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Ver. 8. Likewise also] Or, yet nevertheless; albeit these dreadful executions are set before them for an example. These filthy dreamers] Or, these sound sleepers, these whom the devil hath cast into a dead lethargy of damned security. (Sopiti. Beza.) Or, these Nehelamites, that pretend dreams and divine inspirations. See Jeremiah 29:24,31. Defile the flesh] By nocturnal pollutions, which we must pray against. The devil can fasten that filth upon the soul when we sleep, that he cannot do at another time. Despise dominion] Gr. αθετουσι, set it at nought. [See Trapp on “2Pe 2:10”] Under pretence of Christian liberty, they “set it aside,” they “put it from its place” with scorn and contempt. And speak evil of dignities] Gr. blaspheme glories: so the Papists do familiarly those princes they count heretics, as Henry IV of France, whom they called Huguenot Dog, &c. Our Edward VI, bastard. Of Queen Elizabeth they reported in print some years after her death, that she died without sense or feeling of God’s mercies. Sanders calleth her the English wolf; Rhiston, the English lioness, far surpassing in cruelty all the Athaliahs, Maacahs, Jezebels, Herodiases, that ever were. Os durum! Harsh mouth. (Rivetti Jesuita vapulans, 263.)
Ver. 9. About the body of Moses] As desirous thereby to set up himself in the hearts of the living. There is a strange strife still, not of earthly, but of spiritual powers, about the possession of man’s heart. If Satan can get that, he is safe. And so Satan’s vicar. It was a watchword in Gregory XIII’s time in Queen Elizabeth’s days, “My son, give me thy heart.” Be in heart a Papist, and go where you will, and do what you will. Durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee] Let us also answer the devil in like sort: or as Grynaeus (out of Chrysostom) when he sent back Pistorius’s railing letters, not so much as opening the seal, Inhonestum est honestam matronam cam meretrice litlgare, It is not seemly for an honest matron to scold with a base harlot.
Ver. 10. Of those things which they] So do the Papists in railing against imputed righteousness, assurance of salvation, the testimony of God’s Spirit witnessing with our spirits, &c. In those things they corrupt themselves] As in eating, drinking, carnal copulation, &c., holding neither mean nor measure, as he in Aristophanes (in Ranis), οστις γε πινειν οιδε και βινειν μονον, who was good for nothing else but to epicurize.
Ver. 11. In the way of Cain] The devil’s patriarch, the first apostate; this was fulfilled literally in Alphonsus Diazius, who slew his brother John, because he was a Protestant; and mystically, in all that are guilty of spiritual parricide. And ran greedily] Gr. εξεχυθησαν, were poured out, as water out of a bottle; they ran headlong after the wages of wickedness, not caring which way they came by it, so they had it. Instar aquae diffluentis proiecta est eorum intemperies, saith Calvin, their limitless lust-like water, ran all abroad, &c.
Ver. 12. These are spots] Or rocks, or muddy holes, that harpy-like not only devour, but defile all that they touch, σπιλαδες, παρα το σπαν την ελην, a trahendo lutum. In your feasts of charity] See these described by Tertullian (Advers. Genres, c. 39). When they feast with you] Thrusting themselves into your company, whether invited or not; sin having wended an impudence in their faces. Feeding themselves] As fatted cattle fitted for the slaughter. Without fear] Of being ensnared by the creatures, Proverbs 23:2. Clouds they are] Light, and constant only in their inconstancy. The philosopher saith, Insalubre admodum caelum est quod pluviam promittit non, demittit, That is an unwholesome air that promiseth rain, but performs it not. It is ill conversing with these waterless clouds. Twice dead] Killed with death, Revelation 2:23. Such as for whom hell gapeth. Plucked up by the root] Trees that are not for fruit are for the fire. Gr. and Lat. Myth. A fabulous monster, rapacious and filthy, having a woman’s face and body and a bird’s wings and claws, and supposed to act as a minister of divine vengeance. ŒD
Ver. 13. Raging waves of the sea] Unsettled, turbulent, and arrogant spirits; boldly belching out their abominable opinions and detestable doctrines. Wandering stars] That were never better than meteors. Sir Francis Drake in his Travels reporteth that in a certain island to the southward of Celebes, among the trees night by night did show themselves an infinite swarm of fiery-like worms flying in the air, whose bodies, no bigger than an ordinary fly, did make a show, and give such light as if every twig on every tree had been a lighted candle, or as if that place had been the starry sphere. Lo, such were these impostors.
Ver. 14. And Enoch also] Enoch foretold the day of judgment before Noah the deluge. That day is longer before it comes, but shall be more terrible when it is come. Behold] One calleth this word a starry note; another compares it to a hand in the margin of a book pointing to some notable thing; another compares it to the sounding of a trumpet before some proclamation, to procure attention; and it is no more than need, so heedless we are of our soul’s health. Hence the heathen’s hoc agite, Well this. in their sacred services. And the deacons in Chrysostom’s time were appointed to call often upon the people in these words, Oremus, attendamus, Let us pray, let us pay attention. I am afraid, saith a divine, most of us do believe the predictions of Scripture but as we believe the predictions of an almanac, which tells you that such a day will be rain, and such a day will he wind; you think it may come to pass, and it may not. So here; such a threatening may be fulfilled, and it may not; let us venture it; it may be “the Lord will deal” with us not according to his present menaces, but “according to all his wondrous works,” as those rebellious Jews suggested to Jeremiah, Jude 21:2. The Lord cometh] Syr. Maranatha. Hence the Jews say that the great excommunication Maranatha was instituted by Enoch. With ten thousand of his saints] Or, with his holy myriads; sc. of saints and angels; he shall not leave one of them behind him in heaven, Matthew 25:31. And whereas it is said, The Lord cometh, it shows that he is already on his way, and will be with us shortly. Where St Jude had this prophecy of Enoch it much matters not. The Jews have yet to this day some relics of it in their writings. And Tertullian tells us (de Habitu Mulierum), (but who told him I know not), that the book of Enoch’s prophecies were preserved by Noah in the ark, and that they continued and were read until the times of the apostles. But because they contained many famous testimonies concerning Jesus Christ, the Jews out of malice suppressed and abolished the whole book.
Ver. 15. To convince all] To set them down, to leave them excuseless, speechless, self-condemned, ελεγξαι. Of all their hard speeches] Their rude, crude, crooked, cross speeches, uttered with perverse lips; so Solomon calls them, Proverbs 4:24, as if the upper lip stood where the nether lip should.
Ver. 16. These are murmurers] Ut porci saginati, saith Aretius, as boars in a frank, they grunt against God’s ways and worshippers, like so many Caii Grunnii Corocottae. Complainers] Invalidum omne natura querulum, saith Seneca. Weak ones are never without their ailments. After their own lusts] So many lusts, so many lords. Great swelling words] Bubbles of words. See the note on 2 Peter 2:18. The Syriac renders it, stupendous stuff. They amaze their hearers with sesquipedalian words, and sublime businesses, big swollen fancies, &c.; they tell them they shall hear that which they never heard before, and therefore call upon them to mark; whereas the thing is either false, or if true, no more than ordinarily is taught by others: with as much confidence as ignorance they counsel the simple by portentous words and phrases abhorrent from Christian religion, truth, and sobriety; and which wise men lament while fools applaud and admire. Having men’s persons] Licking up their spittle, as it were, and loading the mouse with the elephant’s praises. Ungunt pariter et emungunt. Of words and expressions (after Horace’s sesquipedalia verba ‘words a foot and a half long’, A.P. 97): Of many syllables. Ten dollar words! ŒD
Ver. 17. Of the apostles] Paul and Peter, from whom St Jude borroweth much from his Epistle. See my Preface to God’s Love Tokens.
Ver. 18. Mockers] Who fleer when they should fear. [See Trapp on “2Pe 3:3”] Who should walk after their ungodly lusts] Gr. the lusts of ungodliness, whereby the heart is turned away from God and godliness. To laugh mockingly or scornfully; to smile or grin contemptuously; hence, to gibe, jeer, sneer. ŒD
Ver. 19. Who separate] From Church assemblies, upon pretence of newer lights, greater holiness. The Arabic renders it, intermitters, sc. of Church worship. Such as upon pretence of a more than ordinary holiness, and I know not what imaginary perfection, thought they might give over hearing of the word, as having immediate teaching; and separated from holy duties, as the words following show. Sensual] Gr. ψυχικοι, an imal; such as have no more than a reasonable soul, and are yet in their pure naturals, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and by their profane practices animas etiam incarnaverunt, have turned their very spirits into a lump of flesh. Having not the Spirit] Unless it be the spirit of delusion, as Muncer the Anabaptist had, who wrote a book against Luther, dedicated it “To the most illustrious Prince Christ” (as his words are), uphraideth Luther with want of the Spirit, and calleth him a carnal man, a silly soul. (Scultet. Annal. 338.)
Ver. 20. Building up] By holy conference, a singular help, a most needful but too much neglected duty. Praying in the Holy Ghost] Whose creature fervent prayer is.
Ver. 21. Keep yourselves] Remit nothing of your former fervour. But keep afoot and alive that twofold love of God: 1. That of desire, and earnest delight and intense longing after him, as our chiefest good. 2. Of delight and complacency, whereby we hug and embrace him, solacing ourselves in the fruition of him.
Ver. 22. And of some] Or (according to other copies), “Retell their false reasonings,” and dispute them out of their errors, ελεειτε, alias ελεγχετε.
Ver. 23. Out of the fire] viz. of hell; as the angel pulled Lot out of Sodom, as ye would save a drowning man, though ye pulled off some of his hair to save him. Hic est depingendus Satan et Tartarus, et career atrocissimus et luctuoaus, in quo vere sit strider dentium et fletus, saith Aretins. Those that are obstinate, and receive not reproofs, are to be terrified and told of the horror of hell, those seas of vengeance, that worm that never dieth, torments without end and past imagination. Even the garment spotted] As Nero’s was, when he rode in the same horse litter with his own mother. (Sueton.) The phrase is thought to be taken either from legal impurities of leprous garments, by touching of which men were defiled, Leviticus 14:54-57; or else from the profuse drunkenness and filthiness of the Gnostics, which sometimes defiled their garments. Haec est sancta violentia, optabilis rapina. Jerome.
Ver. 24. That is able] q.d. I can only counsel you, it is God must keep you.
Ver. 25. [See Trapp on “1Ti 1:17”]