NGUE.

"Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.
Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue
is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the
course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."--St. James iii.
5-6.

In the development of Christian Truth a peculiar office was assigned
to the Apostle James.

It was given to St. Paul to proclaim Christianity as the spiritual law
of liberty, and to exhibit Faith as the most active principle within
the breast of man. It was St. John's to say that the deepest quality
in the bosom of Deity is Love; and to assert that the life of God in
Man is Love. It was the office of St. James to assert the necessity of
Moral Rectitude; his very name marked him out peculiarly for this
office: he was emphatically called, "the Just:" integrity was his
peculiar characteristic. A man singularly honest, earnest, real.
Accordingly, if you read through his whole epistle, you will find it
is, from first to last, one continued vindication of the first
principles of morality against the _semblances_ of religion.

He protested against the censoriousness which was found connected with
peculiar claims of religious feelings. "If any man among you seem to
be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own
heart, this man's religion is vain." He protested against that spirit
which had crept into the Christian Brotherhood, truckling to the rich,
and despising the poor. "If ye have respect of persons ye commit sin,
and are convinced of the law as transgressors." He protested against
that sentimental fatalism which induced men to throw the blame of
their own passions upon God. "Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God; for God cannot tempt to evil; neither tempteth He any
man." He protested against that unreal religion of excitement which
diluted the earnestness of real religion in the enjoyment of
listening. "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only; deceiving
your own souls." He protested against that trust in the correctness of
theological doctrine which neglected the cultivation of character.
"What doth it profit, if a man _say_ that he hath faith, and have not
works? Can faith save him?"

Read St. James's epistle through, this is the mind breathing through
it all:--all this _talk_ about relig