There are many uses of this note : because they are of profit and concernment to you, in the right application of this place, I shall give them you in their order.
1. It showeth how tender we should be of every command: wilful violation amounteth to a total neglect ; therefore, as wisdom adviseth, Prov. vii. 2, ' Keep my law as the apple of thine eye.' The least dust ofifendeth the eye ; and so the law is a tender thing, and soon wronged. Lest you forfeit all your righteousness at once, it is good to be careful.
2. That partial obedience is an argument of insincerity. When we neglect duties that either thwart carnal desires or prejudice carnal concernments, we do not please God, but ourselves. We are to walk * in all God's statutes,' Luke i. 6. David fulfilled iravra ra deX'tj/xara, ' all the wills of G od,' Acts xiii. 22.
3. That it is a vain deceit to excuse defects of one duty by care of another. Sometimes men ante-date, sometimes they post-date, an indulgence. They ante-date it when they sin upon a j^resumption they shall make amends by repentance, or that their future good deeds shall be a sufficient expiation or satisfaction. They post-date
^ ' Contra earn charitatem facit, in qua pendent omnia.' — A ug. Epist. 29.
216 AN EXrOSITION, WITH NOTES, [J AS. II. 10.
it when, from duties already done, they take liberty or an occasion to sin the more freely: Ezek. xxxiii. 13, ' If he trust to his righteous- ness, and commit iniquity;' that is, if, upon lliat occasion of right- eousness so done, called, or thought to be so in his apprehension, he shall adventure upon sin, the doom is, ' he shall die the death.' We see many men's hearts grow loose and vain after duties, and they are the more presumptuous and careless out of a vain conceit that super- erogating in some things will excuse obedience in others.
4. That upon any particular failing we ought to renew our peace with God. I have done that now which will make me guilty of the whole law; therefore, soul, run to thy advocate: 1 John ii. 1, ' If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' Oh ! go to Christ that he may sue out your pardon ; your hearts are not right with God if you do not use this course : after daily transgressions sue out a daily pardon. The children of God are like fountains ; when mud is stirred up they do not leave till they can get themselves clear again. Particular sins must have particular applications of grace, for in themselves, in their own merit, they leave you under a curse. It is good to deprecate it, as David doth, Ps. vi. 1, '0 Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger,' &c.
5. That we must not only regard the work of duty, but all the circumstances of it ; and so proportionably, not only the acts of sin, but the vicious motions and inclinations of it. One point is dangerous. The Pharisees were for external duties, and the avoid- ing of gross sins, but securely allowed themselves in sins more hidden, which yet are of a dangerous consequence. Malice is murder ; and thereupon John saitli, 1 John iii. 15, 'No murderer hath eternal life.' And lust is adultery, Mat. v. 28 ; a look, a glance, a thought, a desire, is in itself damnable, and brooketh only the exception of the divine grace.
G. That foimer profes.sion will do no good in case there be a total revolt afterward. A little poison in a cup, and one leak in a ship, may ruin all. A man may ride right for a long time, but one turn in the end of the journey may bring liim (juite out of the way. Gideon had seventy sons, and but one bastard, and yet that bastard destroyed all the rest, Judges viii. It is said, Eccles. ix. 18, ' One .sinner destroy- eth much good.' Once a sinner, all is lost ; the ancients expound it that way. So Ezek. x.xxiii. 13, ' All his righteousness shall be forgotten ; ' that is, all will be to no ])ur[)ose. As the sins of one that repenteth are carried into a land of darkness, so are their duties who apostatise.
7. That the smallness of sin is a poor excuse; it is an aggravation rather than an excuse : it is the more sad, that we should stand with God for a trifle. Luke xvi. 21, he would not give a crumb, and this wonderfully displeased God ; he did not receive a drop. God's judg- ments have been most remarkable when the occasion was least. Adam was cast out of paradise for an apple ; so gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day, looking into the ark, &c. God's command bindeth in lesser things as well as greater; though the object be different, the command is still the same : ' I tasted but a little honey (saith Jonathan), and I must die,' 1 Sam. xiv. 43. It will be sad to you to
JaS. II. 11.] VTOS THE EPI.STLE OF JAilES. 217
go to hell for a small matter. One of the prophet's aggravations is, that they ' sold the righteous for a pair of shoes.' Amos ii 6. "Would you contest with God for a small thing and of little consequence ? As it is imprudence, so it is unkiudness.