out his salvation" through faith in Christ Jesus, it is "God who worketh in him both to will and to do of

his good pleasure." 3

None

Not, indeed, that he is passive in this. can be merely passive, in whom the work of salvation is going on. They are acted upon; but they are active too. God performs the work; but the material which he fashions is not wood or stone, which has nothing to do with the impression made on it. God leads the man, first to perceive that he shall profit nothing if he "gain the whole world, and lose his soul." He inclines him to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness: he shows him that Christ, who is "the Lord our righteousness," is the way to that kingdom; and thus drawing the soul through the conscience and understanding, and disposing the will to follow what the conscience and understanding approve; he begins the work which without him would never be begun, and carries on the work which without him would never be carried on. And thus it was that God had begun a work in the Philippians, for which Paul was thankful on every remembrance of them.

No other cause of thankfulness could be so great as this. They might have been still worshipping they knew not what; the work of men's hands. They might have been still without hope, because "without God in the world." They might have been walking in those ways which man in his natural state pursues; of which "the end is destruction." And now, instead of this, "behold, what manner of love the Father had

3 Phil. ii. 13.

bestowed on them, that they should be called the sons of God!" 4

All this was occasion of joy. But joy and fear are often near to each other in this world. There is the joy of possessing; there is also the fear of losing. And St. Paul might have felt this fear, whilst thinking of his Philippian converts, still exposed as they were to enemies without, and to the evils of a corrupt heart within: "the law of their members warring against the law of their mind," and Satan striving to "draw them back unto perdition." Against this reasonable apprehension he finds comfort in the power by which they are sustained, and which was engaged on their side. There was One with them greater than themselves. It was not of themselves, that they had turned from "the vain tradition received from their fathers." It was not of themselves that they had "cast off the works of darkness," and entered upon a course of sober, righteous, and godly living. It was not of themselves, that when others wondered at them5 for their change of habits and heavenly conversation, they had been enabled to give a reasonable answer of the "hope that was in them," 6 and to go on perseveringly. It was God whose Spirit had begun this good work in them, and strengthened them thus far to continue stedfast and faithful. There was ground, therefore, to hope that he would "keep them from falling," and perform the work of salvation unto the day of Jesus Christ, the final overthrow of Satan and his

cause.

4 1 John iii, 1.

5 1 Pet. iv. 4.

61 Pet. iii. 15.

If

In God there is no variableness, no change. any difference were made in their state, it could not be from Him. The danger was from themselves. And Paul finds a reason in themselves, as well as in God's mercy and faithfulness, why he felt thus confident respecting them.

7. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart: inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

It had not proved with them, as with the weak and unstable, that "when tribulation or persecution arose because of the word," they turned aside from the faith which it cost so much to maintain. They had been partakers of the same grace with the apostle himself, not counting their possessions, not counting their freedom, not counting their life dear unto themselves, in the defence of their faith, and in the confirmation of their profession. To them, as to him, "it had been given"—grace had been bestowed upon them "to suffer" in the cause of Christ: to "have the same conflict" with enemies, to undergo the same losses and reproaches, which "they had seen" the apostle undergo in their own city, and which at that time he was contending against at Rome. This was proof that the truth had root in their hearts: when the heats of temptation and the storms of persecution beat against the plant of faith, and it did not fail or wither. And therefore it was meet for him to think this of them

all, that He who had begun a good work in them would perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, and bring them to the end of their course with joy.

If

Faith must always be brought to some test, though not now, as formerly, to the test of bonds and persecution in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. Satan does not now oppose us by torture and imprisonment, he has means of temptation in his power scarcely less dangerous. But when we can look back upon passions resisted, in obedience to the commands of God; upon appetites restrained, though clamorous for indulgence; upon evil tempers subdued, though striving for the mastery; upon unlawful gains rejected, which might have been obtained if the gospel had not condemned them :-then we have signs of a good work begun, and may humbly hope that the good work will be performed until the day of Jesus Christ. In the prospect of our stability, we depend not on our own weakness, but on God's faithfulness. Still we could not dare to presume on his strength for protection, unless there were some proof in our own ways and habits, that "the grace which had been bestowed on us, had not been bestowed in vain." 7

See 1 Cor. xv. 10.

LVII.

PRAYER AND WATCHFULNESS.

Watch ye

MARK xiv. 38.

and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Ir is not said as an excuse for sin, that the flesh is weak; but as a reason for watchfulness: that the flesh may obey the law of the inner man, instead of the spirit yielding to the weakness of the flesh. Hence the command, Watch ye, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: that temptation may not take hold of the mind, and so possess it, as to put its stedfastness in peril. A man may be exposed to temptation, without entering into temptation. The danger begins when temptation finds its way into the heart, and parleys with it, so as to enter in and allure the affections.1 David was placed in outward circumstances of great temptation, when, in his campaign against Saul, he found his implacable enemy sleeping in a cave, and might at once have slain him, and brought his difficulties to an end. But the temptation made no impression: he instantly restrained it, rebuked his men, and refused to admit into his mind the prospect of advantage or the feelings of revenge. Daniel also was exposed to temptation, when he was

1 Owen on Temptation.

2 1 Sam. xxiv. 4-6.