02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 13

James 2:13. For he shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

He applieth the former direction to the matter: ‘So speak, and so do,’ as those that would not come under the rigour of the covenant of works; for if you allow yourselves in any sin, or do anything against any part of the royal law, you can expect nothing but ‘judgment without mercy.’ But to be cruel to your brethren with allowance and indulgence is a sin that will put you into that capacity; not only as it is an allowed transgression of the law, but a special sin, that in equity seemeth to require such a judgment; it being most meet that they should find no mercy that would show none. For he shall have judgment without mercy.—In which expression he intimateth the effect of the covenant of works, which is judgment without any mixture and temper of mercy, the law abating nothing to the transgressor; as also to imply the retaliation of God: hard men justly meet with hard dealing and recompense. That showed no mercy.—As if he had said, Mercy is not for those that only honour rich men, but them that are full of bowels and bounty to the poor; for by ‘showing no mercy’ he either intendeth shutting up the bowels against the necessities of the poor, or using them with contumely, injury, and reproach. They were so far from giving due respect, that they were guilty of undue disrespect; a practice which certainly will leave us ashamed at the day of judgment, when the Lord shall slight our persons, and leave us to our own just horrors and discouragements. And mercy rejoiceth over judgment.—The word is κατακαυχᾶται, boasteth, lifteth up the head; as a man will when anything is accomplished with glory and success. This latter clause hath been tortured and vexed with diversity of expositions: it were fruitless to number up all to you: they may be referred to two general heads. Some take mercy here for God’s mercy; others for man’s mercy. They that apply it to God either expound it thus: They have a severe judgment; and if it be not so with all, it is merely the mercy of God which hath rejoiced and triumphed over his justice. So Fulgentius among the fathers. But this is too forced. Others, as Gregory, &c., carry it, with more probability, thus: Though unmerciful men be severely handled, yet, in the behalf of others, mercy rejoiceth over judgment; that is, in the conflict and contest between attributes about sinners, mercy getteth the victory and upperhand, and so rejoiceth, as men when they divide the spoil. Piscator maketh out this sense yet more subtilely, taking καὶ, which we translate and, for though or yet, as it is often in scripture; and then the sense is, Though mercy itself would fain rejoice over judgment, acts of pity and kindness being exercised with more of God’s delight, yet at the sight of unmercifulness the bowels of it shrink up and retire. I should incline this way, but that the apostle speaketh here of that mercy which man showeth to man: for there seemeth to be a thesis and an antithesis, a position and an opposition, in the verse. In the position the apostle asserteth that the unmerciful shall find no mercy; in the opposition, that mercy findeth the judgment not only tempered, but overcome; that is, he that showeth mercy is not in danger of damnation, for God will not condemn those that imitate his own goodness; and therefore he may rejoice over his fears, as one that hath escaped. Now the orthodox, that go this way of applying it to man’s mercy, do not make this disposition a cause of our acceptance with God, but an evidence; mercy showed to men being an assured pledge of that mercy which he shall obtain with God. I confess all this is rational; but look to the phrase of the text, and you will find some inconvenience in this opinion; for it will be a speech of a most harsh sound and construction to say that our mercy should rejoice against God’s judgment; for then man would seem to have ‘somewhat wherewith to glory before God,’ which is contrary to David, who denieth any work of ours to be justifiable in his sight, Psalms 143:2, or to be able to hold up the head or neck against his judgment; contrary to Christ, who forbiddeth this rejoicing against the divine judgment, though we be conscious to ourselves of performing our duty, Luke 17:10; and contrary to Paul, who saith there is no glorying before God, Romans 4:2. All the rejoicing we have against God’s justice is in the victory of his mercy; therefore I believe these two senses may be well compounded and modified each by the other, thus: It is the mercy of God that rejoiceth over his justice, and it is mercy in man that giveth us to rejoice in the mercy of God; and therefore the wisdom of the apostle is to be observed in framing the speech so that it might be indifferently compliant with both these senses. Yea, upon a more accurate and intimate consideration of the words, I find that the opposition in the apostle’s speech doth not lie so much between unmercifulness and mercy, as between judgment without mercy and judgment overcome by mercy. Therefore, upon the issue of the whole debate, I should judge that the apostle’s speech is elliptical, and more must be understood than is expressed; mercy in God being expressed as the rise of our triumph, and mercy in man being understood as the evidence of it: and the sum is, that the merciful man may glory as one that hath received mercy, for the mercy of God rejoicing over the justice of God in his behalf; he may rejoice over Satan, sin, death, hell, and his own conscience. In the court of heaven the mercy of God rejoiceth; in the court of conscience, the mercy of man: the one noteth a victory over the divine justice, the other a victory over our own fears. The observations are these:—

Obs. 1. The condition of men under the covenant of works is very miserable. They meet with justice without any temper of mercy. The word speaketh no comfort to them. Either exact duty or extreme misery are the terms of that covenant. ‘Do and live,’ and ‘do and die,’ is the only voice you shall hear whilst you hold by that tenure. God asked of Adam, ‘What hast thou done?’ not, Hast thou repented? So in the prophet, Ezekiel 18:1-32, ‘The soul that sinneth shall die.’ The least breach is fatal. To man fallen the duty of that covenant is impossible, the penalty of it is intolerable. Fore-going sins cannot be expiated by subsequent duties. Paying of new debts doth not quit the old score. Will you hope in God’s mercy? One attribute is not exercised to the prejudice and wrong of another. In that covenant God intendeth to glorify justice, and you are engaged to a righteous law, and both law and justice must have satisfaction. As the word speaketh no comfort, so providence yieldeth none. All God’s dispensations are judicial: Ezekiel 7:5, ‘An evil, and an only evil.’ Their crosses are altogether curses. There is nothing befalleth them that are under the covenant of grace, but there is some good in it; something to invite hope, or to allay sorrow: ‘In wrath God remembereth mercy,’ Habakkuk 3:2. The rod is not turned into a serpent, and therefore comforteth, Psalms 23:4. Whereas to these every comfort is salted with a curse; and in their discomforts there is nothing but a face and an appearance of wrath. But the worst of the covenant of works is hereafter. When he dealeth with his people all in mercy, he will deal with them all in judgment: Revelation 14:10, ‘A cup of wrath unmixed;’ that is, simple and bare ingredients of wrath. Yet it is said, Psalms 75:8, that ‘the cup of the Lord is full mixed;’ full mixed with all sorts of plagues, but unmixed, without the least drop or temperament of mercy. Oh! how will ye do to suffer those torments that are without ease and without end? Revelation 14:10-11, ‘They shall be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, where they shall be tormented for ever and ever.’ Nothing more painful to the sense than fire; no fire more noisome or more scalding than brimstone; and all this for ever and ever. There is an eternity of extremity; it is without measure and without end, which is the hell of hell, that after a thousand years are passed over, that worm dieth not, and that fire is not quenched. The brick-hills and the furnace of Babel are but shadows to it. There was a sad howling and yelling in Sodom when God rained hell out of heaven. How did the poor scalded creatures run up and down in that deluge of brimstone, and shriek and howl because of their pains! Oh! but what weeping and gnashing will there be in hell, when a ‘fiery stream shall go out from the throne of God,’ Daniel 7:10, and poor damned creatures shall wallow hither and thither, and have ‘not a drop to cool their tongues!’ Well, then, it should awaken those that are under the covenant of works to come under the banner of grace. Those that are condemned in one court have liberty of appeal to another; and when ‘ye are dead,’ and lost to the first law, you may be ‘alive to God,’ Galatians 2:19. Let ‘the avenger of blood’ make you fly to ‘the city of refuge.’ But you will say, Who are now under the covenant of works? There is a vulgar prejudice abroad which supposeth that the first covenant was repealed and disannulled upon the fall, and that God now dealeth with us upon new terms; as if the covenant of grace did wholly extrude and shut out the former contract, wherein they think Adam only was concerned. But this is a gross mistake, because it was made not only with Adam, but with all his seed. And every natural man, whilst natural, whilst merely a son of Adam, is obliged to the tenor of it. The form of the law runneth universally, ‘Cursed is every one that,’ &c., Galatians 3:10; which rule brooketh no exception but that of free grace and interest in Christ. And therefore every child, even those born in the church, are obnoxious to the curse and penalty of it: ‘Children of wrath, even as others,’ Ephesians 2:3; and therefore are natural men described by this term, ‘Those that are under the law,’ Galatians 4:5; that is, under the bond and curse of the law of works. If the law of works had been repealed and laid aside presently upon Adam’s fall, Christ had not come under the bond and curse of it as our substitute and surety, for he was to take our debt upon him, to submit to the duty and penalty of our engagement; therefore it is said, in the place last quoted, he was ‘made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.’ So also Galatians 3:13, ‘He was made a curse for us;’ that is, in our room and place. And, again, the law is not repealed, because it is an unchangeable rule, according to which God proceedeth, μία κεραία: ‘Not a pick of the law shall pass away,’ Matthew 5:18, till all be fulfilled, either by the creature, or upon the creature, by us, or by our surety. It is the covenant of works that condemneth all the sons of Adam. The rigour of it brought Christ from heaven to fulfil it for believers. Either we must have Christ to fulfil it, or for the breach of it we must perish for ever. And therefore our apostle saith, that at the day of judgment God proceedeth with all men according to the two covenants; some are ‘judged by the law of liberty,’ and some ‘have judgment without mercy.’ The two covenants have two principal confederate parties that contracted for them and their heirs Adam and Christ; therefore, as long as thou art Adam’s heir, thou hast Adam’s engagement upon thee. The covenant of works was made with Adam and his seed, who were all natural men. The covenant of grace with Christ and his seed, who are believers, Isaiah 53:10. God will own no interest in them that claim by Adam. As Abraham was to reckon his seed by Isaac, not by Ishmael, ‘In Isaac shall thy seed be called;’ so God’s children are reckoned by Christ. Others, that have but a common interest, cherish a vain hope: ‘God that made them will not save them,’ Isaiah 27:11. But you will say, how shall we more distinctly know what is our claim and tenure? I answer—

1. It is a shrewd presumption that you are under the old bond, if you cannot discern how your copy and tenure is changed. The heirs of promise are described to be those that ‘fly for refuge to the hope that is before them,’ Hebrews 6:18. God’s children are usually frighted out of themselves by some avenger of blood; and do the more earnestly come under the holy bond of the new oath, and fly to Christ, by considering the misery of their standing in Adam. The apostle supposed that wrath made inquisition for him, and therefore crieth out, ‘Oh! that I might be found in him,’ Php 3:9. They that presume that they had ever faith and a good heart towards God, grossly mistake. That justiciary said, ‘All these I kept from my youth,’ Matthew 19:20.

2. Much may be discerned from the present state and frame of your hearts. If they carry a proportion with the covenant of works, it is to be feared you hold by that title and copy. As (1.) When the spirit is legal. There is a suitable spirit both to law and gospel. A servile spirit is the spirit of the law, a free spirit is the spirit of the gospel. It is the character of men under works: Hebrews 2:15, ‘All their lifetime they are subject to bondage.’ Religion is careful, but a foolish scrupulosity and servile awe argue bondage. See Romans 8:15, and 2 Timothy 1:7. (2.) When we seek ‘a righteousness of our own,’ Romans 10:3, and settle our life and peace upon a foundation of our own works. The covenant of works is natural to us. Common people hope to be saved by their works and good meaning, and by their good prayers to be accepted with God. ‘What shall we do?’ is the language of every convinced man. And the Jews said, John 6:28, ‘What are the works of God?’ We would fain engage the divine grace by our own works. But this disposition reigneth most in such as either (1st.) Plead their works, as those in the prophet that ‘delighted to draw nigh to God;’¹ that is, to expostulate and contend with him about their works, for so it followeth in the next verse: Isaiah 58:2-3, ‘Wherefore have we fasted?’ So the Pharisee, Luke 18:11-12. And hypocrites are brought in by Christ pleading their works, as noting the secret ground of their confidence: Matthew 7:22, ‘We have prophesied in thy name, cast out devils.’ The saints of God own no such thing: Matthew 25:37, ‘When saw we thee an hungered, naked?’ &c. They wonder Christ should remember such sorry things. As they perform duties with more care, so they overlook them with more self-denial; whereas others build upon their great gifts, employment in the ministry, urge every petty thing as an engagement upon God. (2d.) When they take more liberty to sin, hoping to make amends by their duties. Conviction would not let them prosecute their sins so freely, if they did not make fair promises of reformation. It is usual with men to carry on a sin the more securely out of a presumption of a former or after duty. Sir Edwin Sands observeth that the Italians are emboldened to sin, that they may have somewhat to confess. And Solomon speaketh of ‘sacrifice with an evil mind,’ Proverbs 21:27. And Balaam built seven altars, and offered seven rams, &c., Numbers 21:1-35, out of a vain hope to ingratiate God, that he might curse the people. And the prophet speaketh of committing iniquity out of a trust in righteousness, Ezekiel 33:13.

¹ Vide Sanctium in locum.

3. You may collect much from the unsuitableness of your hearts to the state of grace. As (1.) If you live under the reign of any sin, when it is constant and allowed, that rule holdeth good: James 2:10, ‘He that is guilty of one, is guilty of all.’ Then the devil hath an interest in you, not Christ. Habituated dispositions, good or bad, show who is your father. It is notable that of Romans 6:14, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace.’ An interest in grace cannot consist with a known sin. (2.) If you abuse grace; for then you make grace an enemy, and then justice will take up the quarrel of abused mercy. Usually men please themselves in this, if they be right in doctrine, but do not take notice of that taint that is insensibly conveyed into their manners. Oh! consider, when out of a pretence of gospel you grow neglectful of duty, less circumspect and wary in your ways, more secure, slighting the threatenings of the word, you offend grace so much that it turneth you over to justice. There are Antinomists in life as well as doctrine. Good Christians are angry that others make that an occasion to lust which is to themselves a ground of hope: ‘They turn the grace of our God,’ &c., Jude 1:4. Therefore that man that maketh it fuel for sin hath a naked apprehension of it, not a sure interest.

Obs. 2. Unmerciful men find no mercy. (1.) It is a sin most unsuitable to grace. Kindness maketh us pity misery: ‘Thou wast a stranger, be kind to strangers.’ He that was forgiven, and plucked his fellow-servant by the throat, had his pardon retrieved, Matthew 18:1-35. We pray, ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us,’ Matthew 6:1-34. God’s love to us melteth the soul, and affecteth us not only with contrition towards God, but compassion to our brethren. At Zurich, when the gospel was first preached, they gave liberty to their captives and prisoners, out of a sense of their own deliverance by Christ. (2.) It is unlike to God; he giveth and forgiveth. How will you look God in the face, if you should be so contrary to him? Dissimilitude and disproportion is the ground of dislike. It is a disposition that will check your prayers; beware of it. Unmercifulness is twofold when we neither give nor forgive. It notes (1st.) A defect in giving, or shutting up the bowels. They ask, and your hearts are as flint or steel. We are faulty when we do not what we should do, as when we do what we should not do. Covetousness and violence will weigh alike heavy in God’s balance; and you may be as cruel in neglect as injury. (2d.) In denying pardon to those that have wronged us. They have done you hurt, but you must be like your heavenly Father. No man can do thee so much hurt as thou hast done God. Sin is more opposite to his nature than wrong can be to your interests. Would you have God as slack in giving, as backward to forgive? What would you say if God should deal thus with you, either for grace or pardon? Certainly bounteous and piteous hearts pray with most confidence.

Obs. 3. God usually retaliates and dealeth with men according to the manner and way of their wickedness. The sin and suffering oft meet in some remarkable circumstance: Babylon hath blood for blood. Jacob cometh as the elder to Isaac, and Leah cometh as the younger to Jacob: he that denied a crumb, wanted a drop, Luke 16:1-31 : Asa, that set the prophet in the stocks, had a disease in his feet. Well, then, when it is so, know the sin by the judgment, and silence murmuring. Adoni-bezek, a heathen, observed, ‘As I have done, God hath done to me,’ Judges 1. And it showeth you what reason you have to pray that God would not deal with you according to your iniquities, your manner of dealing either with him or men; and walk with the greater awe and strictness. Would I have God to deal thus with me? Would I have the recompenses of the Lord to be after this rate?

Obs. 4. God exerciseth acts of mercy with delight; his mercy rejoiceth over justice. So in the prophet, ‘Mercy pleaseth him,’ Micah 7:18; so in another prophet, ‘I will rejoice over them, to do them good,’ Jeremiah 32:41. God is infinitely just as well as merciful, only he delighteth in gracious dispensations and discoveries of himself to the creature: this should encourage you in your approaches to God. Mercy is as acceptable to God as to you. In 2 Samuel 14:1, when ‘Joab perceived the king’s heart was to Absalom,’ he setteth the woman of Tekoah to make request for him. The King’s heart is set upon mercy, your requests gratify his own bowels; and again, if ‘mercy hath rejoiced over judgment,’ so should you too: go and triumph over death, hell, devil, damnation, and make your boast of mercy all the day long: 1 Corinthians 15:55, ‘death! where is thy sting? grave! where is thy victory?’ You have another triumph: Romans 8:33, ‘Who shall lay anything to our charge?’ And though the devil be the accuser of the brethren, yet because mercy hath rejoiced over judgment, therefore we may rejoice over Satan, and go to heaven singing.

Obs. 5. Mercy in us is a sign of our interest in God’s mercy: Matthew 5:7, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ They shall obtain: God will deal kindly with them, but it is mercy which they obtain, not a just reward; so Proverbs 11:25, ‘The liberal soul shall be made fat:’ the widow of Sarepta’s barrel had no bottom. I shall show you what this mercy is. It is manifested (1.) In pitying miseries. Jesus had compassion on the multitude, Matthew 15:32; so should we. It is not mercy unless it ariseth from a motion in the bowels: ‘If thou shalt draw out thy soul to the hungry,’ Isaiah 58:10. Heart and hand must go together: bounty beginneth in pity. (2.) In relieving wants by counsel or contribution: it is not enough to say, ‘Be clothed,’ James 2:16. (3.) In forgiving injuries and offences, Matthew 18:22, ‘until seventy times seven;’ that is, toties quoties it is an allusion to Peter’s number, ‘Must I forgive seven times?’ Yea, saith Christ, ‘seventy times seven:’ an uncertain number for a certain. God ‘multiplieth pardon,’ Isaiah 55:7, and so should we. As Tully said of Cæsar, Nihil oblivisci soles nisi injurias—that he forgot nothing but injuries; so should you. Secondly, I shall show you when it is a pledge of mercy. (1.) When it is done as duty, and according to the manner God hath required: ‘To distribute forget not, for with such sacrifice God is well pleased.’ Alms must be sacrifice, given to men for God’s sake; not merely done as a commendable act, but in conscience of the rule. (2.) The grounds must be warrantable. The right spring of mercy is from sense of God’s mercy; it is a thank-offering, not a sin-offering.