" complete in Christ b." When they are mourning and weep- ing for their extreme sinfulness, he looks on them with heart- felt complacency0, and delight d. Even when they are doubting his love towards them, he marks them as the objects of his tenderest affection and incessant care e.
He takes pleasure also in their services. Their prayers are his delight f : their tributes of praise are esteemed his glory g ; their alms, a sacrifice with which he is well pleased h : their every grace is in his sight of great price '. Their holy purposes, though not suffered by him to be carried into effect, are noticed by him with approbation k, nor are even their fainter inclina- tions ', or their transient thoughts m, suffered to pass without a suitable reward.]
2. He makes them lovely —
[The distinguishing characteristic of the Lord's people is, that they are " meek :" their hearts being humbled, their proud impetuous passions are hushed to silence. These the Lord " beautifies with salvation " now. The lion becomes a lamb n: instead of the brier and thorn, the fir and myrtle-tree spring up ° : and even blood-thirsty murderers become humble and loving saints p. The very countenances of God's people often bear a visible mark of the change wrought in them ; so that we may almost literally say, " They have the mark of the Lamb in their foreheads q." There is a beautiful symmetry discernible in all their conduct. " The beauty of the Lord their God is upon them r :" and as that consists, not in the exercise of any one perfection, but in an union and harmony of all, however opposite to human appearance ; so their beauty is seen, not in the exercise merely of meekness or fortitude, of fear or confidence, but in the just temperament, and combina- tion, of every Christian grace. In a word, they are renewed after God's image s ; and have the change carried on from one degree of glory to another by the Spirit of the Lord1.
But in an infinitely higher degree will they be beautified when their salvation shall be complete. Then they shall have no remains of sin or corruption : their bodies shall be made like unto Christ's glorious body u : their souls also shall be without spot or blemish as truly as his x : arrayed in the robes of his perfect righteousness, and adorned with a crown of glory y, they
b Col. ii. 10. c Isai. lxvi. 2. Jer. xxxi. 18, 20.
d Prov. xi. 20. e Isai. xlix. 14 — 16. f Prov. xv. 8.
s Ps. 1. 23. >> Heb. xiii. 10. j 1 Pet. iii. 4.
k 1 Kings viii. 18, 19. • 1 Kin. xiv. 13. m Mai. iii. 16.
11 Isai. xi. 6. ° Isai.lv. 13. p Acts ii. 23, 41 — 47.
9 Rev. xxii. 4. ' Ps. xc. 17. s Eph. iv. 24.
* 2 Cor. iii. 18. u Phil. iii. 21. x Eph. v. 27.
y Rev. vi. 1 1. and vii. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 8.