ing thoughts; without, are disastrous accidents, and a vexatious throng of inevitable discomforts. Unbelieving fears and perplexities, with a host of other ungodly and uncharitable affections, commonly distract our minds; and pains and diseases, tending to sundry kinds of death, consume our bodies. Add to which, these two parts of man, designed originally for mutual enjoyment and support, are apt to straiten and afflict each other: an ill-ordered mind frequently destroys the health and activity of the body, and an ill-conditioned body no less frequently very much hindereth the mind, when it would fain be reasoning clearly and aright on the things before it. Likewise the beasts, or animals, which we esteem void of understanding, have been greatly changed, together with man, for the worse. No doubt, in the day when God saw that they were good, He put into them an instinct or disposition to dwell together affectionately, or, at the least, in peace. It is hardly on any ground to be questioned, but that the all-wise and benevolent Creator designed those inferior creatures to live on the earth both quietly amongst themselves, and in willing subjection to our superior race; whereas now their prevailing habits are, to bite and devour one another, and anxiously to avoid the presence of man, except that certain will

resist, or rush on him as a prey. Moreover, the creatures without life-the elements, for instance, and the lights in the firmament, which mark our days and months and years-have ceased from being purely beneficial, as they probably were to our first parents in Paradise. So "cursed is the ground," for the sake of fallen man, that, of its own accord, it chiefly brings forth to him thorns and thistles, and unprofitable weeds: not without the sweat of his face can he eat bread; and after his most patient toil, it is still subject to unfruitful seasons, to the mischief of too much heat, or cold, of long droughts or excessive rains. Also the air, which we breathe, is apt sometimes to become vexatiously stormy and tempestuous, at others to grow putrid, and to engender plagues; the suns of summer are wont to scorch, and the bright frosty moons of winter to chill our frames, instead of comfortably cherishing and refreshing them; and, in short, all things, though suffered hitherto to remain for our preservation, and occasional comfort and delight, cannot but seem considerably disordered in their course: however good enough, in their ordinary way, to keep us alive our allotted days on the earth, they are not sufficient to satisfy and content us, or any more to afford such happiness as, regarding the time of man's

innocency, we are naturally moved to desire. Thus, without at all imputing blame to God, may we trace from its source downward the occasion signified by the text for a new creation. Thus the state of our own souls and bodies, and of almost whatever we can have to do with in the world, may well provoke each one to exclaim after the manner of Job in his special affliction, "O that I were as in time. "past, in the days when the candle of God "shined upon man, and the secret of God was

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upon his tabernacle, when his glory was "fresh in him, and he dwelt as a king under “ the sun ! instead of which my path is marred, days of affliction have taken hold upon me, "I am cast into the mire, and am become like "dust and ashes."

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After the foregoing representation of our need, or of the condition and circumstances into which man hath fallen by transgression, you will be ready, my brethren, to contemplate the promise of new heavens and a new earth, which shall far surpass the very best that have yet been known, both in the splendour and blissfulness of their arrangement.

It is a most gracious promise, this, of God, that He will create new heavens and a new earth for a race of creatures who have done so ill by the former, When He had seen that

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they were very good, and had, as it were, committed them to our keeping, whom likewise He had crowned with goodness, with what a pernicious haste did we blight the spring of them, and how inexcusably did we pollute them by transgression. A few short years, or (it may be) days, and by man's foolish disobedience the excellent work of the Almighty was standing defaced. Yet, He would not instantly destroy it, nor doom man, who had so greatly offended him, to a hopeless death. On the contrary, He would create anew that which Adam had corrupted, and, meanwhile, appoint a fresh trial to our race, by which they might in process of time be rendered fit to inherit such His new creation, or the joys of the world to come. Pursuant then to this benevolent design, God moved Himself, in a manner, from His rest, wherewith He had rested on the seventh day, and began afresh to work. And, since He had made the old universe by His Son and Spirit, { by the same divine Persons, or partakers of His Godhead, the Father of Heaven determined to make the new one. Beginning with man, who, in His former work, had been the last made creature, but, nevertheless, the first introducer of mischief, He appointed His Son to redeem, and His Spirit to sanctify him,

from the bands and defilement entailed by sin upon his nature; in a word, to render him a new creature, and thereby a fit inhabitant of the new heavens and the new earth, which He had ordained. As by the Son of God the worlds originally were made, and by the Spirit of God condescending to hover on the turbid waters, as by these the heavens and the earth of old were framed, so by these, in due season, are they to be renewed. The work hath long ago been undertaken, and is incessantly advancing to its completion. Immediately after the fall, the foundation of it was laid, by at once putting man under a course of labour and discipline adapted to subdue his rebellious heart, and giving him comfortable promises to excite its sinking energy. To the Patriarchs, and after them to the Israelites under the Law, these promises of future deliverance and consolation, and finally of a glorious rest, were from time to time, and more at large, repeated, by the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophets. And then, at the predicted period, Redeemer," in fashion as a man," to