a
very learned and acute theologian, another fundamental part of
that general system of doctrine is to be found in the last verse
of the epistle, where James says that "he who converts a sinner
from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and hide a
multitude of sins." Bretschneider thinks that saving a soul from
death here means rescuing it from a descent into the under world,
the word death being often used in the New Testament as by the
Rabbins to denote the subterranean abode of the dead.1 This

1 Bretschneider, Religiose Glaubenslehre, sect. 59.

interpretation may seem forced to an unlearned reader, who
examines the text for personal profit, but will not seem at all
improbable to one who, to learn its historic meaning, reads the
text in the lighted foreground of a mind over whose background
lies a fitly arranged knowledge of all the materials requisite for
an adequate criticism. For such a man was Bretschneider himself.

The eschatological implications and references in the Epistle of
Jude are of pretty much the same character and extent as those
which we have just considered. A thorough study and analysis of
this brief document will show that it may be fairly divided into
three heads and be regarded as having three objects. First, the
writer exhorts his readers "to contend earnestly for the faith
once delivered to the saints," "to remember the words of Christ's
apostles," "to keep themselves in the love of God, looking for
eternal life." He desires to stir them up to diligence in efforts
to preserve their doctrinal purity and their personal virtue.
Secondly, he warns them of the fearful danger of depravity, pride,
and lasciviousness. This warning he enforces by several examples
of the terrible judgments of God on the rebellious and wicked in
other times. Among these instances is the case of the Cities of
the Plain, eternally destroyed by a storm of fire for their
uncleanness; also the example of the fallen angels, "who kept not
their first estate, but left their proper habitation, and are
reserved in everlasting chains and darkness unto the judgment of
the great day." The writer here adopts the doctrine of fallen
angels, and the connected views, as then commonly received among
the Jews. This doctrine is not of Christian origin, but was drawn
from Persian and other Oriental sources, as is abundantly shown,
with details, in almost every history of Jewish opinions, in
almost every Biblical comment