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δὲ, ὅσα μὲν οὐκ οἴδασι, βλασφημοῦσιν· ὅσα δὲ φυσικῶς, ὡς τὰ ἄλογα ζῶα, ἐπίστανται, ἐν τούτοις φθείρονται.

11 * Οὐαὶ αὐτοῖς, ὅτι τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Κάϊν ἐπορεύθησαν, καὶ τῇ πλάνῃ τοῦ Βαλαάμ κα μισθοῦ ἐξεχύθησαν, καὶ τῇ ἀντιλογίᾳ τοῦ Κορὲ ἀπώλοντο.

Num. 16. 1. & 21. 7. 21. 2 Pet. 2. 15

13.12.

1 Prov. 25. 14. 2 Pet. 2. 13, 17.

121 Οὗτοί εἰσιν ἐν ταῖς ἀγάπαις ὑμῶν σπιλάδες, συνευωχούμενοι ἀφόβως, ἑαυτοὺς ποιμαίνοντες· νεφέλαι ἄνυδροι ὑπὸ ἀνέμων παραφερόμεναι δένδρα φθινοπωρινὰ, ἄκαρπα, δὶς ἀποθανόντα, ἐκριζωθέντα· 13 m κύματα ἄγρια θα- m Isa. 57. 10.

Hence some ancient Expositors conjecture, that Satan claimed the body of Moses, on the plea that he had killed the Egyptian (for which they refer to the testimony of some Apocryphal books), and that Satan resisted Michael, when he was about to divest Moses of his garment of mortality, and to clothe him in that glorious brightness in which he appeared at the Transfiguration. Matt. xvii. 3. Mark ix. 4. Luke ix. 30. See Theophylact, Ecumen., and, in particular, Catena, pp. 160 — 163; and cp. Philo de Sacrif. Abel, p. 102.

σmiλádes] rocks, shoals. So Ecumen. Theophylact., Etymol., where the word is explained by rocks under the surface of the sea, &paλoi wéтpai; and this sense has been adopted by Lightfoot, Wetstein, Whitby, Meyer, De Wette, Schleusner, Huther, Peile, the American Revisers, and many other recent Expositors. Indeed, this is the only sense in which the word OTAàs is found in ancient authors; and it is a word of frequent occurrence. See Homer, Odyss. iii. 298; v. 401. 405; and the authorities in Wetstein, p. 736.

Besides, St. Jude is comparing these false Teachers to

10. ὅσα μὲν οὐκ οἴδασι] ὅσα quæ et quanta, what and how great things-namely, God, and Christ, and the Holy Angels-objects in the natural world, viz., clouds, trees, waves of the sea, they know not, they revile. On this use of oσa, see Rev. i. 2, ὅσα εἶδε.

These false teachers boast of their superior knowledge, but they revile such things as they know not, spiritually and intellectually; and as many things as they have experience of, and sensible acquaintance with, such as the objects of the carnal appetite, "Comedere et bibere, et rebus venereis indulgere, et alia perpetrare quæ sunt communia cum animalibus ratione carentibus" (Clem. Alex., p. 1008), in these things they corrupt themselves.

On the difference between olda and èñíσraμai, cp. Acts xix. 15. Heb. xi. 8. James iv. 14; and cp. note above, on 1 John ii. 3. 11. οὐαὶ αὐτοῖς] Woe unto them! cited by S. Clemens Alexandrin., Pædag. ii., p. 239.

- Tội Số Tài Káiv] in the way of Cain: specially applicable to some classes of the Gnostics, who dared impiously to affirm, that "Cain was made by a Power superior to that of the Creator; and who acknowledged Esau, Korah, and the Sodomites, and all such, as their own kindred." See Irenæus, i. 31 (Stieren), i. 35, p. 113 (Grabe). Cp. Tertullian, Præscr. c. 47. Ciem. Alexandr., Strom. vii., p. 549. S. Hippolyt., Phil. p. 133. Epiphan, Hær. 38. Theodoret, Hæret. fab., c. 15; Philastr., c. 2. Tillemont, ii. p. 21. These false Teachers destroy, like Cain; they love lucre, and allure to sin, like Balaam; they make divisions in the Church of Christ, like Korah. Caten., p. 164: and cp. Bede, and note above, on 1 John i. 6.

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Mobov] for reward: the genitive of the object. Winer, § 30, p. 183; or price, ibid., p. 185.

exionoav] they poured themselves out in a torrent: they rushed in a foul, headlong cataract of sin and recklessness. Compare the metaphor in 1 Pet. iv. 4, dowrías àváxvow. On this use of the word, see the examples in Loesner, p. 503.

τῇ ἀντιλογίᾳ τοῦ Κορὲ ἀπώλοντο] and they perished in the gainsaying of Korah: that is, in gainsaying, like that of Korah and his company (Numb. xvi. 33). "The doom of those who rise against the True Faith, and excite others against the Church of God, is to be swallowed up by the Earth, and to remain in the gulph below, with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram." Irenæus (iv. 43, Grabe).

This warning of St. Jude, a Christian Apostle, is a proof that the sin of Korah and his company, rising in schismatical opposition to their Rulers temporal and spiritual, may be committed in Christian times. And the words of S. Irenæus explain what that sin is, and what its punishment. Cp. Dr. W. H. Mill's Sermon, "On the Gainsaying of Korah;" preached on the 29th of May. Cambridge, 1845.

Some of the Gnostics professed even to regard Korah with admiration. See Iren. i. 34, Grabe. Theodoret, Hæret. fab., c. 15; and above, on v. 11, and on 1 John i. 6.

12. év Taîs àɣáñais vμŵv] in your love-feasts, provided at the common cost of the Churches in the exercise of charity and hospitality. See above, on 2 Pet. ii. 13. Tertullian, Apol. 39. Lightfoot, in 1 Cor. xi. 31. Bingham, xv. c. 7.

St. Jude here adds a new circumstance to what had been before said on this matter by St. Peter. See 2 Pet. ii. 11. 13, and the next note. S. Hippolytus (Ref. Hæres., p. 175) describes the Simonians as saying that their promiscuous ulcers were τελείαν ἀγάπην, and μακαρίζοντας ἑαυτοῦς ἐπὶ τῇ μίξει: cp. what he says of the Nicolaitans, p. 258.

wandering stars. Therefore the word rock, reef, or shoal, seems to harmonize better with the context than spots, which is indeed the sense of σîλo (2 Pet. ii. 13), but not of orixás. False Teachers in a Church may well be called σridades, shoals or rocks, as well as waves and wandering stars; and this figurative expression seems to add completeness to the picture. In Heretical Teaching there are the wandering stars above, beguiling the mariners in the ship of the Church, from the right course; there are the raging waves dashing against it; and there are the hidden shoals on which it may strike unawares, and be wrecked.

It is probable that these false Teachers introduced themselves clandestinely into the Love-feasts (àyáras) provided by the Churches in the exercise of hospitality for strangers, and thus inculcated their errors (Lightfoot, ii. p. 776). And so they were like dangerous reefs and shoals, on which some made shipwreck of the faith: cp. 1 Tim. i. 19.

These σπιλάδες may be well said to be ἐν ταῖς ἀγάπαις, where the Church looks only for peace and safety, as in a deep and placid harbour. The words scopulus, pápayt. Charybdis, Euripus, barathrum, &c., are thus applied frequently to persons. See Florus iv. 9, where Antony is called a scopulus; and Aristoph., Equites 248, φάραγγα καὶ Χάρυβδιν ἁρπαγῆς, and Anthol. ii. 15. 1, eis doλlous, where treacherous persons are compared to paλo méтрa. Horat., Ep. i. 15. 31,

Pernicies et tempestas barathrumque macelli,
Quicquid quæsierat ventri donabat avaro.

This passage of St. Jude affords another specimen of the characteristic of this Epistle, adopting, or alluding to, what had been said by St. Peter in his Second Epistle; and also adding some new feature to it. As St. Peter's word ànárais may have suggested St. Jude's ayamais, so St. Peter's word omiλo may have produced St. Jude's oriλádes. Thus St. Jude shows his knowledge of that Epistle; he recognizes, illustrates, and confirms it; and he also contributes to it new incidents of his own. See above, on 2 Pet. ii. 11. 13, and note here on v. 12, and pp. 132, 133.

After elow A, B, G insert of, and so Lach., Tisch. And this reading is confirmed by the identification of the persons with the emblems which represent them in what follows, viz. Trees, and Waves, and Stars. See the notes there.

EavтOÙS TOμaívovres] feeding themselves-not the flock. Ezek. xxxiv. 2. 8. 10.

Tаpapeрóμevaι] borne along: so A, B, C, and Griesb., Scholz, Lach., Tisch. Elz. has περιφερόμεναι.

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dévdpa poivoпæpivá] autumnal trees-trees in the fail of the year (Didymus, Vulgate, Bede, &c., Hammond, Bengel); as they appear in the season called pónwpov, when the autumn is verging into winter. It means, therefore, trees without fruit, or even leaves (Ecumen. and Catena, p. 165). These Teachers are too reckless in sin even to be hypocrites, like the barren leafy fig-tree; cp. Matt. xxi. 19, 20. Mark xi. 13. 20. Cp. Plutarch, Symp. viii. 10, φθινοπωρινὸς ἀὴρ, ἐν ᾧ φυλλοχοεῖ τὰ δένδρα. Wetstein, p. 736; and Dean Trench on the authorized Version, p. 125. This translation seems preferable to that which renders the words dévopa pivoпúpiva, trees, whose fruit withereth; from p0ivw, to perish, and onépa, fruit. St. Jude does not, it seems, mean to say that their fruit perishes, but that they have no fruit. άкаржа] not only without fruit, but unfruitful, incapable of bearing fruit.

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δὶς ἀποθανόντα, ἐκριζωθέντα] which died twice, and have been uprooted. St. Jude applies to the Trees what is true of the

n Gen. 5. 18. Dan. 7. 10.

Acts 1. 11.

1 Thess. 1. 10.

2 Thess. 1. 10.

Rev. 1. 7.

o Zech. 14. 5.

Matt. 12. 36. & 25. 31.

2 Thess. 1. 7.

p Ps. 15. 10.

2 Pet. 2. 18.

ó

λάσσης, ἐπαφρίζοντα τὰς ἑαυτῶν αἰσχύνας· ἀστέρες πλανῆται, οἷς ὁ ζόφος τοῦ σκότους εἰς αἰῶνα τετήρηται.

14 η Προεφήτευσε δὲ καὶ τούτοις ἕβδομος ἀπὸ ̓Αδὰμ Ενὼχ λέγων, Ἰδού, ἦλθε Κύριος ἐν ἁγίαις μυριάσιν αὐτοῦ, 15οποιῆσαι κρίσιν κατὰ πάντων, καὶ ἐξελέγξαι πάντας τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς αὐτῶν περὶ πάντων τῶν ἔργων ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν ὧν ἠ σέβησαν, καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν σκληρῶν, ὧν ἐλάλησαν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀσεβεῖς.

16 P Οὗτοί εἰσι γογγυσταὶ, μεμψίμοιροι, κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῶν πορευόμενοι, καὶ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν λαλεῖ ὑπέρογκα, θαυμάζοντες πρόσωπα ὠφελείας χάριν.

17 Ὑμεῖς δὲ, ἀγαπητοὶ, μνήσθητε τῶν ῥημάτων τῶν προειρημένων ὑπὸ τῶν

Persons represented by the Trees, as our Lord in cursing the Fig-tree spoke to Jerusalem, represented by the Tree, which He cursed. See on Matt. xxi. 19. Mark xi. 13-20.

In like manner, in the verse following, St. Jude speaks of these false Teachers as Waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; not that Waves do this, but the Men do it, who are likened to the Waves. He also calls them Stars, to whom the gloom of the darkness has been reserved for ever; and he applies to the Stars what is true of the men who are represented by the Stars. Cp. Catena here, p. 165; and Clem. Alex., p. 1008, apostatas significat."

66

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but Enoch, the seventh His warning is addressed

14. προεφήτευσε δὲ καὶ τούτοις] from Adam, prophesied also to those. to them, as well as to those of his own and future ages; let them then profit by it. And it was for these, that is for their warning and benefit, as well as for those of Enoch's own time.

St. Jude here notes, that Enoch was the seventh from Adam. The Jewish doctors say, "The number seven is sacred above all; Enoch is seventh from Adam, and walks with God; Moses is seventh from Abraham; Phineas is seventh from Jacob our father, as Enoch was seventh from Adam; and they correspond to the seventh Day which is the Sabbath, the day of rest. Every seventh age is in the highest esteem." See the Rabbinical authorities cited by Wetstein, p. 737.

Seven is the sabbatical number, the number of Rest. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, having finished his course after the labours of this world, in an evil age, was like a personified Sabbath. God rested in him, and he rested in God. Cp. notes above, bydoor Nŵe, 2 Pet. ii. 5.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, walked with God in a corrupt age (Gen. v. 22), and pleased God, and, as St. Jude here states, delivered a Prophecy concerning the Second Coming of Christ to Judgment, and the Sabbath of Eternity; and he was translated and taken to his rest (Gen. v. 24. Heb. xi. 5). He was a personal type of those holy men, who will be found alive at that Second Coming, and will be caught up, to meet the Lord, in the air; and so be ever with the Lord (1 Thess. iv. 17).

Almighty God created the World in Six Days, and rested on the Seventh Day. Enoch, in the seventh Generation of Mankind from the Creation of Adam, was taken up by God to his rest. And some of the Fathers supposed that the World will run its course for Six millenary periods, and then have its rest in the Seventh Millennium. See above, on 2 Pet. iii. 8.

It is worthy of remark, that Enoch lived as many years as there are days in a Solar year, viz., 365, and was then translated (Gen. v. 24). Cp. the description of Enoch in Milton, Par. Lost, 665;

"Of middle age one rising, eminent

In wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,

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Of Justice, of Religion, Truth, and Peace,
And Judgment from above; him old and young
Exploded, and had seized with violent hands,
Had not a cloud descending snatched him thence
Unseen amid the throng; so violence

Proceeded."

Aéywv] saying, Behold the Lord came with His holy myriads, to execute judgment.

He says "the Lord came," because the Lord's Coming is certain. Enoch, who lived 5000 years ago, saw in the spirit Christ's advent as an event that had already happened. A noble specimen of divine Inspiration. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, saw Christ-who is the True Rest of the Righteous (Matt. xi. 28, 29)- already come to Judgment. Cp. the prophetic use of the aorist on Rev. x. 7, éteλéσon, and note above, v. 12.

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This citation is found in the second chapter of the Book of Enoch, which was probably compiled by a Jew, in the first century of the Christian era, from traditionary fragments, ascribed to Enoch (compare Origen here, in Num. 28; c. Cels. v. p. 267. Augustine, de Civ. Dei, xv. 23. S. Jerome, Script. Eccl. c. 4), and appears to have been seen by Tertullian, de idol. 4, de cultu fam. i. 3, where he refers in a remarkable passage to this citation, "Jude the Apostle" (ii. 10). The by Book of Enoch " has been translated into English from the Ethiopic by Dr. Lawrence, Oxford, 1821, who published the Ethiopic Text, Oxf. 1838, which corresponds with the Greek Fragments cited by the ancient Fathers. An analysis of the Book of Enoch may be seen in Fr. Lücke's Commentary on the Apocalypse, erste Abtheilung, pp. 89-144. Cp. Winer, R. W. B. i. 477; and note above on 2 Pet. iii. 13.

This citation by St. Jude from the Book of Enoch, which was not canonical, was probably a reason why some persons had doubts concerning the authority of this Epistle. See Jerome, Script. Eccl. c. 4; but S. Jerome says that in his age this Epistle was authorized by general reception among the Holy Scriptures; Epistles, cites from books not canonical. and he observes in another place, that St. Paul also, in his canonical See 2 Tim. iii. 8, concerning Jannes and Jambres; and that he also quotes heathen poets. See S. Jerome in Tit. c. i. ; in Ephes. c. v.; and note above, 1 Cor. xv. 33.

dence; querulous, discontented with their own lot. Cp. Theo16. γογγυσταί, μεμψίμοιροι] murmurers, against God's provi phrast, char. xvii., weρl μeμμopías; and contrast this character with St. Paul's spirit and language in Phil. iv. 11, 12. 1 Tim. vi. 6-8. Heb. xiii. 5.

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ὠφελείας χάριν] for the sake of advantage. On their covetousness, see 2 Pet. ii. 3. 14.

17. vμeîs dé] But, beloved, remember ye the words which have been spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; that they told you, that in the last time there should be scoffers, walking according to their own lusts: words spoken by the Apostle St. Peter in his Second Epistle, iii. 2, and confirming the proof of the priority, authenticity, and genuineness of that Epistle. See note there, and Hengstenberg on the Apocalypse, Introd. p. 19 (Berlin, 1849), who observes that this verse is decisive on the question of the priority of St. Peter's Epistle.

There seems also to be a reference here to the description of the Last Days in St. Paul's last Epistle, 2 Tim. iii. 1-6, èv ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἔσονται ἄνθρωποι φίλαυτοι κ.τ.λ. There is a special propriety in this admonitory reference in this Epistle-one of the last of the Catholic Epistles-to the last warning in the Epistles, of the Apostles of the Circumcision, and of the Gentiles, St. Peter and St. Paul. Cp. Ecumen. on v. 1. Compare the

1 Tim. 4. 1. Tim. 3. 1.

ἀποστόλων τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 18 9 ὅτι ἔλεγον ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐν q Acts 20, 20, ἐσχάτῳ χρόνῳ ἔσονται ἐμπαῖκται, κατὰ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐπιθυμίας πορευτ όμενοι τῶν ἀσεβειῶν. 19: Οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀποδιορίζοντες, ψυχικοὶ, Πνεῦμα

μὴ ἔχοντες.

oi

2 Pet. 2. 1. &

r

Prov. 18. 1.

Ezek. 14. 7.

Hos. 4 14. & 9. 10.

20 Ὑμεῖς δὲ, ἀγαπητοὶ, ἐποικοδομοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς τῇ ἁγιωτάτῃ ὑμῶν πίστει, ἐν . 14. Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ προσευχόμενοι, 21 ἑαυτοὺς ἐν ἀγάπῃ Θεοῦ τηρήσατε, προσδεχόμενοι τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

s oùs dè

22 * Καὶ οὓς μὲν ἐλέγχετε διακρινομένους, 235 οὓς δὲ σώζετε ἐκ πυρὸς ἁρπάåpíáζοντες, οὓς δὲ ἐλεεῖτε ἐν φόβῳ· μισοῦντες καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐσπιλωμένον χιτῶνα.

s Rev. 3. 4.

t Rom. 16. 25.
Eph. 3. 20.
u Rom. 16. 27.
1 Tim. 1. 17.

24 Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ φυλάξαι ὑμᾶς ἀπταίστους, καὶ στῆσαι κατενώπιον τῆς ἐξ δόξης αὐτοῦ ἀμώμους ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει, 25 " μόνῳ Θεῷ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν διὰ Ἰησοῦ

u

Compare Hooker, Sermon vi. §§ 13-15.

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admonition in Hebrews xiii. 7, "Remember your Rulers, who spoke | doctrines and practices of the heretical Teachers. Cp. v. 14. to you the word of God," where St. Paul appears to be exhorting the Hebrews to remember especially St. James, the Bishop of Jerusalem (see note there); and St. Jude, the brother of James, here appears to be exhorting his readers to remember St. Peter and St. Paul.

On these verses, 17-21, see Hooker, Sermons v. and vi. vol. iv. pp. 819-870.

18.] See S. Hippolytus de Consummatione Sæculi, § 10, ed. Fabric., p. 9, who cites this verse.

19. oi amodiopíÇovres] the separatists. The definitive article joined with the participle describes more than an act, it represents a habit and state. Cp. 8 meiрáswv, Matt. iv. 2, and note. ó ẞаπτίζων, Mark vi. 14, and Luke iii. 14, οἱ στρατευόμενοι.

St. Jude uses an active verb here, because these false teachers seduced and separated others from the Church, as well as themselves: cp. Winer, § 38, p. 225, and note above, on Mark xiv. 72. Cp. the precept in Barnabas, Epist. c. 4, "Non separatim debetis seducere ros, sed in unum convenientes, inquirite, quod communiter dilectis conveniat et prosit." And see also the ancient Catena, p. 168, where this word is expounded, "making schisms and rending the members of the Church." Cp. Hooker, Sermon v. § 12.

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vxiko] animal; not πveνμaтikol, spiritual, as they professed to be; and they branded others as merely animal, and not spiritual. They are πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες, not having πνεῦμα, i. e. the influence of the Holy Spirit. See Clem. Alex. p. 1398, "non habentes spiritum, qui est per fidem secundum usum justitiæ superveniens," and Bp. Middleton on Matt. i. 18; and John iii. 6. Acts vi. 3. Gal. v. 5 16. 18. 25, 26.

Some of the Gnostics of the sub-Apostolic Age said, as S. Irenæus relates, "that animal men (vxikoi) are conversant only with animal things (uxika), and have not perfect gnosis; and they describe us who are of the Church, as such; and they say that as we are only such, we must do good works, in order to be saved; but, they assert, that they themselves will be saved, not by practice, but because they are spiritual (πvevμatikoì) by nature: and that as gold, though mingled with mire, does not lose its beauty, so they themselves, though wallowing in the mire of carnal works, do not lose their own spiritual essence. And therefore, though they eat things offered to idols, and are the first to resort to the banquets which the heathen celebrate in honour of their false gods, and abstain from nothing that is foul in the eyes of God or man, they say that they cannot contract any defilement from these impure abominations; and they scoff at us who fear God, as silly dotards (ep. v. 10), and hugely exalt themselves, calling themselves perfect, and the elect seed; and they even make lust a virtue, and call us mere animal men (UXIKOùs), and say that we stand in need of temperance, in order to come to the pleroma, but that they themselves, who are spiritual and perfect, have no need thereof." S. Irenæus i. 6. 2—4.

20. ἐποικοδομοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς τῇ ἁγιωτάτῃ ὑμῶν πίστει] building yourselves upon your most holy faith. Faith is the foundation laid by God, and it is for you to labour in raising the superstructure upon it. Cp. 2 Pet. i. 5, ἐπιχορηγήσατε τῇ πίστει ὑμῶν τὴν ἀρετήν.

He had exhorted them to contend earnestly upon and for the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints (v. 3), he now exhorts them to build themselves up upon it. The Christian Soldier must also be a Christian Builder. He must have a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. See above, Introduction to 2 Peter,

p. 70, 71.

20, 21. ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ προσευχόμενοι] praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto life eternal. See above, v. 2. A testimony to the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, and a remarkable parallel to that of St. Paul, "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." 2 Cor. xiii. 14, where see note; and cp. 1 Pet. i. 1-3.

22. οὓς μὲν ἐλέγχετε φόβῳ] and some indeed who are contentious (diakpivoμévovs) reprove ye; but others save ye, plucking them out of the fire; and on others have compassion with fear. So Lach., Tisch., with a preponderance of the other Manuscripts.

Elz. has οὓς μὲν ἐλεεῖτε διακρινόμενοι, οὓς δὲ ἐν φόβῳ σώζετε ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἁρπάζοντες. Against this reading it may be also observed that diakpivoμai in the New Testament never signifies to make a difference, or to discriminate one thing or person from another, with a view to the preference of the good; but it always signifies either to doubt (see Acts x. 20; xi. 12. Rom. xiv. 23. James i. 6), or to contend, and dispute, as in this Epistle, v. 9, and Acts xi. 2: cp. note above, on James ii. 4; and often in the LXX. Jer. xv. 10. Ezek. xx. 35. Joel iii. 2; and it is therefore expounded in this sense here by the ancient Greek Interpreters Ecumenius, Theophylact, and Catena, p. 170.

The phrase, plucking from the fire, seems to be from Zech. iii. 2, "Is not this as a branch plucked from the fire?" words spoken by the Lord to Satan. It is observable that St. Jude refers to that passage above, v. 9, The Lord rebuke thee! Perhaps there may be an allusion also in what follows (hating even the tunic that has been spotted by the flesh) to the filthy garments which are taken from Joshua as a sign that his iniquities are taken away (v. 4), and in order that he may be clothed with a new priestly tunic reaching to the feet. See Zech. iii. 4, in LXX. μισοῦντες-χιτῶνα] hating even the tunic that has been spotted by the flesh.

Ye have put on Christ (Gal. iii. 27); ye have received from Him a wedding garment (see Matt. xxii. 12) white and clean, and ye must walk in white (see Rev. iii. 4, 5. 18; vi. 11; xix. 14), and not stain your garments (Rev. iii. 4) with the mire of lust and sin (see 2 Pet. ii. 22); and though ye must, in your Christian charity, endeavour to pluck sinners out of the fire, yet your love for the erring must not tempt you to love their errors. While ye strive to rescue the sinner from the flame, ye must abhor the garb of sin in which he is clothed; ye must hate the tunic, the inner robe, soiled by the stains of the flesh, "animæ videlicet tunica maculata est spiritus concupiscentiis pollutus carnalibus." Clem. Alexandr.

24, 25. Tập de duvaμévw] A remarkable sentence, declaratory of the true doctrine against the Gnostics. But, to Him that is able to keep you from stumbling, and to set you blameless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be Glory, Majesty, Strength, and Authority before all Eternity, and now and for evermore. Amen. The ôè, but, at the beginning of the sentence, is not to pass unnoticed. False teachers may seek for glory elsewhere. But you will ascribe it all to God through Christ. 24. vuâs] you. So Elz., Lach., and C, G, and Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, and many Cursives.-Tisch. reads avTOÙS, them.

25. μóve] Elz. adds σop, not in A, B, C, and rejected by This Faith is called most holy in opposition to the unholy Griesb., Scholz, Lach., Tisch.

Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν δόξα, μεγαλωσύνη, κράτος καὶ ἐξουσία πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν.

διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν] through Jesus Christ our Lord,-cancelled by Elz.; but in A, B, C, G, and received by Griesb., Scholz, Lach., Tisch., and having a peculiar propriety in this Epistle, directed against Heretics who separated Jesus from Christ, and did not acknowledge Him as the Giver | of all grace from God. Cp. on 2 Pet. ii. 1.

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INTRODUCTION

TO

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

On the Design and Structure of the Apocalypse.

To understand the design of the APOCALYPSE or Book of REVELATION, we must consider the circumstances of the Author at the time when it was written.

The writer was the beloved disciple, St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist' of Christ. At the date of the Apocalypse he was left, as is most probable, the last survivor of the Twelve. Many of his brother Apostles had died as martyrs of Christ. Jerusalem had been destroyed by the armies of Rome, according to the prophecies that he had heard from his Divine Master'. Thus the Truth of Christ's words had been manifested; and the Majesty of His Power in that Judgment, executed on those who rejected and crucified Him, had been displayed.

But now the Roman Power, which had been employed by Almighty God to punish Jerusalem for its sins, was persecuting Christianity. Under the Emperor Nero, it had slain the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul; and now in the last years of the reign of Domitian it was raging against the Church with greater violence. It had banished St. John in his old age to the Isle of Patmos, "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ "." Other conflicts were at hand. The faith of the Church was to be tried in a succession of Persecutions breaking forth at intervals for the space of more than two centuries.

3

When these Persecutions had ceased, Christianity would have to pass through a severer ordeal. In the fourth and fifth Centuries, the Church would be distracted by dissensions, and the True Faith would be depraved by heretical adulterations. Intestine Discords and Corruptions would expose it to the assaults of adversaries from without, who would be suffered by Almighty God to chastise Christendom.

Such calamities as these might perplex many. Many might be tempted to faint and falter in the faith, and to sink into despondency and despair. Century after century would pass away. The darkness would seem to be growing thicker and thicker around the vessel of the Church, and the tempest to be rising higher and higher; and Christ would not yet be seen walking on the waves, coming to the ship, and stilling the storm.

We, who live at a distance of more than seventeen hundred years from the date of the Apocalypse, and look back from our own age to that of St. John, know what the prospect was, which was seen by Him who dictated the Apocalypse-" the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST ‘."

We also know, that some things lie still beyond us, which were foretold by Patriarchs and Prophets, and were clearly foreseen by Christ. His Second Advent, the General Resurrection, the Universal Judgment, the joys of Heaven, and the pains of Hell, these things lay open to His eye.

If now we proceed to examine the contents of the Apocalypse, we find that it is adjusted in a remarkable manner to these circumstances.

An uninspired Christian writer, living at the date of the Apocalypse, the end of the First Century, and contemplating the divine Origin of the Gospel, and the miracles wrought by Christ and His Apostles; and reflecting on the Destruction of Jerusalem, and on the Dispersion of the Jews

1 These assertions will be substantiated hereafter: see p. 152.

2 Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii. Luke xxi.

3 Rev. i. 9.

4 Rev. i. 1.

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