Matthew Poole and continuators on James 4:11

11 Speak not evil one of another , brethren: He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law : but if thou judg the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judg .

Viz. unless in the way of an Ordinance, by Reproof, Admonition, &c. Lev. 5.1. 1 Cor. 1.11. and 11.18. and 2 Cor. 11.13. and 2 Tim. 4.14, 13. He forbids all Detraction, rigid censuring, and rash judging the Hearts and Lives of others, when Men condemn whatever doth not su[illegible: 1 letter]e with their Notions, or Humours, and make their own Moroseness the Rule of other Men's manners.

Finds fault with, and condemns him for those things, which the Law doth not condemn in him, or forbid to him, Rom. 14.3, 4.

Viz. either, 1. By his practising and approving what the Law condemns, i. e. this very Censoriousness and Detraction; or, 2. by condemning that which the Law allows, he condemns the Law for allowing it, taxing it as too short and imperfect.

If thou, not only judgest thy Brother, and therein invadest the Law's Office, (whose part it is to judg him) but judgest him for what the Law doth not forbid him, and therein judgest the Law it self, as insufficient, and not strict enough; Thou dost cast off the Law's Government, disown its Superiority, exempt thy self from any Subjection to it, and make thy self meerly a Judge of it.

Marginal references: Matth. 7.1. Luke. 6.37. Rom. 2.1. 1 Cor. 4.5.