[2.] An tnstructcon how to consider the properties of God by faith
for our advantage ; that is, as engaged in the person of the Son of God for our good. Absolutely considered they may fill us with dread and terror, as they did them of old who concluded, when they thought they had seen God or heard his voice, that they should die. Considered as his properties who is our Redeemer, they are .always relieving and comforting, Isa. liv. 4, 5, - II. The whole old creation, even the most glorious parts of it, hastening unto its period, at least of our present interest in it and use of it, calls upon us not to fix our hearts on the small perishing shares which we have therein, especially since we have Him who is omnipotent and eternal for our inheritance. The figure or fashion of this world, the apostle tells us, is passing away,—that lovely ap- pearance which it hath at present unto us; it is hastening unto its period; it is a fading, dying thing, that can yield us no true satis- faction.
III. The Lord Christ, the mediator, the head and spouse of the church, is infinitely exalted above all creatures whatever, in that he is God over all, omnipotent and eternal.
IV. The whole world, the heavens and earth, being made by the
214 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [cuap. 1.
Lord Christ, and being to be dissolved by him, is wholly at his dis- posal, to be ordered for the good of them that do believe. And therefore,—
V. There is no just cause of fear unto believers from any thing in heaven or earth, seeing they are all of the making and at the dis- posal of Jesus Christ.
VI. Whatever our changes may be, inward or outward, yet Christ changing not, our eternal condition is secured, and relief provided against all present troubles and miseries, The immutability and eternity of Christ are the spring of our consolation and scourity. in every condition.
The sum of all is, that,—
VIL. Such is the frailty of the nature of man, and such the perish- ing condition of all created things, that none can ever obtain the least stable consolation but what ariseth from an interest in the omnipotency, sovereignty, and eternity of the Lord Christ.
This, I say, is that which the words insisted on, as they are used in the psalm, do instruct us in; and this therefore we ye! a little further i improve,
This is that which we are instructed in by the ministry of John Baptist: Isa. xl. 6-8, the voice cried, “ All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lorp bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” All is grass, fading grass, Though it bloom and appear goodly for a little season, yet there is no continuance, no consistency in it. Every wind that passeth over it causeth it to wither. This is the best of flesh, of all that in and by ourselves we are, we do, we enjoy, or hope for. The “crown of the pride of man” and his “glorious beauty” is but “a fading flower,” Isa, xxviii, 1. What joy, what peace, what rest, can be taken in things that are dying away in our hands, that perish before every breath of wind that passeth over them? Where, then, shall this poor crea- ture, so frail in itself, in its actings, in its enjoyments, seek for rest, consolation, and satisfaction? In this alone, that the Word of the Lord abides for ever,—in the eternally abiding Word of God; that is, the Lord Christ as preached in the gospel. So Peter applies these words, 1 Epist. i, 25. By an interest in him alone, his eternity and unchangeableness, may relief be obtained against the consideration of this perishing, dying state and condition of all things. Thus the psalmist tells us that “verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity,” Ps, xxxix. 5; and thence takes the conclusion now insisted on, verse 7, “ Aud now, Lord,’”—‘ seeing it is thus, seeing this is the condition of mankind, whaki is thence to be looked after? what is to be expected? Nothing at all, not the least of use
VER. 10-12.| EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 215
or comfort.’ “What wait I for? my hope is in thee;’—‘ from thee alone, as a God eternal, pardoning and saving, do I look for relief.’
Man, indeed, in this condition seeks oftentimes for satisfaction from himself,—from what he is, and doth, and enjoys, and what he shall leave after him; comforting himself against his own frailty with an eternity that he fancieth to himself in his posterity, and their enjoyment of his goods and inheritance. So the psalmist tells us, Ps. xlix. 11, “Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations: they call their lands after their own names.” They see, indeed, that all men die, wise men’ and fools, verse 10, and cannot but from thence observe their own frailty. Wherefore they are resolved to make provision against it; they will perpetuate their posterity and their inheritance. This they make use of to relieve them in their inmost imaginations. But what censure doth the Holy Ghost pass upon this contrivance, verse 12? “ Nevertheless,” saith he, notwith- standing all these imaginations, “man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish:” which he further proves, verses 17-20, showing fully that he himself is no way concerned in the imaginary perpetuity of his possessions; which, as they are all of them perishing things, so himself dies and fades away whilst he is in the contemplation of their endurance. And the truth proposed may be further evidenced by the ensuing considerations :—