Now as, when the evening shuts in, there is a darkening of all the glory of the precedent day, and all glorious things and persons are wrapt up in obscurity; so in this instance there shall be a setting, or dark eclipsing, of all the worldly glory of former times, things, and persons;-viz. of the four former monarchies, root and branch, with all their appurtenances, that stand as hindrances of Christ's glorious kingdom on earth.e Wonder not therefore at the pulling down of human glory and the many scuffles about it, even at this day. The sum of worldly pomp is declining towards sunset,-the shadows grow long, it begins to be dusk upon all secular splendor: the night approaches, when great storms will arise.

But as, in the dark night, there is a continued tendency towards the succeeding day, and the glory thereof; (for the sun is still hastening to rise again;) so, whilst the troubles are extant and incumbent upon the Church, there is a continued tendency towards the glory thereof; these very troubles refining the Church and preparing it for that state.f Yea, the day shall suddenly dawn; for at the end of these troubles, and for the ending of them, the Sun of righteousness shall appear : so that when they are at the highest, then Christ will shine forth most gloriously for the destruction of the enemies of the Church:b upon which destruction on the enemies by the presence of Christ, the glorious time of the thousand years begins; and it begins with the resurrection of all the elect, as it most methodically follows in Daniel xii, as a close of all the troubles mentioned in the whole prophecy; and as it also methodically follows that in the Revelation xx, as the blessed catastrophe of all the confusions in that whole prophecy.

II. Next follows the New Creation, mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. For John sees a new heaven, and a new earth; but how so, unless created new? for the alteration is such, that the old heaven and earth seem as it were to pass away. So also Peter, and the rest that believed with him, expected, "that, all the former being dissolved, there should be new heavens, and a new earth, according to God's promise."j

e Dan. vii; Rev, xi, xviii, and xix. f Mal. iii, 2, 3. g Mal. iv, 2 compared with 2 Pet. i, 19. h Dan. vii, 13, 14, &c. 2 Thess. ii, 8; Rev. xix, 11, &c. j 2 Pet. iii, 11-13.

i Rev, xxi, 1.

The promise is in Isaiah lxv, 17:-" Behold, I create new "heavens and a new earth; so that the former shall not be re"membered, nor come into mind." In all these places the expression earth' demonstrates that it is a state on earth: the word heaven' is no contradiction to it, being oft used to signify the air, clouds, &c. which are appurtenances of the earth, and which Paul calls, by implication, the first heaven.'k

With the creation of this new world, are created its appurtenances. (1.) First, New Jerusalem; immediately after the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, which St. John sees coming down from God out of heaven; (therefore, again, a state on earth) and Isaiah, at verse 18, having mentioned the creation of the new heaven and earth, immediately adds—“ Lo, I create Jerusalem." (2.) Secondly, the inhabitants of this new world are then also created. For if no more than the conversion of the Jews were meant, still it would be no less than a creation. A miracle is a kind of creation; and the school-men say, that though conversion be not a miracle properly, yet it is more than a miracle. I would add, that miracles are wrought on non-resistances, which have a disposition of submission to the will of the Creator; whereas man's unregenerate will is obstinately opposite and resisting. But no man will doubt that a resurrection is a creation: now the Scripture compares the conversion of the Jews to a resurrection ;m as we have seen before. Besides this, the inhabitants are further multiplied and perfected by a physical resurrection of all the deceased saints," and a physical mutation of the living saints. So that, as the Apostle saith, they shall have spiritual bodies (needing neither meat nor drink, &c.) and made like to Christ's glorious body.P (3.) Thirdly, the qualifications of places and persons are created. As, first, righteousness: for Peter, when speaking of this new earth, says, wherein dwelleth righteousness;a for grace indeed is nothing else than divinely created qualities. And St. John saith, that into this holy Jerusalem there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth; but all shall be exceeding good, as in the first creation. Secondly, there shall be created

k 2 Cor. xii, 2.

Rom. xi, 15.

iii, 21.

1 Rev. xxi, 2. m Ezek. xxxvii, 5, &c. Dan. xii, 2; n Rev. xx, 4. o 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52. p Ibid. v. 44; Phil. q 2 Pet. iii, 13.

r Gen. i, 31.

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peace. "I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, Peace to him that is afar off (by captivity, or otherwise) and to him that is "near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him."s 'Peace, peace,' doubled, signifies very great, absolute, perfect peace: for that period shall be a time of an universal perfection. Thirdly, from Isaiah, already quoted, it appears that joy shall be created: Be you glad, and rejoice for ever, in that which I create for "behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and I will rejoice in "Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping

or crying shall be no more heard in her." Consonant with this is John's description of it: viz. "That there is the voice " of triumph from heaven, saying, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, &c.—and there shall be no more sorrow, &c. because he that sat upon the throne said, "Behold I make all things new."t (4.) Fourthly, there shall be at that time created a defence upon, or over the saints; so that their enjoyment in that glorious estate shall not be subject, as formerly, to any invasions, subversions, interruptions, or diminutions from any power on earth, or in hell. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, then the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of "mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud of smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, (alluding to "the pillar of fire that led Israel in the Wilderness) for upon all "the glory shall be a defence."u

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And as, in the first creation, things were brought into existence in an instant ;-God only saying " Let it be so," and presently it was so-so the parallel holds good as to the new creation. For the call of the Jews shall be on a sudden; "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? 'shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day, or shall a Ination be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." Secondly, the appearance of Christ shall be on a sudden: "As the lightning cometh out of "the east, and shineth even to the west; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be."w Thirdly, the rising of the dead

u Isa, iv, 4, 5. v Isa. lxvi, 8.

s Isa. lvii, 19.

t Rev. xxi, 1-5.
w Matt. xxiv, 27.

and change of believers, surviving at Christ's coming, shall be in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.x

There is a parallel also in regard to the parts created; for the new creation shall be perfected in all those things that are enumerated to be the workmanship of the six days. First in regard to light-the light of the Church at this time shall be a supernatural light, above any created light, according to Isaiah lx, 19. "The sun and moon shall be no more light by day, &c. but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light:" corresponding with Rev. xxi, 23; The city had no need of the sun, or of the "moon, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."* From these it seems, that the sun and the moon shall in that new creation still be extant; but they shall not be there to give light to the Church. Yea, "The light of "the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the "sun sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the "Lord bindeth up the breach of his people ;"'y yet not used for a light to the Church at that glorious time; for then, to the Church, there shall be no nights and days. Isaiah, in the above mentioned passage, intimates this of the day-The sun shall "be no more thy light by day, &c. but the Lord shall be unto "thee an everlasting light;" and St. John, having said "There shall be no need of the sun, neither of the moon," adds in verse 25, for there shall be no night there." Secondly, as on the second day was created the firmament, (as our translators render it, following the Greek: alias the expanse, according to the Hebrew,) that is, at least, the whole element of the air; so in this new creation, it shall be created anew, or perfected; so that there shall be no noisome fumes, or vapors, or any other noxious exhalations, fiery, or watery, &c. to cause sickness; death itself being now swallowed up in victory. And the air shall not be a habitation for devils, on account of which Satan is called "the prince of the air;"z but the devil shall be chained up,a and every unclean spirit shall be removed far away from the Church.b

*Compare also Psa. lxxxiv, 11; Mal. iv, 2; Matt. xxiv, 27, 30; 2 Thess. ii, 8. * 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52. y Isa. xxx, 26. z Eph. ii, 2. a Rev. xx, 2. b Zech. xiii, 2.

Thirdly, as then were created the dry land, the plants, the fishes, and fowls, and animals, &c.; so, in the new creation, there shall be a perfection of all those then in being; (for of a resurrection of irrationals I know nothing) and they shall be freed and set at liberty from all danger and hardship. Fourthly, as man was created last of all, most perfect in soul and body, as the subordinate end (next under God) for which God made the world ;d so in this new creation, Christ. restores all things to their perfection, and every believer to his; to the end, that all believers may jointly and co-ordinately rule over the whole world, and all things therein, next under Christ their head. I say, all, and not a part only, as some unwarily publish. And I say jointly; and not one part of the saints to usurp authority over the rest, as many dream. And co-ordinately, all upon equal terms; not some saints to rule by deputies, made of the rest of the saints, as men seem to interpret.

III. Having done with the Creation, we come next to the Dimensions, or extent of this glorious Kingdom. As the other four monarchies did overspread all the inhabited world ;e so this fifth monarchy, of the saints' reigning on earth under Christ, must be as large as those monarchies,-as large as the whole world for ample dominion. For even if there be remaining a secret seed of hypocrisy in some, which shall at last, (God so foretelling,)f break out in the war of Gog at the end of our thousand years; yet meanwhile all men, throughout that thousand years, shall be demurely subject to the dominion of the saints. Touching the latitude and largeness of this holy kingdom, read Daniel ii, 34, 35.-" The stone cut out without hands "smote the image on his feet that were of iron, and of clay, and "brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, "the silver, and the gold broken in pieces together, and became "like the chaff of the summer threshing floor; and the wind "carried them away, so that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and 'filled the whole earth." So also Daniel vii, 26, 27; And the judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his (the preceding monarchies') dominion, &c. And the kingdom and

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e See Dan. ii, 37,