nbd we live, we eh11ll 11leo do thie or tha.t.n ,lrp11110, sins most age.inst love." This extract Vulgote, ,;, Dominus 'llolueri! et ,i [omit ei, will serve to show the fitness of &>.a(ov,(cz Codex Ami11t.J '11izerimu1,faciemm, etc. (of. rather the.n fnr•P"1'1>"v(11 in the passage before Winer, 'Gr11mme.r of N.'l'. Greek,' p. 857). ns. The verse should be rendered, as in R. V., Ver. 16.-But now, As is e.ctually the "But now ye glory (1<11vxii0"9<) in your caee, "ye glory in your vauntings." 'A>..a(o- vauntings: e.ll such glorying (,ca6x110"is) is ,,,la: only here and in 1 John ii. 16; in the evil." K11¾:7J"" is the act, not the matter LXX., in 2 Maco. ix. 8 e.nd Wied. v. 8. It i11 (,c116x71µ.,,.), of glorying. a favourite word with St. Clement of Rome. Ver.17.-Cmic!mifmo/the seeticm. "Some On its meaning and distinction from fnr,p- have supposed a direct reference to Rom. 71,Pcz11lcz and other kindred words, see Trench xiv. 23, 'Whatsover is not of faith is sin.' on • Synonyms,' p. 95; end of. Westcott on We can scarcely assume so much; but the the ' Epistles of St, John,' p. 64. The vice correspondence is very remarkable, and St. of the d>.d(o,11 " cen tree in self e.nd is con- James snpplements St. Pa.al. It is sin to summated in his absolute self-exaltation, doubt whether a. thing be right, and yet do while the ~1r•pfi,Pcz11os shows his character by it. n is also sin t.o know that a thing is his overweemng treatment of others. The right, and yet to leave it undone" (Dean AAdC.,,, sins most against truth ; the fnt,p- Scott, in the • Speaker's Commentary ').
HOMILETICS. Ver. t.-The origin of strife and CO'll,flict to be sought in selfish lu.~t. Our "members" are the field of battle in which, or rather the instruments with which, the conflict ie fought; and all the while they are really warring against the soul (l Pet. ii. 11). The confilct, therefore, is a suicidal one. Vere. 2, 3.-" Ye ask amiss, that ye may spend ii on your pleasures.• Prayer is not to be selfish, or for the satisfaction of corrupt appetites; and where the spirit of prayer ls absent there is no promise to prayer. "Incredible a.s it might seem that men plundering and murdering, as the previous verses represent them, should have been in any sense men who prayed, the history of Christendom presents but too many instances of like anomalies. Cornish wreckers going from church to their accursed work; Italian brigands propitiating their patron saint before attacking a company of travellers; slave- traders, such as John Newton once was, recording piously God's blessing on their traffic of the year ;-these may serve to show how soon conscience may be seared, and its warning voice come to give but an uncertain sound (Plumptre). Ver. f.-" The friendship of the world is enmity with God." And yet men still strive to retain the friendship of both; to "make the best of both worlds;" to serve God and mammon. Holy Scripture steadily sets its face throughout against compromise in matters of principle, against that spirit of "give and take" which is often the world's highest wisdom, and in which the worldly politician is prone not merely to acquiesce but to delight. God's claims are absolute, and admit no rival Whoever hankers after the friendship of the world is ipso facto (,ca6ICJ"'l'a'l'1U) God's enemy. Nay, more; such a sin in one who bas given his heart to God becomes the sin of the unfaithful wife looking away from her husband, and casting longing eyes on a stranger; and those who are guilty of it are therefore branded with the name and fame of adulteresses.
Ver. 8.-" Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." A truth to which all experience bears witness, and a most important one in teaching the doctrine of repentance. God not only tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, but he also makes the path easy to the returning sinner and meets him half-way. The prodigal arose and came to his father, but while he was yet a great way off the father saw him and ran to meet him. It is the.first step in repentance which is the difficult one, and yet even this ie not taken without Divine assistance. It is God who first supplies the impulse to draw nigh to him, and then himself comes to meet the sinner who yields to the impulse. His spirit stirs the ~inner to cry to him, and then himself list~ns to the cry, accon,- iog to the rsalmist'e 11aying, "Thou proparest their heart, and thine e11r be,ukeneLb t.hereto.'' 58 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. [ell, IV, 1-17,