when he is drawn away by his own heart's lust, and enticed."

This will appear on examination. Companions, some may say, mislead. Why? Because a man prefers their good will to the favour of God. Unless hefollow them to do evil," they will separate from him, despise him, deride him. There is a trial in this, though far less than is commonly supposed. But if a man's heart were sound, the favour of friends would be nothing to him, compared with the love and regard of his heavenly Father. It is his own heart's lust, his desire of "the praise of man," which leads him to consent when sinners entice him."

66

Again the cares of a family take up the attention, and engage those hours which ought to be employed in the worship of God. This is often urged; and Satan suggests it as a sufficient reason for neglecting the interests of the soul. And so the Lord Jesus, in his wonderful parable of the sower, has instanced the "cares of this world, and the lusts of other things," as among the hindrances to faithfulness and fruitfulness. But he has also shown, that when it is so, the ground is not properly prepared. It has not been cleared of thorns and briers. The seed, which is so choked and wasted, has not fallen on good ground. Follow up the case, and you will find that what are termed the cares of a family, mean the love of ease, or the love of appearance, or the indulgence of some worldly gratification which is stronger than the love of God. When that mirror is held up, which at the great day will display to every one the secrets of their

own souls, it will be seen that not indispensable duty, but their own heart's lust," was the true reason why cares and troubles "about many things" were permitted to exclude the "one thing needful."

So in regard to the urgent demands of worldly business. Certainly this may so occupy the time and thoughts, that the soul shall be left to be overrun with weeds. But what, again, is this, except the lust of the heart? Men will be richer, will be higher than they are: a rival must not advance before them; and therefore they grudge the hours which ought to be given to sacred duties; they grudge the day which God has hallowed for himself: no opening must be missed, no opportunity passed by, which may promote the great object of their lives. And is it not seen here, which world is uppermost in their hearts? Is it not made plain that they are not " seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?"

This was the train of thought in St. James's mind when he wrote the sentence we are now considering. One of his converts might have been threatened with imprisonment, another with the spoiling of his goods, another with the desertion of his friends. The apostle had been showing how such temptations ought to be met, and in what way they might be improved to spiritual benefit. But suppose that, instead of thus rising against the trial, the disciple should say, I am tempted of God. The circumstances into which he has brought me, the straits to which I am reduced, are such that I

be.

EжOvμa, strong desire; whatever the desire of the heart may

66

have nothing left me but to deny the faith, and abandon a religion which I can no longer maintain. Against thoughts like these the apostle warns the brethren: Every man is tempted, when he is led away by his own heart's lust, and enticed. If his love of his possessions, of his family, of his credit among his friends, were not stronger than his love of God; if his value for present ease and worldly comforts were not greater than his value for the heavenly promises; if the kingdom of God were really his heart's desire; he would not hesitate to deny himself and take up the cross, and follow" the Redeemer, through loss or gain, through ease or danger, through evil report or good report, through the friendship or enmity of the surrounding world. An undue preference of things worldly above things heavenly; a regard of man's opinion; an anxiety after advancement in wealth or honour-pride, covetousness, indolence - these are the real evil: these, and not the circumstances in which a man is placed, are the true causes why the soul is neglected, and God disobeyed. God cannot be tempted with evil: neither tempteth he any man. The occasion, the circumstances, only supply the means by which the worldly feelings, the inward covetousness, the prevailing indolence, the secret pride, are shown: they do but bring to light the hidden evil: and, notwithstanding these circumstances, there would be no transgression, if the sinful disposition were not lurking in the heart. When the spark issues from the flint, the steel elicits it: but the steel only elicits what was in the flint before. So when Peter did what all the early disciples were tempted to do,

and denied his Lord, whom it would be dangerous to confess :-the place in which he was, the company by which he was surrounded in the hall of the high priest's palace, furnished the temptation: but if in his heart he had not cherished the fear of man, none of those things would have moved him then, any more than they did move him some few weeks after, when in the face of greater dangers he refused to obey man rather than God.

And as this is true of those sins of which St. James had been speaking; sins to which his countrymen the Jewish Christians were particularly exposed: concealment of the truth: worldly compromise: departure from the faith: so is it also true of every sin by which men are ruined. This seems to occur to the apostle as he is writing and leads him to allude, in passing, to the origin and end of all sin.

15. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

The inordinate desire of the heart produces transgression of God's law. When covetousness has possession of the heart, it brings forth dishonesty, as in Gehazi falsehood, as in Ananias: treachery, as in Judas transgression of the divine command, as in Achan. When pride prevails, it brings forth malice, as in Saul: envy, as in Haman: hatred, as in Joseph's brethren murder, as in Cain. When the lust of the heart inclines to this world's gratifications, it brings forth selfish luxury, as in him who neglected Lazarus contempt of heavenly promises, as in the young ruler forgetfulness of God, as in him

whose only thought was how he might "take his ease, eat, drink, and be merry.'

And the end of these things is death. The apostle cannot lose the opportunity, having thus declared the origin of sin, of showing also its end. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. We must not for a moment separate these two things. We must not think of one, without also turning our minds to the other. On account of sin, "the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience."

66

And truly, this is needful. What God has joined together, sin and death, let no man put asunder. Such are the temptations to sin, to which a corrupt heart gives force: so many are they, who, though called to holiness, live in some of those ways which are contrary to holiness,-that we cannot be too often or too seriously reminded of the gulf to which those ways lead. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Sin hath brought forth death from the beginning. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Sin brought forth death, even to the Son of God. He "died unto sin." And if God spared not his own Son;" if the holiness and righteousness of his government demanded, and received, that vast, stupendous sacrifice; will it spare those who, in the face of that atonement, that warning, that example, obey their own heart's lust, and yield when it entices them ? That which ought to be the proof of their faithfulness, they make an occasion of falling. And then they too fondly persuade themselves that God beholds not, regards not, this perverseness: that there is something in their own case, something in their