with an Account of any extraordinary Events, especially if they be fuch in which not only the Interefts of particular Perfons and Families, but of large Communities, of populous Cities and Nations, are involved. But what are any of the Revolutions that happen to particular States and Kingdoms, the Overthrow of flourishing Cities and mighty Empires, or what are the moft dreadful Devaftations, by Sword, Fire, Peftilence, Earthquakes, Tempefts, even those of them that spread farthest, and produce the most pernicious Effects, compared with the Diffolution of this present World at the Judgment of the great Day!

I had Occafion fome Time ago to confider the Account the Scriptures give us of the general Deluge, which it pleafed God, in his juft Judgment, to fend upon the World of the ungodly; and whereby the whole human Race, which was then upon the Face of the Earth, was destroyed, except Noab and thofe that were with him in the Ark. It was obferved to you, that this is an Event which is not only clearly recorded in the holy Scriptures, but of which there are remarkable Traces to be found in the Hiftory and Traditions of the most ancient Nations, as appears from the Teftimonies of the heathen Writers themselves. We have the Promife and

and Covenant of God to affure us, that this Earth fhall not again be overwhelmed with an univerfal Flood. But let us not therefore flatter ourselves that this World, in the present Form of it, fhall be of a perpetual Duration. There is a Time approaching when it fhall be diffolved and confumed by Fire. And there is no Pasfage in the facred Writings that is more exprefs and full to this Purpose than these Words of the Apostle Peter, which I have now chosen to infift upon. There is fuch an Emphasis in every Expreffion, such a Pomp and Solemnity in the whole Description, efpecially when we confider it in its Connection with the Context, as fufficiently demonstrates that it cannot be underftood merely of Chrift's particular coming to the Destruction of Jerufalem, to which some have endeavoured to apply it. If we look back to the third Verfe of this Chapter we shall find that the Apoftle tells us of fome Scoffers that shall come in the laft Days, walking after their own Lufts, and Jaying, Where is the Promife of his coming? For fince the Fathers fell asleep, all Things continue as they were from the Beginning of the Creation. i. e. the World continues ftill the fame that it was fome thousand Years ago; there are no more Signs of a Decay or Diffolution now than there were then :

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then and therefore, where is the Promife of Chrift's coming to Judgment, or of the general Refurrection and Diffolution of the World? we have been told of these Things long fince, and yet they seem to be as far off as ever. To thefe Scoffers St. Peter gives a full Anfwer in the 5th, and following Verfes. He firft obferves, that this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the Word of God the Heavens were of old, and the Earth ftanding out of the Water. Verfe 5. If they did but confider that the Heavens and the Earth were made of old by the Word of God, it would not seem an impoffible Thing that they should be destroyed, or the whole Frame of them changed by the fame almighty Power that created them; especially confidering the Proof that has been already given of this in the univerfal Deluge; whereby, as he fpeaks, Verfe 6. the World that then was, being overflowed with Water, perished. And as then the Earth was overflowed with Water, fo it is to undergo a fecond Deftruction by Fire. The Heavens and the Earth which are now, fays he, Verfe 7. by the fame Word are kept in Store, reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment, and Perdition of ungodly Men. And whereas this Time feems to be long delayed, the Apostle answers, 1ft, That though it may feem

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feem long to us, it is but a fhort Time to the bleffed God. For one Day is with the Lord as a thousand Years, and a thousand Years as one Day. Verfe viii. And, 2dly, That the Caufe of this feeming Delay is not any Slackness on the Part of God in the Performance of his Promife, but his Patience and long-fuffering Goodness towards Sinners, that he may give them Time and Opportunity for repenting, and reforming their evil Ways, and laying hold on his offered Mercy. The Lord is not flack, fays he, Verfe 9. concerning his Promife, (as fome Men count Slackness) but is long-fuffering to us-ward, not willing that any fhould perish, but that all should come to Repentance. And then he proceeds to describe the coming of Chrift to Judgment, and the general Conflagration that shall attend it, in the most emphatical Terms. But the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night, in the which the Heavens fhall pass away with a great Noife, and the Elements fhall melt with fervent Heat, the Earth alfo, and the Works that are therein, fhall be burnt up. There are two Things here to be diftinctly confidered. The firft is, that there is a Time approaching, here called the Day of the Lord, when this World, and all Things in it, shall be destroyed by Fire. The fecond is, that

this Day of the Lord fhall come as a Thief in the Night:

First, We are here affured, that there is a Time approaching, when this World and all Things in it shall be destroyed by Fire. Some Notion of this obtainted pretty generally amongst the Pagans, and was probably a Tradition derived to them from fome of the early Patriarchs, and which came originally by divine Revelation. It` was an Opinion held by the Epicureans, Stoics, and other Philofophers, as might be fhewn by many Teftimonies, and is fo among the Indian Bramins at this Day. The Paffage in the Poet Ovid is well known, where he speaks of a Time determined by the Fates, in which the Sea, the Earth, and the Palace of Heaven shall burn, and the whole prodigious Fabric of the World shall be brought to Ruin. This Tradition was, like many others, greatly corrupted. Many of the Philofophers afcribed the Conflagration of the World to a phyfical and fatal Neceffity, and some of them fuppofed that there would be feveral fuch fucceflive Conflagrations, returning at certain Periods, in the endless Revolutions of Ages. But to pass by these Reveries, it is in the holy Scripture alone that we have an Account of the fiery Diffolution of the World, which can be fafe

ly