sinners are converted to God, and that saints are edified and built up in the faith. And, accordingly, Paul says of believers, that they are called to salvation "by the gospel." Peter also declares, that they are born by "the incorruptible seed of the word, which liveth and abideth for ever;" and our Lord, in his intercessory prayer for his disciples, says, "Sanctify them by thy truth; thy word is truth." We have, therefore, every reason to believe, that the revealed word of God is precisely adapted to the exigencies of man's spiritual condition; so precisely, that if it be perverted or misapplied, its power to benefit the soul is proportionably impaired. In applying the redemption purchased by Christ, the Spirit uses and honours his own truth; and we must necessarily use it in that sense, and that alone, in which He meant it to be understood: and although we may not limit the mercy of the Holy One of Israel, so far as to maintain, that none are ever brought into a state of salvation except those who are enabled to apprehend the gospel clearly and completely; yet we are fully warranted in saying, that, wherever the gospel is misconceived, the progress of vital religion is there hindered to an extent exactly proportionate to the amount of error and misconception which prevails. Where the gospel is altogether unknown, practical ungodliness reigns universally; nature remains unchecked and unchanged. Where the gospel is radically corrupted, there is but little improvement upon this state of things. In such cases, the rites of religion are generally substituted in place of its realities. There being nothing substantial for the soul, the lack is attempted to be made up by providing ceremonies for the senses. Where there is some portion of vital truth taught and maintained, the standard of practical Christianity is found to be raised; although, from the errors still intermixed with the truth, the regenerative power of the gospel is marred, so that it works with a muffled and mitigated force. But where the gospel is held forth purely and scripturally-where it is brought fully and faithfully to bear upon the souls of men- there piety, and righteousness, and peace, are seen to pervade the hearts and the habits of the population. We have only to cast our eye over the map of Christendom to be convinced of the truth of these observations, and to find ample proof of the fact, that the pure and unadulterated gospel is alone capable of producing those enlightening and purifying effects which Christianity was designed to accomplish in the Church and in the world; that

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in the degree in which the gospel is corrupted, in that very degree is the temporal and spiritual improvement of men hindered, and that we are therefore acting in the spirit of the highest and the holiest charity when we step forth to vindicate the truth of God from the perversions of heretical seducers, and to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." But the duty

here enjoined is necessary—

4th. In the last place, Because we are bound in this matter to follow the example of our Lord and his Apostles. It is a fact well worthy of our notice, that there is no kind of offence more frequently or emphatically denounced by Christ aud his followers, than that of vitiating and perverting the oracles of truth. Notwithstanding the meekness and gentleness by which the Saviour was distinguished-notwithstanding the patient and compassionate tenderness which he manifested towards even the worst class of practical transgressors-tenderness which led his enemies to stigmatise him as "the friend of publicans and sinners"-yet it is very observable how warmly and indignantly he inveighed against those who presumed to adulterate the truth, and to tamper with the records of inspiration. We may with confidence affirm, that there was no class of men, and no species of sin, that met with such unwonted and unsparing severity at his hands. While his language to all others was, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”—while he had compassion upon the multitude when he saw them kept in ignorance, and wandering as sheep without a shepherd, he never referred to their false teachers without heaping upon them the heaviest denunciations of wrath: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" was his almost invariable mode of addressing them; and on one occasion we find him speaking to them in these sharp and tremendous terms," Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how shall ye escape the damnation of hell?" The Apostles appear to have followed closely the example of their Master, in launching their most withering rebukes against the teachers of error. Think, for example, of the language which Peter used towards Simon Magus, who "deceived the people" by his sorceries:-“Thy money perish with thee; because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money, thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." Mark also the style in which Paul speaks to another deceiver of the same

description, when, looking him in the face, he said, "O! full of all subtilty, and all mischief! thou child of the devil! thou enemy of all righteousness! Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" And, on another occasion, when he discovered that the Galatians had been so far removed from their stedfastness as to permit certain false teachers to propagate opinions at variance with the gospel which he preached amongst them, he alludes to the matter in these stern and decisive terms:-"Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed;" and, lest this vehement anathema should not make its full impression upon them, he, like a man awfully in earnest, immediately thunders it forth a second time-"As I said before, so say I now again, though we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” But without citing other passages, we would simply quote the words of Jude immediately before us, where he speaks of the false teachers, to whom he refers as "certain men who had crept in unawares, ungodly men, who had turned the grace of God into lasciviousness." Nor need we wonder at these denunciations, when we reflect that, the gospel being the only means of salvation, the man who is instrumental in corrupting it is doing his utmost to decoy souls to destruction; and is therefore guilty of the deepest and deadliest crime that a human being can commit. He who takes away the life of another is by the law adjudged to death; and though God has reserved to himself the right of finally vindicating his own cause, yet surely the man who labours to ruin his fellow-creatures eternally, merits the direst woes that can be heaped upon his head. In order then to counteract the cruel and mischievous conduct of these worst enemies of mankind, let us not be afraid to confront them, and to expose their false and fatal principles, that we may thus fulfil the duty commanded in the text of "contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints."

LECTURE IV.

THE CHARACTER OF THE HERETICS DENOUNCED IN THIS

EPISTLE.

NAMELESS MEN-DECEIVERS-REPROBATES.

THE Apostle, after calling upon his fellow-believers to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, proceeds to show why "it was needful for him to write unto them, and exhort them," as he does. It appears that it was not without cause that he was led to sound the alarm, and to summon the members of the church to the defence of the common salvation. "For," says

he, "there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation; ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

In this verse the sacred writer describes, in the first place, the character of the heretics who were engaged in corrupting the faith; and he sets forth, in the second place, the nature of the heresies maintained by them.

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I. The manner in which he speaks of the heretics themselves is worthy of particular notice. He does not mention their names, nor does he point them out by any party designation, but simply alludes to them as certain men.' Considering the mischievous notoriety which they had obtained, there can be little doubt that Jude was as thoroughly acquainted with their names and personal circumstances, as we find he was with their doings and their doctrines. He must therefore have had special reasons of his own for not referring to them more explicitly; and it may not be

unprofitable to inquire what these reasons could be. He might have been induced to advert to them in this vague and indistinct

1st. With the view of avoiding those irritating personalities by which religious controversies are so apt to be characterised. It is, in general cases, of much importance to distinguish between "men and measures;" or, in other words, to investigate opinions apart from the individuals by whom they are maintained. If it be our object to elicit truth, and to convince gainsayers of their errors, we must be careful to observe this distinction; for the moment we begin to introduce matters that are merely personal, we not only depart from the abstract merits of the questions at issue, but we draw in elements calculated to disturb our own judgments, and to awaken the hostile feelings and prejudices of those whom we wish to undeceive. To abuse is evidently not the way to disabuse. So long as we keep within the limits of purely intellectual discussion, we plead at the bar of Truth, where Conscience presides, and calm Order prevails; and Reason is left free to bring forward her arguments fully, and to lay them out with clear and dispassionate accuracy. In such a case, the only emo

tions that are excited are the moral emotions, which, so far from confusing the understanding, rather help to purify it, and to render it more accessible to the claims of truth. But when we descend from the region of abstract investigation to that of personality and passion, we leave the mount of vision for the valley of mists; we shift the arena from the higher to the lower powers of our nature; we carry our appeal from the soul to the senses from the man to the brute! And when, especially in religious controversy, the malign emotions of the human heart are aroused, it is found that they rage with a double violence; for, on the one side, conscience and reason, and all the nobler faculties of the soul, are pressed into the service of passion, "giving their power to the beast;" while, on the other, the latent enmity of the heart against divine things is superadded to the heats of personal contention. Hence it has often been remarked, that there is no odium so bitter as the "odium theologicum;"no conflicts so fierce as those connected with religion; and the reason is, that the best powers of man are, on such occasions, converted into weapons of strife, and the combatants are actually, though it may be unconsciously, violating both tables of the law. They are fighting at