er, eat thy bread, for
the Son of man hath risen from the dead.'" There are other versions of
the story which make the vow to be taken after the death of Christ. In
spite of some absurdities in this Apocryphal Gospel, it is possible
that the legend is true, and that the sublime death of the Redeemer
began to effect the repentance of His brother. However this may be,
before Pentecost, A.D. 29, we find him joined to the Christian
community at Jerusalem, where he afterwards attained a foremost
position. In Gal. i. we find that St. Paul visited St. James and St.
Peter at Jerusalem. In Acts xii. 17 St. Peter, on escaping from prison
in A.D. 44, desires that news of his escape should be taken to St.
James. In Gal. ii. St. Paul speaks of "James and Cephas and John" as
pillars of the Church at Jerusalem. From Acts xv. we find that at this
time, A.D. 49, St. James acted as president of the Council which
determined how far the Gentile Christians need conform to the customs
of the Jews. It is remarkable that the speech of St. James in Acts xv.
and the circular despatched from the Council show several coincidences
of style with the Epistle. If these coincidences are due to forgery,
the forger has certainly used consummate self-restraint and skill.

Again, when St. Paul paid his last visit to Jerusalem, in A.D. 56, and
the Jews accused him of advocating the abandonment of the Law of Moses
and "the customs," it is St. James and his presbyters who advise him to
go up to the Temple and purify himself with four Nazirites, and so
reassure the "myriads" of Christian Jews who were zealous for the Law.
{229} Once more we cannot help observing how well this anxiety of St.
James agrees with the very cautious tone of the Epistle with regard to
distinctively Christian doctrine.

The end of St. James is recorded by Hegesippus and by Josephus.
Hegesippus represents him living as a strict Nazirite, always
frequenting the Temple, with knees as hard as a camel's because of his
perpetual prayers.[1] He tells us that St. James was thrown from a
pinnacle of the Temple, stoned, and clubbed to death at the order of
the scribes and Pharisees for asserting that Jesus was on the right
hand of God. From Josephus we learn that his martyrdom took place when
a vacancy in the procuratorship caused by the death of Festus (in A.D.
62) gave the Sadducees the opportunity which they desired. He was
dragged before the Sanhedrim, condemned and stoned. Jos