Essex Remembrancer James 2:14-26 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? can faith save him?… Friendship is a theme calculated to make a deep impression upon the mind. Even philosophers, with all their austerity of disposition and stoical apathy, could expatiate on its sterling value. And Christianity, so far from discountenancing the cultivation of friendship between man and man, happily tends to promote it. I. THE GLORIOUS PRIVILEGE. Friendship with God includes — 1. Freedom of access. 2. The exercise of a charitable and sympathetic disposition. 3. Confidential communications. 4. The due administration of counsel and reproof. 5. The bestowment of suitable blessings. II. THE HAPPY INDIVIDUAL UPON WHOM IT WAS CONFERRED. Abraham was called the Friend of God. If you would be numbered with the friends of God, ye must be the possessors of Abraham's faith. There is a threefold view in which this faith should be contemplated. 1. It justifies from sin. 2. It purifies the heart. 3. It regulates the life. (Essex Remembrancer.) Parallel Verses KJV: What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?WEB: What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? |
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