If

LECTURE VIII.

JAMES ii. 8-13.

ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

You will recollect that the subject of our last discourse was 66 respect of persons;" the conduct of those who allowed themselves to be influenced in their behaviour to persons who attended the christian assemblies, by their worldly rank and exterior, and thus practised a mode of judging not consistent with love. But what was indirectly conveyed in the former verses of this chapter-the inconsistency of respect of persons with love—is positively asserted in the text of our present discourse. “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well :

but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." The command which is here quoted by the apostle from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," and that of love to God, were declared by the Redeemer himself to be the two on which hung all the law and the prophets, Matt. xxii. 40; and on another occasion it was represented by him to be in its most spiritual and perfect form, as that new commandment, obedience to which was to be the distinguishing badge of his disciples; that commandment of love to which St. Paul refers when he says to the Corinthians, "Yet show I unto you a more excellent way," 1 Cor. xii. 31. This commandment being the fundamental law of the kingdom of God, the sum of the whole law, the purest emanation and expression of the will of the heavenly King, that on which all the particular prescriptions of the law are dependent, possessing a kind of royal supremacy over them, may with propriety claim a certain measure of royal homage, and is accordingly styled by St. James, the royal law, "If ye fulfil the royal law, ye do well." As love is a forgetfulness of one's self, and when actuated by it, we renounce ourselves, and surrender ourselves to another, even as Christ, whose love brought him down to earth, denied himself and assumed the form of a servant, and in this humble form effected our salvation; as love, according to the beautiful expression of St. Paul," seeketh not her own," but essentially

consists in seeking the well-being of others, it is evident, my brethren, that its nature is directly the reverse of " having respect of persons." Let us recollect the illustration which the apostle before adduced. Whoever says "to him that weareth gay clothing, Sit thou here in a good place; and to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool," it is true he does not positively wish evil to the poor, but it is also true that he has no desire for the welfare of the rich. In flattering the man of wealth, and providing him with "a good place,” his views and aims are entirely selfish, referring to his own advantage and honour; there is a total absence of purity, simplicity, and truth; the heart is tainted, the eye is jaundiced; while on the contrary, in love all is pure, and simple, and true. Thus, "if we have respect to persons, we commit sin, and are convinced of the

law as transgressors." For as the law in our consciences, as well as

on the written tables of the old covenant, says to us, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," this law cannot save nor justify; we must continually fall short of it; its office therefore is, as St. James asserts, to "convince us as transgressors." The voice of the law calls without intermission to the sinner who has respect of persons, who is actuated in his conduct towards all his fellow-men by self-love; "Love thy neighbour as thyself! Beside thy natural self-love, cherish the higher, nobler love of thy neighbour!" By this ceaseless testimony, the law exercises its condemnatory office. It condemns us as trans

gressors with inflexible severity, with unmitigated rigour; it convicts us of our sins, and leads us to an acknowledgment of the same. Such is the office and purpose of the law.

We might imagine a person, on hearing this assertion of the apostle respecting the law, to say, "Alas! what a hard saying is this! To have respect of persons, to be regulated in our behaviour towards others, by their outward appearance, by their standing in society, as it is an established custom, and cannot well be altered or infringed, is at most but a trivial error, and not without its advantages; yet the apostle deals so severely with it, that he calls us on account of it, transgressors of the law, of the whole law!" This objection, probably, the apostle had in view, when he adds, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," that is, he does not keep it at all. How is this to be understood? The following verse gives the an"For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill." God, the giver of the law, is only one, so also the law is only one; and by every transgression of a single commandment, the law is attacked in its essence, the whole law is dishonoured and violated. The one undivided essence of God is none other than love, for the apostle John asserts, "God is love." So also the sum and substance of the whole law is nothing else than love, as we have already been reminded by the declaration of the Saviour, in which he comprises the whole law in love.

swer.

no ill to his neighbour." If it does evil in any way, it can in no way do good. The same principle of love instructs us to keep the sixth and seventh commandment; but if we ever violate one of God's commands, we transgress the whole law; and it is a most dangerous delusion to suppose that obedience to one command can consist with disobedience to another.

Let us dwell a little longer on this point. The law of God was given to the children of Israel in separate commandments; and the voice of conscience brings sometimes one and sometimes another to our recollection. But as the several commandments which are comprised in one, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," were all written on one table, so also it is one heart on which they are engraved, and the finger of the same God has written them all, both on the table of stone and on the heart. How important is it then, my friends, that we should not look upon the law of God as divided into separate commandments, but always present it to ourselves in its unity, as one living whole. If we neglect to do this, and fix our attention on individual commandments, we shall probably adopt the language of the Pharisee in the parable: "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." So apt are we to boast or to congratulate ourselves in secret, on account of particular good qualities, comparing ourselves with others, who are perhaps noted for the contrary faults;