O Christ my Lord, give me so to know You that my knowledge may be glory to You, and life to my own soul and the souls of others. “This is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.”[84] Be Yourself my Master in this one thing necessary. And let me go to the source to draw--learning You from the scenes of Your life. Let me stand by the well of Samaria, and the pool of Bethsaida, and the bier at Nain--and watch and listen. Let the charm of Your divine Person subdue and win me, and the sound of Your voice be familiar to me. Let the knowledge of Your ways with the sinner, the sufferer, the little children, grave such a picture of You in my heart that not even its perversity can bring before me when I say “Jesus” any other form than that of the most beautiful, the most tender, the most compassionate of men. Veronica wiped Your sacred suffering Face, and received as the greatest of rewards, stamped on her veil, and still more upon her heart, that _vera icon_--that true image of Christ which was thenceforth to be inseparable from her memory, the very name by which all ages were to know her. Stamp on my heart, dear Lord, _the true likeness_ of Yourself. And as this likeness must be ever growing, let me come often to the altar rails to learn You more and more. The tabernacle is the Gospel history continued. Time has not dimmed Your fairness, O beautiful One, nor dulled the sympathy of Your human Heart. All that You were to Your own in this world, all that You are to them this hour in heaven, is here within the tabernacle, is here _for me_. Here then let me come to study You--patient, tender, obedient still, meek and humble of heart, Jesus, yesterday, to-day and for ever! [84] John xvii. XXVII. OUR FATHER. O clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God with the voice of joy.--_Psa._ xlvi. 1. My God, what would have become of us had You shown Yourself to us as the All-just instead of the All-loving One You are? Had You been more mindful of Your Majesty than of our need? We know so little how to comport ourselves in Your presence, that it might have seemed more fitting You should remain in the recesses of Your Godhead, manifest Yourself but dimly and rarely, and restrict our worship of You to the most distant homage. It would have been but the manifestation of another attribute in place of that sweet mercy which has shaped the whole course, not of redemption’s plan only, but of the inner life of each one of us. My God, it might have been so--and what then would have become of us? Where would praise have been, and trust, and loving return to Your arms after a fall? Blessed be Your name that You willed to show Yourself our Father, willed that with the younger race, Your human family, mercy should ever be in the ascendant.