Before I go from this verse, I must handle two questions ; one is concerning outward Avars, and the other concerning inward.
Quest. 1. Concerning outward wars. The apostle's speech is inde- finite, and at first seemeth to condemn all wars, as if they were of a base original and descent, of the lineage of lust ; therefore I shall in- quire whether any wars are lawful or no. Besides the insinuation of the text, a further cause of doubting is the unsuitableness of it to a Christian spirit, it being the most dreadful way of retaliating and re- venging wrongs, which is contrary to Christianity, and a course not only questioned by some modern Anabaptists, but by antiquity itself. The eleventh canon of the Nicene Council enjoineth penance to them that take up arms after their conversion to "Christianity ; and to this very day it is decried by the whole Socinian school, as contrary to evangelical meekness and patience, and that course of defence which Christ hath instituted, to wit, martyrdom, or shedding of our own blood, not spilling that of others.
I answer briefly — (1.) There is nothing in scripture expressly against it, nothing but strained consequences, as that of Mat. v. 43, 44, concerning love of enemies, which is forced ; for nothing is there commanded but what is commanded in the Old Testament. Now
328 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. IV. 1.
there wars are approved, yea, appointed by God ; and tliat sayin;]^ of Christ concerneth private persons forbidding j)rivate revenge, passions, and animosities; and so likewise Mat. v. 39, wliere we are forbidden to resist, mnst be understood of tlie retaliations of private revenge ; and so that of Rom. xii. 19-21, ' Avenge not yourselves,' &c. The magis- trate's vengeance is God's vengeance ; he is a person authorised by the Lord : therefore is it forbidden to a private man — he is not God's minister — to avenge them that do ill, &c. (2.) If there were some- thing in the letter against it, it were to be modified by some commo- dious interpretation, rather than commonwealths should be deprived of such a necessary sn^jport. If the avoiding of a personal inconvenience, as one argncth well, hath l)y all men been accounted a .sufficient rea.son to expound literal scriptures to a spiiitual sense, as those of cutting off the right arm and the right eye, then questionless the letter of such scriptures must be made receptive of other signification ; lest human societies should be destroyed, and disarmed of so necessary defence, and the world be turned into one universal rout and confusion ; for re- ligion is reasonable and innocent, and would establish no such incon- veniences to mankind. (3.) There seemeth to be somewhat in the letter of the scripture for it. Wars in the Old Testament are approved and commanded by God. In the Apocalypse there is a manifest ap- probation, if not excitation, of the people of God in their wars against antichrist. IJesides, that they are not simi)ly unlawful, it may be pleaded that John, being asked concerning the duty of soldiers, in- structeth them, but doth not deny their calling,^ Luke iii. 14. And again, Peter baptizeth Cornelius without rccpiiring him to give over his military employment, Acts x. ; he continued in it when religious, ver. 2 ; he sent to Peter a-rpancoTrjv eucre^i], ' a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually.' hJo Christ commendeth the cen- turion, without disallowing his office ; so Paul used a band of soldiers against the treachery of the Jews ; all which instances yield probable arguments. (4.) It may be pioved lawful by such reasons and con- sequences as do well suit with the analogy of faith and the intent of the scripture. Christ came not to destroy communities. Now war is tlie solemn instrument of justice, the restraint of vice and public insolences, the sujjport of a body ])olitic against foreign invasions and domestic rebellions. It were against the interest of all government to deny them this ])Ower to resist and with.stand the insolences of foreigners or the nuitinies of subjects.- They are higher powers, ordained for God to resist evil, Rom. xiii. 4 ; that is, for the punish- ment of vice, which cannot be done without war many times, as in the story of the book of Judges, chap, xx., and with us now : we arc bidden to give all necessary supports to them that are in authority fur the maintenance of justice, JMat. xxii., 'Give to Caesar,' &c., and Rom. xiii. G, 7. (5.) There is so little in scripture about it, because nature of itself is prone to such cruel and violent remedies,
1 ' Quiljus proprium stiixMiilinm mifficere debere ])rinccpit, militare utique non pro- hibiiit.' — A u(j. A'plst. 5 ad Murrr/lin urn. Et alibi : ' Nisi jiista bolla siiscipi possent, rcspon- fleret iis, anna aljjicite, militari ficHcritp,' &c. — Au;/. contra Faustum, lib. xxii. cap. 74.
' ' Hoc et ratio doctie, et necoKsiUs barbaris, et mos gentibiis, et feris natura ipsa pra3- scripsit, ut omnem semper vim quacunque ope posHeut, a corpore, a capite, a vita sua propulsarcnt.'— CVc. Oral, pro Milone.
JaS. 1Y. 1.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 329