conveniebant Christiani ut justis legibu.s tt arbitris domesticas vel politicas communesciuu litea dirimerent.' — Ilevar. in loc.
^ ' Nee sane, quantum arbitror, putandum est leve esse peccatum in personarum accep- tione habere fidem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, si illam distantiam sedendi ac standi ad honores ccclesiasticoH referamus ; quis enim ferat eligi divitem ad sodem honoris ccclesia), contempto paupere instructiore atque sanctiore.' — Au;/. L'2''iit- 29.
* * President probati quique seniorcs, honorem istum non pretio sed testimonio adepti.' — Tcrlul. in Apol.
* ' Synagogae traditio est ut sedentes disputent, seniores dignitate in cathedris, sequentes in Bubselliis, novissimi in pavimento super mattas.' — Ambros. in primam ad Cor.
* ' Primus locus viduis univiris, proximus virginibu.«, deinde matronis.' — Grot, in loc.
JaS. II. 2-4.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 187
reasons of a late learned writer,^ who proveth that it was the fashion of the Jews to keep court in their synagogues ; and therefore do we so often read those phrases, Mat. x. 17, ' They shall scourge you in their synagogues ;' Acts xxii. 19, ' Beaten in every synagogue ;' Acts xxvi. 11, ' I punished them in every synagogue,' because, as he saith, where sentence was given, there justice was executed ; and it is pro- bable that, being converted to Christianity, they still held the same course. And it is very notable, which he quoteth out of Maimonides' Sanhedrim, cap. 21, ' That it is expressly provided by the Jews' constitutions, that when a poor man and a rich plead together, the rich shall not be bidden to sit down, and the poor stand, or sit in a worse place, but both sit, or both stand : ' which is a circumstance that hath, a clear respect to the phrases used by the apostle here ; and tlie rather to be noted, because our apostle writeth to ' the twelve tribes,' Hebrews by nation, with whom these customs were familiar and of known use. So that out of all we may collect that the syna- gogue here spoken of is not the church assembly, but the ecclesiastical court or convention for the decision of strifes, wherein they were not to favour the cause of the rich against the poor ; which is an expli- cation that cleareth the whole context, and preventeth the incon- veniences of the received exposition, which so far pleadeth the cause of the poor as to deny civility and due respect to the rich and honourable in Christian assemblies.
A mem with a gold ring, ')(pvaoSaKTv\Lo<;, ' a gold-fingered man,' that is the force of the original word. The gold ring was a badge of honour and nobility ; therefore Judah had his signet, Gen. xxxviii. 18-25 ; and Pharaoh, as a token that Joseph was promoted to honour, ' took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen,' Gen. xlii. So Ahasuerus dealt with Mordecai, Esther viii. 8.
In goodly apparel. — This also was a note of dignity : Gen. xxvii. 15, ' Rebecca took the goodly garment of her son Esau ; ' by which some understand 2 the gorgeous priestly ornaments which be- longed to him as having the birthright. So Avhen the j^rodigal returned, the father, to do him honour, calleth for the best robe and a ring ; some marks and ornaments of honour which were put on upon solemn days. But the luxury of after-times made the use more common. It is said of the rich man in the Gospel, Luke xvi. 19, that he was ' clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared deliciously every day.'
A pool' man in vile raiment. — In the original, iyOrjn puirapa, 'filthy, sordid raiment ; ' it is the same word which the Septuagint use in Zech. iii. 3, 4, where mention is made of the high priest's ' filthy garments,' which was a figure of the calamitous state of the church ; where the Septuagint have Ifidrca pvirapd.
And you have respect to him that toeareth the gay clothing. — 'ETrL/SXeireLv is to gaze and observe with some admiration and special reverence.
^ Herbert Thorndike, in his book of the Right of the Church in a Christian State, printed at London, 1649. See pp. 38, 39. ^ Lightfoot in Gen.
188 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [Jas. IL 2-4.
Si( ihou here in a good place, /caXw?, ' in an lionourable or worthy place ; ' and so it noteth, either the rash disposal of the honours of the church into their hands, or the favouring of them in their cause, as before.
Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool. — Expressions of con- tempt and disres})ect. Standing or sitting at the feet was the ])Osture of the younger disciples. Sometimes standing is put for those that stood upon their defence ; as Ps. cxxx. 3, ' If thou shouldst mark what is done, who can stand ? ' that is, in curia, in court, as those that make a bold defence. So E})h. vi. 13, ' Take the armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and when you have done all, to stand ; ' that is, before God's tribunal : it is an allusion to the posture of men in courts. This different respect of poor and rich bringeth to my mind a passage of Bernard, who, when he chanced to esi)y a poor man meanly apparelled, he would say to himself, Truly, Bernard, tliis man with more patience beareth his cross than thou : but if he saw a rich man delicately clothed, then he would say, It may be that this man, under his delicate clothing, hath a better soul than thou hast imder thy religious habit. An excellent charity, and a far better practice than theirs in the text, who said to him in the goodly raiment, ' sit/ to the poor, * stand.' To the rich tliey assigned ' a good place,' but to the poor the room ' under the footstool.'