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A87557 An exposition of the epistle of Jude, together with many large and usefull deductions. Formerly delivered in sudry lectures in Christ-Church London. By William Jenkyn, minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and pastor of the church at Black-friars, London. The second part.; Exposition of the epistle of Jude. Part 2 Jenkyn, William, 1613-1685. 1654 (1654) Wing J642; Thomason E736_1; ESTC R206977 525,978 703

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of Brutish Sensuality A m●● may be laden with Gold and yet be as a Brute His being changed from Poor to Rich is but a poor change unless he be changed from Natural to Spiritual from an old to a new man Even the Wealthy Psal 49.10 is called a Fool and a brutish person and ver 12. Man being in honour abideth not he is like the Beast that perisheth Nero was a Lion Herod a Fox The Princes of Israel Wolves Kine of Bashan notwithstanding worldly glory Outward Ornaments make no inward alteration Hence see what is the true standard of Honour Lust is the souls degradation even in all earthly abundance only Grace makes us excellent it destroyes not but elevates nature Sensual objects do not elevate but corrupt us 5. Observ 3. Sensual appetite is deceitful When these Seducers knew things naturally with sensual knowledg they were led to corruption An ignis fatuus leads men into bogs and precipices Natural knowledg carryes men like filly beasts into a snare If the blind lead the blind both must fall into the ditch The Lusts of the sensitive appetite are foolish 1 Tim. 6.9 and therefore foolish because they make men fools who are led by them and Ephes 4.22 the old man is said to be corrupt according to decitful lusts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As man sheweth his infection with original pollution principally by his Lusts so those Lusts principally discover themselves in their Deceitfulness When they tempt a man to sin they promise pleasure and contentment they perform nothing less but leave the poor seduced sinner spoiled of his happiness and corrupted both inwardly outwardly and eternally Sensual delights strangle with a silken halter Latrones quasi laterones viatoribus ami●è se quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●djungunt ut incautos cò facilius grassentur kil a man in the embracing him and like Theeves wil ride friendly and pleasantly with the Passenger that so unawares they may the more easily destroy him Saint James saith a man is drawn away of his own Lusts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inticed They bait over every hook Oh that when a man saith How can I forbear the bait 〈◊〉 he would ask himself How can I endure the book Oh will the comfort countervail the corruption the spoiling not only of my body of my Goods but the loss of my Soul my Grace my Heaven my God my All. Consider the bitter farewel of al sinfully sweet morsels view them with a Scripture Prospective look upon them as going away as well as coming Behold their back their black side they are venenatae deliciae Poisoned Pleasures T is easier to pass by then get out of the snare If thou be a man of appetite Prov. 23.2 put a knife to thy throat Lust betrayes with a kiss Al carnal delights go out in a stink and commonly it is that of Brimstone As we cannor walk in this life by sight in respect of Glory so should we not in respect of Sensuality As we are absent from heaven in regard of Sense and present there in regard of Love so though we are present among earthly enjoyments in respect of Sense yet should we be absent in regard of affection To conclude this consider the difference betwixt Spiritual and Sensual pleasures The former are good in Harvest the latter only in Seeds-time They who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 4.6 They who sow to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting The former are bitterly sweet the latter sweetly bitter The former turn water into wine as the latter do Wine into water In that which a man knows Spiritually and to which he is led by the guidance of the Spirit in that he preserves himself And its observable how the Apostle opposeth the deceitful Lusts in ver 22. of Ephes 4. to the Truth in Jesus ver 21. Christ is Truth Lust is vanity and deception Christ gives true happiness and more then was ever expected Lust deludes disappoints corrupts To end this needful Point In all worldly pleasures wisely draw off thy soul by comparing such sordid puddles with the crystal rivers of eternal joyes Let Moderation and heavenly Discourse be two dishes at every Banquet A Souldier supping with Plato who had provided nothing but green herbs said He who sups with Plato shall be better the next day Tertullian said of the Primitive Christians that they did not Tam coenam coenare quam disciplinam One would have thought they had been at a Sermon not at a Supper Oh that Spiriritual delights were more tasted He who lives at the Table of a King despiseth scraps and such are all worldly pleasures esteemed by him who hath tasted how sweet the Lord is The more pleasant any thing is to us the more suspected let it be by us Satan lies in ambush behind our lawful enjoyments as the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost so is Christian temperance the aedituus Tertullian or Keeper of that Temple VER 11. Wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core AT this verse and so on to the seventeenth our Apostle prosecutes the thrid part of that second Argument whereby he puts the Christians upon contending for the faith against Seducers That second Argument was taken from the certainty of the destruction of those Seducers and it s prosecuted from the fourth to the seventeenth verse of this Epistle Pag. 1. Part 2. In the managing whereof as hath been said before the Apostle having first set down several examples of Gods wrath upon others in former times for their sins from the fourth to the eighth verse And secondly Having declared that these Seducers lived in the same sins which God had formerly punish'd in others from the eight to this eleventh verse 3. He now thirdly concludes that these practising their impieties shall partake of their plagues And this conclusion he prosecutes throughout this eleventh verse and forward unto the seventeenth In the handling of which Conclusion the Apostle concludes the destruction of these 1. By propounding 2. By expounding it Or 1. By a Denunciation thereof 2. By a Delineation thereof 1. By propounding and denouncing thereof in those words of this eleventh verse Wo unto them 2. By an expounding or delineating thereof in the following expressions of this and the other verses unto the seventeenth and he expounds it by a mixed description of their sin and misery And he mixedly describes their sin and miseries the effects of their sins three wayes Nominat hos tres prae aliis quia hi tres fuere Dei fidei sanctitatis hostes ac fideles seducere Ecclesiam perdere voluerunt unde fuerunt Simonis Gnosticorum haereticorum typi prodromi Cor. Lapide in loc 1. From the sutable examples of Cain Balaam Core in this
the roots 2 Therfore I understand with Reverend Mr. Perkins and others that these words without fruit are as it were a correction of the former as if the Apostle had said they are trees whose fruit withereth or rather without fruit altogether the fruit which they bear not deserving so much as the name of fruit as trees that bear no other then withering fruit are esteemed no better then unfruitfull trees and thus notwithstanding their withering fruit they may be said to be without fruit in sundry respects 1. They were without fruit in regard that all their forementioned fruits were not produced by the inward life and vigour of the spirit of sanctification in their souls Their fruit grew upon a corrupt tree and proceeded from an unclean bitter root They were not the issues of a pure heart and faith unfaigned but the streams of an unclean fountain The fruitfulnesse onely of slow-bushes Crab-trees and brambles cannot make the year be accounted a fruitfull year A corrupt tree saith Christ cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.18 How can ye that are evill speak good things Mar. 12.24 Their best fruits were but fruits of nature coming from an unregenerated heart That fruit which before his conversion Paul accounted as precious as gold he after esteemed as base as dung 2. They were without fruit in regard their fruits were not brought forth to a Divine end they were directed to no higher an end then selves Riv. in loc Israel saith God is an empty Vine though bringing forth fruit for it followes he bringeth forth fruit to himself I am not ignorant that some Interpreters expound not that Text concerning the fruit of works though yet they grant the place may be by consequence drawn to take in them likewise As these fruits were not fruits of righteousnesse Phil. 1.11 so neither were they to the praise of his glory If thou wilt return O Israel saith God return to me Jer. 4.1 They returned saith the Psalmist but not to the most high The pipe cannot convey the water higher than is the fountain head from whence it comes and these fruits being not from God were not directed to him Fruits brought forth to our selves are rotten at the core they are not for his taste who both looks into and tries the heart 3. They might be without fruit as not producing works in obedience to the Rule The doing of the thing commanded may possibly be an act of disobedience God looks upon all our works as nothing unlesse we do the thing commanded because it is commanded This onely is to serve him for conscience sake A man may do a good work out of his obedience to his lust As its possible for a man to believe 1 Thess 4.3 1 Thess 5.18 not because of Divine Revelation so is it possible for a man to work and not upon the ground of Divine injunction Be not unwise but understand saith the Apostle what is the will of God Eph. 5.17 Mans wisdom is to understand and follow Gods will 4. Without fruit as to their own benefit comfort and salvation The works of Hypocrites are not ordained by God to have heaven follow them at the last day all they had or did will appear to be nothing and when the Sun shall arise then the works which here have shined like glow-worms shall appear unglorious and unbeautiful of all that hath been sown to the flesh shall nothing be reaped but corruption God crowns no works but his own nor will Christ own any works but those which have been brought forth by the power of his own Spirit 5. Lastly Without the fruit of any goodness in Gods account because without love to God 1 Cor. 13. Love is the sweetness of our services If I have not love saith Paul I am nothing and as true is it without it I can do nothing the gift of an enemy is a gift and no gift As love from God is the top of our happiness so love to God is the sum of our duty There is nothing beside love but an Hypocrite may give to God with Gods people it is the kernel of every performance God regards nothing we give him unless we give our selves also Its love which makes a service please both the master and servant Now wicked men in all they bring forth though they may have bounty in the hand yet have no love in the heart they have not a drop of love in a Sea of service This for the Explication of the second aggravation or gradation of the sin and misery of these Seducers they were without fruit The third follows in these words twice dead These words I take to express a further degree of their spiritual wretchedness under the continued Metaphor of Trees 'T was bad to have withering fruit worse to have no fruit at all worse yet to be not only without all fruit but even altogether without life twice dead Two things are here to be explained 1. In what respect these trees may be said to be dead 2. How to be twice dead For the first Death is 1. Temporal and Corporal that which is a privation of life by the departure of the soul from the body 2. Spiritual befalling either the godly or the wicked 1. The godly are said to be dead spiritually three wayes 1. Dead to sin Rom. 6.2 1 Pet. 2.24 the corruption of their natures being by the Spirit of Christ subdued and destroyed 2. Dead in respect of the Law Ceremonial Col. 2.20 dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world Moral Gal. 2.19 So Paul saith he was dead to the Law and Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law it being not able to make them guilty who are in Christ nor to terrifie their consciences nor to irritate them to sin 3. Dead to the world Gal. 6.4 so Paul was crucified to the world either because the World contemned and despised him as a dead man or else because the world had no more power to entice and allure him from Christ then the objects of the senses have to work upon a dead man 2. Spiritual death befalls the wicked and unregenerate they being without the Spirit of Christ to animate and quicken them which Spirit enlivens the soul supernaturally as the soul doth the body naturally hence they are said to be dead in sins Eph. 2.1.5 Col. 2.13 and dead Mat. 8.22 Luke 9.60 Rom. 6.13 Joh. 5.25 and to remain in death 1 Joh. 3.14 Their works hence are said to be dead Hebr. 9.14 As the immortality of the damned is no life but an eternall death so the conjunction of the souls and bodies of wicked men is not properly life but umbratilis vita a shadow of life or rather a very death they being without spiritual feeding growth working all vital operations and lying under the deformity loathsomness insensibleness in a spiritual sense of such as are dead or according to the resemblance here used by our Apostle which is
every way to remove punishment but the right so that they pine away in their iniquity Lev. 26.39 and though their books were torn yet their lessons not learned 2. These seducers are compared to dreamers in sleep in regard of their dreaming that is their vain false empty imaginations dotages doctrines which in the end like dreams deceived themselves and their followers A dream when a man sleepeth seems to have truth and reality in it but when he awaketh it quite vanisheth away he who utters his own foolish conceits and vain delusions is in common speech said to dream and to speak his own dreams and thus these seducers in stead of the truths of God vented their own fables and groundlesse fictions fancies and dreams In this sense Epiphanius understands the Apostle Jude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan adv haer cap. 26. p. 96. when he call's these seducers dreamers Jude speaks not saith he of them who dream'd in bodily sleep but of such who utter their words like them who dream and not like those who speak with the sobriety of such who are awake To the same purpose speaks Irenaeus likewise lib. 1 cap. 20. They put off sath he their own dreams for divine oracles And such have been the dreams of Enthusiasts and of the Anabaptists in Germany one of whom as Sleidan reports cut off his own brothers head in the presence of his parents pretending that he did it by an immediate revelation and command from God The false Prophets are in Scripture oft call'd dreamers because they delivered not the truths of God but the vaine figments of their own deluding and deluded fancies As Deut. 13.3 Jer. 23.25 where the Prophet who saith I have dreamed I have dreamed is by Jeremiah said to be a Prophet of the deceit of his owne heart These seducers of whom Jude speaks being asleep in sin Irenaeus vocat Gnosticos Oniro pompos sua somnia quasi oracula Dei ventilantes lib. 1 cap. 20. deceived themselves and hearers with d●ctrines vain opinions and especially false hopes of pleasure and liberty in sin though when their consciences awaked they found themselves miserably deluded by Satan and their own sensual hearts Thus Zophar speaks J●b ●0 8 that the hypocrite shall flie away as a dream that is as the good dreamed of or the joy of a dream which is short vanishing and deceiving so Psal 73 20. As a dream when one awaketh so O Lord when thou awakest shalt thou despise their image Isa 29.8 and thus the Prophet compares the temper of the people under all the judgments of God unto that of a deluded dreamer who pleaseth himself with dreaming of food and fulnesse and when he awakes in stead of a furnisht table and a fill'd stomack finds and feels himself more indigent and nearer famishing then ever he was before Thus the fond sinner is dreaming of a kingdome when he is going to execution and when Jael's nail is nearer his temples then a crown He blessing himself in his heart and saying that he shall have peace though he live in a way of warring against God And sundry ways may sinners delude themselves like dreamers by their vain and groundlesse conceits as 1. in dreaming of their persons 2. of their actions Of their Persons 1. dreaming that they are not so bad as others because they abstain from gross apparent and notorious abominations thus the Pharisee deluded himself Luk. 18.11 Some dream that they have not such and such corruptions because God restrains them from the outward acts of sin as if the rest and silence of corruption alwaies came from the renovation of the spirit whereas it comes not from the want of a mind disposed to sin but of an object proposed to draw forth corruption Others dream that if they had lived in the daies of Christ the Prophets and Ma●tyrs they would not have persecuted them Though they bitterly oppose those in whom the Image of Christ shines and they who cannot endure that spa●k of holinesse in a Saint how could they have loved that flame which was in Christ and hate those most in whom the piety and zeal of the holy Martyrs and Saints of old is revived 2. Sinners delude themselves in dreaming that they are in a good and happy estate before God Rev. 3.17 Gal. 6 3. being indeed miserable and bad Thus some dream that God loves them Psal 69.22 Heb. 12.6 because he gives them wordly prosperitie whereas the prosperitie of the wicked is their ruin and God oftenest gives it in wrath and denies it in love Some dream that their condition is happy because they are civily honest in the world whereas their irreligious honesty is as bad as unhonest religion and except your righteousnesse exceed c. Matth. 5.20 Others dream they are happy because they have been born in the Church and enjoy its priviledges 1 Cor. 10.5 Matth. 7.22 23 whereas a barren fig-tree is nearer cursing then a bramble and they who received Sacraments every meal were destroy'd in the wildernesse Some dream of happinesse because they have some kind of Knowledg Faith Repentance Obedience whereas their knowledg transforms them not it 's light without heat Their faith applies in a sort Christ to them not themselves to Christ but to their lusts their repentance respects the punishment of sin not the sin to be punished they hate sin for hell not as hell and in their tears sin is rather bathed then drowned their obed●●nce is not a serving of God but of themselves upon God they serve God for by-respects Hos 1.4 and in their obedience they aim not at obedience 2. Sinners delude themselves in dreaming concerning their actions that they are good 2 Sam. 6 7. because done with a go●diat●ntion not considering that a work may be good in a ma●s own eyes P●ov 16 25. and the issues thereof the waies of death or that they are warrantable because of the example of the multitude whereas the most are the worst and the whole world lies in wickednesse Some dream that small sins are as none as vain thoughts idle wo●ds whereas the least sin is the b●each of a great and royoll Law and an offence against a great God and thoughts and words shall be both brought into judgment Some dream that the outward works of the Law are sufficient whereas the Law in every command is spirituall and binds the heart as well as the hand and they who made their Philacteries broad made the expositions of the Law too narrow Some dream that their actions are good because followed with successe whereas the goodnesse of the action is not to be judged by the goodnesse of the successe but the goodnesse of the successe by the goodnesse of the action plenty could not justifie sacrificing to the Queen of heaven Jer. 44.11 Some because of the corruption of their natures dream of excusing their actions they are but men say
thy self when occasions of sin meet thee when winds crosse thee when reproofs and corrections would stop thee and blow in thy very teeth will thy heart neither like the dunghil stink when thou meetest with the sun-shine of an allurement nor with the sea foame when thou meetest with the wind of opposition canst thou then be calm with David and say Let the righteous smite me and with Job blesse the Lord and with the Church say I wil bear the indignation of the Lord for I have sinned against him and with that holy Martyr Lord I wil bow and thou shalt beat John Brown Canst thou kiss the rod lay thy hand upon thy murmuring mouth and desire that God would rather give thee submission to then deliverance from the stroke canst thou under smarest severities heartily beg of the Lord that he would have his wil of thee by pulling down thy proud stomack before he throws away his smartest rod And when the blasts of the word resist thy dearest corruption and oppose thee in thy sweetest wayes of sin when the faithful Minister levels his darts and sets the point of the drawn sword of the spirit most directly against thy bosome-lust canst thou then I say in stead of rebelling yeild thy self an humble prisoner to Jesus Christ fall down at his feet and say Lord I submit what wilt thou have me to do Blessed be thy strictest commands and threatnings against my sin and blessed be the mouth of thy servant which uttered them This is an happy sign that God hath begun to cleanse thy heart from that filth which one unrenewed would have put forth upon these occasions 11. Obs 11 The turbulent and unquiet temper of a wicked man makes him much to differ from a Saint The godly are indued with that wisdome from above which is peaceable they offer no wrongs they return no revenge their peace from God inclines their heart to peaceableness toward men a quiet conscience never produced an unquiet conversation The peace of God makes those who have offered wrong to others willing to make satisfaction and those who have suffered wrong from others readyto afford remission If the great God who is offended speaks peace to man should not poor man when an offender offer peace much more to man If God be pacified toward man upon his free grace should not man be pacified to man it being a commanded duty The more God quiets us the lesse shall we sinfully disquiet others Its the portion of Saints to find trouble in the world not their property to cause trouble in the world The reason why Gods people are accounted unpeaceable in the world is because they disquiet mens lusts Their wil is for peace but t is necessity which makes them contend Col. 3.15 The peace of God rules in their hearts and when the unquiet affections of anger hatred revenge arise in them like the judg or umpire of publick wrastlings this peace of God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rule by appeasing st●ifes and ending controversies In short the people of God are doves sheep not birds and beasts of prey Christ gave the Lamb they wil not have the Lion or the Tiger for their cognisance The unpeaceablenesse of godly men is because they have no more godlinesse As the sons of God have a precept so have they a property to be harmlesse Phil. 2.15 The last resemblance whereby the Apostle describes the sin and misery of these seducers is contained in these words Wandring stars to whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever EXPLICATION Two parts are here to be explained 1. Their title Wandring stars 2. Their estate To whom is reserved c. In the first their title two things are to be opened 1. What the Apostle here terms these seducers 2 Why he so terms them 1. What he here terms them viz. 1. Stars and those 2. Wandring Stars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 secundum aliqu●s derivatur ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quòd a stra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putent esse id est ignea unde et ignes et fla●● m● pr● stellis c. sidus quia sidat insidat codemque loco stet Varro vocatum vult Alii deducunt à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scribendo cum y sydus q. sit signum in quo simul stella conspiciantur Lorin in loc 1. Stars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to enquire whither the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying fire because stars appear fiery by poets called fires and flames or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of its coruscation and shining or from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because a star is never standing stil but alwaies in motion nor to discourse of the magnitude numbers motions influences of the stars The nature of a star properly so called is the same with that of the heaven wherein it s placed the Scripture mentions no difference between their nature and the parts of simple bodyes such are the heavens are of the same nature with the whole Besides if the stars were not of the same nature with the heavens they should be of an elementary nature and so their motion should be direct and straight whereas its ever circular And yet a star is not so transparent subtil and thin a body as is the other part of the heaven for if so it could not shine reflect and cast forth light more then doth the orb or heaven wherein it shines A thin and diaphonous body as the air may receive but not reflect light It hath therefore more thicknesse and condensation then the other parts of the heaven that so it may reflect and cast forth those beams which are cast upon it by the sun and in respect of that compactnesse and thickness wherein the star exceeds the other part of heaven the orb or heaven in which the star shines is not unfitly compared to meer and pure water but the star to water congealed or turned into ice Ipsi coeli quantum ad omnes partes in se quidem luminosi sunt Lumine corum substantiam penetrante non tamen nisi ratione astrorum possunt lumen de se refundere Ex hac sua densitate et Compactione habent ut possint radios solares ad se emissos reflectere Titelm phys p. 98. or as some make the comparison the heaven wherein the star is placed is like a broad and plain plank or cloven board but the star like the knot or knurle in the board 2. Wandring stars Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two sorts of wandring stars 1. Such as are commonly and properly called the seven planets which are termed planets or wandring stars not because they wander more then other stars or are rovingly and uncertainly carryed hither and thither for they have a most constant and regular motion which they duly fulfil in their set and definite