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(with Romans 3:28): — It should be remembered that these two apostles, although writing upon the same subject, regard it from different points of view. Paul, with his metaphysical mind, had been working out the doctrine of the sinner's justification. He had shown that Jew and Gentile are alike guilty before God, for all have sinned." Where then, he asks, is man's hope? It is in the unmerited mercy of God. Salvation is the. gift of grace, and not the reward of works. By this method of gratuitous justification human boasting is excluded, and Divine love is manifested. James looks at the same subject more on its practical side. He is not so much concerned with the ground of justification as with its evidence. He asks, What is the test of personal religion? Is it enough for a man to say "I believe"? Assuredly not. Words without deeds are of little worth. They are like professions of charity without charitable acts. Nothing is easier than for a man to say "I believe"; but unless the soul actually accepts Christ as its Saviour and Lord, such words are empty and delusive. If they express a reality, it is a reality which involves nothing less than a complete transformation of the life. The man puts himself under the authority of Christ; accepts His teaching as the rule of his life. He is conscious of new motives, new aims, new joys. New spiritual forces have sprung into being in his soul. He is justified by his works, in the sense that his works prove the reality and power of his faith. We thus see that there is no real disagreement between the apostles Paul and James. One makes prominent the side of truth which the other passes over. The truths they teach make a complete gospel; a gospel of deliverance from sin itself, as well as from its punishment. From Paul we learn to renounce all self-righteous grounds of confidence, and to look for salvation through faith in Christ. From James we learn that the faith required is a faith that will manifest itself in obedience to the law of Christ. and that if this obedience be lacking it proves the absence of real living faith. The Church must still cleave to this gospel of the necessary union of faith and works. Christian belief and Christian morality have no separate and independent life. They are closely and vitally connected. They stand to each other in the relation of cause and effect. They are the necessary parts of one whole. It is possible to attach too much importance to the holding of a sound creed. A correct theology is no infallible criterion of spiritual life. Christianity is much more than a set of logical propositions. A man may have a full system of divinity in his head, and no divine light and love in his heart. On the other hand there can be no true obedience without faith. There must be the grasp of the soul upon truth, or it will not operate upon the conduct. Conventional morality is often a hollow, selfish thing; an appearance only; a painted fire, in which there is neither light nor heat. The morality that springs from Christian faith must of necessity be sincere. It is the outward expression of an inward life of goodness. The faith in which it has its root need not be formulated into a creed; but it must be none the less real and powerful. So long as it is a vital force in the soul, it matters not whether it is expressed in logical definition and syllogistic form. It is a living conviction that is required, not a lifeless dogma. No morality is so lofty, so far-reaching, and so binding as that of the New Testament. Christianity offers itself as our guide in the round of everyday life, as much as in the work and worship of the Sabbath. It seeks to make every home a sanctuary, and every man and every day holy unto the Lord. It seeks to banish from the earth all such things as lying and stealing, self-seeking and niggardliness, unfair dealing, short weights, small measures, bad tempers, and cross words. It seeks to promote justice and liberty, uprightness, consideration for others, love between man and man. If the power of this truth were duly felt, would the members of our churches content themselves with the present low standard of Christian conduct? Is there not some room for the taunt that Christianity is a failure, when its professors are sometimes found to be no purer in character, no more noble nor unselfish in life than other men? Our age is said to be sceptical. Able writers are engaged in defending by argument the citadel of truth against the assaults of error. But the mightiest argument the Church can advance is the practical embodiment of the truth she believes. Let her show her faith by her works. Let her feed the hungry and clothe the naked, teach the ignorant, rescue the fallen, devote herself, like her Divine Lord, to the removal of human suffering and human sin, showing in all things a heavenly purity and self sacrificing love. This shall be more convincing than the reasoning of all the Paleys and the Butlers the world has seen. The power of practical piety shall accomplish that which argumentative theology has failed to achieve. The same power will be found mighty in the evangelisation of the world. The world is weary of cant and dogma. It wants reality. It looks for life. It asks contemptuously, "What do ye more than others?" Let Christian workmen be as diligent in their master's absence as in his presence. Let Christian employers be fair and just to their workmen. Let Christian tradesmen and Christian customers act according to the precepts of the New Testament. Let Christian principles prevail in the market, the shop, and the field. Men will learn the mighty power of Christ's doctrine when they see it thus exhibited in Christ-like life.

(T. Bagley.)

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KJV: What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

WEB: What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?