^ 
 
 ^i Wxt ®ï»fo%la| &,. . 
 
 w^^i 
 
 ^%ft 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 s. 
 
 Shelf.. 
 
 BR 775 .P8 
 
 Pressens e, Edmond de, 1824- 
 
 1891. 
 The Redeemer: a sketch of 
 
 the history of redemption 
 

 
THE REBEEIEE. 
 
0-vAW 
 
 THE EEDEEIEE: 
 
 A SKETCH OF 
 
 THE HISTOEY OF EEDEMPTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMOND DE'i^RESSENSÉ 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE SECOND EDITION, 
 
 BY REV. J. H. MYERS, D.D. 
 
 Fac ut possim demonstrare 
 Quam sit dulce te amare, 
 Tecum pati, tecum flere, 
 Tecum semper congaudere. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 28 CoRNHiLL, Boston. 
 
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 
 
 THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These chapters are not sermons. The preparation of 
 them was indeed occasioned by preaching a series of ser- 
 mons upon the work of salvation, but, with the exception 
 of the direct form of address, which I thought it advisable 
 not to change, they have been modified for the press. 
 They form a sketch of the history of redemption, exhibited 
 in its different phases, but particularly in its essential phase, 
 — the life of Jesus Christ. 
 
 I have freely drawn from the fountains of cotemporary 
 theology, as was natural. The works of Neander, Lange, 
 Ullmann, Lucke, and Sartorious, the numerous com- 
 mentaries on the Gospels as well as the writings of the 
 Reformers, and especially Calvin's Harmony of the Gospels, 
 have been largely turned to account. I have not thought 
 it necessary, however, to load my book with notes and 
 citations, for I have received from these great theologians 
 a general impulse rather than sjoecific documents. I have 
 not attempted to set forth a Life of Jesus from the scien- 
 tific point of view, though I have had constantly before my 
 eyes the work of Strauss, whose negative results have en- 
 tered much farther than is thought into the circulation of 
 cotemporary ideas. But the presentation of the fact of re- 
 demption in its totality is of itself a strong defense of 
 Christianity. It is already proving revelation, when it is 
 set forth in its rich unity from the Fall to the Crucifixion 
 and the Resurrection. The binding into one sheaf of the 
 scattered ears of wheat exhibits and enhances their beauty. 
 
 1* V 
 
yi PREFACE. 
 
 Firmly believing in the agreement of Christianity with 
 conscience, I have aimed to exhibit this profomid harmony, 
 upon which ultimately rests every attempt to establish the 
 truth of the gospel in the minds of unbelievers. I have 
 sought to give a historic demonstration of the pre-estab- 
 lished relation between the human soul and Christ, by 
 showing that the Saviour was not only the fi-ee gift of the 
 love of God, but also the Desire of the Nations. With 
 this purpose I have unfolded to a certain extent the work 
 of preparation for Christianity ; in my view, that prepara- 
 tion consisted solely in developing the d'esire for salvation. 
 These considerations appear to me to throw great light 
 upon Judaism and its connection with the general history 
 of humanity. 
 
 We know the perverted use that may be made of this 
 agreement between the conscience and revelation. It is 
 peiwerted and abused whenever men allege tlieir identity, 
 and, professing to see in revelation nothing more than an 
 explanation of conscience, degrade Jesus Christ to the 
 position of one who only interprets the truth previously 
 and fully deposited in us. Nor is the cross, for us, a bare 
 testimony of the love of God, like the flowers beneath our 
 feet and the starry heavens above our heads. The cross 
 is the altar of the great sacrifice which restores man to 
 God and God to man. Christ is for us a Saviour as well 
 as a revealer. 
 
 A revelation which is a salvation, a work of deliverance 
 and reconciliation, may be desired by the heart of man, 
 but surely it is not contained, implicitly, in his heart, and 
 could not be hidden away in its lowest recesses. The hun- 
 ger and thirst for salvation are in the human soul, but the 
 bread and water which appease them must come from 
 above. Conscience is pre-adapted for the reception of 
 Christ, but Christ, the Saviour, is not the less necessary for 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 the conscience ; we can not be nourished by our own hun- 
 ger. 
 
 The Christianity which in our view accords with the 
 higher wants of man is that eternal Christianity which, 
 from the apostoHc age to our day, has consoled and saved 
 thousands of poor sinners ; it is that which, beginning by 
 declaring the Ml of man, leads us to the cross of Gol- 
 gotha, and bids us there adore the Saviour-God, acknowl- 
 edged in the fullness of his divinity. Who would dare 
 affirm that Christian consciousness has known any other 
 for eighteen centuries? Whatever may be our respect 
 for science, we declare that science is Christian only so 
 long as it keej^s within these bounds. 
 
 Whilst in these few pages offering my testimony rather 
 than my system, it is not difficult to perceive toward what 
 end we are gravitating in the advancing movement of 
 Christian scientific thought in our day ; it is toward the 
 ever-deepening interpénétration of the human element and 
 the divine element in the conception of Christian minds. 
 We are now summoned, in this great phase of the history 
 of the church, to place ourselves more directly at the very 
 center of Christian truth, whose first and chief dogma is 
 the profound union of humanity and divinity in the per- 
 son of Jesus Christ. And the great point presented is, by 
 the most thorough study of the Holy Scriptures, and by 
 the wisest use of the accumulated labors of our predecessors, 
 to become increasingly more Christian in our conceptions 
 and belief; that is to say, to throw aside every pagan or 
 Jewish element. 
 
 The task is as perilous as it is extended ; but whoever 
 has eyes to see must acknowledge that it is imposed by 
 God. Does not the most violent attack upon Christianity 
 proceed from pantheistic fatalism? and is not this a provi^ 
 dential intimation that we are to fortify ourselves precisely 
 
YIII PREFACE. 
 
 at the point which is threatened? This intimation has 
 been well understood by the first theologians of our times. 
 Neander, Tholuck, Julius MUller, Vinet, and others, have 
 clearly shown it. Precious materials have been amassed 
 for that reconstruction of scientific theology which has 
 been devolved upon our age so harassed with doubts ; 
 and we are thoroughly j^ersuaded that the greater number 
 of those who are laboring on in silence are moving in the 
 direction which we have indicated, and desire, in like man- 
 ner with us, the conciliation without absorption of the hu- 
 man and the divine element. All this is vague, it will be 
 said. It is vague, we reply, as a problem to be resolved. 
 AVe hope that the perusal of these discourses will more 
 clearly set forth the import of our thought, and will at 
 least make known our desiderata. Who could better 
 teach us the true fusion of the human and the divine than 
 he who was the God-man? May we, in our weakness, 
 contribute to render his image more living to our natm*es. 
 We do not forget that before theology there stands the 
 Christian life ; and our most cherished desire would be to 
 make Jesus Christ more loved, in making him better known. 
 Our wishes are admirably summed up in the beautiful 
 words of a great Christian man, which we take for our 
 motto : — 
 
 Fac ut possim demonstrare 
 Quam sit dulce te amare. 
 Tecum pati, tecum flere, 
 Tecum semper congaudere.* 
 
 * Grant to me the power of proving 
 All the sweetness Thee of loving, 
 With Thee weeping, anguish bearing, 
 In Thy joy for ever sharing. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE FALL AND THE PROMISE, U 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.— 
 
 BEFORE JUDAISM, \ 37, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.— 
 
 JUDAISM, , 68 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.— 
 
 PREPARATION A3I0NG THE HEATHEN, . . . .116 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST, THE MAN-GOD, ... 160 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST, 192 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST, 229 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS PKOrHET.— THE TEACHING OF JESUS 
 
 CHRIST, ....;. 258 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. — CHRIST'S APOLOGETIC — THE 
 
 SCRIPTURES. — MIRACLES. — INTERNAL EVIDENCE, . 287 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. — FIRST PERIOD OF THE MIN- 
 ISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST, OR HIS MANIFESTATION TO 
 THE WORLD, 319 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE, 354 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 JESUS CHRIST AS KING, 884 
 
''.5,^-- 
 
 '^K£A,^±r^-\/-;..'^„ 
 
 ?/ 
 
 1 ): 
 
 \TIÎEOLOGIGilL/ 
 
 THE REDÏfiflf 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 
 
 ** I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
 and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." — 
 Gen. iii. 15. 
 
 SINCE the day when these words sounded forth, the 
 aspect of our world has greatly changed. Then 
 it spread itself out before fallen man like one vast and 
 desolate solitude. Nothing concealed the sadness of 
 his place of exile. The sentence of condemnation was 
 read alike in the sky vailed for the first time^ and in 
 the hardened soil, which no longer yielded up its har- 
 vests except to the most unrelenting toil. The con- 
 trast between the blessed life of Eden and the bitter- 
 ness of the curse rendered all illusion impossible. 
 Death was dealing his first strokes ; sorrow was shed- 
 ding her first tears : a banished man suddenly torn 
 from his family experiences a less painful shock than 
 Adam on leaving his original condition. To-day noth- 
 ing is changed, but it is easier to forgot the mournful 
 reality which lies at the basis of our existence. For, 
 first of all, we are further removed from the day on 
 
 11 
 
12 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 which that condemnation was pronounced. Six thou- 
 sand years have passed away. In one sense, it has 
 not grown old ; it sounds out more terribly over the 
 accumulated dust of so many generations ; but its 
 echo vibrates less powerfully in our hearts. It no 
 longer appears in its utter nakedness, if I may thus 
 speak. Civilization has adorned it, and sometimes 
 disguised it. Man's wonderful power over nature 
 often hides from us the fact of his fall. Space and 
 time are conquered. We have given to our thoughts 
 and wishes instruments almost as rapid as themselves. 
 Those who judge of things only from the outward 
 appearance find it difficult to recognize, in this force- 
 ful humanity, developing its riches in the vast cities 
 of our day, advancing throagh successive discoveries 
 to the conquest of nature, which is constantly becom- 
 ing the yet more docile servant of its will, the race of 
 the first man, who is sorrowfully going forth for the 
 first time into the desert of a world accursed. And 
 yet man is an exile ; an exile who may return into 
 favor, but who, until he has found God again, walks 
 on under the burden of God's wrath. And this very 
 fact must constantly be recalled to thy mind, society 
 of the nineteenth century, — society satiated with pleas- 
 ures, filled with unbelief, intoxicated with thy pride 
 and thy gold, with thy railways and thy riches, — 
 society corrupted and refined, which, notwithstanding 
 thy storms and convulsions, art ever sleeping a deeper 
 sleep of materialism, and art tempted to regard a 
 palace of industry as the Paradise regained. In 
 the midst of these abodes glittering with luxury, in 
 this wiiirlpool of the elegant world, in this tumult of 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 13 
 
 affairs, we find the old Adam, the exile of primeval 
 days, him upon whom lies the weight of the original 
 sentence. 
 
 Civilized man, the amiable, smiling man of the 
 world, at one time encompassed with the prestige of 
 wealth or of rank, at another adorned with the splen- 
 dor of scientific a.nd literary attainment, is the arti- 
 ficial man ; the real man is sure to appear again at 
 the end. He re-appears in the day of mourning and 
 of death. But his re-appearance is only partial. 
 Death, also, has had her civilization. She is sur- 
 rounded with pomp or with homage. ' If we desire to 
 see man such as he is in reality, if we wish to have an 
 exact idea of his condition since the Fall, we must go 
 back to that day which preceded all falsehoods and all 
 illusions, when truth possessed the lightning's clear- 
 ness and flame ; that day when man was about to go 
 forth from Eden. The ground of our destiny will 
 rise in some sort before our eyes ; it will be naked 
 and open before us. We shall learn to know, in the 
 future, not only particular sufferings, but the great 
 misfortune, and also the great consolation of humanity. 
 We shall go down into that abyss of the Fall where is 
 to be found, as Pascal has said, the knot of every 
 question. The little questions which our frivolity has 
 magnified, questions relating to industry, art, and 
 politics, will be eclipsed by the question of life or 
 death, — the question of the Fall and of salvation. 
 God grant that I may treat it w4th all the earnestness 
 wdiich it demands ! I design to unfold in a series of 
 discourses the plan of salvation so gloriously realized 
 in Jesus Christ. The theme is comprehended in this 
 
14 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 passage. Here the condemnation and the promise 
 are outlined with bold prophetic strokes. The way 
 that leads into exile, and the pathway of return, are at 
 the same time opened before us. It is the first stadium 
 of that long road terminating at the cross, and, by the 
 cross, in heaven ; and with a rapid glance we may 
 contemplate it as a whole, as well in its briars and 
 thorns as in its luminous close. By clearly marking 
 the very origin of the enterprise of our salvation, we 
 shall better appreciate its greatness and its total 
 character. We shall see to what depth man had 
 fallen, to what hight God willed to raise him again, 
 and we shall understand that everything in the past, 
 in the present, and in the future, tends to the accom- 
 l^lishment of this vast design. The work of. Jesus 
 Christ will be unfolded before us in its infinite pro- 
 portions. No contemplation can more fully redound 
 to the praise of his grace. 
 
 I will put, — saith the Lord, speaking to the ser- 
 pent, — I will put enmity between thee aiid the woman, 
 and hetiveeii thy seed and her seed ; it (lier seed) shall 
 bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 
 
 The serpent here personifies the power of dark- 
 ness, the power of sin and death. The seed of 
 the woman must here be understood of that blessed 
 posterity which at the appointed time raised up hu- 
 manity from its fall. This text teaches us, then, first 
 of all, that the earth is the theater of a perpetual 
 contest between the power of good and the power of 
 evil. It suffices to open one's eyes in order to per- 
 ceive that an unceasing and mysterious war is waged 
 here below between opposing forces. Do we not see 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 15 
 
 them incessantly contending in society, in individual 
 life, in nature herself? Is there not turmoil and 
 agitation everywhere ? Is not this world a world of 
 contrasts and of discords ? The simplest experience 
 teaches us this sad truth ; but by experience we are 
 led no further. It does not disclose to us the pro- 
 found import of this universal struggle. 
 
 Human reason, in despair of explaining the con- 
 flict, finds in it a fated condition of all development. 
 It judges that it is conformable to the wisdom of God — 
 whenever, at least, it admits a personal God — to im- 
 pose a harsh law of suffering, without any appreciable 
 motive, upon all earthly progress. Such a mocking 
 explanation is not given in the Scriptures. Whoever 
 has read them with faith can not regard these forces as 
 two blind agents whom chance has unbound and let 
 loose one against the other ; they are two free and 
 moral powers, — the power of perdition and the power 
 of salvation. They pursue each other and clasp each 
 other in strife throughout the entire creation, from 
 the soil which w^e tread beneath our feet, even into 
 the depths of our hearts. The power of sin has left 
 its traces upon the earth, and its impure breath 
 awakens our lusts. At the same time, the power of 
 love shines in the azure of the sky, in the beauties 
 of nature preserved for our gratification ; and by this 
 power conscience is inspired. This gigantic contest, 
 prosecuted in every clime and in all ages, in the 
 history of nations and in that of individuals, has for 
 its stake — if I may venture thus to speak — the im- 
 mortal soul of man. You understand, my brethren, 
 what scope is given by this revelation to the events 
 
16 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 \\\\\q\\ are taking place on the earth. Henceforth the 
 history of humanity is not, any more than the history 
 of the individual, a strange enigma. The cause of 
 all these divisions is the greatest conceivable ; eternal 
 interests are involved in the conflict. Behind the 
 visible champions are invisible champions, vi^ho are 
 pursuing an end ever the same ; on the one side 
 hatred, on the other love. The Lord hath declared, 
 " There is war between the seed of the serpent and 
 the divine seed of the woman." With what emotion 
 ought we to look upon the conflict ! and perhaps we 
 have never given it a thought. Careless spectators of 
 this startling drama, the unfolding of which has a direct 
 influence upon our eternal destinies, we have perhaps 
 given heed only to the decorations and the incidents 
 of the scene, or we have gone to sleep, as if the mat- 
 ter in hand were a frivolous tale. And yet heaven and 
 hell are attentive to its issue as respects each one of 
 us. Shall this man be lost, or be saved ? Such is the 
 question which they never cease asking. 
 
 But wherefore this conflict ? Our minds naturally 
 raise this question. Is it a necessary, indispensable 
 condition of human life ? Has the earth from all 
 time been delivered up to incessant warfare ? No, my 
 brethren ; and, if you doubt it, I would appeal to the 
 very place where the words of our text were pro- 
 nounced. They were spoken in Eden, at the moment, 
 it is true, when Eden was about to be closed against 
 man. Give it a rapid glance ; soon it will have dis- 
 appeared ; it will have vanished away, as vanishes the 
 pure and brilliant morning of a burning day. See 
 how all is beautiful, how all is harmonious in that 
 
THE FALL AXD THE Plî OMISE. 17 
 
 abode! What splendor in the sky! — what happi- 
 ness ! How easy to see that i\\Q power of love alone 
 has been present here, and that it has freely displayed 
 itself in the generous profusion of its gifts ! 
 
 Are you still in doubt ? Do you find it difficult to 
 believe that there has been a time without conflict and 
 without anguish ? Contemplate man at the very mo- 
 ment when God is announcing this conflict to him. 
 He flees with confusion before his Father, he trembles, 
 he is afraid, he hides himself. It is because he feels 
 that if the power of sin and death is unchained, it is 
 his hand alone that has done it ; because he knows 
 that he has only himself to arraign for that sad and 
 unnatural state of warfare. Believe that for this he feels 
 shame and terror. He is yet new in falsehood. He has 
 not had time to search out many words wherewith to 
 impose upon himself. Later lie will be satisfied with 
 sophisms, and will aver that everything is normal in his 
 condition. Confide rather in his first impressions than 
 in his later reasonings. Behold in his inward trouble 
 the cry of conscience, and confess with us that if the 
 power of love alone is no longer manifested to the race, 
 it is because man has departed from his natural path. 
 
 Let us gather up and apprehend the testimony of 
 Scripture on this subject. And first, if there is a con- 
 flict, it is not because two opposing principles were 
 brought face to face from all eternity. On this sup- 
 position, we must acknowledge a God of evil confront- 
 ing a God of goodness ; a God of darkness warring 
 against a God of light ; Ahriman against Ormuzd. This 
 would be substantially proclaiming atheism. What is 
 a God who is not an absolute and sovereign being ? 
 2* 
 
18 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Let us acknowledge with the Scriptures that goodness 
 alone is everlasting, that it alone has had no beginning. 
 It is God himself. It can declare, I am that lam. 
 Evil, on the contrary, had a beginning. It existed 
 neither in the Creator, nor in the plan of the creation. 
 It can in no degree be attributed to God, under peril 
 of sapping the very idea of God. It can come only 
 from the creature ; and it is here, my brethren, that I ask 
 your entire attention, for the solution of this question 
 contains, in the germ, the solution of all others. 
 
 Whatever proceeds from the hands of God is perfect 
 as ho is perfect, and bears the signature of divinity. 
 But among the beings created by him there are those of 
 a superior nature ; such are the beings made in his 
 image, — spiritual beings. These are not subjected to 
 mechanical laws. It is not with them as with the star, 
 wliich can not quit the pathway in which the almighty 
 hand has sent it forth, and which is imprisoned in the 
 azure sky by an invincible necessity. Spiritual beings 
 are free beings ; they do not gravitate toward God by 
 constraint of a physical law ; they are called to turn 
 toward him freely and of themselves. That is to say, 
 in other words, they are called to love him. Love 
 reposes upon freedom. A constrained love is not a 
 genuine love. As well might we say that the earth, 
 turning round the sun, loves the sun. Spiritual be- 
 ings must therefore determine themselves freely in 
 favor of God, or otherwise they are no longer spir- 
 itual beings. But how shall they freely determine 
 themselves thus if the opportunity is not offered ? At 
 the moment when they proceed from the hands of God 
 they are in an infantile state. They have not conscious- 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 19 
 
 ness of that which they owe to him. They are therefore 
 morally unfinished and incomplete. They will have 
 fulfilled their destiny only when by an act of will they 
 shall have consummated the giving up of their being to 
 God. And in order to that, an appeal must needs be 
 made to their will ; they must learn to distinguish it 
 from that of God, that they may be able to refer it back 
 to liim. A trial of their freedom is needful ; they 
 must be required to choose between love and self-seek- 
 ing, — a perilous choice, a dangerous trial, I admit, 
 but a trial necessary to the full development of the 
 spiritual being ; if he comes out of it victorious, then 
 is he consummated in his union with God, without be- 
 ing absorbed by him ; if he succumbs, he has only him- 
 self to censure. And thus all is to the glory of God. 
 Such is, in our view, the Scriptural solution. 
 
 If it be objected, that we greatly exalt the liberty of 
 the creature, we accept the reproach. If this liberty 
 is not earnestly admitted and maintained, we have no 
 understanding either of the gospel or of conscience. 
 We perceive both these revelations lost in the abyss 
 of pantheism. We no longer know the nature of good- 
 ness, of evil, or of duty. The alternations of good and 
 evil are regulated as are the alternations of day and 
 night. Astronomy supplants morality, and we can no 
 longer repeat those beautiful words of the hymn : — 
 
 Tous les cieux et leur splendeur 
 
 Ne valent pas pour ta gloire 
 
 Un seul soupir (l'un seul cœur.* 
 
 * How poor the shining hosts above, 
 
 When weighed against one contrite sigh, 
 To glorify the God of love. 
 
20 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 And let no one tell us that we do thus augment hu- 
 man pride. A strange manner of augmenting it, to at- 
 tribute all evil to the creature, all good to the Creator Î 
 Apart from the earnest recognition of freedom, VvG can 
 not avoid referring evil ulthuately to God.^ It is then 
 his cause which we defend in defending freedom ; we are 
 jealous of his rights, which we are sometimes charged 
 with sacrificing. Moreover, this freedom is a gil't from 
 him, and in it we are contending for the root of all 
 moral life. We desire to have a heart to give, because 
 we desire to love. Many mysteries still remain, and 
 we do not pretend to explain either foreknowledge or 
 the operation of grace. Over that region of the illim- 
 itable we see vast shadows sweeping. But it is not 
 the darkness of a winter's night, the heavy darkness of 
 fatalism. It is a night of summer illumined with celes- 
 tial irradiations. Divine love shines therein, as the 
 azure depth of heaven in which tlie stars are glitter- 
 ing, and it is preserved pure and untouched by our 
 faith in freedom, that does not suffer evil to be cast 
 back upon God. Evil must be wholly imputed to the 
 creature who has gone astray. 
 
 Do not believe, my brethren, that we have surren- 
 dered our minds to suppositions more or less plausible. 
 The facts of revelation are on our side. Of that power 
 of darkness which in our text is personified by the ser- 
 pent, the Scriptures teach us the glorious origin. He 
 is an archangel fallen ; and with regard to him, we may 
 repeat those words of the prophet, " How art thou fallen^ 
 star of the morning .^" The Lord has said of him, " He 
 did not abide in the truth." Abide ! What does that 
 imply, but that lie was once in the truth ? We can not 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE 21 
 
 lift the vail which hides from us the history of the an- 
 gels, but the fall of Satan instructs us that they also 
 have had their trial. They were summoned to decide 
 in favor of God. A portion of them continued in the 
 truth, and attained to the complete development of their 
 being. Others . . . Look at the part played by Satan 
 in the garden of Eden, his impatient eagerness to frus- 
 trate the purposes of God, and to destroy his new 
 creature. See the hatred of him whom Jesus Christ 
 calls a murderer and a liar from the beginning ; and, 
 remembering that he was formerly one of the seraphs 
 who approached nearest to the throne of the God 
 of love, you will discern the entire extent of his fall, 
 and you will better understand his fearful destiny in 
 reflecting upon the incredible perversity which from 
 such a higlit could hurl hina so low. 
 
 We know now whence comes that power of evil which 
 appears by the side of man in the garden of Eden. 
 We are also in a position to conceive the object of the 
 commandment given him, which imperils his freedom. 
 Created in the image of God, created free, he, like the 
 angels, must have his trial. He is yet a child ; he is 
 in a state of innocence. From innocence he must pass 
 into holiness. He is bound to God as the ivy that en- 
 twines the oak. A bond of love should take the place 
 of this natural tie. He is called to yield himself to 
 love while having consciousness of that which he does. 
 Do not complain of the danger which he incurs. It is 
 complaining of the means offered to him for the fulfill- 
 ment of his high destiny. To ask for him the impos- 
 sibility of falling, is to ask for him the inert nature of 
 the plant. The commandment of God is the trial of his 
 
22 THE REDEEMEE. 
 
 freedom. Comprehend its importance. In point of 
 fact, God sets before man the most solemn question : 
 " I disclose to thee thy freedom ; thou canst choose be- 
 tween my will and thine, between me and thee ; be- 
 tween me, who have loaded thee with benefits, and thee, 
 who, from the breath which animates thy dust to thine 
 immortal soul, hast received everything from me. Wilt 
 thou love me ? " 
 
 To this question you know what was the reply of 
 man. "No," he has said by his acts, — "no, I will not 
 love thee." I will believe the first one who comes, 
 rather than thee. I will believe him although he takes 
 the position of thine enemy. And that which shall be 
 most seductive in his words will be the promise of sup- 
 planting thee." Such was the trivial offense of Adam, 
 to use the language of the world ! 
 
 Does it not seem, my brethren, that all is lost? 
 The solemn, decisive trial is ended: by this rebellion 
 God has been repulsed and offended in the most un- 
 worthy manner. Doubtless the wretched being who 
 has dared to plant himself against the Almighty will 
 go, laden with chains of darkness, to consort with 
 rebel angels. Already these felicitate themselves, and 
 begin to have some foretaste of the only joy possible 
 in hell, — the joy of satisfied hate. They err. Love 
 has resources which hatred can not foresee. " Man 
 must never be chastised ; he will be banished, he shall 
 die. The just God can not recall his threatening, 
 but at the same time he will pardon. Oh, foolish- 
 ness ! The great God of heaven forget this outrage, 
 raise again the creeping worm who thought to make 
 himself a God, love him once more immediately after 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. ' 23 
 
 that fatal day of revolt, — to this extent forgot his 
 offended dignity ! " A foolishness which surpasses tlio 
 understanding of the wise ! Holy and glorious fool- 
 ishness of infinite charity, which no power can equal ! 
 Then began that sacrifice of the Lamb that was slain, 
 according to the gospel, from the foundation of the 
 world. The first manifestation of redeeming love is 
 in the very contest which arose between the power of 
 goodness and the power of perdition. Man deserved 
 to be abandoned to himself and to death, and to bo 
 wholly given up to the angel of darkness whom he 
 had preferred before God. If there is a contest, it is, 
 then, because there has occurred a miraculous and 
 benevolent interposition on the part of the power of 
 love. It could not be otherwise manifested, for it 
 can not set aside the rights of divine justice. A rep- 
 aration is needed. This reparation must be obtained 
 from humanity itself. It must be led to labor for 
 this ; and, as it has let loose in its own heart and upon 
 the earth the powers of darkness, this result can bo 
 achieved only at the cost of a most stubborn con- 
 flict. But the very existence of such a contest is the 
 manifestation of the forgiveness of God. It could 
 not be conceived of as possible in the abode of a rem- 
 ediless condemnation. There could exist only the 
 withering uniformity of evil, and the frightful immo- 
 bility of despair. 
 
 Recognize, then, first of all, the love of God in that 
 succession of the generations of man, in that tumult- 
 uous movement of history, in those conflicts of ideas 
 and sentiments which ever conceal the great conflict 
 of good and evil, of error and of truth, and say to 
 
24 TH?: REDEEMEE. 
 
 yourself that a world of combat is a world not for- 
 saken by the God of love. Recognize in the rendings 
 of your hearts, and in the battles of your thoughts, 
 the presence of the pitying power. The simple fact 
 alone of this contest brought before us by our text 
 ought to make you bless the God of love. 
 
 But there is more than this : not only is the contest 
 announced, the issue is also declared : The seed of 
 the zi'oman shall crush thy head^ was said to the ser- 
 pent. It is not possible that the power of evil should 
 prevail over the power of goodness. Love is more 
 indefatigable than hate. It does not grow weary : it 
 seeks never its own gratification ; the more unfortu- 
 nate and destitute its object, the more shiningly dis- 
 played are its boundless compassions. Do not fear, 
 then, that the pitying power should yield the ground 
 to the malevolent power ; in proportion as earth shall 
 become more and more a scene of sorrow, in that 
 proportion shall love be there manifested. Let us not 
 forget that it is God who speaks. It is he who by a 
 word created the world, and whose breath sustains 
 universal life. It is, in especial, he who made the 
 heart of man, who knows all its springs, and who has 
 preserved for himself a witness in the depth of the 
 soul. It is the omnipotent Father, who holds in his 
 hand all the fibers of our moral being, in order to 
 draw us to himself. Moreover, he has promised it. 
 This promise was the worst chastisement of the 
 tempter. He pronounced it on the first day of 
 history ; he repeated it by the mouth of his Son, when 
 a second phase of history was inaugurated by the 
 Son in declaring that the gates of hell should not 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 25 
 
 prevail against his church. Thus we march on be- 
 neath the blessing of a promise of victory. Let us 
 never forget this. The worst device of the enemy- 
 consists in depriving us of this recollection. Take 
 heed lest by your unbelief you ascribe falsehood to 
 God. The power of evil fortifies itself with all the 
 strength which you impute to it. He uses this to 
 beat down your shaken soul. Never give him the 
 satisfaction of believing in the possibility of his tri- 
 umph. When it seems to you that he has completely 
 conquered in society ; when truth and justice appear 
 to you stifled by error, hypocrisy, and injustice ; when 
 your moral sense is sadly wounded by the success of 
 evil and its insolent joy, — in the name of the promise 
 of those primeval days, falter not in your confidence 
 in goodness and in righteousness, doubt not of the 
 victory. When religious society or the church seems 
 to you ready to founder ; when superstition, heresy, 
 and materialism — that subtle venom of the serpent — 
 have perverted the holy gospel of God : when the 
 difficulties opposing a renovation appear to you insur- 
 mountable, — in the name of the promise of the first 
 days, believe in the blessed renewal, in the salutary 
 purification ; doubt not of the victory. And, finally, 
 when in your individual life, assailed by temptation, 
 encompassed with snares, almost fascinated by the se- 
 ductions of a corrupting world, you imagine to your- 
 selves that you are about to yield, and you cry out, 
 " The combat is too hard, the temptation is too 
 strong," resume your courage, in the name of the 
 promise of the first days. Rely upon Him who prom- 
 ised to fight for you. Doubt not of the victory. Never 
 
 3 
 
26 ï'^'^^ REDEEMER. 
 
 was it more necessary in these sad days to draw out 
 from this first promise consolation and hope. It is 
 destined to be for us, during our long journey in the 
 desert, that which the luminous cloud was for Israel. 
 Let it enlighten to-day our somber pathway. There is 
 no dark epoch which it has not enlightened. Did it 
 not light up even the entrance of man into the valley 
 of trial ? When did the head of the serpent rise up 
 more victorious, apparently, than on that day when, 
 through his seductive art, sinful man fled from his 
 God amid the trees of the garden ? And yet then it 
 was said that his head should be crushed ! Let the 
 consolation which sufficed for that day — the saddest 
 of days — suffice unto us in our time. 
 
 Our text discloses to us not only the great conflict 
 between good and evil, and its result ; it teaches us, 
 also, what is the principal weapon employed in the 
 combat. A strange thing, — the weapon is the same 
 on both sides ! It is wielded with directly opposite 
 purposes, but it is in the hands of the two adversaries. 
 This weapon is sufferhig. God said to the serpent, 
 '' Thou shalt wound the heel of the son of the woman." 
 This figure indicates the numberless sorrows Avhich 
 are the result of the condemnation, — sorrows which, 
 through the grace of God, are not a mortal wound 
 for our souls, as is signified by the expression of a 
 wound in the heel. They appeared to be a signal 
 proof of the triumph of Satan. And it has proved 
 that those afflictions — I speak of afflictions in general, 
 and not merely of those endured by the servants of 
 God — have concurred in the most effectual manner 
 to secure the triumph of divine love, and to prepare 
 
TBE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 27 
 
 for its supreme manifestation in Jesus Christ. Out- 
 ward happiness in sin leads to hardening. Suffering 
 breaks the heart. On the one hand, doubtless, it 
 subserves the justice of God, but not the less is his 
 love served by it. Moreover, the attributes of God 
 form a living unity. Love can not be severed from 
 justice any more than justice from love. Rejoice 
 not, therefore, Satan, because man is driven from 
 Eden. Nothing would have better aided thy black 
 projects than the possession of that delicious abode 
 after the Fall. Then thou couldst have counted 
 upon success. But now, exile and its bitterness will 
 soften his pride. Soon sighing and complaining will 
 banish blasphemy from his withered lips. It is not, 
 therefore, thy accursed angels which guard the en- 
 trance of the earthly paradise ; it is the seraphs of 
 the God of love, and their sword recalls the fact that 
 there exists a consuming fire. If the earth is cov- 
 ered with briars and thorns, it is not merely because 
 it is the earth of condemnation, but also because it is 
 -the earth of preparation and of salutary trial. Every 
 time that man shall eat his bread in the sweat of his 
 brow, his sad destiny will be brought to his mind, and 
 the hour will come when in thy despite all these sor- 
 rows and all these accumulated labors will impel him 
 to cry unto God in his distress. Wound him only ; 
 thou shalt do no more than urge him to flee more 
 swiftly toward the Redeemer. Thou didst believe the 
 victory thine when his tears were seen to flow, and, 
 behold ! thy powerful adversary, whose first word 
 was, " Blessed are they that weep ; they shall be 
 comforted." 
 
^8 THE REDEEMER. ' 
 
 How this contemplation of affliction is adapted to 
 strengthen us ! In every sorrow, righteousness and 
 pity embrace each other. Let us learn to discern 
 therein the hand of righteousness, which smites us for 
 our rebellions, as the hand of love, which, while smiting 
 us. knocks at the door of our hearts. Who would not 
 draw resignation from the certainty that affliction is 
 eminently the weapon wielded by the power of love ? 
 Who would not suffer himself to be pierced by that 
 blessed sword which inflicts mortal blows only on the 
 power of perdition? Whenever we feel its piercing 
 point, let us believe that we were about to yield to the 
 attack of our adversary, and that the restorative stroke 
 prevented us from experiencing a repulse that might 
 have proved fatal. Yes, it is affliction which at every 
 moment of our spiritual life has caused the power of 
 salvation to prevail within us over the power of perdi- 
 tion. It is this which has detached us from the vani- 
 ties of time, which has awakened us from our moral 
 sleep, and which has made us say, " My soul thirsteth 
 for God." It is this which has made our souls know 
 the droughts of summer, of which the prophet speaks ; 
 it is this which has broken our bones, which has placed 
 us in the dust of death, and which has prepared us to 
 utter the cry, " Lord, save us ; we perish." Mysterious 
 messenger sent to the prodigal son, it has brought him 
 back to the Father, bowed down, his garments rent 
 and stained. And at the hour when we found the 
 Father, affliction, spiritualized, ennobled, transformed 
 into sorrow for sin, caused tears of repentance to flow 
 from our eyes. It preceded and guided our restora- 
 tion. From the day of our reconciliation, trial, like the 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 29 
 
 angel of God that buffeted St. Paul, has been our 
 guardian angel ; that austere companion of our jour- 
 ney will leave us only on the threshold of that city above, 
 where there are no more tears, because there is no 
 more sin. Thus our individual experience comes to 
 sustain the general truth which we have established. 
 The sorrowful wound precedes, accompanies, and per- 
 fects the work of salvation. 
 
 It is time to turn to that work itself, w^ithout which 
 all that we have said is devoid of meaning. And here 
 we touch upon the most elevated part of our theme. 
 How was this work accomplished ? By the greatest of 
 sufferings ; it could not be otherwise. Satan is not 
 content with the afflictions which are the natural result 
 of sin. With his murderous blows he follows after all 
 the men of God. In running over the religious his- 
 tory of humanity, we shall perceive that if the adver- 
 sary seeks to hold his own followers by means of ter- 
 restrial joys, he strives at the same time to enfeeble 
 and overcome the sons of God by persecution. He 
 has always grossly deceived himself ; that weapon has • 
 turned against him, for affliction has constantly ele- 
 vated and illustrated the cause of God. The wicked 
 has fallen into the snare which he had prepared. But 
 never was he more foiled in his attempt than when he 
 violently assailed him who was, by eminence, the man 
 of God. He wounded him in the heel with his sharp- 
 est arrows. Against him he brought to bear all afflic- 
 tions that can be imagined. And that wounded heel 
 proved to be precisely that which crushed his head. 
 See, then, suffering truly victorious and health-giving. 
 The sufferings of which we have spoken would possess 
 
30 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 no utility without the suffering of the Redeemer. 
 They have no expiatory value, because they are more 
 or less stained, as is everything which proceeds from 
 man. All the tears that have bedewed the earth, all 
 the blood which has been shed, all general and special 
 afflictions, — more in number than the sands of the sea, 
 — can not blot out one of the sins committed by the de- 
 scendants of Adam. God does not thirst for our tears. 
 That which he desires is our hearts. The heart of 
 man was torn from him ; it is necessary that it be 
 brought back to him. It was torn from him by an act 
 of rebellion ; it must be restored to him by an act of 
 obedience. That act of obedience can be no other than 
 a bloody sacrifice. For now the question is not con- 
 cerning the accepting of the will of God under the 
 blessed conditions of Eden ; it must be accepted under 
 the deplorable conditions of the condemnation ; that 
 is to say, all its consequences must be accepted, freely 
 accepted, without having been deserved. There must ^ 
 be obedience unto death, since death is the destiny of 
 the sons of Adam. Suffering is therefore the indispen- 
 sable condition of salvation. Without the shedding of 
 blood, no salvation. That shedding of blood has taken 
 place ; salvation has been effected ; our sufferings, then, 
 have a blessed operation in preparing us to desire it 
 and to receive it. 
 
 But Avhat is in reality that posterity of the woman 
 which is destined to fulfill the promise ? Let us read 
 our text again ; it answers this question also : I will 
 put enmity between tJiee and the woman, and between 
 thy seed and her seed. The contest, as we have said, 
 is between the power of perdition and the power of 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 31 
 
 love, between Satan and God. But these two powers 
 do not altogether engage in a direct conflict with 
 each other. Each has its champions. The seed of the 
 serpent fights against the seed of God. Both are to be 
 sought for among the children of Adam. Humanity 
 is divided into two humanities ; the one is in such 
 wise assimilated to itself by the power of darkness, 
 that it is called the seed of the serpent; the other 
 is in such wise assimilated to itself by the power of 
 divine love as to become its incarnation. It can not 
 be otherwise. Man as a free creature could not be the 
 price of a combat in which he had not taken part. 
 Satan can not triumph over man except through man ; 
 all the legions of fallen angels do not equal for him a 
 single man enrolled beneath his standard. Nor can 
 the work of salvation, any more than the triumph of 
 Satan, be accomplished apart from our concurrence. 
 It was humanity that abandonee! God. It must return 
 to him, it must offer the restorative sacrifice. Doubt- 
 less it can not do this of itself, for it is sold under sin, 
 and is the slave of sin. Therefore, wdien God prom- 
 ises that the posterity of the woman shall crush the 
 serpent's head, he thereby engages to intervene with 
 sovereign power in the work of our salvation ; he 
 promises the assimilation of humanity by himself ; and 
 be pleased to observe that I am not speaking of a mere 
 moral assimilation, I speak of a positive assimilation, 
 and I know no other than the incarnation of the Son. 
 But it is not the less true that the Son must be truly 
 a man, not only as to the flesh whick he borrows from 
 humanity, but also by a moral bond which is linked in 
 with it. He is to be the representative of luimanity, 
 
32 THE JIEDEEMER. 
 
 and for that cause ho must be desired by it, by that por- 
 tion, at least, which is not dedicated to the service of 
 Satan. He is to become not only the fruit of her 
 womb, but also the fruit of her broken heart. If Je- 
 sus Christ was marvelously begotten of a woman, he 
 was not less miraculously begotten in the soul of hu- 
 manity. The desire of a Saviour which it experienced 
 was a seed of God. 
 
 This divine seed was deposited in the heart of all the 
 saints who prepared the way for his coming. Grad- 
 ually the power of love did thus assimilate humanity 
 to itself, and the men who took part in this blessed prepa- 
 ration were from the beginning of the world designated 
 by the name of " sons of God : " they represent the divine 
 ^seed. The full development of this seed was not wit- 
 nessed on the, first day. Four thousand years of con- 
 flict were necessary, because there was a constant and 
 hostile development of the seed of the serpent, — that is 
 to say, of Satanic humanity, — which sought incessantly 
 to stifle the divine seed. It would be ungrateful to 
 overlook those contests, the labor of so many centu- 
 ries in preparing the cradle of Jesus Christ. There 
 needed to have been many sons of God like those 
 spoken-of in Genesis, before the only Son of God should 
 be born, — he in whom dwelleth the fullness of the God- 
 head bodily, — before it could be said. Unto us a child 
 is horn; the child of the Most High God, and the child 
 of our prayers, our tears, and our desires, the divine 
 seed deposited in us by his Spirit ! 
 
 It is this preparation, this slow introduction into the 
 world of the posterity of the woman, which we would 
 invite you to contemplate whilst we sketch its history 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 33 
 
 in its great outlines. Such will be the object of the 
 discussion upon winch we have entered. We shall see 
 the conflict between the two powers, of which we spoke 
 at the beginning, gathering a new degree of energy. 
 It is no longer merely a contest between good and evil ; 
 the combat bears upon the coming of the Saviour ; the 
 seed of Satan strives to stifle in its blessed germ the 
 salvation of the race of man. The posterity of the 
 woman preserves it, and develops it under the opera- 
 tion of the Spirit of God until the day when, having 
 reached its maturity, through the incarnation, the tri- 
 umph of the power of love is consummated. We shall 
 see the power of perdition following a parallel devel- 
 opment, and, on the day of God's complete assimila- 
 tion of humanity, assimilating to itself more fully re- 
 bellious humanity, to such an extent that Satan ap- 
 pears to be personally and directly taking part in the 
 contest. Thus in very truth has our text given us the 
 theme which history has only developed. The great 
 and universal conflict is indicated in these words : I 
 will put enmity hetiueen thy seed and the seed of the ivo- 
 man. The final triumph shines out from the first: 
 The posterity of the tvoman shall crush thy head. The 
 conditions of this triumph are summed up in the 
 words, Thou shalt wound his heel. In suffering he 
 prepares himself. In a great sacrifice he completes 
 the work. The champions in this conflict are on both 
 sides men. God in humanity, imparting himself wholly 
 unto it in the person of his Son, — the divine posterity 
 of the woman, — shall crush Satan, who is also present 
 in humanity. Such is the majestic plan which is un- 
 rolled before us in the text. May I have succeeded in 
 
34 THE REDEEMElî. 
 
 filling you with the admiration which it has awakened 
 within me ! 
 
 But it is not admiration of God's plan that I par- 
 ticularly ask for at the close of this discourse. I de- 
 sire to leave you under a more serious impression. 
 Have you remarked the opposition established in our 
 text between the seed of the serpent and the posterity 
 of the woman ? Apparently, it aims to declare that 
 those who serve the serpent do not really continue to 
 form a part of humanity. The true humanity — the 
 posterity of the woman — is the divine humanity, that 
 which fights on the side of God. It alone, first, re- 
 sponds to the true idea of humanity, such as it exists 
 in the thought of the Creator. Moreover, it alone pro- 
 motes the interests of the fallen race. You who have 
 joined yourselves to man's enemy and murderer, you 
 who act as his accomplices in order to complete the ruin 
 of the race, are justly denied by humanity. You are not 
 the posterity of the woman ; you are the seed of the 
 serpent. You seem to espouse man's cause with ardor ; 
 you have always his name on your lips ; you speak to 
 him of his dignity, his greatness, and also, at times, of 
 his divinity. Such was the language of the serpent 
 on the day of the Fall. Flatterers of human pride, 
 from him you borrow his poisonous words. I know no 
 condemnation of you more severe than the simple 
 words of my text, which show you so far assimilated 
 to the power of perdition that you are no longer mem- 
 bers of humanity, but the seed of the serpent. The 
 true humanity, the true seed of the woman, we find in 
 those who speak rather of fall than of greatness, rath- 
 er of our wretchedness than of our dignity. They hold a 
 
THE FALL AND THE PROMISE. 35 
 
 language opposed to that of the serpent ; they are the 
 posterity of the woman because they are the children 
 of God, and since, as the apostle has said, humanity 
 is in its essence the offspring of God. The nearer it 
 is brought to God by humility, the more completely is 
 it allowed to realize its high destinies. You, then, who 
 have imagined you could serve it without the pale of 
 the religion of the humble, undeceive yourselves. You 
 have fought against its higher interests. You have 
 served the power of perdition. Remember that you 
 are not envassaled to it by nature, that one movement 
 of faith and humility suffices to transfer you into the 
 camp of God. \yhat wretchedness for you if, with 
 generous ideas, and a sincere desire to cause the hap- 
 piness of your fellows, it should prove at last that you 
 had lent assistance to their greatest enemy ! He is not 
 only a murderer, he is a liar. He has taken you, per- 
 haps, on the side of your noble impulses. Ah ! while 
 it is yet time, in tlie name of the well-being of your 
 brothers, in the name of your salvation, take sides with 
 God in this great and solemn contest. It is taking 
 man's side. Their two causes are one. How should not 
 the interests of eternal love be those of fallen man ? 
 We all, whoever we may be, are also taking sides. God's 
 word shows us but two camps. There is no interme- 
 diate position. We must be in very truth a seed of the 
 serpent, or in very truth labor to crush his head with 
 the posterity of the woman. Christians, you do not hes- 
 itate ; you have already choseii your chief. But can- 
 sider well that to sustain this formidable conflict, all 
 your strength and all your time are not too much. 
 Take all which you have, and throw it into the current 
 
36 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of good. Should you bring tliither but your drop of 
 water, you would not be useless ; dread above all to 
 swell by a single word, by a single act, the current of 
 evil which is rolling its waters by our side. Enough 
 of others are laboring to increase the wretchedness of 
 humanity. Do you labor for its salvation, ever mind- 
 ful not to aid the old serpent in his work of death, and 
 ever relying upon Him who has already gloriously ful- 
 filled the promise given to Adam, and who is ready to 
 fulfill it anew for each one of us. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 BEFORE JUDAISM. 
 " In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." — Gen. xii. 3. 
 
 WE have already seen that the contest everywhere 
 waged and maintained upon the earth, in the 
 outer as in the inner world, is at bottom the great 
 combat between the power of love and the power of 
 darkness. We know in advance, that God's triumph 
 is secured at the cost of inexpressible sufferings. It 
 will be the more decisive from having been the more 
 disputed. We know, also, that it will be gained by hu- 
 manity, but by humanity fully assimilated to God ; in 
 other words, by the God-man, the blessed seed of the 
 woman, crushing the head of the serpent. To-day I 
 have to set before you the preparatory work by which 
 that great victory of the power of love was slowly won. 
 Our text recalls to our minds its most characteristic 
 feature. To Abraham it was said that all the families 
 
 4 37 
 
38 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of the earth should be blessed in his posterity. In 
 these words the election by God of a peculiar people is 
 recorded. But tliis election is the most important fact 
 in the preparatory period. Perhaps you find a certain 
 difficulty in understanding how the promise made to 
 Abraham is reconciled with the promise to Adam. Is 
 there not here a restriction of the promise given in 
 Eden ? The latter spoke of the posterity of the woman, 
 and now tliere is reference made only to the seed of 
 Abraham. How reconcile these two sayings which are 
 alike pronounced by God ? We shall have to resolve 
 this difficult and important question. We will show 
 you that the second promise contributes to the fulfill- 
 ment of the first, and that the election of a people of 
 God was an effectual means of preparing for the com- 
 ing of the Saviour. The old covenant has no other 
 end than to hasten the full accomplishment of the plan 
 of salvation. It is destined to prepare humanity for 
 that by its successive revelations. This view is the only 
 key to the Old Testament. How often has it not been 
 a stone of stumbling for men who accepted joyfully the 
 gospel revelation ! Whence came their astonishment, 
 which was accompanied with more or less of scandal ? 
 From the differences which they indicated between the 
 two Testaments. But are not such differences perfectly 
 natural and comprehensible, as soon as it is admitted 
 that the Old Testament speaks to us of the preparation 
 for salvation, whilst the New Testament speaks of its 
 realization ? There is no occasion for surprise if the 
 first rounds of the ladder which binds earth anew to 
 heaven are nearer to the earth than the upper rounds 
 which reach forth into the light of heaven itself. Are 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. o9 
 
 they not admirably suited to the weakness of the hu- 
 man creature ? To complain of finding less spirituality 
 in the Old Testament than in the New, in the first pages 
 of the Bible than in the last, is to complain that our 
 heavenly Father has spoken in. an intelligible manner 
 to man in the childhood of the race. When we take 
 as our vantage ground of observation the work prepar- 
 atory to salvation, we perceive that the education of 
 the race, like that of the individual, has been progres- 
 sive, and that God's revelations are not to be regarded 
 in the gross, but in their succession and their connec- 
 tion. There has been a development, a history of 
 revelation. The form, though sometimes strange, in 
 which its teachings are clothed, instead of offending 
 us, ought to touch us as we are touched by the sight 
 of a father who stoops in order to raise up to himself 
 his new-born child. 
 
 This point of view regarding the Old Testament im- 
 parts to it the most beautiful and the richest unity. 
 Jesus Christ is the substance of every recital, of every 
 page. He is the point toward which all things aspire. 
 There is not one institution which does not tend 
 toward him. As expressed in his own words, it is his 
 day which rises, at first almost imperceptibly, like the 
 white light of early dawn, then shining more and more. 
 He who knows not that the day is beginning to break 
 in those few rays, gives them no earnest heed ; but 
 what admiration fills the heart of him who from the 
 first pages of the holy Book looks upon the rising of 
 the day-star from on high ! If, in the reflections which 
 we are about to present you, we could contribute 
 to lift the vail that hides Moses, not only from the 
 
40 TRE REDEEMER, 
 
 Jews, but also from a great number of Christians, we 
 should believe ourselves to be laboring profitably for 
 your edification, and for the glory of our God. 
 
 In what should the work of preparation consist? 
 Let us clear up this point before every other ; it is our 
 only method of comprehending the object and the 
 scope of the election of a special people. We have al- 
 ready perceived that the Saviour was to be not only 
 the Son of God, but also the son of man ; that he was 
 to represent God to humanity, and humanity to God. 
 By this is not merely meant that he was to assume a 
 body resembling ours. It was needful that, being the 
 Son of God Most Holy, he should be morally the son 
 of man. In what sense must these words be taken ? 
 Is humanity to be summoned to produce a Saviour by 
 its own strength ? No, my brethren ; and herein lies 
 the great error of human religions and philosophies. To 
 produce the Saviour, that is to say, to save one's self; 
 to save one's self by unfolding the faculties of man, — such 
 is the pretension of pride. It is an impious and foolish 
 pretension, which consists in seeking salvation in perdi- 
 tion itself, and in applying for the remedy to the poi- 
 son which must be subdued. We declare most ear- 
 nestly that, abandoned to his own resources, man can 
 produce nothing. We are in error ; the apostle James 
 teaches ns what he derives from himself: " When lust 
 hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is 
 finished, bringeth forth death." James i. 15. Death, — 
 death in all its senses, — such is the product which hu- 
 manity, surrendered to itself, draws from within, since 
 the Fall. The question, then, is not for it to produce 
 the Saviour. The Saviour can only bo a free gift of 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 41 
 
 God. The promise could be accomplished only by 
 Him who made it. But we must not fall into the op- 
 posite extreme from that which we have just com- 
 bated. And it would be falling into this error to 
 bring down the Saviour suddenly from heaven, and to 
 transform the greatest of all events into an abrupt in- 
 cident, having no connection with that which precedes ; 
 it would be falling into this error not to admit the hu- 
 man filiation of Him who was called " the seed of the 
 woman." We know to what this filiation is reducible. 
 To affirm that man is incapable of producing the Sa- 
 viour is to affirm that he has no creative part in the 
 bringing forth of the woman's divine posterity ; he has 
 only to receive the gift of God. It is the Creator's 
 part to give, and this part his free love has led Ifim 
 willingly to choose. He is, as the apostle has said, 
 the author of every gift ; it is the creature's part to re- 
 ceive. The Creator gives, the creature receives Ms 
 gifts ; such is the normal order. That which is true 
 with regard to the different gifts of divine love is true 
 with respect to its supreme gift, — ^the gift of a Saviour. 
 Humanity has only to receive the Saviour, but it is 
 necessary that humanity do in fact receive him. 
 
 God has eternally begotten his Son ; but in order 
 that the Eternal Son become the posterity of the wo- 
 man, — the son of humanity, — it was needful that God 
 should find in it the dispositions requisite in order to 
 its assimilation of the celestial gift, — the divine seed. 
 The miraculous conception of Jesus Christ is for us 
 the most positive of realities. We take good heed not 
 to convert into symbols the facts of the gospel history ; 
 yet it is not the less true that the great fact of whicli 
 
 4* 
 
42 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 VTQ are speaking is also a sublime type. It represents 
 to us, in their reciprocal relations, God's part and man's 
 part with respect to the coming of our Saviour, — God 
 who gives, humanity that receives, that assimilates. 
 The outward miracle discloses an inward miracle ; and 
 this latter has cost -more, if we may dare to speak 
 thus, than the former. It needed but a fleeting mo- 
 ment for the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb 
 of the virgin ; it needed four thousand years for the 
 soul of man to be formed by the virtue of the same 
 Spirit to receive the Saviour. The material world is 
 a thousand times more rapidly transformed than the 
 spiritual world, because the will is not changed like 
 matter, but must be persuaded and won over. It would 
 be impoverishing the work of our salvation absolutely 
 to isolate the work of the incarnation. Without the 
 incarnation, the preparatory work would be useless ; 
 but, also, without tlie preparatory work the incarnation 
 would be only an outward fact, a miracle in space. 
 The proof of this is in the postponement of the birth 
 of Jesus Christ. The hour for the external miracle 
 struck in the heart of man. 
 
 To whom shall this double miracle be attributed ? 
 To whom, if not to God ? God not only gives the Sa- 
 viour', but he gives the receptivity ; not only is he the 
 author of every gift, but, further, he purifies, he de- 
 velops the human soul ; without ever annihilating its 
 liberty, he inclines it toward himself. We may, there- 
 fore, repeat, with the apostle, addressing humanity, 
 " What hast thou which thou hast not received ? and if 
 thou hast received it, why dost thou boast thyself there- 
 of? " And when I speak of humanity, you are not to for- 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 43 
 
 get that we have distmguished two humanities, — a Sa- 
 tanic humanity, which became willingly the seed of the 
 serpent, and the humanity conformed unto God, which 
 responds to his love. This latter is always the minor- 
 ity. Sometimes it is reduced to one family, to a few 
 chosen persons. It matters little. It is the humanity 
 conformed to God, that which accomplishes his plans, 
 and from it, in every sense, shall be born the Saviour. 
 We are now in a position to determine with accu- 
 racy the nature of the preparatory work. On God's 
 part, it consisted in developing within man such dispo- 
 sitions as were favorable for the reception of his gifts, 
 and, above all, the greatest of his gifts, the Saviour of 
 the world. If you ask what are the dispositions which 
 it is important to develop, I shall appeal to your experi- 
 ence. When are you most inclined to accept a gift of 
 whatever kind ? Is it not when you have desired it 
 previously ? If youv do not desire it, you either receive 
 it with. indifference, or you refuse it. But if you have 
 long sighed after this or that good, if the expectation 
 has inflamed your desire, when this good is offered to 
 you, with what ardor do you then seize it, with what joy 
 do you gain possession of it ! Thus, then, humanity will 
 be prepared to receive the Saviour according to the 
 degree in which the desire for the Saviour has been 
 enkindled in the heart. If it desires the Saviour but 
 feebly, or at least only in a vague and general manner, 
 it will not be inclined to appropriate him to itself. He 
 would remain a stranger to it ; he would be as if ex- 
 ternal to it, should he appear daring the period when 
 desire languishes. When the desire shall be at once 
 more precise and more lively, humanity will he better 
 
44 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 disposed to seize, to embrace the Saviour as its treas- 
 ure, and to become incorporated with him. But when 
 this desire shall have reached its full intensity, when 
 humanity shall feel that it can no longer do without 
 the Saviour, when she shall call upon him with all her 
 voices, and with all her tears, then, if he appears, she 
 will cry out : ''By this do I hioiv Mm : he is flesh 
 of my fleshy hone of my hone^^ the soul of my soul. Hu- 
 manity will closely unite herself to him. He will be 
 hers, as she will be his. He will be truly the son of 
 man; consequently, to enkindle, to cherish, and to de- 
 velop this holy desire for the Saviour, comprehends the 
 entire work of divine preparation. 
 
 But let us enter further into this thought, which is 
 the fundamental thought of this discourse, and which 
 seems to us to throw a vivid light upon the Old Testa- 
 ment. The more closely we shall consider it, the more 
 luminous will it appear to our minds. Since the work 
 of preparation consists in developing the faculty recep- 
 tive of the gifts of God, — that is to say, the desire for 
 salvation, — what is the best method of developing this 
 desire ? I appeal to you, brethren, for I do not wish to 
 lose myself in vain reasonings. I wish to found every- 
 thing upon experience. In each one of our desires, 
 whatever be the particular object to which it is directed, 
 I discover two sentiments : first, a feeling of want, of 
 suffering. We desire a good because we feel that it is 
 wanting to us, that it is wanting to our happiness ; if 
 we had all that is needful to us, if our felicity were ab- 
 solute, it is evident that we should have no desires to 
 form. Every desire is accompanied with a sigh. Fur- 
 thermore, a degree of hope is mingled with this. If 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 45 
 
 we had not the thought that the desired good could be 
 accorded to us, our desires would be stifled in the germ, 
 or, rathej-, they would return upon us, finding nothing 
 to devour but our own hearts. Desires not sustained 
 by the breath of hope fall back to the earth. An im- 
 possible desire ought not to be called desire, but de- 
 spair. Thus the sting of suffering awakens desire, the 
 wing of hope bears it up. Suffering and hope are the 
 two elements fused together in each one of our de- 
 sires. We shall recognize them both in the desire for 
 a Saviour. Man will call upon the great Deliverer only 
 when he shall have bitterly felt the emptiness of a life 
 without God. He will not lift his eyes toward heaven 
 until he have the hope of seeing one day the heavens 
 opening to give a Redeemer to the earth. To say that 
 God wishes to develop the desire for salvation in hu- 
 manity, is to say that he wishes to develop both this 
 great sorrow on account of condemnation and this great 
 hope of deliverance. You will see all the revelations 
 of the old covenant tending to this twofold consumma- 
 tion ; with one hand God smites the rebellious race, 
 he smites it with redoubled and fearful strokes ; and 
 with the other hand he lifts it up, to point out the end 
 to which it is approaching, yet only by repeated falls 
 and repeated humiliations. Each new phase of reve- 
 lation is signalized by a new and more resonant blow 
 from the rod of condemnation, and by a more radiant 
 gleam over the promised future. The last phase will 
 exhibit to us the humiliation of humanity carried to 
 the extremity of shame, and to the most terrible pun- 
 ishments, and the soaring, also, of a universal and 
 magnificent hope. And if so many phases succeed one 
 
46 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 another, if so many generations appear before the com- 
 ing of the blessed generation to which the Saviour 
 shall belong, be not surprised. God is not alone in work- 
 ing. The enemy works against him, scattering tares in 
 the field where the good seed is scarcely sown. The 
 enemy is at work with the aid of a multitude of men 
 who have gone astray. To every new manifestation of 
 celestial love there is a corresponding exhibition of 
 hellish hate. Hence that seemingly interminable suc- 
 cession of revelations supplementing those that have 
 gone before. Every time that Satan and his servants 
 strive to overthrow God's plan, that plan enlarges, and 
 some new wonder comes forth from its treasures. Far 
 from being scandalized on account of the numberless 
 ages preceding the coming of Jesus Christ, praise the 
 loving kindness of your God ; acknowledge the un- 
 wearied goodness which he has shown in your own case, 
 in waiting for you during so man'y years, notwithstand- 
 your revolt and your disdain. Do not complain that 
 we are detaining you on the threshold of the gos- 
 pel history, whilst we unfold to you the preparatory 
 work. God, the great God of heaven, remained there 
 himself for more than forty centuries, knocking at the 
 door of man's heart. That slowness which you blame 
 is perhaps the slowness of his wrath to burst forth upon 
 you. patience of my God, thou are not the least 
 wonderful, the least touching of his compassions ! 
 
 Let us now trace the picture of the work of prepara- 
 tion in its great outlines. That work is twofold. God 
 developed the desire of salvation by events, and by rev- 
 elations which he granted to those who promoted his 
 designs. We have to show how these events and these 
 
' PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 47 
 
 revelations have gradually augmented the sorrow for 
 condemnation and the hope of deliverance, up to the 
 time when these two feelings became blended together 
 in the positive expectation of the Saviour. To-day we 
 shall occupy ourselves with only the first phases of rev- 
 elation. 
 
 Let us begin by considering the situation of man 
 after he had received the promise of pardon. You will 
 admit with us that here God's plan received a first ful- 
 fillment. And as the essential traits of this situation 
 are found again to-day in every human life, you will 
 have occasion to bless in your own name the compas- 
 sionate hand of the Lord for those general dispensa- 
 tions of his love, common to all men, which too often 
 escape our attention. 
 
 Behold this divine love, above all, in the abode 
 of fallen man. We may say of the outward world 
 what the Psalmist said of the starry sky : there is no 
 speech and no language in it, and yet its voice is 
 heard. That voice brings to us a word of condemna- 
 tion and a promise of pardon ; gathered up by the 
 faithful heart, it forms within it a sigh of longing for 
 Christ. Oh ! I know well that it is only too seldom 
 heard ; I know well that when surrendered to its in- 
 spiration, man forces nature to speak in accordance 
 with his corruption, that he seeks at her hands a 
 guilty intoxication, and that he willingly suffers him- 
 self to be fascinated by her. Nothing is more danger- 
 ous than this soft contemplation of the outward world, 
 which enervates the soul and bears it out of itself. 
 
 There are two methods of converting into poison 
 the noble enjoyment of nature. The first is to allow 
 
48 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 one's self to be dominated by her, to lose one's self in 
 nature ; this is the pantheist's admiration of nature. 
 He deifies and adores nature ; this is stark idolatry, 
 which tears us away from ourselves. There is an- 
 other manner of loving nature, which, though directly 
 opposite, is not less perfidious ; it is a self-seeking 
 admiration. In nature the individual seeks a mirror 
 of his own sad or joyous sentiments. It is regarded 
 as a vast lyre destined to give back the slightest 
 shades of his feelings. It is belittled in order to play 
 this paltry part, and men ask from it the refined de- 
 lights of a sickly egotism. In the literature of our 
 day you find constantly this double wrong which sepa- 
 rates man from God. Thus man renders nature his 
 accomplice in the work of his own perdition. Need 
 we say that this is not the part which God assigned 
 it? When we derive evil impressions from nature, 
 we turn against us a grace of God. God speaks 
 through nature ; he says to us by her numberless 
 voices, " Thou hast need of a Saviour ; he is not afar 
 off." Nature is a witness that deposes in favor of the 
 truth. We have not the right to deprive ourselves of 
 her testimony. Given beneath every sky, but also 
 constantly perverted by the folly of man, it is very 
 important that we should penetrate its true and divine 
 import. 
 
 Do not fear lest we give ourselves the easy satis- 
 faction of accumulating poetical descriptions. A 
 poetical interest is not involved ; the question con- 
 cerns truth and salvation. What did the first man, 
 when driven from Eden, perceive in the outward 
 world? He saw there as if a confirmation of his 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 49 
 
 own destiny ; lie could read it in the vast book of 
 nature. His destiny was twofold ; the curse weighed 
 upon him, lightened by the promise of pardon. Was 
 not the curse inscribed around him in the transforma- 
 tion of the earth, upturned, made desolate, become 
 niggardly in grain, and fruitful in thorns ? Did he 
 not behold it sadly fulfilled in that power of de- 
 struction which made trial of itself upon animals 
 before assailing him ? Did he not hear it thunder 
 with the tempest in the air ? Did not all the fright- 
 ful spectacles which the earth contains cry out to 
 him with one voice, " Thou art condemned, thou hast 
 sinned " ? And, on the other hand, the sovereign 
 beauty that remains upon our poor earth, the harmony, 
 the grandeur, those marvelous days which each year 
 holds in reserve, the enchanting sites, sublime or 
 graceful, — all these recollections of the ancient earth, 
 did they not speak to him of divine love ? Do they 
 not to-day still say to man, " Fear not, poor fallen 
 creature ; thou art not forsaken ; there is hope " ? 
 
 Thou hast sinned ; nevertheless, hope. These are 
 the two words which are heard above the vast groan- 
 ing of nature. But these two words are two echoes 
 of revelation. Let no one tell us, then, that nature 
 is deistical, and speaks only of the Creator. She 
 speaks, also, of the Saviour. For that reason has he 
 borrowed from her so many parables and teachings. 
 All creatures, says the apostle, groan until now, wait- 
 ing for the deliverance of the children of God. This 
 longing, this desire for salvation, exists in unintelli- 
 gent nature only in order, through her, to gain entrance 
 to our hearts ; therefore nature also concurs in the 
 
 5 
 
50 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 great work of preparation, the entire scope and aim 
 of which is to develop the desire for salvation in 
 man. Let him not remain deaf to this universal 
 sighing ; and may he discern in the very aspect of 
 the earth an invitation to turn himself unto God the 
 Saviour ! Thus will he find the blessing there, even 
 where he had encountered temptation alone. 
 
 If the outward world speaks to man of sin and of 
 forgiveness, much more does his whole being speak 
 of it. In the external world of humanity there are 
 two facts which convey to us the twofold utterance 
 which we have heard from the voice of nature. The 
 first of these facts is death. What a preacher of the 
 righteousness of God ! How its fearful eloquence is 
 suited to impress us with our condemnation ! It 
 is ever traversing our streets and our dwellings, re- 
 peating anew the first sentence over the inanimate 
 remains of our neighbors, giving the most striking 
 denial to all the lies of the tempter ; and yet, in the 
 presence of such crushing evidence, we yield to the 
 suggestions of the spirit of pride. Yes, to-day, even, 
 there are men who wish to be as gods, and allow 
 themselves to be taken by the same words which se- 
 duced the first man. We can conceive the possibility 
 of illusion before death came ; but to believe to-day 
 that one can succeed in this impious attempt at 
 equality with God, is madness. Man equal with God ! 
 But hast not thou seen thy pretended god, such as 
 death has made him to be for thee ? Hast thou not 
 seen him motionless, at first speechless, then dust and 
 ashes, the image of helplessness and of corruption ? 
 Who of you has not beheld this doleful spectacle of 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 51 
 
 the annihilation of all the hopes of human pride? 
 To lis Christians, death appears only softened and 
 adorned. Through Jesus Christ, death possesses 
 something of an angelic character ; but let us not 
 forget what it was at the first. Let us not cease to 
 see in it the greatest of humiliations, the reply of the 
 Creator to the creature's insolent defiance. Let it 
 remain the king of terrors for whoever is not in 
 Christ. Let us protest against this tendency of hu- 
 man philosophy which places its reasonings at the 
 service of worldly frivolity, and which sees in death a 
 natural fact to which the race must become accus- 
 tomed. Let us say boldly, it is a fearful thing against 
 nature, that the immortal creature should be obliged 
 to die ; that it is a subversion of his destiny. Let 
 death in this manner unroll before our eyes the con- 
 demnation in all its results, and let it cause us to go 
 back to the sin of which it was begotten. Then it 
 will fulfill its mission, and lead us, through sorrow and 
 fear, to seek for deliverance. 
 
 This word of love and hope, by whom shall it be 
 brought to us, my brethren ? for we have need of it. 
 The feeling of condemnation ought to be tempered by 
 a gentle hope. The word of love sounds forth with the 
 first cry of every new-born babe. What (Joes that teach 
 us, if not that humanity is not a race irrevocably de- 
 voted to the power of death and destruction ? If the 
 condemnation were absolute, it is evident that there 
 would not be a succession of generations upon the ac- 
 cursed earth. Can we imagine the God of love multiply- 
 ing beings devoted in advance to perdition, and coming 
 out of non-existence only to enter into hell- ? Will there 
 
52 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 be births in the realm of the second death ? Have de- 
 mons a posterity ? From the fact that God permits 
 the multiplication of the human family, we may con- 
 clude that he wishes to save it, that he wishes to em- 
 ploy it in this merciful work. Thus every new-born 
 child is a witness of his love. Before Christ came he 
 brought to mind the promise of the divine child who was 
 to be born for the deliverance of humanity. Since the 
 coming of Jesus Christ, he recalls the fulfillment of the 
 great prophecy. We can take in this sense, also, those 
 words of Scripture, " Out of the mouth of sucklings 
 thou hast perfected praise ; " thou seemest to say to us, 
 through them, '' The child is born to you." They take 
 us back to the manger of Bethlehem, to the humble 
 entrance of the eternal Son into our poor world. 
 
 To this word of condemnation and of love which has 
 sounded out for our souls in the two most striking facts of 
 man's outward life, — birth and death, — you could be 
 invited to listen in all the circumstances of his life, 
 in that blending of joys and sorrows, of good and evil 
 things, of toils and triumphs, which form its universal 
 fabric. But we hasten to bid you hear it in his higher 
 life. There contrasts abound. Beneath the marks of 
 corruption are found the traces of man's lofty origin . To 
 the movements of egotism succeeds rapidly some gener- 
 ous impulse. To-day his heart appears buried in the 
 dust of this world ; to-morrow he will be tormented with 
 a thirst for the infinite. This is because his moral con- 
 dition, subsequently to the Fall, is not a simple condi- 
 tion. Sin has changed all, has laid waste everything 
 in him, but has not absolutely destroyed his primeval 
 nature. This doctrine is conformable to the teaching 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 53 
 
 of Scripture. The apostle plainly confesses that fall- 
 en humanity is of divine origin. Acts 17 : 29. Let us 
 hasten to say that the substance of the soul of man 
 is not on this account less corrupt, that he can offer 
 to God no acceptable work, and that of himself he has 
 no hope of salvation. Let us add that if the lamp, 
 almost extinguished, still smokes, if the bruised reed 
 is not entirely broken, this should be attributed to 
 the grace of God, to that sovereign grace whicli on the 
 da,y of the Fall began its work of restoration. The 
 idea that after the first sin man retains no longer any 
 vestige of his origin, that he is not only dead in his 
 sins in the sense that he has no part in salvation be- 
 fore his conversion, but also in the sense that he lies 
 in an absolute moral insensibility, and is totally hard- 
 ened, deaf as a stone to the voice of God, — this idea is 
 based neither on the Bible nor on experience. It lim- 
 its the work of salvation by comprehending it within 
 a moment, by denying the operation of the preparatory 
 grace which works upon the heart of every man. It 
 makes ^of this a mechanical and external act. It ren- 
 ders every appeal to conscience useless. If we believe 
 it, we are doing nothing earnest or useful in entreat- 
 ing the sinner to be converted. Far from striking 
 down his pride, it gives him fresh confidence by depriv- 
 ing him of all responsibleness for his unbelief. On the 
 day when we should adopt such an opinion, my breth- 
 ren, we frankly avow that we should leave this pulpit 
 for ever, preaching having become a superfluous thing 
 in the church. And have the kindness to remark 
 that we blot out from Holy Scripture no one of the 
 stern sayings by which it paints our condition. Yes, 
 
 5* 
 
54 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 we affirm with the Word, that there is no just man, 
 not even one ; that we have drunk iniquity like water; 
 that the ox knoweth his master's crib, and we have 
 forgotten our God ; that from the sole of the foot to 
 the crown of the head there is no soundness in man. 
 
 To those who regard this picture as overcharged, 
 we say. Open your eyes and see ; look round about 
 you, contemplate all the shames, all the outrages, all 
 the cowardly acts, all the defilements of the poor race 
 of man, — shames and defilements such that it would be 
 already committing a sin to depict them. Consider 
 your own selves ; recollect that with which you alone 
 are acquainted ; each one of you has his mysteries of 
 iniquity. In order to convince you of your debasement, 
 I need not your worst actions ; your good acts suffice. 
 You know what their motive has been the greater part 
 of the time, and how largely, whilst men were ap- 
 plauding you, you were at bottom self-seeking and 
 self-interested. I do not even need your acts ; I ap- 
 peal to the secret of your hearts and of your thoughts. 
 Not one of you would consent that this latter basis of 
 your being should be disclosed to the light of day. The 
 lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, 
 have penetrated your inner life, and have poisoned it. 
 Such is the dark side of your inner life. With respect 
 to the other side, we can not call it luminous ; it is too 
 much commingled with sin. But, nevertheless, is it 
 not true that there exist in you aspirations toward 
 something better than this fleeting life, the need of 
 truth and of peace, and also, at certain moments, a 
 longing for God, a sighing after God, or at least a mys- 
 terious sadness, without appreciable cause ? Are there 
 
PnEPARATIOX FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 55 
 
 not other chords besides that of self-interest vibrating in 
 you ? If these are relaxed through your fault, have 
 you notjidmired in other men acts of spontaneous dé- 
 votement, which were in their lives like a lightning flash 
 from heaven ? What mean these contrasts ? You 
 have a voice of God within you which explains them, 
 — the voice of that conscience which is one of the 
 strongest evidences that man, although fallen, is not 
 absolutely hardened. What is declared by conscience, 
 unless it be our fall ? " Be silent," it says to your 
 reasoning thought, when it desires to deny the Fall, — 
 " be silent. Call to mind what thou art ; not the self 
 which is paraded before others, but thy true self, thy 
 inner self. Thou art under the stroke of condemna- 
 tion ; thou knowest it well. Thou tremblest for this 
 when thou art alone with me." Conscience has also 
 more consoling words. By it we are driven toward 
 God, and that hope of salvation is given us which has 
 everywhere impelled humanity to seek him. Thus 
 this contrast, this disharmony in the higher life of 
 man, brings to us the word of condemnation and the 
 word of hope. Our thought on this subject may be 
 summ-ed up in the words of Pascal, who founded his 
 " Apology for Christianity" principally on the strange 
 oppositions of our nature. " If thou liftest up thyself," 
 he said to man, '' I abase thee ; if thou abasest thy- 
 self, I raise thee." If thou liftest up thyself, I abase 
 thee by showing thee thy corruption and thy nothing- 
 ness. If thou dost abase thyself by denying thy origin 
 and thy destiny, I lift thee up by showing to thee the 
 remains of thy greatness. From thy abasement I de- 
 rive a proof of thy condemnation, and of the need which 
 
56 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 thou bast of a Saviour. From thy elevation I derive 
 a proof that salvation is reserved for thee .by Him who 
 did not suffer thy degradation to become total. ^ Abase- 
 ment and elevation concur in forming within thee that 
 desire for Christ which prepares thee to receive him. 
 
 Will you not at length hear this appeal of divine 
 love, you who hitherto have refused to believe the 
 gospel ? You have not been willing to receive it, be- 
 cause it spoke to you of your wretchedness and of 
 the grace of God. Yet here are those two capital 
 dogmas of Christianity, the scandal of your pride ; you 
 meet with them everywhere. Nature ppoclaims them 
 with all her voices, history unrolls them before your 
 eyes, and you are yourselves unexceptionable witnesses 
 to them. You can not escape from revelation. Should 
 you fly to the end of the world, it would spring up again 
 in your presence. You can get rid of it only by part- 
 ing with yourselves. To tear up the Bible would not 
 settle the question with revelation. You must tear 
 in pieces your heart, and annihilate it, for as long as 
 it shall beat in your breast it will be a living echo of 
 Biblical truth. Why, then, resist evidence so univer- 
 sal ? Why not suffer one's self to be persuaded by such 
 striking contrasts ? Why do you not fall at the feet 
 of Jesus Christ, broken by the word of condemnation, 
 to rise again comforted beneath the blessing of the 
 word of love ? Peace, divine harmony, would succeed 
 to such heartrending conflicts, and you would not have 
 the bitter thought of having been the prey of an aim- 
 less and fruitless sorrow. 
 
 Thus, my brethren, we have seen that the work of 
 preparation had its beginning in the very condition of 
 
PBErARATION FOR THE COMING OF CURIST. 57 
 
 man after the Fall. But more than this was needed ; 
 there needed, first, the experience of life, and then the 
 positive revelation of God, without which the import 
 of these contrasts would have been lost. We have 
 now to sliow you by what circumstances, by what rev- 
 elations, and by what institutions God developed the 
 desire for salvation in the first ages of humanity. The 
 facts are well known, and I have only to recall them 
 briefly to your remembrance. 
 
 In the first family we already see the commence- 
 ment of the contest between good and evil, between 
 the seed of God and the seed of the serpent. Abel 
 represents the believing portion of mankind, as Cain 
 the unbelieving portion in his hardness of heart and 
 his murderous hate. The first blood that waters the 
 earth writes on the soil a sad prophecy ; it announces 
 the death of a multitude of just men, and above all of 
 the Just One, whose blood, poured forth, shall speak of 
 better things than that of Abel. If we follow the des- 
 tiny of the race of Adam down to the deluge, this 
 same fact re-appears. Always the sons of God are set 
 over against the sons of men, those who walk in the 
 way of revolt. There is a moment when it seems that 
 the power of evil is about to triumph. The children 
 of God have covenanted with the children of men. 
 From this impious compact there ensued an outbreak 
 of iniquities. There remains but one faithful family, — 
 the family of Noah. Then, by a fearful punishment, 
 the greatest which the earth has experienced, God 
 breaks the power of sin. The deluge is like a second 
 general condemnation of mankind. Everywhere and 
 at all times, it was to recall the sin of man and his 
 
58 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 chastisement ; as also the deliverance of Noah was in- 
 tended to inspire confidence in the compassion of God. 
 The family of the patriarch, like the family of Adam, 
 is divided. Once more and quickly sin prevails, and, 
 with sin, chastisement. Unbelieving man falls into 
 idolatry, and a few families with difficulty keep alive 
 faith in the true God. For the few believing souls, 
 how adapted were the events of those remote ages to 
 awaken the desire for salvation ! That frightful man- 
 ifestation of evil, the sight of the immortal creature 
 prostrating himself before stone and wood, the specta- 
 cle of his degradation, must have added poignancy and 
 sadness to the feeling that he was a fallen being. The 
 marks of the deluge, everywhere visible, powerfully 
 impressed the soul with a salutary dread of the right- 
 eousness of God. On the other hand, the multiplied 
 blessings granted to the men of God spoke of the good- 
 ness of the Lord, and revived the hope of final par- 
 don. Did they not behold the pledge of this in the 
 rainbow with which God had connected his second 
 covenant with mankind ? 
 
 Furthermore, brethren, side by side with events, 
 there was the Word of God, his positive revelation. 
 The promise of salvation grew more precise. It was 
 no longer the great human family, merely, that should 
 beget the Saviour. It was in the family of Adam the 
 branch of Seth, in the family of Setli the branch of 
 Noah, in the family of Noah the branch of Shem. At 
 the same time, while liope was strengthened in the 
 heart of man, his sins were condemned in the plainest 
 language. But there is particularly one institution, go- 
 ing back to the most ancient times, — for it is found 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 59 
 
 in the family of Adam, — that plays an important part 
 in the preparatory work ; I refer to sacrifice. When 
 I say institution, I do not mean that it was directly 
 founded by God. It may have been so ; it may be, 
 also, that there was no special revelation on this sub- 
 ject ; the sacred narrative bears no traces of it. In 
 any event, it is true that sacrifice resulted necessarily 
 from the condition of man and the promise of God. 
 The proof is found in the universality of sacrifices ; a 
 tribe without an altar is yet to be discovered. Sacri- 
 fice is, then, the expression of a universal want on the 
 part of conscience. What is signified by sacrifice ? 
 For what end was it instituted ? Sacrifice is a palpa- 
 ble manifestation of the desire for salvation ; not only 
 does it manifest this, but, as with all our sentiments, 
 it excites and develops the desire while giving expres- 
 sion to it. Why do men offer sacrifices ? Is it not in 
 order to be reconciled with God? It is in this hope 
 that the lamb and the bull are slain, and the fruits of the 
 earth are offered. Sacrifice is an endeavor after recon- 
 ciliation, — an incomplete endeavor, since it is contin- 
 ually renewed. What does this import, if it be not 
 man's avowal that he is condemned and sinful ? Would 
 he seek to become reconciled to God, if he did not feel 
 that he deserved his wrath ? The confession of his 
 wretchedness ascends with the flame of every holocaust. 
 Thus the first feeling comprehended in the desire for 
 salvation — sorrow on account of condemnation — is 
 expressed by sacrifice. The second feeling — ^hope of 
 deliverance — in like manner finds its symbol there. 
 Would men offer sacrifices if they believed themselves 
 smitten with remediless condemnation ? Would they 
 
60 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 attempt an impossible reconciliation ? Sacrifice is of- 
 fered only to a God in whom there is hope. This, then, 
 was the language uttered by the victims everywhere 
 slain, by the first fruits laid upon a thousand altars, by 
 the oiferings burnt with fire : " God ! be appeased ! 
 be appeased ! We have offended thee. We tremble, 
 and yet we hope, since wo come to thee. When shall 
 the spotless victim come ? When shall be offered the 
 sacrifice of a perfect reconciliation ? " And as man 
 knew that God took pleasure in such sacrifices, he 
 gained still increasing assurance of forgiveness in the 
 confession of his sin. We may say that from every 
 altar there went up an aspiration toward the Saviour ; 
 an aspiration often defiled by the impure incense of idol- 
 atry, yet nevertheless gathered up by the true God. 
 
 The first period of revelation has shown us the out- 
 line of the preparatory work. We pass to the second, 
 in which it will appear to us further advanced. The 
 second comprises the election of a family, and, in that 
 family, of a peculiar people of God. Let us observe, 
 first, that this election is not arbitrary, any more than 
 that of Noah. Noah feared, and built the ark. Abra- 
 ham believed and obeyed. Faith is always the means 
 by which divine graces are apprehended. Let it not be 
 forgotten that the father of the chosen race was also 
 the father of believers. If we consider this election in 
 itself, we shall understand in what manner it was in- 
 tended to further the vast plans of divine love. God 
 said to Abraham, " Go forth from thy country, and from 
 thy father's house." Such is the condition of the prom- 
 ise given him in these words : "In thy seed shall all the 
 families of the earth be blessed." The election of a fam- 
 
PREPAHATION FOR TUE COMING OF CHRIST. Gl 
 
 ily and of a people has not for its object to create a 
 privileged race ; which is plainly implied in those 
 words. This election, like every election, is a minis- 
 try, and a ministry which is to be exercised for the 
 benefit of all mankind. We ought never to lose sight of 
 the divine purpose in the election of the people of Israel. 
 God designs to bless in them all the families of the earth. 
 In this fact there lies no exclusiveness ; the compas- 
 sions of God are not inclosed in a vessel of election in 
 order to be imprisoned there, but for their preserva- 
 tion thereby, and that they may pour forth the more 
 abundantly upon all. How many times has this elec- 
 tion of Israel been misconceived and belittled ! List- 
 ening to certain interpreters, one would say in truth that 
 humanity exists only for the Jews, and not the Jews 
 for humanity ; forgetting the very words of their elec- 
 tion, which so clearly define its purpose : " In thee 
 shall all the families of the earth be blessed." A tran- 
 sient fact having a special object is converted into a 
 permanent fact. They make the church a satellite of 
 Judaism, called to shine in the future only with the 
 brightness which it borrows from that system. That 
 there are blessings reserved for this people, we cordially 
 concede ; but that their destiny shall for ever be as if 
 they were the axis of universal religious history, we 
 deny, even in the name of Abraham's election. God, by 
 that election, designed to labor for the salvation of all 
 the families of the earth. 
 
 It remains to inquire how this special election con- 
 tributed to the work of preparation. You remember, 
 my brethren, in what we made that work specially to 
 consist ; it is in the development of the desire for the 
 
 6 
 
62 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Saviour. It was needful that humanity should come 
 to the acknowledgment of its condemnation, and 
 should lift toward heaven a look of hope and supplica- 
 tion. The election of a special people was intended to 
 produce and to strengthen this twofold sentiment. 
 The chosen people, by the fact of its absolute separa- 
 tion from other nations, proclaimed the unworthiness 
 and the corruption of our nature . From its isolation the 
 conclusion necessarily resulted, that in order to be con- 
 nected with God, it was requisite to be placed apart 
 from the race of man, and to break with it in some 
 sort. What could more plainly reveal to it its wretch- 
 edness and its condemnation ? It was, then, a profane 
 race ; a race lost, accursed, since the first condition 
 of belonging to God was to break all relations with it, 
 and to shun in some sort contact with it. What shame, 
 what a brand for the race ! God's people, by their mere 
 existence, were an accusing witness of the Fall. But, 
 on the other hand, did not the choice of a portion of 
 humanity show that for it all was not lost ? that there 
 were resources of grace on which it could depend ? 
 This imperfect mediation was prophetical of the per- 
 fect mediation. Chosen men had the right of commu- 
 nicating with God. Every bond was not then broken 
 between earth and heaven, and the time might arrive 
 in which human nature, forgiven and regenerate, should 
 regain the divine communion of its primeval days. 
 Word of condemnation, word of hope : both were con- 
 tained in Judaism. 
 
 It is an interesting fact to be observed, that, funda- 
 mentally, the election of the people of God corre- 
 sponds to a need of the conscience universally mani- 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 63 
 
 fested. Everywhere, as we have seen, is to be noted 
 the existence of altars and sacrifices. We may add 
 that everywhere, also, before Jesus Christ, priests were 
 found. Now the feelings which gave rise to the priest- 
 hood are precisely those which God wished to develop 
 by the election of the people of Israel. The priest- 
 hood is Judaism abridged, as Judaism is the priest- 
 hood enlarged. In fact, what is set forth by the 
 selection of particular men to present unto God the in- 
 cense of an offering, if not the conviction that the re- 
 mainder of mankind, that is, the mass, the generality, 
 are not worthy to approach him, and that, consequent- 
 ly, humanity is fallen ? The priest is an exceptional 
 man ; man, as man, is thus regarded as too debased to 
 enter into direct communication with the Deity. The 
 priesthood is a confession made by man of the Fall, 
 while the selection of a special people proclaims it in 
 the name of God. The priesthood had also its pro- 
 phetic aspect : did it not continually declare the possi- 
 bility of man's again finding God ? Would he have 
 attempted a mediation, if he had not had some glimpses 
 of pardon ? The priests were like unto the first fruits 
 of the race placed in the sanctuary, awaiting the day 
 when, as a body, it could enter within through Jesus 
 Christ. Thus God, in the election of his people, sanc- 
 tions a fact which possessed the universality of con- 
 science. He accepted it, or rather he had already pro- 
 duced it by the dispositions which he breathed into 
 the heart of man. He took it under his immediate 
 direction, in order to cause it to produce, through his 
 culture, a fruit of salvation. Let men cease, therefore, 
 to be scandalized by this election of a portion of the 
 
64 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 race, as if it rudely broke off the development of human- 
 ity. Before its revelation from heaven, it was partially 
 realized in the priesthood. Israel is the sacerdotal 
 people. In like manner, as no one charges the ancient 
 priests with being opposed to the general welfare, but, 
 on the contrary, they are regarded as an institution ad- 
 vantageous for every nation, so likewise in Israel's 
 priesthood should there be recognized an institution 
 of great benefit to all the nations of the earth. 
 
 Moreover, my brethren, whose fault is it if a partic- 
 ular people has been chosen ? Must not this be 
 charged on the frightful corruption of other nations ? 
 Have we not seen them degraded to such a point that 
 they prostrated themselves before deified matter ? 
 Idolatry was one of the principal moving causes of the 
 election of Israel. The worship of false gods had 
 spread with fearful rapidity. It had speedily attained 
 its worst and most infamous forms. Doubtless God 
 was not willing to abandon those idolatrous nations, 
 and we shall show you in their history the traces 
 of a general work of preparation ; but it was not the 
 less requisite that a dam should be thrown up to stem 
 the impure torrent of heathenism. It was necessary 
 that faith in the true God should be somewhere con- 
 served, and that there should be a people placed under 
 his direction to receive his revelations, and to keep the 
 deposit of the promises until the day of their fulfillment. 
 Israel, to use the prophetical image, was like a vine- 
 yard planted by the hand of God, secured by a hedge 
 against the attacks of wild beasts, — a figure very appro- 
 priately representing the gross and impure religions of 
 the old world. If Israel was thus guarded, if God him- 
 
PREP Ali ATJON FOR THE DOMING OF CHRIST. 65 
 
 self built a tower and a wall for its protection, it is be- 
 cause he was cultivating in that inclosure the divine 
 germ which was destined to bear the salvation of hu- 
 manity. We shall see in our next discourse how this 
 germ reached its maturity, and how the desire for the 
 Saviour by degrees attained to its greatest intensity. . 
 
 The election of God's people had for its object the 
 good of all the families of the earth ; such is the 
 thought which re-appears in the last part of this dis- 
 course. May it remain graven on your hearts ! Not 
 only does it vindicate the love of God, but it also teaches 
 us to consider our privileges in a Christian spirit. Our 
 privileges, like those of the Jews, are a ministry of 
 love on behalf of poor sinners ; they invest us with a 
 mission of charity ; the more numerous they are, the 
 greater is our mission. They are perverted when con- 
 sidered as distinctions accorded for our benefit. We 
 are not the end, but the channel, of the grace of God. 
 Woe be to us if we desire to check its flow ! Woe be 
 to us if we convert the Christian's happiness into a self- 
 ish joy! Men have' been found who, not content with 
 regarding the election of the people of Israel in an ex- 
 clusive manner, were wont to speak no less narrowly 
 of the existing privileges of God's people. It would 
 seem, on hearing them, that their chief comfort con- 
 sisted in the smallness of their number. A little people, 
 a little flock, were favorite expressions with them. 
 With lamentable facility they resigned themselves to 
 the fact that humanity as a whole was lost. They felt 
 no interest in her destinies. In history they saw only 
 a vast evolution of infernal power, a marching on 
 
 in the road to condemnation. With respect to them- 
 6* 
 
66 THE HE DEE MER. 
 
 selves, they found in the anticipated spectacle of those 
 terrible judgments, which naturally did not in the least 
 concern them, an undisguised satisfaction. This ex- 
 clusive tendency, always foreign to the generality of 
 Christians, proceeds from Judaism, if you will, but 
 from Judaism such as it appeared in the days of St. 
 Paul, proud and narrow, bitterly attached to its priv- 
 ileges as to a monopoly. It is not primitive Judaism, 
 Judaism according to God, through which all the 
 families of the earth were to be blessed ; above all, it 
 is not Christianity. Let us put very far from us this 
 narrowness which denies the love of God. Let us ac- 
 knowledge, without doubting, that many are called, but 
 few chosen, few men answering to the call ; but let us 
 acknowledge it with tears. Let us have a tender sym- 
 pathy for humanity. Humanity ! I love the word. It 
 answers to the largeness of the compassions of God. It 
 is for it that Christ died ; his blood flowed for all. Our 
 Saviour, says St. Paul, will have all men to be saved, 
 and come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim. ii. 4. 
 May every gift which we have received pass from our 
 hearts into other hearts Î Let us receive, in order to 
 give. To give is still to receive, for the more faith 
 imparts itself, the more is it nourished. Everything 
 around us protests against the limitation of divine 
 charity. We have shown you that the external world, 
 the most ordinary facts of life, the contrasts which 
 strike us in every soul, and especially the great and 
 universal voice of conscience, bring before every 
 human creature a summons to conversion. Let us 
 treat none of them, therefore, as if strangers. Let us 
 say that the Spirit of God breathes upon all, and that the 
 
PREPABATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 67 
 
 preparatory work is outlined in each one of tliem. 
 Let us carry the gospel to our brethren, as it has been 
 brought to us, with love and with sympathy. Let us 
 show them that this Christ whom we profess is, funda- 
 mentally, the desire of their hearts : let our peaceful 
 and joyous faith prove better than our words ; that 
 there is a sovereign delight, garnered up in Jesus of 
 Nazareth, to meet the profoundest wants of the heart 
 and the conscience. Then, my brethren, shall we realize 
 the will of God manifested by our election, and which 
 is so admirably expressed in those words addressed to 
 Abraham : " I will bless thee ; thou shalt be a blessing." 
 Blessed by the Eternal, may you all become blessings 
 for the families of the earth, and labor in love upon 
 the work of redeeming love ! 
 
CHAPTER m. 
 
 THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 JUDAISM. 
 " Salvation is of the Jews." — John iv. 22. 
 
 WE have established, in our last discourse, that 
 the election of a special people of God aided 
 in the fulfillment of the first promise, which is con- 
 tained in these words : " The seed of the woman shall 
 bruise the head of the serpent." We have now to lay 
 before you, in the history and the institutions of the 
 chosen people, the development of the preparatory 
 work. Our text positively declares that salvation 
 comes from the Jews. The circumstances in which 
 these words were announced show forth the impor- 
 tance of them. The Saviour was conversing with a 
 Samaritan woman ; she had propounded to him the 
 question which was chief in her estimation ancl in 
 that of her people : who are right, Jews or Samari- 
 tans, in their common claim to possess the true 
 worship which is approved by God ? Is it upon this 
 mountain, or at Jerusalem, that men ought to wor- 
 ship ? Our Lord declares emphatically that the true 
 worship is that which is celebrated at Jerusalem. 
 es 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 69 
 
 He announces that blessed era in wliich all local and 
 national worship shall give place to the worship in 
 spirit and in truth ; but with regard to that which con- 
 cerns the past, he fully vindicates the Jewish claim : 
 Salvation is of the Jews. That which he declares 
 concerning the Samaritan worship, he would have 
 equally affirmed concerning every other system of 
 worship outside of Judaism. Thus the mission of 
 the chosen people stands before us in all its greatness. 
 It is a mission essentially temporary, as is proved by 
 the prophetical announcement of a worship in spirit 
 and in trutli ; yet it is a glorious mission. We who do 
 not acknowledge tliat other nations have been abso- 
 lutely forsaken by God, we who discern in their history 
 the hand of God, — we are not for these reasons the 
 less persuaded that it was only in the bosom of Judaism 
 that the preparatory work was directly accomplished. 
 With St. Paul we say, " What advantage hath the Jew ? 
 Much every way; chiefly because that unto them 
 were committed the oracles of God." Rom. 3 : 1, 2. 
 
 Those oracles sounded forth from the lips of Jews ; 
 the prophets and saints pertained to the chosen nation. 
 God has spoken by it, and to it tvas the privilege given 
 of speaking to God in the name of repentant humanity, 
 and to call upon the Saviour. It is upon that sacred 
 soil that the voice of Heaven, promising salvation, and 
 the voice of earth, suing for pardon, have met and 
 mingled together. It is in the posterity of that 
 people that humanity and divinity became united ; it 
 is in one of their cities that the word could be spoken, 
 " Unto us is born a Sayiour." The patriarchs, the be- 
 lievers, the kings, the men of God in every age, were 
 
70 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the ancestors of Jesus Christ, morally as well as ex- 
 ternally. This constitutes the "beauty of that gene- 
 alogy of the Saviour which the Gospels lay before us 
 with so much care. Perhaps you have seen in that 
 only a dry enumeration ; but for him who reads it 
 with thorough knowledge of the history of God's 
 people, each one of those names is a brilliant link in 
 the long chain of revelations terminating in Jesus 
 Christ. No, we will not lessen thy glory, people of 
 Abraham, of Moses, of David and Isaiah. If we can 
 not share the chimerical hopes concerning thee that 
 debase and materialize thy true mission, yet do we 
 declare emphatically that no nation has had a voca- 
 tion similar to thine. Beaten down, despised, like all 
 the chosen of God, thou hast borne in the ancient 
 world the reproach of Christ. Other nations have 
 cast more luster upon history. Thou didst not pos- 
 sess the artistic prestige and learning of Greece, which 
 has ever remained the powerful enchanter of the 
 human mind. But it availed more to become the 
 vessel of clay in which, to use the apostle's expres- 
 sion, the treasures of the knowledge of God were 
 deposited, than the vessel of gold in which error and 
 corruption were inclosed. To all the disdain of 
 ancient and modern wits, thou canst reply by those 
 words of Jesus Christ to the woman of Sychem, Sal- 
 vatio7i is of the Jews. My brethren, let us unfold this 
 important truth ; and may I be enabled, by the con- 
 siderations presented to you, to increase your interest 
 and profit in the perusal of the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures ! Doubtless you have experienced sweet and 
 serious impressions in reading the most striking and 
 
PREPARATION' FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 71 
 
 the most touching pages contained in them. You have 
 enjoyed that noble and divine poetry which is pro- 
 fusely scattered over their pages. But it is not merely 
 the details vrhich ought to edify us; as a whole, they 
 ought to be found profitable. The connection of 
 every part of the Old Testament with the final and 
 sole aim of the entire economy being once perceived, 
 light thence darts forth over many obscure points, 
 and a new interest invests that which had been 
 already read in a fragmentary manner. I suppose 
 the history of the Jewish paople to be known to you 
 in its main outlines ; I shall limit myself to the task 
 of recalling them, only attempting to give you a clew 
 amid the multiplicity of facts and of divine oracles. 
 
 We know in what the preparatory work consists. 
 It tends to develop the desire for the Saviour. It 
 should lead man to weep over his condemnation, and 
 to seek the promised Consoler. It has no other aim 
 than to develop these two sentiments which produce 
 the desire for salvation, — bitter sadness on account 
 of sin, and the hope of pardon. It is necessary for us 
 to come back to that which we have said concerning 
 the election of God's people. We have to show you, 
 in their history, the progressive sense of sin, and the 
 progressive assurance of reconciliation. We dis- 
 tinguish four periods in Judaism. The first is the 
 patriarchal epoch. The second is the formative, 
 the constitutional period ; it extends from Moses to 
 the reign of David. The third is the period of full 
 development ; rapid and transient, like every phase of 
 prosperity upon the earth, it extends from the reign 
 of David to the fall of Solomon. The fourth is the 
 
72 THE lîEDEEMER. 
 
 period of decline ; the decay is at first scarcely per- 
 ceptible ; it is traversed by returning rays of the 
 ancient glory : this period extends from the schism 
 of the ten tribes to the subjugation of the Jews by 
 the Romans, which is the completion of their earthly 
 downfall. Of every one of these epochs we shall 
 have to ask ourselves what God has said to humanity 
 by his revelation, and what elect humanity has an- 
 swered him ; for it is not all to know what amount of 
 divine seed God scattered abroad at each epoch ; it is 
 also necessary to know if it has been received, and to 
 what extent. We shall show you the desire for sal- 
 vation constantly growing in brightness in the hearts 
 of true Israelites from period to period, until all its 
 brilliancy flamed forth above the very ruins of the 
 earthly glory of Israel, and the birth of Jesus Christ 
 gave its crowning fulfillment to the language of our 
 text, Salvation is of the Jews. 
 
 Let us contemplate Judaism while it still lies en- 
 tirely confined to the family of the patriarchs. Every- 
 thing in their lives speaks of man's condemnation 
 and God's love. The smallest incidents have a bear- 
 ing upon the remote, a rebound in the distant future. 
 Each event conveyed a double message from God : at 
 first, it seemed to bear but one message, relating to 
 the present moment ; but soon there comes forth an- 
 other, of greater importance, which concerns future 
 times. It might be styled a divine messenger, who, 
 when ready to vanish, carries onward into the future, 
 by a gesture, the look and the thought of man. Let 
 'IS examine from this point of view the trials and 
 ihe blessings common to all the patriarchs. They 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 73 
 
 were at first strangers and pilgrims on the earth, pos- 
 sessing only the grand requisite for their burial in 
 the cave of Machpelah. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 although possessed of great riches, did not cease 
 dwelling in tents. In this sense is comprehended 
 the simple fact of the nomadic life led by shepherds 
 in ancient times, — in this is implied the express will 
 of God. The patriarchs traversed countries in which 
 flourishing cities had been built; doubtless they 
 might have desired to erect for themselves a place 
 of repose. But they were forbidden to establish 
 themselves in any country, however smiling and fer- 
 tile. It was a trial in truth, thus to be strangers 
 everywhere, pilgrims without intermission. But what 
 manner of life more favorable for feeling that since 
 the Fall earth is only one vast place of exile ? Noth- 
 ing was better suited to persuade the patriarchs of 
 this, than for them to lead the lives of exiles in 
 reality and in the very places of their birth. Every 
 country was for them a strange land, even the most 
 known, the best loved, except the narrow ground 
 where rested their fathers, and where they were to 
 rest themselves. Their waiidering life was as if a 
 fresh, striking revelation of the condition of fallen 
 man, written not in dead letters, but in symbolical 
 facts. Thus their traveling tent was used by St. 
 Paul as a type in depicting our destiny here below : 
 '' We who are in this tabernacle," said he, '' do groan." 
 And how escape this groaning when once in such a tab- 
 ernacle ? how not sigh with regret and longing after a 
 more stable life ? Assuredly the patriarchs groaned 
 under their life. Far from becoming acclimatized and 
 
 7 
 
74 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 sinking to sleep in their transitory condition, they 
 longed, as we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 after a better country. They were men of desire, 
 men of the future. And God had given them the 
 promise of that better country : '' God said to Abra- 
 ham," showing him the land of Canaan, " I will give 
 thee the land in which thou dwellest as a stranger." 
 Gen. 17 : 8. This promise was renewed to all the 
 patriarchs. Without doubt it was designed to have 
 an earthly fulfillment ; in fact, this it received ; but 
 the earthly fulfillment was secondary. To see in this 
 anything but a symbol, to imagine that the eternal 
 possession of the land of Canaan was secured to the 
 Jews, is to deny all progress in .the method of divine 
 revelation ; it is to detain us indefinitely at the first 
 step, at that which is nearest to the earth. What in- 
 terest attaches, speaking in a religious sense, to 
 the fact that one family or one people should have 
 in prospect a fair earthly heritage ? Let us admit 
 that this promise, like all others, has a material 
 envelope ; but beneath this envelope is hidden the 
 immortal hope of salvation. This gross vail is in- 
 tended to render the hope palpable to man, who is 
 himself gross and childlike. The vail in itself pos- 
 sesses no worth, no value ; only that which is hidden 
 by it is to be prized. That land of Canaan imaged in 
 the future to the patriarchs all that was good, all that 
 was beautiful. It was the land of repose, the land 
 of joy ; it was the accomplishment of their aspirations 
 for a better order of things in the world. To their 
 eyes it was substantially the kingdom of God set up, 
 salvation attained. And thus, while strangers and 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 75 
 
 pilgrims, they had an end before them ; this end they 
 were ever considering, and they songlit it with all 
 their strength. Let iis repeat it, they were men of 
 desire. 
 
 There was another trial and another blessing which 
 marked the life of the most ancient among the patri- 
 archs: the trial was the prolonged expectation of a 
 posterity ; the blessing was the birth of that posterity 
 on whom the blessing was conferred. God had not 
 only promised the possession of the land of Canaan, 
 but he had also said to each one of them, " I will give 
 this land to thee and to thy seed." Those who take 
 the promise concerning the land of Canaan in a ter- 
 restrial rather than spiritual sense, and still expect 
 its definitive accomplishment, ought to regard in the 
 same manner the promise concerning the posterity of 
 Abraham. They ought likewise ,to admit that the 
 point here is the multiplication of this posterity, which 
 became more numerous than the sands of the sea. To 
 this no Christian interpreter will consent, especially 
 if he be guided by St. Paul, who, in his Epistle to the 
 Galatians, separates the spiritual substratum of this 
 prophecy from its temporal form. The symbolism ad- 
 mitted in the latter case ought to be in the former. 
 
 The promise of a blessed posterity made to Abraham 
 is in close connection with the promise given in the 
 garden of Eden. The oldest of all prophecies spoke 
 of the triumph of divine love over the power of dark- 
 ness to be achieved by the posterity of the woman. 
 Every prophecy bearing upon that posterity necessa- 
 rily implied the birth of a Saviour. Thus the patri- 
 archs must have seen, in the posterity promised to them, 
 
76 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 and which had been called to conquer the land of Ca- 
 naan, a realization of the promised salvation. I know 
 well that at the very first they were expecting an im- 
 mediate fulfillment of the words of the Eternal. They 
 expected a posterity who should be richly blessed in a 
 temporal point of view ; but I doubt not that, without 
 their giving precise heed to it, their hope went beyond 
 this earthly aspect of the promise. In like manner as 
 the land of Canaan represented salvation to their minds 
 in its general outlines, so the posterity that should 
 be established there represented to them the Saviour, 
 the Liberator. The temporal blessing enveloped the 
 spiritual and eternal blessing. The liope of salvation 
 was growing stronger. On the other hand, the trial 
 which preceded the blessing effectually developed the 
 sense of human misery, not only because to be tried was 
 to suffer, but also from its special nature. You know, 
 my brethren, how the fulfillment of the promise of a 
 posterity was delayed with respect to the first patri- 
 archs. Abraham in particular, who, as well as his wife, 
 had reached a very great age, was made to hope 
 against all hope. Isaac was born of parents who had 
 passed the age of child-bearing ; he was a child of mir- 
 acle. Was there not in this delay a glorious symbol 
 of the birth of the seed of the woman ? Was it not an 
 indication that this blessed posterity should be not the 
 fruit of human strength, but of the grace of God? 
 Isaac was manifestly a gratuitous and miraculous gift. 
 When Abraham folded him in his enfeebled arms, he 
 was constrained to say to himself, " This heir of all 
 the promises, this precious seed, to whom such high 
 destines are reserved, is the cliild of my old age and 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 77 
 
 my weakness. He is a monument of the power of 
 God. To God alone be all honor and all glory ! Thus 
 hmnility was mingled with the joyous hope of salva- 
 tion, and the desire after Christ, although obscure as 
 yet, was rising, purified, to heaven. Circumcision, 
 which God instituted among the descendants of Abra- 
 ham, was the seal of this election. On the one hand, 
 it represented the moral circumcision, the mortification 
 of the heart and the ^vill, rendered necessary by the 
 principle of rebellion which sin had introduced ;'<en the 
 other, it represented the favor of God bestowed on the 
 chosen race. 
 
 If from facts common to the life of all the patriarchs 
 we pass on to facts peculiar to each of them, we shall 
 discover the same end pursued by the Almighty in refer- 
 ence to them. I shall refer only to the most striking. 
 The faith of Abraham underwent a fearful trial. The 
 Lord asks of him to offer up in sacrifice his son Isaac, 
 that son on whose head repose all his hopes. No 
 words can depict the struggle that must have torn the 
 heart of the father and the believer. It was the greatest 
 sorrow of his life, but also the greatest benediction, for 
 deliverance came to him out of heaven as complete as 
 it was unexpected. The funeral pile on Moriah was a 
 monument of the compassions of God until the day 
 when, illumined with new light by prophecy, and, above 
 all, by the cross of Jesus Christ, it became the type of 
 the most unfathomable mystery, of the Father's love 
 delivering up his only Son as the redeeming sacrifice. 
 Nothing marked is presented in the life of Isaac ; it is 
 a reflection, somewhat dimmed, of that of Abraham. 
 But Jacob's life is full of the most moving interest. 
 
 7* 
 
78 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 That which we have pointed out in the first families 
 of mankind re-appears in the chosen family. The seed 
 of the serpent becomes developed, in -this family, side 
 by side with the seed of God. Ishmael, in Abraham's 
 family, represents this wretched portion of humanity. 
 Esau continues the tradition of evil in the family of 
 Isaac. Esau is the carnal man of the present, the man 
 of the earth, the materialist who sacrifices to his flesh 
 the glorious inheritance of the^promises ; Jacob is the 
 man »f the future and the man of desire. His great- 
 est trials come to him from his brother, trials which 
 he has partly deserved by the culpable deceit that was 
 mingled with his faith. He is obliged to flee in sad- 
 ness from the paternal roof, twice an exile upon the 
 earth, at first as belonging to the strange and wander- 
 ing family of the patriarchs, and then because he was 
 foi'ced to leave his aged father and his mother, Re- 
 bekah. Affliction follows him to the house of Laban, 
 where he is reduced to actual slavery ; it accompanies 
 him in his flight, which was full of anxiety, and in his 
 interview with his brother ; it deals him some of its 
 heaviest blows when he is called to bury the wife of 
 his choice, and when he mourns as dead his favorite 
 son. But by the side of these trials, what rich conso- 
 lations ! There is first the vision at Bethel, the lumi- 
 nous ladder, representing communication as re-estab- 
 lished between earth and heaven ; there is afterward 
 the protection that covers him amid the different dan- 
 gers which he encounters ; there is his numerous pos- 
 terity ; there is his well-beloved son found again upon 
 the steps of the throne of Egypt. There is one event 
 in his life which blends its sufferings and its blessings, 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 79 
 
 and reveals the tie that connects the one with the oth- 
 er ; I refer to the mysterious contest which he sustained 
 with the Ahnighty. He fought with tears and pray- 
 ers, according to the prophet Hosea. The hand of his 
 powerful adversary inflicted on him a deep wound, 
 which became the sign of his victory, for he immedi- 
 ately received the name of Israel^ which signifies con- 
 queror of God. So then God had smitten him with so 
 many trials only to lead him to that brokenness of 
 heart never resisted by Him who has said, '' I dwell 
 with those that are of a broken and contrite heart." 
 'God wounds us only in order that he may be moved 
 by us. Man can become Israel, conqueror of God, but 
 not through his strength ; it is through his weakness, 
 by the annihilation of his pride ; the combat and the 
 victory of Jacob are the glorious symbol of our rela- 
 tionship with God. The patriarch's wound reminded 
 him of the sinful race of which he was a part, as his 
 name assured him of the mercy of God, who is willing 
 to be overcome by our sighs. And this is the reason 
 why this same patriarch, who had said to Pharaoh, 
 " My days are few and evil," could breathe out his 
 soul on his death-bed in a song of triumpli which de- 
 picted the lofty destinies of his race. Trials and bless- 
 ings had rendered his desire for salvation more decided ; 
 and never did the language of prophetic inspiration 
 proceed from lips better prepared for its utterance. 
 
 Such was the patriarchal era. Revelation there ap 
 pears to us in an artless and childlike form, which gives 
 it an incomparable charm. Truth was rendered palpa- 
 ble and visible by striking acts. Revelation was in the 
 life of the patriarchs like a parable put into action. 
 
80 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 But the divine seed was entrusted to a good soil ; hum- 
 ble and believing souls received it. The mission of 
 the patriarchs was accomplished. They assimilated 
 to themselves the part of revelation accorded to them. 
 In their persons humanity developed the germ of sal- 
 vation deposited within itself by the Spirit of God. 
 The longing for the Saviour at the end of this period 
 is more intense than at its beginning. The following 
 period will exhibit to us this desire with a further in- 
 crease. 
 
 This second period is that of the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion. Let us first speak of facts ; we will afterwards 
 enter upon institutions. Events in the history of 
 God's people, alike with those in the lives of the patri- 
 archs, are divided into two series, trials and blessings. 
 There is always held forth, on the one side, God's rod, 
 which bruises the sinner, in order to make further dis- 
 closures to him of his condemnation, and, on the oth- 
 er, the helping hand of the Father, holy and good, 
 which raises up, consoles, and restores hope to the af- 
 flicted heart. The first trial of the descendants of 
 Abraham, who had become a great people, is their 
 captivity in the land of Egypt. In the memory of the 
 nation that captivity remained as the very type of ca- 
 lamity. Egypt was for them a country of shame and 
 sorrow. The rod of the exactor fell heavily and with- 
 out cessation upon that poor people, the more to be 
 pitied because they knew themselves to be called to a 
 more glorious destiny. And yet the very excess of their 
 affliction was made to bring them to this destiny, for 
 without those frightful persecutions, without the crush- 
 ing toil, without the murderous sword of the Egyptian, 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 81 
 
 the twelve tribes would have quickly melted themselves 
 into the mass of the dominant nation. The children 
 of Abraham would no longer have been strangers and 
 pilgrims. The harsh treatment which they underwent 
 erected an impassable barrier between them and the 
 oppressing race. And, moreover, this suffering, en- 
 dured by an entire people, smitten, mutilated, trodden 
 under foot, a suffering repeated in each family, fell 
 with its whole weight upon every individual, to humil- 
 iate and subdue him before God. 
 
 The going forth out of Egypt was itself encom- 
 passed with many painful circumstances. How long 
 was it expected ! How many delays ! What sorrow- 
 ful hindrances ! How often did it not seem that all was 
 lost, and that the chains of slavery had been riveted 
 by a fruitless attempt at emancipation ! And what a 
 mysterious trial were those forty years passed in the 
 burning desert ! In order to have a just representa- 
 tion of them, it suffices to recollect that more than 
 once the desert made the chosen people sigh after 
 Egypt. The descendants of Abraham were not only, 
 like their ancestor, strangers, from the fact that they 
 did not possess an inch of ground in this world, but 
 they were absolutely apart from all nations, lost in an 
 immense solitude, turning about in some sort within 
 a fatal circle which they could not step beyond ; a 
 few days' journey from the land that flowed with 
 milk and honey, yet separated from it by the im- 
 passable barrier of a divine prohibition. Every mur- 
 mur was chastised, every revolt crushed. Almost the 
 entire generation which had left Egypt mingled its 
 dust with the sands of the desert. Surely the God 
 
82 THE BEBE E MER. 
 
 of justice spoke with a most fearful severity to the 
 proud heart of man in that long and solitary inter- 
 view between Israel and himself. 
 
 And with respect to his goodness, when was that 
 ever more resplendent ? When did it manifest itself 
 by more wonders ? Shall I speak of that liberator 
 miraculously rescued from the waters in order to be 
 raised up at the favorable time for an oppressed 
 people ? Like every instrument of God, he was pre- 
 pared for his work in solitude, humiliation, and suffer- 
 ing. The mission of deliverance is addressed not to 
 the Moses who is in the Egyptian court, — that man is 
 yet too proud, — but to the Moses who is in the desert, 
 a lowly shepherd, trembling at the voice of Jehovah. 
 Shall I speak of Egypt smitten and appalled ten 
 times before she breaks the chains of Israel ? Shall I 
 speak of those waters driven back and heaped up in 
 liquid walls to suffer the fleeing people to pass on dry 
 groimd, whilst they roll their vengeful waves over 
 Pharaoh and his host ? Shall I speak of that rock 
 transformed into a refreshing fountain, of that bread 
 of heaven falling regularly to nourish a people too 
 often unbelieving? Shall I speak of that cloud, 
 visible sign of the presence of the Eternal? You 
 would be wearied in listening to the enumeration of 
 these incessant miracles before we could exhaust the 
 evidences of the paternal goodness of the God of 
 Israel. 
 
 But it is especially in the conquest of Canaan that 
 his love, as his justice, Avas displayed. You know, my 
 brethren, how speedily that conquest was effected. 
 Little was attributable to human means : it was the 
 
PREPARATION FOR TUE COMING OF CHRIST. 83 
 
 arm of the Eternal wliicli beat down the walls of Jeri- 
 cho, and which opened the way into the promised land 
 to the chosen people. I know that this entrance was 
 accompanied with terrible and mysterious circum- 
 stances which have continued to be a scandal to many. 
 The extermination of the Canaanitish tribes chills us 
 with terror, even at the distance of so many centuries. 
 But the degree of depravation to which those impure 
 nations had fallen ought not be forgotten. Israel was 
 as the sword of the divine justice. That extermina- 
 tion was a great national chastisement ; and so long as 
 God's right to inflict similar chastisements is not dis- 
 puted, the destruction of those idolatrous nations, 
 like the deluge, must be conceded. God made use of 
 the sword of Israel, as before he had employed over- 
 flowing torrents and the waters of heaven. Moreover, 
 it was necessary, under the old covenant, that his jus- 
 tice should terrify man. The terrible Jehovah could 
 alone beat him down into the dust and make him sigh 
 after pardon. This was an indispensable part of the work 
 of preparation. Do you understand the mixed impres- 
 sion produced on the heart of the chosen people by 
 the manifestation of the wrath of the Most High, of 
 which they were the instrument, and by the continued 
 revelation of his love in that beautiful country which 
 was itself the precious gift bestowed by his love ? Was 
 not this mingled impression precisely the desire for 
 the Redeemer, for the divine Joshua of the future ; was 
 it not the aspiration for the full possession of that sal- 
 vation of which Canaan was the magnificent symbol ? 
 The design of God appears to us yet more clearly in 
 the institutions conferred by Moses, in his name, upon the 
 
84 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 chosen people. These are combined together to awaken 
 and enkindle that holy desire which is the soul of the 
 ancient convenant. They enveloped the life of the 
 Jew as if with a close net-work which pressed upon him 
 everywhere, in the sanctuary as well as in his house, 
 upon ordinary days as well as upon solemn festivals. 
 You have without doubt been surprised by the minute 
 details entered into by the inspired lawgiver of Israel. 
 They have seemed to you unworthy of God. But it 
 shows a very small acquaintance with human nature 
 to trust solely to great institutions where man is to 
 be prostrated and controlled. It would indicate forge t- 
 fulness of the endless shifts to which our frivolity resorts. 
 In order that any truth should act effectually upon us, 
 it is necessary that it be bl^tded with our total life ; 
 that everything should recall it to us ; that it should 
 be like the sea that wears away the rock by its thou- 
 sand little waves constantly dashed against it. Detail 
 is of more consequence than generalities, however beau- 
 tiful these may be. What is it, after all, but the adap- 
 tation to every moment, to every situation in life, of 
 the great and sublime truth which lies at the founda- 
 tion of the institutions established by God ? Such 
 truth in its generality resembles an ingot of gold, 
 which is useless till it is coined into little pieces of 
 money. Let us bless God, therefore, for the minute care 
 with which he caused everything to be regulated in the 
 worship and in the life of his people. By this remark we 
 do not desire to defend the exaggerations of thase seek- 
 ers after types who pretend to read the gospel in the 
 robes of the high priest, in the smallest parts of the 
 ark, and in the least important prescriptions of the cer- 
 
PJIEPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 85 
 
 emonial law. This is transforming the interpretation 
 of the Scriptures into a childish game, a kind of guess- 
 ing at enigmas, whicli amuses the mind while it dries 
 up the heart. We look in the Mosaic system only for 
 the great outlines of the preparatory work, and the 
 general features of prophecy. We find these every- 
 where, but we find nothing more. Care should be ex- 
 ercised lest, under pretext of taking away the vail from 
 Moses, we put a thicker vail upon him. Besides, to 
 what purpose the indefinite multiplying and refining 
 of types ? Most certainly, the Jews did not compre- 
 hend them ; they were not then designed for them. As 
 regards ourselves, we have that which is better than 
 figures, we have tlie gospel realities. This madness 
 after types very injuriously affected the preaching of 
 the fathers of the church. It often exhausted the 
 strength of those great intellects on barren subtleties. 
 In our days it has disfigured more than one edifying 
 work. Instead of permitting the sweetness of that word, 
 which the Psalmist compares to delicious honey, to flow 
 into the soul, men have gone to work to count the cells 
 in each comb, and to discuss with regard to their com- 
 bination. 
 
 With these limitations, let us examine the institu- 
 tions given by God to his chosen people. If we look 
 at these closely, we shall discern in all these institutions 
 the same thought which struck us in the election of a 
 people of God. 
 
 These institutions are characterized by some general 
 traits. The chosen people form a theocracy, that 
 is to say, the people are under the immediate direction 
 of God, governed by him. In the laws given to it we 
 
86 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 arc constantly meeting with one and the same princi- 
 ple, the distinction between the profane and the sa- 
 cred. The chosen people are separated from all oth- 
 ers, as a sacred people ; in this people the tribe of 
 Levi is separated from the other tribes. The life of 
 this people is divided into days of rest and days of la- 
 bor. A sacred place is set apart in the land inhabited 
 by them. The animals form two classes, the clean and 
 the unclean. In like manner as Israel is set apart by 
 God, so in Israel the priests are set apart, and in ordi- 
 nary life the sabbath and the festivals are distinguished 
 from other days ; in the land of Judah, the sanctuary 
 at Jerusalem is the only consecrated place, and certain 
 animals alone are declared to be not defiled. Nothing 
 is more characteristic of Judaism than this being set 
 apart. It is found in the whole and in the details ; it 
 passes from sphere to sphere as if in a series of consecu- 
 tive circles. From the national life it enters into the 
 individual life. We proceed to explain this fact which 
 is so remarkable in its connection with the preparatory 
 work. 
 
 The solution has been already given in speaking of 
 the election of God's people ; for the thought which 
 presided over that election lives also in each one of 
 the institutions of Israel. We have already shown in 
 what manner it could contribute to the development 
 of the desire of salvation. It proclaimed, on the one 
 hand, the fall, the perdition of human nature ; hu- 
 manity was declared to be lost, since it was necessary 
 to be separated from it in order to enter into relation- 
 ship with him. On the other hand, it proclaimed the 
 possibility of a return into favor, since God deigned, 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 87 
 
 nevertheless, to accept a human mediation, imperfect, 
 yet prophetic. No man can approach unto a holy God 
 except by a special grace. He has no right to plead, 
 in order to obtain it, as is proved by the fact that this 
 grace possesses an exceptional character. This excep- 
 tional character is very important ; the exception estab- 
 lishes the rule, that is to say, the general principle of the 
 perdition of mankind, at the same time announcing its 
 re-constitution by showing the possibility of such renova- 
 tion. In like manner do we find this same characteristic 
 in the different institutions pertaining to the Mosaic sys- 
 tem. It was not enough that the chosen people should be 
 separated in the mass from other nations. The human 
 heart is so prolific in illusions, that the Jewish people 
 would speedily forget the profound reason for this sep- 
 aration, this exceptional position ; it would forget the 
 corruption of human nature. The separation, the ex- 
 ception, must, therefore, re-appear in the hearts of the 
 people. Hence the choice of a sacerdotal tribe. Hence 
 the priesthood, which, to use a comparison borrowed 
 from the sciences, is Judaism as the second power. 
 The priesthood fulfills, in reference to the chosen peo- 
 ple, the same mission which is fulfilled by this people 
 with regard to humanity ; it brings before the people 
 the wretchedness, the un worthiness of man, and also the 
 goodness of God, who proposes the means of reconciling 
 man to God. And even this is not enough ; human 
 nature is not only defiled in a general manner, its 
 manifestations partake of the defilement. The life of 
 man is an impure life. He must be brought to feel 
 that his life renders him incapable of approaching God, 
 that its habitual current flows far from God, and that 
 
88 THE lŒDEEMER. 
 
 extraordinary grace is necessary in order that he may 
 come before God. Hence the distinction between holy 
 days and common days. The sabbath, the feast day, the 
 sacred days, reminded the people of the habitual defile- 
 ment of human life, and of the condescension of God, 
 who deigns to provide for man an opportunity of throw- 
 ing off momentarily this defilement. And even this 
 does not suffice. Man must be brought to feel that the 
 earth which he treads upon is an accursed earth, that 
 there can not ascend from all parts of its surface a 
 worship acceptable to God. Hence the distinction of 
 holy places and of places which are not holy. Hence 
 the erection of a sanctuary, which is a monument both 
 of the fall and of grace ; of the fall, since the neces- 
 sity of a sanctuary has arisen ; of grace, since God ac- 
 cepts it. Finally, man ought to feel that the curse 
 which has smitten the earth has smitten all that is con- 
 tained within it. Hence the distinction between ani- 
 mals clean and unclean, and all those laws of purifi- 
 cation which brought before the mind the universality 
 of man's defilement, together with the possibility of 
 its being washed away. Thus, my brethren, this dou- 
 ble word of condemnation and of love which we have 
 heard in the outer world and in the inner world, and 
 which is re-echoed by the prayer of man calling upon 
 his Saviour, resounds alike in the most divine institu- 
 tions of Moses. They send it back one to the other ; 
 they all say together to man, " Thou hast sinned ; thy 
 race is condemned ; therefore is thine a sacerdotal 
 people ; therefore there are priests among that people. 
 Thy life is defiled in its source, therefore thou needest 
 special days for worship. The earth itself is enveloped 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 89 
 
 in the condemnation. For this cause thou hast need 
 of a sanctuary. All that encompasseth thee is changed 
 by the evil principle. For this cause thou hast need 
 of incessant purifications." Priesthood, sabbath, tab- 
 ernacle, ceremonial laws, — there is no one of these 
 institutions which does not tend to develop the feeling 
 of sinfulness and the hope of reconciliation ; in other 
 words, the desire for salvation. 
 
 Of one of the institutions occupying the largest space 
 in the Mosaic system I have not spoken, because we 
 have already characterized it in the primitive family of 
 mankind, and have brought forth its peculiarities to 
 the light : I need not say that I am referring to sacri- 
 fice. You know the part it plays in the life of every 
 Israelite. Moses established ordinances in the minut- 
 est detail for the numerous cases in which men were 
 required to offer sacrifices to the Lord. The sacrifice 
 was for sin, on account of sin. It disclosed its hein- 
 ousness, and announced the reparation for it. In every 
 lamb that was slain man confessed his guiltiness, and 
 God promised his pardon. I will not insist upon a 
 truth so evident. 
 
 But there are two great facts in Judaism to which we 
 are bound to call your attention, because they furnish 
 a striking vindication of our point of view. These two 
 facts are, as it were, the two pillars of the old econ- 
 omy ; I refer to the law, and to prophecy. Each one 
 of these corresponds to one of the sentiments which 
 make up the desire for salvation ; the law corresponds 
 to the sense of condemnation, and prophecy to the 
 hope of pardon. We have, to support this view, the 
 most positive interpretation, that of the apostle Paul. 
 8* 
 
90 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 The law of Sinai is, according to him, a schoolmaster 
 to bring us to Christ, that is to say, a severe master, 
 wlio prepares man to be guided by the gentle Master. 
 How does he bring us to Jesus Christ ? By rendering 
 sin exceeding sinful^ says the same apostle ; that is, 
 by forcing sin to manifest itself, to reveal itself plainly 
 in broad daylight. Sin loves darkness ; it loves to dif- 
 fuse itself like a subtle and imperceptible poison 
 through all our emotions ; it fears the light ; like the 
 serpent who personifies it, sin creeps upon the earth ; 
 the more hidden it is, the more safe it thinks itself. 
 But now the law of God comes to tear away its de- 
 ceitful vails. It can no longer beguile, for by the law 
 true holiness is revealed to man. The law places him 
 in the presence of God. It darts a pitiless light into 
 his heart ; it forces him to confess his inward corrup- 
 tion. It sets before his eyes the pure mirror of the 
 divine perfections, and he is constrained with trembling 
 to behold his deformity and to curse it. Thus sin be- 
 comes exceeding sinful. This is not all. The law 
 awakens in man the desire to realize that moral ideal 
 to which liis conscience conforms. But the command- 
 ment of the old law brings light without heat. Man 
 necessarily fails in this attempt, and from it there re- 
 mains to him but the persuasion of his incurable power- 
 lessness. Finally, the law does not cease to be the 
 daughter of Sinai, the mount of the wrath of God. It 
 was promulgated in the midst of lightnings in the pres- 
 ence of a people smitten to the earth by fear, and it is 
 ever rolling over the head of man, like a thunderbolt 
 ready to strike him, thus threatening : If thou doest 
 not these things, thou shall die. Thus the mission of 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 91 
 
 the law is threefold : to reveal the holiness of God, 
 
 and, in contrast, the corruption of man, to bring him 
 to feel practically his weakness, and to terrify him by 
 the thought of the anger of God. It presents to man 
 God's justice separated from his love, not only in the 
 domain of the religious life, but also within the sphere 
 of civil life. The law of retaliation, — An eye for mi eye, 
 a tooth for a tooth, — realized at first in the relations of 
 man with God, enters into the various social relations. 
 The law of Sinai, to employ an image of the Scriptures, 
 holds in its hand the sword of the Eternal. With this 
 sword it pierces man through and through, in order to 
 pluck away from him the dreams of pride, and that he 
 may fall, subdued, crushed, at the feet of the Lord, cry- 
 ing out, " I am only a poor sinner ; have thou pity on 
 me ! " 
 
 And already God was showing pity. Prophecy pre- 
 vented man from plunging into despair. Like the an- 
 gel who gathers in his vial our sighs and our suppli- 
 cations, prophecy was gathering up the tears and the 
 groans which the law extorted from man, and was trans- 
 muting them into prayer. The law threw him, wounded 
 and bruised, into the dust. Prophecy raised him up, 
 and poured into his wounds the oil and the wine of heav- 
 enly love. It was the voice of prophecy that spoke to 
 him of deliverance, which in advance painted to him in 
 mystical pictures the triumphs of the power of mercy. 
 It would be having an incomplete conception of proph- 
 ecy to see it nowhere but in the oracles of the proph- 
 ets. It circulated in every part of Judaism, it flowed 
 from every institution, as from every event. The Mo- 
 saic system was, as a whole, the figure of that which was 
 
92 THE REDEEMER. ' 
 
 to come. Thus even when there flourished no prophet, 
 prophecy did not cease for a moment to cause its voice 
 to be heard. Even in silence it spoke by the worship, 
 by the altar, by the blood of the victims. 
 
 Let us not isolate the law from prophecy, and let us 
 contemplate this double ministry exercising itself sim- 
 ultaneously. The law said to man, " God is a jealous 
 God. Woe, woe unto the wicked ! His indignation is 
 like the mighty waters. Eebels and sinners shall be 
 dashed together, and those who have forsaken the Eter- 
 nal shall be consumed. Ah ! I will satisfy myself," he 
 cried, " in punishing mine adversaries. I will take ven- 
 geance on mine enemies." Prophecy immediately 
 rejoined, '' Though your sins shall be as scarlet, they 
 shall be made white as snow." The law cried out, 
 *' Desolation ! desolation ! " Prophecy drowned its voice : 
 " The desert shall blossom like the rose. Comfort ye : 
 behold your God. The eyes of the blind shall be 
 opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." 
 And thus the law and prophecy walked side by side, 
 the one smiting and terrifying, the other consoling and 
 strengthening. Between the two, man, at once hum- 
 bled and encouraged, went forward over a desolate road 
 toward a luminous end, throwing himself with all his 
 soul far from a present, made gloomy by the law, 
 toward a future rendered radiant by prophecy. The law 
 and the prophets completed the sum of the Mosaic in- 
 stitutions. We can perceive already their transitory 
 character. The law, in its Jewish form, was to be 
 abolished at the very time of its fulfillment ; the proph- 
 ecy of the Old Testament was to withdraw at the com- 
 ing of the Saviour, as the figure before the reality. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 93 
 
 The distinction between things sacred and profane was 
 destined also to vanish away when redemption should 
 be accomplished and should have reinstated man in his 
 primitive condition. The priests, the sabbath, the sanc- 
 tuary, the distinction between animals, all these insti- 
 tutions, bound together by one and the same thought, 
 were destined to disappear like Judaism itself, with 
 which they were indissolubly connected.* To carry them 
 onward into Christianity is to deny the difference be- 
 tween the preparatory work and the realization of sal- 
 vation. Happy should we be if some pious Christians 
 had not been urged by grievous misconceptions on this 
 point to gather up the remains of the old dispensation 
 in order to introduce them into the spiritual temple. 
 This has contributed neither to its beauty nor its solid- 
 ity. Let us leave the Mosaic institutions to this true 
 purpose ; it suffices for their glory. 
 
 If you wish to have not merely an abstract idea, but 
 a kind of intuition of the influence which it was in 
 the power of these institutions to exert, follow me into 
 the holy city at the time when the system of Moses 
 had attained its full development. Let us bring before 
 our minds the life of a pious Israelite, as it was at that 
 epoch. He knows that he belongs to a chosen people, 
 and that he is surrounded with an idolatrous nation 
 with whom he ought to avoid all intercourse. "• Take 
 heed to thyself," God has said, " and make no covenant 
 with the land whither thou goest to possess it." He 
 remembers the extermination that was visited upon 
 them in the time of his fathers, and he says to himself, 
 with trembling, that his God is a holy God, who hateth 
 iniquity. By his gifts and the offerings which he lays 
 
 * Compare Col. ii. 10, 17. — Ed. 
 
94 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 on the altar, he acknowledges his absolute depend- 
 ence upon this jealous God. His wretchedness and 
 his ill-desert are brought before him by the descend- 
 ant of Aaron, who alone presides over the worship. 
 He can not sit down to his table, though it be for a feast 
 of rejoicing, without the idea of universal defilement 
 being brought to his mind by the care he is obliged to 
 exercise lest he touch any unclean animal. If he goes 
 into the streets of his city, he must shun contact with all 
 that is profane. Festival days are full of the same in- 
 struction for him. The sabbath, the new moon, the 
 seventh month, the seventh year, are suggestive to 
 him of that period of innocence in which the entire 
 life was one peaceful service of God ; which it is no 
 longer ; for, alas ! the time of worship must be set apart 
 by itself. The Passover revives in him the remem- 
 brance of the deliverance out of Egypt ; the mystic lamb 
 causes him to foresee another deliverance a thousand- 
 fold more momentous. The Pentecost takes him back 
 to the day when the law was ^iven to him : Sinai rises 
 before him, and he smites upon his breast. The Feast 
 of Tabernacles recalls the time in the wilderness when 
 Israel dwelt, like his fathers, beneath a tent. Bless- 
 ings, as well as chastisements, are revived in his mem- 
 ory. But who can truly define that which he experi- " 
 ences when he stands beholding the sacrifice that is of- 
 fered for the people morning and evening, and especially 
 when he offers a sacrifice for his own sins ? He lays 
 his hands upon the victim to constitute the slain lamb 
 or bull his representative. Before the sacrifice is made, 
 he is crushed beneath the burden of his guilt ; he is 
 comforted in his heart when the blood has flowed. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 95 
 
 Can you think that this feeling is connected solely with 
 the death of the victim ? Is there not a voice from 
 God, a voice from prophecy, an inward voice, also, 
 which bids him read in the blood poured forth a prom- 
 ise of complete redemption ? He returns hence to his 
 house with more hope, but also with a more ardqnt 
 desire for pardon, and with a more glowing aspiration 
 to the Lamb of God that shall take away the sins of 
 the world. There was one day in the year which was 
 pre-eminently the day of sacrifice. It was the day of 
 atonement. Bring before your mind that solemn scene, 
 and the impressions which it ever excited in the breast 
 of our pious Israelite. The high priest begins by of- 
 fering the sacrifice for himself and his family. Then he 
 slays a goat for the sins of the people. He purifies every 
 part of the sanctuary by sprinkling the blood upon it. 
 It is necessary, then, — the believing Jew must think 
 within himself, — that that which is purest and holiest 
 upon the earth should be purified in the eyes of God ! 
 race condemned and unclean, humble thyself in 
 the dust! The high priest has remained alone in 
 the sanctuary for this sacrifice : not only has he sprinkled 
 the horns of the altar, but he has retired within the 
 vail, into the holy of holies. What a moment ! This 
 vail which has been raised on this day only, for this 
 man alone, when shall it be lifted up for me ? When 
 shall I be satisfied with the joys of thy likeness, my 
 God ? What pious heart does not burn at this hour 
 to reach beyond the vail ? All is not ended. The high 
 priest takes a goat, lays on him the sins of all the 
 people by placing his own hands upon him, and sends 
 him into the wilderness, as if declaring that one day 
 
96 THE BE DEE MER. 
 
 the iniquity should be removed from off the condemned 
 race of man. Oh ! when shall shine that day of effi- 
 cacious pardon ? When shall we return into our dwell- 
 ings free from this frightful and crushing weight of 
 our sins ? Thou who art to come, divine Seed of the 
 woman, Messiah, Deliverer, Saviour, come quickly! 
 Thus in all the solemn feasts there ascended from the 
 sanctuary, as from the dwelling of the humblest child 
 of Israel, every day of the week, that sighing after 
 Christ which all the institutions of Moses were de- 
 signed to awaken. 
 
 We have dwelt, my brethren, upon the Mosaic sys- 
 tem, because the full comprehension of it was essential 
 to our purpose. We shall pass more rapidly over the 
 remaining periods in the history of Israel. The period 
 of the chosen nation's full development was as brief 
 as brilliant. After the conquest of the promised land, 
 there follows the tumultuous epoch of the Judges, so 
 fruitful in disasters and in deliverances. The moral 
 fluctuations of the people, tossed to and fro between 
 the worship of the true God and idolatry, are repeated 
 in their destiny. When they forsake God, they are for- 
 saken by him; and then come their chastisements. 
 When they humble themselves beneath his rod, a de- 
 liverer is raised up, type of the future Deliverer who 
 shall come in the time of the great humiliation. The 
 form of Samuel, of the Seer pre-eminently, shines with 
 a mild luster in this obscure epoch ; it is he who con- 
 secrates the first king of Israel. Until then the invis- 
 ible King had sufficed ; external royalty was the fruit 
 of unbelief; but God, deriving good out of evil, con- 
 Verted this into an august type of the promised Mes- 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 97 
 
 siali. Prophecy found in it an additional lineament 
 wherewith to depict in advance the image of the Sav- 
 iour. The king after God's heart was David ; like all 
 the great servants of the Lord, he was taken from the 
 desert ; he was often sent back to the desert during 
 the time of trial which preceded his actual entrance 
 upon kingly power. Afflictions were intermingled 
 with blessings in his life, which was at once so human 
 and so devout. The reign of David, and of Solomon 
 his son, carried the glory of Judaism to its culminating 
 point. After them it begins to decline, but spiritually 
 it still continues ; for it is proper to embrace in the pe- 
 riod of the full development of the old covenant, the 
 epoch of the four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Daniel, and Ezekiel. Let us endeavor to apprehend 
 the results of this period, with reference to the work of 
 preparation. It is characterized, above all, by the 
 magnificent unfolding of prophecy, as the preceding 
 had been by the exhibition of the severities of the law. 
 We are not to believe that the law was silent dur- 
 ing the epoch signaled by the appearance of the great 
 prophets. That is a false and exclusive idea which 
 regards the mission of the prophet as consisting solely 
 in the revelation of the future. He was as truly the 
 man of the law as of the promise. The Hebrew word 
 by which he is designated signifies, essentially, ser- 
 vant, witness of God. God not only said to the 
 prophets, " Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," but 
 also, " Declare unto them my wrath." Who has ever 
 pronounced more terrible anathemas against sinners 
 than the prophets ? Who has painted the iniquity of 
 Israel with more frightful colors ? To use their own 
 9 
 
98 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 figures, " they write the sin of Judah with a pen of 
 iron, and with the point of a diamond ; they grave 
 it upon the table of the people's heart, and upon the 
 horns of their altars." Jer. xvii. 1. If they call upon 
 the heaven and the earth to keep silence, it is to tell 
 them of the acts of ingratitude committed by Israel. 
 The Lord hath put in their hand, which is that of the 
 law, the cup of his anger, and they make all the na- 
 tions drink of it ; Jerusalem first, the cities of Judah, 
 her kings, her principal men, Pharaoh king of Egypt, 
 all the mingled people of Arabia, Edom, Moab, Tyre, 
 Sidon, and all the kings of the North. Jer. xxv. 
 
 But at the same time that the prophets prophesy 
 against the sinner, according to the commandment of 
 God, they also announce the wonders of divine com- 
 passion. They fill out the picture of the expected 
 future, and represent this future with colors so exact, 
 that at times they seem rather to be relating facts 
 that are past, than to be predicting future events. 
 Let us take up the prophecy concerning the Messiah 
 where we left it. It was speaking to us last by the 
 mouth of Jacob. We know, since the promise given 
 in Eden, that the Saviour is to be a son of man. We 
 have learned from what family he should spring; it 
 is the family of Judah. In the family of Judah he 
 will come from the root of Jesse ; he will be a son of 
 David. But prophecy is not satisfied with indicating 
 his genealogy. It describes to us his mission. The 
 first oracles confined themselves to broad generalities. 
 They spoke only of a triumph over evil, of a blessing 
 to be extended over all the nations of the earth. With 
 Moses, prophecy advances a step : " The Lord thy 
 
PREPARATION FOB THE COMING OF CHRIST. 99 
 
 God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst 
 of thee, of thy bretliren, like unto me ; unto him ye 
 shall hearken." Deut. xviii. 15. We have here not 
 only the deliverer, we have also the prophet, the wit- 
 ness of God, the revealer. With David the prophecy 
 becomes yet more precise. He is not only prophet, he 
 is moreover king. '' I have set my King upon my holy 
 hill of Zion. Thou art my Son ; this day have I be- 
 gotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the hea- 
 then for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
 the earth for a possession." Ps. ii. 6-8. Quickly it is 
 no longer merely the prophet and the king who is set 
 before us : there stands the victim : " He shall grow 
 up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of 
 diy ground : he hath no form nor comeliness. He is 
 despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and 
 acquainted with grief. Surely he hath borne our 
 griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for 
 our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. 
 It pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him 
 to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering 
 for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days. 
 He shall see of the travail of his soul. By his 
 knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." 
 Isa. liii. Triumph by suffering, salvation proceeding 
 from the death of the just, — in this thought the gospel 
 and the first promise are united together ; it is truly 
 the serpent crushed by the heel which he had bruised. 
 And here we ought to pause a moment, my breth- 
 ren, to consider the enveloping form of prophecy. It 
 is very important to obtain a just conception of this 
 in order not to materialize the oracles of God. The 
 
100 TUE REDEEMER. 
 
 prophetic form is essentially symbolical. The proph- 
 et paints the future with the lineaments of the pres- 
 ent, with the colors and the imagery furnished by the 
 country and the age to which he belongs. It is the 
 only method by which he can be understood. The 
 customs of his people, known events, compose for him 
 a rich and brilliant language, by means of which he 
 reproduces the revelations which he has received. 
 Literal interpretation of prophecy is therefore non- 
 sense ; for it confounds the signs with the things signi- 
 fied, words with ideas, the garment with the body. 
 More than this : in general the prophet speaks of near, 
 immediate events ; but the prophetic spirit circulates 
 in some sort through all his words ; these events be- 
 come the type of other events of a scope infinitely more 
 important. Jesus Christ, by the overthrow of Jerusa- 
 lem, describes the end of the world ; the two prophe- 
 cies are as if intertwined. The establishment of the 
 kingdom of God upon the earth was announced to the 
 Israelites under the figure of the conquest of Canaan. 
 The prophets of the epoch at which we have now ar- 
 rived represent the future destinies of the kingdom of 
 God under the image of the Jewish theocracy. Zion, 
 her temple, her worship, her history, furnishes them 
 with the most admirable symbols. To take their de- 
 scription literally is to transport the prose of our pale 
 Occident into the brilliant and poetical East. When 
 the prophets speak of the Messiah, they speak of him 
 also in a symbolical manner. We do not doubt that 
 the Psalms which relate to him are to be applied at 
 first to David, to Solomon, to the Israelitish king ; but 
 as the Messiah was to be pre-eminently the King of 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 101 
 
 Israel, these Psalms applied in a higher sense to Jesus 
 Christ. All Judaism tends to him and prophesies of 
 him. Never is this latent prophecy exhausted by facts 
 of the present time ; all relate to him ultimately. This 
 simple thought is calculated to refute many forced in- 
 terpretations which, in order to make such a passage 
 in the New Testament square with such another in the 
 Old, do violence to the text. The positive prophecies 
 which relate only to the Messiah have always a typical 
 vail ; the Messiah is sometimes called David, sometimes 
 Cyrus. It is in like manner with the predictions which 
 relate to the development of the work of salvation. 
 The return from exile represents that which was for- 
 merly represented by the conquest of Canaan, — the 
 consolation and triumph of the people of God. Natu- 
 rally God's people is styled Israel by the prophet ; in 
 later days they shall be called the Church. That beau- 
 tiful name is not for ever the exclusive privilege of the 
 descendants of Abraham. The prophets themselves, 
 in announcing the effusion of the Spirit, declare that 
 the time shall come when " all the ends of tlie world 
 shall remember and turn unto the Lord : and all the 
 kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." 
 Ps. xxii. 27. A new people shall be born to be a wit- 
 ness of this great spectacle. With regard to the proph- 
 ecies that treat of the final future of the church, we 
 leave them apart, as not entering into our subject. 
 We are deeply persuaded that the same method of in- 
 terpretation ought to be applied to them. Let us add 
 that this spirituality of interpretation prevents us in 
 no respect from admitting that the kingdom of God will 
 be triumphantly established in the outer world also ; 
 
 9* 
 
102 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the new heavens and the new earth are a reality to our 
 minds. 
 
 In the fruitful epoch of David and the four great 
 prophets, revelation gained a wonderful development. 
 Never did the law fulfill its fearful mission with greater 
 energy. Never did prophecy awaken by clearer pre 
 dictions the hope of forgiveness. It remains for us to 
 learn whether this twofold word of God was understood 
 and received by man ; or, in other phraseology, did rev- 
 elation attain its end ? We have in our sacred books 
 the most beautiful and touching proofs that if God has 
 spoken, man, under the influence of his Spirit, has 
 heard and understood. The life of the saints of the 
 old covenant, that humble and pious life of faith, im- 
 pressed with a character of such patient submission 
 during their long period of expectation, is already an 
 answer to God's appeals. But there is a part of the 
 Old Testament which introduces us into the inner life 
 of these saints ; it is no longer merely the word of 
 God resounding from heaven ; it is its vibrating echo in 
 the heart of man. The predictions of the inspired 
 writers are as if intersected by the effusions of their 
 believing souls. There is, first, the bitter plaint of 
 Job, that song of desolation in which the afflicted of 
 all ages have mingled their tears together. Who has 
 ever bewailed human misfortune like Job ? Who has 
 more truly revealed its depths ? " Let the day perish 
 wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, 
 There is a man child conceived." Job iii. 3. Then 
 follows the melancholy, disconsolate lamentation of 
 the preacher : " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." The 
 sorrowful contrasts of human life were sufficiently un- 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 103 
 
 derstood. Can the sense of sin be better expressed than 
 in these words : "All we like sheep have gone astray; 
 we have turned every one to his own way " ? Isa. liii. 6. 
 You recognize the voice of Isaiah. Listen to the proph- 
 et of sorrows, seated on the smoking ruins of his 
 Jerusalem, and speaking in the name of his people : 
 " I am the man that hath seen affliction. Mine eyes 
 do fail with tears. Behold, Lord, for I am in dis- 
 tress ; mine heart is turned within me ; for I have 
 grievously rebelled." Lam. iii. 1. Listen to one of 
 the later prophets spreading out his soul before God : 
 " Lord, the great and dreadful God, we have sinned, 
 and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, 
 and have rebelled. Lord, righteousness belongeth 
 unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces. Lord, to 
 us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our 
 princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned 
 against thee." Dan. ix. 5. But this song of lamenta- 
 tion which passes from one inspired mouth to another 
 does not ascend to heaven alone. The song of hope 
 rises also. Sometimes it is peaceful, like confidence : 
 " To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgive- 
 nesses ; " sometimes it is still tinged with melancholy. 
 After having said, " I was weary with forbearing and 
 I could not stay," Jeremiah resumes : " Sing iinto the 
 Lord, praise ye the Lord ; for he hath delivered the 
 soul of the poor from the hand of evil-doers." Jer. 
 XX. 13. Often he is full of energetic assurance : " The 
 chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with 
 his stripes we are healed." The suffering and the 
 hope that are intermingled in the holy desire for salva- 
 
104 THE REDEEMEB. 
 
 tion have thus found this most touching and most 
 sublime expression. 
 
 But there is one book of the Old Testament which 
 discloses such feelings in a manner yet more striking. 
 This book, in which the most ardent and devout soul 
 has fully poured itself forth, enables us to read again 
 God's revelation, not now in the table of stone, but in 
 the light of the emotions of a sanctified soul. What 
 mind does not think of the Psalms — those immortal 
 prayers which in the most solemn hours of our lives 
 return to us and take their places upon our lips — as the 
 perfect expression of all that man can ask of God ? 
 The Psalms cause us to hear the voice of elect hu- 
 manity answering the appeals of God's love, and re- 
 counting eagerly, under the guidance of the Spirit, that 
 which it owes to the unwearied operation of grace. 
 The external action of grace we have seen in the insti- 
 tutions and history of Israel. Here now we have its in- 
 ner action. Here is the blessed fruit of this work of love. 
 In the soul of David it presents itself to us ; in that 
 human soul, so vibrating with feeling, which opens it- 
 self in such moving and burning words, we hear the 
 sighs and the thanksgivings of all pious Israelites. It 
 is in truth the harp of Zion. What saith it to God ? 
 God by the law, as well as by the severity of his justice, 
 designed to produce in man the sense of guilt ; heark- 
 en to this ^bitter lament of the prophet-king, and ac- 
 knowledge that God's purpose is fully attained : " When 
 I kept silence, my bones waxed old, my moisture is 
 turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge 
 my transgressions ; and my sin is ever before me. 
 Against thee, thee only have I sinned. Hide thy face 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 105 
 
 from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Thou 
 desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it ; thou 
 delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of 
 God are a broken spirit." Ps. xxxii. 3, 4 ; li. 3, 4, 
 9, 16, 17. The bruising of man's proud spirit, the 
 breaking of his heart, — is not this the fullest accom- 
 plishment of the purposes of God ? Sacrifice is here 
 viewed in its prophetic import ; this first aim of the old 
 covenant is attained ; is its second aim less realized ? 
 You know that God wishes to develop the hope of 
 pardon. Is not this hope already manifested in the 
 form of prayer which David gave to his confession ? 
 His faith in the reconciliation is so strong that he en- 
 joys in anticipation the most glorious consequences of 
 the redemptive work. " Blessed, " he cries out, " is he 
 whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 
 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not 
 iniquity. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine 
 iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my 
 transgressions unto the Lord ; and thou forgavest the 
 iniquity of my sin." Ps. xxxii. The hope is as strong 
 as the penitence was earnest. Never till then had faith 
 in salvation manifested itself in so precise a form. 
 Stern law, minute ordinances, exclusive priesthood, rig- 
 orous sabbath, bloody sacrifices, your often singular 
 characteristics shall no longer be occasions of offense 
 to us. We have before our eyes, in this penitent sin- 
 ner, your signal justification ; and you, sacred ora- 
 cles of the prophets, we will no more charge you with 
 being unintelligible. That cry of hope reveals your po- 
 tent action. At the close of this, as at the end of the 
 preceding period, we perceive that the soul of man has 
 
106 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 received the divine seed. The Saviour is nearer to the 
 lost race, for the desire that calls upon him is more 
 p()sitive and more fervent. The work of preparation 
 has taken an immense stride in advance. 
 
 And still this was not the last step. The heart of 
 man is so hard that the severest trials were necessary 
 in order to break it. He possesses the disastrous art of 
 turning the best gifts of God against himself. He at- 
 tempted to pervert the institutions which were in- 
 tended to prepare for the coming of the Saviour. They 
 had no other end. . Judaism may be compared to a 
 vast ship, admirably built, whose masts are firm, and 
 whose expanded sails only await a favoring wind. 
 Without the breath of heaven the ship is of no utility ; 
 it is but an inert mass. The wind which should swell 
 the sails of Judaism was precisely the desire after 
 Christ. Let this desire disappear, and Judaism would 
 be only a vessel, motionless and useless. Unfortu- 
 nately, its tendency was in this direction. The Jews 
 were wont to admire the beauty of its outward appear- 
 ance, and to forget that it had no other destination than 
 to bring them into the haven of safety. They settled 
 themselves down in the preparatory economy as if it 
 were the final economy. The sail was not spread to the 
 breeze of heaven. It was needful, then, that tlie out- 
 ward glory of their institutions should be tarnished, 
 that the theocracy should be abased and humiliated, 
 in order that barren satisfaction with the present should 
 give way to aspirations after heaven. The humilia- 
 tions of Judaism are of two kinds. They are connected, 
 first, with the political life of the nation, and, secondly, 
 with its institutions. The first preceded the second ; 
 
PnEPARATI02T FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 107 
 
 and this has allowed us to embrace the prophets of the 
 time of the captivity within the flourishing period of rev- 
 elation. The decline of the theocracy begins with the 
 reign of the son of Solomon. The schism which breaks 
 up the unity of God's people, cutting off ten branches 
 from the sacred tree, is the first part of the downfall. 
 For some time longer a religious tie, often broken by 
 idolatry, is maintained with the tribe of Judah, by the 
 ten separated tribes. Two great prophets are granted 
 to them, viz., Elijah and Elisha ; their predictions have 
 not reached us, but they were indomitable witnesses 
 to the holiness of God in days of darkness. This feeble 
 tie is quickly broken. Tlie ten tribes are laid deso- 
 late, and carried far away. But few remains of them 
 are left, and these, mingling with a mass of pagans, 
 constitute the Samaritan nation. The tribe of Judah 
 and the tribe of Benjamin keep up the true Israelish 
 tradition. Their frequent returns to idolatrj^ bring 
 upon them the severest chastisements of God. The 
 captivity of seventy years at Babylon is the most re- 
 markable. The return of the exiles, a sublime type of 
 the spiritual deliverance of mankind, seems to in- 
 augurate a new era of glory. Ezra and Nehemiah re- 
 call to mind the ancient leaders of Israel. The insti- 
 tutions of Moses, more or less forgotten, flourish again. 
 A second temple is erected. But the independence of 
 the Jews is not of long duration. They undergo the 
 fluctuations in the history of Asia which followed the 
 successive partitions of the empire of Alexander. The 
 heroic sword of the Maccabees delivers them for a time 
 from the yoke of the stranger, but soon it falls upon 
 them again with greater weight. The Roman suprem- 
 
108 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 acy enfolds them within that immense chain which 
 was enveloping almost the entire known world. A 
 proconsul enforces respect for the Roman eagles in the 
 city where David and Solomon reigned. It is a terri- 
 ble humiliation for that people whose patriotism rose 
 to the pitch of fanaticism. Their spiritual humilia- 
 tions were yet greater. The visible glory of Jehovah no 
 more appeared in the second temple. Prophecy ceased 
 after the twelve minor prophets. There were disser- 
 tations on morals, like the Book of Wisdom, but the 
 breath of the Spirit is not in their learned and sensible 
 pages. The temple still remains, the ceremonies are 
 regularly accomplished there every day, the multitude 
 pours into it on the great feast-days ; but it is now only 
 a magnificent monument of the past : revelation is silent. 
 What humiliation must have been experienced by the 
 Jews living at that sad epoch, as they compared them- 
 selves with their predecessors ! What a difference be- 
 tween the voice of the doctors of the law and the 
 powerful voice of the prophets ! We shall have oc- 
 casion, when we come to the life of the Saviour, to de- 
 pict more fully the state of Judaism at this period. 
 We have said enough to-day to lead you to perceive to 
 what extent it had fallen. This very decline pro- 
 moted the purposes of God in a wonderful way. It 
 perfected the preparatory work. 
 
 Forget not, my brethren, that if prophecy was silent, 
 the mighty voice of the old prophets did not cease to 
 resound in Jerusalem. The contrast between the pres- 
 ent condition of the Jews and the sublime future 
 promised to them was of a nature to develop an inex- 
 pressible desire for the Deliverer. It was impossible 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 109 
 
 to be satisfied with institutions which had not pre- 
 vented the enslavement of Judaea. Their looks were 
 necessarily directed forward. It was with the Jews of 
 that day as it had been with their fathers in the wil- 
 derness upon the borders of Canaan. The weariness 
 induced by that burning sky, that arid sand, that 
 naked and mournful land, urged them to anticipate in 
 their wishes the happy moment when they should 
 enter the fertile and smiling country. We have in 
 the gospel itself the evidence of this universal expec- 
 tation. As soon as a man ap'pears giving himself out 
 to be the. Messiah, he is eagerly followed. John the 
 Baptist, the humble and courageous forerunner, is 
 taken for the Deliverer. " Art thou he who should 
 come ?" is the inquiry which meets him from all quar- 
 ters. Doubtless, with the mass of the people such de- 
 sires are gross and material ; but they show that the pre- 
 paratory work is drawing to a close. Moreover, there 
 are souls in whom, as upon an altar preserved from 
 every profane touch, there is burning the pure flame 
 of a true desire after salvation. Their number is not 
 great, — be not astonished at this, — the seed of the 
 serpent is always in the majority here below ; but these 
 few souls are not the less the veritable humanity, the 
 humanity according to God. Their spiritual develop- 
 ment is the fairest, tlKî most perfect, fruit of the work 
 of preparation. It shows that the elect humanity is 
 ready to receive and to bring forth the Divine Son who 
 should crush the head of the enemy. And here, my 
 brethren, we are not reduced to suppositions. We 
 have positive proofs in the gospel. Behold in the tem- 
 ple of the Lord those two aged men who are waiting 
 
 10 
 
110 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 for the hope of Israel with such confidence that they 
 know they shall not die until they have seen the Sa- 
 viour with their eyes. Read the canticle of Zachariah 
 at the birth of John the Baptist ; read the song of 
 Simeon when he takes the child Jesus in his arms ; 
 you will acknowledge that never in the past was the 
 desire for salvation expressed in so admirable a man- 
 ner. There is no longer any vagueness in the lan- 
 guage. It touches directly upon the salvation " pre- 
 pared before the face of all people ; a light to lighten 
 the Gentiles, and the glory of the people Israel." The 
 sufferings of Christ are partly seen ; they are symbolized 
 in the sword which shall pierce the heart of Mary. 
 
 The mother of Jesus Christ is herself the most touch- 
 ing proof that the preparation is completed, for she ap- 
 pears to us, in her feelings and disposition, as if the 
 personification of the elect humanity destined to re- 
 ceive the Saviour. Do not fear, my brethren, lest we 
 fall into any superstitious notion. We reject with indig- 
 nation the worship of the mother of Christ. However 
 lively this indignation, we are persuaded that it can not" 
 equal that which would be felt by Mary, were she to see 
 her image upon the altar. But we firmly believe that 
 she offered to divine grace a soul well prepared to re- 
 ceive it, and that she was to such an extent full of hope 
 and desire for salvation, that she represented our poor 
 fallen race on the day in which she received the divine 
 child into her womb. Herein is the reason why the 
 new dogma proclaimed by the Bishop of Rome aims a 
 blow at the fundamental principle of Christianity. In 
 truth, if the mother of Jesus Christ was not truly a 
 daughter of man, if she did not really pertain to our 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. HI 
 
 poor fallen humanity, Jesus Christ has not taken on 
 him the nature of man ; he could not be the Mediator ; 
 he is not the Son of man, but the son of I know not 
 what fantastic humanity, dwelling in a cloud between 
 heaven and earth. There was not the necessary agree- 
 ment between God who bestows and the human soul 
 which receives his gifts with the joy and eager delight 
 of a holy desire. The desire for salvation would not 
 have been apprehended on the part of Mary, if she had 
 not been a sinful creature. It is precisely because, 
 after having sinned, she wept over her wretchedness, 
 and longed for the Deliverer, that it became possible 
 for her to be chosen to conceive him by the power of 
 the Holy Ghost. She was judged worthy to be the 
 mother of the Saviour only on account of the profound 
 sense which she had of her unworthiness. virgin 
 of Nazareth, if thou hast been blessed among all wo- 
 men, it is because thou hast been the humblest of all. 
 Humble was thy position ; daughter of the kings of thy 
 people, thou didst hide in obscurity thy high descent, 
 and didst represent in thy lowliness the salutary low- 
 liness of thy nation. Humble was thy soul, and the 
 song in which thou dost disclose to us its sentiments 
 is the purest and most spiritual expression of this de- 
 sire after salvation, of which thou offerest to us the full 
 maturity : " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my 
 spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Luke 1 : 46, 
 47. You understand her, it is of the Saviour that 
 she speaks ; he is not now merely to her eyes the king, 
 the prophet, the propitiation ; he is all that at once. 
 He is the Saviour. " For he hath regarded the low 
 estate of his handmaiden." Here is the world of hu- 
 
1 1 2 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 miliation, waited for during so many centuries. Let 
 not Mary be despoiled of the sense of this lowliness. 
 In order to lead man to confess it, God has not ceased 
 to beat him down to his feet. " He hath scattered the 
 proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put 
 down the mighty from their seats." Satan is van- 
 quished ; these words must convince him of it, for hu- 
 manity acknowledges its nothingness by the mouth of 
 Mary, and weeps over its revolt. " He hath exalted 
 them of low degree." The lowly, the humble, — these 
 are the chosen of God ; and it is because she is in this 
 blessed low state that she is able to add, " He re- 
 members his mercy." Yes, he did remember it. Al- 
 ready has the angel Gabriel announced to her the birth 
 of her Saviour. She confesses, in the name of our 
 fallen race, her lowliness and her condemnation ; she 
 has clearly seen the mercy of her God. The times are 
 ripe ; nothing further remains to be added to the de- 
 sire for salvation ; and therefore is she already bear- 
 ing in her womb the divine seed promised to humanity 
 so many ages since. 
 
 It would now only remain to us, my brethren, to 
 trace out before you the life of Christ, if we had not 
 still to show you how, in a less direct manner, God 
 had prepared men outside of Judaism to long for the 
 Deliverer. This will be the object of our next discourse. 
 
 I^ seems to us that the conclusion of this discourse 
 is an earnest appeal to our souls to be converted. This 
 immense work of preparation which we have endeav- 
 ored to unfold before your eyes had for its end the sal- 
 vation of each one of you ; yes, my brother, whoever you 
 are, though you should be the most wretched and the 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 113 
 
 most worthless of men, God was thinking of thy soul dur- 
 ing all the course of the ancient dispensation. Toward 
 that the endless chain of his revelations was tending. 
 It is thy salvation which he was preparing from the 
 very first days, beneath the trees of Eden, when he 
 promised to Adam the divine seed that should crush 
 the serpent's head. It is thy salvation which he was 
 preparing during the patriarchal epoch when he con- 
 versed with Abraham, and when the angel of his 
 presence broke bread with him at Mamre, and when 
 he wrestled with Jacob near the brook. It is thy 
 salvation which he was preparing in the chosen people, 
 in their deliverances and in their chastisements, in the 
 wilderness as well as in the promised land. It is thy 
 salvation which he was preparing when from the top of 
 Sinai he revealed his terrible law, and when by the 
 mouth of Moses he announced the great prophet who 
 should save his people. It is thy salvation which he 
 was preparing at the altar of sacrifice, in the solemn 
 feasts, and in those numberless ordinances which were 
 designed to engrave on the lieart of Israel the thought 
 which had induced him to choose them for his people. 
 It is thy salvation which he was preparing by the ora- 
 cles of his great prophets, by the penitential tears of 
 David, as well as by the burning and lofty hymn of 
 Isaiah. It is thy salvation which he was preparing in 
 the glories, as in the reverses of the theocracy ; amid 
 the ruins of Jerusalem, as by the rivers of Babylon. 
 It is thy salvation which he was preparing in the final 
 humiliations of Jerusalem, when the victorious stran- 
 gers were trampling upon its sacred soil. If God, ac- 
 cording to the word of Jesus Christ, hath worked from 
 
 10* 
 
114 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the beginning of the world, it is for thee, my brother. 
 His eye beheld thee in thy obscurity, hidden in the 
 generation to which thou belongest. The salvation 
 which he was preparing was not a collective salvation ; 
 it was an individual salvation, it was salvation for thee. 
 And now it is for thee to decide if the work of so many 
 centuries shall be in vain. In refusing to be converted, 
 thou wilt cause it to be in vain according to the 
 measure of thine ability. Thou wilt render it abortive 
 for thy soul. It would be in vain that God during 
 four thousand years has smitten, blessed, humbled, 
 raised up humanity. My brother, would you requite 
 such persevering love by such ingratitude ? Are you 
 willing to break, to destroy the plan of the divine com- 
 passion ? Are you willing to strike with sterility so 
 many revelations, and so many prophecies ? Shall it 
 be in vain that the arm of the Lord has been revealed 
 with so great power, that his mouth hath spoken with 
 accents so paternal ? In vain ! No, that is not possible ; 
 others will receive the salvation which thou wilt have 
 despised. It shall be with thee as with those Israelites 
 who, after forty years' journeying in the wilderness, 
 fell dead upon the borders of Canaan. Already were 
 they beholding the wonderful countries, already their 
 foot touched the soil ; but they disbelieved God, and 
 their long pilgrimage resulted only in the most cruel 
 deception. Since the work of preparation is finished, 
 we are dwelling upon the frontiers of the spiritual Ca- 
 naan. Are we willing to fall there, like the unbeliev- 
 ing Israelites ? Ah ! let us rather confess that God 
 has done everything to enable us to gain entrance ; 
 let us suffer ourselves to be persuaded by these revela- 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 115 
 
 tions without number which have brought us to the 
 threshold of the true promised land ; and let us enter 
 within, following in the footsteps of the divine Joshua, 
 blessing the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, 
 the God of David, of Isaiah, and of Daniel, the God of 
 Simeon and of Mary, the God of the patriarchs, the 
 prophets, and the saints. To him be the glory 
 throughout all ages for the work which he has accom- 
 plished on our behalf, alike under the old and under 
 the new covenant ! 
 
CHAPTER TV. 
 
 THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 PREPARATION AMONG THE HEATHEN. 
 
 Acts xvii. 16-34. 
 
 WE have sketched in its great outlines the prepa- 
 ration for the coming of the Saviour in the his- 
 tory of the Jewish people. To-day I shall call your at- 
 tention to a point too much neglected ; I mean the 
 preparatory work in the bosom of the pagan world. 
 Here, as ever, the doctrine of Scripture is infinitely 
 broader than the theology of men. While exhibiting 
 to us the Jews as the only recipients of a positive reve- 
 lation, Scripture introduces other nations into the vast 
 scheme of redemption,, and shows to us the finger of 
 God in their history. " God, after having made of one 
 blood all nations of men," says St. Paul, " to dwell on 
 all the face of the earth, hath determined the bounds of 
 their habitation." Thus the historical development of 
 those nations, and the very limits of this development, 
 are appointed by God ; and as all things concur, and 
 all work together in his hands to accomplish the 
 plan of salvation, we may be assured that the his- 
 tory of the heathen nations before Jesus Christ tends 
 to prepare the way for his coming. We shall not 
 
 116 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 117 
 
 weary of repeating that the special acts of election on 
 the part of God are for the greatest good of humanity, 
 which is his chief election, whenever the purpose of 
 his love is not brought to naught by the persistence of 
 the race in its rebellions. No more in the past than 
 it is in the present was it, as a whole, given over to 
 itself. The God of Abraham has not ceased to be the 
 God of Adam. If he has developed the desire for sal- 
 vation among the descendants of the patriarchs, he 
 has also developed it, although less directly, outside 
 of the favored people. We have the most striking 
 proof of this in the facility with which Christianity 
 was propagated in the midst of the pagan world. It 
 might be styled a conflagration, which, because every- 
 thing was ready for the kindling of the fire, spread as 
 on the wings of the wind as soon as the flame had 
 once burst forth. Three centuries had not passed away 
 before Christians are enabled to say to the pagans, 
 "We fill your cities, your armies ; we are everywhere." 
 Who does not see that the times were ripe, and that 
 the furrows had been dug to receive the everlasting 
 truth ? Unless it be alleged that these were opened 
 entirely alone, without God's concurrence, the opera- 
 tion of grace must be admitted in these favorable dis- 
 positions. If an objection is made on the score of 
 the bloody persecutions, we answer that the Jewish 
 people did more than persecute Christians, — they put 
 to death the Son of God ; and yet they were the peo- 
 ple of God. We must in all cases consider, not ihe 
 unbelieving masses, but the individuals who separated 
 themselves from the mass to receive the appeals which 
 God addressed to them by diverse methods. 
 
118 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 We have to determine the notion, and to trace the 
 history of this preparation in the midst of the pagan 
 world ; and, in order not to be led astray in pursuit 
 of vain suppositions, we take as our basis the admi- 
 rable discourse. of Paul at Ath-ens. This discourse com- 
 prehends all that we have need to know on this im- 
 portant subject. We shall not, moreover, be saying 
 anything new ; our point of view is that of the ancient 
 Christian church. The fathers of the first three cen- 
 turies proclaim aloud that there existed in pagan an- 
 tiquity a great number of noble spirits, who, without 
 being conscious of the fact, were longing after the 
 great Deliverer. They gather up these aspirations 
 with care ; in their Apologies they invoke the testimony 
 of the poets or philosophers who, in the midst of the 
 thickest darkness, have shot out one ray of truth. It 
 had not yet been thought of to consider the advent of 
 Christianity as a fact entirely isolated in the history 
 of mankind. Those great Christians of the first cen- 
 turies were persuaded that there is a close relation be- 
 tween the conscience and Jesus Christ ; and even while 
 pointing out with unrivaled force the shameful and 
 infamous features of paganism, they never failed to 
 bring out this relation to the light. Tertullian does 
 not fear to cite the human soul as a witness to the 
 truth ; he goes so far as to affirm that the soul is natu- 
 rally Christian ; not in the sense that it can do with- 
 out regeneration, but in the sense that, when its true 
 nature is not falsified by sophistry, its spontaneous cry 
 is a prayer to the God of the gospel : " Thou art not, 
 that I know," said he to it, ^' Christian by nature ; 
 thou canst not be born Christian ; thou must become 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 119 
 
 such. Nevertheless, Christians invoke thy testimony."* 
 Justin Martyr goes farther ; he recognizes in serious 
 men of the pagan epoch a seed of the Eternal Word, — a 
 seed not developed, incomplete, but nevertheless pre- 
 cious. " Every one," says he, " by the germ of the 
 divine Word which is in him, sees a part of the truth, 
 which is harmonious with himself." f Clement of 
 Alexandria, in showing the inferiority of the high 
 Greek culture in comparison with the Hebrew revela- 
 tion, perceives therein, nevertheless, as regards the parts 
 of truth comprehended in it, a gift of God. $ In so 
 far as it has awakened the conscience slumbering at 
 the foot of the altars of false gods, it has been a school- 
 master to lead men to Christ. § It has been like a flick- 
 ering candle, and it has only now to go out in presence 
 of the radiant sun. || Do not forget this broad defense 
 of Christianity was the defense made by martyrs, and 
 this Justin, who was the first amohg the fathers that 
 sought to harmonize the gospel with the better aspira- 
 tions of the high Greek culture, died for his faith. Those 
 facts will re-assure you ; you will understand that these 
 heroic defenders of Christianity were making no conces- 
 sion to error, and if they sought beneath the impure 
 wrecks of crumbling paganism for some particles of 
 truth, it was in the holy desire to gain souls for Christ 
 by becoming all things to all men, after the manner of 
 St. Paul ; and therefore, as if drawn by the loadstone 
 of a sympathy so genuine, united to a belief so well 
 grounded, sober-minded men,athirst for faith and con- 
 
 * Tertullian, De Testimonia Anim.i c. 1. 
 
 t Justin, Jpologiay i. p. 51. § Strom., ii. 20. 
 
 t Clement, Stromata, ii. 15. * H Strom., ii. 63. 
 
120 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 solation, who had fruitlessly made trial of all the phi- 
 losophies of their times, were seen flocking to these 
 Christian apologists. At Alexandria a great school 
 of catechumens was opened, and around the Clements 
 .and the Origens were gathered a crowd of pagans, who 
 had come from the most remote portions of the em- 
 pire. Instead of the cold teachers or puerile rhetori- 
 cians to whom they had been accustomed, they had at 
 length discovered men who comprehended their anxie- 
 ties, on account of having passed through them, and 
 who were able to discern in the former beliefs of these 
 heathen that which connected itself with and sustained 
 the new and ultimate faith. Let us take heed not to 
 be narrower as regards doctrine, and more lax as re- 
 gards practical concessions ; that is to say, narrower as 
 respects other persons, and more lax as respects our- 
 selves. It is not allowable for Christians of our day 
 to charge upon the Christians of the first three centu- 
 ries an exaggerated spirit of concession. This reproach, 
 proceeding from elegant drawing-rooms, and arraign- 
 ing that church which was offered up and crucified like 
 its Master, — such a reproach would be a scandal ; it 
 would be tainted with heresy, for it would strike at the 
 great apostle of the Gentiles, who first opened the way 
 to the fathers in his discourse at Athens. 
 
 It is evident, then, that our point of view is the 
 point of view both of the apostolic church and of the 
 church which was in immediate contact with the 
 pagan world. The contrary opinion, denying all pre- 
 paratory work outside of Judaism, is a new opinion, 
 apart from the true church tradition, by which I un- 
 derstand the Biblical tradition. It is with eutire free-- 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 121 
 
 dom that I enter upon this important subject which 
 concedes to the work of preparation, and consequently 
 to the work of redemption, its full dimensions. It will 
 be necessary to ascertain in what manner God devel- 
 oped the desire for salvation among the two pagan na- 
 tions which exerted the greatest influence upon the 
 destinies of the world ; the names of Greek and Ro- 
 man are already on your lips. All my statements will 
 be directly developed from the language of St. Paul. 
 And first, I will give a succinct analysis of his dis- 
 course. Taking occasion from the altar to the Un- 
 known God, which he saw in the city of Athens, he 
 seizes upon the religious want which that fact sup- 
 ports, and, setting out with the general idea of the 
 Godhead and of man's relation to it, already recog- 
 nized by a pagan poet, he proceeds to announce to 
 the Athenians the true God, who can not be compre- 
 hended in a material temple, who is nigh to every one 
 of us, and who, after a time of ignorance, revealed 
 truth and salvation in Jesus Christ, and has given in 
 him the pledge of the resurrection. I shall not follow 
 word by word the language of the apostle. I will 
 direct your attention to those words which expressly 
 relate to the preparatory work in paganism. 
 
 But let us make a preliminary remark : the histori- 
 cal part of revelation was not absolutely unknown to the 
 Gentile nations ; this may be everywhere found in its 
 main outlines. It might be said that it is with these uni- 
 versal traditions as it is with the debris which the wa- 
 ters of the deluge transported into so many countries,- 
 depositing them upon mountains and plains. In like 
 manner the waters of the primitive emigrations bore 
 11 
 
122 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 along with them the dogmas of the Fall and of redemp- 
 tion, often disfigured and perverted, but still discern- 
 ible notwithstanding the parasitic vegetation which 
 covered them over, and at times concealed them. It 
 is easy to believe that the nations who were neighbors 
 to the chosen people preserved more fully those tradi- 
 tions which are the traditions of the entire human 
 family. Notwithstanding the lofty barriers which were 
 reared between the different nationalities, all contact 
 between them could not be prevented. The nearer 
 we approach the epoch which beheld the birth of the 
 Saviour, the more frequent does this contact become. 
 The vast monarchy of Alexander in its very dismem- 
 berment brought Europe and Asia together. The Ro- 
 man empire rendered this collision, or rather commin- 
 gling of ideas and of beliefs, more complete and universal. 
 The revelation given to the Jews, without being known 
 very accurately, was at least diffused as an influence 
 in the moral atmosphere ; we ought never to forget this 
 action of the oracles of God ; though not easily appre- 
 ciated, it was powerful. No one will dispute the im- 
 portance of this fact. But it should not be exagger- 
 ated, by alleging that there was no other trace ot 
 divine operation in the pagan world than these frag- 
 ments entering gradually into the circulation of the 
 thoughts of that epoch. We believe that there was a 
 preparation more direct, more inward, for developing 
 the desire of salvation ; and this belief we hold in com- 
 mon with Paul. 
 
 He quotes a very remarkable expression of a 
 profane author: "We are the offspring of God," had 
 been said by the poet Ai-atus. The meaning which 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 123 
 
 the apostle gives to these words is that the filial 
 relation to the Creator subsists even among the 
 heathen ; that the relationship between man and God 
 in some degree had its existence also among them. 
 From this it ought to be inferred that the heathen na- 
 tions were — though, doubtless, less directly than the 
 chosen people — under the operation of the Spirit of 
 God. We are already apprized of the manner in 
 which this action of the Spirit must have been exerted. 
 To develop the desire for salvation constitutes the 
 entire preparatory work. If the heathen nations were 
 not forsaken by God, it follows that we can authenti- 
 cate among them the marks of the desire for the great 
 deliverance ; that is to say, the marks of the sense of 
 condemnation and of the hope of pardon. I shall not 
 repeat that which we said concerning man in general, 
 while establishing the truth that everything in his in- 
 ward and oufward condition brings before him his fall 
 and speaks to him of hope. The point now before us 
 relates not to man in all ages and in all places, but to 
 the heathen. The question to be solved is this, — 
 Were there evidences among the heathen of a desire, 
 more or less developed, for salvation ? The quotation 
 from St. Paul is sufficient as furnishing us with an 
 affirmative answer, and is the more conclusive because, 
 in recognizing this paternity of God, and consequently 
 this operation of his Spirit in paganism, St. Paul 
 relied upon positive proofs drawn from the life of the 
 brethren themselves. He rested upon that which he 
 had seen in that very city of Athens. He had been struck 
 by four characteristic facts which bore tlie imprint of 
 man's high destiny, and also of his efforts fully to re- 
 
124 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 gain that destiny. What were these facts ? What 
 was their scope ? We are to make these inquiries of 
 the apostle. 
 
 And first, he had perceived, both in the public and 
 private life of the heathen, indisputable traces of the 
 moral law which speaks through our consciences. 
 Doubtless corruption had superabounded ; it burst 
 forth on every side like an impure torrent, but even 
 in cities the most defiled, the most degraded, the 
 moral sentiment was not entirely stifled. So long as 
 a society subsists, we may be sure that there is 
 some element of good in its constitution. The total 
 absence of the moral law would- be equivalent to the 
 annihilation of society ; there would remain only a 
 disorderly, frightful struggle, without cessation and 
 without result, between strong interests and savage 
 passions. It would be a desert inhabited by wild' 
 beasts. There is no society without laws, and there 
 are no laws without the idea of good and evil, often 
 perverted in its applications in the most deplorable 
 manner, but nevertheless proving that conscience yet 
 speaks in man. It was enough for Paul to traverse 
 even one city like Athens to discover in the social 
 bond, however imperfect it might be, a moral tie, and 
 consequently a tie of connecting men with God. But 
 the moral sentiment had manifested itself with greater 
 force in the individual life. Had not a part of this 
 same Athens * spoken of those eternal laws in which 
 there is a God who groweth not old, — laws of immuta- 
 ble justice, against which, as against an immovable 
 rock, the unjust laws of men must be broken ? Was 
 
 * Sophocles, Œdipus Tyrannus. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 125 
 
 it not beneath the shades of a well-known gar- 
 den in Athens that the most ideal of thinkers had 
 developed the purest, the most disinterested morality? 
 Had he not declared that it was a thousand times bet- 
 ter to be the victim of the wicked man than to be the 
 triumphant man of wickedness ? Had he not laid 
 down that rule of conduct which seems to be an echo 
 of the gospel, " We must in all things imitate God " ? 
 If very scandalous acts had carried sorrow to this city, 
 had it not been the witness of great acts of courage 
 and devotion ? Was it not in one of its prisons that 
 Socrates, unjustly condemned, had refused to fly, be- 
 cause he would not be guilty of even a slight false- 
 hood ? and was it not here that he had drained the 
 cup of poison, to obey God rather than men, as he had 
 said himself? How many other facts occurring 
 among the nations of antiquity had proved that the 
 voice of conscience was not dumb ! These recollec- 
 tions pressed upon the soul of Paul when he said to 
 the Athenians, " We are the offspring of God." 
 
 I know well in what way some men have got rid of 
 the virtues exhibited by the heathen world. They re- 
 peat the famous expression, " These are brilliant sins." 
 If it is meant by this that such virtues are mingled 
 with sins, we fully admit it ; if any go the length of 
 alleging that these virtues have no reality, and that 
 they are but a false picture of virtue, we deny it ; we 
 deny it with St. Paul, who, in his Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, declares that the Gentiles often show that that 
 which is written in the law is written in their hearts. 
 Rom. 2 : 15. The law in their hearts is the same 
 with that which thundered on Sinai ; and when it is 
 11* 
 
126 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 manifest in their lives, it accomplishes the same mis- 
 sion. It discloses the heavy darkness of evil, which it 
 illumines as with a flitting ray of light ; it awakens 
 that aspiration after the just and the holy which lies 
 at the bottom of the human heart. It has also its 
 prophetic aspect ; for the manifestations of good in 
 paganism, its acts of heroism, of development, were 
 like those wondrous fruits which were one day brought 
 from the promised land to the people of Israel while 
 still wandering in the wilderness. There is hope for 
 the future. The conscience is a title of nobility 
 which does not confer the right of mourning a rank 
 lost by the Fall, but it confirms in a striking manner 
 the words of the apostle to the Athenians : " We are 
 the offspring of God." 
 
 Paul had also read these words upon each one of 
 the numberless altars which filled the most brilliant 
 city of Greece ; and this is the second of the char- 
 acteristic facts of which w^e have spoken. " Men of 
 Athens," says the apostle, at the opening of his dis- 
 course, " I perceive that you are in all things devout."* 
 He knew better than any man to what extent this de- 
 votion was to be deplored, since it spoke of those 
 forms of pagan worship which were stained with so 
 many atrocities, and which burned incense before 
 such abominable divinities. Paul had beheld the 
 famous Parthenon, the magnificent temple erected to 
 the Goddess Minerva, near the citadel of Athens, in 
 which shone her splendid statue of gold and ivory. 
 He had passed before the temple of. Jupiter. From 
 the very top of the hill on which he stood, his eye 
 
 * The true reading of Acts xvii. 22. — Ei>. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 127 
 
 could embrace that multitude of statues and monu- 
 ments, all erected for some heathen purpose. All 
 those gods were false gods, were impure gods. And 
 nevertheless, the existence of a religion, however de- 
 graded, is a proof that the idea of God has still a 
 place in man. I do not repeat what I have already 
 said on the subject of sacrifices, which are so closely 
 connected with the belief in redemption, and which 
 would alone suffice to establish the reality of the pre- 
 paratory work in the pagan world. I take the fact 
 that a religion exists in its widest generality ; and I 
 affirm that it fully justifies the language of Paul to 
 the Athenians, " Ye are the offspring of God." Not- 
 withstanding the errors, the defilements of your my- 
 thology, he could say to them, I recognize in you the 
 need of entering into relationship with the Godhead. 
 I know well that you have deified your passions, and 
 it is they who sit enthroned upon the summit of your 
 sacred mountains ; but it is not the less true that 
 you can not do without that semblance of divinity ; 
 you acknowledge your dependence upon a superior 
 power. You endeavor to become reconciled with it. 
 It is that power which you fear, and which you adore 
 at those times when you enter within yourselves, and 
 not the infamous Jupiter and his lustful cohort. 
 Whatever may be your devotion, it discloses in you a 
 mysterious disquietude with regard to the wrath of 
 the Godhead, and a vague hope of appeasing that 
 wrath. Demons do not rear temples. It is not pos- 
 sible for you, even in your wild excesses, to throw 
 off the yoke of the idea of God ; and by nothing is its 
 power more clearly proved than by its continued 
 
128 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 operation, even when you desire to serve your passions 
 wholly and alone. " You are the offspring of God." 
 
 There is a third fact which we find indicated in our 
 text, that is in further confirmation of this strong ex- 
 pression. We read in the 18th verse, that " certain 
 philosophers " began to speak with the apostle. I do 
 not now inquire of what sect these philosophers were ; 
 I confine myself only to their common quality of phi- 
 losophers ; and I remark that the single fact of tlie 
 seeking after truth reveals both the fall of man and 
 the hope of restoration. Philosophy is a word that 
 has a disagreeable sound in Christian ears, because it 
 too often recalls to our minds the revolt of thought 
 and the pride of reason. Too often, especially since 
 the Christian era, has human philosophy been one of 
 the most active forces of anti-Christianity ; it has 
 sought out much speech where a right heart had only 
 to believe and obey. It has insulted Jesus Christ, or 
 has disdainfully passed him by as not entering into its 
 systems, or it has wished to make him speak accord- 
 ing to its behest, and to insinuate surreptitiously its 
 impious formulas under cover of his divine word. 
 Rarely has it been down on its knees before the cross, 
 with humility sounding the great mystery of love. 
 It was quite otherwise in pagan antiquity. Philoso- 
 phy was verily the search after wisdom, after truth. 
 It was in opposition to the religions of the day, but 
 not to religion itself. In many instances, it was a 
 courageous attempt to tear away the vail from the 
 pagan myths, in order to reach a purer idea of God. 
 It did not attain to that, for, as the apostle has said, 
 these are things which do not rise up from the heart 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 129 
 
 of man. Philosophy became at times the unworthy 
 accomplice of moral corruption, by assigning it a posi- 
 tion of legitimacy. In antiquity, the sophists were 
 its scourge. But when we view it in the hands x)f a 
 Socrates or a Plato, it appears to us very imperfect, 
 very cloudy with respect to results, but very great as 
 regards its aspirations. It does not have that ungov- 
 ernable pride which denies the Fall. It admits it in 
 the most touching manner. " Formerly," says Plato, 
 " we enjoyed a delightful view and spectacle ; we were 
 initiated into mysteries which might be styled blessed, 
 and we celebrated them exempt from the imperfec- 
 tions and the evils wJiich awaited us in the sequel ; 
 we admired these objects, perfect, simple, full of re- 
 pose and blessedness, and we contemplated them in a 
 pure light, ourselves being pure. Pardon," he adds, — 
 and we may think we see a tear ready to fall, — " par- 
 don this tediousness on account of the sorrow awakened 
 by the remembrance of the spectacle which we then 
 enjoyed." * I cite this passage to show that ancient 
 philosophy, notwithstanding all its wanderings, was 
 not always a rationalistic philosophy, flattering human 
 pride. It preserved, it awakened the sense of man's 
 fall, and its very existence evinced in man the hope of 
 one day finding again the truth. A w^avering torch, 
 agreeably to the figure of Clemens of Alexandria,! its 
 flickering light could not take the place of the sun ; 
 and in this sense we may say, " Where is the wisdom of 
 the wise ? " But it could reveal the darkness, — which 
 is already something gained, — and, on account of the 
 
 * Plato, Phœdrus ; or, Concerning Beauty. 
 
 t Clemens of Alexandria, vol. iii. p. 22. Leipsic. 
 
130 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 little light which it gave, arouse the desire that the 
 morning star should rise. Faith in the immortality 
 of the soul, in moral responsibleness, in the good and 
 the -just, though insufficient to impart peace to the 
 soul, yet developed its higher instincts. With respect 
 to salvation itself, that is, absolute truth, the wisdom 
 of the Greeks, like all human wisdom, was foolish- 
 ness ; but as regards the preparatory work, it had a 
 great mission to accomplish. However numerous 
 and lamentable were the errors of those Grecian sys- 
 tems of philosophy, we ought not the less to acknowl- 
 edge that such seeking after truth brought to light 
 both the necessity and the possibility of redemption. 
 What advantage in seeking that which one possesses ? 
 and why engage in the pursuit if it were certain that 
 it is irrevocably lost? "Offspring of God," we will 
 exclaim with St. Paul, even on beholding these philoso- 
 phers of fallen humanity, — " offspring of God," for if 
 thou hadst not in thy immortal soul the thirst after 
 truth, thou wouldst not go about to dig for thyself so 
 many cisterns which, although broken and defiled, are 
 the monument of that holy desire after the true 
 which consumes thee ; " offspring of God," but fallen, 
 for if thou wert not fallen, thou wouldst now, pure 
 thyself, as one of thy noblest representatives has 
 said, be still contemplating in a pure light those ob- 
 jects of absolute truth which are in their simplicity 
 perfect and full of blessedness and repose. Fall and 
 restoration, sorrow and hope, the desire for salvation 
 burns upon that profane soil ; the preparatory work is 
 there continued. 
 
 There remains a final fact that might have led Paul 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 131 
 
 to say, " You are the offspring of God." Those words 
 are not the apostle's own language ; he appropriated 
 them to his use. He borrowed them from an ancient 
 poet. In truth, he expresses himself in these terms : 
 " As certain also of your own poets have said, For we 
 are also his offspring." This fourth fact which de- 
 monstrates the reality of the preparatory work in the 
 pagan world is, then, poetry or art. I do not wish to 
 exaggerate the apostle's thought ; he certainly did not 
 intend to say that poetry had directly assisted in bring- 
 ing man back to God, but indirectly its action has been 
 very great. We know its influence, especially upon 
 that nativa land of art, beneath that marvelous sky, in 
 that country which it seemed to have chosen for its home. 
 The apostle perceives that Greek poets had some pre- 
 conception of the truth. He borrows from them their 
 own expressions, in order to paint the high destiny of 
 man. It is a fact the scope of which can not be dimin- 
 ished, and which had already been remarked by Chris- 
 tian antiquity.* Thus, therefore, poetry, or art — to 
 speak in a general way — has had its part in the pre- 
 paratory work. And here, my brethren, from the im- 
 perfect and often corrupt productions of art, you must 
 be directed to art itself, to the general fact controlling 
 all its different manifestations. Too often poetry, like 
 philosophy, has intoxicated the poor heart of man, and 
 held him down upon the earth by its fascinations. Too 
 often has poetry been like those sirens of antiquity 
 who thrust upon the rocks the wretches whom they had 
 seduced, having charmed them only in order to effect 
 their ruin. But Paul's citation is not the less his act ; 
 
 * Clemens of Alexandria, ii. p. G4. 
 
132 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the poets, in his view, have but expressed the high ori- 
 ginal of man ; whence it results, also, that it is they 
 who have most fittingly bewailed our actual condition. 
 In truth, from the substance of all poetry and of all 
 art proceeds this lament : " Man the offspring of God, 
 but his offspring miserably fallen." AVe have seen 
 that religion, which is the seeking after God, shows 
 that we have lost him, but we can find him again. 
 We have seen that philosophy, which is the seeking 
 after truth, shows that we possess it no longer, but that 
 it is, however, not far from us. Poetry reveals the 
 same truth in another domain. Poetry is the endeav- 
 or to attain the ideal on the earth, and this ideal is 
 beauty pre-eminently. If you inquire of me why we 
 seek for this, a Grecian philosopher will answer you. 
 According to Plato, the joys procured to us by the few 
 traces of beauty which we find here below are a rem- 
 iniscence of that which was seen by the soul when it 
 possessed true being ; * they are the pale reflections of 
 that abode of absolute beauty in which man formerly 
 dwelt. Poetry seeks to multiply these, and thereby 
 recalls to mind our high original. If this imperfect 
 world were our native land, we should regret immor- 
 tal beauty no more than the bird of night the day. 
 We seek to escape from the real world because it is 
 for us a place of exile, and we are the offspring of God. 
 If our dungeon were closed round on all sides, we 
 should sink to sleep between its walls. But it is not 
 thus ; to use a comparison of this same Plato, although 
 chained at the bottom of the cave where we are cap- 
 tives, we perceive thrown upon the wall, and painted 
 
 * Plato, Phcedrus. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 133 
 
 there, some ravishing images of the abode of perfect 
 beauty. Our aspirations toward that beautiful abode 
 prove that the fallen race is not in a returnless exile. 
 Whenever the poet or the sculptor seeks to give a 
 transparent reality to the ideal partly discerned by 
 him, a remembrance and a hope meet together in his 
 work, and constitute its supreme beauty. Sometimes 
 the remembrance is bitter, like an inconsolable sor- 
 row : human destiny is then depicted in its most tragic 
 forms ; the contrast between that which it ought to be 
 and that which it really is, is presented in a heart-rend- 
 ing manner. In the choruses of the ancient tragedy, 
 more is comprehended than the expression of private 
 griefs ; they send up to heaven the great human lament, 
 the lament over the Fall. " wretched rac€ of mor- 
 tals!"* Such is their mournful burden. Special calam- 
 ities are swallowed up in the universal misfortune. At 
 other times, it is the ideal aspect which predominates 
 in the art. It shows the harmony of the soul and the 
 body in advance of beauty rendered permanent in mar- 
 ble or upon the canvas ; or it enables us to discern the 
 purest moral beauty in some sublime creation. Does 
 not the Antigone of Sophocles give us a foretaste of 
 Christian charity when she justifies herself for having 
 done good to her enemies by these almost evangelical 
 words, " I was not born to hate, but to love " ? f 
 Sometimes, again, as in the "Prometheus Bound" of 
 ^schylus, poetry prophesies the downfall of the pagan 
 gods, and speaks of a God in the future, whose victori- 
 ous arrow shall pierce them upon Olympus. It always 
 
 * Œdipus, V. 1216. t Antigoiie, v. 530. 
 
 12 
 
134 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 proceeds, in these different manifestations, from tlie 
 conscious sense of the fall of man, and rushes on with 
 eager fancy toward the ideal, the realization of which 
 is inseparable from the work of restoration. We can 
 therefore very easily understand that it was a poet who 
 pronounced the noble words accepted by St. Paul. 
 That race which can not remain peacefully in the 
 midst of present reality, or content itself with its daily 
 bread, but which shakes off its destiny, like a chain, in 
 order to create to itself an ideal world of perfection 
 and beauty, is a divine race ; it is not made to be bent 
 toward the soil which it tills, but, as another poet has 
 said, fallen from heaven, it is mindful of its origin. 
 A desire for redemption is breathed forth with the 
 songs of the lyre of poetry, songs so full both of sad- 
 ness and of beauty. Athenians, your poets have not 
 deceived you ; you still pertain to the offspring of God. 
 Thus, my brethren, the four most characteristic facts 
 in pagan antiquity sustain the declaration of our text. 
 I know well that these constantly appear in history 
 defiled with sin : paganism degraded devotion ; phi- 
 losophy frequently fell into the hands of sophists and 
 men of pleasure ; poetry and art were fearfully sullied, 
 especially in the later ages, by licentiousness ; human 
 virtue was perverted by pride. Nevertheless, these 
 four facts, taken in themselves, give testimony to the 
 indestructible relationship of the human soul to God. 
 They exhibit to us this relationship such as the Fall and 
 the promise made it to be, constrained to seek by pain- 
 ful effort that which formerly belonged to it in its 
 own right, but daring the attempt to find it again in 
 the name of a mysterious hope which is the remote 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 135 
 
 and often enfeebled echo of the first promise. Let us 
 hasten to add that the preparatory work would have 
 been insufficient if it had been marked only by those 
 general qualities which belong to all times and all 
 countries during the epoch of paganism. A certain 
 desire for salvation was diffused in the world at that pe- 
 riod: it increased by being expressed. But more than 
 this was needed ; just as the institutions given to the 
 Jewish people were interpreted by the events of their 
 history, in like manner these characteristic facts of 
 pagan life revealed their deep import only by means of 
 long and repeated trials. Agreeably to the image em- 
 ployed by a church father, the hard envelope which 
 concealed a savory fruit must be broken little by little ; 
 tlie slow toil of centuries was necessary for that. The 
 often sorrowful unfolding of the destinies of pagan hu- 
 manity was the metliod of fulfilling God's plan with re- 
 gard to the Gentiles. That which by consent has been 
 styled profane history, had a divine purpose and end ; 
 from the beginning to the close it was ever aiming, like 
 sacred history, to prepare for the coming of the Re- 
 deemer. The discourse of Paul at Athens tlirows the 
 most vivid light on this important point. 
 
 God, we read in the 26th verse, " has determined 
 the bounds of the habitation of the nations, that they 
 should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, 
 and find him." Understand thoroughly the thought of 
 the apostle, it explains to us the entire preparatory 
 work in the pagan world. He is evidently speaking 
 here of heathen nations, for the people to whom the 
 holy oracles were intrusted have not been compelled 
 to seek God by feeling after him. It pleased God, then, 
 
136 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 that these nations should be obliged to find him by- 
 groping. Did he refuse the light of revelation to them 
 in anger ? No, my brethren ; God never refuses to 
 impart truth. We firmly believe that if mankind as 
 a whole had been capable of bearing at once the full 
 brightness of the truth, it would have been granted to 
 them without delay. But human pride prevented the 
 speedy bestowal of salvation ; that pride must be 
 broken. We have seen by what dispensations it was 
 broken in the chosen people. That which was effected 
 among them by revelation was produced among pagans 
 by the absence of revelation, admirably characterized 
 in our text as groping after God. In Judaism God 
 reveals himself, but his revelation crushes the rebel- 
 lious spirit. In paganism ho does not reveal himself 
 in a historical revelation, and yet man, who has gone 
 astray and is lost without recovery in the labyrinth of 
 his thoughts, is equally subdued. Here it is God's 
 power, which by manifestation of itself breaks the crea- 
 ture, more or less given over to himself, and convinces 
 him of his nothingness. Thus, by different ways, the 
 preparatory work is identical ; and, when the times are 
 fulfilled, Jews and Greeks find themselves alike hum- 
 bled at the foot of the cross, as it is said that the rich 
 and the poor meet together in God. And if the pagan 
 is not entirely without hope, that proceeds from the fact 
 that the Spirit of God has prophesied in his heart, as 
 he has done by the predictions of the Hebrew propli- 
 ets. At the same time that he was convinced of his 
 nothingness, a mysterious voice spoke to him of resto- 
 ration. From one attempt to another to find God by 
 feeling after him, man's humiliation became more 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 137 
 
 complete, and his hope brighter. From epoch to 
 epoch, from deception to deception, the desire for sal- 
 vation was enkindled again and again into a brighter 
 flame. 
 
 The preparation for the gospel in the pagan world 
 was, therefore, according to St. Paul, a long and crush- 
 ing experience of human impotence, a series of de- 
 spairing attempts to find God, the stops of one who 
 gropes his way toward the light. This great work 
 terminated when man, weighed down with a darkness 
 almost as thick at the end of history as at its begin- 
 ning, sent forth a long cry of agony. If this sad pe- 
 riod unrolled itself so slowly, it is to be attributed 
 only to persistence in the illusions of pride. It is not 
 through the good pleasure of God that ages of dark- 
 ness succeeded to ages of darkness ; in this prolonga- 
 tion of the pagan epoch we know not which is the 
 most incomprehensible, — the patience of divine love, 
 or the obstinacy of human pride. 
 
 It is im}30ssible for us at this time to describe these 
 attempts of humanity of itself to find God by feeling 
 after him. We shall confine ourselves to recalling the 
 principal among them to your minds. We distinguish 
 three periods in the history of paganism, which are 
 three great attempts to walk in this gloomy pathway, 
 groping after God. Doubtless all the nations did not 
 at once pass from one period to the other. There are 
 those, for instance, who are like laggards in religious 
 history, and who have remained even until now in 
 their first endeavor to seek God. We put these on 
 one side ; we speak only of the nations that played a 
 part on the true theater of history before Jesus Christ. 
 
 12* 
 
138 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Such passed through three principal phases. Mysteri- 
 ous thing ! Their first step was their heaviest fall. 
 The first groping of humanity after God was the gross- 
 est idolatry. It took for God that which it found be- 
 neath its hand ; that is to say, inert matter, or rather 
 nature, the outward world in its seductive or terrible 
 aspects. The religions of nature are both voluptuous 
 and sanguinary, infamous and savage ; they adore the 
 power of production as well as the power of destruc- 
 tion. The lustful Astarte, and the cruel god Baal 
 to whom little children were sacrificed, are the two 
 leading deities of those gross religions ; their worship 
 was a mixture of debauchery and of murder. The 
 Old Testament paints them in the most hideous colors, 
 as they existed among the Canaanitish nations who were 
 contaminated by them. In such religions you find no 
 moral ideas ; they do not ascend even to the distinction 
 between good and evil, for nature includes none of 
 the revelations of conscience, and he who adores na- 
 ture finds in it only blind forces. The refined panthe- 
 ism of India greatly surpasses the gross naturalism 
 of Asia Minor, but it terminates in the most extrava- 
 gant asceticism, which goes to the length of losing the 
 entire world in the abyss of the Absolute Being. 
 
 Humanity could not rest in that ; it still gropes its 
 way, it makes one step. The Parsee religion is a ten- 
 tative effort to escape from the religions of nature ; 
 but it has only a half-way success. Light and dark- 
 ness, Ormuz and Ahriman, belong still to the lower 
 world. The moral world is not yet reached. This new 
 religion can not, therefore, indicate a second period. 
 The second period begins with the Greek religion. 
 
PREPABATIOy FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 139 
 
 From one act of groping after God to another, man has 
 come to conceive of the divinity under human form. Ber 
 neath a beautiful sky, in a youthful race endowed Avith 
 the most brilliant genius, this idea flourished, being at 
 once adorned with the most poetic colors. Man im- 
 agines himself to have reached the term of his groping 
 after light. He has a moment of rapture. The sky 
 is blue above his head, he is in the strength of his 
 youth. To celebrate his new God he has the most 
 wonderful poets, whose poesy is perennially fresh and 
 delightful ; to glorify his beauty, he possesses the 
 chisel of Phidias and Praxiteles. He adores him 
 upon* Olympus, and in splendid sanctuaries. In fact, 
 he never and in no place ceases to adore him. Is not 
 a Greek city in all its parts a temple erected to hu- 
 manity ? Is it not humanity whose festivals are ob- 
 served in gymnasia, in solemn games, and in the thea- 
 ters ? The Greek life splendidly flowing in the sun 
 is the joyous worship of humanity. Patriotism, love 
 of one's country, of human society, is, truly speaking, 
 the most earnest religion of those times. Concern 
 for his own dignity is, for the Greek, the essence of 
 virtue. Humanity believes that it has nothing more 
 to desire; a divinity participant in the nature of man, 
 does not this respond to all his needs ? We should 
 be ready to acknowledge it, if the gods worshiped in 
 Greece were real gods ; if they descended from heaven 
 to clothe human nature and to purify it ; but to desire 
 to have the divinity spring out of the earth, to place 
 it in some sort in man not yet renewed, — this is the 
 worst illusion, and we shall quickly see the result in 
 which it terminated. There is no God-man possible, 
 
140 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 except through the incarnation. This enchantment, 
 this festival of the Greek life, was not to last, thanks 
 be to God ! This Eden, attempted upon our sinful 
 earth, was to be closed like the other. Already, in the 
 most flourishing epoch of Greek paganism, it contained 
 the germ of its own destruction. At first, even in dei- 
 fying humanity, Greek thought had entered a domain 
 lying above the religions of nature. The idea of mo- 
 rality is too closely connected with human nature not 
 to be gradually elicited from it before the eyes of its 
 admirers. Conscience, which almost wholly slept in 
 the East, appeared in Greece, and with it the vengeful 
 fire which shall consume paganism. Legislation in 
 Greece was infinitely superior to oriental legislation. 
 A certain moral sap circulates in its high literature. 
 But moral ideas are developed only in opposition to 
 paganism. Socrates and Plato give to such ideas the 
 sublimest expression which they have received outside 
 of revelation, and they are almost led to the worship 
 of the one only God. Philosophy was the most ener- 
 getic solvent of Grecian paganism. Scarcely has man 
 congratulated himself on having no longer to grope 
 his way, when it becomes necessary for him to resume 
 his travels and his dubious researches. He will not 
 reach the end until the time when he shall fall, from 
 weariness and from sorrow, upon the way. 
 
 This weariness and this suffering mark the last pe- 
 riod in tlie history of paganism. Many circumstances 
 have brought it on ; one of the most important, beyond 
 question, was the extension of the Roman domination, 
 which, by collecting the gods of all countries, placed 
 them face to face with each other. They could not be 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 141 
 
 brouglit together without being broken. The triumph 
 of Rome was, furthermore, the result of countless 
 checks and sufferings of all kinds. Rome herself, ac- 
 cording to the beautiful image of an ancient, when 
 she had conquered the world, was like a gladiator, 
 who, having triumphed over his rivals, has no fur- 
 ther occupation but to turn his sword against his 
 own breast. The humiliations on the one hand, and 
 satiety on the other, this vast skepticism produced 
 by the confronting of diverse religions with each 
 other, the delicate flower of the poetical paganism of 
 Greece bruised by the rude hands that were binding 
 the nation with chains, the exhaustion of the sap, the 
 extreme age of one race, — all these causes combined 
 led to an epoch of bitter and universal deception. The 
 attempt to find God has shamefully failed. Humanity 
 gropes toward the East, the West, the North, the 
 South. It gropes everywhere, and finds nothing. It 
 curses the gods that are known, and from the crum- 
 bling fragments of all the temples it builds an altar 
 " to the unknown God." This is the most solemn 
 moment in the history of the ancient nations, for it is 
 the completion of the preparatory work. I shall 
 therefore call your attention more particularly to this 
 last period of paganism, so admirably characterized by 
 the words of St. Paul. The desire for salvation 
 burns upon that altar to the unknown God, for if con- 
 structed from the ruins of paganism, it is at the same 
 time a stepping-stone to Christianity. It is an epit- 
 ome of the final phase of pagan antiquity, with regard 
 to its deceptions and its aspirations. It is all con- 
 tained in these two words, deception, aspiration. 
 
142 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 God designed to bring it to this point, out of its suc- 
 cession of sterile researches. 
 
 In all the spheres of national and individual life, 
 you will find this deceit to have been bitter and to be 
 irrevocable. Of this, numerous proofs are furnished 
 by the city of Athens, which the apostle Paul was 
 traversing. And first of all, what cruel deceptions 
 in social life ! You know the importance which pub- 
 lic life assumed among the heathen. It absorbed the 
 individual life. Everything was referred to the state ; 
 men lived in the open forum. For a long time the 
 Athenian had it in his power to honor his country, for 
 it was free and flourishing, notwithstanding its narrow 
 limits. Had it not driven back the fleets and the 
 armies of the great king at Salamis and at Marathon ? 
 The defense of her liberty, the jealous care of her in- 
 terests and her glory, had passionately inspired the 
 Athenians for centuries. It can not be denied that 
 the sentiment of human dignity was strong in those 
 little republics ; their agitations, their struggles, even 
 their revolutions, had exalted it into an indomitable 
 haughtiness ; but those times of glory and freedom 
 were also times of ineradicable pride. And now, what 
 has become of that independence of their country, 
 which had inspired the most beautiful masterpieces of 
 human eloquence ? Attica is a Roman province ; 
 proconsuls from Rome grind it down. No more ani- 
 mated discussions, no more passionate harangues. The 
 people still resort to the market-place, but the sacred 
 historian informs us that it is only to learn some new 
 thing. That which took place at Athens took place 
 elsewhere. Everywhere has liberty disappeared, and 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 143 
 
 Home herself is the most enslaved of cities. The age 
 of the tribunes shall no more return. A great writer 
 of this epoch paints its degradation with one word. 
 *' Consuls, senators, knights," said he, " all emulously 
 rushed into slavery ; " * and he who had the most to lose 
 ran the fleetest in this race. 
 
 If we enter the domain of thought, then we must 
 still say deception. How many researches, how 
 many gropings after truth, since the day when the 
 first philosopher gave form to his system ! What 
 regal genius did Grecian thought display, sometimes 
 rising with Plato into the regions of the ideal, at times 
 scrutinizing with Aristotle, by the aid of an incompar- 
 able analysis, the very heart of the real ! Apart from 
 the negative side and the moral influence, what has 
 been the result of these great philosophies ? The phi- 
 losophers spoken of in our text teach us this too 
 plainly : they belonged to the Epicurean and to the 
 Stoic sects. The doctrine of the former is summed up 
 in the word " Enjoy." The doctrine of the latter has 
 for its formula : "Die;" for its last word is suicide. 
 These two doctrines are two doctrines of despair. 
 They candidly renounce high and profound specula- 
 tions, declaring that they avail nothing, and comparing 
 them to a boyish game.f To the cast down and discour- 
 aged souls of this epoch, the Epicurean addresses but one 
 consolation : " Turn away thine eyes from heaven," said 
 he to man ; " heaven is avast void. Seekforgetfulness in 
 enjoyment. Crown thy brow with roses, and make of 
 thy life one long festival." Epicureanism is smiling de- 
 spair, the most frightful of all, for nothing is more 
 
 * "Ruere in servitium.^^ Tac. Ann., ii. 7. 
 t Seneca, Letters, 107. 
 
144 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 bitter than this forced smile. " Put away," it says, 
 " politics, art, speculation ; Erijoy / " * 
 
 The soul comforted in this manner turns to the 
 Stoic. His austere appearance, his manly and seri- 
 ous air, inspire confidence. Alas ! far from healing 
 despair, he declares it to be without remedy, and says 
 to the soul, ''Thou hast nothing besides to expect, for 
 the fates lead us on.f Die in thy suffering. Endeavor 
 only to die on your feet. If suffering is too great, 
 seek to escape from it by some diversion ; thou canst 
 even ask forgetfulness of wine. $ If it returns im- 
 placable, crushing, kill thyself." § Suicide is then 
 truly the ultimate conclusion of stoicism. Such is 
 the result of human philosophy, — to die by material 
 enjoyment, or by suffering ! It only remains for it to 
 proclaim its own death ; and this it has not failed to 
 do by proclaiming that absolute skepticism which is 
 equivalent to the suicide of philosophy, in the mel- 
 ancholy words of Cicero : " The philosophers of the 
 Academy affirm nothing ; they despair of arriving at 
 any certain knowledge." || They despair! You hear 
 it, ancient philosophy abdicates in despair. 
 
 Of little moment are these accumulated deceptions, 
 if man has not been deceived in his attempts to find 
 his God. If his hope has not been misled in this re- 
 gard, let him be comforted for all his other reverses. 
 But, as you already know, the worst deception of that 
 epoch is religious deception. Liberty departs, phi- 
 
 * Plutarch, Contra Coloph., c. 33. 
 
 t ^*Fata nos ducurit.'" Seneca, De Providentia. 
 
 t De TranquiUitate Animi, 15. *' Usque ad ebrietatem veniendum.'* 
 
 § Seneca, Letter 70. 
 
 II ^^Dcsperata cogaitione certV Cicero, De bonis^ ii. 14. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 145 
 
 losopliy departs ; but, above all, the gods take their de- 
 parture. They are still indeed upon their altars ; the 
 usual sacrifices are still offered to them ; the sacred 
 fillets, the victims, the processions, the augurs, all the 
 outward forms of worship, subsist ; but it is nothing 
 more than a corpse. Belief, which is the soul of all 
 religions, withdraws from paganism ; and soon, like a 
 body deprived of life, it will return, we will not say 
 to the dust, but to the dirt from which it was taken. 
 Those gods in the past so venerated are now mocked 
 and rallied in the most insulting manner. At one time 
 their existence is denied, as by Lucretius ; again they 
 are transferred into the class of agricultural symbols, 
 as by Euhemerus ; sometimes they are subtilized, after 
 a sort, into a vague pantheism, as by Plutarch. That 
 they are no longer believed in, is undoubtedly true. 
 And those who still believe in them, not being able 
 to gain peace by means of them, fall into agonies of 
 superstition, which becomes a real madness. A pagan 
 author has painted for us their sad condition. '' Suf- 
 fer," they say, — "suffer the wretched man, the im- 
 pious, the accursed, who is hated of all the gods, to 
 undergo his punishment. The superstitious man sits 
 down in the dust ; clothed in doleful sackcloth, he 
 rolls upon the ground. Near the antels* he finds 
 nothing but terror. The specters of his imagination 
 follow him by night as by day. His reason is always 
 dreaming, and his fear keeps unceasing vigils." f 
 
 The decay of religion manifested itself also in an 
 outward way. The oracles are silent. A pagan 
 
 * The antelii or anthelii were images of the gods that stood before the 
 house-door. — Ei>. t Plutarch, De Superstitione. 
 
 13 
 
146 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 writer declares that intercourse with the gods is like 
 a river whose waters dry up in the sand. Silence 
 and solitude reign at Delphos.* The gods die. But 
 there is one god especially, who, like Vulcan in the 
 fable, falls wretchedly from Olympus, where he had 
 been thoughtlessly placed. It is man, — man so 
 poetically adored by Greece. Never, doubtless, were 
 greater pains taken to accomplish his apotheosis, but 
 never was that apotheosis a more ignoble comedy. 
 The human divinity in the times of St. Paul is per- 
 sonified in the Roman emperor. Their god is to-day 
 Nero, as yesterday it was Claudius or Caligula, as to- 
 morrow it will be Commodas or Domitian. With a 
 nod he governs the seas and the land, peace and war.f 
 He has the right to say, All things are lawful for me 
 with regard to you.f And this human god, who has 
 his temples and altars, is the greater part of the time 
 a monster, at times a fool, who is plunged into the 
 most infamous debaucheries, and, when wearied with 
 his pleasures, turns for relaxation to pillage and mur- 
 der. Greek polytheism terminated in the bald-headed 
 and squint-eyed Caligula, or the corpulent Vitellius. 
 What a fall ! It is intelligible that, in presence of the 
 known god, who is some ignoble Caesar, men should 
 sigh after the God unknown. 
 
 It is not merely in the person of the emperor that 
 humanity is degraded. Corruption is general, and is 
 terrible ; it is such a corruption that to describe it 
 would be a sin. We must not relate that which they 
 
 * Plutarch, De Oraculis, v. 
 
 t Pliny the Younger, TrajaiVs Panegyric. 
 
 % Suetonius, Caligula. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 147 
 
 do in secret, says St. Paul. Call to mind the admira- 
 ble first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ; the 
 apostle sums up the picture, at once sober and fearful, 
 which he has traced of the men of his time, with 
 these energetic words : " God has given them over to 
 their vile affections ! " After reading the authors of 
 that period, we rise from the perusal with our minds 
 troubled, and as if stained by contact with such a 
 prodigious infamy. The cynical maxim, " Let us 
 eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," resounds from 
 one end of the empire to the other ; it passes from 
 banquet hall to banquet hall, like the burden of a 
 mournful song. We are about to die ; well, then, let 
 this day without a morrow be a day of endless de- 
 bauchery and of stupendous voluptuousness. We think 
 we see the crew of a ship, who, perceiving that they 
 will soon founder, consume in a last scene of riotous 
 feasting that which should have supported them dur- 
 ing a long voyage. Corruption is not the privilege 
 of a single class. We have the most positive infor- 
 mation showing us that it pervaded women as well as 
 men, the highest classes as well as the lowest, masters 
 and slaves alike. Voluptuousness and cruelty, two 
 inseparable sisters, walk together hand in hand. The 
 emperor puts the senator to torture, the senator 
 grinds the rich man, the rich man tortures the slave ; 
 the whole race is but one worthless herd for the 
 sovereign, and this wretched herd is still divided into 
 two portions : on the one hand are the masters, on the 
 other the slaves. Oppression exists at every step of 
 the social ladder. Everywhere are found division, 
 hatred, vileness. We were therefore right in saying. 
 
148 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 It is a time of despair. Yet the word despair indi- 
 cates too much moral energy. Man is palled, wearied 
 with everything. It is a profound remark in which 
 a cotemporary sums up this sad epoch. " What tor- 
 ments us/' says Seneca, " is not the tempest, but 
 nausea."* Nausea! that is the secret, — incurable, 
 universal ennui of humanity returned from all its 
 illusions. It suffers from this moral nausea without 
 being able to heal itself, and yet wishes to escape 
 from it at any cost. Hence such unheard-of luxury 
 and feasts that cost millions of sesterces ; hence such 
 ferocious amusements. The Roman people must have 
 a circus flowing with blood, because the people are 
 sated and sick. The greater their ennui, the more 
 cruel are their amusements. In like manner as it 
 becomes necessary to increase the dose of opium for 
 a persistent malady, so this incurable patient seeks 
 an ever augmenting excitement in his bloody pleas- 
 ures. When you see the people, as sovereign, in- 
 undating the circus with their terril^lc waves, athirst 
 for blood, and satisfied only when the contest of 
 gladiators ends in a real battle, do not forget that 
 word of Seneca, " We suffer not from the tempest, 
 but from nausea ; " and at the sight of such abomi- 
 nable spectacles, or such unbridled debaucheries, say 
 within yourself that not less than this was necessary 
 to humanity, now undeceived, in order to make it 
 forget that so many endeavors and gropings after 
 truth had ended in nothing. Deception, universal 
 deception ! 
 
 Yes, it is deception ; but there is aspiration, also, the 
 
 * *'JVb;i tcmpestate, sed nausea, vincor.'''' De Tranquil. Animi, c. 1. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 149 
 
 quivering of a mysterious expectation ! This expecta- 
 iion is fruitful and blessed on the part of a few per- 
 sons only, but it is observable everywhere. We have 
 evidence of this in our text itself. Paul has scarcely 
 arrived in Athens, men have scarcely learned that he 
 brings with him a new doctrine, when they press upon 
 his steps, listen to him eagerly, and put questions to 
 him. The Atlienians exhibit the same disposition 
 with the Jews in the time of John the Baptist, when 
 they sent an embassy to him, asking, ''Art thou he 
 that should come ?" But we have sure indications of 
 this universal aspiration. First, all the historians of 
 the age are unanimous in signalizing among their co- 
 temporaries a singular readiness in accepting that 
 which they called foreign superstitions. " They find 
 admittance more and more," we read in Tacitus.* 
 The people showed by this that their religion appeared 
 to them insufficient, and that they had a vague hope of 
 discovering a better. But it was especially toward the 
 East that all eyes were turned. Suetonius informs us 
 that throughout the East it was the common belief that 
 the government of the world would shortly belong to a 
 man who should come out of Judaea. f 
 
 In different classes of society this longing was ex- 
 pressed in different ways. Among the people it had 
 a grosser manifestation : it was shown by the belief in 
 magic, at that time generally diffused. The magicians 
 had an immense influence over the people ; we have a 
 striking proof in the Acts of the Apostles. We see an 
 entire people at Samaria fascinated by the enchant- 
 
 * "Externes super stitiones valescunt." Annal., ii. 15. 
 t Suetonius, Vespasian^ iv. 
 13* 
 
150 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 ments of Simon the Magician. Histor}^ teaches us 
 that a general tendency was revealed by this fact.^ 
 Why were impostors so eagerly followed ? It was from 
 the same motive which urged the inhabitants of Judasa 
 to follow into the desert the false messiahs in which 
 that age abounded ; it was in the hope of finding a 
 deliverer. They said of Simon Magus : " This man 
 is the great power of God." Acts viii. 11. Tliey saw 
 in him a manifestation of divine power, they hoped to 
 find in him a Saviour. False deliverers and false sav- 
 iours succeed only when the true is expected and de- 
 sired. On the part of thoughtful men the longing for 
 salvation is otherwise revealed. It seems at times 
 that they catch a glimpse of the Christian ideal ; often 
 words escape them which are like an echo of the gos- 
 pel. They speak of woman, of the slave,* in a man- 
 ner almost Christian ; but a few lines further on they 
 contradict themselves. It is constantly manifest that 
 that which Christianity brings to the world is seen 
 in anticipation, and very surely desired by them. 
 They also express very strongly the need of new con- 
 solation. " Give me," wrote Pliny the Younger to one 
 of his family, in a time of mourning, — " give me new 
 consolations, great and strong, of which I have never 
 heard nor read. All that I have read and heard comes 
 back to my memory, but my sorrow is too great! " f 
 Does he not speak in the name of the entire family of 
 man ? " My suffering is greater than all which I 
 know ; " this is the cry of a heart undeceived. '' Give 
 me new consolations ! " thfs is the eloquent expres- 
 
 * Works of Pliny the Youngei-, and of Seneca. 
 
 t Epistle I. chap. 12. " Aliqua magna, nova solatia.** 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 151 
 
 sion of a burning desire for the Comforter ! These 
 words are the hymn and the canticle of the pagan 
 world lifted up to the unknown God. Listen, finally, 
 to the recital of a man of the age who became in the 
 end a fervent Christian, and who in many respects per- 
 sonified his epoch before his conversion. The fictitious 
 hero of the Clementina* constituting himself in this in- 
 stance the faithful echo of the truth, relates to us in 
 these words the beginning of his life : " From my ear- 
 liest youth, I have been wrought upon by doubts. 
 They followed me everywhere to torment me, and 
 when I wished to get rid of them this torment in- 
 creased. I knew full well that there existed a heav- 
 enly guide to lead me to the truth, and I sought him 
 from place to place. Tormented by these thoughts 
 from my youth up, I resorted to the schools of philos- 
 ophy, but in vain. I was tossed to and fro, from doc- 
 trine to doctrine, more wretched than ever, as if borne 
 along in a whirlwind of opposing ideas, and I sighed 
 from the depth of my soul." Was not this sighing, 
 my brethren, the entire preparatory work ? Does it 
 not mingle in some sort with the expectant sighs of 
 Simeon and Anna the prophetess, as well as with the 
 prayer of Mary ? Has not the desire for salvation 
 reached its very highest degree of development ? Does 
 not the altar to the unknown God cause that aspira- 
 tion to go up to God like the fragrance of acceptable 
 prayer ? Are we not authorized in saying, with respect 
 to the pagan world, that which we said regarding the 
 chosen people, — the times are fulfilled ? 
 
 It is precisely because he proclaims him who is not 
 only the Jewish Messiah, but also the desire of all na- 
 
 * Mosh., Eccl. Hist, vol. i. p. 76. — Ed. 
 
152 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 tions, that Paul, " unacquainted with the art of speak- 
 ing well, unskilled in elocution, with a diction that be- 
 trays the foreigner, is able boldly to enter polished 
 Greece, the mother of philosophers and orators ; not- 
 withstanding the opposition of the world, he will there 
 establish more churches than Plato, with that eloquence 
 thought to be divine, could gain disciples." * The ti'ial 
 of man's nothingness is complete ; he has nothing more 
 to hope for from earth ; God's purpose is accomplished. 
 He has long enough walked on groping his way, ac- 
 cording to the expression of our text, to understand 
 that of himself he can discover nothing, find nothing 
 that is satisfying. He has become like that poor l^lind 
 man whom the evangelist Luke shows to us at the 
 gates of Jericho asking alms of the passers-by. Yes, 
 pagan humanity, in its wretchedness and its despair, 
 asks an alms of the philosopher, begging to know if he 
 has a doctrine which consoles ; of the Egyptian priest, 
 of the Oriental magician, to know if his belief may not 
 be less empty than the Greek religion ; of the sooth- 
 sayer himself, to learn if his divinations do not contain 
 a power from God. But none of them could give him 
 anything efficacious, anything healthful. Poor blind 
 man, take courage ; thou shalt not be long obliged to 
 grope in the night ! Already, like Bartimeus, a vague 
 rumor of the coming of the Deliverer has reached even 
 to thee, and thou hast begun to cry unto him. Al- 
 ready thou hast said to him in the depth of thy heart, 
 " Have pity on me, heal me." Fear not, he is very 
 near thee ; has not St. Paul declared that God is not 
 far from us ? He comes, he has already come. The 
 
 * Bossuet, Panegxjric on St. Paul. 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMIXG OF CHRIST. 153 
 
 unknown God is about to unvail himself, and at the 
 touch of his compassionate hand light will dart forth 
 from th}^ blinded eye ! Thy cry has been heard ; the 
 times of preparation are fulfilled. To us the Saviour is 
 born ; and to him, my brethren, we shall now lead you. 
 We shall no longer detain you upon the threshold of 
 the evangelical history, but in our next discourse we 
 shall fully enter within. We shall seek our Saviour in 
 the eternal glory of the Father, in order the better to 
 measure his humiliation. Thus his divinity and his 
 humanity will first occupy our thoughts. Then, hav- 
 ing known his nature, we shall inquire what objects 
 he came to accomplish upon the earth, what plan he 
 pursued, what means he employed, with what pur- 
 poses he executed his plan : and following him from 
 the cradle to the cross, and from the cross into the 
 garden where he appeared to Mary Magdalene after his 
 resurrection, we shall endeavor to unroll before you 
 the picture of his ministry until the day on which he as- 
 cended to heaven, whence in like manner lie will descend 
 again, and whence he does descend every day by the 
 Holy Spirit which unites us to him through faith. 
 
 You have doubtless anticipated a comparison which 
 I can not refrain from urging at the close of this dis- 
 course. I refer to the analogy between our epoch and 
 the epoch which we Have been describing to you. 
 Does not our age also seem appointed to demonstrate 
 the powerlessness of man to accomplish anything good 
 or fruitful apart from God ? Notwithstanding the gos- 
 pel revelation in the midst of Christendom, humanity 
 as a whole has again begun to walk alone, refusing 
 the aid of Jesus Christ, and thus condemning itself 
 
154 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 once more to grope on miserably. Blindly groping 
 after the truth, it has come to a condition resembling 
 that of the pagan world, at least in so far as that is 
 possible for a society which has in its bosom the leaven 
 of the gospel, or rather the salt of truth, which alone 
 preserves it from absolute putrefaction. Let us speak 
 of our French society. Has not this been a hard age 
 in 'that respect, an age in which deceptions have been 
 interlinked one with another ? In the domain of social 
 life, as in the domain of philosophy, has there not oc- 
 curred the bruising, the breaking, of all the hopes 
 cherished at the close of the last century, — hopes based 
 upon man, and consequently fragile and momentary ? 
 Has not skepticism made frightful progress in the do- 
 main of the religious life ? Has not that superstition 
 re-appeared which is depicted by Plutarch, — the fear 
 of a soul that has not known the God of forgiveness ? 
 And looking in another direction, has not mocking 
 unbelief its thousands of organs ? Can not we descry 
 especially that torpor, that listless, sated mood of mind 
 which is everywhere making its steady encroachments ? 
 And may not the men of our day repeat those melancholy 
 words: " That from which we suffer is not so much the 
 tempest as the nausea." Yes, the general mind is cloyed 
 and lifeless. Show us among the men of this generation 
 those who. have ardor for action, who are animated by 
 enthusiasm, by faith in anything. Where are tlaey ? 
 or, if they are somewhere, in what corner are they hid- 
 den, that so little of them is seen ? We have no young 
 men even, now, no youth, possessed by any illusions, 
 influenced by any generous impatience. There is abun- 
 dance of good in circulation, industry achieves won- 
 
PBEPAIÎATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 155 
 
 ders, — I admit this, — but what good is accomplished 
 by these implements of activity if the moral spring 
 is relaxed, if materialism renders all fruitful activity 
 impossible ? Our epoch, also, is characterized by decep- 
 tion. But since the fact of deception prompts the 
 soul to aspire, even the greatness of the age is con- 
 nected with its deceived condition. The altar to the 
 true God will in like manner be constructed out of 
 the crumbling remains of all the others. It will not 
 be an altar to a God unknown, but to God who is for- 
 gotten. 
 
 This altar we are assured is already building. 
 
 Yes, there is something that sighs after it in hearts 
 which are not dried up by materialism. An immense 
 void is felt, which God alone can fill, a sadness which 
 earth can not console. We ask of you only, you 
 who have known this sorrow, not to console your- 
 selves too soon, not to mislead that sacred thirst after 
 truth and after salvation. Suffer not past experiences 
 to be lost upon you. Do not admit as consolation 
 that which was never such. Repeat the profound 
 thought of the pagan philosopher, ''I need consolation, 
 new, great, and solemn." If they tell thee, for exam- 
 ple, Forget thy sadness, come, sit down at our feasts, 
 share our pleasures ; call to mind the Epicurean of 
 paganism, and reply. Thou art not a new comforter; 
 thou hast ruined those who have believed thee for 
 eighteen centuries: depart from me ! If they tell you, 
 Trust only to thy reason, reject all revelation, walk 
 with brow lifted toward heaven ; recognize the proud 
 philosopher of ancient times, and answer. Thou art 
 not a new comforter ; thou art doubtless reserving sui- 
 
lÔG THE REDEEMER. 
 
 cide as the last of thy counsels : withdraw ! If they 
 say to you, Rejoice at the progress of civilization, at 
 the conquests of man over nature, and expect greater 
 triumphs in a re-organized society ; answer, The Ro- 
 man ways, as wonderful for their times as are our 
 railways for our day, served only to convey more rap- 
 idly from one extremity of the empire to another the 
 listlessness and longing of man. The remedy for my 
 malady does not lie in those outward things ; I need 
 something new. If they tell you, Abide by the faith 
 of thy fathers without examination, follow the cus- 
 toms of their worship without criticising them, go to 
 sleep upon the consecrated pillow where they found 
 rest ; answer. The trial of outward religions, of tradi- 
 tionary beliefs, is a thing of the past. We know what 
 they avail in evil days. Great and earnest consola- 
 tions consist neither in the multiplicity of ceremonies, 
 nor in the rigor of external authority. Where are 
 they, then, for I have need of them ? Let that day 
 only arrive when you shall utter this cry of distress. 
 Let the day come when, wearied of groping your way, 
 you shall be like the blind man of Jericho. Your God 
 is not afar off. He is there, he waits for you. Fear 
 not lest he pass before you without hearing your cry. 
 You shall be disappointed in your hope no more than 
 those who have gone before you ; he has words as 
 powerful as ever. When he shall have spoken to you, 
 you will no longer grope in darkness ; and instead of 
 despairing seekers, you will become blessed believers. 
 But this is on one condition, — that you do not suffer 
 yourselves to be gained over by the unfeeling content- 
 ment of materialism, and that you recogniz-e in the 
 
PIŒPAliATION FOR TUE COMING OF CHRIST. 157 
 
 general and special trials so abundantly furnished by 
 this age, a compassionate purpose of God, who is not 
 willing to cease smiting you till he shall have wounded 
 your heart, like Jacob, in order to bless you. Happy 
 those who weep, those who mourn ; they shall be com- 
 forted, for between them and the Comforter thei'e is 
 no impassable obstacle. 
 
 No obstacle ! Is not this saying too much ? Be- 
 tween Jesus Christ and these poor souls there are too 
 often Christians. In the narrative of the healing of 
 blind Bartimeus, it is related that the disciples inter- 
 posed for a moment between him and the Saviour. Is 
 not this the part which believers to-day are often found 
 playing ? And first, there are men who, wrongfully 
 setting themselves up as the only representatives of 
 Christianity, regard it as their mission to constitute 
 themselves intermediums between the poor blind men 
 of our days and the divine Physician. They say to 
 them. Go not to him ; come to us. But they are 
 not he. They possess neither his compassion nor his 
 power ; they are hard and narrow ; and instead of 
 truths, they present fables which appear to be gathered 
 together from out the ruins of paganism. What a 
 position ! To place themselves between Christ and 
 the sinner : to hide Jesus Christ in order to appear in 
 his room ! If there are still so great numbers of poor 
 blind men who grope their way, ascribe it largely to 
 these usurpers of the rights of God, who have his word 
 only to hide it. Yes, in this country many sighs, many 
 aspirations, fall back to the earth, because the priest 
 has placed himself between souls and Jesus Christ, and 
 has given himself as the incarnation of Christianity. 
 
 14 
 
158 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 It is easy to understand that Christianity so represented 
 should possess but small attractions. 
 
 But, in conclusion, let us turn to ourselves, my breth- 
 ren, to us, evangelical Christians. We, too, we have 
 discouraged many proselytes because we have shown 
 a semi-Christianity, without life and without flame. 
 The gospel is the same to-day as it was eighteen cen- 
 turies since, if only, while inducing men to read it, we 
 could at the same time make them see it as it rightly is. 
 Would you know the secret of Paul's power in his 
 preaching ? It is not merely the doctrine which he pro- 
 claimed that constituted his strength ; it is moreover 
 the spirit in which he announced that doctrine. We 
 have the doctrine, — not quite complete, however; 
 often much contracted and impoverished ; St. Paul's 
 discourse at Athens projects beyond our theological 
 systems in every direction. Yet in that which is es- 
 sential we have the doctrine of salvation. Have we 
 the spirit which animated Paul ? Have we that ardent 
 charity which consumed his heart ? St. Luke shows 
 him to us at Athens, sorrowfully traversing that city, 
 and shuddering at the sight of the idolatrous altars 
 with which it was filled. Paul beheld the heathen 
 city with the same feelings that caused Jesus to weep 
 his tears over Jerusalem. Read his heart, broken with 
 holy sorrow, and you will comprehend that his speech, 
 as Bossuet has said, founded more churches than Plate 
 had disciples. That inward agony, that charity, those 
 sufferings, — we have them not ; and when we shall 
 traverse the streets of our great city with hearts wound- 
 ed like Paul's at Athens, then we also shall achieve a 
 great work therein to the glory of Jesus Christ, and 
 
PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST. 159 
 
 the altar inscribed to the unknown God will not have 
 been raised in vain in so many souls, who are waiting 
 only for the approach of true Christians to recognize 
 and adore the Saviour of the world. In these times of 
 such solemn interest, and when men's spirits are so» 
 tried and searched, suffer it not to be said that there 
 are disciples of Christ who have remained as obstacles 
 between him and a sick and suffering people that were 
 calling upon him. Nay, Lord, but may it be their only 
 endeavor to lead souls to him who has the words of 
 eternal life ! Let nothing in our works or in our words 
 keep them away from Christ ! Make us wholly pure 
 from our brother's blood ! 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST, THE MAN- 
 GOD. 
 
 " The Word was made flesh." — John i. 14. 
 
 THE desire for the Saviour had reached its com- 
 plete maturity in the epoch of universal decline 
 which we have endeavored to sketch with rapid 
 strokes. Like fire smoldering beneath the wrecks of 
 an edifice devoured by it, it lay smoldering and burn- 
 ing beneath the ruins of paganism *and Judaism, and 
 the flames could even be seen ascending to heaven 
 triumphant over the entire world which it had con- 
 sumed. To depict in a few words the posture of 
 earnest minds at this memorable epoch, we could not 
 do better than to borrow the noble and poetical lan- 
 guage of Origen. He sees in the bride of the Song 
 of songs awaiting her husband, the type of the 
 human soul awaiting its Saviour ; she was affianced 
 to him by the promise given in Eden ; she knows that 
 his coming draweth nigh, and she calls upon him with 
 inexpressible ardor. Origen makes us hear her voice, 
 first in Judaism, then in paganism. " The church," 
 says he, "by which I understand the assembly of the 
 saints, desires its union with Christ. She thus ex- 
 presses her desire : I have been loaded with good 
 things ; I have received abundantly the pledges of my 
 
 160 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHIilST. IGI 
 
 divine espousals. During my betrothal with the Son 
 of the heavenly King, with the King of the whole 
 creation, angels brouglit to me the law as a gift of my 
 beloved. Prophets filled with the Holy Spirit did the 
 more influence my love and awaken my holy desires, 
 in speaking to me of his coming, of his countless 
 virtues, and his unbounded gifts. They depicted to 
 me his noble beauty and his compassions. So that I 
 can not endure the longing awakened by such a love. 
 Already the existing economy draws to its close. As 
 yet I see only its servants ascendhig and descending 
 the luminous ladder. I turn to thee. Father of my 
 beloved, and I entreat thee to have pity on my love, 
 and send him to me so that he shall no longer speak 
 to me by his servants and his prophets only, but he 
 shall come himself, and I shall hear him speaking and 
 teaching." 
 
 But it is not in Judaism alone that the divine Spouse 
 is called for ; they cry out for him in the bosom of 
 paganism also, according to Origen : " The human 
 soul," he says,* " is profoundly desirous of being 
 united to the Word, even among the pagans. She has 
 received the earnest of her divine espousals. In like 
 manner as the law and as prophecy were the pledges 
 of the future for Israel, so the law of conscience, the 
 understanding, and the free will, were for the human 
 soul, out of the pale of Judaism, the presents of her 
 betrothal. She has found in no doctrine of philoso- 
 phers the satisfaction of lier longing and of her love.f 
 She seeks the illumination and the visitation of the 
 
 * Oi'igen, In Cantic. Cantic, lib. i. 
 t " Plena atque profecta desiderii sui amoris expletio.^' 
 14* 
 
162 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Word. Neither men nor angels suffice unto her. 
 She desires the divine embraces of the Word." * 
 
 If sucli are the inclinations of humanity, is it not 
 evident that the heavenly Spouse is about to descend 
 from the skies ? Who formed, who nourished, who 
 unfolded this desire, save that God to wliom the 
 broken heart of man betakes itself? He has pursued 
 no other end during so many centuries but to bring 
 this desire to its maturity. And now that this great 
 design is accomplished, should heaven be shut up and 
 remain deaf to the universal prayer ? No, no ; any- 
 thing is possible except such a refusal. I appeal to 
 the numberless proofs of the divine love, to its patient 
 and persevering toil during the period of preparation. 
 The coming of the Saviour will not be delayed for a 
 moment. Already the hymn of peace has resounded 
 upon the plains of Bethlehem. He cometh, he Com- 
 eth, as saith the song, or rather he hath already 
 come. We can join ourselves to those shepherds and 
 to those magi, the first-fruits of a Christian humanity, 
 the former representing the chosen people, the latter 
 the Gentiles ; we also can offer him myrrh and frank- 
 incense, and, above all, the treasures of our hearts. 
 We can adore him in the manger. But in order to 
 adore him in that humiliation, we must first of all 
 discern his divinity in his humanity ; and it is this 
 important theme which I come now to propose for 
 your meditation, to which I am also invited by the 
 words of my text : " The Word was made flesh." 
 
 Doubtless there are found in this assembly men 
 who refuse to believe in the perfect divinity of Christ, 
 
 ♦ " Ipsius oscula verbi Dei." 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 163 
 
 and others who detract from his perfect humanity. 
 At all times this twofold tendency is encountered. 
 Those who deny or diminish the perfect humanity of 
 Jesus Christ continue, or rather revive, paganism, 
 which ever sought to humanize the divine. Those 
 who deny or diminish the perfect humanity of Jesus 
 Christ prolong or revive Judaism, which separated 
 the divine from the human, and placed between earth 
 and heaven the high and terrible barrier of Sinai. 
 Christianity is the definitive religion, precisely be- 
 cause it has reconciled without changing the divine 
 and the human. It is the religion of the 3Ian-God. 
 To deny in Jesus Christ the man or the God, is to 
 take away from Christianity the reason of its exist- 
 ence. It is, in fact, to blot it out ; for it might then 
 be said, " To what good end is a new religion which 
 is but a pale reflection of an ancient religion ? It 
 was not worth the trouble to shake heaven and earth, 
 and to tell them to keep silence, in order to repeat 
 that which was already known. The question here 
 relates, therefore, to the very essence of the gospel ; 
 and, since the gospel is the good news of salvation, 
 it relates to the most indispensable condition of that 
 salvation. May God grant me to convince those who 
 doubt, and to confirm in their faith those who believe 
 in the perfect divinity and the perfect humanity of 
 their Saviour ! We are every day gathering up the 
 fruits of this great ' doctrine ; but we do not suffi- 
 ciently contemplate it in itself. The abundant and 
 precious fruits which it gives appear to us to hide, at 
 times, the tree which produces them. And yet there 
 is found rich edification in considering these sublime 
 
164 THE P.EDEEMER. 
 
 truths. Like the lofty mountains, they contain the 
 freshest springs. May we now have a practical proof 
 of this in meditating upon our text, which is at 
 once so profound and so concise. This great subject 
 of the nature of Jesus Christ is the burning bush of 
 the new covenant. May it inspire us with the holy 
 reverence which in the desert filled the man who was 
 under the law, and with that filial confidence, also, 
 which pertains to the man who is under grace I 
 
 A child is just born in a small city of a small coun- 
 try. This child is called Saviour, and this name an- 
 nounces all that which he comes to do here below. 
 Whoever you are in this assembly, you admit, at least 
 to a certain extent, that he brought to the world a 
 great deliverance. But what ideas have you concern- 
 ing his person ? What is he in your eyes ? To solve 
 the great question of the nature of Jesus Christ, I 
 shall first pass in review the different solutions which 
 have been given by men who do not receive the gos- 
 pel, and in order to refute them I shall not appeal to 
 revelation so much as to themselves. It will suffice 
 for me to bring each one of these solutions near to 
 the heart of man, to his mysterious and infinite desire 
 for salvation, and those doctrines will be consumed by 
 his unsatisfied ardor, as straw by the fire. 
 
 What have men said to you of Christ ? They have 
 told you, perhaps, that there never lived a man like 
 unto him ; that he is only a mythical or fabulous per- 
 sonage, such as Linus or Orpheus ; that the gospel is 
 a brilliant tissue of legends, proceeding from the pop- 
 ular superstitions. In reality, their view is that Jesus 
 Christ is but the symbol of our divinity, — the di- 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 165 
 
 viiiity of all men ; of that union of God and man 
 which is to be realized in each one of us by the de- 
 velopment of reason. Have they thus spoken to you? 
 Nothing is more likely to occur, for the schools of un- 
 belief have shaken their doubt into the air which we 
 breathe, and the impiety of pretended wise men runs 
 througli our streets. 1 shall not refute this absurd 
 opinion by presenting the imposing mass of historical 
 testimonies which guarantee the reality of the facts 
 stated by the evangelists. I shall not recall those 
 well-known citations from Jewish and pagan writers 
 who, by their very hatred, established the verity of the 
 sacred narrative. I shall not speak of the blood of 
 the apostles, poured out for that which is now styled a 
 myth, — a fact incredible alike with regard to execu- 
 tioners and victims on the supposition of cotemporary 
 rationalism. Legends and dreams inspire neither so 
 great fury nor so great devotedness. I confine my- 
 self to an appeal to the human soul. Is it to find a 
 myth, a felicitous legend, a well-invented apologue, 
 that thou hast endured such sufferings and groanings, 
 and sought out so many things, in every clime and in 
 every age ? What ! in guerdon of so much toil and 
 pain thou hast been pursuing the poetical expression 
 of a truth which was already the heritage of every 
 generation ! If man by virtue of his reason is the 
 true Christ, why has he desired another ? What im- 
 port has the history of religions ? What mean the 
 restlessness and the agitation of our hearts ? It seems 
 to us that to state these questions is to solve them. 
 
 What further has been said to you concerning 
 Christ ? Perhaps you have been assured that he was 
 
166 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 a great social reformer, and that the gospel was the 
 charter of a new society. Too long and too com- 
 monly has this idea been found in our poor world for 
 it to escape your knowledge. I need not recall to 
 your minds the deeply spiritual nature of the gospel, — 
 those words of the Master, so often repeated, in which 
 he turns man's eye from earth to heaven : " My king- 
 dom is not of this world. Seek first the kingdom of 
 God and his righteousness, and all things shall be 
 added unto you. Labor not for the meat which per- 
 isheth, but for that meat which endureth unto ever- 
 lasting life;" — words which represent every out- 
 ward reform as dependent upon a moral and inward 
 reform. Here, again, I shall appeal to the desire of 
 your hearts. Do you believe that it would be com- 
 pletely satisfied by social reforms ? Take things at 
 the very best : let us suppose the earth no longer cov- 
 etous of any man's daily bread, and that it be covered 
 with harvests a thousand-fold more abundant. Let 
 us suppose, to use the poetic image of the Psalmist, 
 that the chariot of the year has distilled plenty upon 
 all, — and God grant it! we are here combating only 
 materialism ; suppose that there are no starving 
 people at the gate of the rich man, but that, seated in 
 his turn at home, at a magnificent table, and clothed 
 in fine linen, surrounded by a society that is perfectly 
 leveled, the poor man, now no longer such, displays 
 the extent of the social advancement that has been 
 achieved. Let us suppose this to be the only work of 
 Christ, and that it is completely successful. Do you 
 believe that all aspiration is at an end, that all desire 
 is extinguished in you ? Ah ! you have a better opin- 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 167 
 
 ion of human nature. You do not despise it to that 
 degree. You know well that it would rush forth be- 
 yond time as out of a prison-house, beyond the earth 
 as out of a place of exile, because it lives not by bread 
 alone, but pre-eminently by truth. You know that on 
 the morrow of the fortunate day we have painted, the 
 void would be yet greater in the heart of the poor 
 rich man, because an infinite void, the emptiness of 
 one that has lost God, painfully measures itself by 
 that which has been thrown into it to make it full. 
 No, no ; it is not for that only that during six thousand 
 years all creatures have sighed. Each one of these 
 immortal souls feels within itself that the whole 
 world — were it the world transformed according 
 to the most beautiful dreams of social reformers — 
 is not equal to itself in real work ; and that if the 
 Christ of eighteen centuries ago was but a reformer, 
 for time and for earth, it must then be constrained to 
 seek another, and to feel that the true deliverer is yet 
 to come ! 
 
 You have heard it also said, that Jesus of Nazareth 
 was a sage, a philosopher, the Socrates of Jerusalem. I 
 shall not adduce the miraculous and mysterious char- 
 acter of his life and his teaching, which transports us 
 from the domain of theories into the domain of sov- 
 ereign reality. I can appeal again to the desire of your 
 hearts. Is it a sage, a philosopher, whom you need ? 
 But did not the ancient world have more of these even 
 than they asked for ? Did they not possess the purest, 
 the greatest, the most admirable of all, and yet the 
 ancient world would not abide in their schools ? Of 
 the East they sought something powerful and new; 
 
168 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 and do you believe that when the East had given them 
 some more elevated moral notions, they would have 
 withdrawn satisfied ? What ! a new disputer, a man 
 of supposition, of hypotheses, presenting himself with 
 a system flowing from preceding systems, — would 
 this be the Saviour, the Deliverer ? But have you not 
 understood that it is for certainty, for a certainty im- 
 mediate, absolute, which should be like a sight of the 
 invisible, that man is athirst ? He has heard discours- 
 ers, rhetoricians, and philosophers enough. He has 
 sufficiently agitated ideas, stated questions, and tried 
 doctrines ; the old world — and in this respect we all 
 belong to it — could no longer bear their wearisome- 
 ness. Man hungers after beliefs. He hungers for God, 
 and you would set before him the unsubstantial dishes 
 with which he is profoundly disgusted. He thirsts for 
 consolation, and you lead him to the broken and ruined 
 cistern of human knowledge. Give him the bread and 
 the water which he asks for. Give him his God, his 
 living God, If you give it not to him, if your Christ 
 does not bring it to him, he must then go in search 
 of another. Shall this other Christ be a prophet, the 
 divinest of all, as men have perhaps told you ? A 
 prophet does not suffice ; and the proof is that the great- 
 est among them were those who most ardently desired 
 the Saviour : did not he who, according to Jesus Christ, 
 was both the last and the first of the prophets, declare 
 that he was not worthy to unloose the latchet of his 
 shoes ? A prophet ? But he is a man, one of us ; one 
 of us purified and chosen to be the organ of the Spirit ; 
 one of us sanctified by the live coal which touched the 
 .ips of Isaiah ; one of us lifted up to the contemplation 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 169 
 
 of unspeakable things ; but, after all, one of us diseased, 
 also, with the great malady of sin, under the like con- 
 demnation with us ; but it is not one partaking of the 
 same disease who shall be our physician. No, you need 
 more than a prophet, and therefore, after Isaiah, Jere- 
 miah, and Daniel, the Jews have still waited for Him 
 who was to come. 
 
 Shall it be an angel, the one nearest to the throne 
 of God, the most glorious of all ? I need not repeat 
 to you the words of a sacred writer, " To which of the 
 angels has he said. Sit thou upon thy throne ? " Heb. i. 
 5. I shall only recall to your minds that expression so 
 true and beautiful which Origen has given to the desire 
 of our hearts : " I have only seen hitherto " — he repre- 
 sents the soul as saying — " thy angels descending and as- 
 cending the luminous ladder. Take pity on my love, 
 Father ! Let my beloved speak to me no more by his 
 servants ; let him come himself; let him speak to me him- 
 self." If we experience so profound a need of seeing 
 the Son of God without intervention of another, of 
 seeing him, of hearing him in person, what have we to 
 do with the creature ? It is the eternal Word whom 
 we need. If an angel could have been Christ, Mary 
 would have acknowledged him in Gabriel ; but the 
 angel, like Mary, spoke of the promised Saviour, be- 
 cause he had not yet come. The angels could cele- 
 brate his birth, but no one of them could have filled 
 his place. Humanity knew his servants ; it aspired to 
 the possession of the Master. 
 
 Thus it suffices us, in order to detect the inadequa- 
 cy of such opinions, to confront these false views with 
 the secret and burning desire of our hearts. But let 
 
 15 
 
170 THE REDEEMER: 
 
 US rise from these somewhat vague notions to that 
 desire for salvation which we have found in our anal- 
 ysis ; we shall quickly be convinced that man asked 
 for nothing less than that which God has given him ; 
 that is to say, a Saviour uniting in himself the nature 
 of God and the nature of man. I do not fear to place 
 myself ujdou this ground, for I find an admirable har- 
 mony between the holy desire enkindled for salva- 
 tion and the positive prophecies destined to render it 
 pure and fruitful. When the true cry of the soul went 
 up to God, that cry asked for a God-man. Whenever 
 the soul has spoken with simplicity and with freedom, 
 without being chained or chilled by a captious philos- 
 ophy, it has desired an incarnate Redeemer. This de- 
 sire was often enveloped in gross and impure myths, 
 but it proves irresistibly that the incarnation alone re- 
 sponds to the desire of man, and that by denying this 
 stupendous miracle violence is done as well to his na- 
 ture as to revelation. 
 
 And truly, my brethren, what have we constantly 
 found in the desire for salvation ? Two feelings, fully 
 discriminated, — grief on account of condemnation, 
 and the hope of restoration. The hope of renewal is at 
 bottom, the hope of finding God again, and of possess- 
 ing him. It is he, and he alone, whom man has sought 
 in religion after religion. And observe carefully that 
 man has no concern with the solitary and idle deity 
 of philosophy, who is lost in the depths of the 
 heavenly solitudes, like an Oriental monarch in the 
 seclusion of his palace. No, he longs for a living God : 
 he desires a God intermingled with all existence. 
 Man has wretchedly debased the divinity by cutting it 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 171 
 
 into fragments, and dragging it, thus mutilated and 
 degraded, in the dust of the material world, which ap- 
 propriated to itself in some sort the severed pieces : 
 the tree, the flower, the vast sea, the fresh fountain, the 
 sun, the wind, the golden corn, all beings, all elements, 
 were deified, and there was no act of life that had not 
 some presiding deity. Say that these are odious super- 
 stitions, and we agree with you ; but you must admit 
 that a true sentiment is wrapped up in them, though, 
 alas for it, defiled by contact with them. " I need a 
 God who is nigh, a God who speaks to me, who leads 
 me." This man has never ceased repeating in all the 
 religions invented by him. " Make us gods which shall 
 go before us" (Ex. xxxii. 1, 2), said the Jews to 
 Aaron. This simple word is uttered by all the pagan- 
 isms of the ancient world. Materialistic in one aspect, 
 it is true in another. Man can not do without a real 
 God, and he will believe in his restoration only when 
 he shall have seen God go before him in his sorrowful 
 pathway. He has always sought, outside of the reli- 
 gion of the true God, to draw nigh to the Divinity, to 
 become united to it, to renew the bonds broken between 
 the Divinity and himself, and to possess it in very truth. 
 We have the strongest evidence that it was not sufficient 
 for him to adore the Divinity in the heavens afar off, 
 but that he ardently desired that heaven should bow 
 down and thus draw nigh to the earth. The saints of 
 the old covenant, the worshipers of the one and the 
 holy God, were not satisfied' with their condition. 
 They wanted more than that which they had, as was 
 shown by their look constantly directed onward ; and 
 they cried out, by the mouth of one of their number, 
 
172 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 " As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so pant- 
 eth my soul after thee, God. My soul thirsteth for 
 God, the living God." Ps. xlii. 1, 2. Endeavor not, 
 then, to content a heart that has felt such longings 
 with a Saviour who shall be less than God. 
 
 We have just been contemplating the incarnation 
 with special reference to its divine aspect : its human 
 side, the porfect humanity of the Redeemer, his hu- 
 manity humiliated, suffering, crucified, is equally the 
 object of our desires. Hope is preceded b}^ the grief 
 of condemnation. This sorrow withers the heart of 
 man ; envelops life in the vail of God's wrath. The 
 weight of his sins crushes him. In vain flatter him, 
 in vain soothe his pride, he feels that he belongs to a 
 fallen and accursed race. It is in vain that he tastes 
 of pleasure ; the gnawing worm, the worm that dies not, 
 is in the fruit. It is in vain that he darts forth eagerly 
 into external activity, and becomes an orator or a 
 warrior, and covers himself with glory ; he does not 
 escape from a gloomy fear of death, or an intense dis- 
 relish for life. He knows that for him the present life is 
 desolate, the future life fearful, for he is dependent upon 
 an offended and angry God. Oh, how he longs to 
 appease him ! He takes the fairest fruits of his fields 
 and places them upon the altar, but he returns from 
 it troubled as before. Sometimes he takes the most 
 prized, the firstlings of his flocks. He multiplies sac- 
 rifices, he offers even hecatombs of victims. The Deity 
 is not appeased. A human propitiation is needed, for the 
 entire race feels itself to be guilty before God. The 
 privations which man undergoes in order to offer sac- 
 rifices are thoroughly inadequate. Therefore he will 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 173 
 
 hesitate no longer ; oh, sight of horror ! he will take 
 his child, he will take his brother. He will sacrifice 
 them without pity, provided only that God be appeased. 
 But he is not appeased, for the victim was defiled. 
 The lamb or the sheep without blemish were indeed 
 pure offerings, but were not human. The human sac- 
 rifice is not a pure sacrifice. There must then be 
 found a sacrifice at once spotless and human. And it 
 is such a sacrifice which from altar to altar is implored 
 with tears and blood in supplications to that heaven 
 which is still shut up. 
 
 Those who wish to remove from the Saviour the idea 
 of sacrifice, and see in him only the revealer of divine 
 love, forget these terrible manifestations of con- 
 science, which though erring is also sovereign, and 
 smitten with a cruel madness in its burning but mis- 
 taken thirst for redemption. They have not beheld 
 those bloody altars which would re-appear to-morrow 
 if the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world were 
 removed from our eyes, — altars which rise everywhere 
 when he is not known. Doubtless this longing, this 
 need of the conscience, is at once purified and satisfied 
 by the gospel ; but no ingenious theory shall tear it 
 from the gospel ; and we have the right to say. It is 
 not only a God of glory, it is a God-man ; it is an 
 atoning sacrifice for which lost man cries out ; and as 
 long as he shall not find it will he seek for it. If 
 Christianity gives it not to him, he will go farther. Lo ! 
 these many ages has he sighed after the incarnation, 
 the incarnation as connected with the redeeming sacri- 
 fice, and he will not be satisfied with less. 
 
 Tins also was the thing promised to him. His de- 
 
 15* 
 
174 THE MEDEEMER. 
 
 sire is but the inward promise, as the promise is but 
 the divine sanction of his desire. I shall not repeat 
 the elucidations I have given of the prophecies under 
 the old dispensation. Let it suffice to say that Isaiah, 
 who described the Saviour beforehand as the Counselor, 
 the Wonderful, the Son of the Most High, called him, 
 at the same time, the man of sorrow, the despised, the 
 slain lamb. - Thus ancient prophecy acknowledged in 
 his person man and God, the victim and the king. 
 Was not the incarnation implicitly enfolded in the 
 first prophecy ? Was not that seed of the woman which 
 should crush the serpent, that very humanity, fully as- 
 similated by Grod ? and did not the wound inflicted by 
 the serpent figuratively set forth, in a wonderful way, 
 the reality of an incarnation reaching even to suffering 
 and to death ? 
 
 Both man and God, the Saviour ought then to be, as 
 declared alike by the promises of heaven and the de- 
 sires of earth. Was he this ? In other words. Has 
 the Saviour come ? Such is the question which is set- 
 tled by our text : " The Word was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us." 
 
 We know that the heart of man seeks not less, and 
 that God has not promised less. Let us now consider 
 the fiûfillment of the desire and the realization of this 
 promise, agreeably to the invitation contained in these 
 few words which comprehend the whole Christian 
 scheme. " The Word was made flesh : " what does this 
 mean, if not that antecedently to its becoming flesh it 
 existed in God ? Thé divinity of Jesus Christ is not, 
 then, merely a virtue that has gone out from God, and 
 comes to animate a hiiman body, resembling a sunbeam 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 175 
 
 shot forth at a given moment. No : the Word existed 
 as a personal being before the incarnation. Let no one 
 charge us here with composing a scholastic theology. 
 The eternal divinity of the Word, of the Son of God, is 
 an indispensable condition of salvation. If the divin- 
 ity of Jesus Christ consisted only in a divine virtue, in 
 a divine influence, it would have nothing special, noth- 
 ing absolutely distinctive. We all receive more or 
 less of divine influences. The divinity of Jesus Christ 
 might then be spoken of as ours might be spoken of, 
 admitting only that the divine influence was stronger 
 in his case than in ours. When men deny the pre-ex- 
 istence, the eternity, of the Word that became incar- 
 nate in Jesus Christ, they deny his divinity in the bibli- 
 cal sense. To continue speaking of his divinity is to 
 play with words, is to escape the indignation of the 
 Christian conscience by equivocal language ; it is to be 
 wanting in sincerity. The God whom we need is the 
 God of the heavens, for he it is whom we have lost. 
 The incarnation has no other end than to re-instate us 
 in communion with him, and this it accomplishes only 
 if the incarnate Word is verily the eternal Word. 
 
 This is not all ; there is involved not only the reality 
 of our salvation, but also the knowledge of the true 
 God. "■ He that hath not the Son hath not the Fa- 
 ther." The true God, that God who is free, living, 
 and holy, is the God whose name was declared by St. 
 John when he wrote in his First Epistle " God is love." 
 A God who is not love, who loveth not, is a God who 
 is dead, a God who is not a God. Inclosed within 
 his almightiness as in a desert, he would be but the 
 icy and inappreliensible shadow of Divinity. And how 
 
176 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 could God be from all eternity a God of love, if he 
 had no person to love ? Will you say that from all 
 eternity he could have multiplied his creatures ? Be- 
 ware ! that is identifying the Creator with the creature ; 
 it is taking from him the freedom of creative power ; 
 it is rendering the creature the necessary complement 
 of his being ; it is binding God to the world, like a 
 slave to his chain ; it is opening the abyss of panthe- 
 ism! Where, then, will you find the perfect object 
 of his eternal love, — -where, except in himself? Where, 
 if not in that Speech, in that Word which is God, 
 and which yet is distinct from him, since the apostle 
 tells us that it was with God ? The Son gives us the 
 Father. Through him we acknowledge and we adore 
 the eternal love ; and, seeing love grounded in the very 
 being of God, we understand that it is the law of the 
 universe. The Word was at the beginning the bright- 
 ness, the enstamped image of the Divine Glory, and, 
 above all, the object of his love. The only Son, says 
 St. John, was in the bosom of the Father ; sublime 
 and touching expression, which discloses to us in 
 eternity that which love possesses of holiest and ten- 
 derest, and which alone enables us to measure the 
 extent of the redccmino; Sacrifice ! He who sees the 
 divinity of Jesus Christ only in his holiness does not 
 comprehend the entire scope of his sacrifice. . He is 
 moved when he sees Jesus beaten, outraged, and im- 
 molated ; but what would he then feel, if he should 
 say within himself. It is from the bosom of the Father 
 that he descended to the garden of Gethsemane, to 
 the governor's hall, and even to the cross ! it is the 
 only Son of the Father who is thus trodden under 
 
THE NATUIÎE OF JESUS CHRIST. 177 
 
 foot ! and it is the Father who delivered him up to 
 shame for a rebellious race ! Oh love of the Son ! 
 love of the Father ! profound abysses of love ! We are 
 not angels ; and if they can not discern your depths, 
 how shall it be with us? We must be silent and adore. 
 Word that wast made flesh, we adore thee in the bo- 
 som of the Father, in the eternity where thou reignedst 
 antecedently to the existence of a single creature ! 
 Even to that hight we must asèend to comprehend 
 thy humiliation and thy immolation. 
 
 The Word that was made flesh was eternal : such is 
 the first lesson contained in our text. Another it 
 gives us which is very precious, in setting forth the 
 living character of God's revelations. Speech is the 
 revelation of our souls. The Word of God is in like 
 manner his revelation. It is not with God's Word as 
 with ours. Our soul manifests itself through words 
 which vanish away immediately after having vibrated 
 in the air, whose pulsations they have stirred. The 
 Word of God is not a word which passes away when 
 once pronounced. A fearful revelation of the living 
 and eternal God, it is living and eternal as he is. It 
 is not a bare collection of a few words ; it is a personal 
 being, an enstamped image of the Father, the very 
 brightness of his glory. Thus each saying of the liv- 
 ing Word is a work which possesses life like itself. 
 God has spoken in eternity, and this Word is the only 
 Son of the Father, God like himself. He has spoken 
 in time, and of this Word creation was the echo. ''All 
 things were made by him." " God said. Lot there 
 be light, and there was light." He has spoken in rev- 
 elation, and this Word is not simply a doctiine, it is a 
 
178 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 magnificent reality ; each of its syllables was a fact : 
 now the election of Israel, now the law, now proph- 
 ecy in its majestic whole, and now great miracles. 
 Finally, the Word has spoken in redemption, and this 
 Word was the greatest of all events ; it was the In- 
 carnation. It was made flesh, our text declares. It 
 poured itself in all its fullness into a human soul ; it 
 lived there, it loved there ; in that life and death it 
 manifested itself, and men could say of it, that it 
 " hath dwelt among us." Thus, whether we consider 
 it in the heavens, whether we consider it on the earth, 
 the Word of God is always living. This distinguishes 
 it from the word of men ; this constitutes its sovereign 
 power. It is not a system, were it the most per- 
 fect of all systems ; it is a living reality throughout 
 all ages, it is a manifestation rather than a demonstra- 
 tion. A revelation which is an incarnation becomes 
 palpable, evident to the simplest minds ; and we can 
 say with an apostle, " That which we have seen with 
 our eyes, that which our hands have touched, that de- 
 clare we unto you." And truly humanity had great 
 need of such a revelation. She had in her anticipa- 
 tions the germ of the Word ; she had it as a floating 
 idea ; the incarnation alone could impart it to her in 
 its healthful power. It was not the matter of chief 
 importance to overthrow a false doctrine, for in order 
 to accomplish that it would have been sufficient to 
 put in its place a true doctrine ; but the object was to 
 destroy the works of sin. A great work of God was 
 therefore necessary. It was necessary to vanqursh 
 the power of darkness present upon the earth. The 
 presence of the power of love thus became indispensa- 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 179 i 
 
 i 
 
 ble. The word of hell, a word of revolt and of pride, j 
 
 had become incorporate in humanity, had been made ] 
 
 flesh, was becoming incarnate every day. The Word ' 
 
 of heaven was equally to become incarnate. Thus | 
 
 our text, having first brouglit before our minds the ; 
 eternity of the Word, instructs us with regard to the 
 
 method of his revelations, — living revelations, because ' 
 
 they are perfect and effectual. ] 
 
 The apostle John does «not expatiate concerning | 
 even the fact of the incarnation. He is content to 
 state it without defining it ; because it evades every 
 attempt at reducing it to a formula. It comprehends 
 
 an unfathomable mystery. The gospel reveals it to i 
 
 us ; it declares to us how, by his miraculous birth, : 
 Jesus Christ was removed from the defilement of 
 original sin. It constantly affirms that he is the son 
 
 of man and the Son of God. It goes no further. Why ; 
 has not its wise reserve been oftener imitated ? With 
 how many difficulties has the theology of men hedged 
 
 about this great doctrine ! Some have endeavored, as ' 
 
 if with a line, to measure precisely the sphere of di- i 
 
 vinity and the sphere of humanity in Christ Jesus. ' 
 
 They have sought to tell exactly where the human or ! 
 
 where the divine begins and ends. They have sue- \ 
 
 ceeded in chilling devotion, and in removing from the Î 
 
 person of Christ its living unity, by the very efforts ; 
 
 which aimed to circumscribe his human or his divine ! 
 
 nature within appropriate limits. This division of I 
 Christ's being into fragments has often resulted in a 
 
 complete duality. Thus, in the writings of some of j 
 
 the fathers, his divinity is in such a manner separated ; 
 from his humanity, that, according to them, the for- 
 
180 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 mer is present at liis passion, like any unmoved spec- 
 tator. In these theological speculations there is some- 
 thing false, strained, and cold, which was unknown to 
 the great apostolic ago. ^ye are satisfied with that 
 which satisfied it.* God, says St. Paul, was mani- 
 fested in the flesh ; the fullness of the Godhead dwelt 
 bodily in Christ. We conclude from these words, 
 that the divine and the human nature profoundly in- 
 terpenetrate each other in the Redeemer. We ought 
 to add that divinity, in uniting itself with condemned 
 humanity, vails its luster. Jesus Christ, says St. Paul 
 again, being equal with God, humbled himself; he 
 took on him the form of a servant. This humiliation 
 is free and voluntary, and consequently it could not 
 be derogatory to the dignity of the divine nature. 
 
 Let us take heed, also, not to detract from the hu- 
 manity of Jesus Christ. It is not less needful to our 
 salvation than his divinity. The incarnate Word was 
 in reality the second Adam ; the lost race of man had 
 desired him, had called for him ; and so well had he 
 represented them, that in fighting for them against Sa- 
 tan he had been fighting for himself; and, according to 
 the beautiful image of one of the fathers, he was like 
 a man who defends his own hearth or his native land.f 
 
 * We need scientific development of truth in one age and another, to 
 meet and satisfy the real and successively manifested wants of the intellect 
 of the church in the different eras of its existence, and the different periods 
 of its growth on the earth. The cultivated and orderly mind craves this, 
 grasps it, and will be satisfied with nothing short of truth in its scientific 
 form, and in the rounded fullness and completeness of system. There is 
 in every age of the church an irrepressible stress and urgency in this di- 
 rection ; it must be gratified ; nor is it in any way incompatible with the 
 purest spiritual life and joy. — Tii. 
 
 t "Erai homo pro fratrijus certans.'''' Ireuosus, p. 284. 
 
THE MATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 181 
 
 Ho was then pre-eminently the man, whilst he was one 
 with the Father ; and thus was he enabled to complete 
 the redemptive sacrifice upon the cross, bringing nigh 
 the heart of man to God, and the heart of God to man. 
 Let us be satisfied with recognizing the oneness of the 
 divine and the human nature in him, and have a mys- 
 tery so great and so unspeakable sheltered from our 
 subtile distinctions. For ourselves, we fully accept 
 the beautiful saying of Irenîeus : " The Word of God 
 became man in order to accustom man to receive God, 
 and God to dwell in man." * We know not a more 
 sublime paraphrase of the language of St. John : " The 
 Word was made flesh." 
 
 And now that we have considered the great doctrine 
 of the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ in itself, 
 and have perceived that it alone responds to the prom- 
 ises and the revelation of God, and also to the needs 
 of our hearts, let us rapidly survey some of the proofs 
 by which, in our view, this doctrine is victoriously es- 
 tablished. And first, the history of Jesus Christ at 
 every one of its phases exhibits to us divinity and hu- 
 manity closely united in his person. Go back to his 
 advent into our world. See this little child lying in 
 its swaddling-clothes in the manger, resembling all 
 new-born babes, feeble, frail like them, poorer than the 
 poorest : that is the man. But what rays of glory sur- 
 round him ! The armies of the skies have sung his 
 birth-, the very stars have declared it, and wise men 
 were seen coming from the East to worship him : that 
 is the God. He submitted himself to the conditions 
 
 * " Verbuin Jilius hominis /actus est ut assuescerit Deum habitare in 
 homine.'' Iren.,p. 289. 
 10 
 
182 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of slow and gradual development pertaining to our na- 
 ture, and an evangelist could say of him, that he in- 
 creased in stature and in grace. He also has passed 
 through that first period of human life, at once so hu- 
 miliating and so touching, in which thought and lan- 
 guage are unfolded step by step : that is the man. 
 From his tenclcjrest years his holiness was disclosed 
 by means of his gentle and complete obedience to his 
 parents. At twelve years of age, in the temple, he 
 confounded the judges and the doctors of the law at 
 Jerusalem, and revealed his perfect communion with 
 his Father : that is the God. 
 
 He has no place where to lay his head. He traverses 
 the villages of Judaea and Samaria, and men see him 
 sit down wearied with his journey. He is hungry, he 
 is athirst ; he falls under the weight of his cross ; the 
 reeds of the soldiers cover his face with blood ; his 
 body is torn by the nails as he hangs upon the tree : 
 this is the man. But at the same time he lords it 
 over nature ; he speaks to the waves of tlie sea, and 
 they are calmed ; he touches the blind man, and his 
 eyes are opened ; he speaks a word to the paralytic, 
 and he rises and walks : that is God. His sorrows 
 throng and multiply upon him ; he is finally cut off by 
 the strength of his anguish ; he dies : that is the man. 
 But he had already spoken as a master to death ; the 
 daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow, the brother 
 of Martha and Mary, had been raised by him from the 
 dead. He will himself break the bonds of the grave, 
 and break them for all : and this reveals the God. 
 
 If we pass from the domain of the outward to that 
 of the spiritual life, the divinity and humanity of the 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 183 
 
 Saviour are apparent in like manner. He knew the 
 pains of loneliness, and those of mourning. He 
 groaned within himself at the death of Lazarus. "Je. 
 sus wept," says the evangelist: that is the man. This 
 same Jesus dried up the tears of the afflicted with the 
 most powerful consolations ; men came to him smiting 
 their breasts, and went from him with thanksgivings 
 upon their lips : that is the God. He was tempted by 
 Satan ; he underwent contact with him in the desert ; 
 he heard his treacherous words, like the first Adam in 
 the garden of Eden : and in this we behold the man. 
 But with three words of Scripture, as with three sharp 
 arrows, he pierced the tempter ; and at the end of 
 his course he could rightfully say, " Satan has nothing 
 in me : " this is the God. He passed through the har- 
 rowing anguish that pertains to the combats of the 
 soul ; drops of sweat were seen upon his brow ; he lay 
 in the dust of Gethsemane. " This Jesus," we read 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " in the days of his 
 flesh, oifered up prayers and supplications, with strong 
 crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him 
 from death." Heb. v. 7. This is the man. But 
 scarcely had he risen up from his prayer, scarcely had 
 he pronounced the words of supreme obedience, 
 " Father, tli^ will be done," when, on the morrow of 
 that terrible day of his suffering, the impious troop of 
 his enemies fall, smitten to the earth at his feet, not 
 being able to endure the brightness of the holiness 
 and the love which shine out from his whole beins: : 
 this is the God. He was brought to judgment; he 
 was condemned : herein we see the man. With sov- 
 ereign power he pardoneth sins : herein he is the God. 
 
184 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 His last is his most mysterious conflict. Bearing the 
 condemnation of a world, he cries out, " Father, Father, 
 why hast thou forsaken me ? " this is the man. And 
 at the same moment he pronounces the great "It is 
 finished : " this is the God. Do not forget, my breth- 
 ren, that that which we have exhibited to you as dis- 
 tinct and separate was one in the unity of life in Jesus 
 Christ, and confess with us that from first to last the 
 gospel history has been but a commentary upon our 
 text, '' The Word was made flesh." 
 
 Jesus Christ himself had perpetual consciousness of 
 his divine and human nature. He represented him- 
 self to be the son of man and the Son of God ; he de- 
 clared that he was sent into the world by the Father 
 to save those who should believe on him. He com- 
 manded his disciples to baptize repenting sinners in 
 the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, thus placing himself by the side of God in re- 
 spect to the solemn act which symbolizes the work of 
 conversion. He especially insisted upon his oneness 
 with the Father, in his last conversations with his dis- 
 ciples, when he was opening the depth of his heart to 
 them, and when he was communicating to them his 
 highest teachings, in the most touching form, on that 
 solemn evening of his lonely and bloody conflict. He 
 did not fear to say to them, " He that hath seen me 
 hath seen the Father. I am the way, the truth, and 
 the life. I and the Father are one." He commanded 
 his followers to pray in his name, and he makes their 
 holiness depend on their union with him : " I am the 
 vine, ye are the branches." Not only did he thus in- 
 struct his disciples, but he suffered his enemies to ac- 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 185 
 
 cuse him of making himself equal with God. He did 
 not protest against the accusation ; he remained silent 
 even under the sentence of condemnation. To keep 
 silence under such circumstances was to admit the ac- 
 cusation, was to acknowledge the truth of the facts 
 alleged. If the accusation was false, it was needful at 
 all hazards to speak. It was not allowable for him 
 not to justify himself, for it is never allowable to suffer 
 a wrong to be committed when it can be prevented. 
 It is evident, therefore, that Jesus Christ had a clear 
 consciousness of his divinity. 
 
 The apostolical church did not cease to proclaim it. 
 She attributed the same works to Jesus Christ as to 
 God : participation in the creation and government of 
 the world ; the resurrection of the dead and the judg- 
 ment ; the government of the church, which presupposes 
 omnipotence and omniscience. More than this : the 
 primitive church positively adored Jesus Christ ; " Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit," exclaimed the first martyr at 
 the moment of his suffering. The apostolical church 
 invoked him as her Lord and her God. She declared 
 that every knee should bow unto him. There is, 
 then, plainly no middle position ; either the church 
 rightfully acknowledged his perfect divinity, or she 
 fell into gross idolatry. The church of the apostles 
 and martyrs idolatrous ! There are some suppositions 
 which one is ashamed to state. 
 
 From all these considerations it results that if there 
 exists any doctrine established by the most irrefraga- 
 ble testimonies, it is the doctrine of the divine and hu- 
 man nature of Jesus Christ. With it would fall Chris- 
 tianity as a whole, and that whicJi would be preserved 
 
 16* 
 
186 THE BE DEE MER. 
 
 out of it would no longer be wortli speaking of. 
 Wherever this truth has been impaired, the very foun- 
 dations of religion have been shaken. All has been 
 vacillating, and the energetic efforts of the church to 
 re-establish this " corner-stone " have manifested in 
 all ages her conviction that her preservation and her 
 progress were inseparably connected with the triumph 
 of this doctrine. 
 
 You, then, who from different points of view do not 
 admit this doctrine, ought not to practice any illusion 
 upon yourselves ; you are exhibiting yourselves as the 
 destroyers of Christianity. There are those among 
 you who accept this position ; they must suffer us to 
 ask them on behalf of what interest ? What is the mo- 
 tive which impels you to reject the eternal divinity of 
 Jesus Christ ? Is it on God's behalf ? Is it for man's 
 sake ? On God's behalf, you will perhaps reply, as 
 might be inferred from that name of deist, to which 
 really you have so little claim. A deist, according to 
 the etymology of the word, ought to defend the cause 
 of God more zealously than all other men ; but, in 
 this sense, no one is less so than you. We have shown 
 you what God would be without the eternal Word ; the 
 Father without the Son ceases to be the Father. In- 
 stead of the living God, of the God whose name is love, 
 whose bowels are moved with compassion toward us, 
 who speaks to us and delivers us, you give us a God 
 separated, remote, hard, and inflexible, who cares no 
 more for our world than we for the leaf which our 
 hand has cast to the wind. You give us a phantom in 
 the place of a reality. We know not where to find 
 your God, and we know that, if we should succeed in 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 187 
 
 linding liirn, lie has neither a word of love, nor any 
 delivcranco reserved for us. He has never dried one 
 tear, or rejoiced one heart, not even yonrs. Because 
 you have a dry heart, you are pleased to make a God 
 arid and cold like yourselves ; and you declare your- 
 selves to be above all men the followers of God ! You 
 have calumniated him in representing him as unfeel- 
 ing as you are, and, far from serving his cause, you 
 would have injured it for ever if men had believed you 
 on your word, for humanity will never be satisfied with 
 a mute and inactive Deity. Will you pretend that 
 his greatness would be tarnished if he should concern 
 himself with our poor race to the extent of consent- 
 ing to the incarnation of his Son ? You place great- 
 ness then solely in outward glory, and you have never 
 understood that there is an order of greatness vastly 
 superior to this ; namely, the greatness of charity. In 
 this point of view nothing is more beautiful, nothing is 
 more worthy of God, than the voluntary humiliation of 
 his love on behalf of a feeble creation. The more fee- 
 ble the being, tlie greater seems that love which saved 
 him. Speak not to us, therefore, of your concern for 
 God's glory. Once more, " He that hath not the Son 
 hath not the Father." 
 
 Will you speak to us of your interest on man's be- 
 half ? But do you not then know that his conscience 
 has never asked for anything besides that which God 
 has given him ? Will you claim to be better informed 
 than the human conscience, speaking through six thou- 
 sand years ? How is it that you do not perceive that 
 in taking away Christ as God, you take water from the 
 soul's burning thirst, bread from its consuming hunger, 
 
188 . THE REDEEMER. 
 
 you mock its long-cherished aspirations ? Without 
 pausing to consider humanity in general, I will inquire 
 of you. Are you contented with your doctrine? does it 
 satisfy you ? Has it cheered you in your days of sad- 
 ness ? Have you need of nothing ? You will not dare 
 to say that you have need of nothing. You will not 
 venture to say this, whatever be your illusions, for 
 you have need of all things, and this all is brought to 
 us by the Saviour, the Deliverer, alone, in giving us 
 God. 
 
 There are other mon who deny the divinity of Jesus 
 Christ while pretanding at the same time to remain 
 Christians. They must learn that this intermediate 
 position is not possible. In the first place, it is not an 
 intermediate position. Their homage to Jesus Christ 
 covers a terrible charge which they aim against him ; 
 they accuse him of lying and of hypocrisy. Is it true, 
 yes or no, that Jesus Christ declared his divinity ? If 
 it is clearer than the light that he represented himself 
 as the Son of God, it is equally clear that to deny his 
 divinity is to proclaim him a liar in the face of the 
 world. It avails nothing to say, with a philosopher, 
 ''The morality of the gospel touches me and pene- 
 trates me." If Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, 
 the gospel ought to be torn in pieces as an imposture. 
 Jesus Christ spoke falsely all his life. He deceived 
 his disciples the last night he spent with them. He 
 knowingly suffered his adversaries to commit a fear- 
 ful crime, which by a word he could have caused them 
 to shun. Let men speak no more of his holiness, of 
 his moral purity ! We are obliged to say that in a 
 sense the Jews and Pilate condemned him justly. Do 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 189 
 
 thou forgive these words, Lord ! It pains us to utter 
 them ; forgive them for the sake of the object at which 
 we are aiming, and that is, to tear off the vail from 
 those pretended friends of the gospel who think to 
 love thee while accusing thee of imposture. Perhaps 
 they will be affrighted at the thought of the blas- 
 phemy hidden beneath their denial ; perhaps, when 
 they find it impossible to see an impostor in the humble 
 Jesus of Nazareth, in the meek and lowly Master, in 
 the victim resigned and compassionate up to the hour 
 of his suffering, they will fall at thy feet, and cry out, 
 " If it be absolutely true that he was either a cheat or 
 a God, we can not hesitate ; yes, that man was God ! " 
 
 Let all those who are tempted to detract from the 
 divinity of Christ weigh well these considerations. 
 Let them consider that on the day when the church 
 shall feel herself attacked anew upon this vital point, 
 though it were by the most seductive mysticism, her 
 voice, her mighty voice, which has no need of councils 
 to make itself heard, will sound forth as formerly in 
 the days of Arius or of Socinus. The most terrible 
 of all excommunications for a doctrine is this cry of 
 terror and indignation on the part of the church when 
 assailed in the person of her divine Bridegroom, and 
 crying out, like thé women of Jerusalem, " I seek for 
 my Saviour, and I know not where they have laid 
 him." Ah ! may the old rationalism, now passing 
 away, experience no revival under more specious forms ! 
 Quickly would its true character be discerned, and it 
 would be but the dead burying the dead. 
 
 To you. Christians, is chiefly confided the care of 
 preserving this glorious doctrine. Doctrines are set 
 
190 TUE REDEEMER. 
 
 forth in confessions of faith ; but they may sleep there. 
 They are truly preserved only by a living faith. Men 
 doubt at our side concerning the human and divine 
 nature of Jesus Christ : let us show forth that which 
 we find in him of coiisolation, strength, and blessed- 
 ness. Jesus Christ was a man like unto us, tried in 
 all things, except sin : let us then go to him with per- 
 fect freedom, snre of his compassion. We tread no 
 path in life where we do not find his footsteps. Are 
 we walking in the rough pathway of poverty ? He 
 passed there before us. Are we in the road of suffer- 
 ing ? He has preceded us. Are we exposed to oppro- 
 brium ? Who of us shall be insulted as he was ? Do 
 we weep for one dearly beloved ? "I, too, have wept," 
 he seems to say unto us. And, finally, do we reach the 
 gloomy and rough valley of death ? He knows its 
 loneliness and its anguish. " He was made like unto 
 his brethren in all things, that he might be a merciful 
 high priest." Heb. ii. 17. But this brother in toils, in 
 conflict, and in sorrow, is at the same time the mighty 
 God. In him we are more than conquerors. If 
 Satan and the world unite against him, we are certain 
 of gaining the victory. It has been already gained by 
 him. His glory shall be our glory. The past is blotted 
 out, the present is transformed, and the future is radi- 
 ant with hope ; for the God-man died for our offenses, 
 rose again for our justification, and ascended up to 
 heaven to prepare a place for us, being always present 
 in the midst of us by his Spirit to direct his people, and 
 to strengthen the poor Christian bending under his 
 daily cross. Ah ! may he, as long as he lives in this 
 body, live in an ever strengthening faith in his Redeem- 
 
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST. 191 
 
 er's humanity and divinity : by the former, assured of 
 his Redeemer's tender sympathy ; by the latter, of his 
 effectual help ; and by both, of eternal salvation. Here 
 on earth may he raise that song, which he shall finish 
 and repeat in heaven with angels and saints : " Worthy 
 is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and 
 riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
 glory, and blessing ! Unto Him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, 
 and glory, and power, for ever and ever ! " Rev. v. 
 12, 13. 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 ** I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." — Matt. v. 17. 
 
 IN our last discourse we considered the nature of 
 Jesus Christ. We confessed and adored in his 
 person the God-man. To-day we inquire, not what 
 he was, but what did he come to do upon the 
 earth ? what was his plan ? That Jesus Christ had a 
 well-settled plan follows from his declarations and 
 from his whole life. How many times did he not 
 speak of the work which he had come to accomplish ! 
 " Father, I have finished," he said, the evening before 
 his death, — "I have finished the work which thou 
 gavest me to do." What a wonderful unity in his 
 ministry ! It is animated by one and the same 
 thought, from the first day until the last. He 
 marched onward toward the end which he had pre- 
 scribed to himself, without a single deviation from his 
 course, in the very straightest path, knowing no rest 
 and no recreation. Not one act of his can be cited 
 which was not the rigorous result of his plan. And 
 yet there is nothing constrained in him ; he does not 
 resemble those men who are imprisoned in their idea 
 as in a vise. We feel that the plan of Jesus Christ 
 is in some sort incorporated with him ; he is so deeply 
 imbued with it that everything in his life is connected 
 
 192 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 193 
 
 with it in the most natural and spontaneous manner. 
 He moves with freedom within the limits which he 
 has traced for himself. His discourses and his works 
 flow from a living spring, without calculation and 
 without premeditation. How, then, could the charge 
 possibly be made against Jesus Christ, that he had not 
 formed a plan which was single and special ? 
 
 Some rationalists have affirmed that he devised a 
 ]3lan, at first, which failed, and that he then devised 
 another entirely different. In this view, the first plan 
 of Jesus Christ was to restore the kingdom of Judah 
 with great splendor, and to confer new glory upon the 
 Jewish theocracy. With this design, as they think, 
 he announced in the synagogue at Nazareth the ac- 
 ceptable year of the Lord ; but not finding the ex- 
 pected favor and aid, he modified his plan ; and 
 instead of announcing the acceptable year, he pro- 
 claims that the kingdom of God belongs to those who 
 weep. Thus he is regarded as falling back upon a 
 spiritual kingdom, in despair of his object. But how 
 explain the fact in accordance with this supposition 
 of unbelief, that even before entering upon his active 
 ministry Jesus Christ had indignantly rejected in the 
 desert the suggestions of Satan, all of which sought 
 to materialize his work ? How explain that one of 
 the first sayings addressed to his disciples related to 
 his death? '' Destroy this temple," said he unto 
 them, '' and in three days I will raise it up." " But," 
 says the evangelist John, " he spake of the temple of 
 his body." We shall not attempt to refute in detail 
 an objection to which history palpably gives the lie. 
 There is, moreover, one fact which rises above all 
 
 17 
 
194 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 others ; it is the fact of the divine humanity of our 
 Saviour. Can it be admitted that the God-man suf- 
 fered his designs to depend upon external circum- 
 stances, and that his ultimate plan was imposed upon 
 him by a repulse ? Such a servile dependence upon 
 actual events could not be reconciled with his char- 
 acter as Son of the Most High God. The reality 
 of his sacrifice would be no less impaired than his 
 divinity. What is a compulsory sacrifice, if not the 
 mockery of a sacrifice ? The sacrifice of Jesus Christ 
 could not be real, except as it was voluntary. It 
 must have been a matter of free consent ; and, in order 
 to be an object of free consent, it must have been 
 foreseen, and, as it were, offered in advance. Every- 
 thing in the work of Jesus Christ breathes a sovereign 
 and absolute freedom ; and for that reason it is the 
 work of love. " I have power," said our Lord, " to 
 lay down my life, and power to take it again." If he 
 laid it down, it was not because it was impossible for 
 him to act otherwise ; it was of his free good pleasure, 
 for the salvation of man. The plan of salvation was 
 then plainly formed by him, and it is precisely the 
 deep consciousness which he ever had of this fact 
 which stamps his entire work with the seal of 
 divinity. 
 
 Let us now, my brethren, endeavor to learn what 
 was in all its grandeur this sublime plan of the Son 
 of God. I find it admirably defined in the words of 
 my text : " I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." 
 The plan of Jesus Christ is to fulfill the preparatory 
 period. To fulfill does not signify to continue, but to 
 bring to perfection, to realize fully. Jesus Christ, 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 195 
 
 when he promises to fulfill the period of preparation, 
 is not to be understood as saying that he renders it 
 ultimate, and that after giving it a new consecration 
 he bequeathes to us the old law. On the contrary, by 
 these words he declares that he brings that law to a 
 close, and that he is the end of it. For him to fulfill 
 the ancient covenant, is to develop it, to complete it. 
 But he can not develop it except by rendering it spir- 
 itual ; and the ancient covenant, when made spiritual, 
 becomes the new covenant. We ought to expect that 
 many institutions inherent in the former economy 
 should disappear, that many ordinances should be 
 abrogated. This is a necessary part of the fulfillment. 
 That economy will not be truly fulfilled, that is to say, 
 brought to its perfection, until the envelope, more or 
 less gross and material, which contained the truth 
 shall be broken. There is, then, of necessity some- 
 thing to be abolished in the old covenant in order to 
 its fulfillment. When Jesus Christ said, " I came 
 not to destroy," these words can not be taken in an 
 absolute sense, for it is a fact that the new covenant 
 has seriously modified the old. Our Lord wished to 
 indicate the close bond of connection subsisting be- 
 tween his work and former revelations. Very far 
 from doing away with these, he rested his work upon 
 them because ultimately they came from him. Like 
 all that is essentially fruitful and great, his mission 
 was positive ; he destroyed only that which impeded 
 the complete realization of God's will. 
 
 And in this is found, my brethren, the secret of 
 Christ's reformative power. If he had been satisfied 
 with destruction, with denial, his work would have 
 
196 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 possessed no originality, no vast and profound influ- 
 ence. The human soul abhors a vacuum in belief, 
 and it prefers a false belief to a cold unbelief. Before 
 Jesus Christ, all the religious past of humanity had 
 been denied. But a negation which is merely a nega- 
 tion, has no power even to destroy. Men deny with 
 their lips, but the superstition is cherished at the 
 bottom of their hearts, and they resort to it in hours 
 of suffering or of dread. The ancient philosophers 
 denied heathenism during their lives, but paid hom- 
 age to it when they came to die, by observing the 
 rites which were commonly employed. If Jesus 
 Christ had only said, I come to destroy, it would have 
 been with him as with his predecessors. But he 
 adds, I come to fulfill ; I bring with me an absolute 
 certainty ; I bring a positive truth, and I connect it 
 with all that is true and divine which has existed be- 
 fore me. We perceive by these words that we are in 
 the presence not of a disputer, but of a revealer ; and 
 we do not fear to give up an imperfect truth for a 
 truth more elevated. 
 
 It was, therefore, the plan of Jesus Christ to fulfill 
 completely the preparatory period. It is necessary 
 for us to ascertain in what sense he understood this 
 fufillment, and what modification it brought to ancient 
 institutions. This subject is of capital importance, for 
 the confounding of the two dispensations has proved 
 one of the most effectual causes of error in the church. 
 Her history is signalized by constant returns towards 
 the past, which was done away at the same time that 
 it was fulfilled. St. Augustine has an admirable re- 
 mark that the New Testament is hidden in the Old, 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 197 
 
 * 
 
 and the Old shines out in the New. Instead of enter- 
 ing into the spirit of this great saying, and leading 
 the Old Testament by the light of the New, the reverse 
 has been done. Men have taken again the vail that 
 darkened the face of Moses, to throw it over the gos- 
 pel, and they have deprived God's Book of a part of 
 its power. Tliis is that which the Galatians and other 
 churches were already doing in the first ages ; in our 
 days, also, too often has the same deplorable confusion 
 re-appeared. We are obliged to compare all errone- 
 ous views regarding Christianity with the plan of the 
 Master, in order to apprehend his thoughts and to 
 realize it in its results. 
 
 The preparatory period, as you know, my brethren, 
 is not confined, in our view of it, within the limits of 
 Judaism. It also comprehends that less direct work, 
 the traces of which we discern in the bosom of pagan- 
 ism. Among pagan nations, as among the Jews, we 
 have perceived the progressive steps of the desire for 
 salvation. This desire Jesus Christ sought to fulfill ; 
 but since a perfect, a divine expression was given to 
 this sentiment in the in,stitutions of the chosen people, 
 we will not go beyond the bounds of Judaism. In 
 exhibiting the manner in which the desire for salva- 
 tion was satisfied as regards the descendants of Abra- 
 ham, we shall be taking the very method to show you 
 how it was satisfied as regards all men, since the holy 
 nation was the representative of humanity before God. 
 
 If we examine the form which the desire for salva- 
 tion had taken among the Jews, we shall perceive that 
 it became confounded in their minds with the estab- 
 lishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. 
 
 17* 
 
198 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 • 
 
 Their institutions were prophetic. But the holy na- 
 tion constituted a theocracy, a visible government of 
 the Lord. Consequently their hopes were directed to 
 a restoration of the divine kingdom. They aspired not 
 merely after individual salvation ; they aspired, also, 
 after a great development of the theocracy. Thus 
 the prophet who immediately preceded Jesus Christ 
 summed up all the hopes of his people in these words : 
 " The I^ingdom of God is at hand." And this because 
 in truth God does not desire merely to save individ- 
 uals, but, furthermore, to found a kingdom upon the 
 earth ; man is not thrown, an isolated being, upon its 
 surface ; he belongs to a vast body. The restoration 
 will not be complete till a humanity conformed to God 
 shall be constituted anew, and the rebellious world 
 shall again become part of the l^ingdom of God. Jesus 
 Christ, on coming to fulfill the ancient dispensation, 
 connected his work with this idea of the kingdom of 
 God. He wished to separate it from all imperfection, 
 and to realize it in an absolute manner ; his plan was to 
 establish upon the earth the true kingdom of God, which 
 implied the abolition of institutions whicli, while use- 
 ful with regard to the gradual education of the race, 
 were hindrances, in consequence of their external char- 
 acter, to the definitive fulfillment of his great design. 
 To fulfill the kingdom of God by destroying its first 
 and transitory form, — in this thought is comprehended 
 the entire plan of Jesus. We shall have need to mark 
 clearly this destruction and this fulfillment. 
 
 The kingdom of God under the old covenant pre- 
 sents itself to us at the very first as one great prophecy 
 of salvation. It is the '^ shadow of good things to 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 199 
 
 come." Heb. x. 1. Everything in the institutions 
 of God's people announced the Saviour ; everything 
 assisted the desires of fallen man, who was calling for 
 a Saviour, to mount up to God ; and everything brought 
 back to man the promise of the Father, who desires 
 to give him a Saviour. Nothing more truly character- 
 ized the old covenant than the expectation of the Re- 
 deemer. It is in this vein especially that Christ has 
 said, "• I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 
 Prophets and saints, faithful servants of God, who 
 during so many ages have sighed for the deliverance 
 of Israel, I have not come to disappoint that desire, to 
 belie that faith. It is I for whom you wait. Here 
 am I. I have no other mission. I come to accom- 
 plish all that for which you longed, all that which you 
 have asked. You asked for a Saviour ; I am the per- 
 fect Saviour, and could you all re-appear for a day you 
 would recognize in me the end and the fulfillment of 
 your aspirations. Abraham would see in me the true 
 child of the promise ; Moses, the great Prophet that 
 was to come ; David, the glorious Son to whom an 
 everlasting dominion was promised ; Isaiah, the mighty 
 Deliverer, and the man of sorrows : all would adore 
 me, and would say. Wait no longer for the Messiah ; 
 we possess him. I am not come to destroy, but to 
 fulfill." 
 
 Thus the essential plan of Jesus Christ is to fulfill 
 the desire for salvation, to reconcile man with God, to 
 offer the sacrifice of redemption, and to accomplish 
 the promises. All his other designs are connected 
 closely with this first design. Whoever assigns him 
 another object has not understood our text. If Jesus 
 
200 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Christ came for anything else but to save men, he did 
 not come to fulfill the old covenant ; there is no rela- 
 tion between the new and the old economy ; the har- 
 mony of divine revelations is broken. But it is not 
 thus at all ; the old economy stands in the same rela- 
 tion to the new as a prayer to the hearing of that same 
 prayer, or rather as the shadow projected by a body 
 to that body. Jesus Christ, in speaking of the sacri- 
 fice which summed up and finished his redemptive 
 work, exclaimed, " For this cause came I unto this 
 hour." We have here the most beautiful commen- 
 tary on our text. To come for the hour of the cross 
 was to come to fulfill the law and the prophets, for the 
 law and the prophets had put the desire for redemp- 
 tion in the heart of man. To establish positively and 
 completely the kingdom of God by reconciling man 
 with him, — such was then the essential plan of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 This fulfillment of the old covenant implied with 
 respect to it very important modifications which en- 
 tered into the Saviour's purpose. The principal insti- 
 tutions of Judaism, as we have already shown, were 
 in the closest connection with its fundamental thought. 
 Being sensible manifestations of the desire for salva- 
 tion, they could not survive that desire. The desire 
 once satisfied, their prolongation would have been ab- 
 surd. To wish to transfer the shadows of the old cov- 
 enant into the new is to deny that the Sun of right- 
 eousness and truth has risen. To perpetuate Judaism 
 is to deny its fulfillment ; it is saying to Jesus Christ, 
 " Thou didst indeed form the plan of fulfilling the law 
 and the prophets, but tliou wast mistaken therein.'' 
 
THE PLAX OF JESUS CHRIST. 201 
 
 Every Jewish institution preserved in Christianity is 
 a contradiction given to the Saviour. It is a never- 
 ceasing protestation against his redemptive work, and, 
 to use the energetic hinguage of St. Paul, it frustrates 
 the gospel of grace. We can not be Jews and Chris- 
 tians at the same time ; we can not thank God that 
 we have a Saviour, and act, at the same time, as if he 
 had not yet come. 
 
 Recall to mind, my brethren, the principal institu- 
 tions of Judaism, and you will understand perfectly 
 the necessity which existed of transforming them. 
 The first characteristic, the most prominent in the old 
 dispensation, was its comparative want of spirituality. 
 In that system, religion is more or less external to 
 man. And so there is a multiplication of forms and 
 ceremonies. A religion which easily penetrates our 
 hearts, which is admitted there and dwells there, has 
 no need to be rendered visible to the eye by means of 
 so many symbols. It is so much the less outward as it 
 is the more inward. But the religion of the Old Tes- 
 tament was essentially a religion of an outward kind. 
 You know the endless multiplicity of its rites and re- 
 quirements, and the pomps of its worship. By its 
 numberless ceremonies it assumed a sensible charac- 
 ter. It inclosed itself within the limits of a single 
 country ; it had its visible center within the walls of a 
 sanctuary ; it became incarnate in the priest ; it was 
 concentrated in the sabbath day. I need not longer 
 insist upon the external nature of Judaism. It flowed 
 naturally from the condition of men under the old 
 dispensation. How could religion have been other- 
 wise than external to man as long as a barrier existed 
 
202 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 between him and God ? He could not freely com- 
 mune with God ; the sentence of condemnation was 
 between heaven and man. He was still afraid of 
 God, for until the day of redemption he felt that he 
 was lying under the stroke of God's judgments. Ne- 
 cessarily, man remained at a distance from a God 
 who was not appeased. Hence the external character 
 of that imperfect religion, which continued promising 
 salvation , but did not actually give it. 
 
 This character of externality must disappear from 
 the religion of Jesus Christ if he is truly a perfect 
 Saviour. The first result of his work is to restore 
 God to us ; reconciliation is a re-union, a drawing 
 nigh. Henceforth communion is possible between us 
 and him. He is no longer a God afar off, but a God 
 who is near. He desires even to dwell in us ; and, in- 
 stead of being external, religion becomes inward, that 
 is to say, spiritual. If God is in us, we shall not be 
 obliged to seek him in consecrated places and on holy 
 days. He is everywhere with us, and we are in him. 
 Thus Jesus Christ, in bringing pardon to the world, 
 has brought to it spirituality at the same time. Spir- 
 ituality everywhere takes the place of the external 
 character of the old dispensation. It is fulfilled only 
 by being spiritualized. Spirituality is inseparable 
 from forgiveness. But the word spirituality is too 
 vague, too general, to express the most glorious result 
 of redemption. Let us speak more correctly, let us 
 say that the first fruit of Christ's sacrifice was the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit. You remember how often he 
 renewed the promise of the Spirit in his last discourses, 
 when, looking over his entire work at a single glance, 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 203 
 
 he indicates its most glorious results as a reaper counts 
 up the sheaves of his field. Tliis precious gift occu- 
 pies the first place in his plan, because nothing could 
 better persuade us that the sacrifice of redemption had 
 been accepted by God. Christianity is the religion of 
 the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as it is the religion of for- 
 giveness. Before forgiveness was obtained, the Holy 
 Spirit wrought upon the heart of man, but not in a 
 continuous manner, on account of the separation then 
 existing between humanity and God. Since redemp- 
 tion, that separation no longer exists ; God can hence- 
 forth dwell in us. The Holy Spirit imparts to us in a 
 profound manner all the gifts of heaven ; it makes of 
 religion a life, an inward and real life ; it renders us 
 partakers of the divine nature. Christian spirituality, 
 then, has nothing in it that is inapprehensible or 
 cloudy ; it is exactly defined by saying that it is the 
 presence of God in our souls through his Spirit. It 
 is to our eyes the divine pledge of pardon, and the 
 strongest proof that there is no longer a separation 
 between us and our heavenly Father. The gift of 
 the Holy Spirit is the very fulfillment of the old cove- 
 nant, and it draws after it the abolition of its inherent 
 imperfections. Where spirituality is wanting, con- 
 sider that men have fallen back from the New Testa- 
 ment upon the Old, from the period of fulfillment to 
 the period of preparation ; consider that faith in for- 
 giveness is impaired, that the Saviour's work is be- 
 littled, and that his plan is marred. Let us pass in 
 review some of these perversions of tlie gospel. Ju- 
 daism was a religion of purely external authority, a 
 " ministry of the letter," according to tlie expression of 
 
204 THE lîEDEEMER. 
 
 tlie apostle Paul. The revelation was rather graven 
 upon stone than upon the heart of man. It bound 
 itself upon him from without. It was a sacred yoke, 
 beneath which he must stoop. No deviation was tol- 
 erated from the most inflexible unity, because there 
 was no progressive assimilation of revelation, and no 
 free investigation. It was the same with truth as 
 with God ; it also was external to man. Such is the 
 meaning of these words, " ministry of the letter." 
 The new dispensation, on the contrary, is, according to 
 the same apostle (2 Cor. iii. 7), a "ministration of the 
 Spirit." Not that there is any opposition between the 
 letter of the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. Nothing 
 of the kind is here contemplated. Jesus Christ has 
 said, "I came not to destroy, but to fulfill." He did 
 not abolish authority in religion ; his mission was not 
 negative in this respect more than in any other. Far 
 from abolishing authority, he fulfilled it ; that is to 
 say., he brought it to perfection by rendering it more 
 spiritual, by throwing open to it, in the exercise of gentle 
 persuasion, the entire domain of the soul. Thus, in the 
 new dispensation as in the old, the Holy Scriptures alone 
 impart to us the truth ; they possess in this respect a 
 sovereign authority. But this truth, like God of whom 
 it is the expression, is to pass over into us. It must be 
 written in our soul in living letters, and these letters 
 are traced by the finger of the Holy Ghost. It is he 
 who leads "into the truth," according to the words of 
 our Lord, by which we understand Scriptural truth. 
 His anointing, let us say with St. John, "teacheth 
 us all things." We no longer need that any one 
 should instruct us, except God. Free access is granted 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 205 
 
 US unto him. Away with those who would place 
 themselves between ns and him ! We have the privi- 
 lege of freely communicating with him. This is our 
 right : it is the right conquered for us by the blood of 
 Jesus Christ, it is the result of pardon, it is the fulfill- 
 ment of the old dispensation. What shall we say, then, 
 of those who dispute this right, who put a tradition 
 between us and God, and wish to bind it upon us as 
 sovereign ? What shall we say, if not that they over- 
 throw the plan of Jesus Christ, that they deny the 
 efficacy of his death, and bring us back to the very 
 condition of mankind before he appeared? Ministers 
 of the dead letter, ministers of tyrannical authority in 
 religion, whoever you are, and whatever your dis- 
 guises, whether Catholic or Protestant, all you who 
 make of religion a lifeless tradition, an iron chain 
 handed down from one generation to another, you 
 deny both redemption and the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
 and by your claims you say to Jesus Christ, " Thou 
 hast not fulfilled the old dispensation, for we continue 
 it as if thou liadst not come." 
 
 The external character of Judaism is discoverable, 
 moreover, in the law given by Moses to God's people. 
 The apostle Paul describes it as the " law of command- 
 ments contained in ordinances;" in fact, it entered 
 into the greatest details in the rules of life which it pre- 
 scribed, it directed man by its minute regulations as 
 by leading-strings, and gave far more- attention to the 
 outside than to the inside of the cup. A severe and ter- 
 rible law, its sanctions were multiplied punishments. 
 For that very reason it is a powerless law, for terror 
 by itself alone has never changed one soul. It entered 
 
 18 
 
206 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 into the plan of Jesus Christ to give us a greatly supe- 
 rior law. In this sense, also, he could say, " I am not 
 come to destroy, but to fulfill." Let us take heed not 
 to believe that grace has abrogated the law as law, and 
 that it has set us free from the rule of holiness. That 
 would be saying, '' Let us sin, that grace may abound ; " 
 that would be turning Christianity into a revolt against 
 conscience. No, Jesus Christ, with all his compassion, 
 did not come to destroy the law. On the contrary, he 
 came to fulfill it, to complete it, to bring it to perfec- 
 tion. Woe to the pretended Christian who fancies 
 himself to be set free in this particular. In fulfilling 
 the law, Jesus Christ has magnified it ; in spiritualiz- 
 ing the law, he has glorified it. No longer is it the 
 law of ordinances. There is but one commandment : 
 ''Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which 
 is in heaven is perfect." But forth from this com- 
 mandment the Holy Spirit makes the entire Christian 
 life to flow. In profound harmony with Scripture, the 
 Scripture itself becomes a living rule, which operates 
 rather by inspiration than by precepts. " Being led by 
 the Spirit, we are not under the law." Gal. v. 18. 
 The new law is connected more especially with the 
 heart, whence issue the springs of life, than with out-, 
 ward acts. Being a law of love, it acts upon the affec- 
 tions to renew them, and the Christian can say, " The 
 love of Christ constraineth me." According to the 
 expression of St. James, it is a perfect law and a law 
 of liberty, perfect in its very liberty ; for, since it has 
 no special requirements, it has no limits. The Chris- 
 tian is led onward to perfection, and Jesus aimed at 
 no less in his plan than the holiness of his disciples. 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 207 
 
 What, then, shall we think of those who carefully gather 
 up the fragments of the old yoke which man was not 
 able to bear, in order to bind it upon him anew? 
 What shall we think of those who build again a Mo- 
 saic code, who multiply cases of conscience, and en- 
 slave souls by their minute requirements ? What shall 
 we think of those especially, who, denying the gratu- 
 itous nature of salvation, would bring us back to the 
 slavish and sterile fear, to the proud content and the 
 inward agony of self-righteousness ? What can we 
 think of them, except that from grace they take us 
 back to the law, and from Christ to Moses ? What 
 can we think of them, if it be not that they deny the 
 Redeemer and the Holy Spirit ? Do not they, too, say 
 to the Saviour, " Thou sayest that thou hast fulfilled 
 the old dispensation, but we continue it as if thou hadst 
 not come." 
 
 Jewish worship more plainly than the other institu- 
 tions of Judaism bears the stamp of the old economy. 
 Its most striking features are sacrifice and the priest- 
 hood, and it is eminently in these two particulars that 
 it was at once abolished and fulfilled. The priesthood 
 announced the perfect Mediator, and sacrifice was a 
 prophetic type of redemption. The Saviour is the 
 sole priest of the new covenant, another priest made 
 " after the power of an endless life." " Because he 
 continueth for ever, he hath an unchangeable priest- 
 hood." Heb. vii. 16, 24. His sacrifice, as a sacrifice 
 perfect and accepted of God, is substituted for all 
 others. " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
 many." Heb. ix. 28. If priests re-appear, if sacrifices 
 are again offered, the old dispensation still subsists. 
 
208 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 All those who to-day allege the permanence of the 
 priesthood, and who can conceive of no worship without 
 sacrifice, deny in toto the work of redemption. They 
 withhold from Christ the price of his sufferings, which 
 is the salvation of souls. Without knowing it, they 
 charge him with error or falsehood. Yes, wherever 
 a priest officiates, wherever an altar is raised, there is 
 a positive denial of salvation, and a testimony borne 
 against the work of the Saviour. If we are told that 
 such priests and altars are found in temples erected 
 to his glory, we reply that the priesthood and the sac- 
 rifice are in fact against his glory, since they deny the 
 efficacy of his immolation. In vain show us the cross 
 upon those churches. The cross becomes a piece of 
 dead wood when the redemptive sacrifice is not ac- 
 knowledged to be sufficient. The most beautiful an- 
 thems mingling with the clouds of incense do not pre- 
 vent Jesus Christ from hearing the denial given him 
 by every priest before every altar. " Thou hast not 
 fulfilled the old dispensation," they tell him by these 
 vain ceremonies; " for we continue it as if thou hadst 
 not come, in institutions which most plainly declare 
 the absence of a perfect Saviour." 
 
 We need not insist upon the external character of 
 the Jewish worship, or its ceremonial pomp. It could 
 only be celebrated in a sanctuary and upon certain 
 days. The Sabbath and the temple were closely con- 
 nected with the Mosaic system. Jesus Christ came 
 not to destroy, but to fulfill ; he therefore abolished 
 neither religious festivals nor solemn worship. Only 
 the whole life became one Christian festival. " Do 
 everything in the name of the Lord, singing hymns 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 209 
 
 and spiritual songs." The Cliristian became himself 
 a sanctuary consecrated to God. " Ye are the tem- 
 ple of the Holy Ghost." I will go even farther, and 
 say that religious festivals and the temple, properly so 
 called, are not rejected by Christianity, but they no 
 longer possess that exclusive consecration which dis- 
 tinguished the Sabbath and the sanctuary at Jerusa- 
 lem. Sunday is not a continuation of the Sabbath ; it 
 has been put in its place by the necessities of Chris- 
 tian worship, althougli no holier in itself than any other 
 day of the week.* In Judaism, one day of the week is 
 sanctified ; in Christianity, the entire week pertains to 
 God. In like manner, our temples are not holier than 
 our dwellings. The Spirit is not imprisoned within 
 walls. " The hour cometh," said Jesus to the Sama- 
 ritan woman, " when ye shall neither in this mountain, 
 nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." " God is 
 a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him 
 in spirit and in truth." John iv. 21, 24. Conse- 
 quently the fullness of the redemption is denied when- 
 ever consecrated days and places are adopted in an 
 exclusive manner ; and we have a right to say with St. 
 Paul, " Ye observe days and months and times and 
 years." " How turn ye again to the weak and beg- 
 garly elements ? " Gal. iv. 9, 10. What opinion, then, 
 must we form of those who rest almost the entire work 
 of sanctification upon these " beggarly elements ; " 
 
 * The serious error maintained by the author on this subject is nowhere 
 more conclusively refuted in brief space (but with ample learning and 
 logic) than by Prof. Schaff in his admirable little treatise, The Anglo- 
 American View of the Sabbath. It is a manly and masterly vindication 
 of the Christian Sabbath, and in part against just such erroi-s as these, so 
 generally entertained by Continental Christians. — Te. 
 18* 
 
210 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 who multiply distinctions between days and between, 
 kinds of food ; who admit into the year a season of 
 Christianity after a season of worldliness, and who re- 
 gard their churches as sanctuaries like that at Jerusa- 
 lem ? What can we think of them, except that they 
 will not admit, notwithstanding the Master's declara- 
 tions, that the ancient dispensation is done away ? * 
 
 There are two distinctive peculiarities of Judaism, 
 which, although seemingly opposed, are yet very close- 
 ly connected together ; I refer to its national exclu- 
 siveness, and to its religious nationalism. On the one 
 hand, the chosen people form a nation apart, distinct 
 from the other nations ; the kingdom of God is com- 
 prehended within the boundaries of Judgea. On the 
 other hand, whoever is born of a Jewish father belongs 
 to the chosen people, and its privileges are transmitted 
 with the blood. Every circumcised child becomes a 
 child of Abraham. Doubtless the prophets insisted on 
 many occasions upon the circumcision of the heart ; 
 but prophecy was anticipative of the new dispensation. 
 This spiritual and prophetic aspect of the Old Testa- 
 ment did not prevent Judaism from forming a compact 
 national body, distinct from the rest of mankind. 
 
 There exists, my brethren, an intimate connection 
 between exclusiveness and religious nationalism. 
 When a religion has become identified with a particu- 
 lar nation, it exists only among the people of that na- 
 tion. Like the nation, it has a special native land ; it 
 is bound to a particular soil ; it is inclosed within the 
 
 * These considerations apply, also, to that which is styled, by common 
 consent, Sabbatism, which is something wholly fox^eign to Christian an- 
 tiquity and to the Reformation ; it Judaizes and perverts the beautiful and 
 holy festival of Sunday. 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 211 
 
 bounds of the people to which it is enfeoffed. It par- 
 ticipates in the nation's isolation, and is tied to time 
 and space like the nation itself. One can say in what 
 degree of latitude and longitude this religion is to be 
 found, and repeat the famous saying of Pascal : " On 
 this side of that mountain, truth ; on that side, error." 
 Religious nationalism has the effect, therefore, of nar- 
 rowing the scope of religion. At first view, it seems 
 to secure for itself an entire nation. A mistake. This 
 religion will not possess the nation except in an ex- 
 ternal and superficial manner. It has the same bounds 
 with the territory of the people that have received it 
 en masse^ and it is unable to cross those bounds. 
 
 The plan of God under the old dispensation, as we 
 have already shown, embraced religious nationalism 
 to the extent of entire exclusiveness. The plan of 
 Jesus Christ was to remove from religion this very 
 character of exclusiveness and nationality, and to 
 render it at once human and individual. Jesus 
 Christ was not satisfied with being a Jew only; 
 he called himself preferably the Son of man. He 
 was sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Is- 
 rael ; but he declared that he had other sheep, also, 
 and that they all should form but one fold. The 
 apostle Paul commented upon this promise in the sub- 
 lime declaration : " Where there is neither Greek nor 
 Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, 
 Scythian, bond nor free ; but Christ is all, and in all." 
 In other words, it entered into the plan of Jesus to 
 found a Christian humanity, transcending all barriers 
 and limits of nationality. Wonderful thing ! He 
 made known to us not only Divinity, but also human- 
 
212 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 ity. Humanity felt its unity first in him. Till this 
 day it had been everywhere divided and rent into frag- 
 ments. There were Greeks and Barbarians, the cir- 
 cumcised and the uncircumcised, free men and slaves. 
 Humanity as one did not exist until after his coming. 
 To him, and to him alone, do we owe those great ideas 
 of unity and fraternity, the abuse of which should not 
 lead us to lose sight of their greatness. 
 
 But Jesus Christ did not bring with him into the 
 world a vague idea of humanity. His plan went infi- 
 nitely farther than this. He desired to establish a 
 great human society. And this great human society is 
 the church, — the members of which are united to him 
 as the branches are to the vine, and which forms a liv- 
 ing unity ; the church, which is his body, nourished 
 and invigorated by his strength and his life. The chiirch 
 is simply the true humanity, humanity after the image 
 of God, for it gathers its recruits among all tribes and 
 nations, and our Saviour God is adored in all the lan- 
 guages of the earth. No more of her than of him can 
 it be said. She is here, or is there. The church is in 
 every place where Christ is loved. Where Christ is, 
 there is the church, there is the Christian manhood, 
 one in God through him. He alone was able to 
 throw down the separating wall, and of two peoples to 
 make but one, because he alone reconciled man with 
 God, and because the fullness of his redemption, like a 
 mighty river, spreads itself over the whole earth. 
 
 Thus in his plan all religious exclusiveness disap- 
 pears. Religious nationalism is equally annulled, for 
 exclusiveness follows this, as effect follows cause. The 
 church is universal because it is tied to no nationality ; 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 213 
 
 it rests upon individual profession of faith, and not 
 upon a vague and collective profession, which binds no 
 one in particular ; it reposes upon living stones, and 
 not upon the mingled dust of unconverted multitudes. 
 Men are- not members of the Christian church as men 
 were Jews, by birth and circumcision, ])y virtue of an 
 accidental fact and a form. In order to be of the 
 church a man must be born anew. " Unless a man be 
 born again he can not see the kingdom of God ; '^ lan- 
 guage of the Master, admirably interpreted in the 
 famous saying of Tertullian, " Men are not born Chris- 
 tians, they are made such." Birth admitted into Ju- 
 daism ; only the new birth admits into the church. Be- 
 tween these methods of admission there exists all the 
 dififercnce between an involuntary fact and a moral 
 fact, between flesh and blood and the glorious renewal by 
 the Spirit of the Lord. The church, according to the 
 plan of Jesus Christ, is not a people like any other, but 
 a willing people, gathered in, man by man, through a 
 personal and living faith. And as good-will is neither 
 of Judsea, nor of Greece, nor of any particular country 
 whatever ; as it descends from him from whom all grace 
 proceeds, and who is near every one of us ; as the Spirit 
 bloweth where he listeth, and men have never succeeded 
 in confininghim within any form whatsoever, — this will- 
 ing people is the largest, the most human, association 
 of which it is possible to conceive. So that those who 
 everywhere appeal to individual faith in order to real- 
 ize the Master's plan, far from giving us a narrow 
 Christianity, give us primitive Christianity in all its ex- 
 tent, the Christianity of Jesus Christ, which fulfilled 
 the old dispensation by destroying its exclusive and 
 
214 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 national character. All you who bring back that ex- 
 clusiveness and that nationalism are restoring an econ- 
 omy that has been done away ; you who discover a 
 selfish pleasure that is almost incomprehensible in con- 
 fining the affections of God, and who regard the people 
 of the new covenant as isolated and morose, well-nigh 
 deserving the calumnious charge hurled at primitive 
 Christians of being haters of the human race, be ye 
 not deceived ; you do not belong among Christians ; 
 you are eighteen centuries behind, with your miserable 
 narrowness. You are Pharisees of Jerusalem. You 
 who conceive of the church as a vast framework, open 
 on all sides, in which the world has its place and its 
 rights ; you who wish to connect the church with differ- 
 ent nationalities, and imagine that there is an English 
 church, a German church, and a French church, — do not 
 speak to us of your liberality. You restore abolished 
 distinction ; you efface the character of the church as 
 universal, by a character which is particular, local, and 
 accidental ; and, above all, you weaken it by a deplorable 
 confusion ! And you, finally, who adopt both the ex- 
 clusiveness and nationalism of the church, receiving 
 into its bosom entire nations and their successive gen- 
 erations by an outward ceremony, and believing that by 
 applying water to the forehead of your neophytes you 
 have imparted to them the grace of God ; you who to 
 this frightful multitudinism, to employ a modern word, 
 add the proscription for time and for eternity of all who 
 are not of your church, — in vain do you parade the word 
 universality on the forefront of your temples. True 
 catholicity is neither exclusive nor external. If the 
 faith of our fathers has been styled the pretended re- 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 215 
 
 formed religion, we shall be allowed to style the oppos- 
 ing faith the pretended universal religion. You who 
 profess it, you also are eighteen centuries behind, and 
 you are unanimous only in saying to Christ, " Thou 
 hast not fulfilled the old dispensation." For all your 
 efforts aim at its continuation ! 
 
 Finally, my brethren, the kingdom of God under 
 the first economy was a theocracy ; that is to say, a 
 divine government of an external and material kind. 
 There were not two societies, one temporal and the 
 other spiritual. There was but one society, which 
 was both temporal and spiritual. Jerusalem was at 
 the same time the Jewish city and the holy city. Re- 
 ligion and patriotism were blended together. Every 
 offense against the law of the state was a religious 
 offense, every religious transgression was a crime 
 punishable by the magistrates. The Mosaic code 
 regulated and controlled civil life, as well as worship 
 and doctrine. This absolute confounding of temporal 
 and spiritual society shows us that the Jewish the- 
 ocracy was established and sustained by material 
 force. To it were devoted the sword of the warrior 
 and the ax of the executioner. It is this state of 
 things which Jesus Christ came to destroy by fulfill- 
 ing the old dispensation. Man in his infancy had 
 need of this immediate tutelage of heaven. More- 
 over, the dispensation of the law was the dispensation 
 of constraint ; the glorious liberty of the children 
 of God was not yet established. Redemption has 
 changed everything in this respect, as in others. The 
 reign of the Spirit can not be assimilated to this ma- 
 terial government of God. Tiiis gross type of a 
 
216 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 terrestrial monarchy became useless when God was 
 brought nigh to man in the incarnation, and the 
 divine Spirit was freely breathed forth from on high. 
 Since redemption came, constraint disappeared before 
 love and its free persuasion. The theocratic form 
 was destined to fall to the earth, as falls the envelope 
 which hides the winged insect. The old dispensation 
 could not be fulfilled except by the abolition of the 
 theocracy, properly so called. And this was most 
 especially acknowledged by Jesus Christ when he 
 said, "My kingdom is not of this world:" a great 
 saying, the meaning of which is as plain as the light 
 of day. " My kingdom is not of this world." What 
 can this import, if it be not that the spiritual society 
 is never to be confounded with the temporal ; that in 
 place of the confounding and intermingling of the 
 two in Judaism, the former and the latter are to 
 remain entirely distinct and separate ? 
 
 The temporal society has its alternations, its revo- 
 lutions, its triumphs. It falls, it rises again, and 
 again it falls. The spiritual society, or the church, is 
 to remain built upon the Kock of ages, which is no 
 creature of a day, were it even an apostle, but that 
 God who made the ages. Doubtless tlie Christian be- 
 longs to the two societies : he has to fulfill duties 
 toward both. " Render to Caesar the things that 
 are Csesar's, and to God the things that are God's ; " 
 such is the commandment of his Master. Only let it 
 be well understood that if a conflict ever arises be- 
 tween Ceesar and God, the Christian will not need to 
 deliberate ; his choice is already made. He will re- 
 gard man as man, and God as God. 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 217 
 
 That which more than all else, my brethren, has 
 been done away, is the employment of external, ma- 
 terial means in order to bring on the kingdom of God. 
 However much they had a place in Judaism, to an 
 equal extent are they criminal in Christianity. The 
 religion of the Spirit is to be established by the Spirit. 
 It must continually triumph over matter. It must 
 not be possible for any one to say on the day of its 
 triumph, It is not truth that has conquered, but ma- 
 terial force. The plan of Jesus Christ was to over- 
 come through the Spirit. For this reason not only 
 has he proscribed the use of force in religion, by de- 
 claring that he who takes the sword shall perish by 
 the sword, and that consequently a religion upheld by 
 the sword may also perish by it, because it is thus 
 degraded to the rank of earthly things ; not only did 
 he in advance denounce all outward constraint, all 
 vengeful feeling, in saying to his disciples, who asked 
 for fire from heaven to consume Samaria, " Ye know 
 not what manner of spirit ye are of;" but he has 
 also rejected human splendor and greatness, whatever 
 form they may assume. He was born in poverty, 
 he lived in ignominy, there was no form or comeliness 
 in him ; he was like " the things which are not ; " and 
 in all ages he has chosen the things which are not to 
 confound the things which are. Far from clothing 
 his disciples with external power and splendor, he 
 has despoiled them in sending them forth as lambs in 
 the midst of wolves. " Provide neither gold nor 
 silver," " neither two coats ;" be poor among the poor, 
 weak among the weak, and nevertheless baptize all 
 nations in the name of the Father, of the Son, and 
 
 19* 
 
218 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of the Holy Ghost. Thus Jesus Christ sought the 
 triumph of his cause, not by earthly power, but by 
 weakness; not by riches, but by poverty ; not by glory, 
 but by disgrace. He styled himself a king on but one 
 occasion, and that was before the tribunal of Pilate, 
 when he had just been buifeted and evil-entreated, at 
 the moment of his being delivered up to the soldiery 
 of the Pretorium. Christians, behold your King ! 
 He has thorns for a crown, and a cross for his scepter. 
 Compare him with the king of Israel encompassed 
 by his court and his armies, and thus learn that the 
 old dispensation is for ever abolished. Perceive also 
 that every attempt to make a theocracy out of the 
 church is a shameful return to the past, and that the 
 use of material force is equivalent to the renunciation 
 of the new covenant. It is a cowardly desertion of 
 the cause of Jesus Christ, and a rejection of his 
 weakness and his poverty. Ah ! let men spare him 
 the wrong done him by a protection which he has not 
 sought, and which dishonors his gospel ! And es- 
 pecially let no one transform into a Jephtha, or a 
 Gideon, him who fulfilled the old dispensation simply 
 by doing away with all compulsion, and by bringing 
 into the world a truth clothed with such beauty and 
 consoling strength that it is able to gain all hearts by 
 itself alone, without foreign aids, which would charge 
 it with weakness. All persecution, whether little or 
 great, is a base denial of the new covenant. 
 
 There is, however, one aspect of the theocracy 
 which is spiritually fulfilled by our Saviour. The 
 theocracy exhibits to us God's reign as embracing all 
 the different spheres of individual and social life. It 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 219 
 
 embraced them by absorbing them all within itself. 
 Henceforth there is to be a clear separation between 
 the two societies ; yet we are firmly persuaded that 
 the purely religious society is called upon to penetrate 
 the temporal society, to transform it, to model it in 
 accordance with God's thoughts. We believe that 
 the plan of Jesus Christ comprehended, secondarily, 
 reforms iiî temporal society brought to pass by the 
 agency of the gospel. Did he not himself compare 
 his kingdom to leaven, which gradually penetrates the 
 whole lump ? This lump is unconverted humanity, 
 society regarded as a whole. The gospel as active 
 leaven operates powerfully upon this mass, which is 
 so difficult to be transformed. It acts, first of all, 
 upon individuals, but it acts also upon society. It is 
 thus that Christianity changed the old pagan society, 
 that it broke the fetters of the slave, emancipated 
 woman, elevated poverty ; it is thus that the Reforma- 
 tion consecrated the rights of conscience, so often 
 misunderstood. Thus the church, while not of the 
 world, acts profoundly upon the world ; and the more 
 she is separated from the world, the more insidious 
 and powerful is the divine leaven, the more savor has 
 the salt. It would be easy for us to show you that 
 those countries in which the great principles of jus- 
 tice -and freedom are best observed are also those in 
 which the church has exerted its most benign and its 
 most spiritual action. All the good which exists in 
 modern society it owes to Christianity. All desirable 
 reforms in the social order, which is still so imperfect 
 and so mournful to contemplate, will proceed from 
 Christianity, from true Christianity, individual and 
 
220 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 spiritual, separated from the world in order more 
 effectually to redeem it. I defy you to point out to 
 me one idea of justice or of right which is not its 
 creature. We put far from us those narrow doc- 
 trines that condemn the Christian to selfish isolation, 
 and are not willing that he he occupied with the gen- 
 eral interests of humanity, not even when it concerns 
 the maintenance of the rights of conscience. Those 
 doctrines are apart from Christ's plan ; under pre- 
 tense of spirituality, they belittle it. They deprive 
 the gospel of its large and fruitful activity, and, if 
 they triumphed, would convert the church into a 
 narrow sect. The church ! What have we said ? 
 We forget that this word is interdicted to us by these 
 petty sects, and that there exist for them only scat- 
 tered Christians, a few solitary men confined within a 
 commodious Theba'is whence heroic mortification has 
 been carefully banished. 
 
 The plan of Jesus Christ is, moreover, connected 
 with the theocratical idea in relation to the glorious fu- 
 ture which it opens before our eyes. The kingdom 
 of God must ultimately have its triumph in every do- 
 main. The resurrection, the new heavens and the 
 new earth so plainly announced by our Lord, carry us 
 to the happy day when harmony shall be re-estab- 
 lished,, and restoration from the Fall complete ; a 
 blessed state, which tlie Bible describes in these 
 words : " That God may be all in all." The return 
 of Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead will 
 bring on this consummation and tliis fulfillment of 
 all dispensations. The prospect of this return should 
 be at once a stimulus and a consolation for us. With 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 221 
 
 regard to all which afflicts and saddens our hearts, let us 
 say one to another, He will return to set up his king- 
 dom. With respect to all humiliations of the present, 
 all manifestations of our weakness, let us say, He will 
 come again with power. With regard to all the im- 
 perfections of our work, let us say. He will return to 
 finish that which we have so feebly begun. We shall 
 find in this thought a precious encouragement to re- 
 double our activity. While freely admitting this pro- 
 phetic aspect of the plan of our Lord, let us take heed 
 not to materialize it as has been often done in the 
 church, and let us not, through gross interpretation 
 of prophetic language, go on to imagine a purely ter- 
 restrial felicity, a merely outward glory, by adding the 
 hope of à resplendent vengeance upon the enemies of 
 the church. That would be a final method of denying 
 the fulfillment of the old dispensation ; and against 
 this we must very carefully guard in the study of proph- 
 ecy. 
 
 " I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." These 
 words now convey to us all the riches of their mean- 
 ing. The plan of Jesus Christ in its greatness is un- 
 folded before our eyes. To establish the kingdom of 
 God by restoring through redemption man to God 
 and God to man ; to establish in like manner the reign 
 of the Holy Spirit by destroying all which pertains to 
 the letter that killeth ; to inaugurate the worship in 
 spirit and in truth, the perfect law of liberty; to found 
 upon the basis of personal faith and upon the remains 
 of an exclusive religion, the church, the true Christian 
 humanity; and, by means of the church, weak and 
 powerless in the world's view, to penetrate and renew 
 
 19* 
 
222 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 society, until that day when the new earth in which 
 righteousness shall dwell shall take the place of this 
 earth, full of sin and of conflict ; salvation, in one 
 word, salvation, with all which is comprehended in 
 that word : such is the plan of Jesus Christ. Perfect 
 fulfillment of the preparatory period, it surpasses our 
 desires. God has given more than we dared to hope 
 for; and there is not one aspiration, one legitimate 
 desire, which is not gloriously satisfied by this divine 
 plan. 
 
 You will doubtless have remarked, my brethren, 
 and perhaps regretted, the polemic tone of this dis- 
 course ; but it was impossible for us, while considering 
 the plan of Jesus Christ, not to be constantly compar- 
 ing it with doctrines which pervert it. Is it our fault 
 if there is a "church which seems to have taken to 
 heart the task of disfiguring his plan in every one of 
 its parts ? Is it our fault if, whilst Jesus Christ estab- 
 lished the ministry of the Spirit and the law of liberty, 
 that church by its traditions raises up again the min- 
 istry of the dead letter and the law of commandments ? 
 Are we to blame if, while Jesus Christ instituted 
 the worship which is in spirit and in truth, that 
 church erects temples as splendid as the ancient sanc- 
 tuary, with images superadded ; and if she speaks to 
 the eye, and not to the conscience ? Are we to blame 
 if, while Jesus Christ has said, ''I am the way; no 
 man cometh unto the Father but by me," she gives him 
 the lie, and says. It is I who am the way ; pass by the 
 way of my priests and my saints ? Are we blâmable 
 if, whilst Jesus Christ has built a spiritual society 
 upon his word, a society distinct from the world, but 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 223 
 
 open to every one who calls upon the name of the Re- 
 deemer, that church, on the one hand, summons 
 the multitude to introduce them by an outward sign 
 into its bosom, and on the other hand exclaims. Out 
 of me no salvation ; anathema to whomsoever does not 
 receive all which our doctors have taught ? Are we 
 to blame if, while Jesus Christ has said, " My kingdom 
 is not of this world," that church claims the right to 
 reign upon the earth after the manner of kings and 
 princes ? Are we to blame if, while Jesus Christ was 
 poor, she wishes to be rich ; if, while he was not wil- 
 ling to shed any blood but his own, she approves of 
 persecution, and imprisons and binds the servants of 
 God, at this day, when, to her very great sorrow, she 
 is no longer able to put them to death ? Are we to 
 blame if that church styles itself the Roman Catholic 
 Church ? Let us not be arraigned if we fight against 
 it ; let the plan of Jesus Christ be arraigned. Let the 
 apostle Paul be blamed, and those letters in which 
 still burns the fire of his indignation against those 
 who desire to bring the church back from grace to the 
 law. If it was allowable in a public discourse to 
 place Protestantism side by side with Atheism,* it is 
 allowable' to reply by placing Catholicism side by side 
 with Judaism. Moreover, there is in our heart noth- 
 ing but love toward individuals. We know the force 
 of prejudices. We very well know that there are 
 Christians, brethren in Christ, who have gone astray 
 in that great church, where, under the appearance of 
 unity, so many tendencies find shelter. If we combat 
 Romanism, it is because we can not bear to see so 
 
 * Discourse by Abbé Combalot. 
 
224 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 many noble souls pining away in it, and so many oth- 
 ers keep aloof from Christianity because they confound 
 it with a doctrine which is so complete a transforma- 
 tion of it. Ardent friends of toleration, we are not 
 friendly to a false peace, and to political management 
 in religion ; and so long as we sliall be able to make 
 ourselves heard we shall not cease to say that Roman- 
 ism strives against the plan of Jesus Christ. 
 
 But it is not only in the bosom of that church, my 
 brethren, that we meet with tendencies opposed to this 
 divine plan. The cause of Christian spirituality is not 
 yet won in the Reformed churches. We have seen 
 even in some of them alarming returns toward Ro- 
 manism. What can we say of those clerical opinions 
 which have too often converted the evangelical minis- 
 try into a sort of priesthood ? What can we say of 
 those false doctrines concerning baptism, which, in the 
 very midst of Protestantism, have sought to enthrone 
 the Romish sacrament, the sacrament that saves by 
 the outward act, regeneration flowing from the bap- 
 tismal water ? What can we say of the attempt to 
 organize Christian states, true theocracies, exhibiting 
 anew precisely the old dispensation, with the excep- 
 tion of miracles and a living prophetical order ? What 
 can we say of the union of different churches with 
 governments ? What of the denial of religious liberty 
 in Protestant countries ? What of a human tradition 
 of orthodoxy, bound upon man without examination 
 on their part ? What of the admission into the spirit- 
 ual society of nominal Christians in a mass ? What 
 can we say of a whole church that has not written over 
 its door these words : " Men enter not here by birth, 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 225 
 
 but through conversion " ? What can we say of all these 
 deviations from the plan of Jesus Clirist, if it be not, 
 " Judaism, denial of the new covenant, return toward 
 the old " ? I express myself with the more freedom 
 since we are now able to foresee that this noble cause 
 of Christian spirituality, so often covered over with 
 paltry names by its adversaries, is drawing near to its 
 triumph. 
 
 Is not the breath of the Almighty felt moving upon 
 these dry bones ? Are not all faithful Christians draw- 
 ing nigh to these great principles ? Are they not be- 
 ginning to understand that the matter in hand is not 
 concerning little questions about the church, but con- 
 cerning the church itself, the church which pertains 
 only to her divine Spouse, the church which is alive 
 only when separated from the world ? Do they not 
 discern that this generous desire of speaking to multi- 
 tudes of men, v/hich possesses so many hearts, will be 
 the more fully realized in proportion as we shall more 
 closely imitate the primitive church, victorious over a 
 world of which, to use the apostle's language, it was 
 the offscouring ? Yes, a fruitful and glorious unity 
 is forming, in order to labor, amid circumstances of 
 peculiar difficulty, for the accomplishment of the Mas- 
 ter's plan. Labor at this, my beloved brethren, in the 
 path of true principles. The question is not with re- 
 gard to particular ideas of the church ; it relates to 
 Christian spirituality, the reign of the Spirit, religious 
 sincerity, personal faith, which is the only real, the 
 only life-giving faith. It concerns the normal devel- 
 opment of our glorious Reformation. It concerns a 
 return to the noblest period in the history of the 
 
226 'J'HE BEDEEMEn. 
 
 church. Perhaps the time has come to suffer for these 
 great principles ; they also shall receive their baptism. 
 Consider that they are worth suffering for, for it will 
 be suffering for God. Consider that persecution has 
 never impeded the plan of Jesus Christ, because it 
 makes a part of it, and is as its crown. 
 
 May the consideration of this plan carry you away 
 from the little thoughts and acts of your wonted lives. 
 When, in order to realize it, you shall have given all 
 your strength, all your time, all your prayers, you will 
 still have given too little. Above all, never forget 
 that it has for its only end the salvation of souls. 
 Cleave to no truth, however beautiful it may be, with- 
 out connecting it with this dominant aim. Let not 
 meditation upon the purposes of God prevent you from 
 immediately realizing those purposes according to the 
 measure of your abilities. The plan of Jesus Christ 
 asks for laborers rather than admirers. Realize it first 
 for yourselves by your personal holiness, which is one 
 of the great ends sought out by him. Realize it with 
 regard to your brethren. Be not wearied with show- 
 ing forth the Saviour as fulfilling not only the ancient 
 written covenant, but also that unwritten covenant 
 which God has made with every man in his heart and 
 in his conscience. Entreat those who surround you to 
 go to the Saviour. Tell them what he has borne for 
 you. Tell them that he destroys only evil and sin ; 
 that is to say, that which perverts our true nature ; and 
 that this he perfectly fulfills. Appeal to their aspira- 
 tions after the future life, to their inconsolable sor- 
 rows, and show them that only Jesus Christ answers 
 
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST. 227 
 
 to their inward wants. Perhaps they will suffer them- 
 selves to be won ; perhaps they will seek him. Be 
 not disquieted. The Saviour is so well adapted to the 
 repenting sinner that it is impossible they should not 
 come together, and you will have the joy of having 
 concurred in the fulfillment of his plan within the lim- 
 its of your strength. You will have also to defend 
 this plan against doctrines which pervert it. This, 
 too, is one method of realizing his plan. Truth has 
 indefeasible rights. We owe to it our testimony in 
 season and out of season. But the polemical duty is 
 one of delicacy, and the only means of well accomplish- 
 ing it is to imitate Jesus Christ. Let your contro- 
 versy, like that of Jesus Christ, be always positive. 
 Destroy only whilst you build up. Destroy only whilst 
 you fulfill. Never create a void in any heart by the 
 destruction of a false belief without filling it at once 
 by giving it a superior belief. Enable men ever to com- 
 prehend with increasing clearness that Christianity is 
 essentially positive and affirmative. With that aim, 
 seek their edification in everything, and press every 
 doctrine, every truth, till the nourishing marrow is 
 distilled from it. Never leave mere ruins behind you, 
 but by means of those ruins establish in the mind of 
 your brethren the foundations of a new edifice. The 
 plan of Jesus Christ you are to defend in the same 
 manner in which he laid it down himself when he con- 
 fronted Judaism. 
 
 In my next discourse I will show you with what in- 
 ward convictions we must labor upon this plan, by re- 
 calling to your minds the manner in which the Sav- 
 
228 THE JîEBEEMER. 
 
 iour fulfilled it : that is to say, I shall speak to you 
 of his holiness. May God grant us to be, in regard to 
 this great work, co-workers with Jesus Christ in the 
 spirit of Jesus Christ ! 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 •' Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for 
 us." — 1 John iii. 16. 
 
 AFTER having considered the plan of Jesus Christ, 
 we propose now to inquire in what spirit he has 
 accomplished it. It does not suffice to have formed a 
 lofty purpose ; if the manner in which that purpose is 
 executed is not worthy of it, if little passions are subsi- 
 dized to aid a great thought, the very beauty of the 
 plan renders this moral disharmony more culpable and 
 more painful. Do we not know by experience that it 
 is possible to have the most generous and elevated 
 conceptions, to set them forth with a degree of good 
 faith, and yet, in defending and accomplishing them, 
 to be swayed by inferior motives ? On the other hand, 
 we seldom see a man who avows a low and interested 
 object ; and should he carry his cynicism to that ex- 
 tent, it could be expressed only in the closest inti- 
 macy. Never in the presence of assembled men 
 would he dare to manifest a shameful and vulgar sel- 
 fishness. The human conscience would not brook 
 such a want of respect, and it would take vengeance on 
 the offender by vehement indignation. Nothing shows 
 more clearly its power, notwithstanding tlie Fall, than 
 the necessity imposed on the wicked man of coming to 
 
 20 229 
 
230 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 terms with conscience. Before he is able to begin the 
 dissemination of a bad doctrine, he is obliged to ask a 
 kind of passport of his conscience, by assuming to him- 
 self a semblance of generosity and moral elevation. 
 He hangs out his flag to hide deceitfully his detestable 
 merchandise. It is thus that systems of sheer materi- 
 alism are placed under cover of the great principles of 
 justice and love to man. Often this is not hypocrisy, 
 at least not willful hypocrisy. Man is self-deceived, 
 self-deluded. The evident greatness of the object is 
 not therefore a sufficient guaranty of the moral great- 
 ness of him who conceived that object. Perverseness 
 may be hidden beneath beautiful and noble • words. 
 But without going so far, admitting the plan to be 
 admirable, and the sincerity unquestionable, is there 
 not a lamentable weakness inherent in human nature, 
 which often reduces the most elevated views concern- 
 ing our vocation to a hopeless ideal ? Is not this dis- 
 tance between our ideal and our life one of our suffer- 
 ings that are most inward and most constant ? Is it 
 not the seal of our imperfection ? 
 
 We could not, then, content ourselves with acknowl- 
 edging that the plan of Jesus Christ surpasses all that 
 which man could ever foresee or anticipate, that it is 
 truly a plan worthy of redeeming love. If this plan 
 of love has not been realized by love ; if the person of 
 Christ does not attain to the hight of his purposes ; if 
 it is possible to find one shadow in the picture, one 
 imperfection in his life, — this plan will have been the 
 purest, divinest dream of humanity, but it is nothing 
 more: we have no Saviour, salvation is not achieved. 
 For it is not with this plan as with others. We may 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 231 
 
 admit that in a moment of inspiration a man of genius 
 conceives a fruitful idea, that he casts it into the world, 
 and that it there makes its way without him. It mat- 
 ters little really how he defends it. The idea is not 
 incorporate with him. On the contrary, the plan of 
 Jesus Christ can not he separated from his person, for 
 its first condition is the Saviour's holiness. Thus, my 
 brethren, the question about to occupy us is intimately 
 connected with that which we examined in our last 
 discourse. Was the Saviour perfectly holy ? that is 
 tantamount to asking. Was his plan fulfilled, or is it 
 still one of those chimeras, one of those clouds of more 
 or less of brilliancy which have only flitted across the 
 horizon of humanity ? Would that I might, my breth- 
 ren, in place of all demonstration of my Saviour's holi- 
 ness, lead you to his feet : were I permitted to bring 
 you to behold him, as the inhabitants of Judasa saw 
 him eighteen centuries since, I am persuaded that the 
 conviction of his holiness would seize upon you with 
 irresistible force. It would appear to you as clear as 
 the sun, it would overflow you like the light of the day. 
 The exceeding humility and gentleness of his aspect ; 
 the noble purity of that brow crowned with a pitying 
 sadness before it was crowned with thorns ; his expres- 
 sion, profound like the love of God, benevolent like the 
 love of a brother ; his simple and compassionate speech ; 
 that group of afflicted ones gathered around him as 
 around their natural comforter ; the traces of toil and 
 suffering upon those features, which remind you that 
 he has not where to lay his head; that whole character, 
 both divine and human, which you would thus gaze 
 upon, would tell you more than all wliich we could un- 
 
282 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 fold. And truly, our remarks will be useless if you 
 have not obtained in some degree that view of Jesus 
 Christ. I rely uj^on this sudden, irresistible demon- 
 stration which takes possession of an upright mind on 
 its first contact with our Lord. Where this should fail, 
 no evidence would be convincing. To render it more 
 present to your minds and your hearts; to develop 
 that which is implicitly contained therein ; to speak to 
 you of the holiness of the Saviour with the only pur- 
 pose of sending you to him with stronger desires to be- 
 hold him ; to leave you in the presence of his abso- 
 lute perfection prostrate in the dust, and to bend my 
 knee there with you to adore him, or rather to give 
 scope to our common adoration, — such is the entire 
 aim of this discourse, which I ask my God to bless to 
 you and to me. 
 
 I shall not pause long to prove the holiness of 
 Jesus Christ. I prefer rather to show it to you. 
 And this not because we are not very strong in this 
 lower ground. If it be true, as we have said, that 
 there is often a want of harmony between a beautiful 
 plan and the acts or sentiments of him who conceived 
 it, we ought, nevertheless, to admit that a plan truly 
 perfect implies moral perfection. At the highest ele- 
 vation all lines come together ; they separate and 
 break only at a lower point. Perfection of under- 
 standing must correspond with perfection of moral 
 life. It may be admitted that a thou.ght half en- 
 lightened is compatible with a heart more or less 
 defiled. But if the understanding is completely lu- 
 minous, we must conclude that the soul is altogether 
 pure. As long as there is one sin in the soul, a 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 233 
 
 shadow will spread itself over the understanding ; if 
 this is truly without shadow, it is because the being to 
 whom it belongs is without sin. Perfect truth and 
 perfect goodness blend together in one and the same 
 ray, as luminous as it is pure. Thus from the per- 
 fection of Christ's plan we can already infer his 
 holiness. 
 
 We have, moreover, his own testimony. "Which 
 of you convinceth me of sin ?" he asked his ene- 
 mies. " The prince of this world hath nothing in 
 me," he said to his disciples at the end of his earthly 
 career. He could invoke alike the testimony of his 
 friends and his adversaries. Those who transmitted 
 to us the narrative of his life were his immediate dis- 
 ciples. They lived in intimacy with him : they saw 
 him not only on the public pccasions when he taught 
 the people ; they followed him everywhere, even into 
 the desert, whither he loved to withdraw ; they never 
 left him ; and they would all, doubtless, have repeated 
 those words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, " He was 
 in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." 
 What man is there, what hero, what saint, who could 
 approve himself worthy of such a judgment under 
 such unceasing observation ? The testimony of the 
 enemies of Jesus Christ is still more conclusive. 
 Their fixed purpose was to ruin him ; not only had 
 they spies in watch for him, they also laid snares for 
 him ; and when the time arrived for gathering the 
 fruit of these diabolic devices, when they brought him 
 to trial, they found themselves obliged to suborn false 
 witnesses, to pay them, and these false witnesses 
 could allege nothing but a single word of the Master, 
 
 20* 
 
234 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 perfidiously interpreted by them. What more strik- 
 ing homage could be rendered to the holiness of the 
 Saviour? The mere attempt to darken it required 
 the purchasing of stupid falsehoods. But the hatred 
 of the enemies of Jesus Christ is yet higher evidence 
 in his favor. When we see not only great criminals, 
 like Herod, but also honorable people in the estima- 
 tion of the world, like the Pharisees, and wise skeptics, 
 like the Sadducees, roaring with rage against our Lord ; 
 when we see the most considerable man in the nation, 
 the high priest, so carried away at a solemn trial as 
 to buffet the accused, we may be assured that it is no 
 half-holiness that lighted up that hatred, but that, in 
 order to bring the darkness to such a violent opposi- 
 tion against the truth, it needed nothing less than 
 light in its utmost clearness. 
 
 We have also an impregnable argument of fact. 
 The entire church rests upon the perfect holiness of 
 Jesus Christ. Upon this faith she is built. Take 
 this away from the church, and it falls to pieces. Are 
 we not right in reasoning from the strength and 
 majesty of the edifice to the strength of the founda- 
 tion itself? What ! this temple, or rather this citadel, 
 constantly assailed, to which every age in its turn has 
 laid siege, shall be regarded as resting upon a le- 
 gend ? Instead of the corner-stone which seemed to 
 us as indestructible as the rock, we have but the shift- 
 ing sand of a false tradition ? What ! is it thus, while 
 reposing upon a lie, that the Christian faith has tri- 
 umphed over so many storms and in so many com- 
 bats ? It might as well be said that one of those 
 Roman edifices which are victorious over the ages 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 235 
 
 was built upon a crumbling base. Let us confess 
 that the church is a permanent witness of the holiness 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Finally, my brethren, the very idea of the holiness 
 of our Saviour, as presented in the gospel, guarantees 
 its historic verity. Before Christianity no similar 
 idea had existed. Moral perfection had been descried 
 dimly, but how limited among the Jews, how defiled 
 among pagans ! The Christian ideal, by which I 
 understand the perfection which the gospel makes 
 known, — that ideal of humility and love could be 
 known only in being realized. A history, a divine 
 history, lies at the basis of this entirely new concep- 
 tion of holiness. Whence could men have derived 
 the colors to paint the picture of a life like the life of 
 Christ ? Had they ever seen anything like it ? Could 
 Greece have furnished the humility ? Was it possible 
 for the stern Jewish theology to exhibit the charity ? 
 Add that it is at the epoch of the most frightful cor- 
 ruption that this type of perfect goodness is supposed 
 to have been invented. If the gospel is an invention, 
 we do not hesitate to say, with Rousseau, that the in- 
 ventor is more wonderful than the hero ! It is easier 
 to believe in the holy life of Jesus Christ, than to be- 
 lieve that the evangelists imagined such holiness. 
 One miracle compared with another, the former ap- 
 pears to us the more rational ; and as this miracle 
 is the great support of our faith, we adhere to it 
 with the most entire certainty and the most joyous 
 confidence. 
 
 The holiness of Jesus Christ, — we will now indicate 
 its general characteristics. Before all else it is hu- 
 
236 , THE REDEEMER. 
 
 man ; it does not lie beyond the conditions of our 
 nature. The life of Jesus Christ is verily a man's 
 life, or rather it is the life of God in human life. The 
 more divine human life is, the more does it approach 
 its ideal, that is to say, its true destination. Jesus 
 Christ is with God, he lives in God, and by virtue of 
 that very fact he is the perfect man, the typical man. 
 He is also our model and our law ; and the apostles 
 were fully authorized to say to us, " Be ye followers 
 of him ; have the same mind which was also in him." 
 More than this : we dare affirm that Jesus Christ 
 has himself known, he also, trial of his freedom. We 
 believe with all our soul in his original purity, but we 
 equally believe in the reality of his humiliation. He 
 submitted himself to the moral condition of hu- 
 manity. He passed through his conflict and his 
 temptation, and that perfection which he possessed by 
 nature, he acquired as it were anew by the de- 
 termination of his will. In this there abides a great 
 mystery. How conceive that the Son of God has 
 been tempted ? But how admit that the Son of man, 
 the second Adam, could save the lost race without 
 moral trial ? That night in Gethsemane, those cries 
 and tears, that agitation of the conflict, that triumph 
 purchased at the price of so many sorrows, — would 
 not all that touching scene related by the evangelists 
 be but a vain illusion, a kind of theatrical representa- 
 tion ? In that event let no one speak to us of Christ 
 as a pattern. If his divinity placed him above trial 
 and conflict, we have nothing in common with him. 
 Doubtless his temptations differed from ours. The 
 tempter had nothing in him, whilst in our natural incli- 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 237 
 
 nations he finds numerous points of contact. Never 
 did he succeed in exciting a single wrong desire in 
 the holy soul of the Redeemer. But it is none the 
 less true that Jesus Christ performed an act of his 
 will to preserve the holiness which he had brought 
 from heaven. When Scripture tells us that he 
 groaned and cried unto God, in these words we do 
 not see a mere image, but a positive fact, a precious 
 fact, which establishes a complete oneness between us 
 and him. The greatness of the trials of Jesus Christ 
 was the seal of his holiness. We know not what to 
 think of a man who has not been tried. Secret forces 
 of evil may be sleeping in him for lack of an oppor- 
 tunity to manifest themselves. There is no sure 
 holiness except the holiness revealed in the midst of 
 pain and peril. In this point of view what was want- 
 ing to Jesus Christ? What snares, what assaults, 
 what sufferings had not befallen him ? The people 
 wished to make him a king, and they sacrificed him. 
 He underwent the trial of extreme enthusiasm and 
 that of extreme ignominy ; and finally he suffered 
 himself to be led forth to punishment. Does not 
 holiness crucified become holiness perfected ? Is it 
 possible to go beyond that ? Who does not perceive, 
 then, that trial, earnest human trial, was necessary to 
 the Redeemer's glory ? 
 
 The holiness of Jesus Christ, while profoundly hu- 
 man, is distinguished by a characteristic which is ex- 
 clusively its own ; it is harmony in the qualities of the 
 soul. You do not discover this harmony in any other 
 man. Take the greatest, and you will see that this 
 greatiiess results from the marvelous play of some 
 
238 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 one of their faculties. That which strikes us in them 
 is that which rises above the level of their souls. An 
 isolated quality is the more remarked because it is spe- 
 cially detached from that which is fundamental in the 
 moral life. And yet there is in this an imperfection. 
 It is important that the entire moral life should be 
 raised, and should be purified, and not that it should 
 project itself particularly on one side. We are con- 
 stantly suffering ourselves to be deluded in this re- 
 spect. We experience a more lively and eager admi- 
 ration on beholding the waves of the sea lifted up by 
 the tempest than on seeing the same waves in smooth- 
 ness and repose. Yet the heavens are better reflected 
 in the quiet sea than in the sea when tempest-tossed. 
 Human greatness, as it ordinarily exhibits itself to us, 
 is an impetuous wave, rising above other waves in ma- 
 jesty and in thunderous sound. The holiness of Jesus 
 Christ is like the limpid water which reflects the 
 azure of the sky in* its immense expanse and its peace- 
 ful luster. In his holiness there is nothing that shows, 
 for the very reason that it is absolutely perfect ; it gushes 
 forth from the depths of his being, always alike, equal 
 to itself; it is rather inward than outward ; it sacrifices 
 nothing to the glory that comes from man, and knows 
 neither fluctuation nor decline. Moreover, all the 
 great words by which exceptional qualities of mind 
 or soul are designated have no application to Jesus 
 Christ. It will not be said that he possessed wonder- 
 ful genius ; nor will it be said that he was a hero ; one 
 feels, that a certain ifttellectual greatness, or a certain 
 moral greatness, separately considered, would not be 
 in agreement with his character. One word alone is 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 239 
 
 worthy of him ; it is holiness, because he comprehends 
 at once all perfections. 
 
 But, my brethren, it is not sufficient to contemplate 
 in a general manner the characteristics of Christ's ho- 
 liness: We must also learn the elements that com- 
 posed it. Pagan antiquity has already anticipated the 
 knowledge that holiness consists in imitating God. 
 This fruitful truth has been admirably stated in the 
 gospel. " Be ye therefore perfect," said Jesus Christ, 
 " even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." 
 What can be clearer and more conformed to the sim- 
 plest suggestions of conscience ? Where should the 
 type of perfection be found, if not in God himself? 
 Can a perfection be admitted which is without him ? 
 Is he not the supreme beauty, truth, and goodliess ? 
 It is impossible to conceive of anything better than 
 a life conformed to him, and reproducing the linea- 
 ments of the divine image. If we then wish to have 
 a precise idea of holiness, we have only to ask our- 
 selves what is the nature of God. It is unnecessary 
 to enumerate all his glorious attributes. There is one 
 which rises above and comprehends all the rest : it is 
 love. " God is love," says St. John. Charity, love, 
 that is the nature, the very being of God. The gospel 
 reveals it to us, — I should rather say, reveals it to our 
 minds ; for, in listening to this revelation, conscience 
 embraces it as a truth for which it was prepared, and 
 which it had formerly known. There is not a human 
 conscience that does not acknowledge that there is 
 nothing morally so great or so beautiful as love. If, 
 then, Jesus Christ was perfectly holy, he would have 
 perfectly represented in himself the divine nature, and 
 
240 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 his life would have been the perfect manifestation of 
 charity, for charity and holiness are inseparable. In 
 order to prove his holiness we need only show you his 
 love, to which our text formally invites us : " Hereby 
 perceive we the love of God, because he laid down 
 his life for us." Love is manifested in the different 
 relations of life. But we sustain relations with God 
 first, and then with our brethren. The law of love is 
 fulfilled in this twofold relationship. The great precept 
 of the old law and of the new comprehends alike the 
 love of God and the love of our brethren. We have, 
 therefore, to set before you as well Christ's love to the 
 Father as his love to men. 
 
 Love consists, according to the teaching of St. John, 
 in laying down one's life for others ; it is a gratuitous 
 gift, perfectly disinterested. It is first revealed by the 
 despoiling of itself, by inward renunciation ; it is 
 afterward realized by sacrifice or outward despoiling 
 of itself; and it is finally consummated in the divine 
 and immortal joy of love, for a sacrifice which does 
 not bring happiness, which is offered reluctantly, is 
 not a true sacrifice. In order, then, to depict to you 
 the holiness of Jesus Christ, we shall have to depict, 
 in so far as this is given to man, his inward renuncia- 
 tion, his sacrifice, or his constant self-immolation, and 
 the holy and divine joy of his charity, whether God 
 were its object, or whether it expanded over our poor 
 humanity. If we succeed in thus engraving the 
 thought of our text upon your hearts, we shall need 
 to add nothing in order to establish our Saviour's holi- 
 ness ;. for what is there more holy, more perfect, more 
 divine, than love ? 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 241 
 
 Humility is the first form of inward renunciation ; 
 without humility, it is vain, though we give up all .our 
 goods, though we should deliver our bodies to be 
 burned ; those sacrifices would not be sacrifices, or 
 rather they would be offered to ourselves. Our tears 
 and our blood would be poured out upon the altar of 
 pride and selfishness. Without humility, sacrifice is 
 hypocrisy, and dévotement a falsehood. We must 
 then speak, first of all, of tlie humility of Jesus Christ. 
 Call to mind the picture of him given by St. Paul in 
 a few words : '' Being in the form of God, he thought it 
 not robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself 
 of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a 
 servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and 
 being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself." 
 The incarnation, the voluntary poverty an4 the cruci- 
 fixion of Jesus Christ, are the great manifestations of 
 his humility. We have already had occasion to insist 
 upon this infinite self-abasement, this humiliation of the 
 Son of God. It is evident that he who, being rich, rich 
 in all divine glory, became poor, poor in regard to his 
 being a man, and poor even among men, will never 
 seek for earthly glory. After that which he had left 
 in heaven, after having left the right hand of the 
 Almighty and the throne of Omnipotence, what could 
 our low world, our world of sin, offer him ? And yet, 
 when we remember the pitiable weaknesses of human 
 nature, we are filled with wonder if we consider the 
 constant humility of Christ in the different phases of 
 his life ! What humility toward his Father ! We are 
 touched by the self-denial of John the Baptist, who 
 with a holy impatience refers all the homage and ad- 
 
242 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 oration offered him to the person of the Saviour. How 
 his humility pales beside that of Jesus Christ ! The 
 only Son of God, he utters not a word, he performs 
 not a miracle, without rendering the glory to the Fa- 
 ther. He is never wearied with repeating that he is 
 doing his work, that he is his messenger. How many 
 times does it not happen to us, frail messengers of 
 God, miserable and unworthy embassadors of his 
 grace, to pervert to our advantage the glory which 
 pertains to him alone ! The earthen vessel in which 
 the heavenly treasure is deposited glories in possess- 
 ing this treasure, as if it truly belonged to itself! And 
 he in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt 
 bodily, the Eternal Word incaranate, the Holy One 
 and the Just One, ceased not during his entire earthly 
 career to prostrate himself in spirit before the Father ! 
 He was the most humble of his Father's servants. He 
 declares that the Father giveth him all power. He 
 goes so far as to say, "I can of mine own self do 
 nothing." " As the Father hath life in himself, so 
 hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." 
 John V. 26. If he speaks, it is in his Father's name. 
 " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." 
 John vii. 16. If he performs a miracle, his eyes, lifted 
 up to heaven in humble prayer, show whence he de- 
 rives his strength. " The works which the Father 
 hath given me to finish." John v. 36. If a few dis- 
 ciples gather around him, he does not attribute it to 
 his word, so divine and so powerful, or to his shining 
 works : "No man can come to me except the Father 
 which hath sent me draw him." Were a feeble wit- 
 ness of the truth, like him who speaks to you, your 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 243 
 
 companion in sin and in condemnation, to urge with 
 such energy his absolute dependence upon God, his 
 humility would be considered remarkable; it would 
 justly be regarded as uncommon and exceptional. 
 What shall we say then of our divine Saviour ? As 
 far elevated above us in holiness and power as the 
 heavens are above the earth, he yet subjected himself 
 to his Father as no one of us has ever done. Let us 
 confess that there lies as great a distance between 
 his humility and ours, as between his perfection and 
 our unworthiness. 
 
 Let us contemplate this same humility as regards 
 the relations of Jesus Christ with men. Who has 
 ever in the kingdom of God been in such utter loneli- 
 ness as he ? Who has labored beneath the burden of 
 such a shame ? I do not refer to Christians of the 
 present day. Some have endured outrages for Christ's 
 sake. But the greater part know only from their rec- 
 ollections of history what St. Paul has called the re- 
 proach of Christ. They are well received even in the 
 world ; they have encountered there a certain degree 
 of opposition, but the distance is very great from this 
 opposition to shame and reproach. No, we do not 
 know what it is to be treated like the dogs of men 
 and the offscourings of the earth. We have not been 
 covered with filth, we have not been scourged and 
 spit upon. A polite and refined society endures us 
 patiently, probably because we endure them too well 
 ourselves. There are countries where piety is an occa- 
 sion for public respect and consideration ; there are 
 countries — and we envy them not — where evangeli- 
 cal Christianity stands well at court, where it may 
 
244 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 count upon the most exalted dignities and the most 
 coveted positions. I know that it is not thus every- 
 where ; reproach is still found in the bosom of the 
 family, for that man who is a solitary believer among 
 his kinsfolk, and who is faithful ; and in the few coun- 
 tries, also, where persecutions yet exist. But what 
 compensations there are ! By the grace of God there 
 is a great believing people on the earth, scattered 
 abroad in every place. Christian sympathy is like an 
 immense electrical chain which in the twinkling of an 
 eye is shaken throughout its whole extent. If a Chris- 
 tian at this day is persecuted and trampled on some- 
 where, he excites the warmest interest, he becomes 
 the object of thousands of prayers, his name flies 
 from mouth to mouth. If he does not grow in humility 
 in proportion as he rises in the esteem of his brethren, 
 the unquenchable thirst for glory which is in our souls 
 is revived in him, and he tastes treacherous praises, 
 which come to him disguised as prayers. The natural 
 heart is satisfied in that lust which is most difficult to 
 be repressed. Something like this might have occurred 
 at the very origin of the church, at the epoch when it 
 could be justly said that men bore in their bodies the 
 marks of the Lord Jesus. When the apostle had been 
 smitten with rods by the officers of the Sanhedrim, or 
 treated like a fanatical fool, he could ascend to the 
 upper chamber in Jerusalem ; there he would be sur- 
 rounded with brethren who covered him with their 
 tears, and testified to him their affection and their ad- 
 miration. In this narrow circle pride might still find 
 its food. Among all the servants of God only one 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 245 
 
 labored at his work without any amends of this de- 
 scription. Those who awarded glory in his nation 
 were his passionate enemies and calumniators. It 
 would have been easy for him to gain them over by 
 a flattering word. Instead of such a word, he smote 
 their hypocrisy with an anathema that could never be 
 forgotten. The people would willingly have made him 
 their king, but not only did he regret their gross hom- 
 age, he also trampled under his feet their most cher- 
 ished prejudices. The solitude that invested him was 
 enhanced. He labored without the support of the 
 chiefs of the people, and without the sympathy of the 
 people themselves. True, a few disciples surrounded 
 him ; but they were so poor, so wretched, so ignorant, 
 that they added to his ignominy. Moreover, they un- 
 derstood him not ; they had not as yet a just idea of 
 his work. He accomplished it alone. And when the 
 time of peculiar travail came, when he was about to 
 dig the furrow in which should be deposited the seed 
 of eternal life to be watered with his blood, he looked 
 around him, and, behold! he stood alone; there was 
 no one to uphold him. His friends had fled. In the 
 vast universe there was not one soul truly in commun- 
 ion with his own. His reproach was complete, abso- 
 lute. Oh, loneliness of my Saviour, unexampled igno- 
 miny, shame willingly endured ! Unequaled humility ! 
 Self-renunciation is first manifested by humility ; 
 but this does not exhaust it. To renounce glory is not 
 all ; we must also renounce self-will, our own interests, 
 all that which we possess. To renounce one's inter- 
 ests, will, and self for God, is at once to obey God. 
 Obedience is the realization of love. Glow of feelings, 
 
 21* 
 
246 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 ardent convictions, burning words of adoration, are 
 not equal to the smallest act of submission. It is easy 
 to be moved, and to break forth in praises. This may 
 be a kind of fever, an excitement of the heart which 
 subsides as rapidly as it rose. Love is neither an ec- 
 stasy nor a song : it is a gift ; and there is no true 
 gift except that which springs from the will. Obedi- 
 ence to God is therefore the most sincere manifesta- 
 tion of love toward him. 
 
 You know, my brethren, how far Christ's obedience 
 to his Father extended. The entire work of redemp- 
 tion was an act of obedience ; and we love to insist 
 upon this view because it brings forward the profound 
 harmony which exists between the Father and the Son. 
 The salvation of men was a purpose of God's will ; in 
 accomplishing it Jesus Christ realized the designs of 
 God. " God was in Christ reconciling the world unto 
 himself." From the beginning to the end of his ca- 
 reer our Saviour had a deep consciousness of this plan 
 of divine compassion. He executed it in all its parts 
 with the most complete submission. Antecedently to 
 his incarnation, the Son is shown to us as fulfilling the 
 will of his Father. From all eternity he has said, 
 '' Here am I ; I delight to do thy will ; " and he offered 
 himself as the pure victim of the pure sacrifice. During 
 the course of his earthly life he has but one thought, 
 and that is obedience. This is already expressed in 
 the first word uttered by him which is given in the 
 gospel : " Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's 
 business ? " When in the full career of his ministry, 
 he sums it up in these words : " My meat is to do the 
 will of Him that sent me." Step by step he follows 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 247 
 
 tliat lioly will ; he cared for it alone. If he betakes 
 himself to some city or some village, it is by the 
 prompting of the Spirit. When the Spirit drives him 
 into the desert, he goes into the desert. When it 
 takes him apart far from his enemies, he remains in 
 the most lonely regions. When it leads him to Jeru- 
 salem, although it were at a time of the greatest dan- 
 ger, when the hatred of the Jews is bursting forth 
 with savage violence, he does not hesitate. He who 
 hid himself yesterday because his Father willed it, 
 now presents himself with the greatest calmness in 
 the midst of the astonished multitude, in the presence 
 of his raging adversaries, in the temple or in the mar- 
 ket-place, in obedience to that same will. He seeks 
 not to hasten his hour ; but as soon as that hour of 
 sorrow and shame has come, " For this cause came 
 I into the world," he cries. If you wish to know 
 what perfect obedience is, go and learn it in the gar- 
 den of Olivet, where, before drinking the cup of con- 
 demnation, he uttered those words beyond which noth- 
 ing can be conceived of as the expression of a sub- 
 missive heart, " Father, not as I will, but as thou 
 wilt." " Father, thy will be done." Forget not that 
 everything in these sufferings is voluntary ; that he 
 has but to make a sign in order to change that gloomy 
 garden into an Eden of glory. And yet that sign he 
 did not make ; he remained in the dust, struggling 
 and groaning, until the armed band, led by the traitor, 
 seized upon him. He did not make it, because he had 
 said, " Father, thy will be done," and the Father's will 
 extended even to the sacrifice on Golgotha. He was 
 
248 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 obedient even unto the cross 1 Can obedience possi- 
 bly go farther ? 
 
 If self-renunciation is expressed first by humility and 
 obedience, it is manifested also, in a very touching man- 
 ner, by compassion. Compassion is love of the unfor- 
 tunate ; of him from whom we can derive no advantage, 
 who has nothing to give us in exchange for our affec- 
 tion. It is a love truly gratuitous and disinterested. 
 Such was the love of Jesus Christ toward men. This 
 compassion overflows from all the words and all the 
 acts of our Saviour. There is a word in the evangelist 
 Luke which has always deeply moved me, and which, 
 in its simplicity, seems to me to say more with regard 
 to the compassions of Jesus Christ than a multitude 
 of explanations. " Then drew near unto him all the 
 publicans and sinners for to hear him." Luke xv. 1. 
 "What impelled them thus to approach Jesus Christ ? 
 Whence came the attraction ? Surely it was not the 
 hope of finding in him a convenient indulgence for 
 their vices. Never had even a glimpse been caught of 
 like purity and holiness. And yet publicans and sin- 
 ners pressed about him to such an extent that he 
 was accused of being one of them. Ah ! it was up to 
 that time they had felt themselves despised, repulsed, 
 and harshly judged. Here is a being pure among the 
 purest, a man perfectly holy, who, far from rejecting 
 them, calls them near to him and speaks to them with 
 love ! For the first time they are loved, loved notwith- 
 standing their misery, or rather on account of their 
 misery. The looks of Jesus fall upon them with an 
 inexpressible and tender pity. Never had they felt 
 that which they now experienced on seeing themselves 
 
TUE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 249 
 
 welcomed and consoled, after being for so long a time 
 the outcasts and the scorn of a nation which only- 
 trampled them under foot. They had not yet learned 
 that those who are the last in the judgment of selfish- 
 ness, which lives only by taking advantage of one's 
 neighbor, are the first in the judgment of love, which 
 lives only by freely yielding itself up for the sake of 
 otliers. Those preferred by genuine love are unfor- 
 tunate and miserable beings. The more feeble, for- 
 saken, lost, a being is, the more happiness is felt by 
 unselfish love in giving itself for him, the more occa- 
 sions does it find for manifesting itself. Thus the 
 Son of man, who was the incarnation of this love 
 wholly free, likened himself most justly to the good 
 shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine sheep in the 
 fold, to seek the lost sheep in the wilderness. Poor 
 sheep ! he is not worth the trouble of a single effort to 
 find him ; he is worth so little compared with those 
 remaining in the fold, he is so weak, he is so far away, 
 he is going to die. Thus selfishness speaks. But that 
 which repels it inflames compassionate love. He is 
 miserable, he is weak, he is lost afar off; it is for 
 that reason that I love him, and I shall go after him 
 until I find him. The objections of selfishness are the 
 arguments of charity. '' The Son of man is come to 
 seek and to save that which was lost." 
 
 There is in Christ, as it were, a rendezvous for all 
 kinds of weakness, misery, and perditions. You find 
 there first the little child ; his very weakness makes 
 him dear and precious to the Redeemer. Man sought 
 to put him away from Christ ; but he took him in his 
 arms. He covers with his love, and gives him that 
 
250 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 blessing which rests upon the cradles of our new-born 
 babes : '' Suffer them to come unto me." At the 
 child's side see the ignorant, the illiterate man, whom 
 contemptuous teachers wished to lord it over. Eter- 
 nal wisdom welcojned them in its tender pity, for it has 
 milk to give those who can not endure strong meat. 
 And near him is the poor man. Long enough has he 
 remained upon the threshold of the wicked rich man, 
 bearing contempt and disdain. At length he has met 
 with his protector and his friend, and this friend is his 
 God. The divine poor man who traversed Judsea with- 
 out possessing anything desired to array himself in pov- 
 erty inr order to glorify it. He left upon it as it were a 
 luminous ray from his transit. He identified himself 
 with the poor man ; in him he suffers till the end of the 
 world. He hungers and thirsts with him. The sick, 
 the palsied, the blind, alike surround the divine com- 
 forter. They are his constant attendants. All suffer- 
 ing runs to meet his footsteps. Poor widow, who hast 
 lost thine only son ; Martha and Mary, afflicted sisters, 
 who buried your beloved brother three days ago, we 
 find you also at his side. How is it that you should 
 not be near him ? Do we not read in the gospel twice, 
 " Jesus wept" ? He wept over your sorrow, he wept 
 with you. He is just the comforter whom you need. 
 But what ! the rapacious publican dares to approach 
 him ! What ! that lost woman, laden with vices, in- 
 famous among the most infamous, — she at his feet! 
 Shall we not say with Simon, " Let her be driven out; 
 she profanes the threshold which she has crossed" ? No, 
 no ; let us leave her with the gentle Master ! Where 
 would she go, if you rejected her ? Has she another 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 251 
 
 asyluin ? Who can say to her, '' Daughter, go in peace, 
 thy sins are forgiven thee " ? Fear nothing ; if she has 
 come, if she has confronted such a shame in such a 
 house, it is because she has read the heart of Jesus; 
 she has heard the summons of that compassionate love 
 which is greater than every sin. She was made for 
 Jesus Christ ; I appeal to her perdition and her repent- 
 ance. Jesus Christ was made for her ; I appeal 
 for proof to his compassion. And thus he goes forth, 
 to employ the beautiful image of Scripture, like a king 
 in the midst of the afflicted, like the peaceful King of 
 everlasting consolations; and whenever he shall ad- 
 vance anew, whether it be in a church or in the person 
 of a true Christian, that same attractive power of pity- 
 ing love shall be exercised, and there will again be 
 seen that concourse of unfortunates, of feeble folk, and 
 of lost beings. Woe to the churches and to the Chris- 
 tians concerning whom it can not be said, '' Publicans 
 and sinners draw near to them." It is a proof that in 
 their pitying bosoms love is about to become extinct. 
 
 We have merely touched upon the compassions of 
 Jesus Christ ; they are indeed infinite. If it be true 
 that they were first directed toward the most miser- 
 able and the most degraded beings, not the less were 
 they bestowed on the entire lost race of man. In like 
 manner as all men are involved in the condemnation, 
 so are they involved in the compassions of Jesus 
 Christ. Ho took pity not only on publicans and sin- 
 ners, but also on Pharisees. Did ho not weep over 
 Jerusalem, over all its inhabitants, in the chief rank 
 among whom were found his enemies ? Listen to 
 the heart-rending lament of his unheeded compas- 
 
252 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 sion : " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the 
 prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, 
 how often would I have gathered thy children together 
 as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye 
 would not ! " Luke xiii. 34. It is not over friends 
 that he is weeping, it is over enemies. He has noth- 
 ing but death to expect from them ; it matters not, he 
 loves them in spite of themselves, because his love is 
 not measured by that which he may receive ; it is 
 wholly unselfish. Upon the cross his compassion is 
 again displayed ; he dies pardoning his executioners. 
 He bore in his heart the burden of all our sorrows ; 
 his compassion embraced the condemned of the whole 
 world, his pity caused it to press upon him ; and this 
 is the fearful weight which crushed him in the dust of 
 Gethsemane. 
 
 But, my brethren, compassion does not suffice; there 
 must be consolation also. Pity is only complete when 
 it is efficacious. The compassion of Jesus Christ always 
 resulted in deliverance ; and it is in this respect that 
 we ought to admire his life of sacrifice and suffering, 
 which manifested inward renunciation by a renuncia- 
 tion of an external kind. He went about, we are 
 told, doing good. He knew neither fatigue nor dan- 
 ger when he could console and deliver. He forgot his 
 hunger and his exhaustion to announce the kingdom 
 of God to a poor anguished soul ; he did not hesitate 
 to undergo all perils in order to bring divine succor to 
 his afflicted friends in Bethany. Nothing turned him 
 aside from doing good, not even the announcement 
 that his mother and his brethren were seeking him. 
 He subordinated his natural affections, like the wants 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 253 
 
 of his body, to the fulfillment of his mission of love. 
 We feel that he had given himself away without res- 
 ervation. His charity extended even to immolation, 
 the unceasing immolation of himself; he regarded him- 
 self, from the beginning to the end of his life, as the 
 holy victim of love. He gave up not only all his days, 
 not only his hours of repose, not only the hours in 
 which he might have communed with his family, but 
 also, when occasion required it, his hour of prayer, 
 that hour of celestial refreshment, of ineffable com- 
 munion with the Father. He shortened this divine and 
 mysterious intercourse to speak to those ignorant multi- 
 tudes who followed him into retired places because he 
 had miraculously given them bread. Was there ever a 
 self-devotion comparable to his ? Be pleased to re- 
 mark that we have not spoken of that sacrifice which 
 sums up and combines all others, of that sorrow of 
 sorrows, of that bloody immolation in which the most 
 terrible sufferings of the body are but the feeble im- 
 age of the tortures of the soul. If charity consists, 
 as our text avers, in laying down one's life for the 
 brethren, shall we not say, " Yes, we have perceived in 
 him what love is, we have learned it in a manner to 
 forget never." 
 
 We have not said all concerning the Saviour's love. 
 His life could be the life of perfect love only by add- 
 ing joy to the sacrifice ; first, because a sacrifice 
 offered in bitterness is illusory, and, further, because 
 joy, a holy and pure joy, is inseparable from love. 
 This dilates the soul, renders it fruitful, and responds 
 to its highest wants. The communion of hearts in 
 love is pre-eminently happiness. It may hence be 
 
 22 
 
254 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 concluded that when joy is wanting, love is absent. It 
 is only half sacrifices, mingled with refusal and dispute, 
 which leave sadness after them. Complete sacrifices, 
 proceeding from the surrender of self-will, bring with 
 them joy ; there is no mental reserve in them ; they 
 consummate our union with God. We know antece- 
 dently that Jesus Clirist has entered upon an infinite 
 joy, because his sacrifice was complete ; it is an austere 
 joy, sometimes sorrowful, but immortal.^ Vailed for a 
 time, it appears again more vivid and more intense. 
 This joy consisted at first in the consciousness of his 
 profound union with God. Although upon the earth, 
 he lived in God ; spiritually he had not left the bosom 
 of the Father, he had remained the only and the eternal 
 Son. To him he referred all his thoughts, as all his 
 works. He was one with him while remaining at 
 the same time subject to the conditions of his human 
 existence. He showed us by his example that there 
 is no barrier between God and us, and that the life of 
 prayer is a life in heaven. We may allowably repre- 
 sent to our minds that which our Saviour experienced 
 when, after enduring an interview with the perverse 
 scribe who sought to entrap him in his talk, or after 
 having borne with the slowness of his disciples to be- 
 lieve and to understand, in the evening of a hard day 
 of toil and sadness, he ascended the desert mountain, 
 and there poured out his heart, that wounded and 
 broken heart, into the heart of the Father. What 
 joy can be likened to the joy of that divine effusion, 
 of that ineffable communion ? It was the consumma- 
 tion of their mysterious oneness. There was great 
 
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 255 
 
 joj even in the sufferings endured by our Saviour. 
 Did he not suffer in order to fulfill the Father's will ? 
 Were not those sufferings always love ? And as he 
 loved our poor humanity, it was not without joy that 
 he suffered for it, for our salvation. With joy he saw 
 in advance '' of the travail of his soul ; " and we doubt 
 not that, when he cried out, before expiring on the 
 accursed tree, "It is finished," he experienced a vast 
 delight ; for condemnation was done away, sin van- 
 quished, and God appeased ! On good grounds, then, 
 could Jesus Christ declare to his disciples, " These 
 things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might 
 remain in you." It was the perfect joy of perfect 
 love. 
 
 Humility, obedience, compassion, dévotement, im- 
 molation, joy in sacrifice itself, — all these different 
 features of charity as it is manifested here below are 
 found in Jesus Christ. And if there is any other 
 virtue to adore in him, it is ultimately comprehended 
 in love. His charity is the bond of his perfections. 
 They spring from this common foundation ; it is this 
 which constitutes their unity in their diversity. If 
 he is gentle, like the lamb led dumb to the slaughter, 
 and if he is at the same time strong and formidable, 
 the secret of his gentleness and of his strength is in 
 his love. Nothing is more gentle than love, and 
 nothing more invincible ; it is stronger than death. 
 It seeks nothing for itself; suffering is nothing, 
 shame is not regarded. It desires neither its own 
 glory nor its own profit. When it is made to pass 
 through the most terrible trial, it comes out of it 
 more burning and more pure. Thus love explains all 
 
256 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 contrasts in the life of Jesus Christ. He has shown 
 us what charity is ; and, since holiness and Ioyc are 
 inseparable, we may conclude that the life of Jesus 
 was the life of God in man. 
 
 Is there any one in this assembly who rejects this 
 conclusion? Can this be so? Are there, then, two 
 human consciences ? What more can you need in 
 order to adore Jesus Christ? Are you not unde- 
 ceived with regard to those hypocritical virtues which 
 sound the trumpet before themselves ? Are you not 
 wearied with those lying heroisms, those boisterous 
 parades, the real origin of which is too well known ? 
 Does not the holiness which is humble and genuine, 
 without show and without dissimulation, speak more 
 powerfully to your heart ? Do you. not feel that there 
 is something beyond comparison in this life and death 
 of Christ, something so pure, so great, so divine, so 
 ideally beautiful, that a man must either shut his 
 eyes in order not to see it, or must fall prostrate at 
 its feet? Forget our feeble words, place yourselves 
 before his cross ; go thither even with the prejudices 
 attributed to you. Your prejudices can not be nar- 
 rower or. stronger than those of the pagan centurion 
 who was set over the execution of our Saviour. Only 
 imitate that man : for a few moments he contemplated 
 the holy victim, and scarcely had he contemplated 
 him when he smote upon his breast ; he was a 
 Christian. So much gentleness, so much calmness, 
 in the midst of such sufferings ! Words of forgiv > 
 ness to his enemies ! No, this is not from a man, or 
 that man is a God. Forget also your past, your past 
 as philosopher, disputer, and mocker. Contemplate, 
 
THE HOLIKESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 257 
 
 contemplate Jesus dying. One hour in good faith 
 with the cross before your eyes ! We ask no more. 
 We know that, if you do not enforce silence upon 
 your conscience, it will repeat the centurion's cry ; 
 and were it to be still, the very stones would cry out, 
 Yes, this man was a God. 
 
 How precious is it for us Christians, my Saviour, 
 in this sad world of sin and defilement, to have in 
 thee the type of all that which is good and beautiful ! 
 What consolation for the soul bruised by so many 
 base and miserable acts, even on the part of the best 
 of mortals, to repose itself in adoration of thee ! 
 What joy, when the heart has had experience of de- 
 ceit, or has made some mournful discovery, to behold 
 thee with steadfast gaze, perfectly assured that from 
 the Holy One no deceit can ever proceed ! What 
 grace in being enabled to say to one's self. This per- 
 fection of niy Saviour, far from leading me to despair, 
 should inspire in me the sweetest confidence, for it is 
 the principle of my salvation, the pledge of my recon- 
 ciliation to God, while it is also the law of my con- 
 science, and amid the blessedness of eternity it will 
 be fully imparted to me. " We shall be like him," 
 says St. John, " for we shall see him as he is." What 
 a hope, my brethren, and how can we refrain from 
 exclaiming with the same apostle, " Let him who hath 
 this hope purify himself, even as he is pure ! " 
 22* 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 
 
 THE TEACHING OP JESUS CHRIST. 
 " Never man spake like this man," — John vii. 46. 
 
 AFTER having considered the nature, the plan, and 
 the holiness of the Redeemer, after having con- 
 sidered what he was, what he sought to accomplish, 
 and the spirit in which he finished his work, it remains 
 for us to unroll this great work itself before your eyes, 
 in order fully to apprehend its unity and its greatness. 
 It is common to divide it into three parts, correspond- 
 ing to the three great institutions of the old dispensa- 
 tion, — prophecy, priesthood, and kingship. In Jesus 
 Christ we first contemplate the prophet, then the priest, 
 and, finally, the king. We accept this division of the 
 great subject before us ; it is based upon important truth, 
 upon the profound harmony existing between the old 
 and new dispensations. The desire for salvation was 
 expressed in all the institutions of the old dispensa- 
 tion. In the new dispensation this desire has been 
 perfectly realized. The Redeemer is the bond of both 
 covenants ; all that can set forth this peculiarity of his 
 mission redounds to his glory. This threefold divis- 
 
 258 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 259 
 
 ion of his work is not, therefore, one of those arbi- 
 trary and scholastic divisions which break up the 
 truth into fragments, and which deprive it, at tlie same 
 time, of its unity and its living reality. First, the Word 
 was about to manifest himself to the world, to reveal 
 himself by means of speech. Hence his prophetic 
 work. The Word was to offer the sacrifice of redemp- 
 tion. Hence his work as priest. In this very sacri- 
 fice he was to triumph over sin and over death. Hence 
 his kingship. We can not in him separate the prophet 
 from the victim, nor the victim from the king. If he 
 is only a prophet, he has not closed the cycle of the 
 forerunners of the Messiah. If he is only a victim, if 
 his sacrifice did not terminate in his kingship, it is 
 without efficacy. And if he was no more than a king, 
 the race of Adam would still lie under the condemna- 
 tion. According to the magnificent observation of 
 Bossuet, it is his blood in which he must gather up 
 his crown. We shall consider in their order these 
 three parts of the. work of Jesus Christ. To-day we 
 confine ourselves to the Messiah's prophetical work. 
 We shall first show its necessity. 
 
 The duty of the prophet, under the old dispensation, 
 was not restricted to prophecy properly so called ; the 
 prophet was the great witness for the truth, the re- 
 vealer of God. It is in this sense that Jesus Christ is 
 a prophet. If he had not communicated the deep im- 
 port of his work in positive teachings, his work would 
 not have been imderstood. For it may be said that 
 in every important fact there is a soul and a body. 
 The body is tlijg fact taken in itself, separately and 
 alone ; the soul is its meaning, its scope, its spirit. 
 
260 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 The body, the flesh, the averring of the fact, is of no ' 
 value. It is the spirit which avails. But only the 
 teaching of Jesus Christ could separate the spirit, the 
 soul, the profound import of the event, from the event 
 itself. The crucifixion of an innocent person was not 
 a thing so strange and so new in the ancient world. 
 In order to see a redemption in this, the exterior vail 
 must be pierced through by the mind ; and to effect this, 
 I repeat it, the teaching of Christ was necessary. 
 
 This teaching, need I say, is as wonderful as the 
 Redeemer's person. It exhibits the same contrasts, 
 the same greatness in humility, the same depth in sim- 
 plicity. It is the only teaching which is truly fruitful, 
 ever new, and ever inexliaustible. For eighteen cen- 
 turies the church has been bending over this word of 
 the Master, over the few pages which have preserved 
 it to us, with an ardent desire to see its depths, and to 
 seize its ultimate import. Men of the noblest genius 
 and the greatest saints have meditated this word, and 
 it has always spread beyond them, and they could not 
 apprehend all its fullness. Many systems have been 
 constructed, many formularies have been drawn up. 
 In these, as men have sometimes imagined, they 
 inclosed this divine teaching ; but, each in its turn, 
 they have all been broken and consumed. And yet 
 this teaching, with all its endless riches, is much more 
 simple than all the imperfect images of it which have 
 been set before us. The most learned and pious the- 
 ology whieh has entered into the labor of centuries 
 can not exhaust this teaching, and the humblest be- 
 liever, even the merest child, when he Uears it from the 
 mouth of the Master, is penetrated and moved by it. 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 261 
 
 Why is it that men so often place themselves between 
 the divine Teacher and iis ? Why are the most inde- 
 pendent minds so frequently seen manifesting a spirit 
 of servility in this respect, and accepting as the teach- 
 ing of Jesus Christ that which is but a lamentable 
 perversion of his teaching ? How few are they who 
 have truly listened to the Master in his own cause, 
 and who are not content to receive certain ecclesi- 
 astical or theological traditions ! It is the fact that 
 the greater part of mankind have read only a transla- 
 tion of the gospel, — I am not speaking of words, but 
 of thoughts. The gospel is constantly coming into 
 our hands translated, enfeebled, transformed by hu- 
 man theology. And it is because they will not go 
 back to the original, because they will not read 
 it in good faith and with simplicity, and not by the 
 light of particular doctrines that belittle and pervert 
 it, that the Christian system is to-day still rejected by 
 so many sober and earnest minds. They fancy that 
 they have intelligently decided against it, but in truth 
 they have not even discerned it in its divine beauty. 
 Might it please God to enable us to dissipate, in regard 
 to many, this deplorable misconception, by faithfully 
 presenting to them the teaching of Jesus Christ ! 
 
 This subject contains, also, a precious admonition 
 for you. Christians. You are called upon to glorify 
 the gospel by your testimony. You are therefore 
 called upon to teach as Christ taught. Learn of him 
 how a man can be a perfect witness for the gospel ; 
 learn where lies hidden the nerve of Christian speech, 
 and in what manner, under relations the most diverse, 
 — whether condemnation or comfort, conflict or persua- 
 
262 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 sion, pathos or terror, be required, — the truth may- 
 be wielded most wortliily and effectually. 
 I " Never man spake like this man." This was 
 said of Jesus Christ, even by his enemies. Nothing 
 could mor^; plainly prove that his teaching is perfect, 
 like his life. We shall examine it both with regard 
 to its object and its form, and will show you, in this 
 double point of view, that never man taught, never 
 man spoke, like Jesus Christ. 
 
 ^ There is a sense in which, first of all, Jesus Christ 
 taught as man never teaches. His teaching is dis- 
 tinguishable from all others in that he was himself the 
 object of his teaching. A master, a teacher, were he 
 the greatest of all, holds forth truth, but he is not 
 truth. He points out the way to it, he leads one to 
 feel in advance the efficacy of truth. Jesus Christ 
 alone could say, " I am the way, the truth, and the 
 life." It is one of the strangest words that ever pro- 
 ceeded from his mouth, one of the most mysterious, 
 and also one of the most characteristic./ That man 
 has understood nothing of Christianity who, in the 
 teaching of Jesus Christ, is seeking for anything but 
 Christ himself, and who asks of him a doctrine or 
 truth of which Christ is not the substance, but simply 
 the witness. I know well that this identification of 
 Christianity with Jesus Christ has been abused some- 
 times, and men have made use of it in order to reduce 
 the gospel to a powerless sentimentalism, or to an en- 
 ervated mysticism, and in order to set themselves 
 against a clear and positive exhibition of the law. 
 But everything depends on the manner in which the 
 Saviour is contemplated. If only vague ideas are en- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 263 
 
 tertained with regard to his person, if men see in his 
 person nothing but a bare ideal of human nature, if 
 his redemptive work is rejected, it is in vain to pre- 
 tend that everything is made to rest upon him as the 
 foundation ; such will build upon a cloud, because they 
 build not truly upon Jesus Christ. We freely admit 
 that the name of Jesus Christ may be lavishly em- 
 ployed, while men at the same time are laboring 
 against him, and in ignorance of him. It is not 
 enough to have for him a certain attraction of the 
 heart. That attraction can exist without the posses- 
 sion of true faith, because it may be so confused, so 
 intermingled with other things, as in no respect to re- 
 semble a firm and assured belief. The apostles experi- 
 enced this attraction even before they understood the 
 work of their Master, before they were converted. St. 
 John, leaning on the bosom of Jesus, during the sol- 
 emn passover feast, felt it in the highest degree ; and 
 yet at that very hour he had not a sufficing faith, a 
 faith enlightened and abiding. It was a precious be- 
 ginning ; it was the germinant point of a really strong 
 and living belief, but it was nothing more. There 
 would be danger, then, in affirming in terms too gen- 
 eral that one's relation to Jesus Christ constitutes the 
 whole of religion. It ought to be understood, and 
 clearly set forth, that this relation to Christ does not 
 consist merely in the soul's being drawn to him, but 
 there is also implied in it the conscious acceptance of 
 the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 
 With this reservation, we maintain that Christianity 
 exists entirely in Jesus Christ ; we maintain that, out- 
 side of his person, there exist no Christian dogmatics. 
 
264 ■ THE REDEEMER. 
 
 His person is itself our dogmatic system. He taught 
 no other, nor did his apostles. Apostolic teaching 
 was nothing else but the reproduction, or the inspired 
 interpretation, of Christ's teaching, *and Christ's teach- 
 ing had no other object than himself. Christianity is, 
 first of all, neither a doctrine nor a book ; it is a fact, 
 or rather it is a person. This sacred Person is known 
 only through the inspired Book ; doctrine is his image 
 formed in the understanding ; but, antecedently to the 
 Book and to the doctrine, there exists the living 
 reality. Without the testimony of the apostles it is 
 impossible to know Christ ; without doctrine we can 
 not arrive at precision of belief. The apostolic testi- 
 mony and the doctrine are indispensable in our view ; 
 therein we see the sacred vessel which contains within 
 it the divine treasure. But the vessel is not the treas- 
 ure ; the treasure is not the vessel ; the container is 
 not the thing contained; Christianity is not essentially 
 a compound of holy oracles, or a divine theology a 
 dogmatic system. Or, if it is a theology, it is not one 
 after the manner of men, but after the manner of God: 
 the theology of men is a laborious concatenation of 
 ideas and words respecting God ; the theology of God 
 is his own Word concerning himself, a living and oper- 
 ative Word, the Word that became flesh. " The mys- 
 tery of godliness is great," says St. Paul ; " God was 
 manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of 
 angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the 
 world, received up into glory." 1 Tim. iii. 16. Such 
 is the divine theology. It is this which enabled Jesus 
 Christ to say, " I am the truth." Show us a single 
 truth which is not connected in the most natural way 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 265 
 
 with this living truth. The two terms of the religious 
 problem are God and man. To know these, to know 
 their true relations, is to know all religious truth. 
 " Show us the Father," said an apostle to Jesus Christ ; 
 and the Master answered, " He that hath seen me hath 
 seen the Father." All that we can know concerning 
 God Jesus Christ has taught us, or rather he has shown / 
 it to us. The Father was in him. All his perfections, * 
 his righteousness, his holiness, his power, shone forth 
 in his person with softened rays, and his love had 
 never assumed a sublimer manifestation. In like 
 manner the Son represented the Father's works ; the 
 creation of the world, and all the series of divine reve- 
 lations, were attributable to him as being eminently 
 the organ of Omnipotence. Thus all which we have 
 need to know respecting man, his true nature, his high 
 destiny, we perceive in Him who was perfect man. 
 Not only does he teach us to know God and man, he 
 moreover reveals to us their true relations. Is he not 
 the mediator between humanity and its Creator ? On t 
 the one hand, by the very fact of mediation, he mani- | 
 fests man's fall and man's inability to save himself; 
 and, on the other hand, he teaches the world the Fa- 
 ther's love, who so loved the world that he gave his Son, 
 in order that whosoever should believe on him might 
 not perish, but have eternal life. What can we know 
 with regard to the work of salvation that is not di- 
 rectly connected with the person of Jesus Christ? 
 He was made unto us, says the apostle, wisdom, right- \ 
 eousness, sanctification, and redemption. To take up 1 
 one of the specifications in this passage, do we not see 
 that Christian morality, by means of sanctification, is 
 
 23 
 
266 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 to be wholly referred to him ? And with respect to 
 that which concerns the future, does not all depend 
 upon him ? Is it not he who shall raise the dead, 
 judge the world in righteousness, and lead his own to 
 glory ? Is it not he, finally, who has promised and 
 
 \ given us the Holy Spirit ? Sin, grace, redemption, holi- 
 ness, resurrection, judgment, — have all these divine 
 
 I doctrines any meaning apart from Christ? Are we 
 not authorized to say with St. Paul, " I determined 
 not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ 
 and him crucified;" with St. John, "He that hath 
 the Son hath life ;" and with the Son himself, "He 
 who believeth in me shall not perish"? We must 
 not only believe what he teaches, but also believe in 
 him. His teaching is, after all, but the imprinted im- 
 age of his person, as it is the image of his Father. 
 Let us take heed that our abstractions do not dry up 
 this living instruction. Let us fear that this living 
 water, through our fault, be changed into ice, and 
 become like a solid crystal, shaped into forms rigidly 
 fixed and symmetrical. ^ Let us remember that every 
 doctrine isolated from Jesus Christ is by that very act 
 smitten with barrenness, and that the Christian teach- 
 ing which is not a communication of Christ loses its 
 proper character, and is nothing more than a human 
 philosophy. Let us not, by adopting any new kind of 
 scholasticism, give stones for bread to famished souls, 
 and let us remember that the bread which nourishes 
 to-day, as it was eighteen centuries ago, is the living 
 bread which came down from heaven. Never, there- 
 fore, has man spoken like this man, because never 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 267 
 
 could man present himself as the truth in his own per- 
 son. 
 
 The incomparable excellence of Christ's teaching 
 appears, also, in the form, in the perfect form, of his 
 discourse. In what does this perfection consist ? 
 Speech is the revelation of the soul. It expresses the 
 different convictions of the soul. Speech would be 
 truly perfect if it were a true mirror of our thoughts 
 and of our impressions, or rather a reflection identical 
 with the beam from which it darted forth. We can 
 ask nothing more from a revelation than to repro- 
 duce fully the hidden things, the knowledge of which 
 it seeks to impart. Speech in its relation to God is 
 an eternal reproduction of his being, the imprinted 
 image of his person ; and for that reason it is perfect, 
 like all which proceedeth from him. The perfection 
 of human speech will be measured, then, by the 
 fidelity with which it shall manifest the soul of man. 
 I say the soul, because the question does not here 
 mainly concern the thought. A man may be en- 
 dowed with the precious faculty of expressing his 
 ideas with eloquence, of imparting to them a pure, 
 beautiful, and transparent form, and yet his speech be, 
 after all, but a brilliant lie. This is because the 
 center of man's life is not in his understanding, but 
 in his heart. If our speech is in disharmony with 
 our moral state, whatever may be its beauty, it is 
 counterfeit, like counterfeit coin ; it sounds hollow, 
 so to say. Not only is it false and hypocritical, but it 
 has no worth, and ultimately no influence. One 
 quickly perceives, without fully accounting for the 
 fact, that it is wanting in earnestness. Thanks be to 
 
268 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 God, great words, great expressions, are speedily- 
 worn out. It is but a thin vail wliicli the least wind 
 raises or rends. There is nothing truly powerful ex- 
 cept sincerity. A word perfectly sincere is a perfect 
 word ; and it is such only when one can say, Like word, 
 like life. Then each word comes to us nourished, 
 penetrated with the* inner sap. It is not an empty 
 sign, it is a reality, a verb ; * and although it should 
 be devoid of elegance and harmony, not the less 
 would it go on its way and reach its end. Coming 
 from the heart, it speaks to the heart. 
 ^J^ If it be thus, my brethren, — if sincerity is the seal 
 of perfection as respects human speech, — it is easy for 
 us to justify our text, " Never man spake like this 
 man," for n ever was man sinc ere like Jesus Christj 
 by which we understand that never did man ])lace his 
 word so completely in harmony with his life. Jesus 
 Christ lived out his word, and spake out his life. To 
 say that his speech was sincere, is to say too little ; for 
 there is an absolute identity between his acts and his 
 discourse. His teaching, as well as his works, depict 
 hjna to our eyes. To prove to you the excellence and 
 the perfection of this teaching, we shall have, there- 
 fore, only to exhibit to you the identity between his 
 speech and his life. The life of Jesus Christ was the 
 perfect life of charity. We shall show that his 
 speech was the perfect language of divine love.-T^ 
 
 We have seen in our last discourse that our 
 Saviour's charity rested upon his humility. His 
 word was as humble as his life. Never man spake 
 like this man in the particular of humility. Compare 
 
 * Verbum. 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 269 
 
 the divine Master with the doctors of his times. 
 They either spoke with the tone of despotic authority, 
 or they wrapped themselves up in a pompous gravity. 
 They spoke, we are told, from the hight of Moses' 
 seat : we think we can see them on that elevated seat, 
 holding the people captive at their feet, binding on 
 them their interpretations, and presenting themselves 
 as rigid guardians of tradition. They spoke of God 
 solely in holy places and in consecrated forms. 
 Their teaching was like their persons. Just as they 
 sought to inspire respect by their long robes and their 
 phylacteries, so they strove to impress a commanding 
 dignity upon their speech. It also was wont to trail 
 after it a sacerdotal robQ. It reverberated like the 
 voice of the temple itself. What a contrast between 
 these proud doctors and the lowly Master of Naza- 
 reth ! He did not seat himself upon the benches of 
 the Jewish schools. He has not in his favor the re- 
 pute of official titles, which always impart some luster 
 to those who are invested with them. He does not 
 speak from the seat of Moses ; he speaks in the mar- 
 ket-places, and in the streets, beside a well of living 
 water, upon the mountain or the shore of the lake, 
 wherever the multitudes are gathered together. His 
 teaching does not possess the majesty of a venerable 
 tradition. It imposes itself upon no one ; it renders 
 homage to the truth without applying any pressure of 
 any kind, without assuming that accent of command 
 which often by itself acts upon minds with so great 
 power. What more simple than his speech ! It is 
 stripped of every solemn form ; he derives the pro- 
 foundest instruction from the most ordinary incidents 
 
 23* 
 
270 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of every-day life ; they are stamped with a familiarity 
 which can not bo feigned. Let us venture the remark, 
 no doctor has employed a speech more laical than 
 that of Jesus Christ, and to such an extent that the 
 name of doctor could not be applied to him. He 
 spoke as a friend speaks to his friend, as a mother 
 speaks to her son, in brief and striking words. ' You 
 will no more find in him the elegance and the dia- 
 lectics of Grecian teachers than the gravity of Jew- 
 ish scribes. Socrates and Plato taught with the most 
 exquisite art ; they did not possess the magisterial 
 authority of the doctors at Jerusalem, and they made 
 good the want of it by harmony and beauty of 
 language, by splendor of imagery, and that logical 
 concatenation of thoughts whose austere charm is 
 sensibly felt by the mind. There is nothing like this 
 in the discourses of Jesus Christ. To say of him 
 that he had eloquence, would be to shock Christian 
 feeling. All premeditation in regard to form and 
 outward beauty is absolutely foreign to his speech. 
 " He hath not cried, nor lifted up, nor caused his 
 voice to be heard in the streets." Isaiah liii. 2. In 
 no sense whatever did he consider effect. We may 
 say of his teaching, that which the prophet said of 
 his person. There is " no form nor comeliness " in it. 
 Y The simplicity of his speech is precisely that which 
 constitutes its perfection. The organ of eternal 
 truth, he does not desire for his teaching either out- 
 ward authority, or priestly gravity, or artistic beauty. 
 By relying on outward authority, he would admit 
 that his doctrine has need of some outward aid in 
 order to triumph ; by wrapping it up in solemn forms, 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 271 
 
 he would lead us to doubt of its intrinsic worth ; by 
 seeking for it artistic .beauty, by clothing it in bril- 
 liant drapery, he would allow us to think that it does 
 not possess sufficient charms to win souls. No, it 
 was not seemly that God's truth should enter the 
 world disguised and burdened, ready to strike those 
 who were not fascinated by its borrowed beauty. Je- 
 sus Christ knew that uii(lLingJBras.^Q beauti so 
 ^^owerful as the truth^ and he desired that she should 
 appear alone in liis teaching. Between her and us he 
 put no authority, no solemn forms of speech, no 
 pomp of oratory. In his word truth shines in her 
 own native and immortal beauty. 
 
 After all, what can we compare with Christ's word ? 
 Notwithstanding its simplicity, does it not surpass all 
 other speech ? Doubtless you do not find in it the 
 brilliant passages of Hebrew prophecy, that splendor 
 of imagery, and that sublime lyric character which 
 strike us in Isaiah and in Jeremiah. But this differ- 
 ence is itself a part of the perfection of Jesus Christ. 
 All is equal and uniform in his discourses as in his life : 
 mighty movements of speech imply excitement, the 
 ravished delight of a spirit borne away from itself. 
 He was never beside himself : it was enough for him 
 to be himself; hence that speech, calm, profound, 
 stamped with an august serenity, comprehending, in a 
 word, a whole world of thought and feeling ; hence 
 that sovereign control of his thought ; hence that 
 unique and indefinable nature of his discourses which 
 co'mpels us to say, as we listen to him. It is the 
 Master ! 
 
 There was still another motive inclining Jesus Christ 
 
272 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 not to imitate the doctors of his day. To speak from 
 a hight, is to speak from a distance. Men imagine 
 that they will be listened to more attentively if they 
 place themselves at a great distance from their hearers, 
 in an authoritative attitude. It is a great mistake. The 
 more simple your speech, the more powerful ; the 
 more powerful it is, the more of a sympathizing char- 
 acter will it possess, and a happier adaptation to the 
 wants of your hearers. In proportion as one rises 
 higher in the seat of the scribes, in that very propor- 
 tion does he separate himself from souls. Every new 
 step of elevation increases the distance between you 
 and them ; your teaching becomes general, abstract, 
 pompous, devoid of application. Your darts__thrown 
 from too great a distance reach no one. It is then easy 
 to understand that Jesus Christ should leave in Moses' 
 seat those cold doctors who had nothing to say to poor 
 sinners. He who had a word of eternal life to bring 
 to them took good heed not to ascend into that seat. 
 He spoke to man, mouth to mouth, heart to heart, and 
 he was understood. If Christian testimony is so often 
 shorn of its primitive force, let it be well considered 
 that the cause of this weakness is to be found in the 
 fact that again the witness has been placed on that 
 lamentable hight, as it were, between heaven and 
 earth. In every imaginable way men have sought to 
 show plainly that his was an exceptional character. 
 They have even made use of such symbols as were 
 best suited to develop this deplorable prejudice in the 
 minds of Christian people. A solemn vestment has 
 been given to the witness of the truth for the hour of 
 worship, in order to invite him to wrap up his speech 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 273 
 
 in a similar vestment. Academic language has taken 
 the place of the manly and resonant language of ear- 
 nest conviction. From the cold hights of the religious 
 discourse to the souls of the hearers, the distance was 
 so great that Christian feeling, which came, perhaps, 
 with warmth from the soul of the orator, had time to 
 grow cold again. Let the preacher at length renounce 
 this elevation, which isolates him from men ; let him 
 imitate the Saviour ; let him speak instead of preach ; 
 let men feel in him a companion in conflict and suf- 
 fering, rather than a master and a doctor. For him, as 
 for Jesus Christ, the secret of power is in simplicity. 
 And when I speak of simplicity, I do not mean negli- 
 gence. Noble and true simplicity is secured at the 
 price of greater toil of soul and of thought, and of more 
 intense meditation, than splendor of style requires. It 
 is more difficult to furnish the substantial basis of 
 Christian truth, than to multiply oratorical forms of 
 speech. In this respect, as in all others, let us be the 
 disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us learn from him that 
 humility in Christian witness-bearing which is the 
 pledge of its real authority. Let us rend our phylac- 
 teries at the thought of so many souls that have need 
 of consolation ; let us cease speaking foreign tongues ; 
 and let us come down from the seat of Moses for ever ; 
 that is to say, let us abandon chilling solemnity and 
 sacerdotal eloquence. 
 
 These reflections lead us quite naturally to consider 
 the teaching of Jesus Clirist not only in reference to his 
 humility, but also his charity. These two particulars 
 are closely connected, as we have perceived in speak- 
 ing of the holiness of our Saviour. Humility is tlie 
 
274 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 beginning or the condition of love. The teaching of 
 Jesus Christ was full of charity because it was full of 
 humility. In our last discourse we have shown that 
 charity is especially characterized by compassion, by 
 love of the unfortunate, the weak, and the poor. As 
 regards teaching, he is the weak and the poor man 
 who is without cultivation, who is rough and plain, 
 one of the mass of men. The compassionate nature 
 of Christ's teaching is shown in its popular character. 
 It is admirably adapted to the wants of the great mul- 
 titude, to the wants of the ignorant and the -simple. 
 The considerations which we have already urged con- 
 cerning the teaching of Jesus Christ would alone suf- 
 fice to establish the eminently popular character of 
 his word. Is it not evident that a doctrine which ter- 
 minates in a divine history, and every dogma of which 
 has its basis in a fact, will be vastly more popular than 
 a system drawn up and arranged in a learned manner ? 
 The simple have need to say, Our eyes have seen, our 
 hands have touched the truth. Living and incarnate 
 truth alone can seize them and win them. On the one 
 hand, humble and unassuming speech, divested of the 
 solemnity of forms, has more power and authority 
 than any other, even over cultivated hearers ; much 
 more, then, shall it prevail with the ignorant and the 
 poor in spirit. To any other teaching they would be 
 inaccessible. The popular character of our Lord's 
 speech flows, then, directly from his humility. 
 
 That results, also, from the fact that he never ad- 
 mitted the distinction between the profane and the 
 initiated which is found invariably in the religions of 
 antiquity and in human pliilosophies. It is known that 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 275 
 
 Greek philosophers had two circles of hearers ; the 
 uninitiated hearers, to whom they imparted only the ex- 
 ternal side of their system, and the initiated, to whom they 
 disclosed the depths of their thought. Much regard 
 was paid, in antiquity ,4o this aristocracy of intelligence. 
 There is nothing resembling this in the school of Jesus 
 Christ. All those who wish to listen to him, who desire 
 to become his disciples, are alike made welcome, and to 
 all he reveals the entire truth. Those only remain with- 
 out who voluntarily exclude themselves, but whoever 
 draws nigh to him becomes his disciple ; the rudest, 
 the most uncultivated man is admitted on the same 
 footing with the most intelligent. The gentle Master 
 takes him by the hand to lead him into the sanctuary, 
 and, if need be, he carries him thither in his arms, as 
 the little child that can not .walk is carried. Jesus 
 Christ taught in open day, without calculation and 
 without reticence. The doctrine which he teaches is 
 the monopoly of no caste, it is offered to all men. He 
 has hidden nothing because he had nothing to hide ; 
 he confided no secret to his apostles ; he desires that 
 all which he had spoken should be proclaimed on the 
 housetops, because it is all necessary to be known. 
 To allege that certain men only are initiated into the 
 greatest mysteries of the gospel, to the exclusion of the 
 mass of Christian people who are regarded as profane, 
 is overthrowing the Christian economy ; it is moreover 
 giving men reason to believe that the gospel is afraid 
 of light. Greece kept its mysteries in darkness, and 
 it did well. Jesus Christ had nothing to withdraw 
 from the observation of any man ; therefore he spoke 
 openly. 
 
276 THE REDEEMER. ' 
 
 Not only did he refuse to admit the distinction be- 
 tween the profane and the initiated, but, furthermore, 
 his thoughts were sj^ecially turned to tlid profane of 
 t'he ancient philosophy ; that is to say, to ignorant and 
 simple men. Not that he rejected cultivated intellects, 
 but he knew that the deei>est wants of our nature are 
 disclosed with more singleness of mind on the part of 
 those who are not able to disguise them with the re- 
 finements of civilization. To satisfy the soul of the 
 simple and ignorant man is to satisfy the human -soul 
 itself; what seizes it, touches it, convinces it, is very 
 certainly suited to the needs of all. The doctrine 
 which is adapted to the poor is a universal truth, whilst 
 a doctrine may please the rich and the learned, and be 
 only a passing fantasy of the mind. Jesus Christ 
 would therefore speak to the people without fear of 
 limiting his mission. Who did ever speak to them as 
 the Saviour spoke ? Who has ever known so well the 
 road to their hearts ? Who has ever presented the 
 truth in à clearer and more attractive form ? 
 
 Be careful to observe that in bringing the truth near 
 the feeblest intellect in such a way as to be appre- 
 hended by it, Jesus Christ took nothing from the truth 
 itself; he made it undergo no change whatever. It is 
 very easy to conciliate the good-will of men when their 
 prejudices or their errors are flattered ; but the pop- 
 ularity bought at such a price is a betrayal of the cause 
 of God. ^ Jesus Christ never employed that detestable 
 system of accommodation which claims the right of 
 using evil in the service of good. No, no ; he did not 
 seek to gain a surreptitious admission for truth into the 
 heart of man, as a traitor is slij^ped into a city in dis- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 277 
 
 guise and under a feigned name. He has shown us bj 
 his example that the means employed by us ought al- 
 ways to be worthy of the end pursued, that pious frauds 
 contain the worst impieties, and that truth can no more 
 be served by falsehood than light can be produced by 
 darkness. Only the most entire loyalty in spiritual 
 things is blessed of God. Tricks, and even skill that is 
 nicely studied, offend him; the only policy of the Chris- 
 tian consists in having none. Nothing disconcerts cun- 
 ning adversaries like perfect simplicity, because this 
 can not enter into their plans, and it astonishes them as 
 something wholly unlooked for. Rectitude is so inher- 
 ent in Christianity that the world itself has understood 
 it; and therefore, when it has seen the professed disci- 
 ples of Christ endeavoring to serve him in the crooked 
 paths of human policy, it has manifested as lively an 
 indignation as if this were the first time that trickery 
 had appeared on the earth. It is because cunning, 
 when men affect to place it under the shelter of 
 Christ's name, is a thing so monstrous that even the 
 least enlightened conscience is bound to shudder at it. 
 Since our divine Master rejected all accommodation 
 in his teaching, we can explain its popular character 
 only by the form in which it pleased him to set it 
 forth. He found means always to connect the truth 
 with some sentiment, idea, or fact in harmony with it ; 
 with skillful and delicate hand he ingrafted it upon 
 the soul of his hearers, discerning with his luminous 
 vision its precise point of contact. It sufficed for the 
 dove, when it left the ark, to find one green branch 
 lifted out of the waters, in order to secure a resting- 
 place for itself; in like manner it sufficed the eternal 
 
 24 
 
278 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 truth which was in Jesus Christ to find a single point 
 of connection with the soul or spirit of man, in order 
 to penetrate it and become established within. •»- In the 
 midst of the ruins heaped up by the Fall, the Saviour 
 discerned, at the first glance of his eye, upon what 
 stone he could rebuild the dismantled edifice. Thus 
 he constantly made appeals to conscience, to the 
 sense of sin, to the need of deliverance, to the sor- 
 row and the suffering inseparable from human life. 
 Call to mind the opening of his sermon on the mount: 
 '' Blessed are the poor in spirit," " Blessed are they 
 that mourn," " Blessed are they which hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness." Poverty really felt, sor- 
 row for sin, thirst for salvation, were* found in every 
 just and lowly soul, and, beginning with this, Jesus 
 Christ proceeded gradually to raise it to the highest 
 summits of his doctrine. 4 
 
 He was not satisfied with relying upon those gen- 
 eral dispositions more or less common to all well-in- 
 tioned men. He knew that which each one of them 
 needed ; and he addressed to every man precisely the 
 word that was made for him. Run over in your 
 minds the narrative given by our evangelists ; recall the 
 interviews with our Saviour in which so many persons 
 participated. They belong to all classes, to all posi- 
 tions in society. Sometimes tliey are members of the 
 supreme council of the nation, like Nicodemus ; some- 
 times they are fishermen from the Nazarene lake ; 
 sometimes they are poor women ; sometimes pa- 
 gans ; sometimes Jews. You will not find one word 
 which is not the most touching word, i]iQ most strik- 
 ing that could be pronounced in the given circum- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 279 
 
 stances. It might even be said that the word of Jesus 
 Christ is colored with different shades of expression, 
 according to the calling or dominant intent of the 
 interlocutor, or even according to the circumstances 
 of the moment. Is he speaking to poor fishermen at 
 the Lake of Nazareth, ho employs an image borrowed 
 from their pursuits: "Follow me, and I will make 
 you fishers of men." Is he speaking to a doctor of 
 the law, he keeps up an allusion to his dignity ; by 
 this means, Jesus gives him a salutary lesson of hu- 
 mility : " Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not 
 these things ?" Is he speaking to a great multitude 
 whose hunger he has satisfied, he discourses to them 
 of food which endureth unto everlasting life. Does 
 he meet, in the heat of the day, near Jacob's well, a 
 woman of Samaria, he speaks to her of the out-gush- 
 ing waters of eternal life, and from this he proceeds 
 to address a most earnest appeal to her conscience. 
 
 Does he not multiply his wonderful parables for 
 the same purpose ? The parable enfolds the highest 
 teaching in the simplest narrative ; borrowed from na- 
 ture or from daily life, it raises the soul, step by step, 
 to the eternal laws of the kingdom of God. In like 
 manner as God under the old dispensation, according 
 to the familiar and touching image of the prophet 
 Isaiah, led his people gently, as one leads an animal 
 that is descending into a plain, so Jesus Christ led 
 his hearers with all gentleness, step by step, over the 
 high and steep declivity of truth, by means of his par- 
 ables. Tlie sower going forth to sow, the grain of 
 mustard-seed cast into the ground, the leaven put 
 into the meal, good and evil trees with their diverse 
 
280 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 fruits, the union of the vine and the branches, be- 
 came transparent symbols for his divine teachings. 
 No one of his hearers, after having listened to him, 
 could contemplate the outward world without re-perus- 
 ing, as it were, the doctrine of Christ. Nature showed 
 it to them written in lines too striking to be forgotten ; 
 and thus, instead of turning away the soul from the 
 truth, nature constantly brought it back to the truth. 
 The parables which possessed the special character of 
 a narrative produced the same effect. At the sight of 
 a flock, how fail to remember the Good Shepherd who 
 gives his life for the sheep ? A father pressing his 
 children in his arms would naturally think of the 
 prodigal son and his forgiveness. The workmen 
 laboring in a field, or in a vineyard, would remember 
 the parable of the laborers engaged at different hours 
 of the day. From the commonest incidents of life 
 thought could be lifted to God ; even the relations of 
 debtors and creditors to each other were transformed 
 into sublime types. 
 
 No, never man spake like this man, because never 
 man has loved our poor humanity like him. Let us 
 not deceive ourselves in this : it is the love ol Jesus. 
 Christ which inspired him with his parables ; it is his 
 love for souls which led him so wonderfully to seek 
 out the spiritual food which each one required. When 
 love does not abound in the heart of the witness for 
 the truth, he confines himself to teaching it with 
 faithfulness, but does not strive to render it acceptable 
 to his brethren ; he does not search out carefully their 
 different dispositions and their spiritual needs. Is 
 not this, too, one of the causes of the little effect pro- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PRO THE T. 281 
 
 duced by our discourses ? Are they not too general ? 
 Are they not wanting in direct application ? When 
 we behold our divine Saviour, rich in all the truth of 
 God, yet striving to present it in the forms best 
 adapted to his different hearers, we understand that 
 the portions of truth deposited with us have but little 
 likelihood of winning hearts so long as we present the 
 truth to them naked and dry, and fail to show the 
 tender solicitude of love in seeking out their hidden 
 wounds and pouring into them the consolations of the 
 gospel. 
 
 The teaching of Jesus Christ was full of charity in 
 still another sense. It was essentially creative and 
 productive for the mind of his hearers. A master, a 
 doctor, who is not moved by love for souls, who is 
 swayed by the desire of controlling and constraining 
 them, is satisfied when they suffer themselves to be 
 passively molded by him. He does not willingly 
 tolerate spontaneity of thought on the part of his dis- 
 ciples. He prefers to make captives of them to adorn 
 his triumph, and he carefully keeps them under the 
 bondage of his system. Such was not the method of 
 Jesus Christ. He did not set down his doctrine in 
 formal terms, like a catechism. It would have been 
 easy for him to do this, and to secure from his disciples 
 the most scrupulous conformity to the letter of his 
 teachings. But the end which he sought was far 
 higher than this. He desired that his doctrine should 
 penetrate through them, that they should possess a 
 profound comprehension of it. He therefore con- 
 stantly appealed to their moral forces. He did not im- 
 mediately impart the whole truth to them. He par- 
 
 24* 
 
282 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 tially opened before their eyes the precious mine and 
 caused the vein of pure gold to start out of the earth ; 
 but he did not bring it all forth to the light, because 
 he wished it to be dug for and handled by persevering 
 labor. His parables did not go beyond this ; they 
 merely allowed the treasure to be seen dimly. Those 
 who had eyes and saw not, remained there ; they 
 waited on one side. But those who felt a sincere love 
 for the truth hastened to dig the soil ; they quickly 
 discovered unlooked-for riches, and the efforts which 
 they had put forth to appropriate those riches ren- 
 dered them infinitely more precious. 
 
 These considerations afford us a plausible explana- 
 tion of that difficult passage in the gospel, in which 
 our Lord declares to his disciples that he speaks in 
 parables in order that the mass of his hearers " seeing 
 should not see, and hearing should not understand." 
 Lazy souls which feel no desire after truth have no 
 right to possess it. As long as they abide in this dis- 
 position, truth hides itself from them, because they 
 deserve to be chastised for their inert passiveness and 
 their shameful indifference to the most precious good. 
 If the truth were imparted to them with all its evi- 
 dence it would avail them nothing. It would be a 
 pearl cast before swine. The pearl is shown to them 
 from afar, in order to urge them to seek for it ; they 
 must then reproach themselves alone if they do not 
 gain it, for it is offered to them as to others. Whoever, 
 seeing it shine afar off, has busied himself in seeking 
 for it, is sure to find it. He will find it when he shall 
 have sold his field ; that is, when all shall be subordi- 
 nated to this acquisition. It is a thousand times bet- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 283 
 
 ter that it be not given to him without demanding effort 
 and travail on his part, since the sacrifices made by 
 him disclose to him its worth. Now he knows what 
 he possesses, and enjoys it the more in proportion to 
 his greater toil in gaining it. 
 
 Jesus Christ deposited his words in the souls of his 
 disciples, like so many living germs which should 
 grow therein. At first his words go completely be- 
 yond them. Often, by this strange paradoxical char- 
 acter, they penetrate their minds, as a sharp iron en- 
 ters the flesh. More than once they had occasion to 
 cry out, " This is a hard saying: who can hear it? " 
 But it is precisely this hardness which fixes it, and 
 thrusts it like an arrow into the depths of their 
 hearts. The time will come when all which the Mas- 
 ter said to them will return to their memories, as if 
 illumined with the light of a new day. It will be 
 found that such a word, which at first aroused a vio- 
 lent opposition in their minds, has imperceptibly be- 
 come, by its hidden power, under the continued opera- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost, the expression of their dearest 
 convictions. In the communication of truth, Jesus 
 Christ hastened nothing, precipitated nothing. Bring- 
 ing the new covenant into the world, he did not cease 
 faithfully to observe the old. He caused the abroga- 
 tion of the Mosaic system to be perceived only in a 
 partial manner. As he said himself, he did not wish 
 to put the new wine into old bottles. He wished 
 gradually to prepare the new vessel, and drop by drop 
 he poured the new wine therein. He did not treat 
 the soul of man and the thought of man like an 
 earthen vessel, in which at any moment the most 
 
284 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 precious things can be inclosed. He desired to liave 
 a kind of harmony between the vessel and the treas- 
 ure. He did not regard the living organs of revela- 
 tion as a piece of parchment, on which he had only to 
 write at once his entire thought. No ; he waited pa- 
 tiently until those poor G-alilean fishermen had ripened 
 in his school, until they had become developed and 
 spiritualized by contact with him. With what good- 
 ness did he not endure their slowness of mind and 
 their feeble faith ! With what indulgence did he not 
 interpret to them the simplest parables ! With what 
 love did he not correct their errors ! When we think 
 of the suffering he must have undergone, as every day 
 he gathered new proofs of the grossness of their appre- 
 hensions and the material nature of their piety, we 
 perceive in his patience one of the most touching mani- 
 festations of his charity, especially when we compare 
 it with the impatience continually manifested by us 
 when called to confront prejudice or error. 
 
 Finally, my brethren, — and I close with that which 
 is most evident, — the word of Jesus Christ was the lan- 
 guage of perfect love, because no one has ever equaled 
 Jesus Christ as regards the consoling power of his lan- 
 guage. His word was the ideal fulfillment of that 
 command : " Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." All 
 his discourses can be summed up in this one appeal : 
 " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden." 
 He comforted humanity in general by speaking to it 
 divinely of the Father's love : " He that belie veth on 
 me hath everlasting life." He comforted all the af- 
 flicted : " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall 
 be comforted." He comforted repentant souls by say- 
 
JESUS CIIBIS'T AS PROPHET. 285 
 
 iiig to eacli one of them, " Go in peace, thy sins are 
 forgiven thee." He comforted his disciples, his friends, 
 in those last discourses whose inimitable sweetness, 
 tender sadness, and divine depth can not possibly be 
 expressed, and in which his whole heart seems to be 
 thrown open. Nailed to the cross, he still comforted 
 them, and his last word was a word of holy love for 
 his mother and his own. " Never man spake like this 
 man." 
 
 Having reached the end of this discourse, I am far 
 from having exhausted this vast subject. Jesus Christ 
 has not only taught, he was called also to combat by his 
 word ; he was set to defend his doctrine ; and he has 
 given us an example of the manner in which we ought 
 to defend the truth. We shall have, therefore, to 
 speak to you of Christ's apologetics, and of his miracles, 
 which form a part of it. We shall recognize again in 
 this that attribute of holiness which his teaching has 
 so signally revealed. 
 
 " Never man spake like this man," because never 
 did man speak like him the language of charity. But 
 in vain had he spoken this divine language if he had not 
 lived the holy life of love. In the agreement between 
 his life and his word, an agreement which we have 
 shown to be complete, lies the great power of our Sav- 
 iour. Does not this convey to us very healthful and very 
 humbling instruction ? Do we not here find the secret 
 of our weakness in dealing with the world ? Do not 
 attribute it to external circumstances. Do not impute 
 it to our little knowledge. Do not seek for it in the 
 imperfect manner in which we lisp the language of 
 charity. Witnesses for Jesus Christ, remember your 
 
28^6 .THE REDEEMER. 
 
 daily life, your falls, your unbelieving, timid, selfish 
 acts. Your life refutes your speech ; it never ceases 
 to contradict it. Even those who have never seen you 
 receive from you nothing but an ineffectual testimony. 
 There is an indescribable something in the soul which 
 enables it to discern, without having clear conscious- 
 ness of the fact, whether a given Christian word is or 
 is not in disharmony with the life of him who utters 
 it. There are men whose inward history we know 
 not, the clasp of whose hand imparts to us something 
 of God. A word in which there flows some degree of 
 Christian life is immediately effectual. Powerlessness 
 is the punishment of religious talkers. We all are 
 talkers more or less. This sense of merited weakness 
 constitutes the great and bitter sorrow borne by the 
 ministry of the word. If we had truly lived that 
 which we speak from the pulpit ; if thy servants, 
 my God ! were always full of thee when they came up 
 into this place ; if they had Christ in their hearts, as 
 upon their lips, with what virtue would not thy word 
 be clothed ! Alas ! by our want of power we can esti- 
 mate our inconsistencies. This name to live, this lav- 
 ish use of pious words, whilst the life is meager and 
 poor, — this is the great misfortune of the church in 
 our day. But, my God ! thou knowest it, we deeply 
 groan under this guilt ; we desire not to abide in this 
 disharmony. We would speak less and act more. 
 Ah ! that the example of Him who put all his holy life 
 into his holy word might convert us to that perfect sin- 
 cerity which in every age is the hiding of the church's 
 power ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 
 
 CHRISTS APOLOGETIC: — THE SCRIPTURES. — MIRA- 
 CLES. — INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 
 
 John V. 36-45. 
 
 JESUS Christ taught mankind. We showed in our 
 last discourse that he taught .with that perfection 
 which pertaineth only to himself. But he did not 
 confine himself to setting forth the truth of God. 
 He defended that truth, he established it victoriously, 
 notwithstanding the strongest objections. It is im- 
 portant for us to gain an exact and full idea of his 
 apologetic. We must know on what basis the divine 
 Founder of man's ultimate religion rested the cer- 
 tainty of Christian truth. This is necessary for a 
 twofold purpose : whether to secure the peace of our 
 own hearts and our own thoughts, or to teach us how 
 to exhibit the gospel in its most attractive aspect. 
 What Christian is there who is not acquainted with 
 temptations to doubt? Where is the believer who 
 has never perceived a cloud coming over his faith ? 
 Upon what unknown and ever cloudless higlits does 
 he dwell ? We are tempted in all things ; why 
 should we not be in our faith ? It ia to be strength- 
 ened by contest ; it must manifest its inner power in 
 
 287 
 
238 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the collision of ideas the most hostile to it. Let us 
 not ask that it be spared contest ; this would be ask- 
 ing that it be deprived of its triumph, for there is no 
 victory without contest and without danger. More- 
 over, it is salutary to know that we are vulnerable at 
 every point, in order to turn continually to the divine 
 Physician of the soul. Whatever may be the value 
 of these considerations, it is not the less true that the 
 Christian is often assailed by doubt, and that some- 
 times a somber night envelops him in its cold shad- 
 ows, like those thick fogs which in a moment darken 
 the sky. Let it not be imagined that doubt is the 
 fruit solely of laborious and fatiguing thought, and 
 that it is enough to secure exemption from its at- 
 tacks if one does not stir the great questions of 
 Christian theology. Often in the most blessed hours 
 its gnawing is felt; it takes delight in pursuing us 
 when our souls are opened to the holiest emotions. 
 It will occur in the hour of prayer ; an impalpable 
 vail will suddenly rise between us and God, and it 
 will seem to us that our voice falls back into the void, 
 and that no one is listening to us. It may be near 
 the bed of death, or beside an open grave. A horri- 
 ble thought will cross us, — Is there anything beyond ? 
 Ought we not to believe our eyes ? It will occur on 
 some day of peculiar joy, which appears as a foretaste 
 of heaven. In this beautiful, peaceful Eden where 
 we dwell for a moment, we shall hear the hissing of 
 the serpent. We need, then, to have an immediate 
 and victorious answer. We must know how to im- 
 pose silence on the adversary, for doubt is despair, is 
 helplessness, is defeat, and would quickly prove ruin 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 289 
 
 if it were not torn from the heart. Jesus Christ will 
 teach us, by his divine apologetic, how we can destroy 
 it by a word, and regain the blessed assurance of 
 faith. Our subject, therefore, concerns all Christians. 
 May they seek in it the consolations and the strength 
 which are necessary for them ! For the hour of 
 doubt will strike sooner or later for every man. 
 
 Besides, my brethren, we have to plead the great 
 cause of Jesus Christ before the world. We must 
 give an account of our faith. Christianity was never 
 more misconceived than in our days. I will say 
 more, — never has it been worse defended by certain 
 religious parties. That is one of the most serious 
 perils of the church ; it is not only attacked by anti- 
 Christianity, it is still more compromised by a spuri- 
 ous Christianity. Unfortunately there are to-day 
 men so imprudent or absurd as to declare that 
 Christ's doctrine, in order to its establishment or 
 propagation, demands the use of force. It is the 
 same with declaring that the cause of the gospel is 
 lost ; for to have recourse to compulsion with regard 
 to a doctrine is to avow moral impotence. Men 
 strike only when they are unable to answer ; and the 
 aid of outward force is solicited only when persuasion 
 is given up in despair. Defenses of this gross and 
 disastrous kind would long ago have ruined Christi- 
 anity, if it were possible for our faults to ruin it. 
 We can not disguise the fact that a great number of 
 earnest-minded men have taken Romanism at its 
 word, and imagine that it is really impossible to 
 demonstrate Christian truth. We shall bring them 
 back, my brethren, only by proving the contrarj^ 
 
 25 
 
290 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 Never was it more necessary for Christians to form a 
 truly militant host, and all combined to maintain the 
 truth of the gospel. If they rely for the discharge of 
 this duty upon the few men who seem more especially 
 called to it, if the defense of Christianity becomes a 
 function of office, we may regard the battle as lost ; 
 for we have arrived at one of those periods when, in 
 order to defend the sacred soil intrusted to us, the 
 regular army will not suffice, when against the em- 
 bodied hosts of unbelief we need to summon into the 
 field the entire body of believers. Let every. Christian 
 learn, then, to wield the holy weapons of Christian 
 apologetic, so that it shall be fully understood that 
 the field most suitable for us is that of free persua- 
 sion, and that it is not just to charge upon Christianity 
 the cowardly discouragement felt by those who favor 
 religious persecution ! 
 
 Perhaps some one of my hearers sees not without 
 fear the attempt to demonstrate the truth of the 
 gospel. Too often a degree of skepticism is hidden 
 under the appearance of faith, and one imagines that 
 he is laying more firmly the foundations of faith, be- 
 cause he is seeking to establish the incurable darken- 
 ing of our understanding. Doubtless St. Paul's 
 word in regard to the foolishness of the cross will be 
 urged against us. We answer, that we fully admit 
 that foolishness of the cross ; we confess that men do 
 not arrive at the knowledge of revelation by syllo- 
 gisms ; but whatever foolishness it may be in this 
 point of view, it is not the less the wisdom of God ; 
 and if it is the wisdom of God, it follows that it can 
 be demonstrated to that extent in which anything of 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 291 
 
 God is preserved in man. We must be logical : 
 either declare that man is no longer in any sense the 
 child of God, and then cease to play a ridiculous 
 farce in pretending to use efforts to convince him ; in 
 silence wait for the mystic illumination of his mind ; 
 or acknowledge that, notwithstanding the Fall, there 
 is an indestructible relation between him and God, 
 and then strive to bring his soul into contact with 
 revelation. In other terms, say with us that a de- 
 fense of Christianity is possible and is necessary. 
 And how can one fail to be persuaded of this, when 
 the church is seen from age to age proving her right, 
 and establishing it against the most diverse attacks, 
 when especially she receives the first of her apologies 
 from the lips of the Saviour himself? He had neither 
 your timidity, nor your scruples, nor your fearful the- 
 ology. He no more desired the timid obscurantism 
 of certain evangelical Christians in our day, than out- 
 ward compulsion. He said to his cotemporaries, and 
 through them to all men, Examine my doctrine. 
 He had confidence in the result of such examination. 
 Doubtless he did not think that the whole world 
 would adopt his teachings. He knew too well what 
 impure motives so often shut the heart against moral 
 evidence. But he knew with certainty that he had 
 given sufficient reasons for believing to well-disposed 
 minds. Let us add, that his apologetic was popular, 
 like his teaching, and that, consequently, he required 
 from no one the exercise of a blind faith. 
 
 It is time, my brethren, to consider this apologetic 
 of Jesus in itself. The text which I have selected 
 presents it to us in its essential characteristics. The 
 
292 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 words related to us by St. John were uttered in con- 
 nection witli tlie first discussion between our Lord and 
 the Jews. The question controverted between them 
 was precisely the great question in every defense of 
 Christianity, — Was Jesus Christ, yea or nay, the 
 Messiah, the Redeemer, the Son of God ? This ques- 
 tion cleared up, and all others are settled at the same 
 time. This is the question ; between unbelief and 
 the church there is no other, or at least all others flow 
 from this. Jesus Christ establishes his divine mission 
 against opposers by a collection of proofs which can 
 not be too highly admired. He shows it by the testi- 
 mony of the Scriptures : "■ Search the Scriptures ; 
 they testify of me." He appeals to his miracles : " The 
 works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath 
 sent me." And, finally, he appeals to the souls of his 
 hearers : ^' How can ye believe which receive honor 
 one of another ? " These proofs, we say, are admi- 
 rable, because, in the first place, they are derived from 
 the very nature of Christianity. Jesus Christ does 
 not demonstrate it as men demonstrate a simple fact 
 in science or history, or a philosophical doctrine, or a 
 mathematical problem. His demonstration is wonder- 
 fully adapted to his purpose. He traces and defines 
 the true field of religious discussion. His apologetic 
 is furthermore admirable in not being exclusive. He 
 confines himself neither to external evidence nor to 
 internal evidence. He embraces them both ; he over- 
 looks no means of penetrating into the besieged place. 
 Ho begins by seizing upon the outward inclosUre, by 
 means of the historical evidence ; but he goes farther : 
 he crosses this ; he stops only when he has reached the 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 293 
 
 citadel. He is not satisfied with becoming master of 
 the house in which the strong man dwells. He ties 
 him, he puts chains upon him. To speak without a 
 figvire, he moves and convinces the mind, but believes 
 himself to have accomplished nothing so long as he 
 has not reached the heart with his words. The Scrip- 
 tural proof, the evidence drawn from miracles, appear 
 to him necessary, but insufficient, and he crowns them 
 with the moral proof, which drives the adversary into 
 his stronghold, into his innermost defense, and con- 
 verts a captive and vanquished man into a willing ally ; 
 that is to say, a believer and a disciple. More than 
 this, the moral argument is exhibited to us as the 
 necessary auxiliary of the Scriptural argument and the 
 argument drawn from miracles, 
 
 Jesus Christ, first of all, rested upon the Scriptures. 
 This kind of argument could not be employed in the 
 same manner with Jews and with Gentiles. The former 
 admitted the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and it 
 sufficed to deduce from this sacred premise the legiti- 
 mate consequences ; the latter did not believe in the 
 holy oracles, and it was necessary to establish their 
 divine character, if any conclusion whatever was to be 
 drawn from them. We perceive, then, that the Scrip- 
 tural argument is more or less modified according to 
 the different cases to which it is applied. Let us first 
 consider the manner in which the Saviour presented 
 it to the Jews. This side of his apologetic concerns 
 all those who receive the biblical revelation as a whole. 
 " The Scriptures testify of me," says Jesus Christ. If 
 these Scriptures contain the word of God, as you be- 
 lieve, is it not evident that their testimony is decisive, 
 
 25* 
 
294 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 and that if it is in my favor they completely demon- 
 strate my divine mission ? Search, then, now, from 
 the first page to the last, and you will perceive that 
 throughout they have had me in view. There is not 
 a promise which does not concern me, not a revelation 
 of which I am not the end and the fulfillment. It is 
 written, " In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be jus- 
 tified, and shall glory." Isa. xlv. 25. Who thus far hath 
 realized for us this hope of restoration, glory, and hap- 
 piness ? It must needs be that some one should come 
 to keep this promise, which is substantially the prom- 
 ise of salvation. Here am I to fulfill it. It is written, 
 " He shall grow up as a root out of a dry ground. He 
 hath no form nor comeliness." Isa. liii. 2. Do you 
 not here recognize that which every day you despise 
 in me ? and does not the scorn with which you cover 
 me become the seal of my Messianic dignity, since 
 it was announced beforehand by the prophets ? It is 
 written, " Behold my servant. He shall not cry. A 
 bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax 
 shall he not quench : hé shall bring forth judgment 
 unto truth." Isa. xlii. 1, 2, 3. Who before me has 
 united this gentleness and this holiness, such judgment 
 with such compassion ? It is written, "■ The Spirit 
 of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath 
 anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; 
 he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted." Isa. 
 Ixii. 1. Around whom gather the poor, the sick, and 
 the afflicted, if not around me ? Upon whom as upon 
 me has rested the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of 
 power, promised to the Messiah ? Spirit of wisdom ! 
 I call to witness the crowds that hung upon my lips to 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 295 
 
 gather up my words. Spirit of power ! I call to wit- 
 ness, to use the language of the prophet, the lame man 
 leaping like a deer, the blind recovering his sight, and 
 the deaf man his hearing. You will read over by a 
 new light the mysterious words that speak of my suf- 
 ferings : " The Son of man must be lifted up." Finally, 
 the last of your prophets, he who brought to you a liv- 
 ing echo of the revelation, that had been silent for so 
 many ages, did he not say, in the name of all your 
 saints and of all your seers, " Behold him who should 
 come " ? Take out of your Scriptures my person, and 
 they have no longer any meaning ; they are but scat- 
 tered torches they are blown about by the wind, like 
 the dried leaves of a dead tree. I am the bond which 
 forms these into an harmonious whole. They com- 
 pose, as it were, a chorus of witnesses that have sung 
 my praises, and whose imposing unanimity marks me 
 out for your adoration, " It is your Scriptures that 
 testify of me." A 
 
 Such was the Scriptural proof exhibited to the Jews. 
 And yet, notwithstanding its clearness, it was not con- 
 clusive, except as they searched the Scriptures, as they 
 penetrated their inward meaning, and reached into 
 the spiritual depth of revelation. The words taken in 
 themselves avail nothing so long as one has not in- 
 haled the divine breath inclosed in them, the spirit 
 by which they are animated. Men make what they 
 wish out of them ; they wheel into the meaning of 
 their own pre-conceived notions, whenever their true 
 inner sense has not been carefully sought out. A 
 mournful and striking example of this we have in 
 the Jews to whom our Saviour spoke. They had 
 
296 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the words of God : what am I saying ? they had the 
 letters. They counted them, so that not one should 
 be wanting, and yet they did not possess the word of 
 God. They* had the skeleton or the corpse of the 
 word ; they had never contemplated it in its beauty. 
 They read the word constantly, they made the temple 
 vaults re-echo its sacred sounds, at the close of every 
 Sabbath they imagined they knew it better than before, 
 and in truth they had not comprehended it. The 
 words had vibrated in the air, and were lost there. 
 The word of God, to those hypocrites and materialists, 
 was like Jesus Christ before Herod, — it was dumb; 
 for the most beautiful portions of the Scriptures, when 
 read without emotion and without prayer, no longer 
 give forth the thought of God ; they are unintelligible 
 oracles. That absolute unintelligibleness which is the 
 punishment of religious indifference may be regarded 
 as silence on the part of the divine word. Tlius, 
 what happened in that day. The scribes, who not 
 only studied but copied the Scriptures without neglect- 
 ing a single stroke of a letter, read, as it passed 
 through their hands, a Bible falsified as regards its 
 spirit in a Bible scrupulously exact as regards the let- 
 ter. There they found their prejudices and their pas- 
 sions, a temporal Messiah and a terrestrial glory ; just 
 as the very same letters can enter into the most varied 
 combinations, so the words of the Bible in their hands 
 served to express the precise contrary of revelation. 
 With marvelous address they set texts in order, and 
 covered themselves with dead literalism as with an im- 
 penetrable buckler against the arrows of truth. They 
 opposed the letter to the sharp incision of God's 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 297 
 
 word, and, if one might use the figure, they dulled the 
 sword of the Spirit against its own scabbard, to pre- 
 vent its piercing their hearts. Ah ! doubtless the 
 words are precious, they are indispensable ; without 
 them God's thought can not be grasped ; but if they 
 are not studied and pondered in good faith, it is very 
 easy to turn them against Jesus Glirist. Satan him- 
 self knows how to make use of them, and when he finds 
 it necessary he cites with most scrupulous exactness 
 the letter of the Scriptures. It does not suffice, there- 
 fore, to scrutinize them, like the Jew ; they must be ap- 
 prehended by the spirit. He who thus seizes on them 
 no longer sees in them scattered fragments ; they no 
 longer constitute for him a kind of wonderful mosaic 
 without unity. They do not contain merely a succes- 
 sion of verses and passages. They form a whole, a 
 living organism. Doubtless no investigation ever goes 
 to the bottom of the Scriptures, but yet it is possible to 
 reach to the heart of the Bible, whence proceed, like 
 so many different branches, the different revelations. 
 This had been reached by the Simeons and Zachariahs, 
 the Marys and the Elizabeths, the few just and be- 
 lieving souls that waited for the hope of Israel ; they 
 knew that the promise of the Saviour was the central 
 point of the Scriptures, and their faith in the Christ was 
 identified with their faith in the word of God. Who- 
 ever after them shall sound the sacred Book will find, 
 like them, the shining proofs of our Saviour's mis- 
 sion. 
 
 The Scriptures are not simply a collection of proph- 
 ecies ; they are the very history of revelation ; they 
 contain the archives of the work of redemption in the 
 
298 THE REDEEMEIi. 
 
 world. To every book of the Bible there corresponds 
 some new manifestation of the power of God, s(fme 
 new and important act of his compassion. It might 
 be said that every portion of the Scriptures has inau- 
 gurated a phase in the religious history of humanity. 
 He who seizes upon them with the spirit, by this very 
 act is learning the meaning of this history. He discerns 
 its object and unity, and he sees not merely prophecies 
 linked in with prophecies up to the time of Jesus Christ, 
 but he sees facts linked in with facts, periods with peri- 
 ods, and the entire ancient world gravitating toward 
 the cross of the Redeemer. That cross becomes to his 
 eyes the pivot of all history. The sufferings and the 
 struggles of nations, and especially the trials of the one 
 people chosen to represent humanity before God under 
 the old dispensation, and to furnish in its own history 
 the key of universal history, — all these different events 
 seem to him to terminate in the Saviour ; so that were 
 not our Saviour in the world, it would result not 
 merely that the Scriptures were stripped of meaning, 
 but also forty centuries of toil, of combat, and of pre- 
 paration would become meaningless and absurd. 
 
 Thus, my brethren, the Scriptural argument pre- 
 sented to those who acknowledge the authority of 
 the Scriptures has a value only in the degree in which 
 they have understood the Scriptures ; and as they are 
 really understood, and their deep import apprehended, 
 only when a desire for the truth has been experienced, 
 and investigation has been prosecuted in an honest, 
 earnest spirit, it follows that even the Scriptural proof 
 must be based upon a certain correlation of the soul with 
 revelation, upon a certain moral disposition, upon sin- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 299 
 
 cerity and uprightness of heart. " You believe not," 
 saî3 our Saviour, in this very text, " because ye have 
 not his word abiding in you." A profound remark, 
 which would be regarded as audacious in any other 
 moutli than the Master's ; which shows us that so long- 
 as the divine word is external to us, so long as it has 
 not penetrated us through grace, it is but a vain sound 
 striking the air, a seeming and an illusory authority. 
 If now, my brethren, we consider the use that can 
 be made of the Scriptural argument with those who 
 do not believe in the authority of the Scriptures, we 
 must admit that it can not be exhibited in the same 
 manner. Too often the Scriptures are appealed to in 
 the case of the unbeliever, as if he accepted their au- 
 thority. To act thus is attempting to have a suit at 
 law settled before a tribunal which is" not recognized 
 by one of the parties. At all hazards we must set out 
 from a common starting-point ; otherwise, we do not 
 reach the same end, because we have not followed the 
 same road. Not that Scriptural proof has no place in a 
 controversy with the unbeliever, but it is essential to 
 avoid asking of one's adversary, at the first onset, that 
 which he can not grant. Show him in the Scriptures a 
 simple collection of testimonies regarding the great facts 
 of redemption ; ask him to apply to these testimonies 
 the same rules of examination as to all others. Three 
 conditions are required of a witness before confidence 
 is accorded to him : first, it is necessary that he has 
 witnessed the facts ; he must also be perfectly just and 
 sincere ; and, finally, have sufficient intelligence to com- 
 prehend that which he relates. Here, then, is the three- 
 fold question wliich you ought to set before the unbe- 
 
300 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 liever. Were the biblical witnesses cotemporaries of 
 Jesus Christ ? are they honest men ? are they intelli- 
 gent ? 
 
 Are they coteraporary with the facts which they re- 
 late ? Press the unbeliever on this first question, and 
 if he answers you that the gospel is a fiction invented 
 long after the epoch to which we refer its composition, 
 require of him the reasons for this assertion ; ask him 
 if he has made the investigation necessary to establish 
 it, if he has examined and weighed all the different 
 testimonies of history, and if he is well warranted in 
 challenging them. You will be confounded at his 
 scientific levity, and at his credulity in accepting in 
 a mass the conclusions of a science not less frivolous 
 than himself. You will lead him without difficulty to 
 perceive that the denial of the authenticity of the 
 Scriptures is a point less easy to be sustained than he 
 had at first supposed. This will be already a first step 
 gained, and a result not to be despised ; for we ask 
 nothing but impartiality in examining this question 
 of authenticity. We do not fear examination. We 
 know that in an historical point of view nothing is more 
 solidly established than the biblical testimony regarded 
 as a whole. We also put far from us the wholly Cath- 
 olic idea which pronounces the canon a fact not to be 
 discussed, and which interdicts conscientious inquiries 
 with regard to such and such portions of the holy 
 Book. This stroke of despair adopted by a theology 
 held at bay is just suited to furnish weapons to unbe- 
 lief. Thanks be to God, this is but a strange eccen- 
 tricity in the history of the church. The greatest 
 church-teachers in all ages have formally rejected it, 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 301 
 
 beginning with the Fathers and ending with the Re- 
 formers. 
 
 After having decided the first question, let us pass 
 to the second. Are the witnesses honest ? Upon 
 this point, likewise, press the unbeliever. A knave 
 has always some interested motive leading him to 
 deceive us. Where can a similar motive be found 
 on the part of the apostles ? Have they flattered us ? 
 Have they soothed human pride ? Strange flatterers 
 are the men who said with one voice, " There is none 
 righteous, no, not one," — strange flatterers, men like 
 Peter and Paul, who depicted in such fearful colors 
 the corruption of mankind, and that of their own times! 
 Did they flatter themselves, did they exhibit them- 
 selves as religious heroes ? No, they brought accusa- 
 tions against themselves with genuine candor. Their 
 slowness in apprehending the Master's words, their 
 errors, their falls, their first acts of cowardice, were 
 all avowed without concealment. Finally, these knaves 
 must have carried their deceit very far. Falsehood 
 commonly stops at the side of the tomb, for it no 
 longer avails a man who is about to die ; the glory of 
 the earth vanishes from him like smoke, and he knows, 
 then, the hour of judgment approaches. Falsehood 
 expires upon lips already stiffening in death. If the' 
 apostles were not sincere, they lied and deceived even 
 upon the scaffold, even beneath the executioner's sword. 
 Let him believe it who will or can. A testimony 
 sealed with the blood of the witnesses, a testimony 
 which is a martyrdom, seems to us so attested as re- 
 gards honesty, that to question its sincerity appears to 
 us the bight of absurdity. 
 
 2G 
 
302 THE REDEEMEIÎ. 
 
 Finally, were these witnesses intelligent ? did they 
 understand that which they announced ? In our view, 
 when it relates to revelation, to be intelligent is equiva- 
 lent to being inspired ; for the Spirit alone searcheth the 
 things that are of God. The question, then, takes this 
 form : Were these witnesses inspired ? To establish this, 
 my brethren, do not lose yourselves in long disquisitions ; 
 you will not fail, doubtless, to exhibit the proof from 
 prophecy which shows a manifest and miraculous in- 
 tervention on the part of God's Spirit ; exhibit, also, the 
 incomparable unity of these books, written at different 
 epochs, by men differing greatly among themselves; 
 set forth the incomparable beauty of the Scriptures, 
 in whatever point of view they are regarded. But there 
 is a kind of argument still more effectual. Open this 
 book, read a few pages of it ; you may be sure in advance 
 that the unbeliever is not really acquainted with it ; 
 often it is true that he has not even opened it, or, if 
 he has opened it, he has merely run through it. Read 
 to him, with a soul moved by the truth, some portion 
 of the holy word, and if he does not then feel the 
 breath of God, if he does not cry out, " God is here," 
 it is because he is not willing to see or to understand, 
 it is because he refuses to come to the light ; and in 
 that case you are very strong against him. You take 
 his unbelief in the act, and you can show him that on 
 this point, as on others, he does not believe, not because 
 he can not, but because he will not ; you are led to 
 make a question of conscience out of a question of 
 doctrine. Thus, whether we look at it from the point 
 of view of him who admits the authority of the Scrip- 
 tures, or regard it from the point of view of the un- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 303 
 
 believer, the Scriptural evidence is presented before 
 us as necessarily bringing the heart and conscience 
 into court ; developed in this manner, it is armed with 
 divine power. 
 
 Let us take heed not to weaken it or compromise it 
 by exaggeration. It is compromised every time that 
 it is identified with such and such a particular theory. 
 It is unsettling faith to say, " The Scriptural proof 
 has no force unless it is understood precisely as we 
 understand it ; all is lost if you leave our system with 
 regard to the Bible. Believing in its inspiration is a 
 small matter ; you must believe as we do, under pen- 
 alty of giving up faith." Who are you, then, thus to 
 confiscate the Scriptures of God, and to compel them 
 to a disputable and adventurous theology, like all that 
 is human and not manifestly revealed from heaven ? 
 The greatest misfortune for you, and the severest pun- 
 ishment of your imprudence, would be to take you at 
 your word ; for then, truly, the authority of the Scrip- 
 tures which you love — but not more than we — would 
 be shaken. You suspend it wholly on your special 
 conceptions. Ah! the branch is too frail to bear 
 this sacred burthen! If it were true that the least 
 question raised with regard to a text, that the least 
 notion differing from yours concerning inspiration, 
 would destroy the Scriptural proof, it would have 
 been destroyed long since, and men would have ceased 
 to speak of it. Let us take heed, also, not to rob it of 
 its greatest strength by petrifying the Scriptures ; that 
 is to say, by transforming the inspired witnesses into 
 passive organs of revelation. God has revealed these 
 things to us by his Spirit. " We believe, and therefore 
 
304 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 speak." Let us not forsake their wide data of apos- 
 tolic inspiration. Finally, let us carefully avoid falsi- 
 fying Scriptural proof by using it in a fragmentary 
 manner. Let us continually resort to the great bibli- 
 cal whole, to the entire body of the Scriptures ; let us 
 explore them, also, for the purposes of Christian po- 
 lemics. Let us not quote them as did the rabbis, but 
 like Christians who are thoroughly persuaded that 
 with isolated words war can be waged against Jesus 
 Christ as truly as in his name. Let us employ the 
 Scriptural proof with intelligence and with spirituality ; 
 above all, let it be in our hands the sword that reaches 
 the joints and the marrow, and it will be for us what 
 it has ever been for the church, one of the best 
 weapons of the Christian panoply ! 
 
 We have dwelt upon the Scriptural proof on account 
 of the frequent misconceptions to which it has been 
 exposed. We shall be more brief on the two other 
 proofs employed by our Lord ; we now refer to mira- 
 cles, and to the moral evidence. " The works which 
 the Father hath given me to finish, the same works 
 that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath 
 sent me." I have not to demonstrate to you, my 
 brethren, the possibility or the reality of the miracles 
 of Jesus Christ. On the first point I will only ask 
 you, Do you believe in God ? that is to say, Do you 
 believe in a God who is free and powerful ? Then the 
 subject of miracles offers you no difficulty'. You per- 
 ceive that this God who is free can intervene by his 
 power as it pleases him, and when it pleases him, in 
 creation, without being bound by the chain of natural 
 causes and effects. The same hand that fastened the 
 
JESUS CHBIST AS PROPHET. 305 
 
 first links to his throne can break it at any moment 
 to form it anew at his pleasure. With regard to the 
 reality of Christ's miracles, it springs from the hon- 
 esty of the witnesses to his holy life ; the scriptural 
 evidence establishes it to our minds in an irrefragable 
 manner. When we shall come to unfold before your 
 eyes the ministry of Jesus Christ, we shall consider 
 the divine character of his miracles. To-day I sup- 
 pose them to be admitted, and I confine myself to the 
 question. What is their value in Christ's apologetic ? 
 
 And first, let us have a correct understanding with 
 regard to the nature of a miracle. A miracle is an 
 extraordinary fact, which, since it can not be explained 
 by any natural cause, must be attributed to a super- 
 natural cause. It is a direct intervention of God, 
 who, by a sovereign act, suspends the natural law. 
 The idea of a miracle is essentially connected with the 
 idea of a revelation. Forgiveness itself is the first 
 miracle ; it is the most difficult of all, and after that 
 no other ought to surprise us. After the introduction 
 of sin the natural course of things was bringing on an 
 absolute and universal condemnation. Forgiveness 
 interrupted this natural course ; the love of God inter- 
 vened, and there took place in his heart an event un- 
 heard of, — in the rational point of view, impossible. 
 Instead of smiting the guilty one, he pardoned him. 
 From this first miracle flow all the others ; ibr, in a 
 world of sin, all that which concurs to salvation is 
 miraculous, or contrary to the natural course of things. 
 All revelations of God have been sovereign manifesta- 
 tions of his love. Particular miracles were but the 
 beaming forth of the one essential miracle, which ever 
 
306 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 was the fulfillment of the work of salvation. The 
 greatest miracle, the transcendent miracle, was the 
 person itself of Jesus Christ, for in him divine compas- 
 sion fully revealed itself to destroy the fruits of sin, 
 the natural consequences of the Fall. But this miracu- 
 lous character of the person and work of Jesus Christ 
 was to be rendered visible to men by special miracles, 
 by works which should be its evident sign. Those 
 works had no other aim than to bring men to Jesus 
 Christ, who is himself the miracle incarnate. 
 
 Thus, my brethren, the works of Jesus Christ pos- 
 sessed a convincing efficacy only in so far as they 
 caused his mission to be discovered and discerned, and 
 as they led men to him. They demonstrated that 
 he was approved of God, and that he was clothed with 
 his power. They revealed his nature in a striking 
 way ; they were like brilliant reflections of him which 
 struck all eyes. The individual miracle, considered 
 exclusively as something marvelous, is of no value 
 in the Saviour's esteem. It proves nothing conclu- 
 sively, for an extraordinary operation of infernal 
 power may be admitted. Hell can have its miracles 
 when God suffers it. The important thing, then, is 
 not the raw fact, so to speak, of the miracle ; it is its 
 character, its close connection with the person of Je- 
 sus Christ, which leads us to recognize his holiness. 
 A miracle, considered in an abstract and general man- 
 ner, can not be invoked as a sufficient guaranty of a 
 doctrine, for in that case one might be made to believe 
 in a messenger of Satan as soon as in a messenger of 
 God. It does not produce faith. Nay, more, it hin- 
 ders it, so long as it remains thus isolated, for its ap- 
 
JESUS CHJRIST AS PROPHET. 307 
 
 peal is only to that which is most external in man ; it 
 speaks solely to his eyes. A belief resting only on 
 sight would be the opposite of faith, which is the sight 
 of the invisible ; a belief based on purely external mir- 
 acles would not be superior to a belief based exclu- 
 sively upon reasonings. For this cause St. Paul classes 
 together the Jew wJio asks for miracles and the Qreek 
 ivlio seeks after wisdom. The miracle which is only a 
 wonder is not a more spiritual principle of belief than 
 human philosophy. In the one case as in the other, 
 man takes counsel only of sight ; human wisdom 
 is the sight of the reason, while the wonder is per- 
 ceived by the bodily eye. Faith rests upon the sight 
 of the heart and conscience. But in a miracle which 
 is only a wonder the heart and conscience have noth- 
 ing to do. Jesus Christ always refused to perform 
 wonders. Call to mind his answer to those who said 
 to him, " Master, we would see a sign from thee." 
 " An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a 
 sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the 
 sign of the prophet Jonas." Was it possible to stig- 
 matize more completely the seeking for the wonderful 
 as a producing cause of belief ? 
 
 The momentous fact, therefore, in the miracles of 
 Jesus Christ is not that they be merely wonders, but 
 that they bear the impress of his person, and that by 
 them his person is illustrated. He does not lavish 
 them, he does not seek to create occasions for them. 
 He performed them through love. They are almost 
 invariably acts of mercy, touching proofs of his com- 
 passion. And, remark it, he grants them only to faith. 
 Dost thou believe? Such is the question which he 
 
308 THE REDEEMEE. 
 
 puts before lie performs some act of healing. " He 
 did not many mighty works there, because of their un- 
 belief." The miracle does not drive away unbelief ; 
 on the contrary, it has for its condition a certain 
 amount of faith. " Neither will they be persuaded 
 though one rose from the dead." The external mira- 
 cle would produce astonishment and surprise in them ; 
 but between astonishment and inward persuasion there 
 yawns an abyss. The generation who were cotemporary 
 with Jesus Christ were present at the most illustrious 
 miracle of our Lord. They saw Lazarus raised again, 
 and did not believe, because they stopped short at the 
 wonder, and did not apprehend the divine import of 
 the miracle. The resurrection of Jesus Christ itself 
 stands forth in its full signification only before that 
 mind which comprehends its vast scope with respect 
 to the matter of salvation. The Jews knew that he 
 had left his tomb on the third day, and not the less 
 did they remain in their incurable unbelief. 
 
 Examine more closely the miracle wrought at Beth- 
 any. It will assist us in characterizing the works of 
 Jesus Christ. .The Master hastens to the family a few 
 days after learning the sickness of Lazarus. Led by 
 Martha and Mary to the sepulcher where their brother 
 lay buried, he groaned within himself. It is through 
 compassion, and with an emotion of tender love, that 
 he raises the dead man. First of all, he calls upon his 
 Father, and shows by that prayer his perfect humility. 
 Humility and love, is not that Jesus in the entire com- 
 pleteness of his character ? and can not we say that 
 this miracle is a brilliant ray of his soul, while it is a 
 new proof that the virtue of God dwelleth in him ? Like 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 309 
 
 all the miracles of our Saviour, it possesses also a sym- 
 bolical character. Standing beside the opened tomb, 
 and in sight of that man raised from the dead, it is 
 impossible not to think of the moral resurrection which 
 Jesus Christ designs to accomplish. Everything in 
 this miracle, as in the others, is stamped with the 
 spirituality and the humble love of Jesus Christ. The 
 Father by this resplendent act, as by the other works 
 of Jesus Christ, says to men, " It is my Son ; hear 
 him." But in order to hear him, to perceive his 
 divine lineaments, to get beyond the external wonder, 
 we must have ears to hear and eyes to see ; we must 
 possess a degree of religious susceptibility, a certain 
 moral disposition ; and thus the miracle, like the Scrip- 
 tural proof, brings us back to the moral proof. We 
 are now to consider in what manner this has been pre- 
 sented by our Lord. 
 
 The forty-fourth verse of the fifth chapter of St. 
 John sums it up in a few words : " How can ye be- 
 lieve, which receive honor one of another, and seek not 
 the honor which cometh from God only ? " Let us 
 endeavor fully to comprehend these words ; they 
 comprise the profoundest and most characteristic part 
 of Christ's apologetic. According to our Lord, the 
 great obstacle to faith on the part of the Jews is not in 
 their understandings, but in their hearts. The cause 
 of their unbelief is not so much a doctrinal difficulty as 
 a moral feeling. They seek for human glory, they have 
 regard to pride and selfishness. That prevents their 
 discerning and accepting religious truth. Their re- 
 ligious touch is dulled ; the light shines before their 
 eyes and does not illume them. The practice of good- 
 
310 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 ness would lead them to discern the true : " If any man 
 will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
 it he of God, or whether I speak of myself." By not 
 doing the will of God, by seeking for human glory, they 
 render themselves incapable of distinguishing divine 
 revelation even by its surest tokens. At the base of 
 this apologetic lies the great thought that there exists 
 a profound affinity between the Saviour and the human 
 conscience. Were it otherwise, of what import as re- 
 gards religious conviction would be obedience or dis- 
 obedience to the prescriptions of conscience ? As there 
 would be no connection between it and Jesus Christ, 
 the greater or less observation of conscience would 
 have no effect, whether in causing us to accept or to 
 reject Christian doctrine. If the change in the con- 
 science manifested by selfish seeking for human glory 
 prevents our believing in the Saviour, we ought to infer 
 from this that antecedently to its total perversion it pos- 
 sessed the capacity of believing in him, and that con- 
 sequently there exists originally between it and him, as 
 it were, a pre-established harmony. The existence of 
 this harmony we have not now to prove. The entire 
 series of these discourses has rested upon that firm be- 
 lief. We have shown you in Jesus Christ not only the 
 desire of the nations, but of every human soul. The 
 religious history of man, which is the resounding echo 
 of his conscience, has brought to us this testimony. 
 We have seen that pagan nations, under symbols of 
 the grossest, and often the most confused nature, ex- 
 pressed their desire for a divine Redeemer, and that 
 they all celebrated the worship of the unknown God, 
 calling upon him and invoking him in all the languages 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS P HOP HE T. 311 
 
 spoken on the earth. We have seen that every man 
 sighed after Jesus Christ. We have heard speaking 
 in his heart that voice of God which says to him, " Seek 
 thou my face." We have heard that voice, at first in 
 the inward groaning, in that universal plaint which 
 we, each in his turn, repeat, in that supplication of the 
 condemned man who asks for a Saviour, a victim that 
 shall deliver him from condemnation and expiate his 
 sin. We have heard that voice in our aspirations after the 
 good, the holy, the infinite, in our hurning sighs after 
 renewal, in our thirst after righteousness and truth, 
 which is the thirst after God. The need of forgive- 
 ness and the need of God torment every soul of man. 
 But the Redeemer satisfies perfectly both of these 
 needs. He brings to us forgiveness, and he restores 
 God to man. By forgiveness, he comforts our wretch- 
 edness ; by the revelation of God, he satisfies our no- 
 blest aspirations. There exists, then, between con- 
 science and Christ the same relation that exists be- 
 tween the famished body and the food prepared for it. 
 A divine sensibility was left in it, and this is divinely 
 re-awakened in order that conscience may recognize in 
 him the deliverer whom she waited and asked for, 
 though she knew him not. 
 
 The most powerful defense of the gospel will be that 
 which, not neglecting other proofs, shall aim especially 
 at manifesting this relation between Jesus Christ and 
 us. It is this method which he chiefly employed, and 
 which he has bequeathed to us as the most capable of 
 persuading men. We therefore believe that we have 
 done more toward establishing the truth of Christian- 
 ity by setting before you the holiness of the Saviour, 
 
312 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 than by accumulating the most learned arguments. 
 Every right conscience must immediately acknowl- 
 edge, by the light of a sudden and irresistible evi- 
 dence, that he was the Christ, the Son of God. If we 
 consult the experience of Christians, we shall see that 
 it conclusively favors our view. I appeal to your rec- 
 ollections. What is that which overthrew you on your 
 journey to Damascus ? Is it external evidence ? Per- 
 haps it rendered you attentive to Christianity, perhaps 
 it exerted a blessed influence over you, but not in that 
 did you find the prick that pierced you, and against 
 which you could not kick. It was not at the close of 
 a comparative study of prophecies and miracles that 
 you fell on your knees before the cross. It was not 
 at the termination of a patient, logical deduction that 
 you gave up your arms. You had not the leisure to 
 weigh the arguments for and against the gospel in the 
 balances of your understanding. A divine hero, like 
 the great Roman general spoken of in history, threw his 
 sword into one of the scales ; that is to say, his piercing 
 word seized upon you, subdued you, penetrated you be- 
 fore the conclusion of your syllogism. Suddenly you 
 felt your nothingness and his power, your sins and his 
 love. A vivid flash of lightning illumed your night. 
 It lighted up for you the divine form of Jesus Christ. 
 He appeared to you as your Saviour, you understood 
 that he alone would listen to the desire of your heart, 
 and you threw yourself at his feet, crying out, " My 
 Lord and my God Î " 
 
 Whence comes it, my brethren, that this moral evi- 
 dence of the gospel is so rarely felt in this manner ? 
 Our text explains it to us. The conscience is the in- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 313 
 
 ward eye ; but we are too often interested not to see, 
 and Ave willingly close it. Jesus Christ is not only our 
 Saviour, he is also our pattern. He asks of us holiness. 
 And this it is which affrights and irritates the sinner. 
 So long as he will persevere in sin, he fears to be en- 
 lightened ; and, fearing to be enlightened, he flees the 
 light. He does more than this, for it is difficult to fly 
 from the light. He becomes blind, he willingly blinds 
 himself. " Ye will not come to me that ye might 
 have life." On the part of the unbeliever, his choice is 
 made not to see. The farther he plunges into sin, the 
 more does he love and seek for the darkness. By de- 
 grees his conscience becomes entirely changed ; just 
 as the eye can not perceive the light when there is no 
 longer an affinity between it and the rays of the sun, 
 so the conscience can not perceive truth any more as 
 soon as it has reached a state of absolute disharmony 
 with it. Religious truth, in its highest expression, is 
 divine love in Jesus Christ. The man who lives only 
 for self-seeking ends, for earthly glory, can not com- 
 prehend the beauty of love, any more than the eye 
 which has become full of darkness can admire the 
 splendor of the sun. " How can ye believe, which re- 
 ceive honor one of another ? " 
 
 Deceive not yourselves, then, in this, obstinate un- 
 believers. The source of your unbelief is in your wicked 
 hearts. Do not speak so loftily of your systems, 
 of your learned theories, which in your opinion have 
 gone beyond the gospel. You have got beyond it as 
 men go beyond the yoke of duty and moral rule. Un- 
 der these great names you will cover your vices and 
 your sins, and, above all, that inextinguishable love of 
 
 27 
 
314 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 human glory which consumes you. You deny the God 
 of the gospel because you are not willing to renounce 
 your idol. Could we ascend to the very source of 
 your proud doctrines, it would often appear to be some- 
 thing very weak and very contemptible. It is ever an 
 Agrippa who is not willing to leave Berenice ; it is the 
 man of pleasure, or the ambitious man, who will not 
 give up his passion, and who seeks for it most labo- 
 riously a learned justification. We shall believe your 
 sincerity in your opposition to Christianity only when 
 you shall show us a pure, austere, and earnest life in 
 support of your doctrines, and, I say further, a life that 
 is clothed with humility and divested of all desire after 
 glory. Until then we shall not separate you from the 
 multitude of those who have said of God and his 
 Christ, " Let us break his bands, they are too heavy." 
 The noisy cry of rebellion is not lifted up by your sys- 
 tems, but it circulates within them like a subtle and 
 yet distinct murmur. You desire not Christian mor- 
 ality, because that would annoy you ; and this leads you 
 to reject the doctrine with much outcry. Moreover^ 
 even while you are assuming the attitude of judges 
 who pronounce a final sentence concerning the gospel, 
 it is found that you do not judge it, but by it you are 
 unmasked. It has shown your corruption and your 
 attachment to evil. If you had lived before the Chris- 
 tian era, you might have draped yourselves in the 
 cloak of philosophy, and passed for disinterested sages. 
 But now that cloak is pierced through and through. 
 Your passions have constrained you to take sides 
 against the perfect revelation of goodness and truth. 
 You have cursed the light because your works were 
 
JEStJS CUBIST AS PROPHET. 315 
 
 evil. Take good heed lest by continuing in that path 
 you make wholly blind the inward eye, and reach a 
 time when it shall be decidedly too late to catch the 
 least glimpse of the light of the sun. The evil commit- 
 ted, loved, served during a long period of time, ends 
 by conforming itself to our moral nature now com- 
 pletely "perverted, and its assaults reach even to the 
 conscience, which, wearied with the contest, approves the 
 evil. Then it is no longer simply the opposition of 
 darkness to light, the usurpation of evil is consummated ; 
 it is no longer acknowledged as evil, it calls itself good, 
 and darkness calls itself light ; if Jesus Christ appears, 
 he is not adored, but is looked upon as the son of Beel- 
 zebub. Fearful overthrow of all just notions, total rev- 
 olution of the conscience ! Whefi he has reached this 
 point, man ceases to be man ; he becomes a moral 
 monster ; he is a cold-blooded demoniac ; and this cold 
 delirium is a thousand times worse than the most fright- 
 ful madness. We are not making a picture from im- 
 agination. This was seen in the very times of our 
 Saviour ; and if you desire that it be not seen again in 
 you, be sincere with yourselves, confess the secret 
 cause of your unbelief. I do not tell you to believe 
 this day. It is impossible to lead a man whose eyes 
 are diseased into the full light of the sun. I only say 
 to you, Heal your diseased eyes, undertake the heal- 
 ing of your conscience. Endeavor to fulfill that which 
 you know of the will of God. Throw sincerity into 
 this effort, and quickly by a mysterious influence the in- 
 ward eye will be illumined anew. It would be in truth 
 too lamentable to live overwhelmed with the splendor 
 of that light from on high which has shone upon us for 
 
316 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 eighteen centuries, and at the same time remain like 
 those wretched nations of pagan antiquity whom the 
 prophet shows to us sitting, or rather buried, in dark- 
 ness. 
 
 Christ's apologetic consisted, then, principally in 
 carrying back the appeal from unbelief to immorality, 
 from an erring understanding to a perverted con- 
 science. Such is the method which he has be- 
 queathed to us ; and I can not too earnestly press it 
 upon Christians to employ this method in their inter- 
 course with unbelievers. It is applicable to all, and 
 can be used by all. Let them imitate their Saviour on 
 this point, as on every other. I do not say, neglect 
 other proofs, but let us strike the adversary in his 
 most sensitive point. Let us not leave him the posi- 
 tion of an arrogant judge ; it is dangerous for him. Let 
 us cause him to descend from his tribunal by bringing 
 his sins before him. On this ground we shall certainly 
 be victorious. Discussion unduly excites the intellect 
 of our opponent. The understanding, and yet more 
 human language, is fertile in resources. To our 
 arguments he will oppose arguments, and our antago- 
 nist will withdraw probably satisfied with his dialectic 
 skill and with his talents. Let us come to the fact ; 
 let us make haste : sin, perdition, is the fact ; let us 
 approach it with tact and discretion, certainly, but 
 with frankness, placing ourselves on trial. Let us 
 not leave our adversary, or rather that poor sinner, 
 who can not do without a Saviour, until we plant in 
 his conscience an arrow which shall remain infixed. 
 Perhaps it will bring him wounded and penitent to 
 the divine Comforter. Scarcely had Jesus spoken a 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS PROPHET. 317 
 
 few words to the Samaritan woman, when he inter- 
 rupted the conversation by addressing to her that 
 humiliating word, " Go call thy husband." " I have 
 no husband." " Thou hast well said, I have no hus- 
 band." He put his finger upon the wound of that 
 soul ; therefore will she quickly ask of him to be 
 healed. The breach by which the Lord enters within 
 us is always made in our pride. The sense of sin 
 prepares the way for him. The preacher of repent- 
 ance has not ceased to be the forerunner of Christ. 
 Let us then preach repentance, not only in a general 
 manner, but to each one individually. Let us make 
 him feel the edge of that ax which is still laid at the 
 root of the trees, and let us remember that prepara- 
 tion for witness-bearing to the truth should be made 
 by rendering energetic testimony against evil. He 
 who assails sin directly strikes both error and evil at 
 the indivisible point where it is impossible to separate 
 them. This, too, is the strongest and most fruitful 
 kind of apologetic, because it really goes to the bot- 
 tom of things, and, following the Master's example, it 
 makes its appeal to the deepest and most earnest 
 want of the soul, the need of salvation. 
 
 Perhaps many of our hearers think that we have at- 
 tributed too much importance to Christian apologetic, 
 and that greater confidence should be reposed in the 
 grace of God. This scruple would indicate a singular 
 misconception with regard to divine grace, which 
 chooses human activity as the ordinary channel of its 
 gifts. We firmly believe that, in season and out of 
 season, and by all possible means, we must plead the 
 Master's cause. But not the less fully on this account 
 
 27* 
 
318 THE REDEEMEIi. ^ 
 
 do we accept that saying, " No man cometb unto me 
 except the Father draw him." Without grace, with- 
 out the operation of the divine Spirit, heart and con- 
 science remain insensible ; and it is especially when 
 grappling with unbelief that we feel the barrenness 
 of human efforts left to themselves. God has not 
 abdicated his power of acting directly upon the 
 hearts of men. It is he who prepares the field, who 
 bestows the fructifying rain and dew ; it is he who 
 often incloses in the simplest word secret and ir- 
 resistible virtue. If he withdraws his breath, our 
 word is like the sounding brass or the tinkling cym- 
 bal. And therefore, Lord, being called to give 
 testimony before this unbelieving and perverse gene- 
 ration, we desire to supplicate thee to grant to thy 
 witnesses the constantly renewed effusion of thy 
 Spirit. Give them the spirit of prayer, that they may 
 not speak to any of their brethren before they have 
 spoken to thee, Father, to ask of thee an effectual 
 word, full of thyself. Shake the conscience ; and 
 may the great and severe lessons which thou seemest 
 ready to give to this age prepare in the vexed soil a 
 furrow wherein eternal seed shall be sown. May thy 
 mighty voice impose silence on insolent doubt and 
 mocking unbelief, and, understanding the nothingness 
 of glory and pride, may hearts long hardened break 
 beneath thy powerful hand, so that from their humili- 
 ation faith shall be born in them at the word spoken 
 by the defenders of truth, through thy grace, and to 
 thy glory ! 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 
 
 FIRST PERIOD OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST, OR 
 HIS MANIFESTATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'* 
 — John i. 29. 
 
 WE have finished our description of the Redeem- 
 er's prophetical work. We enter upon his 
 priestly work to-day. It did not suffice that he should 
 be a prophet ; it was also necessary that he should be 
 the propitiatory victim, or otherwise salvation would 
 not have been accomplished, and the human con- 
 science would still have sighed after the perfect Sav- 
 iour ; for everywhere and always it has perceived 
 that a sacrifice was the indispensable condition of rec- 
 onciliation with God. The extent of this sacrifice is 
 revealed to us in our text. It shows us that it ought 
 not to be restricted to Christ's death, but that it em- 
 braces his entire life. In fact, the words, " Behold 
 the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world," are applied to our Saviour at the time when 
 he is entering upon his ministry. More than two 
 years passed away from the day on which they were 
 spoken to the day when his redeeming blood watered 
 
 319 
 
320 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the earth ; from which we conclude that the sacri- 
 fice on the cross is the final term, the culminating 
 point of a long sacrifice, and that the immolation of 
 Jesus Christ began with his entrance into the world. 
 •Not for a moment did he cease to be the Lamb that 
 taketh away sin, the expiatory victim, the great high 
 priest of the new covenant. The sacrifice of the cross 
 doubtless combines and absorbs all others, as a large 
 river absorbs all the streams which pour themselves 
 into its bosom. This is the sacrifice pre-eminently, 
 that one without which all others would be insuffi- 
 cient. And therefore the gospel reverts to it continu- 
 ally. Most frequently it refers all the redemptive suf- 
 ferings to the last, which is the crown and completion 
 of them all. But it would be an inadequate compre- 
 hension of the gospel, and would be doing violence to 
 our text, absolutely to isolate the crucifixion. Jesus 
 Christ did not take a single step outside of the path- 
 way that led to the cross. He constantly was ascend- 
 ing Calvary. The sufferings of his life are to be added 
 to the sufferings of his death, in respect to the great 
 and final expiation, y 
 
 My brethren, in what should this expiation consist ? 
 How could the Lamb of God take away the sin of the 
 world ? It is only the answer to this question which 
 will enable us to understand the sacerdotal work of 
 Christ. 
 
 The normal state of man is one of absolute agree- 
 ment with God, of perfect union with him ; but, be- 
 ing a free and intelligent creature, he can realize that 
 agreement only by the harmony of his will with the 
 divine will. The result of the Fall was the opposition 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 321 
 
 of the human will to the divine will ; in other words, 
 violation of God's law, rebellion. The God of love is 
 at the same time the God of justice and holiness. He 
 can not suffer his law to be violated with impunity, 
 unless he declares that it possesses no importance, and 
 that it is allowable to make a mock at it and to tram- 
 ple it under foot ; that is to say, unless the very foun- 
 dations of the moral world be overthrown. It must 
 needs be that the guilty man feel that the disharmony 
 between the creature and the Creator is a frightful 
 confounding of the order of the universe, that rebellion 
 is the greatest of misfortunes, or rather the sole source 
 of all misfortune, whilst it is also a crime. God's law 
 is but vain words if it is not avenged on its violators, 
 and if it does not prove by their punishment the folly 
 and shame of revolt. A pardon incompatible with 
 justice would be equivalent to God's abdication of his 
 throne, for his greatness can not be separated from his 
 holiness. I will go farther : I will say that the con- 
 science of man would not desire such a pardon, that 
 it would not even believe in its existence, for it 
 bears inscribed in letters of fire the righteousness of 
 God. 
 
 Punishment is, then, my brethren, the precise sanc- 
 tion of God's outras^ed and violated law. It must fall 
 upon the guilty head ; the hand of the Most High 
 could not hold back that thunderbolt irresistibly at- 
 tracted toward sin. And although God should not 
 punish, man would punish himself; for as sin consists 
 in rejecting God, as it is the refusal to love him, it is 
 the refusal of happiness ; it is the essence of all unhap- 
 piness : evil and misery are, in the absolute point of 
 
322 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 view, one and the same thing. Pardon, then, could 
 not consist in the simple, bare repeal of condemnation ; 
 it can not restore guilty humanity into the communion 
 of God so long as it is in a state of revolt. To effect 
 that, it must needs be that God is no longer God, that 
 love is no longer love, that is to say, the profound 
 harmony of two beings. Humanity can be saved only 
 by returning to God ; and it will return to God only 
 when it shall have perfectly fulfilled the divine law. 
 Heavenly pity is manifested, not by terminating the 
 condemnation in a moment, but by giving to man the 
 means of finding God again, and of rendering back 
 his heart to him. If Jesus Christ had come into the 
 world to bring a salvation not founded upon perfect 
 obedience, he would have come in fact to deny the 
 justice of God, and to deliver it up to our contempt. 
 In that case it would have more availed not to leave 
 heaven, and to spare himself a humiliation so useless, 
 and so fatal in its results. 
 
 My brethren, no child of Adam could satisfy divine 
 justice. Were they not all shut up in sin and in con- 
 demnation, as in a circle which could not be crossed ? 
 The circle must be broken somewhere by a creative 
 and almighty act. The Son of man, conceived of the 
 Holy Spirit, the God-man, is alone capable of com- 
 pletely fulfilling the divine law ; nay, more, obedience 
 must go to the extent of sacrifice, for the revolt of hu- 
 manity has drawn after it terrible chastisements. Hu- 
 man life has become a life of sorrows, and the earth a 
 vale of tears. The point at issue is not now, as on the 
 first day, to obey in a bright and glorious abode, but 
 to obey in the world of condemnation. It is necessary, 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 323 
 
 then, to enter into that condemnation, accept it, and 
 take it on one's self. This acceptance constituted pri- 
 marily the priestly work of Jesus Christ. That which 
 Scripture calls thé wrath of God rests upon our poor 
 world. By descending into it, our Saviour puts him- 
 self beneath this wrath, that is to say, he undergoes 
 all the punishments here below which flow from sin as 
 from a corrupted and inexhaustible fountain. From ^ 
 the humiliating weakness of infancy up to the yet '< 
 more humiliating weakness of death, from physical 
 anguish up to moral anguish, pushed to its utmost 
 limits, until it wrung from him that mysterious word, 
 " My Grod ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? " 
 he combined in himself all the consequences of the 
 Fall. He accepted them freely and willingly, since 
 he had not merited them. He who was without sin 
 was treated as the sinner ; he suffered, he died ; but his 
 sufferings and his death rose to the hight of a free sac- 
 rifice of love and obedience. Condemnation, thus ac- 
 cepted, is no longer simply condemnation ; it is an act 
 of union with God, a restorative act, a redemption. We 
 can say with the prophet, that the chastisement which 
 was ready to fall upon us fell upon him. His sacrifice 
 sealed for ever that union between humanity and divin- 
 ity, of which his person was the certain pledge. His obe- 
 dience u.nto the death of the cross established the agree- 
 ment between the human will and the divine will which 
 the Fall had destroyed, for he offered himself as being 
 the Son of man. He is the real representative of hu- 
 manity. He concentrated it in himself, according to the 
 expression of Irenseus. His priestly work is therefore 
 his essential work ; and as it consisted in the volun- 
 
324 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 taiy acceptance of all the consequences of the Fall, of 
 all the sufferings of human life, we are justified in 
 saying that it embraced his earthly career, from the 
 beginning to the close ; and we have now but to sketch 
 it in its general features. We shall do no more than 
 point you to the Lamb of God proceeding to the altar 
 to take away the sins of the world. 
 
 It is not our aim, my brethren, to unroll before you 
 the entire life of our Saviour. We suppose it known 
 by our hearers. Moreover, the preaching of the gospel 
 constantly returns to this inexhaustible theme. We 
 desire only to give you a guiding thread to direct you 
 amid the multiplicity of facts, and to exhibit to you, 
 in its unity, that holy life which was but one prolonged 
 immolation. We shall endeavor to bring out this as- 
 pect of the sacrifice, which is its most important aspect. 
 Let us never forget that at the base of all particular 
 sacrifices there lies one antecedent sacrifice, from which 
 they flow, — the humiliation of our Saviour, his in- 
 carnation, his appearance upon our sinful earth. This 
 already suffices to enable us to acknowledge in him the 
 Lamb, the victim which taketh away the sin of the 
 world. But we shall not limit ourselves to that view ; 
 we shall endeavor to bring forth to view the special 
 sacrifice which marked each period of the Redeemer's 
 life, until that mysterious hour which presents to us 
 all the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, bound together 
 in a single indivisible bundle to crush him and to 
 save us. 
 
 It would be necessary, first of all, in order to give 
 you a complete idea of Christ's ministry, to transport 
 you into the midst of the scenes of that land of Judaea 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 325 
 
 in which he dwelt, that you may tread his native soil ; 
 for if Jesus Christ was pre-eminently the man of all 
 countries and of all times, he nevertheless possessed a 
 very marked individuality. He was placed in given cir- 
 cumstances, over against certain special facts. The 
 more exact the presentation of those circumstances 
 and facts to the mind, the better is the Saviour known. 
 Then nothing abstract attaches any longer to our con- 
 ception of him. We see him, we hear him. He lives 
 before our eyes. He is no longer truth reduced into 
 an idea, but truth that lives, and which consequently 
 appears under an individual form. It will be neces- 
 sary, therefore, to call your attention to the sphere 
 of his activity before speaking to you of his -work. 
 The state of Judaism at that memorable epoch must 
 be depicted. You must see it resembling, in all re- 
 spects, expiring paganism, with its Stoics and Epicure- 
 ans,* only the Stoics are called Pharisees at Jerusa- 
 lem, and the Epicureans Sadducees. These two ten- 
 dencies of thought, which flourish only upon the ruins 
 of falling religions, and which strive to escape from 
 despair through pride or through voluptuousness, re- 
 appear under different names upon the sacred soil of 
 revelation. The Pharisee wraps himself in his legal' 
 righteousness, as the Stoic in his chilling virtue. Both 
 at heart worship only themselves. The Sadducee, like 
 the Epicurean, does not believe in the immortality of 
 the soul ; and if he says, " All upon earth and in 
 heaven is vanity," he does not fail to add, " except 
 enjoyment." A third sect, the Essenes, a kind of Jew- 
 ish monks, who live in abstinence and solitude, are 
 the representatives in Judasa of the ancient asceticism 
 
 28 
 
326 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of the East, Avhilst at Alexandria a fantastic form of 
 mysticism seeks to revive the ancient faith by pious 
 practices, and to appease the troubled conscience by 
 useless macerations. Religion is no longer anything 
 but a vain form ; and if it still possesses a certain influ- 
 ence over the people, it is because they confound reli- 
 gion with patriotism, which has become tinged with a 
 gloomy enthusiasm in their minds in consequence of 
 the misfortunes of their country and its subjection to 
 the Roman yoke. It would be necessary to paint in 
 lively colors their colossal formalism, those unbeliev- 
 ing priests, those scribes and teachers stifling beneath 
 the letter the vivifying spirit of the old covenant, that 
 gross and fanatical multitude groaning under foreign 
 domination and waiting for a temporal deliverer. It 
 would be necessary to bring together all the signs of 
 that .vague expectation with regard to a great approach- 
 ing event which agitated the entire world, troubled 
 Herod upon his throne, disquieted the Sanhedrim, and 
 urged the people to follow every impostor who played 
 upon their passions. In a word, it would be requisite 
 to cause you to live the life of that age and of that 
 country. Then the gospel history would acquire an en- 
 tirely new interest for you. But, unfortunately, we are 
 bound to limit ourselves to these general indications. 
 That which we particularly regret is not being able to 
 pause upon the mission of the courageous prophet, 
 who, being the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ, 
 gave powerful expression to those secret anticipations, 
 to those pious hopes of salvation, to that inward proph- 
 ecy, which, in the silence of prophecy properly so 
 called, had developed itself in earnest souls, and which 
 
JESUS CHIilST AS SACRIFICE. 327 
 
 announced with ever-augmenting clearness that the 
 long and ardent desire of Israel was about to be ful- 
 filled. What a beautiful and nable figure is John the 
 Baptist ! Should we not say that the entire ancient 
 dispensation, personified in him, approaches to salute, 
 or rather to adore, Him who was to come, and who at 
 length had come ? Have you not found the two most 
 characteristic features of the preparatory economy re- 
 peated in him ? Who could fail to recognize the man 
 of the law in that man who preached repentance with 
 such indomitable energy, and in accents at times so 
 terrific ? We are ready to say that he is descending 
 from the top of Sinai, and that upon his austere fea- 
 tures there shines a burning reflection of the wrath 
 of God. When he plunges his numerous proselytes 
 into the waters of the Jordan does he not seem to be 
 fulfilling the great mission of the Old Testament, 
 which was to plunge the burdened sinner into the bit- 
 ter sense of his sin, to bury him therein in some sort, 
 in order that he might turn unto the God of par- 
 don ? In another aspect, have you not recognized the 
 man of prophecy in those closing words of all his ap- 
 peals, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand " ? Have 
 you not discerned the man of prophecy in him who 
 was continually declaring, " One cometh after me " ? 
 And do not law and prophecy constitute the entire 
 Old Testament? In its name, therefore, John the 
 Baptist comes solemnly to announce its fulfillment, 
 and the necessary disappearance of the white light of 
 the dawn before the Sun of truth. We should love to 
 gather together those different lineaments of character 
 which have rendered this great servant of the Most 
 
328 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 High the pattern of witnesses to the truth. Consumed 
 with zeal for his mission, living for it alone, his entire 
 person stamped with that seal of austere greatness, 
 of profound and fearful earnestness, which pertains to 
 a representative of God ; a man of the desert, even 
 when encompassed by the multitude, scourging with 
 his rough and manly speech the strong and the power- 
 ful who live in sin ; by his severe rebukes troubling 
 Herod even in the midst of the impure feasts of his 
 palace, and thrusting an arrow into his conscience 
 which he shall never be able to draw forth ; above alï 
 this, humble among the humble, ambitious only of ob- 
 literating the traces of his own footsteps so that the 
 Messiah alone should be honored, as desirous to de- 
 crease as others are to increase, and finally crowning 
 a life of heroic fidelity with a martyr's death, — such 
 was John the Baptist, and such would we love to show 
 him to you in the last acts of his ministry ; but we are 
 forced to be content with stating in a very general 
 manner the means employed by the Forerunner to 
 prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. It is 
 time to enter upon this work of sorrow and love. Let 
 us survey the different phases in the Saviour's life, and 
 with regard to each one of them let us endeavor to es- 
 tablish the words of our text, " Behold the Lamb of 
 God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 
 
 See him, then, first in the manger at Bethlehem. 
 He submitted himself to the humiliating beginnings 
 of human life ; he passed through the perfect help- 
 lessness of the little child. He was seen in swaddling 
 clothes and in his cradle, like the frailest of our new- 
 born babes. This was the commencement of his vol- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 329 
 
 untary humiliation, for it was not merely in liis case 
 a fact of nature ; when he left heaven he knew to 
 what degrees of weakness it would be needful for him 
 to stoop. Infancy was then the first of his chosen 
 acts of self-humiliation, and the first one among his 
 sacrifices. 
 
 Let us pass rapidly over the part concerning which 
 the gospel history furnishes no details, and let us re- 
 spect in this silence the will of God. Because history 
 is silent here, legends have sprung up in great num- 
 bers to paint this epoch in the life of Christ ; and if 
 we desire to know to what extent the legend belittles 
 that which it professes to embellish, to what extent it 
 changes while professing to conserve, we need only 
 peruse the apocryphal gospels. Let it suffice us to know 
 that Jesus Christ passed through, one by one, all the 
 stages of human life ; that he subjected himself to the 
 conditions of gradual development ; that he was like 
 unto us in all things except sin ; that he underwent 
 the trial of many sufferings, privations, and agonies 
 inherent in our earthly condition, during the thirty 
 years of solitary toil and of obscurity which were 
 spent at Nazareth. 
 
 Let us come to the momentous hour when he 
 enters upon his active ministry. After having re- 
 ceived a kind of inauguration and consecration by 
 baptism at the hands of the man of the old dispensa- 
 tion, he is driven into the desert, as if to prepare for 
 the holy activity which he is about to manifest. 
 There he will find one of the greatest sufferings of 
 human life : we mean temptation. Since the Fall, a 
 mysterious might has been granted to the powers of 
 
 28* • 
 
330 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 darkness. Man is obliged to struggle against an in- 
 visible but furious adversary who everywhere pursues 
 him. We shall not set ourselves to prove the exist- 
 ence of rebel angels and their leader. We will ask 
 those who deny it on behalf of a preconceived system, 
 if they are very sure that they have never felt this 
 baleful influence ; if there have not been days when 
 they were pierced by a fiery dart hurled by no human 
 hand, days when they heard a seductive voice less 
 perceptible than the slightest whispering of the wind, 
 and yet stirring the secret fibers of their hearts or 
 raising the tempest of their lusts ? Ah ! for our- 
 selves we know too well this perfidious and obstinate 
 tempter, who is called the Prince of this world. The 
 present life is the life of combat and temptation, and 
 Jesus Christ would not have been truly the Redeemer 
 if he had not been tempted like as we are. Behold, 
 then, this Lamb of God struggling with the devouring 
 lion ! He accepted this humiliation and this sorrow. 
 He whose eyes are too pure to look upon iniquity 
 suffered himself to be approached by the leader of 
 every rebellion, who was a liar and a murderer from 
 the beginning. Ah ! who then could dare to say that 
 such temptation does not form a part of his passion 
 and his redemptive sufferings ? To say that, one 
 must have but a very feeble comprehension of the 
 holy horror which goodness entertains for evil, and 
 light for darkness. The sacrifice begun in the man- 
 ger is then continued in the desert. And let us add, 
 that no preparation could be preferable to that which 
 he found in being tempted upon the threshold of the 
 career in which so many temptations awaited him. 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE, 331 
 
 Nothing prepares for victory like victory ; the best 
 means of overcoming is to have already overcome. 
 The Saviour enters upon the contest, having already 
 won the victory over his adversary in that singular 
 combat of which the desert was the arena. Not only 
 was the temptation of Jesus Christ a sacrifice in it- 
 self, but it was also the occasion of Christ's consecrat- 
 ing himself anew and wholly to the fulfillment of his 
 mission of love. Satan tempted him as the Messiah, 
 and thrice sought to prevail upon him to use his 
 miraculous power for a selfish and personal end : 
 " Command these stones to be made bread." " Cast 
 thyself down from the temple, that the angels may 
 bear thee up." " Aim to possess the kingdoms of 
 this world." In other words, " Seek 'thine own ad- 
 vantage from thy miracles." " Live for thyself and 
 not for others." The temptation of Jesus Christ was, 
 you perceive, under a specific form, the everlasting 
 and universal temptation of the self-seeking princi- 
 ple. You know how Jesus Christ repulsed it thrice, 
 thus showing that, having come to accomplish a work 
 of love, he desired to fulfill it by love, and that he 
 placed his miraculous power, as his whole life, at the 
 service of his brethren, without diverting any portion 
 of it to himself. Thus the temptation of Jesus Christ 
 was a renewed gift of his being to God and to men, 
 at the same time that it was a part of his sacrifice. 
 
 Having thus prepared himself in the combats of 
 the desert, Jesus Christ enters upon his active min- 
 istry. It is a new step in the pathway to the cross. 
 New sacrifices are prepared for him. And, first, his 
 life during the course of his ministry was a human 
 
332 THE REDEEMED. 
 
 life ; that is to say, it was that tissue of pains and suf- 
 ferings which it is impossible to analyze, but which 
 are thickly sown for all men. He freely accepted 
 them. He fed upon our daily bread, which is often a 
 bread of bitterness, and he constantly broke it with 
 thanksgiving to his Father. To these pains inherent 
 in life here below, he joined that of poverty. He 
 took on him the most wretched form of human ex- 
 istence because he wished to lay upon himself tlie 
 burden of our greatest sorrows. Poverty is one of 
 the saddest consequences of the Fall ; sad for the 
 poor man whom it afflicts, sadder still perhaps for 
 the rich man whom it accuses. Of necessity it must 
 find a place in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Another 
 suffering which never left him, because it flowed from 
 his love, is the suffering caused by his compassion. 
 The pity of Jesus Christ had no relation to ours, 
 which is so superficial, so temporary, and so easy to 
 bear. His was a true communion with all those who 
 suffered and wept ; no one suffered near him without 
 rendins: his heart. Far more than this : he suffered 
 for those who did not suffer ; he wept over the hard- 
 ened sinner, and nothing wounded him like the sight 
 of unrepentant evil. The Lamb who was taking away 
 the sin of the world was bearing the weight of it upon 
 his heart. It is easy to conceive how contact with 
 men must have pierced his soul, and whoever ap- 
 prehends but dimly the Redeemer's love understands 
 that his compassion truly constituted a part of his 
 passion. 
 
 But aside from these sufferings common to all the 
 phases of his ministry, each special phase had its quota 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 333 
 
 of sorrows. Three distinct periods can be marked in 
 the active career of our Redeemer. It was very brief, 
 for it did not extend even over three years. In truth, 
 if we reckon up the passovers at which our Lord was 
 present, which is the only sure method of settling tlie 
 duration of his ministry, we find three related by St. 
 John. The first passover is that on which Jesus Christ 
 drove the sellers out of the temple. John ii. 13. The 
 second is mentioned in the sixth chapter of St. John. 
 Jesus was not at that feast. The third is the great 
 and solemn festival when the true paschal Lamb was 
 substituted for the typical lamb. The entire ministry 
 of Jesus Christ is comprehended within these two and 
 a half years.* Within this brief space of time we dis- 
 cover three distinct phases. In the first period, Jesus 
 Christ is revealed to the world ; he is manifested as 
 the Messiah, as the Son of God. This period begins 
 with the enthusiasm of the people for him, and ends 
 with their abandonment of him. It opens with the 
 miracle at Cana, and closes with the discourse in the 
 synagogue of Capernaum concerning spiritual food, 
 after which the multitude forsook Jesus Christ. The 
 second period is that of the avowed contest between 
 Jesus Christ and the Jews, a constant and mournful 
 struggle. It begins with the feast of tabernacles at 
 Jerusalem, when they seek to put him in prison, and 
 closes with the resurrection of Lazarus, by which the 
 Saviour's enemies are exasperated and are decided no 
 longer to keep any terms with him. The last period is 
 
 * Many, however, regard the feast of the Jews, mentioned John v. 1, 
 a passover, m-aking four in our Lord's ministry, which thus extended 
 over three and a half years. — Ed. 
 
334 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 that of the issue of the contest ; it is the last journey 
 of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem ; it is his unspeakable 
 agony ; it is Gethsemane ; it is Golgotha. These three 
 phases are like three steps up the altar of sacrifice. 
 The Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world sur- 
 mounted them one after the other. He renewed his 
 self-immolation upon each one of them, until he was 
 led to the slaughter without opening his mouth. These 
 are three acts of his passion. To-day we will concern 
 ourselves only with the first. 
 
 But before recalling to your minds, my brethren, the 
 chief features of that holy life, there is one fact which 
 we ought to place by itself, in some sort, since it pos- 
 sesses an equal importance with reference to the three 
 phases in the ministry of Jesus Christ. We refer to 
 the selection and the training of the apostles. The 
 evangelists relate that twelve men, belonging to the 
 lower classes of society, were chosen by our Lord to be 
 his habitual companions, the witnesses of his acts, the 
 hearers of his words, in a sense his intimate disciples. 
 Few facts have been more perverted than these, and 
 from few have error and superstition drawn conse- 
 quences more to be lamented. We can not enter into 
 a regular controversy upon this important point. We 
 shall confine ourselves to stating what the apostleship 
 is in our view, according to its very institution. The 
 word apostle signifies an envoy ^ one sent. The apostles 
 are then envoys of the Lord. In this sense their mis- 
 sion had no special character, for all Christians are 
 messengers of Jesus Christ. They were twelve in 
 number ; this figure being symbolical, and being used 
 with reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. Those 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 335 
 
 twelve tribes constituted God's ancient people. The 
 apostles by their typical number represented the new 
 Israel, the new people of God. In this sense, also, 
 they were not clothed with a character which was ex- 
 clusively theirs, for we all are. destined to enter among 
 the " willing " people, just as we all are called to con- 
 vey the divine message. Nor has tlie promise of the 
 Holy Spirit created a privilege exclusively appertain- 
 ing to the apostles, for the Holy Spirit belongs to the 
 assembly of Christians. The gift of miracles was not 
 a special gift of apostles, for it was largely diffused 
 among the early Christians. What is it, then, which 
 constitutes the peculiar character of an apostle ? for he 
 has a peculiar and exceptional character. Christ's se- 
 lection of them proves it abundantly, as also the care 
 taken by the apostles to complete their number after 
 the treachery of Judas. The peculiar function of the 
 twelve apostles is to be the first witnesses of Jesus 
 Christ, his accredited witnesses. The quality requisite 
 in the case of Matthias, in order that he miglit be invested 
 with this charge, is to have been with the Lord from 
 the baptism of John until the resurrection. Acts i. 
 21, 22. The apostle's mission is to preserve the teach- 
 ing of Jesus Christ and the living remembrance of his 
 person, and to lay the corner-stone in such a manner 
 that upon it the church of all ages may repose. He 
 is the Christian, the messenger, pre-eminently, because 
 he bears the mandate to render to Jesus Christ a tes- 
 timony which is absolutely competent and sufficient. 
 The apostle was not only the witness of Jesus Christ, 
 but he was the witness prepared in a wholly special 
 manner by Jesus Christ himself through daily contact 
 
336 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 with him. The apostleship of St. Paul is an exception ; 
 and he was recognized because his miraculous conver- 
 sion was as valid a consecration as that special prepa- 
 ration which the other apostles had received from 
 the Master. Such preparation is the rule ; entrance 
 into the apostleship by another way is wholly in the 
 light of an exception. The apostles do not, then, form 
 a college of priests, but a group of witnesses chosen 
 among the first disciples and prepared by Jesus Christ 
 to serve instead of his visible presence, by means of 
 their preaching, or their writings, or the writings of 
 their immediate disciples. He has so arranged every- 
 thing that they should render a conclusive testimony. 
 First he selected them himself, and afterwards he gave 
 them the Holy Spirit, not only to fulfill their general 
 vocation as Christians, but also for the accomplishment 
 of their special charge as being the first witnesses of 
 redemption. It is evident that in this point of view 
 an apostolical succession can not be spoken of. If the 
 apostles are immediate witnesses, they can not have 
 successors, for after immediate witnesses there can be 
 only mediate witnesses ; no appointment can transmit 
 the quality of being an eye-witness ; and as the au- 
 thority of the apostles depended upon the peculiar re- 
 lation that had existed between them and Jesus Christ, 
 that authority was incommunicable. They personified 
 not a body of bishops, but the church itself, Christian 
 people, the everlasting Israel, the twelve tribes of the 
 new covenant. It is this church, contemplated as a 
 whole, which succeeds to them; it is the great messen- 
 ger of God, the permanent witnessing body for Jesus 
 Christ, the apostle with no successor ; and the church 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. S37 
 
 is this in so far forth as she rests upon the primitive 
 testimony. It is with the apostolate as with a miglity 
 river, which flows at first confined within a narrow 
 bed and rolling on a perfectly pure and limpid cur- 
 rent ; soon it enlarges its bed, and sends out number- 
 less waves, and spreads over a vast basin ; but now the 
 water has become more or less changed. He who 
 would drink it pure must drink it near its source. 
 The vocation of the existing church is, in truth, the 
 apostolate ; it is in truth the great mission of Christian 
 witness-bearing ; but it is the apostolate changed at 
 the same time that it is enlarged. The primitive 
 apostleship alone possesses authority ; from it all re- 
 ligious truth gushes forth, to it we must constantly 
 repair ; but it is none the less certain that it is contin- 
 ued in the church as a whole, and that aside from 
 this there is no apostolical succession. This is so true 
 that already in primitive times the name of apostle 
 was not given to the twelve exclusively ; it was given 
 to Christians, such as James, who had received no 
 special consecration. At that time the approaching 
 and necessary enlargement of the apostolate was al- 
 ready anticipated. 
 
 However it may be with those controverted ques- 
 tions, it is certain that Jesus Christ chose a few men 
 of the people to become his special witnesses. He 
 chose them among the lower classes of society 
 because there he met with souls possessed of the 
 greatest simplicity, and most capable of receiving the 
 divine impress. Moreover, every great religious re- 
 form has a popular character ; it proceeds from art- 
 less, impetuous, just, and ardent minds, who embrace 
 
 29 ' 
 
338 I'HE REDEEMER. 
 
 truth with uncalculating enthusiasm and with un- 
 reserved devotion. The first disciples were not 
 ordinary men ; they represent the cliief diversities of 
 human character to be met with in this world. 
 Among them are ardent natures and calm natures, 
 practical men, and also profound and mystical souls. 
 Fashioned by a delicate and powerful hand, and pene- 
 trated with the spirit of the Master, they present to 
 us the beautiful spectacle of human nature regene- 
 rated in its most decided types ; each of them reflects 
 one aspect of the Master, and thus they will preserve 
 to us the complete image of his divine humanity. 
 Notliing in the life of Jesus Christ is more wonderful 
 than the manner in which he carries on the education 
 of these men, uncidtured, rude, and for a long time 
 bound to him by the heart's instinct rather than by 
 thoughtful conviction. With how divine an art did 
 the Sculptor of the soul cut the hard and formless 
 marble until the shining forth of his thought could be 
 seen in it ! What forbearance ! What concern for 
 those fishermen, for those boatmen and publicans ! 
 He deposited in their hearts the seeds of truth, he 
 watered them and cultivated them by his Spirit ; he 
 instructed them with regard to the meaning of all his 
 ■works. He did* more : he sent them forth on mis- 
 sions, putting them into the salutary school of expe- 
 rience, and by new teachings he imprinted on their 
 minds the lessons which they had received. It was 
 for them that he uttered his greatest sayings, those 
 which were destined most powerfully to regenerate 
 the world. Behold in that handful of unlettered 
 men the brilliant auditory which the eternal Word 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 339 
 
 had chosen for himself. Let us learn from him the 
 frnitfulness of Christian labor in its very humility. 
 If we can speak only to a few souls, let us speak to 
 tliem without discouragement, provided that it be 
 with faith and love. Let us cultivate them in ob- 
 scurity with tender care. Let us remember that the 
 last discourses of Jesus Christ were pronounced in 
 an upper chamber at Jerusalem, before eleven disci- 
 ples who hardly understood him, and that these same 
 words, transmitted from age to age and flying from 
 one end of the world to the other, have been the con- 
 solation of thousands of Christians. Let us remem- 
 ber that those eleven disciples became the conquerors 
 of the old pagan world, and were the first stones of 
 the church built upon the divine Foundation-rock. 
 How doubt, after that, the blessed influence of Chris- 
 tian activity even in the narrowest circle ? 
 
 Let us return, my brethren, to the ministry of our 
 Saviour, and to his priestly work. We have not lost 
 sight of it for a single moment, for suffering had a 
 large part in his daily intercourse with his chosen 
 disciples. One of the most poignant sorrows of the 
 present life is the imperfection of human affections, 
 the bruisings of the heart, and the painful shocks of 
 which they are the constant occasion. Affection 
 without a cloud would be affection without sin. Poor 
 sinners, even when they love one another, often make 
 each other suffer. Doubtless the Saviour's love for 
 his disciples was perfect, like all his being, and if he 
 suffered it was never his fault. But contact with 
 souls so little developed in faith brought on him una- 
 voidable sufferings ; theh' lack of sympathy, their 
 
340 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 feelings of pride and irritation, and later their shame- 
 ful want of fidelity, more than once wonnded his 
 heart, and forced from him words like these : '' How 
 long shall I be with you, slow of heart to believe 
 and understand ! *' 
 
 But if he was not always understood by his disci- 
 ples, he was at least loved by them, whilst he was 
 hated by the world. This hatred, however, did not 
 burst forth at the very first. In the early period of 
 his ministry, he manifested his glory to the Jewish 
 people ; he excited among them a lively admiration, 
 and even enthusiasm. Hut this enthusiasm was 
 quickly extinguished. The more Jesus Christ made 
 himself known to men, the more did he see himself 
 abandoned by them ; and therein precisely lay the 
 great suffering of this portion of his life. It is hard 
 to be solitary in the bosom of one's generation, to 
 speak in the desert after having created among men 
 the most resonant echoes. Such is always, however, 
 the condition of goodness and truth in this world up 
 to the day when the cross which men are preparing 
 for them is finally planted upon the earth, in order 
 that they may be exposed to shame. Jesus Christ 
 accepted this condition, and submitted himself thereto 
 in all circumstances. Let us follow, my brethren, 
 with an attentive eye, the progressive manifestation 
 of his doctrine ; at every revelation we shall see the 
 ranks of his disciples diminish. The more admirable 
 he shows himself, the less is he admired ; the more 
 brightly his holiness shines forth, the more does ad- 
 miration for him decrease. 
 
 Jesus Christ at first reveals himself as a powerful 
 
JESUS CHBJST AS SACRIFICE. 341 
 
 Messiah. He multiplies his miracles. Nothing was 
 more suited to the object of the miracle than to 
 render the Jews attentive to the Saviour's mission, 
 and to lead them to acknowledge in him a messenger 
 of God. St. John, in speaking of the first one of the 
 works of Christ, says " that thus he manifested forth his 
 glory." John ii. 11. In truth, the miraculous cures, 
 the raising of the dead, the sovereign power which 
 he wielded over nature, threw a great splendor over 
 his person. So long as he performed many miracles 
 he was the object of popular favor. " Jesus," relates 
 St. Matthew, '^ went about all Galilee, teaching in 
 their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the 
 kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all 
 manner of disease among the people. And his fame 
 went throughout all Syria : and they brought unto 
 him all sick people that were taken with divers dis- 
 eases and torments, and those which were possessed 
 with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those 
 that had the palsy ; and he healed them. And there 
 followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, 
 and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from 
 Judaea, and from beyond Jordan." If Jesus Christ 
 had confined himself to the manifestation of his 
 glory, the whole people would certainly have re- 
 mained faithful to him. A powerful and glorious 
 Saviour who multiplies bread to appease the hunger 
 of multitudes, and who heals the sick, is sure to be 
 accepted by all the world. There is nothing in him 
 that jostles the prejudices and passions of the crowd. 
 Let him only go on ; a few more miracles, and he will 
 be crowned king ! 
 
 29* 
 
342 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 But, as we have said, the miracle is only the exte- 
 rior side of the work of Jesus Christ. It must needs 
 be that he reveal the most elevated aim of his mission, 
 which is a spiritual aim. And it is now that he is 
 about to encounter opposition. St. John informs us 
 that, after having manifested his glory at Cana, the 
 Lord went to Jerusalem, to be present at the feast of 
 the passover. It is his first journey to Jerusalem since 
 entering upon his active ministry. He goes to the 
 temple ; he finds there the sellers and the money- 
 changers, who profaned it, and drives them forth igno- 
 miniously in holy indignation. Jesus Christ appears 
 no more simply as a prophet who performs miracles. 
 Men feel that he is sent against all that is evil, against 
 all that is in opposition to God. Men feel that he is 
 a religious reformer, and they remember that saying 
 of a prophet, " The zeal of thine house hath eaten me 
 up." Those who traffic in holy things tremble before 
 him, and, doubtless, in more than one instance im- 
 placalole hate was enkindled against him on that sol- 
 emn day. 
 
 Jesus Christ is a religious reformer, but it is neces- 
 sary to know in what sense. At first he assailed the 
 grossest and most palpable abuses. He does not wish 
 men to be mistaken with regard to this, and to con- 
 ceive that he came solely to make clean the outside 
 of the cup and platter. In his interview with Nicode- 
 mus, which took place at the same epoch, he insists 
 not only on the necessity of outward renewal, but also 
 upon the necessity of the new birth : " Except a man 
 be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter 
 into the kingdom of God." John iii. 5. He announces 
 
JESUS CHJRIST AS SACRIFICE. 343 
 
 already that there is salvation only in him, and that 
 he is the only Son of the Father, who was given to the 
 world in order that whosoever should believe on him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life. John iii. 
 16. This high doctrine was not yet understood, but 
 in proportion as it was, in that proportion did the Son 
 of God encounter a more lively opposition. 
 
 He returns from Jerusalem into Galilee by Samaria, 
 and he takes the occasion of this journey to disclose a 
 new aspect of his mission, which will alienate from 
 him a large number of the Jews. The bare fact of his 
 freely conversing with a Samaritan woman is a decla- 
 ration that he does not regard himself as sent to the 
 Jews alone. His words, as related to his disciples, 
 and by his disciples to the Jews, are yet more explicit. 
 Did he not aver that the day would come when men 
 should no longer worship at Jerusalem alone, but in 
 every place, and at all times, they should offer worship 
 in spirit and in truth to God, who is a Spirit ? To 
 speak thus was to cast a new leaven of hatred into the 
 heart of those haughty Jews, who profoundly despised 
 foreign nations, and especially the Samaritans. A 
 new revelation, and increasing hatred ! 
 
 Returning from Galilee, our Lord performs several 
 striking miracles ; he heals the son of Herod's officer, 
 and the demoniac of Gadara ; he raises from the dead 
 the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of 
 Nain. Beyond all doubt, these miracles called forth 
 lively admiration ; but as he did not manifest his 
 glory merely, but manifested his doctrine at the same 
 time, the admiration was not unmixed, and in some 
 minds it began to give place to secret indignation. It 
 
34.1: THE REDEEMED. 
 
 is thus that in the city of Nazareth they sought to put 
 him to death because he had wounded the national 
 pride of the inhabitants by showing to them that the 
 grace of God is not confined within the limits of any 
 one country, and that those who believe themselves to 
 have a claim of natural right upon it are deprived of 
 such right by their very pride. " Many lepers were in 
 Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet ; and none of 
 them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian." Luke 
 iv. 27. That touching scene which occurred in the house 
 of Simon the Pharisee, the pardon so compassionately 
 granted to that poor sinful woman, completed the ex- 
 asperation of the hatred which those proud Jews cher- 
 ished against Jesus Christ. Here, on the one side, is 
 a Pharisee, that is, a man of repute in the nation, a 
 just man according to the world, who thinks that he 
 has nothing wherewith to reproach himself. Here, on 
 the other side, is a wretched, defiled creature, a lost 
 woman. She sheds a few tears, she utters a prayer, 
 and Jesus Christ declares her to be justified ; that is 
 to say, she is placed in the same rank with the right- 
 eous and virtuous Simon ; nay, more, she is placed far 
 above him, for she has loved Him more who is alone 
 worthy to be loved. So, then, with his righteousness and 
 his good works, the Pharisee is put below the repenting 
 courtesan. He feels that the Master will not say to 
 him, as to her, " Go in peace," and that he considers 
 him as being without salvation. This practical reve- 
 lation of free forgiveness i^ for the proud man the 
 most odious of all things. He trembles with anger. 
 Do not forget that in the parable of the Pharisee and 
 the publican our Lord uttered so plain a commentary on 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 345 
 
 this fact that there could not possibly be any further 
 misconception with regard to his real meaning. It is, 
 then, well understood that he brings forth a doctrine 
 which destroys all self-righteousness, and which puts 
 a value only on repentance and love. Well, then, may 
 it be said, '' A new revelation, increasing hatred ! " 
 
 Jesus Christ repairs a second time to Jerusalem, to 
 celebrate one of the Jewish festivals, which one it is 
 not easy to determine with precision ; we only know 
 that it was not the passover.* The Lord profited by this 
 circumstance to reveal still more clearly the nature of 
 the reform which he desired to effect. He heals a para- 
 lytic near the pool of Bethesda on a Sabbath day. John 
 V. 8. This was setting himself in direct opposition to 
 Pharisaic tradition. That had befallen them which 
 comes to all those who have lost the religious life, 
 and who nevertheless wish still to preserve a certain 
 kind of religion. No longer possessing the reality, 
 they cleave to the appearance, imagining that the ap- 
 pearance of piety will secure for them the advantages 
 of piety. They hold the more to forms the more 
 they have lost that which is essential and funda- 
 mental in religion. Therefore they multiply forms in- 
 definitely in order to deceive themselves more com- 
 pletely, and they exaggerate the ceremonial part of 
 worship, the better to conceal the frightful void in their 
 beliefs. At Jerusalem there was an idolatrous at- 
 tachment to the Sabbath, for the very reason that men 
 had ceased to worship the living God. A profound 
 faith is above these exaggerated scruples ; a religion 
 
 * John V. The principal Jewish feast would have the article, which is 
 not given in the original. [Commentators, however, differ on this point. 
 Not a few of the most eminent hold that it was the passover. — Ed. ] 
 
546 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 which is outward, and which consists in observances, 
 thinks itself lost if one of its miserable forms escapes 
 from it. To authenticate itself it needs a complete 
 religious equipage. It really is afraid, if its equipage is 
 taken away, of being condemned to earnestness, which it 
 will not have at any price. It multiplies its fetters and 
 its prohibitions in order that man may be so much the 
 more free inwardly. Jesus Christ, in placing himself 
 boldly above Pharisaic traditions concerning the Sab- 
 bath, overthrew that scaifolding which had been so labo- 
 riously reared to mask the irreligion and the unbelief 
 reigning in their hearts. By this he showed his de- 
 sire that religion should be regarded as an earnest 
 and solemn thing, and that the faith which he brought 
 into the world required not the falsehood of useless 
 forms and a material devotion, but the gift of the heart 
 and of the life. A simple fact like this of a cure per- 
 formed on the Sabbath day had then a vast scope in 
 its application ; it expressly condemned all which was 
 taught by the doctors of the nation. Thus St. John 
 relates that already, on this occasion, the Jews sought 
 to put him to death. We are obliged therefore to say 
 again, " A new revelation, a hatred that increases ! " 
 
 The Lord returned speedily to Galilee, and it was 
 then that he pronounced the sermon on the mount, 
 which may be regarded as the Constitution of his king- 
 dom. In this discourse he sums up all that he had 
 said and done from the beginning of his ministry. His 
 opposition to the formal Judaism of his day is mani- 
 fested in a more complete and positive manner. If he 
 acknowledges that he has come to fulfill the true Ju- 
 daism, that of tlie law and the prophets, he repels with 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACUIFICE. 3 17 
 
 indignation the false and hypocritical Judaism, the 
 Judaism of tradition, the Judaism of noisy almsgiving 
 and long prayers, the merciless observer of the law of 
 retaliation, the shameless violator of the eternal law of 
 God, finding means to thrust it aside while pretendhig 
 to interpret it. With this system Jesus Christ breaks 
 openly. He unmasks it, he denounces it. He pro- 
 claims a spiritual law, the infinite law of love ; he an- 
 nounces a spiritual kingdom founded on the pardon 
 of sins, into which men enter by tears, by hunger and 
 thirst of soul ; and he announces sufferings and perse- 
 cutions to those who shall enter therein. The gate is 
 strait, and the way is narrow. To pass within, one 
 must become poor and small. Evidently Jesus Christ 
 is not that which he had been thought to be at first. 
 If with one hand he raises up and heals, with the oth- 
 er he offers a cross. " If any man will come after me, 
 let him take up his cross and follow me." How can 
 we avoid saying once more, " A new revelation, a 
 hatred that increases ! " 
 
 The hour comes in which he is to gather the fruit 
 of such courageous faithfulness. Men follow him still, 
 because they love his miracles, and love to profit by 
 them without accepting his doctrine. A new pass- 
 over, the second in the ministry of Jesus, was nigh at 
 hand. But since his hour has not yet come, and he has 
 everything to fear from the Pharisees at Jerusalem, ho 
 rejuains in Galilee. John vi. 4. Then occurred that 
 significant fact which is related in the sixth chapter of 
 St. John. The Lord had by a striking miracle satis- 
 fied the hunger of great multitudes who had followed 
 liim near the sea of Tiberias. Tlie next day, this 
 
348 THE nEDEEMEB. 
 
 same people, carried away with enthusiasm at the won- 
 ders which they had behckl, and hoping to have found 
 in Jesus, notwithstanding his declarations, the tempo- 
 ral Messiah whom they desired, seek him even as far 
 as the other side of the sea of Tiberias : they find him 
 in the vast synagogue at Capernaum ; they press about 
 him. Jesus Christ has found again the people of the 
 first days of his ministry ; they look upon him with 
 admiration; they celebrate his power; they would 
 willingly kiss the hands that broke the miraculous 
 bread. If you had entered within that synagogue you 
 would surely liave thought that his triumph was final. 
 They call him Master^ they prepare themselves to hear 
 him, to worship him, perhaps. '' Master," they say to 
 him, " when camest thou hither ? " He speaks. Doubt- 
 less an audience so well disposed will not be able to 
 restrain their enthusiasm. Let us listen to Jesus 
 Christ. Instead of promising a new miracle, he speaks 
 of food which is spiritual and everlasting. First disap- 
 pointment ; as if that were the question ! They come 
 to him because they have been filled, and he tells them 
 to labor for permanent food ! And what does this labor 
 consist in ? they ask of him. If we are to turn aside 
 from the good things of the earth, it must needs be, at 
 least, that we can conquer heaven by our works ; what 
 shall we do ? Tlie ivork of G-od^ answers Jesus Christ, 
 IB tliatye believe. At this word, they remember all that 
 they had heard concerning him, that forgiveness which 
 he grants to publicans and to sinful women. They be- 
 gin to treml)le with indignation. But Jesus goes 
 farther. That faith must be directed toward his per- 
 son. " Every one which seeth the Son and believeth 
 
JE:^US CUBIST AS SACIUFICK. CiO 
 
 on him may have everlasting life." J3elieve on thcc, 
 on thee, the carpenter's son ! Thou askest too much 
 of us. " Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose 
 father and mother we know?" Without pausing on 
 account of these murmurs, our Lord enters upon the 
 most mysterious points of his doctrine. He speaks of 
 his death, of his bloody flesh speedily to be crucified, 
 and in a lively image- declares that they must eat his 
 flesh and drink his blood, that is, receive Christ cruci- 
 fied into their hearts, in order to live the eternal life. 
 His hearers find themselves quite too far from their 
 starting point. They came to ask for material mira- 
 cles, and they are confronted with that which is most 
 spiritual, most offensive, and most profound in the 
 teaching of the Saviour ! He has now fully revealed 
 himself. This is not the Messiah whom they desire. 
 They plainly understand him. See with what eager- 
 ness they withdraw ! They go away as eager to de- 
 part as they had been to enter. There remain but very 
 few disciples. At least those are faithful friends. He 
 can depend upon them. Alas ! several separate them- 
 selves from this little group and join the multitude. 
 Then the Master, seized with unspeakable sadness, 
 turns himself to the twelve, saying unto them, " Will 
 ye also go away ? " The revelation of Jesus Christ 
 was complete ; the forsaking of him was almost com- 
 plete. Behold the result of that first period of his min- 
 istry ! He has manifested himself to the world, and 
 the world has rejected him. What more fearful judg- 
 ment could be pronounced upon our poor humanity ? 
 The Holy One and the Just appeared in full manifes- 
 tation, just as he is, without vail Î Reckon up those 
 
 30 
 
350 THE REDEE^Œn. 
 
 who remain near him, and reckon up, if yoti can, those 
 who forsake him ! For ourselves, we need no other 
 proof of the depth of our fall. On the day when Jesus 
 Christ fully revealed himself, he was left alone with 
 his twelve apostles, and one of them was a traitor. 
 Boast thyself still of thy greatness, of thy moral dig- 
 nity, wretched human nature ! There needs, in 
 order to overwhelm thee, only the words of my Saviour 
 to his chosen disciples, " Will ye also go away ? " 
 Such is the estimate he puts upon thee. He had seen 
 thee so materialized and so corrupted, that he doubted 
 even of his own. And do not forget that we have as 
 yet reached only the period when he was forsaken. 
 The struggle, the desperate and mortal struggle, is 
 about to commence ; and if there still remains in your 
 mind some illusion with regard to human nature, ex- 
 pect to lose it while considering more closely, as we 
 shall invite you to do in our next discourse, that strug- 
 gle and its bloody close. 
 
 Is there not, my brethren, a very serious appeal to 
 your consciences in the simple narrative of this first 
 period of the ministry of Jesus Christ ? The number 
 of those at this day who imagine that they belong to 
 him is large. May there not be some misconception 
 existing here, which it is important to dissipate ? For 
 what security have we that the men of our generation 
 are better than the cotemporaries of our Saviour ? Is 
 human nature in one age superior in itself to human 
 nature in any other age ? Whence comes, then, this 
 eagerness to-day, and that abandonment formerly? 
 But do you not know that the Saviour also experienced 
 eagerness and enthusiasm at the beginning of his min- 
 
JESUS CHPilST AS SACRIFICE. 351 
 
 istry ? So long as he manifested his glory by miracles 
 he was encompassed by the same crowds that forsook 
 him as soon as his stern doctrine became known. 
 May we not conclude from this that the greater part 
 of those who call themselves Christians to-day have as 
 yet considered only the external side of Christianity ? 
 Miracles, properly so called, are rare since the age of 
 the apostles, but there is always a brilliant side to 
 Christianity ; it is its social results, its general influ- 
 ence, its glorious history ; be well assured that the 
 great mass of self-styled Christians in our days, in all 
 communions, and in all churches, have been cleaving 
 especially to this side and aspect of the subject. If it 
 had been generally understood that the great matter 
 involved was conversion, humiliation, and sacrifices, 
 you would long ago have seen those thronging waves 
 retreat, and leave the shore dry. Around the true 
 representatives of Jesus Christ there would be the 
 same solitude as formerly, and perhaps the abandon- 
 ment would be more complete. Let the cross be only 
 dimly discerned by the greater part of the professed 
 Christians of the day, and you will see them fly with 
 rapid steps, some very sorrowful like the rich young 
 man, others enraged and furious and ready to perse- 
 cute Jesus Christ in the person of his true disciples. 
 I go farther ; I will suppose this divine Saviour to en- 
 ter this temple, as he entered into the synagogue at 
 Capernaum. I will suppose him to speak to you as he 
 spoke to the Jews ; that he asks of you painful sacri- 
 fices ; that he clainis from you an earnest and consist- 
 ent Christianity. I suppose him to bring you his* cross, 
 and to present it to you, not only that you may adore 
 
352 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 it, but, above all, that you may bear it ; is it very cer- 
 tain that you would all remain here ? I suppose that 
 he asks you, you, to renounce a portion, a large por- 
 tion, of your goods for the poor, — observe that I do 
 not go so far as to say that he asks for all your goods, 
 — is it very sure that you would remain ? I suppose 
 him to ask of you, of you, to break that idol, to break 
 that connection which removes you far from him, to 
 renounce that habit which is dear to you ; is it very 
 certain that you would remain ? I suppose him, final- 
 ly, to make you understand what he means by eating 
 his flesh and drinking his blood, and in what consists 
 that identification with Christ crucified to which we 
 are called ; is it very certain that you would remain, 
 all ? Alas ! we have a sorrowful certainty, and it is, 
 that a great number among you would arise and go 
 away, like the inhabitants of Capernaum, crying out, 
 "If we had known that this doctrine was so stern we 
 would never have come to embrace it." " This is a 
 hard saying ; who can hear it ? " Might it please Heaven 
 that you should be thus brought into the light regard- 
 ing yourselves, for we are well persuaded you would 
 go away with an arrow in your souls ; perhaps it would 
 pierce you through in the end, and bring you back, laden 
 with the weight of your sins, to the feet of the Son of 
 David, saying unto him, " Have pity on us. Speak now ; 
 we will do all which thou shalt say unto us." May 
 God himself be pleased to deliver you from your illu- 
 sions, even though you should be forced to confess 
 that your Christianity hitherto has been but a lie. It 
 is the best wish we can frame on your behalf. 
 
 I resume my hypothesis. I will suppose, then, that 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE, 3j3 
 
 this temple has been very nearly emptied, like the 
 synagogue at Capernaum. There remain but a few 
 true Christians. The Lord turns himself to them, 
 and he says to them again, " Will ye also go away ? " 
 Is it very certain that there would not be some hesi- 
 tation on the part of several among them, when they 
 should have understood the meaning of the Master's lan- 
 guage with regard to hearing his cross 2 Is it very cer- 
 tain — but no; I do not admit the forsaking of Christ on 
 the part of true Cliristians. No, Lord ; hesitation could 
 not continue with us, who have seen not only that 
 which thou requirest of us, but also that which thou 
 wishest to give us in return. No, we will not go 
 away. Where can we go without thee ? How live, 
 how die without thee ? Feeble as Peter, fallible like 
 him, we yet say with him, "Thou hast the words of 
 eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou 
 art that Christ, the Son of the living God." We say, 
 not on account of ourselves, but because of thee and 
 of thy compassions, and in the assurance of thine aid, 
 " Between thee and us it is for life and death, it is for 
 eternity. Thou wilt grant us to follow thee in thy 
 loneliness, to follow thee in thy contest, and even in 
 thy death. We shall thus be ever with thee, and after 
 having suffered with thee we shall reign with thee." 
 
 30* 
 
CHAPTER XT. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 
 
 " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 
 
 — Johni. 29. 
 
 WE liave divided the ministry of Jesus Christ into 
 three periods : his manifestation to the world, 
 
 — his contest with the proud Jews, — the conclusion 
 of that contest, or his passion and his death. We have 
 traversed with you the first period ; we have seen the 
 eager and enthusiastic reception given to the Saviour 
 so long as he was content to reveal his glory hy his 
 miracles ; we have seen him abandoned by the same 
 multitudes who had followed him even into the desert, 
 as soon as he manifests, not his power merely, but his 
 holiness. At the close of our last discourse we showed 
 you this divine Redeemer remaining alone with a few 
 disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum, and saying 
 to them, " And you, will not you also go away ? " 
 But this is not enough of abandonment. The open 
 and avowed conflict is quickly to follow it. A neu- 
 tral position can not be maintained with Jesus Christ ; 
 men either adore him, or they curse him. It is to 
 this fearful conflict between darkness and light that 
 we must now give our attention. Substantially, as we 
 intimated in the first of these discourses, this conflict 
 has not yet been interrupted upon the earth for a sin- 
 
 354 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 355 
 
 gle moment. It was everywhere undertaken ; it was 
 carried on in all ages and under the most diverse cir- 
 cumstances. It is this alone which imparts an excit- 
 ing interest to the history of humanity. But just as 
 in every war there comes a decisive day when the hos- 
 tile armies encounter in the terrible shock of arms, so 
 in the war maintained by the gower of love against 
 the power of perdition there is one supreme day, the 
 result of which must be decisive. This fearful, yet 
 thoroughly victorious conflict, is the combat of Jesus 
 Christ with the world. Nothing is greater or more 
 solemn. Every event is small and trivial in compari- 
 son with it. Let us follow, my brethren, the phases 
 of this incomparable conflict between good and evil. 
 Let us learn to measure the depth of our fall by see- 
 ing in Jesus Christ dying the true ideal of haman- 
 ity, whilst his enemies and executioners shall recall to 
 our minds the degradation of our race ; for here are 
 found the hight of good and the hight of evil. Let us 
 learn what are the conditions of the truth here below. 
 The disciples can not be treated better than their Mas- 
 ter ; men will hate and persecute in them that which 
 they have cursed and crucified in him. Truth is de- 
 voted to crucifixion in the world of sin and unbelief. 
 Let us learn not to suffer a cowardly surprise to seize 
 upon us when the world's opposition to the gospel re- 
 appears, when the struggle threatens to be earnestly 
 taken up anew. Let us recognize in this fact the ac- 
 complishment of a permanent law in religious history. 
 Let us learn, finally, from Jesus Christ to combat as we 
 ought to combat, to conquer as we ought to conquer, 
 at once quiet and strong, gentle and indomitable. May 
 
356 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the picture of his contest with evil, in recalling to us 
 the most vital part in the work of redemption, thus 
 instruct us with regard to that which is momentous in 
 the Christian's life. 
 
 Before we present rapidly the principal incidents of 
 the combat, let us pause a moment, my brethren, to 
 consider the strength and resources of the respective 
 combatants. Do not forget that what took place eigh- 
 teen centuries ago at Jerusalem is repeated in every 
 epoch of church history. The same enemies of the 
 truth appear again under different names. They are, 
 however, less distinguishable, their features are less 
 plainly marked, than in the gospel history. It is there 
 we are to seek our adversaries if we wish to know 
 them well. The gospel paints them with such true 
 colors that they can be thoroughly known. They never 
 had a better opportunity for unvailing their char- 
 acter. Truth then appeared entirely alone, so to 
 speak, without any external support, without the pres- 
 tige of great victories already won, without the sanc- 
 tion of ages. It was no way necessary, in a human 
 point of view, to keep terms with it ; men could 
 blaspheme as they pleased, and insult truth at their 
 will. There was no need to wrap up a mortal stroke 
 in mocking homage. It was not the age of delicate 
 irony and indirect attack. The hatred felt for Chris- 
 tianity at its birth was combined with simplicity of 
 purpose : men yielded to the feeling with all safety. 
 And, lastly, never were there historians like the sacred 
 historians, with respect to their power to make the 
 personages that figure in their narratives live before 
 our eyes. To narrate thus is more than mere narra- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SÂCBIFICE. 357 
 
 tive ; it is to revive, it is to restore life to those who 
 have lived. By the power, not of art but of simplicity, 
 they present us the facts as truly living things. Herod, 
 Caiaphas, Pilate, and Judas are represented so natu- 
 rally that we know them as if we had spoken to 
 them. These diverse types of character are so admi- 
 rably distinguished, these dark figures are so expres- 
 sively sketched by the evangelists, that their lineaments 
 are graven upon our minds in a manner never to be 
 forgotten. The gospel is not less wonderful in its rev- 
 elation of evil than in its revelation of divine love. 
 And this is because it is almost as important for us 
 thoroughly to know the former as to know the latter. 
 Let us profit by the bright light which the sacred narra- 
 tive throws upon the enemies of the Saviour to examine 
 ourselves, and learn whether we are not hidden in 
 their ranks. The details already given concerning 
 several of them will relieve us from making long ex- 
 planations. 
 
 The first of these enemies is he whom Scripture 
 calls the enemy or Satan, the enemy of all that is 
 good, true, and life-giving. It might be said that the 
 two great champions in this terrible war, which has 
 been prosecuted for so many ages, personally en- 
 counter each other at length, and struggle face to 
 face. There is now no one between the devil and his 
 divine adversary. It is no longer a few men placed 
 under the influence of God's Spirit who engage in 
 conflict with a few men obedient to the suggestions of 
 Satan. On the one side, we have the God-man, in 
 whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. On 
 the otlior, we have an accursed humanity, in which 
 
358 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 dwelleth all the fullness of demons. God, in hu- 
 manity, confronts Satan likewise in human form. It 
 is a personal combat between the chiefs of the two 
 armies. Let us determine in what manner this visi- 
 ble "power of hell was put forth. And, first, we have 
 a proof of this which is at once palpable and incom- 
 prehensible : I allude to demoniacal possessions. I 
 know well that at this day one seems much behind in 
 criticism if he admits such possessions. According 
 to certain teachers, such could have been only a fan- 
 tastic form of folly, a very simple and very common 
 fact, and Jesus Christ, in driving out demons and in 
 speaking to demons, lent himself to a popular preju- 
 dice ; it was an accommodation to it on his part. 
 For ourselves, we declare that it is impossible for us 
 to admit any such doctrine of accommodation with- 
 out seriously detracting from the conception which 
 we have of the Saviour. What ! knowingly and will- 
 ingly he could favor a gross superstition and flatter a 
 stupid prejudice ! And, more than this, he could in 
 appearance drive out demons, whilst in reality he 
 knew perfectly that a fixed idea is not a demon ! But 
 in that event he would have actually played the part 
 of a comedian ; he would have been not the divine 
 Revealer, but one of the magicians of the East, so 
 common in that age, who founded their power upon 
 pretended miracles. And if he were not a comic 
 actor, he would have been greatly deceived himself in 
 a matter of capital importance, and we could no 
 longer have absolute confidence in him. If men can 
 thus free themselves from one of the facts with re- 
 gard to which the testimony of the evangelists is the 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 359 
 
 most explicit, we know not what can possibly resist 
 criticism. Moreover, this particular fact has a moral 
 significance. It is impossible for us to explain how 
 this demoniac influence was exerted; but we under- 
 stand very well that in that supreme crisis of religious 
 history the power of hell, like that of heaven, mani- 
 fests itself with unwonted energy. It behooved it to 
 make its most desperate effort to destroy God's plan. 
 After believing itself the legitimate proprietor of hu- 
 manity, it felt that man was about to slip away from 
 its grasp. Now should not hell be shaken in all its 
 parts in order to repossess itself of that fatal influ- 
 ence ? To be able to deny the possibility of a similar 
 operation of infernal powers upon humanity, we 
 must know more intimately than it has been given us 
 to know the connection of the visible with the invisi- 
 ble world. It is difficult to mark with precision the 
 limits of the natural and the supernatural, and in the 
 epochs of profound and universal upheaval it might 
 often be said that the two spheres are confounded to- 
 gether. However this may be, we fully admit the 
 demoniac possessions related in the gospel history. 
 We believe that those possessions were not discon- 
 nected with the moral state of the sick persons. We 
 think that no cause so effectually prepared the way 
 for this lamentable and mysterious state as trouble 
 induced by sin ; the disease, doubtless, began in some 
 terrible crisis of the inner life. It is quite certainly 
 an evidence of the power granted to Satan to combat 
 against the Redeemer. And did not this power 
 equally burst forth in the unheard-of perversity of 
 his enemies ? Evil reaches a development in them 
 
360 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 until then unknown. We feel that we are contem- 
 plating not merely an ordinary exhibition of sin, but 
 also that which Scripture styles a '' mystery of iniqui- 
 ty." There are in truth mysterious depths in evil which 
 are almost as astonishing as the depths of goodness. 
 Hell has its secrets, like heaven, surpassing, crushing 
 human reason. There are certain days on which, be- 
 hind the visible combatants, invisible combatants ap- 
 pear, and when the presence of demons is revealed, 
 like the presence of God, by extraordinary signs. 
 The demoniacs that confound us the most are not 
 those who were delivered at the powerful word of the 
 Master, they are the judges and the executioners of 
 Jesus Christ, they are the wretches who cried out, 
 " Crucify him ! Crucify him! " and who, beneath the 
 cross, asked that his blood might fall upon them. 
 Behold in this the most dreadful possession ! There 
 is an hour when ih.Q entire Jewish people is a phren- 
 sied demoniac, and when it is nothing but the passive 
 instrument of hell enraged. Nothing proves more 
 plainly than their conduct the direct and personal in- 
 tervention of Satan in the struggle. 
 
 After Satan, or rather under his standard, nearly 
 all the men of elevated rank in that nation combat 
 against Jesus. The privileged classes, the rich, with 
 but a few exceptions easily specified, were his ene- 
 mies. We admit that the rich and the learned can 
 become Christians, and that every day they are con- 
 verted ; but it is not the less true that this same fact, 
 so noticeable in primitive times, is constantly repro- 
 duced in history. A great scope was given it by our 
 Lord himself in that astonishing saying, " It is easier 
 
JESUS CHBTST AS SACRIFICE, 361 
 
 for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than 
 for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." 
 It is easy to understand that those who desire to live 
 splendidly upon the earth, and who make use of their 
 riches to nourish their vanity and augment their 
 pleasures, are to be ranked among the enemies of 
 Jesus Christ. He came into the world to combat all 
 that which they are doing. He came to humble all 
 that which is lofty, to bring to nothing all vain ap- 
 pearances, to crush all worldly influences and powers. 
 He came not only to enjoin patience on those who 
 suffer, but also renunciation on those who rejoice. 
 He says to them all, " Give your goods, sell them for 
 the poor ; " that is, place your lives and your goods at 
 the service of God and of suffering humanity. How 
 can you expect that those believing that riches are 
 given to them in order that they be clothed in fine 
 linen, and live sumptuously and be insolent towards 
 the poor, should not be enraged ? At first they go 
 away very sorrowful, like the rich young man in the 
 Gospel, but quickly they return exasperated to fury, 
 and they are the first to ask for the death of him who 
 made the parable of Lazarus and the wicked rich 
 man, and who preferred the widow's mite to their 
 haughty and resounding alms. Let the rich of this 
 day examine themselves very thoroughly to learn 
 whether they are for or against Jesus Christ. The 
 only way for them to be enlightened on this point is 
 for them to inquire if they have become poor in 
 spirit ; for every rich man who has remained rich in 
 heart is very surely in the ranks of the adversaries 
 of our Lord. 
 
 31 
 
362 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 The high council of the nation signalized itself above 
 all by its animosity against Jesus Christ. How often 
 have men elevated in authority played this sad part 
 anew! Earthly dignities, when they are not received as 
 a high mission of charity, become the pedestal of the 
 great idol, of the human Jso universally adored. They 
 raise pride to a degree of real intoxication. The con- 
 sideration and flattery with which they are encom- 
 passed surround them with a triple rampart against 
 humility. When Jesus Christ appears announcing 
 universal condemnation and free forgiveness, the great 
 ones of this world who love that seeming grandeur 
 tremble with indignation at being thus abased ; they 
 charge the gospel with being an overturning of soci- 
 ety, a leaven of revolution, and their place is fixed 
 among the enemies of true Christianity. But the most 
 implacable adversaries of the gospel were found among 
 those who were clothed with religious authority. The 
 body of the priesthood were signalized by their violent 
 hatred toward the Saviour. Nothing was more natu- 
 ral ; those who make a traffic of religion, and derive 
 from it their glory and their profit, denounce as usurp- 
 ers whoever assail their credit by any religious reform. 
 Jesus Christ, bringing into the world the universal _ 
 priesthood, was the living condemnation of the priestly 
 spirit, and whenever this spirit has not succeeded in 
 prevailing over the gospel, or in perverting it, it has 
 not been able to find anathemas and thunderbolts 
 enough to curse and destroy the gospel. 
 
 We have already, on several occasions, named the 
 Pharisees. They were conspicuous in the struggle 
 against Jesus Christ. What concord, in fact, is possi- 
 
J£SUS CHFdST AS SACRIFICE. 3G3 
 
 ble between a formal religion and the religion of the 
 Spirit? The Pharisees felt that that thrice dead 
 mummy which they wrapped about in sacred fillets, 
 and called religion, would fall into the dust at the first 
 breath. They felt that their hypocrisy was unmasked 
 by the simple appearance of Jesus Christ, and that in 
 the presence of his holiness the falsehood of an exter- 
 nal piety was clearly unvailed. They felt that their 
 kingdom was at an end wherever Jesus Christ should 
 triumph. Do they not feel this still to-day wherever 
 they are found ? Between them -and Jesus Christ the 
 struggle is even unto death, for he pursues them from 
 one defense to another. From Judaism the Pharisee 
 passed into the outward church ; he went there with 
 his long robe, his long prayers, and his traditions. 
 From the great unbelieving church he passed into the 
 churches of tlie Reformation ; he established himself in 
 them ; he has fashioned them, in the course of time, 
 more or less completely to his purposes ; he re-appears 
 in every church, even in the best organized, and, if 
 need be, he seizes upon that which is most anti-phari- 
 saical in its doctrines and its institutions in order to 
 insinuate his deadly formalism. He may be recognized 
 by his self-satisfaction, the cold and sterile uniformity 
 of his piety, his dry and haughty dogmatism, his joy 
 at not being like other men, his severity in judgment, 
 and his hardness of heart. Such is the immortal 
 Pharisee, the open or hidden enemy of Jesus Christ 
 in all communions. God grant that he be not hero 
 listening to us, and applauding himself because our 
 words do not concern him at all ! 
 
 With regard to the Sadducee, he was the liberal 
 
364 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 mind, the philosopher of Jerusalem. He rejected the 
 greater part of revelation with the ease of a superior 
 intelligence. He was not a precise devotee, he was a 
 man of pleasure, with elegant manners. Does it not 
 seem that, at least, he will be tolerant, and not join 
 himself to the bitter enemies of Jesus Christ ? Why 
 should he unite on this point with hypocritical devo- 
 tees, he who knows so well how to rally them on occa- 
 sion, he who is a liberal philosopher? That then oc- 
 curred, my brethren, which has occurred in all epochs 
 of the history of the church ; free-thinkers have always 
 made common cause with formalists, in order to extir- 
 pate true Christianity from this world. They hate it as 
 much. Jesus Christ has had as much reason to complain 
 of the first as of the last. It is because he came to 
 trouble their voluptuous life, and to disturb their con- 
 venient philosopliy. He came to speak of judgment to 
 those who were saying, " Let us eat and drink, for to- 
 morrow we die." He was a terrible witness to that 
 invisible world which they wished to forget. It was 
 quite needful, therefore, to free themselves of him in 
 order to resume their life of pleasure. Let not men 
 be deceived ; the materialist philosopher is at bottom 
 of the same mind with the Sadducee of Jerusalem, 
 and beneath his fine words and his hypocritical hom- 
 age there lurks an inveterate hatred toward the cross. 
 To-day it manifests itself only by disdainful smiles and 
 the expression of inward satisfaction at not believing, 
 like simple people, in the letter of the gospel. But let 
 the requirements of Christianity make themselves felt 
 by our unbelieving philosophers in an earnest manner, 
 let them be brought face to face with a true church 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 365 
 
 bearing its cross, and you will hear roars of rage com- 
 ing forth from those men so exquisite in style, so lib- 
 eral in spirit, those Athenians of philosophy. We 
 know what the tolerance of free-thinkers is worth, 
 since a vast number of them were seen crying out for 
 the blood of the Just One, and since especially he was 
 delivered up to be crucified by a skeptical philosopher 
 whom no one surely will accuse of fanaticism after his 
 disdainful question, '' What is truth ? " 
 
 A strange thing ! After the rich, the men high in 
 dignity, the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the 
 mass of the people, also, take sides against Jesus 
 Christ. They went on to such a degree of delusion 
 and of rage as to ask the deliverance of a wretched 
 robber in order to be very sure that Jesus Christ should 
 not escape the most shameful death. This people, it 
 would seem, can have no pretext for this rage. Jesus 
 Christ never despised them. He only did them good. 
 And more than once this same people had shown their 
 gratitude. They followed him ; they seemed to love 
 him. They even had, but a few days before the pass- 
 over, a return of their enthusiasm. It avails little. It 
 needed only a few agents of the Sanhedrim, a few 
 Pharisees mingling with them, to raise the entire peo- 
 ple against their benefactor, like a furious sea beneath 
 the sudden impulsion of the wind. It is they who in 
 the end furnished the adversaries of Jesus Christ with 
 an army all ready for their work. The history of this 
 weak and cruel people is the history of all who belong 
 to the multitude of professed Christians, without hav- 
 ing given themselves to the Saviour by an individual 
 act. There is no root in their attachment to his per- 
 
 31* 
 
S66 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 son ; they follow Lim to-day for the same reason which 
 will urge them to abandon him to-morrow. Since 
 there is nothing of earnestness in their faith, as soon 
 as, in order to follow Jesus Christ, it will become ne- 
 cessary to pass by the governor's hall and Calvary, 
 they will not hesitate, they will be with the persecu- 
 tors against the persecuted, and who knows if they 
 will not be in the number of the most violent ? They 
 will go to the very end of the impulse received. Pass- 
 ive instruments of the wrath of others, they will basely 
 serve that wrath, and will not stop even when con- 
 fronted by crime. Always, even unto the end of time, 
 shall we see the undecided and wavering multitude 
 turn in the day of peril against Christ, and curse him 
 whom they were coming to adore. Whoever has not 
 separated himself from them by a positive and regene- 
 rative act that divided his life in two, is a latent 
 enemy of Jesus Christ, whom circumstances sooner or 
 later will bring to light. Satan counts upon him, 
 and will know how to find him again in his day. 
 
 But whom have I seen among the adversaries of Je- 
 sus Christ ? An apostle, one of the twelve, a compan- 
 ion of the Saviour. What ! is it not enough that so 
 many enemies should be leagued against him ? must a 
 cowardly defection weaken the ranks of his most natural 
 defenders ? Let it not be imagined that we have here 
 the execution of a fatal decree, which, relieving Judas 
 of his responsibleness, throws upon Jesus Christ the 
 charge of having chosen him in order more effectually 
 to ruin him, — a supposition which no theology in the 
 world could induce us to accept, and which encounters 
 the sovereign ban of conscience. The mystery is 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 367 
 
 great ; who doubts it ? We accept it all, provided it 
 be not employed to overthrow the moral world. Let 
 it be well considered that Christianity can not survive 
 that, and with it it is either sustained or overthrown. 
 Jesus Christ chose Judas to make of him an apostle, 
 and not a demon, and if he became a demon, seek for 
 the cause only in himself. God, who deduces good 
 from evil, finally made use of him as he makes use of 
 Satan himself; but he no more willed the crime of Ju- 
 das than he willed the existence of hell. The apos- 
 tle's defection remains, then, a moral fact, and it con- 
 veys to us a terrible warning. Here is a man who, 
 doubtless, experienced at first a certain drawing to- 
 wards Christ, and in whom the Master discerned cer- 
 tain inclinations compatible with a great mission. 
 During nearly three years this man was with Jesus 
 Christ, and yet he it was who sold him. He suffered 
 the most deplorable propensities to gain the ascend- 
 ency in him, and sought to gratify them in the service 
 of the Master. He asked of him glory and power, and 
 when he saw shame and the cross coming in their 
 stead he wished to recompense himself for the disap- 
 pointment, and he received the thirty pieces of sil- 
 ver. In like manner as, in all ages, the world has 
 found men like Caiaphas to plot against Christ, and 
 Pilate to condemn him, an ungrateful people to ask 
 for his death ; so Judases have always been found 
 to betray him. There are few churches which can 
 hear without legitimate terror these words of our 
 Lord : " One of you shall betray me." Ah ! how not 
 work out one's salvation with fear and trembling when 
 that saying is remembered ! Tliere has always been 
 
368 THE lîEDEEMER. 
 
 found some one to betray when that was necessary for 
 Satan's plans. My God ! let it not be any one of us, 
 for, of all evils, the greatest, the most frightful, is to 
 betray the Saviour. Let us serve him for himself, for 
 himself alone, with no thought of personal advantage 
 or of human glory, and then we shall be able to say- 
 that the devil hath nothing in us. 
 
 Such, my brethren, are the enemies of Jesus Christ. 
 They are numerous, they are skillful, they hold in 
 their hands power and credit, they have a traitor upon 
 whom they can depend. They are stopped by no scru- 
 ple. Jesus Christ, on the contrary, is alone with a 
 few disciples, who will speedily flee away ; he has no 
 external power ; he desires none ; he puts it far from 
 him. How will he be able to resist such formidable 
 enemies ? His very weakness is his strength ; weak 
 on the human side, he is all-powerful in regard to 
 God. He is one with the Father, and this oneness 
 renders him invincible. He does not wish for human 
 skill, because he has but one desire, which is to reveal 
 the whole truth. Finally, he has a charity which even 
 the rage of hell can not change. Therefore, the Lamb 
 of God is, at the same time, that Lion of the tribe of 
 Judah which prophecy has shown us going forth in 
 his strength. 
 
 Now that we know the combatants, let us contem- 
 plate the combat. It will be easy to bring rapidly be- 
 fore our minds its successive phases. 
 
 The first period in the ministry of Jesus Christ had 
 ended in the synagogue at Capernaum. He knows 
 that henceforth the conflict will be joined and main- 
 tained without interruption until the hour of his death. 
 
JESUS CIiniST AS SACRIFICE. 369 
 
 He wishes to prepare his disciples and to prepare 
 himself for those weighty occurrences, and he with- 
 draws with them far from the ordinary theater of his 
 activity. This he has always done on the eve of the 
 great crises in his life. Our Saviour's need of solitude 
 is remarkable. He can never do without the desert; it 
 is there that he will gather up new strength for the days 
 of trial. He shows by this that the source of all fruit- 
 ful activity, like the source of all mighty rivers, is hid- 
 den in solitary places ; that it gushes forth down pre- 
 cipitous hights, far from the noises of the world. Let 
 not the church forget the Master's example, and, like 
 him, let it frequently have its vigils of arms in the 
 desert ; let her take refuge, before engaging in com- 
 bat, in the holy solitude of divine communion ; let her 
 often return thither ; and let her say to herself that 
 if the Master felt the need of this, much more ought 
 his disciples to bathe themselves in God, and to renew 
 their spiritual strength in silence and solitude. 
 
 Jesus Christ crossed over the lake of Gennesaret 
 to go by the north into Galilee, to Cassarea Phil- 
 ippi. On this journey he took occasion to converse 
 with his disciples concerning the mission which they 
 had fulfilled in his name in the villages of Judaea and 
 Galilee, and by wliich he had designed to give them 
 practical instruction with regard to the work to which 
 they were called. He perceives that, notwithstanding 
 the weakness of their faith, they are evidently raised 
 above the prejudices of their cotemporaries, and he 
 shows in connection with Peter's saying, '- Thou art 
 the Christ, tlie Son of the living God," that the ex- 
 plicit and courageous confession of his name will be, 
 
370 THE liEDEEMER. 
 
 in all ages, the foundation-rock of the church. At 
 the same time he plainly announces his death to his dis- 
 ciples. After that epoch he frequently discourses to 
 them concerning it. He desired to prepare them for 
 it, and also to make them understand that that death 
 is, on his part, a willing sacrifice, of which he was fully 
 conscious. The prophetic words of Jesus Christ on 
 this subject are of very great importance. He was 
 the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
 world, because he foresaw and accepted his death. 
 On the northern frontier of Galilee, he met with a 
 Canaanitish woman whose persevering faith, leaving us 
 the most admirable example of importunate prayer, 
 obtained from his power an illustrious miracle. The 
 miracle of the transfiguration occurred on the return 
 from this journey. Have you observed what was the 
 subject of the Interview which Moses and Elias had 
 with Jesus Christ during that hour of glory, encom- 
 passed by the heavenly light ? They spoke, we are 
 told, of his death and of his crucifixion. This is an 
 additional proof that this period of retirement was, 
 for the Saviour, a time of solemn preparation for the 
 bitter sufferings which awaited him. 
 
 After having thus strengthened himself upon the 
 glorious mount, and received the signal testimony of 
 his Father, Jesus Christ repairs to Jerusalem. Going 
 to Jerusalem is going to the combat ; he knows it ; but 
 the moment has come to meet it with indomitable 
 energy. All details I put aside, confining myself to 
 the general outlines. I shall especially seek to bring 
 out the Saviour's attitude in this struggle, the bloody 
 close of which was known to him. 
 
JFSUS CIIRIS2' AS SACRIFICE. 371 
 
 He enters the holy city at the time of celebrating 
 one of the great Jewish festivals, the feast of taber- 
 nacles. He knows that since the miracle of healing 
 performed on the Sabbath day he has implacable ene- 
 mies in Jerusalem ; he knows that they have the power 
 to injure him. If he consulted human prudence, he 
 would be quiet ; since for him to speak, to announce 
 his doctrine, is to put himself in opposition to the San- 
 hedrim. What will he do ? St. John informs us by 
 relating the language of some of his hearers : " Is not 
 this he," said the Jews,'' whom they seek to kill ? but 
 lo, he speaketh boldly." You hear it ; he speaketh 
 openly. He does not teach in secret ; no, he enters 
 the temple, where the multitude flowed together, and 
 proclaims his doctrine, in the very faces of his adver- 
 saries, with astonishing force. He has thus taught us 
 what position the church ought to take in this great, 
 ever renewed combat of truth, and with what bold 
 fidelity it ought to reply to the threats of its enemies. 
 He who speaks openly at Jerusalem is he who said on 
 a recent occasion, " Render unto Caesar the things which 
 are Cœsar's." He showed by his example that his dis- 
 ciples should acknowledge established authority, and 
 submit to its requirements, so long as it does not in- 
 fringe upon the rights of God. But the same consci- 
 entious motive which leads them to obey within these 
 limits, constrains them to disobey as soon as they are 
 passed over. Jesus speaks openly because it is a duty 
 for him to speak when the salvation of souls is in- 
 volved. The great Envoy of the Father, the messen- 
 ger of his love, can not keep silence. What ! because 
 it has pleased a few sinful men to put the truth under 
 
372 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 interdict, and to enjoin silence on its witness and 
 representative, should he be silent? He knows that 
 he brings to lost souls a word of healing, and should 
 he be silent ? God has said to him, " Comfort, com- 
 fort my people," and can he keep silence ? He has 
 seen that people like lost sheep in the desert, and can 
 he be silent ? Let those who have no life-giving word 
 to utter be still and prudent. Jesus Christ will speak; 
 he will speak openly, because he has the words of eter- 
 nal life, and men will hear him cry out, two paces off 
 from the priests and the doctors, who are determined 
 to imprison him, " If any man thirst, let him come 
 unto me and drink ! " He will not go to man to ask 
 permission to save and unbind \ouls. He will speak 
 openly of the claims of divine love, and of his own char- 
 ity; he will speak in like manner in all circumstances, 
 before his judges as before his disciples ; his voice will 
 be stifled only in his blood, and from that blood itself 
 shall be lifted up a testimony more powerful than all 
 his discourses. Thus will speak all those who shall 
 have a doctrine of salvation to announce to the world 
 that perisheth ; they can not keep silence. They will 
 not be able to keep back the good news of forgiveness, 
 and whoever can keep it to himself, under pretense 
 that he is forbidden to proclaim it, proves by that act 
 that he has not himself received it. This freedom in 
 bearing witness to the gospel is not only the fulfillment 
 of a duty, but it is also the secret of an irresistible 
 power. It develops such a strength of conviction 
 that it draws to itself souls which feel the need of vital 
 and solid belief. It is as the seal of a divine mis- 
 sion. Thus we hear the people crying out when they 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 373 
 
 listen to Jesus Christ, '' Of a truth this is the Proph- 
 et." This courage produces an indelible impres- 
 sion upon the hearts of men ; it places him who ex- 
 hibits it above all forms of difficulty and of opposition. 
 May the church of our times not deprive itself of the 
 power to be derived from indomitable fidelity ! 
 
 Our Lord not only announced the good news of 
 salvation ; he also openly contended against error. 
 With regard to his apologetic, we have seen how he 
 established the truth of his doctrine by appealing to 
 the consciences of his hearers. We have already re- 
 marked how often his sayings were stamped with 
 severity. But he went still further. He did not con- 
 tent himself with showing in a general way that 
 unbelief had its origin in sin. He assailed the men 
 of his day, he characterized them as they deserved, 
 he censured the specific form of sin or error which he 
 encountered. He unmasked his adversaries, he even 
 hurled against them terrible anathemas. His word 
 had a keen edge for false teachers and hypocrites. 
 Run over the discourses which he delivered at this 
 period, and which are contained in tlie eighth, ninth, 
 and tenth chapters of St. John's Gospel, and you will 
 perceive that never has more controversial vigor been 
 manifested than by Jesus Christ. " Ye are from be- 
 neath, I am from above ; ye are of your flither the 
 devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." John 
 viii. " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
 crites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against 
 men ! Ye devour widows' houses ! Ye fools and 
 blind ; ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and 
 swallow a camel. Ye are like unto whited sepul- 
 
 32 
 
374 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 cliers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can 
 ye escape the damnation of hell ? " Matt. xxv. Is 
 this the lowly and gentle Master who speaks ? Is it 
 Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the friend of the afflicted, 
 he who takes up little children to bless them ? Yes, 
 my brethren, it is ever assuredly the Saviour. Not 
 satisfied with affirming the truth, he denounced in 
 indignant language the false teachers of his day : he 
 did not share the scruples entertained by so many 
 Christians who are easily scandalized by any lively 
 attack upon the psrverters of our holy religion. The 
 example of Jesus Christ teaches us that the church 
 in its contests for the truth can not dispense with 
 vigorous controversy. Doubtless it should be ele- 
 vated, like that of Jesus Christ, it ought to-be ear- 
 nest, it ought to be constantly directed to the heart 
 and conscience ; but let it be energetic and incisive. 
 To affirm the truth is without doubt the first duty of 
 the church. She ought to build ; her work is essen- 
 tially positive ; but she ought also to destroy. It 
 would not suffice to set forth the gospel unless the 
 doctrines opposed to it are overthrown. The human 
 heart is so abundant in illusions, that it would seek 
 to reconcile error with truth, if it were not clearly 
 placed in a position where it was obliged to choose 
 between the two. It is necessary, then, that Chris- 
 tians strongly protest against every departure from 
 the truth, and that they indicate aloud and with un- 
 mistakable emphasis that which to them seems op- 
 posed to the gospel. So long as they have not 
 fulfilled this duty, they are more or less responsible 
 for the misconceptions authorized by their silence. 
 
JESUS CHU 1ST AS SACRIFICE, 375 
 
 And how avoid protesting with some warmth when 
 one knows the worth of souls and sees them led 
 astray by the devices of the devil ? Let those who 
 judge spiritual blindness to be without danger, em- 
 ploy all possible devices to undeceive their erring 
 brethren. But we who think such blindness deadly, 
 we shall tear off with hands that may seem rude that 
 covering which is upon their eyes. If we are cen- 
 sured as wanting in charity, let men understand that 
 the reproach is hurled at Jesus Christ himself, for our 
 language can never equal the burning indignation of 
 his words. For ourselves, we feel in this the same 
 love which caused him to weep over the unbelief of 
 Jerusalem. Thus weeping over it, how could he fail 
 to experience a holy indignation against those who 
 instigated its rebellion ? 
 
 To speak freely, to denounce openly the false 
 doctors of his day, was not enough for Jesus Christ. 
 He did not cease for one moment to do good, and his 
 works of compassion dealt the most powerful blows 
 to his adversaries. They also precipitated the ter- 
 mination of the conflict. The wonderful healing of 
 the man born blind excited great astonishment in the 
 people, and consequently great rage in the Sanhedrim, 
 which was yet further augmented by the simplicity 
 and candor of the testimony given by the healed 
 blind man. Our Lord thought fit a second time to 
 withdraw from the hatred of his enemies. He re- 
 paired anew to Galilee ; but he abode there only a 
 short time, and returned through Samaria to Jerusa- 
 lem for the feast of the dedication. The opposition 
 between him and the Jews was more decided than 
 
376 THE REDEEMEB. 
 
 ever. Ho escaped several murderous attempts, and 
 withdrew with his disciples into Peraea, on the banks 
 of the Jordan. There he learns the news of the sick- 
 ness of Lazarus. He braves all dangers, that he may 
 go and comfort the sisters of his friend, and raises 
 him from the dead in the presence of a great number 
 of the Jewish people. This miracle, performed at the 
 gates of Jerusalem, completes the fury of his ene- 
 mies. They fully determined to secure his death ; 
 and we now enter upon the third period of his min- 
 istry, which embraces his last journey to Jerusalem, 
 his passion and his death. Thus, notwithstanding all 
 the dangers which encompassed him, Jesus Christ 
 continued his mission of charity. He did not suffer 
 himself to be absorbed in his controversy with the 
 Pharisees ; he sought to do good, to comfort the 
 afflicted, to heal the sick, as during the first period of 
 his ministry. Nothing could turn him aside from his 
 work of scattering benefits. A sublime example for 
 the church militant, which possesses no better weap- 
 ons of defense and of conquest than her charity ! 
 Let us take heed never to neglect the work of conso 
 lation which we have in charge, under pretense that 
 we must reply to urgent attacks. Let us answer 
 them, like Jesus Christ, by opening the treasures of 
 grace, and dispensing them with the utmost liberal- 
 ity. The enemies of Christianity are effectually van- 
 quished by this answer of charity, which demonstrates 
 irresistibly the excellence of that religion which they 
 calumniate, and lays a coal of fire upon their heads. 
 
 The adversaries of our Saviour very plainly acknowl- 
 edge themselves vanquished by him, since they could 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 377 
 
 oppose nothing to his last miracles but an abominable 
 crime. What a frightful part they play during all this 
 struggle ! While Jesus contends against them, preach- 
 ing his doctrine openly, consoling the afflicted, heal- 
 ing the sick, and attacking the unworthy leaders of 
 the nation, the latter are employing the most treacher- 
 ous means for his destruction ; deceit and violence are 
 their only weapons. At one time, they prepare snares 
 for Jesus Christ, and accuse him falsely ; at another, 
 they urge the people to stone him. They have no 
 other argument wherewith to oppose him save this 
 senseless argument of brutal force. When our 
 Lord has overthrown them by a final and most illustri- 
 ous miracle, they summon against him murder and 
 treason. He must die ! such is their conclusion. To 
 buy up Judas, to pay for false witnesses, such is their 
 policy. They do not suspect that they are thus con- 
 structing one of the most powerful arguments in favor 
 of Christianity : in placing themselves upon the ground 
 of violence and deceit they have shown that Christian- 
 ity can be trammeled only by infamous and abomina- 
 ble means, and that it is impossible to overcome it in 
 an honorable warfare. 
 
 We have reached the final period in the ministry of 
 Jesus Christ. His hour has come, that solemn hour 
 of inexpressible suffering and of perfect obedience. 
 Now more than ever are we enabled to say with John 
 the Baptist, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sins of the world ! " Behold him offered up 
 a bleeding sacrifice ! After the resurrection of Laza- 
 rus, Jesus Christ withdrew with his disciples to 
 Ephraim, near the wilderness. John xi. 54. The pass- 
 
 32* 
 
378 THE TîET)EEMER. 
 
 over was nigh at hand, therefore but a few days were 
 spent in that retired place, and at Jericho he rejoined 
 the numerous caravans which were proceeding to the 
 holy city from all parts of the country. Once more 
 he manifested his power by healing blind Bartimeus, 
 as also by the very striking conversion of Zaccheus 
 the publican. From Jericho Jesus Christ journeys to 
 Bethany, to pass the Sabbath in the family of Lazarus. 
 Already had he often come hither to find repose in its 
 bosom. He was tenderly beloved by that household, 
 and to that love a sentiment of ardent gratitude had 
 been added since the resurrection of Lazarus. Mary, 
 whom Luke has shown us listening to Jesus, and 
 whose appearance, scarcely outlined by the evangelist, 
 has come down to us as a type of deep inward piety, full 
 of sweetness and beauty, — Mary seeks to express all 
 that is in her heart of gratitude and love for the Master 
 by lavishing on his feet a box of fragrant ointment. 
 Leave it for a covetous Judas to complain of this, and 
 bless her for having rendered this pious homage to our 
 Saviour ! Alas ! soon those feet will be torn by nails, 
 soon he will be delivered up to shame. It is sweet to 
 think that on this sinful earth he had already found 
 hearts who understood him, and who comforted him in 
 anticipation of hi s sufferings. Our Lord leaves Bethany 
 to go up to the feast. The caravans overtook him on 
 the journey. They have doubtless heard of the res- 
 urrection of Lazarus ; they experience toward him the 
 enthusiasm of the early days of his ministry, and they 
 lead him in triumph to Jerusalem, casting branches of 
 palm-trees in the way, and singing hymns to his praise. 
 Jesus Christ consented to this triumph in order to re- 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 379 
 
 mind his disciples in a visible manner that glory be- 
 longeth unto him, and that if he freely deprives himself 
 of it, the day will come in which he shall seize it again 
 in its most resplendent luster. The day of palms is a 
 prophecy of the future triumph of the church, and of 
 its Divine Head. At Jerusalem, Jesus Christ once 
 more encounters his constant enemies, who endeavor 
 by means of subtle questions to change his triumph 
 into confusion ; but the Saviour's indignation bursts 
 forth upon them with terrible and vehement energy, 
 and they have not a word to reply. To this same 
 epoch pertain the prediction of Jesus Christ concern- 
 ing Jerusalem and the future of the church, and those 
 solemn parables in which he commends to his disci- 
 ples the watchfulness of the wise virgins and the faith- 
 fulness of the good servants in the use of the talents 
 entrusted to them. 
 
 Jesus Christ has but a few hours to spend upon the 
 earth before the great sacrifice. He goes to the upper 
 chamber where the passover feast is made ready. No 
 words of man can describe the scene which there took 
 place during that solemn night. After having washed 
 the feet of his disciples, to teach them by a striking 
 symbol his conception of humility, he breaks the bread 
 and gives them the cup, saying, " Do this in remem- 
 brance of me." The supper is instituted as the sacra- 
 ment of redemption and the feast of love. The traitor 
 has just gone out to finish his accursed work. Then 
 the Master poured his heart into the heart of his dis- 
 ciples. Promises, consolations, the effusion of a holy 
 and divine love, — all is comprehended in those last dis- 
 courses in which there seems to breathe tlie soul of Je- 
 
380 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 SUS Christ. Notliiiig can be compared with them. It is 
 the heaven of Christianity which is opened ; that region 
 of purity and love, so seldom discerned, here is spread 
 forth full of light, of depth, of peace. 
 
 After having spoken to his disciples, Christ speaks 
 for them to his Father. He lays them upon his bosom, 
 and places them in the eternal arms, and then can say, 
 with his eyes raised toward him, " I have finished the 
 work which thou gavest me to do." 
 
 He has finished it without doubt, but it remains to 
 crown it by his suffering. He repaired with his disci- 
 ples to the garden of Olives. Once more he seeks the 
 desert ; he is about to prepare himself for the last com- 
 bat. What a night was that in Gethsemane ! Whilst 
 the disciples are sleeping on account of sorrow, he is 
 there alone confronting the terrible sacrifice which he 
 must offer on the morrow. All the bitternesses of hu- 
 man life are poured into his cup. How he groans ! 
 He utters great cries, he drags himself in the dust, 
 drops of blood wet his forehead ! Such is the impiety 
 of some men that they mock at his anguish, and de- 
 rive from it a railing accusation against him. Let them 
 know that by means of that anguish and that extreme 
 abasement we recognize our deliverer ! That Saviour 
 who struggles and who suffers, who prays and who 
 weeps, it is he whom we need ; for that cry, " Father, 
 thy will be done ! " issues from a truly human heart, 
 since it issues from a broken heart, and that cry, as 
 regards our salvation, drowns the rebellious cry of 
 the first Adam. 
 
 The day of immolation has dawned. Here is Judas, 
 here %yq his impious company. But they can not en- 
 
JESUS cum ST AS SACRIFICE. 881 
 
 dure the glorious briglitncss of holiness which is 
 poured forth over the entire person of Christ. They 
 fall down as if thunder-struck, and it is only because 
 he wills to be delivered up to them that they are ena- 
 bled to seize upon him. From the insults of the San- 
 hedrim he passes to the outrages of the Pretorium. 
 In spite of his conscience, a cowardly Pilate condemned 
 him to death, and crowned him with thorns. He was 
 led forth to Calvary bending beneath his cross. The 
 Jews crucified him between two robbers, and, moreover, 
 had the abominable courage to mock at his sufferings. 
 Fix your eyes upon that cross, my brethren, and 
 turn them not away from it. It is that which con- 
 summates your redemption ! All the sufferings 
 which constitute condemnation are comprehended in 
 that sacrifice, comprehended and accepted in one act 
 of absolute obedience, accepted by the Just and Holy 
 One, and, consequently, transformed into a life-giving 
 expiation. Shall I speak of bodily sufferings ? I ap- 
 peal to those sacred members so horribly mangled. 
 Shall I speak of sufferings of the heart ? I appeal to 
 that ignominy, to those fleeing disciples, and to that 
 afflicted group of a mother and a weeping friend near 
 the accursed tree, and upon whom Christ turned a 
 look so full of sorrow and of love. Shall I speak of 
 the soul's anguish, of that cry, " My God, my God, 
 why hast thou forsaken me ? " What a mysterious iden- 
 tity between condemned humanity and the only Son 
 of the Father is revealed in that wonderful saying, 
 which no human explanation can satisfactorily inter- 
 pret ! Shall I speak of the grief which combines and 
 blends together all others, of tliat which is eminently 
 
382 THE REBEEMEB. 
 
 the wages of sin, of death ? However stupendous the 
 prodigy may appear, the Prince of life did die. He 
 was buried. The wages of sin ho recoived, he, the in- 
 nocent one. Show us a suffering, a single one, want- 
 ing to his cross, except that which is caused by re- 
 morse ! Show us a single tliorn wanting in his bloody 
 crown ! If it be true that all the sorrows of human life 
 have burst upon that innocent head, if he has made 
 of it a single offering, presenting it to his Father in his 
 freedom and his holiness, confess with him that noth- 
 ing more remains to be done to accomplish salvation, 
 for there is nothing more to suffer, nothing more to ac- 
 cept, and say with him, " It is finished ! " 
 
 Yes, all is finished f That vast work which we have 
 endeavored to depict to you, which began on the mor- 
 row of the Fall, which was continued during forty pre- 
 paratory centuries, unceasingly prosecuted by the Son 
 of God himself, behold it now reaching its final term! 
 Divine love is no longer confronted by rebellion, but 
 before it stands a love equal to its own. Between 
 humanity and him there exists no more disharmony. 
 There is perfect harmony, absolute union; and this 
 union is man's reintegration in his lofty position, it is 
 salvation. Over against the revolt in Eden we can 
 set the sacrifice on Golgotlia ; to the tree of the knovd- 
 edge of good and evil, the tree of the cross ; to rebel- 
 lious humanity, humanity obedient even unto death ; 
 — in one word, to all condemnation, to all ruin, Jesus 
 Christ ! therefore, henceforth we desire to know noth- 
 ing save Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified. We 
 wish to pitch our tents upon the mount of the cross. 
 We desire to learn there anew every day the love of 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS SACRIFICE. 383 
 
 our God, the charity of our Saviour, and to read our 
 pardon in those bloody characters which alone could 
 write it out for a race so perverse as ours ! We desire 
 to sing there the praises of the Lamb who was slain 
 for us, and who has taken away the sins of the 
 world ! We desire to draw love and comfort thence, 
 and dying unto ourselves with Christ crucified, we 
 desire to make ourselves ready to live the life ever- 
 lasting with Christ who has risen again ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 
 
 *' And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness : God was 
 manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached 
 unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into gloi'y." 
 — 1 Tim. iii. 16, 
 
 WE have contemplated two aspects of the work of 
 Jesus Christ. We have considered Mm as Prophet 
 and as Sacrifice : to-day we propose to consider him as 
 King. We shall thus have completed this great and 
 magnificent subject, — completed at least the sketching 
 of its more exterior outlines. To penetrate into its 
 depths our entire life would not suffice, for even eter- 
 nity could not exhaust it. 
 
 We have found again and adored redeeming love in 
 the Prophet who traversed Judgea and Galilee, pro- 
 claiming the kingdom of God, and in the holy victim 
 sacrificed upon Calvary ; in like manner we will adore 
 him in the divine King of the church. The word of 
 Jesus Christ was the word of love, his sacrifice was 
 the sacrifice of love, and his royalty was the royalty 
 of love. Our text, after having set forth the incar- 
 nation in these words, " God was manifest in the 
 flesh," presents to us in the following words the suc- 
 cessive phases of the kingship of our Lord : '• He was 
 justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto 
 
 384 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 385 
 
 the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
 glory." His resurrection, his ascension, the power 
 of his gospel over the world and over the church, — 
 such are the different stages of his glory. Let us rap- 
 idly survey these in order to perceive that his kingly 
 work was not less perfect than his prophetic and sacer- 
 dotal, and that we have to look for another king no 
 more than we have to expect another prophet and an- 
 other sacrifice. 
 
 If Jesus Christ enters in a signal manner upon his 
 kingship only after his resurrection, it is not the less 
 true that never did he cease to be king in a spiritual 
 sense. He no more ceased to be king than to be God. 
 His divinity, like his royalty, was vailed ; he had will- 
 ingly lessened its luster by his humiliation. The King 
 of glory had taken the form of a servant, but under 
 this servant form he nevertheless remained the King 
 of glory. We are told that celestial spirits, whose 
 penetration could not be baffled or misled by appear- 
 ances, adored him at the very time when he was un- 
 dergoing his greatest humiliations. He was adored 
 by angels in the wilderness of temptation. In more 
 than one circumstance his royal kingly character 
 shone out as with a vivid gleam of lightning. " What 
 manner of man is this ? " said they ; " for he com- 
 mandeth even the winds and the sea." ^' Who is this 
 that forgiveth sins ? " And stranger it was that, be- 
 fore the tribunal of his judge, and upon the cross, the 
 eternal kingship in-dwelling in Jesus Christ was dis- 
 played in the most positive manner. Recall to mind, 
 my brethren, the astonishing declaration of our Lord 
 to Pilate. " Art thou a king ? " the proconsul disdain- 
 
 33 
 
386 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 fully asked, as if to bring out more plainly by this cold 
 irony the contrast between his position as an accused 
 person and his high claims. " Thou sayest that I am 
 a king," answered Jesus Christ. " Where, -then, is 
 thy right, thy power ? " Behold it Î " For this cause 
 came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto* 
 the truth." Thus, according to Jesus Christ, testi- 
 mony borne to the truth invested him with actual roy- 
 alty. It is because in very deed, my brethren, truth 
 was made to reign ; and truth is sovereign by a divine 
 and absolute right. Being the eternal thought of 
 God, it ouglit on every ground to be realized. It can 
 not fail to triumph, for its overthrow would be the 
 overthrow of God himself. In all ages it is to the 
 truth that the final word belongs, the word which 
 brings light into chaos, into the ever-recurring chaos 
 of human opinions. It also has deep roots, because it 
 is rooted in God. That which is contrary to it has 
 but a borrowed life, essentially transitory. Every 
 idea, every doctrine which does not proceed from it, is 
 destined to become its own destroyer. However bril- 
 liant may be its blossoming, men will quickly say of 
 it, " I passed by, and it was no more to be seen." 
 Truth marches on slowly, but surely, to universal do- 
 minion. Queen in heaven, it is destined to reign glo- 
 riously upon the earth. Of little moment is the igno- 
 miny to which it is often surrendered. The shame is 
 but for a time, the glory will be eternal. Of little mo- 
 ment that it should be seemingly supplanted by usurp- 
 ers. Not the less is truth alone queen and sovereign. A 
 new usurpation prepares for it a new triumph. Who- 
 ever bears testimony unto it allies himself with its 
 
JESUS CHRIST À S KING. 387 
 
 glorious destinies. Whoever utters a word of truth 
 utters a royal word, victorious over all gainsaying. 
 We share in its royalty in proportion to the fidelity 
 which we bear to it. And thus, if there be found a 
 man who possesses it not in part, but wholly, and who 
 is identified with it, we can say that that man is king 
 in an absolute sense. That man is found : it is the 
 God-man. He has not only been the witness for the 
 truth, he was also its living expression. He could 
 say, " I am the truth." With equal right he could 
 say, " I am king ; " for, of all royalties, even in our 
 sinful world, the truest, the most abiding, the alone 
 immortal and invincible, is that of the truth. It is 
 good to remember this when we see truth shackled, 
 outraged, and trodden under foot. 
 
 Jesus Christ also showed himself a king on the 
 cross. "■ Having spoiled principalities and powers," says 
 St. Paul, "■ he made a show of them openly, triumphing 
 over them in it." Col. ii. 15. Those principalities 
 and powers, in biblical language, represent the forces 
 of evil acting in the world and subduing it. In two 
 ways has Jesus Christ signally acted the kingly part 
 toward them by his death. First he made a spectacle 
 of them, and then he triumphed over them. His en- 
 emies had imagined that by nailing him to the accursed 
 tree and inflicting upon him the punishment of a slave, 
 they were dishonoring him for ever. They were mis- 
 taken ; the infamy was theirs, and did not pertain to 
 the victim. Then was disclosed the essential charac- 
 ter of this world, the enemy of God, which in the or- 
 dinary course of human life dissembles its hate and 
 endeavors successfully to pass as honest. Behold it at 
 
388 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the cross fully unmasked ; it had cast away its vail, so 
 often woven with seeming virtues, with hypocritical 
 moderation and vain religiousness. In this terrible 
 day it stands forth wholly revealed, murderer of the 
 Holy One and the Just, able to discover no punishment 
 for him equal to its wrath. Long had it cherished in 
 the depth of its heart this impious hatred toward the 
 Messiah. But hate had been dumb ; now it "speaks, 
 it manifests itself with entire freedom. That which 
 it was saying in low tones has burst forth in the fear- 
 ful cry, 't Crucify him. Crucify him ! " The powers of 
 the world are, in truth, made a show to heaven and to 
 the earth. They found in the cross a tree of infamy, 
 and henceforth they can not separate themselves from 
 it. They are torn from the obscurity in which they 
 loved to dwell, plotting against God and against 
 his Anointed. This man, condemned to death, covered 
 with the hootings of an ungrateful people, who appears 
 to be the most forsaken and feeble of men, is in reality 
 a conqueror who drags after him his vanquished foes 
 and makes a show of them openly. 
 
 Triumphant conqueror : the word is not too strong, 
 my brethren, and the apostle is justified in adding that 
 the cross of Jesus Christ has triumphed over the powers 
 of this world. At first the world sought this excess 
 of torments inflicted upon our Saviour to harass his 
 soul. Satan had endeavored to take him in the snare 
 of pleasure and- earthly glory. Satan had been shame- 
 fully vanquished, as we have seen. He endeavored 
 when Christ was upon the cross to crush that strong 
 and holy soul by suffering urged to its utmost limits. 
 And he finds that he has only shed a new luster over 
 
JESUS CniîIST AS KING. 389 
 
 the moral perfection of our Lord. If Jesus Christ 
 groaned in Gethsemane with the bloody cup in view, 
 this groaning had no other result than to render his 
 obedience more real, more human, more redemptive. 
 The odious ingratitude of the Jews could not develop 
 in his heart a single bitter or irritated feeling. When 
 fastened to the cross not the less does he remain the 
 incarnation of charity. It is not possible to diminish 
 that great, that immense love, which itself alone re- 
 veals his divinity. You may smite his head, spit upon 
 his face, tear his limbs with nails and cover them with 
 his blood, mock at his suffering, offer him vinegar 
 when he says " I thirst," and drown his groans with 
 your laughter, you may immolate him and slay him, 
 you can not enkindle in him one spark of anger. 
 Draw near to him at the moment when his soul is 
 about to leave his body, in which it is enfeebled by the 
 greatest sorrows. Listen to the last words of his ago- 
 ny, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do ! " Such were his vengeance and his wrath. Ack- 
 nowledge your powerlessness, and with this forgive- 
 ness wholly enveloping and as it were crushing you, 
 confess that your victim triumphs over you by strength 
 of love, and that never, even amid the glories of heav- 
 en, did he manifest more of greatness than in that 
 doleful hour of his humiliation. Moreover, let us not 
 forget that this death is the sacrifice of redemption, is 
 the crushing of the serpent's head. Often in the con- 
 fusion of a combat a victorious cliief, covered with dust 
 and blood, seems nearer defeat than triumph. But of 
 what importance are appearances ? He knows that 
 the enemy is in flight, and that he is dealing him the 
 
 33* 
 
390 THE REDE EMEU. 
 
 last blows. When Jesus Christ cried out, as he gave 
 up his spirit, "It is finished !" he uttered his cry of 
 victory. This cry escaped from his breast heaving 
 with his last sigh, but it had not failed to break the 
 power of the great adversary. The powers of the 
 world were vanquished. They did not suspect it ; on 
 the contrary, they imagined themselves to be delivered 
 from this formidable representative of the cause of 
 God. At the very hour when hell was perhaps con- 
 gratulating itself on having destroyed the plan of di- 
 vine love, what was this crucified, this vanquished one 
 doing ? He was opening heaven to a poor repentant 
 sinner. " This night," said he to the penitent thief, 
 " shalt thou be with me in paradise." What more 
 striking proof that the wicked man, as always, had 
 done a work which deceived him, and that Jesus Christ 
 had indeed triumphed on the cross over the powers of 
 the world, after having made a show of them openly ? 
 
 But, my brethren, let us hasten to declare it, this 
 moral kingsliip of which Jesus Christ could not be 
 deprived for a single instant could not suffice unto 
 him. It was to terminate in an outward and re- 
 splendent royalty ; it was to have its crown and its 
 scepter. It is not necessary to believe that obedience 
 and righteousness are recompensed only in a mystical 
 manner, if I may thus speak, by the inward happi- 
 ness which attends them in the heart. Tliis moral 
 satisfaction is indeed a precious compensation for the 
 sacrifices to which he is exposed who sincerely and 
 habitually does good in this world, but it is not the 
 only consolation of the persecuted just man. He 
 ought to know that if the present is against him in 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 391 
 
 an earthly point of view, the future is for him in 
 every sense. Were it otherwise, the lies of the 
 , tempter would be partly justified. He aims to make 
 us believe in a kind of opposition between goodness 
 and happiness. According to his perfidious sugges- 
 tions, evil and felicity would be on one side, and on 
 the other afflictions and duty. It is important that 
 this false and dangerous method of stating the ques- 
 tion of good and evil should be set aside, and that it 
 be understood that it is not true in fact that man 
 has to clioose between goodness and happiness. Tak- 
 ing things not merely in tlie circle of the finite, 
 where everything begins and nothing ends, where no 
 ultimate judgment can be passed upon anything 
 whatever, looking at them from the point of view in 
 eternity, which is the only true and satisfactory posi- 
 tion, happiness and go'odness must appear to be 
 indissolubly united. The law of goodness is the 
 expression of that will which governs the world. 
 He who has established it is the Almighty, and he 
 designs to give it scope and fulfillment in all do- 
 mains. It follows that the narrow way of obedience 
 and sacrifice, beginning on a hard and stony soil, 
 rises towards hights increasingly serene, until it 
 opens up into light and glory. On the contrary, the 
 broad way plunges down more and more into the 
 dark abyss until it wholly disappears. If then the 
 road to Calvary did not lead to the gate of heaven, 
 the law of God would lose its absolute character. 
 V The sacrifice of Jesus Christ must necessarily ter- 
 minate in triumph and in kingly power ; and it is con- 
 
392 THE BE DEE MER. 
 
 ceniing this outward royalty that we have now to 
 discourse to you, as we follow our text step by step. 
 
 It declares to us first, of our Saviour, that he was 
 justified in the Spirit. What are we to understand 
 by these words ? For Jesus Christ to be justified in 
 the Spirit, is to receive in a solemn manner before the 
 world the confirmation of his words : such justifica- 
 tion will be as a divine seal affixed to his mission, 
 an irrefutable proclamation of the righteousness of 
 his cause and the acceptance of his sacrifice by his 
 Father. But in order to a justification like this, 
 nothing less than his resurrection is necessary. If 
 he does not rise from the dead, it is proven that he is 
 only an impostor or an incomplete Saviour. He 
 came to add his name to that long list of pretended 
 Messiahs which is but the list of the deceits of hu- 
 manity. Jesus Christ declared in advance that he 
 would not remain in the tomb. If he remains there 
 he is nothing but a fallible man, and his teaching, in- 
 validated on one point, loses all worth in our eyes. 
 Jesus Christ declared himself to be the Son of God ; 
 if he who represented himself as the creative Word 
 can not escape from the power of death, it is evident 
 to all that he was but one of us. Finally, and above 
 all, he declared himself to be the Redeemer, the van- 
 quisher of sin. If he does not rise again, his death 
 is only a heroic and sublime death, but a death with- 
 out expiatory value. His last words were the dreams 
 of a man in his agony, and the wind carried away 
 his " It is finished ! " like one of those words that 
 escape in the delirium of the dying. The resurrec- 
 tion is therefore the only sufficient and complete 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 393 
 
 justification of his ministry. It is not only the 
 crown of his work, it is its necessary completion. 
 
 We know that this is one of the miracles which 
 occasion the greatest scandal to unbelief, and which 
 seem to it beyond all others absurd and impossible. 
 It descants skillfully upon the laws of our physical 
 being ; it demonstrates with force and clearness that 
 on natural grounds of view the principle of life once 
 extinguished can not be renewed, and it regards the 
 resurrection of our Saviour as a ridiculous fable. As 
 for ourselves, between a material impossibility and a 
 moral impossibility, we do not hesitate. Only the 
 latter appears to us absolute and insurmountable. 
 We also believe in the permanence and inflexibility 
 of the law of creation ; but this law, the axis around 
 which everything turns, is not a material law, it is a 
 moral law. The laws of the physical world are 
 necessarily subordinated to it ; it is for that law that 
 God has already shaken the earth (Heb. xii. 26), and 
 it is in order to give it a supreme consecration that 
 he has said, " Yet once more I will shake not the 
 earth only, but also heaven ; " as if to show us in the 
 most solemn manner that the entire system of natu- 
 ral laws which rules the outward world is nothing in 
 his eyes compared with the fundamental law of the 
 spiritual world. Let them not speak to us, then, any 
 more of the impossibility of the resurrection. That 
 which is really impossible we may learn from the 
 language of an apostle : ''It was not possible," said 
 St. Peter, " that he should be holden of the pains of 
 death." Acts ii. 24. That could not be, because 
 death being the wages of sin, the justice of God 
 
o94 THE lîEDEEMEE. 
 
 would be at fault if Jesus Christ were held by its 
 bonds after the redemptive sacrifice. God could not 
 a second time ask for the payment of a debt already 
 discharged. These bands of death must then be 
 broken in the case of Jesus Christ, in the name of a 
 higher necessity than all the necessities of the order 
 of nature. It is impossible that he be held, as it is 
 impossible that God be unjust. What matters it 
 then that on the night following the day of Christ's 
 death all seems finished to his enemies, and even to 
 his friends, who go apart to shed bitter tears of de- 
 spair ? What means the sepulcher with the stone 
 rolled up to the door of it ? What avails that guard 
 placed around the tomb to watch it? Of what im- 
 portance is it that one night passes away, that an- 
 other day also passes, and that the third day begins 
 before death has yet yielded up his prey ? Be not 
 disquieted at the sight of those women who bring 
 consecrated perfumes to embalm the dead. What 
 avail those funeral observances, which show so little 
 faith and so much affection for the Master ? Not- 
 withstanding all these appearances, it is not possible 
 that he should remain in this sepulcher. The stone 
 is heavy ; it shall be rolled away by the angels of 
 God ; at the sight of them the guard stationed there 
 w^ill flee away, and the pious women who were com- 
 ing sorrowfully to pay him the last offices w^ill return 
 with a song of triumph : for, lo ! on the morning of 
 the third day he hath risen again. He has thrown 
 off the winding-sheet, and soon he will be known by 
 the palpable signs of his crucifixion, as by the sounds 
 of his voice, which causes the hearts of his disciples 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 395 
 
 to burn within them. Justified by the Spirit before 
 his own, through their testimony he shall be justi- 
 fied before the world, and this testimony shall be so 
 clear, so precise and unanimous, notwithstanding 
 differences in detail which more plainly exhibit their 
 agreement in things essential, that to call this in 
 doubt will be overthrowing the very foundations of 
 historic certainty. The testimony of their life and 
 of their death will be yet more powerful, for by their 
 calmness in suffering, by their joy in bonds or be- 
 neath the blows of their persecutors, by their joyful 
 hope in the midst** of death and amid tortures, they 
 will not cease to declare he hath risen ; and therein 
 is the secret of our courage and our peace. If it 
 were not so, we should be of all men most miserable. 
 (1 Cor. XV. 19.) But it is so ; and although the scorn 
 and offscourings of the world, pressed down and 
 crushed on every side, in wounds, in prisons, in toils, 
 in watchings, in fastings, like sheep appointed to the 
 slaughter, we are nevertheless the happiest of men, in 
 the strength of that glorious resurrection. 
 
 You know, my brethren, the importance attributed 
 by the ancient church to this fact of the resurrection 
 of our Saviour, a fact which in our day is kept too 
 much in the shade. In reading the discourses of the 
 apostles, we feel they could not weary in speaking of it. 
 This great and glorious third day brings to them all 
 light and all consolation. They no longer saw in Je- 
 sus Christ simply the gentle Master and the meek vic- 
 tim, but also the King of glory and the Prince of life. 
 They discerned beneath the visible sacrifices the great 
 and mysterious sacrifice of God made man ; all the 
 
396 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 past assumed a profound meaning for them ; and thus 
 the kingship of Jesus Christ threw back a new and 
 more brilliant light over his life. Moreover, his res- 
 urrection was in their eyes the triumphant evidence 
 of the gospel. They thought that in like manner as 
 it had scattered away their unbelief, it would bring con- 
 viction to hearts not hardened. Finally, they knew 
 that Christ risen is the first-fruits of those who sleep, 
 and that death had been conquered for them as for him. 
 Beside his empty sepulcher they were enabled to lift 
 up that hymn of Christian immortality, an immortal- 
 ity based not on philosophical suppositions, but on a 
 positive fact : " death, where is thy sting ? grave, 
 where is thy victory ? " The resurrection of Christ, 
 the second Adam, the chief of humanity, proclaims, 
 therefore, our own resurrection. And thus it is for the 
 Christian a source of inexhaustible consolations. It 
 disarms death in his thoughts, dissipates his terrors, and 
 softens their bitterness, for it takes from sorrow that irre- 
 vocable character which would transform into despair. 
 May that kingship of Christ then be your consolation in 
 the day of painful separations, and may it assist you, as 
 it did the patriarch, to rise up from among your dead 
 with a bleeding heart, but comforted by so great a hope. 
 Say within yourselves, as you see them descend into 
 the tomb, It is not possible that they remain in the 
 bands of death, for those bands have been broken for 
 US, as for Christ, and the day will come when their 
 reanimated dust, having been changed into a glori- 
 ous body, shall be a new witness of the efficacy of his 
 redemption, and, as it were, a second justification by 
 the Spirit for his work. 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 397 
 
 He was seen of angels, we read also in our text ; 
 this is the second stage in his glory, the second sign 
 of his royalty. We understand by these words the 
 return of Jesus Christ into the abode of divine light, 
 where the blessed spirits enjoy the presence and the 
 vision of God. I know well that in speaking of such 
 an abode one runs the risk of being charged with ma- 
 terialism ; and if we believe certain teachers, the ascen- 
 sion of Jesus Christ is a gross idea, one of the follies 
 pertaining to the infancy of the church, which she is 
 bound to lay aside in her full maturity. For ourselves, 
 we believe in it, not only because the testimony 
 which relates this fact is authoritative in our judg- 
 ment, but also because we have need to believe in it. 
 Doubtless communion with God is not confined to 
 time or space, and heaven diffuses its pure felicity 
 through any heart that is intimately united with God. 
 But it is not the less true that it is a bitter suffering, 
 even with heaven within, to inhabit an abode saddened 
 by sin ; this perpetual contrast between the soul's life 
 and the sad spectacle of a defiled world is not one of 
 the least afflictions of the just man. We have need of 
 harmony, and certainly the sight of evil constituted 
 no small part of the long-continued suffering of him 
 whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity. We do 
 then firmly believe that there is an abode where 
 these painful contrasts will not be found, where God 
 will be all in all. That abode, which by an image as 
 sublime as it is popular we compare to the purest, the 
 most beautiful and the grandest object in our knowl- 
 edge by calling it heaven, was to be thrown open again 
 as the palace of his glory before Christ risen from the 
 
 34 
 
398 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 dead. Then he would exchange the society of all men 
 like Caiaphas and Judas for that of holy angels, and 
 instead of the scorn of a world which was unable to 
 comprehend him, he would receive the honor of which 
 he was worthy. Long enough had he been exposed to 
 shame ; the everlasting hosanna would now silence 
 the shouts of an ingrate people. " The away with 
 him !" of the impious and ungrateful multitude will 
 give place to the song of the Lamb. The mocking 
 laugh of the Pharisee will be succeeded by the hymn 
 of seraphim. Ah ! we understand the glory compre- 
 hended in those simple words, " He was seen of angels." 
 With what holy enthusiasm, when the gates of heaven 
 were lifted up that their King might come in, did they 
 not pour forth their adoring songs, as if to compensate 
 by their divine emulation for the outrages of the Pre- 
 torium and of Calvary ! What an hour was that when 
 they beheld him again, and when he again sat down in 
 the midst of their faithful band, upon that throne which 
 he had left to offer the holy sacrifice of love, and on 
 which he resumed his place in the triumph of love ! 
 He was seen of angels ! 
 
 And here, my brethren, a comparison, or rather a 
 contrast, presents itself to our minds. We showed 
 you in our first discourse, on the morrow of the Fall, 
 Eden closed, and seraphim with their flaming swords 
 guarding it against man banished and condemned. 
 He who to-day is seen of angels, celebrated by them, 
 encompassed by their innumerable choirs, is also a 
 man ; or rather it is man anew, tlie man, the chief of 
 the race, the type of its destinies. It is redeemed hu- 
 man nature which is welcomed thus by blessed spirits ; 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 399 
 
 it is liiimaiiity which, according to the expres- 
 sions of the apostles, is seated in heavenly places ! 
 Compare this day of ascension with the day of condem- 
 nation. Compare the seraphim at the gates of Eden 
 with the angels of paradis'e re-opened, and perceive 
 ill this very contrast the greatness of the redemptive 
 work. From that desolation to this glory how long is 
 the road to be traversed ! How can any one be aston- 
 ished at the price paid for the renovation ? But how 
 complete is the renewal ! As deep as was the fall, so 
 great is the rising again. The fall threw us into the 
 depths of the abyss ; the rising brings us unto God ia 
 the person of Jesus Christ triumphant. Cease then to 
 speak of Christianity as a religion which does not ex- 
 alt man ! Because it does not flatter his pride it has 
 been concluded that it positively abased and denied 
 him his legitimate honor. It is not true that pride 
 leads to glory ; it has but its vain shadow, and it drags 
 man after it, in order to leave him in the mud, de- 
 ceived and degraded. Christianity alone satisfies the 
 thirst for glory, which has something legitimate in it 
 when not perverted. For a fallen creature glory con- 
 sists only in renewal, and renewal can begin only in 
 recognition of the fall. Humility, say the Scriptures, 
 goes before exaltation, that is to say, it alone conducts 
 to glory. It is not an end, but a road. The end is 
 the true glorification of human nature. Furthermore, 
 while antichristian dogmas seek to hide the miseries 
 of humanity, to cover its shame by artfully arranging 
 the folds of a deceitful vail over its hideous wounds, 
 Christianity tears the vail in order to heal the wounds. 
 It takes by the hand that poor human creature, degra- 
 
400 THE REDEEMER. j 
 
 ded and fallen, by stooping to its level ; it leads him \ 
 by forgiveness to heaven ; it makes him sit down there, 
 and upon the very throne of God humanity recognizes 
 its eternal glorification. It is thus that the religion 
 of humility degrades and debases humanity ! 
 
 But, my brethren, let not this assimilation between " 
 you and Jesus Christ, which you are right in urging 
 
 very far according to the Scriptures, prevent you from j 
 
 recognizing the sole and special character of his royal- \ 
 
 ty. Let us not forget that of him it was said, " God i 
 
 also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name ; 
 which is above every name: that at the name of 
 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, | 
 
 and things in earth, and things under the earth, and j 
 
 that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is ; 
 
 Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 10, i 
 11. "We owe him adoration, and this should be 
 
 marked in all our religious language. Let us have j 
 
 with him a heavenly intimacy, but let us shun that fa- j 
 
 miliarity devoid of dignity which sometimes has too ! 
 
 greatly impaired the sentiment of respect in the Ian- ■ 
 
 guage employed by certain Christians. His vast love | 
 
 constantly fills up the distance between us and him ; ' 
 
 it stoops, like a tender brother, even to the dust in I 
 
 which we lie, to encourage and raise up the humblest ; 
 
 Christian. Let us ever show that we understand that ] 
 this loving Saviour is God, and let us ever manifest 
 
 a practical faith in his kingly greatness. sacred \ 
 
 name of my Saviour, name both sweet and holy, we ^ 
 
 love to bend the knee before thee ! Our divine 1 
 
 King, whilst men insult thee, whilst they know thee ; 
 
 not upon this earth watered with thy blood, we wish ' 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 401 
 
 to adore thee, and with our praises to cover up the 
 outrages of thine enemies ! Our respect equals our 
 love. Friends and servants at once, according to thine 
 own words, we lean upon thy heart with St. John, we 
 fall at thy feet with Mary ! 
 
 We have seen Jesus Christ rising from the dead and 
 ascending his throne ; we must know now how he 
 reigns. His royalty is the royalty of love, and he 
 makes of it a glorious ministry of compassion. He 
 exercises it in heaven, first by his sovereign prayer. 
 " He ever liveth to make intercession for us," we 
 read in the epistle to the Hebrews. Jesus Christ 
 gathers together all our prayers, and adds to them his 
 all-powerful Amen. Begun upon earth, in the depth of 
 our hearts often broken and crushed, they are finished 
 in his divine mouth. He bears before the Father 
 our desires, our aspirations, our sorrows, and as he 
 is the eternal Word, that is to say, the perfect expres- 
 sion of the thought and will of God, his prayer is heard 
 before it is put in form. To pray thus is to reign, and 
 whoever prays thus participates in this blessed reign. 
 Let no one then go and allege the pretext of his un- 
 worthiness as a reason for refusing to pray. Un- 
 worthy of the favor you are, and will be always on the 
 earth ; but you are not alone in prayer. He in whose 
 name you pray, and who prays with you, is worthy to 
 be heard, for he is the great High Priest, the King of 
 the new covenant. If the Son of God was not heard, 
 who could be ? But ho is, and always. No one of 
 our requests is lost ; they are accepted and consecra- 
 ted by liim. Let them therefore unceasingly ascend 
 toward him, let them go and mingle with his petitions, 
 
 34* 
 
402 THE lîEDEEMER. 
 
 and be blended with them as the tributary streams 
 are blended with the forceful currents of a mighty 
 river. 
 
 The kingship of Jesus Christ is manifested not 
 only in his relations with the Father, but also in the 
 power which he wields over humanity. We shall 
 presently see to what extent this power is exercised ; 
 at present let us examine the mode in which it is 
 operative. It is by the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ 
 reigns over the hearts of men and governs them. As 
 we have seen, it entered into his plans to give the 
 Spirit to the world, and the sending into our souls 
 of this mysterious agent of God's work is one of 
 the marked characteristics of the kingship of Jesus 
 Christ. This is the reign of the Holy Spirit. Christ, 
 through him, is unceasingly present upon the earth ; 
 he inclines the hearts of men, he changes them, 
 guides them, and renders them fruitful. Strangely 
 erroneous views have been sometimes held concern- 
 ing the operation of the Spirit of God. From a 
 false idea of divine sovereignty, it has been trans- 
 formed into a power resembling the irresistible forces 
 of nature, the wind which bends or breaks the tree, or 
 the lightning which consumes it. Thus have been 
 confounded two domains entirely distinct: that of 
 necessity and that of freedom, the external world 
 and the moral world. Men imagined that they were 
 glorifying grace while materializing it, for it is mate- 
 rializing it to deprive it of its spiritual and moral 
 character. Nowhere does Scripture exliibit to us the 
 Holy Spirit as a power that can not be resisted. On 
 the contrary, we are taught that we can repulse 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 403 
 
 and grieve him. He is granted only to those who 
 seek for him. The reign of Jesus Christ has there- 
 fore nothing in common with that species of divine 
 absolutism to which it has been too often compared. 
 This absolutism, very far from promoting the glory of 
 God, impairs that glory ; in fact, in order to reign 
 over free beings infinitely more power is needed than 
 to reign over beings that are passive and inert. To 
 direct creatures endowed with intelligence and free 
 will is infinitely greater than to lead creatures un- 
 able either to resist or to obey. To change the will 
 is a greater thing than to abolish it. Absolutism is a 
 force of the material world ; there lies its domain ; 
 morally it is powerless ; whenever it has sought to 
 enter the spiritual domain, it has been driven thence 
 in ignominy. Our ideas concerning liberty of con- 
 science are based upon the very fact of its incompe- 
 tence with regard to all which proceeds from the soul 
 and the will. To transform grace into a species of 
 divine absolutism, by regarding it as an irresistible 
 power, is to divest it of its true character; we 
 hold indeed that it is depriving God of his proper 
 sovereignty, under pretext of maintaining it. His 
 sovereignty is above all else to be admired in that it 
 harmonizes with liberty, and in that it attains its own 
 ends while fully establishing liberty. The Spirit of 
 God penetrates us, and transforms us while triumph- 
 ing over our resistance ; grace is a divine persuasion ; 
 it is not by a stroke of authority, it is by a secret and 
 gentle influence that it wins us, and the signal mani- 
 festations of its power are connected, as in the con- 
 version of Paul, with a protracted inward struggle, 
 
404 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 the consummation of which may be rapidly effected. 
 Let men cease, then, to confound Christianity with 
 fatalism, swayed by a logical system justifiable three 
 centuries ago as a weapon of warfare in the great 
 conflict with Catholic Pelagianism, but which to-day 
 would turn against those handling it, and would 
 smite them with a deadly stroke by identifying them 
 with cotemporary Pantheism. Let not the reign of 
 Jesus Christ be assimilated to that which is worst 
 upon the earth ; let not the sovereignty of God be 
 identified with absolutism, or the free and powerful 
 Spirit of God be degraded to the order of material 
 and mechanical forces.* 
 
 Having set forth the spiritual nature of Christ's 
 kingdom, it still remains for us to inquire in what 
 manner he establishes it upon the earth. Our text 
 teaches us that it comprehends two domains : one 
 more general, and one more special. " He was 
 preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the 
 world." The preaching of the gospel is a first un- 
 folding of the kingship of Christ upon the earth ; it 
 
 * We know well the answer that will be given ; we shall be referred to 
 the ninth chapter of Romans, We are persuaded that the ordinary 
 exegesis of that passage is very superficial. Sufficient consideration is 
 not paid to the general thesis maintained by the apostle; his aim being to 
 uphold against the Jew the freedom of the grace of God, as not being 
 bound to any natural fact. In the last part of the chapter, he employs 
 an overwhelming kind of argumentation, suited to crush his opponent, 
 and which consists definitively in refusing the discussion ; but it would 
 be an absolute perversion of the authority of the Scriptures to fasten 
 upon this isolated passage, and not interpret it by the whole Bible, and by 
 so many words of this same apostle which are a natural commentary 
 upon it. 
 
 See the development of St. Pciul's doctrine in vol. ii. of our History 
 of the Three First Centuries of the Church. 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 405 
 
 is a manifestation of his power which is everywhere 
 diffused. The faith of Christians is a manifestation 
 more real and more elevated, for Christ's royalty 
 over the church is emhiently the royalty of Christ. 
 Let us consider this twofold aspect of his kingly 
 dignity. 
 
 The apostle Paul regarded the preaching of the 
 gospel as constituting a part of the mystery of godli- 
 ness. We do not attribute to it sufficient importance. 
 In itself, even before it has produced faith, it wields 
 an immense influence. It puts in circulation a mul- 
 titude of true and fruitful ideas, which, proceeding 
 from revelation, create a kind of moral atmosphere, 
 which men can not possibly avoid breathing. By a 
 singular inconsequence, the gospel is more quickly 
 realized in the social than in the individual sphere. 
 Doubtless it is easier to draw from it general conse- 
 quences than the individual consequence, in which is 
 implied self-renunciation. However this may be, it 
 is certain that the preaching of the gospel has ex- 
 erted a marked influence upon the history of hu- 
 manity. It was preached to the pagans, and pagan- 
 ism, quietly undermined by it, crumbled stone by 
 stone, until, like a gigantic ruin, the whole mass fell 
 to the ground. We have the right to speak of a 
 Christian civilization, in opposition to a pagan civ- 
 ilization. The modern world has been gradually 
 molded by the gospel ; respect for man as man, care 
 for the poor, freedom of thought and of belief, — all 
 these divine features which distinguish it more or 
 less, and without which it would fall into barbarism, 
 are to be ascribed to the preaching of the gospel. 
 
406 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 And what a crowd of thoughts and sentiments, en- 
 tirely unknown to the pagan world, lie at the basis of 
 the modern literatures. If we combine all these 
 facts, we are justified in approving the beautiful 
 words of a great thinker : " You could not abolish 
 Christianity without thereby plucking up the root of 
 what is good and beautiful in that civilization of which 
 you make your boast."* We recognize tho kingly 
 power of Jesus Christ, the royalty of the truth, in 
 these general results of evangelical preaching ; and 
 we firmly believe that the future has in store for us 
 more than one benign application of Christian princi- 
 ples in the social domain. 
 
 But the preaching of the gospel reveals in a deei3er 
 sense the royalty of Jesus Christ. His word, by 
 itself alone, is a power. It can not die without an 
 echo and sink into nothins-ness. It can not return to 
 him without effect. Wherever it goes forth, there 
 are ineffaceable traces of its career, — its pathway 
 glowing with redeeming love, or marked with the 
 avenging thunderbolt. It binds or it unbinds. Re- 
 jected, it shakes off the dust from the feet of its 
 divine messengers, in whose persons it has been re- 
 pulsed afresh, and this dust is the seed of severe 
 judgments from Cod. When this word enters a new 
 country, it is not certain that we shall see it eagerly 
 welcomed, but it is certain that it will produce the 
 most striking effects. It will trouble their souls and 
 arouse their consciences. Men will perceive that it 
 has come,- by the wrath which it excites, and by the 
 thanksgivings which it inspires. It will draw down 
 
 * Sclileiermaclier, Reden uber die Religion. 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 407 
 
 upon that country either blessing or cursing, accord- 
 ing as it shall be received. Like results occur with 
 regard to the individual soul that is brought into con- 
 tact with it. It is a moment of fearful solemnity 
 when the gospel makes its approach to a man. 
 Everything in his future life hangs upon his reception 
 or rejection of it. The word of G-od will return to 
 heaven, to announce there his salvation, or to bring 
 in the charge that his heart is hardened. It is this 
 word which henceforth exercises judgment upon 
 the earth. "He hath one that judgeth him," said 
 Jesus Christ ; " the word which I have spoken." An 
 infallible judge, it constrains the hearts of men to 
 unvail themselves before this tribunal, in order to 
 manifest whether they love darkness or light. By its 
 declaration, so plain and so hostile to sin, it tears off 
 from them the mask of worldly honesty ; they are 
 exposed in their nakedness. They can not escape 
 from its power ; often, by a single word, they are 
 pierced through and through. It is the two-edged 
 sword which reaches to the dividing asunder of the 
 joints and the marrow. Even during the period of 
 Christ's ministry this influence of his word made 
 itself felt ; but it was restricted, because the gospel 
 was not yet preached to all the nations of the earth. 
 It had been proclaimed only to the Jews. Thus the 
 apostle characterizes it as a fact of high importance 
 that God manifested in the flesh should be preached 
 to the Gentiles. Henceforth the kingly sway of the 
 word of God, and consequently of Jesus Christ, will 
 be without bounds. It may extend over the entire 
 world ; Christian missions, which are ever subduing 
 
408 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 unto him new domains, are enlarging his empire day 
 by day, and are directly contributing to the glorifica- 
 tion of Christ as king. 
 
 After having said, " He was preached unto the Gen- 
 tiles," the apostle adds, " he was believed on in the 
 world." Genuine faith is found only in the church. 
 It is the church consequently of which mention is here 
 made. Jesus Christ reigns over her in an altogether 
 special sense. That general kingship over the world 
 by the preaching of the gospel does not suffice for him. 
 He has his people who acknowledge only his laws, and 
 the Christian church composes that people ; not this 
 or that one of its fragments, but the total church, in 
 its veritable, that is to say spiritual, catholicity. Jesus 
 Christ is her sole head ; he governs her in all things ; 
 he nourishes her with his life ; he multiplies unto her 
 his gifts; it is from him that she derives her sub- 
 stance in its entirety, as in each one of her members. 
 Therefore she owes to him absolute and undivided sub- 
 mission. Not to depend upon him alone, to place 
 herself in any degree under the tutelage of a human 
 power, is to challenge the royalty of Jesus Christ, it 
 is to take from him a portion of it. From this point 
 of view it is impossible to hesitate with regard to the 
 constitution to be given to the church. The question 
 is of such simplicity that its solution forces itself upon 
 the good sense of the Christian. Is it true, yes or no, 
 that Jesus Christ is the king of the church ? If he is 
 her king, does it not follow that the church ought not to 
 recognize any other authority than his own ? Is she in 
 her normal condition when subject to sinful man ? Is 
 not her loss in freedom so much taken away from Jesus 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KING. 409 
 
 Christ ? If the mind is not intent upon vain siibtil- 
 ties, if it is satisfied with a categorical reply, it will 
 surely be acknowledged that the kingship of Christ 
 implies the church's complete independence. Let her 
 ever remember that this independence has no worth 
 except as there results from it an obedience to her 
 divine King that is continually growing in truth and 
 inward power. He desires to reign over her only 
 through love, for the head of the church is at the 
 same time her spouse. It is by fervently loving him, 
 by uniting herself to him with ever-increasing strength, 
 that she can most truly glorify him. Let not the 
 Christians of our generation, by their spiritual cold- 
 ness, refuse to participate in this blessed reign of 
 love. 
 
 St. Paul sums up in one word, at the close, all the 
 divine characteristics of the royalty of Christ : '' He 
 was received up into glory." His resurrection, his 
 ascension, the power of the gospel over the world, and 
 his sovereign authority over the church, constituted in 
 truth a rising to glory. But this glorious exaltation of 
 the Redeemer, which is absolute in one sense, is pro- 
 gressive in another ; the kingly power must be pro- 
 gressively extended over the earth, and the succession 
 of human generations during the past eighteen centu- 
 ries has had no other end than to contribute to the 
 development of God's kingdom, — identical with the 
 reign of his Son. Nothing remains to be added to the 
 glory of Christianity as it is contained in the gospel ; 
 but in passing through our limited understandings and 
 our defiled hearts, it has necessarily undergone more 
 than one alteration. For a long time the Christianity 
 
 35 
 
410 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 of the church has not been the primitive Christianity, 
 that of Jesus Christ and the gospel. It did not enter 
 into the plans of God to preserve his revelation from 
 all harm, for in that case it would have been necessary 
 that the church place it out of our reach, and bury it 
 in the earth, like the talent of the wicked servant in 
 the parable. On the contrary, God desired that we 
 should assimilate his truth to ourselves by a personal 
 effort, and that Christ should become truly Christ in 
 us. But in order to reach this final term of religious 
 history, many sorrowful experiences, many gropings 
 after light, many falls and devious ways, were inevit- 
 able. Nevertheless, the divine end has always been 
 pursued, and from age to age Christianity has been ex- 
 alted in glory, notwithstanding the persistent efforts of 
 the antichristian spirit which has left it no truce and 
 no repose. 
 / From the midst of the bloody persecutions of the 
 first centuries it was gloriously exalted, in spite of heresy 
 and oppression, being victorious over that old Roman 
 world which hoped to crush it in its cradle. From the 
 midst of the thick darkness of the Middle Ages, in 
 spite of the Church of Rome, heiress of pagan perse- 
 cutors, it was gloriously exalted by means of a heroic 
 return to the apostolic age, thus withdrawing the Book 
 of God from under the bushel with which human tradi- 
 tions covered it. From the midst of the fearful infi- 
 delity of the last century it has become gloriously ex- 
 alted, renewing its life and its youth. From the an- 
 guished bosom of our nineteenth century it has been 
 gloriously exalted, treading under foot all that which 
 is contrary to it, breaking the bonds of an unsuffering 
 
JESUS CHRIST AS KINQ. 411 
 
 dogmatism, silencing the voice of a destructive criti- 
 cism, freeing itself from the shackles of state religions, 
 and reconquering the spirituality of the first days of 
 the church, in its doctrine and in its life. Once again, 
 and for the last time, it shall be exalted in glory, when 
 the Son of God, hearing the long sighing of his church, 
 shall re-appear, at the appointed time, in a splendid 
 manner, to engage in a final conflict with Antichrist, 
 to raise the dead, to judge the world, to crown his 
 own people, and to consummate the triumph which he 
 gained eighteen centuries ago. Then shall come the 
 end, the end of all which we know ; the impenetrable 
 vail of eternity falls again ; we shall hear resounding 
 only the song of the Lamb who was slain, and who has 
 redeemed us, and we shall have only to join our voices 
 with those which glorify him for ever and for ever. -^ 
 We have concluded this series of discourses. In its 
 successive phases, we have presented to you the in- 
 finite work of the redemption of the world. We have 
 seen it beginning in heaven and in Eden, pursuing its 
 way with slow steps during the obscure periods of the 
 preparation, receiving its highest fulfillment in the life 
 and death of Christ, and finally completed upon the 
 throne of glory, on which he sat down after his resur- 
 rection, and to which he is drawing us by his Spirit. 
 Our last word, our conclusion to which we are led by 
 all which precedes, is to entreat you to go to him, the 
 Redeemer and the King ! No other answers like him 
 to the want of our hearts. Minds tormented with 
 doubt, you who wish to believe, and can not as yet be- 
 lieve because you have so long breathed the unwhole- 
 some air, saturated with skepticism and concupiscence, 
 
412 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 which seems to be the moral atmosphere of our age ; 
 go to Christ the prophet, and he will give you those 
 firm convictions for which you thirst ; he will scatter 
 your painful doubts, and will bring you into contact 
 with a living truth which you shall never lose . Troubled 
 hearts, who desire to bring to pass that which is good, 
 but always fail, who tremble before an offended God, 
 who in secret long for a gratuitous pardon, go to Christ, 
 at once the victim and the high priest. Suffer your- 
 selves to be covered with that restorative blood ; it 
 purifies and it appeases. Accept this great mystery 
 of redemption. It is the very substance of Christianity. 
 There are peace and holiness only beneath that cross. 
 Feeble, mourning Christians, who know not how to en- 
 joy the power and the glory that are yours, go to Christ 
 the King, and the splendor of his victory shall be re- 
 flected upon you. You will no longer be sad witnesses 
 of the compassion of God ; you will speak of it, as it 
 ought to be spoken of, with joy, with strength, and the 
 assurance of at length reigning with him will give you 
 courage now to participate in his sufferings. And let 
 us all, whoever he may be, go to God, the Redeemer ; 
 and to the Father, who prepared salvation ; to the 
 Son, who accomplished it; and to the Holy Spirit, 
 who realizes it anew in our hearts. To God, thrice 
 holy, and eternally blessed, be honor, and praise, and 
 glory, for ever ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
ERRATA 
 
 Preface, page viii., line 18 from top, for " natures " insert " readers." 
 
 Page 22, line 27, dele " never." 
 
 Page 73, line 2, for " grand " insert " ground." 
 
 Page 84, line 12, for "prostrated " read "penetrated." 
 
 Page 86, line 30, after "from it " insert " by God." 
 
 Page 93, line 16, for " this true " insert " their true." 
 
 Page 111, line at bottom, for " world " read " word." 
 
 Page 122, line 25, after "fragments " insert " of revelation." 
 
 Page 123, line 4 from bottom, for "brethren" read " heathen," 
 
 Page 124, line 7 from bottom, dele " of." 
 
 Page 124, line 5 from bottom, for "part" read "poet." 
 
 Page 126, line 12 fi-om top, for " mourning " read " resuming." 
 
 Page 133, line 20, for " advance " i-ead " a dream." 
 
 Page 139, line 18, for " flowing " read " flowering." 
 
 Page 145, line 25, for " antels " read " altars." 
 
 Page 165, line 5, for " doubt" read " dust." 
 
 Page 167, line 16, for " work " read " worth." 
 
 Page 206, line 20, for " Scripture itself" read " Spirit itself." 
 
 Page 235, line 2 from bottom, insert after " Jesus Christ " " thus established. 
 
 Page 245, line 8 from top, for "regret " read " reject." 
 
 Page 248, line 23, before " up " insert " because." 
 
 Page 249, last line, after " covers " insert " him." 
 
 Page 296, line 19, after " day " insert " ? " 
 
 Page 384, line 8 from bottom, for " him " insert " it." 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 ^^^KjÊÊÈjj^^^ ^-f 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 It 
 
 PRINTED IN US A 1 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 01019 9570 
 
 
 hM