ness,―i.e. licence, and St. Jude therefore would have his Christians remember that they are just as much in a state of trial as their fathers in the wilderness, free but in probation, Nay, Angels fell and are reserved for punishment, and Sodom and Gomorrha though under no law were punished for their crimes. Evil is everywhere doomed, so that they must beware.

'Then St. Jude notes the habits of those false teachers, in words which are so closely repeated by St. Peter, that the parallel passage forms a comment. (2 Peter ii.):

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

And through covetousness shail they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds ;)

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. .

...

These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest ; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

For if after they have escaped the poliutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the begin ning.

For it had been better for them not to have known the way of

righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Their abusive language is one of their marks, in contrast to the Angels who, as St. Jude observes, used no angry words even to Satan and his angels. The words, "the Lord rebuke thee," come from Zech. iii., where Satan is rebuked for accusing Joshua the high priest. Some think “the body of Moses" is an expression for the Israelite people, as the Church is the body of Christ, and that St. Jude means the struggle between spiritual powers of good and evil, as seen by Daniel; but others that it refers to a Jewish tradition that there was actually a strife between good and bad Angels on Mount Nebo at the death of Moses. These men are tempted like Balaam or Korah, and defile the love-feasts of the Church, eating without awe of the Holy Communion. They are like shooting stars, flashing for a moment, then lost in darkness for ever! So are all such as would lead us away from faith and good works.

Lastly, St. Jude quotes the prophecy of Enoch. The book he took it from has been found in Abyssinia, and contains revelations to Noah and to Enoch. It is a clear prophecy of judgment, partly fulfilled by the Deluge, but to have its further fulfilment at the Second Advent of Christ-when men will be judged for the works they have done in the flesh. Therefore those who would tell us that it matters not what our sins are, so that we believe, are to be utterly avoided, except where it is possible to convince them and bring them back, like brands saved from the fire.

St. Simon and St. Jude are said to have been crucified together in Persia, but the accounts of their deaths vary. Two sons of St. Jude were brought before the Emperor Domitian some twelve years later as descendants of the royal line, but when he saw their hands rugged with toil, and perceived that they were from poor and ignorant men, he feared nothing from them and sent them away unharmed.

LESSON C.

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER.

DATE UNKNOWN. (Abridged.) Ch. i. 1-12; v. 8—14.

Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations :

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ :

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour :

Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.

Amen.

By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein

ye stand.

The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.

Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

COMMENT.-About this time St. Peter likewise, using Silvanus, or Silas, as a scribe, wrote a letter to the Christians in Asia Minor, in which there is a greeting from St. Mark, and which is dated from Babylon. There is a great controversy as to what place is meant. The ancient Babylon was in ruins, and the Early Church always held that Babylon was used by the Apostle as a name for Rome, as the place of captivity and persecution; but the unreasonable claims that have been founded on the tradition that St. Peter taught and died at Rome, have led those who contradict them to maintain that he either wrote from the Mesopotamian Babylon, or from a place near Grand Cairo, which was long called Babylon. That Egypt was certainly the scene of St. Mark's chief labours lends colour to this; but, on the other hand, we have just seen that Marcus sent a greeting to Philemon from Rome, and there is a universal tradition that it was while attending on the two Apostles at Rome that St. Mark wrote his Gospel, under St. Peter's direction, for the Romans especially. There is much that bears out this belief in the minute description of scenes where St. Peter was present, and in other small matters, such as his referring to his own house at Capernaum as the house." Silas too was the special friend of St. Paul, and there is thus much reason to think that this Epistle was written after the two Apostles had met at Rome, perhaps after St. Paul had been set at liberty; but all this is mere conjecture, and by many it is questioned whether St. Peter was ever at Rome, while others think he only came there shortly before his martyrdom.

Some portions of the Epistle are so like St. Paul's exhortations to various classes of Christians, that it looks much as if St. Peter had been hearing them and had wished to send them forth to those Jew-born disciples, who, as we know, clung to him rather than to St. Paul. We will only read the opening and the conclusion of the Epistle, leaving the rest for later and deeper study. We should observe here that St. Peter is writing to those who, like ourselves, have to love and believe in the Saviour without having seen Him.

Danger and persecution are the trial of our faith (Ah! how well Peter knew that), and that faith leads to salvation. This salvation which is offered to us, is what the prophets and kings desired to come to, when they earnestly urged for full understanding of their own prophesies, taught them by the Holy Spirit of God. So, their words are for our learning, who live in the midst of the good tidings into which even the Angels desire to look.

Those who read the Epistle carefully will note the characteristic touches which mark the hand of the same Peter whom we knew in the Gospels, only as he says himself in his final blessing, "stablished, strengthened, settled." He who fell for want of watchfulness, gives the warning, "be sober, be vigilant." He, whose great proof of love was in the feeding of the sheep, bids all future shepherds to look on to the time "when the Chief Shepherd shall appear," and the faithful shall "receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away."

LESSON CI.

THE APPOINTMENT OF TIMOTHY.

A.D. 65.-1 TIM. i. I- -4; ii. 1-8.

It is known, from the earliest writers of the Church, in especial from St. Clement, that St. Paul's trial before the Emperor ended in his acquittal, and that he was set free to continue to sow the seed of the Gospel. We know from Rom. xv. 24-26, that he always intended to go to Spain, and St. Clement says that he preached in the far West, whence some have supposed that he not only visited Spain, but even Gaul and Britain. The time does not seem long enough for such a missionary journey as this would have been, for in the year 66, he was visiting his Churches in Asia and Greece. There is every reason to think that several of the remaining Apostolic men, St. John, St. Barnabas, and St. Mark, may have met him and agreed on the future constitution of the Church. Few of the twelve still survived, and the Church was to abide to the end of the world. Therefore the places of the Apostles were to be filled up, and heads to be given to the multiplying branches of the Church. Timothy