In relation to persons of this character, we behold with pleasure,
III. Their salvation assured —
Our blessed Lord represents them as persons whose habitation is founded on a rock^, and their stability is assured to them,
1. By the very graces which they exercise —
[We do not mean to say, that any man, however eminent, lias in himself such a measure of grace, as shall be a safeguard to him under all temptations ; for even Paul himself had not in himself " a sufficiency even to tliink a good thought:" nor can any child of man stand one moment longer than God shall be pleased to uphold him in his everlasting arms : but still God himself has represented " righteousness as a breast-plate," which will resist the darts of our great adversary: and it must be obvious, that they, in whom there is a principle of universal holiness, and whose conduct is so strictly regulated by the commands of God, must be comparatively out of the reach of the tempter. In matters of daily occurrence, the Believer will still have within himself an evidence that he is a fallen creature : he will still be subject to mistakes, and infirmities, and falls ; but he will not so fall as to return to the wilful practice of iniquity ^, nor so be moved as to " turn back unto perdition."]
2. By the express promises of God —
[Were the Christian's stability to depend solely on the strength of the gracious principle within him, he would have but little hope of end;iiring to the end : but God has encouraged us to exert ourselves, and to " work out our own salvation with fear and trembling ;" in the full persuasion, that " he will give us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." In the Scrip- tures, both Prophets and Apostles concur in giving us this assurance. Isaiah speaks almost the very language of our text: he draws the very same character almost in the very same terms ; and then declares, that this person " shall dwell on high," (even " in God's holy hill,") that " his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks ; that bread shall be given him, and his waters shall be sure''." To the same effect St. Peter speaks : he bids us add to our faith the practice of all social virtues ; and then he tells us that " they who do such things shall never fall, ('never be moved,') but shall have an entrance ministered unto them abundantly into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ^" How " exceeding great and precious are such promises" as these! How delightful is it to
1' Matt. vii. 24 — 27. * 1 John iii. 9,
^ Isai. xxxiii. 15, 16. i 2 Pet. i. 5—11.