A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter IV. · Part 8

Who is able to save and to destroy.—It noteth God's absolute power to do with man either temporally or spiritually as he pleaseth. This power is everywhere given to God: Deut. xxxii. 39, `See now, that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and heal; and there is none able to take out of my hand., So 1 Sam. ii. 6, and Isa. xliii. 13. Note hence:—

Obs. 1. That absolute supremacy becometh none but him that hath absolute power. The power of magistrates is limited by the will of God, because they depend upon him, and can do nothing but as they are enabled and authorised by him, John xix. 11.

Obs. 2. God hath an absolute and supreme power on men, and can dispose of them according to his will and pleasure. And therefore we must—(1.) Keep close to his laws with more fear and trembling; there is no escaping this judge, 1 Cor. x. 22. Eternal life and eternal death are in his disposal, Mat. x. 28. (2.) Observe them with more encouragement; live according to Christ's laws, and he is able to protect you: Ps. lxviii. 20, `Our God is the God of salvations, and to him be long the issues of death., He can save his people, and he hath many ways to bring his enemies to ruin. Your friend is the most dreadful enemy; he `hath the keys of death and hell, Rev. i. 18. (3.) Be the more humbled in case of breach of his laws. Oh! what will you do with this lawgiver, who, with the rebuke of his countenance, can turn you into hell? see Ezek. xxii. 14. Have you courage and strength enough to withstand God? What will you do with him that is `able to save and destroy?, Wool overcometh the strokes of iron by yielding to them. There is no way left but submission and humble ad dresses. He may be overcome by faith, but not by power: Isa. xxvii. 5, `Take hold of his strength, and you may make peace with him., By humble you may `prevail with God as princes.,

Who art thou that judgest another? that is, what a distance is there between thee and God! what a sorry judge to him! You have the same question, Rom. xiv. 4.

Obs. It is good to shame pride with the consideration of God's glory, and our own baseness. He is `able to save and to destroy;, but `who art thou?, &c.

Ver. 13. Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.

Having formerly spoken against those that contemned the law, he now speaketh against those that contemned , promising themselves a long time in the world, and a happy accomplishment of their projects, without any sense or thought of their own frailty, or the sudden strokes of God. In this verse he doth, as it were, personate them, and give a most accurate representation of their thoughts.

Go to now, ἄγε νῦν.—The vulgar readeth Ecce, as if it were ἴδου, see now, do you do rightly? But we render it better. It is a phrase that provoketh them to consideration, as awakening the attention of conscience, or as citing them before the presence and tribunal of God. The same adverb is used chap. v. 1. From this opening of the word observe:—

Obs. That if we would know the evil of our actions, it is good to use reviews and reflecting thoughts. We sin and go on in sin because of incogitancy. There should be wise consideration aforehand to prevent the sin, and faithful recollection to prevent the going on in sin. God complaineth, Jer. viii. .6, `No man saith, What have I done?, This recollection citeth the soul before three bars:—(1.) Conscience; (2.) God's eye; and (3.) God's throne or tribunal. It rouseth up the light of conscience by comparing the action or speech with a principle of reason, or the word, as in the present case, thus:—Am I Lord of future events, that I do so confidently determine or define them? Do those things hang on my will? Is my life or actions in mine own power? It draweth the soul into the thus: Would I have the jealous God, that disposeth of human events and successes, to take notice of such speeches? So before God's judgment seat thus: Would I defend such actions or speeches before the tribunal of God? Will these deliberations endure the severe search and trial of the great day? Thus should you in all cases review your actions, and, as the prophet saith, `Behold your way in the valley, Jer. ii. 23.

Ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, &c.—By an imitation he reciteth the speeches or thoughts of the Jewish factors or merchants. Now we will go to Alexandria, or to Damascus or to Antioch, which were the places of their usual traffic. Observe hence:—

Obs. 1. That hearts are all for projects. Thoughts are the purest offspring of the soul, and do discover the temper of it. Men are according to their devices. See Isa. xxxli. 6, 7, `Liberal men devise liberal things., men are projecting how to spend their days and months in buying and selling and getting gain. The fool in the Gospel is thinking of enlarging his barns, and plucking down `his houses and building greater, Luke xii. 17, 18; this engrosseth all his thoughts. One apostle describeth .such men thus, `Minding earthly things, Phil. iii. 19. Another thus, `Having an heart exercised with covetous practices, 2 Peter ii. 14; that is, with earnest contrivances how to promote their gain and earthly aims. A gracious heart is for gracious projects, how they shall be more thankful, Ps. cxvi. 12; how more holy, more useful for God, more fruitful in every good work; `what they shall do to inherit eternal life., Oh! consider, this is the better care, that more suiteth with the end of our creation and the nature of our spirits. We were sent into the world, not to grow great and pompous, but to enrich our souls with spiritual excellences, &c.

Obs. 2. Again you may observe, that men send out their thoughts to forestall and fore-enjoy their contentments they obtain them. It is usual with men to feed themselves with the pleasure of their hopes. Sisera's mother's ladies looked through the lattice, pleasing themselves in the thought of a triumphant return, Judges v. Thoughts are the spies and messengers of the soul; hope sendeth them out after the thing expected, and love after the thing beloved. When a thing is strongly expected, the thoughts are wont to spend themselves in creating images and suppositions of the happiness of enjoyment. If a poor man were adopted into the succession of a crown, he would please himself in the supposition of the future honour and pleasure of the kingly state. Godly men, that are called to be `co-heirs with Christ, are wont to pre-occupy the bliss of their future estate, and so do in a manner feel what they do but expect. So also do men charm their souls with whispers of , and feed themselves with the pleasant anticipation of that delight which they look for; as young heirs spend upon their hopes, and riot away their estate they possess it. Well, then, look to it; it is a sure note of fleshliness when the world runneth so often in your thoughts, and you are always deflowering contentments by these anticipations of lust and sin; and you have nothing to live upon, or to entertain your spirit withal, but these suppositions of gain and pomp, and the reversion of some outward enjoyment.

Obs. 3. Again, you may observe their confidence of future events: `We will go, and continue there a year, &c. Note , that affections are usually accompanied with, certainly much encouraged by, confidence. They are doubly confident: of the success of their endeavours, `We will get gain;, of the continuance of their lives, `We will continue there a year., Lust cannot be nourished without a presumption of success: when men multiply endeavours, they little think of God, or of the changes of : it is enough to undo lust to suppose a disappointment; besides, when there is such a presence of means, we ascribe little to the highest cause. First the world stealeth away our affections, and then it intercepteth our trust; there is not only adultery in it, James iv. 4, but idolatry, Eph. v. 5. It is not only our darling, but our god; and that is the reason why men are always represented as men of a secure presumption; as Luke xii. 9, `Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, and be merry;, so Job xxix. 18, `I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand;, so in that apocryphal passage, Ecclus. xi. 19, `I have found rest, and will eat continually of my goods; and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him., They think now they have enough to secure them against all chances. Well, then, look to your confidence and trust; when you are getting an estate, is your expectation founded in faith or lust? When you have gotten an estate, where lieth the of your contentment? in the promises, or your outward welfare?

Obs. 4. Again, from that to-day or to-morrow, and we will there a year. men are not only confident of present, but future welfare, which argueth an heart stupidly secure, and utterly insensible of the changes of : Isa. lvi. 12, `To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant;, Ps. xlix. 11, `Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever., Men love to enjoy their comforts without interruption, thought of death, or change. Every day is as a new life, and bringeth sufficient care with it; we need not look out for so long time. But men, in their cares, do not only provide for the morrow, but the next year; in their possessions do not only please themselves in their present happiness, but will not so much as suppose a change.

We will continue there, ποιήσομεν—we will factor it there. He chiefly instanceth in trading, and accommodateth his words to the merchant's profession, because too often and too sensibly are these thoughts, hopes, and confidence found in merchants and men versed in trading; though he intendeth to speak against all sorts of men that undertake anything in the confidence of their own wisdom and industry, without the leave and blessing of . Therefore observe hence:—

Obs. 1. From the letter of the place, that merchants are very liable to thoughts and discourses savouring of presumption and confidence. In their bourses and exchanges they are always talking of wares, and gain, and traffic, without any thought of God: Hosea xii. 7, `He is a merchant; the balances of deceit are in his hand;, in the original, `he is a Canaanite., Canaan's posterity, upon whom the curse fell, was most happy in this course of life; and being driven out of the land by the Israelites into the maritime towns, they were most famous for navigation. It is your ordinary calling to go from place to place; take God along with you wherever you go. Of all men you should be most cautelous: in your commerce be mindful of God and of yourselves; of God s and your own frailty, that you neither be too much in the world, nor too confidant of your own industry.

Obs. 2. From the scope of the whole verse, that it is a vain thing to promise ourselves great matters without the leave of . To say, `We will go, `we will do thus and thus, it is vain; for we are not lords of our lives, nor lords of our own actions: Ps. xxxi. 15, My times are in thy hand;, so Prov. xxvii. 1, `Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth., To-day we are, and to-morrow not: we cannot tell what may be in the womb of the next morning. So for our actions: `Their works are in the hand of God, Eccles. ix. 1. The performance of them, and the success of them; we need counsel and a blessing. The prophet speaks of it as of a known case, Jer. x. 23, `O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in the sons of men to direct their steps., But when do men promise themselves great matters without the leave of ? I answer—Many ways: the principal are these—(1.) When they undertake things without prayer. You may speak of success when you have asked God's leave: Job xxii. 28, `Acquaint thyself with God, then thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established., (2.) When they are too confident of future contingencies and events, without any submission and reservation of the will of God, and boast upon mere human likelihoods: see Exod. xv. 11; and Judges, v. 28 30; so 1 Kings xx. 10, 11, `The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria suffice for handfuls for all the people; and the king of Israel said, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast as he that putteth it off., He would plunder Samaria so bare that he would not leave any dust there; but God disappointed him. (3.) When men's endeavours are set up in God's stead, we think all dependeth upon the course of sublunary causes, and so neglect God. (4.) When men promise themselves a time to hereafter. Many think within themselves, I will follow my pleasure and profits, and then spend my old age in a devout and retired privacy; first build, and trade, and bustle in the world, and adjourn God to the aches and dull phlegm of their age. Foolish man decreeth all future events as if all were in his own hands. Well, then, in all cases remember God; it is useful for princes and men employed in counsels for public welfare. How often do they prove unhappy because they do not seek God! We should ask counsel of the oracle before we take it from one another. The heathens saw a need to begin with God. So for soldiers; how soon is a battle turned! It is not for you to say, `I will pursue, I will overtake, &c. Solomon saith, `The battle is not always to the strong, Eccles. ix. So for traders; you must not say, I will send out a ship and get gain: how often are presumptions checked! So for Christians; do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus; you cannot believe, when you will, nor pray as you will. Samson was mistaken when he said, `I will go forth and shake myself as at other times., The natural exercise of your faculties, and the divine assistances of , do all hang upon God's good pleasure.

Ver. 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be upon the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appear eth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Having discovered their presumption, he now disproveth it by two arguments:—(1.) The casualties of the next day; (2.) The uncertainty of their own lives. Both which give a notable check to such fond confidence.

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.—As if he had said, You talk of a long time, and you know not what shall happen the next day. Every day bringeth new and events with it. But you will say, Is it simply unlawful to provide for the morrow, or for time to come? I answer—No; Solomon biddeth us learn of the ant, Prov. vi. 6-8, `Consider her ways, and be wise; she provideth her meat in summer, and gathereth her food in harvest;, so Prov. xxx. 25. It is but a wise foresight to secure ourselves against visible inconveniences. Joseph is commended for laying up food in the cities against the years of famine, Gen. xli. 35. And it was the practice of the apostles to lay up in store for the brethren at Jerusalem against the famine foretold by Agabus, Acts xi. 29. Only remember this must be done with caution; such provision must not arise from distrust, or a thought prejudicial to the care of , Mat. vi. 30. It must not hinder us from the great care of our lives, provision for heaven, Mat. vi. 35. It must be with submission to God. God may soon disappoint all; and after we have caught in hunting, we may not roast.

For what is your life? It is even a vapour.—Brevity of life is set forth by many comparisons in scripture: by the flower of the field, Isa. xl. 6, 7; by the wind, Job vii. 7; a leaf before the wind, Job xiii. 25; by a shadow, Job xiv. 2. There is a heap of similitudes, Job ix. 25, `Now my days are swifter than a post; they flee away, and see no good; they pass away as swift ships; as the eagle hasteth to the prey., The word useth the more similitudes, that by every fleeting and decaying object we might be remembered of our own mortality; as also to check those proud desires which are in man of an eternal abode and lasting happiness in this life. In that place of Job there is a monument of man's frailty set forth in all the elements: go to the land, and there is a post; go to the sea, and there is a swift ship; look to the air, and there is an eagle. The poets are much in deciphering the frail estate of man. Æschylus saith, man's life is κάπνου σκία, the shadow of smoke; and Pindarus, σκίας ὄναρ, the dream of a shadow. The similitude used here is that of a vapour. It were to trifle to show the resemblance in other things; it is brought only to show the swift passage of it, and because man's life is but a little warm breath tunned in and out by the nostrils; a narrow passage, and soon stopped, Isa. ii. 22.

Observe out of the whole verse two points:—

Obs. 1. That we have no of our lives and comforts, and the events of the next day. It is a common argument; heathens are much in it. Well, then, let every day's care be enough for itself, and live every day as the last day. Petrarch telleth of one who, being invited to dinner the next day, answered, Ego a multis annis crastinum non habui—I have not had a morrow for these many years. And Ludovicus Capellus telleth us of one Rabbi Eleazer, that advised men to but one day before their death, that is, presently; it may be the next before the last. It is a sad thing to promise ourselves many years, and to have our souls taken away that night; to measure out our time and years by our projects, and of a sudden we and all our `white thoughts perish, Ps. cxlvi. 4. Godly men wait for their change; upon others it cometh unexpected. It is observable, that of bad men it is said their souls are not resigned, but `taken away, Job xxvii. 8, `What hope hath the hypocrite, when God shall take away his soul?, So Luke xii. 20, `This night shall they take away thy soul., Wicked men would dwell longer in the body; their projects are never at an end, but of a sudden God cometh and snatcheth away their souls.

Obs. 2. Man's life is very short; it is a vapour that soon appeareth and disappeareth, dispersed as soon as raised: Ps. xxxix., `Surely every man walketh in a vain show., Though they toss to and fro, yet the whole course of their lives is but as a flying shadow; a little spot of time between two eternities. Austin doubteth whether to call it a dying life or a living death. (1.) This checketh those that pass away their time rather than it; prodigal of their precious time, as if they had too much of it. Our season is short, and we make it shorter. It is time for all of us to say, `The time past is more than enough to have wrought the wills of the flesh, 1 Peter iv. 3, or as it is, Rom. xiii. 11, `It is high time to awake out of sleep, &c., which was the scripture that Austin. (2.) If life be short, then moderate your cares and projects; do not cumber yourselves with too much provision for a short voyage. The ship goes the swifter the less it is burdened; men take in too much lading for a mere passage. (3.) Be more in spiritual projects, that you may lay up a foundation for a longer life than you have to live here; do much work in a little time. Shall we lose any part of that which is so short? or in a short life make way for a long misery? The apostle saith, 2 Peter i. 13, `I will put you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle., We are all shortly to divest ourselves of the upper garment of the flesh; let us do all the good that we can. Christ lived but thirty-two years, or thereabouts; therefore he `went about doing good, and healing every sickness, and every disease., Ministers pack their matter close when they have but a little time; so should you; you have but a short time, be the more diligent.

Ver. 15. For ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.

Having disproved their confidence, he proceeded to rectify it by pressing them to a holy and reverent remembrance of God's and their own frailty.

For ye ought to say, If the Lord will.—Here a doubt ariseth. Must we always of necessity use this form of speech, or such an express exception and reservation of ? I answer—(1.) It is good to accustom the tongue to holy forms of speech; it is a great help: the heart is best when there are such explicit and express exceptions of : `If the Lord please, `If the Lord will, `If it please the Lord that I live., A pure lip becometh a Christian, that they may be distinguished by their holy forms, as others are by their oaths, rotten speech, and unholy solicitations. Besides, it is useful to stir up reverence in ourselves, and for others, instruction. Such forms are confessions of divine and the uncertainty of human life. (2.) The children of God use them frequently: 1 Cor. iv. 19, `But I will come unto you shortly, if the Lord will;, so 1 Cor. xvi. 7, `I must a while with you, if the Lord permit;, so Rom. i. 10, `Making request, if by any means I might have a prosperous journey to come unto you;, so Phil. ii. 19, `I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly., The children of God know that all their goings are ordered by the Lord; therefore they often use these reservations of his will and power. See also Gen. xxviii. 20, and Heb. vi. 3. (3.) The very heathens, by the light of nature, were wont to use these forms with some religion, and would seldom speak of any purpose of theirs without this holy parenthesis. Plato bringeth in Alcibiades asking Socrates how he should speak, he answereth, Before every work thou must say, If God will. The Greek σὺν θεῷ, by the leave or blessing of God, was commonly used in the beginning of every undertaking. What was the practice of the oriental nations, with the story in Bensira, you may see in Gregory's `Observations on some Passages of Scripture, cap. 20. And for the story of the great Turk's murdering one of his Bassas for mentioning a confident purpose without any reservation of God's pleasure, you may see it in Lorinus and Salmeron on this place. (4.) When we use these forms, the heart must go along with the tongue: common speeches, wherein God's name is used, if the heart be not reverent, are but profanations. It is Austin's counsel, Do you learn to have in your hearts what every one hath in his tongue: the speeches are common, but the signification is useful. (5.) It is not always necessary to express these forms: though there must be always either implicitly or expressly a submission to the will of God, yet we cannot make it a sin. to omit such phrases. The holy men of God have often purposed things to come, and yet not formally expressed such conditions; as in the third epistle of John, ver. 10, ` when I come, I will remember his deeds;, and Rom. xv. 24, `Whensoever I take my journey to Spain, I will come to you, &c., and in other places.

Obs. All our undertakings must be referred to the will of God; not only sacred, but civil actions. Our journeys must not be undertaken without asking his leave; as Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 20 and xxiv. 12, `O Lord God of Abraham thy servant, send me good speed this day., No wonder, if this be neglected, that you meet with so many cross accidents; they do not come from your hard luck, but your profane neglect. But what is it to submit all our actions to the will of God? I answer—(1.) To measure all our actions by his revealed will, that is the rule of duty; we can look for no blessing but upon those ways that suit with it. There must be a submission to his secret will, but first a conformity to his revealed will. Lust hath its θελήματα, its wills, Eph. ii. 2; but we are to serve the will of God till we fall asleep, Acts xiii. 36. (2.) We must the more comfortably undertake any action when we see God in it: Acts xvi. 10, he gathered that God had called him to Macedonia. So when we see God, in the sweet means and course of his , or by inward instinct, guiding and leading us, we may with more encouragement walk in the way that he hath opened to us. (3.) When in our desires and requests we do not bind the counsels of God: Mat. xxvi. 39, `Not my will, but thine be done., In temporal things we must submit to God's will, both for the mercy, the means, and time of attainment. Creatures, that cannot ascribe to themselves, must not prescribe to God and give laws to , but must be content to want or have as the Lord pleaseth: if anything succeed not well, the Lord would not; that is enough to silence all discontents. (4.) We must constantly ask his leave in prayer, as before was urged. (5.) We must still reserve the power of God's , `If the Lord will, `If the Lord permit., God would not have us too confident; it is good to inure the soul to changes. Two things we should often consider to this purpose, and they are both in the text:—(1st.) The and dominion of : the Lord can blast your enterprise, though managed with never so much wisdom and contrivance; he can nip it in the bud, or check it in the very article of execution; and I have observed that usually God is very tender of his honour in this point, and usually frustrateth proud men that boast of what they will do, and conceive unlimited purposes, without any thought of the check they may receive in . It is a flower of the imperial crown of heaven, and the bridle that God hath upon the reasonable creature, to dispose of the success of human affairs; therefore herein God will be acknowledged: Prov. xvi. 9, `A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps., Man designeth, but the execution dependeth wholly upon God's will and . In peremptory resolutions there is a contest between us and heaven about will and power; therefore in such cases the answer of is more express and decisive to the creature's loss, that God may be acknowledged as Lord of success, and the first mover in all means and causes, without whom they have no force and efficacy. (2d.) Consider the frailty and uncertainty of your own lives; our being is as uncertain as the events of . If we live and God will, are the exceptions of the text, and do imply that there must be a sensible impression of our own frailty, as well as of the of , that the heart may the better submit to God. It is said, Ps. cxlvi. 4, `His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish., Frail men are full of thoughts and projects; this they will do, and that they will do; go to such a city, promote their interests by such an alliance, gain so much by such a purchase, and then they will raise up some stately fabric which shall continue their name and memory to succeeding generations, and all this because they do not mind the earth which they carry about them, and how soon the hand of is able to crumble it into dust. Certainly man will never be wise till he is able to number his days, and doth sufficiently possess his soul of the uncertainty of his abode in the world, Ps. xc. 12.