The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 31

befouled, a human soul is a jewel of the rarest worth. Listen: "The Spirit of the Lord ie upon me, because be hath anointed me to pre.1ch the gospel to the poor" (Luko Iv. 18); and, "Go and show John those things which ye do bear and see: .. , tho poor have !-he !!OSP_Cl preached to them" (Matt. xi. 4, 5); and again," Blessed be ye poor: for yours 1s the kmgdorn of God" (Luke vi. 20). Now, this is the exaltation or the brothor of low degree of which James 6peaks; the recognition of his "high estate" as possessing a God~made mRn~ood-a manhood endowed with all the privileges a~d blessings of the salvation of Clmst. 1. " In our image, after our likeness " (uen, 1, 26). That the inalienable dignity of" man"! Man's nmge of swift-winaed thought, man's wealth of tender affection, man's intrepidity of heroic purpose; man~s discernment of the eternal law of holiness, and. power of freely choosing the good which be discerns; and man's nnrnorta.lity ;-all these are flashes from the very life of God himself, communicated to man, and constituting man by native right God's child. Man has fallen? Yes, truly. But the very depth of the fall betokens the loftiness of the primal calling; the very de.gradation tells of the intended dignity. 2. And man's redemption? Oh, words can never tell the worth of the human soul in the sight of God, as evidenced by so wonderful a redemption of the sonl of man from the degradation and death of sin, This truly is the sign-manual of the worth of man, as well as of the love of God: "Ye were redeemed . . . with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet. i. 18, 19). And the salvation itself? "Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ:" ye see your calling, brethren I Well may " the brother of low degree glory in his high estate," so created, so redeemed I II. THE HUMILIATION OF THE RICH. 'l'he antithesis is only one of outward seeming, for the rich is really endowed with all the glory of redeemed manhood equally with the poor, if he would but reco11:niz~ and realize his endowment. But he is tempted to exalt himself by what is really a self-humiliation, and make his manhood depend upon his appendages and trappings. And therefore his real exaltation can only be by what might seem to the world as a self-humiliation. Let him throw off his regard for this vain show, and prize that wealth of human privilege and Divine blessing which are his in common with his "brother of low degree." Let go the shadow and grasp the substance; for these things are yours too, if you will have them, and they a!'e the true riches. This needs no arguing, but it may need enforcing. 1. The false glorying of the world--glitter, pride, and power. The supercilious scorn of the" high," as speaking of the "masses," and of them as the "vulgar," the "ignorant," the "plebeian." The essential vulgarity and ignorance is in the people who so speak; their words recoil upon themselves. Again, the false ambitk>n of the "low;" they covet those things that are above their reach, and so deserve most strongly the stigma of vulgarity. Yes, the vulgar man is he who cares inordinately about either the possession or the lack of these things; the true patrician is the man who values his manhood infinitely above them alL For these things? "As the flower of the grass" they "pass away." 'l'he great statesman and the mighty author-they die like common men, They are one with the grass of the field. 2. A false glorying in the Church. 'l'his which Jame'I binted at; this which he directly rebukes in eh. ii. Let us beware. Pride on one side, envy on the other. Both alike betray an utterly false estimate of worldly things in comparison with the "common salvation" of the grace of God. Ah yes I it is the "grace" of the common salvation that abides, and is alike our glory in life and our support in death. The humblest Christian upon whom Christ's Name is truly named ranks as high in the sight of God as the Christian millionaire or prince; and, when death comes, the man of consecrated wealth and the preacher of consecrated gifts die, like the poorest Christian ~sant, cliuging to the Name of ~hrist. Th~~ef~re, !et" the rich" rejoice "in that he 1s made low;" for what seems his self-hum1liat1on ID the eyes of a false world, viz. his light esteeming of things that are but paltry and vain, this is his true exaltation, "which is in the sight of God of great price" (1 Pet. iii. 3, 4). May it be ours to possess, and duly to prize, "the exceeding riches of his grace, through Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii. 7)! Amen.-T. F. L. Vers. 12-18.-Temptation and it, history. We are carried back by the first word to our Lord's pronouncement of the Beatitudes in the sermon on the mount, And here, as there, we are confronted with paradox. The words of the earlier Beatitudes had duuLtless come with a shock of astonishment to many, who listened for statements that CII, I, 1-27,] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 25