fhadows, yet what they can fee with their eyes, and get a hold of with their hands, are substantial: Hof. xiii. 6. " According to their pafture, fo were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted, therefore have they forgotten me." Though the man cannot lie on his right fide, he can lie full well on his left; though not on his back, looking up to heaven, yet on his face, looking down to the earth. But, ah! firs, this trade of yours will not laft; you will not shift long this way; the creature will be delivered, and what wilt thou do then? Thou wilt not have a whole fide to turn thee to then; thou fhalt have as little comfort in the creature then as in God, and that is none at all. He that has but one pillar to lean to, had need to have it a durable one. But thou haft but one, and it cannot laft.

[2.] If they cannot find it in one creature, they take it in another. If Haman cannot have the comfort of Mordecai's bowing, he can take it in revenge. If there be not fap enough in one creature, he can go to another, and fo make fhift. But this trade will not laft either. For the whole creation fhall be delivered; and if all must go, there will be nothing left thee to eafe thee in thy mifery. Was not Job in a heavy cafe, when he was full of fores, his whole body over, and all his friends deferted him? Job, xix. 13.-19. But what was all this to what shall be thy case for ever? If you call to the fun that ferves you now, it will not bestow one fingle gleam of light upon you;-to the waters, they will not afford thee one drop to cool thy tongue;-to all that ever thou poffeffed upon the earth, it will not do thee the leaft fervice. For then their term is out, and they will leave thee for ever. How heavy will all this be !

ft, To be thus left by all thy gods that had

moft

most of thy heart when thy days of strength were. O faithlefs world! is this thy kindness to thy friends? Is this the reward of the precious heart and affections, time and foul, spent on thee? Muft they that loved it beft, have leaft comfort of it one day? They whofe hearts idolized it, be the only persons abandoned by it in mifery? Yes, it must be fo, and that justly. For it was no more pleasant to the creature to be fet in God's room, than it was to a flave to be forced into the king's throne by his master.

2dly, To be concluded under such misery, when the creature, thy fervant and flave, which thou didft use and abufe according to thy will and luft, fhall be fet free. When the fuffering of the creature by thy hands fhall ceafe, then thy fuffering fhall begin. As the heavens abused by Antichrift are called, on the fall of his kingdom, to rejoice, Rev. xviii. 20.; fo the abused creatures will turn their groans into fongs of triumph upon thy ruin. And to be infulted in mifery by any, is fad; but faddeft of all to be infulted by thofe that fometime were our flaves.-This subject may be improved,

3. In an ufe of comfort to the serious and godly, who notice the groans of the creatures under fin, and join their own groanings with theirs. This cloud, that has fo black and lowring a fide to others, has a fair, white, light fome fide to you.The creatures fhall be delivered.

(1.) The mournful spectacle of the creatures which you fee to-day, if that day were come, ye fhall fee no more for ever. You not long ago faw the heaven as brafs, and the earth as iron, and you heard an extraordinary groaning among the creatures. But their groans are not gone, though become lower; as yet the fun must ferve to F 31

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let wicked men fee to difhonour God; the earth and fea must afford God's good creatures to be fuel to men's lufts. Many a good creature muft lofe its life, to preferve the lives of them who live but to dishonour God; and every creature, meat, drink, and the like, is abused, and groans under the abufe. Well, the day is coming, when they will groan no more; nor fhall you need to groan for them. The travailing creation will caft out its forrows.

(2.) If that day were come, ye shall also be delivered. You fhall groan no more under your own burdens. This is the time of your travail, then ye fhall be well: John, xvi. 20. "Verily, verily, I fay unto you, that ye fhall weep and lament, but the world fhall rejoice and ye fhall be forrowful, but your forrow fhall be turned into joy." Ver. 22. "And now ye therefore have forrow, but I will fee you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from you." May we not argue here as our Lord doth? If God fo clothe the grafs, which to-day is, and to-mor row is caft into the oven, will he not much more clothe us? And as the apoftle, "Doth God take care for oxen, to deliver them, and will he not take care for us?" If God deliver the old groaning creature, will he not deliver the new creature, that is alfo groaning? Yea, furely you fhall be delivered,-delivered from fin, the body of fin, you now groan under; the cords of guilt fhall be broken in pieces; the iron-bands of fin's tyrannical power fhall be burft afunder; the old tenant, that has fit long against your will, fhall be caft out, never to fet his foot in again: 1 John, iii. 2. " Beloved, now are we the fons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we fhall be; but we know, that when he fhall appear, we fhall be like him,

for

for we fhall fee him as he is." Your candle fhall not burn dim any more, nor your fire be weakly. In the garden, now fo much overgrown, there fhall not be one weed, nay, nor the least feed of one left: "The Egyptians, whom ye fee to-day, ye fhall fee no more for ever." Ye shall be delivered from all the confequences of fin. Though you are at present recovering of the deadly disease, yet the effects of it hang about you; miferies on your foul, body, character, and the like; but then all of these shall take wing, never to return. No more complaints of a weak and crazy body; no more reproaches, croffes, and loffes; no more temptations, for when the carcafe is removed, why fhould the eagles gather together? The last enemy, death, fhall be deftroyed, 1 Cor. xv. 53. Ye fhall have a perfect delivery.

There are four words Christ spoke of, or to Lazarus, at raifing him from the dead. These he fpeaks for the elect.

The firft word is, "Where have ye laid him?” John, xi. 34. The old murderer took away the elect's life the reft, and every among elect foul he has naturally buried in trefpaffes and fins. But our Lord, coming to feek what was loft, fends the gospel to the elect; and though the party himself cannot difcern the gofpel-language, yet others do difcern it, and hear Chrift in the gofpel faying of the elect foul, "Where have ye laid him ?"

The fecond word is, "Take ye away the ftone," ver. 39. This is fpoken for the work of conviction. Though the dead foul cannot hear it, it is heard: My Spirit,' fays he, let him alone no more; confcience, awaken and rouse him up ; law, take him by the throat; off with his ignorance of God, of fin, and of himself; break his fecurity,

throw

throw by his felf-conceit and fig-leave coverings : "Take ye away the ftone."

The third word is, "Lazarus, come forth !” ver. 43. This is spoken for the work of converfion. It carries life along with it, the foul hears this voice, and lives. Then the Spirit of Christ enters into the foul, and he that was dead in fin lives to God, and is coming forth in the progress of fanctification. But, O how flowly does he come forth! For though the reigning power of death be broken, yet the grave-cloaths are ftill about him, which entangle him. Though he can move both hands and feet, which he could not do before, yet there are bands on them both. This is all that is heard in time. But good news to the groaning Chriftian: At the last day, ye fhall hear the laft word, which is the

Fourth, Loofe him, and let him go," ver. 44. Then not only fin, but all the confequences of it, shall be taken off. No more fin, pain, death, forrow, or any fuch thing. Then comes the glorious liberty of the fons of God, which Chrift has purchafed, which God has promifed, which the whole creation is earnestly expecting, and which the fpiritual Chriftian is groaning and waiting for, Rom. viii. 21. 23.-I come now to a

4. And laft ufe, of exhortation as to these things. (1.) Let us believe, and give God the glory due to his name. Man is changeable, and he that depends upon his promise may foon find that he trufts to a broken reed. But not fo with God's promifes: Pfal. lvi. 10. "In God will I praise his word in the Lord will I praise his word." ham had a promise of a very unlikely thing; he believed the promife, and it was accomplished, Rom. iv. 17.-21. Is it unlikely that the creature fhall be delivered? Yet God has faid it; be

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