1074 Book.V. Looking unto 1efus. Chap. I .Sect.7 be fruftr&te. This argument is·weighty, and we need no more. Only we £hall heare our Antagonifts objcd:ion~, and give them their anfwers, and fo conclude. The texts more efpecially objected again£!: this opinion, are Rom.S.z 1 : tWO; the firft is that in Rom.8.2I. Thecreature itfeJ!e /btdl be deliveredfrom the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the fonnes of Goa: here (fay they) is an earneft expectation, attributed to bruit creatures, that they {hall be delivered from the bondage o.fcorruption into the glorious liberty of the children ofGod. But I anfwer, that no immortal being of the bruit creatures is h~re promifed, but only a Gmple deliverance and difmiffion from the fer vi rude they were in, to ungrateful men. The birds, beafts, and filhes, do now fuffer for our dyet; horf~;.S, mules, and beafis ofthat nature do now groan under the burtftens ofour pleafures , or neceffities; their annihilation there- "' ,.,'~ pro ,Net. fore to them muft needs .be a kinde of deliverance; and at !aft Rom. s. 1.1. they lhall be deJivered at the time of the glorious liberty of the I Cor. 1°· 1 ' fons ofGod; the text will beare it thus, * 6i~bro J'lct., the cre.eas. fometimes J'ict.prosl~. ture jh111l be delivered bythe t,lorious liberty oft e formes of God. Rom. 4 •. II , (i.) When fuch a deliverance comes to men, thefe {hall I Cor. : .t ~. be freed from their fervitude by being not at all, having 5o ebry(ofiome done all the bufineffe for which they were ordained. or e;pound~ it created. • 'H~/'0 ~''"· The fecond text is that in 2 Pet. 3. I 3. we loolzf~r new hea- : ct.3. 1 ·3 • v e;u, and a new earth, wherein dwe!leth righteou[11ujfe . Thefe words (fay fome) imply a purging, rather rhan abolifhing; a taking off the corrupt qualityes onlv, not the fubftance. But I am ot another minde, and if I mull: give my fenfe of the place, Ifay- , I. Negatively, that by new /, e,;; v ms and new earth, is not meant renewed heavens and earth ; is it not punctually in the feventh 'lfrie, due the heo~vem 4nd the earth which are now are referved 2 Pet · 3. 7, Io, ~jto fire againft the day ofjudgerne'nt ? and doth he not deicend unto particulars in the tenth verfe, that the heavens which are now, /hall paffe away wirha great n6)fe.? that the elements foal! l ,I ,_u, melt with fervent heate? and that the earth alfo, and the -awb.J therein fhall be burnt uf? and doth he notinfer thereupon in the eleventh ~nd twel~th verfes, that all thefe things fhall be <liffolv-•• v: ~d? and mt.he thtrteenth verfe, that we are tl:.erefore to look · for
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