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THE GENERAL EPISTLE

OF

JUDE.

May 1, August 30, Dec. 31.

St. Michael, Even. ver. 6 to ver. 16. of

UDE, the servant

J Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mer­cy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this con­demnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasci­viousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward de­stroyed them that believed not.

Ver. 6. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains un­der darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giv­ing themselves over to fornica­

tion, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suf­fering the vengeance of eternal filthy

dreamers defile the flesh, despise

dominion, and speak evil of dig­nities. Yet Michael the arch­angel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt them­selves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and pe­rished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, car­ried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is re­served the blackness of darkness for ever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are