what he wrote he addressed the Christians of every race and habit in all parts of that world of which Jerusalem is the centre. The Epistle of James may be called the first encyclical addressed to all sorts and conditions of men who accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the leader of their lives. To this day its practical and straightforward simplicity challenges the admiration of all those believers who know that the tree is to be judged by its fruits,--that it is not enough to cry "Lord, Lord,"--that it is not enough to say, "I believe in this" or "I believe in that";--but rather that the follower of Christ must do what He says. And how does this gentle apostle of apostles define in word the "wisdom which is from above?" The wisdom from above is first pure, as the Master had said, "Blessed are the pure in heart." Then the Wisdom from above is peaceable, as the angels said when He was born. Then the wisdom from above is gentle. The man who follows Christ is a gentle man. The woman who follows Christ is a gentle woman.

And if anyone eager for accuracy in the use of language choose to hunt the Greek word which we find in St. James's Epistle through the lexicons, he learns that the gentleman whom St. James knew is he who in dealing with others "abates something from his absolute right." He is so large and unselfish that he can grant more than he is compelled to grant by rigorous justice. He is the man who can love his brothers better than himself. These are phrases from the old dictionaries.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

EDWARD E. HALE.

The First True Gentleman

The Elizabethan poet Dekker said of our Lord that He was "the first true gentleman that ever breathed." The passage is worth quotation:--

"Patience! why, 'tis the soul of peace,

Of all the virtues nearest kin to Heaven.

It makes men look like gods, the best of men

That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer--

A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit,

The first true gentleman that ever breathed."

 

All through English literature the word "gentleman" has had two meanings, and has been used to describe a man of certain qualities as well as a man of a certain birth. A hundred and fifty years before Dekker wrote it was declared that "truth, pity, freedom, and hardiness" were the essential qualities of a gentleman. Our Lord in His human nature personified these things. Every gentleman in Christendom derives his ideal from Christ whatever may be his dogmatic creed. No virtue, perhaps, was so characteristic of our Lord as His devotion to truth. He declared before Pilate that it was the end for which He was born. He condemned all those who hindered its diffusion and tried to make it the monopoly of a caste. He tabooed all absurd asseverations, the occasional use of which was but a confession of habitual lying. He taught that lies were of the Devil, and that it was the Holy Spirit who led men into all truth. He said that sincerity was the great light of the Spirit, that all double-minded men were in the dark, and that their fear of the light of day was their own sufficient condemnation. The ideal gentleman all through the ages has conformed his conduct in the matter of truth to the Christian standard. He has avoided mental reservation, abhorred lying, and, though he has garnished his speech with