page 33

IV.—How can we Know God?

I will suppose that we now stand upon the [unclear: platform] of the Deist; that we are fully persuaded of [unclear: the] existence of an all-powerful, all-wise, all-perfect [unclear: Being], who has existed from all eternity, and who is [unclear: subject] to no change; from whom nothing is hid, [unclear: because,] by the very nature of His being, He [unclear: filleth] all things"; from whom all things proceed, and by [unclear: whom] all things consist; whose passionless will [unclear: is] the fountain of all law, and whose unclouded [unclear: intelligence] is the source of all perfection. It will follow [unclear: from] this acceptance of a limitless Spiritual Being [unclear: without] body or parts, that there is no point of space [unclear: whither] we could fly to escape from Him, no possible [unclear: accumulation] of organised matter which could hide [unclear: as] from Him; that as we are surrounded by the [unclear: terrestrial] atmosphere so, in the very words of [unclear: Scripture,] "in Him we live and move and have our [unclear: being.]" God knows us therefore, perfectly, and sins [unclear: which] even human sense of shame drives us into [unclear: darkness] to transact are not done in secret or in [unclear: shade] so far as He is concerned. "He is about our [unclear: path] and about our bed, and spies out all our ways." [unclear: There] is no doubt that God sees and knows us, for [unclear: spirit] must always triumph over matter—as even our [unclear: spirit] and our very thoughts can somewhat gird the [unclear: globe.] But our inquiry to-night is the converse of page 34 this—How can we know God? Now, it need [unclear: ha] be said that physical organs of vision are not [unclear: ada] to behold spiritual substance, if indeed [unclear: they] all capable of it—which I imagine they are [unclear: not-] God is a spirit," "no man hath seen God [unclear: at] time." He is such an one as "no man hath [unclear: se] can see," though "He be not very far from [unclear: any] of us." As a blind man may be [unclear: encompassed] every side with light which yet he is unable [unclear: to] ceive, so may we be ever in the presence [unclear: of] whom yet, by mere physical vision, we [unclear: can] know. A time will come indeed when to the [unclear: faif] searcher after God the beatific vision will be [unclear: fras] but that is not until he himself has [unclear: underg] change, and his natural body (soma [unclear: pseukokor)] been transformed into a spiritual [unclear: body (some matikon)]. Our present inquiry, [unclear: however,] only to our present condition. Man as he [unclear: is] God as he is, can there be no communication [unclear: bet] one and the other? No sort of [unclear: understand] No recognition? No bond? To answer [unclear: these] tions as they are asked by the mere Deist—[unclear: the] who has not yet accepted the Bible with [unclear: its] statements harmonising so wonderfully [unclear: with] philosophy and with our needs—we must [unclear: su] ourselves to be in the position of men [unclear: without] Bible, and make a present to the mere [unclear: Ration] all the blessed experience the world has had [unclear: of] clear light of revelation for so long time, [unclear: w] not pretend that we can really surrender [unclear: these] vantages, because the Christian's own [unclear: experience] moments of rapturous intercourse with God, [unclear: of] comfort and balm-like peace, founded upon [unclear: or] out of promises which he believes on good [unclear: ge] to be promises of God, affords some of the [unclear: ste] persuasions of the reality of that [unclear: intercourse] page 35 therefore the possibility of such communications, but for the present we must address ourselves to other considerations. The Deist fully admits these two important propositions, viz., the existence of God and His character. He would probably himself describe that character as perfect righteousness and perfect benevolence; he would also allow that the truest happiness of man consists in his correspondence with that character—that when the actions of our will correspond with our knowledge of duty, or when the actions of our affections correspond with the law of goodwill towards men, that in either case we experience the satisfaction which we speak of as the approval of conscience. The Deist then, readily admitting these points, will not deny that the more perfectly our conduct can be made to correspond with the character of God the greater our happiness, nor that closer correspondence is likely to be fostered by more intimate knowledge—which at least exhibits the desirability of a revelation of God to [unclear: man,] a desirability which Plato long ago pointed out [unclear: to] his pupils, a desirability which possibly the Deist [unclear: himself] might, in the language of Job, most [unclear: fervently;] express; but desirability, if it be well founded, is, in such a case as we are dealing with, a very strong argument of probability—for the Being whose revelation of Himself to us seems to promise such immense advantage is not only well disposed to His creatures, because benevolent, but also is, by the very definition of His being, as the source of all law, and the director of all operations, entirely and unrestrictedly capable of accomplishing that which [unclear: eemeth] to Him good. The well-known arguments of Paley in his introduction to the study of the Christian Evidences very forcibly support this point. But passing from the probability of a revelation being page 36 made to the mode by which such revelation [unclear: could] made, which is the question before us, I [unclear: would] you realise fully the import in such an [unclear: inquri] the powers and faculties with which the [unclear: Create] endowed us. Our powers of mind give us the [unclear: cop] to receive ideas, the faculty of language [unclear: enable] express, communicate, or transmit those [unclear: ideas]. to confess that we received these powers [unclear: from] but in the same breath to deny to that [unclear: mnip] Creator the ability to operate upon those [unclear: ideas] so to make use of our faculty of [unclear: language,] the reverse of reasonable. But if God can [unclear: th] upon our mind so as to produce therein [unclear: dis] ideas which we can translate into human [unclear: lang] then He can communicate His will, or [unclear: reveal] self to us. I am well aware that it may be [unclear: object] that man can form no ideas or conceptions of the of [unclear: which] he has had no experience, or [unclear: which] not been described to him by others [unclear: within] experience the matters described have [unclear: come;] this affords no valid objection to what [unclear: I] advanced, because we are speaking not [unclear: of] innate power of forming ideas, but of [unclear: God's] of suggesting ideas to men. It is very [unclear: certain] man possesses such a power as this in [unclear: relation] fellow, and that it can be exercised in [unclear: many] As for example, I am now trying to [unclear: commu] ideas to you, or as when the instructor in [unclear: che] exhibits to his wondering pupils phenomena [unclear: nected] with some elements with which [unclear: they] unacquainted before. Nay, it is even [unclear: affirmed] man has, or that some men have, the power [unclear: of] municating their thoughts to others [unclear: direc] without the instrumentalities of [unclear: language] experiment, and that there is sufficient [unclear: evoid] the existence of this power to warrant the [unclear: f] page 37 lation of a new science under the name of Odic force. If then in any or all of these ways we, hampered as we are with all the limitations of our material bodies, can thus communicate with others, it does not seem too much to attribute to God the power of instructing His creatures by the revelation of Himself. But mark, I am not asserting that it is possible for man even to receive ideas of things which are altogether unlike anything which he can see or know, or even mentally cognize on earth. When we speak of God revealing Himself we do not mean the display of Himself in the full reality of the Divine Essence, or even in the overwhelming grandeur of His superlative attributes; we mean His manifestation of Himself in measure and mode [unclear: suitable] to our capacities. And nothing beyond this is required if it be the prime object of that revelation to bring about as close a correspondence as the nature of the case allows between ourselves and Him. These considerations apply directly to the question of how we may know God. For they apply to the origin and character of that marvellous Volume, the origin and character of which appear to me to be explicable upon no other reasonable hypothesis than that it proceeds from Him—I mean the Bible, a book the scope of which embraces ages, spans indeed the history of mankind from eternity to eternity, which exhibits throughout the long series of separate contributors—though living in different countries, in ages widely separated, or under conditions of life as diverse as can be imagined—an unbroken unity of design from the Paradise of Eden the Paradise of God. Which, within that unity, displays the steady march of marvellous development, unhurried, unbroken, unimpeachable, from the first simple presentment of "the God of Might" through page 38 the sublime pourtrayals of prophetic imagery [unclear: to] full illustration of infinite Majesty, shining [unclear: forth] infinite Tenderness, in the person of the [unclear: Altogether] Lovely. Or, if from broad survey we turn to [unclear: min] examination, we behold the types of one age, [unclear: where] of ritual service or of personal history, [unclear: f] exactly, with a perfect coincidence, into the [unclear: an] of a far distant age. The announcements [unclear: of] of one generation, unintelligible probably to [unclear: the] selves and of most astounding character, yet [unclear: ver] by the facts of a long succeeding [unclear: generation.] under all these circumstances, which are [unclear: as] before you to-day as they have been before [unclear: the] of any time—I know not how to [unclear: explain] phenomena upon any other principle than [unclear: that] human intelligence of the many writers of [unclear: this] was acted upon by the Divine Intelligence, [unclear: and] He who enabled man to clothe his ideas [unclear: in] made use of that instrument of language [unclear: to] His purposes to men. If these things be [unclear: so,] have at least one way in which God may [unclear: be] to men, viz., by His own declaration of [unclear: Himself]

I will not at this time go back upon [unclear: points] which I have touched in former addresses, [unclear: altho] would be found that several of these [unclear: points] a very direct application to the question we [unclear: are] discussing. For instance, that evidence [unclear: of] existence and character which affords us [unclear: ground] belief in God at all gives us also a [unclear: very] knowledge of Him—the knowledge of [unclear: faith] again, if, as I before argued, we are able [unclear: to] any consciousness of the reality of God's [unclear: exist] as we obtain a consciousness of the reality [unclear: of] existence of our fellow-creatures, that [unclear: concio] itself presumes a very high degree of [unclear: knowl] without which indeed it could not be. [unclear: But] page 39 [unclear: interesting] or valuable it may be to expand these [unclear: subjects,] I pass them by, because we have now [unclear: reached] another platform, and from its elevation [unclear: more] glorious prospects open out before us, the [unclear: mountain] peaks of this landscape are aglow with a [unclear: celestial] radiance. Let us leave that which is behind and turn to these. In response, then, to the [unclear: impassioned] appeal of Job expressive of the anxious [unclear: longing] of the human soul, "Oh, that I knew where [unclear: I] night find Him," we are able now to answer, [unclear: "Thou] shalt find Him in His word;" and turning [unclear: to] that word, we find not only spiritual principles [unclear: and] moral instructions coming forth from Him to [unclear: show] us what He is—not only declarations of [unclear: holiness,] righteousness, and peace; not only messages [unclear: querying] His will, or gracious invitations calling us, [unclear: with] more than mother's love, to come to Him; but we see there, as the great outstanding purpose of the [unclear: book,] proclaimed in every way by which we are [unclear: capable] of receiving such an intimation, the [unclear: intention] of God to make Himself known to us not by [unclear: word] only, but by a personal illustration—He would [unclear: visit] His people. Who does not recognise the force [unclear: of] personality? Example, attraction, influence—all these forces are in constant exercise by the contact [unclear: of] one personality with another. God condescended [unclear: to] use these forces to draw us to Himself; to use [unclear: them] always consistently with the freedom He has [unclear: given] us; and to this end He would become as one [unclear: of] us. When we accept Scripture as one means of knowing God we must accept the Incarnatian too, [unclear: of] Scripture itself is meaningless; and, accepting [unclear: the] Incarnation, we have not only that manifestation of the Godhead to men which Plato considered [unclear: reasonable] but we have in this personality an example which is perfect, an attraction which is universal and page 40 all but irresistible, an influence which [unclear: reaches] most secret recesses of our being. Let the [unclear: unright] man associate with the upright, he will know [unclear: his] degradation. Let the vicious be a companion [unclear: of] pure, he will know [unclear: his] own repulsiveness in [unclear: behold] the attractiveness of virtue. Let the sin-[unclear: enthral] become intimate with the sin-conqueror, he [unclear: will] more loathe his own slavery by beholding the [unclear: glo] liberty of the children of God. And thus [unclear: be] knows Christ comes to know him self, and [unclear: knows] self because he knows God—"the only [unclear: begotten] who dwelleth in the bosom of the Father, [unclear: he] revealed him." "He that hath seen me," it is assertion of this revealer, "hath seen the [unclear: F] also." "If ye had known me ye should have [unclear: kn] the Father also, and henceforth ye know [unclear: Him] have seen Him." It is no new answer, [unclear: perhaps,] it is still the true one, to the question [unclear: "How] know God?" to say the "light of the [unclear: knowledge] the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus [unclear: Ch]

But the subject is not yet exhausted. [unclear: These] still other agencies by which God may be knows who made us [unclear: knoweth] whereof we are made—it knows the complexity of our manifold [unclear: nature,] is, even yet, the shattered image of His [unclear: own] presents Himself to every part of it that [unclear: the] man may be satisfied, and not some [unclear: faculties] us only; God must be embraced not by the [unclear: ind] only, by a dry assent of the logical understand but by a vital act of the whole inward [unclear: man.] in flesh the Godhead is presented to us [unclear: objective] Standing, as it were, upon a very sea of [unclear: corra] in a corrupt age, He exhibits the [unclear: holiness] "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" [unclear: Desy] and rejected of men, enduring all [unclear: things-] torture, spiritual anguish, bodily suffering—[unclear: He] page 41 plays the long-suffering of God, surrendering Himself to death—as in this holy week we seem to see Him—He shows at once the justice and the love of God. It is a wondrous illustration; the world should never tire of seeing the Father through the Son. But all is objective, it is knowledge of God through [unclear: external] facts. Another work is needed yet to bring [unclear: the] knowledge of God to the spirit of a man within. To accept God as He is, reason and observation [unclear: must] be seconded by heart and conscience; there must be subjective reception as well as objective [unclear: vision] and rational perception. To know God truly requires a preparation of the heart, a certain temper of the will and the affections, as well as the conviction of the mind; and all this too has been provided for There is a Spirit who speaks to our spirits if we leave any door open by which He may gain success there. If we have not encased our hearts with adamant; if we are still seeking to find eat God—not with our brains only, but with a conscious yearning of our whole nature—"Oh, that I might find Him, that I might come into His seat!" that Blessed Spirit will calmly as in visions of the [unclear: might] take of the things of God and show them unto you. Your whole body will be full of light; you will know God as the loving child the parent on whose breast he leans.

There are still higher flights of knowledge yet to be attained. They will be reached by those who in faithful obedience follow the God they knew in part, for they shall know the doctrine, the deeper things of God, and they will find their highest glory and their highest bliss not in a knowledge externally derived, even though that know-ledge come from God, but that in a mystic union with God through Christ and sacramental operation by page 42 the Holy Ghost they have become partakers [unclear: of] Divine nature. Christ in them and they in [unclear: Chrishchrist] in God; they know Him now, [unclear: because] know their regenerated selves in Him.

"Brothers, had your hearts' altar an [unclear: inscription] it 'to the Unknown God?'" I have striven to [unclear: de] Him unto you. I asked to be allowed to take yon [unclear: by] hand; together we have trod the mazes of a [unclear: long] winding path. If I have stumbled on the [unclear: way] give me; I knew that there were shorter [unclear: tracks,] this seemed one that you would choose to [unclear: travel] has been a journey of discovery, and we [unclear: here] that Nature could not bring us home to [unclear: God] she herself, though beautiful, is blind; [unclear: unless] that she herself is God—then we are gods, for [unclear: w] lords of Nature and find nothing in Nature [unclear: bg] than ourselves; but yet we sought [unclear: beyond] judging that thought, and will, justice, and [unclear: love,] truth must have a homo superior to our [unclear: breasts,] that they resided not in earth and sea and [unclear: air] deemed that He who was these things, [unclear: and] from all eternity was God. And we [unclear: would] ourselves to Him if but we knew Him and [unclear: He] for us. We found that we might know [unclear: Him,] gave motion to our thoughts and language [unclear: to] lips, and thus we thought that He might [unclear: speak] through fellow-men, as even man finds [unclear: instru] which can repeat what once was [unclear: breathed] them, though by an absent one—and [unclear: knowing] word we know Him altogether—are [unclear: brought] darkness into light—from being outcast [unclear: wand] to the home of sons in the bosom of the [unclear: F]

Brothers, the title of sons may not be borne by [unclear: the] who have not with Christ been crucified [unclear: to] by Christ raised to a life of new motive [unclear: and] ward aim.

page break