o clog the pile;
From ostentation as from weakness free,
It stands like the cerulean arch we see,
Majestic in its own simplicity.
Inscribed above the portal from afar,
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,
Legible only by the light they give,
Stand the soul-quickening words--'BELIEVE AND LIVE.'"

Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians tells us how they
entered among the elect. His words are: "But we are bound to give
thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thes. ii.
13.) They were thus among the elect, and we are told how it came
about. The Spirit had brought the Gospel message to Thessalonica by
his accredited agent, the apostle Paul. In that message the people
were told of God's infinite love--that He loved them, and that the
Saviour had died for their sins. He testified to Jesus as mighty to
save, to save any--to save all--to save to the very uttermost. He
convinced them that they stood in need of a Saviour, and that Christ
was the very Saviour they required. These were two great phases of
the Spirit's work--viz., to produce conviction in the mind of the
sinner, and to point out Jesus as the Lamb of God which hath taken
away the sin of the world. The Thessalonians, under His gracious
testimony, believed the record, or, as it is said, "the truth," and
became the chosen of God--His elected ones.

That this is true may be seen from the way in which sinners enter
into God's adopted family. It will be admitted that all who are in
God's adopted family are in a saved condition--in the same state, in
short, as are the elected ones. But how do men enter into this
adopted family? It is stated in John i. 12, "But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name." To believe on His name is just to depend
upon Him alone for salvation. The apostle Paul in writing to the
Galatians says, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus" (Gal. iii. 26.) Each one had personally to believe in
Christ, or to say as Paul said, He "loved me, and gave himself for
me" (Gal. ii. 20.)

It may be said that this makes the way too easy, too simple. It is
simple to us indeed, but it cost the Divine Father the sacrifice of
His only-begotten Son; it cost the Divine Son His sore agony in th