* Num. 118. Προφήτας, οἱ ἐλάλησαν τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου.

10 : Υπόδειγμα λάβετε, ἀδελφοὶ, τῆς κακοπαθείας, καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας, τοὺς 11 κ Ἰδοὺ, μακαρίζομεν τοὺς ὑπομένοντας. Τὴν ὑπομονὴν Ἰὼβ ἠκούσατε, καὶ τὸ τέλος Κυρίου εἴδετε· ὅτι πολύ. σπλαγχνός ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος καὶ οἰκτίρμων.

12 1 Πρὸ πάντων δὲ, ἀδελφοί μου, μὴ ὀμνύετε, μήτε τὸν οὐρανὸν μήτε τὴν γῆν, μήτε ἄλλον τινὰ ὅρκον· ἤτω δὲ ὑμῶν τὸ ναὶ, ναὶ, καὶ τὸ οὔ, οὔ· ἵνα μὴ ὑπὸ κρίσιν πέσητε.

13 m Κακοπαθεί τις ἐν ὑμῖν; προσευχέσθω· εὐθυμεῖ τις ; ψαλλέτω. 14" 'Ασθε νεῖ τις ἐν ὑμῖν ; προσκαλεσάσθω τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τῆς ἐκκλησίας· καὶ

execute vengeance on the guilty city of Jerusalem for her sins (Ecumen.). This saying: The Judge standeth at the Door, suggests a reference to the remarkable incident recorded by Hegesippus (see on v. 6), that the religious sects at Jerusalem were accustomed to ask St. James "which is the Door of Jesus?" and that at a Passover (that of A.D. 62) they placed him on a lofty eminence of the temple and cried out, The people are gone wild after Jesus who has been crucified, tell us, which is the Door of Jesus?

ευξάσθωσαν ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ἀλείψαντες αὐτὸν ἐλαίῳ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ο 15 ° καὶ ἡ εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως σώσει τὸν κάμνοντα, καὶ ἐγερεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ Κύριος κἂν ἁμαρτίας ᾖ πεποιηκώς, ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ.

wrought by God through their agency; it was like a credential to their mission; and it served to call attention to the Doctrine taught by them, as coming from God.

The miraculous powers of Healing given to the Apostles were for some time continued in the Church.

Thus St. Paul says (1 Cor. xii. 8, 9), "To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing; to another prophecy; to another tongues ;" and again (1 Cor. xii. 28), God hath set some in the Church, first Apostles, secondarily Prophets, thirdly teachers, after that Miracles, then gifts of healing. Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?"

Why the Church of England has not retained the practice of Anointing the Sick, as here prescribed by St. James?

And if the Early Church discontinued doing so, when and why?

St. Mark says of the Apostles (vi. 13), "They cast out devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them."

Our Lord Himself promised this gift to His disciples (Mark xvi. 18): "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." This was done by the Apostles in the time of our Lord's ministry (says Ecumenius here): they anointed the sick with oil and healed them.

It appears that St. James is speaking with reference to this miraculous power of healing then existing in the Church, when he says (v. 14), "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." That is to say, If any one is sick, let him avail himself of the gifts which God has bestowed upon His Church; let him send for the Presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him; and the prayer of faith (i. e. the faithful prayer made in full trust that God will do what is best for the sick) will (if it be God's good pleasure) save the sick, and God will raise him up, and restore him to health; and if he has committed sins, and if he is penitent for his sins, and has faith in Christ, they shall be forgiven him.

From a comparison of this passage with the parallel places in St. Matthew (x. 1-8) and St. Luke (ix. 1-6), it appears that they did this in the exercise of the extraordinary and miraculous powers of Healing bestowed on them by Christ.

The application of oil to the body of the Sick was a visible proof that they who applied it (viz. the Apostles) were Instruments employed by God for the conveyance of those benefits which accompanied its application.

It was a manifest evidence that Miracles of Healing were VOL. II.-PART IV.

& 18. 42, 45. Luke 4. 25.

16 Εξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, 11 Kings 17. 1. ὅπως ἰαθῆτε πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη. " ν' Ηλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν, καὶ προσευχῇ προσηύξατο τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι· καὶ οὐκ ἔβρεξεν g1 Kings 18. 41, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτοὺς τρεῖς καὶ μῆνας ἕξ· 18 4 καὶ πάλιν προσηύξατο, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑετὸν ἔδωκε, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐβλάστησε τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς.

Acts 14. 15.

&c.

to the recovery of the sick; as Cardinal Caietanus allows, in his note on the passage, where he says, "Hæc verba non loquuntur de Sacramentali unctione extreme unctionis;" but the Church of Rome prescribes, in the Councils of Florence (A.D. 1438) and Trent (A.D. 1551), that the anointing should not take place except where recovery is not to be looked for (Council of Trent, Sess. xiv., "qui tam periculosè decumbunt ut in exitu vitæ constituti videantur "), and therefore she calls this anointing "extreme unction," and "sacramentum exeuntium," and she regards it as a Sacrament for conveying grace to the soul.

Thus, on the one hand, the Greek Church is a witness by her present practice, that the Anointing was designed with a view to bodily recovery; and the Roman Church, on the other hand, is a witness, that the miraculous effects on the body, which were wrought in primitive times by God through the instrumentality of those who anointed the sick, and which accompanied that unction, have ceased.

In the first Prayer Book of King Edward VIth, the Church of England (in her Office for the Visitation of the Sick) provided that "if the sick man desired it," he might be anointed with a view to his recovery. But on further consideration of the matter, and reflecting (it may be supposed) that the anointing of the sick implied something of a claim to the exercise of miraculous powers of healing, and might be chargeable with presumption, and with ignorance of God's dispensations in regard to miraculous powers, and might tempt men to rely for grace and pardon on an outward ceremony administered to them in a state of insensibility; she has thought fit to lay aside the sign, now that the thing signified has ceased, and to limit herself soberly and wisely to what is certain and indisputable, and what is the main thing for the sick man to consider, viz., that if he avails himself, as he ought to do in his sickness, of the ministry of his spiritual Guide, the prayer of faith will save the sick, and (if it be most expedient for him) God will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will, on his faith and repentance, be forgiven him, and that he will receive pardon, and grace, and peace, through the merits of Christ, and by the love and mercy of God, especially as conveyed, dispensed, and applied in the reception of the blessed and most comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, which she enjoins, in a special Office, to be ministered to the sick.

Compare Dr. Hammond here and Dean Comber's remarks in his " Companion to the Temple," in the Introduction to the

Office of Visitation of the Sick.

16. oμoλoveîσde àλλhλois] Confess your transgressions one to another. Observe the word waрanтwμатa, offences, breaches of law here particularly the law of love: and aλλýλois, one to another, as friends and brethren; and compare our Lord's precept, "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent forgive him, and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him" (Luke xvii. 3, 4).

The doctrine of private confession preparatory to the reception of the Holy Communion, and as a part of the discipline of Repentance, cannot rightly be grounded on this text.

Public confession of sins to Almighty God has ever been a necessary part of Christian religion and worship; but private confession to a Minister of the Church was never enforced in the earliest ages of the Church. The Church of England gives her advice to the penitent, in certain cases, and under certain circumstances, "to open his grief to some discreet and learned Minister of God's Word" (not indiscriminately to any one who may claim a right to hear confession, without due qualification for the difficult work of guiding the conscience aright), " that by the ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the benefit of Absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the quieting of his conscience and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness." See Hooker, VI. iv. 4, and VI. iv. 6.

ows latĥre] that ye may be healed in body and soul, Matt. xiii. 15. Luke iv. 18; ix. 2. Heb. xii. 13, where St. Paul seems to refer to this precept.

Observe the connexion of this sentence with what goes before. "The greatest thing that made men forward and willing to confess their sins, and in no wise to be withheld from this confession by any fear of disgrace or contempt which might ensue, was their fervent desire to be helped with the prayers of God's faithful people, wherein as St. James doth exhort unto mutual confession,

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alleging this for a reason, that just men's devout prayers are of great avail with God, so it hath been heretofore the use of penitents for that intent to unburthen their minds even to private persons and to crave their prayers." Hooker, VI. iv. 7, referring to Tertullian de Pœnit. c. 10, and S. Ambrose de Pœnit. ii. 10.

Toλù loxve] Great is the efficacy of the prayer of a righte ous man working inwardly. Do not imagine, as many do, that prayer will avail without holiness of life. Some make long prayers and devour widows' houses (Matt. xxiii. 14), and therefore shall receive greater damnation (Luke xx. 47). The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination (Prov. xv. 8; xxi. 27), but the prayer of the righteous availeth much.

Again, some may suppose, that the prayers of the lips will avail, without the inner working of the heart. They draw nigh to God with their lips, but their heart is far from Him (Matt. xv. 8). "They use vain repetitions in prayer, and think that they will be heard for their much speaking." (Matt. vi. 7. Cp. Ecclus. vii. 14.) But ye shall not be so. It is the inner working of the heart, moved by a spirit of love, that prevails with God. The wrestlings of Jacob in prayer, the yearnings of Hannah's heart, these gain a blessing from Him. "Hæc vis Deo grata est." Tertullian.

On the word evepyovμévn, inwardly energizing in devotion and love to God, so as to produce external effects in obedience; see 1 Thess. ii. 13. Gal. v. 6. 2 Cor. i. 6. Col. i. 29. Eph. iii. 20; and see the note of Maximus here (in Catenâ, p. 37), where he says the " power of prayer is not in words when it comes forth from the tongue in an empty sound of the voice;" such a prayer is ἀργὴ καὶ ἀνυπόστατος, but a prevailing prayer is that which is evepyos kal (ŵoa, energetic and living, animating obedience.

Observe, therefore, how happily the two emphatic words δικαίου and ἐνεργουμένη are reserved for the end of the sentence, to give weight and force to the whole; and to make it sink into the ears and hearts of hearers and readers of the Epistle; and to teach the faithful of every age, that it is holiness of life and devotion of heart which give efficacy to Prayer.

The martyrdom of St. James himself affords a beautiful comment on these words (see Euseb. ii. 23, quoted above on v. 6), especially where it is related that after St. James had been cast down by his enemies from the pediment of the Temple, and they were stoning him, he fell on his knees and prayed for them, and some, who stood by, said, adopting the very words of this Epistle, -"Hold, what do ye? exerаι úжÈρ vμŵν & dikalos," "the just man is praying for you."

17. Ηλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμ. ἡ.] Elias was a man of like passions with us; and once his patience failed him (1 Kings xix. 4. 10. 14), yet God heard his prayer; and gave him power to shut and open heaven (1 Kings xvii. 1; xviii. 42. 45. Cp. Rev. xi. 6). It is not indeed expressly affirmed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, that Elijah's prayers were the cause of the drought for three years and a half, and of the rain at their close; but his own declaration that there should not be rain but according to his word (1 Kings xvii.), and also his actions on Mount Carmel (xviii. 42), first praying to God for the acceptance of his sacrifice, and then casting himself down upon the earth, putting his face between his knees, though they might not lead an uninspired Expositor to the inference drawn here by the inspired Apostle St. James, yet they find a very apt exposition in that inference which we may thankfully accept at his hand.

When the prophet Elias said, that the gift of rain should depend on his word, he could not mean the word of command, but the word of prayer. Be not ye therefore disheartened. Serve God and Pray earnestly; and He will protect you.

роσενx πроonúkaro] he prayed with prayer, there was true évépyeta in his prayer. This is marked by the Hebraistic addition of the substantive to the verb. Cp. on Acts iv. 17, and

on 2 Pet. iii. 3.

- Toû un Вpétai] that it should not rain. On the infinitive see on Acts xxvii. 1, and on Rev. xii. 7, and on the word ẞpéxw, to rain, Matt. vii. 25. 27.

ἐνιαυτοὺς τρεῖς καὶ μῆνας ἕξ] three years and six months ; equal to 42 months, or 1260 days,-a chronological period of suffering. See above on Luke iv. 25, and below on Rev. xi., note at the end of the chapter.

19 : Αδελφοὶ, ἐάν τις ἐν ὑμῖν πλανηθῇ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐπιστρέψῃ τὶς r Matt. 18. 15. αὐτὸν, 20 * γινωσκέτω ὅτι ὁ ἐπιστρέψας ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ, σώσει s Rom. 11, 14. ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου, καὶ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν.

19, 20. ἀδελφοὶ ἁμαρτιῶν] Brethren, if any man among you shall have strayed from the truth, and any one shall have converted him,-brought him back to the way of the truth from which he had gone astray,-let him know, that he who hath turned a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.

20. yivwokéTw] let him know. This is genuine yvwσis, or knowledge, that by imitating Christ's love, we are made partakers in His work, and in His glory. By doing the work of Christ in seeking to save that which is lost (Matt. xviii. 11. Luke xix. 10), the Christian will be admitted to be a sharer in the dignity and office of Christ; he will save a soul from death. So Timothy is said by St. Paul to save those who hear him, i. e. by applying the means instituted by Christ for their salvation (1 Tim. iv. 16. Cp. Rom. xi. 14. 1 Cor. vii. 16; ix. 22. Jude 23). And so Christ Himself gave His own title to His ministers when He said "Ye are the Light of the world" (Matt. v. 14. Cp. John ix. 5). Therefore he who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will have a saving office and dignity, because he will have applied those means which God has instituted for the salvation of sinners. Cp. Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. ii. p. 139.

Nor is this all; he will cover a multitude of sins, and in this respect also will be admitted to be a fellow-worker with Christ; and have a share in another of His glorious titles. Christ alone is the true Propitiatory, or Mercy Seat; He is the Covering of the Ark on which God sits (Ps. lxxx. 1), as on a Throne of Grace, to which we must flee for mercy (Heb. iv. 16; cp. Mather on the Types, pp. 407, 408. 411), and which covers the sins of the whole world. Christ, and Christ alone, in that primary sense, covers a multitude of sins; see Heb. ix. 5, and on Rom. iii. 21-26, and Rom. iv. 7; which afford the best exposition of this text. "Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." (Ps. xxxii. 1, 2.)

The contrast is in the words of Nehemiah, iv. 5, "O God, cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before Thee."

That man, therefore, who has reclaimed a sinner from the error of his way, and has brought him back to Christ, and to the use of those means which God has instituted in the Church for his salvation in Christ, may be justly said to cover a multitude of

1 Cor. 9. 22. 1 Tim. 4. 16. 1 Pet. 4. 8.

sins by means of the Saviour's righteousness; and he who has thus done the work of Christ, according to the command of Christ, will hear the joyful speech at the great Day, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. xxv. 21.)

This covering of a multitude of sins by Christ, and the ministerial application of the means instituted by Him for the casting of this covering of Christ's righteousness over a multitude of sins, is a different work from that of saving the sinner, specified in the former clause.

For, if we suppose the sinner to be pardoned and saved, and yet the remembrance and record of his sins to be not covered, but to be ever visible to his own eyes, and to the eyes of men and Angels, and of God, in Eternity, this consideration would much abate his happiness in another world.

But the comfort which is administered by the words of the Psalmist, "Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Ps. xxxii. 1, 2), and again (Ps. lxxxv. 2), "Lord, thou hast forgiven the offence of thy people, and covered all their sins," and which is here proffered in God's name by St. James, is this—that by reclaiming an erring brother from the ways of sin, and by bringing him to Christ, we may not only save an immortal soul from eternal death, but may be instrumental in casting over his sins-however great their multitude, and however foul their stains-the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness, so that they may be covered for ever, and be hidden from the sight even of God's Omniscience, by the mantle of Christ's merits.

Here is one of the strongest motives to the work of Christian love, in endeavouring to convert the sinner from the error of his way.

With this precept St. James ends his Epistle; and in the practice of it he ended his life, when, according to the example, and in the words of his Saviour, dying on the cross for the salvation of the souls of all men, and for the covering of their sins from the wrath of God, St. James prayed for his murderers, "1 pray Thee, Lord, God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Euseb. ii. 23. See above on v. 6.)

There are no salutations nor benedictions at the close of this Epistle for the reason stated above on i. 1.

F 2

INTRODUCTION

ΤΟ

THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF ST. PETER.

I. On the place from which the Epistle was written and on St. Peter's history and Apostolic acts. When the Holy Ghost came down from heaven, on the Day of Pentecost, St. Peter stood up with the Eleven, and preached to the Jews and Proselytes, who had come from all parts of the civilized world to Jerusalem for that Festival.

They whom he addressed are enumerated by the Historian of the Acts of the Apostles in the following order:

1. Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa.

2. Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia.

3. Egypt, the parts of Libya towards Cyrene; and strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians.

These Three Classes of persons, as has been shown in another place', represent the principal Dispersions, as they were called, of the Jews, scattered abroad in the countries to the East, North, West, and South of Jerusalem.

St. Peter was their Apostle, the Apostle of the Circumcision, as St. Paul was of the Gentiles. And as St. Paul performed the office of Apostle to the Gentiles, by preaching in person, and also by writing Epistles to the Gentile Churches, and by appointing others, such as Timothy and Titus,— his " own sons in the faith,"-to be Pastors and Bishops in their Cities, so St. Peter did to those of the Circumcision.

He did that work in regular order.

The Commission which had been given by Christ to His Apostles had specified certain stages of missionary progress; "ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem," this was the first stage; "and in all Judæa," this was the second; "and in Samaria," this was the third; and, lastly, "unto the uttermost part of the Earth 3."

The Apostle St. Peter had received from Christ a solemnly repeated charge, "Feed My sheep'." He discharged the duties of the pastoral office entrusted to him, and he performed them according to the order prescribed by Him who gave the charge.

He bore witness to Christ, first, in Jerusalem, and in Judæa; next, "in Samaria ";" and, lastly, he bore witness to Christ unto the uttermost part of the Earth.

This final and extended witness, to the uttermost part of the Earth, is that which is presented to us in his Epistles, and in his Martyrdom.

He preached the Gospel and wrote his first Epistle in the eastern territory of the Roman world; and his Martyrdom took place in the West. This Epistle was written from the Eastern Babylon; and he bore witness to Christ by dying for Him in the Western Babylon,-Rome'.

1 See on Acts ii. 9-11, and below, 1 Pet. i. 1, and v. 13.

2 Gal. ii. 7-9.

3 Acts i. 8.

4 John xxi. 16, 17.

5 Acts viii. 14-25. Cp. ix. 32.

6 See below, p. 39. Whether St. Peter was ever at Rome before the time of his martyrdom in that city is doubtful.

Justin Martyr (Apol. ii. c. 26) asserts that Simon Magus came to Rome in the time of Claudius; and after Justin Martyr it is said in the Chronicon of Eusebius, ad A.D. 42, that he was encountered there by St. Peter; and so Euseb. ii. 14. Cp. Euseb. ii. 15-17.

But the silence of Holy Scripture, and especially the absence of any reference to St. Peter in St. Paul's Epistles written to