The superlative beauty of Jesus is all-attracting; it is not so much to be admired as to be loved. He is more than pleasant and fair, He is lovely.

Surely the people of God can fully justify the use of this golden word, for He is the object of their warmest love, a love founded on the intrinsic excellence of His person, the complete perfection of His charms.

Look, O disciples of Jesus, to your Master’s lips, and say, “Are they not most sweet?” Do not His words cause your hearts to burn within you as He talks with you by the way?

Ye worshippers of Immanuel, look up to His head of much fine gold, and tell me, are not His thoughts precious unto you? Is not your adoration sweetened with affection as ye humbly bow before that countenance which is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars?

Is there not a charm in His every feature, and is not His whole person fragrant with such a savour of His good ointments, that therefore the virgins love Him?

Is there one member of His glorious body which is not attractive? — one portion of His person which is not a fresh loadstone to our souls? — one office which is not a strong cord to bind your heart?

Our love is not as a seal set upon His heart of love alone; it is fastened upon His arm of power also; nor is there a single part of Him upon which it does not fix itself.

We anoint His whole person with the sweet spikenard of our fervent love. His whole life we would imitate; His whole character we would transcribe.

In all other beings we see some lack, in Him there is all perfection. The best even of His favoured saints have had blots upon their garments and wrinkles upon their brows; He is nothing but loveliness.

All earthly suns have their spots: the fair world itself hath its wilderness; we cannot love the whole of the most lovely thing; but Christ Jesus is gold without alloy-light without darkness — glory without cloud — ”Yea, He is altogether lovely.”

What a glorious fact it is that there is one life that can be held up before the eyes of humanity as a perfect pattern! There were lips that never spoke unkindness, that never uttered an untruth; there were eyes that never looked aught but love and purity and bliss; there were arms that never closed against wretchedness or penitence; there was a bosom which never throbbed with sin, nor ever was excited by unholy impulse; there was a man free from all undue selfishness, and whose life was spent in going about doing good.

There was One who loved all mankind, and who loved them more than Himself, and who gave Himself to die that they might live; there was One who went into the gates of death, that the gates of death might never hold us in; there was One who lay in the grave, with its dampness, its coldness, its chill, and its horror, and taught humanity how it might ascend above the grave; there was One who, though He walked on earth, had His conversation in heaven, who took away the curtain that hid immortality from view, and presented to us the Father God in all His glory and in all His love.

Such One is the standard held up in the Church of Christ. The Church rallies round the Cross and gathers around Jesus; and it is because He is so attractive, and lovely, and glorious, that they are coming from the ends of the earth to see the salvation of God. BISHOP MATTHEW SIMPSON

Less than Thyself, Oh do not give. In might Thyself within me live; Come all Thou hast and art.

Oh, there is nothing so admirable, nothing which seems to us in our best moods so worthy of our seeking and so rich in its possession as that holiness which is the summit of true perfection; not a holiness which is distant and frigid, but a holiness which makes the eyes more tender in their softened light, and the lips more affluent of genial speech, and the hand more helpful in its ready service; which makes an end in the human heart of its passions and selfishness, its moroseness and its meanness; which lifts man up to God, and brings God down to man; and which, should it become pervasive and universal, would make every soul a miniature heaven, and change our woeful earth into a Paradise regained. BISHOP NINDE

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The honeysuckle blossoms drenched with rain That lend enchantment to a summer night; The purple violet hidden from the sight Beside the border of a country lane; The jasmine vine, which hangs its golden chain Within the forest like a twinkling light, Have flourished for a time and taken flight— Their ashes have returned to earth again.

But what of one whose life was like a flower Which scatters gentle perfume everywhere, Whose face had caught the radiance of the sky From looking ever upward till that hour When the Great Gardener stripped the branches bare? God smells such fragrance from His throne on high.

“FRAGRANCE” BY THOMAS KIMBER

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.

His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.

All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

The sword of the Spirit . . . is the word of God.

The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

How precious . . . are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.—How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!—Thy love is better than wine.

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.—Thou art fairer than the children of men.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.—His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.

My meditation of him shall be sweet.—My beloved is . . . the chiefest among ten thousand.—A chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.—Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips.—God . . . hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.—It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and 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.