A. D.66. which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the cerning them, and the Judgments that are to overtake them. commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour : 3 Knowing this firft, that there fhall come in the last days fcoffers*, walking after their own lufts, : 4 And faying †, Where is the promise of his coming for fince the fathers fell afleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 3. That, being thus fpecially warned beforehand, you may be the less furprized, and influenced by this wicked and prophane Set of Men, that infeft the Chriftian Church *. 4. According to thofe Predictions, you have now an Instance of their daring Impiety in deriding the Chriftian Doctrine of Chrift's folemn Appearance to judge and punish the obftinate Adverfaries of his true Religion. You tell us, fay they, of wonderful Bleffings upon Good, and dreadful Punishments upon Wicked Men, at this Great Day: And this Notion you fupport by Prophecies and Predictions. But we have not feen an Article of it fulfilled. The Patriarchs and Prophets, to whom ye pretend these Promifes, and by whom thefe Threats were pronounced, are all dead and gone; and the World is just as it was from the Beginning. 5 & 6. Unthoughtful Wretches! Have they, or can they forget all the Facts, and wink thus hard at all the former Demonftrations of Divine Juftice and Providence over Mankind? Can they be ignorant, that the very God who created the Earth, confifting of Sea and Land, deftroyed it once by its own Waters, for a Punishment to its wicked Inhabitants? 7. And, had they but any Regard to the plain Predictions of Christ, and the Doctrine of his Apostles, they muft + See Dr. Mill. Prolegom. § 126, 127, 128. word are kept in ftore, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. must know too, that as the Antedi- A.D.66; luvian World perifh'd by the Flood, fo fhall the prefent World we inhabit be deftroyed by a Conflagration of Fire; and all wicked and irreclaimable Men be left to perifh in its Flames at the Great Day of univerfal Judgment. 8 But (beloved) be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. *See Thef. iv. 16. 2 Pet. ii. 4. Matth. xxv. 8. But, for a further Answer to 41-46. their impious Objection; when God has exprefly promised a future Bleffing, or threatned a future Judgment, but not stated to us the precife Time of its Accomplishment ; 'tis the lowest Degree of Ignorance in us to account him flow and tardy in the Performance of his Word, or to fufpect he will never perform it at all, because 'tis not done fo foon as we may with or expect: For this is to measure the Divine Mind by our own infirm Conceptions and Imagination. A thousand Years seem a long and tedious Time to Us, that feldom out-live a Hundred: And whatever we propofe to do must be done fpeedily, or elfe Opportunity may be loft, and Time will fail us. But with the Eternal Being 'tis quite otherwife. He can lofe no Time, nor want Opportunity. Whatever He Promiseth or Threatneth he can as certainly and effectually perform a Thousand Years hence, as to Day or to Morrow And a Thousand Years are infinitely lefs to Him, than a Day is to us. 9 The Lord is not flack concerning his promife (as fome men count flackness) but is long-fuffering to usward, not willing that any fhould perish, but that all fhould come to repentance. 9. Befide, in the present Cafe of Divine Promifes and Judgments, 'tis the Effect of perfect Wisdom and Mercy, for God to defer the Execution, in order to exercife and improve the Faith and Patience of Good Men; and to afford to all that are Obftinate and Incredulous, the utmost Opportunity of feeing their Errors and reforming their Practices; it being the gracious Intent of Heaven to do the utmost that Juftice and Goodness will permit, for the Salvation of all his rational Creatures. A.D. 66. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the hea 10. But how long foever God may think fit to defer his Deliverances of Good, and his Vengeance upon Sinful Men; yet the Great vens fhall pass away Day of Recompence, we speak of, with a great noise, and the elements shall will affuredly come, according to all melt with fervent the Predictions concerning it. And, heat; the earth alfo whether you confider it in relation and the works that to the Deftruction of the Jewish are therein, fhall be Nation in particular (which is but a burnt up fhort Figure of the Grand Judgment, and now foon to be fulfilled, by the Roman Armies) yet even that will be a Time of unexpected and terrible Calamity, to the finful Part of that People; and may well be figuratively expreffed by the Convulfions of Heaven and Earth, and all Nature*. But infinitely more dreadful will be the Day of Univerfal Doom, when, in a literal Senfe, both Air and Earth, Sea and Land, with all the Appurtenances of this our habitable World, fhall, with the most astonishing Circumftances, be deftroyed by the Conflagration*. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be diffolved, what manner of perfons ought ye to be in all holy converfation and godlinefs, 12 Looking for, and hafting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire, fhall be diffolved, and the element fhall melt with fervent heat! 11 & 12. The Certainty of which Things ought to make the Jewish Christians particularly careful to avoid all the impure Lufts and Vices of their Nation, thereby to escape the common Ruin now coming upon it; and, in like manner, all Chriftians in general, to ftrive after the utmoft Purity of Life and Converfation, as the Condition of their Deliverance, at the great Diffolution of the whole World; and to be every Way prepared for this Day of God, that will be fo Tremendous in all its Circumstances. (See Ver. 10.) 13. For * For the double Construction of this and the three following Verfes, let the Reader compare Matth. xxiv. 29, 30-42. Chap. xxv. 1-11-14, &c. Mark xiii. 24, 25, 26, 27. with Dr. Clark's Paraph. and 1 Theff. v. 2, 3, 4. * according to his promife, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 13 Nevertheless we, 13. For, to all true and fincere A.D, 66, Christians, these fearful Revolutions will be only Introductions to a new, and more happy State, according to the Prophetick Expreffions. Thus the Destruction of the Jewish State, and Ceremonial Religion, will be followed by the Eftablishment, and freer Propagation of the Chriftian Faith. And, at the Diffolution of the whole Wicked World, we shall be tranflated into another, where we shall live in the compleat Exercife of all true Virtue, and in the Enjoyment of perfect Happiness. 14 Wherefore (be. loved) feeing that ye look for fuch things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameleís. 15 And account that the long-fuffering of our Lord is falvabeloved brother Paul our alfo, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you t. tion, even as 16 As alfo in all his epistles, fpeaking in them of thefe things, in which are fome things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as 14. Let thefe Confiderations, then, fpirit you forward to that Innocence and fteddy Piety, which will render you acceptable to Chrift, and fure of his Glorious Rewards. Ifa. Ixv, 16, 17, 18. and Ixvi. 22. 15 & 16. And, to conclude, look A a 4 + though *A New Heaven and a New Earth. See Note on Ver. 10. See my Paraph. on Revelat. Chap. xxi. with the Note thereon, Ver. 5. + Ver. 15. Hath written unto You, viz. To you Jews; Hebrews, in his Epiftle to the Hebrews, Chap. ii. 28.-X. 23, -35, 35, 37. See Dr. Mill's Prolegom. § 85, 86, &c. I Theff. Chap. iv, Philip. iv. 5. -iii. 11, 20. Rom. ii. 4, A.D. 66. as they do alfo the other fcriptures, unto duorura. their own destruction. See Heb. v. II. though they be plain enough to be understood |, by fuch as will attend to the Predictions of the Prophets, or the Warnings of Chrift and his Apoftles; yet, by Men prejudiced and prepoffeffed with Notions of Temporal Greatness, and accustomed to Vicious Principles, are misunderstood and perverted, to wrong and deftructive Meanings. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, feeing ye know thefe things before, beware left ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own ftedfaftness. 18 But grow in fus Chrift to him be 17. But you, dear Brethren, having better Apprehenfions, ought to be Watchful, never to be led away by their pernicious Doctrines, nor by any Hardships whatever, difcourag'd from your Profeffion. 18. On the contrary, endeavour continually to improve in the true Faith and Practice of the Religion of your Lord and Saviour Fefus Chrift; To whom be afcribed all Honour and Glory, now and for ever. Amen. 'E, in which Difcourfes: Or rather, as fome MSS. read it, i ais, in which Epistles. A PARA |