Testament to possess in all circumstances, even amid the sufferings and distresses of life. Yes, they demand this of us. But joy is the feeling of completeness. Joy could not be commended as the steady companion of Christian life, unless the Christian religion brought men to have the value of complete spiritual beings, brought them to be each one in his spiritual existence a complete, a perfect whole, each one worth more than the whole world.

And now we can see how this truth is reconciled with that confession which comes so readily to our lips, so much more readily than does the doctrine we have traced. We do not hesitate to confess that in our work we always leave something undone; we never reach the limit of our work -the point where it would be complete in the sense that we might then fold our hands in our bosom. No, in this sense we are certainly never done, not even when we have a justifiable feeling of possessing a completeness in our soul, of having gained a character, of being able to contribute a calling and the work thereof to the service of mankind. But a thing that is complete remains complete after its kind, whether it be something large or something small. There is within us, necessarily, an impulse to go on obtaining a wider and ever wider sphere for our influence. Whoever prematurely gives up the effort to obtain this will find that he cannot remain sure of the healthiness, the value of his own peculiar influence. This impulse to an increase of sphere is necessary in us, as well as is the possibility of rendering complete service in any one sphere. With the yearning and labor for the attainment of that worth as a complete soul must be also united the impulse to make wider and greater that life-service which is our perfect work. In this respect, anxiety over the incompleteness of our fulfilment of duty is justified. But in such circumstances the anxiety affords exactly the necessary moral impulse, and does not tend to frighten us and lame our zeal. Even so shall our confidence in God, our submission to his arrangements, our patience never be complete in the sense that we

do not need ever to quicken them, to strengthen them, to root them more deeply. And yet here, again, we are only considering difference in quantity, as it were, between weaker and stronger confidence at a particular moment, between the more or less patience with which we can meet a particular evil which is attacking us. The true quality is present; there may be more or less quantity at different times. Although these religious virtues are exercised only in a limited measure, yet they are in their kind the tokens of reconciliation with God and the expression of an endeavor to claim for one's self value as a complete spirit by rising above the merely natural and subordinate powers of the world. And then, moreover, confidence in God's help, humble submission to his government, patience towards all the hinderances of life, will include, will bring in themselves, the possibility of the increase and strengthening of these virtues and the impulse thereto. Even the weaker measure of trust in God, even the momentary wavering in the resolution to submit and be patient, does not lack the stamp of Christian perfection, if in kind it can be regarded as consistent with religious reconciliation; that is, if the soul where it exist do still live trusting for reconciliation with God according to the message of Christ, and if it be aiming to raise itself above the ends and control of the world. Constant readiness to go forward and grow richer in these signs of Christian perfection is, indeed, necessary in order that one may not go backward and grow poorer. But only a religious faith which is in itself perfect will break out in life's great need into the prayer: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

ARTICLE IV.

DOCTRINE OF THE EPISTLE OF JAMES.

BY REV. EZRA P. GOULD, PROFESSOR IN NEWTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

THIS Epistle is practical and ethical, with only one strictly doctrinal passage, but that one of great interest and importance. But, as might be expected in a discussion of Christian ethics, the references to Christian doctrine are scattered through the Epistle, though not so thickly as would be expected from a more speculative and discursive mind. We need not be reminded at this late day that these references to assumed doctrinal belief are as important and significant as the intentional development of doctrine. And on the same principle such references and implications in a writing so exclusively ethical are specially interesting.

Neither has the Epistle any general subject. It enforces certain duties and practical aspects of the Christian life, and without any attempt to give unity to the discussion. But its teachings, disconnected as they are, all belong to the one subject of the practical Christian life. We will take this, then, as our basis, and the first question suggested is the view of the author in regard to the

ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

By this is meant the source of the Christian's moral state. If the other question of the saved state, the justification of the believer, is treated, it will be incidentally. In fact the question before us, though it forms our starting-point, is only incidentally answered in the Epistle. On this moral side, then, the Christian life has its source in regeneration (i. 18). In this passage the author of regeneration is said to be God. That which determines him to the act is his own will, by which we are probably to understand, from the nature

of the act itself, his independent will. The instrument which he employs is the word of truth. But in what way this instrument is employed is not stated here, any more than in the other New Testament passages teaching the same thing. The fact that the Christian life is regenerate is also plainly implied in those passages which speak of the law as a law of liberty (i. 25; ii. 12). For the ev@epía describes the Christian state as one in which the believer obeys the law of God out of his own free will, not with the constraint which implies bondage. And James recognizes, also, the Christian philosophy underlying the necessity of regeneration, that like produces like, which of course makes a change from the old sinful state essential, and at the same time precludes its self-origination (iii. 12).

In regard to the previous moral state of the believer the Epistle teaches nothing directly, but the sinful character of that state is certainly implied in the doctrine of regeneration. The second part of our general subject is the

NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN MORAL STATE.

Under this head the author teaches first that it is a mixed and not a simple state, sin and holiness being mingled in it. This is a fact really underlying the entire Epistle, the object of which is to warn the readers against certain sins to which they are subject, and which are inconsistent with the general, and especially with the normal, character of their lives. Its sinful side is taught directly in the statement, i. 14 and 15, about the origin of temptation in the Christian's own sinful desires; in the command to lay aside every uncleanness and abundance of wickedness, i. 21; in such specific charges of sin as ii. 6; iv. 1 sq., 16; and the statement, iii. 2, of the sinfulness in many respects of all believers; in the description of the tongue as an untamed evil, iii. 7 sq.; and in the command to confess sins to one another, v. 16.

But second, in spite of this admixture of sin, the predomi nant character of the Christian life is holy. The conflict between these opposing elements is not on equal terms.

This is the tone of the Epistle throughout. The exhortations and warnings are evidently addressed to men whose desires and tendencies, though often thwarted, are yet toward right

eousness.

If we seek more particular proof of this, we shall find it, first, in the statement that this life originates in regeneration by God through the word of truth, which of course gives its own stamp to the life originated (i. 18). And the description of the law as a law of liberty, meaning that its commands are performed by the Christian freely, and not compulsorily, implies the same (i. 25; ii. 12). Moreover the author teaches distinctly that faith which is the distinguishing trait of the Christian, has its proper fruit in works of righteousness, and is proved living and genuine by them (ii. 14 sq.). And in v. 16, after exhorting his readers to pray for each other, he enforces it by the general statement of the effectiveness of the prayer of a righteous man.

Third, this Christian life is progressive, having for its goal the perfect fulfilling of the law. This is also confirmed by the general tone of the Epistle, which has for its object to secure in the readers this more complete conformity to God's will. The author begins by exhorting them to rejoice in temptations, or trials, because they contribute to this result, the right use of them tending to perfection and completeness. And a striking statement of the earnestness with which this result is desired by God is found in iv. 5, where he is said to desire the spirit which he caused to dwell in us to the extent that he is jealous of conflicting claims, and the writer therefore exhorts Christians to repentance and humility, but above all to the expulsion of opposing forces. That is to say, God has gained partial possession of the believer's soul, but with this he is not satisfied, and longs for complete possession.

In this unfolding of the twofold aspect of the Christian life we find, third, the author's