The prayer which he offers here is no less remarkable and unique in his epistles than the act of praise in chapter i. Addressing himself to God as the Father of angels and of men, the apostle asks that He will endow the readers in a manner corresponding to _the wealth of His glory_--in other words, that the gifts He bestows may be worthy of the universal Father, worthy of the august character in which God has now revealed Himself to mankind. According to this measure, St Paul beseeches for the Church, in the first instance, two gifts, which after all are one,--viz., _the inward strength of the Holy Spirit_ (ver. 16), and _the permanent indwelling of Christ_ (ver. 17). These gifts he asks on his readers’ behalf with a view to their gaining two further blessings, which are also one,--viz., _the power to understand the Divine plan_ (ver. 18) as it has been expounded in this letter, and so _to know the love of Christ_ (ver. 19). Still, beyond these there rises in the distance a further end for man and the Church: _the reception of the entire fulness of God_. Human desire and thought thus reach their limit; they grasp at the infinite. In this Chapter we will strive to follow the apostle’s prayer to the end of the eighteenth verse, where it arrives at its chief aim and touches the main thought of the epistle, expressing the desire that all believers may have power to realize the full scope of the salvation of Christ in which they participate. Let us pause for a moment to join in St Paul’s invocation: “I bow my knees to the Father, of whom [not _the whole family_, but] _every family_ in heaven and upon earth is named.” The point of St Paul’s original phrase is somewhat lost in translation. The Greek word for _family_ (_patria_) is based on that for _father_ (_pater_). A distinguished father anciently gave his name to his descendants; and this paternal name became the bond of family or tribal union, and the title which ennobled the race. So we have “the sons of Israel,” the “sons of Aaron” or “of Korah”; and in Greek history, the Atridæ, the Alcmæonidæ, who form a family of many kindred households--a _clan_, or _gens_, designated by their ancestral head. Thus Joseph (in Luke ii. 4) is described as “being of the house and family [_patria_] of David”; and Jesus is “the Son of David.” Now Scripture speaks also of _sons of God_; and these of two chief orders. There are those “in heaven,” who form a race distinct from ourselves in origin--divided, it may be, amongst themselves into various orders and dwelling in their several homes in the heavenly places.