salvation; this is His object in every thing He does. And he who praises and marvels at the grace displayed towards himself will thus be more devoted and more earnest. “Which He freely bestowed on us,” he saith. He does not say, “Which He hath graciously given us,” (ἐχαρίσατο) but, “wherein He hath shown grace to us.” (ἐχαρίτωσεν) That is to say, He hath not only released us from our sins, but hath also made us meet objects180 of His love. It is as though one were to take a leper, wasted by distemper, and disease, by age, and poverty, and famine, and were to turn him all at once into a graceful youth, surpassing 53 all mankind in beauty, shedding a bright lustre from his cheeks, and eclipsing the sun-beams with the glances of his eyes; and then were to set him in the very flower of his age, and after that array him in purple and a diadem and all the attire of royalty. It is thus that God hath arrayed and adorned this soul of ours, and clothed it with beauty, and rendered it an object of His delight and love. Such a soul Angels desire to look into, yea, Archangels, and all the holy ones. Such grace hath He shed over us, so dear hath He rendered us to Himself. “The King,” saith the Psalmist, “shall greatly desire thy beauty.” (Ps. xlv. 11.) Think what injurious words we uttered heretofore, and look, what gracious words we utter now. Wealth has no longer charms for us, nor the things that are here below, but only heavenly things, the things that are in the heavens. When a child has outward beauty, and has besides a pervading grace in all its sayings, do we not call it a beautiful child? Such as this are the faithful. Look, what words the initiated utter! What can be more beautiful than that mouth that breathes those wondrous words, and with a pure heart and pure lips, and beaming with cheerful confidence, partaketh of such a mystical table? What more beautiful than the words, with which we re- nounce the service of the Devil, and enlist in the service of Christ? than both that confession which is before the Baptismal laver,181 and that which is after it? Let us reflect as many of us as have defiled our Baptism, and weep that we may be able again to repair it. Ver. 6. “In the Beloved,”182 he saith, “in whom we have183 our redemption through His Blood.”184 180 [“The word does not here mean ‘to make love worthy,’ as Chrys., referring to inherent righteousness, but ‘to grant grace,’ just as ver. 7 sets forth simply the work of ‘pardoning grace.’”—Meyer.—G.A.] 181 Different usages were observed as regards the Baptismal Confession. In all cases there was one before Baptism. In some places it was made three times; and in some it was written after it was spoken. vid. Bingham Antique, xi. 7. &c. 182 [“The designation of Christ by ὁἠγαπημένος makes us feel the greatness of the divine grace.”—Mey- er.—G.A.] 183 [“More precise elucidation of what has been said, on the basis of experience (ἔχομεν). Meyer.—G.A.] 184 [“‘Through His Blood’ is a more precise definition of the preceding ἐν ᾇ ‘in whom.’”—Meyer. “We have redemption not in His work without His Person but in His Person which with His work is a living unity.”—Olshausen in Lange.—G.A.] 102 Ephesians 1:1--2