258 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



shines forth clear, naked, unveiled. In nature we see 

 the back parts of God the shadow cast by His pre- 

 sence ; but in grace we behold the light of the know- 

 ledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Without 

 the teaching of the True Light the revelation of the 

 works would be an enigma ; and apart from His Person 

 their glories would be a dream. If He had not inter- 

 preted the voices of nature, the lilies of the field would 

 have gone on preaching to us for ever in vain. The 

 falling of the corn of wheat into the ground and dying, 

 and through this sacrifice multiplying itself, would have 

 been regarded as a mere natural occurrence, if He had 

 not explained the reference which it had to the Lamb 

 slain from the foundation of the world. The mere 

 natural uses of the vine would alone have been re- 

 garded if He had not shown its higher use as the 

 shadow of Himself. What innumerable lessons regard- 

 ing the Kingdom of Heaven would have been lost to 

 us if He had not revealed in His parables its connec- 

 tion with the objects of nature and of human economy. 

 Seated beside Jacob's well He pointed to the living 

 water ; in the presence of bodily disease He manifested 

 Himself as the spiritual Physician ; at the grave of 

 Lazarus He revealed Himself as the resurrection and 

 the life. He imparted to us the blessed " second sight," 

 enabling us to recognize under the masks of earth the 

 angels of heaven. Every object in nature became in 

 His hands significant of eternal truth. He showed 

 that all the objects of creation were but uttering one 

 mighty prophecy all were but one united type of Him 



