James 3:4

Behold also the ships General as the thought is, we may perhaps connect it, as we have done ch. James 1:6, with personal recollections of storms on the Galilean lake. It will be seen that this also has its counterpart in Sophocles. The two images are brought together by a writer more within St James's reach than the Greek tragedian. With Philo, Reason in man, the Divine Word in Creation, are compared both with the charioteer and the pilot. (De Conf. ling.p. 336. De Abr.p. 360). In the latter the very word which St James uses for "governor" is employed also by Philo. The same thoughts appear in the beautiful hymn of Clement of Alexandria as describing the work of Christ as the true Teacher. (Paedag. ad fin.):

"Curb for the stubborn steed

Making its will give heed.

Helm of the ships that keep

Their pathway o'er the deep.

whithersoever the governor listeth Better, the pilot or steersman. This, which, the reader will hardly need to be reminded, is the primary meaning of "governor", has, in the modern use of the word, all but dropped out of sight. Literally the sentence runs, whithersoever the impulse of the steersman may wish.