LivePrayerSermon 2313. Charity and Purity
(No. 2313)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 18, 1893.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1889.
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, andto keep ourselves unspotted from the world." James 1:27.
THERE is a great deal said, a great deal written, a great deal of zeal on the one side and of anger on the other, expendedupon the externals of religion. Some think that they should be very fine, not to say gaudy, very impressive, not to say imposing.They like what they call, "bright" services, though we might call them by another name. But the great question with many peopleis, "What are to be the externals of religion?" What dress is religion to wear? Shall it be robed in the plainness of Quakerdom,or shall it be adorned with all the brilliance of Romanism? Which shall it be?
Well, dear Friends, after all, we may spend much time over that question and find no satisfactory answer to it. But the BiblicalRitualism, the pure external worship, the true embodiment of the inward principles of religion is to visit the fatherlessand widows in their affliction and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Charity and purity are the two great garmentsof Christianity. Charity was once cried up by the Romanists to an extreme point-almsgiving seeming to be, to many-the beginningand the end of piety. It was an almsgiving which had a great deal that was excellent about it and which I cannot regard, assome do, altogether with abhorrence-an almsgiving which covered this land with houses of entertainment for the poor, so thatthey journeyed from one halting-place to another-and were freely lodged and housed. And we had, at least, no poor law, orworkhouse, with all (I was about to say) the horrors which accompany the present system.
But, unfortunately, charity was thought to be everything, and purity was too much neglected, so that even those houses whichwere originally built to be the abode of those who should help the poor and needy, and instruct the ignorant, became, to asad degree, the haunts of luxury and vice! The monastery, which should have been a place of pure and undefiled religion beforeGod and the Father, as it entertained the fatherless and the widows, was not famed for being unspotted by the world's sins,but, on the contrary, it was famous or infamous for its foulness! I have no doubt that this was a great deal exaggerated,but, at any rate, the accusation did seem to lie, to a very sad extent, against it, that those who were supposed to be dedicatedto God were not such consecrated men as they professed to be. Purity went down and charity went up.
Well, in these days, I sometimes fear lest we should by no means insist too much on purity, but should certainly insist toolittle upon charity! The visitation of the fatherless and widows in their affliction is not left optional. It is not to bethe privilege of a few worldly men who give all their substance to orphanages. Every Christian is bound to wear his part ofthe external dress of religion, that is, charity! This charity is to be manifested especially to those who need it most, whoseneed cannot be a matter of imposture, but must be real. These are the fatherless and widows during the time of their destitutionand affliction-when the orphans are not able to earn the bread that perishes-and the mother has her children weeping aroundher and pining in poverty. Not only may this charity be shown, but it must be manifested if we would have pure and undefiledreligion before God and the Father. The increase of charity, of careful and discreet consideration for the poor and needy,would bring a great blessing with it, and is what is greatly needed, even in these times, when, perhaps, we fancy that weare doing almost enough in this direction, although we certainly are not.
Yet charity without purity will be of no use. In vain should we give all our substance to the poor and give our bodies tobe burned if we do not walk in the way of holiness, "without which no man shall see the Lord." If we do not come out
from the world and keep ourselves from its polluting influence, we have not yet learned what pure and undefiled religion reallyis! We may be very orthodox in creed, or we may be very far advanced in our knowledge of religious matters. We may think ourselvesto be Hebrews of the Hebrews, Pharisees of the Pharisees, and as touching the righteousness which is of the Law, blameless.But we are, in the sight of God, only as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal, unless, by Divine Grace, we have learned tokeep ourselves unspotted from the world!
Without forgetting what I have said to you about charity, we will examine those words in our text which especially speak ofpurity and, in doing so, I notice, first, that they indicate separation. Look below their surface and they certainly indicatethat. Secondly, they impress upon us spotlessness-"to keep ourselves unspotted from the world." And, thirdly, they insistupon careful self-watching.
I. First, then, beloved Friends, if you look below the surface of the words here, you will see that THEY INDICATE SEPARATION.
"To keep ourselves unspotted from the world," implies that we are not a part of the world. We are in it, but evidently notof it. We are one thing and the world is another thing-and we are so much apart from the world that even a spot from the poolsof the world would defile us. We are to be quite outside the world even while we are in it. Those of you who were here onMonday night must have been greatly amused and also instructed by what was said by a young seller of religious tracts. Hewas a little fellow-you remember him! He was going along with his pack on his back and a big man accosted him in this way,"Well, my little fellow, do you belong to the Militia?" "No, Sir, I do not, but I belong to the King's Own." "You little fool,"said the man, "why, there is not any king in this country, so you cannot belong to the King's Own." The lad replied, "I don'tknow that I am a fool any more for that, for, do you know, I belong to another country?" "What do you mean by saying thatyou belong to another country? You are not a foreigner." "Well, I won't say that I am a foreigner, but I can say that I ama stranger in this land, and I belong, as I have already told you, to another country. And that I am not a fool is quite certain,for in the country to which I belong there is a King, and I am in His army. And if you would like to know how to enlist init, I have a book in my pack which you can buy, and in which you can read all about my King and His army."
It was well put and it also expressed nothing more than the real truth. Here, in the midst of this world, you and I, if weare truly born again from above, are strangers and pilgrims. We have come into this land as gypsies might have come-pitchingour tent here and there-but having no abiding city anywhere. We are in this world as Abraham was in Canaan. We are not relatedto any of the Canaanites among whom we dwell. We are of another country, to wit, a heavenly one-and we are looking for "acity which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." There are some professing Christians who also try to be worldly,but a worldly Christian is an anomaly and a contradiction!
No, beloved Friends, if we are truly the Lord's, we are severed from the world. I will mention two or three of the many waysin which we are thus separated.
The first is by Divine Election. The Lord Jesus Christ had a people given to Him-a people whom He received of His Father,as He said-"Yours they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your Word." "I pray for them: I pray not for theworld, but for them which You have given Me." These are they whom God chose in Christ Jesus from before the foundation ofthe world, having predestinated them, according to the good pleasure of His will, that they should be holy and without blamebefore Him in love-"for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He mightbe the First-Born among many brethren." Now this eternal choice of God has severed Believers from the rest of mankind andthey stand apart as much as Israel stood apart in Egypt, even in the midst of the plagues. Thus God's chosen ones constitutea people that shall dwell alone-they shall not be numbered among the nations. He has made them to be His portion, "for theLord's portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance."
This Truth of God, some of you may say, leads us into the great mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Well, in due time, our separationfrom the world is the result of Divine calling as well as Divine election, for the Apostle writes, "moreover, whom He didpredestinate, them He also called." There is a people in this world who have been called out from the world and they makeup the ecclesia, the called-out assembly, the people to whom a Voice has come which others have not spiritually heard. Theyare the people who have been drawn by Christ and have run after Christ-the people who were dead and who have been quickened-thepeople who were slumbering and who have been awakened. They are the people who
were afar off and who have been brought near, the people who have been brought out of darkness into Christ's marvelous light,the people whom He has separated unto Himself-and who shall show forth His praise. Do you know anything about this calling,my dear Hearers? Were you ever led, by conviction of sin, repentance and faith, to fly to Jesus? Have you come to Him? Ifso, in that wondrous calling out, you have one evidence that you are distinct from the world that lies in the Wicked One.
Another clear distinguishing mark is redemption. The blood of the paschal lamb was on the lintel and the two side posts ofthe house of every family of Israel. It was not on the houses of the Egyptians and to their dwellings the Destroying Angelcame with swift, sure, unerring blow, killing the first-born in every house throughout the land. It was the blood-mark thatdistinguished Israel from all the rest of the people! And today, only those who are sheltered by the sprinkled blood of Jesus,the Lamb of God, are safe! Christ has redeemed His people from among men. He loved His Church and gave Himself for her-andHe has redeemed that Church and brought her out of the Egyptian bondage of sin with a high hand and an outstretched arm, redeemingher by power as well as by price-and she shall be His forever. Has He not espoused her unto Himself and will He not have herof whom His soul was eternally enamored and to whom, in the Covenant of old, He was joined by bonds of everlasting wedlock?Yes, verily, He will have her to be His own bride, world without end! This is another mark of our separation from the world-theblood-red mark of redemption, effectual redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then, Beloved, in due time, separation from the world comes out, externally, more fully in sanctification. There is a peoplein this world who have another nature from that of the men of this world. Would to God there were more of them! But therehas come, by Divine Grace, a work of Christ in their heart which has changed their entire nature, aspirations, loves, hates-theirwhole selves-and made the whole world to become new to them because they are totally new to it. When this great change isworked in the heart of a man, it crucifies him to the world and the world to him. And he becomes a member of a community asmuch above the common race of humanity as a man is above a horse or a dog! He becomes possessed of a higher nature which wasborn in him by regeneration and which lifts him up into familiarity with God, so that he becomes a partaker of the DivineNature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So says this Book on which we rest and I beseechyou to believe that it speaks the Truth of God.
Sanctification is the great open separator of Christians from the world! And they are so separate and so distinct that theywill never be mixed together, not even in that day when their bones shall lie mingled in the same cemetery-when grave by gravethe righteous shall sleep side by side with the wicked! There shall be a distinction in that day of resurrection when thedead in Christ shall rise first-"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." There shallbe a distinction in that day when the King's words, "Come, you blessed," or, "Depart, you cursed," shall make an everlastingdivision between them-and all the universe shall know that the Lord does put a difference between Israel and Egypt!
Now, Beloved, you can judge for yourselves, tonight-I pray you to do it-whether you are separate from the world. If you arenot, you will be judged with the world. If this day there falls to your lot, special Grace, as well as special joy-if youhave a new life and a heavenly experience all your own, then, inasmuch as you are not of the world, hear again the words ofmy text and keep yourselves "unspotted from the world."
Now, I want you to notice, before I leave this point, that, inasmuch as there is an evident separation between the peopleof God and the world, we make it a part of worship to manifest that separation. Observe what the text says-"Pure religionand undefiled before God and the Father is this...To keep ourselves unspotted from the world." Religion does not consist simplyin meeting together for prayer, in singing hymns and hearing sermons. There is much of this that is profitable and glorifiesGod, but there is something more needed to complete real worship of God.
When you and I live daily with the fear of God before our eyes, in the presence of men of the world who care not whether thereis a God or not, then are we truly manifesting "pure and undefiled religion." When we judge all our conduct by thinking howit will appear in the sight of God. When, assailed by temptation, we say to ourselves, "How can I do this great wickednessand sin against God?" When we keep ourselves apart from every evil thing that might fascinate and entice us, saying, "So didnot I, because of the fear of God," this is true worship! It is quite as real worship as the hymns we sing and the prayerswe offer.
Abstinence from evil and seeking that which is right will manifest our separation from the world, especially if the Gloryof God is our one great objective in life. I like that word of my dear friend, Mr. George Muller, when he says, "Never begina day without feeling joy in the Lord." I think that is a very blessed rule-to live constantly walking in such a way thatyou and God are on close terms of happy fellowship so that all that you do you do heartily as unto the Lord! Your common serviceas a domestic servant, or your public service as a preacher, you do in the Presence, not of the great Taskmaster, but of yourgreat Father and Friend, of whom you have become an adopted child and to whom you are separated to be a priest serving Himevery day! If everything is done, from the taking down of the shop shutters on the Monday morning to the putting of them upon Saturday night, as well as what is done on Sunday-if all is done for God's Glory, this will make a great gulf between youand the man of the world who lives for baser ends.
Thus I have tried very plainly to show that the words in our text indicate separation.
II. Now, in the second place, THEY IMPRESS UPON US SPOTLESSNESS-"To keep ourselves unspotted from the world."
We learn from this, first, that the Christian never expects to get any good from the world. He is to keep himself from theworld, specially from the spots of the world. Dr. Watts wisely asks-
"Is this vile world a friend to Grace, To help me on to God?"
No, it never is. It never was. It will never be. There is enmity, today, between the Seed of the woman and the seed of theserpent-and so there will be to the end of the chapter. You will never get anything out of the serpent, even though you standand listen to his philosophical questions and his new explanations of God's Word. You will get nothing more out of him nowthan mother Eve did when she got from him a curse to all her posterity. You can get no good out of the world, nor out of thePrince of this world.
It is implied in our text, also, that we cannot go and wallow in the world's filth. If there is any man here who is a professorof religion and who can go, tonight, and indulge himself in vice, or who can find himself at home with the world, well, hebelongs to the world. Where you find your pleasure, there your heart is! Do not pretend to belong to the Church and to theworld as well. I like the honesty of the man who finds that his life is not consistent with the life of Christ and, therefore,gives up his profession-that is plain sailing. But do not pretend that you can wallow in the mire of open sin or secret sinand yet belong to Christ, for that cannot be! Keep yourselves unspotted from the world's puddles.
In particular, we must keep ourselves unspotted from the lepers of the world. There is a certain number of leprous men inthe world. You can tell them by their conversation and, sometimes you cannot help going very near where they are. But if youhear them cry, "Unclean!" just give them a very wide berth. I wish that Christians were more careful about this leprosy inthe matter of books. As soon as ever you see that there is leprosy there, do not go and play with it, and examine it, andlook at it. You will catch it if you are not careful! Keep clear of it! Keep yourselves unspotted from the lepers of the world."Well, that is easy enough," you say. Perhaps it is not as easy as you think.
But, further, we are to keep ourselves from all spots of the world when we have to mingle with it. Notice, there are spotswhich come from your circumstances. Are you wealthy? Well, use your wealth for God, but mind that it does not spot you. Thereis a great deal of rust about riches. Mind that it does not eat into your soul as does a canker. Are you poor? Does your povertycompel you to live in a very low neighborhood with people of groveling tastes? Well, the poverty will not necessarily hurtyou any more than the wealth will, but keep yourselves unspotted from it. You will need a deal of Divine Grace to live insome parts of London and not be spotted, even, by the people who have apartments in the house where you live.
And not only will your circumstances be likely to spot you, but the favors and honors of the world will spot you. So you havereceived a degree, or you have had a rise in business and the people all speak well of you, do they? And there is that thoroughlyworldly lady who has a secret admiration for you. Well, well, well, be careful! Joseph had the favor of Potiphar and of Pharaohin Egypt, but he kept himself unspotted. Mind that the world's favor does not spot you. "Ah," says one, "I don't get muchof that! I get all frowns." Very well-persecution, slander and frowning need not spot you, but they may, you know. There aremany who cannot bear the cold atmosphere and biting frosts of persecution. Mind that you are not spotted in that way.
Then we may be spotted, dear Friends, in trade. I suppose that a man has good need to be wide awake in order to stay honest.A man can soon do a wrong thing in business by simple negligence and, unless he keeps both his eyes open, his very servantsmay be doing, in his name, that which will be injurious to the honor of their master. Dear Friends, trade away all you can-goand prosper in it-but mind that you do not get spotted! Then there are politics. You know what party politics are. We areall trying to got in another set of maggots to eat the cheese! That is about all it amounts to-first turn out one lot andthen turn in another. It comes to little more than that! Even in the pursuit of really good matters of policy, do you knowany Christian who goes into politics who is the better for it? If I find such a man, I will have him stuffed if I can, forI have never seen such a specimen yet! I will not say, do not attend to politics, but I do say, do not let them spot you.
Then there are the societies of life. A man goes in with his neighbors and he sits at their feast. The Savior sat at a feastwith a Pharisee, but mind that it does not spot you-it did not spot Him, but it may spot you, so beware! And as to your ordinaryconversation with men of the world, are you not conscious, when you go home at night, that you need washing? After shakinghands with a good many men of the world and talking with them, do you not feel that you are apt to get spotted? And the literature,the common literature of the world. I do not mean that which we should censure, and condemn, and burn-but the common literaturethat is all around you-mind that it does not spot you, Brothers and Sisters.
If we would be spotless, we must beware of the vanities and pleasures of the world, the thoughts and the tendencies of theworld. It is supposed to be something wonderful to see "the tendency of the age," "the current of the age," "the set of thought."It is all pollution and nothing else! Instead of wishing to be abreast of it, I only desire to be abreast of it in stemmingit and, by opposing it, to drive it back. That is the only position for a Christian! If you go with the current of the age,you are swimming the wrong way, for all that is of the world comes of evil even to this day. There is no change in the Scriptureand there is no change in the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. The current of human opinionalways was, is and will be, till Christ shall come, an evil current that will bear you the wrong way if you yield to it.
I might thus enlarge, but I will not, and will only say that we must keep ourselves unspotted from the sins of the world.What are they? Well, one of them is atheism. Keep yourselves unspotted from that horrible crime, hatred of Deity! Doubt ofevery kind is in the air-this is the day of doubt. Keep yourselves unspotted from the world's unbelief. This is the age ofcompromises-to many people, the Truth of God is not a matter of great importance, nowadays, and principle is of no account.They snip and cut and mar the Scriptures as Jehudi cut the Prophet's roll-they have no care as to what God has said. Avoidcompromises and be unspotted of the world! This is the age of trifling! There is more money spent on recreation, today, thanever was since the world began, unless it was that day in which God swept all away by the Flood! Keep yourselves unspottedby the world! It is the age of hollowness and gigantic shams and bubbles. Be real! Be true! Keep yourselves unspotted fromthe world. This subject is endless. God give us Grace to carry it out!
III. I must finish by noticing, in the third place, that the words in our text INSIST UPON CAREFUL SELF-WATCHING.
Do you understand that it is your very person, your soul, your heart, your very self that is to be kept unspotted? What aman is, the man, before long, does. But keep yourselves clean, unspotted, my Brothers and Sisters. Do you say, "O Lord, howcan I do this"? It is plain from the text that I am not to sit down, and say, "The Lord will do it, the Lord will do it andthe Lord must do it, for I cannot." The language of the text is such that it calls the Christian, himself, to watchfulnessand care. What must he do, then?
Brethren, first, let us go and wash. We were washed once, many years ago. Jesus washed us and made us clean. But now, today,we have been going through the world and our feet have become muddied. Let us come to Him, again, tonight, before we go torest. Dear Master, wash our feet, again, from any spots of the world which we have acquired by going along these dusty pathways!The fairest lily in the gardens near London gets spotted by the soot of this great city-you cannot help seeing its defilement!But the shower comes and the dew falls, and the lily washes its fair face, and its loveliness is restored. Let us go to ourLord, again, to be washed in His precious blood. It is never supposed in the Scriptures that we shall be without sin to confess,but it is written, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another, and the blood ofJesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." We still need cleansing, even
when we are walking in the Light of God! Let us get away to Christ, then, and say, "Lord, I would be, myself, unspotted. Icome to You for washing."
That done, avoid careless walking if you wish not to be spotted. In going home, after a shower, if you have to cross a road,it is very difficult to keep from being spotted. And if you run carelessly, you will plunge into a puddle and there will besplashes of mud all over you, before you know it! Now, do not run into the puddle-walk circumspectly. There is a clean wayand it is called the way of holiness-the unclean shall not pass over it. The Lord help us to watch every action and, morethan that, every thought and every word! I would like to be able to take my words out of my mouth and look at them beforeI speak them-and to have all the actions of my life done as under the watchful eye of God, to see whether they will look rightin the Day of Judgment. If you cannot sleep over a thing, do not do it. As the good man said to his boy, "My boy, pay as yougo." "Suppose I cannot pay, Father." "Then, don't go." So would I say to you, examine your life as you go. If you dare notexamine an action, or look at it, then do not do it! When you do not know whether it is right, then it is always best to feelsure that it is wrong. Even though it might be right to another, it will be wrong to you if you have not faith that it isright, for, "whatever is not of faith is sin." If any question arises about moral conduct, that question makes it evil toyou.
Next, I would say that, as you would avoid careless walking, also avoid careless walkers. Very frequently, when I am ridingalone, and I am not getting into any mud, an omnibus comes by and splashes me all over. It is no fault of mine, but then itis somebody near me that does it. As you walk along the street, you are very careful, but if your neighbor puts his foot ina puddle, the splash may come over you. So mind what company you keep! And when you find people getting rather "fast," orrather "loose," leave them-get away from them! You do not need to be muddied, so keep yourself unspotted from the world.
Above all, cry to God to preserve you from evil. If you go out every day, covered and protected by Divine Grace, then, andthen only, can you be kept unspotted from the world. I would like to see a Christian not kept in a glass case away from trialand temptation, but yet covered with an invisible shield, so that, wherever he went, he would be guarded and protected fromthe evil influences that are in the world in almost every place.
Thus I have spoken to God's people, but I have said very little to sinners. Although I have not addressed them especially,tonight, if you, the people of God, will go and live godly lives, you will preach to sinners better than I shall. I have tosay to you who fear God, keep yourselves unspotted from the world, but what am I to say to those who are not only in the world,but also of the world? Do you not know that "the earth, also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up"? What willbecome of you, then? And you who belong to the world and have your portion in this life-and your joy in this world-in thatgreat day when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, where will you be? Then you may call to the rocks to hide you, butyou will call in vain! If your portion is in this life, what will you do in the life to come?
Some of you are living within the boundaries of this mortal existence and that is your all. Poor Soul! Poor Soul! Poor soul!Poor Soul! The Lord in His mercy bring you to know the life eternal! And when you once get that, your great desire will beto be delivered from the power of sin and to keep yourself unspotted from the world! The Lord bless you, for Christ's sake!Amen!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. JAMES1.
Verse 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting."Where are the lost ten tribes?" asks somebody. They never were lost. That is a mere piece of nonsense! There were, and therestill are, 12 tribes of Israel, as much one as the other. Ask any Jew if it is not so. James writes to all his compatriotsby nature and to all the fellow citizens of the saints by Grace, and greets them. What a strange greeting it is!
2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. Or "trials." Do not be sorry about it, be thankfulfor it. The gold should be glad to be put into the crucible-the Christian should rejoice to be tested and tried. Not onlycount it joy, but count it, "all joy when you fall into divers temptations."
3, 4. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may beperfect and entire, needing nothing. You need to grow-you will not grow without trials. You need to learn-you will
not learn without affliction. It is God's school for you. Be thankful, therefore, when these afflictions come. They are therumbling wagons of your Father, in which He sends you choice treasure. They are black ships that come from afar, loaded withprecious things. But mind that you get this patience and, that when you have it, you have still more of it- "Let patiencehave her perfect work."
5. If any of you lack wisdom. Ah, James, you need not say, "If any of you lack wisdom," for we all lack it! We are all poor,foolish creatures-"If any of you lack wisdom."
5. Let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. The Lord might very wellupbraid us for our folly and say, "Poor child, I will give you wisdom; yet you are very foolish." But He does not say that.He "gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not." Let him who lacks wisdom ask of God, "and it shall be given him." Can theLord give wisdom? Surely we must study, learn, and gain experience before we can know and then, afterwards, knowledge, rightlyused, grows into wisdom. Can God give us wisdom ready made? Ah, yes, He can! He gives wisdom if we ask for it.
6. But let him ask in faith. A man who has no wisdom can have faith. Let him use his faith to get wisdom-"Let him ask in faith."
6, 7. Nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that manthink that he shall receive anything of the Lord. He may receive something of the Lord, but he may not think that he shall.It may come as a spontaneous gift of Sovereign Grace, but we have no right to expect an answer to prayer when we pray in awavering style.
8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. He sees double. He runs after two objects and, therefore, he staggersacross the street-he "is unstable in all his ways."
9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. Being lifted up by the Grace of God to sit among the princesof Israel!
10. But the rich, in that he is made low. Hard work, this! Still, the child of God should rejoice in it, for now that he isstripped of earthly things, he finds his all in God.
10-12. Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withersthe grass, and the flower thereof falls, and the beauty of the fashion of it perishes: so also shall the rich man fade awayin his ways. Blessed is the man that endures temptation. Or, "endures trial." Blessed is the man who is tried and tested,and who lives through it-who conquers, notwithstanding all the battle and struggle through which he passes. We would say,"Blessed is the man who is not tried," but it is not so. He who, bearing the heavy load, receives gracious strength to sustainhim under it, gets a greater blessing than the man who escapes the burden.
12,13, For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him. Let noman say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. That would be nonsense and falsehood! When a man is seduced to evil, whenevil casts its attractive spell over him, let him not blame God!
13, 14. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away ofhis own lust and enticed. God tries men. God does not, in the sense in which the word is here used, tempt men. Satan tempts-Godtries. But the same trial may be both a temptation and a trial-and it may be a trial from God's side, and a temptation fromSatan's side, just as Job suffered from Satan and it was a temptation. But he also suffered from God through Satan, and soit was a trial to him.
15. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. That is the pedigreeof sin-it is born of lust, and it brings forth dust. Any sin, whatever it is, if we cling to it and love it, will bring forthdeath-rest assured of that! The only hope we can have of eternal life is by being parted from sin. That must be taken awayfrom us; for there shall never enter into Heaven anything that defiles. We have, from day to day, to fight against sin tillit is utterly put away from us.
16, 17. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Fatherof Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God never turns from us, nor, in any way whatever, changes.He is the same God, ready always to bless us, ready to save us tonight as much as any other Thursday night! Ah, dear Friends,what variableness we have! The other day we were frostbitten and crying out with the cold. And now, tonight, perhaps, we feeldull, stupid and heavy because it is so hot! Yet, what a mercy it is that God has no vari-
ableness, neither shadow of a turning, and we may come to Him, tonight, and say, "Lord, visit us as You are known to do! Reviveus and refresh us. Put us into a lively, brisk, happy frame of mind tonight and send us on our way rejoicing."
18. Of His own will He begat us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind offirst fruits of His creatures. We are Hiscreatures, but we are better than His other creatures, for he has made us twice over! We are his twice-born creatures andwe are the first ripe fruit of His creation, dedicated to His praise, gathered to His Glory-"a kind of first fruits of Hiscreatures." Oh, that God would help us to honor Him and to live truly consecrated to Him!
19. Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. It is a great thing to have an open ear. Some are veryslow to hear, especially to hear the Word of God and the voice of God speaking that Word. Oh, to have our ears unstopped thatwe may hear every syllable of the Truth of God gladly, cheerfully, retentively! God grant us that swiftness of hearing tonight!
19. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. For, sometimes, when men are very quick to speak, they are also very quick in other respectsas well-and volubility may be accompanied by a tendency to heat or passion. "Slow to speak, slow to wrath."
20. For the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. Satan does not cast out Satan! Anger does not overcome evil.We may think we do well to be angry, but that will very seldom be the case.
21. Therefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word of Godwhich is able to save your souls. Perhaps you have seen a man grafting a tree. What a gash he makes in the tree before heputs in the graft! How he wounds it to make the sap flow into the new wood! If the Lord has made any of your hearts bleed,tonight, by the sharp cutting of His Spirit, we are not sorry, if it shall the better prepare you for receiving the graftsof His own Nature, and His own Word.
22. But be you doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. It is a pity when a man deceives him-self-hemust be an arch-deceiver!
23-25. For if any is a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: forhe beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But whoso looks into the perfectLaw of liberty, and continues therein. Perseverance to the end is needed-"Continues therein."
25. He being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. The blessedness of truereligion lies very much in the practical effect of it. Hearing is pleasant, but doing is the effectual proof of Grace.
26. If any man among you seems to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religionis vain. James settles that matter off very peremptorily. An unbridled tongue indicates a godless heart.
27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. This is not the secret part of religion. Of that we read elsewhere. But thisis the very dress that true religion puts on-charitably caring for the most destitute of our fellow creatures, and holy walking,that we are not as the men of the world are-"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherlessand widows in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world."