1 Qu. ' Not equal '?— Ed. 2 q^^_ . ^yjn n^t be' ?— Ed.
3 David a Maudeu in Prefat. Comment, in Decalog.
104 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 15.
an abomination to God, and hated by him, in scripture ; (2.) To which a Vce, or woe, is expressly denounced ; or (3.), Are distinctly said to be worthy of eternal death ; or (4.) To exclude and shut out from the kingdom of heaven ; or (5.) Such as by the law of nature are directly repugnant to the love of God or our neighbour. But, alas! all this is to be wise without the word. It is true God hath expressly declared more of his displeasure against these sins than others, and therefore we are more bound and engaged to avoid them, but they are all mortal in their merit.
Use 1. It tcacheth us how to stop the violence of lust ; this will be death and damnation^ Oh ! consider it, and set it as a flaming sword in the way of your carnal delights. Observe how wisely God hath ordered it, much of sin is pleasant ; ay ! but there is death in the pot, and so fear may counterbalance delight. Another part of sin is serious, as worldliness, in which there is no gross act, and so there being nothing foul to work upon shame, there is something dreadful to work upon fear. Well, then, awaken the soul ; consider what Wisdom saith, Prov. viii. 3G, ' He that fwsaketh me loveth death.' It is against nature for a creature to love its own death ; all natural motions are for self-preservation. Oh ! why then should I satisfy my flesh to endanger my soul ? God himself puts on a passion, and reasoneth thus with us, Ezck. xxxiii. 11, 'Why will ye die, 0 house of Israel?' Why will you wilfully throw away your own souls? Why will ye for a superfluous cup adventure to drink a cup of wrath unmixed? For a little estate in the world make hell your portion? It is sweet for the present, but it will be death. Sin's best are soon spent, the worst is always l)ehind.
Use 2. It showeth what reason we have to mortify sin lest it mortify lis ; no sins are mortal but such as are not mortified ; either sin must die, or the sinner. The life of sin and the life of a sinner are like two buckets in a well — if the one goeth up the other must come down. When sin liveth the sinner must die. There is an evil in sin and an evil a/ler sin. The evil in sin is the violation of God's law, and the evil after sin is the just punishment of it. Now, those that are not sensible of the evil in sin shall be sensible of the evil after sin. To the regenerate person, all God's dispensations are to save the person and destroy the sin, Va. xcix. 8 : ' Tiiou wast a God that forgavest them, and tookest vengeance of their inventions.' God spared the sinner and took vengeance on the sin; but the unmortilied person spareth his sins, and liis life goeth for it ; as the apostle Paul speaketh of himself when the power of the word came flrst upon him, Kom. vii, i), ' Sin revi\ ed and I died.' Sin was exasperated, and he felt nothing but terror and condemnation. Oh ! then, consider it is better sin should he condemned than you should bo condemned; as the apostle speaketh of the condemnation of sin, Kom. viii. 3, * For sin, he condenmed sin in the flesh ;' that is, Christ being made a sacrifice for sin, sin was condemned to save the simier. lieason thus within yourselves: It is better sin should die than I should die : ' Thy life goes for its life,' as it is in the prophet s parable, 1 Kings xx. 39 ; therefore let me destroy my sin, that my soul may escape.
Use 3. Bless God that halii delivered vou out of a sinful state;
JaS. I. IG.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 105
yonr soul hatli escaped a snare of death. Oh ! never look back upon Sodom but witli detestation ; bless God tliat you are escaped : ' Blessed be the Lord that gave me counsel in my leins,' Ps. xvi. 7. I might have been Satan's bond-slave, lust's vassal, and have earned no other wages but my own death, but he hath called me to life and peace. Conversion is onewhere expressed by a 'calling out of darkness into a marvellous light,' that is much; but in another, by a 'translating from death to life,' that is more. It is no less a change than from death to life. I might have wasted away my days in pleasure and vanity, and afterwards gone to hell. ' Oh ! blessed be the name of God for evermore, that hath delivered me from so great a death ! '
Vei". 16. Do not err, my beloved brethren.
The apostle having disputed the matter with them about God being the author of sin, he dissuadeth them from this blasphemy. There is no difficulty in this verse.
Do not err, fiii TiXavdaOe, do not wander ; a metaphor taken from sheep, and sometimes it noteth errors in practice, or going off from the word as a rule of righteousness, as it is said, Isa..lxiii. 17, ' We have erred from thy ways ; ' sometimes errors in judgment, or going off from the word as the standard and measure of truth, which we most commonly express by this term 'error.'