^ ' Ferendo discimus perferre ; solidissima para est corporis, quam frequens usus agita- vit.' — Seneca.
VOL. IV. C
34 AN EXruSlTION, WITH KOTES, [Jas. I. 4.
on the left, by patience ag;ainst tlie hardships of the workl. You see we cannot be Christians without it ; so, also, not men. Christ saith, ' In patience possess your souls/ Luke xxi, 19. A man is a man, and doth cujoy himself and his life by patience : otherwise we shall but create needless troubles and disquiets to ourselves, and so be, as it were, dispossessed of our own lives and souls — that is, lose the comfort aud the quiet of them.
Ver. 4. But let jMiience have her perfect luork, tliat you may he 'perfect and entire, loanting in nothing.
Here he cometh to siiow what patience is right, by way of exhorta- tion, pressing them to perseverance, integrity, and all possible perfec- tion. I will open what is difficult in the verse.
"Epjov reXeiov, her perfect loork. — For tlie opening of this, know that in the apostle's time there were divers that with a great deal of zeal bore out tlie first brunt, but being tired, either with the diversity or the length of evils, they yielded and fainted ; therefore he wisheth them to tarry till patience were thoroughly exercised, and its perfection discovered. The highest acts of graces are called the perfection of them : as of Abraham's faith we say, in ordinary speech, there was a perfect faith ; so when patience is thoroughly tried by sundry and long afflictions, we say there is a perfect patience. So that the perfect work of patience is a resolute perseverance, notwithstanding the length, the sharpness, and the continual succession of sundry afflictions. One trial discovered patience in Job ; but when evil came upon evil, and he bore all with a meek and quiet spirit, that discovered patience perfect, or sufficiently exercised. It followeth : —
Tliat you may be perfect and entire, loanting in nothing. — The apostle's intent is not to assert a possibility of perfection in Christians : ' We all fail in many things,' James iii. 2. And all that we have here is but in part : 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, ' We know in part, and we prophesy in i)art ; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.' Here grace must needs be imperfect, because the means are imperfect. But his meaning is either that we should be sincere, as sincerity is called perfection in scripture: Gen. xvii. 1, ' Walk before me, and be thou perfect; ' so it is in the original and marginal reading, what in our translation is, ' be thou upright;' or else it is meant of the perfection of duration aud perse- verance ; or rather, lastly, that perfection is intended which is called the perfection of ])arts, — that Ave might be so perfect, or entire, that no necessary grace might be lacking — that, having other gifts, they nn'ght also have the gift of patience, and the whole image of Christ might be completed in them — that nothing might be wanting which is necessary to make up a Christian. Some, indeed, make this a legal sentence, as ini[)lyiiig what (iod may in justice require, and to what we should in con.^cience aim — to wit, exact perfection, Ijoth in parts and degrees. It is true this is beyond our jiower ; but because we have lost our power, there is no reason God siiould lose his right. It is a saying of Austin, i 0 homo, in praceptione coynosce quid deheas habere, et in correptione cognosce tuo tc vitlo non habere. Such pre- cepts serve to show God's right, and quicken us to duty, aud humble ' Aug. in lib. do Corrept. et Grat. c. 3.
JaS. I. 4.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 35
US with the sense of our own weakness. So much God miglit require, and so much we had power to perform, though we have lost it by our own default. This is true, but the former interpretations are more simple and genuine.
The notes are these : —
Obs. 1. The perfection of our graces is not discovered till we are put upon many and great trials. As a pilot's skill is discerned in a storm, so is a Christian's grace in many and great troubles. ^ Well, then, in all that doth befall you, say, Yet patience hath not had its perfect work. Expectation of a worse thing maketh lesser troubles more comportable ; yet trust and j^atience is not drawn out to the height. The apostle saith, Heb. xii. 4, ' Yet ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin.' Should we faint in a lesser trial, before the perfect work cometh to be discovered ? Job was in a sad condition, yet he putteth a harder case: Job xiii. 15, ' If he should kill me, yet I will trust in him : ' in a higher trial I should not faint or murmur.
Obs. 2. That the exercise of grace must not be interrupted till it be full and perfect — till it come to epyov reXecov, a perfect work. Ordi- nary spirits may be a little raised for a time, but they fall by and by again : Gal. v. 7, ' Ye did run well ; who hindered you ? ' You were in a good way of faith and patience, and went happily forward ; but what turned you out of the way ? Implying there was as little, or rather less, reason to be faint in the progress as to be discouraged in the beginning. Common principles may make men blaze and glare for a while, yet afterward they fall from heaven like lightning. It is true of all graces, but chiefly of the grace in the text. Patience must last to the end of the providence, as long as the affliction lasteth ; not only at first, but when your evils are doubled, and the furnace is heated seven times hotter. Common stubbornness will bear the first onset, but patience holdeth out when troubles are continued and delayed. The apostle chideth the Galatians because their first heat was soon spent : Gal. iii. 3, ' Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the spirit, are ye made perfect in the flesh ?' It is not enough to begin ; our proceedings in religion must be answerable to our beginnings.^ To falter and stagger after much forwardness,^ showeth we are ' not fit for the kingdom of God,' Luke ix. 62. The beasts in the prophet always went forward (see Ezek. i. 11) ; and crabs, that go backward, are reckoned among unclean creatures. Lev. xi. 10. Nero's first five years are famous ; and many set forth well, but are soon discouraged. Liberius, the Bishop of Eome, was zealous against the Arians, and was looked upon as the Samson of the church, the most earnest maintaiuer of orthodoxism ; suffered banishment for the truth ; but alas! he after failed, and to recover his bishopric (saith Baronius^), sided with the Arians. Well, then, while you are in the world, go on to a more perfect discovery of patience, and follow them that, ' through