hearts, we must remember that it will not come to perfection at once, that we require to wait patiently, while it is passing through the various stages of growth and development that are needful to mature it. And, in particular, we must look for the former and the latter rain-that is, for the quickening and the ripening influences of divine grace, which come in their season, and which can neither be hastened nor delayed by any devices of ours. Among these influences there seems to be a special reference to the rains of grief-the tears of affliction-—which fall like softening and fructifying showers on the "precious fruits" of the Spirit. In accordance with this is the language of the Psalmist :-" They that sow in tears, reap in joy. He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

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2. But besides the case of the husbandman, you will observe, further, the argument which is drawn from the coming of the Lord." Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." This is the utmost limit of our waiting; for when the Lord appears, there will be an end to all our trials. The days of our mourning will then be over, and we shall "return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon our heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." And while we only require to wait unto the coming of the Lord, the Apostle reminds us that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." It draweth nigh to the young ;

for the most and the best of them die early. When the Beloved visits His garden to taste His pleasant fruits, and to pluck His pleasant flowers, He generally selects the sweetest and the fairest. It draweth nigh to the old; for they cannot, in the course of nature, expect to survive beyond a certain period. The vision is for a time appointed, and He who is to come will come, and will not tarry. But the coming of the Lord draweth nigh at every stage of life, and is never far off even from those who are spared the longest. Hence the sacred writers describe the flight of time by images drawn from all that is fleeting and transitory in the aspect of nature. It is like a flower -like a lightning-flash-like a summer flood-like a dream of the night-like a weaver's shuttle-like a swift ship-like an eagle hastening to the prey— like a vapour that appeareth for a little moment, and then vanisheth away. And one of our Christian poets explains the philosophy of this when he says

"Life speeds along

From point to point, though seeming to stand still.

The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth:

Too subtle is the movement to be seen;

Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are gone."

XV.

EARNEST CONTENTION FOR THE COMMON

SALVATION.

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."- JUDE 3.

THE

cause by which the Apostle was moved to send forth this brief but striking and urgent appeal is so fully explained by himself, that, without any further preface, we may refer you at once to his own statement. He tells us that "certain men," of whose appearance they had been previously, and, as it seems, prophetically forewarned, had "crept in unawares,"— "ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying" (either formally or in effect) "the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Shocked at the licentious principles they were attempting to disseminate, he hastens to apprise the general body of believers of the doctrines and the doings of these men; especially as they had assumed the character of Christian teachers, while working in a way that was calculated, not only to corrupt the minds

of the Christian disciples, but even to imperil the interests of "the common salvation." In these circumstances he felt himself called upon to sound a distinct note of alarm, and to summon the members of the Church to the defence of the faith. "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."

In selecting these words as the foundation of our remarks, it would not, we believe, be considered out of place were we to assign the same reason, and to plead the same necessity, as the Apostle does for calling your attention to the topic which is here brought before us; a topic which, however trite in itself, derives, as we think, a peculiar degree of significance from the very peculiar state of religious opinion in these times. But without anticipating at present what will fall to be more properly considered in the sequel, we would ask you to notice

I. The description here given of the gospel; and, II. The exhortation which is founded

upon it.

I. First, then, you will observe the description that is given of the gospel. It is declared to be "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." This statement is plainly intended to distinguish the true faith from all those spurious versions of it that were

current in the Apostle's days. And it does so by pointing out

1. In the first place, the medium, or channel, through which it was conveyed. It was "delivered to the saints," that is, to sanctified men-men whose spiritual character afforded the fullest guarantee for the truth and genuineness of the things that were revealed by them. In accordance with this we find that those privileged individuals, by whom God was pleased to make known His will to the Church and to the world, were all possessed of the highest personal holiness. Hence we read 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 two great orders of saints to whom the faith was delivered under both dispensations, exclaims, "Ye holy apostles and prophets." It is not improbable, however, that among the saints of whom he is speaking, Jude meant to embrace not only the sacred authors through whose agency the faith was conveyed, but also the whole body of confessors by whom it was received. It was delivered unto these "saints," also, as a revelation from God; and in accepting and approving of it, as they did, they have left us an additional and most comprehensive proof that it really was what it professed to be. Here, then, we have a double security for the divine origin of the faith, that it was delivered by holy men to holy men; that those who had to do both with