1. Whatever came in by sin, will be utterly destroyed ; as thorns, thistles, poisonous weeds: Gen. iii. 17, 18, 'Cursed is the ground for thy sake, thorns and thistles shall it bring foi-th to thee.' The reason is, when the cause is taken away the effect ceaseth. If the curse of God upon the earth be a part of man's punishment ; then upon man's deliverance the creature is delivered also. Now it continueth for a mark of God's displeasure, and our humiliation, because man is restored but in part ; but upon our full deliverance, no more of this is found.
2. All creatures that arise out of corruption and putrefaction ; as toads, mice, flies, bats. As they were not in the first creation, so they shall not appear in this restitution of all things at the coming of the Lord.
3. All living creatures which perish before, or at the end of the world. It is probable these shall not be renewed and restored again ; Partly, because these serve only for the use and the sustenance of the earthly life ; but in glory freed from this necessity : 1 Cor. vi. 13, ' Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats ; but God shall destroy both it and them.' In this life the body hath an absolute necessity of them ; but in the next life the meat itself, as well as the eating or desiring of meat, shall be taken away. Partly, because, if these should be restored, there must be a resurrection of them, which is only promised to men. And the apostles when they speak, restrain it to mankind, who have reasonable souls living to God, while their bodies are rotting in the grave ; but the soul of the beasts goeth downward, Eccl. iii. 21 ; that is, perish with their bodies, which are buried in the ground.
4. All artificial works done by the hand of man, as cities, castles, houses, gardens. They shall all be burnt up, and be extant no more ; for though these things are useful during the earthly life, j-et then they are all consumed, as being defiled by the inhabitants thereof : 2 Pet. iii. 10, ' The earth also, and the works which are therein, shall be burnt up ; ' that is, which men have made, and built thereupon ; which should turn our hearts from our afiecting those things, or fixing upon the creature which is passing away, whilst we neglect God, who is the same, that passeth not.
Secondly. Tiiat which shall be restored is the fabric of heaven and earth ; not the highest heavens ; they need no purifying fire, no unclean things entering there ; but the lower heavens and this earth ; the state of things after the dissolution is often called a ' world to come.' Now ivorld, in the sacred dialect, comprehendeth the visible heavens and earth; meaning by heavens, the airy and starry heaven ; and by earlh, dry land and waters. Well then, heaven and earth, sun, moon, and stars, which had a being in the creation, and undeigo the purging fire at the dissolution, shall be restored as gold that hath been meltecl and refined in the fire. If you ask for what use ? We must refer that to the event ; the scripture in the general, 2 Pet. iii. 13, "We expect, according to bis promise, new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ; ' wherein righteous men shall have a firm place, and
VeR. 21.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. 169
always dwell therein, and exercise righteousness ; whereas this earth is full of wicked and unrighteous men, which then shall be all in hell. But the diflSculty is about the use of this lower world.
1. What if God restore it as a monument of his wisdom, goodness and power? an object wherein by the great beauty of the creature, the just shall see God by reflection ?
2. Wiiat if for the exercise of our 'delight and gratitude ? To delight the eyes and minds of the saints, the creatures having a glory and brightness put upon them, somewhat proportionable to their own glorious estate ? God will make a proportion between the heir and the inheritance, the lord and the servants, the habitation and the inhabi- tant ; as the churcli is altered, so must her dwelling ; there shall be nothing in nature displeasing to the eyes of God's children, but all delightful to all eternity.
3. What if to be a trophy of the final abolition of death, the last enemy that shall be destroyed ? The world is now a monument of sin, and then of our redemption, that all the fruit of sin is done away both in us and the world.
4. What if to complete the first grant of dominion to man over the creatures ? This grant must some time or other take place : Ps. viii. 6, ' Thou madest him to have dominion over the work of thine hands ; thou bast put all things under his feet.' It is not done here ; therefore in the world to come, as the apostle speaketh : Heb. ii. 5, ' For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come ; ' which world to come concerneth the state of thechflrch undei- Clu-ist, and the state of glory after the resurrection. Now we have the right, then the possession ; an eternal kingdom over all creatures. For it is said of the saints, that they sliall liave dominion in the morning, and that they ' shall reign with Christ for ever and ever,' Kev. xxii. 5 ; and of the new heavens and the new earth, Kev. xxi. 7, 'He that overcometh shall inherit all things,' whicli beareth some sense.