another metaphor,
the channel through which the else 'closed sea' of God flows into the
world of creatures. Through that channel is poured into believing hearts
the river of the water of life, which proceeds out of the one 'throne of
God and of the Lamb.' This gift of the Spirit of Holiness to all
believers is the deepest and truest conception of Christ's gifts to His
Church. His past work of sacrifice for the sins of the world was
finished, as with a parting cry He proclaimed on Calvary, and the power
of that sacrifice will never be exhausted, but the taking away of the
sins of the world is but the initial stage of the work of Christ, and
its further stages are carried on through all the ages. He 'worketh
hitherto,' and His present work, in so far as believers are concerned,
is not only the forthputting of divine energy in regard to outward
circumstances, but the imparting to them of the Divine Spirit to be the
very life of their lives and the Lord of their spirits. Christian people
are but too apt to give undue prominence to what Christ did for them
when He died, and to lose sight, in the overwhelming lustre of His
unspeakable sacrifice, of what He is doing for them whilst He lives. It
would tend to restore the proportions of Christian truth and to touch
our hearts into a deeper and more continuous love to Him, if we more
habitually thought of Him, not only as the Christ who died, but also as
the Christ who rather is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us.

II. The gift of this grace is in itself unlimited.

Our text speaks of it as being according to the measure of the gift of
Christ, and that phrase may either mean the gift which Christ receives
or that which He gives. Probably the latter is the Apostle's meaning
here, as seems to be indicated by the following words that 'when He
ascended on high, He gave gifts unto men,' but what He gives is what He
possesses, and the Apostle goes on to point out that the ultimate issue
of His giving to the Church is that it attains to the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ.

It may cast some light on this point if we note the remarkable variety
of expressions in this epistle for the norm or standard or limit of the
gift. In one place the Apostle speaks of the gift bestowed upon
believers as being according to the riches of the Father's glory; then
it has no limit short of a participation in the divine fulness. God's
g