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that the sufferings of the Jews, and the destruction of their city and temple, were owing to the anger of God, excited by the murder of James. This record, if genuine, as proceeding from a person who was not himself a Christian, is a remarkable testimony to the character of the Apostle *. His memory was cherished with affection by the Christians, so that a monument or pillar was erected to his honour, possibly however not till after the siege of Jerusalem, which Hegesippus, as quoted by Eusebius, describes to have been remaining in his time near the place where the Apostle was killed and Eusebius himself says, that the throne or episcopal chair, in which James was used to sit, was preserved to his days, and was had in veneration by the church at Jerusalem'.

St. James however has left a more permąnent memorial behind him in the Epistle which bears his name; and which was written pro bably not long before his martyrdom, as appears from some passages in it relating to the approaching ruin of the Jewish nation. It is addressed" to the twelve tribes, which are scattered abroad ":" evidently therefore to the Jews dispersed over the countries of the east; but whether to believing or unbelieving Jews is

* Bp. Tomline.

1 Dr. Lardner.

Jam. i. 1.

questioned, though the probability should seem to lie in favour of the former, according to the constant practice of the Apostles, whose Epistles are addressed to none but Christian converts. At all events it was principally designed for the benefit and comfort of the believing Jews, whom it animates to support with for titude and patience any sufferings to which they might be exposed; whilst it inforces the genuine doctrines and practice of the Gospel in opposition to the errors and vices which then prevailed. The principal source of those errors and vices was a misinterpretation of St. Paul's doctrine of justification by faith without the works of the law; whence an inference had been drawn, that moral duties were not essential to salvation; and an abandonment to every species of licentiousness and profligacy had insued. To this misinterpretation St. James орposes himself: he presses upon Christians their obligation to purity, patience, charity, and all the virtues of a Christian life; and he proves by undeniable arguments, that no faith can justify us before God, and intitle us to eternal happiness, but such as carries with it obedience to God's commandments and the works of a pious and charitable conversation.

The Epistle is written with perspicuity and energy, as well as with much poetical beauty

and elegance in some particular parts; and it contains a valuable summary of those practical duties and moral virtues, which are required of Christians.

Besides this Epistle a kind of preparatory Gospel has been assigned to him, still extant under the name of Protevangelion; it is however a spurious and apocryphal work, and contains many things trifling and ridiculous, others contrary to certain and known truths, and others again contradictory to each other. It was not received by the primitive Church, nor has it any pretensions to be considered as the work of the Apostle".

REFLEXIONS.

IN reflecting upon the life of this Saint we may observe, that the circumstance of James, "the Lord's brother" or near kinsman, being one of his Apostles, gives a propriety and fitness to the appointment, inasmuch as it afforded opportunity for evidence to be borne to our Lord's character from a quarter, where accurate information was most likely to be procured. If there had been any thing in that character of a blameable or questionable kind, it must doubtless have been best known to those, who were

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most intimately connected with him, and must have formed an insuperable obstacle to their uniting themselves with him, and becoming his instruments in the enterprise of converting the world to the profession of a new religion. But one of his Apostles was James, the son of Alphæus, "the Lord's brother:" another of them was "Judas, the brother of James," and therefore standing in the same relation to the Lord, as he.

And it cannot with any shew of reason be supposed, that they would have followed him as disciples, or accepted his commission as Apostles, unless they had been per suaded of his piety and integrity, of the sincerity of his purpose, and the purity and guilelessness of his heart.

But whilst there is an evident fitness.in these brethren of our Lord being chosen among his Apostles, there appears a fitness also in not many of them being thus chosen. Such a choice, if multiplied to a great extent, might have given to the preaching of the Gospel a semblance of compact and collusion, or have laid the character of its author open to a charge of undue partiality and predilection. On the contrary therefore, of the twelve Apostles it is remarkable that a considerable majority were not connected with our Lord by any tie of natural kindred; that probably two only were

so connected: and that even those two, though called to the Apostleship, were not treated by him with any peculiar distinction above the other Apostles, and certainly were not admitted to such a degree of his intimacy and confidence as he bestowed on some other members of the Apostolical body.

The excellent character of St. James has been noticed; and the high esteem in which he was held, not by the Christian community only, but by unbelievers. The name of " the Just,” which was commonly ascribed to him by many even during his life, is a proof of the opinion entertained of his virtue and integrity: he appears to have been equally remarkable for a well-tempered zeal, and for admirable moderation and discretion: enthusiasm and fanaticism were no more ingredients in the composition of his mind, than falsehood and dishonesty: so that his profession of the Christian faith during life, and his martyrdom to the Messiahship of Jesus, can only be accounted for on the ground of his deliberate and sincere persuasion of the truth of those pretensions, of which as "the Lord's brother," and subsequently as the Apostle of the Lord, he had the most ample means of forming a correct judgment.

In his conduct, as Bishop of Jerusalem, he

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