Chapter 7

"Christ is Truly God

I.   The heir of a mighty monarch once traveling incognito and unattended, visited a lonely mountain valley which belonged to his father's dominions. In order that he might be suitably received, he told the inhabitants his name and his exalted rank. Since, however, no persons throughout the valley had ever seen the crown prince, or even a likeness of him, they refused to believe in his identity without further proof, but required him to show that he was the true and lawful crown prince. And the good people were certainly not to be blamed for requiring such a proof; since otherwise any one who took it into his head to do so, might claim to be the crown prince.
II.   Nineteen hundred years ago, far away in Palestine, a Man made His appearance; He claimed to be, not merely the heir of this or that mighty monarch, but the Son of the King of heaven and earth. Yes, when this Man stood arraigned as a criminal before the high priest, said to Him: "I adjure Thee the Christ, the Son of God," this Man replied, earnestly and solemnly, "Thou hast said it, I am He!"
   Thus publicly, earnestly, and solemnly, did Jesus Christ declare Himself to be the Son of God; thus did He announce Himself as true God. And He formerly required of His hearers, as He now in like manner requires of us, that His doctrines should be accepted, and His claims received. We, therefore, on our part, have a perfect right to demand that He should prove to us that we must believe in Him, that He should show His credentials, and prove Himself to be the Son of God, prove Himself to be true God. And indeed, there is not any lack of such proofs, of such credentials. Let us examine this matter somewhat more closely.
III.   He who asserts that He is the Son of God, that He is truly God, must in the first place lead a life absolutely free from sin. When Christ stood before His mortal foes and asked, "Which of you shall convince me of sin?" they were silent. Thus we see that Christ fulfilled the primary condition, that He should be without sin. In order to furnish a proof of His divinity it was necessary that He should do works which only God could accomplish. He must be Lord of the winds and waves, of the devil, of the powers of nature, of the living and the dead. Did Christ perform such essentially divine works, which could not possible be the result, either of natural causes or of the agency of the devil?
IV.   Unbelievers have objected that in order to judge whether we have before us a work which is a miracle, and essentially divine, we need to be thoroughly acquainted with the powers of nature, and also of the devil. To this we make reply that it is only necessary to know what the forces of nature are not able to accomplish. For example, if you, dear reader, are in a room, it is plain that you can not leave that room if every opening to it is closed. Equally true it is, that ordinary mud, if rubbed upon the eye, will not cure blindness; that the devil influences no soul for good, and so on. Therefore whatever exceeds the power, either of nature or of the devil, is an essentially divine action.
   If, without involving the aid of God, without first praying for help, Christ performed such actions, He performed them in virtue of His own divine omnipotence. Christ wrought miracles by His own power; the apostles and the saints performed wonders in the name of Jesus and through prayer. If Christ really did this, by so doing He showed Himself to be truly God.
V.   That Christ performed a great number of miracles, the evangelists, the Fathers of the Church, and heathen writers alike testify. I will only mention the occasions on which He raised the dead. At Naim He recalled a dead youth to life by merely uttering this word of command: "Young man, I say to thee; Arise."
   Christ knew that Lazarus was dead, without any announcement of the fact having reach Him, and He imparted the news to the apostles, and restored Lazarus to life, although he had been four days in the grave. Numerous persons witnessed this marvelous miracle, which caused the enemies of Our Lord to determine upon His death, because they consequences. But the Pharisees entertained no doubt as to the reality of His miracles.
VI.   Thus we see that the Saviour was a divine person. He Himself on several occasions asserted it openly, and this assertion was confirmed when He was baptized in the Jordan, by a voice from heaven which declared: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
   The adversaries of Christ affirms miracles to be impossible; therefore, say they, there were no miracle at all. Hence I might simply say to any one who had fallen from a ladder: "It is not possible to fall, therefore you have not fallen!" Thus it is utterly foolish to deny the possibility of any fact, the existence of which is self-evident. Therefore even Rousseau, who did not believe in Christ, declared that he who denies the possibility of miracles ought to be placed in a lunatic asylum.
VII.   Thus do we perceive that our faith rests upon the most solid basis; Christ is truly God, He has indisputably attested Himself to be such by means of His sinless life and His glorious miracles. Wherefore gaze upon your Saviour with the eye of faith, and say:

My Lord and God I Thee confess to be,

Though foes deride, and will know naught of Thee.

Thy wondrous works reveal to human sight

Thy love divine, Thy Glory, and Thy might."