finite wisdom, to be indispensable for us. It seems a cruel thing to wish that any man should have losses, or cares, or bereavements, or a bitter cup to drink, or a weary pillow to lie on; but we do not wish these things for themselves, but as the physician applies the leech, and as the leech cures, gratifying itself but subserving us. We wish these things not to pain our bodies, but to promote our best and our everlasting interests. We know that if we are God's children, he will give those things when and where his wisdom sees best, and his love feels to be best. Our trials for each year will not be too heavy, too many, too long, as the devil would wish; nor will they be too light, too few, too short, as our own ill-informed hearts would wish; but there will be written upon all a needs be, and they will be exactly what is most expedient for us. Alas! who does not know that we draw far greater spiritual advantage from trials, and losses, and crosses, than from gains, pleasures, and prosperity? There is not one of us who could bear continual sunshine; we need the relief of a little shadow. Not one of us could bear to be continually on Pisgah; we need sometimes to be in the tents of Mesech, and in the tabernacles of Kedar. It is well that God ministers to us in this matter, as he sees to be best for us; that he "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb;" that he will keep us no longer in the crucible than is requisite to remove the alloy, and send forth in greater purity and splendour the precious gold which he is preserving for himself.

Let us wish each other that length of days that may be best for our spiritual progress and everlasting wellbeing. Let us not wish that our days be too few, lest we perish before we are ripe for glory; nor that our

days be too many, lest they be a load upon some, and lead to the hardening of others. But we will pray that we may be immortal until we have secured the crown, by embracing the Cross of Christ; and may be made meet, by his Holy Spirit working within us, to will and to do of his good pleasure, for everlasting joy and felicity. In praying, therefore, for our spiritual health, we pray that we may have all that may aid and develop it. Progress in likeness to Christ is our great duty, and ought to be the subject of our earnest prayer. Let our march be through the wilderness, the Egyptians thundering in our rear, and the Red Sea rising and roaring in our van; let it be through many a deep valley, and over many a high hill; let it be where God pleases, if we feel that every trial is ripening and making us meet for an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

This wish of John to Gaius is the wish of common sense, as well as of a spiritual. Does not the general on the day of battle subordinate all in order to gain the victory? Does not the physician in the treatment of his patient subordinate all things if he can only save his life? Does not the merchant subordinate all in order to succeed? Does not the statesman subordinate all in order to govern right and well? And is it not but proper, does it not commend itself to our own consciences as right, that God should arrange all we suffer, all we encounter, all we endure, in order to make us meet for that grand and ultimate issue in his holy, and happy, and blessed presence?

Let us pray that we may have this year that which will suit us best for the years of eternity; that its sunshine and its clouds, its storm and its calm, its

trials and its troubles, its sorrows and its joys, and all that bubbles up from its unsounded depths, or comes down from its inaccessible heights, may conspire and co-operate together in helping us on to that blessed rest that remaineth for the people of God. We are here to ripen for eternity: whatever obstructs our progress is misfortune; whatever, however painful, facilitates and hastens it, may not for the present be joyous, but grievous, yet it worketh out the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. Therefore we wish each other all the true, because the Christian compliments of each season; that each and all may prosper, and be in health, even as our souls prosper, and are in health, for Christ's sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION OF JUDE.

"LITTLE is known of the author of this brief epistle. He styles himself (ver. 1) 'the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James;' but there has been some difference of opinion as to what James is meant. He does not call himself an apostle, but supposes that the terms which he uses would sufficiently identify him, and would be a sufficient reason for his addressing his brethren in the manner in which he does in this epistle. There were two of the name of James among the apostles (Luke vi. 14, 15); and it has been made a question of which of them he was the brother. There were also two of the name of Judas, or Jude; but there is no difficulty in determining which of them was the author of this epistle, for the other had the surname of Iscariot, and was the traitor. In the catalogue of the apostles given by Matthew (ch. x. 3), the tenth place is given to an apostle who is there called 'Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus ;' and as this name does not occur in the list given by Luke (ch. vi. 15), and as the tenth place in the catalogue is occupied by Simon, called Zelotes ;' and as he afterwards mentions Judas the brother of James,' it is supposed that Lebbeus and

Judas were the same persons.

It was not uncommon

for persons to have two or more names. * Comp. Robinson's Harmony of the Gospels, § 40; Bacon's Lives of the Apostles, p. 437; and Michaelis, Intro. iv. 365.". Barnes.

This, the last letter or epistle contained in the New Testament Scripture, like some of those we have recently read, is extremely brief, but full of precious and practical prescriptions. It is written, as the introduction shows, by Jude, who was the brother of James, and after the flesh a near relative of our Blessed Lord. His name was otherwise called "Lebbeus, whose surname was also Thaddeus." He writes this epistle not to a Church, such as was the Corinthian or the Roman Church, but to the Catholic Church—he writes it "to all them that are sanctified by God." The word “ sanctified," in its original sense, means separated, set apart; and hence the word in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin, means separated to what is evil, as well as separated to what is good. In Hebrew it is applied to a person delivered to wickedness, as well as to a person delivered to goodness. So again in Latin the word sacer, the corresponding word, is applied to what is bad as well as what is good. We have in Latin the auri sacra fames, which does not mean the sacred thirst of gold, but the accursed thirst of gold; and all this is to be explained on the principle that the word means strictly "set apart," or "separated." To all those who are separated or set apart by the Father in his everlasting love; and are preserved in Christ, as Noah in the ark, as the fugitive manslayer in the city of refuge, there being no condemnation to such; or that chapter applicable to hem which, as is truly and beautifully said, begins with