Ver. 11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also. Do not kill. Xoia if thou commit adultery, yet if thou do not kill, thou art become a transgressor of the laic.
Here is a proof of the intent of the former sentence, that we are not to look to the matter of the command, how it complieth with our desires and interests, but to the authority of the lawgiver. He giveth an instance in the sixth and seventh commandments. God, that hath said one, hath said both ; they are precepts of the .^ame law and law- giver ; and therefore, in the violation of one of these laws the authority of the law is violated.
He that said, Do not commit adultery ; that is, that threatened adultery with deatli, Deut. xxii. 22, threatened also murder with death, Lev. xsiv. 17, and Deut. xix. 13 : and the apostle useth that phrase ' He that said,' as alluding to the preface of the law: Exod. XX. 1, ' God spake all these words, saying.' He instanceth in such sins as are not only digested into the sum of the moral law, but are more directly against the light of nature, that so his argument might be the more strong and sensible ; which is to be noted, lest we should think that only a uniformity of obedience is required to those precepts that forbid sins openly gro.?s and heinous.
Out of these words observe : —
Ohs. 1, That we must not so much dispute the matter of the com- mand, as look to the will of the lawgiver. He proveth that the whole law had an equal obligation upon the conscience, because he that said the one said the other. G^'s will is motive enough to obedience, 1 Peter ii. 15 ; 1 Thes. iv. 3 ; v. 18. Every sin is an affront to God's sovereignty, as if his will were not reason enough ; and to his wisdom, as if he did not know what were good for men ; and to his justice, as if the ways of God were unequal "When yom' hearts stick at any duty, shame yourselves with these considerations : It is a trial of sincerity; then duty is well done when it is done intuitu voluntatis, with a bare sight of God's will. And it is a motive to universal obedience ;^ this duty is required as well as other duties, and enjoined by the same will.
Ohs. 2. Duties and sins are of several kinds, according to the several laws of God. Man hath several affections ; every one must have a sjiecial law : he hath several essential parts ; God giveth laws to both : he is disposed to several providences, which needeth a distinct rule ; he is under several relations and obhgations to God, which call for duties of a different nature and respect. Well, then, be not contented, with Herod, to ' hear many things,' gladly to practise somewhat. He that calleth you to pray caUeth you to hear, to redeem time for meditation and other holy purposes. All commands are equally commanded, and must be equally observed. And be not secure, though you be not guilty of such sins as are reproved m others. Other diseases are mortal besides the plague : though you are not for the
^ ' A quatanus ad omne valet consequeatiak'
218 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. II. 12.
farm, yon may be for the merchandise : thou,2:h thou art not a thief or whore, yet thou mayest be covetous and worldly. There is, as Hippo- crates said, S/ttXt; fiavla, a double madness — a sober madness as well as a trying.^ You may be dead in sins, though not dissolute ; and though the life may be gravely ordered, yet the heart may be averse from God. The Piiarisee could say, I am no adulterer, but he could not say, I am not proud, I am not self-confident.
Ver. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall he judged by the law of liberty.
Out of the whole discourse he inferreth a seasonable exhortation, that they would order their speeches and actions so as to endure the test and trial of the law, especially in the matter of impartial respects, because commanded by an impartial law. The reason of it lieth thus: Those that would be judged by the law should not omit the least part of it. But you desire to be judged by the moral law, evangelised or made a ' law of liberty ;' in which term he hinteth the reinforcement of the duties of the law of Moses in the gospel, which doth as exactly require a care in our speeches and actions as the law ; for though believers be freed from the terror of the law, yet not from the obedi- ence of it ; yea, if they continue in any known and allowed neglects, they lose their privilege, and are not judged by a law of liberty, but fall under the utmost rigour and severity of the sentence forementioned.
So speak ye, and so do. — He joineth the matter hinted in the close of the former chapter concerning speech, ver. 27, and the matter of the present chapter, concerning impartial respects, together ; and saith, ' so speak,' as relating to those directions ; ' so do,' as relating to the present case ; and the rather, because not only actions but speeches fall under the judgment of God and the law.