It is ourselves, brethren, and not GOD that must be changed. The seed is scattered over all the field, but it grows only in the good ground. If CHRIST is not manifest to us, it is because we have not complied with the conditions of manifestation. He is faithful to His promise, but we have not closed with the promise. Realising, then, that it is not binding on GOD to save us—excepting on the terms which He has Himself laid down—and presenting to ourselves the momentous interests at stake, let us comply with GOD’S terms, and let us strive to do so gratefully. Let us be at pains to ascertain CHRIST’S will; let us diligently and scrupulously keep it, endeavouring all the while to follow it, not as mere routine of morality, but as active direct service of CHRIST Himself, and proposing to ourselves, as the motive to its observance, gratitude for CHRIST’S salvation, and as the reward of observance, the manifestation of CHRIST. So doing, we shall soon find that there is a real, an unequalled power in Christianity to attract and constrain us; we shall soon know how it is that CHRIST will manifest Himself to His disciples, while He is hidden from the world. II. I have left but little time for the consideration of the second form of our question, namely, in what way CHRIST will manifest Himself only to the chosen. There is no need of a lengthy discussion of this subject, because, with all our spiritual short-sightedness, we are not like the Jews, we can have no difficulty in understanding the possibility of CHRIST’S manifestation of Himself to whom He will, and at the same time His hiding of Himself from all others. We know that like as ghosts are sometimes said to appear to but one of a roomful, so if it pleased CHRIST—and in any other way which He pleased—He could stand visibly at this moment before any one of us, and utter to that favoured ear distinctly audible words, while the rest of us saw and heard nothing of Him. And there is no use in the discussion of the nature of CHRIST’S truest manifestation, because even if the preacher had realised it in all its perfect blessedness, his words would fail to describe what he had felt; yea, the best possible description would be wholly unintelligible to the natural man who perceives not, and cannot perceive, the things of GOD, while it would be wholly unnecessary, rather would be solemn trifling with those who have actually partaken of the blessedness. No, brethren, it cannot be spoken—and if it could, I believe, it might not be—how CHRIST shows Himself to those who love Him and keep His commandments. It is only in its realisation that you can understand what the promise means: “We will come unto Him and make our abode with Him.” Go, fulfil the conditions, and you shall receive the promise; and it shall disclose to you its own wonders, and its own transcendent bliss, and its own constraining power.