hristian becoming acquainted in personal experience with all the
knowledge of God that is stored up in Christ. He declares Christ as the
Image of God (ch. i. 15), as the Head of the Church (ch. i. 18), as the
One in Whom all fulness dwells (ch. i. 19), as the Redeemer from sin (ch.
i. 20), as the Hope of glory (ch. i. 27), as the One in Whom are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (ch. ii. 3). There is no mistiness
here, no vagueness, no hesitation, no limitation, but a full, free, open
opportunity for all believers to become acquainted with Christ in His
Divine fulness. This is the crowning-point of the Apostle's prayer, for in
the full knowledge of Christ everything else is included. This knowledge,
at once intellectual, moral, and spiritual, is the safeguard from all
error, the secret of all progress, and the guarantee of all blessing.

Let this prayer, then, be our constant and careful study. We shall find
in it much to rebuke the shallowness, the selfishness, the dulness, and
the sluggishness of our prayers; and we shall also find in it a model of
instruction, and the inspiration of all true petition and intercession.
The Christian who learns from the prayers of the Apostle will learn some
of the deepest secrets of the Christian life.

VII.

WISDOM AND REVELATION.

VII.

WISDOM AND REVELATION.

"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and
love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making
mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power."--EPH. i. 15-19.

If prayer for others is a barometer of our own spiritual life, we can
realise what St. Paul felt was necessary for himself by his prayers for
others. In Ephesians there are two petitions, and nothing fuller and
deeper is found in any of the Apostle's writings. This Epistle represents
the high-water mark of Christian privilege and possibility.

1. THE FOUNDATION.

We see from verse 15 that his prayer is closely and definitely based on
what precedes, and this