548 / 674
Ses
48t
1FYRST
i'Rutt!
6r!
Tlt¢
SPIRIT
;
blt
tY)ISC. X.
some way
or other made
to serve
the detestable
and
wicked purposes
of
the sinful children
of
men, and
may
be figuratively said to groan
on this
account. And
if
we
have tasted
of
the
fruits-
of
the
spirit
of
grace,
we
cannot
but
in some
measure groan
with the
rest of
the
creation
in
expectation of
the
blessed day,
When
the
creatures
shall
be
delivered
from this bondage
of
corruption, to
which
the
providence
of
God
'has
suffered
them to
be.
subjected
in this
degenerate state of
things.
We hope
there
is
a
time
coming, when
the
crew
tures
themselves
shall be
used according
to the ori-
ginal
appointment of
their
Maker, agreeable
to
their
own
first design,
and for the good
of their
fellow-crea-
tures,. and supremely for the
honour
of_their
God,
"
ir1
that
day
when holiness to
the Lord
shall
he
written upon
the
bells of
the horses
;
and
every
pot
in
Jerusalem
shall
be
holiness
unto
the Lord
of
hosts
;" Zech. xiv.
10.
Why
should
we
not join
then with the
whole
creation
in
groaning and
longing
after
this promised time, when
all
the
works
of
God
shall
be
restored
to
their
rightful use,
and
the glory
of their
Maker
shall some way
or
other
be
24hade
to shine
in
every
one
of
thei
?
The
apostle then
adds,
in the
words
of
my
text,
"
and
trot
these
creatures
only,
but
ourselves also
who
have
the
first
fruits
of
the Spirit,"
we who
are filled
with
the
gifts
and
graces
of
the
holy Spirit, and
eminently
the
first
fruits
hereof
appear
in
our
taste and relish
of
the divine
provisions
that
God
has
given
us here
in this world
to
prepare
for
a
better
;
and
even bestows
upon
some
of
his
christian servants
these first fruits"of the tree
of
paradise,
these
blessings
and
these
foretastes
which
are near a
kin
to those of the
upper world,
when
the
saints
shall_
be
raised
from
the dead,
when
their adoption
shall
be-
clearly manifested,
and
they shall
look like
the children
óf
God, and
their
bodies
and
all
their
natural
powers
shall
be
redeemed
from
those disorders, whéther
of
sin
or
sorrow,
and
from
all
the springs and
seeds
of
them,
which they
are
more or
less
liable to
feel
in
the present
state.
IIere
let
it
be observed,
that
the first
fruits
of
any
field,
or
plant
or tree, are
of
the same
kind with
the
full
product of
the harvest:
'Therefore
it
is
plain,
that
the
Iirst
fruits of
the
spirit
in
this-place
cannot
chiefly signify