ation as Taught

it means only cousins, also whether these two men were apostles or not, are questions which I leave to the Biblical critics. Receiving without argument their respec

l to observe the outward law. His epistle is like Matthew's gospel, and savors strongly of the Sermon on the Mount. As a bishop and overseer of a Jewish flock of Christians, while he fully assented to Paul's teaching on justification by faith, he, nevertheless, urged upon the people with vehemence that they should show their faith by their works and that they should be "doers of the word and not hearers only." As Paul completely demolishes the doctrine of salvation by the works of the law, so James in his epistle offers us an inspired and a vigorous protest against every form of Antinomianism. Thus t

in the very beginning of his epistle. He assures us that if we let patie

thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Christian perfection, according to Peter, is in being established, strengthened, settled. Surely none but a caviller will find any want of harmony

empted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceiv

strongest in each individual, and thus, if possible, to entrap and destroy him. Depravity exists by nature in all, but in one man it is particularly felt in the direction of covetousness, in another, of pride, in another, of ambition, in another, of sensuality. Satan's temptations in the first of these would most likely be something which holds out the prospect of getting gain by sinning; in the secon

eloved, most truly did Jesus say that the heart of man is a fountain of wickedness, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts and all actual sins; yes, there is by nature in each one of us a superfluity of naughtiness, an overflowing of wickedness, a natural depravity, an

d to as the law of love. "Love," says Paul, "is the fulfilling of the law," and this is liberty, and this is royalty, the freedom to do God's will because we love it, and to have all the

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d the true royalty, where shall we

lk of corn may be pure as soon as it raises itself above the surface of the ground. Another stalk may be impure and diseased when it is many feet in height. A Christian may seek and find

d principle is in keeping one's self "unspotted from the world." Oh, that all my readers with myself, may thus keep themselves unspotted fr

nd holy life, but it would also prove too much. For a little further on we read, in reference to that unruly evil, the tongue, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God," and again, "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body." Surely no expositor would maintain from such language that James was a tamer of horses and

e extent that he would have a wisdom that is first peaceable and then pure, but the Holy Ghost puts purity first, and He is always right. No compromise must be made with error in doctrine, or evil in practic

e may still be double-minded. He may still be unstable in all his ways. His spiritual course may still be zig-zag. His life may still be a series of sinning and repenting, and sinning again and repenting again, till he cries out in his misery, "O wretched man that I am, who (not what) shall deliver me from this body of death?" And then James's prescription comes home to him, "Purify your hearts, ye double-minded." Seek and obtain the blessing of entire sanctification, and, henceforth, with one mind and one pur

ve committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." His conclusion is that "The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working," R.V., but I prefer to regard the Greek participle in the o

, and may be given to some and withheld from others, also given at one time and withheld at another, just as God in His infinite and unerring wisdom may decide. This kind of faith is one of the special gifts of which we have an account in the 12th of 1st Corinthians, and differs, therefo

also declares that "the Spirit Himself also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for with groan

after some specific blessing, which often are, indeed, too deep for clear expression by utterance, and with the groanings, also, the faith is given, which takes hold of God's Almightiness for the answer. Such prayers do, indeed, move the hand that

hose promises, and therefore, it must be accompanied, in order to be effectual, by ordinary faith, the act of believing. Extraordinary prayer must be inspired directly by the Holy Spirit, and the gift of faith must come

e unspotted holiness of the true Christian. And as to the question of one's ability to live without sin, he commits us to the care of Him who is "able to keep us from falling," the very thing we need and which we cannot do for ourselves, and "to present us faultless before the presence of H