^ ' Misericordia mea suadet ut parcam, peccatorum clamor cogit ut puniam.' — Salvianus. 2 'Doiniuus Christusa Domino Patre.' — Council. Syrm,
228 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 7.
his authority, but rather connive at and tolerate the wickedness of this people, yea, rather approve and partalie with them in their abomi- nations. Consider, when the vices of inferiors are dissembled and winked at by governors, the Lord himself taketh the matter in hand ; and then look for nothing but speedy ruin. The guilt of a nation is much increased when sin is tolerated, yea, favoured and countenanced ; especially when righteousness is rather restrained and curbed than sin, as the affronts done to Lot witnessed ; the end why magistracy was ordained is then perverted, 1 Tim. ii. 2, Eom. xiii. 5, namely, for ' the punishment of evil-doers,' and that goodness be en- couraged : they were punished for allowing the lilthiness of strange flesh. What will become of us if magistrates should be careless and wink at, yea, countenance, strange opinions, as horrid and as much against the light of Christianity as that was against the light of nature.
2. Let us look upon the sins of Sodom. See Ezek. xvi. 49, ' Lo ! this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness ; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy ;' to which add the sins of the text, and then this black roll is complete. I shall consider— (1 ) The sins ; (2.) The aggravations.
[1.] The sins. (1.) Pride. It is hard to enjoy plenty and not to grow haughty. Prosperous winds soon fill the sails, but, blowing too strongly, ovei-turn the vessel ; how few are able to carry a full cup without spilling? to manage plenty without pride? Men grow rich and then high- minded, and that is the next way to ruin. (2.) Idleness ; an easy, careless life maketh way for danger. God sent all into the world for action ; standing pools putrify, and things not used contract rust ; so do idle persons settle into vile and degenerate lusts. (3.) Fulness of bread ; that is, corporal delights : Luke xvii. 28, ' They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they builded ; ' their whole lives were but a diversion from one pleasure to another. How soon are earthly com- forts abused into luxury and excess ! Fulness of estate maketh way for fulness of bread, and many beastly sins. (4.) Unmercifulness. You never knew any prodigal but they were also uncharitable, as Sodom here, and the epicure, Luke xvi. ; and you shall see James v. 4, 5, those that ' nourished their hearts as in a day of slaughter,' oppressed the labourers. They that set their hearts for ease and plea- sure, know not the bitterness of grief, and therefore do not compas- sionate it in others, Amos vi. 6. (5.) Uncleanness and fornication. This followeth on the former ; fulness of bread must be emptied and unladed in lust. (6.) That beastly wickedness implied in the text. When the angels came to destroy them, because they were of a comely visage, they came raging at the doors, Gen. xix, as usually wickedness is increased to the "height when God cometh to punish it. W^ell, then, if we put all these together, they were a lazy, easy, secure, oppressing, filthy, and unclean people. We may wonder more at God's patience, that he bore with them so long, than at his justice, that he punished them so sorely.
[2.] The aggravations. (1.) Shamelessness : Isa. iii. 9, ' They de- clare their sin as Sodom, they publish it as Gomorrah ; ' when a people are past shame they are past hope ; such do dare God to punish them. (2.) Contempt of reproof, a sure forerunner of ruin, when the reprover
VeR. 8.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 229
of sin is blamed more than the actor. Lot seemed ' as one that mocked,' Gen. xix. 14. When God's messengers are contemned, he can hold no longer.
[3.] Their judgment. ' The Lord rained from the Lord fire and brim- stone upon them.' Observe here — (1.) The suddenness ; the sun shone in the morning as at other times, Gen. xix. 23 ; they had not the least fear of any such mischief at hand. God usually surpriseth a people in their security ; after a great calm cometh a storm : ' Perish in the midway/ Ps. ii. 11, in their full career, when they dream of no such matter. (2.) The equity : the sin was like the punishment. They first burned with lusts, and then with fire ; they burned with vile un- natural lusts, and therefore, against the ordinary course of nature, fire falleth down from heaven. In this fire there was a stink for their filthiness.^ Thus doth God retaliate. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire, and they were consumed with strange lire coming down from heaven. Job, professing his innocency in case of adultery, saith, ' Otherwise let my wife grind to another, and a stranger bow down upon her,' Job xxxi. 10, implying that God would punish him in his own bed, if he had violated another's. In the Gospel we read, Luke xvi., that he was denied a drop that would not give a crumb, &c. (3.) Observe the power of God. God a little before had drowned the world with water, now he consumeth Sodom by fire ; all the elements are at his beck, the creatures are his hosts, Job xxxvii. 6. If God say, ' Be thou upon the earth,' they presently obey. If we find sins, God will find punishments ; he can execute judgments by contrary means, now drown and then burn. (4.) The severity of God ; he raineth down tire and brimstone, which is a map and type of hell, Isa. xxx. 33 ; Rev. xxi. 15. The calamities that light upon the godly are 'a token of heaven,' Phil. i. 28 ; namely, as they work to purify us from sin ; but those on the wicked are types of hell, preambles to future woes, as darkness on the Egyptians was a figure of utter darkness. So these were first turned to destruction, and then into hell. It is sad to think of the judgment past ; worse of judgment to come.