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The things mentioned in thefe verfes, will not be ac, complished until after the refurrection, and they never can take place fo long as Jefus has an enemy in existence, Jefus now has all power, and rules in the midst of his enemies; but they are not all fubdued, for the heathen rage to this day. A man cannot be faid to have no enemies fo long as one man hates him. The time will come when Jefus will not have one enemy; they will all be flain. It is a certain fact, that all Chrift's enemies will all be forgiven or deftroyed. Those who blafpheme against the Holy Ghoft, fhall never be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come, which will be a world without end.

It is faid that Jefus will make an end of fins; finish tranfgreffion, and put away fin. Dan. ix. 24, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish tranfgreffion, to make an end of fins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteoufnefs." John i. 29, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the fin of the world."

The everlafting righteoufnefs mentioned in Daniel is brought in by Chrift, but he has not made an end of fins yet, nor taken away the fin of the world. There are two ways to take away fins, one is to forgive the tranfgreffor,and put him in fuch a state as that he can never fin again; the other is, to deftroy the finner. Neither of thefe is wholly done yet; but it will be done at the laft day. There never can be an end of fin fo long as there is a finner in existence. If the wicked exift eternally, they will exift finners, and if they do, then there is no meaning to this, that Chrift will make an end of sin, and deftroy his enemies, and cause them to perifh forev

--er.

What a glorious period will that be, when Jefus fhall put down all rule, all authority and power, when he fhall put all his enemies under his feet, and make an end of fin! thofe his enemies, who would not that he should regn over them, being flain before him, and punished with everlasting deftruction from the prefence of the

Lord and the glory of his power. The earth and heavens will then be new; righteoufnefs will dwell there; the faints will all be aqual to the angels, and the wicked will ceafe from troubling. In this new earth, called the world to come, the followers of Jefus will enjoy the pref ence of him who loved them and washed them from their fins in his own blood. They will have no fickness nor pain, no hunger nor thirst, no labour nor want, no night nor death, "world without end. This I fhall def cribe in the next fermon.

SERMON XIX.

“WE HAVE ALSO A MORE SURE WORD OF

PROPHECY," &c..

I HAVE now gone through with a defcrip.

tion of thofe dreadful fcencs which will follow the thoufand years of Chrift's reign upon earth; including the great army that fhall compafs the beloved City,their overthrow the day of judgment-the raifing all the dead, the earth a lake of fire, and the wicked like tares burnt up in the earth, which is reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Though thefe things are terrible to the wicked, and lead the most firm believer to fay, "Alas! who fhall live when God fhall do this? Yet the pleafing, glorious, eternal scene which opens to us beyond all these things in the prophe-cies is fo glorious, that viewing it, we almoft forget all the terror which precedes the glory which fhall follow. The first thing John saw after the lake of fire, where the: wicked were deftroyed, was the new heavens and earth.

Rev. xxi. 1, "And I faw a new heaven, and a new earth, for the first heaven and the firft earth were paffed away; and there was no more fea."

There are but four places in the fcriptures where the new heaven and earth are mentioned, that I can find. The fecond place befides this, is in 2 Pet. iii. 13, "Nev-ertheless we, according to his promife, look for new heav ens, and a new earth, wherein. dwelleth righteousness. This promise of a new heaven and earth mentioned by Peter, is recorded in Ifaiah lxv. 17, "For behold, I cre

ate new heavens, and a new earth; and the former fhall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Chap. lxvi. 22, "For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, faith the Lord, fo fhall your feed and your name remain."

I fhall endeavour in this fermon to fhew the meaning of the new heavens and earth in thefe verses.

In former years I was taught, that at the day of judgment, the earth would be deftroyed, and be no more,and that-the wicked as well as the righteous would have an eternal existence, one in heaven, and the other in ħell; but, according to the fcriptures the wicked are to have an end, and the earth abideth forever.

According to the fyftem of divinity which we have been in general taught by our parents, fchool-masters, and minifters, contained in the catechifm, the greater part of the fcriptures are entirely ufelefs. The only method which our teachers could invent, (having confidered the catechifm a fyftem of divinity) was, to tell us that the fcriptures had a fpiritual meaning; that is, faid one thing and meant another. This is the idea people in general have of them.

With this belief, when they speak of the new heaven and earth, they confider it to mean a new creature, or one converted to God, or the church of Chrift, or all the elect, and in this way they explain away almoft the whole of that blessed book where the glory which is to follow the fuffering of Chrift is recorded.

A great many people are alarmed at new things,and at once raife objections against them, becaufe they are new. Thefe fame people would be much more pleased with a new garment, than with an old one.

In reading the account of the new heaven and earth, I have fome times thought, that this heaven, or air, and the prefent earth, would be reduced back to nothing, and another created in its ftead; because it is faid, Rev. XX. II, And I faw a great white throne, and him that fat upen it, from whole face the earth and heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." This at first view seems to carry fuch an idea. Ifaiah men

tions a great change in the prefent heavens and earth. Ifa. ii. 6, "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens fhall vanish away like fmoke, and the earth fhall wax old like a gar ment, and they that are therein, fhall die in like manner; but my falvation fhall be forever, and my righteoufnefs fball not be abolished." Paul fpeaks of this change in the heavens and earth. Heb. i. 10, 11, 12, "And thou, Lord, in the beginning halt laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands ; they fhall perifh, but thou remaineft; and they all fhall wax old as doth a garment; as a velture fhalt thou fold them up, and they thall be changed; but thou art the fame, and thy years fhall not fail."

From all thefe places it is plain that a great change will take place in this earth; though I do not think that another earth will be created instead of this; but this earth will be made new. This is declared, Rev. xxi. 5, "And he that fat upon the throne faid, behold I make all things new." The reafon is given in verfe 4. "For the former things are paffed away."

The new earth will appear after this is deftroyed by ' fire, in the fame mamer as this appeared after the old world was destroyed by water: This Peter has declared, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, "For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perifhed; but the heaven and earth, which are now, by the fame word are kept in store, referved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens hall pass away with a great noife, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat, the earth alfo, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Looking for, and halting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire fhall be diffolved, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we according to

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