Ohs. 2. Mutual groanings and grudgings between brethren are a usual forerunner of judgment ; after biting and devouring, there fol- loweth consuming. Gal. v. 15. It cometh to pass partly by the provi- dence and ordination of God. Wanton contests are not cured but by deep afflictions ; and when spirits are once exulcerated, there is no like- lihood of agreement but in a prison. The warm sun maketh the wood warp and cleave asunder ; in prosperity we wax wanton and divide ; when the dog is let loose, the sheep run together. Usually in troubles there are not so many scatterings and disgregations in Christ's flock. Partly by the course of ordinary causes. Our divisions give the adver- sary an advantage ; we should be as Avise to reconcile ourselves as they to combine against us. Nazianzen was wont to call them koIvov^ hcaWaKTa^;, the common reconcilers. But party-making and faction maketh men blind , engaged persons will not consider till all be un- done. A little before Diocletian's persecution there were sad divisions in the church, raU tt/jo? aXKi^Xov^ (f)iXoveLKiaL<i dvac})\eyovTo, saith Eusebius, they burned with mutual intestine discords.
Behold, the judge standeth he/ore the door. — He had said before, 'the coming of the Lord draweth nigh ;' now he addeth, that he is ' at the door,' a phrase that doth not only imply the sureness but the sudden- ness of judgment: see Mat. xxiv. 33, ' Know that it is near, even at the doors ;' so that this phrase intendeth also the speediness of the Jewish ruin. Observe hence : —
Ohs. 1. The nearness of the judge should awe us into duty. To sin in calamitous times is to sin in the presence of the judge ; to strike, as it were, in the king's presence, and to provoke justice when punish- ments hang over our heads. This is like King Ahaz, that trespassed
1 • Infensior est mihi quam ulli hactenus fuerint inimicL' - ' Nou sic me Papistae lacerant ac illi amici uostri.'
426 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. V. 10.
the more for his stripes. When God holdeth up his hand, you do as it were even dare him to strike.
Ohs. 2. If we be ready to sin, God is ready to jud^e : ' If thou do evil, sin Heth at the door,' Gen. iv. 7 ; that is, the punishment, like a Serjeant or messenger of justice, doth but lie in wait to arrest us. Tluis it is many times ; the punishment taketh the provocation by the heel ; and whilst we are bustling and ' beating our follow-servants,' our Lord is at the door, and cometh ere we look for him. Mat. xxiv. 50, 51.
Ver. 10. Take, my hrethren, the prophets, luho have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering, affiiction, and of patience.
Here the apostle persuadeth to patience by the example of the saints, who though they were dear to God, and employed in high and special services, yet were exercised with sundry sharp afflictions.
Two ways are they an example to us — in their sufferings and in their patience. They are famous for KUKOTrudeia and /xaKpodu/xta, hard suf- ferings and great patience ; an example of sufferings, that we may not flinch from them, or sink under them when we meet with them in the way of duty ; an example of patience, that we may write after their copy by a meek submission. Their sufferings are produced to allay discomfort, and so Christ urgeth it. Mat. v. 12, ' So they persecuted the prophets which were before you ;' their patience to stir up imita- tion : Heb. vi. 12, ' Let us be followers of them who through faith and patience inherited the promises.' Never any yet went to heaven but those two graces were hrst exercised, faith and patience ; faith in ex- pectation of the future reward ; patience in sustaining the present in- conveniences. But to the words.
Take for an exanqjle. — The word is uTroSeiy/ia ; it noteth such an example as is propounded to imitation. The same word is used Avhen Christ commended his washing of the disciples' feet to their imitation, John xiii. 15.
Tke 2')rophets. — He instanceth in them as the captains and leaders of the church. Every purpose of life hath its chieftains and princes. The Roman warriors can talk of their Camilli, Fabricii, Scipios , the philosophers of their Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras ; but religion propoundeth the example of the prophets.
JVho have spoken to us in the name of the Lord; that is, were em- ployed by God, and authorised to speak to the people in his stead, and specially gifted and supplied by his Spirit. Though they spake by divine inspirations, and were as God's mouth, yet they could not escape, but were molested and maligned in the world, even to cruel death and sufferings, for the faithful (lischarge of their message. This Christ chargeth upon the Jews, Mat. xxiii. 37, ' 0 Jerusalem, Jerusa- lem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them,' &c. So doth Stephen, Acts vii. 52, ' Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they have slain them which showed before the coming of the Just One,' &c. Now if this were done to the prophets, who seemed to be sheltered under the buckler of their special commission, and the singular innocency and holiness of their lives, certainly piivate believers have less reason to promise themselves freedom and exemption.