HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-6.-The judgment on se7fislvness. Selfishness lay at the root or the sinful- ness of the rich men, whose conduct is so sternly denounced. The sin (1) displaywi itself mainly in heaping together treasures and living in pleasure upon the earth, as dirl Dives in the parable; but (2) it led them to injustice (ver. 4) and even murder (ver. 6). Bo now the selfishness of those who live in splendour and luxury, while they detain the money due to tradesmen, and neglect the payment of accounts rendered, is similar in character to this detaining the wages of the labourers of which the apostle speaks in such scathing terms. "Ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter." The judgment falls when least expected. In the days of Noah they were eating am! drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. The judgment on Sodom and Gomorrha, on Babylon in the night of Belshazzar's feast, when men were cherishing their hearts in the day of slaughter,-all these are well-known types of the suddenness of the judgment that is continually falling upon individuals now, when the Son of man comes to them as a thief in the night, and of that final judgment which shall fall upon the whole world at his last advent. Vers. 7-11.-Four considerations moving the Christian to patience. 1. The example of the husbandman-an illustration from nature. If patience is needful in things of this life, is it not also in the world of grace? 2. The approach of the second advent. 3. The example of the prophets. 4. The example and experience of Job- an instance of one whose latter end the Lord blessed more than his beginning. The nearness of the Lord's advent a reason for patience. To most men the thought of the advent is a thought of warning and of judgment. St. James, following his Master's example, makes it a thought of consolation. "When ye see these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Thus Christians may test their spiritual condition by considering whether the thought of its approach is to them one of consolation or of warning.
Ver. 12.-Warning against the sin of swearing. On this text see Barrow's great sermon, serm. xv.,' Against Rash and Vain Swearing,' in which is discussed (1) the nature of an oath-" an invocation of God as a faithful Witness of the truth of our words or the sincerity of our meaning;" (2) the lawful use of oaths, as showing our religious confidence in God, and as a service conducible to his glory; (3) the harm of rash and vain swearing (a) to society at large, and (b) to the person who is guilty of it; and (4) the folly and aggravation of the offence, in that it has no strong temptation alluring to it-it gratifies no sense, yields no profit, procures no honour; the vain swearer has not the common plea. of human infirmity to excuse him.
Ver. 13.-The powe:r of Divine worship. On this verse there is a striking sermon by J. H. Newman (vol. iii. No. xxiii.), • Religious Worship a Remedy for Excitement.' "Thero is that in religious worship which supplies all our spiritual needs, which suits every mood of mind and every variety of circumstances, over and above the supernatural assistance which we are allowed to expect from it." Divine worship may thus be viewed as the proper antidote to excitement. In suffering, prayer; in joy, praise. These relieve the heart, and "keep the mind from running to waste; calming, sooth- ing, sobering, steadying it; attuning it to the will of God and the mind of the Spirit, teaching it to love all men, to be cheerful and thankful, and to be resigned in all the dispensations of Providence towards us."
Vers. 14-18.-I. THE POWER AND VALUE OF INTER!)ESSORY PRAYER, enforced by tho instance of the effect of Elijah's prayers-the petitions of a man who was of like pas.,ions with us, and therefore one from whose case it is fair to argue to onr own. Interce,s,,ry prayer may be viewed as a privile~e and work in which all can have their share. While Joshua is down in the valley fighting with Amalek, Moses in the mount must lift up holy hands to God in prayer; and when Moses lifted up his hands, Joshua lllld THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. [OH, V, 1-20,
I,rne\ prevaill'd. So with the Church's warfare against her spiritual foes. Those who ~hall intercede and cry unto God day and night are neerlcd equally with those who will bear t.he burden and heat of the dRy in the forefront of the battle, "They also serve ~-hn only stand and wait." I I. THE NEED OF CONFESSION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SIN. This most necessary part of repentance is taught throughout the Bible. It is sel'n under the Law in the ,,rdinances of the day of atonement (Lev. X\'i, 21), and in the directions with regard to the sin offering (Lev. v. 1-5; cf. Nnmb. v. 6, 7). lt is found in the ministry of the Baptist (lllatt. iii. 6; Mark i. 5), and continued under the Christian dispensation (c\cts xix. 18). How much of modern repentance is shallow and supel"ficial, because men shrink from this ! They excuse their sins, and content themselves with the general uckn,1wledgment that they are sinners, instead of acknowledging the particular sins of \\'hich they are guilty, even to God in secret. In cases, too, where ttie fault has been 11gainst man, these confessions (sometimes the only reparation left) should be made to l1im who bas been wrouged; and in various sins we may say that " it is good to open the soul's grief to a wise and kind friend. The act humbles, it tests the penitence; a fairer judgment than one's own is gained, with the help of advice and prayers. If the need be felt great, or the soul's questions be hard, the burdened one will naturally go to some discreet and learned minister of God's Word," as the Prayer-book directs him (see the first exhortation in the Communion Service). III. ELIJ.\H A MAN oF LIKE PASSIONS WITII us; and yet he was one of the greatest i-aints under the old covenant, and honoured in an especial way by exemption from the common lot of mortals, being talren up to heaver,. in a chariot of fire. Hence in ,,ur own case, too, holiness, even saintliness, is by God's grace attainable (cf. Goulburn's • r ursui t of Holiness,' c. i.). Yers. 19, 20.-The blessedness of winning back a single sinner from the error 9f his \\ays.