1 Thess. i. 5. Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.
IT is not uncommon for persons to be troubled in their minds respecting their interest in the Divine favour : they want to know whether they belong to the elect. But this is a point which can never be ascertained, except in one way. No man can go up to heaven, and search the book of God's decrees : no man can turn over the pages of the book of life, to see whether his name be written there. The dis- covery must be made by an examination of our own heart and life. If we find the fruits of the Spirit within us, we know infallibly who the agent is that has produced them ; and from such an undeniable evidence of God's love we may safely conclude, that we are elected of him. It was thus that St. Paul discerned the interest which the Thessalonians had in God's electing love. Their " fruits of faith, and labours of love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus," flowing as they did from a powerful operation of the Gospel upon their souls, left no doubt upon his mind respecting their state, but enabled him confidently to assert, that " he knew their election of God." He saw the fruit ; nor was he at any loss to determine from what root it sprang.
It is for this fruit that we now purpose to inquire : and, in order that we may attain a just knowledge of our state, we shall shew,
I. When the word may be said to come in word only —
By " our Gospel" the Apostle means, that which he and his fellow-labourers, Timothy and Sylvanus, had preached to them, and which had " come to them" as sent and authorized by God himself. But notwithstanding its divine origin, it comes to many " in word only." Now it comes thus —
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