children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God fhall call *. But when he was called to preach to the Gentiles, he appears not to have understood that till his Mafter fet him right again; fo that he was to call no man common or unclean †. 2. IF an Apoftle, after the great effufion of Pentecoft, could thus fpeak above his own comprehenfion, no wonder that the Old Teftament writers did fo too: this might be the cafe with one of Job's friends, and, therefore, what he fays, may very well refer to the bleffed time I am now fpeaking of.-At dftruction and famine thou shalt laugh; neither halt thou be afraid of the beafts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the ftones of the fuld; and the beafts of the field fhall be at peace with thee.-Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle fall be in peace; and thou fhalt vifit thy habitation, and fealt not fint. Perhaps what is faid elsewhere may refer to the fame,-Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. That is, if any of these animals should attempt to affail thee, they shall have no power to hurt thee. And to fhew that the fame Pfalm refers to fome fuch time, God fays, to him that dwells under his fhadow,-With long life will I fatisfy him, and will fhew him my falvation. With long life will I fatisfy him; yes, for I apprehend there will be no death during this glorious period, and, therefore, must be a bleffed falvation indeed. 3. IN *Acts ii. 39: + Ch. x. 14. ver. 28. ¶ Pf. xci. 13-16. 3. In the course of these Sermons I have made great ufe of the evangelic Prophet, and I must call in his evidence again. Speaking expressly of these times he says, The wolf alfo fhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones fhall lie down together and the lion fhall eat ftraw like the ox. And the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the cockatrice-den. They shall not hurt nor deftroy in al my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea*. So again,-The wolf and the lamb fhall feed together, and the lion fhall eat ftraw like the bullock: and duft shall be the jerpents meat †. And here the words of the text are repeated,-They fhall not hurt, nor deftroy, in all my holy mountain, faith the Lord.-And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field; and with the forvls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow, and the fword, and the battle out of the earth, and I will make them to lie down fafely. Fear not, O land; be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beafts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness, do fpring §. As if he had faid, I am about to do marvellous things: and fuch a change fhall. take place in the creation, that even the beafts of the earth fhall reft in fafety; the dire enmity fhall ceafe, fo that they fhall have no caufe to fear, either from man, or from * Ifi. xi. 6, 7, 8. Hofea ii. 18. R 3 Ch. Ixv. 25. each each other; and the earth fhall yield fuch plenty, that they shall never feel want any more; for I will give back the original fertility of the earth, fo that there shall be no want or fcarcity to man or beast. Such is the happy change which fhall take place among the brutes. 4. It would lead me out of my way to take notice of all the cavils and objections which learned men may have against what is here advanced; I am now offering my thoughts to fuch as believe the Bible. As for the different appetites which God has given to different animals, and the powers of their digeftion, and the different weapons he has armed them with, for taking, tearing, and digefting their prey,-how easily can he reverfe all this, and reduce every power and appetite to its firft ftate! Befides, I look upon the Ark of Noah, and its inhabitants, to be an emblem of the bleffed time I am speaking of. We cannot fuppofe that all voracious animals were to be gorged with blood and rapine during the time they were detained in the Ark; no, nor very probably for fome time after their difmiffion from the Ark. But that, I apprehend, was only a temporary reftraint, whereas this I am pleading for will be an entire change of their nature; and furely it is as eafy for the Almighty to change the nature of any creature as to reftrain it. How defirable a period !-Lord, haften the blessed time! 5. LET us now turn our thoughts upon the vegetable parts of the creation; these received their baneful inAluences when the ground was curfed for man's offence, and was doomed to produce briers and thorns, and every thing hurtful or troublesome to man or beaft. But, the Heavenly Heavenly Bleffer of all nations hath appeared to repeal that curfe, when his peaceable and quiet reign fhall take place. But take not my word for it; no, let God speak for himself. The earth, in its prefent ftate, has a variety of difmal profpects: mountains covered with perpetual fnow-dreadful precipices-burning fands-dreadful and horrid volcanos-feas and countries yet unexplored-bogs and unwholesome fens, pernicious with flagnated waters. Many of the plants and fruits fo fraught with poisons, or armed with thorns, that man dares not to meddle with them-fo that they, instead of producing any thing delightful, are a curfe, a fcourge, or terror, to man. But hear what the Lip of Truth hath faid,-The wilderness and be folitary place fhall be glad, and rejoice for them; and the defert fhall rejoice, and blossom as a rofe. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice, even with joy and finging: the glory of Lebanon fhall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they hall fee the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midft of the vallies: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry lands fprings of water. And I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the fhittab-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will fet in the defert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box-tree together +. And to fhew that this change is not the effect of mere natural caufes, he adds, That they may fee, and know, and confider, and understand it together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the H ly One of Ifrael he hath created it. Hence we fee this is and requires the very nothing less than a new creation, * Ifa. xxxv. 1, 2, 3. † Ibid xli. 18, 19. Ver. 20. fame fame Power which spoke the world into existence. Yet again, -They fhall feed in the way, and their paftures fhall be in the high places. They shall not hunger, nor thirst ; neither skall the beat nor fun fmite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the Springs of water fhall be guide them. And I will make all the mountains a way, and my highways fhall be exalted. For ye fhall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into finging, and all the trees of the field fall clap bands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and inftead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. And I will make them, and the places round about my bill, a bleffing: and I will caufe the shower to come down in his feafon; there shall be showers of bleffing. And the tree of the field fall yield ber fruit; and the earth jhall yield her increase; and they shall dwell safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord. And the floors fhall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will reftore to you the years that the locust bath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpiller, my great army, which I fent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be fatisfied, and fball praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wonderously among you: and my people shall never be ashamed §.. And behold, the days come, faith the Lord, that the plowman fball overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that foweth the feed; and the mountains shall drop fweet wine, and the hills fhall melt ||. But now, at this bleffed time, I avill + Ibid lv. 12, 13. * Ifa. xlix. 9, 10, 11. not |