Vers. 18, 19.-2%e comprehension of the love of Ohrist. The true science for llldnt! is " Christ's love." I. CoNSIDEB TBIS LOVE A.S REPRESENTED m THE PASSAGE as to length, breadth, height, and depth. L These dimensions seem to imply infinity, It has been suggested that the apostle speaks as if standing in a centre, himself the object of this love, enveloped by an atmosphere of love which stretches away illi.mitably above, beneath, around. He prays that all saints may stand, as it were, in the focus of the same en,eloping love. What is that which has thus its centre wherever a saint is to he found? The centre of infinite space is wherever we stand; for we carry this centre with us, no matter where we go. So it is with the in.finite love of Christ, which surround.~ the saints with its vast and limitless expanse. Each saint ought to feel that he is in the very centre of that love, as if the sole object of its guiding, purifying, comforting care. Hnman affection has its limits, for it cannot lavish its richest treasures upon se,eral bein,,,"S at the same time. Not so the heart of Jesus, which has room for millions upon millions of saints. 2. But tlu love of Ohrist may be seen in its pre-eminenrefrom tlu st,a:ndpoint of time. Not only does he love millions, but there is a wonderful duration in his affection for us. We think gratefully of the parental affection that shone upon onr life before any time that our memory can recall, and long. before we were conscious of its existence. We value most the friendships that have lasted longest. But what is all earthly love to the everlasting love of Christ, which had us in his heart ages before our birth, and had a kingdom prepared for us before the foundation of the world? But his love is as lasting as it is ancient. Human affection often fails through misunderstanilings, collisions of interests, variations of pursuit, so that there is. often a painful sense of uncertainty 1111 to the future ; but even that affection can hardly follow 115, as to any real succour or comfort, throughout the unknown life that awaits us beyond the grave. There is One, however, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for e,er; on the coLtinuance of whose love we can securely .count in time and through- out eternity. If he love us now, he will love us to the end. What, then, shall separate UJ:1 from such a Ion? 3. But this lor,e might be regarded fr.am another standpoint : think of m interaity. We measure ib! intensity by its sacrifices, its sufferings, its burdens; yet we must remember that there was more than a mere human BeDsibility beati:1g in the hean of Christ. He plants himself in the very heart of this world's bzra::itude and rebellion and unbelief, exposed to all its hatred, revenge, impurity, profa:iity ; aud dies for this very world, "the Just for the unjust, that he might bring U5 t0 Gud.~ lL lT IS A LOVE DE!ilG.KED TO BE THE OBJECT ALIKE OF COMPREHENSION AND OP KNOW• LEDGE:. The apostle prays that the Ephesian saints may comprehend the dimensions of it an.d "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." There is a difference betv,een the two terms. We do not want simply to know about Christ's love, of which the absolute understanding is beyond our reach, but to know it, to realize it as a possession of our own, to have an experimental knowledge of its preciousness. Such love may be darkness to the intellect, but it is sunshine to the heart; too marvellous for us to comprehend, but not too rich for us to enjoy. "In a word, to know the love of Christ-it is might in weakness; it is patience in tribulation; it is strength for OU. OJ. 1-21.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 121
liviog; it is hope in dying; it is heaven bro.ight down to earth; it is heaven dwelLn,., 0 within the soul.'' III. THE GRAND PURPOSE AND RESULT OF THIS REALIZED LOVE. "That ye may be filled with all the fulncss of God." 1. The fulness of God is the fulness which Goel possesses, and therefore incapable of being contractild to the dimensions of a hmunn heart. Yet that fulness-the plenitude of the Divine perfection, which is said to dwell in Christ bodil.v-is the very measure unto which we are to be filled. We are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect ; we arc to come " to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;" we are actually predcstinated to b€ conformed to the image of that Son of God who is the Brightness of the Father's glory, and the express Image of his person. 2. We are to be filled unto thatfulness. The apostle does not say that we shall reach it in this life, or that, if we reach it in the life beyond, the distance between God and us will not still be less than infinite. Plunge an empty vessel into the ocean, it is filled wt of and filled with the fulness of the waters that surround it on every side. That empty vessel is our soul. It can take in the fulness of God in its own measure of self-containment. 'l'he comparison, to be more exact, demands that the vessel in question should be of expansible material, like a sponge, which, lying withered upon the rock, becomes larger and larger as it is sunk in the deep, till it is merged in the very fulness of the sea. Thus our dry and withererl souls, filled with the love of Christ, expand gradually into the very folness of God. 3 .. Effects of this filling unto God's f1.dness. One is that, with a well so full and over- flowing, our vessels need never be empty. You may ask too little; you cannot ask too much: for the very fulness of God is ever flowing into you. You cannot exhaust it by any frequency of resort to it. Study ever more and more the love of Christ, which, like an arch, stands all the firmer from every additional stone with which it is weighted. Aoother effect is that, in proportion as you are being filled with God's fulness, there is less room in the heart for sin, or fear, or doubt, or pain. The fulness, like the perfect love, "casteth out fear." As in an exhau::1ted receiver, the more the air is drawn olY the more firmly will the machine clasp the surface upon which it stands, so the more that guilt and fea.- are drawn off from the believer's heart, the more will it cleave to the almighty strength on which it rests. Let our hearts rejoice, therefore, in the fulness of God.-'l'. C.