But there is not only the evidence as to how the primitive Church understood the words of Christ and of St. James; there is also the practice of St. Paul, who frequently calls God to witness that he is speaking the truth (2 Cor. i. 23; xi. 31; xii. 19; Gal. i. 20; Phil. i. 8), or uses other strong asseverations which are certainly more than plain Yea and Nay (Rom. ix. i.; 1 Cor. xv. 31; 2 Cor. i. 18; xi. 10). Augustine quotes St. Paul in defence of swearing, but adds that St. Paul's swearing, when there was weighty reason for it, is no proof that we may swear whenever we think proper to do so. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews the fact that men swear in order to settle disputes is mentioned without any intimation that the practice is utterly wrong. On the contrary, we are told that God has condescended to do the same, in order to give us all the assurance in His power (vi. 16-18).

Lastly, we have the convincing fact that Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be put upon His oath. After having kept silence for a long time, He was adjured by the High Priest to answer; and then He answered at once. The full meaning of the High Priest's words are, "I exact an oath of Thee (ἐξορκίζω σε) by the Living God" (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64). Had this been an unlawful thing for the High Priest to do, our Lord would have kept silence all the more, or would have answered under protest.

II. It remains to consider the relation of the prohibition of swearing in this Epistle to the almost identical prohibition in the Sermon on the Mount. Is St. James quoting Christ's words? and if so, whence did he derive his knowledge of them?

No one who compares the two passages will believe that the similarity between them is accidental. Even if such an hypothesis could reasonably be entertained, it would be shattered by the number of other coincidences which exist between passages in this Epistle and the recorded words of Christ. In this instance we have the largest amount of coincidence; and therefore the discussion of this point has been reserved until this passage was reached, although numerous other cases of coincidence have already occurred.

The remark is sometimes made that there are more quotations of Christ's words in the Epistle of St. James than in all the Epistles of St. Paul, or than in all the other books of the New Testament other than the Gospels. It would be better to word the remark somewhat differently, and say that there are more coincidences which cannot be fortuitous between this Epistle and the recorded words of Christ than in all the Epistles of St. Paul; or that there is far more evidence of the influence of Christ's discourses upon the language of St. James than there is of any such influence upon the language of St. Paul. St. Paul tells us much about Christ and His work, but he very rarely reproduces any of His sayings. With St. James it is exactly the opposite; he says very little indeed about Christ, but, without quoting them as such, he frequently reproduces His words. It will be found that the largest number of these coincidences are between St. James and sayings that are recorded by St. Matthew, especially in the Sermon on the Mount. But this does not warrant us in asserting that St. James must have seen St. Matthew's Gospel or any other written Gospels. The coincidences, as will be seen, are not of a character to show this. Moreover, it is extremely doubtful whether any of the Gospels were written so early as A.D. 62, the latest date which can be given to our Epistle; and if any earlier date be assigned to it, the improbability of the writer's having seen a written Gospel becomes all the greater. The resemblances between the words of St. James and the recorded words of Christ are such as would naturally arise if he had himself heard Christ's teaching, and was consciously or unconsciously reproducing what he remembered of it, rather than such as would be found if he had had a written document to quote from. If this be so, we have a strong confirmation of the view adopted at the outset, that this Epistle is the work of the Lord's brother, who had personal experience of Christ's conversation, and was independent of both the oral and the written tradition of His teaching. It will be worth while to tabulate the principal coincidences, so that the reader may be able to judge for himself as to their significance. They suffice to show how full the mind of St. James must have been of the teaching of Jesus Christ, and they lead to the highly probable conjecture that in other parts of the Epistle we have reminiscences of Christ's words of which we have no record in the Gospels.[92] It is not likely that St. James has remembered and reproduced only those sayings of which there is something recorded by the Evangelists.

ST. MATTHEW.ST. JAMES.
1. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you (v. 10-12).Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; knowing that the proof of your faith worketh patience (i. 2, 3).
Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call them blessed which endured (v. 10, 11).
2. Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (v. 48).And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing (i. 4).
3. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth (vii. 7, 8).But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (i. 5).
4. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (v. 3. Comp. Luke vi. 20).Let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate (i. 9).
Did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom? (ii. 5).
5. Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.... And every one that heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand (vii. 21, 26).Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror (i. 22, 23).
6. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy (v. 7).
If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (vi. 15).
With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged (vii. 2).		So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment (ii. 12, 13).
7. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? (vii. 16).Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? (iii. 12).
8. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon (vi. 24).Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God (iv. 4).
9. Whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted (xxiii. 12).Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall exalt you (iv. 10).
10. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow (vi. 34).Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow (iv. 14).
11. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth consume (vi. 19).Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted (v. 2, 3).
12. Swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your speech, be Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil one (v. 34-37).But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath.
But let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment (v. 12).

These twelve parallels are by no means exhaustive, but they are among the most striking. The following are worthy of consideration, although those which have been quoted above are more than sufficient for our purpose:—

St. MatthewSt. James
i. 19v. 19
i. 20v. 22
ii. 8vii. 12
ii. 10, 11v. 27
iii. 17, 18v. 9
iv. 3vii. 8

Let us now consider some coincidences between the language of St. James and our Lord's words as recorded by the other three Evangelists.

ST. MARK.ST. JAMES.
13. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt (διακριθῇ) in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it (xi. 23).If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting (διακρινόμενος): for he that doubteth etc. (i. 5, 6).
14. They shall deliver you up to councils; and in synagogues shall ye be beaten (xiii. 9).Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? (ii. 6).
15. Know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors (xiii. 29; Matt. xxiv. 33).Behold, the Judge standeth before the doors (v. 9).
ST. LUKE.ST. JAMES.
16. Woe unto you, ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep (vi. 25).Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness (iv. 9).
17. Woe unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation (vi. 24).Go to now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you (v. 1).
ST. JOHN.ST. JAMES.
18. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (xiii. 17).Being not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing (i. 25).
19. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, ... therefore the world hateth you (xv. 19. Comp. xvii. 14).Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God (iv. 4).