02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 11

James 2:11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit adultery, yet if thou do not kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

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 same law and lawgiver 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 death, Deuteronomy 22:22, threatened also murder with death, Leviticus 24:17, and Deuteronomy 19:13; and the apostle useth that phrase ‘He that said,’ as alluding to the preface of the law: Exodus 20:1, ‘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 gross and heinous.

Out of these words observe:—

Obs. 1. That we must not so much dispute the matter of the command, 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. God’s will is motive enough to obedience, 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:18. 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 your 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;¹ this duty is required as well as other duties, and enjoined by the same will.

¹ ‘A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia.’

Obs. 2. Duties and sins are of several kinds, according to the several laws of God. Man hath several affections; every one must have a special 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 obligations 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 calleth 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 in others. Other diseases are mortal besides the plague: though you are not for the farm, you may be for the merchandise: though thou art not a thief or whore, yet thou mayest be covetous and worldly. There is, as Hippocrates said, δίπλη μανία , a double madness—a sober madness as well as a trying.² 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 Pharisee could say, I am no adulterer, but he could not say, I am not proud, I am not self-confident.

² So in first edition; in second edition, ‘toying.’ Qu. ‘crying’? ED.