JaS. I. 15.] UPON THE EFIBTLE OF JAMES. 101
then way, then seat ; and a^!:2:ain, first, lualh, then siaml, then sit. You see distinctly there tliree different terms for tire persons, tlie objects, the actions : first, men like wickedness, then they ivaUz in it, then are liahituated : first, men are luithdrawn into a way of sin, tlien confirmed, then pro/ess it. To do anything that the Lord liateth, is to ' walk in the counsels of the ungodly ; ' to go on with deliglit, is to ' stand in the Avay of sinners ; ' to harden our hearts against checks of conscience and reproofs, is to commence into the highest degree, and to ' sit,' as it is there expressed, ' in the seat of scorners ; ' or, as it is in the Septuagint, tmv Xoi/xcbv, to affect the honour of the chair of pestilence. Thus you see men go on from assent to delight, from delight to ohduoxicy.
Use 1, Oh that we were wise, then, to rise against sin betimes ! That we would ' take the little foxes,' Cant. ii. 15 ; even the first appearances of corruption ! That we would ' dash Babylon's brats against the stone ! ' Ps. cxxxvii. Hugo's gloss is pious, though not so suitable to the scope of that place : sit nihil in te Babylonicum — the least of Babylon must be checked ; not only the grown men, but dash the little ones against the stone. A Christian's life should be spent in watching lust. The debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended, and, without the mercy of God, that may be done in little more than an instant that may undo us for ever. It is dangerous to ' give place to Satan,' Eph. iv. 27. The devil will draw us from motions to action, and from thence to reiteration, till our hearts be habituated and hardened within us: Eccles. x. 13, ' The beginning of a foolish man's speech is foolishness, but the latter end is foolish madness.' From folly they go on to downright passion. Small breaches in a sea-bank occasion the ruin of the whole, if not timely repaired. Sin gaineth upon us by insensible degrees, and those that are once in Satan's snare are soon taken by him at his will and pleasure.
Use 2. It reproveth them that boldly adventure upon a sin because of the smallness of it ; besides, the offence done to God, in standing with him for a trifle, as the ' selling of the righteous ' is aggravated in the prophet by the little advantage, ' for a pair of shoes.' Consider the danger to yourselves. Great faults do not only ruin the soul, but lesser ; clallying with temptations is of a sad consequence. Cassar was killed with bodkins. Look, as it is murder to stifle an infant in the womb, so it is spiritual murder to suppress and choke the conceptions of the Spirit ; ^ but, on the other side, it is but a necessary rigour to dash Babylon's brats, and to suppress sin in the conception and growth, ere it be ripened and perfected. We are so far to abhor sin as to beware of the remote tendencies ; yea, to avoid ' the occasions of it,' 1 Thes. V. 22. If it be but male coloratum, as Bernard glosseth, of an ill look and complexion, it is good to stand at a distance.
Ohs. 2. Lust is fully conceived and formed in the soul, when the will is drawn to consent ; the decree in the will is the ground of all practice. Look, as duties come off kindly when once there is a decree in the will : Ps. xxxii. 5, ' I said I will confess my transgressions unto
^ ' Homiciclii fe.=itinatio est proLibere nasci ; etiam conceptum utero dum adhuc sanguis in hominem delibatur dissolvere non licet, nee refert natura natam quis eiipiat animam an nascentem disturbet.' — Tertid. in Apol.
102 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 15.
the LorL' David luul gotten liis will to consent to acts of repentance, and then he could no longer kee]) silence : so, on the other side, all acts of sin are founded in tlie fixed choice and resolution of the will. ' I will pursue, I will overtake,' said mad Pharaoh, Exod. xv. 9 ; and that engaged him in acts of violence. Now this decree of the will is most dangerous in the general choice of our way and course ; for as religion lieth in the settled resolution of the soul, when we make it our work and business, as Barnabas exhorted the new converts, ' that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,' Acts xi. 23, rfj Trpodeai tt}? Kap8la<;, that they would resolvedly decree for God in the will; so, when the apostle speaketh of his holy manner of life, he calleth it irpoOeaiv, his purpose, 2 Tim. iii. 10. So also the state of sin lieth in a worldly or carnal choice ; as the apostle saith, 1 Tim. vi. 9, ' He that will be rich;' that is, that hath decreed and fixed a resolution in his soul to make it his only study and care to grow rich and get an estate, he is altogether carnal. A child of God may be overborne, but usually he doth not fix his will: Kom. vii. IG, ' I do that which I would not ; ' or, if his will be set, yet there is not a full consent, for there will be continual dislikes from the new nature. I confess sometimes, as there is too much of deliberation and counsel in the sins of God's children (as you know David's sin was a continued series and plot), so too much of resolution and the will; but this is in acts of sin, not in the course and state ; their manner of life and purpose is godly. Well, then, if lust hath insinuated into your thoughts, labour to keep it from a decree, and gaining the consent of the will. Sins are the more heinous as they are the more resolved and voluntary.