' 'Cur non et me qiioque torque donas, et in^ignU Lujus orJinis inilitein creaa?' — Thuan. Hist.
JaS. II. 2-4.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 185
vile for God, 2 Sara. vi. 22. To a j^^racious spirit, nothing is base biik sin and ter^aver.sation ; disgrace itself is honourable, when it is endured for the Lord of glory.
Ohs. 3. Tliose that count Christ glorious will account Christianity and faith glorious. The apostle maketh it an argument here, ' The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.' He that prizeth the person of Christ prizeth all his relatives. As among men, when we love a man, we love his picture, and whatsoever hath re- lation to him. Grace is but a ray, a derived excellency from Christ. A Christian is much known by his esteem. What, then, do you ac- count most excellent in yourselves or others ? (L) In yourselves. What is your greatest honour and treasure ? What would you desire for yourselves or others ? What would you part with first ? Theodo- sius valued his Christianity above his empire. Luther said, he had rather be Chrisiianus rusiicus than ethnicus Alexander — a Christian clown than a Pagan emperor. (2.) In others. Who are most precious with you ? those in whom you see most of the image of Christ ? We use to honour the servants of glorious kings : Prov. xii. 26, ' The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour.' Who is the best neighbour to you ? those that fear God ? and do you like them best, when their conferences are most religious ? You shall see this inde- finite proverb is restrained by another, Prov. xix. 1, where Solomon intimateth that the righteous poor man is better than his rich neigh- bour. There, indeed, is the trial. Communion with holy and graci- ous spirits is far better than the countenance and respects of a great man to you. Oh ! do not despise those jewels of Christ that lie in the dirt and dunghill. David could see silver wings in those doves that had lain among the pots.
Ver. 2-4. For if there come info your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment ; and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say to him, Sit thou here in a good place ; and say to the p)Oor, Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool ; are ye not then i^cirtial in yourselves, and hecome judges of evil thoughts?
I have put all these verses together, because they make but one entire sentence. The apostle proveth how guilty they were of this evil from whence he dissuadetli them, by a usual practice of theirs in their ecclesiastical conventions.
If there come into your assembly. — The word in the original is, ei? avvcvycoyr]v, ' into your synagogue,' by which some understand their Christian assembly for worship : but that is not so probable, because the Christian assembly is nowhere, that I can remember, expressed by avvwycoyr], synagogue, but by eKKkrjaia, church ; and in the church- meeting there may be, without sin, several seats and places appointed for men of several ranks and dignities in the world ; and it is a mis- take to apply the censure of the apostle to such a practice. Others apply it to any common convention and meeting for the deciding of controversies, establishing of pubHc order, and disposing of the offtces of the church ; and by synagogue they understand the court where they judged all causes belonging to themselves.^ Austin seemeth to
^ ' Per conventum siguificautur coJta.s sen coiigregationes publicse profanse, in quibus
186 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. II. 2-4.
incline to this sense for one part of it, namely, for a meeting to dis- pose of all offices that belonged to the church, which were not to be intrusted to men according to their outward quality, but inward accomplishments ; i there being the same abuse in iashion in the primi- tive times which, to our grief, hath been found among us, that men were chosen and called to office out of a respect to their worldly lustre rather than their si)iritual endowments, and the gold ring was pre- ferred before the rich faith, a practice wholly inconsonant with Christian religion and with the dispensation of those times ; God himself having immediately called fishermen, and persons otherwise despicable, certainly of little note and remark in the world, to the highest offices and employments in the church. If we take the words in this restrained sense, for a court or meeting to dispose of ecclesiastical offices and functions, the context may be accommodated with a very proper sense, for, according to their offices, so had they places in all church-meetings ; and therefore the apostle Paul useth that phrase, ' He that occupieth the room of the unlearned,' 1 Cor. xiv. IG ; or, as it is in the original, tottov Idicorov, the place of the private person. The elders they sat by themselves,2 then others that were more learned, then the ignorants ; the church herein following the custom of the synagogue, which (as the author of the Comment upon the Epistles, that goeth under the name of Ambrose, observeth) was wont to place the elders in chairs, the next in rank on benches, the novices at their feet on mats ; ^ and thence came tlie phrase of ' sitting at the feet' of any one for a disciple, as it is said Paul was ' brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.' And for the women, Grotius telleth us, that the first place was given to the widows of one man, then to the virgins, then to tlie matrons.^ Now, because they assigned these places preposter- ously, out of a regard of wealth rather tlian grace, and said to the rich, ' .Sit thou here, /caXw?, honourably,' and to the poor, however qualified, ' Stand thou there, or sit at my feet,' the place of learners and idiots, the apostle doth with such severity tax the abuse, to wit, their carnal partiality in distributing the honours of the church. Thus you see the context will go on smoothly. But I must not limit the text to this one use of the court or synagogue ; and therefore, if we take in the other uses of deciding all causes and difierences be- tween the members of the Church, &c., every passage in the context will have its full light and explication ; for the apostle speaketh of Judging, and of such respect of persons as is condenmed by the law, ver. i>, which is an accepting of persons in judgment, Lev. xix. 5. And therefore 1 understand this synagogue of an assembly met to do justice. In wliich tliought I am confirmed by the judgment and