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.

Wherefore be the more diligent, my brethren, to secure your vocation and election by your virtuous actions, for by so doing, you will never relapse:

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

for this reason I shall never omit to put you in mind of these things, however knowing you are already, and settled in the truth.

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.

for he received this honourable and glorious testimony from his father, when the voice broke out from the magnificent splendor, in these words, "this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."

By their artful discourses they will make you the tools of their avarice; but their condemnation has been a long time advancing, and their ruin is far from lingring.

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,

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.

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.

but he was rebuked for his transgression: for an ass, as dumb as it was, spoke with an articulate voice, and reprimanded the extravagance of the prophet.

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:

whilst they promise others liberty, they themselves are slaves to their corrupt passions. for he that is vanquished, is a slave to the conqueror.

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.

"where is the promise of his coming? for since our fathers are dead, the state of things is the same it has ever been since the beginning of the world."

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.

As for that day of the Lord, it will advance like a thief: then the heavens will rush with violence, the boiling elements will be dissolved, and the earth with all its contents, shall be burnt away.

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.

As for us, in consequence of his promise, we expect a new heaven, and a new earth, where justice shall reside.

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,

on the contrary, may you increase in the favour, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! to him be glory both now and for ever. AMEN.