Conclusion. — Duties of the tempted and tried recapitulated and reinforced. 5:1-20.

1. 1-11. Swift to hear the revelations of the word; in regard to prosperous wickedness (ver. 1-6); and afflicted piety. Ver. 7-11.

1. Here the conclusion of the Epistle begins, recapitulating and enforcing the duties of the tempted and tried. In the first section (ver. i-u) the writer exhibits the end of those complications which disturbed the trust of the early believers in the providence of God, and made them slow to receive the assurances of the word. He indicates, therefore, the future of prosperous wickedness (ver. 1-6), and of afflicted piety. (ver. 7-11.) Yet there is no break in the discourse: having shown that worldly greed is impious and evil, he now considers its present workings and its final result. Go to now. This phrase, which is now obsolete, should read come now. It is a call to attention, indicating that something important and urgent is to be said. Here it introduces a prophetic denunciation.

Ye rich men. In the original, we have the nominative with the article, which is allowable in calling and commanding. The persons addressed are persons without the Christian pale. They are not only persons possessed of wealth, but also idolatrous of it, as the connection shows. (Luke 6:24.) They have secured that which their hearts chiefly value, and which they deem the source of happiness and the great aim of life. And they abuse it. (ver. 4.6.)

Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you — literally, weep, wailing for your miseries that are coming. This is not a call to repentance, like 4:9, but an animated proclamation of judgment. The implication is that the persons addressed would pursue their evil course, and reap the destructive consequences. However prosperous they seem, they must soon weep and wail, for their reverses and ruin are near at hand. And the sorrow should have no solace, because produced by a divine judgment. (Isa. 13:6.) The miseries are those attendant upon the destruction of Jerusalem ( Luke 19:43, 44), and also upon the final judgment. The two events, of which the former was the symbol and the pledge of the latter, are grouped together by James. The cares and anxieties which wealth brings with it are left out of sight, as unworthy of attention in view of the threatening calamities.

2. The coming judgment is figuratively described. The wealth of the Orientals consisted mainly in coin and clothing. See Acts 20:33. They trafficked in costly garments, or kept them for ostentation. (Ezra 2:69; Neh. 7:70.) Their riches were peculiarly insecure and perishable; they might even be "consumed before the moth." (Job 13:28; Isa. 50:9; 51:8; Matt. 6:19.)

Riches is the general term, under which garments and coin (ver. 3) are the specifications.

Are corrupted. The decay of the wealth is a figure to show that it had become worthless. The present tense indicates the certainty of the event predicted, and its near approach. Compare note on 5:7. "Wealth, with the curse of God upon it, is poverty and wretchedness.

Are moth-eaten — literally, are become moth-eaten. In this state the rich stuffs would be well nigh worthless, if not altogether so. Compare Isa. 51:8. "The moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool." The age in which the gospel was first preached to the poor was eminently an age of covetousness. The secret of happiness was supposed, even by the religious teachers of the Jewish people, to be discoverable in luxury and pleasure. (Matt. 23:4; Luke 16:14.) Hence they adopted any means, however unrighteous, to secure affluence. (Jos. "Ant." XIII. 3:4, 5.) They needed the stern admonition of James the Just, that while they felicitated themselves in being rich and increased in goods and having need of nothing, they were on the contrary wretched and destitute. Compare John's warning to the Church of Laodicea. (Rev. 3:17.) The communism and self-sacrifices of the Pentecostal believers were a generous reaction and protest against the spirit of their people and their times. (Acts 2.)

3. Continuation of the denunciation of the judgments which will befall the rich. Your gold and silver is cankered — literally, is rusted. The expression is hyperbolical; for gold and silver never rust. James does not refer to the black tarnish which unused silver contracts, or the green discoloration of hoarded gold; but to the loss of value which occurs in other metals through rust. The rusted metals correspond to the moth-eaten garments: they are worthless. The wealth which you have regarded as a substantial possession, and from which you promise yourselves so much, will be destroyed.

And the rust of them shall be a witness against you — literally, to you. According to our version the dative is that of advantage or disadvantage (dativus commodi et incommodi). The rendering to you implies that the rust that had gathered upon the unused treasures would testify to the hardheartedness of their possessors. Compare the words of Horace, "Odes," B. 2, Ode 2. "There is no brightness to silver concealed in the avaricious earth, O Crispus Sallust', a foe to wealth unless it shines by moderate use." According to the latter rendering the melancholy ruins of fortune would betoken the destruction of those who foolishly relied upon them.

And shall eat your flesh as it were fire. The judgment upon the riches extends also to their possessors. The 'flesh ' — literally, the fleshy parts — is a figure for the wealthy who are designated by that part of the body which they were wont to pamper. This is represented as consumed by the rust, as the fleshy parts of Jezebel were consumed by the dogs. (2 King. 89:36.) The keen anguish of the punishment is indicated by the gnawing fire, which tortures while it consumes. The divine judgments are oftentimes described as a devouring fire. (Ps. 21:9; Isa. 10:16, 17; 30:27; Mark 9:44; Amos 5; 6.) Destruction is usually implied; but the additional idea of torment clearly enters into it (Ezek. 15:7), as here. Not only the destruction of that which the rich prized above all things will afflict them with a pain as keen as if fire devoured their flesh, but to this will be added remorse for wasted opportunities, for criminal pleasures, and for the guilt incurred in the acquisition of deceitful riches.

Ye have heaped treasure together for (in) the last days. The vanity of the excessive pursuit of wealth by those whom James addressed was shown in the fact that the judgment they had incurred was just about to befall them. The inspired writers did not discriminate, in these warnings, between the last days of the Jewish polity (which were a type and prophecy of the final judgment), and the final judgment itself. They contented themselves in declaring the nearness of the "coming of the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:15; 1 John 2:18); and in Warning those to whom they spoke and wrote to be ready for it. This clause, as explained by what precedes, has a kindred meaning to that of Rom. 2:5. "But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasures! up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." These were the very days when the treasures amassed should bear their testimony, and call down the consuming sentence of God upon their guilty possessors. The covetous, who were laying up treasure even by fraud and oppression (ver. 4-6), ought rather to be making ready for the coming Judge, (ver. 8; Luke 17; 26-30.) See note on 5:7.

Note. — In ver. 3, 5, and 6, we have not changed the rendering in our Common Version of the aorist by the perfect, believing that an endeavor to preserve the precise character of the original in these instances would give an air of stiffness to the translation.

4. The ground of the judgment was the unrighteousness exercised in the acquisition and use of riches, (ver. 4-6.) Here unrighteousness toward laborers is specified. An improved translation of the present verse would be: "Behold the hire of the laborers who reaped your fields, which is fraudulently kept back by you, crieth out; ayid theories of those that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts." Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped your fields. 'Behold,' indicates that something worthy of earnest attention is about to be spoken. The mode in which the wealth had been accumulated was iniquitous. The money due to the laborers who had gathered harvests for the wealthy was withheld — Syriac " wrongfully retained" — a wrong which the law did not tolerate even for a single night, (Lev. 19:13.) Against such evil doers a woe was denounced (Jer. 22:13), and a swift judgment predicted. Mai. 3:5; compare Job 31:38, 39.

Crieth out — demanding vengeance as with a loud clamor, (Gen. 4:10; Exod. 2:23.) To Condemn to hunger those whose labors supply us with bread is a crime that cries to heaven. For they are more than hirelings: they are God's wards. The bounteous Giver of the harvest assigns a due portion thereof to those who gather it. To wrong even the hireling of the fields is to break an ordinance of heaven. (Ps. 126:5, 6.) In this age poverty was regarded as a crime and pity for the necessitous as a weakness. (Virgil," Geor." ii. 499. ) But Christianity came forth from the carpenter's shop at Nazareth, to dignify honest and useful labor, and to assert the right of the poor man to enjoy the fruits of his toil and satisfy the needs of his nature. A large number of the early Christians supported themselves by their daily labor, (i Thes. 4:11.)

And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (hosts). The almightiness of God to redress and avenge is indicated by the title " Lord of the (angelic) hosts." Compare Rev. 4:8 with Isa. 6:3. The Ruler of the armies of heaven has sovereign power over all the multitudes of earth among whom he represses the strong and saves the weak. (Rom. 9:29.) The hosts he gloriously rules are the stars and the angels. Ps. 24:10; compare Deut. 4:19; 1 Kings 22:19. And he hears the cry of the oppressed on earth, who appeal to him for deliverance. (Gen. 18:21; 19:13; Exod. 2:23; 3:9; 2 Sam. 22:7; Ps. 18:6; Isa. 5:9.) James uses the Hebrew title of the supreme King of the Universe, as he is writing to Jews among whom this title was familiar; it occurs not less than twenty-three times in Malachi.

5. The rich were also unrighteous in the use they made of their riches, which they devoted not to the relief of the weary and poor laborers, but to the gratification of their own lusts. While those by whom their wealth was created suffered, they lived in voluptuousness and debauchery. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton — Syriac, "revelled." Ye have lived in voluptuousness and in luxury. The picture of such a life had already been drawn by our Lord in the parable of the rich man. (Luke 16:19.) They sought for nothing higher than earthly delights, unmindful of that wrath which was about to be "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." (Rom. 1:18.) The form of the verb (the gnomic aorist) indicates that this was the habit and character of their lives.

Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter — better, ye have pampered your hearts in a day of slaughter. 'Your hearts' implies more than yourselves. Agreeably to the physiological views of antiquity, the heart and the stomach were closely connected; hence the idea of the pleasures of eating is here suggested. Compare Acts 14:17. (Winer.) 'In a day of slaughter' is not equivalent to for a day of slaughter, as some suppose, but is parallel to "in the last days." Ver. 8. See Jer. 12:3; 25:34. While they were carelessly and greedily pampering their appetites and passions, the day of their judgment had already dawned. They were like oxen feasting on a day of butchery; like Belshazzar revelling, while an armed and bloodthirsty foe was at his palace gates. (Luke 21:34.)

6. Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. Another sin of the rich was that they shamefully perverted the influence they had, in oppressing and even murdering the righteous. The original is more spirited than our rendering. It is: Ye have condemned, ye have killed the just man; he doth not resist you. The rich are charged with doing what they caused the judges and executioners to do, as well as with the guilt of those iniquitous sentences which they themselves pronounced and inflicted. The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude to reject the Lord. (Matt. 27:20.) And the same "rulers" (Acts 3:17) and "princes" (1 Cor. 2:8) who were guilty of the blood of the Lord were also foremost in the persecutions of his people. 'The just' (man) expresses the whole class, just as 'the poor' (man) does in 2:6. The case of Jesus is not specifically referred to, because James is charging the wealthy and powerful with a crime which they were accustomed to commit. A parallel to this passage is found in "Wisdom of Solomon 2:10-20. It is an interesting circumstance that James himself was commonly Known as "the Just," even among the Jews. Hegesippus thus describes his martyrdom: "The Scribes and Pharisees threw down the Just from the pinnacle of the temple, and said, ' Let us stone James the Just! ' and they began to stone him; for he had not been killed by the fall, but turning round, knelt and said: 'I beseech thee, Lord God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' But while they were thus stoning him, one of the fullers took the club with which he used to press the clothes and struck the head of the Just. Thus he suffered martyrdom." The legend, to which indeed little importance is to be given, serves nevertheless to illustrate the meaning of our text. 'He doth not resist you.' This circumstance emphasizes the unrighteousness and criminality of the rich, who are unmoved by the patient sufferings of their innocent victims. It also implies that, being allowed full scope of action here, they might the more certainly expect to be called to account for their conduct hereafter. (Amos 2:6, 7; 5:12; 8:4.) That a menace is involved in the expression appears from what immediately follows. The meekness of the just is "the dead calm before the earthquake."

7. Suffering believers are cheered, and are exhorted to patient endurance, (ver. 7-11.) Be patient therefore, brethren. The 'brethren' are contrasted with the rich and powerful, and are assigned to the class of the just (ver. 6) whom thcse persecute. And they must vindicate their claim to this high association by exhibiting the long suffering which is a distinguishing characteristic of the just, when under persecution for righteousness' sake.

Unto (until) the coining of the Lord. The return of Christ is pointed to as a day of retribution, when the good and the evil would, each of them, experience the destiny he had been preparing for. After Christ's coming, the just, now suffering on earth, would become blessed spirits in the better world. Like their Master, they would exchange the cross for the crown. The early Christians had no knowledge of the time of this coming, which yet they supposed to be nigh; and they could not distinguish between his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and his coming to judge the world. The former was the foreshadowing and the assurance of the latter.

Behold the husbandman waiteth, etc. Instead of and hath long patience for it, road being patient over it; and instead of until he receive, read until it receive. It is the opinion of some interpreters that a drought prevailed during the very year when this Epistle was written. Compare Acts 11:28. This circumstance would give special weight and aptness to the illustration. The same illustration occurs in Eccles. 6:19, The husbandman after sowing is not hopeless or impatient, because some time must elapse before the harvest appears to reward his toil. And, like him, the Christian must keep himself in patience until the precious fruit, of his toils for God is matured and reaped. There were two heavy rainfalls in Palestine — one in autumn, the other in spring (Deut. 11:14; Jer. 5:24; Joel 2:23), the rainy season extending from October until March. When these duly appeared, a good harvest might reasonably be expected. The "early rain" fell in the month of October; the "latter," in the month of March. By the first the soil was softened for husbandry; by the second, the swelling grain was fed.

Note. — 'The coming of the Lord' specifically denotes the visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven to raise the dead, to hold the final judgment, and to establish the kingdom of God solemnly and gloriously. (2 Thess. 1:6, 7.) In general it indicates any particular interposition for the punishment of Messiah's enemies, or for the discipline or deliverance of his people, (phu. *:5; Heb. 10:25.) Hence the judgments about to befall the churches of Asia Minor were described as the personal visitations of Christ. (Rev. 2:5, 16.) "/ will come quickly, and take away thy candlestick." (Rev. 2:5.) " /wi^^ come on thee quickly." It is clear enough that the early Christians could not distinguish between such occasional visitations of the Heavenly King and his final coming. Hence both were confounded in the question of the disciples. (Matt.24:3.) "Tell US wheu shall these things [the calamities of Jerusalem] be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Nor have we any reason to suppose that the disciples were afterwards apprised of the time fixed either for Christ's return to destroy the Jewish State, or to judge the world.

The Lord indeed taught his disciples that the two events were not simultaneous. In the account given by Matthew, we have the answer to the questions of the disciples in regard to both events. Mark and Luke give Christ's explanation of but one — the destruction of Jerusalem, which was to be preceded by signs and portents; the other should come like a thief in the night. See my article on "The Coming of Christ," in Ford's "Repository,'' March. 1879. Paul also distinguished between the Comings. He warned the Philippians that "the Lord was at hand." (Phil. 4:5.) But he urged the Thessalonians not to be disturbed by the impression that the day of Christ was at hand, declaring that the times were not yet ripe for our Lord's coming. These texts would be contradictory, unless different comings had been intended. All the disciples looked for the Lord's appearing (Col. 3:4), yet Peter also, like Paul, warned his readers against expecting the speed3' advent of Christ, reminding them that "one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2Peter3:8.9.)

How, then, shall we explain those passages which imply that the day of Christ might at any moment break upon the world? In three respects the coming of Christ was near. 1. Christ comes at the day of death, when the destiny is forever decided. (2 Cor. 5:8.) Those who are "absent from the body" are "present with the Lord." This day is near to every one. 2. The overthrow of the Jewish polity was at hand when the epistles were written. This event was aptly described as a day of divine visitation; for it vindicated the honor of Christ, rolled away the reproach of his death, arrested the persecutions of his people, and gave them' new proofs of his guardian care; for, warned by his prophecy (Matt. 24:15-18.), they had already betaken themselves to a safe retreat in Pella, beyond Jordan, when their enemies were falling beneath the Roman sword. 3. The general judgment was near as computed by the Dispensations of the eternal God (2 Peter 3:8, 9), who measures the ages by his own existence, and to whom our ages are "as yesterday," and "as a watch in the night." (Ps.90:4.) It must also be observed that the prophets, like all speakers passionately assured of the future, use the figure of promptness or nearness to indicate certainty. Lowth, in his "Lectures on Hebrew Poetry" (§ 15, p. 162, Lond. Ed., 1836), calls attention to the frequency with which the prophets use the present tense to indicate what will certainly occur in the future, as in the prophetic narrative of Sennacherib's invasion of Palestine. Isa. 10:28-32. Compare the burden of Babylon, Isa. 13:6: "The day of the Lord is at hand." Also the punishment of Israel, Ezek. 7:6: "The end is come," etc. So with the primeval curse, which was not immediately inflicted, nor is yet exhausted, Gen. 2:17: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And so with the gospel promise of deliverance, John 5; 25: 'The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." In this way the certainty of the event was indicated, and the attention of men was fixed upon the prophecy. The same figure, the hypotyposis, is familiar in secular poetry and oratory.

8. The appeal, with the motive for heeding it, is renewed. Patience is encouraged by the nearness of the Lord's coming, (1 Peter 4:7; Rom.13:11.) Storr's " Diss. on Kingdom of Heaven," §9. Be ye also patient. 'Also' refers to the husbandman, who is an example in patience to the believer.

Stablish (or strengthen) your hearts by anticipating the Advent of Christ, when the injustice and violence of men will be redressed. Patience is the attribute — not, as is commonly supposed, of the weak, but of the strong (1 Thess. 3:13, 1 Peter 5:10); and Christian hope is the secret of Christian strength. Plumptre: "The promise of the Second Advent has been to believers in Christ what the promise of the First Advent was to Abraham and the patriarchs. They saw the far-off fulfillment, knowing not the times and the seasons, and it made them feel that they were 'pilgrims and strangers' (Heb. 11:13), and so purified and strengthened them." And, so far as the case of those to whom James wrote was concerned, the coming of the Lord to redeem them from the persecutions inflicted upon them by a proud and dominant Judaism, was near at hand; although, as the event proved, the time of the general and final retribution was yet far distant. The early disciples were assured of the certainty of the Lord's coming, and were taught that it might be expected at anytime. (2 Thess. 1:4-8.) Thus they were encouraged patiently to wait for it. But they were also warned against undue excitement, or any presumption in regard to it. (2 Thess. 2:1-4), and were admonished that God's appointed time might embrace centuries in its sweep. (2Peter3:8.) Compare Angus. "Christ our Life," 323-333.

NOTE. — The frequent appeals enjoining patience and hope are thought by Bensen and Stanley to indicate the year 42 as the date of the Epistle, a period when a train of calamities befell that vast Jewish population dwelling upon the plains of Babylonia (Stanley, " Essays and Sermons," p. 294), when, in the expressive language of Milman ("Hist. Jews," 2:185): "The skirts of that tremendous tempest, which was slowly gathering over the native country and metropolis of the devoted people, first broke, and discharged their heavy clouds of ruin and desolation, one by one, over each of their remoter settlements."

9. Another admonition founded on the approach of the Judgment. Judge not one against another — that is. Murmur not. Those who suffer are wont to complain, and easily become fretful and captious toward their nearest and must loved associates. They groan because they suffer more than others who are, they think, more faulty than themselves, or because they do not receive from others due attention and sympathy. They easily imagine themselves the unhappy victims of inhumanity or injustice. And, as our Epistle shows, such complaints were not always without foundation.

Lest ye be condemned. For if the complaint were groundless, the false judgment would be criminal; if it were just, the complainant would have usurped the prerogatives of the coming Judge — an office most unsuitable for a sinful man, who is soon to stand his own trial before the Searcher of hearts. Another thought is suggested by the use of the word brethren. Dinter: "Even he who has injured still remains thy brother, thy Father's son, the purchase of thy Redeemer — one to whom thou must wish good rather than evil."

Behold the judge standeth before the door — that is, at the door. (Literally, before the doors.) This expression indicates the nearness of the judge, who might present himself at any moment. (Matt. 24:33: Mark 13:29.) He will best know and judge what awards to impart and to inflict. And the rule of his judgment will condemn the uncharitable (Matt. 7:1), to whom he will assign the measure which they have meted out to others.

[In the textus reccptus there is no article before the word 'judge,' but the autliors of our Common Version inserted one, because the context leaves no room for doubt that James refers to the Supreme Judge. And a careful examination of the best MSS. shows that they have the article. This is true of א A B K L P, while no important uncial sustains the textus receptus in omitting the article. Let the work of textual criticism be encouraged, till the sources of knowledge have all been examined. — A. H.]

10. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken, etc. The rendering is improved by omitting 'my,' which is not expressed in the original, and by changing 'have spoken' into spoke.

For an example of suffering affliction, and of patience — better, an example of affliction, and of patience. 'An example' to cheer the heart, and an example to influence the conduct of suffering: believers, was afforded by the history of the prophets of earlier times. (Matt. 5:12.) The favor they had with God, and the dignity of the office they bore, did not exempt them from suffering; nor did their afflictions, however unmerited and extreme, induce them to surrender their trust in God, or renounce their sacred, but arduous mission. They relied on the grace of him who sent them, and they expected a final reward at his hands. 'The prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord,' who uttered their warnings, promises, and appeals by divine authority. (Jer. 20:9; 44:16; Dan. 9:6.) They protested against the worship of idols, and against the prevalent vices of their people, as transgressions of the law of God, and, on this account, they were all of them persecuted, and some of them killed. (Malt, 23:29, 30; Luke 13:33, 34.) There Were also prophets in the Christian churches (1 Cor. 12:10; Eph. 2:20; Rev. 22:9), who were exposed to similar trials; but James could not have referred to these, inasmuch as his Epistle was written to them, as well as to other believers, all of whom he sought to inspire by the recollections of the heroic days of old. (Heb. 11:35-38.) Yet there was a close relationship between the Old and the New Testament prophets; they both were instructed in the divine mysteries and purposes of grace, and communicated them to others. Hence, in the case of the Old Testament prophets, says Cremer (p. 569): "Their preaching was a predicting, a foretelling of the salvation yet to be accomplished: while, in the case of the New Testament prophets, it was a 2nibiication of the salvation already accomplished.'" Hence, in Eph. 3:5; 2:20, they are named side by side with apostles as the foundation of the Church. They were for the Church what the seers of old were for Israel, and needed the encouragement of their memorable example.

11. Nor was the case of the prophets peculiar in this respect. The entire class of triumphant sufferers to which they belonged is now honored and blest. (Matt. 24:13.) Behold, we count them happy which endure — read, who have endured. We assure ourselves that God has not left the pious sufferers of the past unrewarded. (Matt. 5:12.) Among these. Job (to whose history this is the only New Testament reference) was conspicuous. This patriarch, whom James recognizes as a real character, was a memorable example of patient endurance under troubles and unmerited reproaches. The story of Job was recited in the synagogue reading, and must have been generally known. It is referred to in Ezek. 14:14-20. Paul quotes from the book (5:13) in 1 Cor. 3:19. What the Jews knew of their law and history was chiefly derived from oral instruction; hence, hearing is more frequently mentioned than reading. This was the case even with the rich and noble. (1 Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 12:11; Isa. 29:18; Jer. 36:4; Rev. 1:3.)

And have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. According to Tischendorf the reading should be: "Behold also the end of the Lord" — the happy result which the Lord brought forth from the affliction (genitive of cause); and see from this history ' that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.' No finer example could James present (save that of the First of Sufferers) than that of the patriarch whose story exhibits the extremes of prosperous integrity, terrible sufferings, persistent endurance, glorious deliverance, and eminent blessedness — a portentous yet transient thunder-cloud which passes away with a rainbow of peace and promise on its breast. The sufferings of his servant brought out into brighter relief the tender compassions of God. Believers might be assured from this history that God would not lay upon them more than they were able to bear, nor let them suffer longer than was necessary and beneficial to them.

Upon the history of this patriarch and the book that records it, Herder ("Hist. Heb. Poetry," Dial. 5, ad finem) eloquently remarks: " If he, the patient sufferer, was here the recorder of his own afflictions and triumphs, of his own wisdom, first victorious in conflict and then humbled in the dust, how blest has been his trials, how richly rewarded his pains! In a book full of imperishable thoughts, he still lives, gives utterance to the sorrows of his heart, and extends his triumph over centuries and continents. Not only, according to his wish, did he die in his nest, but a phoenix has sprung forth from his ashes, and from that odorous nest is diffused an incense which gives, and will forever give, reviving energy to the faint and strength to the powerless. He has drawn down the heavens to the earth, encamped their host invisibly around the bed of languishing, and made the afflictions of the sufferer a spectacle to angels; yea, has taught that God looks with watchful eye upon his creatures, and exposes them to the trial of their integrity for the maintenance of his own truth and the promotion of his own glory." (5:11.)

A brilliant literary genius of England has confounded heaven itself with such a posthumous influence, regarding it as her noblest aim to live:

In thoughts sublime that pierce the world like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge men's search
To vaster issues. This is life to come,
Which martyred men have made more glorious
For us who strive to follow. May I reach
That purest heaven, be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused.
And in diffusion ever more intense, —
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.

                                                          — George Eliot.

All these high aspirations religion encourages, but it gives them a scope and a preciousness of which the gifted sceptic had no knowledge:it crowns them with the revelation of a personal God, and the assurance of a personal immortality.

2. 5:12-18. Slowness to speak. Religious use of the tongue, not in swearing (ver. 12); but in prayer and song (ver. 13-18); in seasonable worship (ver. 13); intercessory worship (ver. 14-16); trustful worship. Ver. 16-18.

12. As the previous verses of this chapter (1-11) recapitulated and enforced the duties of tried believers, as demanded by reverence for the divine word (they must be swift to hear), James now recalls the second theme of the Epistle (slow to speak), giving warnings and directions in regard to the pious use of the tongue. (Ver. 12-18.) The tongue, he observes, in the first place, must not be employed in swearing, (ver. 12.) There must be no irreverence in its most sacred act, the utterance of the name of God in an appeal to his throne. Above all things, my brethren, swear not. This warning is to be laid to heart as the most important of all. It reproduces our Lord's injunction. (Matt. 5:33.37.) That solemn judicial oaths are not prohibited to Christians is evident from our Lord's answer to Caiaphas, when put on oath in the usual form (Matt. 26:63, 64); and from Paul's use; in his inspired writings, of expressions which are of the nature of an oath. (Rom. 1:9; 2 Cor. l:23; Gal. 1:20; Phil. 1:8.) It is also evident from the fact that swearing in the name of God was not only permitted under the Old Dispensation (Deut.6:13; 10:20; Ps.63:11), but was even predicted by the prophets as a sign of the future conversion of the world to God. (Isa. 65:16; Jer. 12:16; 23:7, 8.) It is the careless and the familiar use of oaths which James condemns. A careless oath is criminal, because every oath involves an appeal to God. (Man. 23:16-22.) A habitual oath is criminal, because it depreciates the simple word, and shows an indifference to truth, "which stands in striking contrast with the earnestness of the Christian Spirit." Clement of Alexandria ("Strom." vii. 8) proudly remarks that "it is indignity for a Christian to be put upon his oath." The yes or no of a true man always suffices. The forms of swearing here mentioned were those common among the Jews.

Lest ye fall into condemnation. This shows the importance of the prohibition. The frivolous swearer will incur the judgment of the Great Day. Profane expletives were common in our Lord's day, and then, as now, they were expressions of impiety toward God, and the resort of fraud and falsehood toward men. (Matt. 23:16-22.) And the irreverence for God, thus displayed and encouraged, strikes at the foundation of religion and morality. Hence, James' emphatic 'above all.'

13. Yet while God's name should not be abused by trivial oaths, every occasion of life should recall it. The afflicted should pour out their hearts to him in prayer, the joyful in sacred song. These are the proper modes of appeal to God. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. The affliction may be either of the mind or of the body. The pain is softened, and the murmur is hushed, as the suffering Christian reminds himself of the wisdom, power, and love of God, and submits himself trustfully to the divine providence. Thus he receives guidance and help, and is strengthened for the courageous endurance of his sufferings.

Is any merry (cheerful)! Let him sing psalms — literally, let him play — that is, upon the harp. As such music (the psalm) was the accompaniment of sacred song, it came to indicate the words themselves. The "psalm," as distinguished from the hymn and the spiritual song, required the use of an instrument of music. See Trench on New Testament Synonyms, Part II., § 28. The "hymn" was a song of praise. The "spiritual song" was a lyrical expression of Christian experience. All these varieties were familiar to Christian antiquity, as we learn from Col. 3:16 (consult Lightfoot on the passage), and Eph. 5:19. We may suppose James to have embraced them all in his injunction. Prosperity and happiness cease to be seductive when they are traced to their Author, and welcomed as the gift of a loving Father. Gratitude to God will lead to a wise use of fortune. The character of worship must correspond with the sad or the cheerful spirit of the worshiper. Hence the prayer must be genuine and true. (John 4:23, 24.) In regard to the worship by music, Plumptre remarks: "It is perhaps specially characteristic of James that he contemplates what we may call the individual use of such music, as well as the congregational, as a help to the spiritual life. We are reminded of two memorable instances of this employment in the lives of George Herbert and Milton. Compare also Hooker's grand words on the power of Psalmody' and Music. 'Eccl. Polity,' V. 38." Pliny, in his letter to Trajan (Ep. 9:7), speaks of the hymns which the early Christians used to sing among themselves to Jesus Christ as God. None of these hymns survive; yet some of the passages in the epistles, which are full of lyric rapture, may give some idea of what they were. Such is the hymn to Christian love in 1 Cor. 13, and the paean of Christian assurance in Rom. 8:31-39. See also 1 Tim. 3:16, which rings like a battle-song. Compare Pressens6, "Apost. Era," p. 372, s. In the age to which the gospel was given. Christian life spontaneously expressed itself in song. (Actsie:25.) One of the most laudable objects of the systems of modern education is the recovery of this last accomplishment which, after having been made an art too fine for popular use in the last century, has been well nigh supplanted by instrumental music in this. Personal enjoyment of singing, which is all that James here specifies, would lead to congregational singing. Mr. Ellerton sketches the liturgical use of hymns in Smith's "Diet. Antiq.," p, 801,§ 99. those afflicted by sickness, (ver.14-16.) Is any sick among you? The language is general, seeming to indicate any case of sickness (Matt. 10:8;  Luke 4:40); but the Connection would Seem to imply that the case intended was that of one who, in addition to his bodily aliment, was also suffering spiritually, and was shaken in faith. For, in addition to the remedy customarily used for the relief of pain (Mark 6:13; Luke 10; 34), prayer was also to be employed for the cure and the forgiveness of the patient. (ver. 15.)

Let him call for the elders of the church. These were the presiding officers of the church (the name having been transferred from the synagogue) who were more than one in number, because anciently there seems to have been but one church in a city or community, with several preaching places, instead of separate churches as now. (Acts 20:17.) They were in no respect different from bishops, their Greek title (as Jerome on Titus 1:7 admits). Hence the names of elders and bishops are interchanged (Acts 20:17,28; tuusI:5,7), and so also are the offices. (1 Peter 5:1,2.) Besides the extraordinary office of the apostle (an eye witness of the resurrection, Acts 1:22), there were but two ecclesiastical officers, that of the bishop and that of the deacon. (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1,8.) From the diverse origin and associations of these titles, the name bishop marked the duty, that of elder the dignity of the same office. In the case of affliction here indicated these officers were to be called in.

And let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The oil was not to be used to produce any magical effect; for it was, as we observed above, the common means of healing. Celsus prescribed rubbing with olive oil as a remedy for fever. Herod used oil baths. To its use in healing an allusion is made by the prophet Isaiah, (1:6) Yet in connection with its use, as doubtless in the case of the disciples (Mark 6:13), a new efficacy was communicated to the friendly ministry by the prayer of faith, (ver. 15.) The elders prayed, as the organs of the Church, and in dependence upon the blessing of the Lord, in whose name the act was done. On the supposition that the gifts of healing (1 Cor. 12:9), with other miraculous powers of the early Church, have ceased, the Greek Church observes the injunction of James by the united prayer of the elders for the cure of the sick, the natural remedies being also used — a practice warranted by the inspired injunction. The Roman Catholic Church has adopted, instead, an ordinance of its own invention called the sacrament of extreme unction, which is administered not as here to those who may hope for recovery, but only to dying persons, and which is supposed to impart to them spiritual healing. This sacrament is entirely unwarranted by James' teachings, which now are followed when we use the appropriate means of healing, and pray and trust that God will make them effectual, and when, with still stronger faith, we invoke spiritual blessings upon the sufferer, whom Satan hath bound. (Luke 13:16.) How strangely the simple direction has been abused! Oil when blessed by a bishop is regarded by Romanists as having a miraculous efficacy, as imparting spiritual blessings, and even investing lifeless objects with sanctity. Hence it becomes an object of superstitious veneration. "The prayers" says Fleury, " may in case of necessity be omitted, and the unction alone used." Edgar has an instructive chapter upon this subject (chap. 15) in his "Variations of Popery." Mr. Scudamore gives a learned and dry account of sacerdotal and sacramental follies in oil, in Smith's "Diet. Chris. Antiq.," pp. 2000.

15. Such intercessory prayer is encouraged by the salutary result that may be expected from it. And the prayer of faith shall (will) save the sick — Syriac, "will heal him who is sick." The prayer of faith (genitive of the subject) is the prayer which faith offers. The elders who offer the prayer must have confidence in its acceptance. (John 14:13, 14.) Yet the faith of the sick man who has sent for them, and prays with them, is also implied. Compare Matt. 9:22; Luke 7:50; 8:48, and so many other cases where our Lord in healing had regard to the faith of the sufferer. In this case, not the oil, but the prayer is represented as instrumental in procuring the desired blessing. On account of this, the Lord Jesus (Aot.s9:34) will raise the sick man from his bed of languishing.

And if he have committed sins, they (it) shall be forgiven him. Even if the sickness should have been caused by the man's sins (compare 1 Cor. 11:30), the case would not be desperate. In response to the prayer of faith, the sins themselves should be forgiven, of which the cessation of the sickness would be the evidence. The absoluteness of the promise diplays the coloring of the age of miracles (1 Cor. 12:9), yet it must not be confined to that age; wherever a corresponding faith is exercised, a corresponding result will occur. See this subject as unfolded in Dr. Mell on "Prayer." The ordinary petition of faith has the humble limitation, "not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. 26:39.) Yet such a faith, while it does not demand the healing of the body, may not the less confidently assure itself of the forgiveness of the contrite, believing soul, Plumptre: "It is noticeable that the remission of sins thus promised is dependent not on the utterance of the quasi-judicial formula of the absolvo te (that was not used indeed at all until the thirteenth century) by an individual priest, but on the prayers of the elders as representing the Church. Compare John 20:23, where also the promise is in the plural, "Whosesoever sins ye remit." Under a spiritual dispensation a merely verbal, official forgiveness has no value; evil is not conquered except by faith, which, deriving strength from a higher sphere, struggles with it, casts it away, and rises beyond it "into magnificence of rest." See Ruskin's illustration of this principle in art, "Modern Painters," p. 300.

16. The general conditions upon which such grace is imparted are mutual confessions and prayer, to which accordingly believers are exhorted. Confess your faults (transgressions) one to another. According to the Vatican manuscript, Confess therefore, etc. The exhortation implies that the sick man confessed his transgressions to the elders, when they prayed for him, acknowledging his sins against God and his fellow-men; and it further requires that such confessions should be made not only by the private members of the church to the elders, but by believers to each other. These confessions might be in public, as those mentioned in Matt. 3:6; Acts 19:18, 19, or such as are made in the class meetings of Methodists; or they might be in private intercourse. (1 John 1:9.) The confession of wrong doing and of desert of punishment, as it is the first step of reformation, is therefore a condition of forgiveness. And, like the confessions, the mutual prayers might also be in public or private. The intercessions of believers for each other have as large a scope and as rich a promise as the intercessions of the elders for the sick. Here, however, without excluding necessarily its proper meaning, the healing is used in a figurative sense, as in Heb. 12:13; 1 Peter 2:24, having special reference to the spiritual maladies, of which the "transgressions" were the symptoms.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. It is difficult to decide upon the precise meaning of the participle here translated by the two words effectual fervent. It signifies an in working prayer — a prayer by which the worshiper is, as it were, possessed (Rom. 8:26), and which is therefore fervent and strenuous, and will take no denial. Compare Gal. 2:8; Eph. 3:20. That such desires for the welfare of others, or for the prosperity of the cause of Christ, will be accompanied by active exertions, follows as a matter of course. The prayers must be those of a 'righteous man ' — that is, a man whose will is in conformity with the will of God.

17. An incident in the history of the prophet Elijah shows the power of such prayer. (ver. 17, 18.) Elias was a man, subject to like passions as we are. Instead of 'subject to,' etc., read of like passions with us. Thus the great prophet is described by James, in order that his readers might be persuaded to follow his example. He was not elevated above the ordinary conditions of our humanity, but was a man of like constitution and nature with ourselves. Compare Acts 14:15, having the same feelings and passions as we. Syriac. "Of sensations like us.'

And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. This prayer of Elijah is not mentioned in the ancient record, (1 Kings 17:18.) Yet the statement of James suffices; and indeed it may be concluded that Elijah was a man of prayer, not only on account of his steadfast faith (1 Kings 17:1), but from the incidental account of his posture as a worshiper on the summit of Carmel. (1 Kings 18:42.) There is an allusion to this history in Rev. 11:6, 12.

And it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. Luke 4:25 makes the same statement as to the duration of the drought. This is not contradicted by the account of the termination of the drought in the third year, if we suppose that "the third year" marks the length of Elijah's residence at Zarephath, which, allowing a year for his seclusion at the Brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:2-8), would be the fourth year of the famine. 'The earth' may signify only the chastised land of Palestine. Compare Luke 4:25; 21:23; Rom.9:28. A similar drought occurred at about the time when James wrote. The people were instant in prayer; and at a time when the clouds promised no response were blest with a copious shower. Jos. "Ant.," 18:8, 6. Eusebius mentions a parallel instance of an answer to prayers for rain in the case of the Thundering Legion in the war with the Marcomanni. " Hist." 5:5.

18. And he prayed again — better, and again he prayed. It is noticeable that this second prayer, uttered by Elijah, was founded upon the promise previously given, before he set forth from Zarephath. (1 Kings 18:1-42.) This circumstance suggests that the first prayer also was preceded by a revelation of God's will. Without such warrant, it is not safe to invoke a judgment upon wrongdoers, whether of drought or of fire "as Elijah did."

And the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit — such as she is accustomed to bear. Both these personifications express strikingly the success of Elijah's prayer. And the refreshment and relief thus obtained encourages our intercessions for others, that they may receive the richer blessings of the skies. For here too a promise may be pleaded: "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." (Isa. 44:3-5.) Perhaps this latent suggestion in the passage prepared the way for the succeeding verses which relate to the conversion and salvation of souls.

3. Slowness to wrath. Instead of striving with men as rivals or persecutors, seek to save them. Ver. 19, 20.

19. Instead of the wrath, which James denounces as contrary to the genius of the gospel (3:13; 4:17), he exhibits the Christian spirit as a loving interest in the salvation of sinners — a thought with which the Epistle appropriately ends. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth — better, if any one among you be led astray from the truth. The expression indicates a wandering away from the principles of the gospel, and from such a course of life as those principles require and enforce; it embraces errors of the understanding, such as unbelief and superstition, and also departures from the ways of duty and virtue. The word of truth is the word of life, and the way of truth is the way of life.

And one convert him — recall the wandering soul to faith and virtue. Such was the grand office assigned to John the Baptist among the erring Jews at the beginning of the Gospel Dispensation. (Luke 1:16, 17.) And to the same sublime office of philanthropy is every Christian called.

20. Let him (the converter) know the great results achieved by such evangelistic undertakings and labors. That he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way. The general definition of a sinner is a wanderer from the truth, (ver. 19.) Error is the contrast to the truth. This proposition, which serves as the foundation of Wollaston's ingenious treatise on "The Religion of Nature," § 1, on Moral Good and Evil, pp. 4-52, is here assumed as undoubtedly true. Just as certainly as truth saves, error degrades and destroys.

Shall save a soul from death. The 'soul ' is that spiritual part which, through the divine blessing and in the use of the means of grace, may attain eternal salvation, and which, on the other hand, by the neglect or rejection of the gospel, incurs eternal ruin. He who converts a sinner saves a soul from destruction, and thus secures for an endangered and guilty fellow creature an eminent and abiding good. Of all philanthropists, the zealous, loving Christian is the greatest. He alone saves the soul from the loss of that life which alone is worth the living; from that misery begotten by sin, beginning on earth, enduring and increasing after the death of the body, and continuing forever.

And shall hide (cover) a multitude of sins. This is commonly regarded as meaning that the sins of the person converted are, as it were, hidden from the eyes of God, in being forgiven. These are 'a multitude'; for every act of a moral agent has a moral character, and therefore a heart at enmity to God is perpetually sinning against him. "The plowing of the wicked is sin." Yet we prefer to regard the phrase as having the meaning of the parallel passages, Prov. 10:12; 1 Peter 4:8, etc., whose theme is the covering of sins by charity. Labor for the spiritual welfare of others would be the most effective way of soothing the discords which James is here recalling, as he shows the more excellent way of charity. Christians would find it easier to forgive the wrongs and insults of others, if they regarded others as fellow sinners needing the gospel and journeying with them to the bar of God. However numerous these sins may be. Christian charity can cover them all. Solomon says: "Love covereth all sins." Peter says: " Love shall cover the multitude of sins." It can hardly be in a different meaning that James uses the same proverbial phrase. The Syriac reads: "He who turneth the sinner from the error of his way will resuscitate his soul from death, and will cover the multitude of his sins."