shall be judged without Jaw. Those who possess the Bible shall be tried by the higher standard of that written revelation. Believers in Christ, however, shall be "judged by a law of liberty" (ver. 12). '£his law is, of course, just the moral law viewod in the light of gospel privilege. In the Decalogue, the form which the law assumes is one of outward constraint. As proclaimed from Sinai, it constituted really "nn indictment against the human race;" and it was surrounded there with most terril,Je sanctions. But now, to the Christian, the law comes bound up with the gospel; and the power of gospel grace within the heart places him on the side of the law, and makes it the longer the more delightful for him to obey it. In the believer's ear the law no longer thunders," Thou shalt not." To him "love is the fulfilment of the law." The commandments, being written now upon his heart, are no longer "grievous" (1 John v. 3). The law has become to him" a law of liberty." III. TnE BUBJEOT-MATTER OF JUDGMENT. "So speak ye, and so do" (ver. 12). The standard will be applied to our words and to our actions. The apostle has already touched upon the government of the tongue in eh. i. 19, 26; and he has dealt with practical conduct in the intervening verses. His teaching here is an echo of that of the Lord Jesus upon the same theme (Matt. xii. 34-37; vii. 21-23). A man's habits of speech and action are always a true index of his moral state. If we compare human character to a tree, words co1Tespond to its leaves, deeds to its fruit, and thoughts to its root underground. Words and actions will be judged in connection with "the counsels of the hearts" of which they are the exponents. IV. THE PRmarPLE OF JUDGMENT. (Ver. 13.) This doctrine of merciless judgment to the unmerciful is enunciated in many parts of Script1ll'e. It receives especial prominence in the teaching of our Lord (Matt. v. 7; vi. 12, 14, 15; vii. 1; xviii. 23-35). We can never, of course, merit eternal life by cherishing a compassionate spirit. But, since mercy or love is the supreme element in the character of God, it is plain that those who do not manifest active pity towards others have not themselves been renewed into his image, and are therefore unsaved. The purpose of the gospel is to restore man's likeness to God, who "is love; '' so that the man who exhibits no love shows that he has not allowed the gospel to exercise its sanctifying power within him, and he shall therefore be condemned for rejecting it. But the medal has another side; for the apostle adds, "Mercy glorieth against judgment." This seems to mean that the tender-hearted and actively compassionate follower of Christ need not fear the final judgment. His merci- fulness ie an evidence that he is himself a partaker of the mercy of God in Christ. He shall lift up his head with joy when he stands before the bar of Heaven (Matt. xxv. 34-40). His Judge will be the Lord Jesus, over whose cradle and at whose cross mercy and judgrnent met together. God himself, in order to effect OUl' redemption, sheathed the sword of justice in the heart of mercy; and his redeemed people, in their intercoUl'se with their fellow-men, learn to imitate him by cultivating the spirit of tenderness and forgiveness. Thus it is an axiom in the world of grace, acted on both by God and by his people, that "mercy glorieth against judgment."-C. J.
Vers. 14-19.- Works the test of faith. God has joined faith and works together; but perverse human nature will insist upon putting them asunder. In the apostolic age, Paul met with many people who made works everything, to the neglect of faith; and James met with others who made faith everything, to the neglect of works. In our time, too, multitudes outside the Church are saying that good conduct ill the one thing needful, while orthodcxy of creed is comparatively unimportant. 11 For modes of faith let grnceless zealots fight:
His oan't be wrong whose life is in the right." (Pope.) ~
Within the Church, on the other hand, many are clinging to a lifeless formal faith-a faith which assents to theological propositions, but which does not influence dispositions. 'l'his latter error the apostle here exposes and refutes. I. 'l'HE INSUFFICIENOY OF A BARREN FAITH. (Ver. 14.) The case supposed is not that of a hypocrite, but of a self-deceiver. 'l'he ma~ has _faith, of a sort; but _it is_ only tho cold assent of the intellect. It does not purify his heart, or renew his will, or revolutionize his moral nature, as saving faith always does. Its weakness is seeu iu the 88 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. [ CIJ. II, 1-20,