He proveth the general proposition by a particular
instance, the example of Elias. Before we come to examine the words, I shall
discuss a doubt. How could he infer a general rule out of one single instance,
especially from a man whose life was full of prodigy and wonder? I answer -
(1.) In a case necessary, one instance is enough, proofs in such a case
being ek perissou, over and above measure, and for illustration rather than
confirmation.
(2.) Though the instance be particular, yet the precept of
praying, and the promise of being heard in prayer, are both universal.
(3.)
His drift is to show that, if he obtained so much, our prayers shall not
altogether be in vain; there may be less of miracle in our answer, but there
will be as much of grace.
(4.) For the special dignity of the person, the
apostle himself anticipated that objection; homoiopathès, of like
passions with us, is here put by way of prevention. They might plead Elias was
a singular instance; who can expect his experiences? The apostle anticipateth
this doubt, by acquainting them that he was subject to like infirmities
wherewith other men are surprised. I come now to the words.
Elias. - An
eminent prophet, and of whom singular things are related in scripture. He
raised the widow's son, 1 Kings xvii. 22; obtained fire from heaven against the
priests of Baal, 1 Kings xviii. 38; he was fed by ravens, 1 Kings xvii.; went
forty days and forty nights in the strength of one meal, 1 Kings xix. 8;
brought fire from heaven on the captains of two fifties and their companions, 2
Kings i 10; passed over Jordan dry-foot, 2 Kings ii. 8; he was snatched into
heaven in a fiery chariot, 2 Kings ii. 11; he visibly appeared in the
transfiguration of Christ, Mat. xvii. 3. The Papists feign that he shall come
corporally into the world before the day of judgment. And here our apostle
instanceth in another miracle - heaven itself seemed to be subject to his
prayers, and to be shut and opened at his pleasure.
Was a man subject
to like passions as we are. - Some apply this to outward sufferings and
afflictions; some to weaknesses of body and the inconveniences of the present
life; some to inward passions and perturbations of the mind; some to moral
infirmities and sins: all may be intended. The same word is used Acts xiv. 15,
when they would have sacrificed to Paul and Barnabas: 'We are,' say they,
'homoiopatheis, of like passions with yourselves.' It is put there for whatever
differenceth man from the divine nature; as Peter in the like case saith, Acts
x. 26, 'I am also a man,' &c. Thus the scripture showeth that Elias was
hungry, 1 Kings xvii. 11; that he feared death, and therefore fled from
Jezebel, 1 Kings xix. 3; and requested to die in a pet and discontent, 1 Kings
xix. 4. All kinds of infirmities incident to man are ascribed to him.
And he prayed earnestly, proseuchèi prosèuchato, he
prayed in prayer, a known Hebraism. Verbalia addita verbis is a kind of
construction among the Hebrews which implieth vehemency, and that earnest
contention of spirit which should be in prayer. It is an explication of
deèsis energoumenè, used by the apostle in the former verse So
Christ saith, Luke xxii., 'With desire have I desired; ' that is, vehemently
and earnestly; it is a like Hebraism. But because among the Hebrews I have
observed that there is always a conveniency between the forms of expression and
the things expressed, therefore Aquinas's note is not altogether amiss, Cordis
et orie orationem notat, it may note the agreement between tongue and heart;
the heart prayed and tongue prayed. This clause noteth the cause why Elias was
heard; he prayed with earnestness and faith, according to the will of God
revealed to him.
That it might not rain. - There is no such thing in
the history, which you have at large, 1 Kings the 17th and 18th chapters, where
there is not a word of his praying that it might not rain; the scripture
showeth that he only foretold a drought. But it is more than probable that the
worship of Baal, being everywhere received, did extort from this good man, so
full of zeal for God, a prayer for drought as a punishment, by which the people
being corrected, he prayed again for rain. Certainly, the apostle having
recorded the story, we cannot doubt of the truth of it. It is usual in
scripture in one place to give us the substance of a history, in another the
circumstances of it; as that of Jannes and Jambres, 2 Tim. iii. 8. So Ps. cv.
18, we read that 'Joseph's feet were hurt in fetters,' and that he was laid in
iron; there is no such thing recorded in Genesis. So Heb. xii. 21, 'So terrible
was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake,' which is nowhere
recorded in the Pentateuch.
And it rained not by the space of three
years and six months. - The same term of time is specified, Luke iv. 25, 'Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heavens were shut three
years and six months,' &c. But you will say, How is this true? how three
years and a half, when it is expressly said, 1 Kings xviii. 1, 'And it came to
pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third
year, saying, Go show thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth?' To
answer this scruple, Grotius saith, that the word of the Lord came to him about
the end of the third year, to be executed half a year after; but this is not so
probable: others say otherwise. The best answer I conceive is that proposed by
Abulensis, and since embraced and improved by Junius and other divines of great
note. They answer, that the third year spoken of in that place is to be
reckoned from his dwelling at Sarepta; so that the time of his abode about the
brook Cherith is not computed, where he was one whole year fed by ravens; for
it is said, 1 Kings xvii. 10, 'And after a while he departed to Sarepta;' in
the margin, 'at the end of days;' that is, at the end of the number of days
which make a year. So Junius rendereth anno exacto. The same phrase is used,
Gen. iv. 3, 'In process of time,' &c., in the margin, mikketh jomim, 'at
the end of days,' or, 'at the year's end.' Well, then, after this year is
elapsed, from thence forward we must begin the computation, which may be well
inferred from 1 Kings xvii. 14, where Elijah being at Sarepta, it is said, 'The
Lord came to him, and said, The barrel of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse
of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain.' Now about the middle of
the third year from that time the Lord appeared to him again.
The notes
are these: -
Obs. 1. That God's eminent children are men of like
passions with us: see 1 Peter v. 9, 'The same things are accomplished in your
brethren that are in the flesh;' they are all troubled with a naughty heart, a
busy devil, and a corrupt world. We are all tainted in our originals, and
infected with Adam's leprosy: all blood is of a colour. Many times there are
notorious blemishes in the lives of the saints; they are of the same nature
with others, and have not wholly divested and put off the interests and
concernments of flesh and blood. Moses spake unadvisedly with his lips, and
David turned aside to adultery: he rendereth the reason, Ps. li. 5, he had a
common nature with other men. So often divers of God's dear children have foul
falls. Constancy and continuance in sin would deny them saints, and an
uninterrupted continuance in holiness would deny them men. Well, then, God's
children, that travail under the burden of infirmities, may take comfort; such
conflicts are not inconsistent with faith and piety: other believers are thus
exercised, none ever went to heaven but there was some work for his 'faith and
patience,' Heb. vi. 12. When we partake of the divine nature we do not put off
the human; we ought to walk with care, but yet with comfort.
Obs. 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 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 in 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, David's adultery, Noah's drunkenness. In
Salvian's time they pleaded, Si David, cur non et ego? si Noah, cur non et ego?
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.
Obs. 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
revelations,' 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 disciples 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 transplanted them out of
Egypt that they may grow in Canaan; it doth not destroy nature, but direct it.
Obs. 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, indebted to grace. When we have
received a high assistance, yet still we are unprofitable 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 sobriety and humility; at first, when God taketh us to
mercy, we are like other men; was not Esau Jacob's brother? Mal. i 2; in their
persons, and, as they were men, there was no difference. 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 upward, 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, 26, 'There
were many widows in Israel, but he was sent to none save the Sareptan.' God
hath mercy on whom 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 may pray with hope of success. God knoweth the voice of the Spirit;
our fleshly desires meet with pardon, and our spiritual with acceptance.
Obs. 7. From that he prayed earnestly, or prayed in prayer. This is our
duty, to pray in prayer. Not only to say a prayer, but to pray a prayer: Rom.
viii. 26, 'We pray, and the Spirit maketh intercession for us with sighs and
groans that cannot be uttered;' that is, we pray, and the Spirit prayeth in our
prayers. When the tongue prayeth alone it is but an empty ring; we often
mistake lungs and sighs for grace, and the agitation of the bodily spirits for
the impressions of the Holy Ghost; many work themselves into a great heat and
vehemency by the contention of speech, and that is all; the voice that is heard
on high are the groans of the soul. Well, then, pray in prayer, make you all
your prayers and supplications in the Spirit, Eph. vi. 16. Let not the heart be
wandering while the lips are praying; lip-labour doth no more than a breathing
instrument, make a loud noise; the essence of prayer lieth in the ascension of
the mind.
Obs. 8. It is sometimes lawful to imprecate the vengeance of
God upon the wicked. Elias prayed that it might not rain, out of a zeal of
God's glory, and detestation of their idolatry. I confess here we must be
cautious; imprecations in scripture were often uttered with a prophetic spirit,
and by special impulse and intimation from God. Elijah's act must not be
imitated without Elijah's spirit and warrant. The apostles, out of a
preposterous imitation of another act of Elias, 'called for fire from heaven,'
Luke ix., whereupon Christ checketh them: 'Ye know not what spirit ye are of.'
There may be distempered heats of revenge, strange wildfire that was never
kindled upon God's hearth. To direct you in this case of imprecation, I shall
lay down some propositions. (1.) There is a great deal of difference between
public and private cases. In all private cases it is the glory of our religion
to bless them that curse us, to pray for them that despitefully use us; so we
learn of the great author of our profession, 'he was numbered among
transgressors, and he made intercession for transgressors,' Isa, liii. 12. It
is a prophecy of that prayer which Christ uttered upon the cross for his
persecutors, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;' his heart
was full of love when theirs was full of spite; and truly the followers of the
Lamb should not be of a wolfish spirit; we should be ready to forgive all
private and personal wrongs; but in public cases, wherein divine or human right
is interverted and disturbed, we may desire God to relieve oppressed innocence,
to 'wound the hairy scalp of evil-doers,' &c. (2.) In public cases we must
not desire revenge directly and formally; so our prayers must respect the
vindication of God's glory, and the avenging of our own case only as it doth
collaterally and by consequence follow thereupon: Ps. cxv., 'Not to us, not to
us, but to thy name give glory;' that is, not for our revenge, or to satisfy
our lusts, but to repair the esteem of thy mercy and truth. The mainspring and
sway upon the spirit should be a zeal for the divine glory. The whole 83d Psalm
is full of imprecations, but it is concluded thus, ver. 18, 'That men may know
that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.'
The vindication of God's honour and ways is the main aim of their requests.
(3.) God's people do not desire vengeance against particular persons
absolutely, but in the general against the enemies of the church, and expressly
against such as are known to God to be perverse and implacable. (4) Their
ordinary prayers are against the plots rather than the persons of their
enemies; diligunt in inimico naturam, non vitium - they can love the nature,
though they hate the sin.
Obs. 9. God may continue judgments,
especially that of unseasonable weather, for a long time. In Elijah's time, for
three years and six months the heavens were as brass and the earth as iron;
this may serve to calm our froward spirits, that are apt to murmur against
providence when we have not seasons to our mind. Oh! think how it was with
Israel when it rained not in three years and more, and fear him that can stop
'the bottles of heaven,' Job xxxviii. 37, and stay the clouds from giving out
their influences: fruitful seasons are at his disposal; see Jer. v. 24. Second
causes do not work by chance, cannot work at pleasure. This is the bridle which
God hath upon the world; the ordering of the weather is one of the most visible
testimonies of his power and goodness.
Obs. 10. Lastly, observe how sad
it is for any to provoke the prophets of the Lord to pray against them. The
grieving of Elijah's spirit cost Israel dear. There is much in their messages,
and there is as much in their solemn prayers. We may often observe in the
history of the Old Testament, when God had a mind to destroy a people, he
commanded his prophets silence. If their silence be a sad omen, what are their
imprecations? When Zacharias's blood was shed, he said, 'the Lord requite it,'
which prayer cost them the miseries of Babylon, and his blood was not fully
revenged till their utter ruin; compare Mat. xxiii. 35, 36, with 2 Chron. xxiv.
21. Certainly, though there be little in such prayers as are but the effusions
of revenge or distempered heat, yet when by your sin and insolence you give
them cause to pray against you, their complaints are the sad presages of an
ensuing judgment
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