+I. The sovereign grace of God in making known to us the mystery of His will.+--1. _The Gospel is called the mystery of God's will, the mystery which from the beginning was hid in God, and the unsearchable riches of Christ._ Not that these phrases represent the Gospel as obscure and unintelligible, but that the Gospel scheme was undiscoverable by the efforts and researches of human reason and could be made known to men only by the light of Divine revelation. There are many things in the Gospel which are and will remain incomprehensible to human reason; but though we cannot fully comprehend them, we may sufficiently understand them. 2. _God has made known to us His will "according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself."_--Though the reason of His administration is not made known to us, yet all His purposes are directed by consummate wisdom. He is Sovereign in the distribution of His favours; His goodness to us is no wrong to the heathen. +II. The purpose of God in making known to us the mystery of His will+ (ver. 10).--1. _The Gospel is called "the dispensation of the fulness of times."_ It was introduced at the time exactly ordained in the purpose, and expressly predicted in the Word of God, and in this sense may be called "the dispensation of the fulness of times." 2. _One end of this dispensation was that God "might gather together in one all things in Christ"_ (ver. 10).--To form one body in Christ, to collect one Church, one great kingdom under Him. 3. _The Gospel is intended to unite in Christ all things both which are in heaven and which are in earth._--The Church of Christ consists of the whole family in heaven and earth. Here is a powerful argument for Christian love and for Christian candour. +III. In Him we have obtained an inheritance that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.+--The believing Jews were the first who trusted in Christ. They, with the believing Gentiles, were made heirs of God, not only to the privileges of His Church on earth, but to an inheritance also in the heavens. As they had first obtained an inheritance and first trusted in Christ, so they should be first to the praise of God's glory.--_Lathrop._