The Apostle lays down a great principle respecting the Divine method of working, viz., to begin is to finish, and that principle, wide enough to encompass the universe, will also comprehend every detail of Christian service.
I. God works by a plan; His plan is to prepare mankind for the final day.
II. God is not fickle in the prosecution of His purposes; He begins, not that He may conduct an experiment, but that He may perform a design.
III. God has so revealed Himself in the education of the individual and in the training of society as to justify the most emphatic expression of confidence on the part of His Church.
Parker, City Temple,vol. ii., p. 178.
References: Philippians 1:6. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xv., No. 872; Homilist,3rd scries, vol. ii., p. 149; R. Davey, Christian World Pulpit,vol. x., p. 10; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 213; vol. vii., p. 217; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines,p. 108; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 289; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times,"vol. vi., p. 245.