VERSE 21.
' Now he that stablisheth 7is with you in Christ is God, who hath anointed us,' &c. As the riches of a Christian consisteth in the promises of God, which, as we have heard, in Christ ' are all yea and amen ;' so unless he be stablished and built upon this strength, all is nothing. What if a man stand on a rock, if he be not built on it ! WTiat if the foundation be never so strong, if he be not stablished thereon ! It is not sufiicient that the promises be stablished, but we must be stablished upon them. The pro- mises of God are indeed * yea and amen,' might the soul say, but what is
2 CORINTHIAKS CHAP. I, VER. 21. 421
that to me ? Therefore the apostle addeth, He that gives the promises, will stablish us upon the promises.
' Now he which stablishcth us with you in Christ is God.' The first thing that I will observe, before we come to the particular handling of the words, shall be only this in the general, from the connection and knitting together of this verse with the former, viz.,
Obs. That there imist be a double amen.
1. There is an amen in the promises. They are in themselves true. There must be an amen likewise in us. We must say amen to them, that is, we must be stablished upon them. There must be an echo in a Chris- tian's heart unto God ; that as God saith, these and these things I pro- mise, and they are all amen ; so the soul by faith must echo again, these things are for me, I believe them.
For, as we say in the schools to good purpose, there is a double cer- tainty, a double fu-mness ; a certainty ot the object, and a certainty of the subject ; there is a firmness of the promises in Jesus Christ ; and there must be a firmness in us upon those promises. It is no matter what the certainty of the thing be that we are to build upon, if there be not a cer- tainty in the person, if there be not a building on that thing. God shall lose the glory of his truth, and we the comfort, unless we be certain, as well as the promises are certain. It is no matter what the garment be, if it be not put on. It is no matter, as I said before, how firm the rock be, if we plant not ourselves upon it; and therefore besides the writing of God's word on tables, unless he write it likewise in our hearts, unless our hearts be stablished on that truth that in itself is ceiiain, that it may be certain to us, all is to no pm-pose.
You see therefore, the absolute necessity of the application of the soul unto those truths which are certain and sure in themselves. There must be a stab- lishing of us, as well as a stablishing of the promises. There is a necessity of the application of the promises to ourselves, that they be true to us. Christ is a garment. We must put him on then. He is the robes that Ave appear glorious before God in ; but we must put him on by iaith. Christ is the food of life. He is so indeed, but then he must be digested. Meat, except it be applied, except the stomach work nourishment out of it by ap- plication, and so digest it to all the parts, the body hath not noui'ishment trom it.
Christ is the foundation of his church, aye, but there must be application. We as living stones must be built on him. Let the foundation be never so strong, if the stones be not laid on the foundation, the stones cannot stand. Though Christ be the spouse of the church, and be never so rich, there must be application and consent ; we must strike up the bargain and match between Christ and us. There must be our consent to tie ourselves to him, to give up ourselves to him. So look to all the comfortable relations that our blessed Saviour hath taken upon him in the book of God, they all en- force application.
The ground, I say, is this, that though there be never so much certainty in the thing, yet if there be not a cei-tainty in the person to found applica- tion upon, all is to no purpose.
These two therefore must go together, and they are sweet relatives, pro- mises on God's part, and faith on our part. The promises and Christ are nothing without faith. For there must be a touch to draw virtue. If faith have never so little touch of Christ, it will draw virtue ; but there must be
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H touch, there must be application.* Christ is nothing without faith, and faith is nothing without Christ and the promises.
For what is the difference between faith and presumption ? Presumption is an empty, groundless, fruitless conceit. Faith builds on the promises of the word ; wo can allege the jiroause. It is nothing for a madman to assume himself to bo king of another country. Why ? He hath no pro- mise. He that made account that all the sliips that came to the haven were his, it was but a frantic part of him, and so he was accounted. So a man that thinks his estate is good, and builds not himself upon the promise, that hath no ground for it out of God's word, it is but a presumptuous frantic conceit. The promises are nothing without faith, and faith is nothing with- out the promises. There must be application. This I thought good to observe first in the general. To come now more particularly to the words themselves.