The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 17

liberally. It is his way "to do exceedinii: abundantly above all that we aek or think." When Solomon iu;ked only for wisdom, God gave him riches and honour too. When ~he _prodigal requests only the place of a hired servant, his Father assures him of the station and honour of & beloved son. The Lord always gives liberally ; never with a grudge-never ungraciously. He always gives with his heart when he opens his band. Does the consciousness of much personal guilt make any of us slow to "ask of God"? Does our past neglect or abuse of his gifts deprive us of childlike confidence in comln<> to him? Then let UR remember that he" upbraideth not." What a sweet word i: that! It limns for our comfort a most touching trait of the character of the giving God. How unlike he is to human benefactors I Instead of reproaching the returning prodigal, he welcomes him with kisses of love. God upbraids no one for his great ignorance, or for his enormous guilt, or for his repeated backslidings, or for his long delay, or for making himself a last resource, or for coming too often, or for asking too much. How easy this God-appointed. method of obtaining wisdom I We have only to "a..sk, and it shall be given" us. And how great the encouragement I "Gou giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not." IV. AN INDISPENSABLE REQUISITE TO SUCCESS. (Vers. 6-8.) Prayer is not real unless it be the expression of faith. It must issue "from a living source within .the will," and be inspired by perfect confidence in God's readiness to help. How much unbelief prevails in our time on the subject of prayer! The scientific temper of the age merely allows a man to "pray to God, if there be a God-to save his soul, if he have a soul." And the forcible words of James, in these three verses, suggest that still, in the case of very many Christians, an imperfect faith in God's readiness to respond to their prayers is one of the greatest defects of their spiritual life. We are apt, even, to speak of evident answers to prayer as unusual, and-when they do occur-as remarkable. Now, the gift of wisdom is promised only to him who asks it with o. steady faith, and who evinces the reality of his faith by a life of consistent purpose. God our Father demands the confidence of his children. "Nothing doubting" should be the Chris- tian's motto in prayer. The petitioner must not shift backwards and forwards between faith and doubt, like a tumbling billow of the sea. He must not swing like a pendulum between cheerful confidence and dark suspicion. It must be his fixed persuasion that God is, and that he is the Hearer of prayer. He must expect an answer to his supplica- tions, and be ready to mark the time and mode of it; else he may rest assured that no answer will come. Transient emotions are not religion. It is the men and women within whom faith is the dominant power who take the kingdom of heaven by force. God is all simplicity himself, and he gives with simplicity; so he can have no sympathy with an unstable, double-sou.led man. A mind that continually vacillates in its choice will be prone in the end to fail in both the purposes between which it has hesitated. Certainly it will not obtain that Divine wisdom which every human heart so greatly needs for the exigencies of adversity. Steadfast faith, and that alone, will give a man singleness of eye, make him strong to keep hold of the angel of the covenant, and draw down upon him the richest blessings of gospel grace.-C. J. Vere. 9-lL-.The poor and the rich brother. The counsels contained in these verses spring out of the general exhortation of ver. 2. Riches and poverty are among the "manifold trials" which the subjects of them are to "count all joy." This passage has also a real connection with ver. 8, as the introductory conjunction in the original sLows. The connection may be either in the thought that the love of money is a pre- vailing source of" double-mindedness;" or, that the comparison of one's own outward circumstances with those of one's neighbour may tend, apart from grace, towards spiritual unsteadiness rather than Christian simplicity. L Two SPECIAL FORMS OF TBIAL. (Vers. 9, 10.) There are found together in the Church, as well as in the world outside," the rich brother" and "the brother of low d~gree." Everywhere inequalities obtain among men, which are of the Lord's appointing. He gives to one man larger intellectual possibilities than to another. In his providence he places one man in a more favourable position than another for the development of hie energies. Fortunes vary according to abilities and opportunities, as well as in connec- tion with causes which entail personal responsibility. Now," the brother of low degree'' ~Js his poverty a trial. It tries bis body, by exhausting it with labour. It tries his r11. 1. 1-27.] 'l'I-rn GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 11