Fruitless Faith

(No. 3434)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1861.

"Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone." James 2:17.

WHATEVER the statement of James may be, it could never have been his intention to contradict the Gospel! It could never be possible that the Holy Spirit would say one thing, in one place, and another in another. Statements of Paul and of James must be reconciled, and if they were not, I would sooner be prepared to throw overboard the statement of James than that of Paul. Luther did so, I think, most unjustifiably. If you ask me, then, how I dare to say I would sooner do so, my reply is, I said I would sooner throw overboard James than Paul for this reason, because, at any rate, we must keep to the Master, Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought never to raise any questions about differences of Inspiration, since they are all equally Inspired, but if such questions could be raised and were allowable, it were wisdom to stick fastest to those who cling closest to Christ. Now the last words of the Lord Jesus, before He was taken up, were these, "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," and what was this Gospel? "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." To that, then, we must always cling, and Jesus Christ has given a promise of salvation to the baptized Believer, for He has said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, and whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Here it is clear He promises everlasting life to all who believe in Him, to all who trust in Him. Now from the Master's words we will not stir, but close to His own declaration we will stand. Be assured that the Gospel of your salvation as a Believer, with a simple confidence in Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead, will save your soul—a simple and undiluted reliance upon the life, death, resurrection, merit and Person of Jesus Christ, will ensure to you everlasting life. Let nothing move you from this confidence—it has great recompense of reward! Heaven and earth may pass away, but from this grand fundamental Truth of God not one jot or tittle shall ever be moved! "He that believes in Him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the Son of God."

The fact is, James and Paul are perfectly reconcilable—they are just viewing a Truth of God from different standpoints. Whatever James may mean, I am quite confident about what Paul means, and confident about the truth of the two.

A second remark. James never intended, for a moment, nor do any of his words lead us into such a belief, that there can be any merit whatever in any good works of ours. After we have done all, if we could do all, we would only have done what we were bound to do! Surely there is no merit in a man's paying what he owes—no great merit in a servant who has his wages for doing what he is paid to do. The question of merit between the creature and his Creator is not to be raised—He has a right to us. He has the right of creation, the right of preservation, the right of Infinite Sovereignty and, whatever He should exact of us, we should require nothing from Him in return! And, having sinned as we all have, for us to talk of salvation by merit—by our own works—is worse than vanity! It is an impertinence which God will never endure—

"Talk they of morals, O You bleeding Lamb! The best morality is love of You."

Talk of salvation by works and Cowper's reply seems apt—

"Perish the virtue, as it ought, abhorred, And the fool with it, who insults his Lord."

What James does mean, however, is this, no doubt, in brief and short—that while faith saves, it is faith of a certain kind. No man is saved by persuading himself that he is saved! Nobody is saved by believing Jesus Christ died for him. That may be, or may not be true in the sense in which he understands it. In a certain sense Christ died for all men, but since it is evident that many men are lost, Christ's dying for all men is not at all a ground upon which any man may hope to be saved. Christ died for somemen, in another sense, in a peculiar and special sense. No man has a right to believe that Christ peculiarly and specially died for him until he has an evidence of it in casting himself upon Christ, trusting in Jesus and bringing forth suitable works to evince the reality of his faith. The faith that saves is not a historical faith, not a faith that simply believes a creed and certain facts—I have no doubt devils are very orthodox—I do not know which church they belong to, though there are some in all churches! There was one in Christ's Church when He was on earth, for He said one was filled with devils—and there are some in all churches. Devils believe all the facts of Revelation. I do not believe they have a doubt—they have suffered too much from the hand of God to doubt His existence! They have felt too much the terror of His wrath to doubt the righteousness of His government! They are stern believers, but they are not saved— and such a faith, if it is in us, will not, cannot save us—but will remain to all intents and purposes, a dead, inoperative faith! It is a faith which produces works which saves us. The works do not save us. And a faith which does notproduce works is a faith that will only deceive—and cannot lead us into Heaven. Now this evening we shall first speak a few words upon—

I. WHAT KIND OF WORKS ARE NECESSARY TO PROVE OUR FAITH IF IT IS A SAVING FAITH.

The works which are absolutely necessary are, in brief, these—First, there must be fruits meet for repentance, works of repentance. It is wrong to tell a man he must repent before he may trust Christ, but it is right to tell him that, having trusted Christ, it is not possible for him to remain impenitent. There never was in this world such a thing as an impenitent Believer in Jesus Christ, and there never can be! Faith and repentance are born in a spiritual life togetherand they grow up together! The moment a man believes, he repents, and while he believes, he both believes and repents, and until he shall have done with faith, he will not have done with repenting. If you have believed, but have never repented of your sins, then beware of your believing! If you pretend, now, to be a child of God, and if you have never clothed yourself in dust and ashes. If you have never hated the sins which once you loved—if you do not now hate them and endeavor to be rid of them, if you do not humble yourself before God on account of them—as the Lord lives, you know nothing about saving faith! For faith puts a distance between us and sin! In a moment it leads us away from the distance between us and Christ—nearer to Christ, we are now far off from sin! But he who loves his sin, thinks little of his sin, goes into it with levity, speaks of sin as though it were a trifle, has the faith of devils—but the faith of God's elect he never knew! True faith purges the soul, since the man now hunts after sin that he might find out the traitor that lurks within his nature. And though a Believer is not perfect, yet the drift of faith is to make him perfect—and if it is faith to be perfected, the Believer shall be perfected—and then he shall be caught up to dwell before the Throne of God! Judge yourselves, my Hearers! Have you brought forth the fruits of repentance? If not, your faith without them is dead!

Works of secret piety are also essential to true faith. Does a man say, I believe that Jesus died for me, and I hope to be saved, and does he live in a constant neglect of private prayer? Is the Word of God never read? Does he never lift up his eyes in secret with, "My Father, be You the guide of my youth"? Has he no secret regard in his heart to the Lord his God and does he hold no communion with Christ, his Savior, and is there no fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Then how can faith dwell in such a man? As well say that a man is alive when he does not breathe, and in whom the blood does not circulate, as to say that a man is a Believer with living faith who does not draw near to God in prayer, that does not live, indeed, under the awe and fear of the Most High God as ever present and seeing Him in all places! Judge yourselves, you professors—are you neglecting prayer? Have you no secret spiritual life? If so, away with your notion about saving faith! You are not justified by such a faith as that! There is no life in it! It is not a faith that leads to the Lamb and brings salvation! If it were, it would show itself by driving you to your knees and making you lift up your heart to the Most High!

Another set of works are those which I may call works of obedience. When a man trusts in Jesus, he accepts Jesus as his Master. He says, "Show me what You would have me to do." The Father shows Christ what He would have Him to do. He does not set up His own will and judgment, but He is obedient to His Father's will. I will not tonight speak of those who know not their Lord's will, who shall be beaten with few stripes, but I do fear there are some professors who are living in willful neglect of known Christian duties, and yet suppose themselves to be the partakers of saving faith.

Now a duty may be neglected, and yet a man may be saved, but a duty persistently and willfully neglected may be the leak that will sink the ship! Or the neglect of any one of such duties for the surrender of a true heart to Christ does not go such-and-such a length and then stop! Christ will save no heart upon terms and conditions—it must be an unconditional surrender to His government if you would be saved by Him. Now, some will draw a line here, and some will draw a line there, up to this and say, "I will be Christ's servant." That is to say, Sir, you will be your own master, for that is the English of it! But the true heart that has really believed says, "I will make haste and delay not to keep Your commandments. Make straight the path before my feet, for Your commandments are not grievous." "I have delighted in Your commandments more than in fine gold." Now, sons and daughters of sin, professedly, what do you say about this? Have you an eye to the Master, as servants keep their eyes to their mistress? Do you ever ask yourselves what would Christ have you to do? Or do you live habitually in the neglect of Christ's Law and wills? Do you go to places where Christ would not meet you, and where you would not like to meet with Him? Are some of you in the habit of professing maxims and customs upon which you know your Lord would never set His seal? You say you believe, you have faith in Him? Ah, Sirs, if it is a living faith, it will be an obedientfaith!

Living faith produces what I shall call separating works. When a man believes in Jesus, he is not what he was, nor will he consort with those who were once his familiars. Our Lord has said, "You are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Now Christ was not an ascetic—He ate and drank as other men do so that they even said of Him that He was a gluttonous Man and a winebibber because He mingled with the rest of mankind. But was there ever a more unearthly life than the life of Christ? He seems to go through all the world a complete Man in all that is necessary to manliness, but His Presence is like the presence of a seraph among sinners! You can discover at once that He is not of their mold, nor of their spirit, but harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. Now such will the Believer be if his faith is genuine. This is a sharp cut to some professors, but not a whit more sharp than the Scripture warrants! If we are of the world, what can we expect but the world's doom in the day of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ? If you find your pleasure with the world, you shall meet your condemnation with the world! If with the world you live, with the world you shall die—and with the world you shall live again forever—lost! Where there is no separation, there is no Grace! If we are conformed to this world, how dare we talk about Grace being in our souls! And if there is no distinguishing difference between us and worldlings, what vanity it is, what trifling, what hypocrisy, what a delusion for us to come to the Lord's Table talking about being the Lord's sons when we are none of His! Faith without the works which denote the difference between a Believer and a worldling is a dead, unsaving faith!

Now I have not said that any Believer is perfect. I have never thought so, but I have said that if a Believer could be a Believer altogether, and faith could have her perfect work, he would be perfect, and that in proportion as he is truly a Believer, in that proportion he will bring forth fruit that shall magnify God and prove the sincerity of his faith.

One other set of works will be necessary to prove the vitality of his faith, namely, works of love. He that loves Christ feels that the love of Christ compels him—he endeavors to spread abroad the knowledge of Christ! He longs to win jewels for Christ's crown. He endeavors to extend the boundaries of Christ's and Messiah's Kingdom—and I will not give a farthing for the loftiest profession coupled with the most flowing words that never shows itself in direct deeds of Christian service. If you love Christ, you cannot help serving Him! If you believe in Him, there is such potency in what you believe, such power in the Grace which comes with believing, that you must serve Christ! And if you serve Him not, you are not His!

This proof, before we leave it, might be illustrated in various ways. We will just give one. A tree has been planted Now the source of life to that tree is at the root, whether it has apples on it or not. The apples would not give it life, but the whole of the life of the tree will come from its root. But if that tree stands in the orchard, and when the springtime comes there are no buds, and when the summer comes there are no leaves and no fruit. And the next year, and the next, it stands there without bud or blossom, or leaf or fruit, you would say it is dead—and you are correct—it is dead. It is not that the leaves could have made it live, but that the absence of the leaves is a proof that it is dead! So, too, is it with the professor. If he has life, that life must give fruits. If not fruits, works. If his faith has a root, but if there are no works, then depend upon it, the inference that he is spiritually dead is certainly a correct one! When the telegraph cable flashed no message across to America. When they tried to telegraph again and again, but the only result following was "dead earth"—they felt persuaded that there was a fracture, and well they might! And when there is nothing produced in the life by the supposed Divine Grace which we have, and nothing is telegraphed to the world but, "dead earth," we may rest assured that the link of connection between the soul and Christ does not exist!

I need not enlarge. We should just put it into that one sentence—"Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Bring forth, therefore, works meet for repentance! And now we turn to the second point with more brevity—

II. SOME FACTS THAT BACK UP THE DOCTRINE THAT "FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD."

These facts show that it is evident to all observers that many professors of faith without works are not saved. It would be very ludicrous, if it were not very miserable, to think of some who wrap themselves in the conceit that they are saved about whose salvation nobody but themselves can have any question. I remember a professor who used to talk of being justified by faith who was most assured about it when he had consumed much beer. Such professors are not at all uncommon, sad to say! They seem at the moment, when their condemnation seems written on their very brow to all who know them, to be most confident that they, themselves, are saved! Now, Brothers and Sisters, if such cases are convincing and you entertain no doubt but decide in their case, apply the same rule to yourselves, for although you may not plunge into the grosser vices, yet if you make your homes wretched by your selfishness, if you fall into constant habits of vicious temper, if you never strive against these sins, and the Grace of God never leads you out of them—if you can live in private sin and yet pacify your conscience and remain just as you were before your pretended conversion—when you sit in judgment and pronounce the verdict on others, feel that you pronounce it upon yourself, for surely for one sin that is openly indulged in, which is manifested to you in the dissipation of your fellow creatures, it is not hard for you to believe that any other sin, if it is constantly indulged and is loved, will do the same to you as it does to him! You know men who have not faith, but have a sort of faith, are not saved. It must be true, or else where were the Savior's words, "Straight is the gate and narrow the way, and few there are that find it"? For this is no straight gate and no narrow way, merely to be orthodox and hold a creed and say, "I believe Jesus died for me." No, it is a very narrow gate so to believe as to become practically Christ's servants, so to trust as to give up that which Christ hates! Truths which Jesus bids us believe are all Truths which if believed, must have an effect upon the daily life.

A man cannot really believe that Jesus Christ has taken away his sin by such sufferings as those of the Cross, and yet trifle with sin! A man is a liar who says, "I believe that yonder bleeding Savior suffered on account of my sins," and yet holds good fellowship with the very sins that put Christ to death! Oh, Sirs, a faith in the bleeding Savior is a faith that craves for vengeance upon every form of sin! The Christian religion makes us believe that we are the sons of God when we trust in Christ. Will a man believe that he is really the son of God, and then daily and willfully go and live like a child of the devil? Do you expect to see members of the royal court playing with beggars in the street? When a man believes himself to possess a certain station of life, that belief leads him to a certain carriage and conversation—and when I am led to believe I am elected of God, that I am redeemed by blood, that Heaven is secured to me by the Covenant of Grace, that I am God's priest, made a king in Christ Jesus, I cannot, if I believe, unless I am more monstrous than human nature, itself, seems capable of being—go back to live after just the same fashion, to run in the same course as others and live as the sons of Belial live! We constantly see in Scripture, and all the saints affirm it, that faith is linked with Divine Grace—and that where faith is, the Grace of God is—but how can there be the gift of God reigning in the soul and yet a love of sin and a neglect of holiness? I cannot understand Grace reigning and vice ruling over the living and incorruptible Seed which abides forever in the inner man—and for this man to give himself up to be a slave of Satan is a thing impossible!

Faith, again, is always in connection with regeneration. Now regeneration is making of the old thing new. It is infusing a new nature into a man. The new birth is not a mere reformation, but an entire renovation and revolution! It is making the man a new creation in Christ Jesus. But a new creature, if he has no repentance, if he has no good works, no private prayer, no charity, no holiness of any kind—regeneration will be a football for scorn! The new birth would be a thing to be ridiculed if it did not really produce a hatred of sin and a love of holiness. That kind of new birth which is dispensed by the Church of Rome, and also by some in the Church of England, is a kind of new birth which ought to excite the derision of all mankind, for children are said to be born-again—certified to be born-again, made members of Christ and children of God—and afterwards they grow up, in many cases—in most cases—let me say, to forget their baptismal vows and live in sin as others do! Evidently it has had no effect upon them! But regeneration such as we read of in the Bible changes the nature of man, makes him hate the things he loved, and love the things he hated! This is regeneration! This is regeneration which is worth the seeking! It always comes with faith, and consequently good works must come with faith, too. But we pass on to the last matter, which is this—

III. WHAT OF THOSE MEN WHO HAVE FAITH, BUT WHO HAVE NO GOOD WORKS?

Then what about them? Why, this about them—that their supposed faith generally makes them very careless and indifferent, and ultimately hardened and depraved men! I dread beyond measure that any one of us should have a name to live when we are dead, for an ordinary sinner who makes no profession may be converted, but it is extremely rare that a sinner who makes a profession of being what he is not is ever converted! It is a miserable thing to find a person discovering that his profession has been a lie. A man sits down and he says, "Why, I believe," and as he walks he is careful, because he is afraid of what others might say. By-and-by, he begins to indulge a little. He says, "This is not of works. I may do this and yet get forgiveness." Then he goes a little further away. I do not say that, perhaps, at first he goes to the theater, but he goes next door to it. He does not get drunk, but he likes jovial company. A little further and he gets confirmed in the belief that he is a saved one, and he gets so much confirmed in that idea that he thinks he can do just as he likes! Having sported on the brink without falling over, he thinks he will try again—and he goes a little further and further until I may venture to say, if Satan needs raw material of which to make the worst of men, he generally takes those who profess to be the best! And I have questioned whether such a valuable servant of Satan as Judas was, could ever have been made of any other material than an apostate Apostle. If he had not lived near to Christ, he never could have become such a traitor as he was! You must have a good knowledge of religion to be a thorough-faced hypocrite! And you must become high in Christ's Church before you can become fit tools for Satan's worst works. Oh, but why do men do this? Oh, what is the use of maintaining such a faith? I think if we do not care to get the vitality of religion, I would never burden myself with the husks of it, for such people get the chainsof godliness without getting the comfortsof godliness. They dare not do this, they dare not do that—if they do, they feel hampered. Why don't they give up professing—they would at least be free! They would have the sin without the millstone about their neck! Surely there can be no excuse for men who mean to perish coming to cover themselves with a mask of godliness! Why cannot they perish as they are? Why add sin to sin by insulting the Church through the Cross of Christ?

When men make a profession of religion, and yet their works do not follow their faith, what about them? Why, this about them. They have dishonored the Church and, of all others, these are the people who make the world point to the Church and say, "Where is your religion? That is your religion, is it?" So it is when they find a man who professes to be in Christ and yet walks not as Christ walked. These give the Church her wounds! She receives them in the house of her friends! These make the true ministers of God go to their closets with broken hearts, crying out, "Oh, Lord, why have You sent us to this people to speak and minister among them, that they should play the hypocrite before You?" These are they who prevent the coming in of others, for others take knowledge of them, as they think religion is hypocrisy, and they are hindered. And, if not seriously, they get, at any rate, comfort in their sin from the iniquity of these professors! What their judgment will be when Christ appears, it is not for my tongue to say. In that day when, with tongue of fire, Christ shall search every heart and call on all men to receive their judgment, what must be the lot of the base-born professor who prostituted his profession to his own honor and gain? He sought not the glory of God. What shall be the thunder bolt that shall pursue his guilty soul in its timorous flight to Hell? And what the chains that are reserved in blackness and darkness forever for those who are wells without water and clouds without rain? I cannot tell, and may God grant that you may never know! Oh, may we all tonight go to Christ Jesus humbly and freely, confessing our sins and take Christ to be our complete Savior in very deed and truth! Then shall we be saved! And then, being saved, we shall seek to serve Christ with heart, and soul, and strength!

Lest I have missed my mark, this one illustration shall suffice and I have done. There is a vessel drifting. She will soon be on the shore, but a pilot has come on board. He is standing on the deck and he says to the captain and crew, "I promise and undertake that if you will solely and alone trust me, I will save your vessel. Do you promise it? Do you believe in me?" They believe in him. They say they believe the pilot can save the vessel and they trust the vessel implicitly to his care. Now listen to him. "Now," he says, "you at that helm there!" He does not stir. "At the helm there! Can't you hear?" He does not stir! He does not stir! "Well but, Jack, haven't you confidence in the pilot?" "Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I have faith in him," he says, "he will save the vessel if I have faith in him." "Don't you hear the pilot, as he says, "have faith in me and you won't touch the helm?" "Now, you aloft there! Reef that sail." He does not stir, but lets the wind still blow into the sail and drift the vessel on to the coast "Now then, some of you, look alive and reef that sail!" But they do not stir! "Why, Captain, what shall I do? These fellows won't stir or move a peg." "Oh," says the captain; "I have every confidence in you, Pilot. I believe you will save the vessel." "Then why don't you attend to the tiller, and all that?" "Oh, no," says he, "I have great confidence in you. I don't mean to do anything." Now when that ship goes down amid the boiling surges, and each man sinks to his doom, I will ask you—had they faith in the pilot? Hadn't they a mimicking, mocking sort of faith, and only that? For if they had been really anxious to have the vessel rescued and have trusted in the pilot, it would be the pilot who had saved them, and they could never have been saved without him. They would have proved their faith by their works! Their faith would have been made perfect, and the vessel would have been secured.

I call upon every man here to do what Christ bids him! I call upon you, first of all, to prove that you believe in Christ by being baptized! "He that believes in Christ and is baptized shall be saved." The first proof that you believe in Christ is to be given by yielding to the much despised ordinance of Believers' Baptism and then, having done that, going on to the other means of which I have spoken. Oh, I charge you by your soul's salvation, neglect nothing Christ commands, however trivial it may seem to your reason! Whatever He says to you, do it, for only by a childlike obedience to every bidding of Christ can you expect to have the promise fulfilled, "They that trust in Him shall be saved." The Lord bless these words, for His name's sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JAMES 1:1-26.

Verse 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greet-ing.James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was an Apostle and he was the Lord's brother, yet he mentions not these greater things, but he takes the lowly title, in which, no doubt, he felt the highest honor—and calls himself, "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." Happy is that man who serves the Lord, whose whole life is not that of an independent master of himself, but of one who is fully submissive to the Divine command! Where is the fiction of the ten lost tribes? He writes to the twelve tribes that were scattered abroad, and gives them greeting, so that this Epistle is first directed to the seed of Israel, and then, as in all things, to all the Church of God, seeing all the saints of God are the true seed of believing Abraham, the father of Believers.

2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers trials. Do not sorrow over your trials, do not look upon them as misfortunes and calamities—they are black vessels, but they are loaded with gold! Your choicest mercies come to you disguised as your sharpest trials. Welcome them! Do not sorrow over them, but rejoice in them!

3, 4. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Endure everything. Suffer everything that God sends you. Bathe yourself in this rough sea till, by God's blessing, it has strengthened you and cleansed you, for to that end He sends it, that it may perfect you by discipline, educating all your spiritual faculties and bringing out all your powers for His Glory. Shrink not, then, seek not to escape by any wrong means from trial, but go through with it, have perfect endurance of it, that you may be perfect and whole, wanting nothing. "If any of you lack wisdom," and that is the point where you are most likely not to be perfect and entire—

5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men, liberally and unbraids not; and it shall be given him.We are so apt, when we give anything, to diminish the value of it by some unkind remarks. But God does not so—He gives, as He bids us give, with simplicity. There is the gift and He will not detract from it by upbraiding us. Why, some will upbraid the poor while they help them—"How did you come to be in such a condition?" But God says not so to us—the gift is given in pure liberality without any upbraiding. Wisdom is a gift! The best wisdom is not that which we acquire by study, but that which is the distinct gift of God in answer to prayer!

6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Now on the shore, now sinking back, now driving fearlessly ahead, then sinking down. This is not the kind of man that prevails with God in prayer! It is not the kind of faith we ought to have in God—a faith that is very brilliant on Sunday, but very dull on the Monday—a faith that is triumphant after a sermon, but which seems to be defeated when we get into actual trouble.

7, 8. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Unstable in everything! Till you get a single heart, till your whole soul is bound up in confidence in God, you cannot expect to be stable in your ways. "Unite my heart to fear Your name," and then I shall not be a double-minded man.

9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. The lowness of his estate is an exaltation! He shall find in his troubles a double blessing—he shall be made greater by being so little. "But let the rich rejoice in that he is made low," so that what would have been foolish pomp and pride is taken away from him and, by the Grace of God, he is kept low."Because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away."

10, 11. But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower thereof falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Oh, to be delivered from all glorying in such uncertain riches! Whatever God gives you, He may soon take away from you. If He takes it not away, He may take away your power to enjoy it! It is poor, slippery stuff at the very best. Rejoice that you have something better, something lasting!

12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him. It is promised to love, but it is given to endurance! It is the love of God which spies out our love and rewards it, but rewards it partly by trying it and then ultimately by bringing forth the stephanos, the crown. Men ran for a crown in the Greek games, and could not win the crown without the running. So does God give to them that run, a crown, but not without the running. He gives to them, first, the privilege of suffering for His name's sake—and then of being rewarded for it.

13. Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man. God tries men, but the motiveof a trial is that which differentiates it from a temptation. In a temptation we try a man with a view of inducing him to do wrong, but God tries men to better them, that they may, by finding out their weakness, be saved from doing wrong. He never inclines a heart to evil. While He does all things, and is in all things, yet not so that He, Himself, does evil, or can be charged therewith.

14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. This is the wanton harlot that deceives the heart of man—his own desire, grown strong and hot till it comes to be a lusting—this draws a man away. It baits the hook and man swallows it and is thus entrapped and enticed.

15. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. There is the history and pedigree of sin! God save us from having any connection with the desire to sin, lest from that we be led into sin and then, from sin, descend into death!

16. 17. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. All good from God, all evil from ourselves!

17. And comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. There is variableness and there is the shadow of turning in the sun, but in that greater Father of Lights there is neither parallax nor tropic—He is always the same and we may go to Him with unwavering confidence because He is the same. Oh, what a blessing to such changing creatures as we are to have an unchanging God! "Of His own will." If you want to know the power of God's will, it never goes towards evil.

18. Of His own will He brought us forth with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. The best and noblest part of His Creation, the twice-begotten, the immortals that shall be the bodyguard of His Son, that shall stand about His bed, which is Solomon's, each man with his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. What a privilege it is to be begotten of God, to be the "first fruits" of His creatures!

19. Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. Because it is by the Word that we are begotten— let us be swift to hear it. "Slow to speak," because there is so much sin in us that the less we speak, the better. In the multitude of words there lacks not sin. Great talkativeness is seldom dissociated from great sinfulness. "Slow to wrath."

20. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God.There is a tendency to grow angry with those who do not see the Truth of God, but is it not a foolish thing to be angry with blind men because they do not see? What if you see yourself? Who opened your eyes? Give God the praise for what you see, and never thinkthat your anger, your indignation, your hot temper can ever work the righteousness of God! It is contrary thereto and cannot work towards it.

21-23. Therefore lay apart all flthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be you doers of the word, and not hearers, only, deceiving your own selves. For if any is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. It is a good thing for him to do that, to see himself as others see him. "Beholding his natural face," even as men in looking into the Word of God behold the face of their nature—they see what they are like as they look into the mirror.

24-26. For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But who so looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall blessed in his deed. If any man among you seems to be religious and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain.