The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 93

evil without could not touch that inward strength. In this consists the "blessedness" of the enduring. Therefore "stablil!h your hearts." (3) 'l'mst in God: a God with 118 now; e. God working for our deliverance hereafter. Havin" him, we have all thin"'s • nnd hoping in him, we shall not be put to shame. 2. It; encouragements, (1) 'rh~ processes of nn.ture may teach us patience: "Behold, the husbandman waiteth," etc. (2) The prophets of grace teach the same patience : "Take, brethren, for an example," eto, And the patience manifested by them was that of men who can "suffer, and be strong;" an active patience-" spake." (3) The patience of Job is the typical example of God's dealings, so mysterious and yet so merciful; and of man's faith, so tossed an<l tried, yet cleaving to the God who, he is sure, will not forsake. One penalty of impatience and unfaith is mutual discontent; "Murmur not one against another." As against this, the reward of patient trust :in God is " the peace ot God," which" shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Therefore, f,,r duty's sake, for society's sake, for your own hearts' sake, for Christ's sake," be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord;" for "yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, a.nd will not tarry" (Heb. x. 37).-T. F. L. Ver.12.-Simplicity of speech. Why "above all things"? Unless that this waa one of~their chiefly besetting sins. But, indeed, the intrinsic importance of the subject itself is sufficient warrant for the use of 1JUch words. It is the great subject of verity- verity of speech. And, indeed, if the verities of speech be trifled with, soon all verity is gone; and if a man be not a true man, of what worth is he? "Swear not." We neetl not take these words as prohibiting the use of the oath on solemn public occasions. For our Lord himself was put on his oath by the high priest (Matt. x.xvi. 63, 64), an,l accepted the position. Paul also (Rom. i. 9; 2 Cor. i. 23 ; GaL i. 20; Phil. i. 8) several times in his public communications with the Churches substantiated. his words with some solemn formula. No; the world being what it is, imperfect, and some being so far under the influence of higher realities that, when brought consciously into-their presence, they will speak truly, through fear, whereas apart from such avowed appeal to God they might not speak truly, it does appear to be quite lawful for society to take advantaga even of this lower religious motive to secure true testimony, as before magistrates. And, this being so, the man who needs no such constraint, who lives always as before God, and whose word is therefore as good as his oath, will yet conform to the usages o( society for the sake of their general benefit. It is, then, not the use of solemn speech on such public and special occasions that is here prohibited, but artificial asseverations in the common intercourse between man and ma.n. And we may profitably collBider- simplicity of speech, and its reward. I. Sil'd.l'LIOITY OF SPEECH. 1. And first, as qpposea to duplicity. For amongst the Jews certain ingenuities of oath-taking had become a veil for the most Bagrant falsene.a. To the rabbis "the third commandment was simply a. prohibition of perjury, as t~ sixth was of murder, or the seventh of adultery. 'l'hey did not see that the holy Name might be profaned in other ways, even when ii was not uttered; and they expressly or tacitly allowed many forms of oath in which it was not named, as with the view ol'. guarding it from desecration. Lastly, out of the many forms thus sanctioned (as here-- Matt. v. 33-37-and xxiii. 16-22) they selected some as binding a.nd others as not binding, and thus, by a-casuistry at once subtle, irrational, a.nd dishonest, tampered with men's sense of truthfulness" (Plumptre, on Matt. v. 33--37, in Ellicott's 'Commentary'). Our Lord's words, in the sermon on the mount, and afterwards in Matt. uili., werti intended to smite through all this sophistry of falsehood; and Ja.mes, in echoing our Lord's words, "Swear not at all," doubtless has the same end in view. For whethel· they solemnly invoked God's holy Name, or used some seemingly less solemn formula., or used no formula at all, and yet were false, their lying was in reality lying against God, who is present everywhere, a.nd without whom nothing is real and no speech is sacred. So, then,our Lord's words, and the words of James, smote all the duplicity of the Jews in those days, And does not the same condemnation smite all the prevarications of our day? Whether with or without false oaths, all speech which insinuates the wrong meaning, under whatever cover _of seeming v_eraci ty1 is false, and must for saf~ty•~ sake be branded with its real name, lying-yes, lying agarn~t God I And so all shifty, misleading deeds; all transactions, whether_ofbusinesa or of political life, or in any other 8S THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. [ Oil, V, 1-20.