and set apart to a sacred purpose.

Hence, in the writings of Moses and the prophets, the term "to sanctify" is almost invariably used as synonymous with the terms "to separate,” “to select," "to set apart." In the New Testament, there are several passages in which the same meaning is attached to it, although there it is more generally employed to signify the spiritual purification of the soul through the influence of the Holy Ghost. In the case before us, however, it appears to us that the word is used in the first of these senses—namely, to express separation. In giving this version of the text, we are aware that we put a construction on it which, so far as we know, is not sanctioned by any of the commentators. They (at least such of them as we have seen) reverse the order of the words, with the view, as they suppose, of following more correctly the order of time; and hence they begin with the last particular, regarding the "calling" of the believer first—that being the primary step in the process of regeneration—and they explain the two preceding particulars, about his being "preserved" and "sanctified," as referring to the spiritual care and discipline under which he is put after he is called. But it appears to us that the words as they stand in the passage are more accurately expressive of the order of time than is thus supposed, and that they admit of a different and more direct construction than is usually assigned to them—a construction which will make the " calling" the last instead of the first step of the course. There is, to say the least, something not consistent with the analogy of Scripture, and calculated to lead to a confusion of ideas, in speaking of believers as being "sanctified" (in the sense of spiritual purification) "by God the Father," and "preserved" (after being called or regenerated) "in Christ Jesus." The general strain of Scripture ascribes the work of sanctification to God the Spirit, and it also assigns the keeping or preserving of the believer, after he is called, to the First rather than the Second person of the Godhead. We do not say that no passage can be found to countenance the views against which we are contending; we merely affirm that they are opposed to the general spirit of Scripture analogy; and with regard to the point immediately before us, we are convinced that that analogy will be much better maintained by interpreting the passage as it stands, and taking the interpretation suggested by the natural order in which the parti-culars are recorded. Recurring, then, to what we have stated

regarding the meaning of the word "sanctified," we conceive tha it refers to the predetermined separation or election of believers. This act is uniformly ascribed to "God the Father," and it forms the primary movement—the grand basis on which the scheme of redemption proceeds.

Those who have thus been set apart by the Father, acting as the representative of the Godhead, are "preserved in Jesus Christ." Being constituted Mediator, they were "chosen in Him," "predestinated to the adoption of sons" by Him. They were given to Him as a spiritual seed; and, from the first moment that the council of peace was concluded, they were his in the bonds of the everlasting covenant; and hence from that moment they became the objects of his peculiar care. He who "calleth the things that are not as though they were”—He to whom all time is present, and before whom all objects are immediately and unchangeably unveiled-took his elect ones, even before they were manifest in the flesh, under his special charge; and, when his mediatorial work on earth was drawing on to its close, he could say, as he looked through the whole of it, from the beginning to the end, from the eternity in which it was originally devised to the eternity in which it was to be finally consummated, "of those whom thou hast given me I have lost none."

Being thus preserved in Christ Jesus, they are in due time "called.” We read that "many are called" though "few are chosen." The many are called externally; they are only the chosen few who are called effectually. The offer is proclaimed to all, but the majority deliberately reject it. They consciously, wilfully, of their free mind and motion, disregard the call, and despise the threatening of the Lord; and they have nothing, therefore, to complain of, if they are left at last to reap the fruits of their own devices. They may assert, that the influence and exclusive efficacy of divine grace converts those who are brought to embrace the invitations of the gospel into mere machines; but they know they are directly convinced from their own experience—that they are not machines in rejecting these invitations. They feel that they have no palsied powerlessness about them—that they are not under the influence of any irresistible fatality in refusing to submit to the righteousness of God: they cannot deny that their condemnation, if they persist in their unbelief, is truly set forth in the Saviour's touching complaint, when he says, "Ye will not come to me that

ye might have life!" But those who are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus, are, in the day of their merciful visitation, made willing to accept of the offer tendered: they are persuaded and enabled to close with the terms of reconciliation held forth in the gospel; and they then become "the called according to God's purpose:" thus making, at the same time, their "calling and their election sure”—sure, at least, so far as the actual possession of these privileges is concerned, though it may not always be sure to them as a matter of personal conviction.

After thus describing the parties to whom the Epistle is addressed, Jude, according to the venerable apostolic practice, pronounces a benediction on those called, and chosen, and faithful ones, for whose guidance and instruction he was writing-" Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied."

Though justified and accepted in the Beloved, they were not placed beyond the need of "mercy." Being renewed but in part, they still had the remains of corruption within them, and were therefore not merely liable to fall, but daily (though not deliberately or wilfully) falling into sin. The transgressions thus committed by them exposed them to the moral and judicial displeasure of God, who can never look on sin, wheresoever it may appear, without the holy recoil of abhorrence; and who regards the offences of his people with peculiar detestation, because they are eminently aggravated by the distinguishing light and love which he has graciously vouchsafed to them. As these sins rendered them continually guilty, they stood in continual need of mercy. Though the body of their sins had been cleansed with the pure waters of redeeming grace, they yet required to have "their hands and their feet washed" from the defiling spots that they were daily contracting.

But the apostle prays not only for mercy, but also for "peace," in their behalf. Peace, in the case of the believer, is the result and offspring of mercy. His declensions and backslidings, while they grieve God, are also a source of grief and disquietude to himself. The law of the spirit of life within him is broken, and his conscience condemns him. His new nature-his better nature- his divine nature,—is thwarted, offended, mortified. His inner man is, therefore, in a state of conflict; and he cannot forgive himself until God forgives him, nor enjoy rest in his spirit until the mercy of God visits him, and the peace of God descends upon him. Such is the simple, child-like, ingenuous character of a true believer; and

hence sins of which the world knows nothing-sins that would cost the unrenewed man not a single thought—sins that have never been permitted to break forth into act, or to pass out from the guarded inclosure of his own struggling bosom—sins such as these often disturb his repose, awaken his deepest anxieties, and wring from him in secret many bitter tears. O! the pure, the lofty, the holy aspirations, of a genuine child of God! Truly, he is not of the world, for he has nothing of its hard, callous, earthlyminded grossness about him. The world knoweth him not, for the rude multitude cannot understand his hallowed principles, or sympathise with his tender and heaven-toned sensibilities.

But the apostolic benediction, besides peace, includes "love." And this love, in a certain sense, is the fruit and effect of peace; at least, the influence of the former is stimulated and increased by the experience of the latter. It is impossible for the believer to think of the mercy that is every moment extended to him, and of the consoling, reconciling peace, that is continually poured into his heart, by a gracious and forgiving God, without feeling his love rising and swelling into greater fervour than before. No one can be more sensible how little he deserves the grace that is bestowed upon him, or how much he has provoked the displeasure that is turned away from him; and when he finds that the Lord is preventing his wants-yea, forestalling his wishes by the blessings of his goodness-when he finds that he is giving him pardon and peace; daily, liberally; without punishing him for the present, or upbraiding him for the past, he cannot but be feelingly alive to the wonderful condescension and long-suffering compassion of God; and this serves to call forth his most grateful affections, and to cause him to abound in all the exercises and labours of love. The Apostle prays that these blessings may be "multiplied to them." They possessed them in some measure already, but it was his benevolent desire that those divine privileges should be perpetually renewed to them-that they should have mercy added to mercy, peace added to peace, love added to love; that all the growing re-actions and accumulations of grace might be experienced by them—that, in one word, they might be progressively advancing in their spiritual acquisitions and attainments, until they came to be filled with "all the fulness of God.”

LECTURE II.

THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE GOSPEL SCHEME.

THE SALVATION-THE COMMON SALVATION-THE FAITH.

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AFTER specifying the parties to whom he was writing, and expressing his earnest and devout wishes for their welfare, the Apostle goes on to state the subject on which he felt himself called upon to address them. Verse 3-" Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." This statement resolves itself into two leading points or particulars. 1st, The description given of the gospel. 2d, The duty laid upon believers in regard to it.

I. The gospel, which is characterised by its spiritual or experimental effect, is here called "the salvation." It is the instrumental medium through which this comprehensive blessing is conveyed to the soul. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Believers are 66 called" to the enjoyment of their covenantrights and privileges "by the gospel;" and though we dare not assert that God cannot save a sinner without the presentation and spiritual apprehension of the truth as it is in Jesus, yet we can with confidence affirm, that salvation by the gospel is the established law of His kingdom, and, consequently, the law by which this matter is ordinarily ruled. What the Divine Being may do by virtue of His royal prerogative, in the case of those to whom the gospel has never been proclaimed, we know not, and