Ohs. Observe, that the Lord hath required not only holy hearts, but holy hands. The goodness of your hearts must appear in the integrity of your conversations. When men's actions are naught, they pretend their hearts are good. Is there no evil in the hand? The heart must be pure and the way undefiled, that we may neither incur blame from within nor shame from without; and when sin is once committed, the hand must be cleansed as well as the heart. It is in vain to pre- tend repentance and washing the heart, when the hand is full of bribes or ill-gotten goods, and no restitution is made.
Ye sinners. — In this first clause he speaketh to men openly vicious.
37'2 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. IV. 9.
such as were tainted with the ,i:^iilt of outward and manifest sins ; so the word .'dinners is used in this place, as elsewhere, where it is put in- definitely. So John ix. 31, ' The Lord heareth not sinners ;' that is, men of a corrupt life. So Mary IMa^dalene is called ' a sinner,' ^ Luke vii. 37, that is, openly profane. So, ' He eateth and drinketh with sinners,' Mat. xi. 9, and Luke xv. 2. Now the chief work of open sinners is to cleanse the hands, or reform the life, that by such repre- sentations they may be beaten oft' from the fond presumption of a good heart whilst the life is scandalous.
Purify your hearts. — He sjieaketh this, partly because in this latter clause he dealeth with hypocrites, whose life is plausible enough, their main care should be about their hearts; partly because all cometh out of the heart.
Ohs. Observe, if you would have a lioly life, you must get a clean heart. True conversion beginneth there; spiritual life, as well as natural, is first in the heart. See 1 Peter ii. 11, 12, 'Abstain from fleshly lusts . . . having your conversations honest.' First mortify the lusts, then the deeds of the body of sin. If you would cure the disease, purge away the sick matter, not only stop the flux of the humours ; lest sin return again, cast salt into the spring : Isa. Iv. 7, ' Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,' &c. Mark, not only his icay or course of life, but his thoughts, the frame of his heart ; the heart is the womb of thoughts, and thoughts are the first issues and out-goings of corruption: Mat. xv. 19, ' Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,' &c. First the thoughts, then the practices. Well, then, they are foolish and vain men that are over-industrious about the outward man, washing the outside of cu[)s and platters, ]\Iark vii., altogether for dressing up a garb and pretence of religion. That which God looketh after and loveth is ' truth in the inward parts,' Ps. li. G. God will easily find us out under our disguise, as the prophet did Jeroboam's wife. Be not careful merely of honour before the people, but of your hearts before God; and let conscience be dearer to you than credit. Many are sensible of faihngs in the carriage, because they betray and expose us to shame ; you should be as sensible of distempers in the heart ; lusts must not be digested without regret and remorse, no more than sins.
Ye double-minded, hly\rv')(OL. — The word signifieth ' of two hearts,' or 'two souLs.' An hypocrite hath ' an heart and an heart,' which is odious to God; they halt between God and Baal, and deny the reli- gion which they profess ; their thoughts arc divided, and their affec- tions hover always in a doubtful .suspense between God and the world. See the notes on ciia]). i. 8.
Ver. 9. Be afflicted., and mourn, and iveep : lei your laughter he turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness.
He now prescribeth them another remedy against their carnal affections and practices ; it is proposed with the more earnestness, because of the calamity then ready to fall upon the people and nation of the Jews.
Be aj/iicicd, TaXanrwpijaaTc. — What is the meaning ? Must we
^ The belief that the * woman which was a sinner " wa.s Mary Magdalene seems to have been entertained by all the EnglLih writers of the Kcventeenth century. — Kd.
JaS. IV. 9.] UPON THK EflSTLE OF JAMES. 373
draw affliction and unnecessaiy troubles upon ourselves ? I answer — (1.) It must be understood ol: some commendable afflicting ourselves; and therefore must either imply that our corporal afflictions and dis- tresses ought to be borne patiently. 'Be afflicted;' that is, if God bring it u])on you, bear it, be content to be afflicted; it is our duty to be what (iod would have us to be ; let your will be done when the Lord's is. Or else, (2.) Know your misery, be sensible of it ; it is some haj)piness to know our misery. Man, in a proud obstinacy, choketh his grief and stifleth conviction. Or else (3.) It noteth compassion and fellow-feeling of others' sorrows. A member is sen- sible of pain as long as it holdeth the body : Heb. xiii. 3, ' As being in the body,' &c. A pinch or wound in the arm discomposeth the whole body; members will have a care of one another. Or else, (4.) And so most properly to the context, humbling and afflicting the soul for sin ; sorrow seemeth to be made for that purpose and use.