monuments of free j^racc. It is ' Rahab, the harlot,' thoiip^h justified hy works. The scars and marks of old sins remain, not to our dis- honour, but God's glory.
Ohs. 4. Ordinary acts are gracious when they flow from faith and are done in obedience ; as Rahab's receiving the messengers : enter- tainment in such a case is not civility, but religion : Mat. x. 42, ' A cup of cold water in the name of a prophet ' is not courtesy, but duty, and shall not lose its reward. Heb. xi., many civil and secular acts are ascribed to faith, as fighting of battles, saving of children, &c., because by faith directed to spiritual ends, and performed by super- natural strength. A carnal man performeth his religious duties lor civil ends, and a godly man his civil duties for religious ends, and in offices natural and human he is spiritual. Certainly there is no chemistry like to that of grace ; there brass is turned into gold, and actions of commerce made worship. A Christian is always doing his great work, whether in the shop or in the closet, obeying God and glorifying God in his res})ects to men.
Obs. 5. The great trial of faith is in acts of self-denial. Such was Rahab's, to prefer the will of God before the safety of her own country ; and such was Abraham's in the former instance. Self-denial is the first thing that must be resolved upon in Christianity, Mat. xvi. 24. A man is not discovered when God's way and his own lie together. Your great inquiry should be. Wherein have I denied myself for God? thwarted any lust? hazarded any concernment? No trial like that when we can part with some conveniency in sense, upon the proper and sole encouragements of faith.
Ohs. (J. The actions and duties of God's children are usually blem- ished with some notable defect ; as Rahal/s entertainment with Rahab's lie. ' Moses smote the rock twice,' Num. xx. 11 ; there was anger mixed with faith. Abraham offered Isaac, but equivocated with his servants : ' I and the lad will return,' Gen. xxii. 5 ; and yet he meant with a mind to sacrifice him. Thus we still plough with an ox and an ass in the best duties, and discover corruption in the very trials of grace.
Obs. 7. God hideth his eyes from the evil that is in our good actions. Here is mention made of receiving the messengers, but no mention of the lie. He that drew Alexandci-, whilst he had a scar upon his face, drew him with his finger uj)on the scar, God putteth the finger of mercy upon our scars. See James v. 11, 'Ye have heard of the patience of Job;' we have heard of his impatience, liis cursing the day of his birth, «fcc., but no nun-murings are mentioned. How unlike are wicked men to the Lord ! they only pitch upon the evil and weaknesses of his people, and overlook the good ; like ficsh-flies, thit jiitch upon the sores, or vultures, that fly over the gardens of delight, and light upon a carrion : one blemi.sh shall be enough to stain all their glory. But the Lord pardoneth nnich weakness where he findeth anything of grace and sincerity. It is said, 1 Peter iii. 6, 'Even as Sarah obeyed Al)rahnni, calling him lord.' The place alluded to is Gen. xviii. 12. Sarah's whole sentence is full of unbelief: ' Shall I have pleasure, my loid also being old ? ' There was but one good word, that of lord, the note of respect and reverence to her husband.
JaS. II. 2G.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 269
and that the Spirit of God lakes notice of. Certainly it is good serv- ing of that master, who is so ready to reward the good of our actions, and to pardon the evil of them.
Ver. 26. Foi- as the body luitliout the spirit is dead, so faith without tvorlcs is dead also.
Here the apostle concludeth the whole dispute, showing how little is to be ascribed to an empty profession of faith without works ; it is but as the body without the vital spirit — a carcase, useless but noisome. There needeth not much illustration of this verse, the matter of it being already discussed in ver. 17 and 20.
For as the hody loithout the sjjirit. — There is some difference about the meaning of the word irvevixaro^ ; we read in the margin, hreath ; in the text, S2nrit. Many prefer the marginal reading, because it is not "^fx^?, as the body without the soul, but as the body without the spirit or breath. Of this opinion is Cajetan, whose words are notable, because they fully accord with the Protestant doctrine. ' By spirit,' (saith he, ' is not meant the soul, but the breath : for as the body of a beast when it doth not breathe is dead, so is faith without works dead, breathing being the effect of life, as working is of living faith. Whence it is clear what the apostle meaneth,! when he saith, faith is dead without works, not that works are the soul of faith, but that works are the companions of faith, as breathing is inseparable from life.' By which exposition their doctrine that charity is the soul of faith, and their distinction of inform and formed faith, fall to the ground. But, however, I rather think that irvev/jiaTo^ in the text is not to be translated hreath, but spirit or soul, that substance which quickeneth and animateth the body, which is elsewhere expressed by this word ; as in those noted places, Luke xxiii. 46, ' Into thy hands do I commit my spirit ; ' and Acts vii. 59, ' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' And that respiration which is the effect of life is expressed by other words, ttvot) and avairvorj ; as Acts xvii. 25, he giveth fwr/y KoX 7rvoi]v koX ra Travra, ' he giveth life, and breath, and all things.' Tlie meaning is, then, as a body without a soul, so is faith without works. And yet hence it will not follow that charity or the works are the soul of faith, for the comparison doth not hold in regard of animation and information, but in regard of operation. As in the body without soul there are only the outward proportions and linea- ments, but nothing to discover life ; so in empty profession there are some lineaments of faith, but no fruits to discover the truth and life of it, it ditiering as much from faith as a carcase doth from a man.