Third. We are to believe in the historic accuracy of the Old Testament. Those very miraculous events which modern destructive criticism rejects as a lot of folk lore, and the mere fabu- lous traditions of by-gone ages, are the things used by Jude to illustrate his teaching and to give point to his solemn warnings, and he uses them as facts of actual history. Verse five covers the whole story of the Exodus with as many signs and wonders. Verse seven points to the overwhelming of Sodom and Go- morrha in the distant past, and today the salt Dead S'ea covers the scene of their destruction. Verse eleven speaks of the way of Cain, covering the history of the human race from the garden of Eden to the flood, also the strange case of the erring prophet Balaam, and the supernatural destruction of the rebel Korah and his companions. Are we prepared to accept all this as history in the face of the intellectual conceit of the day which laughs at it? Did the children of Israel cross the sea as by dry land, and drink water from the rock, and eat the manna and the quail as we are told? Did the dumb ass of the prophet speak with a man's voice and forbid his madness? A friend of mine used to say that we need today the voice of a prophet to forbid the madness of the asses who reject the Word of God. The fact that these supernatural events are thus used in this epistle is signifi- cant, and to fail to believe the record of the Old Testament is to strike a death blow at the New Testament, for "the New is by the Old contained, and the Old is by the New explained." Hence we are to "remember the words" as ad- monished in verse seventeen; words spoken by the apostles, yes, and then written by inspiration for our teaching, and words that stand squarely upon the record of the Old Testament and not so much as once intimate that the prophets and writers of old are not to be im- plicitly believed. One gets weary of the conceit and unbelief of men of no spiri- tual understanding who spend their time and talents undermining the faith in- stead of knowing personally the power of the Word of God and then preaching it. If we reject the Old Book with all that is involved we are tossed upon sea of human speculation and there is no telling where we may drift. We are re- minded of the homely and somewhat humorous illustration told by the la- mented Dr. J. H. Brooks, of a back- woods railroad in the South, using flat cars'to haul its freight, and employing
on its single train a conductor and a negro brakeman, the duty of the latter being to put off and on the freight at the little stations . On one occasion some one desired to ship a goat to a cer- tain point and putting a tag around its neck to indicate the station where it was to be put off the goat was lifted on the flat car and began his journey. Browsing around on top of the car the goat finally got his tag off in some way and swallowed it. Consequently the ne- gro brakeman failed to put him off and finding him still aboard at the end of the line the conductor began to swear at the brakeman, saying: "Sam, why in the world didn't you put that goat off where he belonged?" Scratching his head a moment, the darkey replied: "Well, boss, he done chawed up whar he gwine." And so if the Pentateuch, is a myth, if Isaiah and Daniel are un- reliable, if the Lord Jesus and the apos- tles were ignorant, then who knows anything, and no wonder the old world is ready to give up everything and say "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Fourth. We are to believe in the ex- istence and power of a personal devil. (Verse 9). One against whom the angel Michael dare not bring a railing accusa- tion; an angel of light himself when it suits his purpose; a prince of demons, the powerful enemy of Christ, the seed of the woman, and the mighty opposer of God's blood-marked way of salvation. The flippant and light way in which many are accustomed to refer to Satan is a matter of deep concern to those who know the teaching of the Bible about him. He is humorously caricatured in pictures, and called "old Nick," "the old Boy," "Old Scratch," etc., and by the more serious minded ignorantly thought to be embodiment of all that is low, vi- cious and immoral. But not necessarily is he the opposer of morality, but rather one who fosters good movements, seek- ing to uplift the masses, improving the age, and the instigator and promoter of much of the religion of the world, ever seeking, however, to prevent the work of the Christ of the cross. Fifth, we are to accept the fact of the existence of angels and spirits, and can only account for many of the strange happenings of which we read as we un- derstand their workings in the superna- tural realm. (Verses 6 and 7). The chained angels of verse 6 are doubtless the "Sons of God" spoken of in the sixth of Genesis, whose sin was similar to that
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