rad' àroT0Ur7as. einExpofition of the C I3 A P. 1. nncloath or unvail all his glory to hù Saints, and they (hall know him perfett1y,fee him as he is, fo fat as a created nature is capable of that coniptehenfon, then will he lay them atide,aríd fold themup,at lead.as to that ufe,as ealily as a manlàyes afideagar- men/ that he will wear or ufe no more. This lycs in theMetaphor. On this Affection be infinuates a Comparifsn between this glorious. fabrick of Heaven and Earth and him that made them, as toDoírableneßand Stability; which is the thing he treatsabout, complaining of his own inifery Or mortality. For the Heavens and the Earth, he declares that theyare in themfelves of a flux and perithing nature; ;1 r, airar, iftr, they fhrllperifh. The Word immediately relates to the Heavens, but by the figure Zeugma comprehends- and takes in the Earthalfo ; the Earth and the Heavens ¡hall perifh. This fading nature of thefabrick of Heaven and Earth with all thingscontained in them, he fees forth, Firlt, By their future End, they fhallperifh t Secondly, Their tendency untothat end ; they wax old asa garment. .By their perifh- ing themolt underf'and their perifhing to their prefent condition and ufe, in that Ake- ration or change that (hall bemadeof them. Others their utter Abolition. And to fay ti- e truth, it were veryhard to fiippofc that an Alteration only, and that to the better, a change into a more glorious condition, fhould be thus expreffed; 112/V. that word, as theGreekalfo,being alwayes ufed in the wadi linfi for a perifhing by al D.ftruetioe. Their tendency unto this condition is their waxing old as a garment. lino things may be denoted in this Exprefen s s. ThegradualDecayof the Heavens and Earth waxing old, worfé, and decaying in their worth and ufe; 2. A near Approximation, or drawing night() their End and Period. In this fenfe , the Apoftle in this Epilile affirms that the Difpenfation ofthe Covenant which eftablithed the 7ndaical Worfhip and Ceremo- nies did wax old and decay, Chap. 8. r ;. Not that it had lod any thing of its firffVi- gour Power and Efficacy before its Abolition. The ltrid Obfervation of all the inffitu- tions of it by our Saviour himfelf,manifefts its Power and Obligation to have continu- ed in its full force. And this was typified bythe continuance ofMofes in hisfull flrength and vigour, untilf the, very day of his death. But he (ayes, it was old and decayed, when it was iyyt)s dyxriç o , near to a difappearance ; to its End, Period, and an utter ufelefnefs, as then it was ; even as all things that naturally tend to an end, dò it by Age and decayes. And in this,not the former fenfe arc the Heavensand Earth laid to wax old, becaufe of their tendency to that period, which either in themfelves, Or as to their ufe, they (hall receive ; which is fufficient to manifed them to be of a changeable perilhing nature. And it may be,that it fhall be with thefe Heavens andEarth at the lati day, as it was with the Heavens andEarth of judaicallnßitutiáno ( for fo are they frequently called, efpecially when their dff.titian or abolition is fpokeu of) in the day ofGods creating the new Heavens and the Earth in the Gofpcl according to his promife. Forthough the ufe of them and their power of obliging to their. Obfervatíon was taken away and abolifhed, yet are they kept in theworld, as abiding monuments of the GoodneßandWtfdo nof God in teaching his Church of old. So may it be with the Heavensand Earthof the old creation ; though they (hall be laid afide at the lad day fromtheir ufe, asa Garment tocloath and teach the Power acid WifdomofGod to men, yet may they be preferved as eternal monuments of them. Lt oppotition hereunto it is laid of Chrifl, that be abideth, he it the fame, and his years fait not. One and the fame thing is intended in all thefe Expreffrons; evenhis Eternal and abfolutely immutable Exiffencr. Eternityis not anvils called a nuns flans a prefent cxittence wherein, or whereunto,nothing is pad or future; it beingalwayes wholly.prifend in and to its fell. This is expreffed in tha t 'lbw; r rt t, th;te ftandeit, abided, endureff, altered net, changed not : The fame is alto expreffed its the next words ; nm nH, ñdurds b, thou art he, or art the fame, or as the Syriack bath it ; the fame that thouarr. There isan Allufion inenefe words unto, ifnot an expreliion of that name of God, lam; that is,who is of bi oflf s in bimfellf Iwayes abfolutely and unchangeably the fame. And this tm11 i irtl1, to ipfe, the Hebrews reckon as a didinil name ofGod. Indeed 1üü, rttr runt.6, ó de, derisi b, are all the fame name ofGod, expreflìng his Eternal and immutable felll fubfflene,. The lad Expreflion all) though Metaphorical is of the famé importance: Thyyears fail not. He who is the fameEternally, properly bath no years which area mealureof tranfient time, denoting itsDuration, Beginning and Ending. This is the meafare of the World, and all things contained therein. Their Continuance is reckoned by years. To (hew the Eternal fubGdence of God is Óppofition tothe frailty óf theworld, and all
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