meanest of his services shall be forgotten f; but that his weight of glory shall be proportioned to his services g.]
Address —
1. The inconsiderate hearers —
[It is obvious that many hear the word without receiving any saving benefit. This is owing to their own carelessness and inattention. They are like the way -side hearers, from whom Satan catches away the wordh; but such hearers do not merely lose the blessings which the faithful Christian obtains. If the word be not " a savour of life, it becomes a savour of death, to their souls." O that all would remember the admo- nition once given to the Jews1 — . Thus should they know the truth, and the truth should make them freek.]
2. The practical hearers —
[You have been brought from bondage to liberty, from darkness to light ; and, doubtless, you experience the blessed- ness of doing the will of God. " Stand fast then in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free ;" " and be not entangled again with any yoke of bondage." Shew that you consider God's service as perfect freedom. Seek to have your very " thoughts brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ1." Thus shall your "peace flow down like a river;" and abundant treasures be laid up for you in the heavenly kingdom"1.]
f Matt. x. 42. s 2 Cor. iv. 17. h Matt. xiii. 19.
> John xii. 48. k John viii. 32. i 2 Cor. x. 5.
m Matt. vi. 20.
Jam. i. 26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this mans religion is vain.
IF there be persons in the present day who per- vert the doctrines of the Gospel, and take occasion from them to depreciate morality, we must not wonder at it, since this evil obtained to a very great extent even in the apostolic age. It was with a view to persons of this description chiefly that St. James wrote this practical and vituperative epistle. It is evident that the Christian temper was too much
Ki JAMES, I. 26. [2361.
overlooked by many who professed themselves fol- lowers of Christ. There were many who loved to hear the Gospel, but neglected to comply with its injunctions. In particular, they would give a very undue licence to their tongues, indulging themselves in most uncharitable censures of each other ; whilst in the opinion of their own party, and in their own estimation, they stood high as " saints of the Lord." But, in the words which we have read, the Apostle James declared plainly to them, that they " deceived their own souls," and that "their religion was vain."
In this declaration we may see,
I. The proper office of religion in the soul —
Religion is not intended to fill the mind with notions, but to regulate the heart and life —
1. As admit fed into the soul, it brings us under the authority of God's law —
[Previous to our reception of the Gospel, we know no other rule of conduct than that of our own will, or the opinions of the world around us. But when we have " received the truth as it is in Jesus," we see that God is a Sovereign who must be obeyed ; and that his law is to be a rule of action to all his creatures. His law extends not to outward actions only, but to the thoughts and desires of the heart ; over which it exercises a complete controul. We now begin to see, that the requirements of that law, in their utmost extent, are all " holy, and just, and good ;" precisely such as it became Jeho- vah to enact, and such as it is our truest happiness to obey. The mere circumstance that it has been spoken by the Lord, is quite sufficient to give it, in all cases, a paramount autho- rity : nor are the customs or opinions of the whole world, how- ever long or universally established, accounted of any weight in opposition to it ]