The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 94

q•hcre, which hn,c for their aim to convey wrong impressions, are lying-lying agninst God! Oh, let us lc>arn, "Thou God seest me;" e.nd let our yea be yea, and our nay nay! 2. Again, as opposed to all flippant trifling. Doubtless, then as now, oaths wer~ bandied about li~htly from mouth to mouth in irreverent wantonness. 'l'hiit was to trifle with the God t-0 whom the oaths referred. And so still; we make light of him when we lightly nse these sacred names I But all flippant speech, whether with or wit.bout oaths, is equally e. sin against God, if we would rightly regard it. How many there are who can sca.rcely speak but to jest I to whom life seems one huge comedy I Ah, God is not real to us, when the life which God has given can be so frivolously treated I 3. And yet again, as opposed to al,l artificial, solemnities of common speech for the purpose of attesting its veracity. This leads us back to the thought with which we started. A true cha.racter needs '.no vouchers. The man who protests his truth is almost certainly a false man; as, if certain coins out of a large number were marked "genuine," we should at once suspect them to be spurious. Or, on the other hand, if they were ascertained to be genuine, we should naturally suspect the coins not so marked to be false ; so·a fortified manner of speech, if true itself, implies that speech when unfonified is not true. Yes, by oura.rtificialasseverations we lay open our whole converse to suspicion. For all these rea.sons, then, let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay. Your speech-let it be simple, sacred, true. IL ITs REWARD. 1. The rewai·doj social, life. Think of it-when every man may trust his neighbour! Each of us is contributing his pa.rt towards this consummation by simplicity of speech, helping to build up the truthfulness of the world. 2. The '!'eward of the man. And this? The man's own trueness. For, as we ha.ve seen (on eh. iii. 1-5), a man's speech makes a man's self; truth or falseness distils through all his na.ture from his words. And what better reward than this: a brave bearing towards men, a true faith in God? Again, as e. reminder, "that ye fall not under judgment." Yes, every false MBeveration, every false flippancy, every essentially false solemnity, he notes down; and the day of reckoDing is at hand! Our untruth will eat our soul as doth a canker; and then ?-our own cankered, hollow self for ever I Yes, that sha.ll be our portion. For "all J.ia.n; shall have their part in the lake which btirneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." Well may it be said, as was sa.id once (Robertson's 'Sermons,' first series, p. 291), "The first lesson of the Christian life is this-Be true; and the second this-Be true; and the third this-Be true." But how? "I am the Truth." Yes, thank God, this is our refuge. And so shall we "have boldness in the day of judgment; because, as he is, so are we in this world" (1 John iv. 17).-T. F. L. Vers.13-18.-The life in God. The guiding thought of these verses is the intimacy of connection between our life and God. And the Christian, above all, should rea.lize this truth, so attested in the incarnation and ascension of our Lord. For heaven has come down to earth; ns.y, earth has been ra.ised to heaven. Bo, then, according to these verses, our sorrowing and rejoicing are to be " in the Lord ; " in sickness we are to seek our restoration from the Lord ; at all times our effectual prayer is to be'towards the Lord, L The thirteenth verse teaches us tha.t the natural expression of all the Christian's experiences should be God ward. "Is any among you suffering?" How r~a.dily we murmur against man, or in heart aga.i.nst God I For the natural effect of pam on the natural heart of man is to make it fretful and impatient. How must it be with the Christian? "Let him pray." Yes; let him hide his suffering in the mighty love of lirod, like a tronbled child flinging itself into its mother's breast I "ls any cheerful ? ." How readily we vent our joy in levity and hilarious mirth! The true resource 18 thankful praise. Like the lark mounting up into the monrlng sky, so should we pour :ll1t our full heart to God. And so with all the ma.nifold experiences of life, of which th- are but two typical examples : all our life, waking and sleeping, W?rk or rest, pleasure or pain, is to be a life in God. So will all our life run into worship; so shall we "pray without ceasing." And so will those words be fulfilled to UB- .. Thrice bleat whose lives are faithful prayers, Whoae loves in higher love endure; What souls ~ themselves so P,ure, Or is there blessed.nee~ like theirs? ' OH, V, 1-20,] '£HE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES.