JOH 14 VERSES 8-11BY ALEXADER MACLARE, D.D.And so, because, on the one hand, He brings a Godto bur hearts tts first portion, there liesthe reiteration of the thoughts that I was trying todwell upon in the last sermon, which, therefore, Imay lightly touch now — viz., that the sight of Christis the sight of God — " He that hath seen Me hath seenthe Father " — and that not to know Christ as thusshowing God is not to know Him at all — " Thou hastnot known Me,' Philip." Further, there is the thoughtthat the sight of God in Christ is sufficient, " Howsayest thou, Show us the Father ? " From all thiswe may gather some thoughts on which I lightly touch.I. The first is, that we all do need to have Godmade visible to us.The history of heathendom shoAvs us that. In everyland men have said, " The gods have come down to usin the likeness of men." And the highest cultivationof this highly cultivated and self-conscious nineteenthcentury has not removed men from the same necessitythat the rudest savage has, to have some kind of mani-festation of the Divine nature other than the dim andvague ones which are possible apart from the revelationof God in Christ. A God Avho is only the productof inferences from creation, or providence, or themysteries of history, or the wonders of my own innerlife, the creature of logic or of refiection, is very
48 THE TRUE VISIO OF THE FATHER.powerless to sway and influence men. The limitationsof our faculties and the boundlessness of our heartsboth cry out for a God Who is nearer to us than that,and Whom we can see and love and be sure of. Thewhole world wants the making visible of Divinity asits deepest want. And your heart and mind requireit. othing else will ever stay our hunger, will everanswer our questioning minds.Christ meets this need. How can you make wisdomvisible ? How can a man see love or purity ? Hoavdo I see your spirit ? By the deeds of your body.And the only way by which God can ever come nearenough to men to be a constant power and a constantsmile in their lives is by their seeing Him at Avork ina Man, who amongst them is His image and revela-tion. Christ's whole life is the making visible of theinvisible God. He is the manifestation to the worldof the unseen Father.That vision is enough — enough for mind, enoughfor heart, enough for will. There is none else that issufficient, but this is. " How sayest thou, Show usthe Father ? " If we can see God it suffices us. Thenthe mind settles down upon the thought of Him asthe basis of all being, and of all change ; and theheart can twine itself round Him, and the seekingsoul folds its wings and is at rest ; and the troubledspirit is quiet, and the accusing conscience is silent,and the rebellious will is subdued, and the stormypassions are quieted ; and in the inner kingdom is ao-reat peace. The sight of God in Christ brings rest
to every heart. And, oh ! the absence of the vision isthe true secret of all disquiet. AVe are troubl-ed andcareful, and tossed from one stormy billow to another,THE TRUE VISIO OF THE FATHER. 49and swept over by all the winds tliat blow, because wesee not God, our Father, in the face of Jesus. " Showus the Father and it suthceth us," is either a puerilepetition, or the deepest and noblest prayer of thehuman heart. Blessed are they who have learnedwhat it is to see, and know where that gfreat sisrht isto be seen.Our present knowledge and vision are far higherthan that mere external symbol of a presence whichthis man wanted. The elders of Israel saw the Godof Israel, but Avhat they saw was but some symbolicalmanifestation of that which m itself is unseen andunattainable. But we who see God in Christ see nosymbol but the Reality, and have nothing more,possible or to be hoped for here. Our presentmanifestation and sight of God in Christ does fall,in some ways unloiown to us, beneath the brighthopes that we are entitled to cherish. But howsoeverimperfect it may be, as measured against the perfec-tion of the vision when Ave shall see face to face, andlaiow even as Ave are knoAvn, it is enough, and morethan enough, for aU the questionings and desires of ourhungering spirits.II. — Our Lord goes on to a further ansAver, andpoints to the Divine and mutual indAvelling by Avhich
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THE TRUE VISION OF THE FATHER
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