view, in this disposition and state of soul.. "If ye continue in My word, ye are My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!" (John viii. 31, 32). This remaining with Jesus, this continuing in grace received, is the whole matter, the whole of our doing. Hast thou seen thy sin? See also that He who showed it has already taken it away and will abolish it. See, Christ is thine; let Him henceforth no more go out of thine heart, never again go away from the sight of His face. Thus Christ is more formed in us, and the old form passes away; the buds become blossom, the blossom fruit, under the Sun of righteousness. The Christian no longer harasses himself with individual works in all kinds of legal endeavour; love accomplishes all. This is the one internal acting of the faith which worketh by love, as St James profoundly says; and such doers are blessed. But to understand this thoroughly requires a more careful consideration of the words which now follow.

XI.

THE LAW OF LIBERTY: LOOKING INTO AND CONTINUING IN IT: THE BLESSED IN THEIR DEED.

(Ch. i. 25.)

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

We have now reached a saying which may be called the centre and heart of St James' Epistle: he who understands this saying, he who apprehends and explains by its light all that precedes and follows, may be said to look into the profound depth of the entire Epistle. Alas! this precious Epistle has been in all ages too much misunderstood; and on that account too few have been found swift to hear it. Even Luther, that great man of God, betrayed the deficiency—if not of his spiritual knowledge and perception, yet of his doctrine of faith and works-when he contemned an assuredly genuine portion of

Holy Writ as "an epistle of straw." It might have been expected that our modern preachers of mere morality and good works would be all the more enthusiastic in their estimate of this Epistle; but, strange to say, that is far from being the case. For what reason, they themselves do not clearly know; but to us it is very observable, and worthy of observation. In fact, the Epistle of St James is very profound, very dogmatic, very mystical, but by no means merely a treatise of morality as such; it is pre-eminently a New-Testament writing, and by no means a legal one; its teaching furnishes us with a touchstone for the true understanding of the Old and New Testaments, of the Law and the Gospel, in their inmost and deepest unity.

It is more well-meaning than intelligent to say that St James here wisely enforces the law and good works upon the hypocritical upholders of faith, in order that they might be humbled and prepared anew for the consolation of redeeming grace. That he does not teach the law and good works in any such independent manner, but that he bases all doing and suffering upon regeneration alone, has, we trust, been made plain throughout the first chapter. The whole Epistle is consistent with this; even in the second chapter he only demands the living works of faith, as St Paul rejects the dead works of nature. But, as we have already seen, he is not exclusively dealing with the hypocritical upholders of a dead faith: they only receive incidentally their measure of condemnation. He rather presupposes throughout and everywhere the existence of faith: the Gospel, understanding thereby the first revelation to the soul of redeeming grace, is not before him, but behind him, in this Epistle. He proclaims the grace of atonement as the grace of sanctification; he leads us onward to that great step, which so many who believe understand not and are unwilling to take, from justification to sanctification. He teaches that take,--from which is the predominant subject of all the Epistles excepting St Paul's, but which St Paul does not fail to teach in all even of his. St James does not here point to good works, even the good works of faith, merely as the counterpart of the exaggerated doctrine of faith: he comprehends both in their deep and perfect unity. His word is essential to the completeness of the New Testament; for it reconciles the two opposing systems of those who, on the one hand, have looked too much to justifica

U

tion, and of those who, on the other, have looked too exclusively at sanctification, in their views of redeeming grace. Let us now consider attentively the important words of ver. 21, which demand our most careful exposition.

And, first, we ask-What does St James understand here by the law of liberty? At the outset we answer-Manifestly and assuredly not that which the Jews called the Law, and which was given by Moses at Sinai and in the wilderness; at least not the Law as it is opposed in the doctrine of the New Testament to the Gospel, as it is contrasted with the free and unconditional bestowment of the promise. This law, in its exclusiveness and rigour, was indeed perfect as commandment; but yet it was imperfect, or insufficient to save us and make us holy-as the same Spirit who inspired St James teaches us most clearly in the Epistle to the Hebrews. But St James speaks of a law which he calls perfect; and perfect to make men blessed through living knowledge and obedience. He speaks of a law still valid for believers in Christ; but could not possibly mean to contradict that which St Paul has testified concerning the abolition of the Law. St James can quote in the second chapter the word of Moses, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself! moreover, the specific law, Thou shalt not have respect to persons! and shows that the transgressor of one law must be adjudged guilty of all; and he is thus one with St Paul, who testifies concerning the old and abolished Law that it is good for its legitimate use, to condemn the lawless and unrighteous (1 Tim. i. 8-10). This is its first and most obvious use, for which it was given before the Gospel it condemns, curses, and kills, until the Seed of the promise comes; it is a schoolmaster to discipline for the grace of Christ, which justifieth through faith (Gal. iii. 19, 24). But it cannot give life, so that righteousness should truly and properly come by the law (ver. 23). St James takes care, indeed, not to lead us into the error of vainly seeking righteousness through the law; therefore he speaks of a law of liberty, and not of that law which binds us by its obligations, and under the yoke, pressure, and curse of which we are.

:

We ask again-Does he mean the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus, to use St Paul's words, which giveth life, which makes us free from the law of sin and death, which fulfilleth in us a righteousness not to be formed in us by any mere com

mandment or law of the letter? (Rom. viii. 2-4). Does he mean the law of Christ; that is, the dispensation of grace in the new covenant given to us in the Son (1 Cor. ix. 21)— which St Paul in another place (Gal. vi. 2), with as much simplicity as depth, utters in the one word of love-Bear ye one another's burdens? Or, the gracious economy of faith, which St Paul (Rom. iii. 27) opposes as the law of faith to the law of works? It is true that in that the hard and cold Thou shalt! which can never be responded to by the free and full will of the soul in sinful flesh, is taken away and replaced by the abundant offer of grace—Thou canst! There is to sinful man no curse unto condemnation, but a blessing unto salvation; no taskmasters' driving to an enforced and never-sufficing service, but a full freedom from all bonds and debts, freedom from the condemnation of the Law itself in the forgiveness of sins. There is no judgment, no condemnation, to them that are in Christ Jesus! (Rom. viii. 1); and they can say, We are justified by faith, and what can the law further demand from us? But when we ask whether St James here means this Gospel as such as it is opposed to the "law" spoken of before, and altogether sundered from it, we must reply that he does not; his meaning is somewhat different from St Paul's in the passages which have been cited. He does not mean simply the word of faith which is preached (Rom. x. 8), but the word which is of doing as well as of believing (Gal. iii. 12); for he speaks of a deed, and of doers, and in this connection he speaks of a law. A law of liberty, indeed; but yet a law, by which we shall be judged! (ch. ii. 12). How then are we to understand this? Assuredly only thus, that in fact the Law remains in the Gospel, in it is established and fulfilled; he terms "law of liberty” the law which has been made living and lifegiving by grace, the risen Law glorified, as it were, in the Gospel. We must constantly observe that the whole Epistle abounds with allusions to the Sermon on the Mount. So already the word concerning hearers and doers; afterwards, ch. ii. 13, the blessedness of the merciful; ch. iii. 12, the figs from thistles; ch. iv. 11, evil speaking and judging; ch. v. 3, the rust which consumes riches; finally, ch. v. 12, and most literally, concerning not swearing by heaven or earth, the yea yea, the nay nay. Now, what was the law which Christ our Master Himself preached on the Mount?

Was it the old condemning Law; or the word of grace, with its assurance of justification through faith? Neither of these alone; but both together in their perfect unity. Christ preaches the Law only as fulfilled in Himself, who had come ; yet at the same time as yet to be fulfilled in the righteousness which He requires: He preaches the Gospel only to that end, that the Law may be fulfilled. Precisely in the same sense as the Lord of glory Himself speaks, James the servant of Jesus Christ here uses his peculiar expression. His law of liberty is the law of the Sermon on the Mount in its full and profound meaning; for, in speaking of hearing and doing, he manifestly has in view the Sermon on the Mount as the substance and epitome of the whole preached word (Matt. vii. 24-27). His words are not uttered in the Old-Testament spirit, and as introductory to the subsequent revelation of grace; but he points those who stand and glory in grace to the word of Christ-which teaches that the Law remains in the Gospel, and essentially belongs to it, though as a law of liberty. This is the other aspect of that which has been already enlarged upon: the hearer who rightly understands, who receives the word in order to do it, does not erroneously regard it as a merely imperative and exacting law, but as a word of grace; at the same time, in that word of grace he discerns a law for free obedience. For, so long as we are not perfect doers of the will of God; so long as the mirror of the truth shows us that we are wanting in any good deed, and that any evil deed is present with us;-so long even for us the “Law” remains to be spoken of. Despise not this solemn word; evade it not by the protest that thou hast to do only with grace and the Gospel; otherwise thou wilt go astray with thy supposed grace, and pervert thy so-called freedom into evil. But the perfect law of liberty will make thee free to all that is good, if thou beholdest it intently and continuest in it with all thine heart.

What, then, is the beholding and continuing therein, of which St James speaks? No other than the right understanding, and the right holding, of the word in its unity of Law and Gospel. It is essential that there should be, before all doing, a true knowledge and understanding; as our Lord says, If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them (John xiii. 17). For, how can I obey before I have rightly heard? Forgetting had been