is begun within him, to be progressively advanced and " per- fected unto the day of Christ r."]
In this he may well boast —
[So far is it from being an act of presumption to boast in this, it is the believer's duty to do so : for the Prophet Isaiah expressly says, " Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory s." The believer ought to contemplate the mercies he has received, and to acknowledge the goodness of God in conferring them upon him. If he did not give glory thus unto his God, " the very stones would cry out against him."]
Such being the believer's experience, we shall not wonder at,
II. His determination —
When the blessed Virgin was congratulated on the mercy vouchsafed to her, she burst forth into this devout acknowledgment, " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour1." So every believer, reviewing the mercies conferred on him, says, " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord : my soul shall be joyful in my God." And this determination is,
1. Highly reasonable —
[Contemplate the comparison which the prophet himself institutes between the ornaments thus put on the believer, and those in which persons are wont to deck themselves at the celebration of their nuptials : for " he is covered with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Are they happy in the prospect of their union, and shall not he be happy in the union which has already taken place between Christ and his soul ? For it is not only to serve his God that he is now brought, but to enjoy him ; and that too in an union the most intimate and endeared that can possibly be conceived. A man and his wife are one flesh; but " he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit u." Nor is this union in prospect merely, but in actual existence. From the moment that the believer is clothed with the garments of salvation, he is espoused to his God: he is set apart for God; and God reserves himself, as it
r Phil. i. 6. s Isai. xlv. 24, 25.
* Luke i. 46, 47. u 1 Cor. vi. 17.