EXPOSITION OF JAMES. I. TRIAL A BLESSING. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”—JAMES i. 1-4. be HERE were two apostles named James. One of them was the son of Zebedee, and brother of John. It is generally agreed that he could not have been the author of the present Epistle, for he suffered martyrdom at a very early period, having been put to death. by Herod Agrippa, as we find recorded in the 12th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The state of matters here exposed and dealt with had not then arisen; and we must suppose this letter, so full of remonstrance and rebuke, to have been written at a time considerably later. The other James was the son of Alpheus, and brother of Jude. It has been much disputed whether there was not a third disciple so called, who, while not one of the twelve, presided over the Church at Jerusalem, and exercised a powerful influence, especially among the Jewish believers. It is the decided opinion of not a few eminent biblical scholars that there was, and to him they attribute the authorship of this Epistle. Without entering here into any discussion of the subject, which could not be done very satisfactorily or profit B ably, I may state that the reasons for such a view, while not destitute of plausibility, appear to me far from decisive. There is no necessity, in my opinion, for supposing that there was any other than these two, the sons of Zebedee and Alpheus—the latter of whom, from his relationship to the Lord, being his cousin, might, according to Scriptural usage, be spoken of as his brother. To distinguish him from his fellow-apostle of the same name, he was designated the Less, or the Little, because probably of his age or his stature. From his saintliness of character, and the Nazarite strictness of his life, he also bore the honourable title of "James the Just." This letter was written, doubtless, from Jerusalem, the scene of his ministry throughout; for he always appears there in the New Testament history, and authentic tradition testifies that he closed his career in that city, having, according to one account, been cast down from the temple, then stoned, and finally despatched by a blow from a fuller's club; thus, like the other of the same name, obtaining the crown of martyrdom. The Epistle was designed to stimulate Christians to bear more patiently, and improve more faithfully, the trials to which they were subjected, and to warn them, in the most urgent manner, against certain evils which had sprung up among them, and seriously threatened the very life of religion. It is throughout practical, dealing not with doctrine but with duty, not with the creed but with the character and conduct of those addressed. While containing much that is consolatory, it is, generally speaking, severe in its tone, sharp, searching, condemnatory. It is unsparing in its exposures, and pungent in its rebukes. It probes the wound deeply, and lays open the festering sores, in order to arouse worldly, inconsistent, backsliding Christians to a sense of their danger, and prepare the way for fresh and full applications of the gospel remedy. It is well known that, at one time, Luther spoke in disparaging |