^ Tacitus.
JaS. I. 19.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 137
calleth it good. In such cases you should not storm and rage, hut give thanks, and say, as David to Ahigal, ' Blessed he the Lord that sent thee to meet me this day : ' bless God for meeting with you in the word.
Obs. 8. That it is some cure of passion to delay it. ' Be slow to wrath.' Anger groweth not by degrees, like other passions, but at her birth she is in her full growth ; the heat and fury of it is at first, and therefore the best cure is deliberation : ^ Prov. xix. 11, ' The discretion of a man deferreth his anger ; ' that is, the revenge which anger meditateth. Many men are like tinder or gunpowder, take fire at the least spark of offence, and, by following their passions too close, run themselves into inconveniences ; therefore it is good to check these precipitant motions by delay and due recourse to reason : Prov. xiv. 29, ' He that is hasty in spirit exalteth folly.' When men are quick and short of spirit, they are transported into many indecencies, which dishonour God, and wound their conscience, and afterward have cause enough, by a long repentance, to bewail the sad effects of a short and sudden anger. Athenodorus advised Augustus, when he was surprised with anger, to repeat the alphabet, which advice was so f\ir good, as it tended to cool a sudden rage, that the mind, being diverted, might afterward deliberate. So Ambrose 2 counselled Theo- dosius the Great (after he had rashly massacred the citizens of Thes- salonica) to decree, that in all sentences that concerned life, the execution of them should be deferred till the thirtieth day, that so there may be a space for showing mercy, if need required. Well, then, indulge not the violence and swiftness of passion ; sudden appre- hensions usually mistake, the ultimate judgment of reason is best. Motions vehement, and of a sudden irruption, run away without a rule, and end in folly and inconvenience. It is a description of God that he is ' slow to wrath ; ' certainly a hasty spirit is most unlike God. It is true that some good men have been observed to be o^v^oXoc, hasty, and soon moved, as Calvin. 3 Augustine observes the like of his father, Patricius,"^ and some observe the same of Cameron ; ^ but for the most part these motions in those servants of God were but (as Jerome calleth them) propassions, sudden and irresistible alterations that were connatural to them, and which they by religious exercises in a great mea- sure mortified and subdued ; and if anger came soon, it stayed not long. Solomon says, Eccles. vii. 9, ' Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.' That anger is ^ most culpable which soon cometh, but resteth or stayeth long, as being indulged. So Solomon saith elsewhere, Prov. xiv. 17, 'He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, but a man of wicked devices is hated ; ' implying, that sudden anger is an effect of folly and weakness, which may be
•' ' Maximum remedium ireedilatio est, iifc primus ejus fervor relanguescat, et caligo quaj prersit mentem aut resiliat aut minus densa sit ; graves habet impetus prime' — Senec. de Ira, lib. ii. cap. liS, and lib. iii. cap. 12.
- Ruff., lib. ii. Hist., cap. 18 ; Theod., lib. v. Hist., cap. 2(5.
3 Beza in Vita Calvini, p. 109.
■* ' Erat vero ille sicut benevolentia. prsecipuus : ita ira fervidus.' — Aufj. Confess., lib. ix. cap. 9.
^ ' '0|i'xoXos quidara et adversus notos et familiares facile irritabilis, sed qui etiam iram depoueret, atque ultro culpam et errorem aL')i'>*ceret.' — Icon. Camcr. Praf. Operibus.
^ Qu. ' is nut ' ? — Ed.
13S AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I, 20.
incident to the best, but to concoct an<;er into malice is an argument of wickedness, and is found only in the most depraved natures ; in short, it is contemptible to be angry suddenly, but to plot revenge abominable.
Ver. 20. For ilie icrath of man worlicth not the rigldcousness of God.
Here he rendereth a reason of the last clause, why they should take heed of this indignation and rising of their hearts against the word, because the wrath of man would hinder them from attaining that righteousness and accomplishing that duty which God requireth in his word.
For the 2crath of man. — There is an emphasis in that word : he doth not say wrath in general, for there is always a righteousness in the wrath of God. The apostle saith, Rom. i. 18, it is ' revealed from heaven against the unrighteousness of men,' or, rather, the wrath of man, to show that, under what disguises soever it appeareth, it is but human and fleshly : there is nothing of God, but much of man in it.
Worketh not, ov Karep^d^erai — doth not attain, doth not persuade or bring forth any righteous action ; yea, it hindereth God from per- fecting liis work in us.
The righteousness of God. — That is, say some, justice mixed with mercy, which is the righteousness that the scriptures ascribe to God, and anger will not suli'er a man to dispense it ; but this seems too much strained and forced. Others say the meaning is, it doth not execute God's just revenge, but our own malice. But rather the righteousness of God is put for sucli rigliteousness as God requireth, God approveth, God efiecteth ; and in this sense in scripture things are said to be of God or of Christ which are effected by his power or commanded in his word : thus faith is said to be the work of God, John vi. 2U, because he commandeth we should labour in it, which plainly is the intent of that context ; and the apostle useth the word ' righteousness,' because anger puts on the form of justice and righteous- ness more than any other virtues. It seemeth to be but a just displeasure against an offence, and looks upon revenge not as irrational excess, but a just punishment, especially such anger as carrieth the face of zeal, which is the anger spoken of in the text. Rage and distem])ered heats in contioversies of religion, and about the sense of the word, such cai-nal zeal, how just and pious soever it seem, is not approved and acquitted as righteous belbre God. It is observable that there is a litotes in the apostle's expression — more is intended than said ; for the apostle means, it is so far from working righteousness, that it worketh all manner of evil ; witness the tragical effects of it in the world : the slaughters that Simeon and Levi wrought in Shechem : Sarah in her anger breaks two commandments at once, takes the name of God in vain, and falsely accuseth Abraham, Gen. xvi. 5.