or unless he was Divine! Either
Christ never uttered those things regarding Himself which are here
recorded, and so the history which we have assumed as true is false
in fact; or, having uttered them, He spoke falsehood, and was a
blasphemer, or spoke the truth, and was Divine. To deny the Divinity
of His Person is to deny the truth of His character.

If any man replies that those sayings of Christ _may_ be interpreted
differently, then I ask, What impression did Christ _intend_ to give?
If He was a mere creature, how could He have used language to which it
was _possible_ to give such an interpretation as would imply Divinity?
Only imagine any other man on earth daring so to speak that his
language could, with difficulty be interpreted as not necessarily
implying his assumption of Divine attributes! But Jesus certainly did
so speak, and did give this impression to friend and foe; and He
has left the same impression, in the form of a living faith, more
indelibly on the mind of the Church than if it were engraven with a
pen of iron on the rock for ever. If this impression is blasphemy. He
himself, and none else, is to blame for having given it to the world.

3. Consider Christ's Person as it was seen _by the apostles_. What did
_they_ believe regarding Him? Yea or nay, did they recognise Him as
Divine?

While quoting from their writings, I beg my readers to keep in mind
the previous education of these remarkable men, in what may be termed
the grand fundamental principle of the Mosaic legislation,--viz., the
worship of the one living and true God.

But, remembering this, let us hear some of the things said by the
apostles about Jesus of Nazareth.

We shall begin with _Paul_. His education was, if I may so speak,
intensely Jewish. He was "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." "After the
strictest sect of his religion, he lived a Pharisee." So devoted was
he to "the religion of his fathers," so entirely one in his views of
Christianity with the priesthood and men of authority, both civil and
ecclesiastical, in Judea, that he thus describes his feelings with
reference to Jesus:--

"I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem:
and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received
authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death,
I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every
synagogue, and comp