The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. JudePlummer, Alfred
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude
Plummer, Alfred
Bible. James -- Commentaries; Bible. Jude -- Commentaries
"Full of mercy and good fruits." The wisdom from above is not only
peaceable, reasonable, and conciliatory, when under provocation or
criticism, it is also eager to take the initiative in doing all the
good in its power to those whom it can reach or influence. Thus it
goes hand in hand with that pure and undefiled religion which visits
"the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (i. 27). Just as
St. James has no sympathy with a faith which does not clothe the naked
and feed the hungry, and offer of its best to God (ii. 15, 16, 21),
nor with a tongue which blesses God and curses men (ii. 9), so he has
no belief in the heavenly character of a wisdom which holds itself
aloof in calm superiority to all cavil and complaint, with a
condescending air of passionless impartiality. The intellectual miser,
who gloats over the treasures of his own accumulated knowledge, and
smiles with lofty indifference upon the criticisms and squabbles of
the imperfectly instructed, has no share in the wisdom that is from
above. He is peaceful and moderate, not out of love and sympathy, but
because his time is too precious to be wasted in barren controversy,
and because he is too proud to place himself on a level with those who
would dispute with him. No selfish arrogance of this kind has any
place in the character of the truly wise. His wisdom not only
enlightens his intellect, but warms his heart and strengthens his
will. He believes that "the wise man alone is king," and that "the
wise man alone is happy," yet not because he has the crown of
knowledge and abundance of intellectual enjoyment, but because he
"fulfils the royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"
(ii. 8), and because happiness is to be found in promoting the
happiness of others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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