Ver. 6. But ye have des2yised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats?
Here the apostle endeavoureth to work them to a sense of their own miscarriage. For, having proved respect of persons a sin, he falleth directly upon their consciences ; and you have been guilty of it, you have despised the poor. And then, to show that their practice was not only vain and evil, but mad and senseless, he urgeth a new argu- ment : ' Do not rich men oppress you ? ' He doth, in effect, ask them, whether they would show so much honour to their executioners and oppressors ? But you will say, Doth not the apostle herein stir them
200 AN EXPOSITION, AVITII NOTES, [JaS. II. 6.
up to revenge ? and are we not ' to love our enemies, and to do good to them that hate us ' ? I answer — (1.) It is one thing to love enemies, anotiier to esteem them out of some perverse respect ; and there is a ditierence between fawning and offices of humanity and civility. (2.) Some have deserved so ill of the church, that they cannot chal- lenge the least civil respect from the people of God: 3 John 10, 'Bid him not God speed.' So 2 Kings iii. 14, ' Were it not for Jehosha- phat, the king of Jndah, I would not look towards thee, nor see thee.' (3.) The apostle doth not speak to the persons, but to the case. Will you honour wealth, which is the visible cause of all mischief? You see that men of that rank and order are usually persecutors and blas- phemers. He speaketh of rich men in general, not such as used to frequent the church and synagogue; for otherwise you mistake the apostle's argument if you think the words directed to the persons rather than the order. His argument runneth thus : Will you prefer men for wealth in the church, when you see that none are so mis- chievous, and such public enemies to the church, as those that are wealthy ? To prove that wealth is no sufficient ground of Christian respect, he urgeth the usual abuse of it.
But ye have despised the poor. — He showeth how contrary their practice was to God's dispensation : God hath put honour upon them, but ye dishonour them, as the original word signifieth. The })rophet expresseth such a like sin thus: Amos v, 11, 'Ye have trodden the poor linder foot.'
Do not rich men. — Either he meaneth rich Pagans and Jews that had not embraced Christianity, persecutions usually arising from men of that sort and order, as the scribes, pharisees, and high priests : ' The chief men of the city were stirred up against Paul and Barnabas,' Acts xiii. 50 ; or else pseudo-Christians, who, being great and powerful, oppressed their brethren, and used all manner of violence towards them. Or, rather, in general, any sort of rich men.
Oppress you. — The word is KaraSwaa-Tevovcn, abuse their power against you, or usurp a power over you which was never given them. In which sense Solomon saith, Prov. xxii. 7, ' The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.' Ruleth, that is, arrogateth a power, though not invested with the honour of magis- tracy.
A7id draw you before the judgmentr seats? — If it be understood of the unconverted Jews, the meaning is, they helped forward the persecution, and implieth the same with that, i\Iat. x. 17, ' They shall deliver you up to councils.' Or, if of rich men in the general, to which I rather incline, it noteth the violent practices which they used to the poor, dragging them, as they used to do with their debtors : * He plucked him by the throat,' jNIat. xviii. 28. And the I)rophet Isaiah expresseth the same cruelty by 'smiting with the fist of wickedness,' Isa. Iviii. 4. A great liberty the creditor had over the debtor among the Jews, and that our apostle intimateth in the word eXKova-i, 'they draw you;' and when he addeth 'before judgment- seats,' he aggravateth this wickedness that was now grown customary among them ; which was not only violent usage of the poor, but oppressing them under a form of law : either wearing them out by
JaS. II. 6.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 201
vexatious suits, or defrauding them presently of their right, through the favour which they obtained by their power and greatness, — a practice common among all nations, but especially among the Jews, and therefore is it everywhere noted in the scriptures. See Ps. X. 9, 10.
The notes are these : —
Obs. 1. From that despised the poor. That known and apparent guilt must be roundly charged. Nathan said to David, 2 Sam. xii. 7, ' Thou art the man.' When the practice is notorious, a faint accusation doth no good. The prophet striketh David on the breast ; this is thy sin. When a city is on fire, will a man come coldly and say, Yonder is a great fire, I pray God it doth no harm ? No ; he will cry, Fire, fire ; you are undone if you do not quench it. So when the practice is open and clearly sinful, it is not good to come with a contemplative lecture and lame homily, but to fall to the case directly. Ye have despised the poor. Sirs, this is your sin, and if you do not reform it, this will be you ruin. It is good to be a little warm when the sin is common and the danger imminent.