September 19

Now, he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God. - 2 Corinthians 5:5.

THE Christian’s present attainments consist in God’s work and God’s bestowments. God has prepared his people for the whole, and he has given them a part; and this constitutes the present state of indulgence in which the Christian now is. “Now, he hath wrought us (says the apostle) for the selfsame thing.” This preparation is absolutely necessary. In vain should we have a title to heaven unless we have a meetness for it.

If people used the same common sense in religious affairs which guides them in the ordinary concerns of life, they would be preserved from many a mistake; and many of them would immediately see that, according to their present state, there is no probability or possibility of their happiness were they now to die. For common sense surely must tell them that every state and every office requires a qualification for it; and that the higher the state or the office may be, the more important and difficult it is to obtain the qualification becoming it. Common sense would tell them, if they referred to their own feelings, that happiness is not derived from any one thing, without a suitableness for it; it would tell them that happiness depends not upon the excellency of the object, but upon conformity to it. Common sense would tell them, if they appealed to their feelings, that that which is not wanted, which is not desired, which is not valued, would, if attained, afford them no gratification.

Therefore, the thing is whether we are now in possession of any thing that would enable us to relish and to enjoy heaven; not the heaven of pagans, nor the heaven of Mohammedans, nor yet the heaven of those who are only looking for exemption from distress and trouble, but the Christian heaven,-the heaven which is derived from the presence, the vision and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his own prayer:-“Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” Oh, we could trust any Christian here upon this ground. We know his principles and dispositions. He has that in him which would enable him to relish and enjoy such blessedness.

But, secondly, He will remember and acknowledge with the apostle that this experience is as divine as it is necessary. He will allow that he has not wrought himself for the “selfsame thing;” that creatures have not wrought him “for the selfsame thing;” that the effect was above the production of education, of example, of moral suasion; that it was of divine operation. Hence it arises that it is frequently held forth by the figure of a creation, the figure of a resurrection, in order to remind us not only of the grandeur of the work, but of the ability of Him that hath performed it. Therefore the apostle says, “He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God.”