Ohs. 2. It is no injury to the most holy persons to look upon them as men like ourselves. There is a double fault ; some canonize the servants of God, not considering them in their infirmities, make them half gods, who were by privilege exempted from the ordinary state of
^ ' Omnis sanguis concolor.' — Petracka.
468 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [J AS. V. 17.
men, and so lose the benefit of their example ; whereas, in the word, they are set out as so many precedents. Thy prayers may be heard as well as those of Elias ; thy sins may be pardoned as well as Paul's, 1 Tim. i. 17. God will strengthen and confirm necessary graces iu thee as well as David, Zech. xii. 8. Others reflect only upon their infirmities, and instead of making them precedents of mercy, make them patrons of sin. Thus every base spirit will plead Lot's incest, ])avid's adultery, Noah's drunkenness. In Salvian's time they pleaded, Si David, cur noii et ego ? si Noah, cur non et etjo ? Follow them in their graces as you follow them in their sins : they were men of like passions, but they were also holy men. James here doth not only recite Elijah's weaknesses, but his graces.
Ohs. 3. That in the lives of God's choicest servants there was some considerable weakness. Elias, in the midst of his miracles, was encumbered with many afflictions. Paul had ' abundance of revela- tions,' but ' a thorn in the flesh.' In the life of Jesus Christ himself there was an intermixture of poWer and weakness ; of the divine glory and human frailty. At his birth a star shone, but he was laid in a manger ; afterwards the devil tempted him in the wilderness, but there angels ministered to him ; as man, he was deceived in the fig-tree, but, as God, he blasted it ; he was caught by the soldiers in the garden, but first he made them fall back. So it is notable that the same dis- ciples that were conscious to his glory in the mount, are afterwards called to be witnesses of his agonies in the garden. Compare Mat. xvii. 1 with Mat. xxvi. 37. And all this to show, that in the highest dispensations God will keep us humble, and in the lowest providences there is enough to support us.
Obs. 4. Grace is not impassible, or without passions and affections. The stoics held no man a good man but he that had lost all natural feeling and affection. Elijah was a man of like passions. Grace doth not abrogate our affections, but prefer them ; it transplanteth them out of Egypt that they may grow in Canaan ; it doth not destroy nature, but direct it.
Ohs. 5. All that God wrought by and for his eminent servants was with respect to his own grace, not to their worth and dignity. God did much for Elijah, but he was a man of like passions with us; though his prayers were effectual, yet he was, as every believer is, in- debted to grace. When we have received a high assistance, yet still we are un})rofitable servants, Luke xvii. 10 ; when we reflect upon the common frailty, we may say so in words of truth, as well as in words of sol^ricty and humility ; ^ at first, when God taketh us to mercy, we are Jike other men ; was not Esau Jacob's brother ? Mai. i. 2 ; in their persons, and, as they were men, there was no diflference. God could love nothing in Jacob above Esau but his own grace ; ^ so, if we be preferred above other believers it is out of mere grace ; if, from their shoulders Ujjward, they be higher than other saints, it is the Lord's choice, not their own worth. Elijah was like us, and Elijah's widow was like other widows : Luke iv. 25, 2G, ' Tiiere were many widows iu Israel, but he was sent to none save the Sareptan.' God hath
^ ' Oil TaTrtivo(f>poffuvji fj.6i>ov dW tvyvwuoff^yr].' — Chrysoslom, in locum, * ' Non aliud iu Jacobo dilexit, quam suam miaericordiam.' — August.
JaS. V. 17.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 469
mercy on wliom he will have mercy ; if thou dost excel, who hath made thee to differ ?
Obs. 6. Where the heart is upright, our infirmities shall not hinder our prayers. Elijah was a man of like passions, yet he prayed, and it rained not ; imitate his faith and earnestness, and your infirmities will be no impediment : 2 Chron. xxx. 19, ' The Lord pardoned them that had prepared their hearts to seek the Lord,' though they were not legally clean. Christ, when he came into the gardens, saith he would eat the honey with the honeycomb, Cant, v., accept their duties, though not severed from the wax, from weakness and imperfection, and drink his wine mingled with milk, that is, allayed with a milder and less generous liquor. Under the law, ' the high-priest was to bear away the iniquity of their holy things,' Exod. xxviii. 38 ; so Jesus Christ doeth away the weakness of our services. Those that do not allow their infirmities niay pray with hope of success. God knoweth the voice of the Spirit ; our fleshly desires meet with pardon, and our spiritual with acceptance.