JaS. I. 8.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 57
.salth to such men, 1 Kinf^s xviii. 21, * ITow long will ye halt between two opinions ? ' They are usually guilty of a promiscuous compliance, which, though used by them in carnal policy, yet often tendeth to their hurt ; for this indifFerency is hateful to God and men. God loatheth it : Rev. iii. 15, ' I know thy works ; I would thou wert either hot or cold ; but because thou art neither hot nor cold, I will spue thee out of my mouth/ Lukewarmness is that temper that is most ingrate to the stomach, and therefore causeth vomits : so are lukewarm Christians to God ; his ways are not honoured but by a zealous earnestness. And man hateth it. Solon did not judge him a good citizen that in a civil war took neither part ; usually such middling men,i like those that come between two fencers, suffer on both sides. I confess, sometimes godly persons may be at a stand ; those that make conscience of things are not rash in choice, and therefore usually there is some hesitancy before engagement, which, though it be an infirmity, yet God winketh at.it as long as they endeavour satisfaction : but certainly a child of God should not rest in such a frame of spirit : sincerity is much tried by an ' establishment in the present truth/ 2 Peter i. 12 ; that is, by up- rightness in the controversies of our age and time. Antiquated opinions, that are altogether severed and abstracted from present interests, are no trial, therefore it is good to be positive and settled, ev rf] irapova-rj uXrjOeia, ' in the truth that now is/ I confess, such cases may happen, where the pretences of both sides are so fair, and the miscarriages so foul, that we know nut which to choose ; and (as Cato said of the civil wars between Cassar and Pompey, quern fucjiam video, quern sequar non video), we can better see whom to avoid, than whom to close with and follow ; and thereupon there may be hesitancy and indifferency ; but this is neither allowed for the present, nor con- tinued out of interest, but conscience, and never descendeth to any base compliances for advantage.2
Obs. 2. That doubtfulness of mind is the cause of uncertainty in our lives and conversations. Their minds are double, and therefore their ways are unstable. First, there is (as Seneca saith), nusquam 7'esidentis animi volutatio, uncertain rollings of spirit ; and then vita pendens, a doubtful and suspensive life.^ For our actions do oft bear the image and resemblance of our thoughts, and the heart not being fixed, the life is very uncertain. The note holdeth good in two cases : — (1.) In fixing the heart in the hopes of the gospel ; (2.) In fixing the heart in the doctrine of the gospel ; as faith sometimes implieth the doctrine Avhich is believed, sometimes the grace by which we do believe.^ A certain expectation of the hopes of the gospel produceth obedience, and a certain belief of the doctrine of the gospel produceth constancy.
1. None walk so evenly with God as they that are assured of the love of God. Faith is the mother of obedience, and sureness of trust maketh way for strictness of life. When men are loose from Christ, they are loose in point of duty, and their floating belief is soon dis- covered in their inconstancy and unevenness of walking. We do not
1 *'M^(ros d7r' d/Kporipuv KaKws Trdcxei' — Nazar. Orat. 13.
2 ' Bonus animus nuuquam erranti obsequium accommodat.' — Ambros.
3 Sen. lib. de Tranquil!.
* ' Fides quse creditur, et fides qua creditur.'
68 AN EXrOSITIOX, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 9.
with any alacrity or cheerfulness engage in that of whose success we are doubtful ; ^ and therefore, when we know not whether God will accept us or no, when we are off and on in point of trust, we are just so in the course of our lives, serve God by fits and starts, only when some zealous moods and pangs come upon us. It is the slander of the world to think assurance is an idle doctrine. Never is the soul so quickened and enabled for duty as it is by ' the joy of the Lord : ' Neh. viii. 10, ' The joy of the Lord is your strength.' Faith, filling the heart with spiritual joy, yiekleth a strength for all our duties and labours ; and we are carried on with life and vigour when we have most lively apprehensions of the divine grace.
2. None are so constant in the profession of any truth as they that are convinced and assured of the grounds of it. When we are but half convinced, we are usually unstable. I remember the apostle speaketh of a thing which he calleth 'iBiov a-rijpijfiov, ' our own stead- fastness,' 2 Peter iii. 17, ' Lest ye fall from your oiU7i steadfastness into the error of the wicked.' Every believer hath, or should have, a proper ballast in his own spirit, some solid, rational grounds that may stay and support him; otherwise, when the chain of consent is broken, we shall soon be scattered. So elsewhere a believer is bidden to ren- der \070y, ' a reason of the hope that is in him,' 1 Peter iii. 15; that is, those inward motives that constrained his assent to the truth. Thus also the apostle Paul chargeth us, 1 Thes. v, 21, first to ' prove all things,' and then to 'hold fast that which is good.' It is unsafe to engage till a full conviction, or to resolve without evidence, for there is no likeli- hood of holding fast till we have proved. Well, then, labour to under- stand the grounds of your religion. If you love a truth ignorantly, you cannot love it constantly. There is still a party left in the soul to betray it into the hands of the opposite error. To take up ways with- out any trial is but a simple credulity, which will soon be abused and misled ; and to take up ways upon half conviction is hypocrisy, which by that other part of the mind not yet gained will be soon discovered. Look upon it, then, as brutish to follow the track, and base to profess before you are ascertained.