at men should know Him? Christ has declared Him. Did He will that
men should be drawn back to Him? Christ lifted on the Cross draws all
men unto Him. Was it 'according to the good pleasure of His goodness'
that we men should attain to the adoption of sons? By that Son we too
became sons. Was it the purpose of His will that we should obtain an
'inheritance'? We obtain it in Jesus Christ, 'being heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ.' All that God willed to do is done. And when we
look, on the one hand, up to that infinite purpose, and on the other, to
the Cross, we hear from the dying lips, 'It is finished!' The purpose
of the ages is accomplished in Christ Jesus.

Is it accomplished with you? I have been speaking about the divine
counsel which is a 'good pleasure,' which runs through the whole history
of mankind. But it is a divine purpose that you can thwart as far as you
are concerned. 'How often would I have gathered ... and ye would not,'
and your 'would not' neutralises His 'would.' Do not stand in the way of
the steam-roller. You cannot stop it, but it can crush you. Do not have
Him say about you, 'In vain have I smitten, in vain have I loved.' Bow,
accept, recognise that all God's armoury is brought to bear upon each of
us in that great Cross and Passion, in that great Incarnation and human
life. And I beseech you, in your hearts, let the will of God be done
even as for a world it has been done by the sacrifice of Calvary.

'ACCORDING TO'--II.

'According to the riches of His grace.'--Eph. i. 7.

We have seen, in a previous sermon, that a characteristic note of this
letter is the frequent occurrence of that phrase 'according to.' I also
then pointed out that it was employed in two different directions. One
class of passages, with which I then tried to deal, used it to compare
the divine purpose in our salvation with the historical process of the
salvation. The type of that class of reference is found in a verse just
before my text, 'according to the good pleasure of His will.' There is a
second class of passages to which our text belongs, where the comparison
is not between the purpose and its realisation, but between the stores
of the divine riches and the experiences of the Christian life. The one
set of passages suggests the ground of our salvation in the deep purpose
of God; the other suggests the measure of the power which is working out
that salvation.

The instances of this second use