become the actual and present object of the favour of God the Father, even as Christ Himself is its object. The Father has given us to Him, Christ has died for us, has redeemed, washed, and quickened us, and presents. us according to the efficacy of His work, and according to the acceptance of His person, before God His Father. The secret of all the Church's blessing is, that it is blessed with Jesus Himself; and thus-like Him, viewed as a man-is accepted before God; for the Church is His body, and enjoys in Him and by Him all that His Father has bestowed on Him. Individually, the Christian is loved as Christ on earth was loved; he will hereafter share in the glory of Christ before the eyes of the world, as a proof that he was so loved, in connexion with the name of Father, which God maintains in regard to this (see John, xvii. 23-26). Now, Christ stands in two relationships with God, His Father. He is a perfect man before His God, He is a Son with His Father. We are to share both these relationships. This He announced to His disciples ere He went back to heaven: it is unfolded in all its extent by the words he spoke, "I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." This precious, this inappreciable truth, is the foundation of the apostle's teaching in this place. 'He considered God in this double aspect, as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and our blessings are in connection with these two titles. But, before attempting to set forth in detail the apostle's thought, let us remark, that he begins here entirely with God, His thoughts and His counsels, not with what man is. We may lay hold of the truth, so to speak, by one or the other of two ends, by that of the sinner's condition in connection with man's responsibility, or by that of the thoughts and eternal counsels of God, in view of His own glory. The latter is that side of the truth on which the Spirit here makes us look. Even redemption, all glorious as it is in itself, is consigned to the second place, as the means by which we enjoy the effect of God's counsels.

It was necessary that the ways of God should be con

sidered on this side, that is, His own thoughts, not merely the means of bringing man into the enjoyment of the fruit of them: it is the Epistle to the Ephesians which thus presents them to us.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, having chosen us in Him. Chap. i. unfolds (vers. 4-7) these blessings, and the means of sharing them; (vers.8-10) the settled purpose of God for the glory of Christ, in whom we possess them. Next (vers. 11-14), sets before us the inheritance, and the Holy Ghost given as a seal to our persons, and as the earnest of our inheritance. Then follows a prayer, in which the apostle asks that his dear children in the faith -let us say that we-may know our privileges and the power that has brought us into them, the same as that by which Christ was raised from the dead and set at the right hand of God to possess them; as the Head of the Church, which is His body, which, with Him, shall be established over all things, that were created by its Head as God, and that He inherits, as man, filling all things with His divine and redeeming glory.

But we must examine these things more closely. We have seen the establishment of the two relationships between man and God, relationships in which Christ Himself stands. He ascended to His God and our God, to His Father and our Father. We share all the blessings that flow from these two relationships. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, not one is lacking, and they are of the highest order; they are not temporal, as was the case with the Jews. It is in the most exalted capacity of the renewed man that we enjoy these blessings, and they are adapted to that capacity; they are spiritual. They are also in the highest sphere, it is not in Canaan or Emmanuel's land, these blessings are granted us in the heavenly places; they are granted us in the most excellent way, one which leaves room for no comparison, it is in Christ. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, in Christ. But this flows from the heart of God Himself, from a thought outside

Before

He

the circumstances in which He finds us in time. the world was, this was our place in His heart. purposed to give us a place in Christ. He chose us in Him. What blessing, what a source of joy, what grace, to be thus the objects of God's favour, according to His sovereign love! If we would measure it, it is by Christ we must attempt to do so; or, at least, it is thus that we must feel what this love is. Take especial notice here of the way in which the Holy Ghost keeps it continually before our eyes, that all is in Christ-in the heavenly places in Christ, He has chosen us in Him, unto the adoption by Jesus Christ, made acceptable in the Beloved. This is one of the fundamental principles of the Spirit's instruction in this place. The other is that the blessing has its origin in God Himself. He is its source and author. His own heart, if we may so express it, His own mind, are its origin and its measure. Therefore, it is in Christ alone that we can have any measure of that which cannot be measured. For He is, completely and adequately, the delight of God. The heart of God finds in Him a sufficient object on which to pour itself out entirely, towards which His infinite love can all be exercised.

The blessing, then, is of God; but, moreover, it is with Himself and before Him, to gratify Himself, to satisfy His love. It is He who has chosen us, He who has predestined us, He who has blessed us-but it is that we should be before Him, adopted as children unto Himself. Such is grace, in these great foundations. This, consequently, is what grace was pleased to do for us.

We have said that God reveals Himself in two characters, even in His relationship to Christ; He is God, and He is Father: and our blessings are connected with this, i.e., with His perfect nature as God, and with the intimacy of a positive relationship with Him as Father. The apostle does not yet touch on the inheritance, nor on the counsels of God, with regard to the glory of which Christ is to be the centre as a whole; but he speaks of our own relationship with God, of that which we are with God and before Him, and not of our in

heritance; of that which He has made us to be, and not of that which He has given us. In vers. 4-6, our own portion in Christ before God is developed. Ver. 4 depends on the name of God, ver. 5 on that of Father. The character of God Himself is depicted in that which is ascribed to the saints, ver. 4. God could find His moral delight only in Himself and in that which morally resembles him. Indeed, this is a universal principle. An honest man can find no satisfaction in a man who does not resemble him in this respect. With still greater reason, God could not endure that which is in opposition to His holiness, since, in the activity of His nature, He must surround Himself with that which He loves and delights in. But, before all, Christ is this in Himself. He is personally the image of the invisible God. Love, holiness, perfection in all His ways, are united in Him. And God has chosen us in Him. In ver. 4, we find our position in this respect. 1st. We are before Him, He brings us into His presence. The love of God must do this in order to satisfy itself. The love which is in us must be found in this position, to have its perfect object. It is there only that perfect happiness can be found. But this being so, it is needful that we should be like God. He could not bring us into His presence in order to take delight in us, and yet admit us there such as He could not find pleasure in. He has, therefore, chosen us in Christ, that we should be holy, without blame, before Him, in love. He Himself is holy in His character, unblameable in all His ways, love in His nature. It is a position of perfect happiness. In the presence of God, like God; and that, in Christ, the object and the measure of divine affection; so that God takes delight in us, and we, possessing a nature like His own, as to its moral qualities, are capable of enjoying this nature fully and without hindrance, and of enjoying it in its perfection in Him. It is also His own choice, His own affection which has placed us there; and which has placed us there in Him who, being His eternal delight, is worthy of it, so that the heart finds its rest in this position, for there is agreement in our nature with that of God, and we were also chosen to it, which shews the

personal affection that God has for us.

There is also a perfect and supreme object with which we are occupied. Remark here, that in the relationship of which we here speak, the blessing is in connection with the nature of God; therefore it is not said that we are predestined to this according to the good pleasure of His will. We are chosen in Christ to be blessed in His presence, it is His infinite grace, but the joy of His nature could not (nor could ours in Him) be other than it is, because such is His nature; happiness could not be found elsewhere

or with another.

But in the 5th verse we come to particular privileges, and we are predestined to those privileges. "He has predestined us unto the adoption, according to the good pleasure of His will." This verse sets before us not the nature of God, but the intimacy, as we have said, of a positive relationship. Thence it is according to the good pleasure of His will. He may have angels before Him as servants: it was His will to have sons.

Perhaps it might be said, that if admitted to take delight in the nature of God, one could hardly not be in an intimate relationship; but the form, the character, of this relationship depends certainly on the sovereign will of God. Moreover, since we possess these things in Christ, the reflection of this Divine nature and the relationship of son go together, for the two are united in us. Still, we must remember that our participation in these things depends on the sovereign will of God our Father; even as the means of sharing them, and the manner in which we share them, is that we are in Christ. God our Father, in His sovereign goodness, according to His counsels of love, chooses to have us near Himself. This purpose, which links us to Christ in grace, is strongly expressed in this verse, as well as that which precedes it. It is not only our position which it characterises, but the Father introduces Himself in a peculiar way with regard to this relationship. The Holy Ghost is not satisfied with saying, "He has predestined us unto the adoption," but He adds, Himself." One might say this is implied in the word "adoption." But the Spirit would particularise this thought

"'unto