James 5:1-6 Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.… 1. A sin very natural to us. There were but two common parents of all mankind — Adam the protoplast, and Noah the restorer, and both miscarried by appetite: the one fell by eating, and the other by drinking. We had need be careful (Luke 21:34). 2. The sin is natural to all, but chiefly incident to the rich. There is, I confess, a difference in tempers; wealth maketh some covetous, and others prodigal; but the usual sin in the rich is luxury. Pride, idleness, and fulness of bread were the sins of Sodom, and they are usually found in great men's houses; they should be the more wary. 3. Though delicate living be a sin incident to wealthy men, yet their abundance doth not excuse it. God gave wealth for another purpose than to spend it in pleasures. Intemperance is odious to God, be it in any whatsoever they be. 4. Luxury is living in pleasure. God alloweth us to use pleasures, but not to live in them; to take delights, but not they should take us; to live always at the full is but a wanton luxury. (T. Manton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.WEB: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. |
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