Exposition of Jude, Exegesis of Jude · Verse 7 · Part 2
OBSERVATIONS.Obſerv. 1. Terram hanc in. colatui noſtro traditam, tantâ varietate locorū non ſine magna ſapientia ſic diſtinxit, ut regionum alia ſit montoſa, alia plana, alia ſiticuloſa & arrida, alia fontibus & fluviis irrigua; ſingularis quaedam diverſitas, ſingularis Dei providentiae laudem depraedicat, &c. Terrae Canaan fertilem regionem vicinam adjecit. Muſc. in 13. Gen.
1. With admirable wiſdome hath God ordered, that there ſhould be ſuch variety of places for mans habitation. Sodom and Gomorrha were ſeated in the fruitfull valley, the country near it, was more barren and mountainous. Some countries are high, and thirſty, and barren; Others low, and water'd, and fruitfull. God could have made the whole earth to have been alike in all places, and not ſo variouſly orderd. But this ſingular diverſity doth excellently praiſe the wiſdome of his providence. They who live in the barren mountains, which are only waterd by the ſhowres of Heaven, are compell'd to acknowledg, that they owe all their increaſe to a bleſſing from above. They who inhabite the fruitfull vallies enriched with Fountains and Rivers, are admoniſh'd of the bounty of Gods providence to them above others, in the plenty of their ſupplies. They who live in mountainous and barren places, ſhew the goodneſs of God in ſuſteining them even in ſuch places of ſcarcity, and that it is not neceſſary for mans preſervation to live delicately; thoſe who fare more hardly, often living more healthfully, then thoſe who ſwim in great abundance. In a word, by this variety, places are made helpfull and beneficiall one to another; ſome places abound with the bleſſings of one kind; ſome with thoſe of another; the mountains with health, the valleys with wealth; the mountain wants the valley for ſupply of food, the valley is beholding to the mountain for ſtrength and defence. Every place enjoys not every comfort, but is neceſſitated to crave ſupply from a neighboring country. The City cannot live without the food of the Countrey; nor the Country without the Coyn and Commodities of the City; The poor wants the rich, and the rich the poor▪ the one is helpfull by his labours, Pauper rogat, dives erogat.the other by his rewards: the one by work, the other by wages; True is that of Solomon, Pro. 22.2.The rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all; Who by this variety both advanceth the honour of his owne wiſdome, and provideth for the good of humane ſociety.Obſerv. 2. Bona gens mala mens. Babylon irrigua, & fertilis, Aegyptus irrigua, & amaena; & tamen utra que quaſi carcere uſus eſt Dominus ad caſtigandum Iſraelem: Sic expoſcit humani ingenii corruptio, ut locis amaenioribus utatur Deus, non ad delicias, ſed ad triſtem ſervitutem & caſtigationem populi ſui. Muſc. in Gen. 13.
2. God often affords the richeſt habitations, and the greateſt earthly plenty to the greateſt ſinners. Sodom for wealth and fertility is compared to the Garden of God; and yet God beſtowes it upon the worſt of men. Egypt and Babylon abounding with waters and plenty, are given, not onelyonly unto thoſe who are without the Church, but who are enemies of the Church. In theſe countries God made his people ſlaves and captives (and truly it's ſafeſt for Iſrael to meet with moſt woe in places of moſt wealth.) God gives his enemies their heaven, their portion, their all in this life, Pſal. 17.14. they here receive their good things: and have all in hand, nothing in hope; all in poſſeſſion, nothing in future reverſion. By this diſtribution of earthly plenty, God would have us to ſee how ſlightly and meanly he eſteems it. He throws the beſt things that this world affords, upon the worſt, and (as Daniel ſpeaks) the baſeſt of men: Who but the Nimrods, the Nebuchadnezzars, the Alexanders, the Caeſars, have ordinarily been the Lords of the world? Theſe have fleeted off the cream of earthly enjoyments, when the portion of Saints hath been thin, and lean, and poor. Some obſerve, that Daniel expreſſeth the Monarchies of the world, by ſundry ſorts of cruel Beaſts; to ſhew, that as they were gotten by beaſtly cruelty, ſo enjoyed with brutiſh ſenſuality. The great Turkiſh Empire is but as a cruſt which God throws unto an hungry Dog. Luther.God ſometimes indeed (leſt riches ſhould be accounted in themſelves evill) gives them to the good; but ordinarily, leſt they ſhould be accounted the chiefeſt good, he beſtowes them upon the bad; oftner making them the portion of foes then of ſons. What is it to receive, and not to be received; to have nothing from God but what he may give in hatred; to have (with Sodomites) a Garden of God upon earth, with the loſſe of the true Paradiſe! In a word; To have no other dewes of bleſſing, but ſuch as may be followed with ſhowrs of fire!
3. The plenty of places oft occaſions much wickedneſſe and impiety. Commonly where there is no want, Obſerv. 3.there is much wantonneſſe. The rankneſſe of the ſoyl, occaſions much rankneſſe in ſin: Sodom, which was watred with Jordan, and fatted with proſperity, was a nurſery of all impiety: She had fulneſſe of bread, and therefore abundance of idleneſſe; Neither did ſhe ſtrengthen the hands of the poor: And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me, Ezek. 16.49, 50. Jeſurun waxed fat and kick'd, Deuter. 32.15. The drunkards of Ephraim were on the head of the fat valleys, Iſai. 28.1. Wealth unſanctified, is but as oyl to nouriſh the flame of luſt. How deceitfull an Argument of Gods love is worldly abundance! Not the having, but the holy improvement of wealth, is the diſtinguiſhing mercy. God cuts his people ſhort of bodily ſupplies in much love to their ſouls: His Daniels thrive beſt with the diet of Pulſe: I never yet heard or read, that proſperity occaſioned the converſion of one ſoul. Cyrus (they ſay) would not ſuffer his Perſians to change a barren ſoyl for a fruitfull, becauſe dainty habitations, make dainty inhabitants: Rich cities have ever been the ſtoves of luxury. Men have naturall inclinations according to the Genius of their country; and it's rare to ſee Religion flouriſh in a rich ſoyle. In the ſcantineſſe of earthly injoyments, want reſtrains, and ſtints our appetites; but where there's abundance, and the meaſure is left to our own diſcretion, we ſeldome know what moderation means. Ilands are the richeſt ſoyls, and Ilanders are held the moſt riotous people; we in this City, lie in the boſome, and at the dugs of an indulgent mother; we live in as dangerous a place for proſperity, as Sodom: and as the fatteſt earth is moſt ſlippery for footing, we had need of ſpeciall grace at every turn, and of that watchfulneſſe whereby, in the midſt of abundance, we may not want temperance. How hard is it, with holy Paul, to know how to be full, and to abound! How holy is that man who can be chaſt, temperate, Nullos eſſe Deos, inane Coelum affirmat Selius probatque quod ſe factum dum negat haec videt beatum, Mart. l. 4. Epig. 21.heavenly in Sodom! Let us not only be content to want, but even pray againſt thoſe riches which may occaſion us, being full, to deny God, Prov. 30.8, 9. It's a moſt unwiſe choice, with Lot, to leave Abraham to inhabite Sodom! and an ill exchange, to go (with Jacob) from Bethel the houſe of God, to Bethlehem, though an houſe of bread and plenty. They, who for worldly advantages, betake themſelvs to places only of outward accommodations, ſoon find, with Lot, the recompence of their inexcuſable error. How much more commendable was the choice of holy Galeacius, who forſook all the wealth and honours of Italy, to enjoy God in the purity of his ordinances in a poor Geneva! It's much better to travell to Zion through the valley of Baca, then to pitch our tents in the Plains of Sodom.
4.Obſerv. 4. Sinners are not better'd by premonition. They commonly remaine unreformed, notwithſtanding the bitter fore-taſtes of judgments. How ſoon hath Sodom forgot that ſhee was ſpoyled and waſted by Chedorlaomer and the other Kings! But ſinners grow worſe by afflictions, as water grows more cold after an heating. If that wicked City had been warned by the ſword, it had eſcaped the fire. But now this viſitation hath not made ten good men in thoſe five cities. And as they leave not ſinning, ſo God leaves not plaguing them, but ſtill follows them with a ſucceſſion of judgements. There's no greater ſign of finall overthrow, then a miſ-improving of judgements. Oh, that the time which we ſpend in an impatient fretfulneſſe under them, becauſe they are ſo great, we would more profitably imploy in a humble mourning for our unprofitableneſs under them, leſt they be the forerunners of greater.
5. The greateſt, Obſerv. 5.the ſtrongeſt Cities cannot keep off judgement; Nor are they ſhot-proof againſt the arrowes of vengeance. Great ſins will overturn the foundations of Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them. Nothing can defend where Gods juſtice will ſtrike, as there is nothing can offend where his goodneſſe will preſerve. The height of a Cities proud Towers may hold the earth in awe, but they cannot threaten heaven; and the cloſer they preſſe to the ſeat of God, the nearer they lie to his lightning. The bars of our gates cannot keep out judgements. What is the greatneſſe of Sodom, though the mother city, compared with the greatneſſe of the Lord of Hoſts! The lands of Alcibiades, in the Map of the whole world, could not be eſpied. The Nations are as the drop of a bucket, as the ſmall duſt of the balance; Iſai. 40.15.He taketh up the Iſles as a very little thing: An nations before him are as nothing, and leſſe then nothing, and vanity: Jeruſalem was the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth; yet how were her gates ſunk into the ground, Lam. 2.15.her bars broken: Sion was ſo deſolate, that the Foxes ran upon it. Her ſtrength was ſuch before, Lam. 5.18.that the inhabitants of the world would never have beleeved that the enemy would have entred Jeruſalem. Lam. 4.12.Greatneſſe of ſin will ſhake the foundations of the greateſt Cities upon earth: If their heads ſtood among the ſtars, iniquity will bring them down into the duſt. Even of Babylon the great (that Spirituall Sodome) ſhall it be ſaid, Rev. 18.2.It is fallen. Ʋrbs aeterna.Ammianus Marcellinus, call'd Rome the everlaſting City; but even ſhe ſhall ſee the day when the eternity of her name, and the immortality of her ſoul, wherewith ſhe is quickned, (which (ſaith a Learned man) is the ſupremacy of her Prelates, above Emperours and Princes) ſhall be taken from her, and as Babylon hath left her the inheritance of her name, ſo ſhall it leave her the inheritance of her deſtruction. In vaine do we build, unleſſe the Lord lay the firſt ſtone; or plant, unleſſe he ſay, Let it grow. Bleſſed is the City whoſe gates God barreth up with his power, and openeth with his mercy; Otherwiſe Sodoms plenty, and power, cannot ſecure it's inhabitants. It's ſaid of Tyrus, that Her Merchants were Princes, and her Traffickers the Honourable men of the earth; yet how doth God deride her greatneſſe, at the time of her overthrow! Is this that glorious City? (Iſai. 23.7.) her own feet ſhall carry her far off to ſojourne. The Lord of Hoſts hath purpoſed it, to ſtain the pride of all glory, and to bring to contempt all the honourable of the earth. Sodome, Babylon, Jeruſalem, Conſtantinople, &c. have felt the weight of Gods power, and their own impieties; God once ask'd Nah. 3.10.Niniveh, whether ſhe was greater then No: Let me ask London, whether ſhe be greater then thoſe cities which, for ſin, God hath made ſmall, yea brought to nothing. He who in former great plagues hath made graſſe to grow in the ſtreets of London for want of paſſengers; is able again to ſtretch out upon it the line of conſuſion, the ſtones of emptineſſe, Iſai. 34.11.and to turn the glory of our dwellings into plowed fields. The fear of God is the ſtrongeſt refuge; and righteouſneſs a ſtronger bulwark then walls of braſſe. Prov. 10.25.How great is the folly of the greateſt City, to be at the ſame time ſinfull and ſecure! There's no fortification againſt, no evaſion from the Lord. There's no way to fly from him, but by flying to him; by making him, in Chriſt, our friend; by becoming enemies to ſin, and by reforming.
6.Obſerv. 6. Gen. 19.35. Sin brings a curſe upon every thing that belongs to man. The ſin of Sodomites overthrew them, their houſes, their cities, their children, yea, their plaine, and all that grew upon the earth. The curſe of Thorns and Bryers grew out of the ſoyle of ſin. The puniſhment of Amalek, reached even the Infant and Suckling; yea the Ox and Sheep, the Camel and Aſſe. 1 Sam. 15.3.That which was made and beſtowed for mans comfort, may juſtly be deſtroyed for mans wickedneſſe. Who wonders to ſee the children, the followers, the palaces, and gardens of a Traytor to droop and decay; and the armes of his houſe, and the Badge of his Nobility, to be defac'd and reverſ'd? That which is abuſed by man to the diſh…or of God, may juſtly be deſtroyed by God to the detriment of man. How deſervedly may God demoliſh and diſmantle thoſe fortifications, and break in pieces thoſe engines, in and by which rebellious man fights againſt his Supreme Lord, and Soveraign! How profitably may we improve all the miſeries which we behold diſperſt upon the whole creation! How fruitfull a Meditation may we raiſe from the barrenneſſe of the earth! Pſal. 107.34.A fruitfull land turneth he into barrenneſſe, for the wickedneſſe of them that dwell therein. All the Monnuments of ruine, the demoliſh'd Monaſteries, and overthrown Abbies, and ſubverted Cels of Sodomiticall and lazy Fryers, full fed, and unclean inhabitants, are but the ſcratches that ſin hath made upon the fair faces of Nations. Oh, that England would look with Scripture ſpectacles upon all its fired Towns, and razed manſions, and ſay, and beleeve, If ſin had not been, theſe had not lien here; Veſtigia peccatiand that theſe demolitions are but the foot-prints of ſin; that ſo having found out ſin, we may voice it, and deal with it as the Philiſtins did with Samſon, Judg. 16.24.Who (ſaid they) was the deſtroyer of their country. Certainly, that which wants reaſon is by God ruin'd, that we who have reaſon may thereby be reformed. We ſhould ſay in the deſtruction of the creatures, as David in the death of his ſubjects, I and my Fathers houſe have ſinned; Theſe ſheep what have they done? and we ſhould look upon Gods taking away of abuſed comforts, as ſtoppages in our way of ſin, and the withdrawings of the fuel of luſt; God as it were firing our ſhips, and breaking down our bridges, leſt by theſe we ſhould depart from him.
7.Obſerv. 7. Great is the difference between Gods chaſtiſing of his people, and his puniſhing of Sodomites. The univerſality of Sodoms ruine, followed the community of its ſin. The Church of God is never deſtroyed utterly, but in it he alwayes leaves a number; Except the Lord had left us a ſeed (ſaith Paul) we ſhould have been as Sodom, Rom. 9.29.and like unto Gomorrha. Though an houſholder ſpend and ſel the greateſt part of the corn of the Harveſt Crop, yet he will be ſure to reſerve a little ſeed corn, to ſow his ground for a new corp; Though Sodom be utterly conſumed by fire; yet Jeruſalem is as a brand pluck'd out of the fire. God makes a light account of whole cities full of ſinners, Pſal. 119.119.he takes away the ungodly of the earth like droſſe, which is put into the fire to be conſum'd; his own people being like gold only, put in to be purged: A man when his houſe is on fire, more regards a ſmall box full of Jewels, then a great room full of ordinary Lumber. God having intimated to his people, Hoſ. 11.6. that they deſerved to be made as Admah and Zeboim, (the two Cities that were deſtroyed with Sodom and Gomorrha;) he ſubjoyns ver. 9. I will not returne to deſtroy Ephraim; Vid. Rivetum in loc.by not returning to deſtroy, he means, he will not utterly deſtroy; he will not be like a Conqueror, who having overcome a City, and in the heat of blood, deſtroyed all with whom he met, at length indeed gives over, but …terward returns to make a totall deſtruction thereof; though God make a full end of all nations, yet he will not make a full end of his people, Jer. 30.11. Jer. 46.28. Am. 4.11. Zech. 3.2. Iſai. 6.13. Iſai. 10.22.but correct them in meaſure, yet not leave them altogether unpuniſhed; he will ever have ſome to ſerve him, and to be monuments of his mercy: God will deal with his people as he enjoyned them to do, in gathering their grapes at Vintage, Lev. 19.10. the gleaning of grapes he wil leave in it. Iſai. 17.6. and as the ſhaking of an Olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermoſt bough. God will have evermore ſome of his people above the reach of their enemies. This indulgence of God ſhould both teach us Humility, conſidering what we deſerve; and Thankfulneſſe, conſidering what we eſcape, it being the Lords mercies that we are not utterly conſumed.
This for the firſt part of this ſeventh verſe, viz. the Places puniſhed. The ſecond followes, namely, the Deſerving cauſe of their puniſhment; expreſt by the Apoſtle in theſe words; In like manner giving themſelves over to fornication, and going after ſtrange fleſh.
Wherein he ſets down, 1. The ſin of ſome; (namely, of the Cities about Sodom and Gomorrha) which was to ſin in like manner.
2. The ſin of all the cities deſtroyed.
Wherein I conſider 1. Into what they fell; viz. uncleanneſſe; yea, one of the moſt odious ſorts of uncleanneſſe, Sodomy, or pollution with ſtrange fleſh.
2. The Degree or meaſure of their embracing this ſin; They gave themſelves over to the one; they went after the other.