A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude

1. I begin with the state of Sodom. There 1. the quality of the place; there were sundry goodly Cities, of which Sodom was the principal, fairly situated in the plain of Jordan, full of people, and well supplied with Corn, Wine and Oil, and all earthly contentments; 'tis said, Gen. 19. 10. Sodom was pleasant, and as the Garden of the Lord. And yet afterwards this was the place which was the Scene of so much wrath & utter desolation. What may the world learn from hence? that we must give an account for common mercies; God reckoned with the servant that had but one Talent, Matth. 25. The world is a place of trial, all men have a trust committed to them; The Talents of the Heathens were fruitful seasons, food and gladness. Act 14. 17. God that never left himself [Greek or Hebrew], without a witness, hath left us [Greek or Hebrew], ⟨p. 334⟩without excuse: a plentiful soil doth not argue a good people, but a good God. Sodom was pleasantly and richly situated. If we had nothing else to answer for, but an Island of blessings, how poorly have we discharged this trust? 2. Take notice of their late deliverance, four Kings made war upon them, by whom they were carried captive, and rescued by Abraham, Gen. 14. 15, 16 Deliverances from war and captivity leave a great engagement; When God hath once spared us, if we repent not, the next turn is utter destruction. Deliverances if not improved, are but reprievals; we are not so much preserved, as reserved to a greater misery; hoisted up, that our fall may be the more dreadful; snatched out of one misery, that we may be cast into a worse: Oh what have we to answer for our late deliverances! Sodom was but once saved in war, we many times; 'tis to be feared that passage recordeth our doom, Psal. 166. 43. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him by their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity: deliverances not improved are pledges of certain ruin. 3. Gods patience in bearing with them: Sodom for a long time slept quietly in their sins unmolested, undisturbed; ^*the times of Sodom cry to me: the Lord proffered Abraham, if there were but ten righteous persons found there, he would spare the Cities: in four Cities not ten righteous persons! God is silent as long as their sins would let him be quiet; but then when he could no longer bear, he goeth down to take vengeance: