Pure religion— By the word θρησκεια, religion, is often meant the worship of God; but here it evidently takes in a larger compass; namely, that menvisit the fatherless, &c. "Pure and undefiled religion, that which is clear and without any flaw or blemish before the penetrating eyes of God, even the Father, consists not merelyin speculations or forms, or even in the warmth of affection during the exercise of worship; but it is this—to take the oversight of orphans and widows in their affliction, with a tender regard to their calamitous circumstances, and endeavouring to oversee them, in such a manner as to provide for their relief, performing to others in distress suitable offices of kindness and charity; at the same time taking care to keep himself unspotted inwardlyand outwardly from those bad practices and irregular indulgencies, which so generally prevail in the world about us, where so little either of religion or morality is to be found." Archbishop Tillotson has observed, that the word αμιαντος, rendered undefiled, seems here to be an allusion to the excellence of a precious stone, which consists much in its being clear, and without a flaw or cloud; and surely no gem is so precious or ornamental as the amiable temper hereby described. The word επισκεπτεσθαι, rendered to visit, properly signifies, "to take theoversightof;" and may import, entering into measures for their subsistence, as well as going to them, and converting with them in their distresses. See Matth. xxv
Inferences.—Let us learn from this chapter a holy caution, and guard against those baits of lust under which death is concealed; remembering that God has bestowed upon us a power of determining our own actions, that he tempts none to evil, nor appoints to any such temptations as he knows to be in their own nature irresistible. Be our spiritual enemies ever so powerful, or ever so artful, they cannot do us any hurt, till we betray ourselves into their hands. Yet certain it is, that their artifice and their power, in conjunction with the deceitfulness of the human heart, make it requisite, that conscious to ourselves of our deficiency in wisdom, we should ask wisdom of God. Let the liberality with which he gives it, and the royal freedom with which he has promised it, encourage us to ask it with such constancy, that we may receive daily supplies; and with such firm confidence in his goodness, that we may not waver, and be like a wave of the sea tossed by the wind.
Trusting in that supply of grace which we receive from him, let us go forth calmly and cheerfully to meet such trials as the infinite wisdom of God shall appoint or permit, how various and pressing soever they may be; remembering that they tend to improve our patience, and by patience to perfect every other grace; and that if we be not overcome, we shall be approved, and made meet to receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. And O, that the love of this blessed Lord, who has purchased as well as promised it, may always render us superior to every trial, and more than conquerors through him that has loved us, and thereby hath acquired to himself so just a claim to our supreme affection. With hearts faithfully engaged to him, and established in the firmest resolutions for his service, let us look with indifference upon those worldly circumstances, about which they who have no sense of a higher interest are exceedingly solicitous; and let us regulate our value of all the good things of life, by a regard to their aspect upon our religious characters and hopes.—If low circumstances may improve these, let us look upon them as true exaltation; and if wealth, and dignity, and applause, may endanger these, let us rather fear them, than aspire to them. Whatever we have obtained of those things which the men of the world are most ready to covet and admire, is transitory and fading as the grass, or even as the flower of the field; and sometimes, like those beautiful, but tender productions of vegetable nature, is consumed by the excess of those causes to which it owes its existence and its beauty. "Give us, O Lord, durable riches, and righteousness, and that honour which cometh from thee, and is immortal, as its great Original."
And with what gratitude should we direct our eyes and our hearts to the unchangeable Father of lights, and acknowledge every good and every perfect gift, as descending from him; but above all, the invaluable gift of his regenerating grace, for which, if we are of the first-fruits of his creatures, we are certainly indebted to him, and are thereby laid under the strongest engagements to consecrate ourselves continually to his service. Let us therefore listen with a most obedient regard to every intimation of his will, and set a guard upon all our passions, that they may move in sweet and harmonious subjection to it. Especially, let us be slow to wrath, and not imagine that we can be justified in the exorbitances of our angry transports, because they may possibly arise in the cause of religion. The righteousness of God is not to be promoted, but on the contrary, will be disgraced and obstructed, by such outrageous ungovernable sallies. Let every impure and malignant affection be therefore banished from our minds, and let us pray that the word of God may be so ingrafted into our souls, as to become the effectual means of our salvation. Let us not rest in a mere forgetful hearing, or indeed in an ineffectual remembrance; but having looked into the gospel, that perfect law, which by binding the soul gives it the truest liberty, let us by Divine assistance continue therein, and improve, to the immediate purposes of reformation and holiness, whatever knowledge we thereby gain; correcting whatever we observe amiss in ourselves. Particularly, let us study a proper command over our tongues, and cultivate those charitable dispositions and offices, in which true and undefiled religion is here declared to consist; that widows and orphans may give us their blessing, as their guardians and friends; and that an unspotted life, untainted with the vices of a degenerate age, may bear witness, that though in the world, we are not of it, and that we act in consistency with those sublime and holy ends to which we profess as Christians to aspire.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have,
1. The inscription of the epistle. James, who counts it his highest honour to subscribe himself a servant of God, and, or even, of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, wherever dispersed throughout the world, sendeth greeting, wishing that all blessings may descend upon them, whether of this world or a better.
2. He exhorts them, under the persecutions and troubles which for Christ's sake they endured, to rejoice. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, and by Divine Providence are permitted to be variously exercised by the malice of the wicked; esteem their reproaches your honour, and your losses your truest gain; knowing this, by divine testimony, and happy experience, that the trying of your faith worketh patience; your faith is proved genuine by this blessed effect and every exercise of it tends to confirm your hearts in meek and humble resignation. But let patience have her perfect work; be the trials never so many, never so grievous, never so long continued, bear up under them with persevering steadfastness, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, possessing that perfect love which calleth out all fear that hath torment, and pressing forward till you arrive at the highest eminence of grace. Note; (1.) Surrounded as we are with temptations, we have need of patience, that we faint not under our trials. (2.) Philosophy may enjoin submission, but Christianity alone can teach us to rejoice under affliction. (3.) Faith is the root of all graces: as that is vigorous, these will be in exercise. (4.) The sharpest conflicts which we have to sustain, prove in their issue, when rightly improved, the greatest blessings to our souls.
3. If we would act aright under our trials, we must be upon our knees often, to beg divine direction. If any of you lack wisdom, and know not how to act in any emergence, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men, who apply according to his word, liberally, and upbraideth not; never weary in granting, nor ever reproaching his supplicants with their unworthiness, or the multitude of the favours which he bestows; and it shall be given him; all the counsel and assistance which such a one needs, shall be bestowed in answer to his prayer. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; not distrusting the faithfulness, power, and grace of God in Christ, however difficult and embarrassed his circumstances may be: for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind, and tossed; the sport of every gust of temptation, restless, impatient, fluctuating, unsettled in principle and practice: for let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord, while he dishonours him by his unbelief and fickleness. Such a double-minded man, divided between Christ and the world, halting between both, and willing to reconcile the incompatible services of God and Mammon, is unstable in all his ways, and, having no fixed end in view, can never prosper in his soul, nor expect an answer to his prayers. Note; (1.) We have every encouragement to approach a throne of grace; and every possible assurance of finding relief there, if we draw near in faith. How perverse and foolish then must we be, if we make not use of this invaluable privilege? They who come to God with their requests, must honour him by their confidence in his power, truth, and love; unbelief shuts out the blessing. (2.) When the heart is unstable and wavering, prayer cannot ascend with acceptance before God.
4. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted to the riches of grace, and the transcendent dignity of being an heir of glory; but the rich brother, in that he is made low; taught, amidst all his affluence and grandeur, true poverty of spirit, and lowliness of mind, and ready ever to part with any thing that he possesses for the sake of Christ, because he knows the fleeting and perishing nature of all worldly wealth, and that as a flower of the grass he shall pass away, and leave it all behind. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Often in this world riches make themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle towards heaven, and death at farthest will prove their vanity.
5. A blessing is pronounced upon faithful perseverance. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; far from proving his heart, his trials in their issue tend to advance his truest felicity: for when he is tried, as the gold in the furnace, and comes forth brighter from the fires, he shall receive the crown of life and glory, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, hath promised, and will at the great day of his appearing assuredly give to them that perseveringly love him. Note; (1.) We must be tried, before we can be crowned. (2.) The reward of fidelity is still the gift of God, who freely promises it, and by his grace supports the faithful, and of his mercy bestows the crown of life.
2nd, Concerning the cause of all the evil of sin which we fall into, when brought into temptation, we are taught,
1. That it is not to be imputed to God. Let no man say when he is tempted to commit sin, in order to extricate himself from suffering, I am tempted of God; for this is abominably impious, since God, who is in his nature perfectly holy, cannot himself be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man to iniquity, whatever providential afflictions he may lay upon him. Note; We are very apt to cast our sins at God's door, and to blame him for putting us into such temptations; whereas our trials are designed to exercise our graces, and not to draw us into sin.
2. We have only ourselves to blame for all the evil which is in us. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed; foolishly and perversely following the bait which Satan lays, beguiled by his enticements, and led by corrupt affections from the paths of truth and holiness. Then when lust hath conceived, in thought and desire, it bringeth forth sin, gaining the consent of the will to the perpetration of iniquity; and sin when it is finished, in the act, and impenitently persisted in, bringeth forth death of body and soul for ever. Do not err, my beloved brethren, by entertaining false and injurious conceptions of the blessed God in this matter. Note; (1.) The root of all evil is in our own fallen hearts. (2.) Sin enslaves by flattery; it is the deceitfulness of unrighteousness yielded to, which proves our ruin; and false hope supports vain confidence, till it appears that there is a lie in our right hand. (3.) If we do not destroy the power of sin, we may be assured that it will finally destroy us.
3. All the good which is in us, proceeds from God. Every good gift, and every perfect gift, every bounty of Providence, and every spiritual endowment, which tends to the perfection of our nature in knowledge and holiness, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, the Author of all light, natural, moral, spiritual, or eternal; with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. The sun that gilds the firmament, is obscured often by clouds, rises and sets, is eclipsed, and moves to and fro between the tropics; or changes equivalent are produced among the heavenly bodies; but God knows no change; nothing but good, without the shadow of evil, can proceed from him. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, not for any desert of ours, but of his rich and unmerited grace, sending us his gospel, and making it effectual, through the power of the Spirit, to quicken the souls of believers from the death of sin, and raise them to newness of life; that, as his adopted and regenerate sons, we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures; consecrated to him, and devoted to his immediate service. Note; (1.) All glorying must be excluded, if all good be of grace; for what then have we, which we have not received? (2.) All who are begotten by the word of truth in the gospel, must, from that moment, consider themselves as consecrated to God's service, and bound to live to his glory.
3rdly, The apostle enjoins them,
1. To restrain their passions. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear God's word; slow to speak, not daring to censure the ways of Providence and grace; slow to wrath; not disputing or quarrelling with the truths of God, or treating those who differ in point of controversy with contempt or anger: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God; the cause of God cannot be served by our selfish passions; nor with such a spirit may we hope to speak aright, or to convince others. Note; (1.) We should not be obstinate in our own opinions, but be willing to hear the objections of others. (2.) God's cause is not to be served by noise and anger, but by meekness and the word of truth. Whoever is in the right, they that are angry are sure to be wrong.
2. To put away every other vile and corrupt affection. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness, every defiling lust, and malicious temper; and receive with meekness the ingrafted word, that it may take fast hold of your affections, and be incorporated with your hearts; bowing before it with all humility, and receiving it on God's authority with faith and love; which is able to save your souls, when thus accompanied by the power of the Spirit, and yielded to by the heart unto righteousness. Note; Corrupt affections entertained, disincline and indispose the soul for receiving God's word, turn us away from hearing it, and prejudice us against the truth.
3. We must be not only hearers of the truth, but practise it also, else it can profit us nothing. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves, by fallacious conclusions, to the ruin of your own souls. For if any man be a hearer of the word merely, resting upon that as of any avail, and is not a doer of what he hears, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and, hastily passing by, straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. Such is the careless and cursory hearer of the word: he may discover, whilst under the word, in a transient glance, something of the sinfulness and depravity of his nature, and his need of Christ; but it makes no deep or lasting impression: no sooner is he gone forth into the world, than he forgets his convictions, and continues utterly unchanged in temper and conduct. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, attentively viewing himself in the glass of the gospel, wherein we are called from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; and continue therein, careful to hold fast in principle, and to correspond in practice, with the things therein revealed; he, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, diligent to obey what God commands, this man shall be blessed in his deed, made happy in God's present service, and, if faithful unto death, his end shall be everlasting life. Note; (1.) True religion consists not in profession merely, but in practice, without which Christianity is but an empty name. (2.) The word of God is as the faithful mirror, that knows not to flatter: if we attentively view ourselves in that glass, we shall see the horrid deformity of our fallen spirits by nature, and learn to entertain the lowest thoughts of ourselves. They only are blessed, who, having discovered their real state, are seriously led to the Fountain open for sin and for uncleanness; and in a Saviour's blood, and by the power of his grace, have their filthiness cleansed, and their nature renewed after his image, so as henceforth to walk with and please God.
4. He marks the difference between true and false religion. If any man among you seem to be religious, making such a profession, and yet bridleth not his tongue, from railing, reproach, slander, profaneness, bitterness, or proud talkativeness to display his own talents; this man's religion is vain: however plausible he may appear, his heart is rotten; and while he would build up his own excellence by detracting from others' worth, his hypocrisy is visible through the mask. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, that religion which he approves, which is dictated by his word, and aims at his glory,—is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction; stretching out the kind hand of charity to relieve them, sympathizing with them, and affording them every assistance which they need, and we can give; and to keep himself unspotted from the world; neither polluted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, nor the pride of life; but preserved pure for God amid the overflowings of ungodliness. Note; (1.) We have to do with a heart-searching God, who requireth truth in the inward parts. Where the soul is right with God, there purity, and love, and charity, will be manifest in every word and work. (2.) This world is full of defilement; it needs much watchfulness to keep our garments unspotted.