pater nemo, tam pius nemo—none can be so good and so much a father as he.

Obs. 4. The ordinary means whereby God begetteth us is the gospel. He begat us `by the word of truth:, 1 Cor. iv. 15, `I have begotten you in Jesus Christ, through the gospel., There is the instrument, the author, the means: the instrument, Paul, `I have begotten you;, the means, `by the gospel;, the author, `in Jesus Christ., So 1 Peter i. 23, `Begotten by the incorruptible seed of the word., The word is, as it were, the seed, which, being ingrafted in the heart, springeth up in obedience: it is by the word, and that part of the word which is properly called the gospel. Moses may bring us to the borders, but Joshua leadeth us into the land of Canaan; the law may prepare and make way, but that which conveyeth the of is properly the gospel. Well, then, let us wait upon God in the use of the word: it is not good to balk the known and ordinary ways of . Wisdom's dole is given at wisdom's gates: Prov. viii. 34, `Blessed is he that watcheth always at my gates., It was a great advantage to the decrepit man to lie still at the pool, John v. God's means will prove successful in God's time. Urge your souls with the necessity of the means. `Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God., Rom. x. 17. Without I cannot be saved, without the word I cannot have ; reason thus within yourselves, that you may awaken the soul to a greater conscience and sense of waiting upon God in the word. It is true, the divine doth all, he begetteth us; but remember, it is by the word of truth. The influences of the heavens make fruitful seasons, but yet ploughing is necessary. It is one of the sophisms of this age to urge the Spirit's efficacy as a plea for the neglect of the means.

Obs. 5. The gospel is a word of truth; so it is called, not only in this, but in divers other places. See 2 Cor. vi. 7; Eph. i. 12; Col. i. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 15; the same expression is used in all these places. You may constantly observe, that in matters evangelical the scriptures speak with the greatest averment and certainty; the comfort of them is so rich, and the way of them is so wonderful, that there we are apt to doubt most, and therefore there do the scriptures give us the more solemn ; as 1 Tim. i. 15, `This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came to save sinners., We are apt to look upon it as a doubtful thing, or at best but as a probable truth; therefore Paul prefaceth, `This is a faithful saying., So Isa. liii. 4, `Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows., Thou sayest, surely I am a sinner; but it is as sure that Christ is a Saviour; naturally we are more sensible and sure of sin than of the comforts of Christ. The apostle speaketh of heathens, Rom. i. 32, that they `knew the judgment of God, and that `they that commit such things are worthy of death., Natural conscience will give us a sight and sense of sin, but usually we look upon gospel comforts with a loose heart and doubtful mind; and therefore is it that the scripture useth such forms of certainty. Is it sure that thou art a sinner? so sure is it that he hath `borne our sins and carried our sorrows., So Rev. xix. 9, `Blessed are they which are called to the supper of the Lamb: these are the true sayings of God., So Rev. xxii. 6, when he had spoken of the glory of heaven, he saith, `These sayings are faithful and true., The Spirit of God foresaw where we are most apt to doubt, and therefore hath laid in such solemn security (as the asseverations of God) aforehand. Thus Christ's priesthood is ushered in with an oath, Ps. cx. 4, `The Lord hath sworn, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec., Points so far above the reach and apprehension of nature are hard to be believed, therefore are they prefaced with deep asseverations and oaths.

Use. The use is to press us to put our seal to these truths, to adventure our souls upon the warrant of them. How strange is it that our hearts should be most loose towards those points that have a special note of truth and faithfulness annexed to them! Well may it be said, 1 John v. 10, `He that believeth not maketh God a liar;, for these things are propounded to you, not only in assertions, but asseverations. He hath told you they are faithful and true sayings; therefore you implicitly give God the lie when you think these things are too good to be true, or carry yourselves with a carelessness and loose uncertainty towards them, or, in despair, think there cannot be comfort for such sinners as you are. This is to lift up your own sense and experience against the oaths and protestations of God, which are everywhere interlaced with the proposals of the gospel. Oh! do not hang off. Bring up assent to the greatest certainty that may be; check those vile thoughts which secretly lurk in all our hearts, that the gospel is some fine device and rare artifice to cheat the world, some golden fancy to make fools fond with; as that profane pope said, Fabula Cliristi, the fable of the gospel. Oh! consider, all the wit of the creatures could not contrive or design such a plot and frame of truths, so satisfying to the conscience, as the gospel is, and therefore all assents that do not amount and come up to are beneath the dignity of it.

Assents are of divers kinds; some are very imperfect. There is conjecture, which is but a lighter inclination and propension of the mind to that which is only probable; it may or may not be true. This is discerned by carelessness and disrespect towards things that are excellent; men do but guess, and have but loose thoughts of them. Higher than this there is opinion, when the mind is strongly swayed to think a thing true, however there is formido oppositi, a fear of the contrary, which is opposed to believing with all the heart, Acts viii. This is enough to engage to profession—a man followeth his opinion. The next degree above this is ὀλιγοπιστία, `weak faith, which engageth the soul not only to profession, but to some affection and adherence to the truths acknowledged; they look upon them as true and good, but cleave to them with much brokenness and imperfection. Higher than this there is ; I mean, of the truths of the gospel, not of our interest in the comforts of it. This is intended by the apostle when he said the Thessalonians `received the word with much , 1 Thes. i. 5; they were undoubtedly, and beyond contradiction, persuaded of the truths of the gospel. The same apostle, Col. ii. 2, calleth it, `The riches of the full of understanding the mysteries of Christ;, that is, such an apprehension of the truths of the gospel as is joined with some experience, and a resolution to live and die in the profession of it.

Quest. You will say, How shall we do to ripen our assents to such a perfection? What are those proper mediums or arguments by which (next to the infallible persuasion of the Spirit) the soul is assured that the gospel is a word of truth?

Ans. This question is worth answering at all times, because atheism is so natural to us,—if there were none in the world, yet there is too much of the atheist in our own bosoms,—but in these times especially, the reigning sin being atheism and scepticism in matters of religion, occasioned partly by corrupt and blasphemous doctrines, which have a marvellous compliance with our thoughts; partly by the sad divisions among the people of God. Every one pretending to be in the right, we suspect all; therefore Christ prayed for unity in the church upon this argument, `That the world may know that thou hast sent me, John xvii. 23. When there are divisions in the church, usually there is atheism in the world: partly by the scandals and villanies committed under a pretence of religion, by which Christ is, as it were, denied, Titus i. 16, and again, `crucified and put to an open shame, Heb. vi. 6; that is, exposed to the derision and scorn of his enemies, and represented as a malefactor. Now if ever then, is it needful to ballast the mind with solid and rational grounds, and to establish you in the holy faith. Many arguments are urged by the fathers and the schoolmen in behalf of the gospel; but I have always preferred the arguments of the fathers, as of Lactantius, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Cyril, &c., before those of the schoolmen, as being more practical and natural, and so having a greater and a more constant awe upon the conscience; whereas those of the schoolmen (who questionless were the worser men) are more subtle and speculative, and so less apt to be understood, and are not so always present with the soul as the other are, that are founded in practical truths. Briefly, then, you may know the gospel to be a word of truth, because what ever is excellent in a religion is in an unparalleled manner found in our religion, or in the doctrine of the gospel. The glory of a religion lieth in three things—the excellency of rewards, the purity of precepts, and the sureness of principles of trust. Now examine the gospel by these things, and see if it can be matched elsewhere.

1. The excellency of rewards. This is one of the chief est perfections of a religion. Therefore the apostle proposeth it a principle and foundation of religion and worship to `believe that God is, and that he is a plentiful rewarder of those that seek him, Heb. xi. 6. He that cometh to God, that is, to engage in his worship, next to his being must believe his bounty; and the reason is, because a man, in all his endeavours, is poised to some happiness and reward. Now since the fall there are `many inventions, Eccles. vii. 29. As the Sodomites, when they were smitten with blindness, groped about Lot's door, so do we grope and feel here and there for a reward that may be adequate and of full proportion with our desires. The were at a sad loss and puzzle. Austin, out of Varro, reckoneth up two hundred and eighty-eight opinions about the chiefest good. Some placed it in pleasures, and such things as gratified sense. But this were to make brutes of men, for it is the beast's happiness to enjoy pleasures without remorse; and Tully saith, he is not worthy the name of a man, qui unum diem velit esse in voluptate, that would entirely spend one whole day in pleasures. Alas! this is a way so gross, so oppressive, and burthensome to nature, so full of disturbance and distraction to reason, that it can never satisfy. Some went higher for a reward for virtue, and talked of victory over enemies, long life, and a happy old age; but many that were good wanted these blessings. Others dreamed of a kind of eternity, and placed it in fame and the perpetuity of their name and renown, which is a kind of shadow of the true eternity; but this was a sorry happiness to those that lived and died obscurely. Those that went highest could go no higher than the exercise of virtue, and said that virtue was a reward to itself; and said that a man was happy, if virtuous, in the greatest torments, in Phalaris, brazen bull, &c. But, alas! `If our happiness were in this life only, we were of all men most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. Christianity would scarce make amends for the trouble of it. But now the gospel goeth higher, and propoundeth a pure and sweet hope, most pure, and fittest for such a sublime creature, a reasonable creature, as man is, and most sweet and contenting, and that is the eternal and happy enjoyment of God in Christ in the life to come; not a Turkish paradise, but chaste and rational `pleasures at his right hand for ever more, Ps. xvi. 11; complete knowledge, perfect love, the filling up of the soul with God; so that the gospel, you see, hath outbidden all religions, propounding a fit and most excellent reward to the holy life.

2. Purity of precepts. In the Christian religion all moral duties are advanced and heightened to their greatest perfection: Ps. cxix. 96, `The commandment is exceeding broad, of a vast extent and latitude, comprising every motion, thought, and circumstance. The heathens contented themselves with a shadow of duty. The apostle saith, Rom. ii. 15, that ἔργον νόμου, `the work of the law, was written upon their hearts;, that is, they had a sense of the outward work, and a sight of the surface of the commandment. They made conscience to abstain from gross acts of sin, and to perform outward acts of piety and devotion, as sacrifice and babbling of hymns and prayers to their gods. All their wisdom was to make the life plausible, to refrain themselves; as it is said of Haman, when his heart boiled with rancour and malice against Mordecai, Esther v. 10, `Haman refrained himself., So Lactantius proveth against them that they had not a true way of , and were not spiritual enough in their apprehensions of the law: Sapientia eorum plerwnque abscondit vitia, non abscindit—all their wisdom was to hide a lust, not to quench a lust; or rather to prevent the sin, not to check the lust. But now our holy religion doth not only forbid sins, but lusts: 1 Peter ii. 11, `Dearly beloved, I you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts., Babylon's brats (as we showed before) by a holy murder must be dashed against the stones. The precepts are exact, commanding love, not only to friends, but enemies. The law is spiritual, and therefore in all points perfect: Ps. xix. 7, `The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;, that is, not only guiding the offices of the exterior man, but piercing to the thoughts, the first motions of the heart; we have a perfect law.

3. The sureness of the principles of trust. One of the choicest respects of the creature to the Godhead is trust and dependence. And trust, being the rest and quiet of the soul, must have a sure bottom and foundation. Now stand upon the ways, and survey all the religions in the world, and you will find no foundation for trust but in the gospel, refer it to any object, trusting in God for a common mercy, trusting in God for a saving mercy.

[1.] For a common mercy. There are no such representations of God to the soul as in the gospel. The had but loose and dark thoughts of God, and therefore are generally described by this character, `Men without hope, 1 Thes. iv, 13. I remember when our Saviour speaketh against carking and anxiousness about outward supports, he dissuadeth thus: `Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or what ye shall put on, for after these things seek the , Mat. vi. 31, 32, implying such solicitude to be only excusable in who had no sure principles; but you that know and the care of a heavenly Father, should not be thus anxious. It is true, the heathens had some sense of a deity; they had τὸ γνῶστον τοῦ θεοῦ, some knowledge of the nature of God, Rom. i. 20; but the apostle saith in the next verse, that `they were vain, ἐν διαλογίσμοις, in their imaginations, that is, in their practical inferences and discourses; when they came to represent God as an object of trust, and to form practical thoughts and apprehensions of his majesty, there they were vain and foolish. But now in the gospel God is represented as a fit object of trust, and therefore the solemn and purest part of Christian worship is faith; and it is judiciously observed by Luther, Id agit tota scriptura, ut credamus Deum esse misericordem—it is the design of the whole scripture to bring the soul to a steady belief and trust; therefore the psalmist, when he speaketh of God's different administrations in the world and in the church, when he cometh to his administrations in the church, he saith, Ps. xciii. 5, `The testimonies of the Lord are sure., God deals with us upon sure principles, though he hath discovered himself to the world only in loose attributes.

[2.] For saving mercies; and indeed that is the trial of all religions; that is best which giveth the soul a sure hope of salvation: Jer. vi. 16, God biddeth them `stand upon the ways, and see, and ask for the good old way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls;, intimating, they should choose that for the best religion which yieldeth most peace of conscience. Now, there are three things that trouble the soul—our distance from God, our dread of angry justice, and a despair of retaining comfort with a sense of duty; and therefore, the conscience can have any solid rest and quiet, there must be three matches made, three couples brought together—God and man, justice and mercy, comfort and duty, all these must mutually embrace and kiss each other.

(1.) God and man must be brought together. Some of the wise heathens placed happiness in the nearest access and approach to God that may be, as Plato for one; and Coelius Rhodiginus, saith Aristotle, delighted much in that verse of Homer where it is said that it would never be well till the gods and mortal men did come to live together. Certain we are that common instinct maketh us to grope and feel after an eternal good: Acts xvii. 27, `They groped after God., Now, how shall we come to have any commerce with God, there being, besides the distance of our beings, guilt contracted in the soul? How can stubble dwell with devouring burnings? guilty creatures think of God without trembling? approach him without being devoured and swallowed up of his glory? The heathens were sensible of this in some part, and therefore held that the supreme gods were defiled by the unhallowed approaches of sinful and mortal men, and therefore invented heroes and half-gods, a kind of middle powers, that were to be , to convey their prayers to the gods, and the blessings of the gods back again to them: so Plutarch, διὰ δαιμονίων τᾶσα ὁμιλία καὶ διάλεκτος μεταξὺ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων—that by these intermediate powers there was all commerce and communion between the gods and men. To this doctrine of the the apostle alludeth, 1 Cor. viii. 5; the heathens had `lords many, and gods many;, as they had many gods, many ultimate objects of worship, so many lords, that is, . `But to us (saith he) there is but one Lord, and one God;, that is, one supreme essence and one , which is that excellent and sure way which the scriptures lay down for our commerce with God. The device of the heathens, being fabulous and absurd, could not yield comfort; but in the gospel there is excellent provision made for our comfort and hope, for there the Godhead and manhood is represented as met in one nature. The Son of God was made the Son of man, that the sons of men might be the sons of God; therefore the apostle Peter showeth that the great work of Christ was `to bring us to God, 1 Peter iii. 18, to bring God and man together. So the apostle Paul saith, Heb x. 20, we may `draw near through the veil of his flesh., It is an allusion to the temple, where the veil hid the glory of the sanctum sanctorum, and gave entrance to it. So Christ's did, as it were, rebate the edge of the divine glory and brightness, that creatures may come and converse with it without terror. Christ is the true Jacob's ladder, John i. 51, the bottom of which toucheth earth—there is his humanity; and the top reacheth heaven—there is his divinity; so that we may climb this ladder, and have communion with God: ascende per hominem et pervenies ad Deum, as that father said—climbing up in hope by the manhood of Christ, we have social access to the Godhead.

(2.) Justice and mercy must be brought together. We want mercy, and fear justice; guilt impresseth a trembling upon the spirit, be cause we know not how to our souls out of the hands of angry justice; the very heathens were under this bondage and torment, because of the severity of the divine justice: `Knowing the judgment of God, they thought themselves worthy of death., Rom. i. 32. Therefore^ the great inquiry of nature is, how we shall appease angry justice., and our souls from this fear. You know the question, Micah vi. 6, 7, `Wherewith shall I come before him? and wherewith will he be pleased?, The heathens, in their blindness, thought to oblige the Godhead by acts meritorious (as merit is natural), either by costly sacrifices, `rivers of oil, thousands of rams, burnt-offerings, and whole burnt-offerings, hecatombs of sacrifices; or by putting themselves to pains or tortures, as Baal's priests gashed themselves; or by doing some act that is unwelcome and displeasant to nature, as by offering their children in sacrifices, those dear pledges of affection, which certainly was an act of great self-denial, natural love being descensive, and like a river running downward; yea, this was not all, the best of their children, their first-born, in whom all their hopes were laid up, they being observed to be most fortunate and successful. And this custom also the Jews took up, for bare outward sacrifice was but a dull way either to satisfy God (his being `the cattle of a thousand hills, Ps. l. 10), or to pacify conscience; for though it were a worship of God's own appointing, yet it `did not make the comer thereunto perfect, as appertaining to the conscience, Heb. ix. 9; that is, the worshipper that looked no further could never have a quiet and perfect conscience, and therefore they `caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch., Such a barbarous custom could not be taken up barely by imitation; nothing but horror of conscience could tempt men to an act so cruel and unnatural; and the prophet plainly saith, they `gave their first-born for the sin of their soul., Thus you see all ways are at a loss, because they could not yield a recompense to offended justice. But, in the gospel, `justice and mercy have kissed each other, and truth have met together, as it is Ps. lxxxv. 10. And we may sing, `Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, Ps. cxvi. 5; `Our beloved is white and ruddy, Cant. v. 10. For there is a God satisfying as well as a God offended, so that mercy and justice shine with an equal lustre and glory; yea, justice, which is the terror of the world, in Christ is made our friend, and the chief ground of our hope and support; as 1 John i. 9, `The Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins., A man would have thought faithful and gracious had been a more proper term than faithful and righteous, pardon being most properly an act of free ; but justice being satisfied in Christ, it is no derogation to his to dispense a pardon. So the crown of glory is called `a crown of , 2 Tim. iv. 8. There is a whole vein of scriptures runneth that way, that make all the comfort and hope of a Christian to hang upon God's ; yea, if you will believe the apostle Paul, you shall see that God's great intent in appointing Christ, rather than any other Redeemer, was to show himself just in pardoning, and that he might be kind to sinners without any wrong to his ; in short, that justice being satisfied, mercy might have the freer course. Hear the apostle, and you shall see he speaketh full to this purpose: Rom. iii. 25, 26, `Whom God hath set forth to be a through faith in his blood, to declare his in the remission of sins., And lest we should lose the emphatical word, he redoubleth it: `To declare, I say, his , and that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus: `that is, in the matter of , where is most free, God makes his shine forth, having received satisfaction from Christ.

(3.) Comfort and duty are brought together. The end of all religion is ut anima sit subjecta Deo et pacata sibi—that the soul may be quiet in itself, and obedient to that which is supposed to be God. Now how shall we do to retain a care of duty with a sense of comfort? Conscience cannot be stifled with loose principles. The heathens could not be quiet, and therefore, when their reason was discomposed and disturbed with the rage of sensual lusts, and they knew not how to bridle them, they offered violence to nature; pulled out their eyes, because they could not look upon a woman without lusting after her; and raged against their innocent members, instead of their unclean affections. And we, that have the light of Christianity, know much more that we cannot have comfort without duty; for though true peace of conscience be founded in Christ's satisfaction, yet it is found only in his service: Mat. xi. 28, `Come to me, and I will give you rest;, but in ver. 29 it is, `Take my yoke upon you, and ye shall find rest for your souls., As we must come to Christ for comfort, so we must stay under his discipline, if we would have a sense of it in our own souls. Well, now, you shall see how excellently these are provided for in the gospel. There is Spirit against weaknesses, and merit against defects and failings, so that duty is provided for, and comfort. They need not despair under weaknesses, having the assistance of a mighty Spirit; they need not put out their eyes, having a God to quench their lusts; they need not despair under the sense of their defects, there being such a full merit in the obedience of Christ. In short, when they have largest thoughts of duty, they may have sweetest hopes of comfort, and say, with David, Ps. cxix. 6, `I shall not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments.,