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half. Many fuch showers they have had fince Adam's fall; and though they have an intermiffion of the exquifite pains, they are not well yet; the clouds will return after the rain. But the day will come when they will be quite well, and fairly delivered, and never groan more. What is clear from the scriptures in this nice point, I fhall briefly lay before you, and a more curious inquiry is not fit for the pulpit.-With this view, I fhall inquire,

I. When this delivery of the creatures is to come to pass.

II. What delivery shall they then get?

III. Confirm the doctrine of the creatures' delivery. And then,

IV. Lead you to the practical improvement of the fubject.We are, then,

I. To inquire when this delivery of the creatures is to come to pass.

God, that has appointed a fet time for every thing, has also appointed the precife time for the delivery of the groaning creation; and this is plainly revealed to be at the end of the world. For then is that time, Rom. viii. 19. 21.; fo Rev. xx. 11. " And I saw a great white throne, and him that fat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled; and there was found no place for them." The apoftle Peter is very express, that then they fhall have their bearing fhower, as it were, the fharpeft ever they had, but it is the laft. 2 Pet. iii. 10. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens fhall pass away with a great noise, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat; the earth alfo, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." Ver. 13. "Nevertheless, we, according to his

promise,

promife, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." They have been in their pangs ever since Adam fell, and will not be delivered till then. When that period shall be, I know not; but it is plain the world is come to its old age. The heaven and earth, that beautiful garment, is grown old, as the pfalmift foretold long ago, Pfal. cii. 6.; therefore it cannot be very long ere it will be changed. She that hath had many children is waxed feeble; I mean, our mother earth. It is evident fhe is not fo fruitful as she was; neither do her fruits yield such nourishment as sometimes they did, they are both fewer and weaker; hence ftill lefs and weaker bodies. And why so with the earth, but because the heavens are in the fame condition, and afford not such influences as formerly, in the vigour of their youth? It is obferved by aftronomers, that the fun fhineth more dimly, and appeareth more seldom than before, being much nearer to the earth than in ancient times. So much the nearer, so much the less influence, as appears by comparing fummer and winter, the mid-day and evening; so that the mighty giant, having so long run his race, begins alfo to wax feeble. It is long fince our Lord said he would come quickly, Rev. xxii. 20. And most of the prophecies of the holy fcripture are already fulfilled. All the feals are opened. Six of the trumpets are already blown. In the time of the feventh, the mystery of God is to be finished, and the world to end, Rev. x. 7. And there is no doubt but it is long fince it began to found. Under this trumpet are contained seven vials; and if these were poured out, then time is no more. There seems to be two of these vials past, and that we are now under the third, expecting the fourth. So that there will be but four of them to come.

And

And it is very agreeable to the difpenfations of providence, that the nearer the end, the motion. will be the quicker; as in the reigns of the kings of Ifrael and Judah, before their refpective captivities, 2 Kings, xv. 16. & 23. and downwards. Thus, without dipping further, it is evident we are far advanced in the last times, and that the world is in its old, if not decrepit age; and at the end is the delivery*.-We now proceed,

II. To inquire what delivery the creation shall then get. The creature conceived vanity and mifery from the time of Adam's fin, then they fhall be delivered of that burden, with which they have been fo long big, Rom. viii. 20. 21. Now, according to what I before said on the first general head, we may foberly explain here.

1. They fhall fully anfwer their end, I mean not the very end for which they were created at first, for some of these are inconsistent with the state of glorified faints: 1 Cor. vi. 13. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God fhall deftroy both it and them." But whatever is their end, they fhall fully answer that, God fhall have his glory by them; and if he design any benefit to man by them, they fhall not be plagued by vanity therein, Rom. viii. 20. 2 Pet. iii. 13.

2. They fhall be freed from all that evil that cleaves to their nature now by reason of man's fin. For now they have undergone a sad alteration, but then they shall undergo another. They shall be changed Pfal. cii. 26. " : They fhall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old

like

*The author has, in this part of his manufcript, feveral notes in fhort hand, which the tranícriber could not decypher, from the want of which this part of the subject is not fo complete.

like a garment; as a vefture fhalt thou change them, and they shall be changed." And that it fhall be to the better, is evident from Rev. xxi. 1. "And I faw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were paffed away, and there was no more fea."

3. They fhall no more be abused by finners; they shall never more ferve the luft of any man whatsoever, Rom. viii. 21. They shall then be recovered, the groaning creature rescued, never to fuffer a relapse any more. However the lufts of the wicked may then be, they must prey upon their own bowels, but they fhall get no more of the creation to feed them.

4. They fhall ferve God's enemies no longer. Their long captivity fhall then be at an end: Rom. viii. 21. The fun fhall no more be tow one beam of its light on an ungodly wretch, nor fhall the face of the earth bear him any longer. One drop of water to cool the tongue, fhall no more be at his fervice. Then they hall bid an eternal farewell to the mafters they ferved fo long against their will.

5. All their misery, which was brought on them by man's fin, fhall then be at an end. They have fhared long with man in his plagues, but then they will get the burden off their back, Rom. viii. 21. The eating of the forbidden fruit cast them into a fever, they have groaned under it ever fince; but then they shall get a cool, and never relapse more.. Now, as to the way this fhall be brought to pass, the fcriptures are clear in two things:

(1.) That the world shall all go up in flames at the last day, which we call the general conflagration: 2 Pet. iii. 7. "But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the fame word are kept in store, referved unto fire against the day of judgement,

ment, and perdition of ungodly men." The apostle is very particular on this, in the 10th verfe: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth alfo, and the works that are therein, fhall be burnt up." The vifible heavens by these means fhall pafs away with a great noise. What a fearful noise would there be in a burning palace! what a noife, then, must there be arifing from a diffolving world! the elements of air, water, and earth, fhall be melted down like metal by that fire; the habitable earth fhall be burnt up, with the works therein; men's works, cottages, palaces, caftles, towns, and cities; God's works, all the creatures therein, birds, beasts, plants, trees, filver, gold, coin, &c.

(2.) That upon the back of this conflagration, there fhall be new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, as in 2 Pet. iii. 13. This John fees, Rev. xxi. 1. To this purpofe the pfalmift fpeaks, telling us that the heavens and the earth fhall be changed, which is quite another thing than to be annihilated. So the apostle Peter calls it only a diffolution, 2 Pet. iii. 11. And to this agrees what he says of melting by fire, which, we know, does not annihilate, but only purges the metal from drofs.

So far the scripture clearly goes. But what particular creatures fhall be renewed in the new earth, their actions, properties, and uses, I will not inquire into these things. It is certain that fome creatures came in after fin. Anah found mules in the wilderness, as he fed the affes of Zibeon his father, Gen. xxxvi. 24. The day will difcover these things. But when one confiders the world was made to be a looking-glass, wherein to behold

God's

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