II. It is characteristic then of what may be termed the

second stage of our Lord’s public teaching, that He distinctly, repeatedly, energetically preaches Himself. He does not leave men to draw inferences about Himself from the power of His moral teaching, or from the awe-inspiring nature of His miracles. He does not content Himself with teaching primary moral truths concerning God and our duties towards God and towards one another. He does not bequeath to His Apostles the task of elaborating a theory respecting the Personal rank of their Master in the scale of being. On the contrary, He Himself persistently asserts the real character of His position relatively to God and man, and of His consequent claims upon the thought and heart of mankind. Whether He employs metaphor, or plain unmetaphorical assertion, His meaning is too clear to be mis- taken. He speaks of Himself as the Light ofa darkened worlds, as the Way by which man may ascend to heaven}, as the Truth which can really satisfy the cravings of the souli, as the Life which must be imparted to all who would live in very deed, to all who would really live for everj. Life is resident in Him in virtue of an undefined and eternal communication of it from the Fatherk. He is the Bread of Lifel. He is the Living Bread That came down from heaven™; believers in Him will feed on Him and will have eternal lifes. He points to a living water of the Spirit, which He can give, and which will quench the thirst
© St. John viii, 12: Ἐγώ εἶμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου" ὃ ἀκολρυϑῶν ἐμοὶ ob μὴ περιπατήσει ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, ἀλλ᾽ ἕξει τὸ φῶς νὰ ζωῆς.
h Tbid. xiv. 6: ᾿Εγώ εἰμι ἡ ὅδός. .
i Ibid. : ᾿Εγώ Clee ἢ ἀλήθεια. Mark xiii. 31: 6 οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῇ παρε- λεύσονται" οἱ δὲ λόγοι μου οὐ μὴ παρέλθωσι. [παρελεύσονται, Tisch. ]
2 St. John xiv. 6: Ἐγώ. εἶμε.. «ἡ ζωή.
k Ibid. v. 26: ὥσπερ γὰρ 6 Πα ἔχει ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὕτως ἔδωκε καὶ τῷ υἱῷ (why ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ.
1 Tbid. vi. 35: Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς. Ibid. ver. 48.
m Tbid. ver. 51: Ἐγώ εἶμι 6 ἄρτος! 6 ζῶν ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. καταβάς.
n Thid. ver. 47: ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, 6 πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ, ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Ibid. v. 40: οὐ θέλετε ἐλθεῖν πρός με, ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχητε.
[ LECT.
forms of our Lora’s Self-assertion. 173
of souls that drink 119, All who came before Him He cha- racterizes as having been, by comparison with Himself, the thieves and robbers of mankind?. He is Himself the One Good Shepherd of the souls of mend; He knows and He is known of His true sheep’. Not only is He the Shepherd, He is the very Door of the sheepfold; to enter through Him is to be safe’, He is the Vine, the Life-tree of regenerate humanityt. All that _is truly fruitful and lovely in the human family must branch forth from Him"; all spiritual life must wither and die, if it be severed from His. He stands consciously between earth and heaven. He claims to be the One Means of a real approach to the Invisible God: no soul of man can come to the Father but through Himy. He promises that all prayer offered in His Name shall be answered: ‘If ye ask anything in my Name J will do it” He contrasts Himself with a group of His country- men as follows: ‘ Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world®. He anticipates His Death, and foretells its consequences: ‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself». He claims to be the Lord of the realm of death; He will Himself wake the sleeping dead; all that are in the graves shall hear His voice®; nay, He will raise Himself from the dead4. He proclaims, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life®.’ He encourages men to trust
ο St. John iv. 14: ὃς δ᾽ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, od μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
P Ibid. x. 8: πάντες ὅσοι πρὸ ἐμοῦ ἦλθον, κλέπται εἰσὶ καὶ λῃσταί,
9 Ibid. ver. 11: ᾿Εγώ εἰμι ὃ ποιμὴν ὃ καλός. Ibid. ver. 14.
Σ᾿ Ibid. ver. 14: γινώσκω τὰ ἐμὰ, καὶ γινώσκομαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν.
® Ibid. ver. 9 : Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα" δι ἐμοῦ ἐάν τις εἰσέλθῃ, σωθήσεται.
t ΤΡΙά. xv. 1: Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή.
@ Ibid. ver. 5: ὅ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ, οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν" ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν.
x Ibid. ver. 6: ἐὰν μή τις μείνῃ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἐβλήθη ἔξω ὡς τὸ κλῆμα, καὶ ἐξηράνθη.
Υ Ibid. xiv. 6: οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, εἰ μὴ δ᾽ ἐμοῦ.
* Ibid. ver. 14: ἐάν τι αἰτήσητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐγὼ ποιήσω.
* Ibid. viii. 23: ὑμεῖς ἐκ τῶν κάτω ἐστὲ, ἐγὼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω εἰμί" ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἐστὲ, ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου.
> Thid. xii. 32: κἀγὼ ἐὰν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.
¢ Ibid. v. 28, 29: ἔρχεται ὥρα, ἐν 7 πάντες οἱ ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις ἀκούσονται τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκπορεύσονται. Ibid. vi. 39, xi. 25.
4 ΤΡΊΑ, ii. 19: λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις eyep@ αὐτόν. Ibid. x. 18: ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτήν [τὴν ψυχήν μου], καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν.
9 Ibid, xi. 25: Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή. tv ]
174. Persistency of Christ's Self-assertion.
in Him as they trust in Godf; to make Him an object of faith just as they believe in Gods; to honour Him as they honour the Father. To love Him is a necessary mark of the children of God: ‘If God were your Father, ye would have loved Mei.’ It is not possible, He rules, to love God, and yet to hate Him- self: ‘He that hateth Me, hateth My Father alsoj” The proof of a true love to Him lies in doing His bidding: ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments.’
Of this second stage of our Lord’s teaching the most re- presentative document is the Discourse in the supper-room. How great is the contrast between that discourse and the Sermon on the Mount! In the Sermon on the Mount, which deals with questions of human character and of moral obligation, the reference to our Lord’s Person is comparatively indirect. It lies, not in explicit statements, but in the authority of His tone, in the attitude which He tacitly assumes towards the teachers of the Jewish people, and towards the ancient Law. In the last discourse it is His Person rather than His teaching which is especially prominent ; His subject in that discourse is Himself. Certainly He preaches Himself in His relationship to His redeemed ; but still He preaches above all and in all, Him- self. All radiates from Himself, all converges towards Himself. The sorrows and perplexities of His disciples, the mission and work of the Paraclete, the mingling predictions of suffering and of glory, are all bound up with the Person of Jesus, as mani- fested by Himself. In those matchless words all centres so con- sistently in Jesus, that it might seem that Jesus alone is before
f St. John xiv. 1: μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία" πιστεύετε eis τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε. St. Aug. Tr. 67. in Joann.: ‘Consequens est enim ut si in Deum creditis, et in Me credere debeatis, quod non esset consequens, si Christus non esset Deus.’ St. John xvi. 33: ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἐν ἐμοὶ εἰρήνην ἔ ἔχητε. ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλίψιν ἕξετε" [ἔχετε, Tisch. ] ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον.
8 Ibid. vi. 29: τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἔργον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα πιστεύσητε εἰς ὃν ἀπέ- στειλεν ἐκεῖνος. Ibid. ver. 40: τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός μου" ἵνα πᾶς ὃ θεωρῶν τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, ἔχῃ (why αἰώνιον. Ibid, ver. 47: ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ, ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Cf. Acts xxvi. 18: τοῦ λαβεῖν αὐτοὺς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, καὶ κλῆρον ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις, πίστει τῇ εἰς ἐμέ.
h St. John v. 23: ἵνα πάντες τιμῶσι τὸν Ὑἱὸν, καθὼς τιμῶσι τὸν Πατέρα.
i Ibid. viii. 42: εἰ 6 Θεὸς πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἦν, ἠγαπᾶτε ἂν ἐμέ. Cf. Ibid. Xvin 57:
J Ibid. xv. 23: 6 ἐμὲ μισῶν, καὶ τὸν Πατέρα μου μισεῖ,
Κ Tbid. xiv. 15: ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσατε. 2 St. John 6: καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, ἵνα περιπατῶμεν κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς ΤῊΝ
LECT.
Lhe claim to judge all mankind. 175
us; alone in the greatness of His supramundane glory; alone in bearing His burden of an awful, fathomless sorrow.
It will naturally occur to us that language such as that which has just been quoted is mainly characteristic of the fourth Gospel ; and you will permit me, my brethren, to consider the objection which may underlie that observation somewhat at length in a future lecture! For the present the author of ‘Ecce Homo’ may remind those who, for whatever reasons, refuse to believe Christ to have used these words, that ‘we cannot deny that He used words which have substantially the same meaning. We cannot deny that He called Himself King, Master, and Judge of men; that He promised to give rest to the weary and the heavy-laden ; that He instructed His followers to hope for life from feeding on His Body and His Blood πα,
Indeed so entirely is our Lord’s recorded teaching penetrated by His Self-assertion, that in order to represent Him as simply teaching moral truth, while keeping Himself strictly in the back- grouud of His doctrine, it would be necessary to deny the trust- worthiness of all the accounts of His teaching which we possess. To recognise the difference which has been noticed between the two phases of His teaching merely amounts to saying that in the former His Self-proclamation is implied, while it is avowed in the latter. For even in that phase of Christ’s teaching which the three first Evangelists more particularly record, the public assumption of titles and functions such as those of King, Teacher, and Judge of the human race, implies those statements about Himself which are preserved in the fourth Gospel.
Consider, for instance, what is really involved in a claim to judge the world. That Jesus Christ did put forward this claim must be conceded by those who admit that we have in our hands any true records of Him whatever. Some who reject that account of the four Gospels which is given us by the Catholic Church, may perhaps consent to listen to the opinion of Mr. Francis W. Newman. ‘I believe,’ says that writer, ‘that Jesus habitually spoke of Himself by the title Son of Man, [and] that in assum- ing that title He tacitly alluded to the seventh chapter of Daniel, and claimed for Himself the throne of judgment over all mankind. I know no reason to doubt that He actually delivered in sub- stance the discourse in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew’
1 See Lecture V. m Ecce Homo, p.177. Cf. also Mill, Myth. Interpret. p. 59. ; n Phases of Faith, p.149; οἵ, St. Matt. xxv. 31-46. Iv
176 force of the claim to be Universal Fudge.
That our Lord advanced this tremendous claim to be the Judge of all mankind is equally the conviction of foreign critics, who are as widely removed as possible from any respect whatever for the witness of the Church of Christ to Holy Writ®, But let us reflect steadily on what Christ is thus admitted to have said about Himself by the most advanced representatives of the destructive criticism. Christ says that He will return to earth as Judge of all mankind. He will sit upon a throne of glory, and will be attended by bands of obedient angels. Before Him will be gathered all the nations of the world, and He will judge them. In other words, He will proceed to discharge an office involving such spiritual insight, such discernment of the thoughts and intents of the — heart of each one of the millions at His feet, such awful, unshared supremacy in the moral world, that the imagination recoils in sheer agony from the task of seriously contemplating the assump- tion of these duties by any created intelligence. He will draw a sharp trenchant line of eternal separation through the dense throng of all the assembled races and generations of men. He will force every individual human being into one of the two distinct classes respectively destined for endless happiness and endless woe. He will reserve no cases as involving complex morel problems beyond His own power of decision. He will sanction no intermediate class of awards, to meet the neutral morality of souls whom men might deem ‘too bad for heaven, yet too good for hell.” If it should be urged that our Lord is teaching truth in the garb of parable, and that His words must not be taken too literally, it may be answered that, supposing this to be the case (a supposition by no means to be conceded), the main features, the purport and drift of the entire representation cannot be mis- taken, The Speaker claims to be Judge of all the world. When- ever, or however, you understand Him to exercise His function, Christ claims in that discourse to be nothing less than the Uni- versal Judge. You cannot honestly translate His language into any modern and prosaic equivalent, that does not carry with it this tremendous claim. Nor is it relevant to observe that
© Baur, Vorlesungen tiber N. T. Theologie, p. 109: ‘Dass Jesus Sich Selbst als den kiinftigen Richter betrachtete, und ankiindigte, lasst sich auch nach dem Evangelium Matthius nicht in Zweifel ziehen. Fasst man die Lehre und Wirksamkeit Jesu auch nur nach dem sittlichen Gesichtspunkt auf, unter welchen sie der Bergrede und den Parabeln zufolge zu stellen ist, so gehdrt dazu wesentlich auch die Bestimmung, dass sie der absolute Maasstab zur Beurtheilung des sittlichen Werthes des Thuns und Ver-
haltens der Menschen ist,’ [ LECT.
Demands of Christ upon the human soul, 177
Messiah had been pictured in prophecy as the Universal Judge, and that in assuming to judge the world Jesus Christ was only claiming an official consequence of the character which He had previously assumed. Surely this does not alter the nature of the claim. It does indeed shew what was involved in the original assertion that He was the Messiah; but it does not shew that the title of Universal Judge was a mere idealist decoration having no practical duties attached to it. On the con- trary, Jesus Christ asserts the practical value of the title very deliberately ; He insists on and expands its significance; He
᾿ draws out what it implies into a vivid picture. It cannot be
denied that He literally and deliberately put Himself forward as Judge of all the world; and the moral significance of this Self- exaltation is not affected by the fact that He made it as a part of His general Messianic claim. If He could not. claim to be Messiah without making it, He ought not to have claimed to be Messiah unless He had a right to make it. It may be pleaded that He Himself said that the Father had given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Manp. But this, as has already been shewn, means simply that He is the Uni- versal Judge because He is Messiah. ‘True, the chosen title of Messiahship implies His real Humanity; and His Human Nature invests Him with special fitness for this as for the rest of His mediatorial work. But then the title Son of Man, as implying His Humanity, is in felt contrast to a higher Nature which it suggests. He is more than human; but He is to judge us, because He is also Man. On the whole it is impossible to reflect steadily on this claim of Jesus Christ without feeling that either such a claim ought never to have been made, or that it carries us forward irresistibly to a truth beyond and above itself.
In dealing with separate souls our Lord’s tone and language are not less significant. We will not here dwell on the fact of His forgiving sins4, and of transmitting to His Church the power of forgiving them’. But it is clear that He treats those who come to Him as literally belonging to Himself, in virtue of an existing right. He commands, He does not invite, discipleship.
P St. John v. 27.
a St. Matt. ix. 6; St. Mark ii. 10. M. Salvador represents in our own day the Jewish feeling respecting this claim of our Lord. ‘Voila pourquoi les docteurs se recritrent de nouveau en entendant le Fils de Marie s’arroger a lui-méme, et transmettre & ses délégués le droit du pardon: ils y voyaient une autre maniére de prendre la place de Dieu,’ Jésus-Christ, tom. ii. p. 83: _ ¥ St. Matt. xvi. 19; St. John xx. 23. :
Iv | — x
178 Demands of Christ upon the human soul,
To Philip, to the sons of Zebedee, to the rich young man, He says simply, ‘ Follow Mes.’ In the same spirit His Apostles are bidden to. resent resistance to their Master’s doctrine: ‘ When ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that cityt” And as His message is to be received upon pain of eternal loss, so in receiving it, men are to give themselves up to Him simply and unreservedly. No rival claim, however strong, no natural affection, however legiti- mate and sacred, may interpose between Himself and the soul οὗ His follower. ‘He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me";’ ‘If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple *.’ Accordingly He predicts the painful severance be- tween near relations which would accompany the advance of the Gospel: ‘Suppose ye that Iam come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in lawy.’ And the Gospel narrative itself furnishes us with a remarkable illustration of our Lord’s application of His claim. ‘He said unto another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God 2.’
It is impossible to ignore this imperious claim on the part of Jesus to rule the whole soul of man. Other masters may
® St. Matt. iv. 19, viii. 22, ix. 9, xix. 21; St. Mark ii. 14; St. Luke v. 27;
St. John i. 43, x. 27. * St. Matt. x. 12-15. u Thid. 37. * St. Luke xiv. 26, Υ Ibid. xii, 51-53. 5 Ibid. foe LECT.
Christ's claims intolerable, tf He be only Man. 179
demand a man’s active energies, or his time, or his purse, or his thought, or some large share in his affections. But here is a claim on the whole man, on his very inmost self, on the sanctities of his deepest life. Here is a claim which altogether sets aside the dearest ties of family and kindred, if perchance they interfere with it. Does any who is merely man dare to advance such a claim as this? If so, is it possible that, believing him to be only a fellow-creature, we can listen to the claim with respect, with patience, without earnest indignation? Do not our souls belong only and wholly to Him Who made them? Can we not bury ourselves out of the sight and reach of every fellow-crea- ture, in the hidden recesses of the spirit which we carry within ἢ Can we not escape, if we will, from all eyes save One, from all wills save One, from all voices save One, from all beings excepting Him Who gave us life? How then can we listen to the demand which is advanced by Jesus of Nazareth? Is it tolerable if He is only man? If He does indeed share with ourselves the great debt of creation at the hand of God; if He exists, like ourselves, from moment to moment merely upon sufferance; or rather, if He is upheld in being in virtue of a continuous and gratuitous ministration of life, supplied to Him by the Author of all life; is it endurable that He should thus assume to deal with us as _ His own creatures, as beings who have no rights before Him, and whom He may command at will? Doubtless He speaks of certain souls as given Him by His Father; but then He claims the fealty, the submission of all. And even if souls are only ‘given’ to Christ, how are we to account for this absolute gift of an immortal soul to a human Lord? What, in short, is the real moral justification of a claim, than which no larger could be urged by the Creator? How can Christ bid men live for Himself as for the very End of their existence? How can He rightly draw towards Himself the whole thought and love, I do not say, of a world, but of one single human being, with this imperious urgency, if He be indeed only the Christ of the Hu- manitarian teachers, if He be anything else or less than the supreme Lord of life ?
It is then not merely an easy transition, it is a positive moral relief, to pass from considering these statements and claims to the declarations in which Jesus Christ explains them by explicitly asserting His Divinity. For although the solemn sentences in which He makes that supreme revelation are com-
4 St. John x, ag. 1v J N2
180 Christ reveals His Godhead to the Apostles.
paratively few, it is clear that the truth is latent, in the entire moral and intellectual posture which we have been considering, unless we are prepared to fall back upon a fearful alternative which it will be my duty presently to notice.
Every man who takes a public or stirring part in life may assume that he has to deal with three different classes of men. He must face ‘his personal friends, his declared opponents, and a large neutral body which is swayed by turns in the opposite ᾿ directions of friendliness and opposition.’ Towards each of these classes he has varying obligations; and from their different points of view they form their estimate of his character and action. Now our Lord, entering as He did perfectly into the actual conditions of our human and social existence, exposed Himself to this triple scrutiny, and met it by a correspondingly threefold revelation. He revealed His Divinity to His disciples, to the Jewish people, and to His embittered opponents, the chief priests and Pharisees.
Bearing in mind His acceptance of the confessions of Na- thanael > and of St. Peter*, as well as His solemn words to Nicodemus4, let us consider His language in the supper-room to St. Philip. It may have been Philip’s restlessness of mind, taking pleasure, as men will, in the mere starting a religious difficulty for its own sake; it may have been an instinctive wish to find some excuse for escaping from those sterner obligations which, on the eve of the Passion, discipleship would threaten presently to impose. However this was, Philip preferred to our Lord the peremptory request, ‘Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Well might the answer have thrilled those who heard it. ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Mee?’ Now what this indwelling really implied is seen in our Lord’s answer to a question of St. Jude. St. Jude had asked how it was that Christ would manifest Himself to His servants, and not to the world. Our Lord replies that the heavenly revelation is made to love; but the form in which this answer is couched is of the highest significance. ‘If a Man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with himf’ ‘ We will come unto him and “δ St. John i. 49. | © St. Matt. xvi. 16. 4 St. John iii. 18.
9 St. John xiv. 9, 10; Williams on Study of the Gospels, p. 403. St. John xiv. 23. [ LOT,
Christ reveals [11s Godhead to the Fewish people. 181
make Our abode!’ Reflect: Who is This Speaker That pro- mises to dwell in the soul of man? And with Whom does He associate Himself? It may be true of any eminent saint, that ‘God speaks not to him, as to one outside Himself; that God is in him; that he feels himself with God; that he draws from his own heart what he tells us of the Father; that he lives in the bosom of God by the intercommunion of every moments.’ But such an one could not forget that, favoured as he is by the Divine Presence illuminating his whole inner life, he still lives at an immeasurable distance beneath the Being Whose condescension has so enriched him. In virtue of his sanctity, he would surely shrink with horror from associating himself with God; from promising, along with God, to make a dwelling-place of the souls that love himself; from representing his presence with men as a blessing co-ordinate with the presence of the Father ; from attributing to himself oneness of will with the Will of God; from implying that side by side with the Father of spirits, he was himself equally a ruler and a helper of the life of the souls of men.
The most prominent statements however which our Lord made on the subject of His Divinity occur in those conversations with the Jews which are specially recorded in the fourth Gospel. Our Lord discovers this great truth to the Jewish people by three distinct methods of statement.
(a) In the first place, He distinctly places Himself on terms of equality with the Father, by a double claim. He claims a parity of working power, and He claims an equal right to the homage of mankind. Of these claims the former is implicitly contained in passages to which allusion has been already made. We have seen that it is contained in the assumption of a gudictal authority equal to the task of deciding the final condition of every individual human being. Although this office is delegated to and exercised by our Lord as Man, yet so stupendous a task is obviously not less beyond the reach of any created intelligence than the providential government of the world. In like manner, this claim of an equality in working power with the Father is inseparable from our Lord’s statements that He could confer
ε Quoted in Dean Stanley’s Lectures on the Jewish Church, part ii. p. 161, from Renan (Vie de Jésus, p. 75), who is speaking of our Lord.