putting the Lord Jesus to death, though he said, 'I ¹ find no crime in him.' The Jews answered him, 'We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.' If the Lord Jesus had even then declared that He was not God's Son, or that He had used the words in some other sense, His life might have been spared. But this He could not do, because He was the truth and had spoken the truth. This is one of the many reasons why we Christians, on His own authority, call Him the Son of God. On that rock ² we base our faith.

iii. We have now heard the Lord Jesus Christ's statements about Himself. Before enquiring what testimony His Apostles and other disciples were inspired by the Holy Spirit to bear to His divine sonship, let us learn what was said on the subject by the angels. After that we shall find that higher evidence still was also repeatedly given to the same great truth.

(1) When the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Nazareth to announce to the Virgin Mary the good news that she would become the mother of the promised Messiah, he said to her: 'Fear ³ not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be

called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' When Mary asked how this would come to pass, Gabriel replied: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.'

(2) Again, on the night when the Lord Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, the angel of God appeared to the shepherds who were feeding their flocks in the open country outside the town, and said to them: 'Be ¹ not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord . . . . And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.'

Here it is important to notice not only that an angel was sent to announce Christ's birth, and not merely the joy felt by the vast host of angels at His Advent, but also the fact that the angel spoke of the new-born child as both 'the Messiah' and as the 'Lord' (الرّبّ). This latter title is equivalent