prophets have spoken, that it shall eventually be fulfilled, together with additional predictions delivered by Himself and His Apostles. By such means hitherto, hath God been dealing with men to turn their hearts back again from disobedience, and to mould and create them anew after His own righteous image, taking occasion, the while, to utter threats of eternal vengeance, and actually to inflict various terrible punishments on the many, who have nevertheless hardened themselves in perverseness. In this manner, by a patient exercise of His exceeding mercy and judgment, through the mediation of His Son and Spirit, our Heavenly Father hath been from of old proceeding to root out the inveterate corruption engendered in man by Adam's sin, and to plant in him a conformity to His will. And when He shall have effected this, when He shall have accomplished the number of His elect, or, to speak more explicitly, shall have converted unto Himself in their respective generations, to walk humbly with Him in faith and love, all who will yield themselves to His gracious counsels, when a company fit to rejoice therein shall have been thus provided, then at length will God visibly establish, on the ruins of the present, the new heavens and new earth which He is creating; then, by His almighty power, He will cause "the old things,"

which He formerly made, to pass away, and "all things to become new," for the righteous people renewed and sanctified by His grace.

This new condition is generally described to us in Holy Scripture as free throughout from the manifold troubles which now afflict us, and full of blessings the most valuable and endless. In the chapter which contains my text it is written, "Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in "that which I create: for, behold, I create Je"rusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy: the "wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and "the lion shall eat straw like the bullock and "dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall "not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, "saith the Lord." (Isaiah lxv. 18, 25.) Also St. John, to whom the new heavens and the new earth were shewn beforehand in a spiritual vision, declares concerning them, "I heard a

66

great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He "will dwell with them, and they shall be His "people, and God Himself shall be with them, "and be their God. And God shall wipe away "all tears from their eyes; and there shall be "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying: "neither shall there be any more pain: and "there shall be no more curse: but the throne "of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and

"His servants shall see His face, and His name "shall be on their foreheads. And there shall, "be no night there; and they need no candle, "neither light of the sun; for the Lord God

66

66

giveth them light: and they shall reign for

ever and ever." (Revelation xxi. 3, 4. xxii. 3, 4, 5.) Besides these, there are many passages to a similar effect both in the Old and in the New Testament. These, however, should be enough to convince us, that the new heavens and the new earth, which God is creating, shall prove to their inhabitants entirely blissful and glorious, so as to prevent those natural feelings of regret wherewith, otherwise, they might continue to regard the past. Considering only the descriptions which have been cited, you can easily imagine (what my text foretells) that the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. It were indeed an unaccountable thing, if men admitted into that world of unalloyed felicity should be vain enough still to dwell (in memory) upon this, or even on the Paradise which was early forfeited by transgression.

Yet, in drawing towards a conclusion, let me state how discreetly this point should be understood. The Lord's intention by the Prophet was probably no more than to assure His people, that, on having received His promise of a new creation, they shall be fully satisfied with

it, and unspeakably prefer it to the very best condition which they can possibly have experienced in the old world. The final word of

one.

the text might justly be rendered heart, instead of mind. This difference is not an immaterial With the mind, we ponder and comprehend a thing; with the heart, we affect and love it. Thus, "the former shall not be remem→ "bered nor come upon the heart," (Isaiah lxv. 17. marg.) will simply mean, shall not be remembered with affection. Neither here nor elsewhere are we required utterly to forget the past, or instructed that such a forgetfulness will ever become us. The people of God are merely admonished, that hereafter, provided they run well unto the end, their hearts shall be so exclusively occupied with somewhat better, as to prevent them from at all grieving for the things which have been, and shall then have passed away. According to which, a believer may easily discern the conduct which, while conversant with them, it will behove him to pursue. He will see fit to cherish a regretful sense of the happiness formerly ordained for man in Paradise, so long as it helps to beget in him livelier notions of the happiness ordained to come. He will think right to mind earthly things, so far as to discover occasions for thankfulness in the goods which are still remaining,

and to learn, by the abundance of tribulation which hath been let in, humility, obedience, and resignation. Such habits of recollection and of sober attention to our present state, appear in no degree inconsistent with the words before us, and are to be reckoned expedient and indispensable towards an admission into that better one in reserve. We have only to beware of setting our hearts, our affections and hopes, on worldly objects; because the very best of them shall sometime become naught, so surely as even now they are unsatisfactory, and because (not to mention the danger of being involved in their destruction) in what proportion we permit ourselves to love them here, in the same we must suffer loss hereafter.

To this extent therefore, my brethren, and within these limits, prepare yourselves not to remember nor keep in mind the things of this old world. Never allow them to occupy the place of that salvation which ought to be your principal desire; nor seek after peace and happiness chiefly by them, which turn to their own decay, and are doomed to perish, so that, in the morning of the resurrection, they shall be no more; but determine rather to have your portion and your lives "hidden together with "Christ in God," and thus to wait with a patient confidence, that in the day "when His