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 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.

and thus you will have a free admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Besides, we have the more authentic accounts of the prophets, to which you do well in giving your attention, as to a lamp shining in an obscure place, till the day dawn, and the morning-star arises in your hearts.

But as for these, they have no more reason than brute beasts that are naturally made for hunting, and slaughter: so these who calumniate what they do not understand, shall receive the reward of their iniquity by perishing in their own corruption.

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.

for it had been better for them, not to have made any profession of the gospel, than after they have embraced it, to abandon the holy injunction, that was delivered to them.