(0.) The sixlli support to bear ii]) tlie hearts of the ])eople of God under the hite liery dispensation, is this — viz., That hij Jicry dispensa- iioiis, the Lord icill make icay for the new heavens and the new earth : he will make way for the glorious deliverance of his people, Isa. ix. 5, 6 ; Ps. Ixvi. 12. Isa. Ixvi. 15, 16, 22, ' For, behold, the Lord will come witli fire, and Avith his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For ' by fire and by liis sword,' or by his sword of fire, ' will tlie Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain be- fore me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.' The great and the glorious things that God will do for his people in the last days are set forth by new heavens and new earth ; and these God will bring in by fiery dispensations. i The glorious estate of the universal church of Jews and Gentiles on earth is no lower an estate than that of a new heaven and a new earth. Now this blessed church -state is ushered into the world by fiery judg- ments. By fiery dispensations God will put an end to the glory of this old world, and bring in the new. Look, as God by a watery deluge made way for one new world, so by a fiery deluge, in the last of the last days, he will make way for another new world, wherein ' shall dwell righteousness,' as Peter speaks, 2 Pet. iii. 10- L3. All men in common speech call a new great change a new world. 2 By fiery dispensations God will bring great changes upon the world, and make way for his Son's reign in a more glorious manner than ever he has yet reigned in the world. Rev. xviii., xix., xx., and xxi. The sum of that I have, in short, to ofter to your consideration out of these chapters is this: — 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. How much she hath glorified herself, so much sorrow and torment shall be given her. Her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire. Re- joice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And after these things, I heard a great voice of much ])eoi)le, &c., saying, Alleluiah ; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God : for true and righteous are thy judgments ; for he hath judged the great whore that hath corrupted the earth, and hath avenged the blood of his saints. And again they said, Alleluiah. And the four and twenty elders said Amen ; Alleluiah. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluiah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And the beast and the false })rophct were cast into the lake of fire. And the rest were slain with the sword. But the saints reigned with Christ a thousand years in the new heavens and new earth, to whom the kings of the earth and nations of the world bring their honour.' God, by his fiery dispensation ujion Babylon, makes way for Christ's reign, and the saints' reign in the new heavens and new earth. But,
' Tsa. Ixv. 17; Joul ii. 1-5, 30-32; Zcpii. iii. 8, 9.
' Gen ii. See our new ' .\nnotationist.s' [as before] on Isa. Ixv. anil xvii. : on chap. Ixvi. 1.5, IC, 22, and on Hov. xxi. 1.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 183
(7.) The seventh support to hear up the hearts of the people of God under the late fiery dispensation, is this — viz.. That hy fiery dis- yensations God 2viU h'ing about the rilin and destruction of his and his people's enemies, Ps. 1. 3. Ps. xcvii. 3, ' A fire goeth before him, and burnetii up his enemies round about.' Hab. iii. 5, ' Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.' Ver. 7, ' I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction ; and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.' Ver. 12, ' Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.' Ver. 13, ' Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed ; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation even to the neck. Sekih.' Jer. 1. 31, 32, ' Behold, I am against thee, 0 thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts : for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up : and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.' There is nothing more fearful or for- midable, either to man or beast, than fire : and therefore by fiery dispensations God will take vengeance on the wicked. This will be the more evident, if you please but to consider to what the wicked are compared in Scripture.
[1.] First, They are compared to stuhhle and chaff, which the fire doth easily consume : Isa. v. 24, ' Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust.' Nahum i. 10, ' For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.' Mark that word ' fully dry,' and so as it were prepared and fitted for the flame.
[2.] Secondly, The wicked are compared to thorns: and how easily doth the flaming fire consume them ! Isa. xxvii. 4, ' Fury is not in me : who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle ? I would go through them, I would burn them together.' Chap, xxxiii. 12, 'And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire.' Mark, it is not said as thorns standing and tooted in the earth, and growing with their moisture about them ; but as thorns cut up, as dead and dry thorns, which are easily kindled and consumed, &c.
[3.] Thirdly, The wicked are compared to the melting of wax before the fire, and to the passing away of smohe before the ivind, Micah i. 4 ; Ps. viii. 2.
[4.] Fourthly and lastly. The sudden and certain ruin of the wicked is set forth by the melting of the fat of lambs before the fire : Ps. xxxvii. 20, ' But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs,' (which of all fat is the most easiest melted before the fire :) ' they shall consume ; into smoke shall they consume away.' The fat of lambs in the sacrifices was wholly to be burnt and consumed, Lev. iii. 15-17. Thus you see, by the several things to which wicked men are compared, that God by fiery calamities will bring ruin and destruction upon his and his people's enemies. Such as have burnt the people of God out of house and home, may in this
184 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.