with or tabernacled in our flesh, that in that flesh the nature and
glory of the Godhead might be seen by and dwell with us. "The word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory;" what
glory? "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth." Again, "The life"--that is, the life of God in the
works and conversation of Christ--"was manifest, and we have seen it
and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested unto us." And hence he is called the
image of the invisible God; or he by whom the invisible God is most
perfectly presented to the sons of men.

Did I say before that the God of glory is desirous to be seen of us?
Even so also have the pure in heart a desire that it should be so.
"Lord," say they, "show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." And
therefore the promise is for their comfort, that "they shall see
God." But how then must they see him? Why, in the person, and by the
life and works of Jesus, When Philip, under a mistake, thought of
seeing God some other way than in and by this Lord Jesus Christ,
what is the answer? "Have I been so long time with you," saith
Christ, "and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me,
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; hut the
Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the
very work's sake."

See, here, that both the words and works of the Lord Jesus were not
to show you, and so to call you back to the holiness we had lost,
but to give us visions of the perfections that are in the Father.