As James has contended against a false faith,
unaccompanied by works, -- so does he, in like manner, against that knowledge and wisdom in divine things, which does not make itself known by a living activity in a corresponding course of life. He requires of all religions knowledge, that it approve itself, as a product of the divine life of the spirit, in a course of conduct proceeding from that inner life. "Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge amongst you? Let him show out of a good conversation, &c." With this view, he gives special prominence to that which stood most opposed to the faults of these churches; contrasting with the unbridled passion of those who made such account of their knowledge, the spirit of meekness as being the mark of genuine wisdom and knowledge: "let him show . . . his works with meekness and wisdom."