voluntary on their part: for they are said [ver. 19] to be those who separated themselves. They were charged not only with holding erroneous opinions, which was certainly true of them, with respect to the person of Jesus, as has often been explained, but with practices of the most flagitious nature. That some of them were guilty of such vices, is very credible, because there are unworthy members of all societies; but that the tenets of the Gnostics necessarily led to vice, does not appear. Like other Christians, they expected a future state of righteous retribution, though not in the body, and professing to hate and mortify the body, they would rather avoid all sensual indulgences; though it is possible that their contempt of the body might be so great, and its connexion with the soul, in their opinion, so little, and only temporary, that they might think that the pollution of the body would not remain with the soul. This contrary effect of similar principles has been seen in some more modern sects of Christians.

5. As the Hebrews, though delivered from their bondage in Egypt, died in the Wilderness for their unbelief, the apostle warns Christians against a similar conduct and a similar fate, if they should depart from the true faith of the gospel.

6. By the angels who left their first estate, are probably to be understood, as I observed in the Notes on 2 Peter,* those who are called the sons of God, in the antediluvian world, and who perished in the general deluge.†

8. This should rather have been rendered, vain dreamers, alluding to the wild speculative systems of the Gnostics, in which there was much of fancy, and suppositions of the most improbable kind, on which account Paul [1 Tim. i. 4; iv. 7] calls them endless genealogies, and old wives' fables. The first Gnostics were Jews, strongly prejudiced in favour of the law, which they wished to impose on the Gentile converts. They also ill brooked their subjection to the Romans.

9. This is probably an allusion to a passage in Zechariah iii. 2, as was observed in the Notes on 2 Peter.‡

* Ch. ii. 4. See supra, pp. 416, 417 ; Lardner, VI. p. 623; Simpson in Impr. Vers. + Gen. vi. 2. See Vol. XI. p. 53.

See supra, pp. 416, 417. "Among other apocryphal writings of the Jews, there was a book entitled The Assumption of Moses, where Michael and the Devil were introduced disputing about the body of Moses, and where the archangel delivered the answer here mentioned." N. T. 1729.

This, "Origen supposed; but indeed there is no good reason to suppose there was any such book extant in the time of Jude. It is more probable that it was forged afterwards. To me it is apparent that St. Jude refers to the vision in Zech. iii. 1-3. Vitringa would read, the body of Joshua. Nevertheless, the common

12.* It should have been rendered, hidden rocks, on which ships are dashed before mariners are aware of them. 13. There was hardly any vice or excess with which these Gnostics were not accused.

14, 15. The words of Jude are, word for word, the same with those in the book of Enoch, which was seen by Mr. Bruce, in Abyssinia.‡

This must have been an ancient tradition among the Jews, and it is by no means improbable in itself. To have been translated to heaven without dying, Enoch must have distinguished himself by his zeal in the cause of virtue and of God; and his translation might be considered as a confirmation of his doctrine, and especially a proof of the reality of another state, to which men passed after they had done with this. For it would not be supposed that he was taken up into the clouds, that he might die there, or elsewhere. And the power that could remove a man from this state to that, without dying, would easily be supposed to be able to do it after death. It is not improbable, therefore, but that Enoch was the first to whom the doctrine of a future state was distinctly revealed, though we have not now any sufficient evidence of it.

18. The appearance of the Gnostics was thought by Paul, Peter, and John, as well as Jude, to be an indication that theirs were the times in which there was to be a great departure from the true faith, and a proportionable corruption of morals; so that, according to our Saviour's prophe

reading may be explained agreeably to Zechariah. For, according to Ephrem the Syrian, Joshua the High-priest,' there denotes the Jewish people; whom St. Jude might call the body of Moses,' as Christians are called the body of Christ,' by St. Paul, 1 Cor xii. 20, 25, 27; Eph. i. 23; iv. 12, 16; Col. i. 18." Lardner, VI. pp. 621, 622. See ibid. IV. p. 435; Bowyer.

"It is well known the Jews had many dramatic pieces among them, (though not perhaps designed for the stage,) taken from stories out of their own chronicles; such seems the book of Job. To me it appears almost evident, that St. Jude alludes to a kind of dramatic poem, where Michael and the Devil were introduced disputing about the burial of Moses. The story might be taken from some old Rabbinical comment upon the last chapter in Deuteronomy, and the subject might be, The death of Moses." Upton on Shakespeare, p. 29. See Le Clerc, Doddridge. On railing accusation, "Archbishop Tillotson suggests that the Archangel was afraid the Devil would have been too hard for him at railing." Ibid. * See Hallett, III. pp. 46, 47; Bowyer.

+ Prophesied against these." Blackwall (S: C.), I. p. 164. See Doddridge. Travels, p. 499. (P.) "It is not certain that St. Jude cites any book; nor is there good evidence that in St. Jude's time there was extant any book entitled Enoch, or Enoch's Prophecies, though there was such a book in the hands of Christians in the second and third centuries." Lardner, VI. p. 619.

"Behold the Lord cometh with his holy myriads." Mede, p. 344. See Theol. Repos. IV. p. 244. "Ecce venit Dominus in sanctis millibus suis." Vulg. On ver. 7, see Blackwall (S. C.), II. pp. 20-22. Taylor's Orig. Sin, p. 160.

cies, his second coming would be wholly unexpected, and a dreadful surprise to the world. But it is evident now, that the real apostacy of the latter times, though in some respects similar to that of the Gnostics, was that of the Church of Rome; for in it we find all the genuine characters of Antichrist.

19. That the Gnostics had not the gifts of the Spirit, was alleged by the apostle John [iv. 13] as a proof that theirs was not the true Church of Christ.

23. As the garments of persons infested with the plague, cannot be handled with safety, so the Catholic Christians were exhorted to avoid every thing that bore the least relation to the Gnostics.

REVELATION.

THIS book of Revelation, I have no doubt, was written by the apostle John, and probably about A. D. 96, after he had been banished to the Isle of Patmos, by the emperor Domitian.t Sir Isaac Newton, with great truth, says, he does not "find any other book of the New Testament so strongly attested, or commented upon, so early as this."§ Indeed, I think it impossible for any intelligent and candid person to peruse it without being struck, in the most forcible manner, with the peculiar dignity and sublimity of its composition, superior to that of any other writing whatever, so as to be convinced that, considering the age in which it appeared, none but a person divinely inspired, could have written it. Also, the numerous marks of genuine piety that occur through the whole of this work, will preclude the

"Now called Patino." For the traditions respecting "the holy grotto," where St. John is said to have writ the Apocalypse-a stone font, where he is said to have baptized, and a pulpit, where, they say, he used to preach," see "A Description of the present State of Samos, Nicasia, Patmos, and Mount Athos, by Joseph Georgirenes, Archbishop of Samos, now living in London." 1678, pp. 71, 77, 78.

421.

See Lardner, VI. pp. 174–186, 633–638; Doddridge's Introd. VI. pp. 420,

Who maintains that "the Apocalypse was written before the destruction of Jerusalem." Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse, 1783, (Pt. ii.), pp. 235-246. See this opinion supported in Michaelis's Introd. Lect. (Ch. clii.), pp. 333-336.

Obs. on Apoc. p. 249. Thus Mede, p. 602; Lowman's Paraph. and Notes, Ed. 3, 1778, (Pref.) p. viii.; Taylor's Grand Apost. 1781, p. 71; Illustrations of Prophecy, 1796, pp. 23-30. See the critique of Dionysius, in the third century; N. T. 1729, 11. pp. 1020-1022; Lardner, III. pp. 102-131; Abauzit (Disc. on the Apoc.), pp. 285-376; Impr. Vers.

"It is an excellent observation of M. Saurin, that this is a very mortifying book to a mind greedy of knowledge and science, but a very satisfying and agree

idea of imposition, in any person acquainted with human nature. It is, likewise, so suitable a continuation of the prophecies of Daniel,* that something would have been wanting in the New Testament dispensation, if nothing of this kind had been done in it; for it has been the uniform plan of the Divine proceedings to give a more distinct view of interesting future events, as the time of their accomplishment approached.

Besides, notwithstanding the obscurity of many parts of this book, enough is sufficiently clear; and the correspondence of the prophecy with the events, so striking, as of itself to prove its divine origin. Indeed, some of the most interesting parts of this prophecy are, at this very time, receiving their accomplishment, and, therefore, our attention is called to it in a very particular manner, though it certainly was not the intention of Divine Providence to enable us, by means of these predictions, to foretell particular future events, or to fix the exact time of their accomplishment.

It is, indeed, sufficient for us, and affords us much consolation, that the great catastrophe is clearly announced, and such indications of the approach of happy times, as lead us to look forward with confidence and joy. These prophecies are also written in such a manner as to satisfy us, that the events announced to us were really foreseen, being described in such a manner as no person, writing without that knowledge, could have done. This requires such a mixture of clearness and obscurity, as has never yet been imitated by any forgers of prophecy whatever. Forgeries, written of course after the events, have always been too plain. It is only in the Scriptures, and especially in the book of Daniel, and this of the Revelation, that we find this happy mixture of clearness and obscurity in the account of future events.

CHAP. I. 1. This verse furnishes sufficient proof that Christ is not God. The predictions in this book were such as God imparted to him, not what he knew of himself. The

able one to a heart solicitous about maxims and precepts,' or, in his own expressive and elegant words, L'Apocalypse, qui est un des plus mortificans ouvrages, pour un esprit avide de connoissance et de lumière, est un des plus satisfaisans pour un cœur avide des maximes et de précepts.' Serm. xii. p. 234." Doddridge, who says of" this book, so many articles are contained in it, which are dark and mysterious, that I remained some time undetermined whether I should publish any commentary upon it at all." Introd. VI. p. 426.

"I conceive Daniel to be Apocalypse contraite, and the Apocalypse Daniel explicate, in that where both treat about the same subject." Mede, p. 787.

term shortly, and other equivalent expressions, are sometimes used to denote certainty; and if any event will certainly come to pass, it is, in the eye of God, as if it was present. Thus, when our Saviour said to the penitent thief, [Luke xxiii. 43,] This day shalt thou be with me in paradise, he meant nothing more than that they would certainly meet there. The prophecies in this book extend to the day of judgment, whenever that will be; and seventeen hundred years are already elapsed since the book was written.

us.*

By angel may be understood any medium, or instrument, by which the Divine will is signified to us. It does not appear that any angel was employed here besides those that are mentioned in the course of the visions.t

3. By keeping the things that are written in this book, must be meant, keeping clear of those corruptions which are here foretold to take place in the church.

4. There must, at this time, have been more churches in Asia than seven; but these were probably the most considerable, as the number seven may be used in correspondence with the other sevens in this book; so the seven spirits§ that are before the throne, are probably synonymous to what is elsewhere called the Holy Spirit, denoting, perhaps, the abundance of his gifts. ||

5. This should have been rendered the faithful martyr. It is the same word that is so rendered when it is after

* "A prophetic dream is an angel; the pillar of fire that went before the Israelites, is called God's angel; the winds and flames of fire, are angels to us, when used by God as voices to teach us, or rods to punish us.” Lowman.

† On ver. 2, see Lardner, III. pp. 118, 119; VI. p. 632.

For the time is at hand. See Le Clerc, who, speaking of those theologians who have not ventured to explain this book, adds, "J'avouë que je suis de ce nombre, et c'est pourquoi on ne verra guère de notes sur ce livre." Of the Revelation, it is said that Calvin declared "he knew not at all what so obscure a writer meant." See Selden's Life, by Dr. Aikin, p. 35.

"As in the opinion of every one this book contains the destiny of the church, every sect in particular has not failed to make an application of it to themselves, and often to the exclusion of others. The English find here the revolutions of Great Britain; the Lutherans, the troubles of Germany; and the French Refugees, what happened to them in France. In fine, each church boasts of finding itself here, according to the rank that it thinks it holds in the plan of Providence, and which you may be sure is always the first place. There is only the Catholic Church which hath circumscribed it within the limits of the three first centuries, during which, it maintains that every thing was accomplished; as if it were afraid, lest descending lower, it should see Antichrist in the person of its metropolitan.”. Abauzit (Disc. on the Apoc.), p. 376.

§ "The very number of those spirits sufficiently hinteth, that this place maketh nothing to the invocation of the Holy Spirit, whom they would have to be the third person in the Godhead; for then we should make seven spirits instead of one, so that for three persons of the Deity, we should have nine." Crellius (B. i. Sect. iii. Ch. ii.), p. 182. See Mede, p. 42; Lindsey on Robinson, p. 83.

"Seven, in the language of prophecy, often expresses perfection." Lowman. ¶ And "should begin a new period.""' Heinsius in Bowyer.