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GOD The context in wbich this is given is a disputation between Jesus and certain of the Jews. The former in his usual parabolic way declared : "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw
it, and was glad." . What followed is thus described by John:“ Then said the Jewe up to him, Thou art not yet fifty years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say onto you, Before
Abraham was I am ” (John, viii. 56-58.) If you simply treat the term 'I am' as it was intended to be treated, namely, as a noun, the name of God, that is Life, you will avoid the difficulty which others have felt in connection with this mysterious utterance of Jesus. It would then simply read :
I AM' was before Abraham. . And this is certainly very much to the point. Do you now perceive the nature of Divinity ? His name is ' I AM', a most appropriate descriptive appellation of Life or Being, which truly is, Suppose you were desirous of personifying Lise as an anthropomorphic deity, and asked it to describe itself and to find for itself a name that was expressive of its functions: do you think it could describe itself more accurately or in a better way than by saying 'I am he who is,' i, e., I am that am,' or simply as ' I am ?, I do not thiuk it is possible to find a better expression than 'I AM'as a name for Life. We thus come back in this round about way to the old scientific formula of
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