believe, which
urged him even to write these two Epistles, wherein is richly
comprehended what a Christian should know, besides also that which is
yet to come. May God give his grace, that we also may seize hold upon
and retain it. Amen.

THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE.

V. 1, 2. _Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, but a brother of James, to
those that are called to be holy in God the Father, and preserved in
Jesus Christ, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied._ This
Epistle is ascribed to the holy Apostle, St. Jude, brother of the two
Apostles, James the Less and Simon, by the sister of the mother of
Christ, who is called Mary (wife) of James or Cleopas, as we read in
Mark vi. But this Epistle cannot be looked upon as being that of one
who was truly an Apostle, for the author speaks in it of the
Apostles, as being much their junior. It has even nothing peculiar
about it, except that it refers to the second Epistle of St. Peter,
from which it has taken nearly all its words, and is scarcely
anything else than an Epistle against our clergy, bishops, priests
and monks.[1]

[Footnote 1: It is well known that at an early period the book of
Jude was reckoned among the _antilegomena_. This was mainly in
consequence of its references to the Apocryphal books of Enoch and of
the Ascension of Christ. Yet De Wette, than whom none would be more
disposed to sift it thoroughly, says, "no important objection to the
genuineness of the Epistle can be made good; neither the use of the
Apocryphal book of Enoch, nor the resemblance of v. 24 to Rom. xvi.
25, nor a style of writing which betrays a certain familiarity with
the Greek tongue. The Epistle is less open to suspicion, as the
author does not distinctly claim to be an Apostle, nor can a pretext
for forgery be discovered." Again, he says: "they who regard the Son
of Alpheus and the brother of the Lord as one and the same person,
are quite consistent in regarding our Jude likewise as an Apostle."
To this view De Wette himself does not accede, and thus agrees
substantially with Luther.]

V. 3. _Beloved, since I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
common salvation, I am necessitated to write to you, and admonish
you, that ye should contend earnestly for the faith which was once
delivered to the saints._ That is as much as to say,--I am
necessitated to write to you, so that I may remind and admonish you
how ye should go forward and persevere in the faith which ha