+I. The Gospel of grace originated in the love of the Father.+--1. _He hath chosen us to holiness._ "Blessed be the God and Father . . . who hath chosen us . . . that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" (vers. 3, 4). The love of God the Father gave Christ to the world, and in Him the human race is dowered with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places." The blessings from heaven link us to heaven, and will by-and-by bring us to heaven, where those blessings will be enjoyed in unrestricted fulness. Before time began, in the free play of His infinite love, God the Father, foreseeing the sin and misery that would come to pass, resolved to save man, and to save him in His own way and for His own purpose. Man was to be saved in Christ, and by believingly receiving Christ; and his salvation was not to free him from moral obligation, but to plant in him principles of holiness by which he could live a blameless life before God. He chose for Himself that we might love Him and find our satisfaction in the perpetual discovery of His great love to us. The true progression of the Christian life is a growth of the ever-widening knowledge of the love of God. Love is the essence and the crown of holiness. 2. _He hath ordained us to sonship._--"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Christ Jesus Himself" (ver. 5). The sonship is not by natural right of inheritance, but by adoption. It is an act of Divine grace, undeserved and unexpected. It is said that, after the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon adopted the children of the soldiers who had fallen. They were supported and educated by the State, and, as belonging to the family of the emperor, were allowed to attach the name of Napoleon to their own. This was not the adoption of love, but as a recognition of service rendered by their fathers. None can adopt into the family of God but God Himself, and it is an act on His part of pure, unmerited love. He raises us to the highest dignity, and endows us with unspeakable privileges, when He makes us His children; and our lives should be in harmony with so distinguished a relationship. 3. _He hath accepted us in Christ._--"Wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (ver. 6). Christ, the beloved One, is the special object of the Father's love, and all who are united to Christ by faith become sharers in the love with which the Divine Father regards His Son. It is only in and through Christ that we are admitted into the Divine family. God loves us in Christ, and the more so because we love Christ. We are accepted to a life of holiness and a service of love. Christ is the pattern of our sonship and the means of our adoption. The love of God to the race finds an outlet through the person and gracious intervention of His Son.