revelations
of God all through the Old Testament, and the gathering together of all
those revelations into Christ in the New Testament in such fullness and
finality that He could say: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

But God and Christ must be seen before they can be trusted. Not
intellectually or historically, but spiritually seen. And they can be seen
only by spiritual eyes. And spiritual vision is possible only through the
divine touch. And the divine touch is given only to those who consent; it
is not forced on any one. And the attitude of consent is precisely the
attitude set forth in Christ's formula: "If any man wills to do, he shall
know."

Only by coming into this attitude can any man see God. "The pure in
=heart=," said Christ, "shall see God." It is a heart attitude. And the
meaning of the purity of heart that opens the vision to God is brought out
when Christ is asked the question, "How is it that Thou wilt manifest
Thyself unto us and not unto the world?" His answer is of the utmost
significance. He says, "If a man love Me, he will =keep My words=." Keeping
His words, willing to do His will--this is the attitude that opens the
vision to Him. He and the Father can manifest themselves to and be seen by
those only who are in the attitude of consent toward the keeping of His
words. This is the only attitude that can bring the anointing of the eyes
with that eye-salve which opens them to spiritual vision.

But when the eyes, in response to this attitude of willingness toward the
will of God, are once opened to spiritual things, then God, in all the
perfections of His divine character, is seen both in the Bible, the written
Word, and in Christ, the living Word, and this two-fold revelation of Him
is seen to be as perfect and flawless as the God who is thus revealed.
Those who think they see imperfections either in the Bible or in Christ are
spiritually blind. For when one thinks he sees flaws where there are only
infinite perfections, he advertises to all that he is attempting the
impossible task of examining spiritual realities with his natural vision,
and is therefore passing judgment on what he has never seen.

But when the spiritual vision has once been opened, and God is really seen,
in the Bible and in Christ, in all the perfections of His infinitely holy
and loving character, the =reason= at once leads to the conclusion from the
facts seen that such a Being is to be trusted, and active fait