God's glorious perfections; and that ever fince it was made, it has been before finful man, blinded with fin, except the short time Adam stood, it may occasion some thoughts as to what the state of matters shall be in a new heaven, and in a new earth. We come now,

III. To confirm the doctrine of the creatures' delivery. As to this,

1. Confider, that the great day is the day of the reftitution of all things: Acts, iii. 21. "Whom the heaven must retain, until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, fince the world began." When God made the world, there was nothing but harmony and orderliness in it. But as ever a rude heedlefs perfon, by a rash touch of his hand, defaced a fine picture, or disjointed and unframed a curious piece of work; fo did Adam's fin the world. But there is a restoration coming.Confider,

2. That our Lord Jesus is the heir of all things, Heb. i. 2. God gave Adam a charter, to hold of him the great estate of the world. But, rebelling against his God, his eftate was forfeited, and that charter-right void, because it depended on his good behaviour. The second Adam coming in his room, the forfeited estate is made over to him, Pfal. viii. 5. 6. 7. compared with Heb. ii. 6. 7. 8. " But now we see not yet all things put under him." Ver. 9. "But we fee Jefus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace of God fhould tafte death for every man.' But ftill in fome fense he has not yet the actual poffeffion of all, there are many of them still in the hands of his enemies, Heb. ii. 8. As

Jefus

Jefus Chrift has a right to all the elect, though fome of them are yet under the power of fin and Satan, and all of them, except a few fingular perfons, under the power of death, but Chrift at that day will fully recover them all; so the creatures yet in the hand of his enemies, he will then restore, seeing they are all his by his Father's gift; hence we are taught that he will come again out of heaven for that restoration: Acts, iii. 21.—Confider,

3. That all the effects of the curfe are to be gathered together, and confined for ever with the wicked in the lake: Rev. xx. 14. 15. " And death and hell were caft into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whofoever was not found written in the book of life, was caft into the lake of fire." Now, they lie fcattered up and down through the whole creation, but they shall all meet together there; and therefore it evidently follows, that as to the creatures, their share of them, which makes them groan now, fhall then be taken off them, and they for ever made free. As the mud and filthiness that lies in every part of the street being swept together, and caft into the common fink, it is all there then, and in no place else.— It remains,

IV. THAT we make fome improvement. 1. In an ufe for information.

(1.) This teaches us that every wicked man fhall at length get all his own burden to bear himself alone. Many one takes a light lift of the burden of fin, because there are so many to bear a share of it. Men provoke God, and God fmites the earth that bears them with a curfe, makes their poor beafts groan, &c. But thefe ftrokes are far from their hearts; they notwithstanding keep their fins.

If they groan at one time, they will recover again. But remember, O impenitent finner! the day is coming when the creature fhall escape, and leave thee in the lurch for all. The whole weight that is on them and thee together now, fhali lie on thyself alone, and prefs thee down through eternity, while not one of the creatures fhall touch it with the leaft of their fingers.-Learn,

(2.) That people had need to take heed how they ufe the creatures while they have them. For as much as they are under our feet now, their ears are not nailed to our door-pofts to be our flaves for ever. The day of their freedom is approaching. Let us not abuse them to the fervice of our lufts, left they witness against us at last. Let us not dishonour their Lord by them, left they rejoice over us for ever in our mifery, when their foot is out of the fnare, and ours in it. Let us not put them in God's room, left they fend all the effects of the curfe from off themselves on us, and fo put us in the fame place with devils. We may hence fee,

(3.) That this world, and what is therein, paffeth away: John, ii. 17. " And the world paffeth away, and the luft thereof." It is a stage of vanity that will be taken down, and the table of a dying life will come to an end. What marvel is it that man dies, seeing he lives by deaths, the death of the creatures; but this bondage of the creatures will not continue, they will be delivered, and God will fupport the life of man another way in eternity.

(4.) We may learn what glorious things will be the new heaven and the new earth! When the old cracked pewter veffel is melted down and refined, and caft into a new mould, how unlike will it be to what it was! The heavens and earth are now very glorious, yet fin has marred them. He VOL. II.

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that made them is not pleafed with them, and therefore will have them caft over again. If they be fo glorious, even while fo far unmade by fin, how great must their glory be when they are again new made!—We learn,

(5.) However large a fhare the wicked may have here, they will have neither part nor lot in them. For in the new heavens and new earth dwelleth righteoufnefs," 2 Pet. iii. 13. For the wicked to be there, would be inconfiftent with the creatures. But as for the faints, they have a charter, making over the earth to be theirs; which, seeing it is not fully put into their poffeffion now, it must be in the other world: Matth. V. 5. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." But how and in what fenfe they fhall poffefs it, I am not here to inquire.

2. From this fubject we have afforded an use of terror to the wicked. How dreadful fhall their cafe be at the end of the world! Come, O impenitent finner! behold here, as in a glass, the mifery that is abiding thee. Thou canft make a fhift now for thy cafe, but what wilt thou do then? It is terrible news to thee, that the creature fhall be delivered.-For,

(1.) The mifery that lies this day on any creature whatever for thy fake, fhall be taken off it, and laid on thee thyfelf; and when all is laid on thee, thy burden will be insupportable. There is a curfe on thee already, as a tranfgreffor of the law, Gal. iii. 10. But a heavy end of the curfe lies on the creatures for thy fake: Gen. iii. 17. "Curfed is the ground for thy fake, in forrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." There is no way to extinguifh the curfe but by faith in Christ's blood, which thou flighteft. Therefore, feeing there must be a removal of it from the creatures,

it muft needs be turned over on thee, and with thee turned out of the world: Matth. xxv. 41. "Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Compare Rev. xiv. 10. "Thou shalt also drink of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation, and thou fhalt be tormented with fire and brimftone, in the prefence of the holy angels, and in the prefence of the Lamb." And wilt thou not then cry out with Cain, "My punishment is greater than I can bear?" Gen. iv. 13.

(2.) As thou wilt be deferted of God, fo thou wilt be deserted of the creatures in thy mifery. No help from heaven, none from earth: Ifa. viii. 21. 22." And they fhall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: And it fhall come to pafs, that when they shall be hungry, they fhall fret themselves, and curfe their King, and their God, and look upwards. And they fhall look unto the earth, and behold, trouble and darkness, dimness and anguish; and they fhall be driven to darknefs." When thine enemy falls upon thee, all thy friends will run away from thee. There are two ways by which the ungodly get eafe in the world, which will both fail them here.

[1.] Though they have no comfort or fatisfaction in God, they can take it in the creature. Though they fee no beauty in Chrift, they fee a great deal in the world. Though the marriagefupper of the King's Son be to them a light matter, yet the farm and the merchandise are not fo ; Matth. xxii. 4.-7. Though they have no heart for the bargain of the everlafting covenant, Prov. xvii. 16. yet they are eafy when they can win a few pence or pounds. Though the promises of things unfeen are to them hungry things, empty fhadows,

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