age, and the Master says, 'Fill them to
the brim.' And then, by His touch, the water of our poor savourless,
earthly enjoyments is transmuted and elevated into the new wine of His
Kingdom. We may be filled, satisfied with the fulness of God.

There is another point as to the significance of this prayer, on which I
must briefly touch. As our Revised Version will tell you, the literal
rendering of my text is, 'filled _unto_' (not exactly _with_) 'all the
fulness of God'; which suggests the idea not of a completed work but of
a process, and of a growing process, as if more and more of that great
fulness might pass into a man. Suppose a number of vessels, according to
the old illustration about degrees of glory in heaven; they are each
full, but the quantity that one contains is much less than that which
the other may hold. Add to the illustration that the vessels can grow,
and that filling makes them grow; as a shrunken bladder when you pass
gas into it will expand and round itself out, and all the creases will
be smoothed away. Such is the Apostle's idea here, that a process of
filling goes on which may satisfy the then desires, because it fills us
up to the then capacities of our spirits; but in the very process of so
filling and satisfying makes those spirits capable of containing larger
measures of His fulness, which therefore flow into it. Such, as I take
it, in rude and faint outline, is the significance of this great prayer.

II. Now turn, in the next place, to consider briefly the possibility of
the accomplishments of this petition.

As I said, it sounds as if it were too much to desire. Certainly no wish
can go beyond this wish. The question is, can a sane and humble wish go
as far as this; and can a man pray such a prayer with any real belief
that he will get it answered here and now? I say yes!

There are two difficulties that at once start up.

People will say, does such a prayer as this upon man's lips not forget
the limits that bound the creature's capacity? Can the finite contain
the Infinite?

Well, that is a verbal puzzle, and I answer, yes! The finite can contain
the Infinite, if you are talking about two hearts that love, one of them
God's and one of them mine. We have got to keep very clear and distinct
before our minds the broad, firm line of demarcation between the
creature and the Creator, or else we get into a pantheistic region where
both creature and Creator expire. But there is a Christian a