VeR. 6.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 189
bring present death, who would he so foolhardy as to meddle with it? Nay, when a thing is hut likely to do us hurt, as some meats in case of the cholic, gout, or stone, how cautious are we? To conclude all, let me give you Chrysostom's supposition ; for besides unbelief, there is somewhat in the strength of evil inclination. Suppose a man mightily desirous of rest and sleep, so that he can hardly hold open his eyes, and there were an offer made him of free and undisturbed rest for one night, but in case he gave way to it, to be held under a hundred years' torment, would he venture, and, with so great a hazard, gratify his drowsy humour ? Yet such is our fearlessness and security, that we can run the hazard of eternal torment for a little carnal satis- faction. If a man were sentenced to death, and in danger of execu- tion every moment, would not he bestir himself and improve all his interest for a pardon ? We are all ' condemned already ; ' but how few are solicitous to get a copy of their discharge ! (5.) Bewail the relics of unbelief, Mark ix. 24. (6.) Chide your hearts for your de- jection and distrust of God's providence ; as Ps. xlii. 5, ' Why art thou so disquieted, 0 my soul,' &c., and Ps. Ixxvii. 10, ' This is my in- firmity.' It is the duty of a gracious man to rebuke his fears, to chide himself for admitting mistakes of God's love, suggestions of unbelief, and disputes against the promises. (7.) Consider how willing Christ is to help you. He carrieth home the stray lamb upon his own. shoulders rejoicing, Luke xv. 5. How he prizeth the weak beginnings of faith ! ' Smoking flax will he not quench,' Mat. xii. 20 ; taketli notice of the green figs, Cant. ii. ; with a mild condescension indulgeth our infirmities : ' Eeach hither thy fingers, Thomas,' John xx. This for the cure of unbelief.
Ver. 6. And the angels which Ixept not their first estate, hut left their 010)1 hahitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, tinder darkness, unto the Judgment of the great day.
In this verse you have the second instance, from the apostate angels, who, notwithstanding the dignity and height of their nature, upon their rebellion were left to a dreadful punishment. In this instance there is an argument not a pari (as in the former verse), but a majore ad minus, not from a like case, but from the greater to the les.'^er ; for if God spared not such creatures as by the grace of creation were ad- vanced to such an excellency of being, certainly he will not spare us, whatever gospel privileges we have, if we walk unsuitably.
In these words observe: — (1.) The sin of the angels, they kept not their first estate. (2.) Their punishment, which is twofold: —
1. Present and felt.
2. Future and decreed.
1. Present, which is also double : — (1.) Poena damni, their loss, they left their own hahitation. (2.) Poena sensiis, their punishment of pain or sense, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, tinder darkness.
2. Future and decreed, tinto the judgment of the great day. Because I will not perplex the discourse by grasjiing at too much
at one time, I shall discuss each circumstance apart, and in distinct explication. I begin with the plu-ases implying their sin and fall. And the angels : the expression is plural, to note the great number of those which fell. Their first estate, ri]v dpxw : the word may be trans-
190 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 6.
lated either their principality or their heg inning, wa.^, which is all one, ■first estate. If you translate it pi'incipaliti/, it will well enough suit with the scope of the apostle ; and the angels are often called ' princi- palities' in scripture, because of their great power and excellent nature : so Col. i. 16, ' Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers ;' all which terms imply the dignity of the angelical nature ; naj', the devils themselves, because of that power and cunning which they still retain, are called ' principalities :' Eph. vi. 12, ' We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world/ If you translate it beginning or first estate, it will more fully express the misery and fall of the apostate angels, they being not only departed from the excellency and power, but from the integrity and righteousness wherein they were first created. So that the point is, that the angels are fallen from the con- dition of their original excellency and integrity.
So Peter, 2 Peter ii. 4, ayyeXcov dfxapTrjcrdvTcov, ' God spared not the angels that sinned,' &c. ; and John viii. 44, ' The devil abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.' That purity and integrity wherein they were created is there called ' truth,' because truth is the perfection of any rational creature, and that holiness which they had was only to be kept up by the truth or right notions of God. In open- ing this point I shall inquire : —