by which we have receiv'd the most inestimable promises, that thereby you might become partakers of the divine perfections, after having escap'd from the corruption of a sensual world.

for since God did not spare the angels, who had sinned, but having precipitated them to hell, confin'd them to chains of darkness, where they are reserv'd for judgment:

since he condemn'd the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha to an entire subversion, and reduc'd them to ashes, to make them serve for examples to future impiety:

for whilst this good man was among them, it daily pierc'd his virtuous soul, to see and hear of their detestable behaviour: this consider'd,

their eyes are inflam'd with adultery, and unextinguishable vice: they insnare the souls of the inconstant. their minds are practis'd in the arts of avarice: an execrable race, who have deserted the right way,

As for those who have renounc'd the pollutions of the world, by their owning Jesus Christ for their Lord and saviour, if they are prevail'd upon to be entangled therein again, their last state is worse than the first.

but the proverb is exactly verified in them, "the dog is return'd to his own vomit: the sow that was wash'd, is wallowing in the mire."

but the heavens and the earth now existing are kept in store by his Logos, reserv'd for the conflagration of doomsday, when the impious shall be involv'd in perdition.

Do you then, my dear brethren, being thus forewarn'd, take care not to be seduc'd by those prophane impostors, and so lose the reward of your constancy.

for if you are possess'd of these virtues and improve therein, they will prevent the knowledge you have of our Lord Jesus Christ from being useless to others, and unprofitable to yourselves.

knowing that I must soon leave this tabernacle, as our Lord Jesus Christ has signify'd to me.

for, the information we gave you of the powerful advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not proceed from any artfully contriv'd fables, we our selves having been spectators of his majesty.

many will follow their destructive maxims, and by their means christianity will be traduc'd.

since he deliver'd that just man Lot, who was grieved at the enormous practices of the licentious;

I say, the Lord will deliver those, who fear him, from their affliction, and reserve the wicked to be punish'd at the day of judgment.

when their language swells with vanity, by applying to the sensual passions of the licentious, they allure those who were escap'd for a while, from such deceivers:

but they are wilfully ignorant, that the heavens were originally form'd by the divine Logos, and likewise the earth, which was separated from the water, and still subsists upon it.

But there is one thing, my brethren, you ought to be appriz'd of, which is this, that "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

expecting, and vehemently desiring the day of the Lord would come, when the heavens all on fire shall be dissolv'd, and the elements shall melt with intense heat.

that the patience of our Lord is for your advantage: as our dear brother Paul, according to the information he receiv'd, has writ to you,