man sick of the palsy at Capernaum. When the people brought the sick man to the Lord Jesus Christ, instead of healing him at once ' Jesus,^l seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak? he blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but one, even God?' It is clear that they quite rightly judged that the Lord Jesus Christ had laid claim to do what none but God could do. As they did not believe in Him, these leaders of the Jews considered this claim blasphemous. But the Lord Jesus proved that He had the right to forgive sins, and that His claim was divinely sanctioned, by proceeding to work a miracle of healing. Palsy is a disease which man cannot even now cure by any skill, science, or remedy ; but Christ cured it completely by a single utterance, thereby showing that He possessed more than human power to heal. He said: 'But ² that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house. And he arose, and straightway took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.' On this occasion Christ's

exercise of divine power to heal showed that He was speaking no blasphemy but the simple truth by claiming to exercise the divine attribute of forgiving sins. Moreover, by calling Himself the 'Son of man' He once more laid claim to a high position, higher than that of any prophet or apostle for the title is taken from the Book of Daniel. There the prophet tells us his vision of the establishment of God's kingdom upon earth in these words: 'I ¹ saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.'

(2) In St. John's Gospel especially we are given many of the words which Christ uttered to His disciples. These are full of such claims. One example of this is His saying: 'I ² am the way, the truth and the life: no one cometh unto the Father but by me.' Here He shows that there is a distinction of some kind between Himself and the Father, yet He asserts that only through Him can any one come to the knowledge of God the