2 Pet. iii. 10, "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 also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." Ver. 13, "Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, 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 psalmist foretold long ago, Psalm 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 she is not so fruitful as she was; neither do her fruits yield such nourishment as sometimes they did, they are both fewer and weaker; hence still less and weaker bodies. And why so with the earth, but because the heavens are in the same condition, and afford not such influences as formerly, in the vigour of their youth? It is observed by astronomers, that the sun shineth 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 summer and winter, the midday and evening; so that the mighty giant, having so long run his race, begins also to wax feeble. It is long since our Lord said he would come quickly, Rev. xxii. 20. And most of the prophecies of the holy scripture are already fulfilled. All the seals are opened. Six of the trumpets are already blown. In the time of the seventh, 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 since it began to sound. 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 it is very agreeable to the dispensations of providence, that the nearer the end, the motion will be the quicker; as in the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah, before their respective captivites, 2 Kings xv. 16, and 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

The author has, in this part of his manuscript, several notes in short hand, which the transcriber could not decipher, from the want of which this part of the subject is not so complete.

creature conceived vanity and misery from the time of Adam's sin, then they shall be delivered of that burden, with which they have been so long big, Rom. viii. 20, 21. Now, according to what I before said on the first general head, we may soberly explain here,

1. They shall fully answer 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 saints: 1 Cor vi. 13, "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them." But whatever is their end, they shall fully answer that, God shall have his glory by them; and if he design any benefit to man by them, they shall not be plagued by vanity therein, Rom. viii. 20; 2 Pet iii. 13.

2. They shall be freed from all that evil that cleaves to their nature now by reason of man's sin. For now they have undergone a sad alteration, but then they shall undergo another. They shall be changed: Psalm cii. 26, "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed." And that it shall be to the better, is evident from Rev. xxi. 1, " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea."

3. They shall no more be abused by sinners; they shall never more serve the lust of any man whatsoever, Rom. viii. 21. They shall then be recovered, the groaning creature rescued, never to suffer a relapse any more. However the lusts of the wicked may then be, they must prey upon their own bowels, but they shall get no more of the creation to feed them.

4. They shall serve God's enemies no longer. Their long captivity shall then be at an end; Rom. viii. 21. The sun shall no more bestow one beam of its light on an ungodly wretch, nor shall the face of the earth bear him any longer. One drop of water to cool the tongue, shall no more be at his service. Then they shall bid an eternal farewell to the masters they served so long against their will. 5. All their misery, which was brought on them by man's sin, shall then be at an end. They have shared 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 since; but then they shall get a cool, and never relapse more. Now as to the way this shall be brought to pass, the scriptures are clear in two things :—

(1.) That the world shall go all 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 same word are kept in store,

reserved until fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men." The apostle is very particular on this, in the 10th verse: "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, also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." The visible heavens by these means shall pass away with a great noise. What a fearful noise would there be in a burning palace! what a noise, then, must there be arising from a dissolving world! the elements of air, water, and earth, shall be melted down like metal by the fire; the habitable earth shall be burnt up, with the works therein; men's works, cottages, palaces, castles, towns, and cities; God's works, all the creatures therein, birds, beasts, plants, trees, silver, gold, coin, &c.

(2.) That upon the back of this conflagration, there shall be new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, as in 2 Pet. iii. 13. This John sees, Rev. xxi. 1. To this purpose the psalmist speaks, telling us that the heavens and the earth shall be changed, which is quite another thing than to be annihilated. So the apostle Peter calls it only dissolution, 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 dross.

So far the scripture clearly goes. But what particular creatures shall be renewed in the new earth, their actions, properties, and uses, I will not inquire into these things. It is certain that some creatures came in after sin. Anah found mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father, Gen. xxxvi. 24. The day will discover these things. But when one considers the world was made to be a looking-glass, wherein to behold God's glorious perfections and that ever since it was made, it has been before sinful man, blinded with sin, 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. Consider, that the great day is the day of the restitution 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, since the world began." When God made the world, there was nothing but harmony and orderliness in it. But as ever a rude heedless person, by a rash touch of his hand, defaced a fine picture, or disjointed and unframed a curious piece of work; so did Adam's sin the world. But there is a restoration coming. Consider,

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 estate 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, Psalm 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 see Jesus, 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 should taste death for every man." But still in some sense he has not yet the actual possession of all, there are many of them still in the hands of his enemies, Heb. ii. 8. As Jesus Christ has a right to all the elect, thongh some of them are yet under the power of sin and Satan, and all of them, except a few singular persons, under the power of death, but Christ 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.-Consider,

3. That all the effects of the curse are to be gathered together, and confined for ever with the wicked in the lake: Rev. xx. 14, 15, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." Now, they lie scattered 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, shall 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 cast into the common sink, it is all there then, and in no place else. It remains,

IV. That we make some improvement.

1. In an use of information.

(1.) This teaches us that every wicked man shall at length get all his own burden to bear himself alone. Many one takes a light lift of the burden of sin, because there are so many to bear a share of it. Men provoke God, and God smites the earth that bears them with a curse, makes their poor beasts groan, &c. But these strokes are far from their hearts; they notwithstanding keep their sins. If they groan at one time, they will recover again. But remember, O impenitent sinner! the day is coming when the creature shall escape, and leave thee in the lurch for all. The whole weight that is on them and thee together now, shall lie on thyself alone, and press

thee down through eternity, while not one of the creatures shall touch it with the least of their fingers.-Learn,

(2.) That people had need to take heed how they use the creatures while they have them. For as much as they are under our feet now, their ears are not nailed to our door-posts to be our slaves for ever. The day of their freedom is approaching. Let us not abuse them to the service of our lusts, lest they witness against us at last. Let us not dishonour their Lord by them, lest they rejoice over us for ever in our misery, when their foot is out of the snare, and ours in it. Let us not put them in God's room, lest they send all the effects of the curse from off themselves on us, and so put us in the same place with devils. We may hence see,

(3.) That this world, and what is therein, passeth away: 1 John ii. 17, " And the world passeth away, and the lust 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 support 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 vessel is melted down and refined, and cast into a new mould, how unlike will it be to what it was! The heavens and earth are now very glorious, yet sin has marred them. He that made them is not pleased with them, and therefore will have them cast over again. If they be so glorious, even while so far unmade by sin, how great must their glory be when they are again new made !-We learn,

(5.) However large a share the wicked may have here, they will have neither part nor lot in them. For "in the new heavens and new earth dwelleth righteousness," 2 Pet. iii. 13. For the wicked to be there, would be inconsistent with the creatures. But as for the saints, they have a charter, making over the earth to be theirs; which, seeing it is not fully put into their possession 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 sense they shall possess it, I am not here to inquire.

2. From this subject we have afforded an use of terror to the wicked. How dreadful shall their case be at the end of the world! Come, O impenitent sinner! behold here, as in a glass, the misery that is abiding thee. Thou canst make a shift now for thy ease, but what wilt thou do then? It is terrible news to thee, that the creature shall be delivered.-For,

(1.) The misery that lies this day on any creature whatever for