der which He is recorded to have been seen in all the manifestations which He is said to have made to individuals and to communities of men. It is indispensable to any intelligible thought concerning Him. God, as it were, vanishes from the human intellect the moment this idea respecting Him is permitted to pass away; without it, the mind wanders in the universe, and its notions must be either that nature is God, or that He is an infinite—nothing!
Thus we see that although the first communications of the Supreme to men were made under names expressive of His love and wisdom, yet it is plain that those attributes of the Divine nature could not be presented to human thought under any other idea than that of a Divine Person. This, therefore, has been the idea respecting Him which has prevailed in all the best periods of His Church; and when, from the extraordinary perversities of men, the reality of this idea was about to pass away, we find that He provided means for its revival and perpetuity; first, in the personal appearances which He made to special individuals; and, finally, by assuming humanity, and becoming manifest in the flesh. Previous to this last event, the idea which was extant concerning the personality of God was shadowy and obscure; but by that phenomenon the Divine was brought to view with so much fulness, and in a form so clearly adapted to the perceptions of mankind, that all may know Him, from the least unto the greatest. Doubtless, that fact was intended to be a complete revelation concerning the Divine-human personality of God.
Prior to His first advent, the Lord frequently appeared to men. In the Israelitish history many instances are recorded, and all of them show that the Infinite intended by them to reveal Hunself to human apprehension as one Divine Person.
