are combined, take hold of the "secret things which belong to the Lord our God;"-things which the natural man can never fathom, and which, so far as he sees them, he regards as nothing better than foolishness. And hence we are compelled to fall back on the proposition with which we started : that the gospel, though addressed externally and provisionally to the natural man, is only addressed effectually and purposely to the renewed man, because the natural man cannot understand it; while it is only in the case of the renewed man, that it is "revealed from faith to faith."

LECTURE III.

THE MARKS BY WHICH THE TRUE FAITH IS AUTHENTICATED, AND THE DUTY OF CONTENDING FOR IT.

HAVING in the preceding Lecture pointed out the general nature of the gospel system, as suggested by the terms which are employed to describe it; having shown why it is called the "salvation""the common salvation"—" the faith" -we now go on to consider the duty laid upon believers in regard to it. They are required "to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." In these words there are three points presented for our consideration:First-The precise nature of the faith of which the apostle speaks. Secondly-The manner and spirit in which we are to contend for it. Thirdly-The reasons which render this contending

necessary.

I. With regard to the precise nature of that faith for which we are exhorted to contend, it is declared to be the faith " once delivered to the saints."

This statement identifies the true faith, by specifying the channel through which it was conveyed. It was delivered to "the saints,"-to persons whose sanctity was undoubted, and whose spiritual eminence afforded some guarantee for the truth and genuineness of the doctrines revealed by them. In accordance with this, we find the sacred writers invariably represented as men who were peculiarly distinguished for personal holiness. Hence it is said, that "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;" that "God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets;" and John, apostrophising the inspired writers of the Old and New Testaments together, exclaims, "Ye holy apostles and prophets." It is, however, at the same time true,

that God has been pleased, on more than one occasion, to make known his mind through the instrumentality of individuals who were far from being entitled to the appellation of saints. Balaam, for example, saw the visions of the Almighty-the spirit of prophecy descended upon him, and one of the earliest and most beautiful predictions respecting the Messiah came from the lips of that false and covetous reprobate. Others also are mentioned, such as Judas the traitor, and Caiaphas the conspirator, who, although wicked and ungodly men, were made use of for uttering the mind of the Spirit, in special cases. But it is to be remarked, that they were not permitted to record the sentiments they revealed these were written down by the saints-the approved servants-the confidential Secretaries of Heaven; who, at the same time, took care to state what manner of persons those temporary prophesiers were, and the circumstances under which their services were employed. But, with peculiar exceptions, such as we have thus referred to, the will of God was declared through the medium of men whose sanctity was of so high and distinguished a character, that they were universally recognised not only as saints, but as "the saints," the parties who were principally and pre-eminently known by that sacred name.

It was

2d. But the true faith is identified, farther, by the manner in which it was communicated. "delivered to the saints. It was not invented by themselves: they did not come to the knowledge of it by any reasonings or researches of their own, but, on the contrary, received it by revelation from above. We read that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God;" and, in reference to the Old Testament writings, we are told, that "God spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets;" whilst, in reference to the contents of the New, it is stated, that he who spake to the fathers by the prophets, "hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son." Through the Son, the completed system of Divine truth was communicated to the evangelists and apostles, who were commanded to proclaim by speech, and preserve in writing, what Christ had thus taught them, and what the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did further signify, regarding the mysteries of the kingdom. Agreeably to this, the apostle Paul tells the Corinthians, that he had received from the Lord that which he delivered to them;" and, reiterating the statement, he says on another occasion, "I delivered unto you that which I also received;" and, that no

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doubt might exist in regard to this point, he declares that "the gospel which he preached was not after man ;" "for," says he, "I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." It therefore constituted a specific mark and characteristic of the true faith, that it was not devised or invented by man, but was "delivered" by inspiration "to the saints."

3d. But this faith is identified, in the last place, by the circumIt was stance of its being at that time fully disclosed. 66 once delivered to the saints." Of course we cannot understand the apostle to mean, that the various portions of divine truth were revealed all at once, or at the same point of time; for we are informed, on the contrary, that God spake "at sundry times" as well as "in divers manners;" and we know that the canon of Scripture was completed by degrees, and that it is composed of several parts, revealed at different intervals, during the course of many thousand years. Nor can we suppose the apostle to mean, that the whole matter of the sacred oracles had already been published, once for all; because he would then be excluding his own epistle, and the Apocalypse of St. John, from the record of inspiration. What the apostle evidently meant to convey was this:-that the gospel, as a system, was fully revealed previous to the appearance of the heretics of whom he was writing; that the faith, in all its essential principles, had, before that period, been delivered to the saints and servants of Christ; and that the new revelations, therefore, which these heretics pretended to have received, were not to be trusted, both because they were at variance with the truths already promulgated, and because these truths were so completely and perfectly disclosed, that no new revelations could either be expected or required.

If that then, and that alone, be the true faith which the apostle has thus minutely distinguished, it follows that they are chargeable with the guilt of corrupting the truth, who are found departing from it, or attempting in any respect to alter it. This was the sin of the seducers mentioned in the text; they sought to adulterate the gospel by new doctrines and inventions of their own, and the apostle protests against their views, on the ground that they were at variance with those which had been previously delivered to the saints. You will observe, that he refers to the faith as already divulged, and as forming a fixed and final standard of appeal. Look then at the apostle's argument in connection with the doctrine

held by those who contend for the authority of tradition. They affirm, that the Scriptures are not of themselves a sufficient rule of faith, but must be taken along with the traditions of the fathers. If this principle be right, Jude must have been wrong in declaring that the faith was once delivered to the saints; for, according to them, it continued to be delivered for centuries afterwards; and it was revealed to the fathers more fully than it was to the apostles themselves; at least it is assumed that the fathers understood it more clearly than the apostles have explained it. But if the true faith be that which was communicated to the saints who lived before this epistle was written, communicated by the Spirit of inspiration, and communicated once-not left to be supplanted or supplemented by subsequent revelations--if this be (as the passage before us expressly asserts) the pure, undoubted, unadulterated gospel, then must the traditionary tenets both of the Papists and of the Puseyites fall to the ground, as being nothing better than the fond and fabulous inventions of men "who err, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God."

Such being the precise nature of the faith to which the apostle refers, we now proceed to consider—

II. The manner and spirit in which we are to contend for it. Jude exhorts us "to contend earnestly." The word here rendered "earnestly" is much more forcible in the original that it is in our translation. It there means to maintain a hard struggle, to strive vehemently, to put forth all our strength in the contest; and the exhortation therefore implies

1st. That we are to regard the purity of the faith as a matter of the last importance. Such is the close and intimate relation subsisting between the various parts of the Christian system, that error admitted at any point is sure to spread its baneful influence over the whole. Like the spiritual body, which it is designed to nourish, if one member suffers all the other members suffer along with it; or like the human body, from which the figure is taken, a wound in any part of it, yea, even in the remotest extremities, is sufficient to disturb and distemper the entire frame. Even so, a false incongruous principle, if once it creeps into our creed, "eateth as doth a canker," until it works its way at last into the heart of the system, and pollutes the very vitals of the faith. We have only to examine into the history of religious controversies to see that the most destructive heresies by which the Church