to overthrow it all, so that it must all fall
like dry leaves from the tree.

For it is doomed that whatever does not rest upon this stone, _that_
is already lost. He does not suffer that you should attain anything
by works. With such simplicity speaks forth the Spirit and the Divine
Majesty, that it despises no one, yet with such authority that it
overcomes all things. Who, then, will set himself against it, or who
will not be terrified by it? Therefore God would have us entirely
despair as it regards ourselves, and appropriate to ourselves only
the blessings which _He_ has, and build on that foundation which no
creature can overthrow; so that no one should trust in his own
righteousness, but on Christ's righteousness, and on all that Christ
has. But what is it to rest upon His righteousness? Nothing else but
that I should despond in regard to myself, and think with myself,--my
righteousness, my truth, must go to pieces, and what is built
thereon; while His righteousness, His truth, His life, and all the
blessings which He has, are eternal. There lies the foundation on
which I stand; whatever stands not on this foundation, will all
necessarily fall. But he who lets himself fall back on this, he alone
shall not be put to shame, and shall rest safe, so that no violence
shall ever injure him at all. Therefore Christ must be not only a
stone, but God will lay Him also as a foundation on which we should
confide. God has said this, who cannot lie.

Now this stone is not subservient to itself, but suffers itself to be
trodden on, and buried in the earth so that it cannot be seen, and
the other stones lie upon it and can be seen. Wherefore, it is given
to us that we should partake of Him, and rest upon Him, and believe
that what He has shall all be ours, as what He has procured; that He
has done it for us; so that I may say,--this is my own property and
treasure, over which my conscience can exult.--But St. Peter says
further:

V. 7, 8. _To you, therefore, who believe, He is precious; but to the
unbelieving, the stone which the builders rejected has become a
corner stone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence._ This
exceedingly precious stone, says Peter, is indeed, to some, precious
and honorable. But on the other hand, it is also to many not
precious, but despised, and a stone of stumbling. How is this? The
Scripture ascribes to it a twofold aspect, inasmuch as there are some
that believe thereon, and, on the