Lastly, To awaken their souls to an earnestness of desire and expec- tation. The good servant expecteth his master's coming, Mat. xxiv. 45, and ' the bride saith. Come,' Kev. xxii. The day of judgment is the day of Christ's royalty and your espousals : here we are betrothed, not married. When Christ went out of the world, there were mutual and interchangeable pledges of love and affection. Nobis dedit arr- habonem Spiritus ; a nobis accepit arrhabonem carnis} He left us the pledge of his Spirit, as Elijah ascending, left his mantle ; he took from us the pledge of our flesh and nature ; therefore certainly all that have interest in Christ must needs ' love the day of his appearing/ 2 Tim. iv. 8.
^ Tertullianufl.
224 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. II. 12.
Use. Well, then, often exercise your thoughts in this matter. Think of the judge, of his nmjesty, on the glory of his appearance ; when the graves are opened, locks are lent, and Christ's unspeakable glory shall break forth like lightning through the heavens ; when he shall come riding on the clouds, environed with Hamcs of fire, attended with all the host of the elect angels, and the great shout and trump shall summon all before the royal throne of Christ's judgment. Consider, also, his purity and holiness. When God discovered himself in a par- ticular judgment, they said, 1 Sam. vi. 20, ' Who can stand before this holy God ? ' But when Christ cometli to judge all the world, ' with a garment white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool,' Dan. vii. 9, how will guilty spotted creatures appear in his presence ? Christ's throne is 'a white throne,' Kev. xx. 11, and black sinners can- not stand before it. None have confidence in that day but either such as are of an imspotted innocency, as the angels, or those that are washed in Christ's blood, as the saints. Consider his strict justice : nothing so small and inconsiderable but, if it be sinful, God hateth it. Idle and light words weigh heavy in God's balance, Mat. xii. 36. Nothing so hidden and secret but is then opened , deadness, irreve- rence, unsavoriness in holy duties, the least failing or defect in cir- cumstance, manner, or end. A man should never think of the severity of that day but he should cry out, ' If thou. Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand?' Ps. cxxx. 3. Stand, that k, rectvs in curia, be able to mnke a bold defence in that day. Those sins which, through the commonness and easiness of error, seem to challenge a pardon of course, and wherein we are most indulgent to ourselves, as the follies and excesses committed through the heat of youth, and so in man's account, who hath but a drop of indignation against sin, are venial, shall be then produced : Eccles. xi. 9, ' Know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment.' Oh ! think of these things to an evangelical purpose, that ye may trust in nothing but Christ's righteousness against Christ's judgment.
0^6'. 4. From that .90 speak, and so do : that not only our actions, but our speeches, in which we are less deliberate, come under the judi- catory of God and tlie word : Mat. xii. 36, ' But I say unto you, that every idle word that men sh;Ul speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment ; for by thy words shalt thou be jus- tified, by thy words condemned.' Usually we forget ourselves in our speeches, and make liglit account of them ; ay ! but for idle words, not only evil, but idle, we shall be judged in the last day. Evil words show a wicked heart, and idle words a vain mind. There is a quick intercourse between the heart and the tongue ; and whatever aboundelh in the heart cometh uppermost, and findetli vent in the speech. Tiiere- fore let wicked men beware lest ' their own tongue fall upon them,* Ps. Ixiv. 8. Better have a whole mountain than one evil tongue to fall upon us ; tliis will crush you to pieces in the day of wrath. Well, then, it shows how fond their excuse is who hoi)e they are not so bad as they make themselves in their words. Alas ! this is one of the nearest and clearest discoveries of what is in thy heait ; thy tongue should be thy glory, Ps. ix., and it is thy shame. Evil words have a cursed influence ; that a-u'npo<; Xoyo^, * rotten communication,' Col. iv. 6,
JaS. II. 13 ] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 225
passeth through others hke lightning, and setteth them all on fire. Behold a great deceit in good things : men think their talking should excuse their loalhing; in bad they hope their hearts are good, though their communications be vile and base. A stinking breath argueth corrupt lungs ; such putrid and rank speeches come from a foul heart. Christ asked his disciples, ' What manner of communications they had?' Luke xxiv. 17. Xenophon and Plato gave rules that men's speeches at meals, and such like meetings, should be written, that they might be more serious. Oh ! consider, God writeth them. What a shameful story will be brought out against you at the day of judgment, when all your rotten and unsavoury speeches shall be num- bered and reckoned up to you ! It is observable, when Paul, Eom. iii. 13, 14, maketh an anatomy of a natural man, he standeth more on the organs of speech than all the other members : ' Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues have they used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips ; their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,' &c. The inward dunghill reeketh, and sendeth forth its stench most this way.