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formed them eternal monuments of his fuperexcellent glory? this is the only world God hath been pleafed to make; from eternity to etersi ty there is no other; neither shall this undergo changes any more: how fweet a favour doth the Almighty fmell? pronouncing, that the viciffitudes of day and night, feed time and harvest, winter and fummer, fhall for ever ceafe; and that an eternal fpring tide, an endlefs fummer, an inceffant har veft fhall remain. This is the golden world; all things have a fmiling countenance: wickedness fhall triumph no more. It was but for a moment they opened their eyes, and behold they are not: but the righteous are in everlasting remembrance. Thou lower world, how art thou loofed from that bitter fervitude to the filth and off fcourings of all things being the flage of horrid rebellion against thy great Former; the place where created enjoy. ments were preferred before that fulncfs of all fweetnefs in the all-fufficient JEHOVAH. Our eyes behold what we believed, and hoped for: O glori ous new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness! are we not now mafters of all? through the heir of all things, do we inherit all things. All things before were ours in title, now they are ours in full poffeffion; for our minority is expired.

44. All the promises are in part fulfilled in time, and fully in eternity.

Your folly is even manifefted to yourselves, curfed worldlings, who imagined us fools, who laid our hope and confidence on the great promises of the Almighty lo, all that ever he promifed unto us, he hath performed to the full, and more than to the full. Lo, we inherit heaven and earth, and all things, and delight ourselves in abundance of

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peace. We behold the floods of honey and butter, and heap up gold as the duft: yea, the Almighty is our defence, and we have plenty of filver our eye is clear, as the noon-day, we fhine forth, and are as the morning: our flefh is frefher than a child's, and we return unto the days of our youth. The Lord is our keeper, the Lord is our Shade, on our right hand: the fun doth not fmite by day, nor the moon by night. And the Lord preferveth our going out, and our coming in, from this time forth and for evermore. Behold, we eat, curfed wretches, but ye are hungry: behold, we drink, but ye are thirty behold, we rejoice and triumph, but ye forrow and are afbamed. Lo, he that fittethupon the throne, hath made all things new; and the former things fhall not come into mind. Behold, a new heaven and a new earth! for the first heaven, and the firft earth are paffed away; and there is no more sea. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he doth dwell with us, and we are his people, and be is our God: and he hath wiped away all tears from our eyes and there is no more death, nor forrows, nor cries, nor pains, for the former things are paffed away. Vile wretches, . though your everlasting dungeon be fituate within the verge of that dunghill you adored heretofore; yet hall you never fet your head within this glorious fabric, but fhall abide for ever, in utter darkness: ye poffeffed the earth for a moment, and carried yourfelves, as all had been yours, bearing down the excellent ones of the earth: but now we have you under our feet for evermore. Now it is manifeft, who were the true heirs of the earth now it is clear, who were really excellent. What think ye now of your pleasures of fin for a feafon? Have ye not built your houfe, as a moth,

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and a booth that the keeper maketh? As drought and heat confume the fnow water; fo hath the grave confumed you. Your triumphing hath been fhort, and your joy but for a moment. Though your excellency might feem to mount up to the heavens, and your heads reach unto the clouds; yet are you perished for ever, like your own dung: you are fled away, as a dream, and are not found; all darkness is hid in your fecret places, a fire not blown hath confumed you. Your ftrength is hunger bitten, and deftruction is ever at your fide, it doth devour the firength of your fkin; even the firft-born of death doth devour your ftrength: brimstone is fcattered upon your habitation, your root is dried up beneath, and above your ftrength is cut off: you are driven from light into darkness, and chafed out of the world: for God is jealous, and revengeth, the Lord revengeth, and is furious, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his prefence; yea, the world and all that dwelleth therein with an overflowing flood doth he make an utter end of the wicked; and darkness doth for ever pursue his enemies. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works: he hath fulfilled the defire of them that fear him, he hath heard their cry, and faved them. All thy works fball praife thee, O Lord, and all thy faints fball bless thee. Thou haft delivered us from our enemies. We have fled unto thee, and under the fhadow of thy wings we ever rejoice. Thou haft led us unto the land of uprightness; and as for the head of thofe that compaffed us about, the mif chief of their own lips hath covered them; burning coals have fallen upon them, they are caft into the fire, into deep pits, that they rife not again.

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But the righteous give thanks unto thee; the upright for ever dwell in thy prefence: many a time have the wicked afflicted us from our youth, yet have they not prevailed: but all that hated us are confounded, and turned back, and are as the grafs on the houfe tops, that withereth before it be grown up. When the wicked did fpring as the grafs, and all the workers of iniquity did flourish, it was that they might be deftroyed for ever. The Lord is a fun and fhield; he hath given grace and glory; no good thing hath he with-holden from those that walked uprightly. Bleffed is the man that trusteď in thee! we trusted in thee, and were delivered, for thou haft confidered our trouble, thou haft known our foul in adversity, and haft not shut us up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set our feet in a large place. We were in trouble, our eye was confumed with grief; yea, our foul and our belly our ftrength failed, because of our iniquity, and our bones were confumed: we were a reproach to our enemies, a derifion to a fanatic world. But we trufted in thee, O Lord, we faid, Thou art our God; and lo, thou haft delivered us for ever, from the hand of all our enemies; thou haft made thy face to fhine, in its full fplendor, eternally upon us; thou haft faved us, for thy mercy's fake. O how great is thy goodnefs, which thou haft wrought for them that trufted in thee, before the fons of men! O love the Lord, all ye his faints; for the Lord preferveth the faithful, and plenteously rewardeth the proud doer his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Surely goodness and mercy fhall follow us, all the days of our life, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord for e

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45. All

45. All the attributes of JEHOVAH, especially his juftice and fovereignty, are feen evidently in the dam nation of the wicked.

All joys! how doth the glory of mercy and fpotlefs juftice fhine forth before the eyes of all? with in the limits of time, fome fmall forerunners there were, of what we now most evidently behold. How didft thou drown almost a whole generation, for their iniquity? How didft thou make thine earth to devour and fwallow up thy rebellious blafphemers? Yea, in all ages thou broughtst down fignal strokes of thy difpleasure on a vile world; burning up their cities, deftroying their fields, and making their curfed carcaffes to be like dung upon the earth: fo that thy most impious enemies could not but fay, Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. And every stroke of thy vengeance was mercy to thy chofen; for, how often haft thou compelled thy fworn enemies to come bending unto thy people? Such were fmall skirmishes, and partial victories over parties of thy foes. Since carth, by thine appointment, was the place where every one was to act their part, in order to eternity; and the wicked to fill up their cup of wrath against this eternal day of wrath; is not hell a part of our heaven? is not the displaying of the banner of juftice, matter of eternal exaltation? By the horrid rebellion of wicked men and devils, thou appeared to be robbed of that honour and glory, due to thee, from all thy creatures, doth thy excellency for ever break out from under the clouds, that feemed to darken it heretofore? Thy vile enemies, through thy long-fuffering, did pafs on in their rebellion, fome time unpunished: nay, in their abominable ways, through thy wonderful providence, they profpered, they

How

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