,Ter. 10.-" Humbk yourselves in the sight of God, and he shall lift you up." "AR a tree must strike root deep downwards that it may grow upwards, so a mau's spirit must be rooted in humility, or he is only lifted Ull to his own hurt" (Augustine), Vers. 11, 12.-Tlte sin of detraction. Observe how this differs from slander. Slander involves an imputation of falsehood. Dctra.ction may be couched in truth and clothed in fair language. It is that tendency to disparage good actions, to look for blemishe1 and defects in them, using care and artifice to pervert or misrepresent things for that purpose. It is a poison often infused in sweet liquor and admiuistered in a golden cup. On the nature and character of this sin, see a good sermon by ls&ac Barrow (from which the above is taken), 'Works,' vol. ii. sermon xix. Dy the addition of the word" brethren" -" Speak not evil of one another, brethren "--St. James enforces the precept by a strong argument; for brethren, who are members one of another, are bound to love each other, aad should be the last to deny the merit or destroy the reputation of each other. Vers. 13-17.-The uncertainty of human plans and schemes. Best illustrated by the parable of the rich fool, boasting of his "mnch goods" laid up for "many years" on the very night on which his soul was required of him. It is such a spirit as his that St. James denounces so sternly; not the careful forethought and providence which Holy Scripture never condemns, but the forming plans and designs without the slightest reference in word or thou~ht to that overruling will on which all depends. It is not the mere looking forward that is forbidden, but the looking forward without the recollection that while "man proposes, God disposes." 'l'he whole of human history forms a comment on these verses. Alexander seized with mortal illness just at the moment when the world is at bis•feet; Arius "taken away" the very night before he was to be forced into communion with the Church ; the statesman struck down by the knife of the assassin just when his country seems to need him most ;-all these show the truth or the words which St. James had probably read, and which may well be compared with his own: "Our lifo shall pass away as a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist that is driven awav with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof" (Wisd. ii. 4). The ,anity of human schemes is well shown by the old epitaph- • The earth goeth on the earth glistening with gold: The earth goeth from the earth, not when it wold: '.l.'he ea1th buildeth on the earth castles and t.owera: • But- • Tlie earth saith to the earth, 'These shall be our11.' n Ver. 17.-Tl,e greatness of Bins of omission. It is not only sinful to do wrong; it is also sinful to lose an opportunity of doing good. God means us not only to be harmless, but also to be useful; not only to be innocent, but to be followers of that which is good. How miserable is the satisfied acquiescence in the thought, " I never did anybody any harm n_a thought which is falsely used as a consolation at many a death-bed I The slothful servant who hid the talent in a napkin did no wrong with it, but nevertheless he was condemned. He had failed to do good. So God claims from all of us, not merely that we should "cease to do evil," but also that we should "learn to do well;" for "to him tlw.t knowcLh to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. l-8.-War, and fighti11g1. Gazing upon the fair portraiture of the heavenly wisdom with which eh. iiL closes, we perhaps feel as if we could make tabernacles for ourselves in its peaceful presence, that we might continue always to contemplate its beauty. Immediately, however, James brings us down again from the holy mount into the quarrelsome and murderous world. He points us to the" wars" and "fightings" that rage throughout the human family. He returns to the "bitter jealousy and faction" that cat like a gangrene into the heart of the Christian Church. For tho congregations which the apos1les themselves formed were tainted with the samu impurities which cl.in& to the Church in our own tiwe. on. 1v, 1-17.] TUE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 5!)