things that are in the heaven and the earth. John i, 1, 2; Col. i, 16; &c. To suppose that in these sentences, "thou hath laid the foundation of the earth," and, "thou shalt fold them up as a garment," one person is understood in the ormer, and another in the latter, no such thing being intimated by the psalmist or the apostle, is to suppose what we please, that we may establish what we have a mind. One person, and only one, is here certainly and only spoken to; if this be the Father, the words concern not Christ at all, and the apostle was deceived in his allegation of them: if the Son, the whole is spoken of him, as the apostle affirms. Can any shew of reason be assigned, why the latter words should be attributed to Christ, and not the former? If it be said, because God by him shall destroy the world, which is the thing in the last words spoken of; we ask, where is it written that God shall destroy the world by Christ? If they say in this place; I say then Christ is spoken of in this place: and if so, he is spoken of in the first words, "And thou, Lord," or not at all: besides, to whom do those closing words belong, but to these, "Thou art the same, and thy years fail not?" If these words are spoken of Christ, it is evident that all the foregoing must be so also; for his enduring, and the not failing of his years; that is, his eternity, is opposed to the creation and temporary duration of the world. If they say, that they belong to the Father primarily, but are attributed to Christ, because the Father doth it by him; I desire to know, what is the meaning of these words, "Thou art the same by Christ?" and Thy years fail not by Christ?" What! is not the Father eternal, except in the man Christ Jesus? He who made them, is said to fold them up. Who then can but believe, on this testimony of the apostle, that Christ the Lord made heaven and earth, and if the

apostle intended not to assert it, what is there in the text, or near it, to warn men from running on a shelf, where so fair an harbor appears to them? From all that has been said, it is evident, that the whole testimony belongs to Christ, and is by the apostle expressly applied to him.

§5. (I.) Proceed we now to the interpretation of the words, "Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth." In considering the works of God, to admire his greatness, power, and wisdom in them, or to set forth his praises for them, it is usual in scripture to distribute them into parts. So, for instance, the psalmist does when surveying the works of God's providence in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, Psalm cxxxvi, and subjoins this inference of praise to every one of them, "for his mercy endureth for ever," and so he does with respect to the works of creation, Psalm xix. In the passage under consideration, the earth is said to be "founded," because of its stability and immoveableness. He set it fast, he established it, that it should not be moved for ever. The whole fabric of heaven and earth is compared to an edifice or building; whereof the earth, as the lowest and most depressed part, is, as it were, the foundation of the whole; but the stability, immoveableness, and firmness of it is what the word denotes, and what is here most properly intended. "And the heavens are the works of thy hands." This alludes to the curious framing and garnishing of the visible heavens. The ( Job xxvi, 13;) exquisite beautifulness and ornament of the heavens, is what the psalmist aims to express. "The heavens are the works of thy hands;" that which thy hands, thy power, joined with infinite wisdom, have framed, so as to set off, and give lustre and beauty to the whole fabric; as a master workman doth the up

per and most noble parts of his building. Thus the founding of the earth, and garnishing of the heavens, is the first thing assigned to the Lord Redeemer in this testimony of his glory.

§6. The next part of the testimony is not less illustrious and decisive. The mutation or abolition of these things is no less an effect of infinite power than the former; yet this is ascribed to the Lord Christ. "They shall perish, and they shall all wax old as doth a garment: and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." Whatever the change be, he compares the things to be changed to a garment no more to be used, or at least not to be used in the same manner as it was before; and the work itself to the folding up of such a garment; intimating the greatness of him by whom this work shall be performed, and the facility with which he does it. The whole creation is as a garment; wherein the Great Supreme shews his power to men, as it were clothed. Whence he is said to clothe himself with light as with a garment; and in it is the hiding of his power: it is hid as a man is hid with a garment; not that he should not be seen at all, but that he should not be seen perfectly, and as he is; it shews the man and he is known by it, but also it hides him that he is not perfectly or fully So are the works of creation with respect to God: he so far makes them his garment or clothing, as in them to give us some notices of his power and wisdom: but he is also hid in them, in that by them no creatures can come to the full and perfect knowledge of him. Now when this work shall cease, and God shall unclothe or unveil all his glory to his saints, and they shall know him perfectly, see him as he is, so far as a created nature is capable, then will he lay them aside, at least as to that use, and fold them up with a

seen.

much ease as a man lays aside his garment that he will wear or use no more.

§7. On this assertion the apostle insinuates a comparison between this glorious fabric of heaven and earth and him that made them, as to durableness and stability; "They shall perish, and wax old as doth a garment." By their perishing most understand their being changed from their present condition and use; others, their utter abolition. And, to say the truth, it is hardly supposable that an alteration only, and that for the better, should be thus expressed; that word (añoñouviai) being always used in the worst sense, for a perishing by a total destruction. Their "waxing old as a garment" is their tendency to this condition, and may denote the gradual decay of the heavens and earth as to their worth and use; and a near approximation to their final period. In this sense our apostle affirms, that the dispensation of the covenant, which established the Judaical worship and ceremonies, waxed old and decayed, chap. viii, 13; not that it had lost any of its first vigor and efficacy before its abolition. And may be, that it shall be with these heavens and earth at the last day, as it was with the heavens and the earth of Judaical institutions; (for so are they frequently called, especially when their dissolution or abolition is spoken of) for though the use of them, and their power of obliging, was taken away and abolished, yet are they kept in the world as venerable monuments of the goodness and wisdom of God in teaching his church of old. So may it be with the heavens and earth of the old creation; though they shall be laid aside at the last day from their use, yet may they be preserved as everlasting monuments of Divine power and wisdom. In opposition to this it is said of Christ, "Thou remainest, thou art the same, and thy

it

years shall not fail," both expressions intending his eternal and absolutely immutable existence. Eternity is not improperly called (nunc stans) a present existence, with respect to which nothing is past or future: it being always wholly present. "Thy years fail not." He who is the same eternally, hath properly no years, which are a measure of transient time denoting its duration, its beginning and end.

$8. (II.) Hence we may with great propriety make the two following observations:

Obs. 1. All the properties of God, considered in the person of the Son, the head of the church, are suited to give relief and consolation to believers in all their distresses. This truth presents itself to us from the use of the words in the psalm from which they are taken. The psalmist under the consideration of his own frailty and mortality, relieves himself with the thoughts of the omnipotence and eternity of the Divine Redeemer. Man was so created at first as that every thing in God was suited to be his reward and satisfaction; but this being wholly lost by sin, and the whole representation of God to man becoming full of dread and terror, all gracious intercourse in special love on the part of God, and all spiritual obedience on the part of man, were inevitably intercepted. But again God designing to take sinners into communion with himself, in their love and obedience, it must be by representing unto them his blessed properties, as suited to their encouragement, satisfaction, and reward, which he does in Christ. And without such a representation in him no rational ground of communion is conceivable.

$9. Obs. 2. The old creation, even the most glorious parts of it, hastening to its period, at least with regard to its present use, calls upon us not to fix