26. And thus, although nothing but a sincere
belief that these names are truly significant,—that, when we
read, This is My Son and My Father, the words really
indicate Persons of Whom, and to Whom, they were spoken—can make
them intelligible, yet, lest it be supposed that Son and
Father are titles the one merely of adoption, the other merely
of dignity, let us see what are the attributes attached, by the Son
Himself, to His name of Son. He says, All things are delivered
Me of My Father, and no one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any the Father save the Son, and he to Whom the Son will reveal
Him St. Matt. xi. 27.. Are the words of which we are
speaking, This is My Son and My Father, consistent, or
are they not, with No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any the Father save the Son? For it is only by
witness mutually borne that the Son can be known through the Father,
and the Father through the Son. We hear the voice from heaven; we
hear also the words of the Son. We have as little excuse for not
knowing the Son, as we have for not knowing the Father. All
things are delivered unto Him; from this All there is no
exception. If They possess an equal might; if They share an equal
mutual knowledge, hidden from us; if these names of Father and Son
express the relation between Them, then, I demand, are They not in
truth what They are in name, wielders of the same omnipotence, shrouded
in the same impenetrable mystery? God does not speak in order to
deceive. The Fatherhood of the Father, the Sonship of the Son,
are literal truths. And now learn how facts bear out the verities
which these names reveal.