Homilist James 1:21-22 Why lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word… I. ITS CHARACTER 1. The distinctness of its existence. It is a "graft" taken from the tree of eternal thought. Christ brought it to the earth, and grafted it upon human souls. 2. The affinity of its nature. 3. The appropriateness of its force. The gospel, when it enters the human soul, lays under contribution all its reasoning, creative, and susceptible powers. II. ITS CAPABILITY. AS the buds of a fruitful tree engrafted on some barren plant make the worthless valuable, the unfertile fruitful, so the gospel saves all the soul's faculties, turns them all to a right use. III. ITS RECEPTION. 1. Not with — (1) Thoughtlessness. (2) Servility. 2. With the meekness of — (1) Docility. (2) Devotion. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. |
    |