usually in modern English, 'forgiving kindness,' but 'active pity,' of which forgiveness of injuries is a most important branch. The sense of the word is well illustrated by the passage that follows the parable of the good Samaritan: 'Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him.' In choosing this word in place of the general term 'love,' James no doubt has in mind the contemptuous 'unmerciful' treatment of the poor in some of the Christian assemblies, with the reproof of which his present line of remark started. But he desires to remind us also that the heavenborn grace of Christian love, whilst elevating and purifying the natural affections, will always go further, revealing itself in active fruit-bearing compassion to the spiritually or temporally needy, because they are needy. This evinces the spirit of brotherhood to Him who came to 'destroy the works of the devil' ignorance, and sin, and wretchedness.

'He shall have judgment without mercy,' says the apostle, 'that hath showed no mercy. This is a principle which we find set forth everywhere in Scripture. The chief aim of the gospel is to produce in men a spirit resembling God's, who 'is love;' and those that persistently retain the image of the 'prince of this world,' who hates love, exclude themselves thereby from salvation. 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.' 'But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.' 'Then his lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you,` if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.' 'Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink. Verily

I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.'

On the other hand, 'mercy rejoiceth (or "glorieth") against judgment. The meaning is: 'Where a man's life is characterized by active Christian compassion towards the sinful and the suffering around him, he may, and he does, look forward to the judgment with calm confidence.' But our apostle, according to his wont, expresses the thought with much liveliness and boldness. 'Mercy' and '(condemning) Judgment' are conceived of as rulers in two distinct spheres; and in regard to all who are in Mercy's domain, cleaving to her in love, she tells Judgment confidently that he, the stern king, cannot take them away from her. She points to the cross of Christ, and Judgment confesses that all his claims on those within her bounds were indeed fully satisfied there, through the death in their room of the Son of God. I cannot resist the impression that, whilst the mercy which reigns in a Christian's heart is undoubtedly, from the antithesis of the clause to the preceding, the apostle's primary reference, yet one end of his choosing the abstract 'mercy,' instead of the concrete 'merciful man,' was to leave room for the believing heart to expatiate on the general thought of 'fruit-bearing pity,' and in particular to trace up the human mercy to its fountain in the mercy of God. A heart full of mercy through faith in the mercy of God in Christ, and relying always and simply on that divine mercy,-this heart 'rejoiceth against judgment.'

The force of this statement is twofold. It intimates, first, that the man who by a merciful character proves his having a vital faith in God's mercy, is through Christ safe; and secondly, that he has a blissful sense of safety. The 'peace that passeth all understanding' which the gospel is fitted to impart, grows, as a rule, with the growth of holiness-that is, of the spirit and life of love; for thus, in our becoming like Christ, evidence is ever increasing that we are Christ's. For despondent believers the best medicine is energy in Christian work, the cultivation of 'mercy.' The selfish and unmerciful man 'trembles,' as, through His providence or His word, God

'reasons of judgment to come,'-conscience recognising 'a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries;' whilst, as the Apostle John has it in a passage strikingly parallel to that of James now before us, 'He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him; and herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world' (1 John iv. 16, 17).

XIII.

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS.

'What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.'--JAMES II. 14-19.

WE

7E begin here another section of the Epistle. In the preceding, the apostle, starting with the truth plainly exhibited in the first verse of the chapter, that the root of spiritual life in man is 'the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,' has shown that a certain line of conduct which he describes is entirely inconsistent with this 'faith,'—wholly alien to the spirit of Christ's religion; and has wound up the paragraph by the awfully solemn declaration, that a man who is destitute of the spirit of kindness to his fellows, one that shows nothing in his character of the image of God, who 'is love,' -this man, however loud his profession of religion, however orthodox his creed, however high his hopes, shall at the last be condemned, being subjected to 'judgment without mercy.' He is naturally led now to make some remarks on the nature of saving faith, bringing out this as one grand essential charac teristic of such faith,—that it is operative, productive of the fruit holiness.

It is evident that there were some in the Christian church of the first age, as indeed there have been in the church of every age, who with more or less fulness and consciousness

rested in the thought that privilege is saving grace,—that knowledge of the truth, accompanied by some measure of belief, brings salvation, however barren the belief may be though it be but the cold, uninterested assent which can hardly be otherwise described than as the absence of positive disbelief. There were then in all likelihood, as now, very few who stated such as their opinion, or even clearly defined it to their own minds; yet vast numbers, then as now, rested quietly in the soul-destroying impression that the knowledge of truth, with assent, necessarily constitutes saving faith. The Jews were very largely under its influence. Paul sets their state of feeling before us with much liveliness: 'Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes ; which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written' (Rom. ii. 17-24). Now, remembering that the persons whom James primarily addressed in this Epistle were Jews who had embraced Christianity, we can easily see how their previous training had prepared the way for satisfaction on the part of many of them with a mere inoperative assent to the truths of the gospel.

Throughout the apostle's discussion the name 'faith' is taken in a broad and general sense, covering any degree of acceptance of Christian truth; his object being to show that the grand test of a man's impression or belief being that deep, radical, abiding conviction which alone unites vitally to Jesus Christ, is its producing the fruit of earnest devotion to God's glory.