* Jiubebiua Neirembergius de Urigine Sacrse Scripturse, lib. xi. cap. 15-19.
A PREFACE TO THE WHOLE EPISTLE. 13
purpose, together with reasons to prove this to be the first New Testa- ment scripture that was written, and all to devolve the honour of the epistle upon the Spanish saint, Jacobus major; which yet is contrary to the decree of the Trent Council, which ascribeth it to James the brother of the Lord, Well, then, James the Less is the person whom we have found to be the instrument which the Spirit of God made use of to convey this treasure to the church. Much may be said of him, but I shall contract all into a brief sum. He was by his private calling an husbandman,! by public office in the church an apostle, and especially called to the inspection of the church in and about Jerusalem, either because of his eminency and near relation to Christ, or for the great esteem he had gained among the Jews ; and therefore, when the other apostles were going to and fro disseminating the word of life, James is often found at Jerusalem. (See Gal. i. 18, 19 ; Acts i. 14, 21 ; and xv. &c.) For his temper, he was of an exact strictness, exceeding just ; and therefore called Oblias, and James the Just ; yea, so just, that Josephus maketh the violence offered to him to be one of the causes of the Jewish ruin. (Joseph. Antiq., lib. xx. cap. 16.) Of so great temperance, that he drank neither wine nor strong drink, and ate no flesh. So pious, that his knees were made like a camel's hoof by frequent prayer. His death happened six years before that of Peter, thirty- eight years before that of John, in the sixty-third year of Christ, if chronology be true. He died a martyr ; they would have him persuade the people to abandon the doctrine of Christ, which, when he refused, and pressed the quite contrary, he was thrown down from a pinnacle of the temple, and his brains dashed out with a fuller's club, and so gave up the ghost. See these things set forth at large by Eusebius, lib. ii. cap. 23, et ihi citatos.
III. Thirdly, For the time when this epistle was written, it cannot be exactly stated. It is placed first among the catholic epistles, either as first written, or first received into the canon, though in the ranking of it there be a variety. In the Greek Bibles it sustaineth the same place which we assign to it. Some think the Epistle of Peter was first written ; but in so great an uncertainty who can determine anything ? Certain we are, that it was written after the heresies were somewhat grown, and before Jerusalem drew to its end ; for what St James threateneth, St Paul taketh notice of as accomplished, 1 Thes. ii. 16. Speaking of the people of the Jews, he saith, ' Wrath is come upon them, et? to reXo^, to the uttermost ; ' which is denounced in chap. v. of our apostle. The critical reader, that would know more of the time and order of this epistle, I refer to Eusebius Neirembergius, lib. xi. De Origine Sacr^e Scripturae, cap. 1.5.
IV. Fourthly, The persons to whom he wrote are specified in the first verse ' To the twelve tribes,' &c., which we shall explain anon; let it suffice for the present, that he writeth chiefly to those among them that were gained to the faith of Christ, though there be many passages interspersed which do concern the unbelieving Jews. See chap. V. 1, and the reasons there alleged in the exposition.
V. Fifthly, For the occasion, matter, and scope, you may take it
^ Clemens, lib. ii. Constit. Apostol., cap. 63.
14 A PREFACE TO THE TTHOLE EPISTLE.
thus : Certainly one great occasion was that which Austin i taketh notice of, to wit, the growth of that opinion in the apostles' days, that a bare, naked faith was cnongli to salvation, though good works were neglected. It is clear that some such thing was cried up by the school of Simon. Now, Samaria being nigh to Jerusalem, our apostle, whose inspection was mostly confined to those churches, might rather than others take notice of it. But this concerneth but a part of the epistle ; the more general occasion was the great degeneration of faith and manners, and the growth of libertine doctrines, as about God's being the author of sin, the sufficiency of empty faith, and naked profession, &c. When the world was newly ploughed and sowed with the gospel, these tares came up together with the good corn. As also to comfort God's children against the violence of the persecutions then exercised upon them, and to awaken the men of his own nation out of their Btupid security, judgments being even at the door, and they altogether senseless ; therefore the whole epistle is fraught with excellent in- structions how to bear afflictions, to hear the word, to mortify vile affections, to bridle the tongue, to conceive rightly of the nature of God, to adorn our profession with a good conversation, with meekness, and peace, and charity ; finally, how to behave ourselves in the time of approaching misery. All these, and many other doctrines, are scat- tered throughout the epistle, so that you may see it is exceeding useful for these times.