ot divine. When I was a boy I thought that He was a good man
like Moses, Joseph, or Abraham. I even thought that He was the best
man who had ever lived on the earth. But I found that Christ had a
higher claim. He claimed to be God-Man, to be divine; to have come
from heaven. He said: "Before Abraham was I am" (John viii. 58). I
could not understand this; and I was driven to the conclusion--and I
challenge any candid man to deny the inference, or meet the
argument--that Jesus Christ is either an impostor or deceiver, or He
is the God-Man--God manifest in the flesh. And for these reasons. The
first commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" (Exod.
xx. 2). Look at the millions throughout Christendom who worship Jesus
Christ as God. If Christ be not God this is idolatry. We are all
guilty of breaking the first commandment if Jesus Christ were mere
man--if He were a created being, and not what He claims to be.

Some people, who do not admit His divinity, say that He was the best
man who ever lived; but if He were not Divine, for that very reason
He ought not to be reckoned a good man, for He laid claim to an honor
and dignity to which these very people declare He had no right or
title. That would rank Him as a deceiver.

Others say that He thought He was divine, but that He was deceived.
As if Jesus Christ were carried away by a delusion and deception, and
thought that He was more than He was! I could not conceive of a lower
idea of Jesus Christ than that. This would not only make Him out an
impostor; but that He was out of His mind, and that He did not know
who He was, or where He came from. Now if Jesus Christ was not what
He claimed to be, the Saviour of the world; and if He did not come
from heaven, He was a gross deceiver.

But how can any one read the life of Jesus Christ and make Him out a
deceiver? A man has generally some motive for being an impostor. What
was Christ's motive? He knew that the course He was pursuing would
conduct Him to the cross; that His name would be cast out as vile;
and that many of His followers would be called upon to lay down their
lives for His sake. Nearly every one of the apostles were martyrs;
and they were considered as off-scouring and refuse in the midst of
the people. If a man is an impostor, he has a motive at the back of
his hypocrisy. But what was Christ's object? The record is that "He
went about doing good." This is not the work of an impostor. Do not
let the e