Page images
PDF
EPUB

recent measures of our Civil Rulers in favour of Popery; the spirit of religious indifferentism displayed so openly by the political representatives of the country; together with the painful and portentous divisions on points of doctrine prevailing among some of the leading evangelical denominations; all combine to show, that the fervent exhortations of Jude have seldom been more urgently called for than at this particular time. The warnings given by him against the "creeping" encroachments of error, and the solemn appeals with which he charges the members of the Church" earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints,” are peculiarly adapted to the present crisis; and it is therefore conceived that this production, however deficient in other respects, will be found to possess at least one advantage: viz. that to which the wise man adverts, when he says" a word spoken in season how good it is."

Page.

LECTURE VI.

THE FATE OF ANCIENT ISRAEL-A WARNING AGAINST THE
GUILT AND DANGER OF PRACTICAL APOSTACY.

"I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."-VERSE 5.

LECTURE VII.

THE FATE OF THE FALLEN ANGELS-A WARNING AGAINST
THE SIN OF SPIRITUAL REBELLION.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."-VERSE 6.

LECTURE VIII.

THE FATE OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN-AN EXAMPLE OF THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES OF LICENTIOUS PRINCIPLES. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." VERSE 7.

LECTURE IX.

77

87

..105

MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL DISPUTING WITH THE DEVIL. "Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee."VERSES 8 and 9.

LECTURE X.

THE SUCCESSORS OF CAIN, BALAAM, AND CORE. "But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core."-VERSES 10 and 11.

LECTURE XI.

THE CHARACTER AND END OF SPIRITUAL SEDUCERS. "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."-VERSES 12 and 13.

113

125

136

EXPOSITION

OF THE EPISTLE OF JUDE.

LECTURE I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

THE CHARACTER OF THE WRITER, AND THE PARTIES TO WHOM THE EPISTLE IS ADDRESSED.

IN commencing this Series of Lectures, we deem it right to state, at the outset, that it is our design to enter with considerable minuteness into the various topics presented to our notice in this very rich and remarkable Epistle. Instead of confining ourselves to the leading views laid down by the sacred writer, as is the general practice, and the practice which we ourselves are accustomed to follow in the course of our ordinary ministrations, we conceive it to be of some advantage to depart occasionally from what may be called the expansive system of instruction, and to examine more closely and narrowly into the mind of the Spirit, with the view of bringing out in particular detail the less evident, but not always the less essential points, that lie hid beneath the broader principles of Divine truth. The work of Scripture exposition(using that word in its more limited and legitimate sense) we regard as of very high importance. Indeed, there is reason to believe that it was principally in this way that the gospel was first

B

proclaimed by the Apostles of our Lord; for while we find them addressing the heathen unbelievers on the great general doctrines of the faith, we may at the same time observe, that, when they turned from the Gentiles to the Jews, they adopted quite a different style of teaching. They took the latter-that is, the Jews -to the law and to the testimony at once. They "reasoned with them out of the Scriptures;" and their reasoning generally consisted of a minute and almost literal analysis of the passages to which they referred them. They appear to have acted with peculiar closeness on the principle, that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness;" and that it is by the careful study and sanctified knowledge of its varied lessons, that "the man of God is made perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

We are quite aware that the practice of textual exposition is not by any means so generally relished as the system of doctrinal instruction which commonly prevails; and the reasons on which this preference of the latter over the former is founded are very easily assigned. The great object of textual exposition is to explain the sense of Scripture in detail,-to fix down the attention pointedly and particularly on the precise meaning of its several parts, without leaving scope for those larger excursions and looser illustrations which the system of doctrinal instruction allows; and which, from its wider latitude-and also, we may add, from its greater vagueness is more agreeable to many minds than the minuter and closer method of which we are just speaking. Besides this, it may be remarked, farther, that expository lectures do not usually admit of the same degree of warmth and animation as doctrinal discourses. They consist more in calm and patient efforts to elucidate the text, than in direet appeals to the understanding or the affections; and those, therefore, who prefer excitement to instruction-who seek to be moved rather than to be enlightened to be touched rather than to be taught,—all such persons, and they generally constitute the largest class, are more interested by the kind of preaching which stirs their feelings than by that which is calculated to store their minds, to guide their consciences, and to regulate their practical conduct. We may also mention, as another reason which has contributed to render expository teaching less popular than we think it should be, that

« PreviousContinue »