I. form fome idea of the fenfations that muft DISC. have arisen in the mind of the firft man, when, awaking into existence, with all his senses and faculties perfect, he beheld the glory and beauty of the new created world. Faded as we must fuppofe it's glory and it's beauty now to be, enough still remains, to excite continual wonder, praise, and adoration. Yet it is represented in the Scriptures of truth, as lying under a curse, as groaning and travelling in pain, and as little better than a prison, from which all, who are truly fenfible of it's condition, and their own, wish and pray to be delivered, into the liberty of the Children of God. But if fuch be our prifon, what notions are we led to form of those mansions, which our Lord is gone before to prepare for us, in his Father's houfe? Creation was finished in fix days; and we read, that, "on the feventh, God refted from all his "work which he created and made '.' But the tranfgreffion of man would not * Gen. ii. 2. " fuffer I. the bleffed Jefus, "worketh hitherto, and "I work ".' Sin made it's way into the firft creation, and is gradually deftroying it, as a moth fretteth a garment-" 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 garment, and they "that dwell therein fhall die in like man66 ner "But we, according to his pro 66 mife, look for new heavens, and a new "earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness*." We read of one, who, in vifion, "saw a "new heaven and a new earth, for the "firft heaven and the firft earth were paffed away." When the new creation shall be finished and prepared, an act of Omnipotence will be exerted, fimilar to that which paffed at the formation of Adam. The Lord God will again "form man out "of the duft of the ground, and breathe "into his noftrils the breath of life." From his long fleep in the chamber of the DISC. grave, he will awake to behold the never fading glories of a world, "have no need of the fun, which" will neither of the 66 moon, to shine in it'; for the Lord God " and the Lamb," thofe brighter and inextinguishable luminaries, fhall enlighten it for ever. The Almighty shall again with complacency furvey the works of his hands, and pronounce every thing he has made to be "very good;" he shall again reft on the feventh day; the children of the refurrection shall enter into his reft, and keep an eternal fabbath. Let us "comfort one "another with these words." A view of the different materials of which man is compofed, may teach us to form a proper estimate of him. He stands between the two worlds, the natural and the spiritual, and partakes of both. His body is material, but its inhabitant defcends from another fyftem. His foul, like z Rev. xxi. 23. the I. DISC. the world from which it comes, is immor I. tal; but his body, like the world to which it belongs, is frail and perishable. From it's birth it contains in it the feeds and principles of diffolution, towards which it tends every day and hour by the very means that nourish and maintain it, and which no art can protract beyond a certain term. In spite of precaution and medicine, "the evil days will come, and the years "draw nigh, when he shall say, I have no pleasure in them." Pains and forrows will fucceed each other, as "the clouds "return after the rain," blackening the face of heaven, and darkening the fources of light and joy. The hands, those once active and vigorous "keepers of the house," grown paralytic, fhall" tremble;" and "the strong men," those firm and able columns, which fupported it, fhall "bow "themselves," and fink under the weight. The external" grinders" of the food, the teeth, "shall cease because they are few," and the work of maftication fhall be imperfectly performed. Dim fuffufion shall veil the organs of fight, "The doors," or valves," shall be shut in earth, I. |