He now diverteth from the rich oppressors unto the poor
faithful brethren that were oppressed; by the illative particle, therefore, we
may see the former paragraph was for their sakes. The rich men shall be
punished for their wickedness and oppression, therefore be you patient.
Be
patient, therefore, brethren, makrothumèsate. - The word is put for
long-suffering, and so usually translated, which is a further degree of
patience; for patience is a sense of afflictions without murmuring, and of
injuries without revenge. Now long-suffering is patience extended and
lengthened out to that which our apostle calleth its perfect work. Observe: -
Obs. It is the duty of the children of God to be patient under their
sufferings, though they be long and sharp. It is easier in a calm and sedate
condition to discourse of patience than to exercise it in time of trial.
Philosophers have discoursed of it and commended it; but Christians themselves
have staggered when they have been exorcised with a sharp sense of evils. When
God giveth up his people to the lust of adversaries, then it is sad, and we are
apt to murmur; and yet the apostle saith we should suffer with a long patience.
I shall spare motives, and a little show you what Christian patience is. It
differeth from security and stoical insensibleness; there can be no patience
where there is no sense of evil. Christianity doth not abrogate affections, but
regulate them. Carnal men put off that which they cannot put away, and are not
patient, but stupid and careless. There are other remedies in Christianity than
quenching our sorrows in the wine of pleasures. Again, it differeth from moral
patience, which is nothing but a yielding to necessity, and is usually
accompanied with vain thoughts, Jer. iv. 14, and carnal workings of spirit.
When God layeth on crosses, men please themselves with suppositions of worldly
profit, and how their present condition may conduce to secular advancement; as
when God taketh away wife or children, men do not think of submission to the
hand of God, but the capacity of augmenting their worldly estate, &c. In
short, Christian patience supposeth a sense of evil, and then, in the formality
of it, it is a submission of the whole soul to the will of God: wherein observe
-(1.) The nature; it is a submission of the whole soul. The judgment
subscribeth, 'Good is the word of the Lord,' &c., Isa. xxxix. 9. Though it
were to him a terrible word, yet the submission of a sanctified judgment can
call it good. Then the will accepteth: Lev. xxvi. 41, 'If they shall accept the
punishment;' that is, take it kindly from God that it is no worse. Then the
affections are restrained, and anger and sorrow brought under the commands of
the word. Then the tongue is bridled, lest discontent plash over: Aaron held
his peace, Lev. x. 3. (2.) Consider the grounds and proper considerations upon
which all this is carried on; usually there is such a progress as this in the
spiritual discourse: - (1st.) the soul setteth God in it: Ps. xxxix. 9, 'I was
dumb and opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.' (2d.) It seeth God acting
with sovereignty: Job ix. 12, 'None can say unto him, What dost thou?' And
elsewhere, 'He giveth no account of his matters.' (3d.) Lest this should make
the heart storm, it seeth sovereignty modified and mitigated in the
dispensation of it with several attributes. With justice: Deut. xxvii. 26, when
every curse was pronounced, they were to say Amen, that if it come to pass,
amen is but a righteous dispensation. With mercy: Ezra ix. 13, 'Thou hast
punished us less than we deserved.' They were afflicted, they might have been
destroyed; they were in Babylon, they might have been in hell. With
faithfulness: they look upon afflictions as federal dispensations, as
appendages of the covenant of grace: Ps. cxix. 71, 'It is good for me that I
have been afflicted, that I might keep thy statutes.' When they are threshed,
it is but to lose their stalk and husk: God's faithfulness would not suffer
them to want such a sweep help. With wisdom: Isa. xxx. 18, 'God is a God of
judgment;' it is meant in his dispensations. Let God alone; he is too just to
do us wrong, and too kind and wise to do us harm.
Unto the coming of
the Lord. - Here is an argument to enforce the duty; God will come and right
your injuries. But of what coming doth he speak? Every manifestation of God's
grace or judgment is tailed a coming of the Lord. It is in vain in so known a
case to heap up places. More especially his solemn judgments on a church or
people are expressed by that term; so to all the churches in the Revelations:
'I will come quickly, and take away thy candlestick.' Rev. ii.; to Pergamus,
'Repent or I will come quickly,' Rev. iii.; so to Sardis, 'I will come as a
thief,' &c. Any solemn progress and march of God in a judicial way is
expressed by coming; but most chiefly it is applied to Christ's glorious
appearing in the clouds, called his second coming. But you will reply again,
Which, then, is meant here? any particular coming of Christ, or else his solemn
coming to general judgment? I answer - Both may be intended; the primitive
Christians thought both would fall out together.
1. It may be meant of
Christ's particular coming to judge these wicked men. This epistle was written
about thirty years after Christ's death, and there was but a little time
between that and Jerusalem's last; so that unto the coming of the Lord, is
until the overwhelming of Jerusalem, which is also elsewhere expressed by
coming, if we may believe Chrysostom and OEcumenius, on John xxi. 22, 'If I
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?' that is, come, say they,
to Jerusalem's destruction. Thus God often cometh to his people; and the note
is: -
Obs. That Christians, to assuage their griefs, should often think of
Christ's coming to their rescue and deliverance. Have a little patience, and
when your Master cometh, he will put an end to your afflictions. Long for the
coming of Christ, but wait for it; do not bind the counsels of God. Usually his
coming is when he is least looked for: Luke xviii. 7, 8, 'When the Son of man
cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?' that is, confidence that he will
avenge; will any look for him then? Mat xxv. 6, 'At midnight there was a cry
made, The bridegroom cometh.' Who would look for the bridegroom at midnight?
Usually because our expectations are earnest to be satisfied, we give over
waiting: our time is always present, and flesh and blood is soon tired; yet, as
long as it seemeth, it is but a short time: Heb. x. 37, 'He that shall come,
will come, and will not tarry.'
2. It is meant of the general day of
judgment, which is the day of their vengeance and your recompenses. See both in
2 Thes. i, 6-8, 'Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you which are troubled rest, when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming
fire, taking vengeance of them which obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ;'
which is not to be understood as if they should not be punished nor we rewarded
before that day; but then both are more full and complete: the wicked that are
now in chains of darkness looking for a more terrible day, and glorified souls
for a more full reward, their bodies as yet remaining under the dominion of
death. The note is: -
Obs. That a spiritual argument of patience is a
thought of the day of judgment. Here we are beaten by enemies and
fellow-servants, but then the Lord will come, and all will be well, Mat. xxiv.
51. Oh! it will be sweet when we shall be hugged in the arms of Christ, and he
shall say, 'Well done, well suffered, my good and faithful servant;' and he
shall put the crown upon our heads with his own hands. Well, then, love the
coming of Christ, 2 Tim. iv. 8, and hasten it, 2 Peter iii. 12; cry as the
spouse, 'Even so, Lord Jesus; come quickly,' Rev. xxii.
Behold, the
husbandman waiteth. - Here the apostle anticipateth an objection: Ay! but we
wait long; so doth the husbandman, saith the apostle, for that which is nothing
so precious as your hopes. Clemens saith, that James and his brother Jude were
husbandmen, and therefore do they so often bring similitudes from their own
calling, of trees, plants, and fruits of the earth, &c.;
For the
precious fruit of the earth, karpon timion. - Precious, because it costeth hard
labour, and because it is a choice blessing of God for the sustentation of
life. This term is used to show that though the fruit be dear to the
husbandman, as deliverance is to you, yet he waiteth for it, and, as the
apostle saith, 'hath long patience.'
Until he receive the early and the
latter rain; that is, the former, which falleth a little before sowing; and the
latter, a little before the ripening of the corn. These are phrases often used
in the prophets. The meaning is, then, he looketh till, in an ordinary way of
providence, it may be ripened. So Hosea vi. 3, 'As the former and latter rain
to the earth.' Especially we hear of the latter rain; for the latter rain, that
fell somewhat before harvest, was a rain that came seldom in that country, but
was much desired for the refreshing of the corn, and other fruits and blessings
of the earth.
Obs. From that behold the husbandman. We must behold
outward objects to a heavenly purpose, and every ordinary sight should be
improved: so doth Christ in his parables; so elsewhere he sendeth us to learn
of the lilies, as James doth to the husbandman: so Job biddeth us 'to confer
with the beasts, and ask of the fishes,' Job xii. 7, 8; that is, by meditation
to draw useful collections from them. But you will say, How shall we improve
common objects? I answer - Two ways: in an argumentative and representative
way; by reasoning from them, by viewing the resemblance between them and
spiritual matters; as in the present case and similitude of the apostle. (1.)
In meditation argue thus: If a husbandman, upon ordinary principles of reason,
can wait for the harvest, shall not I wait for the coming of the Lord, the day
of refreshing? The corn is precious to him, and so is the coming of Christ to
me; shall he be so patient, and endure so much for a little corn, and not I for
the kingdom of heaven? He is willing to stay till all causes have had their
operation, and he hath received the former and the latter rain; and shall not I
till the divine decrees be accomplished? (2.) In meditation make the
resemblance and discourse thus within yourselves: This is my seedtime, heaven
is the harvest; here I must labour and toil, and there rest. I see the
husbandman's life is a great toil: we can obtain no excellent thing without
labour and an obstinate patience. I see the seed must be hidden in the furrows,
rotten, and corrupted, ere it can spring forth with any increase; our hopes are
hidden, and light is sown for the righteous, Ps. xcii. 11; all our comforts are
buried under the clods, and after all this there must be long waiting. We
cannot sow and reap in a day; effects cannot follow till all necessary causes
have first wrought: it is not in the power of the husbandman to ripen fruits at
pleasure; our times are in the hands of God; therefore it is good to wait; a
long-suffering patience will reap the desired fruits, &c.
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