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The Knowledge of God
us acquainted with His being, personality and moral attributes; but it does not exhaust the theme. It leads us along a road, lighted by visions and prophecies, until it opens into another and clearer road; to wit, “The Incarnate Word of God”. And this fifth road, the Incarnation, is the way which all truth-seekers must pursue i f they would finally arrive at a just and saving knowledge of God. I t is here that we meet Christ, bringing the message from the throne. He comes into our world with the express purpose of making God known to us; as it is written, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him”. He is called the Word, because He is the medium of com munication between the Infinite and the finite; as it is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” : that is to say, the Incarnation is the articula tion of the speech of God. In the Scriptures we have a letter from God; but in the Incarnation, we have the coming down of God to unveil Him self before us. The soul of sinful man is like a child lost among strangers, wild-eyed, lips trembling, eyes searching vainly for a familiar face. Ah, here the mother comes! And the child is sobbing out its happiness on her breast. “Cuddle doon, my baimie!” So is it when the sinner finds Christ; or shall we not rather say, when Christ, the seeking God, finds him? If, then, wp are ever to learn theology it must be as dis ciples, sitting in a docile attitude at the feet of Christ. He, as the incarnate Son, is our authoritative Teacher. What, therefore, has He to say about God ? As to His being, He has little or nothing to say; for the obvious reason that God’s being is the substratum of Christ’s entire doctrine, without which it would be as insignificant as a painted ship upon a painted ocean. Moreover, all His
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