THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 2 Pet. iii. 10 — 14. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in them»ht; in the which the Iwauens shall pats away with a great noise^and theelements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons owrht ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of God ; wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat P Nevertheless we, ac- cording to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.* ^ * * * *
BUT have we never contemplated our own situa- tion? Have we never considered that the solemnities of the judgment-day are now in actual preparation; and that, not our own individual dw^elling, or friends only, will be affected by them, but the whole universe? Our minds are at this time justly, and almost exclu- sively, engrossed with the consideration of this tre- mendous plot, which God, in mercy to this whole nation, has defeated. And I hope rather to strengthen, than efface, those impressions, by leading you to con- template,
I. The events predicted in our text —
These are widely different indeed from each other ; but they are inseparably connected, and infallibly- simultaneous. Let us consider,
1. The dissolution of this present world — [Once the uorld and every thing in it, with the exception of that small portion contained in the ark, \vas destroyed by water : and there is a time coming when the whole of it with- ont exception will be destroyed by fire. Of the latter there will be no more expectation at the time, than there was of the former. In the days of Noah they were eating and drinking,
and
* Tim was preached on occasion of the horrille conspiracy against his Majesty's Ministers; the nieditnted desiruction ot whom, by the CKplosion of a gieii.ide of Nibs, weight, afforded very abundant and appropriate niaUcr as inlroductory to this dibcourse.