pretation from their prophet JOHN, but to study the prophecies themselves. This is the "substance of what PETER says in the first

Chapter, and then, in the second, he proceeds "to describe, out of this sure word of Prophecy, "how there should be false prophets or false "teachers, (expressed collectively in the Apoca

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lypse by the name of the false Prophet); who "should bring in damnable heresies, even denying "the LORD that bought them, which is the cha"racter of Antichrist: and many, saith he, shall "follow their lusts; they that dwell on the earth' "shall be deceived by the false prophet, and be "made drunk with the wine of the whore's fornication, by reason of whom the way of truth "shall be blasphemed; for the Beast is full of blasphemy: and through covetousness shall they "with feigned words make merchandise of you; for "these are the merchants of the earth, who "trade with the great whore, and their merchan“dise is all things of price, with the bodies and "souls of men:" whose judgment..... lingereth "not, and their damnation slumbereth not, but "shall surely come upon them at the last day suddenly, as the flood upon the old world, and "fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomor

6

'áreλyeías in many of the best Mss. 2 Rev. xiii. 7, 12. 3 Rev. xiii. 1, 5, 6.

5 Rev. xviii. 12, 13.

4 Rev. xviii. 11, 15, 23.

6 Rev: xix. 20.

"rha, when the just shall be delivered' like "Lot; for the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the

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unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished, " in the lake of fire; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, being "made drunk with the wine of the whore's "fornication; who despise dominion, and are not afraid to blaspheme glories; for the beast opened "his mouth against God to blaspheme his name "and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in "heaven.' These, as natural brute beasts, the "ten-horned beast, and two-horned beast or "false prophet, made to be taken and destroyed, in "the lake of fire, blaspheme the things they un"derstand not:-they count it pleasure to riot in "the day time.... sporting themselves while

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they feast with you, having eyes full of an adul "tress [μoixanidos]: for the kingdoms of the "beast live deliciously with the great whore, " and the nations are made drunk with the wine "of her fornication. They are gone astray, fol"lowing the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who "loved the wages of unrighteousness, the false pro"phet who taught Balac to cast a stumbling"block before the children of Israel.+ These

Rev. xxi. 3, 4. 3 Rev. xiii. 6.

Rev. ix. 21. xvii, 2.

* Rev. ii. 14.

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"are not fountains of living water, but wells with"out water......clouds that are carried with a "tempest, &c. Thus does the author of this Epistle spend all the second chapter in describing the qualities of the Apocalyptic beasts " and false prophet: and then, in the third he goes on to describe their destruction more fully, and the future kingdom. He saith, that "because the coming of CHRIST should be long deferred, they should scoff, saying, where is the promise of his coming? Then he describes the "sudden coming of the day of the Lord upon them, as a thief in the night, which is the Apocalyptic phrase; and the millenium or thousand years, which are with GOD but as a day; the passing away of the old heavens and earth, by a "conflagration in the lake of fire, and our looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

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"PETER seems also to call Rome Babylon, as "well with respect to the war made upon Judea, " and the approaching captivity, like that under "old Babylon, as with respect to that name in "the Apocalypse: and in writing to the strangers

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scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, “Asia and Bithynia, he seems to intimate that "they were the strangers newly scattered by "the Roman wars; for those were the only strangers there belonging to his care."

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"By the companions of Peter, mentioned in "his first Epistle, we may know that he wrote "from Rome; and the antients generally agree, "that in this Epistle he understood Rome by "Babylon."

The reader will have noticed, that Sir Isaac, in reference to the allusions to the Apocalypse, found in the first Epistle of Peter, says, “These "indeed are obscure allusions." To me they appear far otherwise, and I hope I shall make them appear very obvious to the reader; for the apostle, immediately after the benediction with which he begins the Epistle, (Ch. i.) blesses "GOD, even the father of our Lord JESUS CHRist, "who, according to his great mercy, hath begotten "us again to a lively hope through the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST from the dead, to an inherit

ance incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading, "reserved in heaven for us, who are guarded by

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the power of GOD, through faith unto salvation,

prepared to be revealed in the last time." The inheritance here spoken of is said to be incorruptible-for "there shall be no more death" in that inheritance which is described in Rev. xxi.; and those who are made partakers of life, through the resurrection of CHRIST, are "raised "in incorruption" (1 Cor. xv. 42), having "part "in the first resurrection" (Rev. xx. 6.).—The Apostle having brought to their recollection the

"abundant mercy" of God in giving them this lively, or living, hope, respecting the salvation to be fully consummated "in the last time," proceeds to exhort them to rejoice in the prospect before them, in spite of the afflictions brought on them by their profession; to love the Lord, and, believing in him, to rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls. The exhortation which he gives them deserves particular attention, in our present inquiry, because of the basis on which he makes it to rest. The sixth and seventh verses are thus rendered in the common version: "Wherein ye greatly re'joice, though now for a season (if need be) ye "are in heaviness through manifold temptations; "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold which perisheth, though it "be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, “and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus "Christ." This version fails, however, in giving the true sense of the original. The passage should be thus rendered,-" In which" [last time, viz., for the pronoun is masculine, as is the time, but the salvation is feminine]" in which

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[last time] exult ye (though for a short time, "since it is necessary, suffering sorrow by divers trials, that the proving of your faith, more precious "than of gold which perisheth, though proved by fire,

E