532 EXODUS, XXXIII. 18, 19. [ill.
but " faithful also, and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness V The world at large, indeed, and multitudes even of the Christian world, have no experimental sense of these things : and the reason of their blindness is, they have not faith (for " all men have not faith0"): but to believers, " Christ manifests himself as he does not unto the world4;" and so enables them to " behold his glory, that they are changed by it into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lorde." Blush, then, ye who " see in Christ no beauty nor comeliness for which he is to be desiredf :" know, that it is the result of " unbelief, by which the devil has blinded you&:" and that, "if ye will be- lieve, ye shall see the glory of God11;" ye shall see it, not only in the exercise of his power, but also in the display of " all his goodness."]
3. The efficacy of prayer —
[Wonderfully is this illustrated in the passage before us. But shall we suppose that God is less condescending now than in the days of Moses, or that he will not answer prayer at this time as well as then ? Know ye, that God is the same gracious God as ever: "with him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning1: " " The prayer of the upright is still his delight k," as much as at any period of the world : and that " those who come to him in his Son's name, he will in no wise cast out." On the contrary, he tells us, that " we may ask what we will; and it shall be done unto us1." There is no limit to his answers to believing prayer, except such as his own glory, or our capacity, have imposed. " It is not in him that we are straitened, but in our own bowels m." How, then, should we urge the petition of Moses, and say, " O Lord, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory ! " Let us have but " one thing to desire of the Lord ; " and let that be, that we may behold his glory": let us go into his presence: and say, with David, " O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee : my soul thirsteth for thee ; my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power and thy glory ° :" and God will draw aside the veil that intercepts our views of him; yea, "he will come down from the habitation of his holiness and his glory p," and present himself before us, saying, " Here I ami" He would even fulfil to us his pro- mise, " hearing us before we ask, and answering whilst yet we
b 1 John i. 9. c 2 Thess. iii. 2. d John xiv. 22.
e 2 Cor. iii. 18. * Isai. liii. 2. s 2 Cor. iv. 4.
h John xi. 40. ' Jam. i. 17. k Prov. xv. 8.
1 John xv. 7. m 2 Cor. vi. 12. n Ps. xxvii. 4.
0 Ps. lxiii. 1, 2. p Isai. lxiii. 15. i Isai. lviii. 9.