Verso. the 8th Chapter to the ROMANS. 195 it would feem to be planted again; mansreeftablifhment in a flare of obedience to the Creator, would be a re- eftabli(hment of the order of the world. 2. There is the vanity of corruption ; 'tis put into a corruptible condition ; the creature is now frail and fleeting, and 9111 decaying, Ecclef. t. 2. Vanity of vanity, all is vanity; not only vain, but vanity its Cell; and vanity of vanities, is extream vanity; thus not on- ly fame things, but all things are thus fluid and vain, becaufe of their inconftancy and mutability; fo Pfal. 39. S. 6. Verily every man in his bell elate iJaltogether vanity : Purely man, every man walketh in a vain Phew ;!rely they are difquieted in vain. The uncertainty, weaknei, and emptinefs ofall earthly things, is loon difcovered, and within a little while the molt flaming Glory is burnt to a fnuff : we vain creatures trouble our felves about thefe tranfitory nothings, as if they would continue with us to all eternity, and had fome folid durable injoyment and fatisfadion in them; whereas they wither like Flowers, while we finell at them. g. Vain in regard of itt fiaal difjelution, and 141 change, when the Heavens 'hall pal a- way with a great noif and the elements fhsll melt with fervent heat, and all the works that are therein J? dl be burnt up, 2 Pet, 3. to. As a veflure !halt thou change them, and they ¡hall be changed, Pfal. roe. 26. Tho this change be not an abolition, an an- nihilation,yet a great wafte it will be, and an utter dearudion of many things in the world, 4. Vain in regard of its end and life. There is a double end and ufe. r. Nextly and immediately; this fublunary world was made to bea commodious habita- tion for man, Pfal. 115. 26. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lords; but the earth hath be given to the children of men; by an original grant, God gave the ufe of all his creatures upon earth unto man ; indeed all things here below were either fubje& to our dominion, or created for our ufe: fome things are not fubjed to our dominion, as Sun , Moon , and Stars , with their Influences , yet created for our ufe: therefore David in his night - Meditation, Pfal. 8. 3, 4. When I confider the heavens, the t'vorkof thy fingers, the moon, and the liars, which thou haft ordained ; what is man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the fan ofman, that thou vifetell him ? That all this fhould be made for the comfort of man, 'tis Gods great goodnefs taus : but other things were not only created for mans ufe, but alto fubjed to mans dominion : Gen, a. 26. let them have dominion over the fill, of the lea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the carte!, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. This was Gods Charter to man as a deputy-God, and Vice-King in this lower world. Man in joy - eth the benefit of thefe things which are not under his command, as Sun, Moon, Mars, Clouds, Winds ; all in their courfe do us fervice, to give us light, heat, and influence, and rain, by which they drop down £atnef on the earth ; but the other creatures we have a dominion over them, and they are to be fubdued b' us; the earth by habitation and culture; the Sea by Navigation and filhing; but above all the reft, the cartel are moil at our command, to afford us Food and Moat hing, and do us a- voluitary kind of homage, in their labours fubmitting to our dire &ion and government. Well then, the inferior globe of Earth, and Air and Sea, to have the dominion and ufe of the creatures,. that are therein, were all made and given for mans ufe and comfort. As God path pro vided the higheft Heavens for his own place and Court of refidence, fo he hath made the earth for acommodious habitation for man. But when was this given to man ? In innocency; for by rebellion againft God, we forfeited this Lordfhip of ours; and till it be rel ored by Chrill, we have no comfortable right to exércife it( as by and by); and in part, this was rnanifelted in renewing this Patent to Noah, faved out of the Waters in the Ark, which was a type of Chrifl, Gen. 9. e, 2. God bled Noah, and faìd unto him, The fear of you, and the dread of you, (hall be upon every beafl of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and neon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fiber of the lea : into your hand they are delivered. This was the next end for which the creature was made. . 2. Zlltimately and terminatively they were made for God. For God made all things for himfelf, Prov. 16. 4. and the creatures are called his fervants, Pfal: r t9. 9r. They continue to this day according to thy ordinance: for all are thy fervants. Man Was but a fellow- creature with the reft of the world,and could not challenge a Lordfhip over them by his own right, without Gods free gift. We could not claim a dominion over that which had no dependance on us, neither by creation, nor by prefent fullentation; for dependance is the foundation of all fubje &ion and fovereignty : now that which necellarily dependeth upon the gift of anothef, mutt he ufed to the ends for which 9 5 2 ris
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