Speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the laiv. — How can this* be ? Several ways may this sentence be made good. I shall name the principal.
First, Every sin is a kind of an affront to the law that forbiddetli it; for, by doing quite contrary, we do in effect judge the law not fit or worthy to be obeyed. As, for instance, in the present case, the law forbiddeth rash judgment, and speaking evil one of another; but the detractor approveth that which the law condemneth, and so in etiect judgeth the law to be not good or equal. From hence observe: —
Obs. That sin is a judging of the law. It is said to David, 2 Sam. xii. 9, * Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight ?' In the rage of his lust David looked upon it as a slight law. Observe it when you will, you will find that in sinning there are some implicit evil thoughts by which the law of God is disvalued and disapproved ; we think it unworthy, hard, or envious, or unequal. Those wretches speak out that which is the silent language of every sinful action : Ezek. xviii. 25, ' The ways of the Lord arc not equal, the ways of the Lord are not equal.' The heart of man is by nature obstinately and vehemently set upon lust, revenge, censuring; therefore, in all these cases, we are most apt to think the law of God hard and injurious to the liberty of man, and that God hath dealt en- viously with our natures to deny them the pleasures which we so strongly pursue. This was the devil's first insinuation against God, he seeketh to work Adam into hard thoughts of God's restraint : Gen. iii. 5, ' God knoweth, that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be
382 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [.Ias. IV. 11.
opened.' And still it is iSatan's great })olicy to represent God as a liard taskmaster, and to make us think evil of the law; therefore Paul seeketh to prevent such thouglits, when the law checked his lusts and brought him into a sense of inevitable misery: Rom. vii. 12, ' The law is holy, and the commandment just and good;' but was that good which caused death to him ? Yes, saith he, I look upon it still as a rule of right; it is I am carnal, my heart is wicked, &c. Well, then, you see how to make siu odious; it is a despising of the law, a speaking evil of the law; it slighteth that rule whic'h it violateth.
Secondly, They were wont, in that age to condemn one another for things indifferent, merely upon their own will and sense, without any warrant and sentence from the word, as you may see, Kom. xiv. Now this was a kind of condemning of the law, as if it were not full and exact enough, but needed to be pieced up by man's institutions.
Ohs. Observe, that to make more sins than God hath made, is to judge the law. You imply it to be an imperfect rule : men will be wise beyond God, and bind others in chains of their own making. It is true there is an ' obedience of faith,' by which the understanding must be captivated to God, but not to men ; to the word, not to every fancy. There is a double superstition, positive and negative ; the one when men count that holy which God never made holy, the other when men condemn that which God never condemned. They are both alike faulty; we are not in the ])lace of God; it is not in our power to make sins or duties : ' Touch not, taste not, handle not,' were the ordinances and precepts of false teachers. Col. ii. 21. There are three things exempted from man's judicatory — God's counsels, the holy scriptures, and the hearts of men. We should not dogmatise and subject men to ordinances of our own making, press our own austerities and rigorous observances as duties. Justice and wisdom is good, but to be 'just overmuch,' or 'wise overmuch,' is stark naught, Eccles. vii. 15, 16; that is, to be just or wise beyond the rule. Man is a proud creature, and would fain make his morosity a law to others, and obtrude his own private sense for doctrine. It is usual to condemn everything that doth not please us, as if our magisterial dictates were articles of faith. We must not come in our own name, but judge as the wordjudgeth, or else we judge the word. The Lord grant we may consider it in this dogmatising age, wherein every one crieth up his ])rivate conceit for law, and men niaJce sins rather than /'/if/ them!
Thirdly, You may conceive it thus : They might discommend and censure others for that which the word approved and allowed, and so did not so much condemn private persons as the law itself. If you take in this consideration, the note will be : —
Ohs. That to plead for sins, or to asperse graces, is to judge the word itself. Thus you set the pride of corrupted wit against the wisdom of God in the scriptures: 'Woe be to them that call goodcvil,and evil good; that put light for darkness, and dai-kness for light ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter,' Isa. v. 20. Usually thus it is in the world ; grace meeteth with calumny and sin with flattery. Open and gross sins are the more gently stroked, because they have the hap to go away under a good name: drunkenness is good fellowship, censure is conference and good discourse, error is new light, rebellion is zeal of public welfare ; but