462 AN ExrosiTiox, with notes, [Jas. v. 16.
that our hearts ma.y 1)e entendered to you, and the fitter to apply reproof, comfort, and counsel to your souls. Oh ! pray that we may have wisdom and faithfulness, and speak the word of the Lord boldly. So also pray for one another. Some are in better temper to pray for others than they for themselves ; or it may be your prayers may be more acceptable. Job's friends were good men, yet (as we noted be- fore) the Lord saith, ' I will not hear you ; my servant Job shall pray for you,' Job xlii. 8.
That ye may he healed. — The word is of a general use, and im- plieth freedom from the diseases either of soul or body, and the context suiteth with both ; for he speaketh promiscuously of sins and sickness. If you understand it of corporal healing, with respect to sickness, you may observe : —
Ohs. 1. That God will have a particular confession of the very sin for which he laid on sickness, before healing. But I chiefly understand this healing spiritually : confess, and the Lord will purge you from your sins, and heal the wounds of your consciences. So healing is taken elsewhere in scripture, as Ps. xli. 4, ' Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee ; ' and 1 Peter ii. 24, ' By whose stripes ye are healed.' I observe hence : —
Ohs. 2. That sin is the soul's sickness. There are many fair resem- blances. (1.) Distemper : the soul is disordered by sin, as the body is distempered by sickness. (2.) Deformity: therefore of all diseases under the law sin was figured by leprosy, which most spotteth and deformeth the body. (3.) Pain : sickness causeth pain, so doth sin a sting in the conscience, horrors in the hour of death, 1 Cor. xv. 57. (4.) Weakness : the more sin, the more inability and feebleness for any gracious • operation. The apostle saith, Rom. v. 6, ' We were without strength ; ' weak, sickly souls that could do no work : thus we were in the state of nature : yea, after grace, there is a feebleness ; we never have perfect health till we come to heaven. Thus you see there is a general resemblance between sin and sickness. So in par- ticular between the kinds of sin, and the kinds of sickness. Original sin is like the leprosy of Naaman, which God threatened should ' cleave to Geliazi, and to his seed for ever,' 2 Kings v. 27, so that every child born of that line was born a leper, as every one born of Adam is born a sinner. So there is the tympany of pride, the burning fever of lust, the dropsy of covetousness, the consumption of envy, &c. These allusions are obvious. So Solomon calleth tenacity a disease. When a man hath abundance, and hath no power to use it, this is, saith he, vanity, and an evil disease, Eccles. vi. 2. As if a man were hungry, and had abundance of meat, yet out of dysci-asy of stomach could not taste it. Well, then, avoid sin as you would avoid sickness ; and when you have admitted it, complain of it as the plague and sore of your souls, 1 Kings viii. 38. Many cry because of the plague of their bodies ; but v^^lieu they regard the plague of their hearts, saith the Lord, then will I hear from lieaveu. The diseases of the soul are worst. Ijodily diseases tend only to the death of the body, but these to the eternal death of Iwdy and soul. Other diseases are but conse- quents of sin ; it is sin that is the strength of diseases, the sting of death, and the cause of eternal horror and torment. Oh ! run to
JaS. V. IG.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 463
Christ then, he is the great physician of souls ; his skill to cure you cost him dear : ' By his stripes we are healed.'
For the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. — This is added by way of encouragement. In this sentence there are three things: — (1.) The qualification of the prayer, /eryew^, effec- tual. (2.) The qualification of the person, 0/ a rij//i^eo2iS^er607i. (3.) The effect of the whole, availeth much.
First, for the qualification of the duty, Berjaa ipepyov/jbivr]. The word in the original is so sublime and emphatical, that translations cannot reach the height of it. It hath been diversely rendered. The ^allga^, assidua precatio, daily prayer ; but without any reason. Beza, oratio efficax, eflectual prayer ; but it is not eVep7779, but evep^ovjjikvr] ; and, besides, this rendering would impose a tautology upon the sentence, — effectual prayer is effectual. Others render it, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit ; as they that were possessed with an evil spirit were called ivep^^/ovfievoc. Our translators, because they know not what fit expression to use, translate it by two words, fervent, effectual. The phrase properly signifieth a prayer wrought and ex- cited ; and so implieth both the efficacy and influence of the Holy Ghost, and the force and vehemencyof an earnest spirit and affection. The word will yield us two notes : —