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SERMON V.

CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH.

JUDE 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.

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WHEN St. Jude says that the faith "was once delivered unto the saints,' he means to refer to the teaching of Christ, and to that of his apostles. He and they preached the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and also appointed others with authority to preach and teach it, as long as the world should last. So that if men could have been relied upon to teach as they were taught, this method of delivering the truth would

have sufficed, namely, oral tradition, the handing it down from generation to generation by word of mouth, through the means of ministers ordained to publish it and preserve it. But already in the times of the apostles, St. Jude says, that it was needful to write unto the brethren, and exhort them, that they should earnestly contend for the faith; evidently implying that the faith was in danger of perversion. And he takes occasion to set forth some chief particulars of the faith, whilst he specifies the errors of those who were persecuting it.

Writing then was necessary as well as preaching. A written revelation of the Gospel must be added to the publishing it by word of mouth. And indeed the whole of Scripture, both Old Testament and New must be regarded as a record of the truth, in writing, given us through God's care in the truth's behalf; as the means of its preservation, and propagation, in connexion with the ministry of living men. Without the Scriptures for an unerring standard, accessible to all,

the minister, however duly authorized, might easily deceive or be deceived. Without the minister authorized to teach, the Scriptures would be apt to lie unheeded on the shelf; and the lively oracles of God might become as a dead letter, by the neglect of man. Thank God, therefore, I beseech you, that both ordinances are upheld in our own church, according to their respective real importance. Acknowledge to its full extent the value of the church's teaching by its ministers; and praise the Lord for his goodness in giving you this privilege. And at the same time bless his holy name, for having delivered the faith to his saints, not only by the mouth of fallible witnesses, but by the imperishable, incorruptible, and infallible testimony, of the written word.

Certainly it must be the fault of men themselves, if by the due use of these two means together they do not attain unto the truth; if they remain in ignorance, or in doubt, as to what the truth really is. I am not saying that every man might be

enabled to settle every question that may be raised, on every point of doctrine, which can be imagined to form a part of Christian faith. But this I say, that there is in these two ordinances ample provision for the maintenance of saving truth, in the whole body of the church, and in every member thereof. The faith spoken of in the text relates to "the common salvation." It excludes all nice questions of philosophy, falsely so called. It includes all that is needful, all that is helpful, for the saving of the soul. And this is the faith, in which if we do not become sufficiently informed by the means which God has provided, truly the fault is all our

own.

St. Jude never supposes for one moment, that there can be any valid doubt as to what the true faith really is. He bids us contend for it, as for a thing which admits of being certainly ascertained. This is a point not sufficiently attended to. And if the duty of contending for the faith is now very generally neglected, one chief cause of the neglect is the prevalence of

a notion, that amongst the manifold forms of faith, striving for our preference, it is impossible to say which is the right one. And therefore before I proceed to enforce the duty set forth in the text, before I press you, in one of these my parting exhortations, to contend earnestly for the faith, I have endeavoured first to shew you, that there are means which God would have within the reach of all, and which actually are within your reach, whereby all might plainly know what is the Christian faith, what are those things which God would have all men to believe, in order to their everlasting salvation.

And now I would tell what is meant you by contending for the faith; how you are to contend for it; and what you are to contend for. The contention recommended by the apostle must in no wise be confounded with that strife of party, which abounds amongst all denominations of Christians. In the verse before the text, St. Jude prays, in behalf of those to whom he writes, "mercy unto you, and peace, and love be multiplied."

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