Authenticity of the Epistle
REV. ALBERT BARNES . —Jerome and Origen state that there were some persons who entertained a doubt of the genuineness of this epistle, and that this doubt was founded on a supposed difference of style between this and Peter's former epistle. This fact may serve to show the care which was evinced in admitting, books to be canonical, and as proving that they were not received without the utmost caution. The effect of examination in this case was to remove all doubt and suspicion ; and the epistle was received as the production of Peter.—Introd. to Epist.,§ I.
REV. FREDERICK CHARLES COOK, M. A.—The contents of this epistle seem quite in accordance with its asserted origin. Passages in Clement of Rome,. Hermas, Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, and Irenmus, indicate that these Fathers were acquainted with the epistle. To these may be added a probable reference in the Martyrdom of Ignatius, and another in the Apology of Melito. Clement of Alexandria wrote a comment upon it. It is quoted twice by Origen, according to Ruffinus. Didymus refers to it very frequently in his great work on the Trinity. And, finally, included in the collection of Catholic Epistles, known to Eusebius and Origen.—Smith's .Dict. of Bible, p. 2457.
Putting off the Tabernacle
PLATO.—We are fettered to this body which we now carry about with us, as an oyster is to its shell.— Phœdr., c. 30.
CICERO. —The body is but a kind of vessel or receptacle of the soul.—Tuse. Disp., I., 22.
SENECA . —This body is not a fixed habitation, but an inn, in which we can make but a short stay, and must certainly leave it at the pleasure or displeasure of our host.—Epist., 120.
Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me;
ST. JOHN.—Verily, verily, I. say unto thee, When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake Jesus, signifying by what death he should glorify God.—Gospel, xxi: 18, 19.
Bondage of Sin
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—This is in allusion to the ancient custom of selling for slaves those whom they had conquered and captivated in war. The ancient law was, that a man might kill him whom he overcame in battle, or keep him for a slave. These were called send, slaves, from the verb servare, to keep or preserve. And they were also called mancipia, from manu capeuntur, they were taken captive by the hand of the enemy. Thus the person who is overcome by his lusts, is represented as being the slave of these lusts.—Note, In loco.
Scoffers
2 Peter 3:4-64And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: (2 Peter 3:4‑6).-Scoffers.... saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing in the water and out of the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
PROF. JOHN HENRY KURTZ, D. D.—Here reference is made to the analogy of a historical fact— the Deluge, to the final catastrophe of the world-its conflagration. No antediluvian philosopher, even of the most advanced order, could have suspected or foreseen any tokens of the possibility or probability of such a universal and mighty catastrophe, involving and transforming the whole surface of the earth: and yet the Flood broke forth when it was least expected, and sources of destruction were opened in the fountains of the great deep and from the windows of heaven, in a manner surprising and appalling to all minds.— "And as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." As formerly, from the profound depths of the earth, never penetrated by the inquiring eye of man, and from the regions aloft, where the clouds were formed according to a law which no human investigation had yet discovered, there suddenly broke out floods of destruction, which in a moment silenced all skeptics and deriders with their appalling terrors,—so also there may lie hidden in the heights and depths of the universe, latent forces, which in the future may leap forth at the call of the Mighty Creator and Judge of the world, with an energy and universality capable of bringing about at once a transformation and renovation of the heavens and the earth.—Bible and Astronomy, p. 516.
The Earth Reserved Unto Fire
SOPHOCLES.—A raging fire shall devour all things earthly and above.—"Apud Justin Martyr.
M. ANTONINUS.—Heraclitus used to discourse much concerning the conflagration of the world.— M. Ant., III., 3.
LUCIAN.—Coming events in futurity are extremely lamentable; I mean the general conflagration which will consume the universe.—Vitar. Auct., c. 13.
CICERO.—It will happen that some day or other all this world will be burnt up with fire.— Quœst. Academ., c. 37,
PLINY.—It really exceeds all other wonders that one single day should pass without everything being consumed; especially when we reflect that concave mirrors placed opposite the sun's rays produce flames most readily, and that numerous small but natural fires abound everywhere in the earth.—Hist. Nat., II.
DUKE OF ARGYLL.-Under a thinner air, the torrid zone might be wrapped in eternal snow; under a denser air, and with differing refracting powers, the earth and all that is therein might be burned up.— Reign of Law, p. 53.
DR. WILLIAM FRASER.—The globe is carrying within itself volcanic forces sufficient to dislocate and overwhelm its inhabited crust, if only the balance of pressure and upheaval be in the least destroyed; and chemistry has long attested the facility of an universal overthrow and conflagration. The subtlest and most delicate combinations are invested with such tremendous power that they require but slight modification to insure a literal fulfillment of the apostolic prophecy regarding the heavens passing away with a great noise, and the earth and its works being burnt up.—Blending Lights, p. 31.
SIR WILLIAM THOMSON.—The earth is filled with evidence that it has not been going on forever in the present state, and that there is a process of events towards a state INFINITELY DIFFERENT FROM THE PRESENT.—Geological Time, p. 16.
PROF. RICHARD A. PROCTOR, F. R. A. S.—The earth is our chief timepiece; and it is of the correctness of this giant clock that we are now to speak,... It is no idle dream, but a matter of absolute certainty, that though slowly, still very surely, our terrestrial globe is losing its rotation-movement; in other words, the length of her day is increasing.... This fact appears to us to have an interest apart from the mere speculative consideration of the future physical condition of our globe. Instead of the recurrence of ever-varying, closely intermingled cycles of fluctuation, we see, now for the first time, the evidence of cosmical decay—a decay which, in its slow progress, may be but the preparation for renewed genesis— but still a decay which, so far as the races at present subsisting upon the earth are concerned, must be looked upon as finally and completely destructive.—Light Science for Leisure Hours, pp. 45-62.
A Thousand Years as One Day
1 Pet. 3:88Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: (1 Peter 3:8).—But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a. thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
PLUTARCH.—If we compare the time of life with eternity, we shall find no difference between long and short; for a thousand, or ten thousand, years are but a certain indefinite point; or, rather, the smallest part of a point.—Consol. ad Apoll.
The Final Conflagration
PROF. JOHN HENRY KURTZ, D. D.—As fire is the most energetic and mighty of all the elements, so also is it the most universally disseminated: it lies hidden in all bodies, and may be called forth at any moment by mechanical and dynamic means. An inextinguishable furnace of fire glows within the hidden depths of the earth; fiery bolts leap forth from the clouds of the heavens; fire is begotten by the sun; and those as it were spiritual agencies of electricity, which in all probability flit through the regions of the created everywhere, seeking ever and in vain their equilibrium, involve a signal fullness and intensity of fire-development.—Bible and Astronomy, p. 518.
PROF. J. P. COOKE, Harvard University.—The fire-element in nature is oxygen; this gas is the producer of flame and combustion, and is the mightiest and most destructive of all the elements. Mingled with and restrained by other elements, in its natural and ordinary condition, oxygen is bland and harmless, without odor or taste, and seems devoid of any active properties. But beneath this apparent mildness there is concealed an energy so violent that, when once thoroughly aroused, nothing can withstand it. A single spark of fire will change the whole character of this element, and what was before inert and, passive becomes in an instant violent and irrepressible. The gentle breeze which was waving the corn and fanning the browsing herds becomes the next moment A CONSUMING FIRE, before which' the works of man melt away into air!... Now you may be surprised at the statement, but it is nevertheless true, that between one-half and two-thirds of the crust of this globe and of the bodies of its inhabitants consist of oxygen. One-fifth of the volume of the whole atmosphere is composed of oxygen. No less than eight-ninths of all water is formed of the same gas. It makes up three fourths of our own bodies, and no less than four-fifths of every plant, and at least one-half of the solid rocks.—Let, then, this element but be released, let the mysterious affinities that now hold it in restraint but cease, and the hardened rocks, or even the very waters of the ocean, would supply the fire and fervent heat that would consume the earth and the works that are therein.—Religion and Chemistry, Lecture III.
DR. THOMAS DICK.—When, in reference to the dissolution of our globe and its appendages, it is said that “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise," the aerial heaven, or the surrounding atmosphere, is to be understood. How this appendage to our world may be dissolved, or pass away with a mighty noise, it is not difficult to conceive, now that we have become acquainted with the nature and energies of its constituent parts. One essential part of the atmosphere contains the principle of flame; and if this principle were not counteracted by its connection with another ingredient, or were it let loose to exert its energies without control, instantly one immense flame would envelope the terraqueous globe, which would set on fire the foundations of the mountains, wrap the ocean in a blaze, and dissolve not only coals and wood and other combustibles, but the hardest substances in nature. It is more than probable that, when the last catastrophe of our globe arrives, the oxygen and nitrogen, or the two constituent principles of the atmosphere, will be separated by the interposition of Almighty Power. And the moment this separation takes place, it is easy to conceive that a tremendous concussion will take place, and the most dreadful explosions will resound throughout the whole expanse which surrounds the globe, which will stun the assembled world and shake the earth to its foundations. For if, in chemical experiments, conducted on a small scale, the separation of two gases, or their coming in contact with the principle of flame, is frequently accompanied with a loud and destructive explosion, it is impossible to form an adequate idea of the loud and tremendous explosions which would ensue were the whole atmosphere at once dissolved, and its elementary principles separated from each other and left to exert their native energies. A sound as if creation had burst asunder, and accompanied the next moment with a universal blaze, extending over sea and land, would present a scene of sublimity and terror which would more than realize all the striking descriptions given in Scripture of this solemn scene.—Philos. of a Future State, Part II.
DR. WILLIAM FRASER.—The heavens themselves, apparently the stablest of all existences, show very marvelous changes. Stars long known have, been lost; they have disappeared in the abysses of space, and their name alone remains. No later than May, 1866, the splendors of an apparently new star in the constellation Corona Borealis arrested the attention of astronomical students. Anxiously watched by competent observers, in separate localities; its changes were accurately noted and compared. It rose' in magnificent brilliancy; it slowly waned; it disappeared. The Astronomer Royal has expressed his belief in the burning of that distant world. Inflammable gases, combining, it has been supposed, gave to it the appearance by which observers were dazzled and impressed.—Blending Lights, p. 30.
VON LITTROW.—In the year 1572, on the 11Th of November, Tycho observed in Cassiopeia, at a place where before he had only seen very small stars, a new star of uncommon magnitude. It was so bright that it surpassed even Jupiter 'and Venus in splendor, and was visible even in the day-time. At the end of the year, however, it gradually diminished, and at length, in March, 1574 sixteen months after its, discovery, entirely disappeared, since which no trace of it has ever been seen. When it firsts appeared, its light was of a dazzling white color; two months after: it became yellowish; in a few months more; it assumed a reddish hue, like Mars; in January and February of 1574, it glimmered only with a gray or lead-colored light, and then totally vanished.—Die Wunder Himmels oder Gemeinfassliche Darstellung der Weltsystems, § 227.
PROF. E. LOOMIS.—Several instances are on record of temporary stars, which have suddenly become visible, and after remaining a while, apparently immovable, have died away and left no trace behind. Such a star is said to have appeared about the year B. C. 125. Such stars are also recorded in the years A. D. 389, 945, 1264, 1572, 1604, and 1670. A similar phenomenon on the 27th of April, 1848, was witnessed: this appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus; its light was reddish in the telescope; Dr. Peterson observed that thy reddish color at times increased suddenly in intensity, and again as suddenly disappeared. Other observers noticed these peculiar red flashes. It gradually decreased in brilliancy till in June, 1850, when it became extinct.—Recent Progress of Astronomy, p. 124.
The New Earth
PRINCIPAL J. W. DAWSON, LL. D., F. R. S.—It is further to be observed that the biblical idea of a future state of this earth, in which its conditions shall become similar to those of the spiritual heaven, is not altogether foreign to science. A recent writer (Ponton) has well put this by a reference to the stages through which the earth has already passed in geological time. Suppose an earth wholly mineral, and that some prophetic intelligence were to endeavor to shadow forth in terms of the mineral the approaching introduction of plants, we can readily imagine the difficulties of such an attempt; or suppose the plant introduced, and the effort to be made to shadow forth the new creation of the animal, in terms of the plant; or suppose the lower animals introduced, and our imaginary prophet to have the task of explaining from their habits what man would think and do when introduced on the earth. All these changes we now know as actual facts; but may there not be other changes in store for the universe, and may not men, inspired by prophetic insight, be commissioned to shadow forth, in terms of the human and natural, the new and glorious manifestations of Divine power which are to be realized in the future state?-Nature and the Bible, p. 72.
ROBERT HUNT.—These experiments of Cagniard de la Tour and Boutigny, connect themselves, in a striking manner, with those of Mr. Grove and Dr. Robinson; and they teach us that but a very slight alteration in the proportions of the calorific principle given to this planet would completely change the character of every material substance of which, it is composed, unless there was an alteration in the-physical condition of the elements themselves. Supposing the ordeal of fiery-purification to take place upon this planet, these experiments appear to indicate the mighty changes which would thence result. There would be no annihilation, but everything would be transformed from the center of the globe to the verge of its atmosphere—old things would pass away, all things become new, and the beautiful myth of the phœnix be realized in the fresh creation.—Poetry of Science, p. 89.
Things Hard, to Be Understood
BISHOP R. WATSON, D. D., F. R. S.—What if there should be some incomprehensible doctrines in the Christian Religion; some circumstances which in their causes, or their consequences, surpass the reach of human reason; are they to be rejected on that account? You are, or would be thought, men of reading, and knowledge, and enlarged understandings; weigh the matter fairly, and consider whether revealed religion be not, in this respect, just upon the same footing with every other object of your contemplation. Even in mathematics, the science of demonstration itself, though you get over its first principles, and learn to digest the idea of a point without parts, a line without breadth, and a surface without thickness, yet you wilt find yourself at a loss to comprehend the perpetual approximation of lines which can never meet; the doctrine of incommensurables, and of an infinity of infinities, each infinitely greater, or infinitely less, not only than any finite quantity, but than each other. In physics, you cannot comprehend the primary cause of anything; not of the light by which you see; nor of the elasticity of the air, by which you hear; nor of the fire by which you are warMed. In physiology, you, cannot tell what first gave motion to your heart, nor what continues it, nor why its motion is less voluntary than that of the lungs; nor why you are able to move your arm to the right or left, by a simple volition: you cannot explain the cause of animal heat, nor comprehend the 'principle by which your body was first formed, nor by which it is sustained, nor by which it will be reduced to earth. In natural religion you cannot comprehend the eternity or omnipresence of the Deity; nor easily understand how his prescience can be consistent with your freedom, Or his immutability with his government of moral agents; nor why he did not make all his creatures equally perfect; nor why he did not create them sooner; in short, you can look into any branch of knowledge but you will meet with Subjects above your comprehension. The fall and redemption of human kind are not more incomprehensible than the creation and conservation of the universe; the Infinite Author of the works of providence and of nature is equally inscrutable; equally past our finding out in them both.—Letters to Edward Gibbon, closing appeal.