1 Tim. i. 11. The glorious Gospel of the blessed God.
Eph. iii. 18, 19. Be able to comprehend tvith all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knoivledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
FROM no part of Holy Writ do we obtain a deeper insight into the great mysteries of the Gospel, than from the prayers of the Apostle Paul. He there embodied, as it were, all his views of divine truth, and poured forth his soul to God in terms altogether out of the reach of an uninspired mind ; in terms so vast, so grand, so comprehensive, that, with the utmost stretch of our imagination, we find it ex- ceeding difficult to grasp the thoughts contained in them.
I will not detain you with any comment on this prayer, because the subject which I have to bring before you is of itself sufficient to occupy all the time that can reasonably be devoted to one discourse. I have omitted the former part of this prayer, because it is the latter part alone that is applicable to the subject before us, or proper to be brought forward as introductory to this discourse. But to that part I would wish to draw your more particular atten- tion ; because, in praying for the Ephesians, that they might " be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, and by comprehending it be filled with all the fulness of God," he not only adverts to the subject which I am about to bring before you, but declares that " all saints in the universe ought in some good measure to comprehend it." It is obvious, on the most super- ficial view of these words, that the Apostle saw a glory and excellency in the Gospel, beyond what it was in the power of language to express, or of any