No ; "He has not appointed us to wrath." He might have done it. We deserved it. We were by nature children of wrath, even as others. But He has delivered us from the wrath to come. We have trials, but there is no curse in them. They come from a father who corrects, not from a judge who punishes. We may sometimes fear his wrath, but this is our infirmity. Flesh cries, " Do not condemn me," but faith cries, "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."
But " to obtain salvation." We are often said to be saved already. We are so as to our state, but not as to possession and enjoyment. There is a future blessedness. It is indeed begun here ; but that which is held up to the hope of the believer is the accomplishment of all that God has promised---the reception of the soul at death, the resurrection of the body at the last day, the glorification of the whole man for ever. What an object of expectation! How poor and pitiful is every thing seen and temporal compared with this! Some are destined to shine in courts ; some, to stride over the heads of others ; some, to amass heaps of shining ore ; but, if a Christian, thou art destined to an inheritance beyond the skies, and a crown of glory that fadeth not away. What is life? However indulged and endowed, it is, in its best estate, altogether vanity. What are the pleasures of sin, for a season? What are riches, and death---a title, and damnation at the end of it? And what are losses and afflictions to a man who is going to obtain SALVATION ?
But by what medium will he acquire it? "Through our Lord Jesus Christ." To seek it in any other way is a vain pursuit. There is salvation in none other. I am the way, said he, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Yea, it is not only useless, but sinful. It opposes God's revealed will and express command ; it robs the Lord Jesus of his highest glory ; it frustrates his grace ; it makes him to be dead in vain. Much comes to some through others. We have had friends and benefactors, but, above all, what have they done for us ? What self-denial have they exercised ? What sufferings have they, endured? But he knew what would be required of him in opening for us a passage to glory. Yet he readily consented, and said, Lo, I come. Behold, and see if ever there was sorrow or love like his. He became poor, that we might be made rich ; he died, that we might live.
The apostle does not forget to tell us that we are appointed to obtain the salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. As men, we are not the creatures of chance. There is an appointed time to man upon earth. God has appointed the bounds of our habitation. And, as Christians, are we the offspring of contingency ? Is conversion a happy accident? It is the work of God, and he does nothing without foreknowledge and design. Four things may be observed with regard to this appointment. The earliness of it : in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. The freeness of it : it was not founded on the foresight of any worthiness or works of ours. He hath saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Its efficiency : it will not, cannot fail ; the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever. "I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Its appropriation : blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Go back from effects to causes. Prove your calling, and thus make your election sure.
And remember one thing : be simple, and receive the kingdom of God as a little child, not only as to its doctrines, but as to its invitations and promises. The writer one day attended the dying--bed of a young female. "I have little," said she, " to relate as to my experience. I have been much tried and tempted, but this is my sheet--anchor : He has said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." I know I come to him, and I expect that he will be as good as his word. Poor and unworthy as I am, he will not trifle with me, or deceive me ; it would be beneath his greatness as well as his goodness. I am at his feet; and can I perish there ?"
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