Head tV. The gmeral Conj1agration. 35' it is not likely, that the wicked !hall at alllhnd on the new eah.h, •1.vherein dwelleth righteoufnefl, ( 2 Pet. iii. q.) and as ~)r this earth, it !hall flee away (which feems to de– note a very quick difpatch) and it fhallfleefrom hiJfa1~ 'W.-h() jitJ rrn the throne, Rev. xx:. r I. And I fow a great white throne, and him that fat on it, jriJm whoft ,lace th~ earth and he.aven.r fled away. The exe~ution of the fen– tence on the wicked, is alfo thus exprdfed; t11ey fl1all be punifhed with everlafting dellr1:1etionjrom ihepr~J~nce, or from the face, of the Lord, 2 Thefi'. i. 9· The original word is the. fame in both texts, the which, bei'ng com– pared, feem to fay, that ~hefe creatures abufed by the wick– ed, 'being left to tland as witnefi'es againft them in the judgment, are, after fentence pall: 'on their abufers, made to pafs away with them from the face of the Judge. Jt is true, the fleeing away of the earth and heaven is narrated, Rev. xx:.r 1. before the judgment: but that willnot prove its going before the judgment,_more than the narrating of the judgment, ver. 12. before the refurrection, ver. 1 3· wiHprove the judg~ent to be before' it . . Further, it is remarkable, in the execution of t h e feritence, Rev.xx.q. ~). that not onl_y the reprobate a t·e cafi into the lake, but i eath and hell are caft into il like~ife: alJ e1fecrs .of fin, ,and of the curfe, are rernovc:d ou t of the world (for which very caufe lball the conflagration be) and they are confined to the place of the damned. Befides all this,. it is evident the end of th~_ world is by the conflagration: and the A·· po!lle tells us, r Cor xv . 24,25.) that then cometh the end, rw.~e_,n he fhall pave ddivered up the ki11gdJm to Got!, even the Father: when he jha!l have /JUt do'1.un all rule, · and all ~tut!nrity aizd pnJ:Jer. For he mu/t rei~~n, till he put all enemieJ under his_ foe!. The which lafl:, as jt mull: be d()ne before the end : fo it feems not to be' don~, but by putti11g the fentence in execution; paft in the day of · judgment, againfl: the wicked~ ' Now, if the bnrning of Sodom and Gomorrah, that arc .fit forth- for an example, (Juclt: 7~) was fo dreadful; how terrible wjJI that day be, when the whote world !lull be at once in flames! how w,ill wretched wGrldlings l0ok, when their darling world fiiatl be all on fire? Then fltall !lrong caftles, aHd towering palaces~ with all their £ich ·
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=