2. It showeth how ready we should be to take all occasions to hear the word. If ministers must preach * in season and out of season,' a people are bound to hear. It is observed that a little before the French massacre Protestants were cloyed with the word ; and so it is now. Heretofore they would run far and near to enjoy such an opportunity : Mat. iii. 5, ' Jerusalem and Judea, and all the region round about, came to hear John.' Some of those places mentioned were tliirty miles from ^non beyond Salem, which was the place where John baptized: 1 Sam. iii. 1, 'The word of the Lord was precious in those days ; for there was no open vision.' Heretofore lectures were frequented when they were more scarce. The wheat of heaven was despised when it fell every day : Amos viii. 12, ' I will send a famine of the word, and they shall wander from sea to sea, from the north even to the cast, they shall run to and fro, and shall not find it.' Then they would go far and near for a little comfort and counsel. This is one of those enjoyments which is valued when it is wanted. "When manna is a common food, men lust for quails : ' Nothing but this manna ! ' This swiftness here showeth the content men should take in hearing the word ; but, alas 1 now men pretend every vain excuse, their merchandise, their farm, and so cannot wait upon the word of God : it may be on the Lord's day, when they dare do nothing else ; but few take other occasions and oj)i)()rtunities. Uavid saith, Ps. xxvi. 8, ' I have loved the habitation of thy house, the place where thine honour dwelleth.' It was comfort to him to wait upon God, to come to the doors of wisdom, a burden to us.
' ' Pluri est in auribus quam in oculia situm, quoniam doctrina et sapieutia percipi aiiribua solia potest, oculis solia non potest.' — Lactantius.
JaS. I. 19.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 133
3. It noteth readiness to liear the sense and mind of others upon the word. We should not be so puffed up with our own knowledge, but we should be swift to hear what others can say. It is a great evil to contemn others' gifts ; there is none so wise but he may receive some benefit by the different handling of what he himself knoweth. It is an advantage to observe the different breatliings of the Spirit of God in divers instruments. Job would not ' despise the cause of his servants,' Job xxxi. And as we should not contemn their gifts, so we should not contemn their judgments. In this being swift to hear is condemned that ISLoyvcof^oavvi], that private spirit, and over- prizing of our own conceits and apprehensions, so that we are not ^latient to hear anything against thera. Men are ' puffed up with their own mind,' though it be ' fleshly' and carnal, Col. ii. 18 ; they make a darling and an idol of their own thoughts. The apostle saith, 1 Cor. xiv. 30, ' If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.' You do not know what may be revealed to another ; no man is above a condition of being instructed. Divide self from thy opinion, and love things not because they suit with thy prejudices, but truth. ' Be swift to hear,' that is, to consider what may be urged against you.
4. It noteth what we should do in Christian meetings. They are apt to degenerate into noise and clamour ; we are all swift to speak, but not to hear one another, and so all our conferences end in tumult and confusion, and no good is gotten by them : every man's ' belly is like a bottle full of wind, ready to burst for want of vent,' Job xxxii. 19. If we were as patient and swift to hear as we are ready to speak, there would be less of wrath and more of profit in our meetings. I remember when a Manichee contested with Augustine, and with importunate clamour cried, ' Hear me, hear me,' the father modestly answered, Nee ego te, nee tu me, sed amho audiamus aposfolum — neither hear me, nor I thee, but let us both hear the apostle. It were well if we could thus repress the violences and impetuousness of our spirits ; when one crieth, Hear me, and another. Hear me, let us both hear the apostle, and then we shall hear one another. He saith, ' Be swift to hear, slow to speak.' AVhen Paul reproveth the disorder and tumult that was in the Corinthian assemblies, he adviseth them to speak uva f^epo<;, ' by turn or course,' 1 Cor. xiv. 27 ; and ver. 31, ' Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all be comforted ; ' that every one should have free liberty to speak, according as their part and turn came, and not in a hurry and clatter, which hindered both the instruction and comfort of the assembly.
Obs. 6. That there are many cases wherein we must be slow to speak. This clause must also be treated of according to the restriction of the context ; slow in speaking of the word of God, and that in several cases.