The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-05-29
BELIEVING
AND DOING
Sunday School Lesson for May 30. 1909
Specially Arranged for This Paper
Specially Arranged for This Paper

LESSON TEAT--James z:l4-zo- memory
verse, e.
GOLDEN TEXT.-"Faith without works
Is dead."-James go.
TIME-rt is not known when this
epistle was written, but probably be
tween A. d. 40 and 50-not later than A.
d. 62."-H lstings Bible Dictionary
PLACE.-It was written at James
home, Jerusalem.
Suggestion and Practical Thought.
Three disciples named James are
found in the New Testament: 1.
James the son of Zebedee, sometimes
called the Great He was the brother
of John, was very close to Jesus at
the crises of his life.' and was the first
of the twelve to suffer martyrdom
(Acts II: p.
2. James the son of Alphaeus, one Of
the twelve apostles, probably broth
er of Matthew, who also is called a son
OF Alphaeus. He is usually Unidentified
with James the Little (or the Less).
and nothing is known of his life.
8. James the brother of our Lord,
the author of the Epistle.
Luther, mistakenly thinking that,
especially in the passage we are to
study, It opposed Paups great doc
trine of justification by faith, once
called it IA letter of straw" but after
ward he saw his error. THE tone ct
the whole Epistle is practical, earnest
and stern in parts. Canon Maclear,
d. D. DR.. Deems called it the Gospel
of common sense" and with the
Sermon en- the Mount) ''the most valu-
able textbook on morals in possession
of the wcrld.' Roswell d. Hitchcock,
LII. D., "once said that the application
of the Epistle of James in the region
of economy is that which alone can
ported of the third earl of Balcarras
that he was accustomed to express
| himself as delighted with the Epistle
| of James as the production of a gen.
tleman' deems. THE structure OF
| the Epistle is altogether informal and
msyster attic. 1t is one
| of the seven Catholic Epistles. so
| called because written to the whole
church, to correct common faults and
give the comfort and inspiration
needed by all in those times of trial.
James has been speaking of those
that ia, g credit to themselves for
hearing the law and observing the out
ward forms of religion, while at the
same tire they bow down before the
rich and scorn the poor. In this pas.
sage he goes on to insist that all such
| religion is empty, mere profession OF
faith without the deeds that prove 1t.
Faith, as Paul defines it, "worketh
by love" (Gal. 5: Co. Faith, as Luther
said, lis a lively, busy. active thing,
so that it is impossible for it not to be
ceaselessly working good; it does not
ask if good works are to be done, but
before it asks ii has done them. and
is ever doing" Such faith does save
| a man.
But throughout James's discussion
the name faith Is taken in a broad
and general sense, covering any de
gree of acceptance OF Christian truth.
Prof. tombstone. James was writ
ing to the Jews of the dispersion
GAS. /: u. Men dwelling as those
Jews dwelt, in the midst Of heather
population, were tempted to trust fcl
their salvation to their descent from
Abraham Compare Matt. 81 81 and tt
their maintaining the unity of thu
Codhead as against the polytheisn
and idolatry of the nations. They re
peated their creed known, from 1T
first Hebrew word, as the Shema)
Hear, o Israel, the Lord our God i
one Lord (Deut. 6: A.. 1t entered int
the morning and evening services o
the synagogue. 1t was uttered by tn
dying as a passport to the gates O
paradise. 1t was to this that they re
ferred the words of Habakkuk tina
the Just should live by faith Chat
2: Cambridge Bible,
Such faith, which was merely ou
ward and formal religion, did som
good. 1t preserved it's subject fror
the defilements of heathenism; but
, | their place it established pride an
exclusiveness that were almost as ba,
| Paul distrusted it as much as James
and would have joined in the question
What doth it profit"
v. 26. James closes the discussio
: with a forcible smile: AS the bod
: without (literally, apart FROM tn
, spirit is dead, so faith without ("apal
from") works is dead also" "Of OF
, own humen wisdom we had bee
: rather inclined to say that works wel
} likest to the body. and faith to tn
breath or animation thereof" ELL
) colt. But the apostles view seen
, rather to be this: Faith is the bod
the sun and substance of the Chri
tian life; works (obedience), the mo
ing and quickening of that body, jul
> as the spirit is the moving and quic
; ening principle of the natural body
8 Dean Afford. James does not ent,