God had chosen them to salvation " through sanctification of the Spirit." Sanctification is necessary for the enjoyment of heaven. Heaven would afford no happiness to an unsanc- tified soul. The presence of a holy God would inspire no- thing but terror: and an unintermitted engagement in holy exercises would be an insupportable burthen to one who had no taste for them. God therefore has connected sanctification with salvation, in order that the soul on its exaltation to glory may possess a meetness for the enjoyment of it. And, that his people may be sanctified, he sends down his Holy "Spirit" into their souls; and, by the same power whereby he raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, raises them from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness. Thus by trans- forming them into his own image, he fits them for his glory.
Further ; he had chosen them to salvation " through a belief of the truth." It is by faith, and by faith alone, that we apprehend the blessings of salvation. By faith we lay hold on the promises of God : by faith we become united to Christ : by faith we bring down from Christ all those supplies of grace which are necessary for us in this state of warfare. We should fall and perish instantly, if we were not armed with " faith, as our shield;" and " hope, as our helmet;" and " the word, as the sword," whereby the Spirit of God enables us to inflict a deadly wound on our enemies. It was by holding fast the written word, that Jesus triumphed over Satan in the wilderness : and by a constant reliance on the word are we also to overcome him. Hence God had ordained for them, as he has for all his people, that they shall attain salvation " through belief of the truth."
Thus are faith and holiness inseparably connected with salvation ; and to them are men elected, as much as to salvation itself: so that to hope for heaven in any other way than through a perseverance in these, is an unwarrantable pre- sumption, and will only deceive our own souls.]
Whilst the Apostle traces thus all the blessings of salvation to God's electing love, as their true and only source, he reminds his Thessalonian converts of,
II. Their effectual calling by his ministry to a parti- cipation of them —
It is by the word that God imparts his blessings to the souls of men —
[It is by the word that God acts. As far as his provi- dence concurs in the salvation of men, it is only in subser- viency to the wordf. The word is " the rod of his strength,"
f Acts viii. 26—40. and ix. 1 — 24.