Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you… I. BECAUSE IT PROVIDES THAT WHICH MANKIND EVERYWHERE REQUIRE. It may be rightfully said, I think, that mankind are addicted to religion; by which I mean that the propensity to engage in worship, and to seek for help and succour from powers which are external to our selves — that that propensity is characteristic to man as man. Man is religious because he cannot help it; he is religious from necessity; he wants that which naturally he does not possess, and without which he believes it cannot be well with him, either now or hereafter. Why else will you find men going upon pilgrimages, offering sacrifices, and enduring the heaviest self-denial? Well, look here, in the glorious gospel of the blessed God you have just the common benefaction which humanity require. This, and not something else; not this or something else, but this exclusively, and this alone. II. BECAUSE YOU CAN COMMUNICATE IT TO MANKIND EVERYWHERE. I have spoken of various forms of religious service, and various modes of religious action; now of many of them it may be said that they arose out of the necessities of some given district, and that they relate exclusively to the peculiarities of that district. But you cannot tell me of any region of earth where Christianity cannot be instituted; the man does not live to whom it may not be preached, and by whom it may not be forthwith enjoyed. The nation cannot be found under heaven to which it may not be sent. The government does not exist under which it will not survive. Peculiarities, geographical, local or national, cannot be found whereby it would be set at nought. III. BECAUSE IT IS ADAPTED TO MANKIND EVERYWHERE. It is not only required by them in the general, but it is adapted to them severally, wherever they may be found. There are great peculiarities — personal peculiarities amongst the human family. 1. What peculiarities there are, for example, in respect to constitutional temperament! One man is cheerful, so much so that some would say of him, that he is volatile and gay. Another man, on the contrary, is taciturn. It would be said of him that he is gloomy or morose. Others partake of each of these peculiarities in a manner which, perhaps, may be said to constitute the temperament we most admire. The gospel when brought to bear on these peculiarities, ministers impulse where it is required — it ministers equanimity where that is required, and strength where strength is required. It preserves cheerfulness from degenerating into levity, and seriousness from degenerating into gloom. 2. Again, what peculiarities there exist with respect to age! The young man needs to be reminded that the world is a great delusion, and to be kept under constant, powerful, yet cheerful check, lest he put darkness for light, and light for darkness. The man of business needs to be reminded that this is not his rest. The man of threescore years and ten needs to be succoured, comforted, and cheered by the consolations of the gospel. It takes the young man and the maiden, and administers counsel and instruction to them. It takes the man of business, and is like a monitor at his very elbow on the exchange, bidding him not to forget the things which are unseen and eternal. It goes to the old man's chamber, and makes all his bed in his sickness. 3. Yet again, there are peculiarities with respect to intellectual power. There are some men who are profoundly intellectual, and there are other men who are not profoundly intellectual. There is a very great variety of gradation between those two extremes; but mark! The proverbs, the parables, the doctrines, the invitations in this Book were made as much for the sage as they were for the rustic; and, engaged as men of the most opposite intellectual power may be upon the examination of it, I would defy anybody to tell whether the philosopher or the peasant were most at home. 4. Then there is another peculiarity with regard to the degree of each person's criminality. It is adapted to the profligate, the blasphemer, the dishonourable — to adopt the language of the Apostle Paul, it is adapted to the disobedient, the lawless, the ungodly. IV. BECAUSE IT MAY BE PROFFERED TO ALL MANKIND, EVERYWHERE. So explicit are its declarations, so unrestricted are its invitations. "Believe thou on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!" The light of heaven is unrestricted, and the light of the gospel is equally so. (W. Brock.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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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