III.
When we pass on to other portions of the New Testament, we find examples of the same kind of reasoning in James and Paul.
Most admirably does James show the futility of faith without works. “What shall it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not works? Can faith save him? If a brother and sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
The class of people referred to by James are aptly described by Fielding in the character of Peter Pounce. “Sir,” said Adams, “my definition of charity is a generous disposition to relieve the distressed.” “There is something in that definition,” answered Peter, “which I like well enough; it is, as you say, a disposition to do it, and does not so much consist in the act as in the disposition to do it. But, alas! Mr. Adams, who are meant by the distressed? Believe me, the distresses of mankind are mostly imaginary, and it would be rather folly than goodness to relieve them.” “Sure, sir,” replied Adams, “hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and other distresses which attend the poor, can never be said to be imaginary evils.” “How can any man complain of hunger,” said Peter, “in a country where such excellent salads are to be gathered in almost every field? or of thirst, where every river and stream produce such delicious potations? And as for cold and nakedness, they are evils introduced by luxury and custom. A man naturally wants clothes no more than a horse or any other animal; and there are whole nations who go without them.” Peter Pounce would have said to the “brother or sister naked and destitute of daily food,” “Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled.”
The declaration of James that “faith without works is dead,” is illustrated in the sayings of others also:
“Sweet words, empty hands.”—Telugu.
“Kindness, but no milk.”—Urdu.
“Though they are brothers, their pockets are not sisters.”—Turk.
“It is not by saying Honey, Honey, that sweetness comes into the mouth.”—Ib.
“His words leap over forts, his feet do not cross the threshold.”—Telugu.