Ver. 7.-Thfrd example of Divirie vengeance. This is the case of the cities of the plain. I. TrrE CA usE oF Timm PUNISHMEIIT. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities a'bout them, ha.ing in like manner with these given themselves over to fornica- tion, and gone after strange :flesh." 1. God often assigns the most fertile places to the _qrea.test sinners. Sodom is compared to "the garden of the Lord." 2. Prosperity often becomes an occasion for much wickedness and impiety. 3. The inhabitants of these cities of the pl,a,in were guilty of fornication and unnatural c1'imes. (1) These were personal sins of a heinous character. They were sins against both soul and body. No whore- monger shall enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor. vi. 9), and fornication is a sin "againsf. the body itself" (1 Cor. vi. 18). (2) They were social sins. They affect the family and society. (3) They were sacrilegious sins. The body, which is a temple of the Holy Ghost, allows its members to become those of a harlot (1 Cor. vi. 15). (4) They were sins not to be named among saints (Eph. v. 3). 4. The causes of these sins were (1) fulness of bread (Ezek. xvi. 49), and (2) idleness. II. THE SEVERITY OF THEIR PUNISHMENT. "Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." 1. There may be allusion to the rain of fire that dutroyed the cities, and to the volcanic nature of ihe soil which underlies their present site. 2. But that dest~ction is only a type of the worse datruction that overtook the guilty inhabitant.,. (1) No "dogs" shall be admitted into the New Jerusalem (Rev. n:ii. 15). "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. rii. 29). The justice of God is not abolished by his mercy. (2) Yet the rejection of the gospel is a worse sin than that of the Sodomites. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for Capemaum and Bethsaida (Matt. L 15). III. THESE SonoMITEB WERE PUNISHED AS AN EXAMPLE. 1. God shows thm his hatred of sin. 2. His daire to prevent our ~in. 3. The inexcusableness of those who sin in the face of such e:romplu. 4. We need under the gospel the restraints of fear as well as the allurements of love. 5. The same Bina recur in every age, and therefore need to be very poi,ntedly condemned. 6. The sins of the Sodomites are more heinous if committed in this dispensation t1f light and privikge. 7. Let us be thankful to Go_d/or •uch warnings agair.st sin.-'f. C.
Ver. 8.-The charocter <:f tlie libertinu in Jude's day. Three triplets a.gain, to corre- spond to the triplets of vers. 5-7. Mark the sins of these libertines. I. Gaoss LICENTIOUSNESS. "They defile the :flesh." Thus they resemble the Sodomites. The ea.rly Gnosticism had a.n a.ntinomia.n as well as an ascetic side. 1. Sins ef unchastity inflict deep dishon(JfJ,f' on the body. 'l'hey defile that body which ought to be a temple of the Holy Ghost. 2. They lead men into destructive error. "'l'he lUBts make the affections to be judges; and where affection sways, judgment decays." The errorists of primitive times were men "of corrupt minds," teaching "things they ought not for filthy lucre's sake, sr.rviog their own belly." Solomon says, "Evil men understand not judgment." 1 25.J THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JUDEl. 25