The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-05-14
THE DIVINE FAMILIARITY.

Nothing could more eftectually contraaic
this idea than the life of the Son of God OF
earth. He mingled with men in the mos
intimate and familiar intercourse. When h
taught he gathered his hearers around hin
as he sat. His works of healing were dom
by laying his hands on the sufferers. Th
people crowded SO tbickly about him tina
sometimes he could hardly move for tn
throng. He shared the meals of his friends
and was gue9t at their social entertainments
Even after MS resurrection, he shared th'
fisherman meal upon the shore. What bet
ter representation could there be of Divine
presence, close and companionable with the
most every day mood of life?
Yet even this revelation of God has beer
misunderstood. Even while declaring Jesus
Christ to be very God, men have sometimes
so separated him from the Father, as to put
his tenderness in contrast with the sternness
of righteous judge. They have imagined
gentle and loving Christ, standing between
man and Deity whose goodness was awful
and severe. So, to a great extent, while
their affections have gone out warmly toward
the Saviour who walked the earth and lives
in Heaven, their thought of God the father
has been full of fear, and of reverence too
solemn for joyful and familiar nearness.
But it was the express mission and work
of Christ to reveal to US the Fathers true
and inner nature. He was himself revela-
ton of the Father. Whatever sweetness,
whatever forgiving disposition, whatever &C
feasibility, whatever close companionship,
whatever sympathy and nearness, appeared
in him,-these, he thought, expressed what
was in the heart Of the unseen Father
That was the message he came to bring. 1t
was such good news that men could hardly
receive it. They had apprehended God first
as the possessor of boundless physical power /;
and, as to inferior natures power implies
tyranny rather than benefcence, they had
trembled before this God of power. Next
they rose to the idea of Diety free froU sin,
morally spotless and holy. And, conscious
of their own Sinfulness, they felt rebuked
before God, and were afraid of him, in a
better way than before, but still with the
sense of an npassable gulf between him and
them. Grs ually they gained some concep
ton of ben gence and forgiveness as b.
longing to the Divine nature. But still,
their Deity vas for the most part awful and
unapproachable to their thoughts. lie seemed
TO them serrioie rather taan loyely. Hewas
Creator, Ruler, Judge, Ayenger, er,-butit was
heard to call him Father.
So, when Deity walked the earth, men
were slow to penetrate the disguise. "He
was in the world, and the world knew him
not" But the man Jesus became to those
who knew him the very embodiment of all
comfort and helpfulness. In sorrow he was
their supreme consoler. In doubt he was
their guide. To all their lowness of thought
and feeling he stopped, lifting them always
into clearer light and sweeter disposition.
In the years they lived together, he became
more than mother ever waste her child
When the cloud of his coming departure
overshadowed them, it seemed that they were
going to lose every thing at once. Then it
was disclosed to them in the most tender
words that this earthly experience had been
but disclosure of the eternal relations be-
tween the Divine Father and his human
children. Philip, still troubled by the old
uncertainty, said unto him "Lord show us
the Father and it sufficeth u.s. Jesus said
unto him, "Have been so long time with
you, and yet has thou not known me Philip?
He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. "
We who have received this revelation are
slow and backward in entering into the lib
erty and JOY that it bids US to. We feel as
if God were only to be approached after
preparation. We seek audience of him, for
the most part, in the solemnity of the Church,
or of retirement. We preface our prayers
with Acknowledgements of unworthiness, that
are almost apologies for coming to him at
all. So, too, we resort to him in our times
of trouble and distress, of great temptation
and of all grave emergency. But we are
sloE to call in the thought of him to our
eVsSy day experiences. We keep it for the
Church; we do not carry it with US in oul
families and places of business and our walks
among common things.
1t is wrong to our Father thus to dis
sociate him from the greater part of oul
lives He would be. taken into them, not a,
an awful visitor, but as living friend. How
is it with earthly parents? Do they NEE
their children only for serious instruction
and with grave faces? Do they withhold
their presence until some great need crie
out for it? No; they delight to enter int
the whole life Of their children; they join il
their games, and encourage them in all in
nocent freedom. The sport is merriest whel
father or mother shares in it. The chile
runs to tell every thing to its mother, AM
enjoy her sympathy. And in these conf
dences the mother is happier even than tn
child. She finds her pleasure in its pleasure
Its constant appeal for her interest and sym
pathy is the sweetest return she gets for al
her motherly cares.
That is the disposition of our Heavenl.