lllllnner of prayer. (1) It must be "in sincerity and truth." (2) In fervour: 11 With groan_ing~." _(3) In faith: .".Nothing wavering." (4) In holiness; for the Spirit of ~~pphcat10n 1s always a Sp~nt of grace. (5) In l~ve; for we are to lift holy hands 1nthm1t wrath, and the Spmt makes us at peace with ourselves. 2, Without prayer a man shows himse?f to be destitute of the Spirit. 3. What a 1·esou1·oe have the saint, in the b1tildi11g up of their spiritual life! III. THE SELF-PRESERVING END TOWARD WIIICR ALL TBIS SPIRITUAL EFFORT JS DIRECTED. "Keep yourselves in the love of Goel" 1. This is not our love to God but God's love to us, in which we dwell as in a region of safety-" as in a watoh-tower ,! ~ays Calvin; for it is parallel to the saying of our Lord, "A.bide ye in my love" (Joh~ x,·. 9). "How great," says Jenkyn, "how foll, o. good is God!" In him is all fulness of grace, of joy, of safety, springing out of his infinite love. 11 He that dwelleth in love dwcllet.h in God, and God in him" (1 John iv. 16). 2. Our preservation in the midst Qf heresy. and i:'1-piety do/Fends on _our dwelling in God's love. 3. We cannot keep ourselves m Gods love without having our own love deeply stirred. This l.Jreastplate of love will he a preservative against seduction (1 Thess. v. 8). 4. We ought con- ti'.nually to 71ray that the love of God may be shed abroad iii our hearts by the Holy Ghost. (Rom. v. 5.) 5. Saints ought ever to know and believe that love. (1 John iv. 16.) IV. THE EXPECTATION THAT IS LINKED TO THIS GUARDIANSHIP WITHIN THE SPHERE OF Goo's LOTI. "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." 1. The o~j"ect of this expectation. (1) It is Christ's mercy, because: (a) He procured it by his merit. (b) He applied it to us by his Spirit. (c) Ho holds out its crowning blessings in the future day of judgment: "Come, ye blessed of my Father." There is "a crown of righteousness in that day." He is "to present us faultless before the presence of glory" (ver. 24). (d) There is uo mercy apart from Christ. 2. The expectation itself. This implies (1) e. confident belief in the reality of this mercy; (2) warm desire for it; (3) patient waiting for it (Heb. vi. 12); (4) a joyful foretaste of it (Rom. v. 2; 1 Pet. i. 8); (5) the love of his "appearance" (2 'l'im. iv. 8), 3. The final issue of the expected mercy. "Eternal life." This is the true life of man. In its final glory it implies the function of God's presence. Augustine says, "Heaven is a low thing withont God." Our happiness finds its end in everlasting communion with God. 4. The effects which this expectation ought to exercise upon us. It ought (1) to preserve us against error and sin; (2) to quicken our zeal; (3) to make us faithfol in the dis- charge of all duty; (4) to make us patient in the endurance of trial.-T. C.
Vers. 22, 23.-Exhortation to faithful, but discriminating, dealing with three classes of transgressors. L THE LEAST HOPELESS CLASS-THE UNSTABLE AND DISPUTATIOUS. "And on some have mercy, who contend with you." We are to be compassionate towards errorists of this class. 1. Compassion becomes a (Jhristian; for he ought to have the very bowels of Christ himself. 2. It is not to be denied to errorists of a certain class. They are entangled with doubts. Their very disputations imply that they are restless in mind. ,ve are to restore the fallen in a spirit of meekness. "We Jive not among the perfect, but such as are subject to many slips." We have frequent need ourselves of God's pity and help. o. Wisdom is nruJded in dealing with the fallen. Some will be won by love who will be repelled by severity. The persons in this first class may have fallen through infirmity, ignorance, or blinded zeal. II. ANOTHER CLASS TO JlE TREATED WITH A HOLY SEVERITY. "A.nd some save, snatching them out of the fire." 1. This class is obdurate, presumptuous, and without shame. They have not known the bitterness of sin, and they are in great hazard. 2. Tl,e saints can, in a sense, save transgressors. "How knoweet thou, 0 man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?" (1 Cor. vii. 16); "Thou ehalt both eave thyself, and them that hear thee" (1 Tim. iv. lG; see also Jae. v. 20). Believers can rebuke sinners, plead with them, pray for them, and win them back to the gospel. 3, A holy severity is qften needed in dealing with transgressors. "Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. v. 10). Siunere mlll't be plucked violently from the fire. Our severity ought to have a saving motive: "Severity to sin being mercy to the soul;" "and ~ !!,ocliy heart," as Jenkyn saye, "would not have one threat the Iese in the Dible," 4-, 'l'l"' wicked are fw.rless in sin, and regardless q/ its dread consequence.,. 1-25.J TIIE GENERAL EPISTLE m• JUDE. 83