James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brothers. 1. It is not good to brand things with the name of error till we have proved them to be so. After he had disputed the matter with them, he saith, "Err not." General invectives make but superficial impressions; show what is an error, and then call it so. Truly that was the way in ancient times. Loose discourses lose their profit. Blunt iron, that toucheth many points at once, doth not enter, but make a bruise; but a needle, that toucheth but one point, entereth to the quick. 2. We should as carefully avoid errors as vices; a blind eye is worse than a lame foot, yea, a blind eye will cause it; he that hath not light is apt to stumble (Romans 1:26); first they were given up "to a vain mind," and then "to vile affections." Many, I am persuaded, dally with opinions, because they do not know the dangerous result of them: all false principles have a secret but pestilent influence on the life and conversation. 3. "Do not err"; that is, do not mistake in this matter, because it is a hard thing to conceive how God concurreth to the act, and not to the evil of the act; bow He should be the author of all things, and not the author of sin; therefore he saith, however it be difficult to conceive, yet "Do not err."(1) You see, then, what need you have to pray for gifts of interpretation, and a "door of utterance" for your ministers, and a knowing heart for yourselves, that you may not be discouraged by the difficulties that fence up the way of truth. observeth that the saints do not pray, Lord, make a plainer law, but, Lord, open my eyes, that I may see the wonders of Thy law; as David doth. (2) It showeth how much they are to blame that darken truth, and make the things of God the more obscure. 4. Again, from that "Do not err." Take in the weightiness of the matter. Ah! would you err in a business that doth so deeply intrench upon the honour of God? The mistake being so dangerous, he is the more earnest. Oh! do not err. There is nothing more natural to us than to have ill thoughts of God, and nothing more dangerous; all practice dependeth upon it, to keep the glory of God unstained in your apprehensions. 5. From that "my beloved brethren." Gentle dealing will best become dissuasives from error. Certainly we bad need to use much tenderness to persons that differ from us, speak to them in silken words. Where the matter is like to displease, the matter should not be bitter: pills must be sugared, that they may go down the better: many a man hath been lost through violence: you engage them to the other party. (T. Manton.) Parallel Verses KJV: Do not err, my beloved brethren. |
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