adorable Lord and Saviour'," that, through the abundance of his grace communicated to you, you may live more than ever unto God; and that, " shining already as lights in the world-," your " path may shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day V]
{ 2 Pet. iii. 18. s Phil. ii. 15. h Prov. iv. 18.
2 Pet. iii. 7. The day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men.
A FUTURE state of rewards and punishments is, in theory, universally acknowledged ; but, in practice, it is grievously forgotten, and, by not a few, is held in derision. Because God delays to execute his threatenings against ungodly men, they imagine that he never will execute them. Just as in the days of Noah, because the menaced deluge was suspended for one hundred and twenty years, it was to multi- tudes an object of scorn ; so now the idea of an universal conflagration, when " the heavens and the earth shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up," is deemed a fable ; and the destruction which will then come upon the whole ungodly world is disregarded, as the dream of a fanatical or superstitious mind. The day of judgment, it is hoped, will prove alike favourable to all ; and no great difference be put between the righteous and the wicked. But the name given to that da\ deserves particular attention : and I beg you to attend to it, with the humility that becomes you, whilst I open to you,
I. The terms by which the day of judgment is here designated —
It is called " The day of the perdition of ungodly men." Let us consider,
1. Whv it is so called — ■