The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 158

indeed altogether beyond me88ure. If men live, as millions do, without this faith, they live below the possibilities of their nature and calling. It is this faith that give& to tho human heart peace, strength, and hope; and to the human life and lot meaning, stability, and grandeur. Without it, man is not truly man; with it he is a son oC God himself. Yet this faith is not easy to any of ns; to multitudes it ie, in their sf;ate, barely possible, perhaps not possible at all. God knows this, and pities our infirmity. Hence his interposition on our behalf, his revelation of himself to our ignorant, necessitous, and helpless souls. Eis mercy, his compassion, his Fatherly counsel, have provided for this emergency. The supreme manifestation of himself is not in lifeless matter or in living forms, is not even in the universal reason and conscience of man- kind. He has come unto us, and spoken in our hearing, and made himself known to our spirits, in the Person of his Sm. In him he appeals to us, summoning and inviting us to faith. No longer is he hidden from our sight, no longer distant from our heart. I. CHRIST'S PRESENCE AMONG MEN 18 THE PRESENCE O'B' Gon. This, indeed, ie the meaning of the incarnation of our Lord. God's works we see on every side, proofs of "his eternal power and Godhead "-witnesses without which he has never left himself. But God himself no man hath seen at any time. Yet he would have us know him; not only know something about him, but know himself. Hence " the Word became flesh, and dwelt among ns, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." He is" the Image of the invisible God," "the Brightness of his glory, and the express Image of his Person." Christ was conscious of this relation, and· both assumed and declared it. Nowhere in language more definite and simple than here: "He that seeth me seeth him that sent me." What wants were met in this manifestation ! One fancies the exiled Hebrew, panting forth his heart's deep want, exclaiming in religious fervour, " My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God I When shall I come and appear before God?" Some glimpse of his majesty and his grace the devout psalmist might hope to gain in the temple, which was the scene of his presence, his service, and his praise. But what language would that ardent spirit have found to express its wondering gratitude, could the vision of Immanuel have flashed upon it? One fancies the .Athenian philosopb.ers, "seeking the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him;" the .Athenian poet, by a stretch of imagination and in a rapture of natural piety, rising to the conviction, "We are also his offspring:"· But what satisfaction, what joy, would have come to such hearts, yea.ruing for the unknown God, had the Divine Man come to them, with the declaration of marvellous simplicity and grace, "He that bath seen me bath seen the Father " ! But this was a revelation, not only for saints and prophets, for sages and for poets, but for all mankind. When the husbandma.n hailed the rising sun, a.nd the seaman gazed upon the steadfast pole-star, this question must have arisen-Is this the handiwork of God? When the father looked upon the lifeless form of his beloved child, what thought could soothe and temper the bitterness of his bereavement and his woe, except his confidence in the supreme Father's care and love? And when the old man came to die, what could light up the dark future into which he was hastening, save the uncreated liaht which comes from the unseen? In their manifold questionings and doubts, s.;'rrows, infirmities, and fears, men have looked above, and we do not say they have not received some tokens of Divine sympathy and love; they have " cried unto God with their voice," and he has heard and succoured them. But how dim has been their vision I How faint their faith I How inarticulate the response which has reached them from afar I They would fain have believed; from many a. soul went up the eager and intense inquiry, "Who is he, that I might believe?" Nothing did they so deeply desire as to see him, who is the .Author of all being and the Arbiter of all destinies; but as they strained their vision, it was as those peering into the scarcely penetrable twilight, with eyes suffused with tears. Who can by searching :find out God, or know the Almiahty to perfection? Why this want was at once a.wakened, and allowed to remain so lo~g unsatisfied, we caunot tell. It is one or those mysteries upon which eternity may shed some light; for time hao little to yield. It is enough for us that "in the fulness of the time God sent forth his Son," that this Son of Goel is the one Object of human belief, the Centre attracting the gaze of all eyes, and the love and reverence of all hearts. In human form, through human lifo ancl death, with human voice, God,  164 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. JOHN. [oH. xn. 1-60.