church, He was chosen to receive and wear. He has a name above every name. As the Lamb, He is in the midst of the throne. Every eye in heaven is fixed on Him. Every voice in heaven sounds forth His praise. And by-and-by, every eye of every intelligent creature will be turned to Him, beholding His glory either with perfect joy or indescri bable terror. He will soon come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. He will come in his own glory -in His Father's glory, and all the holy angels with Him, Glorious thought! we also shall appear with Him in glory." My soul, God calls upon thee to behold His Elect, His chosen One, even Jesus! Thou hast beheld and enjoyed the sight, and I charge thee, under all thy sorrows and thy sins, under all thy toils and thy trials, under all thy conflicts and thy conquests, to behold Jesus. thine eye on Him, and long as thou canst see anything, look, look, look to Jesus, and “rejoice in His dear name,'

Fix

"THE BELOVED."

Ephesians i. 6.

PAUL was speaking of the great and glorious privileges of the Lord's people, and praising His holy name for them. He traces all up to the rich grace and sovereign pleasure of the Most High God. He rejoices in eternal and personal election to everlasting life, in the bestowment of all spiritual blessings, in predestination to adoption, and acceptance in the Beloved. In Jesus, His people are pleasant in the sight of God, approved at His throne, and the objects of His highest love. But we are not going to speak of the saints, but the Saviour; not the members, but the Head; not the twinkling stars, but the glorious and magnificent Sun. Jesus is set before us as "THE BELOVED." There is no need to mention His name if we speak of "THE BELOVED;" for though there are other objects of love, there is but one whom we emphatically call "THE BELOVED." Oh, that the Holy Spirit would enable us to speak of Him so as to honour His dear name! Jesus is "the Beloved" of His Father. At His baptism, and at His transfiguration, a

66

voice came from the excellent glory saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And the evangelist John bears testimony, "The Father loveth the Son, and giveth all things into His hand." Oh, the infinite, the eternal, the ineffable delight the Father has in His Son! The whole ocean of the Father's love flows into the heart of Jesus. He is the highest object of His delight; He loveth Him equally with Himself; He glories in Jesus, as the word plainly testifies. Yet, such is His love to His people, sinful, and despised as they are, that Jesus poor, speaks as if the Father had a special love for Him, because of His love to them, Hence

he says,

"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life." In heaven Jesus is the Beloved object; from the Father on his blazing throne to the least inhabitant of that glorious country, all love and delight in Jesus. Every eye sparkles with love to Him, and every song expresses love to Him,

Jesus is "the Beloved" of men,

Not of all men, for they do not know Him, or they would surely love Him; but of all who know Him, However believers may differ in other things, they all agree in this, that Jesus is "THE BELOVED.' No one can extol Him too highly, or praise Him too much. He is the object all His people delight to honour. With one heart and one voice they exclaim,

"Let Him be crown'd with majesty,
Who bow'd His head to death;
And be His honours sounded high,

By all things that have breath."

But

We love Jesus on account of what He has done for us. Whatever turn our love may take afterwards, it is this that kindles it We love Him, because He first loved us." And we learn the love that was in His heart, by what appeared in His life. When we discover that he stood up for us in the eternal council, pledged Himself in the everlasting covenant, and engaged to become our Saviour, our hearts warm with love to Him. when we see Him coming into our world, taking our place, labouring, suffering, and dying in our stead, then our love begins to blaze, and flash, and glow. And to perceive that He is gone into heaven, to appear in the presence of God for us, that he is pleading our cause with His Father, interceding on our behalf, and preparing our mansion for us, our love is strengthened and increased yet more. He is our Beloved.

We love Jesus on account of what He has given us. He has given us His Spirit to quicken us, His word to instruct us, His providence to take care of us, and His name to be pleaded for all good things by us; for "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." He conferred all upon us.

He gave himself, and with himself, His unsearchable riches. So that having Jesus, we have all things; we are rich beyond expression, thought, or conception. Apart from

Jesus, we are wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; but with Jesus, all things are ours, present or future, in this world or another. Well, then, may Jesus be our Beloved!

At

We love Jesus for what He is. True love is sure to rise and fix on the person. first, we are more taken up with what Jesus has done for us, and bestowed upon us; but afterwards we are more delighted with what Jesus is in himself. Advanced believers always dwell much on the person of Christ. They love to think of His Divinity; it expands their hearts, elevates their affections, and mixes adoration with their love. They equally love to think of his humanity, and to see him bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Jesus as the man, possessing human passions, and exercising human sympathies, seems to soften our affections, and they flow forth with gentleness and joy. But it is the complex person of Christ as God-man, that is the especial object of our love. As God, He is so much above us; as man, He is so nearly on a level with us; but as God and man in one Christ, He is peculiarly adapted to us. So that if we speak of our Beloved, we do not refer to one merely human, or to one only Divine, but to one who is both Divine and