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A45368 A cordial for Christians traveling heavenward being the substance of some sermons upon the eight chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans / preached in the city of Edinburgh by a minister of the Gospel there. Hamilton, Alexander, d. 1696. 1696 (1696) Wing H475; ESTC R35978 131,544 244

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the frailty of our Nature and Death the Contempt and Persecution from the World the mean measures and frequent Interruptions of our Communion with God 2d Help to win to this choice Labour to be Mortified to all Creature-Enjoyments by considering their insufficiency and unsuitableness to make us happy to quiet our Conscience and content our Mind 2ly By considering outward things may be possest by the outward Man but they cannot be intimatly possest by the Soul 3ly By considering the uncertainty of our possessing of them they may be taken from us or we may be taken from them A 3d. Help is Labour for the moderating the Fears of Persecutors Malice as knowing their fury is under restraint by providence A 4th Help is Daily meditate on the Excellency of this Glory Considering it is the Glory possest by Christ and suitable to Divine Adoption Use 4th Seing there is a greater Good in the Glory to come then there is Evil in the suffering Lot of the Saints surely this reproves those who look upon the Saints as Fools because they choise deliberately a suffering Lot for Christ befor they run the hazard of losing the future Glory Verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God And Verse 20. For the Creature was made subject to Vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope THE Apostle to reconcile Gods People to their Suffering Lot confirms the excellency of their Glory from this That the Creature shall attain its ancient perfection as an attendant of that Glory And he confirms the certainty of this Glory from this that the Creation will never be brought to its primitive Vigour and Beauty untill this Glory come And the Creation must be brought to that Vigour For nihil violentum est durabile He proposeth in the 19 Verse speaking figura●ively That the Creature is a patern for our Imitation casting us a Copy for Patience and Hope under our Crosses And he lays down in the 20 Verse the Condition of the Creature that it hath need of this Metaphorical Patience and Hope because it was made subject to Vanity 2ly He lays down the Ground of the Creatures Hope 1st Because God subjected the same to Vanity in Hope that is he never designed when he imposed the Vanity on the Creature to perpetuate the same The 2d Ground of the Creatures Hope is that their relief necessarly follows the Liberty of the Sons of God because Vanity was imposed on the Creature for the Sin of Man therefore Vanity must be removed totally from the Creature when the Sin of Man is totally taken away the Creature it self must be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God In speaking to these Verses I shall clear first what is meant by the Creature 2ly What is meant by the Creatures subjection to Vanity 3ly How it is not willingly subject 4ly How the Creature does expect and wait patiently for its relief And lastly come to speak practically to those Graces that the Apostle would lead Believers to the Exercise of by the stirring them up to imitate the Creature And these are 1st Hope 2ly Patience The Creature doth earnestly wait for the manifestation of the Sons of God The 3d. Grace that the Creature is proposed as a Patern to us here is the Grace of Submission to the will of God The 20 Verse says That the Creature is subject to Vanity by reason of him viz. God that subjected the same in hope And 1st By the Creature is here meant the frame of the Universe and Mass of the Elements for it is distinguished here from the Godly who expects Heaven and it is incongruous to say that it is meant of the Wicked for they neither expect nor desire future Glory For the 2d thing The Vanity that the Creature is subject to you may take it up either Relatively or Absolutely The Relative Vanity of the Creature consists in this that there is nothing in the Creature that can satisfie Mans desires quiet his Conscience or put him in a quiet or stable condition free of all Troubles and enjoying all satisfaction and the Spring of this Vanity is the Creatures insufficiency 2ly The Creatures perishing Nature and Corruptibility 3ly The uncertain Enjoyment of the Creature we may be taken from it or it from us 4ly The incapacity of the Creature to be immediatly possest by the Soul Next ye may consider the Vanity of the Creature absolutely and it stands in that degenerate condition of the Creature from what it was in the state of Innocence And 1st It stands in its Corruptibility the Elements are corruptible and changeable as to their Parts as witness the changes that are made in Fire Air Earth and Water 2ly It stands in the defect of their Primitive Vigour the Earth is not so fruitful as it was in Innocence 3ly It stands in the Creatures hurtfulness to man and considering the noisome Plants and Herbs brought forth by the Earth the unwholesomeness of the Air and the malignant Influences of the Heavens 4ly It stands in that the Creatures are but Fewel to mens Lusts 5ly They are subjected to Satan in part to gratify his malice against Mankind the Devil raised a stormy Wind and destroyed Jobs Children For the 3d. Thing by the Creatures not subjecting it self willingly to Vanity is mean'd that this Vanity is against the first Institution and Order of God in the Creation And 2ly That this Vanity is against the natural Propensity and Inclination of the Creature For the 4th Thing that the Creature was made subject to Vanity by reason of God the meaning of it is That albeit the Creatures have a natural Capacity to be more beautiful and perfect than they are yet they bear the Vanity that is imposed on them by reason of that Obediential Subjection they owe to their Creator every Creature keeping that Condition appointed to them by God 5ly By the Creatures expectation of its liberty is not meaned any proper Hope but that the Creature has a tendency to its own Perfection and God having made it perfect in the state of Innocency what ever Defects it has acquired since the Fall of Man it cannot be perpetual We come now to speak to the 19. Verse In which ye may observe these Two Things Viz. 1st The Creatures Hope and Patience 2ly The Object of both that is the Manifestation of the Sons of God Observe 1st That we are called to exercise the hope of Heaven in Imitation of the Creature Reasons of it Are 1st It engages to Purity 1 John 3.6 2ly It supports under outward Afflictions 1 Sam. 30.3 3ly It supports under Desertions Psal 42. 4ly It makes folks thankful for their Mercy Psal 71.14 The Way to come by this Hope is 1st To live by Faith Rom. 15.13 2ly To discern our Regeneration 1 Pet. 1.3 3ly To continue in affection to the