ptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for us, who are kept unto the salvation, ready to be revealed in
the last time_, 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. [13] the _royal Priesthood_, [14] the _holy
Priesthood_, [15] the _judgment beginning at the house of God_, and [16]
_the Church at _Babylon__. These are indeed obscurer allusions; but the
second Epistle, from the 19th verse of the first Chapter to the end, seems
to be a continued Commentary upon the _Apocalypse_. There, in writing to
the _Churches in _Asia__, to whom _John_ was commanded to send this
Prophecy, he tells them, they _have a more sure word of Prophecy_, to be
heeded by them, _as a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts_, that is, until they begin to
understand it: for _no Prophecy_, saith he, _of the scripture is of any
private interpretation; the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man, but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Daniel_ [17] himself professes that he understood not his own _Prophecies_;
and therefore the Churches were not to expect the interpretation 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 arise in the Church _false Prophets_, or _false teachers_, expressed
collectively in the _Apocalypse_ by the name of the false Prophet; who
should _bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them_, which is the character of _Antichrist_: _And many_, saith he, _shall
follow their lusts_ [18]; they that dwell on the earth [19] 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 [20] the Beast is full of blasphemy: _and thro'
covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you_; for
these are the Merchants of the Earth, who trade with the great Whore, and
their merchandize [21] is all things of price, with the bodies and souls of
men: _whose judgment--lingreth not, and their damnation [22] slumbreth
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
_Gomorrha_, when the just shall be delivered [23] like _Lot_; for _the Lord
knoweth how to deliver