be one with God, as you understand Him to do." Instead of this, they
too recognised His claims as divine, and worshipped, loved, served,
and preached Him accordingly. I will return to this part of the
subject afterwards. I remind only the reader of it in passing.

But before the force of such teaching as this of our Lord's can in any
degree be appreciated, two things should be borne in mind: one is, the
previous training of the Jewish nation with reference to the being and
character of God; and the other is, the moral character of Jesus.

As to the first of those points, remember only how, from the very
beginning, God had revealed _Himself_--that men might know the One
living and true God; and worship and serve Him alone with heart, soul,
and strength. This was the lesson of all lessons. This was the mighty
theme of all God's teaching and training of His people, from Adam to
Christ, by patriarchs, kings, and prophets; by national blessings and
national judgments; by captivities and restorations. On the other
hand, the sin of all sins was idolatry; rot the bowing down to stocks
or stones merely, but the giving, in any degree, that glory to another
which belonged exclusively to the One living and true God. Had not
their whole history been determined by their adherence to God, or
their falling away to idolatry? Enter, then, into the Jewish mind with
reference to this training, think how hallowed God's name was above
every other name--how enshrined it was in the very holy of holies of
the national faith, and how it had become so only after a discipline
of much suffering, prolonged through many centuries, until at last
idolatry had been banished on the return from Babylon;--think! of this
while you read those utterances I have quoted of a Jew to Jews. Do you
wonder that they called Him a blasphemer? for so, indeed, He certainly
was unless He was Divine.