"Have I been so long Time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?"
"Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe," said our Blessed Lord to those earthly-minded Israelites, who were ever looking for some external display of supernatural power, as the only means of conviction in matters of religion. This fatal mistake hath prevailed too much in the world; and still maintains its ground, even among those, whose views are more spiritual, and who have been taught to look upon religion as an internal operation, the work of God's Spirit upon their souls. They do not, indeed, seek for an outward sign, as the Jews of old did; they see the impropriety of this under a spiritual dispensation: their delusion, however, though perhaps more refined, is equally dangerous. They cannot conceive that the Divine Power and Presence can be manifested to the human soul, in any other way; than by extraordinary impressions, visions, or extasies. Thus, whilst they are looking out for the appearance of their God in a whirl-wind, a fire, or an earthquake, their attention is wholly withdrawn from that "Still Small Voice," in which he usually addresses himself to the hearts of his creatures.
Such was the sad delusion under which poor Philip seems to have laboured. "Lord, shew us the Father, said he, and it sufficeth us." Give us some visible sign, some sensible demonstration of the Father's power and presence with thee. Let him rend the heavens and come down; and if thou art indeed his Son, let him own and honour thee as such, by placing himself near to thy sacred person, and breaking forth in a flood of glory upon our outward senses. Poor mistaken disciple! Little didst thou think of the dreadful consequences which might have attended the granting of thy request. It might have over-whelmed thy weak nature, but could never have wrought any salutary conviction in thy soul: thy outward senses could not have sustained the shock, and thy mind would have continued as dark as ever, notwithstanding the heavenly effulgence that surrounded thee.
Ignorant, weak, and deluded, as Philip seems to have been, his Blessed Master bore with his infirmities, and answered him with all that sweetness and gentleness, that usually accompanied even his censures and reproofs—"Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. How sayest thou then, shew us the Father?"
Not one of all those excellencies and perfections, which constitute the Divine Nature, but thou mightest have beheld manifested in me. The healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, making the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the dumb to speak, instructing the ignorant, and preaching the gospel to the poor, all these are the surest marks and evidences that can possibly be given of the immediate presence of the Divinity within me. He, therefore, who hath seen me thus manifesting the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of my Heavenly Father, in these works of wonder, tenderness, and love to his children, "hath seen the Father;" inasmuch, as in the present state of things, there is no other way in which God can manifest himself to you his fallen creatures, but by awakening your attention to every act and sensibility of goodness, which you may discover either in yourselves or others. And as all these divine communications are imparted from the Father through me; so in my miracles life and conversation, had you yielded a proper attention, you might have seen "the Brightness of the Father's Glory, and the Express Image of his Person." "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?"
From this particular conversation of our Lord with his disciple, as well as from the whole tenor of the Gospel, arises this grand and fundamental truth: that our real knowledge of Christ depends upon an attention of the mind to those Tempers, Qualities, Dispositions and Actions, which he manifested in his life here upon earth, and which are recorded in Scripture for our instruction, accompanied with a surrender of our will and affections to those inward calls, motions, and sensibilities of Goodness, by which he reveals himself with all his heavenly tempers in our hearts. Christ, therefore, makes himself known to us in these two principal ways, in his Word, and in our Hearts.
His Word, or what is known by the name of the Holy Scripture, is only the outward testimony—the rule or standard providentially transmitted to us, by which we are to judge of the reality of his Presence in our Hearts. It tells us of a Christ, who lived, and suffered, and died in our human nature, in order to teach us how to live, and suffer, and die. It assures us, that our everlasting salvation depends upon our knowledge of this Christ; that this knowledge can only be attained by seeking him earnestly; that the place where he chuses to be found, where he loves to reside, is in the human heart;" that "his kingdom is within us;" that he is "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;" that he is the "hope of glory," in every son and daughter of fallen Adam.
The Scriptures likewise testify of the manner of his appearance and residence within us—that he manifests himself as a destroyer of that evil work, which the Devil has wrought in our nature; first convincing us of sin, of the darkness and misery of our fallen life, and then pointing out to us the paths of righteousness; opening and unfolding all those sweet and lovely qualities, of which himself is the great Fountain Spirit, and which he distributes to every man according to his capacity and desire of receiving them.
To know Christ, therefore, is carefully to cultivate those holy and heavenly tempers and dispositions, which he manifested in his outward life here upon earth, and which he now continues to manifest in the breasts of all those who diligently seek after him. To know Christ, is to know and feel the power of "love, joy; peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Wherever these Graces take up their residence, there is the Temple of Jesus. These are the ministring servants that wait at his altar: and the sacrifices which they there present and offer, are all the earthly and diabolical passions with which human nature is polluted and oppressed,—pride, envy, covetousness, jealousy, lust, wrath, bitterness of spirit, and all the rest of the infernal legion. Love, Love Divine, is the vestal fire which there burns pure and perpetual; which cleanses, refines, sublimates, and glorifies every thing that comes within its reach.
In this sense, Christ has been a long time, indeed, among the sons of men, though they may not have known him: He has been long "come to his own," though his own have not universally received him. Where is the man, who hath not, in innumerable instances, felt the powerful suggestions of vice; and, in innumerable instances, been inwardly warned against them, and pressed to the exercise of virtue?