LORD and SAVioÜR, JESUS CHR I S T. 151 me : all power, both in heaven and earth, is in his hand, and his omnipotence is en- gaged in their defence : none is able to contendwith him, to prevent the accom- plifhment.of his will, or to hurt the perfons whom he defends : none is able to contend with me, or wreft my people fromme ; for I and the-Great Eternal Father of the uni- verfe are one : My /heed hear my voice, and I know them, and they followme. A franger they will not follow : for they know not the voice offlrangers. And I give unto them eternal life; they /hall never per f , neither 'hall any man pluck . theist out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Thefe words highly provoked the Jews, they eonfidered them asblafphemous, and were fo enraged, that they took up Pones to Pone the exalted Saviour of thinners ; they thought they .acted in conformity to the law, which commands, that all blaf- phemers (hall be 'toned : but Jrs.us afked them, which of the benevolent- miracles he had wrought amongft them, deferved fuels treatment : Many good works, laid'he, have IJhewed youfrommy Father; for which of thofe works doye f ane nze. As if he had -laid, I have fed the hungry in the : defert, ?I have rePored frength:to the lame, Ihave cleanfed the lepers, 'I have healed the Fick, I have call out devils, I have raifed the dead; for .which of thefe works are ye going to Pone me? Do fuch miracles as there admit of the fuppofition, that the author of them is an impoftor.? Can you -be fo -limpid as to imagine, that the All- powerful and All-wife Governor of the world, would permit any perfon to per- 'form'fuch works, with no other intention than to deceive mankind, and to propagate 'falfhood and error? The Jews replied, we do not fuppofe, that thou deferveft pu- nifhment for any good work which thou hall performed ; the punifhment which we are preparing, is.defigned to chaftife thee .for -thy blafphemous fpeeches ; for thou, though a weak mortal like ourfelves, arro- gaudy affumeft the power and majefty of the Molt High, and, by claiming the in- communicable attributes of Deity, makelt thyfelf God : For a good work, faid they, sue fosse thee not ; but for-blafhemy, asid becaufe that thou, being a man, makiji thy- I fell God. JEsus replied, Has not the Scripture exprefsly called thofe gods, and the fond of God, who were commiflioned to govern God's people, and who by the communication of his Holy Spirit, were qualified for the important office with which they were inverted; can you, therefore, impute to that perfon whom the Almighty bath fanftified, and fent into the world, on the molt important buf nefs that ever any perfon was font into the world to execute, no lefs than the falvation of loft (inners ; can you, I:fay, impute blafphemy to this perfon, for taking on himfelf the title of the Son of God? If my own declaration be not fufficient to induce you to believe, confider the works which I have performed, and let them fpeak for me : is it not abun- dantly evident, that theymitE be the works of the MoP High,- as only Omnipotence could perform them? Is it not then fully manifeft, that I and the Eternal God are fo united, that whatever I fay or do is ap- proved by him,? Is it not written in your lazo, faid our great Redeemer, /fad, Ye are gods. If he called thesis gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scrip- ture cannot be broken; fayye ofhim whom the Father JAM fangfed,- and font into the world, Thou blaffhemefl; becaufe Ifail, I am the ,Son . of God? If I do not the works of sips Father, believe size not : but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in .me, and I in hint. This argument, however plain and con- clufive, was far from fatisfying the Jews ; their wicked hearts were hardened againft the truth, and their deep-rootedprejudices were not to be overcome: fo that what might have convinced an hone%, impar- tial inquirer after truth, had no . tendency but
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