James was born, the sacred story gives no information, nor what was his employment previous to his call to the discipleship. Indeed we have no distinct account of him during our Saviour's life. But after the resurrection he was favoured with a particular interview with his Lord, as we find from what St. Paul says 1 Cor. xv. 7. though the evangelists have not mentioned it. After Christ's ascension, he was chosen bishop of Jerusalem, being preferred before the rest on account of his relationship to the great Head of the church. To him St. Paul addressed himself after his conversion, and by him was honoured with the right hand of fellowship. (Gal. i. 19. and ii. 9.) To him St. Peter sent the news of his miraculous deliverance from prison, saying, "Go, shew these things "unto James and to the brethren," (Act xii. 17.) that is, to the whole church and to St. James its bishop and pastor. Our Apostle, moreover, appears to have been the chief person in the synod, which was held at Jerusalem for the determination of the great controversy concerning the supposed duty of the Gentile converts to observe the Mosaic rites. For after that the case had been opened by St. Peter, and further debated by St. Paul and St. Barnabas, St. James stood up to pass the final decretory sentence,* that the Gentile converts were not to be troubled with the bondage of the Jewish yoke.

St. James presided over the mother-church at Jerusalem for a considerable time. "His martyrdom took place about the year 62, and his epistle was published a little before his death.

* Δια εγώ κρινω.

"Wherefore I thus judge or decide

As he always resided at Jerusalem, and was providentially preserved through various persecutions, he had an opportunity of overcoming even enmity itself, and of abating prejudice against Christianity in some measure.. The name of Just was generally given him on account of his singular innocence and integrity. And as he conformed to Jewish customs with more than occasional regularity, he was by no means so odious in the eyes of his countrymen as the Apostle of the Gentiles. But he could not fully have overcome the enmity, and at the same time have been faithful to Christ. Many Jews respected the man, and admired the fruits of the gospel in him. But the root and principle was still their abhorrence; and from the account of Eusebius, the testimony of Hegesippus an early Christian historian whom he quotes, and of Josephus, it is plain that it was thought a pitiable thing that so good a man should be a Christian. Paul's escape from Jewish malice by appealing to Cæsar had sharpened the spirits of the people; and they were determined to wreak their vengeance on James, who was merely a Jew and could plead no Roman exemptions, Festus dying president of Judea, before his successor Albinus arrived, Ananias the high priest, a Sadducee and a merciless persecutor, held the supreme power in the interim; and having called a council, before it he brought James with some others, accusing them of breaking the law of Moses. But it was not easy to procure his condemnation, for his holy life had long obtained the veneration of his countrymen.

"The great men were uneasy on account of the vast increase of Christian converts by his

means, and endeavoured to entangle him by persuading him to mount a pinnacle of the temple, and to speak to the people assembled at the time of the passover against Christianity. James, being placed aloft, delivered a bold confession of Jesus, as then sitting at the right hand of power, and as shortly coming in the clouds of heaven. Upon this Ananias and the rulers were highly incensed. To disgrace his character was their first intention. This had failed. To murder his person was the next; and the attempt was of much more easy execution. Crying out that Justus himself was seduced, they threw him down and stoned him. The Apostle had strength to fall on his knees, and to pray, " I beseech thee, Lord God and Father, for them; for they know not what they do." One of the priests, moved with the scene, cried out, "Cease! what do you mean? This just man is praying for you." A person present with a fuller's club beat out his brains, and completed his martyrdom."*

The collect appointed for the day in which we commemorate St. Philip and St. James, consists of-A preface-A petition-And the end proposed by the request which is made.

The Preface of our collect addresses God as Almighty, and ascribes everlasting life to the true knowledge of Him; herein alluding to the declaration of our Lord, (John xvii. 3.) "This "is life eternal to know thee the only true God, " and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

The subject to which the introduction of our collect leads our attention, is no speculative

*Milner's History of the Church of Christ, vol. i. page

66

point, of which a man may be ignorant without personal loss, or with which he may be acquainted without personal advantage. For what Moses said of the instruction which he gave to the Israelites, may be repeated respecting this Divine science; "It is not a vain thing for you: because it is your life." (Deut. xxxii. 47.) The importance of this Divine science, and the impossibility of attaining it without Divine instructions, manifest the necessity of a Divine revelation, which was afforded to man so soon as he was created, was renewed on the fall with those additions which that event required to be made, was prefixed to the decalogue, and repeated at divers times and in divers manners by a long train of inspired messengers, was explained by hieroglyphics, and at length completed in the person of Him who is "the image of the invisible God, the brightness of "His glory, and the express image of His person." The severity of Divine threatenings against all who corrupt this knowledge is accounted for by the declaration of our Lord, that it is "life eternal to know the only true God, " and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent."

Now that the bare knowledge of a first cause, (and how much more of His mode of subsistence and moral attributes!) could only be derived from a revelation, is evident from this consideration, that such a revelation has been made; for God doth nothing in vain. And notwithstanding the boasted powers of reason, in favour of which the advocates for natural religion are so vociferous, the revelation of God made to man has repeatedly been corrupted and mercifully renewed; and if we may believe the historian of America, Rotson, in some instances every trace of it has

་་

been wiped from the human memory; for he tells us of some hordes of Indians, discovered by the Spaniards, who had no conception of any intellectual being besides themselves. Oh! what thanks do we not owe to Him for that felicitating knowledge, which the introduction of our collect celebrates.

Surely, while we inquire what that Divine science is, to which "eternal life" is annexed and confined, reverence and godly fear, holy desire and ardent expectation, mingled with deep humility, should reign in all our hearts.

Is the reader seeking happiness? It is not to be found in the knowledge of worldly pleasure, riches, or honours; human arts and sciences all

say, It is not in us. All these things may be known without any increase of happiness, or be unknown without any deprivation or diminution thereof. The knowledge of God is the only beatific knowledge.

Jehovah is described as "the only true God" in the passage of Scripture to which our collect alludes; but not for the purpose of distinguishing the Father from the Son and Spirit, for the three coequal and coeternal persons are the one true and living God. The Son is called "the true "God and eternal life:" (1 John v. 20) and the Holy Ghost is described as a person in the Godhead in the seventh verse of the same chapter. But this mode of diction is employed in order to distinguish the Jehovah of the Bible from all idols, whether the factitious creatures of human hands, or the vain chimæras of human imagination. The object of unitarian homage, nay, the object of homage professed to be adored by all unconverted men, is as much an idol as the Diana of the Ephesians.