BY WILLIAM TITE.

"Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."-James i. 15.

THIS epistle is addressed to the twelve tribes of Israel which are scat. tered abroad, whom James calls his brethren, exhorting them to count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations, knowing that afflictions are not for their destruction, but for the trial of their faith, and by the teachings of the blessed Spirit, to yield them both profit and patience. He also directs them under a sense of the want of wisdom in these trials, to ask it of God, whom he saith "giveth to every man liberally, and upbraideth not," assuring them that it shall be given them.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil (margin,evils) neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted when he isdrawn away of his own lust and enticed." In the 16th verse he says, Do not err, my beloved brethren." This shews he esteemed them as brethren in Christ, but as liable to err; and as it was in his day, so it is now, we may so mistake the Lord's dealings with us as to lay the blame in the wrong place. God may send a trial when there is in our view no just cause for it. See in the case of Job. it is declared in the word of God, "that the Lord said to Satan, Thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause," Job ii. 3. And this is strictly true, inasmuch as Satan hath no just cause to plead for the destruction of any of God's covenant, blood-bought people; "it is Christ that died (for them), yea rather that is risen again :" but there is abundant cause for his fatherly chastisements in all his dear family, and which poor Job was brought to acknowledge before God, so that all Job's trials were overruled for the profit of his soul, for the manifestations of God's power and grace, and for the discomfiture of

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Here was a cause

all his enemies. for God to strip poor Job, he said, "I shall die in my nest," chapter xxix. 18.

Job indeed erred greatly in justifying himself rather than God, and his three friends also in charging him with hypocrisy; yet the Lord made no mistake, and this he brought both Job and his three friends to acknowledge before he had done with them. Many, again, err on the other side, and take God's decrees as a ground to rest on in a course of sin. They say, when they hear of some one who has committed any gross sin, Ah, poor thing, the Lord left him, and we can do nothing without power, and power belongs to God: truly, but faith says, "This God is our God for ever and ever, and he will be our guide even unto death," Psalm xlviii. 14. So we cannot want a God before or after him, nor a guide after death, for we shall then be out of the reach of our enemies, and no more be in danger or difficulty. But it appears to me to be wrong to lay the cause of sin on God's withdrawments, or what we call want of power; though it is plain if he hide his face we go on frowardly in the way of our evil heart, but the cause of his hiding his face or withdrawments was Israel's sin of covetousness: "For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him; I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart," Isa. lvii, 17.

So according to his own word sin causes him to hide his face from us, for he saith, Your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear," Isa. lvii. 2. This the Holy Ghost makes us feel in the conscience when he reproves us of sin.

And sure I am he cannot lay the blame in the wrong place, for he is the Spirit of truth, and leads us into the true nature of the case. Solomon sinned in marrying strange wives, and then building temples for their idols, although the Lord appeared to him twice. Jonah

sinned by attempting to go to Tarshish, although the Lord made it plain to him he was to go to Nineveh. And thus their own actions brought their guilt, and God corrected them for their sin but not for his withdrawments. He could have prevented their sin no one doubts whose eyes are open, but could they have pleaded want of power before him, it might have been some relief to their wounded hearts under the weight of guilt.

But I am not saying these things to distress a poor, trembling, tempted sinner who is groaning under a feeling sense of sin and helplessness, and who finds that when he would do good evil is present with him: no, by no means, for I know by experience we have no power of ourselves to make darkness light, nor can we command one blessing, or enter into the sweetness of one frame, but as we are led by the Holy Ghost. Yet I consider we stand in a different state to the dead world, by virtue of union to a living head; and having been quickened by the Spirit of God, we have a holy principle implanted to struggle against sin, and light given to see the evil of our nature, our own weakness, and where the power must come from, together with life to feel and cry to him for help who has promised to be a strength to the poor and the needy in his distress. But the dead sinner knows nothing about these things.

I say

Our God has laid down a rule for us to walk by in the New Testament, both in the church and in the world; and there are many blessed exhortations given, such as these: unto all, Watch," Mark xiii. 37; and "Brethren, suffer the word of exhortation," Heb. xiii. 22. So in all the epistles are many blessed exhortations to all classes in the churches, but if there be no power in the living man to obey, that is, to watch and pray to God for help and strength to be supported through temptation; then are the exhortations useless: but though it is painful waiting in the dark, and

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painful crying under a feeling of a hard heart, yet God hears a groan, and the word is Pray without ceasing," and also says, The grace of God teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (not indulge them). and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world," Titus ii. 11, 12. And God hath given to us the promise of strength in Jesus who is both the wisdom and power of God to us, and he saith, Look unto me and be ye saved." His promise for our support in trial, is, Fear not, I am with thee;" Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." As Paul says, "What shall we say to these things? Is God unrighteous who toketh vengeance? (I speak as a man.) God forbid," Rom. iii. 5. But some, perhaps, may say, Here is a man who can watch and pray without the Holy Ghost! But I bless God for his grace that hath taught me better, for more than twenty years past. But here is one thing I would ask, Why do we blame certain characters for bad actions if it was not in their power to refrain from doing them? Why not blame God for not giving them power to act otherwise? Oh, no, friends, rather let us tremble at such an idea, and say with the inspired penman, "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out," Rom. xi. 33, But when we backslide or sin, it is to gratify the flesh, as I will endeavour to prove in this discourse. We never find a poor sinner falling into open sin when he trembles at it and seeks the Lord under a sense of his own weakness, looking to him for help and crying to him for deliverance out of temptation, for God's promise to such is, "No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper," Isa. liv. 17.

them, and they have consulted with flesh and blood instead of the word of God, and seeking direction of him. Thus the serpent beguiled them as he did Eve through his subtlety, and corrupted them from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Cor. xi. 3. Or they have committed gross sins, and have had to mourn at last, when flesh and body have been consumed, Prov. v. 11, or on a dying bed. This I have known in more instances than one. A poor thing, in particular, who had thus acted I visited several times in

her last illness, and she suffered very much in body and mind, at the commencement of the temptation her church friends saw the danger and expostulated with her, but her answer was, If it is appointed I suppose it must be so. But how did she, like many more, rue the day she took such a step. I asked her a little before she died, if she thought there was any such thing as doing wrong? Oh, yes, she replied, I am sure I have done wrong, and the Lord has punished me for it. But I believe she went safe. Yes, but she found by sad experience, like many more, that she was the author of her own confusion, and that although God has permitted them to fall, one way and another, the miscry and hell they find in their conscience, is the just desert of sin, whose wages is death, and that they have procured these things unto themselves. Jer. ii. 17.

Lust then is an infernal principle, quite opposed or contrary to that moral rectitude in which our first parents were created; in which uprightness of nature they stood before the fall. It is contrary to the holiness of God, and it has defiled the whole race of creatures in this lower world, but especially man. Every faculty of his soul and every member of his body are all out of order. The understanding is darkened, the will is perverted, the conscience is hardened, the affections are vile, the judgment is broken, the memory is robbed; the ears are delighted to listen to evil sounds, the eyes are attracted with evil objects, the tongue is an unruly evil, set on fire of hell, and speaks all manner of blasphemies; the hands grasp forbidden things, and the feet run to evil; and, saith the word of God, "They are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one," Rom. iii. 12. Paul says, in Rom. vii. 7, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." James in his epistle, iv. and v., says, 'Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." John, in his 1st epis. ii. 16, says, "All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." David, Psa. cvi. 16, So Israel lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." Jeremiah, xvii. 9, 66 that says, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." And it is declared by the Lord Jesus himself, according to Mark's gospel, vii. 21, 22, 23, "Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murder, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evils come from within, and defile the man." This then is the picture of man drawn by him that

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saith,

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins," Jer. xvii. 10; for, "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God," Tim. iii. 1.

Now it is not said, when lust is conceived, for it is conceived in every breast; but, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; a figure taken from nature, for if there is a conception, there must be a bringing forth; so then, when this evil principle is acted on by the devil, who is called the evil one, it is sure to bring forth evil fruit; as it is written, "He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire, he causeth the deep to boil as a pot," Job xli. 31. Thus he acts upon the depraved nature of man, sets the passions on the move, presents suitable objects to the mind for the passions to be attracted with, whether it be anger or forbidden love, and then there is no rest until the object be obtained or the temptation be removed. Wherefore then, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Rom. v. 12.

But let us look at a few instances which are recorded in the word of truth, of the working of this lust in the hearts of the reprobate, bringing forth in them the most deadly enmity against the people of the living God, and manifesting the most cruel conduct towards them; witness Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, Haman, and Judas.

How the principle of self-love and jealousy in Cain was acted on, until it arose to envy and ended in murder. And why so? Because Abel was accepted of God, and obtained witness that he was righteous, and God testified of his gifts. Heb. xi. 4. And though God expostulated with Cain about the matter, and told him if he did well he should be accepted, and should have the pre-eminence, but if he did not well sin lay at his door, Gen. iv. 7. But lust had conceived, and brought forth this child of envy, and he could not be satisfied

until he had murdered his brother, verse 8. And the cause was, "His own works were evil, and his brother's righteous," 1 John iii. 13. And although Cain had accomplished his cursed design, and got rid of his brother, having finished the dreadful sin, he had not got out of the reach of omnipotence. He was brought to the test, and forced to hear his doom, which was, And now thou art cursed from the earth," Gen. iv. 11. So that the sentence of death was passed upon him, and he had to be a fugitive and a vagabond a few years, and then to be executed, or to receive his wages, which was the second death, or the wrath of God for ever. So with Pharaoh, who said, "My heart shall be satisfied on them,' Exod. xv. 9. How he consulted to destroy the children of Israel, by charging the midwives to destroy every male child. Exod. i. 16. And this sprung from the lust of pride, lest they should be too strong for him as a nation, and get from under his dominion. What sin against God, when he said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go," Exod. v. 2. And what envy against Israel, by evil treating them, and calling them idle, and refusing to give them straw; and beating them, verses 17, 18. And what presumption to follow them into the Red Sea, after the Lord had so terrified him by the ten plagues he had sent. and brought him to confess that the Lord was righteous, and that he and his people were wicked. Exod. xi. 27. When the Lord cut off the first-born, he hastened Israel out of his land, and said, "We are all dead men." He had felt the effects of his sin by the punishment he had met with; still he will presume, and must come to his end, and be destroyed himself in the same element in which he had destroyed so many of the children of Israel. Here he finished his course of sin, and received his

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wages, which was death temporal and eternal. They sank as lead in the mighty waters," Exod. xv. 10. "For he that being reproved often and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy," Prov. xxix. 1. When lust gains the ascendancy of the will, there would be a performance if opportunity offered; and therefore this is as much sin in the sight of God, as though the act were done. And this is what our Lord meant in Matt. v. 26; 'For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed," 1 Sam. xxiii, and they are weighed by the motives. This was the case with Saul, he did not actually kill David, but he did so intentionally, for this lust conceived in him against David; and from what cause? pride. He could not endure to be set below David in honour, and to hear tens of thousands ascribed to David, and but thousands to himself. Thus envy cried out, "What more can he have but the kingdom?" 1 Sam. xviii. 8. What sin it brought forth in him. How he consulted to take away his life, by requiring a hundred of the foreskins of the Philistines, in the hope of his being killed by them in the attempt. 1 Sam. xviii. 25. Then he gives him his daughter for his valour, and this in order that she might prove a snare to him, verse 21. He also spoke to his son Jonathan and to all his servants to kill David. 1 Sam. xix. 1. How he pursued him like a partridge on the mountains, and slew Abimeleck the priest, because he relieved him in his distress, by giving to him both provision and a sword. 1 Sam. xxii. 19. This was the fruit of that spirit in him that lusteth to envy; but now comes the trial, and he must feel its effects. He had driven poor David out of the land, and doubtless thought he had got rid of his worst enemy, the usurper of his throne; but is himself driven into such straits as he little expected. The enemy surrounds