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Q. What is particularly recorded of St. Jude at our Lord's last supper?

A. That upon our Saviour's having told his disciples what particular manifestations he would make of himself after his resurrection to his sincere followers, St. Jude asked him, what was the reason he would manifest himself to them, and not to the world? which seems to hint at some expectation of our Saviour's temporal grandeur.

Q. How did our Saviour answer St. Jude's inquiry?

A. That because the world had no respect for him and his doctrine, therefore they should not enjoy the happiness of his presence: but since they, who had been his constant disciples, had shewed their love to him by obeying his laws, and attending upon his person, he would make them the comfortable returns of his love, by revealing himself to them."

Q. What may we learn from this?

A. That after the resurrection of our Saviour, his appearances were necessary to be made to the Apostles, because they were to be the witnesses of his resurrection to the world: but not to his enemies, who had rejected him and his doctrine. That good men, persons of Godlike tempers and dispositions, religious observers of God's laws, are qualified to be admitted to particular acts of God's grace and favour.

Q. What province was allotted to St. Jude for the exercise of his ministry?

A. It is most probable that he preached in Judæa and Galilee, and from thence went through Samaria into Idumæa; and to the cities of Arabia, and neighbouring countries, even to Syria and Mesopotamia.

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Q. Where did he suffer martyrdom?

A. By the general consent of the writers of the Latin church, he is said to have travelled into Persia, where, after great success in the labours of his ministry, he was, for his free and open reproving the superstitious rites of the Magi, cruelly put to death.

Q. What account have we of his family?

A. That he was a married man, and that his two grand-children bore evidence to the truth of Christianity before Domitian the emperor; who being jealous of any rival in the empire, summoned them before him, as some of the remains of the posterity of David, and of those that were related to Christ.

Q. How did they escape when they appeared before the Emperor?

A. They were dismissed without any severe usage; for, answering with great sincerity, and owning themselves of the race of David, but that they were very poor, and lived by husbandry, as was manifest by the hardness of their hands; and that as to the Messiah, though he was a king, yet it was in heaven, not on earth, where his kingdom should not appear till the end of the world, when he should come in glory both to judge the quick and dead; Domitian despised their poverty and meanness, as below his jealousies and fears.

Q. What writings did this Apostle leave behind him? A. He left but one epistle, inscribed at large to all Christians; but it is thought to have been chiefly intended for the converted Jews in their several dispersions. He exhorts them to stand manfully upon the defence of the faith once delivered to the saints," and to oppose the false teachers, the Nicolaitans, and the

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Gnostics, who laboured so much to corrupt it. But because true Christian charity, though zealous, is without bitterness and hatred, he exhorts all Christians by gentle means to save them, and to pull them out of the fire into which their own folly had cast them.

Q. What may we learn from the observation of this Festival?

A. To be content that our best actions should be known to God only, since there remains so little remembrance of many eminent Apostles. That our labours in doing good should rather appear by the happy effects of them, than by any publication from ourselves or others. That to court the applause of men is vanity; and that nothing is worth our care more than to approve ourselves to that Almighty Being who cannot be imposed upon. That in all our undertakings we ought to be diligent and faithful in the discharge of our own duty, and leave the success quietly to the all-wise disposer of all things. That men of great piety and virtue are chiefly prepared to receive particular acts of God's grace and favour. That zeal ought to be applied, in the first place, to the most solid and substantial parts of religion; but that upon all occasions, it ought to be governed by Christian measures in the manner of its acting.

Q. Wherein consists the nature of zeal?

A. It is an earnest concernment for or against something, and a violent pursuit and prosecution of it; and is in its own nature indifferent, like the rest of the passions, but good or bad, according to the object and degree of it. And after this manner it is used in the holy Scriptures in a good sense, when applied to those things wherein the honour of God, and the salvation of men's souls are concerned; as when St. Paul tells the Corinthians, that their zeal had provoked very many: and

that Christ gave himself for us, to purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works; and that he was zealous of the Corinthians with a godly zeal. But in a bad sense, when applied to a furious spirit of persecution, and to such contentions and divisions as produce wrath and ungovernable passions. Thus it is said the Jews were filled with envy (in the original zeal), and spake against those things that were spoken by St. Paul, contradicting and blaspheming: and that the Jews that believed, moved with envy (in the original zeal), set all the city in an uproar. The works of the flesh are manifest, hatred, variance, zeal, &c. a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

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Q. What is necessary to qualify our zeal, that it may become a Christian virtue?

A. That it be right in respect of its object; that what we contend for be certainly and considerably good, and that what we oppose be certainly and considerably evil. That the measure and degree of it be proportioned to the good or evil of things about which it is conversant. And that it be always pursued and prosecuted by lawful and warrantable means; since no zeal for God and his glory, for his true church and religion, will justify the doing of that which is morally in itself evil. Q. When does our zeal become criminal?

A. When we violently contend for any doctrine that is erroneous, and are more earnestly concerned for the externals of religion, and the instruments of piety, than for solid and substantial goodness which they are designed to work in us; when it betrays us to the breach of any of God's laws in order to promote his glory, and creates divisions and schisms in the church of Christ. And when

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we prosecute even truth itself without that meekness and charity which are essential to the character of a true Christian and we have the more reason to take care how we govern our zeal, because Moses himself, eminent for his meekness, when zealous for God, at the waters of Meribah, was so provoked that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips; so that if our zeal for God be not well tempered, we may with that great prophet break the tables of the law, and throw them out of our hands, with zeal to have them preserved.

Q. What considerations are proper to excite our zeal in the service of God?

A. The excellency of the divine nature, and the infinite bounty and goodness of God towards us. The wonderful condescension of the Son of God; who stooped so low to redeem us, and suffered so much to purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works:" the great importance of working out our salvation, and the necessity of striving if we will enter in at the strait gate. That it is true wisdom to employ our chief concern upon things that are most valuable; and that such is the weakness of our nature, and the strength of temptations, that without constant application of mind, we shall never be able to attain them. That if we be stedfast, unmoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord

Q. How far does zeal for God extenuate and mitigate the immorality of any action?

A. Wicked things done out of true zeal for God are damnable without repentance, because the nature of wicked actions is not altered by our persuasion concern

Psal. cvi. 32, 33. Exod. xxxii. 19.

h Tit. ii. 14.

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