The Brinkley argus., 1909-05-28
BELIEVING
 AND DOING
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LESSON rExT.--James 2:A-ss Memory 1 verse 26.
 GoIpt-N rrxr-"raith without works | ts drad."-J ..'s -:2a
 TfME.asIf is not krcwn! rhen this I tween ss A. D. 70 and so--Rot lafer thaa "A
 D. ~z"--Hastings' Bible Dictionary
 PLAcE.-It was written et.s James
 home Jerusaiem,
 sussssttsn ana rtaettcsI Thought. , Three disciples nanyed James src
 found in the New Testament: l. James the son of Zcbcdee. somstimes ] called the Great He wasr tle brothaf of Jo.rn. was very close Io Jekut q the crises Of kis fife. and was the nrst 1 of the twelve to suffer martyrdom ] (Acts 12:, 2). re
 .s. James tie son Of .phaesss. sHe c4 the twelve apostles. probabiy a broth CT of Matthew, who aso Is called son of Alphacus. He is usually unidentified with James the Little tor the Lcssl, and nothing is known or his lffc. ~ [ 3. 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 < PauRs great doc | trine of justification by faith, once called it "a letter of straw" but after ward he saw his error. "The tone ct the whole Epistle is practical, earnest and stern in parts. Canon M&csears D. D. Er. Deems called it the GOspe, of common sense,' and with the
 Sermon on the Mount) "the most vaIu- Able textbook on morals in possession of the world" Roswell D. Hitchcocik. ILL. D., "once said that the application of the Epistle of James in the region of economy is that which alone can save our civilization. and it. is re- ported of the third earl of Baicayras that he was accustomed to express himself as delighted with the Eplstle Of James as the production of gs }. tleman. '"-Deems. The structnre of the Epistle Is altogether informal and
 nnsysteniatics'-- -Plumptfe. 1t, isl one
 of the seven Catholic Epistles. @
 called because written to the whole churci, to co rect common fatIlts and
 gise the comfort and inspiration
 neededyby all in those times of trial.
 James. has been speaking of those
 that take credit to themselves for . r ,aring the law and cbscry.ns the out:
 v. d forms of religion, whi.e eat thc
 s..me time they bow down before ths
 rich and scorn the poor. In this pas; sage he goes on to insist that aiiteucl.
 religion is empty, ameres profession ot
 faith without the deeds that prove It.
 Faith, as Paul doAnies 1t, 'wprkctL
 by love- (Gal. g. 6). Faith,s as Luther
 said, Ifs a lively. busy. active thing,
 60 that 1t is impossible for it not to be
 ceaselessiy working good: it does not
 ask if good works are to be done, but
 before 1t asks ithas done them, and
 Is ever doing Such faith dc:s save man.
 But throughout James's discussion the name faith is taken in broad
 and general sense, covering any -ds- gree of acceptance pf Christian truth" "
 Prof. Johnstone- James was writ,
 ing to the Jews of the dispersion | lJas. l.I). FssAfen dNe;ling as those
 Jews dwe!t. in the midst of . heather population. were tempted to trust fcT theis salvation to t:ie:r desoent frciL
 Abraham ttofnpase Mhtts A. Q lad te
 their maintaining the anity ef the
 Codhead as against the polytheism
 and idolatry Of the nations. They te.
 peated their creed tknown, from fits first Hebrew word, as the Shema) Hear, 0 Israel. fIe Lcrds our God is one Lord (Deut. (: s4). It entered Into
 the morning and evening serviceS Cf the synagogue. It was uttered by the dyiag as passport to the g4tes of paradise. It was to this that they re- ferred the words of I1abakkuk that the just should live by faith tJah ! q afM=GamPFidge Bible.
 Such faith. which WIS MeEely out ward and formal relisi0A. ald some good It preserved it's. subject from 1 the defilements of beathcnism: but in their place 1t estabiislied prf<1e and exc,usiveness that were almost as bad Paul distrusted 1t as much as James. ana would have joined In the sauestion.
 what yptA t proflt?" V. %. JanieE eloses the discdzSIon with 2 forcible simils. aAs the body | without (literaIly. 'apart from" the spirit is dead, so faith without t.aDart 4from'') works Is dead also" "Of our own human wisdom we had been rather inclined to say that works were likeet to the body. and faith to the breath or animation thereof. ."--Eili- colt. But the apostles view seems rather to be this: Faith Is the body, the sun and substance of the Chris. fian life: works (obadience), the nov. ing and quickening of that body, just as the spirit Is the moving and quick. aning principle of the natural body -Bdau Afford James does not enter into the ausstioH- which must como 1 first, faith or works. t st6 perfectly plain that he considers both to bo necessary (see also '. 2N So does I Paul. There ls no contradiction be.
 tween the two, only difference ol | Smpheais. .ss.
 Robertson's Nlasigation Is the light,
 ming and the thunder. aEhectiye light
 ining tnot hsrmlsss heat iisttuing) fs ,always accompanied by .thunderx, as l faith Is always accompanied by works. 1t is the lightning and not the thunslss lIxAat stFikes the trse. but never tho