Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/580

554 JAMES Jas. ii. 19, 20 with Matt. iii. 9 ; and Jas. v. 1-6 with Matt. iii. 10-12) and of that of our Lord s earliest teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. especially Jas. i. 2, 4, 5, 9, 20 ; ii. 13, 14; iii. 17-18; iv. 4, 10, 11; v. 2, 10, 12, 15), and why it is so largely illustrated by the language of books like Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom, which were specially esteemed by the Jews of Alexandria and other Hellenistic centres of Judaism (see Jas. i. 1, 5, 8, 11, 12, 17, 19, 20, 23, 25 ; ii. 21 ; iii. 5, 6 ; iv. 14). We should judge from this that the bishop of Jerusalem, in the earlier days of the Christian church, availed himself of his central position to circulate among the scattered Judseo-Christian populations, of whom representatives would constantly be within his reach, such a letter as was suited to stimulate the new converts to more truly Christian life, and to check errors into which, from their attachment to the older faith, they were prone to fall. The epistle contains many exhor tations to accept a higher standard for the conduct of life, though a considerable section (i. 22-ii. 26) applies more specifically to the dangers that beset Jewish converts of trusting to a faith which produced no results in the form of Christian love. But it was not only for those who were scattered into distant parts of the world that the epistle was written. It bears marks of its relation to a time of special trial and hardship, and has much to say of how trials and sufferings are to be borne. " Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" is the opening language; and the writer returns to the same theme at the close of his letter : " Be ye also patient," " Stablish your hearts," " Behold, we count them happy which endure." Such words agree best with the dis persion of the first Christian brotherhood after the death of Stephen, and with that persecution by Herod Agrippa I. in which James the brother of John was put to death. It is an additional indication that the epistle was written about those times that in it there is no word of that contention which soon agitated the whole Christian church about the circumcision of the Gentiles, and about which James pronounced the sentence of the council of Jeru salem in 51 A.D. The persecution which ensued on the martyrdom of Stephen (33 A.D.) is too early a date after the ascension for us to think it probable that Christianity could have had enough representatives among the dispersion to make such an epistle as the present necessary. It seems better therefore to refer it to that larger persecution in which the one James suffered death, and after which the other James comes into special prominence in Christian church history. This would lead to the conclusion that the epistle, primarily addressed to the Jewish Christians throughout Palestine, but intended also for others who lived beyond the limits of the Holy Land, was written at Jerusalem, from which James the Just seems never to have departed, and that it should be dated some time after 44 A.D , the date of Herod s persecution, and antecedent pro bably by several years (for the agitation which led to the council must have existed for some time) to the council at Jerusalem (51 A.D.). The epistle contains nothing to indicate where it was written, but at the same time there is nothing in the imagery and illustrations employed by the writer which would be out of character with one writing in Palestine. It is therefore probable that, since tradition represents James as constantly resident in Jerusalem, the epistle was written there. He uses the Jewish name " synagogue " (ii. 2) for the place of assembly for worship, which would perhaps be longer preserved among the Christians in Jeru salem than elsewhere ; but on the other hand he speaks (v. 14) of the "elders of the church" (IKKX-TJO-LO) just as we find St Luke doing in the Acts of the Apostles. He mentions the " burning wind " (KCLVO-WV) spoken of in the Gospels (Matt. xx. 12; Luke xii. 55), and his language (iii. 4) about ships and the storms by which they are driven is such as would be natural in one who knew by experience of the tempests that sometimes sweep suddenly over the Sea of Galilee, with which this James must have been familiar as well as the son of Zebedee. The epistle appears to have been written with a view, in the first place, to comfort some who were undergoing severe trials. This is clear from the opening sentence, " Count it all joy when ye fall into divers trials." But the words also seem to show that there was a spirit pre vailing among those for whom the letter was first intended which did not tend to that perfect patience under sufferings that should characterize the faithful Christian. And so the writer passes on to notice a want of perfect trust m God, and a too great regard for temporal things, concern ing which they are exhorted to foster such a mind as shall make changes in worldly affairs, when they are for the worse, yet still no cause for sorrow. For the only perfect gifts are of God s own sending, and in His gifts as in Him self there is no change. The epistle next dwells on that which was the great danger with Jewish converts, the pro fession of a belief in God and Christ without a correspond ing Christian life ; they are further exhorted to avoid sins of the tongue and sins of presumption, while those to whom wealth had become the chief object in life are severely condemned. But before the close the writer turns once more to his first theme, the commendation of patience under sufferings, which he enforces by the examples of the prophets and of Job. Then with certain cautions about the use of oaths, some precepts for conduct under sorrow, joy, sickness, or the consciousness of sin, the epistle is brought to a close, and has not the apostolic benediction, a feature which also marks the letter as one of the earliest of the Christian writings. The time of trial alluded to suits well with the date which has been suggested, when Herod s persecutions made it necessary for the Christians in Jerusalem to meet in secluded rooms, and to exercise the utmost precaution about all whom they admitted to their meetings. We know too, from the statements of Josephus, that it was from the wealthy Sadducees that the Christians in Jerusalem experienced most persecution, and that they especially were adverse to Christianity because of the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus. The followers of Jesus were, as we know, at this time just beginning to be called Christians, and this name soon became (if it was not at first given as) a name of reproach. These circum stances seem to be specially noticed in this epistle (ii. 6, 7). To the necessities of those days then the letter appears to be first directed, though it contains precepts eminently profitable for those who, having held firm to the belief in the unity of God (ii. 19), were disposed, even after the acceptance of the teaching of the gospel, to think that an intellectual assent to what was set forth was enough, with out any effort to build up on the groundwork of faith the superstructure of Christ-like virtues. In the time of Eusebius (325 A.D.) the epistle of St James was reckoned among the books not fully accepted by the church. He says (//, E., iii. 25) "among the con troverted books, which are yet well known and recognized by most is the epistle circulated under the name of James." But among the apostolic fathers we have quotations from it in the writings of Clement of Piome (1 Ep, ad Cor. y cc. 10, 12) and perhaps of Hermas (Pastor, mand. xii. 5). Further, in the Syriac version of Melito s apology there are some passages which bear a striking resemblance to the words of St James, and may have been quotations (see Cureton s Spicil. Syr., pp. 42, 48) ; and the Peshito Syriac version contains the epistle. Origen in his com mentary on John (Works, xix. 6) speaks of the epistle as