And how are we to get that vision? Remember the connection of my
text. It is because there is a divine Spirit to show men the things
that are Christ's that therefore, unseen, He is visible to the eye of
faith. And therefore the shortest and directest road to the vision of
Jesus is the submitting of heart and mind and spirit to the teaching
of that divine Spirit, who uses the record of the Scriptures as the
means by which He makes Jesus Christ known to us.

But besides this waiting upon that divine Teacher, let me remind you
that there are conditions of discipline which must be fulfilled upon
our parts, if any clear vision of Jesus Christ is to bless us
pilgrims in this lonely world. And the first of these conditions is--
If you want to see Jesus Christ, think about Him. Occupy your minds
with Him. If men in the city walk the pavements with their eyes fixed
upon the gutters, what does it matter though all the glories of a
sunset are dyeing the western sky? They will see none of them; and if
Christ stood beside you, closer to you than any other, if your eyes
were fixed upon the trivialities of this poor present, you would not
see Him. If you honestly want to see Christ, meditate upon Him.

And if you want to see Him, shut out competing objects, and the
dazzling cross-lights that come in and hide Him from us. There must
be a 'looking _off_ unto Jesus.' There must be a rigid limitation, if
not excision, of other objects, if we are to grasp Him. If we would
see, and have our hearts filled with, the calm sublimity of the
solemn, white wedge that lifts itself into the far-off blue, we must
not let our gaze stop on the busy life of the valleys or the green
slopes of the lower Alps, but must lift it and keep it fixed aloft.
Meditate upon Him, and shut out other things.