Neither temjjteth he any man ; that is, doth not love to seduce others, willing that men should be conformed to the holiness of his own nature. He tempteth not, either by inward solicitation or by such an inward or outward dispensation as may enforce us to sin.
The notes are these : —
Obs. 1. From that let no man say, that man is apt to say, or
^ ''Ao6ki/j.os dvr]p a.ircipa(TTo% irapb. Tip Oew,' — Clem, Horn. lib. ii. Const., cap. 8.
JaS. I. 13.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 8S
to transfer the Q;m\t of his own miscarriages. When they are seduced by their own folly, they Avould fain transact the guilt and blame upon others. Thus Aaron shifts liis crime upon the people, upon their solicitations, Exod. xxxii. 23, 24, ' They said. Make us gods, and I cast it into the fire, and thereof came the calf.' Mark, thereof came, as if it were a work of chance rather than art. So Pilate, upon the Jews' instigation. Mat. xxvii. 24, ' Look ye to it.' So ignorant men, their errors upon their teachers ; if they are wrong, they have been taught so ; and therefore Jeremiah says, Jer. iv. 10, ' Ah ! Lord God, surely thou hast greatly deceived this people ; ' that is, 0 Lord, they will say thou hast deceived them ; it was thy prophets told them so. So Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 15, ' The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen ; ' and ver. 24, ' I feared the people.' It was out of fear of others that entreated ; the people would have it so. So many, if they are angry, say they are provoked ; if they swear, others urged them to it ; as the Shelomith's son blasphemed in strife, Lev, xxiv. 10. So if drawn to excess of drink, or abuse of the creatures, it was long of others that enticed them. Well, then : —
1. Beware of these vain pretences. Silence and owning of guilt is far more becoming : God is most glorified when the creatures lay aside their shifts. You shall see. Lev. xiii. 45, ' The leper in whom the plague is shall have his clothes rent and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and he shall cry. Unclean, unclean ; ' all was to be naked and open but only his upper lip ; he was not to open his mouth in excuses. It is best to have nothing to say, nothing but confession of sin ; leprosy must be acknowledged. The covering of the upper lip among the Hebrews was the sign of shameful conviction.
2. Learn that all these excuses are vain and frivolous, they will not hold with God. Aaron is reproved, notwithstanding his evasion. Pilate could not Avash off the guilt when he washed his hands. He that crucified our Saviour crucified himself afterward. i Ignorance is not excused by ill teaching : ' The blind lead the blind,' and not one, but ' both fall into the ditch,' Mat. xv. 14— the blind guide and the blind follower. So Ezek. iii. 18, ' The man shall die in his iniquity, but his soul will I require at thy hand.' It will be ill for the teacher, and ill for the misled soul too. So Saul is rejected from being king, for obeying the voice of the people rather than the Lord, 1 Sam. xv. 23. Shelomith's son was stoned, though he blasphemed in spite, Lev. xxiv. 14. And it went ill with Moses, though they provoked his spirit, so that ' he spake unadvisedly with his lips,' Ps. cvi. 33, 34. Certainly it is best when we have nothing to say but only, Unclean, unclean !
Ohs. 2. Creatures, rather than not transfer their guilt, will cast it upon God himself. They blame the Lord in their thoughts ; it is foolish to cast it altogether upon Satan — to say, I was tempted of Satan. Alas ! if there were no Satan to tempt we should tempt our- selves. His suggestions and temptations would not work Avere there not some intervening thought, and that maketh us guilty. Besides, some sins have their sole rise from our own corruption, as the im- perfect animals are sometimes bred ex pictri materia, only out of
^ Euseb. Eccles. Hist., lib. ii. cap. 7.
84 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 13.
slimy matter, and at otlier times they are enpjendered by copulation. It is useless to cast it upon others — I was tempted of others. Actions cannot be accomplished without our own concurrence, and we must bear the <;uilt. But it is blasphemous to cast it upon God, and say, ' I am tempted of God;' and yet we are apt to do so, — partly to be clear in our own thoughts. Men would do anything rather than think basely of themselves, for it is man's disj)osition to be ' right in his own eyes,' Pro v. xvi. 2. We love those glasses that would make us show fairest. It is against nature for a man willingly to profess and own his owTi shame : Job. xxxi. 33, ' If I hid my sin as did Adam,' i.e., more Iwminum, as Adam and all Adam's children do. Men would be clear and better than they are. Partly because by casting it upon God the soul is most secure. When he that is to punish sin beareth the guilt of it, the soul is relieved from much horror and bondage ; therefore, in the way of faith, God's transacting our sin upon Christ is most satisfying to the spirit : Isa. liii. G, ' The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.' Now, we would lay it upon God by odious aspersions of his power and providence ; for if we could once make God a sinner, we would be secure. You see we do not fear men that are as faulty as ourselves ; they need pardon as well as we, and there- fore is it that the soul doth so wickedly design to bring God into a partnership and fellowship of our guilt. Partly through a wicked de- sire that is in men to blemish the being of God. Man naturally hateth God ; and our spite is shown this way, by polluting and profaning his glory, and making it become vile in our thoughts ; for since we cannot raze out the sense of the deity, we would destroy the dread and reverence of it. It is a saying of Plutarch, Malo de me did nullum esse Plutarchum quam malum esse Flutarclium, de Deo male sentire quam Deum esse negare pejus duco. We cannot deny God, and there- fore we debase him, which is worst, as it is better not to be than to be wicked ; we think him ' as one of us,' Ps. 1. 21 ; and the apostle saith, ' We turn his glory into a lie,' Rom. i. 25. Well, then, beware of this wickedness of turning sin upon God. The more natural it is to us the more should we take heed of it. We charge God with our evils and sins divers ways, —