HEBREWS XII, XIII

Follow after peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord: looking carefully lest there be any man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled; lest there be any among you like Esau, who for one mess of pottage sold his birthright.

Let love of the brethren continue. Yea, unto strangers forget not to shew love: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are ill-treated, as being yourselves in the body.

Let your turn of mind be free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said:

I will in no wise fail thee,

Neither will I in any wise forsake thee.

Remember them that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith. Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited. But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such things God is well pleased.

Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight.

THE EPISTLE

OF JAMES

JAMES I, V

I Corinthians x. Jude

Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

Behold,

the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, and establish your hearts.

Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count them happy which endured. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him.

But let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he himself any man: but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Howbeit there hath no temptation taken

you but such as man can bear: for God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and for evermore.

JAMES I

If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord; a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways!

Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will brought he us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness,

receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. For pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

JAMES II

II Peter i

What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, yet have not works? can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.

Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will shew thee my faith. Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was *not

Abraham our father justified by works, in that his faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And for this reason he was called the friend of God. Ye see then that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control; and in your self-control, stedfastness; and in your stedfastness, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

JAMES II, IV

I Corinthians iv, vii. Galatians vi. Ephesians v, vi My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing; and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou here, or sit under my footstool; do ye not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Howbeit if ye fulfil the royal law, according