ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.
By W. S. P.
"Oh, how I should like to write an article on being 'accepted in the Beloved.' What a theme. 'Accepted in the Beloved!' 'Accepted in the Beloved.'"—Nevins' Memoir, p. 56. ACCEPTED. If we are accepted, then we are not outcasts, not rejected, not condemned. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." If we are accepted, then we are owned, adopted in God's family—not merely absolved from guilt, and our sin pardoned, but we are restored to the divine favor. If we are accepted, we are not mere servants, but sons and heirs of God. Acceptance implies pardon, but it is more than pardon. The former is never separated, though it is distinct from the latter. Both are by Christ's atoning blood and righteousness. He "was made under the law." In dying, he obeyed; in obeying, he died. He obeyed until death; he obeyed in death. In him was no sin, but on him were laid the iniquities of us all. He bore mercies in his hands, but he bore the sins of many in his person. He died that we might live; and he lives that we may not die. He shed tears. He shed his blood. He poured out his life. "His blood cleanseth from all sin." This fountain is always open. Happy for us that it is so. We need to wash daily, for we sin daily. As the scarlet thread in the window of Rahab; as the mark put on the forehead of the righteous by an angel having an inkhorn at his side; and as the blood of the lamb on the two side-posts and the upper doorpost of Israel in Egypt; so the blood of Christ only and alone can avert the righteous vengeance of God. It is of the nature of law to be rigorous. Law may be broken, but it will not bend. We must conform to it; it will not conform to us. God's law is holy, just and good, both in its precept and in its penalty. It is indeed perfect. It could not be changed but for the worse. It is, and ever shall be, the bond of society. Its demands are enforced by the principles of eternal justice, which could demand no less than spotless obedience, and be satisfied with no less terrible penalty than death. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Thus pardon flows to us through him. "Accepted in the Beloved." We must be in him as the branch is in the vine, as the arm is in the body, as the stone is in the building, as the man-slayer was in the city of refuge. In vain shall we hope for any saving mercy, unless by union with Christ. As all lines terminating in a common centre are one in it, so all believers are one in Christ. And as those lines, the nearer they approach the centre, are nearer to one another, so all believers, the closer their union with Christ, the nearer they are to each other. The author of this union is God himself. "None can make a Christian, but He that made the world." This union is vital. As the arm, severed from the body, withers and dies, so a saint, severed from Christ, would perish. We can have no solid peace, can bear no good fruit, can do nothing without him. Well did Luther say, "All the prayings, teachings, and actings of men are, out of Christ, idolatry and sin in the sight of God." So Paul says, "I count all things but loss and dung, that I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Accepted in THE BELOVED. "Beloved" is a title given to Christ more than a dozen times in half as many chapters in one short book. It is given elsewhere in the Scriptures. He well deserves it. But of whom is he the Beloved? He is the loved of God. "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth," says the Father. Christ says, "I was by him as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Yea, God sent a voice from the excellent glory, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And Christ in his last agony says, "Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Christ is the beloved of God. He is also the beloved of angels. "When he bringeth the first-begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him." True worship has real love in it. Angelic worship has fervent love in it. Christ is not the Redeemer of angels, but he is their Head and Lord, and as such they love him. He is the beloved of just men on earth. "Whom, having not seen, ye love," says Peter. "We love him, because he first loved us," says John. This love of Christ's people is sincere, holy, strong, supreme. They love none more than him. To them "he is altogether lovely." They love to read of him, hear of him, think of him, and speak of him. They love his yoke, his word, his ministers, his Sabbaths, his worship. To them his name is as ointment poured forth. His will is their law; his reproach is their grief; his people are their companions; his success is their joy; his glory is their end. He is their beloved—their "well-beloved." O that all men loved him. He is worthy of it. Shall we not love—ought we not to love him whom the Father loves? If he can satisfy the infinite mind, he can satisfy our minds. If God is well pleased in him, ought not all men to be pleased in him? Our first great duty on earth is to love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. We do not begin to live, till we do that. Not to love him is rebellion, ingratitude, wickedness. He must have a bad heart, who loves not this blessed Saviour. None can compare with him. You had better be out of house and home, out of money and credit, than out of Christ. You had better be out of existence than die out of Christ, for out of him "our God is a consuming fire." O that those who love him, loved him more, and made him the Alpha and the Omega at all times, and in all places. Live, pray, do, suffer, hope, and walk, as in Christ. Think more of your sins, and of Christ's grace; of your ill deserts, and of his merits; of your pride, and of his humility; of your weakness, and of his strength; of your guilt, and of his blood; of your wants, and of his fullness; of your wretchedness, and of his righteousness. Never grow weary of such a theme. No man's heart is so bad as his who has no desires for Christ. No man's heart is so good as his who loves Christ above all things. "He that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." If we are "accepted in the Beloved," we shall be saved. "If God be for us, who shall be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." The strongest reasoning I ever saw, was in the Bible; but even in that blessed volume, I never found any stronger than this. It shuts us up to confidence and hope, unless we are given over to unbelief. What glorious prospects believers have. "The Christian hath such a harvest of glory and happiness coming, as will never be fully got in. It will be always reaping-time in heaven." When we shall get safe to glory, we shall be ready to say, as the queen of Sheba on visiting Solomon, "It was a true report that I heard in mine own land. . . . Howbeit, I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and behold, the half was not told me."