is a Spirit; but which of us knows what a pure spirit
is, which of us can conceive in our minds a distinct idea of what we so
freely speak of as a spirit? Indeed, it is because it is impossible for
us to have any sufficient idea of God as He is in Himself that He has
become man and manifested Himself in flesh.

This revelation of God in man implies that there is an affinity and
likeness between God and man--that man is made in God's image. Were it
not so, we should see in Christ, not God at all, but only man. If God is
manifest in Christ, it is because there is that in God which can find
suitable expression in a human life and person. In fact, this revelation
takes for granted that in a sense it is quite true that God is a
magnified Man--that He is a Being in whom there is much that resembles
what is in man. And it stands to reason that this must be so. It is
quite true that man can only conceive what is like himself; but that is
only half the truth. It is also true that God can only create what is
consistent with His own mind. In His creatures we see a reflection of
Himself. And as we ascend from the lowest of them to the highest, we see
what He considers the highest qualities. Finding in ourselves these
highest qualities--qualities which enable us to understand all lower
creatures and to use them--we gather that in God Himself there must be
something akin to our mind and to our inner man.

Christ, then, is "the Truth," because He is the Revealer of God. In Him
we learn what God is and how to approach Him. But knowledge is not
enough. It is conceivable that we should have learned much about God and
yet have despaired of ever becoming like Him. It might gradually have
become our conviction that we were for ever shut out from all good,
although that is incompatible with a true knowledge of God; for if God
is known at all, He must be known as Love, as self-communicating. But
the possibility of having knowledge which we cannot use is precluded by
the fact that He who is the Truth is also the Life. In Him who is the
Revealer we at the same time find power to avail ourselves of the
revelation. For:

II. "I am the Life." The declaration need not be restricted to the
immediate occasion, Christ imparts to men power to use the knowledge of
the Father He gives them. He gives men desire, will, and power to live
with God and in God. But is not all life implied in this? This is life
as men are destined to know it.

In every man