James 5:7-20

James 5:7-20. St. James concludes his Epistle with a variety of admonitions. He first exhorts his readers to patience; they are to exercise forbearance toward their oppressors and trust toward God, being comforted by the thought of the nearness of the advent of the Lord. Meanwhile they are to possess their hearts in patience; not to indulge in murmuring, discontent, and sinful censuring; but to take the prophets for examples of patient suffering; especially in the case of Job they had a remarkable example of extreme sufferings, and of a happy issue out of them. Next he cautions them against swearing; in their intercourse with one another, their simple word is to be sufficient. He then recommends to them prayer; whether they were in sorrow or in joy, they were to cultivate a devotional spirit; if in sickness, they were to send for the elders of the church, and to use those remedies which the Lord had prescribed; they were to exercise mutual confession and prayer that they might be restored; and as an instance of the efficacy of earnest prayer, be adverts to Elijah, who by prayer opened and shut the floodgates of heaven. He then concludes, and sums up his Epistle with an exhortation to aim at the conversion of the erring, holding out to them the unspeakable blessing which results from converting a sinner from the error of his ways.