Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger:
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
You know, or you are sufficiently instructed in these things.
Let every man be swift to hear the word of God, but slow, or cautious in speaking, especially slow to anger, or to that rash passion of anger, which is never excusable, unless it be through a zeal for God's honour, and against sin. (Witham)
St. James in this epistle does not aim at a regular discourse: he proposes a diversity of moral sentences, which have not much connection with each other. He here instructs the faithful how to behave in conversation. He recommends to them modesty and prudence in their discourses; and rather to be fond of hearing much, than of speaking much; and of practising the truth, than of preaching it to others. "For not those who understand the law, nor those who preach it, are justified before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified before God. "(Romans chap. ii. 13.) (Calmet)
A wise man is known by the fewness of his words. With hearing, the wise man will become wiser. (Sen. lib. ii. de Irâ. chap. 28.)
Anger is a short madness. The best cure is to permit it to subside, and to let our reason have time to reflect upon the propriety of doing what we are at first inclined to. The first motions to anger are frequently in deliberate, and consequently not sinful; but we must be careful to resist as soon as we perceive them, lest they should become too violent, and obtain the consent of our will. (Calmet)
Learn of me, says our Saviour, because I am meek and humble of heart. (Matthew chap. xii. 29.) If, says St. Francis de Sales, being stung and bit by detractors and enemies, we fly out, swell, and are enraged, it is a great sign that neither our humility nor meekness are true and sincere, but only apparent and artificial. It is better, says St. Augustine, writing to Profuturus, to deny entrance to just and reasonable anger, than to admit it, be it ever so little; because, being once admitted, it is with difficulty driven out again; for it enters as a little twig, and in a moment becomes a beam: and if it can once but get the night of us, and the sun set upon it, which the apostle forbids, it turns into a hatred, from which we have scarcely any means to rid ourselves; for it nourishes itself under a thousand false pretexts, since there was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust. (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to a devout life, p. 3. chap. viii.)
