^ Lord Houghton's notes of Carlyle's talk contain the follow- ing : " I would rather have one real glimpse of the young Jew face of Christ than see all the Eaffselles in the world." *
Men oft see God
But never know 'tis He till He has passed.^
2. The full vision is possible only to the pure in heart. The pure in heart shall see God. In harmony with this, St. John, who wrote the words of the text, wrote also, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is." Having thus predicted the blissful con- summation of a perfect vision of Christ, St. John proceeds to show how this hope to see Him, and to be like Him, produces in those who cherish it the necessary fitness for such a vision and attain- ment— "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Thus would be fulfilled in him the
1 Michael Fairless : Her Life and Writings, 54.
2 Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, 70.
* L. Tyerman, The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, ii. 562.
* The Life, Letters and Friendships of Richard Monckton Milnes, ii. 481. ' Memoir and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore, ii. 60.
REVELATION xxii. 3, 4 353
beatitude of the Saviour Himself, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
^ Over the torno of the Convent of the Carmelites at Medina is Teresa's beautiful advice to her nuns —
" Let your desire be to see God, your fear that you may lose Him ; your grief that you do not enjoy Him, your joy in all which may lift you to Him. Thus you shall live in great peace." ^
^ When St. Paul speaks of the glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ, the context and its implied contrast show that he means the Face, and that his vision was a Face-to-face vision. And I think it was the vision of the Face that kept him so true to his message of the Cross. His question to the Galatians, Have not I seen Jesus Christ the Lord ? means, inter alia, Have I not shut my eyes to all other seeing and turned away from all other vision ? St. Paul's art was limited, he would paint figures ; no, one figure ; faces, no, one face. " That one face." " I love you," said General Gordon to a friend of mine (both are now on the other side), " because you paint faces " ; "I love you, Paul," we may say, "because you paint one face. His. Even the Galatians would have given you their eyes for painting His. I would give you mine if I could see with yours." ^
3. The vision becomes clearer through service. We learn to know our friend, not only by conversation and correspondence, but still more by work. It is when we receive a note from him, asking us to come up and help him in his day's duties, that we feel not only honoured by the request, but delighted with the prospect of getting that further insight into his character which a share in his work will certainly give. Perhaps the invitation is to be his secretary, and we shall then see how he bears himself in relation with others; or his messenger, when his mind will be laid open to us in the secrets he confides ; or it may be he proposes to give us a piece of work to ourselves, and we shall have the happiness of discovering how it ought to be done. It is not other- wise with our Lord. His revelations are not reserved for those smaller and more definite acts of communion with Him which we call prayer. The larger parts of life are illuminated by His Presence. When we begin to realize that all our work is work for Him ; that the work in the study, the office, and the shop may
1 H. H. Colvill, Saint Teresa of Spain, 124.
2 J. Rendel Harris, The Sufferings ami the Glorij (1914), 138. REV. — 23
354 THE PERFECT LIFE
be His as truly as the ministry in the Church or the mission room, then we shall learn to expect such visits of encouragement and guidance as some great employer of labour now and again pays to his workpeople.
^ I find again and again illustrations of the saying, which I believe came from our Lord's own lips, though it is recorded in no gospel : " Eaise the stone, and there thou shalt find Me ; cleave the wood and there am I." The raising of the stone, the cleaving of the wood, are not works in themselves of an interesting or lofty character. They stand for the humble duties of life. Yet it is just then — when pursuing our daily tasks, which whether they be of head or of hand seem often so monotonous and so unprofitable — there at least as much as in our acts of private devotion, that I find from the experiences of Christian men and the witness of the Scriptures themselves that the Lord makes Himself known to us.i