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God; the only sanctifying principle which can renew and regenerate the heart. In the 3rd chapter of his epistle to the Romans, he thus speaks of those, who are received by God through Christ, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." And in the 5th verse of the 4th chapter of the same epistle, he declares, that "to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." And in another place we read, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe." Now it must be evident to every common understanding, that a faith like this will influence every part of our conduct. The first emotions it will naturally excite in the soul, are those of love and gratitude to that gracious Redeemer, by whose unmerited mercy we are thus made the heirs of everlasting life. For who that loves even an earthly parent or an earthly benefactor, will not strive, because he does so love him, to obey and please him in all things? And therefore, most certain it is, that he, whose soul is deeply and truly penetrated with the remembrance of that mighty work of

compassion, which the Saviour has wrought, will endeavour to observe that Saviour's will, by performing with the powers which God has given him, those duties which Christ has enjoined, and abstaining from those actions which he has forbidden. And this we know from St. Paul's own language is precisely the faith which he preached. For in the 5th chapter of his epistle to the Galatians, he declares, that "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh hy love." Hence it is clear, that the faith which he taught, was very far from excluding good works. He denied indeed that there was any merit in them, but he insisted upon their performance as strenuously as any other of the inspired writers, and maintained that every one who was renewed by the spirit of Christ, would, through love to him, inevitably depart from iniquity.

Having thus clearly ascertained the nature of the faith, which St. Paul declared to be the only means of justification; let us take a brief view of that, against which the words of St. James, as recorded in our text, were directed. Now the first point to be ascertained, is, the character of the persons who are reproved by the apostle. It appears clear, from the testimony of an ancient father,* that there were many in the early ages

* St. Irenæus.

of the church, who abused, and turned to their own destruction, the doctrines of faith and grace taught by St. Paul. These men maintained, that a bare assent to the truth of the christian doctrine was sufficient; and that, if such assent were but given, it mattered not whether the lives they led were holy or sinful. In obedience to these principles, they gave themselves up to all manner of abominable impurities, and brought shame on the christian name by their foul and pernicious heresies. St. Peter in his epistles, and especially in the second, censures these pestilent prophaners of the gospel purity in very strong terms, and expressly alludes to their having adopted the miserable creed which they professed, from a corrupt and wilful perversion of St. Paul's preaching. He says, in the 14th and two following verses of the 3rd chapter of his 2nd epistle, " Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."

Now this review of the principles, which guided those against whom the censures of St. James were levelled, would give us an insight into the nature of that faith, of whose efficacy he thought so meanly. But we have no occasion to draw any conclusions of our own. It is clear from his own language, that it was a faith, which led to no holiness and purity of life; which permitted its possessor to consider himself as absolved from every moral and social obligation. He evidently supposes, that it can, and does exist, without good works; and illustrates it by a simile most forcible, and by a comment on the comparison, too plain to be for a moment misunderstood. Whoever has this faith, he declares, is like a man, who, if his brother or sister were naked, and destitute of daily food, would say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and notwithstanding would not give them the means by which they might acquire these comforts to themselves. "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee works."

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Now it is quite manifest, from the whole tenour of St. Paul's epistles, that he never contemplated such a faith as this, when he declared, that a man is justified by faith. No apostle has insisted more

strongly than he has done, upon the necessity of moral righteousness; and had it fallen in his way, to remark upon that vain and unfruitful principle, which St. James was called upon to reprove, he would have censured it in language as strong and decisive as that, which has been sometimes brought forward as a contradiction to his own teaching. He says, in the 2nd chapter of his epistle to the Romans, that "not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Again in the 7th chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, he declares in the 19th verse, that "circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." And in the 13th chapter of the 2nd epistle, he uses these remarkable words: "though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." Now look through the chapter and see how he sets forth the effects of this charity, or love, for such is the true meaning of the word, and you will see immediately, that he thought as lightly of a barren faith as St. James did.

But there is another point of view in which it is most evident from St. James' own words, that the faith of which he spoke, was entirely different from that which St. Paul preached. St Paul speaks of faith as a righteous principle, "to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that