James 1:5-8

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

James 1:5. Wisdom.—Here, the wisdom of the book of Proverbs; practical skill in the ordering and management of life (Proverbs 19:20). Liberally.—With single heart, frankly, freely; without searchingly taking account of our dulness, or slowness, or limited anxiety concerning it. God wants us to have the wisdom more than we ever want to have it. Upbraideth not.—In Sir. 20:15 the “gift of a fool” is thus described: “He giveth little, and upbraideth much.”

James 1:6. Wavering.—Doubting (see Matthew 21:21). The term indicates that debating with oneself which implies doubt. Wind and tossed.—Better, “winds and blasts,” the latter term suggesting the effect of sudden squalls. There is no play on the Greek words, as in the English text—“wavering,” “wave.”

James 1:8. Double-minded.—Connect with James 1:7, “being a double-minded man.” Compare the “double heart” (Heb. “a heart and a heart”) of Psalms 12:2. “A mad unsteady in his opinions is inconstant in all his actions.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— James 1:5

Commonplace, practical wisdom.—St. James wrote to persons who were placed in difficult circumstances, partly through their own national characteristics, and partly through the events that were transpiring in public life. The Jews of every age, but peculiarly of that age, were of a contentious and quarrelsome disposition, and this made them a troublesome section of the people wherever they settled. It came indeed to be pretty generally understood, that if there was a revolt anywhere, the Jews were mixed up with it, if they were not at the bottom of it. The usual feeling towards Jews in the time of St. James is fairly represented by that towards the Russians in our own day. And the Jews were as contentious in private family life, and in their local synagogue life, as in their public life. St. James evidently has these characteristic elements of the Jewish nature fully in view. When the Jew became a Christian, it might not come to him at once that the Christian tone and spirit, which should characterise him in all forms of intercourse, was altogether different. Very easily could the faith of Christ as Messiah be taken up; and since it was not inconsistent with attendance at the Temple, observance of circumcision, and obedience to the law, it might not strike many of the Judæo Christians that it necessitated any change of temper, or toning of relationships. And then there were others who were called to suffer much in consequence of acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah; and they too were perplexed concerning the spirit with which their trials and persecutions should be met. It is in application to both such cases that St. James gives the advice of this passage, though the latter case appears to be the more prominent one. The wisdom which some may feel that they lack is “practical wisdom”—what we properly mean by “common sense,” or skill in the wise ordering of life, and in estimating and duly meeting all our various obligations. By “wisdom” St. James does not mean “learning,” or “knowledge,” or “science.” He was evidently a great Bible student, as all earnest Jews were, and seems to have been especially influenced by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the later sapiential writings, and by the practical writings of the prophets; and it is in the book of Proverbs that we must seek for the sense in which he uses the term “wisdom” in his epistle. Dean Stanley points out that the book of Proverbs is not on a level with the Prophets or the Psalms: “It approaches human things and things Divine from quite another side. It has even something of a worldly, prudential look. It is the philosophy of practical life. It is the sign to us that the Bible does not despise common sense and discretion. It impresses upon us in the most forcible manner the value of intelligence and prudence, and of a good education. The whole strength of the Hebrew language, and of the sacred authority of the book, is thrown upon these homely truths.” It is planned so as to provide the young man, who has no life-experience to guide him, with “sound knowledge and discretion.” It directs him amid the pitfalls, difficulties, and duties on which he must enter with the simplicity of youth still upon him. It was this kind of practical skill, to meet aright the unexpected and almost overwhelming responsibilities of kingship, that Solomon asked in his prayer at the outset of his reign. Kitto says: “The wisdom which Solomon craved was that of which he had already enough to be able to appreciate the value of its increase—practical wisdom, sagacity, clearness of judgment and intellect in the administration of justice, and in the conduct of public affairs.” Taking wisdom then in this simple and practical sense, there is point in the counsel of St. James for us all. Precisely what thoughtful and devout people feel that they lack, especially when trials and misunderstandings seem to attend their endeavour to live the godly life, is the practical wisdom that would enable them to think aright of these trials, and would enable them so to control themselves under them, and so to order their conduct in relation to them, as to be patient under all circumstances, and fully maintain everywhere the Christian spirit.

I. Practical wisdom for the ordering of life is a common requirement of Christian disciples.—Life is distinctly a new thing to a man when he becomes a Christian. “He has not passed that way heretofore.” He has no experiences in the self and worldly life that can be any really practical help to him. He is in much the condition of the young man who, with good principles, but very limited and often unsuitable experiences, goes out into life to meet the surprise of its varied trials and temptations. And we think there is hope for a young man if, on thus entering upon untried scenes, he is humble enough to recognise that he “lacks wisdom.” Whether a man came over from Judaism to Christianity or from Paganism, he could never find it an easy thing to adjust himself to the new conditions and responsibilities. It may be questioned whether even now any man finds it an easy thing to adjust himself to the claims of a really earnest religious life. Practically we all find out, sooner or later, that we “lack wisdom”—precisely the wisdom which would enable us to fit our Christian conduct and relationships perfectly and pleasantly to our Christian principles and to the Christian spirit. Look at this “practical wisdom” in some of its more evident spheres.

1. The Christian discovers that he has a new standard for the management of himself. Every man finds out that he needs wisdom for the skilful ordering of his own bodily faculties and powers, his mind and abilities, and his temper and passions. “Knowing ourselves” is the intense work of early life; wisely ordering ourselves, according to our knowledge of ourselves, is the even more intense work of early manhood. But the Christian has another, a new, and a higher standard of self-management. It needs to be set before us much more forcibly than it is, that the human example of our Divine Lord is that of a man who, with practical skill, ruled and ordered His own bodily life, mastering all its weaknesses, and putting it always into wise restraints. It may very well be that we all feel to “lack wisdom” in this, the first sphere of a self-rule. “The body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

2. But practical wisdom is needed for ordering the commonplace and every-day associations of life. A man has to be distinctively and unquestionably Christian, in tone and spirit, everywhere, every day, and in everything. For the man who is not a Christian always is not a Christian at all. And yet what practical wisdom he needs! So easily he can undervalue the home-sphere, and say, “It does not much matter what I do there.” So easily he can make a distinct sphere of business, and say, “Business is business; we do not want religion there.” So easily he can be carried away by party feeling, and then but unworthily share in the witness of public life. Facing the commonplace obligations of home and business and society, we may all feel that in our effort to find full and adequate expression of the Christian spirit we all “lack wisdom.” Is there a satisfied, or self-satisfied, Christian man or woman? It can only be that by them the claim of the Christian religion to tone and rule the every-day life of relations is not duly estimated.

3. And as the unexpected is “the thing that happens” even in the Christian life, practical wisdom is needed for rightly meeting the anxieties, trials, temptations, and calamities that come as surprises in every life. Of these St. James was thinking; and it was concerning the securing of the right preparedness for such scenes, and the right response to such circumstances, that he wrote to these Christian Jews. “Let patience [under trials] have her perfect work.” “And if any of you feel that you lack the wisdom which would enable you so to order your lives as to win for patience her perfect work, then let him ask for the needed wisdom from God.” Surely it comes home to us all, that in our effort to tone our lives with the Christian spirit, and to fill our daily lives with the Christian principles, we do “lack wisdom,” we do need practical skill.

II. Practical wisdom for the ordering of every-day life and relations is a Divine gift.—“Let him ask of God.” Wisdom, as the learning of the schools, can be thought of as a purely human acquisition. It is not indeed so regarded by the Christian, who seeks Divine help and blessing even in the acquisition of knowledge. But this practical wisdom, which adjusts the Christian principles to the relations of life, as if a man had passed through an actual experience, and had well learned the lessons of it, is distinctly a gift of God, a Divine bestowment upon the humble, open-souled, prayerful, obediently-toned man. It would be pleasant to philosophise about this, and to show that what we really need is to put God—God in Christ—into vital relation with each scene and duty and struggle; that we cannot get God save as He gives Himself to us; and that putting Himself into, keeping Himself in, our lives, is His answer to prayer, and His supply of wisdom. Plato has a very striking sentence on the importance of associating God directly with the every-day duties and relations of life: “The best and noblest action which a virtuous man can perform, and that which will most promote his success in life, is to live, by vows and prayers, in continual intercourse with the gods; nay, all who would act with due consideration ought, before beginning any undertaking, whether great or small, to invoke God.” We need not deny that practical skill in the wise ordering of our life of duty and relations is mainly gained by experience. We grow into it with the advancing years. There is a familiar saying, with reference to our physical health, that a “man is a fool or a physician at forty.” By that time the daily experience of dealing with his frailties and tendencies ought to have made him understand himself, and secure a fair share of health. And it is also true of our mental and moral life, though in these matters we have to bring in some new and important considerations. Given the case of a man who knows what is good for his bodily health, and the assumption is that he will do it. But given the case of a man who knows what is for his moral good, and there is no security at all that he will do it; there is indeed every probability, or every fear, that he will not. Froude cleverly hits off the weakness of experience, if we treat his sentence as applying to morals. He says, “Experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which cast their rays over a path which has been taken.” In relation to the moral and religious ordering of the moral and religious life, we have to take into account the disturbing element of the biassed, self-pleasing will. Use experience how well soever we may, that disturbing element has to be reckoned with: and that makes us feel that we “lack wisdom”; and that drives us to seek the help of God, whose supreme work is in and on man’s will. God strengthens with “strength in the soul.” Wherein then lies the difference between every man’s life and the Christian man’s life? Just here—Every man is learning by experience how to live. But his learning is seriously affected and biassed by the uncertainty of his self-willedness. The Christian man too is learning by experience; but he has asked God to set, to steady, to guide, and to control his will; and consequently, for him, the lessons of experience are in the Divine sanctifying. Feeling his lack of wisdom, he asks of God. God may not change any of the circumstances of the man’s life; but God does set him and keep him rightly related to the circumstances; and therefore his life-experience does its best for him. St. James wrote to Christian Jews. It was a good and hopeful sign that they were conscious of “lacking wisdom.” From the Christian point of view, then and now, there is no peril like that of the man who is quite sure that he can go alone. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” The inspiration of a life of trustful prayer is the daily renewed conviction that we “lack wisdom.” Prayer is our expression of the sense of need.

III. Practical wisdom for the ordering of life is obtained only on conditions.—“Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” Here we are led to think of distinctions among professing Christians, rather than of distinctions between the worldly and the Christian. Even when we ask we may miss the response, by failing to meet the arranged conditions. We must ask for this daily Divine help in faith; but that faith required cannot possibly mean the acceptance of certain doctrines. Answer to prayer is never assured in God’s word on the ground of the correctness of our intellectual beliefs. Faith in relation to prayer is seen by St. James as steady single-mindedness. The man of faith feels quite sure of what he needs. He has no questioning whatever about it. He gives way to no uncertainties, no doubts. He knows that he “lacks wisdom.” He does not waver as to that, and there is consequently point and force in his prayer. And faith in prayer also includes confidence in Him to whom the prayer is addressed. This is indeed the very essence of Christian prayer. To be a Christian at all is to know God so as to trust Him thoroughly. And this confidence has for its sphere everything pertaining to the practical life of godliness. Concerning everything the Christian prays with submission; but it may be said that in praying about material things submission is stronger than expectancy; but in praying about moral and religious things, in which the Christian man should be in full sympathy with God, expectancy ought to be stronger than submission. With an unquestionable and unhesitating confidence we may ask for everything that pertains to the holy life. The positive condition is active faith, full confidence, assured hope of gracious response. The negative condition is, that there shall be no wavering,—no feeling as if we did want wisdom, and then feeling as if we did not; no disputing with ourselves, as if we could be sure about nothing; no half-heartedness in our praying. Sometimes the ship, swayed about on the waters, is taken as the type of instability; but St. James knew that whatever the appearances, the ship was really answering its helm, and moving towards the desired haven. So he took his figure from the surging waves themselves. For these have no control of their own movements, and are under no apparent external control. They surge this way or that, they rise high or low, according as they are played upon by the ever-varying winds. And so even God can hardly get at the man who wavers, for there are no steady moods to which he can respond. “Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” The waverer, the doubter, the man who is always uncertain, is a proverbially difficult man to deal with. He is never quite sure what he wants; he never knows how to ask; and before you can get him what he asks, he wants something else. Both God and man are compelled to give up the waverers as hopeless people. “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth [doubteth] is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.… A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Let me gather up the points of St. James’s teaching into a few brief but connected sentences.

1. It is one thing to lack practical wisdom for the ordering of our lives, and another thing to know that we lack it.

2. It is one thing to know that we lack, and quite another to be willing to ask for a supply.

3. It is one thing to be willing to ask, and quite another to ask properly. Of one thing we may be absolutely sure, and we may act on our assurance. If God makes conditions, He lovingly responds to them. “He giveth to all liberally [just the skill for life that they lack], and upbraideth not.”

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

James 1:5. The Spirit of God’s Giving.—“Giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.” When and under what circumstances do we men upbraid one another?

1. When we can recognise no claim in the asker.
2. When we feel that too much is asked.
3. When we expect too much from the asker.

I. Asking in faith is asking in full trust of the person from whom we ask.—It need not be trust that we shall get precisely what we ask, and exactly at the time that we want to have it. It must be trust that He of whom we ask will use His judgment in the matter, and give, delay, withhold, or alter as He may see to be for the best.

II. Asking in faith is setting our heart upon what we ask.—Our Lord on more than one occasion taught that persistency and importunity were specially acceptable features in all petition. We can never rightly offer any request to God if we doubt whether the thing that we ask is desirable for us. Our heart cannot be in our request if we are uncertain whether God is willing to give, or fear that He may upbraid us. Failure of prayer can usually be traced to the man who prays. It may be that God cannot when He would.

Asking from God.—Here is something in answer to every discouraging turn of the mind, when we go to God, under a sense of our own folly and weakness, to ask for wisdom. He to whom we are sent, we are sure, has it to give; and He is of a giving disposition, inclined to bestow on those who ask. Nor is there any fear of His favours being limited to some in this case, so as to exclude others, or any humble, petitioning soul; for He gives to all men. If you should say you want a great deal of wisdom, a small portion will not serve your turn, the apostle affirms He gives liberally; and lest you should be afraid of going to Him unseasonably, or being put to shame for your folly, it is added, “He upbraideth not.” Ask when you will, and as often as you will, you will meet with no upbraidings.—Matthew Henry.

Plato’s Idea of Wisdom—Perfect wisdom hath four parts: viz. wisdom, the principle of doing things aright; justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private; fortitude, the principle of not flying danger, but meeting it; and temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately.

The “Wisdom” of Christianity.—All that the schools of Greece and Egypt and the East had been saying for a course of ages was, Let no man think that he lacks wisdom, for he has it in himself—or at most, If any man lack wisdom, let him come to us. But when the voice of the evangelising angel, whom John saw in his apocalyptic vision, became audible, the schools were silent, and the oracles were dumb, before that simple precept, to which we attach so little value, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” But this asking of God was to the Greeks a mockery. Even those who believed in God had no conception of immediate spiritual intercourse with God, still less of intellectual illumination sent directly from Him. They knew what it was to work out wisdom for themselves, or to seek for wisdom at the hands of human sages; but this was a new idea, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” And that not as a ceremony, but a means, a certain means of acquisition—not of God the unknown and the unapproachable, but God the Giver, God who gives, who actually gives, has given, will give again, will give for ever—not to certain favoured nations or castes or individuals, but to all men—not to Greeks or Jews alone, not to philosophers or priests alone, but to all men, all who ask, all who really desire it, all who ask aright.—J. Addison Alexander, D.D.

Knowledge and Discretion.—Learning falls far short of wisdom.… Knowledge is the treasure of the mind, but discretion is the key to it, without which it is useless. The practical part of wisdom is the best.—Feltham.

Wisdom, whence shall she be gotten?—That which is of supreme importance to us, that which endures through all the changes and decays of nature, that which really determines our fate in life, in death, and after death, is the character which has been framed and developed in us during these fleeting hours of time, and by all the chances and changes of this mutable world. Our highest wisdom, the one true secret of life, is self-training, self-culture, the development of a complete and noble character. Character is supremely important in business and in homes; he whose character is well balanced and well developed, who is not only manly, but a mature and complete man, is equal to any conditions, and rises superior to them all. Into the next world, all we can take is the character we have built up. The ruling bent of our character will determine our fate. Our main task in the world is the formation of character; it is our highest wisdom to endeavour after a character which shall be noble and complete, a character which will fit us both to live and die. Is the highest wisdom within our reach? St. James, writing to Christian Jews under persecution, tells them that patient and faithful endurance, which God sent, and intended adversity to produce, would gradually work out in them that manly and noble character which is our highest good. Trials bravely met search out and carry away faults and defects of character, as the acid bites out the alloy from the gold. They make, or tend to make, us of so complete and entire a manliness that nothing is lacking to us. Some, however, might lack wisdom to see that this is the highest wisdom; so St. James says, “If any of you lack [this] wisdom,” which holds the hope of becoming perfect in character above all other aims, let him ask it of God, and it shall be given him. He will teach and help you to put a pure and noble character before the happiest outward conditions. He will help you to welcome the trials by which He is seeking to make you steadfast, to brace you to a mature and complete manliness, to supply what is lacking in you, until you lack nothing. If you cannot see that to be His purpose, ask Him to show it to you, and He will show it. If you ask Him for wisdom to see His purpose in afflicting you, you will try to see it. As you pray you grow sincere. You can see more clearly what your life has been given you for, for what high and noble ends. You so relate yourself to the Father of lights that He is able to shed light into your soul. If God is able, surely He is willing. Where God finds an open and prepared, a seeking and receptive, heart, He enters in, and enters to make it wise and good. If you honestly crave wisdom to make His will your will, to aim at that maturity and perfection of character which He knows to be your supreme good, He will as surely give you that wisdom as the sweet, pure, sun-warmed air will flow into your room when you throw open your window to the day. God will never keep His word of promise to the ear, but break it to the hope it has inspired. He is not of two minds, as men often are. He gives because He loves to give and loves you. You need not fear to ask of Him, either because you have so often asked before, or because you have never asked before. “He upbraideth not.” And whatever forms trials may take, you may be sure of this: God intends them for your good, for the discipline and growth of character—intends them to spur and brace you to fortitude, courage, patience; and therefore He would have you count them all joy, since they will bring you joy at the last if you meet them with a constant spirit. If you care most for character, the trials that brace, refine, and elevate your character should not be unwelcome to you. And if as yet you lack the wisdom which sees in every trial a discipline of character and perfection, ask this wisdom of God the Giver, and it shall be given you.—S. Cox, D.D.

Who are the Wise?—

Who are the wise?

They who have govern’d with a self-control
Each wild and baneful passion of the soul—
Curb’d the strong impulse of all fierce desires,
But kept alive affection’s purer fires.
They who have pass’d the labyrinth of life,
Without one hour of weakness or of strife:
Prepared each change of fortune to endure,
Humble though rich, and dignified though poor.
Skill’d in the latent movements of the heart—
Learn’d in the lore which nature can impart;
Teaching that sweet philosophy aloud
Which sees the “silver lining” of the cloud;
Looking for good in all beneath the skies:

These are the truly wise.

Prince.

True Prayer and True Answer.—Our truest prayers are but the echo of God’s promises. God’s best answers are the echo of our prayers. As in two mirrors set opposite to each other the same image is repeated over and over again, the reflection of a reflection, so here, within the prayer, gleams an earlier promise, within the answer is mirrored the prayer.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

James 1:6. Two Kinds of Doubting.—Intellectual is not moral doubt. The unorthodox are not as the adulterous. Nevertheless, intellectual doubt may spring from an evil habit of carping criticism and self-opinion, for the foundation of which, in so far as a man himself has been either the wilful or the careless cause, he must bear the curse of its results.—Ellicott’s Commentary.

Winds and Waves.—“Like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.” The wind represents outside circumstances—something distinct from the sea itself—acting on the waters. When men are not established in principles, and well exercised in self-control, they are easily swayed to and fro by changing outward circumstances. “Each puff of wind catches hold of the water, and heaps it up into a little hill with the face to the leeward; then the crest falls, and the water sinks down into a trough, as deep below the mean surface as the hill was high above it; but the next column of water is then forced up, only, however, to be pulled down again, and in this way the motion of the wave may be propagated across a broad expanse of water. Let the breeze freshen, and the ‘little hills’ of course become higher; the wind now catches the particles of water on the crest of the wave, and carries them away, scattering them as spray, or water dust, forming foam—‘white horses,’ as the children call it. Increase the breeze to a gale, and the spray becomes a shower of salt water, until far away sea and sky seem to mingle, and the horizon-line is lost to our sight. Again, as the wind seizes the top of the wave, it makes it move faster than the lower part, and we see it bend over in a curve, whose edge is scattered into foam. If the wind be intermittent, as mild breezes usually are, we get a few small waves running in, followed by a larger, higher one, which breaks on the shore.”—Worsley-Benison.

James 1:7. Single-minded and Double-minded.—The double-minded man halts between belief and unbelief, with inclination towards the latter. The single-minded man does not halt at all; but having a distinct aim before him, moves toward it with a resolute and persistent endeavour. “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” St. James is dealing with characteristic dispositions in prayer. Some give force to prayer. Some so weaken prayer that it cannot reach God with any persuasive power. There is—

1. The single-mindedness of conscious need. The man is quite sure that what he asks he wants.
2. The single-mindedness of a resolute purpose. What the man wants he sets heart and effort upon attaining.
3. The single-mindedness of faith in God. As the Prayer-hearer, who takes heed to the expressed desires of His people, and waits to bless.
4. The single-mindedness of a loyal submission, which always goes with faith in God.
5. The single-mindedness of importunity, which speaks after the manner of Jacob: “I will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me.” The man of a single mind in prayer may reasonably expect to “receive something of the Lord.” There is the double-mindedness—
1. Of uncertainty as to what is to be asked. A man may not know exactly what he wants, or may have no confidence that what he asks is a good thing.
2. Of uncertainty whether the matter had better be taken to God, or managed by the man himself.
3. Of uncertainty whether God will take such things into consideration.
4. Of uncertainty whether, after all, prayer is of any real use—whether good and evil things do not come to us just the same whether we pray or not.
5. Of uncertainty caused by never letting a decision rest, but going over it again and again, until opportunity is lost, and nothing is done. The man of a double mind need not expect to “receive anything of the Lord,” for the truth is that, in his uncertainty, he never really asks. The “unstable” can neither “excel” nor “attain.”

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

James 1:6. Surging Sea and Placid Lake.—Trust Christ, and so thy soul shall no longer be like “the sea that cannot rest,” full of turbulent wishes, full of passionate desires that come to nothing, full of endless moanings, like the homeless ocean that is ever working, and never flings up any produce of its work but yeasty foam and broken weeds; but thine heart shall become translucent and still, like some land-locked lake, where no winds rave nor tempests ruffle, and on its calm surface there shall be mirrored the clear shining of the unclouded blue, and the perpetual light of the sun that never goes down.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

Blessed through Humiliations.—

Then grudge not thou the anguish keen

Which makes thee like thy Lord,

And learn to quit with eye serene

Thy youth’s ideal hoard.

Thy treasur’d hopes and raptures high—

Unmurmuring let them go,

Nor grieve the bliss should quickly fly

Which Christ disdained to know.

Thou shalt have joy in sadness soon;

The pure, calm hope be thine,

Which brightens, like the eastern moon,

As day’s wild lights decline.

Thus souls, by nature pitch’d too high,

By sufferings plung’d too low,

Meet in the Church’s middle sky,

Half-way ’twixt joy and woe,

To practise there the soothing lay

That sorrow best relieves;

Thankful for all God takes away,

Humbled by all He gives.

Keble.

The Mission of the Rich.—When rain from heaven has filled a basin on the mountain-top, the reservoir overflows, and so sends down a stream to refresh the valley below. It is for similar purposes that God in His providential government fills the cup of those who stand on the high places of the earth, that they may distribute the blessing among those who occupy a lower place in the scale of prosperity.—Rev. William Arnot.