Now, what is thus spoken of God in general is by Paul particu- larly applied unto the Son: Col. i. 16, 17, “ All things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” He did not only make all things, as we have de- clared, and that for himself and his own glory, but also he continues at the head of them; so that by himand by his power they consist, —are preserved in their present state and condition, kept from dissolution, in their singular existence, and in a consistency among themselves.
And the reason hereof is taken, first, from the limited, finite, de- pendent condition of the creation, and the absolute necessity that it should be so. It is utterly impossible, and repugnant to the very nature and being of God, that he should make, create, or produce any thing without himself, that should have either a self-subsistence or a self-sufficiency, or be independent on himself. All these are natural and essential properties of the divine nature. Where they are, there is God; so that no creature can be made partaker of them. When we name a creature, we name that which hath a derived and dependent being. And that which cannot subsist in and by itself cannot act so neither.
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VER. 3.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 107
Secondly, The energetical efficacy of God’s providence, joined with his infinite wisdom in caring for the works of his own hands, the products of his power, requires that it should be so. He worketh yet. He did not create the world to leave.it to an uncertain event,—to stand by and to see what would become of it, to see whether it would return to its primitive nothing (of which cask it always smells strongly), or how it would be tossed up and down by the adverse and contrary qualities which were implanted in the severals of it; but the same power and wisdom that produced it doth still accompany it, powerfully piercing through every parcel and particle of it. To fancy a providence in God, without a con- tinual energetical operation; or a wisdom without a constant care, inspection, and oversight of the works of his hands; is not to have apprehensions of the living God, but to erect an idol in our own imaginations.
Thirdly, This work is peculiarly assigned unto the Son, not only as he is the eternal power and wisdom of God, but also because by his ¢nterposition, as undertaking the work of mediation, he re- prieved the world from an immediate dissolution upon the first entrance of sin and disorder, that it might continue, as it were, the great stage for the mighty works of God’s grace, wisdom, and love, to be wrought on. Hence the care of the continuance of the crea- tion and the disposal of it is delegated unto him, as he that hath undertaken to bring forth and consummate the glory of God in it, notwithstanding the great breach made upon it by the sin of angels and men. This is the substance of the apostle’s discourse, Col. i. 15-20. Having asserted him to be the image of God, in the sense before opened and declared, and to have made all things, he affirms that all things have also their present consistency in him and by his power, and must have so, until the work of reconciliation of all things unto God being accomplished, the glory of God may be fully retrieved and established for ever.
1. We may see from hence the vanity of expecting any thing from the creatures, but only what the Lord Christ is pleased to communicate unto us by them. They that cannot sustain, move, or act themselves, by any power, virtue, or strength of their own, are very unlikely by and of themselves to afford any real assistance, relief, or help unto others: They all abide and exist severally, and consist together, in their order and operation, by the word of the power of Christ; and what he will communicate by tlm, that they will yield and afford, and nothing else. In them- selves they are broken cisterns that will hold no water; what he drops into them may be derived unto us, and no more. They - who rest upon them or rest in them, without the consideration of their constant dependence on Christ, will find at length all
108 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
their hopes disappointed, and all their enjoyments vanish into nothing.
2. Learn hence also the full, absolute, plenary self-sufficiency and sovereignty of the Son, our Saviour. We showed before the univer- sality of his kingdom and moral rule over the whole creation; but this is not all. A king hath a moral rule over his subjects in his kingdom: but he doth not really and physically give them their being and existence; he doth not uphold and act them at his pleasure; but every one of them stands therein upon the same or an equal bottom with himself. He can, indeed, by the permission of God, take away the lives of any of them, and so put an end to all their actings and operations in this world; but he cannot give them life or continue their lives at his pleasure one moment, or make them so much as to move a finger. But with the Lord Christ it is other- wise. He not only rules over all the whole creation, disposing of it according to the rule and law of his own counsel and pleasure, but also they all have their beings, natures, inclinations, and lives from him; by his power are they continued unto them, and all their actions are influenced thereby. And this, as it argues an all-suffici- ency in himself, so an absolute sovereignty over all other things. And this should teach us our constant dependence on him and our universal subjection unto him.