A learned and very useful commentary on the whole epistle to the Hebrews wherein every word and particle in the original is explained ... : being the substance of thirty years Wednesdayes lectures at Black-fryers, London / by that holy and learned divine Wiliam Gouge ... : before which is prefixed a narrative of his life and death : whereunto is added two alphabeticall tables ...

§. 137. Of the difference betwixt Christs and creatures immutability.

HEB. 1. 11, 12.

They shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

OUT of Psa. 102. ver. 26, 27. the Apostle produceth another proof of Christs excellency taken from his immutability and unchangeablenesse; And to shew that even herein Christ surpasseth all creatures, the point is set down by way of op∣position; The creatures are mutable, but Christ is immutable, Therefore more ex∣cellent.

This relative They being in Greek of the Masculine gender, hath particular refe∣rence* 1.1 to the heavens, in the latter end of the former verse; which word is also of the same gender. Yet withall it includeth the earth before-mentioned, and all things in heaven and earth, not the Angels themselves excepted; For it is the most prin∣cipall scope of the Apostle to advance Christ above Angels, as ver. 4, 5. 6, 7.

Object. There are many creatures that shall never perish, The earth abideth for* 1.2 ever, Eccl. 1. 4. That which is said of the Sunnes and Moons continuance for ever, Psal. 72. 5, 17. & 89. 37. may be applied to heaven and all the host thereof; The Sunne and Moon endure throughout all generations. It shall be established for ever as the Moon, &c. The Angels also, even the good Angels, are still, and ever will con∣tinue as they were at first created; They were the evil Angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, Jude v. 6.

Answ. 1. This phrase for ever, is sometimes put for the worlds continuance, Mat. 11. 14. Thus though the fore-mentioned creatures continue firm and stable all the time of this world, yet at the end of the world they may be altered, as the earth, and heaven, and hosts thereof. See § 137, 139.

2. As for Angels, they have indeed from their beginning continued, and shall everlastingly continue in the same estate and condition; yet there is a great diffe∣rence betwixt Christs immutability and theirs; For,

• 1. Christ was as he is from all eternity, Psa. 90. 2. Pro. 8. 22. &c. But Angels had a beginning, Col. 1. 16. before which they were not what now they are.
• 2. Christ was originally of and by himself as he is; Angels not so; Christ made them Angels: He might have made them mortall and mutable creatures.
• 3. Christ by his own power and wisedom continueth the same that he is. Angels are confirmed and established by Christ, Eph. 1. 10.
• 4. Comparatively it is said of Christ, Who only hath immortality, 1 Tim. 6. 16. So it may be said also of him, who only hath immutability; The creatures excel∣lencies compared with the excellencies of Christ, are as the light of the Moon and Stars: and as artificiall lights compared to the light of the Sun, none of them are seen in the bright shining of the Sunne; so the immutability of the creatures is as no immutability compared to Christs.

Notes

• * 1.1

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.2

  How Un∣changeable∣nesse is attri∣buted to sun∣dry things. See the Guide to go to God, or An Explanation of the Lords Prayer. §. 126.