Weil then, we see the foundation of the church, and of every parti-
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 21. 425
cular Christian, Christ Jesus. Whence comes the stability and firmness of the church, * that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ' ? It is built upon the rock, upon Christ. So all the stablishing that a Christian hath, it is from this rock, his being built upon Jesus Christ. If we were built upon man, we could not stand ; if we were built upon angels, we could not stand ; if we were built upon anything in the world, we could not stand ; but being built upon Jesus Christ, who is ' all in all ' to a soul that is stablished in him, there must needs be an everlasting stablishing.
It is a fond* objection of some, and unlearned, against the principles of divine truth, that we may fall, as well as Adam in paradise, as well as the angels in heaven ; as if there were not a wide and broad difference between the state of grace and the state of nature. A Christian hath more strength than the angels in heaven, or than Adam in paradise ever had ; he hath a more fii'm consistence, because he stands by grace. ' By grace we stand,' as the apostle saith, Heb. xiii. 9. A Christian hath promises of persever- ance, Adam and the angels had none. And, therefore, to fetch a reason of falling away from grace, from the proportion we have to that condition, is a mere sophism, not rightly discerning the disparity. It is not alike with the angels, and Adam, and us, for we stand by grace, out of ourselves, be- ing stablished in one another.)-
We have not only a promise of happiness, as the angels and Adam had happiness and a blessed estate, but they had no promise to stand and be confirmed. A poor weak Christian hath a promise to be stablished and confirmed. Therefore those proud sectaries that are between us and the papists, and join rather with them than us, that trouble the church so much, they make an idle objection concerning falling away from grace, to say, Did not Adam fall away ? What is that to the purpose ? Was Adam under the same covenants as we are now in Christ ? Is there not a new promise made to us in Christ, better than ever Adam could attain to ?
Besides, we are founded upon a better- Adam, upon the ' second Adam,' God-man. We have not only a better foundation, but better promises, that Adam and the angels themselves wanted. And, therefore, the cove- nant of grace is said to be ' an everlasting covenant.' ' I will marry thee to myself for ever,' Hosea ii. 19.
A Christian is not to be considered abstractively, or alone ; for then, in- deed he is a weak creature, as weak as other men are ; but consider him in his rock on whom he is built ; consider him in his husband to whom he is united and knit ; consider him in his head, Christ; look upon him as he is thus founded and stablished. Oh he is an excellent person !
See him in the difl'erence betwixt him and others. Those that are not stablished by a firm judgment, and will, and affection, and so by faith in Jesus Christ, what confidence, what stability have they ? Those who have the fij'mness they have in the favour of men, it is but vanity ; those that have the firmness they have in riches, what are they ? how soon do they leave it all ? those that have the firmness they have in dependence upon any creature, be it never so great, alas ! they are nothing, they are all vanity. Both we ourselves in depending, and the things we depend upon, are vanity. Therefore we are vanity, because we fasten upon that which is vanity. Things have no more firmness than that hath upon which they lean. Those that have but a weak prop to support them, when that falls, they fall together with it. Now those that are not founded upon Christ by kno\Yledge and love, and united to him by faith, alas ! what standing have * That is, ' foolish.'— G. t Qu. ' iu another? '—Ed.
426 COMMENTARY ON
they, when all things else besides God are vain! For nothing hath a being but God, and a Christian so far as he leans upon God. Were not all things taken out of nothing ? and shall not they all turn to nothing ? must not this whole world bo consumed with lire '?
There nnist bo a new world, * a new heaven and a new earth,' 2 Pet. iii. 13 ; but this and all the excellencies in it, as they were raised out of no- thhig, so they shall come to nothing. God, he is, ' I am that I am,' saith he, Exod. iii. 14 ; and Christ he is ' yesterday, to-day, to-morrow, and the same for ever,' Heb. xiii. 8. A man cannot say of any creature in the world, that it was yesterday, and shall be to-morrow and for ever. We may say it of Christ, ' he is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, he was, and is, and is to come,' Rev. i. 8 ; and, therefore, those that are founded upon him, that have their happiness in him, they are firm as he is firm ; and those that build upon any other thing, they vanish as the thing vanish- eth. There is nothing in the world hath such a being, but it is subject in time not to be. It is only a Christian that is in Christ, who is as firm as Christ is ; find Christ can never be but that which he is ; for of necessity God must be always like himself. He is Jehovah, ' I am, I am ' at all times ; and Christ he is Jehovah. A Christian therefore, and none but a Christian, hath a firm stablishing in Christ. Without this stablishing in Christ, what are we ? what are wicked men ? Chafl", that the wind blows away! They are grass, &c., things of nothing, carried away wdth every blast. But a Christian is a stone, a rock, built upon Christ Jesus.