482 COMaiENTARY ON
upon him to etablish us, God by his Holy Spirit. If a Christian should fall, (lod must be unstable ; or Christ the foundation must be unstable ; or the Holy Spirit by which we arc stabhahud must be unstable ; but it were blas- phemy to think thus.
I come now to the last thing, the subject, or the persons that are stab- lishcd, ' us with you.'
' He that stablisheth ?/.s' villi yon.' Wo should have honourable conceits of all Christians. There is an ointment runs down upon the veiy skirts of Aaron's garment, Ps. cxxxiii. 2. There is not the lowest Christian, but he receiveth something from Christ the head. Perhaps thou hast one grace in an eminent manner. It may be he hath another more eminent than thou hast. Thou mayest have more knowledge, he may have more humility ; thou mayest have more strength of judgment, he may have more sense of his own wants. There is somewhat in every Christian that is valuable, that is estimable and precious, not only in the eye of God, who valued him so as to give his Son for him. but should be so also in the eye of stronger Christians. Therefore St Paul here, a strong Christian, out of the sweet- ness of his spirit, joins ' us with you.' He saith not, you with us, but as if they were as firmly set in Christ as himself, he saith, ' us with you ; ' he puts them together with himself; for indeed, all of us, one with another, weak Christians and strong Christians, fetch all that we have from one fountain, draw all from one spring, are led all by one Spirit.
You have here also the character of a sound Christian ; he loves and values all Christians. A carnal man may value excellent Christians, that have excellent parts, of whom he hopes for kindness in some peculiar re- gard, but he loves not all the saints. Love to all Christians as they be Christians, because they have some anointing of the Spirit, some earnest, somewhat they have to be valued, is a note of a good and sound Christian.
Another reason why he joins ' us with you,' is, to shew that the working of the Spirit it is not in the members severed from the body, but as they are in the body. The Spirit works in us, but in us with you, and in you with us ; that is, as all the spirits come from the head and heart to the several members of the body, so they must be united, they must be in the body, before they can have the benefit of the spirits. There must be an union with Christ the head and with the rest of the members before we can have the Spirit to strengthen us and anoint us. Those that rend themselves from the body, cannot hope for stablishing from the head.
This should be a bond to tie us to the communion of saints. We have all that we have in the body ; we all grow in the body ; we are all stones in one building, whereof Christ is the foundation ; therefore as stones in an arch strengthen one another, so should we. Let us look for grace to be given in the communion of saints. It is an ill sign when any man will be a solitary Christian, and will stand alone by himself. As we are knit to Christ by faith, so we must be knit to the communion of saints by love. That which we have of the Spirit is had in the communion of saints. It is worth observing, the better to cherish Christian lovingness.
Thus you see the parts of this sentence in which we have the grace itself here spoken of, ' stablishing.'
In whom we are stablished — ' In Christ.' By whom ? — * By God.' And who those are that are stablished — ' Us with you.'
To make now some application of all.
Use. If^it be God that stablisheth us, let us make this use of it, let God have the ylory of our stahlishiny. If we have it in dependence upon God
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 21. 433
by prayer, let us return all by praise and thanksgiving. All comes of his mere grace, let all return to his mere glory. ' Not unto us, but unto thy name give the praise, ':Ps. cxv. 1. It is the song of the church on earth, and the song of the church triumphant in heaven, that all glory be to God in all the whole carriage of salvation. The promises are his, stablishing is his, that he would make a covenant, it is his ; that he will perform his covenant to us, it is his ; that he will enable us to perform the covenant, it is by his strength ; all is his. Therefore both the church hero, and the church in heaven, our song should be, Grreat, and gracious, and merciful is the true God, that is so gracious and righteous in all his promises.
Let us labour, I beseech you, for stablishing, especially in these times. Is it not a shame that we have gotten no more ground now than we had threescore years ago '? Nay, that we rather call principles into question ? The pope hath been antichrist ; and traditions hath been accounted tradi- tions, and not equal with the word. What shall we now stagger in the foundation '? Is here our progi'ess '? Oh, beloved, labour to be stablished in the present truth, that you may not be a prey for every subtle man.