dship out of his own mouth. Compare these
sayings of Jesus, each typical of him:

"Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn
to him the other also." Yet he said to his Twelve:

"And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you, when you depart thence
shake off the dust of your feet for a testimony against them."

Is that the consistency of a God or a man?

Again: "Blessed are the merciful," _but_ "Verily I say unto you it shall
be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for
that city." Is this the mercy which he tells us is blessed?

Again: "And as ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them
likewise." Another: "Woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida ...
and thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down
to hell." Is not this preaching the golden rule and practicing something
else, as a man might?

Again: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.

"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the
publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren, what do ye more than
others? Do not even the publicans so?" That, sir, is a sentiment that
proves the claim of Jesus to be a teacher of morals. Here is one which,
placed beside it, proves him to have been a man.

"_Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also
confess before the angels of God_;

"_but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
father, which is in heaven._"

Is it God speaking--or man? "_Do not even the publicans so?_"

Beside this very human contradiction, it is hardly worth while to hear him
say "Resist not evil," yet make a scourge of cords to drive the
money-changers from the temple in a fit of rage, human--but how ungodlike!

Believe me, the man Jesus is better than the god Jesus; the man is worth
while, for all his inconsistencies, partly due to his creed and partly to
his emotional nature. Indeed, we have not yet risen to the splendour of
his ideal--even the preachers will not preach it.

And the miracles? We need say nothing of those, I think. If a man disprove
his godship out of his own mouth, we shall not be convinced by a coin in a
fish's mouth or by his raising Lazarus, four days dead. So long as he
says, "I will confess him that confesseth me and deny him that denieth