again our daily work with vigour, and to proceed with comfort in the path of life. And what words can be better adapted to revive and uphold our minds than these of the apostle?" Count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations." At first indeed it sounds strange, and to the natural man, who is destitute of the spirit and power of God, it must remain unintelligible. When we speak of temptations or trials, we always mean something difficult or evil, which obstructs our path, and involves us in a conflict of which the issue is uncertain, and may be fatal to our peace and even our life; and yet he says, we must count such temptations as affording occasion for joy,—yes, for "all joy," that is, pure, unmixed joy, so that they should excite no other sentiment in the mind. Indeed we may go still further; for the words plainly intimate that the amount of our joy should increase with the amount of our temptations; the more temptations, the more joy! If we only reflect for a moment on our natural aversion from pain and conflict, and that to free ourselves from these evils is the chief object of our anxiety, in order that life may flow on as quietly and smoothly as possible, and the pleasure of our earthly existence be undisturbed, we must feel deeply interested to learn for what reason this much experienced apostle advised his brethren to " count it all joy when they fell into divers temptations." And this we are told in the following verse. "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may

be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." In these words, he points out a connexion subsisting between their temptations and their faith. If we inquire, to what kind of temptations the persons addressed in this epistle were subjected, we shall find that they arose principally from such of their Jewish brethren around them, as still persisted in their unbelief. By them, as we are informed in the Acts of the Apostles, they were continually oppressed and persecuted; they could not forgive them for abandoning the religion of their forefathers; they hated, calumniated, and persecuted them, on account of their altered faith, which thus became a source of innumerable sufferings and calamities. Now St. James declared that if the faith of his christian brethren was genuine, if it was such as would stand trial, it would produce patience, and patience is essential to perfection. But what does he mean by this tried faith? Evidently that faith in a crucified Saviour which he had in common with themselves, and on that account called them his brethren. This faith ought to be, in those who professed it, a firm assurance of the invisible objects of their hope. But when we recollect how very weak this assurance was in the apostles themselves, while the Lord was with them on earth, and to what a great degree their doubts arose when they had not the evidence of sight, and were required to rely on faith alone, must we not allow, my friends, that faith, though in its nature the opposite of doubt and uncertainty, yet, when first implanted in the soul, has only

a small measure of strength and firmness, and must gradually increase and ripen to perfection? But this growth and maturity takes place under trials and temptations; and a faith which proves its genuineness and strength amidst conflict and persecution, enmity and reproach, is what St. James here calls a tried faith. His meaning in substance is this-That faith in Jesus Christ, when it proves itself genuine under temptations and trials, produces patience, and that patience, or a calm and courageous endurance which continues firm to the end, will make our christian character perfect and complete, cause every defect to be supplied, and every blemish to fade away and disappear. And since temptations are the necessary conditions under which alone faith can acquire strength and bring forth the precious fruits of patience, he exhorts his brethren to count it all joy when they are enduring temptations, and thus evince how different their feelings are from those of worldly men. In these views he perfectly coincides with the apostle Paul, who, in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, says, "We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience."

The justness of the sentiments advanced by St. James will appear still clearer, if we compare the language of our text with the facts recorded of the Redeemer, and with our own experience. Is not Christ called "the Author and Finisher of our faith," among other reasons, for this, that his faith being proved by temptations, produced patience?

save."

66

explain myself. What was his faith? The lively assurance that he came forth from the Father, that he was sent into the world in order to reconcile us to God, and to effect an everlasting redemption. And what were the temptations to which he was exposed ? "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down," Matt. iv. 3. 6. "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," Matt. xxvi. 39. "He saved others; himself he cannot My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" Matt. xxvii. 42. 46. And what was the patience which his tried faith produced? That he maintained unshaken the testimony which he bore of himself, of the world, and of the Father; that he was obedient to that inward voice which said, "Thou art the Son of God, the Saviour of the world," even unto death, the death of the cross. Yes, my friends, "it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings," Heb. ii. 10; and Christ, "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered," Heb. v. 8. On this account, the Redeemer "counted as all joy" the temptations to which his life was exposed; and when Peter, on his Lord's speaking of his approaching sufferings, exclaimed, "Be it far from thee, Lord," he received this fit reply" Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things

that be of God, but those that be of men," Matt. xvi. 22, 23. But it is a law of the Divine administration, it is one of “the things that be of God," to enter into glory through suffering. And does not our own experience agree with this, my brethren? I mean those of us who have really an experimental knowledge of christianity. True, we dare not place ourselves on a level with the Lord himself, nor our insignificant day's work with the great labour of his life. Our situation also is very different from the lot of those christians to whom the words under consideration were addressed; the especial temptations we have had to suffer from the enemies of our faith, though in some points similar, are inconsiderable compared with the injuries and persecutions to which they were exposed. But let us take the words of the text in a wider sense. Temptations of various kinds, as I have already said, we all know; for every trouble and calamity with which God visits us, is a temptation to renounce our faith, and to "cast away our confidence." Every form of suffering that invades our peace is a persecution which puts our personal christianity to the test; and are we to call those happy who remain secure from such temptations, and whose lives are undisturbed by calamity? Or shall we not rather, to use this apostle's language in another part of his epistle, " count them happy which endure ?" James v. 11. Who among us could feel assured of the reality of his faith, if it did not acquire strength under tribulation? Who could possess evidence that he was going onwards to