This entire change was the first part of the blessing which St. Paul solicited in their behalf. But he could not be satisfied with this, he therefore further entreated.]
b Heb. iv. 12. c Rom. vi. 12, 13. d Jude, ver. 10.
e Eph. ii. 3. f 2 Cor. vii. 1. s Jam. hi. 15.
h Rom. vi. If). i Gal. v. 24. k Eph, iVi 23,24.
1 2 Cor. v. 17. m 2 Pet. i. 4. n 2 Cor. v. 17.
2. The continuance of it unto the day of Christ —
[To be made thus "blameless" is doubtless an unspeak- able blessing ; but it would be of little service to us, if we were to lose it again, and to return to our former state of sin and uncleanness. This is an idea which many lovers of human systems do not like : but it is inculcated in every part of the Holy Scriptures : nor can any man get rid of this idea, without doing violence to many of the plainest passages of Holy Writ, and, I had almost said, " wresting them to his own destruction."
By the Prophet Ezekiel, God tells us, that, " if the right- eous man depart from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, his righteousness shall no more be remembered ; but for the iniquity that he committeth, he shall die0." St. Paul warns us, " that, if after tasting of the heavenly gift, and being made partakers of the Holy Ghost, we fall away, it is impossible, (or so difficult as to be all but impossible,) for us ever to be renewed unto repentance p." St. Peter speaks yet more plainly, assuring us, that, " if after having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we be again entangled therein, and overcome, our latter end will be worse than the beginning: for that it would be better for us never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after we have known it, to turn from the holy command- ment delivered unto us0*."
Hence St. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, that they might " be preserved blameless unto the day of Christ." To run well for a season would avail them nothing, if they were hindered at last. To little purpose would they have " begun in the Spirit, if they ended in the flesh." We must " endure to the end, if ever we would be saved r." And so important is this truth, and so necessary to be inculcated on the minds of even the most exalted Christians, that our blessed Lord himself, in his Letters to the Seven Churches, closes every letter with this solemn admonition, that " to him that over- cometh," and to him only, shall the full blessings of his salvation
ever be extended s Hence are those frequent cautions
against declension in the life and power of godliness1. The Lord grant we may ever bear them in mind ! for God himself expressly says, " If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in himu."
On these accounts the Apostle prayed for them, that " the work begun in them might be carried on and perfected unto the clay of Christ*."]
0 Ezek. xviii. 24. p Heb. vi. 4—6. <i 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21. r Matt. xxiv. 13. s Rev. ii. 7, 10, 17, 26. and iii. 5, 12, 21.
1 2 John, ver. 8. Rev. iii. 11. 2 Pet. iii. 14, 17, 18. u Heb. x. 38. * Phil. i. 6.