Ohs. 3. Do not err; that is, do not mistake in this matter, because it is a hard thing to conceive liow God concurreth to the act, and not
^ See Usser de Eritauu. Eccl. riiinorfliis, p. 221.
JaS. I. IG.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 107
to the evil of the act ; how he should bo the author of all things, and not the author of sin : therefore lie saitb, however it be difiticult to conceive, yet ' Do not err/ The note is, that where truths cannot be plainly and easily made out to the apprehension, men are apt to swerve from them. Many truths suffer much because of their intri- cacy, errors may be so near alike that it is hard to distinguish them : the nature of man is prone to error, and therefore when the truth is hard to find out, wc content ourselves with our own prejudices. All truths are encumbered with such a difficulty that they which have a mind to doubt and wrangle do easily stumble at it: John vi. 60, ' This is a hard saying ; who can hear it ?' that is, understand it ; and then, ver. GG, ' From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' When there is something to justify our prejudices, we think 'we are safe enough. God leaveth justly such difficulties for a stumbling-block to them that have a mind to be offended. The Pharisees and people that had followed Christ thought themselves well enough, because of the darkness of those expressions, as if it did justify their apostasy ; so when there are some involucra veritatis, some covers of difficulty, in which truth is lapped up from a common eye, we think our assent may be excused : as Jews say, that surely Christ was not the Messiah, because he did not come in such a way as to satisfy all his own countrymen ; so many refuse truth because it will require some industry and exercise to find it out. God never meant to satisfy hominibus prcefracti injenii,^ men of a captious and perverse wit ; and therefore truth is represented in such a manner, that though there be plainness enough to those that have a mind to know, yet difficulty enough to harden others to their own ruin. Men would fain spare the pains of prayer, study, and discourse ; they are loath to ' cry for knowledge, to dig for it as for silver,' Prov, ii. 4 ; they love an easy, short way to truth, and therefore run away with those mistakes which come next to hand, vainly imagining that God doth not require belief to such things as are difficult and hard to be under- stood; they do not look to what is sound and solid, but what is plau- sible, and at first blush reconcilable with their thoughts and appre- hensions.
Use 1. You see, then, what need you have to pray for gifts of interpretation, and a ' door of utterance' for your ministers, and a know- ing heart for yourselves, that you may not be discouraged by the difficulties that fence up the way of truth. Pray that God would give us a clear spirit, a plain exjiression, and yourselves a right under- standing ; this will be better than to cavil at the dispensation of God, that he should leave the world in such doubt and suspense. Chry- fvostom observeth, that the saints do not pray. Lord, make a plainer law, but, Lord, open my eyes, that I may see the wonders of thy law ; as David doth. It were an unjust demand for blind men, or they that willingly shut their eyes, to desire God to make such a sun that they might see ; it is better to desire gifts of the Spirit for the minister, that the scriptures might be opened ; and the grace of the Spirit for ourselves, that our understandings might be opened, that so we may come to discern the mind of God.
^ Camero de Eccles.
108 AN ExrosiTioN, WITH NOTES, [Jas. I. IG.
Use 2. It showeth liow much they are to hhaiiie that darken truth, and make the things ot God the more obscure. ' They darken counsel by words,' that by method or manner of speaking perplex the under- standing, that people can hardly reach the letter of things delivered. jMany men liave a faculty to raise a cloud of dust with their own feet, and so darken the brightness and glory of the scriptures ; certaiidy such men cither envy the commonness of knowledge, or serve their own esteem, when they draw all tilings to a difficulty, and would seem to swim there, where they may easily wade, yea, pass over dry-shod.
Ohs. 4. Again, from that do not err. Take in the weightiness of the matter. Ah ! would you err in this point, in a business that dotli so deeply intrench upon the honour of God ? The mistake being so dangerous, he is the more earnest. Oh ! do not err. The note is, that errors about the nature of God are very dangerous. There is nothing more natural to us than to have ill thoughts of God, and nothing more dangerous ; all practice dependeth upon it, to keep the glory of (jod unstained in your apprehensions. You shall see, Eom. i. 23, 24, ' They changed the glory of God,' &c., and then ' God gave them up to uncleanness.' Idolatry is often expressed by whoredom ; Ijodily and spiritual uncleanness usually go together : ill thoughts of God debauch the spirit, and make men lose their sense and care of piety. Well, then, take heed of erring this error : let not the nature or glory of God be blemished in your thoughts ; abhor whatever cometh into your miiKl, or may be suggested by others, if it tend any way to abate your esteem of God, or to eclipse the divine glory in your apprehensions.