their God! What might he _not_ have said at such a moment? What
might we not fancy his saying? What words, grand enough, awful
enough, might not the evangelists have put into his mouth, if they
had not been men full of the spirit of truth? And yet what does the
Lord say? 'Before Abraham was, I am.' Could he say more? If you
think of the matter, No. But could he say less? If you think of
the manner, No, likewise.

Truly, 'never man spake as he spake:' because never man was like
him. Perfect strength, wisdom, determination, endurance; and yet
perfect meekness, simplicity, sobriety. Zeal and modesty. They are
the last two virtues which go together most seldom. In him they
went together utterly; and were one, as he was one in spirit.

Him some of the evangelists saw, and by him all were inspired; and,
therefore, they toned their account of him to his likeness, and, as
it were, took their key-note from him, and made the very manner and
language of their gospels a pattern of his manners and his life.

And, if we wanted a fresh proof (as, thank God, needs not) that the
gospels are true, I think we might find it in this. For when a man
is inventing a wonderful story out of his own head, he is certain to
dress it up in fine words, fancies, shrewd reflections of his own,
in order to make people see, as he goes on, how wonderful it all is.
Whereas, no books on earth which describe wonderful events, true or
false, are so sober and simple as the gospels, which describe the
most wonderful of all events. And this is to me a plain proof (as I
hope it will be to you) that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not
inventing but telling a plain and true story, and dared not alter it
in the least; and, again, a story so strange and beautiful, that