every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which
is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." "I was in the
Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." "And I
turned to see the voice that spake with me. And, being turned, I saw
seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks
one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame
of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his
right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand
upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; _I am the first and the last_: I am
he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
Amen; and _have the keys of hell and of death_," (Rev. i. 5-8, 10,
12-18.)

Could John have written such things of a mere man? Could a pious Jew
have done so without conscious blasphemy? It is in vain to reply that
I have quoted much of this from a vision. But would he have dared to
record such a vision, unless he believed Jesus to have been Divine?

I am compelled, therefore, to admit that the apostles _believed_ Jesus
of Nazareth to have been a Divine Person. I am not asserting, at
present, that what they believed was true in fact, but only that they
in fact believed this to be true.