hat there is a connection between James and the Epistle to the
Hebrews, ch. xi. These connections have been exaggerated, but they are
hard to deny. Now, if St. James had borrowed from any of these
Epistles, it would be very difficult for us to account for the extreme
simplicity of his {232} doctrine. On the other hand, there is no
difficulty in the fact that they put his words in a more elaborate
setting. And as St. Paul's opponents declared that they were backed by
St. James, we may be sure that St. Paul would eagerly read anything
written by St. James. We may therefore place this Epistle earlier than
St. Paul's Epistles to Corinth and Rome, and perhaps earlier than any
of his extant Epistles.

It is sometimes objected to this that it is "grotesque" to suppose that
St. James would have originated the practice of writing religious
Epistles. It is said that the practice must have been begun by an
apostle of supreme originality, and one who travelled widely, therefore
by St. Paul. But we have no means of deciding the question. And as
St. Paul may have written Epistles before he wrote those now extant, we
may still hold that St. Paul began the practice, and that this Epistle
is nevertheless older than the works of St. Paul which we now possess.
We can, therefore, see no good reason for denying that this Epistle is
as early as A.D. 50.

[Sidenote: Character and Contents.]

The Epistle is intensely practical, and though it is in no sense
anti-doctrinal, it does not discuss doctrine. The evils against which
it contends all concern conduct. The good which it recommends is
persistent well-doing in accordance with the new moral law of
Christianity. The sole validity of the law of love (ii. 8), the gift
of a new birth by the word of truth, making us heirs of God (i. 18; ii.
5), the mention of the author's servitude to Christ (i. 1), and the
ascription of divine power to His name (v. 14), show conclusively that
the writing is not, as some say, of Jewish origin. The tone is
austere, and the Epistle contains no word of praise for the readers.

A strong argument in favour of the genuineness of the Epistle is
furnished by the numerous parallels which it presents to the Synoptic
Gospels. These parallels are not quotations from the Gospels, but they
show that the writer was saturated with the kind of teaching which the
Gospels record. The {233} connection with the Sermon on the Mount as
recorded by St. Matthew is parti