Ver. 13. Raging leaves of the sea, foaming out their shame ; ivan- dering stars, to ichom is reserved the blachness of darkness for ever.
Here are two other comparisons, the one taken from ' raging waves,' the other from ' wandering stars.' For the first, raging ivaves of the sea, foaming out their oicn shame, there is a great deal of variety among interpreters in the application or accommodation of this simili- tude ; some go one way, some another. Waves are not more various and uncertain in their motions than they in their expositions. Some apply it to their levity and inconstancy, some to their restless activity in sin, some to their turbulency, others to their pride and ostentation. In such uncertainty what shall we fix upon ? Two things will direct us — the scope, and the force of the words. The scope of the apostle in all these similitudes is to show that these seducers were nothing less than what they pretended to be: clouds, but dry barren clouds ; trees, but such as bore either none or rotten fruit ; leaves, that seemed to mount up unto heaven, and to promise great matters, as if they would swallow up the whole earth, but being dashed against a rock, all this
^ Qu. — ' You can no more sever Christ and a believer than the leaven and the dough' ? —Ed.
284 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 13.
raging: and sv/ellins: tnrneth into a little foam and froth. So Calvin applieth it to the libertines, who scorn and disdain the common forms of speech, and talk of illumination and deification, so that their hearers seem to be rapt into the heavens ; hut, alas ! they suddenly fall into beastly errors.
Ohs. 1. From the scope observe, that spiritual boasters will cer- tainly come short of their great promises. All is but noise, such as is made by empty vessels. In the latter times you are troubled with ' boasters,' 2 Tim. iii. 2, men that boast of depths, and seem to be wise and knowing above the ordinary sort, that will pretend to show you new ways — a shorter cut to heaven, and rare discoveries of Christ and gospel light, &c. ; but, alas ! in the issue they leave you much more the servants of sin than you were before.
But let us a little examine the force of the words. The whole simi- litude alludeth to what is said of wicked men in general, Isa. Ivii. 20, The wicked are like a troubled sea that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.'
Ohs. 2. Observe, in the first place, that they are waves, which noteth their inconstancy : Gen. xlix. 4, ' Reuben is as unstable as water.' Water, you know, is movable, soon furled, and driven to and fro by the winds ; so were these ' carried about with every wind of doctrine,' Eph. iv. 14. Note thence, that seducers are unsettled and uncertain in their opinions ; so 2 Peter iii. 16, ' Unlearned and unstable.' If you ask why ? Because they are not rooted and grounded in their profession, but led by sudden affection and interests rather than judgment ; they are unstable because unlearned ; such as do not proceed upon clear and certain grounds, and those whom they work upon are of no principle, ' beguiling unstable souls.' Well, then, discover them by their levity ; you will never have comfort and certainty in following tliem who, like weathercocks, turn with every wind. Ecebo- lius is infamous to all ages, see Socrat. Scholast, lib. iii. cap. 2. He was professor of eloquence at Constantinople, under Constantius zealous of Christian religion, under Julian a Pagan, and when he was dead, he professed Christianity again ; but then he came weeping to the church, TraTijaare fj,e to d\a<i to dvaiadrjTov — tread upon me, unsavoury salt, and cast me to the dunghill. Constantius Chlorus, though a heathen (both Sozomen and Eusebius give us the story) yet loved constancy and faithfulness in men as to their profession ; he made proclamation that whosoever would not sacrifice should be discarded, and no more retained in pay with him; but when many false Christians had renounced their profession for gain and pre- serving their civil interests, he would not receive them, saying, ttco? ryap dv TTore ^aaiXel ttIcttcv (f)v\d^ovat Trepl to KpeiTTov d\ovTe<; a'yvdiixoveiv — how can they keep faith with their king and emperor that would falter in a higher matter, in the business of their Grod and religion, for a small and petty interest ? Much to the same purpose there is a passage of Theodoric, king of the Goths, who loved a deacon who was of the orthodox profession, though he himself was an Arian ; the deacon, to please the king the more, changed his reli- gion, and professed Arianism also ; but he beheaded him, saying, el T(p &€a) TTcaTCV ovfc i(f)v\a^as, 7rco9 dvOpcairw (f)u\d^eL<i avveihrjacv
VeR. 13.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 285
vyiaivova-av — if thou hnst not kept thy faith with God, how wilt thou preserve a good conscience in thy duty to men ? The story is in Theodoret. Some are merely waves, rolling hither and thither in a doubtful uncertainty.
Waves of the sea. There you have their restless activity, they are always tossed to and fro : Jer. xlix. 23, * The Lord shall trouble Damascus, that she shall become like a fearful sea that cannot rest ;' so these cannot rest from evil : 2 Peter ii. 14, ' Eyes full of adultery, that cannot cease from sin.'