us Christ, which is so direct, so immediate, that it
deserves the name of vision; and which, as I believe, is the ground of a
firmer certitude, and of a no less clear apprehension, than is the sense
from which the name is borrowed. For the illusions of sense have no
place in the sight which the pure heart has of its Father, God.

Only, remember that here, and in the interpretation of all such
Scriptural words, we have ever to be guided and governed by the great
principle which our Lord laid down, under very solemn circumstances,
when He said: 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' Jesus Christ,
whose name from eternity is the Word, is, from eternity to eternity,
that which the name indicates--viz. the revealing activity of the
eternal God. And, as I believe, wherever there have been kindled in
men's hearts, either by the contemplation of nature and providence, or
by the intuitions of their own spirits, any glints or glimpses of a God,
there has been the operation of 'the Light that lighteth every man that
cometh into the world.' And far beyond the limits of historical
Revelation within Israel, as recorded in Scripture, that Eternal Word
has been unveiling, as men's dim eyes were capable of perceiving it, the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God. But for us who stand in the
full blaze of that historical manifestation in the character and work of
Jesus Christ our Saviour, our vision of God is neither more nor less
than the apprehension and the realisation of Christ as 'God manifest in
the flesh.'

Whether you call it the vision of God, or whether you call it communion
with God in Jesus Christ, or whether you fall back upon the other
metaphor of God dwelling in us and we dwelling in God, it all comes to
the same thing, the consciousness of His presence, the realisation of
His character, the blessed assurance of loving relations with Him, and
the communion in mind, heart, will, and conduct, with God who has come
near to us all in Jesus Christ.

Now, I need not remind you, I suppose, that for such a realisation and
active, real communion, purity of heart is indispensable. That is no
arbitrary requirement, but inherent, as we all know, in the very nature
of the case. If we think of what He is, we shall feel that only the pure
in heart can really pass into loving fellowship with Him. 'How can two
walk together except they be agreed?' And if we reflect upon the history
of our own feelings and realisation of God's