this moment a bitter contest began; the Sabbathbreaker is known, He must be brought to task, ay, He ought to be slain.

On His part, He did not shrink, but turned their accusation to good account, showing His authority by proving His union with the Father. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." He teaches that work is never wrong in itself, for on every day God's omnipotence is inconceivably active in ruling and recreating the universe. Absolute cessation from work for a single instant would mean final destruction. Who will proclaim a Sabbath to the Almighty Father in preserving men's lives? Who will hinder the Son from healing a lame man on the Sabbath? The Father and the Son work thus in unison. The reasoning of Jesus was bold, and its meaning, when well considered, was nothing less than a claim to be one God with the Father. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

The Jews saw plainly enough that when Jesus named God as His Father in so strict and exclusive a sense He claimed divinity. The crime of Sabbathbreaking was swallowed up in that of blasphemy. "Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He did not only break the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal to God." Jesus was unmoved, nay, He was glad of the vast crowd which by this time had been drawn around Him, probably in some spacious "Take up thy bed court of the Temple. He began a great discourse, divided into eight different parts, each one lifting his hearers' minds high into the contemplation of His union with His Father.

Ist. His oneness with the Father in the divine activity: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son can

66

and walk."

not do anything of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing, or what things soever He doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. For the Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things which Himself doth, and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may wonder." It is "in like manner" as God the Father that the uncreated will of Jesus flows into His humanity and actuates and guides His created will. This goes far beyond the cure of the withered limbs of a paralytic; it will be extended to, 2d. The sovereign authority over life and death: "For as the Father raiseth up the dead and giveth life, so the Son also giveth life to whom He will." This life-giving and life-taking power of the Father and the Son, Jesus goes on to show, is a divine attribute associated with the exercise of supreme dominion in the judgment of men's moral conduct. Jesus therefore claims an honor from men equal to that paid to His Father; for, 3d. The authority of Father and Son as judges of men is identical: “For neither does the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgments to the Son, that all men may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who sent Him. Amen, amen, I say unto you, that he who heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath life everlasting and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say unto you, that the hour cometh and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so He hath given to the Son also to have life in Himself. And He hath given Him power to do judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Wonder not at this, for the hour

cometh when all that are in the graves
shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
And they that have done good things,
shall come forth unto the resurrection of
life, but they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of judgment." And now He
passes to evidence of this claim of divinity.
to be true, and why it should be accepted.
He is man, that is certain; how shall we
be equally certain that He is God?
Not by His mere human word. For if
He acted as man simply, separate from
God, He would be powerless in ac-
tion and unworthy of credence as a
teacher. Therefore He says he
never so acts or teaches. Thus,
4th, His teaching is true because He
teaches in obedience to God: "I cannot of
Myself do anything. As I hear, so I
judge, and My judgment is just, because
I seek not My own will, but the will of
Him who sent Me. If I bear witness to
Myself My witness is not true. There is
another that beareth witness of Me, and
I know that the witness which He wit-
nesseth of Me is true." What is the force
of that witness? It is as plain as day,
and as close as God could make it: a
great messenger of God, a man of mar-
vellous power, accepted by all Israel.
Therefore, 5th, John the Baptist witnesses

for the truthfulness of Jesus and for His are in the graves shall hear the voice Messias-ship: "There is another that

beareth witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of Me is true. You sent to

But I

John and he gave testimony of the truth. receive not testimony from man; but I say these things that you may be saved. He was a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light." If Jesus be an impostor, John the Baptist was a cheat or a visionary. But He has a yet more direct guarantee of His office of Messias and of the truth of all His claims, including that of being the only Begotten Son of God-a guarantee superior to the testimony of John. It is the amazing power of miracles. Nicodemus the Pharisee had placed this proof in its right aspect when He said, 6th, that no man could do the works which Jesus did unless God were with him: "But I have a greater testimony than that of John, for the works which the Father hath given Me to perfect, the works themselves which I do, give testimony of Me, that the Father hath sent Me. And the Father Himself who hath sent Me, hath given testimony of Me." The instinctive answer of the sceptical mind to this would be the demand actually to see God and hear His voice in confirmation of the claim of Jesus. But this was a frantic absurdity, especially for a Hebrew who had the revealed word of God ever at hand. Now, 7th, The divinity of Jesus was plainly foretold in the Scriptures: "Neither have you heard His voice at any time nor seen His shape. And you have not His word abiding in you, for whom He hath sent, Him you believe not. Search the Scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting, and the same are they that give testimony of Me." The Hebrew prophets had uttered God's voice and these men had stopped their ears. The reason they do not receive Jesus is not want of reasonable and overwhelming evidence of His divine mission and even His divine

nature. For, 8th, the Jews reject Jesus because they do not love God. If He had ministered to their pride and ambition, they would gladly have followed Him. And so He ends His case against them: "And you will not come to Me that you may have life. I receive not glory from men, but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in the name of My Father, and you receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory one from another, and the glory which is from God alone you do not seek? Think not that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe Me also, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My words? ''

The Saviour's concluding words are very noteworthy. He is not the enemy of His people; He will not consent to be their accuser. It is not the Messias, but Moses, their ancient leader, intercessor, lawgiver, who will become their judge. They are indeed zealous supporters of Moses, but only in outward forms, for Jesus, whom they accuse as a blasphemer, Moses foretold as their Messias, and reverenced as the Saviour of the world and the Lord and Master of mankind.

In this majestic discourse Jesus claims to possess the incommunicable attributes of the Deity: unity of action, reciprocity of power; dominion over life and death; the supreme judgeship of the human race. And He proves His claim by reference to John the Baptist, to the Hebrew Scriptures, and by a gift of miracles so constant and so amazing as to guarantee God's approval. All this He taught upon occasion of a dispute over Sabbath-breaking.