YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of

Professor George '£. Day
1904

A DEFENCE

CHRISTIANITY,

OR,
CONFERENCES ON RELIGION;
BEING A TRANSLATION OF
DEFENSE DU CHRISTIANISME, OU, CONFERENCES
SUR LA RELIGION,
PAR M. D. FRAYSSINOUS,
EVEQUE D'HERMOPOLIS.

BY JOHN BENJAMIN JONES.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

/

>

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
BY GILBERT & RIVINGTON, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, CLERKENWELL,
& SOLD BY J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL.
1836.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTER XV.
MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE AUTHOR OF THE
PENTATEUCH.
Page 1—37.
I. Moses is the author of the Pentateuch.
II. Moses is a veridical author.
CHAPTER XVI.
MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE HISTORIAN OF THE
PRIMITIVE AGES.
Page 38—75.
His narrative examined in the two principal events related in
Genesis, viz.
I. The Creation.
II. The Deluge.
CHAPTER XVII.
MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
Page 76—104.
I. In his religious and moral code.
II. In his political and civil code. A %

IV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
Page 105—138.
I. Jesus Christ appeared in Judea at the epoch mentioned in
the Gospel.
II. Our Gospels were really written by those contemporary
authors whose names they bear.
III. Have these Gospels come down to us without undergoing
any remarkable or material alteration ?
CHAPTER XIX.
THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
Page 139—169.
I. Nothing is more certain than the evangelic miracles.
II. Nothing more decisive in favour of religion.
CHAPTER XX.
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
Page 170—203.
I. Proofs of the fact.
II. Consequences of this miraculous fact.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Page 204—225.
I. How rapid the propagation of the Christian religion has
been.
II. How wonderful it has also been.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY THE WONDERS
OF 'ITS ESTABLISHMENT.
Page 226—248.
I. God alone could have founded it.
II. Nothing can be more frivolous than the explanations of
its establishment given by unbelievers.
CHAPTER XXIIL
THE MARTYRS.
Page 249—281.
I. Is it true that the persecutions undergone by the Church,
during the three first centuries, were so numerous or so
cruel as Christians suppose them to have been ?
II. What does history tell us respecting the number of the
Martyrs, the causes and circumstances of their deaths ?
III. What advantage can the apologists of the Christian religion
derive from the history of the Martyrs ?
CHAPTER XXIV.
JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS THE BENEFACTOR
OF THE HUMAN RACE.
Page 282—305.
I. Jesus Christ has been the Truth, by dissipating the errors
of the Pagan world.
II. Jesus Christ has been the Life, by diffusing throughout the
Pagan world a new spirit, which has regenerated it.

Vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
EXCELLENCE OF THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION.
Page 306—336.
I. The grandeur and the beauty of this mystery.
II. How ill-founded are the arguments of unbelievers in op
position to this mystery.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE PROPHECIES.
Page 337—398.
I. Is it true that there are in the Books of the Old Testa
ment, certain predictions which announce the coming of
the Messiah ?
II. Is it true that the characteristics of this incomparable
personage, traced out beforehand, are realized in Jesus
Christ?
III. Is it true that the difficulties which are here opposed to us
possess any solidity ?

CHAPTER XXVII.
RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
Page 399—429.
I. Suitableness of mysteries to a divine religion.
II. Utility of the Christian mysteries with reference to mo
rality.

CONTENTS. Vll
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
Page 430—457.
Answers to the reproaches brought against Religion,
that it is —
I. Hostile to society, by the detachment which it enjoins.
II. Abject, by the humility which it inculcates.
III. Impracticable, from the severity of those duties which it
imposes.

CHAPTER XV.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE AUTHOR OF THE
PENTATEUCH.

Of all the celebrated names which are preserved in
the memory of men, and whieh have become, as it
were, popular among all nations, there is none more
universally known than that of Moses. Should you
retrace the annals of the highest antiquity, you will
there find a whole nation reverencing him as its
legislator, making his name known to all its neigh
bours, and to those amongst whom it has more than
once been captive and dispersed ; and, when a final
catastrophe completed their ruin and desolation, we
yet see, that the Jews carry with them into all the
countries of the world the name of Moses, their
ancient founder. Christians, in their turn, have
recognised him as an inspired writer, as the envoy
of God, as the author of a figurative law, which was
preparative and emblematic of that more perfect
VOL. II. B

2 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
law, which they profess to observe ; and thus it is,
that the name of Moses has penetrated into all the
countries of the world in which Christianity is esta
blished. But, what, after all, are we to think of this
Moses, who is so famous in the annals of the human
race ? Must we merely admit him into the rank of
the Confuciuses, the Zoroasters, the Numas, and
the Mahomets ? must we regard him simply as one
of those extraordinary persons, who, by the extent
of their acquirements, and the force of their genius,
have immortalized themselves upon earth ; one of
those skilful innovators, who have artfully deceived
the people, and by captivating their admiration, suc
ceeded in dictating their laws? We, Christians,
formed in the school of the Gospel, cannot hesitate
in our decision. We know that Jesus Christ has
rendered homage to Moses, to his holy mission, to
his virtues, to the holiness of his worship, to the
wisdom of his laws; and this is enough for us.
After Jesus Christ, who is the very truth, the
Christian cannot doubt ; without disdaining human
knowledge, he regards him who arraigns the know
ledge of God as a proud man, who, believing that
he knows every thing, is yet ignorant of that which
it is most important for him to know. " He is
proud, knowing nothing1."
Without bewildering ourselves, in learned dis
cussions, and supported by the authority of Jesus
1 1 Tim. vi. 4.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 3
Christ and of his apostles, we may conclude that
Moses was a sublime theologian, who revealed the
highest and purest doctrines respecting God, the
creation, the primitive destiny of man, his degra
dation, and the promises of a Redeemer ; a faithful
historian, who makes us assist at the real origin of
things, develops to us the succession of generations,
with the birth and advancement of different people ;
that he was also an inspired legislator, who, by his
laws, his doctrines, and his worship, preserves to
one nation, those sacred truths which have been
misconceived or corrupted by all other people, and
prepares the way for a still more perfect law, a law
more extensive in its effects, and more magnificent
in its promises. But, the deeper our conviction of
this truth may be, the more deeply ought we to
grieve at the delusions of the infidel, and the more
zealous should we be to guard ourselves against
them. Such is the connection of the old with the
new law, that, to dissipate all errors and prejudices
with regard to the first, is to prepare and to confirm
the triumph of the second.
For the purpose of elucidating the principal
questions relative to Moses, and of treating them
in order, we propose to consider him, in the first
place, as the author of the Pentateuch, that is to
say, of the first five books of the Bible ; secondly,
as the historian of the primitive ages ; and, lastly,
as a legislator. I say, as the author of the Penta
teuch, for the purpose of proving, that he has
b2

4 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
actually composed the books which are attributed
to him ; and that he is altogether veridical in the
recital of those miracles which they contain. I
have said, as an historian of the primitive ages in
particular, for the purpose of showing that his
account of the creation and the deluge is not con
tradicted either by sound reason, by the various tra
ditions of the most ancient people, or by the best
ascertained phenomena of nature : I have said,
lastly, as a legislator, with reference to his religious
and moral, as well as to his political and civil code,
for the purpose of vindicating the beauty of his
doctrines, and the wisdom of his laws. This triple
consideration of Moses will furnish us with matter
for three successive discourses, which will, I trust,
eventually convince us, that Bossuet has most justly
styled him " the most ancient of historians, the
most sublime of philosophers, and the most wise of
legislators1." We shall confine ourselves, to-day,
to the consideration of him, as the author of the
books which are attributed to him, namely, Genesis,
Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy,
known, by reason of their being five in number, by
the name of The Pentateuch.
This is a purely critical discussion, dry enough in
itself, and unsusceptible of those ornaments which
please the imagination, or of those appeals which
touch the heart; but, I have the advantage of
' Discours sur PHistoire Universelle, Part I., Epoque I.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 5
speaking to an audience which is ever attentive to
a serious address, and capable of perceiving, that
on the present subject, our great aim is to convince
by sound, clear, and logical arguments.
That Moses was not a fabulous personage, con
jured up by the imagination of poets, but a real
personage, who lived more than three thousand
years ago ; that this same Moses was no ordinary
man, but the founder of the Jewish nation, and its
first lawgiver ; these are facts supported by the
most ancient as well as by the most universal belief,
and better proved than many of those ancient facts,
which no one ever doubts, and which cannot be
denied without shaking the groundwork of all his
tory. For we know, that there existed upon earth
a Jewish people, — that this people occupied Pales
tine in the time of Augustus and of Pompey, — that
this people had its worship and its laws, — that
this worship and these laws must have had their
author; we know, moreover, that by a succes
sion of monuments which retrace its history, we
ascend to its deliverance by Cyrus, to the cap
ture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, to the glo
rious reign of Solomon, even to Joshua ; and during
this series of ages, religion, observances, jurispru
dence, and customs, all rest on the authority of
Moses. This nation must have had a founder.
Is it the name of Moses that unbelievers would
dispute with us ? How puerile is*,, this ; let us
allow the Jewish nation to tell us the name of its

6 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
own legislator, and let us not capriciously and
groundlessly contradict it, respecting a fact which
it certainly ought to know. If a false critic should
dispute with the Chinese the existence of Confucius,
with the Persians that of Zoroaster, with Mussul-
men that of Mahomet, would he not pass for a
madman ? But this is not all ; the name of Moses
was so celebrated in antiquity, that a host of Pagan,
Egyptian, Phoenician, Assyrian, Greek and Roman
authors, have made express mention of it. There
remains nothing more, I confess, than the names
and some few fragments of a great number of these
ancient writers ; but we find them cited by the
celebrated Josephus, in his books against Appion,
by Justin the Christian philosopher, in his dis
courses against the Greeks, by the learned Clement
of Alexandria, in his work entitled " Stromata," by
Origen in his letter against Celsus, by Eusebius in
his "Evangelical Preparation ;" and their testimony
has never been disputed by any one individual
among the pagans 1. But to speak only of those
whose works have come down to us, you will find
among the Greeks, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Lon-
ginus ; and among the Latins, Justin, Juvenal,
Tacitus, and Pliny the naturalist, who have paid
homage to Moses and to his institutions. But,
(and this consideration is remarkable and decisive

' See Jaquelot : Existence de Dieu, 3e diss. torn. ii. c. 4. Duvoisin:
Autorite des Livres de Moise, Part I. chap. ii.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 7
of the question) when formerly, at the birth of
Christianity, our most learned apologists advanced
that Moses appeared before the Trojan war, and
that he was the most ancient of legislators ; and
when they supported these assertions by adducing
the testimony of profane antiquity itself; what did
the fiercest and the most skilful enemies of our
religion, the Celsuses, the Porphyrys, and the
Julians, oppose to all this? They ridiculed our
Holy Scriptures, those of Moses as well as those
of Jesus Christ ; they laughed at their doctrine, as
well as at their worship; but they never had a
thought of disputing the antiquity of Moses, or
his quality of legislator of the Hebrews. Thus
all the most celebrated for learning upon earth
for two thousand years, both the friends and
the enemies of religion, have agreed as to the
existence of Moses, the legislator of the Jews;
and we know, that such has also been the belief
of all those, who, for the space of eighteen cen
turies, have been most eminent for knowledge
and for genius in the Christian church. How
lamentable then is it to see certain learned men,
whose memory is often stronger than their judg
ment, who believe in nothing, not even in God,
stand alone opposed to the firmest, the most con
stant, and the most universal belief of the wise of
all nations and of all ages.
But where are we to find the religion, the
morality, and the laws of Moses? In the books

8 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
which are attributed to him, and known by the
name of the Pentateuch. Yes, the Pentateuch,
which we still read at the commencement of our
Holy Scriptures, is the work of Moses himself; it
is as old as the Jewish nation. I address myself
to an infidel, and I say to him, You fully believe
that Homer was a Greek poet, who composed the
Iliad ; because it is impossible to assign any pos
terior epoch in which a forger could have suc
cessfully attributed this poem to Homer, and
because lastly, in the very body of the work, in
the description of manners, of customs, of places,
and of the characters of its personages, all breathes
that air of antiquity, which is peculiar to it. And
yet this combination of historical proofs is found
to be far more applicable when adduced in favour
of the authenticity of the Pentateuch. The con
stant and universal belief of the Jewish nation, the
impossibility of forgery, that character of antiquity
which it presents at every page, all warrants its
authenticity. I say, in the first place, the constant belief of
the Jews. One point admitted by infidels, is, that
the Pentateuch, in its present state, existed more
than two thousand years ago, two centuries and a
half before Jesus Christ; and that it was then
reverenced as the work of Moses. That at this
epoch, it was translated into Greek, under the
reign of Ptolomy Philadelphius. Setting out then,
from this date, which is recognized by all critics,

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 9
and ascending from century to century, what shall
we see in the Jewish nation? A succession of
books, prophetical, historical, and moral, which
lead us even to Moses, and present him to us as
the author of a law, and of writings, which are
nothing more or less than the Pentateuch. Let
us, for a moment, run over the chain of sacred
writers. After the famous captivity of Babylon,
we see Malachi, Nehemiah, Esdras; during the
captivity, Jeremiah, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel ; in
more remote times, the authors of the Books of the
Kings and of the Chronicles; Solomon, with his
different works ; David, with his Psalms ; the author
of the Book of Judges, that of the Book of Joshua,
which touches on the death of Moses. All these
writers are incessantly speaking of Moses, of his
writings, of the volume of his law ; they are inces
santly referring to his name, to his history, to the
facts which he relates, and to the different laws
which he enacted; they incessantly describe the
government, the worship, the tribes, the families,
the religious and civil order, as regulated by certain
ordinances promulgated by Moses; and all that
they cite, is exactly conformable to that which
we still read in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and
Deuteronomy, which books comprehend the whole
of the law. Inasmuch, then, as it is certain that
Moses left behind him certain writings and certain
laws, so it is impossible to attribute to him any
other than those of which the Pentateuch is the

10 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
summary. It would be easy for me, the Bible iii
my hand, to support this assertion by the most
positive quotations ; but, I shall spare you the
adduction and the array of all these passages, con
sidering this process to be fatiguing to an audience,
and adapted, rather to those moments of leisure and
reflection which are devoted to the perusal of a
book, than suitable to a discourse. They are, more
over, to be found in all the apologists who have
written on this subject1. How can we reject the
universal and invariable testimony of the Jewish
nation? If there are some traditions which are
fabulous, there are others which are deserving of
credit, which are well-connected, and well-traced,
and, by means of which, the history of the past is
made known to us. Let no one presume to com
pare this tradition of the Jews with those of some
other nations, which are as doubtful as they are
vague. The tradition of the Hebrews is not com
posed of mutilated annals, void of facts and of
events, without connection and continuity, which
resemble those deserts in which nothing is percep
tible but detached fragments of rock, or rather
appear like the scattered links of a broken chain.
Here all is consecutive and sustained ; it is a body
of history, the members of which body are so con
nected, that you cannot detach one without injury
to the whole. Each of the books of the Old Testa-
1 See Duvoisin : Autorite, &c. Part I. chap. i. page 26, &c.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. H
ment is the continuation of that which precedes it :
Joshua takes up the narrative immediately after
Moses ; after Joshua, Judges bring us down to
Samuel; and the books of Kings, from Samuel
down to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebu
chadnezzar1. The succession of judges, of high
priests, of kings, is never interrupted ; every age is
marked by certain events, the consequences of
which are perceptible in succeeding ages. The
striking facts of one epoch, suppose those of one
preceding it. Thus, all is linked together ; the
thread of history is easily unravelled, and uninter
ruptedly conducts us from the time of Cyrus up
to Moses. Thus, in this succession of the written
monuments of the Jewish nation, Moses is never
lost sight of, he is always presented to us, as the
author of that law which we read to this day in the
Pentateuch. Voltaire and his copyists fancy that they have
made a very embarrassing remark, when they re
quest us to observe, that the words which answer
to those of Genesis, of Exodus, of Numbers, of
Leviticus, and of Deuteronomy, are not to be found
in the writings of the New Testament ; that the
same may be said of those Hebrew words which
designate the book of the Pentateuch ; whence they
arrive at the conclusion, that the Pentateuch has
never actually been cited by the Jewish writers. It
'Duvoisin: Autorite, &c. Introduction, p. 12.

12 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
is true that the authors of the Old Testament have
not mentioned by name the books which compose
the Pentateuch : the reason of this is very simple
and very decisive ; it is nothing more than that this
division of the work into books, each book having a
distinct denomination, did not then exist ; it is more
recent. The Pentateuch was for a long time known
by the name of The Law, The Book of the Law,
The Volume of Moses, and it is more than once so
called in our Gospels1. After it was divided into
books, these books were designated by their initial
word. As to the Greek names which they now
bear, they proceed from the version of the Sep-
tuagint2. Thus it is, that talent led astray by
hatred frequently betrays the most disgraceful
ignorance. To the constant belief of the Jews is added the
well-proved impossibility of a forgery of the Pen
tateuch by an impostor. To proceed, at once, to
the greatest difficulty of the argument, we shall
here adduce the least revolting objections which
have been brought to bear on the subject. It has
been said, that in times of calamity, the holy books
left by Moses might have been lost or effaced from
the memory of the Jews ; that a skilful man, like
Esdras, who was one of the principal restorers of
the Jewish republic after the captivity, might have
collected some few scattered traditions, some facts,
1 St. Luke xxiv. 44. a Duvoisin : Autorite, &c.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 13
and some laws, to which public opinion had given
credit, and hence composed the Pentateuch which
we now possess ; and that afterwards, for the pur
pose of giving it greater authority, he might have
published it under the name of Moses. Of all the
inventions of infidelity this is by far the most spe
cious; but a little consideration will convince us
of its vanity. Let us observe, in the first place,
that Esdras was not the first who led the captive
tribes back to Jerusalem; it was Zorababel, who
began, by betaking himself into Judea, accompanied
by the chief men and by part of the nation. And
what does history teach us ? That his first care was
to labour at the re-establishment of the worship,
the sacred observances, and the Levitical order, as
it was written in the book of Moses. This book,
then, was already in existence; and this, I trust,
you will remark with some attention. These Jews
were not a people who had just been reclaimed
from the desert or the forest, without religion and
without laws, ignorant of the generations which
had formerly inhabited Judea ; it was not a new
people, to whom a government and a religion,
hitherto unknown, were for the first time given.
These Jews had just been delivered from the bonds
of servitude, were the sons and the grandsons of
those whom the ferocious conqueror had trans
ported into Chaldea ; many even among them had
seen their ancient temple, the worship that was
there celebrated, and were acquainted with their

14 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
whole form of government. The history of their
ancestors, their origin, their laws, their sacred cere
monies, were not unknown to them. How then
could Esdras have written a romance on all these
subjects, and have said to them — here is the history
of your legislator, and of your fathers ; here is the
sacred code of your religion and of your govern
ment; here is the book which Moses has left to
his people, which your prophets and your historians
have cited from age to age, which your priests,
your fathers, and yourselves are constantly reading1 ?
I ask you, could Esdras have persuaded them of
the truth of all these things, which, in the suppo
sition that the book of Moses had never actually
existed, would have been manifest absurdities ?
But this is not all ; in wishing to make Esdras
to be the fabricator of the Pentateuch, it must be
said, that he has also composed all the books of
the Old Testament; this, certainly, is a most ex
travagant assertion. It is here that Bossuet crushes
our adversaries with all the weight of his logic and
ofhis genius 2. " If this holy law remained so utterly
forgotten, that it might be permitted to Esdras, to re
establish it, according to his own fancy, this could not
have been the only book which he must have fabri
cated. He must at the same time have composed all
the old and later prophets, that is to say, those who

1 Duvoisin : Autorite", &c. Part I. chap. v.
1 Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, Part II. chap, xxviii.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 15
had written before, and those who had written
during the captivity ; those whom the people had
seen to write, as well as those whose memory
they had preserved; and not only the prophets,
but also the books of Solomon, and the Psalms of
David, and all the books of history ; because there
is hardly to be found in all this history, one
solitary fact of any consideration, and in all the
other books, one single chapter, which, detached
from Moses, as we now read him, could subsist for
a moment. All here speaks of Moses, all here
is founded upon Moses, and it must be thus, since
Moses and his Law, and the history which he has
written, were, in effect, the groundworks both of
the public and the individual conduct of the
Jewish people. It certainly was a wonderful and a
novel enterprise, to make so many men of different
characters and styles, to speak at the same time
with Moses, each in an uniform manner, and to
make a whole people all at once believe that these
were the ancient books which it had always re
verenced, and the new books, the composition of
which it had witnessed; as if it had never heard
any thing spoken of, and as if the knowledge of
the present, as well as that of the past, had been
completely obliterated. These are the prodigies
which we must believe, if we would make Esdras
to be the author of the Pentateuch." But another
very striking fact, and a fact which places the
absurdity of this opinion in the strongest light, is
1

16 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
this ; about five hundred years before Esdras, im
mediately after Solomon, a fatal schism divided
the nation ; hence sprung the kingdom of Judah.
which remained faithful to the descendants of
David, and that of Israel, of which Samaria was
the capital. The rivalry, the hatred, and the
continual wars which were consequent upon this
division, will not permit us to believe that these
two kingdoms, that of Judah and of Israel, could
have agreed upon the fabrication of one and the
same work, or that one would have adopted the
work of the other ; and if, however, both the one
and the other have reverenced the same books of
Moses, we must conclude that these books existed
in the time of Solomon, before the epoch of this
fatal division ; critics know too, that it is through
the tribes of the kingdom of Israel, that the Pen
tateuch which is called Samaritan has been handed
down to us, and the same critics are also aware, that
between this Pentateuch and our own, the most
exact conformity prevails. Nothing more is wanting
to prove it to be much older than the time in
which Esdras appeared. Thus, that which was
thought to be most efficacious in bestowing an
appearance of probability on the supposition of
the forgery of the Pentateuch, rather demonstrates
its total impossibility.
The Pentateuch, lastly, is replete with those
peculiar traits which betray its high antiquity.
The forgery of a book has more than once been

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 17
discovered by means of certain characteristics, not
in accordance with the circumstances of the times,
the places, and the persons of which it treats ; but
if you run over the Pentateuch in all its parts, if
you observe its style, if you study the character of
its personages, the manners and the usages which
it describes, you will find nothing, which is not in
strict affinity with those" ancient times in which
Moses appeared. The patriarchs whose history
Moses has given us, were as rich and as inde
pendent as kings ; led a frugal and laborious life,
travelled with their numerous families, drove their
own flocks, ministered to the wants of strangers ;
their own hands prepared and spread their repasts,
their daughters participated in the innocent labours
of the pastoral life ; Rebecca came from afar to
draw the water which she carried on her own
shoulders, Rachel and the daughters of Jethro
watered their fathers' flocks, Sarah kneaded with
her own hands the bread which Abraham presented
to his guests l. Such is the narrative of Moses ;
and who does not here recognize the stamp of the
highest antiquity? This primitive simplicity was
long preserved among the Greeks, we retrace it
among their princes, and their most celebrated
heroes; Homer furnishes us with numerous ex
amples of it, and Pastoral Poetry, according to
Fleury, has no other foundation 2.
1 Duvoisin : Autorite', &c. Parti, chap. iii.
2 Fleury : Manners of the Israelites, Part I.
VOL. II. C

18 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
We know, that in the early ages, ambition, con
quests, and alliances, had not extended the limits
of empires in any very great degree ; every little
town, so to speak, had its own king, — men then
fought for a well, as they now fight for provinces
and for kingdoms ; what more, however, do you
read in the narrative of Moses ? That Abraham,
at the head of three hundred men, defeats four
kings leagued together against him. In these pri
mitive ages, when writing was certainly very little
known, how was the memory of these events to be
preserved ? By means of rude but most significant
monuments ; thus to erect altars, to consecrate
stones, to compose songs which might recal the
past, to give a symbolic name to places where they
had pitched their tents, or to children, whose
nativity had been made remarkable by the occur
rence of any extraordinary event; such were the
customs of ancient times, among the different people
of the world 1. This is what we read in the history
given us by Moses. Abraham, we find, erects
altars in those places in which God had appeared
to him. Jacob consecrates the stone on which he
had lain his head; he calls the heap of stones,
which is the witness of his covenant with Laban,
by the name of Galeed ; the sepulchre of Rachel,
the well which was called Beersheba, and others
mentioned in the history of Isaac, were all monu-
1 Goguet : Origin of Laws.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 19
ments \ Lastly, the style in which the four last
books of the Pentateuch are written evidently
proves the work to be original and contemporary
with Moses. If, in later times, these books had
issued from the hands of any other writer, what
would their author have done? Master of his
subject, he would have traced out for himself a
plan, he would have put some order into the
different parts of his work, he would have reduced
laws, facts and religion under different heads. In
Moses there is nothing like this, we see at once
that he writes in the midst of those events of
which he himself is the eye-witness; laws are
mixed up with facts, because a fact often gave
occasion for a law; they are reported without
order, because, having been made after the occur
rences, they are written as soon as promulgated.
This is not a connected history, composed artfully
and methodically, by a man who had deeply re
flected on past events, which he combines and links
together ; they are rather the memoirs of a writer,
who has related what he saw and what he did ;
hence those repetitions, those reproaches, those
vehement exhortations, which are drawn forth by
the very nature of things and of events. He can
have no taste who does not recognise in these
books of Moses, the original character of a legis
lator 2. ' Fleury : Manners of the Israelites.
2 Duvoisin : Autorite, &c.
c 2

20 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
The authenticity of the Pentateuch is, then, sup
ported and maintained by the constant belief of
the Jews, by the absurdity of a contrary opinion,
and by its intrinsic marks of antiquity. But what
do infidels oppose to this mass of proofs, which we
have just detailed ? Will they, after Voltaire their
master, dare to maintain, that it must have been
impossible for Moses to have written the Pen
tateuch, because among the Egyptians and Chal
deans the art of engraving their thoughts upon
polished stones or bricks, or on lead, was the only
method of writing ; and that hence, it is incredible
that Moses should have had either time or means
for writing the five books composing the Pen
tateuch? All this is false, and rashly hazarded:
that the Decalogue, that the summary of the law
was engraved on stone, I do not dispute ; but
where do we see that the other parts of the work
were engraved in the same manner ? Where have
we seen that this was the only process for the des
cription of thought known in the time of Moses ?
Why might not the method of engraving on the
bark of certain trees, or on the leaves of the palm
tree, as is the practice in India and in China, have
been known at that era ? Is it natural that men
should have commenced with the most difficult
process ? Must not the art of painting with colours
have preceded that of engraving with instruments
of copper or steel ? Does not the history of nations
attest, that the invention of letters is of the

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 2\
highest antiquity? Scholars believe that Cecrops and
Cadmus, who were nearly contemporary with Moses,
introduced alphabetical characters into Greece.
But we will dwell no longer upon a subject, in
which the errors, the inconsistencies, and the con
tradictions of Voltaire, have been exposed with as
much wit as power, in that ingenious and solid
work, entitled, " The Letters of certain Jews to M.
de Voltaire? Let us now again listen to the
words of Bossuet 1.
" What has been advanced in order to give weight
to the supposition of the forgery of the Pentateuch,
what has been objected to a tradition of three
thousand years, sustained by its own strength and
by the succeeding order of things ? Nothing con
sistent or consequent, nothing positive, nothing
important, cavils as to dates, places and words ;
observations, in short, of such a nature, that if
advanced on any other subject they would be
regarded merely as vain curiosities, incapable of
reaching the foundation of things ; yet these are
alleged as decisive of the most serious affair which
was ever. . . . The following is their main objection.
Have not additions been made to the text of
Moses, and how is it that we find an account of
his death at the end of a book which is attributed
to him? But is it so very wonderful that the
continuators of his history, should have added the
1 Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle.

22 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
account of his blessed end, to the narrative which
he himself has given us, for the purpose of rendering
his history more complete ? Let us now consider
the other additions, — of what are they composed ?
Is there among them any new law, any new cere
mony, any dogma, any miracle, or any predic
tion? This is not even dreamed of, there is not
the least foundation, or the slightest symptom
on which such a suspicion can be based; this
would have been to have added to the work of God ;
and this having been forbidden by the law would
have been deemed a horrible and deadly offence.
But what has really happened ? Some one might,
perhaps, have continued a genealogy already com
menced, or have explained the name of a town
which had been changed in the lapse of time;
 Four or five remarks of this nature made
by Joshua or by Samuel, or by some other prophet
of like antiquity, from their bearing reference only
to facts, which were already notorious, may natu
rally have crept into the text, and the same tradi
tion has handed them down to us in conjunction
with it ; yet, on this account, all is to be falsified
and lost !  Have men ever judged of the
authority, I do not say of a divine book, but of any
book, by reasons so trivial as these? But, it is
because the Scriptures are at enmity with the
natural man, because they would oblige him to
submit his own spirit to the Spirit of God, and to
repress his own irregular passions, that they must

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 23
perish, and be sacrificed to licentiousness and infi
delity." Yes, this is the real source of their argu
ments ! Cavils, embarrassing enough, have been
adduced against the antiquity of the iEneid, but
men have despised them ; others, more puerile still,
have been brought to bear against the antiquity of
the books of Moses, and are triumphantly exalted
into demonstrations. Thus men have two sets of
weights and measures, which they alternately em
ploy, as reason or as caprice may dictate. But,
enough has been said to convince you that Moses
is the author of the Pentateuch ; I add, that Moses
is a veridical author, and this is my second pro
position. How astonishing, how worthy of fixing the atten
tion of all minds, is the recital of the wonders
wrought by Moses, which we read in his work !
Egypt chastised for its obstinacy by certain cala
mities, which commence, extend themselves, and
cease by the sole command of Moses ; all the first
born of the Egyptians, from the son of the king
down to that of the slave, smitten in one and the
same night, whilst the sword of death passes over
the houses of the Hebrews, their door-posts be
sprinkled with the blood of the sacrificed lamb;
the Red Sea, which opened its depths to afford a
passage, its waters being a wall to the right hand
and to the left, to an immense multitude; the
bread from Heaven, which, during forty years,
nourished them in the midst of a dry and burning

24 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
wilderness; the luminous column, which constantly
guided them in their march through the desert;
the God who, on the summit of Mount Sinai, in
an array of the most formidable and majestic splen
dour, promulgated His law ; the earth, opening at
the voice of Moses, and swallowing up alive those
factious and sacrilegious men, who refused to obey
that law ; — such is the magnificent spectacle which
the sacred historian presents to us ; and, I content
myself with reminding you of a few only of the
wonders with which his books abound. I shall not
here revert to that haughty disdain for every thing
which is called a miracle ; for, although too great
credulity would be a frailty, still the extravagant
resistance of the infidel would be a far greater
weakness ; and, thus, in one of my last discourses,
I have dissipated the prejudices which a false phi
losophy has but too well succeeded in diffusing
around this subject. Neither shall I revert to the
mutilation of the narrative of Moses, the capricious
modification of the most striking circumstances of
the various facts, the seeking for natural explana
tions of them, or the gratuitous supposition of an
array of machines, a play of physical causes of
which no mention is made ; but, we must take the
narrative, such as it is, and see whether we are to
admit it as true, or reject it as a fable. We are well
aware that these successive prodigies, considered
in mass, in their details, in their circumstances,
and in their duration, are beyond the powers of

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 25
nature, and surpass all the efforts of human indus
try ; thus, there is a choice between two conclusions
only : these facts must either be denied, or it must
be confessed that they are miraculous; and, that
they are to be regarded as the work of God himself,
who, by their means, authorizes the mission of His
envoy, protects His people, takes vengeance on its
enemies, overwhelms it with favours, or chastises
it for its infidelity. I maintain then, that the reality
of the facts, and the character of the historian are
warranted, both by the very nature of the facts
themselves, the belief of the nation which was
their incontrovertible witness, and the durable effects
of which they are the true and only cause.
We know how much the well-known character
of the historian influences the authority of his
history, and how essentially his well-deserved repu
tation for good faith, impartiality and virtue, in
creases the weight of his narrative. What do you
find in Moses, which does not inspire the most
unbounded confidence within the breast of his
reader? Full of sentiments of religion and of piety,
he forgets himself, in order to look to Him only
who has sent him; he celebrates His power and
His goodness ; and his first law is, that we should
love Him with all our hearts. Burning with a zeal
to extirpate vice, and insure the practice of virtue,
to this point his discourses, his worship, and his
laws refer. Without ambition, and without personal
views, he accepts, reluctantly and with regret, the

26 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
grand ministry with which Heaven entrusts him:
he sacrifices his own repose to the good of a people
naturally intractable, which incessantly afflicts him
with its revolts and its ingratitude. The highest
dignity, the sovereign priesthood, he abandons to
his brother, whilst he humbles his own children to
the rank of simple Levites. Ignorant of flattery,
he knew not the expedients and the contrivances
which policy inspires : magnanimously firm, he re
proached the people as well as their chiefs, with
their prevarications and their errors ; he was not
afraid of shocking the pride of families, by remind
ing them of the incests of Judah and of Thamar,
of the worship of the golden calf, of the debauche
ries of the Israelites with the daughters of Midian,
of the faults of Levi, chief of his tribe, those of
his brother Aaron, of Mary his sister, and of his
nephews Nadab and Abihu. Full of candour and
of modesty, he does not conceal his own faults ; he
does not attribute to himself the glory of any one
event ; he is only the interpreter and the executor
of the orders of Heaven. Simple in his style, with
out emphasis, and without studied reflections, he
relates, but never comments ; he speaks as a man
convinced, and with the security of a writer who
defies contradiction. By these united traits of can
dour, of sincerity, and of pure virtue, do we recog
nize an impostor, or rather do we not recognize a
truth-telling historian ? But, to how great an extent
is this confidence, which he inspires by his personal

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 21
qualities, increased by the very circumstances and
the nature of the facts which he relates ! However
skilful, and however bold an impostor may be, there
are, nevertheless, some limits which he cannot, with
impunity, overleap. It is not enough to invent
fables, they must also be rendered credible; and,
if he had invented gross falsehoods only, which
could not escape the detection even of the multi
tude, how could he possibly expect to deceive
mankind ? He who is a cheat fears to appear such ;
his first care is to conceal the fictions of his imagi
nation, and what does he do to achieve this? he
places their origin in remote ages, he wraps them
in the mists of time, and, above all, he never
publishes any fact which may be belied by living
witnesses, and by whole nations ; should he do this,
the veil would instantly be torn from his impos
tures, and his foolish conduct would only gain him
the most ineffaceable disgrace ; nevertheless, all this
must have been done by Moses, if his narrative is
to be regarded as a series of falsehoods. That he
was an able man is admitted on all hands ; yet, the
supposition of his being a false historian, would
make him the most stupid and clumsy of all men.
In effect, that which he relates is in its nature
public, notorious, and strikingly manifest ; the
wonders which he recites did not take place in
the darkness of night, in remote ages, or in dis
tant countries, but before his own nation ; he conti
nually appeals to their testimony ; he makes express

28 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
mention of families, persons, and places ; he does
not fear to say to six hundred thousand men — These
are things which you yourselves have seen, — which
you yourselves have heard. No, this is not a poet
who depicts with the colours of a brilliant imagina
tion, it is an historian who relates certain facts and
their details, with a minute precision, who inces
santly holds these facts forth as the titles of his
mission, and who boldly defies the whole nation to
confute them. In the last of his books, in Deute
ronomy, he makes an abridged enumeration of the
wonderful events which had taken place during the
space of forty years, and concludes, by saying to
the people, " Your eyes have seen all the great acts
of the Lord which he did1."
That an impostor should rely upon certain reve
lations, visions, or miracles, which a small number
of accomplices might say that they saw, I can easily
conceive 2 ; but where is the cheat to be found who
has ever exposed his falsehoods to the broad glare
of open day, who has ever invoked the testimony of
six hundred thousand men, who has ever founded
his right to command them on facts evidently false,
and on impertinent fables disproved by public noto
riety ? It may be said, that the Hebrews were igno
rant, rude, and credulous, easy to be deceived and
led astray, this may be granted; but, after all, they
were not a people of idiots, wholly possessed by a
1 Deuteronomy, chap. ii. verse 7.
* Duvoisin : Autoritr5, &c. Part II. chap. i.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 29
continual delirium, which deprived them of the use
of their senses and their reason ; they had eyes to
see, and ears to hear, and an intelligence to appre
hend. But, if they were not all really mad, how
could Moses have persuaded them, for the space of
forty years, that they saw that which they did not
see, and heard that which they did not hear? To
use the thoughts and even the expressions of a
judicious writer, " All human certainty rests upon
this principle, that men are not idiots ; that there
are certain rules of nature from which they never
deviate but when reason has been wholly subverted.
Should it be allowed us to say at pleasure, that
during the times of Pompey and of Caesar, men were
simultaneously struck with a malady which caused
them to take their own vain imaginations for rea
lities, there would then be no longer any thing
certain, and we might say that the battles of Phar-
salia and of Actium were nothing more than the
visions of fanatics. When facts cannot be denied,
but by attributing complete madness, I do not say
to whole nations, but even to a certain number of
men, we have attained, with reference to these
facts, the highest possible degree of certainty1."
Men of all ages resemble each other ; it is no more
allowable to attribute this idiotcy to the Jewish
nation of former times, than to men of the present
day. Thus, by supposing, on one side, that certain
' Pascal.

30 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
miracles so striking and so sensible, that they
require only eyes and ears to be apprehended,
were mere fables ; and by supposing on the other
side, that the Hebrews believed them to be realities,
there can be no hesitation in pronouncing the
Hebrew people to have been at once seized with
the most complete madness.
Will any one say, that this people did not believe
in these miracles, and that therefore their testi
mony cannot be admitted ? I entreat you to remark,
in the first place, that this nation was naturally
unruly, always ready to rebel against its leader;
hence its murmurs, its seditious complaints, its
regret after Egypt and its productions. Who then
could have subdued and subjected it to the yoke
of a religion so austere, and so replete with hard
observances as theirs was ? What means did Moses
employ to make himself heard ? None other than
the miracles which he wrought ; he incessantly
holds them forth as the seal of his divine mission,
and on them alone does he ground his authority.
If, then, miracles were nothing more than fables,
it would have been absurd to believe them ; but
that they should not believe them, and still follow
Moses as the envoy of God, would have been the
very acme of extravagance ! What ! they regarded
him as an impostor, and were persuaded that his
pretended miracles were mere chimeras, invented
for the sole purpose of deceiving them, and yet
were stupid enough blindly to submit to his laws,
1

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. Sl
and to allow themselves to be led by him ! All this
is contrary to nature.
But one only resource now remains to infidelity,
which is to say, that the nation had concerted all
this imposture with Moses, that it had conspired
with him to compose this wondrous history, and
thus deceive posterity. What an idle fancy is this !
and how desperate must that cause be, which
requires to be defended by an hypothesis so absurd
as this ! What, that during forty years, two millions
of men should have constantly, and unanimously
concerted this grand imposture, that not one of
them should have protested against it ; and in the
midst of those frequent and violent shocks, re
sulting from the conflicting interests and passions,
which agitated the tribes, that not one voice should
have made itself heard in favour of truth ; that, in
the heat of those seditions which so frequently
burst forth, that not one Hebrew should have
detached himself from this infernal plot ; and
after the death of Moses, that not one Hebrew
could be found, who loved truth well enough to
make his countrymen blush at the outrageous lie,
is wholly incredible. The whole nation must have
said to Moses, " We know very well that you are
not the envoy of heaven, but no matter, compose
an absurd fable, and we and our children will
pretend to believe any thing you please ; we have
only coasted along the Red Sea, but we will declare

32 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
that it opened its bosom, and afforded us a dry
passage ; you shall give us a severe religion, which
proceeds wholly from yourself, but we will observe
it as if it were the ordinance of God ! Is not the
supposition of a conspiracy such as this, between
a cheat and a whole nation, an insult to human
reason : ?"
Lastly, that all kinds of proof may be brought
together, see how this history is confirmed by a
host of institutions, which render it sensible to all
eyes. The Feast of the Passover, those of Pente
cost and of the Tabernacles, the custom of re
deeming the first-born, the sacred hymns, such as
that in which Moses, in a strain of the most divine
poesy, celebrates the passage of the Red Sea ; the
vessel filled with manna, and Aaron's rod deposited
in the tabernacle ; the two tables of the law laid up
by Moses in the Ark of the Covenant ; the plates
of brass attached to the altar, as a memorial of
the miserable death of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,
those sacrilegious usurpers of the priesthood, with
many other rites and ceremonies of their public
worship 2 ; all this retraces and seems to render
sensible and present to us, the prodigies which
had signalized their departure from Egypt, the
publication of the law, and their sojourn in the
wilderness. " There are, as it were, two histories of
1 Duvoisin, Part II. chap. iii. ¦' Duvoisin

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 33
Moses, one written in the book which bears his
name, the other engraved in the laws and cere
monies observed by the Jews, their practice of
which was a living proof of the book which
ordained them, and even of all the wonders which
it narrates 1." A ceremony, a sacred hymn, or a
monument of a date long subsequent to the facts,
are certainly not always decisive proofs ; but when
the history, the oral traditions, the religious and
civil observances, the rites and sacred hymns, and
the institutions of a nation, all refer to the same
epoch, how can we fail of being struck with this
accordance, and of not admitting that when writ
ten history is supported by usages and sensible
monuments, and that when these monuments, in
their turn, are explained by written history, this
perfect combination of proofs must acquire an
invincible influence over all rational minds ?
Thus, two facts are established, the first, that
Moses, who lived more than three thousand years
ago, is really the author of the books which are
attributed to him, and which we call the Penta
teuch ; the second, that Moses is veridical as to the
facts which he relates. Hence we shall deduce
two principal consequences, these involving others
which are accessory.
The first consequence is, that the Pentateuch is
one of the oldest books extant upon earth, not to
1 Pascal.
VOL. II. D

34 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
say, the oldest of known books. He who holds it
in his hand, may fearlessly say, " This is the most
precious and the most ancient monument of the
human mind. Where can you find its equal?
where are the works which like those of Moses are
thirty-three centuries old? It may be said that
Sanchoniathon wrote the annals of the Phoenicians,
but of them, what is now extant? — a fragment,
which Porphyry was the first to quote. There are
scholars who do not trace him further back than
the Trojan war, and all make him posterior to
Moses. Berosus has written the annals of the
Egyptians; Manethon, those of the Chaldeans1;
yet both the one and the other are a thousand
years subsequent to the sacred historian. Among
the Persians, you find Zoroaster, with the books
which he is said to have written ; but those scholars
who are best versed in matters of this kind, make
him to be only contemporary with Darius, the son
of Hystaspes 2. Lastly, the first compiler of a
Chinese history, Confucius 3, lived five hundred
years before the Christian era.
But if the Pentateuch is so old, let us no longer
be astonished, that when it treats of the origin
of different nations, and on primitive events, it
1 Mem. de l'Academie des Inscript, torn. xvi. page 205.
2 About five hundred years before Jesus Christ. See La Vie de
Zoroastre, par Auquetil; Zeud — Avesta, torn. ii. pages 60 et 61.
3 Freret, dans les Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. torn, xviii. pages
20? et 208.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 35
should afford us information for which it would be
vain to search elsewhere ; and that this should be
the original of which many other hooks, and many
other traditions are nothing more than incorrect
copies ; hence it is unjust to oppose to any par
ticular parts of it, the silence of writers many
ages subsequent to it; and hence it is reasonable
to explain the traditions of other people, by those
of the Hebrews.
But if tne Pentateuch is so old, let us no longer
be astonished, that with regard to dates, customs,
the names of people and of towns, and geogra
phical details, it should present to us some few
obscurities. Frenchmen of the present day in
habit that same Gaul of which Csesar, after hav
ing been the conqueror, was the historian. Yet
our antiquarians are often very much embarrassed
in attempting to reconcile the narrative of the
victor historian, with that which we ourselves have
actually seen ; and yet it is wished, that a book
which is two thousand years older than his, which
is written in a language far less known than that
of the Commentaries of Csesar, and which refers to
manners and to people, who are far greater strangers
to us than the Romans are, should be void of all
obscurity. If the Pentateuch is so old, let us no longer be
surprised that in the recital of facts, in the pro
mulgation of certain laws, and in the details of
manners, we meet with a freedom of language,
d2

36 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
which sometimes shocks us, and which we are
tempted to call indecent. Besides that this greater
liberty of speech may perhaps be more conformable
to the genius of orientals, it is certain, that all
primitive nations, such as those whose history
Moses has given us, were not acquainted with
those refinements of expression in use among
nations, which, although they may be more civilized,
are often on that account but the more corrupt. The
Hebrews, like all other primitive people, used direct
words where we adopt circumlocution. " All these
differences," says Fleury ', " proceed only from the
distance of time and of place. The greater number
of those words which are indecent, in the common
parlance of the present day, were formerly not so,
inasmuch as they excited different ideas." This
remark may be applied not only to Moses, but
also to other writers of the Old Testament, and I
apply it here to certain infidels, whose own pens
have been far too licentious to admit of their con
scientiously crying shame on this matter.
A second consequence of the authority of the
Pentateuch is, that Moses was certainly the mes
senger of God ; it is impossible to see so many
miracles wrought by his hand, without believing
him to be invested with a power all divine. Hence,
I must believe in his word, revere his doctrine,
listen with respect to all that he teaches me re-
> Manners of the Israelites.

AUTHOR OF THE PENTATEUCH. 37
specting God, the creation, man, and the primitive
ages. Falsehood has never sullied the writings of
him who spake in the name of the very truth.
Hence I must regard the Hebrew people as the
people of God, as the depository of the sacred
traditions, and of that divine light which must
remain hidden in His bosom until the time shall
come, when it is to fill the whole universe with
its brightness. Hence, I see in the Mosaic Law,
the preparation and the type of the Christian law ;
I perceive the connecting thread of the Old and
of the New Testament ; I discover the designs of
Providence in the preservation of the true religion ;
I comprehend why it has been said that Christianity
is as old as the world : thus, in the law known to
the Patriarchs, in the law which was given to the
Hebrews by Moses, in that which was given to
all people, by Jesus Christ, there is always the
same God whom we adore, the same hope of a
future life, and a faith, more or less developed,
in the same Redeemer ; thus Christianity has had
its commencement, its progress, and will have
its maturity, even to its full consummation in
heaven ; thus religion forms an immense chain,
which, with its first link attached to the very
cradle of the world, traverses the lapse of ages, to
lose itself at last in eternity.

CHAPTER XVI.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE HISTORIAN OF THE
PRIMITIVE AGES.

If there is one pursuit more capable than another
of interesting man, and to which his leisure may
be more delightfully, and at the same time more
instructively devoted, it is certainly in the perusal
of works of history. In connecting the present
with the past, in drawing out the chain of nations
and of ages, history makes the different people of
the world, with their manners and their laws, their
epochs of glory, and their gradations of decline,
pass in review before us; we delight in tracing
their origin, in ascertaining their founders, in fol
lowing them in their progress, in speculating on
the causes of their rise, as on those of their fall, in
comparing the parts which each in its turn has
played upon the theatre of the world ; and when
he has witnessed those scenes so various, so rapidly
1

MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE HISTORIAN, &c. 39
shifting, and frequently so tragic, the reflecting,
the Christian reader particularly, naturally raises
his thoughts towards Him, who from the immove
able throne of His eternity, holds in his hands the
reins of the world, marks out its place to each
nation, as well as to each individual, who brings
the most ancient empires to the dust, to raise new
ones from their ashes, and who is alone immutable
in the midst of these perpetual vicissitudes. But,
if among historical monuments there is one which
should excite the interest ; and the curiosity of all,
which should not be unknown to any people, and
which should be, as it were, an heir-loom to man
kind, it is the history of the primitive ages, which
Moses has left us in that book, in which every
man can read his own origin, and his own destiny,
his own miseries, and his own hopes, and which we
find at the head of our Holy Scriptures, under the
name of Genesis. I shall not here dilate upon its
sublime simplicity, on the purify and beauty of its
doctrine, or on the charms of its description of
patriarchal manners, those for instance displayed in
the lives of Abraham, of Jacob, of Joseph nd his
brethren ; my present design is to consider Moses
solely as the historian of the primitive ages, and
to vindicate the fidelity of his writings from the
attacks of scepticism.
There are learned men who have dived into the
very depths of profane antiquity, in order to seek
for arguments against the Mosaic history, and who

40 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
would willingly adopt all the phantasies of the fabu
lous ages, provided we dispense with their believing
in our holy Scriptures. There are also certain
writers well-versed in the natural sciences, occupied
in researches respecting the formation and the
structure of the globe, known by the name of
Geologists, who have, in a manner, dug up the
whole earth in the hope of discovering something
in contradiction to the narrative of Moses, with
reference either to the creation or to the deluge ;
and who, in composing a world in a way of their
own, permit themselves unmercifully to ridicule
the sacred historian, because his account does not
accord with their system. I do not mean to dis
pute with these antiquarians or these naturalists,
their science and their talent, still less to blame
the efforts of man when they tend to elucidate anti
quity, or penetrate into the secrets of nature. It
is beautiful to see the human mind devote itself to
those researches, which, without always leading to
happy results, are never entirely useless, and thus
to diffuse its thoughts throughout all the parts of
this vast universe ; it is a king who travels through
the whole extent of his empire, for the purpose of
making himself acquainted with its population and
resources. But, when we respect science, and pay
homage to its efforts and its discoveries, let us be
ware of its failures and its paradoxes. How easily
does the taste for novelty, the love of glory, and
the ardent desire of a rapid celebrity, lead astray

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 41
even the sublimest minds ! It was not a lack of
genius which caused Descartes to imagine his vor
tices, or Buffon his world of glass ; genius often
invents systems which good sense refutes. But, to
return to our subject : we may at first be intimi
dated by an array of science brought to bear against
the Mosaic history; but a little reflection and a
little logic will soon put these formidable appear
ances to flight. We proceed then to examine the
recital of Moses as to the two principal facts con
tained in Genesis, I mean, the Creation and the
Deluge; and to show that he is not contradicted
on these subjects, either by any well-demonstrated
fact of sound physics, or by the certain traditions
of nations. Such is the plan of this conference on
Moses considered as the author of Genesis.
That in Moses, we are not to look for the
physician deeply versed in details of the natural
sciences, in the knowledge of the particular causes
which produced the phenomena of this visible world,
we most fully admit. The aim of the sacred his
torian has not been to, make us naturalists . or
philosophers ; a thought more honourable to his
memory, more worthy of Him who sent him, more
useful to humanity, filled his whole soul ; it was
that of enlightening men as to God and Providence,
as to their duties and their destinies ; of preserving
and propagating those primary and sacred truths,
without which there could never be either religion,
morality, or society. His all-popular knowledge

42 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
was intended for the universality of the human
race; let us not then be surprised, that when
speaking of the earth and of the sun, of the grand
spectacle of nature, and the phenomena which it
presents, he should have made use of expressions
consecrated by custom. The language of the his
torian, of the poet, and of the legislator, is not
that of the physician, who, when treating on his
subject, adopts a style of the most rigorous pre
cision ; even in the present day, among us, where is
the philosopher who does not speak of the course of
the sun, of its rising and of its setting, although he
knows all this to be merely apparent ? And, should
he disdain this language on the pretext of its being
not physically true, would he not appear ridicu
lous ? Moses then should not be reproached for
those popular expressions which were conformable
to appearances, or to universally-received opinions
respecting the system of this visible world ; for, on
this very account, they were the only expressions
which he ought to have used. But, when he tells
us of facts and of events, and when he describes
them, not as a poet, but as an historian, far from
us be the blind temerity of contradicting his
narrative, and of opposing to it conjectures and
systems, which may be nothing more than phan
tasies. It must be said, that in the present day, we have
seen a host of makers of worlds spring up, who,
arranging and disarranging the universe, according

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 43
to their respective caprices, seem to have presided
over the creation, and more particularly over the
formation of the globe which we inhabit, and who
cannot conceive that the Creator could have any
other thoughts than those by which they are them
selves infatuated; some going so far as even to
supersede the intervention of that intelligent and
supreme cause which, in the beginning, must have
given to all things existence, motion, and life.
How many geologists are there, who have repre
sented their conjectures as facts, who have applied
to the whole earth observations which were purely
local ; and, converting certain particular phenomena
into constant and universal laws, have ended by
exalting the dreams of their own imaginations into
incontestible truths ! Do not think, however, that
we mean to attack, on our own private authority,
men whose knowledge and talents have acquired
them celebrity ; we have, as authorities, for what
we are advancing, writers, whose names are cer
tainly not unknown in the learned world. One of
the most illustrious of the naturalists and travellers
of modern times, Pallas, academician of Peters
burgh, has published Observations sur la Formation
des Montmgnes et les Changemens arrives a, notre
Globe1. In this work he reproaches some philo
sophers, and Buffon in particular, with having been
too hasty in their erection of systems, and with
1 Printed in 1782.

44 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
having too precipitately formed their judgments of
the whole earth by the very narrow sphere of their
own personal observations.
But above all, listen to the words of one of the
most renowned naturalists of whom France, and
even Europe can boast, I speak of him who has
handled the subject of comparative anatomy so
gloriously x. Charged with making a report before
the class of physical sciences in our literary senate,
on a work entitled, Theorie de la Surface actuelk
de la Terre, the learned author commences by
throwing out certain valuable reflections, of which
you cannot be too often reminded ; he complains
that instead of collecting facts, which is the basis
of every true system, men have rashly exalted
themselves to an acquaintance with causes, and
that thus geology has advanced too rapidly; whence
it has happened that " a science of facts and ob
servations has been changed into a tissue of hypo
theses so vain, and so often refuted, that it has
become almost impossible to pronounce its name
without exciting laughter  The number of
geological systems is so increased that they at
present amount to more than eighty 2." This is a
point which I entreat you to remark : our author
makes an enumeration of all the subjects which
J Cuvier.
2 Rapport du M. Cuvier. In reference to a work entitled, The'orie
de la Surface actuelle de la Terre, par M. Andre: Paris, 1806:
p. 319- 322.

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 45
should be elucidated, previously to entering upon
the inquiry as to the physical causes, both of the in
ternal and the external structure of the globe ; and
he adds, " We dare affirm that there is not even
one respecting which we possess any thing abso
lutely certain ; almost every thing which has been
said on the subject is more or less vague. The
greater part of those who have spoken of it, have
done so, rather according to their own systems,
than after impartial observations V
You hear, then, and from the mouth of a man
whose authority on this subject is indisputable,
that the science which is called geology, and which
treats of the ancient and actual state of the globe,
is still in its infancy ; and that in a host of things
it is purely conjectural. When a naturalist so
deservedly celebrated for his acquirements and
penetration, expresses himself thus modestly, —
when he so frankly admits the uncertainty of
geological science, — a man without half his learn
ing, and originally possessing, perhaps, but mode
rate powers of mind, — or, perhaps, even a youth, as
yet scarcely initiated into the secrets of the natural
sciences, will, with reference to the formation of
the world, construct his own systems, and maintain
them to be demonstrated truths, and proudly ask,
how the narrative of Moses can possibly be re
conciled with his own ideas and discoveries !
' Ibid, page 328.

46 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
In proceeding thus, where is modesty, where is
good sense ? Where is that logic without which
even talent and genius so often go astray? We
should feel that we are not obliged to reconcile
with the sacred writer, all the uncertain and fre
quently contradictory hypotheses of a vain imagi
nation. When Buffon published his, Theorie de la
Terre, and his Epoques de la Nature, a shout of joy
and triumph was raised in the infidel world, which
fancied that the narrative of Moses was now wholly
overthrown. But what has happened ? Why, that
sound physics and experience have discovered error
in some points of his systems, and uncertainty in
many more, and that if they were not sustained by
the celebrity of their author, and by the charms of
the most elevated diction, and most brilliant ima
gination, these works would long since have been
almost effaced from the memory of men.
After these reflections, all that can be required
of the apologists of religion is, to show that the
narrative of Moses is not contradicted by any
strictly demonstrated fact of natural history. Be
fore we proceed to details, we shall make one
essential observation. According to Moses, there
is one God, the Creator, governing all matter
according to His pleasure, doing every thing by
His omnipotent will, who has given existence
to every thing composing this universe. We are
not to apply to these immediate operations of the
Divine Omnipotence, the rules which the ordinary

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 47
course of nature presents to us. Who can positively
assert, that in the primary formation of things, God
did not hasten the action of natural agents, and
render the development of all existing things more
rapid? Why could He not have formed in an
instant, those masses of granite which form, as it
were, the anchor of the terrestrial globe, as we
see that He afterwards created man and brutes, at
once adult and mature in body and in age ? What
right have men to judge of the creative action of
the primary cause in the origin of the world, by the
slow and progressive action of those secondary
causes, which perpetuate its establishment ? Let
us now lay aside these general ideas, and yield
something to the desires, vain as they often are,
of a mind as weak as it is inquisitive; let us
examine more closely the principal circumstances
of the account of the creation given us by Moses ;
and, without embracing any system, I think I shall
be able to show that the observations opposed to
it, are always uncertain, if they are not irely
false. That which characterizes the narrative of Moses,
is the order of existence which he assigns to the
substances and to the divers beings of which this
visible world is composed. The Creator draws out
from nonentity the mighty mass, which, fashioned
by His powerful hand, is to enter into the formation
of the universe, which the sacred writer expresses
in a popular manner, by saying, " In the beginning

48 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
God created the Heaven and the earth. And the
earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep ; and the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. And God
said, Let there be light, and there was light." We
have here a sublimity of expression, admired even
by the rhetorician Longinus, pagan though he was.
This is the first day of the creation. In the second,
the waters which enveloped our planet were divided
in such a manner, that a portion of them were
raised into the upper regions: in the third, the
earth begins to appear ; plants spring forth from
its bosom, verdure and flowers embellish it: in
the fourth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, shine
in the firmament : in the fifth, fish swim in the
waters, birds fly in the air, reptiles creep in the
dust, and quadrupeds walk on the surface of
the globe : in the sixth, man at last appears,
and the completed world revolves in accord
ance with those laws which are to preserve
it through the lapse of ages; and the Creator,
after having made it by the immediate action of
His power, conceals this immediate action under
that of those secondary causes, which He has
ordained for its perpetuation. This is what is called
the work of the six days. Well, in the history of
nature is there one demonstrated fact in manifest
opposition to this successive formation of these
different substances ? We have seen able natural
ists, enemies even to revelation ancl the Holy

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 49
Scriptures, who have been struck with admiration
at the conformity existing between the plan of the
creation given by Moses, and their own observa
tions. According to Moses, the substances which
are called inorganic existed before organized sub
stances, such as vegetables : thus, in digging deeply
into the earth, we come to primitive masses, which
do not present the slightest mark or trace of organ
ized bodies ; this is proved by constant and universal
experience \
What else do we read in the narrative of Moses?
That the earth was originally entirely buried in
water ; and where is the proof that it was not so ?
If there are naturalists, who have made the primi
tive earth to be a globe of matter vitrified by
fusion, and insensibly growing cooler, are there
not others, as able, who contradict this theory ; and
have not very scientific physicians maintained, that
the globe, instead of getting cooler, gets gradually
warmer? One extensively-credited opinion of the
present day, is, that the primordial rocks, which are
the basis of our continent, result from different
substances, which have become more or less rapidly
crystallized, after having been held in solution in
an immense liquid. Newton has remarked, that
the earth must have been originally soft, since its
rotatory motion has had the effect of swelling it
1 Pallas : Observats. sur la Formation des Montagnes, p. 13
et 15. VOL. II. E

50 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
out towards the equator, and of flattening it towards
the poles ; and does not this observation remind us
of the narrative of Moses, which represents the
earth as originally immersed in the waters ?
But listen again to Moses, and he will tell you
of a still stranger fact, a fact which has more than
once excited the ridicule of our unbelievers, which
is, that the light existed before that the sun, which
was subsequently created, shone in the heavens,
It is not for us to decide between Descartes, who
makes light to be a liquid diffused throughout the
universe, and set in motion by the action of the
sun ; and Newton, who makes it to consist of an
inexhaustible emanation of solar rays. We know,
too, that one of the most celebrated astronomers of
our day, who has had the glory of discovering a
planet, and of giving it his name, makes the sun to
be only an opaque star, in the midst of an atmos
phere in a state of perpetual incandescence. But,
without deciding on these opinions, must we not
recognize even in that of Newton, the existence of
primitive light, independent of the sun ? This light
exists every where, although it may not always be
visible, — a slight shock makes it scintillate from the
veins of the flint ; the phosphoric phenomena show
it to us in minerals or in living creatures, friction
extracts it in streams from electric bodies ; it issues
abundantly from animals, and vegetables in a state
of decomposition; sometimes vast seas appear as
one body of light ; and if, in the night, you light a

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 51
torch, a great space is instantly illuminated. This
light, then, of which we have just spoken, does not
owe its origin to the sun, — it is a component part of
that elementary light, which was created on the
first day, and which we must regard as the stock
from which the Creator extracts that which is re
quired to render luminous the sun and the stars.
This is that light, which combines itself with all
bodies in so many different ways, which disengages
itself from them, or remains concealed within them,
according to circumstances ; and which plays so
grand a part in the phenomena of chemistry.
Moses, then, is worthy of our admiration, for daring,
in his narrative, to make the creation of light pre
cede that of the sun ; truth alone could have in
duced him to relate a fact, which apparently is as
strange and revolting, as actually it is real and
certain. It is true, that in order to render the explanation
of the phenomena, which the interior structure of
the globe presents to an attentive observer, more
subservient to their own systems ; some naturalists
have advanced, that the days of the creation, men
tioned by Moses, were not simply days of twenty-
four hours, but indeterminate epochs of time ; they
bid us observe, that in Scripture language, the
word day has not a fixed and invariable meaning,
but that it often signifies a space of time, an epoch.
They bid us more particularly observe, that the
three first days of the creation could not have re-
E 2

52 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
sembled ours J ; inasmuch, as the sun, which did not
appear until the fourth day, was not then in exist
ence, and yet it is its diurnal course which mea
sures the duration of our days. They add also, that
Moses himself, after having detailed the successive
works of the creation, makes a sort of recapitulation,
by saying, " These are the generations of the Hea
vens and of the earth when they were created, in
the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the
Heavens, and every plant of the field," &c. 2 It is
clear, they say, that the word day here signifies, not
a day of twenty-four hours, but rather all the six days
of the creation ; or rather, in general, it answers to
the words, time, epoch, as Duguet, in his explanation,
thought the expression ought to be understood.
Far from all spirit of system, I shall not decide
either for or against this opinion ; if it is not the
most common, it, nevertheless, has its upholders ;
I might cite modern theologians who have embraced
it, or who have regarded it as at least uncertain :
all that it is important for us to know, is, that it
may be opposed or maintained without endangering
our faith in the general revelation made to us by
means of Moses. In his important work on Gene
sis 3 , St. Augustin expressly says, that he should
not hastily decide as to the nature of the days of
the creation, or affirm that they were like those of
which the ordinary week is composed ; and in the
1 Lecons tie l'Histoire, Lettre II. (Note D.) tome i.
2 Genesis, chap. ii. 4r 5. 3 De Genesi ad litteram, lib. iv. p. 44.

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 53
most finished of his works, entitled, " De Civitate
Dei," he again says, that it is very difficult, if it is
not impossible for us to imagine, much less to
affirm, what kind of days these may have been :
Qui dies cujus modi sint, aut perdifficile nobis, aut
etiam impossible est cogitare, quanto magis dicere l.
Should you desire me to observe, that by adopting
the opinion which makes the six days to be so many
indefinite epochs, the world may be made to be much
older than it is commonly supposed to be ; I should
answer, that the chronology of Moses is dated less
from the instant of the creation of matter, than from
that of the creation of man, which did not take
place until the sixth day. The sacred writer com
putes the number of years comprising the age of
the first man and his descendants, and it is from the
computation of the years of the successive patriarchs
that the chronology of the Scriptures is formed;
so that it ascends less to the origin of the world
itself, than to that of the human species. Hence
we have a right to say to geologists : Pry as deeply
as you please into the bowels of the earth ; if your
observations do not positively require that the days
of the creation should be longer than our common
days, we will continue to follow the common sen
timent of their duration ; if, on the contrary, you
discover clearly and evidently, that the terrestrial
globe, with its plants and its animals, must be much
' De civitate Dei, lib. i. cap. 6,

54 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
older than the human race, Genesis contains no
thing which is opposed to this discovery ; for you are
allowed to regard each of the six days as a period
of indefinite time, and your discoveries will then
become the explanatory commentary of a passage
whose sense has hitherto been undetermined.
But to resume. Moses in his narrative passes
lightly over the stars which glitter in the heavens:
God, he says, " made the stars also ;" an expression
simple, it is true, but yet sublime in its simplicity,
which makes us comprehend that nothing is difficult
to the Creator, and that it did not cost him more
labour to sow the stars in the firmament, than the
sand on the shores of the sea. But are all these
luminous globes which roll over our heads, inha
bited or not ? on this point Moses has not satisfied
our curiosity. On this point, opinions are free ; we
will not say that the stars are peopled with men
like ourselves, of this we know nothing. But, after
all, should it appear strange, that the earth, which is
no more than a speck in the immensity of space,
should alone be inhabited, and that the rest of the
universe should be a vast solitude ; or should you
delight in peopling the sun, the moon, the planets,
and the whole host of Heaven, with intelligent crea
tures, capable of glorifying their Creator ; religion
does not forbid your embracing this opinion. La
Pluralite des Mondes, by Fontenelle, may be nothing
more than an ingenious romance, but you are at
liberty to regard it as a reality. I thought it my

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 55
duty to make these remarks, because many, from
not being acquainted with all that religion posi
tively teaches, and that which she abandons to the
disputes of men, attribute to her a doctrine which is
not her own : hence they are filled with prejudices
against her, and hence it happens, that they often
fancy themselves to be attacking her successfully,
when in fact they are only fighting against chi
meras. I come now to that master-piece of creation,
which crowned the work of the six days, namely,
the creation of man. In order that I should not
deviate from the manner in which I propose to
treat my subject, 1 confine myself to two principal
circumstances ; the first is, that, according to Moses,
Adam and Eve are the only stock of the whole
human race ; an idea which should be dear to us,
since it makes one single family of all the nations
of the earth. Here infidels, with Voltaire at their
head, have raised a Very frivolous and very incon
siderate reflection ; they have combatted this unity
of the origin of the human race, by the diversity of
its colours ; they have maintained that the whites
and the blacks, the Hottentots and the Europeans,
must belong to essentially different species ; as if
the human race, originally the same, might not, as
Buffon1 has established, have undergone different
changes, by the influence of climate, by a difference
1 Natural History, vol. v. page 105, and following.

56 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
in food, by different modes of living, by epidemic
diseases, or by other purely accidental causes. We
can easily conceive, too, that the same physical
causes, continually acting upon the inhabitants of
different parts of the globe, must have produced
characteristic and durable varieties. This supplies
a reason for certain naturalists having been enabled
to distinguish, not any essentially different species
of men, but different races of them, marked by a.
peculiar conformation, and particular features '.
In the second place, Moses represents man esta
blished by God himself as the king of the earth,
and of the animals which inhabit it ; a truly noble
idea, which has been felt and celebrated even by
pagans. Let us take care not to abjure this our
exalted destiny. How comes it to pass, that some
free-thinkers, after having vaunted of the majesty
of man, for the purpose of disburthening him of the
yoke of his duties, should seek to despoil him of
this royalty, by humbling him to the rank of his
subjects? Is it not then enough, that we should
have degenerated from the primitive integrity and
beauty of our nature, as the irregularity of our
desires, and as our miseries too truly testify? Must
we still, by a new degradation, debase ourselves
below even that diminished greatness which the
fall has left us ? Are we obliged to listen to those
fanciful theorists, who, tracing the genealogy of
1 Lacepede, Discours d'ouverture.

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 57
animals, honour us by making us descend from the
race of apes ; a disgusting doctrine, which they
found on certain resemblances co-existent in our
physical organization ? But this parallel, even were
it well founded, would prove nothing, and has not
even the sad merit of being exact. The author of
Anatomie Comparee ' has somewhere said, that the
resemblance existing between us and the ourang-
outang has been ridiculously exaggerated. Let us
abandon then this abject philosophy, to those mate
rialists, who are capable of being pleased with it ;
let us remain men, such as God has made us, rea
sonable, free, and immortal as Himself, and, by
means of all these gifts, the real, though doubtless,
the imperfect image, even of Him who is our
Creator. I cannot conclude this portion of my discourse,
without requesting you to remark, that all the im
memorial traditions of the various nations of the
earth, support the truth of the narrative of the
primitive ages given us by Moses. Thus, all speak
of that which is called chaos, a state of things,
when all was as yet without form and dark, whence
the universe, with all its wonders, was drawn. All
refer to an epoch of happiness and of peace, when
the earth was an abode of unmixed delight, which
poets have celebrated by the name of the golden
age. 1 Les Trois Regnes de la Nature, Poeme par Delille, tome ii. note
derniere.

58 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
All suppose the very long duration of human
life in the primitive ages, and the celebrated his
torian Josephus quotes, on this subject, several
writers of the ancient nations of the world.
Lastly, all have preserved the belief of good and
of evil genii. Does not the fable of the Titans
scaling the Heavens, and struck down by the thun
derbolts of Jupiter, remind us of the audacity and
the punishment of the rebel angels ? According to
the fable, the evils which desolate the earth sprung
forth out of the box of Pandora, and are thus
represented as resulting from the curiosity of a
woman ; and the serpent has been described as the
enemy of the gods. Has not all this a singular
affinity with that which the Scriptures tell us re
specting man and his fall ? You know what Hesiod,
and more particularly Ovid, that learned interpreter
of mythological traditions, have written on this
subject. Lastly, the fact which is most singularly
striking, is the division of time into weeks, con
sisting of seven days. In his VHistoire de VAstro-
nomie Ancienne, Bailli ! has said, " Among the
Orientals the use of computing time by weeks,
divided into seven days, has existed from time
immemorial." Is it not natural to regard this
division of time as a vestige of the very week of
the creation ? These are, I am aware, but detached
threads, in the obscurity of time; but, when we
1 Eclaircissements du Livre VII. p. 453.
1

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 59
see the sacred traditions of other people thus sup
porting those of the Hebrews, it is impossible not
to be astonished at the coincidence. The account
of the creation given us by Moses is sufficiently
vindicated, we will now examine his account of the
deluge. Sixteen centuries had elapsed since the creation
of man, when, irritated by the iniquities of the
earth, now at their height, God resolved to punish
it. With this intent he gives a signal to all nature,
that it should serve as the instrument of his ven
geance; and, all at once, the waters of Heaven
uniting with those which were inclosed in the vast
basins of the seas, and the deep caverns of the
earth, inundate the continents. This dreadful fall
of waters rushing down from the atmosphere, this
violent eruption of subterranean floods, this over
flowing of the waves of the sea, is depicted by the
sacred writer in his oriental style, when he tells us,
that the windows of Heaven were opened, and all
the fountains of the great deep broken up. The
human race is buried under the waters, one only
family is saved from this universal destruction, it is
that of Noah, who, by his virtues, found grace
before indignant Heaven. Sustained by a divine
hand, the vessel, in which he is shut up, floats in
safety. About a hundred and fifty days from that
on which this terrible revolution commenced, the
flood is assuaged, the summits of the mountains
appear, and the waters returned from off the earth

60 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
continually, and the just man with his family issues
from the ark, carrying with him the hope of the
whole human race. Their first care is to erect an
altar, and to offer solemn thanksgivings to God
their deliverer. A new order of things commences ;
Shem, Ham, and Japhet, the three sons ef Noah,
become the stock of new families, and of new
nations, and the world appears to be born a second
time. Such is, in substance, the account which
Moses has left us, of that universal inundation
which drowned the world, and which we call The
Deluge. When we have no other pledge of the veracity
of the historian, than the very nature of the
catastrophe, and the confidence and security with
which he relates it, can we refuse him our assent ?
What interest had Moses in inventing this? Whence
could he have derived the thought of publishing,
and the hope of gaining credit for so unfounded a
fable ? At the epoch in which he lived, that pro
digious event, if it had really happened, must have
been deeply engraven on the memories of men,
and incontestible monuments of it must have existed
under their eyes. Such was then the duration of
human life, that but few generations had passed
away, from the time of Noah, to that of Moses.
And hence, if the latter had dared to put forth a
fabrication respecting a fact so memorable, and of
which no vestige remained, he would have excited
the most universal and indignant contradiction,

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 61
and would have become the laughing-stock of his
contemporaries. But, who does not know, that of
all ancient events, there is not one, which has left
behind it deeper traces in the memory of all the
nations of the world? Egyptians, Babylonians,
Greeks, Indians, all agree on this point ; all the
traditions of ancient times suppose, that the human
race, with the exception of a small number of
persons, was, as a punishment for its crimes, de
stroyed by water. Berosus, who has made a col
lection of the annals of the Babylonians, Lucian,
who recounts the Greek traditions, have left behind
them, on this subject, some narratives which have
come down even to us, and which present a strik
ing accordance with that of Genesis. This univer
sality, this uniformity of traditions, respecting the
deluge, is admitted by infidelity itself. The author
of L'Antiquite Devoile, who, for a time at least, was
an unbeliever, has said, " It is necessary to adopt
a certain fact, the truth of which is universally
recognized ; but where is this fact ? I do not see
any, the monuments of which are more generally
attested, than those which transmit to us that
physical revolution which has, it is said, formerly
changed the face of our globe, and which has caused
a total renewal of human societies ; in a word, the
deluge appears to me to be the real epoch of the
history of nations." Whence could this universal
belief ofthe deluge, entertained by the whole human
race, have been derived? We are not here treating

62 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
of any one of those errors which have their source
in human pride, or in human corruption; what
interest have the passions in the fact of the human
race having been destroyed by the deluge ? Here
the unanimous consent of nations whose language,
whose religion, and whose laws, have nothing in
common, can only be founded on the absolute
truth of the fact. Thus, all the efforts of learning*
most hostile to our Holy Scriptures, have not been
able to discover one single monument, which can
with any certainty be referred to an epoch more
remote than that of the deluge. And does not
the history of the human mind, that of the sciences,
of literature, and of the arts, support the account
given us by Moses, of the regeneration of this new
world? We see societies spring up, population
extend itself, legislation developed, the arts and
sciences commencing, and gradually arriving at
their present degree of perfection, and man suc
cessively submitting to his empire the different
countries of the earth. The critics best versed in
ancient history, and most skilful in dissipating the
mists which envelop the cradle of ancient nations,
trace the origin of some of these to the children of
Noah, and to their first descendants; they have
even found that the names of Shem, Ham, and
Japhet, and those of their elder sons, are preserved,
although somewhat obscured by variation, in the
names of the different people of which they have
been the fathers and the founders. How long has

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 63
the name of Japhet, who peopled the greater part
of the west, remained celebrated under the name
Japhet !
I am aware that with chronologies void of facts,
and without events which support each other, and
which betray the succession and the connection of
their different parts, with interminable lists of
proper names of kings and of dynasties, and of
series of years, which were perhaps only years of a
week, of a day, or of an hour ; with astronomical
calculations, capriciously swollen out, with zodiacs
of ambiguous origin, and subject to arbitrary expla
nations ; men may make a great noise, and combat
the history of Moses with some appearance of
success. But if we listen to the dictates of sound
sense, it will tell us that we ought to devote our
selves to the unravelling of things, and that we
should not attempt to take advantage of the
fabulous, or even of the uncertain ; and then what
would take place ? Before the torch of sound cri
ticism all these ambiguities of antiquity would dis
appear. Freret, a philosopher who should not be
suspected by unbelievers, has said, " I have devoted
myself to the discussion aud elucidation of the
ancient chronology of profane nations, and by means
of this study, have come to the conclusion, that by
separating the traditions, really historic, ancient,
well followed out, and connected one with the
other, and attested by or founded upon certain
monuments received as authentic, that by sepa-

64 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
rating these, I say, from all others, which are
manifestly false, fabulous, or even new, the com
mencement of all nations, even of that whose origin
is made to be the most remote, will always be
found to belong to the period in which the true
chronology of the Scriptures shows us that the
earth had been peopled for several ages 1."
A report of the discovery of a zodiac traced in
the portico of the temple of Denderah, has lately
been re-echoed through the whole of Europe, and
men have hastened to avail themselves of this dis
covery, for the purpose of attributing to the human
race a much higher antiquity than that which
Moses gives it. But this objection has undergone
the fate of many others ; upon examination it has
vanished. A learned antiquarian, whose name is an
authority throughout Europe 2, is inclined to believe,
that this zodiac is posterior to the vulgar era, and
he affirms, that it does not date further back than
three hundred years before Jesus Christ. Two
French writers, distinguished for the extent of their
acquirements, have just communicated to the public
their researches as to the zodiacs of the temple of
Denderah. The one 3, after explanations which he
gives us of the Greek inscriptions which are to be
' Suite du Traite sur la Chronologie Chinoise, dans les Mem. de
l'Academie des Inscrip. torn, xviii. 4to. p. 294, et torn. xxix. 12mo.
p. 490.
2 Visconti : Mem. sur deux Zodiaques ; a la fin du torn. ii. de la
Traduction d'Herodote, par Larcher, p. 567.
3 Letronne.

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 65
read in this temple, proves, that the portico in
which the great zodiac is sculptured, was con
structed under the reign of Tiberius ; and the
other \ by his explanation of the hieroglyphics of
the small zodiac, proves, that this last was sculp
tured under the reign of Nero.
In times approaching nearer to our own, there
has been established at Bengal, a Society of Eng
lish naturalists, known by the name of the academy
of Calcutta. After having studied the original lan
guage of the Indians, their books, their monuments,
and their traditions, they have published treatises
and memoirs, entitled "Asiatic Researches." And
what has been the result of these labours ? why the
acknowledgment, that the history of Moses respect
ing the primitive ages and the deluge, respecting
Noah and his three sons, and their having become
the parent stock of new nations, is found to be
confirmed by the Indian monuments; and that the
Asiatic chronologies, which lose themselves in an
interminable lapse of ages, are, when once divested
of their symbolic clothing, reduced to those of our
Holy Scriptures. There is not then a single nation
upon earth, which can boast of a higher antiquity
than that of the Mosaic deluge.
But is the account of Moses, thus so wonderfully
confirmed by the history of all nations, contradicted
by the history of nature ? No, it is even impossible
1 Champollion le jeune.
VOL. II. F

66 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
to comprehend, much more to describe, the conse
quences of this frightful catastrophe. We can
easily conceive that the waters, by their fall, their
overflowing, and their violent agitation, must have
overthrown continents, and penetrated to a great
depth, must have flattened mountains, hollowed out
vallies, rolled down immense masses of rock, trans
ported the productions of one clime into another,
heaped up different kinds of matter, mixed and en
crusted them together, and thus left them as monu
ments of their ravages. Does not the actual state
of the globe, in reality, present marks of a total
subversion ? In different countries of the earth, do
we not find vast heaps of bodies irregularly forced
together, sand and pebbles, marine bodies, fish and
shells, mixed up with the remains of animals and of
vegetables ? And must not this species of chaos be
the result of some strange revolution ? Thus the
learned author of a modern publication, entitled,
Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles des Quadrupedes,
has said in express terms, that, " if any fact has
been fully verified in geology, it is this, that the
surface of our globe has undergone some great and
sudden revolution 1." If, then, the history of all
nations, in accordance with that of Moses, points to
that terrible and universal inundation called the
Deluge, as the cause of this revolution, why should
we reject it ? Observation has compelled some
1 Cuvier: Discours preliminaire, page 110.

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 67
learned natulalists at last to recognize it. Without
adopting their physical explanations of it, we shall
take advantage of their admission of the reality of
the fact. Pallas, having found in the frozen climate
of Siberia, the bones of elephants and of other mon
strous animals, mixed up with fish-bones and various
fossiles, was very forcibly struck by the monuments
of that frightful inundation, which he saw under his
eyes, as is seen by the following words, taken from
his already-quoted work, Sur la Formation des Mon-
tagnes \ " This must be the result of that deluge,
of which almost all the ancient nations of Asia, the
Chaldeans, the Persians, the Indians, the inhabitants
of Thibet, and the Chinese, have preserved memo
rials, and which they fix as having occurred within
a very few years of the period of the Mosaic
deluge." If we admit the account of the sacred writer, our
continents, such as they now are, do not go back to
endless ages, but the epoch at which their actual
state has commenced, cannot be placed farther back
than about 5000 years ; this, too, is the date, which
some celebrated naturalists, De Saussure and Dolo-
mieu, for instance, after actual and personal obser
vations, have assigned to them. This last has said,
" I shall defend a truth which appears to me to be
incontestable, the proofs of which strike me in all
the pages of history, and in those to which the facts
1 Page 85.
F 2

68 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
of nature have been consigned, namely, that the
state of our continents is not old, and that no very
long time has elapsed, since they were given up to
the empire of man 1."
With reference to the various observations which
may be made as to the state of the surface, and of
the interior of the globe, I request you to remark,
that we are not obliged to explain every thing hy
the Mosaic deluge alone, since there are many
other causes which may have had a very powerful
influence on the state of our continents. In the
first place, if we regard each of the days of the
creation, as an indefinite epoch, who can tell what
variations and what modifications, the earth may
have undergone in those primitive times ? This is
not all. Sixteen hundred years had elapsed from
the creation of 'man to the deluge, and the history
of the globe during that period is totally unknown
to us. How many changes may have been wrought
during this space of time, the knowledge of which
has not reached us ! Lastly ; from the deluge to
the present time, more than 4000 years have elapsed,
and during this period, how many physical, local,
and particular causes may have modified continents
themselves, the temperature of their climates and
their productions ! How many changes have vol
canoes, earthquakes, the overflowings of rivers, or

1 Journal de Physique. Janvier, 1792. Theorie de la Terre, par
M. Andre, page 265.

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 69
their diluvial remains, the falling of moun
tains, the retiring of seas from their accustomed
banks, the drying up of those vast lakes which the
deluge must have left ; how many changes, I say,
must all these events, at different intervals, have
brought about. On these points the mind may
wander at will; all that a respect for our holy
writings demands, is, not to dispute the great
events which they, without entering into details,
narrate, and to recognize the account of the crea
tion, and of the catastrophe of the deluge, as given
us by Moses.
Should the cause of this deluge now be demanded
of us, we should without hesitation answer, that
we hold to the narrative of it given in the Holy
Scriptures, — that it must be regarded as an event
beyond the ordinary laws of nature, and produced
by the special intervention of Divine Omnipotence.
He who formed the universe is able to change or
even to destroy it at His pleasure. It would be
too unreasonable to dispute with Him who made
the laws of nature, the right of suspending them
when He pleases, for ends worthy of His adorable
wisdom. I know that the intervention of the
Divinity appears ridiculous in the eyes of an
atheist, but I also know, that we, in our turn, are
permitted to see nothing in atheism but the most
unaccountable folly. The deepest research either
into the history of nature, or of antiquity, has com
pelled the naturalists of modern times at last to

70 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
acknowledge that the actual state of our continents
is the effect of a violent and sudden inundation.
Yet what physical force could, in opposition to the
laws of gravitation, have raised the immense ocean,
and precipitated it over the land? Are simple
volcanoes capable of producing such vast and pro
digious effects? Some would suppose that the
concussion of certain comets, coming in contact
with our globe, may have displaced its axis, and
caused this outpouring of the seas. But, in addi
tion to this being a supposition altogether arbitrary,
and void of the slightest foundation in human tra
ditions, is it fully verified that the shock of a comet
would be capable of producing this immense revo
lution ? The philosophical author of L 'Exposition
du systeme du monde1, endeavouring to reassure
the puerile and timid against the fear of so terrible
an event, says, in express terms, that " the masses
of the comets are very small ; their shock, there
fore, could produce local revolutions only." Thus
we are again brought back to the narrative of
Moses, by the very futility of the conjectures made
in the attempt to give a physical explanation of
the deluge.
Should it be asked again, where a quantity of
water could be found sufficient to inundate our
continents? I answer, that, according to Moses,
we must combine the incalculable quantity of
' La Place, chap. iv. vol, ii. p. 36, &c

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 71
water diffused throughout the atmosphere, with
that which was contained in the subterranean
abysses, and in the basins of the seas, and should
we do so, it can no longer appear strange, that
water enough to cover the earth should thus be
obtained. Some naturalists have made approxi
mative calculations on this subject, which have
rendered it far more intelligible '. Observe, lastly,
how consistent and consequent is the account of
Moses : according to him, the earth, in the be
ginning, was covered with water, it might then
have been covered with it a second time.
Should it be asked, in the third place, how it
happens, that the human race having, with the
exception of one family, been destroyed by the
deluge, we do not find human bones mixed up
with the upper strata of the earth, as we find
the remains of marine bodies, plants and quadru
peds? I would here make a few observations,
which I think ought to satisfy every reasonable
mind. In the first place, can it not be said, that
before the deluge, the earth was not peopled in all
its parts, as it now is ? It is also very possible
that some parts of our antediluvian continents
may, together with their inhabitants, have re
mained under water. Besides, in what country
have these researches been made? Chiefly in a
' Lecons de 1'Histoire, Lettre V. tome i. Note D.

72 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
small portion of the globe, in our Europe. But
the primitive population is to be placed, for the
most part, in the East; and has the interior of
the globe, in these regions, been inspected so
minutely as to authorize the declaration that
human remains are not to be found in it? It
may be said, too, that this difficulty is common to
all opinions ; for, if it is true, as naturalists of the
present day assert, that our globe was formerly
overthrown by a violent and sudden revolution:
this revolution did not spare the men which in
habited it, any more than the brutes with which
it was stocked ; and it may always be asked, why
the fossil remains of human bodies are not found
in the interior of the earth, as well as those of
quadrupeds ?
Lastly ; it has been asked, how, if all men
descend from Noah and his three sons and their
wives, America could have been peopled, as it was
found to be at the epoch of its discovery by
Christopher Columbus? Much has been said re
specting this objection, and, indeed, respecting
every thing which, by attaching discredit to the
Holy Volume, tends to flatter the pride and the
passions of men; it has, nevertheless, eventually,
been acknowledged, that this objection, which- has
probably made many unbelievers, is but an idle
fancy. We now know, particularly after the
voyages of the celebrated Cook, that America

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 73
stretches out nearly to Asia, and it is very easy to
conceive, how Asia may have peopled America '.
It appears, too, that the Esquimaux possess, in
figure, clothing, mode of life, and language, strik
ing affinities with the Greenlanders, who, to all
appearances, draw their origin from Norway; so
that the north of the new world may possibly have
been peopled by the north of Europe. I cannot
do better than refer you to the opinions of the
illustrious Robertson on this subject, which you will
find in his History of America2.
I wished to vindicate the sacred writer from
the accusation which has been brought against him,
of being in contradiction with the history of na
ture, and with the traditions of the most ancient
nations, and, I trust, my design is accomplished.
It now remains for you to lay aside those prejudices
with which your minds may hitherto have been
darkened. Why should I be compelled to hold a
language as profane as it ought to be alien to the
evangelic chair? Such is the disease of men's
minds, that a discourse, which, a hundred years
ago, would have appeared strange, ridiculous, con
trary to good taste and reprehensibly deviating
from all religious seemliness, is, perhaps, the most
useful which I could pronounce before the youthful
audience now before me. You are now aware how
fully you should guard yourselves against those
1 Lecons de l'Histoire, Lettre V. torn. i. Note G.
2 Book IV. vol. ii. p. 177 and following.

74 MOSES CONSIDERED AS THE
systems which the passions imagine, and which
they hail with transport. Happily these vain systems
pass away, like the men who invent them, and the
truth of the Holy Scriptures remains, like the God
who is their source ; it is a truth which issues
forth more pure and more brilliant from all the
attacks made against it. New difficulties excite
new researches, and these lead to new triumphs ;
this is attested by the experience of eighteen cen
turies. When impiety employs a display of learn
ing and of science, the weak in faith tremble ; the
theologian, sometimes transported into regions, with
which he is not absolutely obliged to be conversant,
may seem disconcerted ; but the Christian, firm in
his faith, knows that these attacks, apparently so
serious, and so philosophical, are replete with vanity
and falsehood. What really happens ? God raises
up real philosophers, who vindicate outraged truth,
and the clouds of error are dissipated from the
minds of those who wish to see the light. You
have seen nature, history, fable itself, that muti
lated image of truth, you have seen all these pay
homage to Moses, and confirm the fidelity of his
narration. But, above all this, the Christian wants
nothing more than the word of Jesus Christ; in
structed in his school, there is not one believer
however simple, and however unlearned, who can
not with confidence, yet without pride, address to
the enemies of his religion nearly the same words
which the Prophet formerly applied to the enemies

HISTORIAN OF THE PRIMITIVE AGES. 75
ofthe people of God1. Ye enemies of revelation,
ye learned unbelievers, fabricators of worlds, as
semble yourselves together, form conspiracies, unite
your arguments and your efforts, and they shall
come to naught ; you, yourselves, shall be broken
in pieces, and vanish in your own thoughts, and all
that shall remain of your hypotheses will be regret
for having divulged, and shame for having trusted
in them ; your very attacks themselves, must,
sooner or later, turn to the glory of that religion,
which is like an Eternal Rock in the midst of a
boundless ocean; the floods and the storm may
roar, and the waves may dash against, but they can
never overthrow it ; in spite of all their shocks, it
stands immoveable, and the foam with which their
lashings have whitened it, when it sinks in wreaths
at its base, attests both their fury and their impo
tence. 1 Isaiah viii. 9.

CHAPTER XVII.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.

Among the extraordinary spectacles which the
history of the human mind, from time to time,
displays, certainly one of the most astonishing is
that which it presents to us in Moses, bursting
asunder the fetters of the captive Hebrews in Egypt,
leading and sustaining an immense multitude in a
desert, triumphing at once over the frequent revolts
of the intractable people of which he is the chief,
and over the attacks of the warlike nations which
surround him ; giving it a pure and holy worship, a
rigid system of morality, which represses all vice,
and commands all virtue, together with those wise
and powerful laws which have been so durable, that
neither time nor misfortune could destroy them,
and, so dear to their followers, that at the very
time when their observance was no longer possible,

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 77
they still reigned in their hearts, and thus appear
to have been impressed with the seal of eternity.
What a contrast between this singular people and
all the other nations of the earth ! At the time of
Moses, more than three thousand years ago, the
nations were plunged in the most shameful super
stition ;. polytheism had filled both earth and hea
ven, with a crowd of fanciful divinities, all either
impure or cruel ; and yet, behold, here is a new
people enlightened by its legislator, which boldly
professes to adore one only God, the creator and
master of the universe. At an epoch, when the
most unbounded licentiousness and most infamous
rites were authorized by the example of sages, and
even by that of the gods, we see Moses subjecting
a whole people to morals of the utmost purity,
inspiring it with the love of every thing honest,
and forbidding, by terrible penalties, the commission
of all crime. All other systems of legislation, being
the works of men, are susceptible of perfection or
abolition, of improvement or deterioration ; and,
yet we see, that Moses has established a law which
possessed all its perfection at the very moment of
its promulgation, to which, both addition and sup
pression were alike forbidden, so completely did it ,
comprehend, with reference to the people which
was to obey it, the combination of all precepts by
which its moral, domestic, and civil conduct might
be regulated.
To those who devote themselves to the exami-

78 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
nation of the ancient laws of Greece and of Rome,
to those who delight in inquiring into the advan
tages and the inconveniences of the legislation of
various nations, and in tracing the affinities existing
between their laws, their climates, their manners,
and their genius ; certainly the law of Moses, the
most ancient of all, the most astonishing in its
duration and in its effects, the most complete in
all its parts, and a law which has come down to
us in its primitive integrity, the same now as when
it first issued from the hands of its author, thirty-
three centuries ago, deserves the highest attention.
Yes, it was in this high antiquity, in these remote
ages, when uncivilized manners and senseless super
stitions, were universally prevalent, that this great
personage who gave to the Hebrews a religion, a
government and laws, appeared. And if after the
most impartial and strict investigation, we find that
Moses was enabled to rise superior to the pre
judices of nations, to disengage truth from the
mists of error and of vice, for the purpose of
making it shine yet more brilliantly, and to give
his people a holy religion, a pure morality, and a
just and wise code of laws, can we forbear indulging
some sensations of admiration, or do other than
render homage to Him to whom the glory of this
wonderful work is alone due ? Or rather shall we
not be compelled to acknowledge this, as some
thing which did not proceed from man, and to
admit, that so much wisdom could only have de-
1

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 79
scended from the Father of light Himself, and that
Moses has been not its inventor, but its docile and
faithful organ ? Such, we dare believe, will be the
conclusion deduced by this discourse. That I may
render this truth more sensible to you, and avoid
all confusion, I shall present to you Moses, as a
legislator, with reference in the first place, to the
religious and moral, and afterwards to the political
and civil order. Such is the plan of this conference
on Moses considered as a legislator.
Of all legislators who have appeared upon earth,
and who have applied themselves to the policing
of different people, to the regulation of their man
ners, and to the subjection of their ferocious inde
pendence to the yoke of law, there cannot be
found one who has not called in religion to the
aid of his policy, or rather who has not founded
the edifice of his legislation on religion itself, as
upon a durable and eternal basis. Certainly con
duct such as this, on the part of all the most
celebrated sages whom the world has ever seen,
is a very striking proof of the weakness of man
when abandoned to himself, and of the necessity
of divine authority to give- a solid support to the
frail work of mortal hands. Is it necessary to
go farther to confound those sophists whose inex
perience is equalled only by their mediocrity, and
who, mistaking the desire of distinction for genius,
believe that they have found out the secret of doing
without God, and of founding societies without

80 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
religion ? But at the head of all these legislators,
Moses appears, a prodigy of wisdom and of light,
even in the eyes of those whose misery it was to
see in him nothing more than a human legislator,
and far superior to all by the beauty of his religious
and moral doctrines. In order to be convinced of
this, let us consider the religious dogmas which he
teaches, and the worship which he establishes.
The first, or rather the sole object of all religion,
is God ; and how pure and sublime are the notions
of the Divinity, which the writings of Moses excite !
His thoughts on this subject rise to an elevation
far beyond the reach of the most vaunted minds of
pagan antiquity. According to him, it is God who
has created the universe by His all powerful will.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth;" He said, " Let there be light, and there '
was light "." It is the God eternal, the immutable,
comprehending within himself all the plenitude,
all the perfections of existence, the necessary
source of every thing that lives and breathes. Every
thing which is not God, has not always existed,
and may cease to exist ; He has himself said, " I
am, that I am 2." It is the only, the immeasurable
God, whose providence embraces the whole universe.
" See now," as it is said in Deuteronomy, " that I,
even I, am He, and there is no God with me : I kill,
and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal: neither is
1 Genesis i. 1. 3. 2 Exodus iii. 14.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 81
there any that can deliver out qf my hands 1." " No,"
says Bossuet2, "the God whom the Hebrews, as
well as the Christians, always served, possesses
nothing m common with those other divinities, so
full of imperfection and even of vice, which the
rest of the world adored. Our God is one, infinite,
perfect, alone worthy of punishing crime, and
rewarding virtue, because He alone is holiness
itself. . . . Before that existence was communicated
by Him, nothing possessed it but Himself. Moses
has taught us, that this Omnipotent architect, wished
not to complete his work at once, but determined
to create the universe in six days, for the purpose
of showing, that He was not actuated by necessity,
or by a blind impetuosity, as some philosophers
have imagined. The sun shoots forth all its rays
at once ; but God, who acts by intelligence, and
with a sovereign liberty, applies His virtue where
and when, and in the proportions which please
Him." . . . . " The account of the creation, as given
by Moses, discovers to us that grand secret of
true philosophy, namely, that fecundity and absolute
power reside in God alone. Happy, wise, Omni
potent, alone sufficient to Himself, all things im
mediately depend upon Him ; and if, according to
the established order of nature, one thing depends
upon another, for example, if the shooting forth
and the growth of plants depend upon the heat
1 Deuteronomy xxxii. 39-
2 Discours sur l'Histo'ire Universelle, Part II. chap. i.
VOL. II. <*

82 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
of the sun, it is so, because this same God, who
has made all the parts of the universe, has wished
to unite them the one to the other, and by this
marvellous connection, to make His wisdom more
conspicuous." You see that Moses is far from
being one of those fabricators of worlds, such as
formerly appeared among the Greeks, and such as
we yet see among ourselves, who believing them
selves skilful enough to do without God, make a
grand display of their fanciful systems of powers—
of fatality, of necessity, of atoms, of animated world,
and of living matter, and thus give us words for
things, effects for causes, and the legislation of
this physicial world for the legislator. How, after
having glanced over all these gloomy systems, does
the mind, seeking light, delight in darting forward,
with Moses, towards that Being immortal^ powerful,
intelligent, good, in a word perfect, that primary
cause of every thing which is, of the laws of nature
and of their effects ; and how is it transported by
those words of that prophet, the inheritor of the
doctrine of Moses, (words without which we could
never explain any thing,) when he says, " For he
commanded, and they were created '."
But it may be said, why thus exalt the theology
of Moses? Is he not at all tinctured by the
gross ideas of the pagan, respecting the divinity?
See how he lends it the forms, the passions, and
1 Psalm cxlviii. 5.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 83
the vices of man ; iu his books he represents it to
us, as a jealous being, susceptible of anger, who
opens his eyes, stretches forth his arms, and de
scends from heaven to see the tower of Babel.
This, however, is a reproach as inconsiderate as it is
frivolous. Could it be wished, that Moses should
have always spoken with the rigorous precision of
the schools, or that he should have addressed the mul
titude in a language which it could not understand ?
Since he was delivering his pure and intellectual
truths to carnal men, he was compelled to array
them in sensible images. Languages were created
before that men had constructed a science of that
which is called metaphysics ; poets appeared before
logicians, and thus the primitive idioms may have
wanted, much more than ours do, those terms which
could appropriately express ideas, or represent things
of a certain order. Even at the present day, when lan
guages possess expressions even for the most subtle
and most abstract ideas, where is the writer who be
lieves himself obliged to use only the most rigorously
exact phraseology ? Even now, when Christianity
has purified our thoughts, and diffused notions re
specting the Divinity far removed from every thing
which is material, how ridiculous and fatiguing
would that Christian orator be, who should reject
the metaphorical style, and abstain from presenting
truth to the people, under popular images ! Cer
tainly, if they had adopted this method, Bossuet,
with all his genius, would not have been the most
G 2

84 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
eloquent of men, nor Massillon the first prose
writer of French literature. Unable as we are to
speak worthily of the Divinity, and of his perfec
tions, we seek certain similitudes, we ransack all
nature, for sentiments and for images which may
enlarge our language. We know that every lan
guage is poor, every human discourse weak, when
treating of the incomprehensible Being ; to speak
of Him suitably and worthily, requires thoughts
and expressions not to be found in this present
world. Finally, with regard to the Gentile poets,
the well-known system of paganism, such as was
then universally believed, authorizes us to take
literally all that they tell us of the jealousies, the
quarrels, and the combats of their gods; on the
contrary, the doctrine of Moses, the lofty ideas
which he inspires, of the one only God, of His power,
of His justice, of His bounty, and of His wisdom,
all this warns us, that we are to look for a spiritual
sense concealed under metaphors, the use of which
was more particularly required, by the nature or
the poverty of the phraseology employed, and by
the rude genius of the Hebrews.
But I now proceed to a more serious difficulty,
which tends to nothing more or less, than to make
of the Hebrews and their legislator, a nation of
materialists. Voltaire, who was sometimes tor
mented by a fear of the future, has been pleased
to record more than once in his writings, that
Moses does not speak of the immortality of the

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 85
soul ; that the Jews were ignorant of this doctrine
for several centuries, and that it was not known to
them until after the Babylonish captivity. We
shall clear up this difficulty somewhat at large,
inasmuch as it has been proposed with much con
fidence, by the patriarch of infidel wits, and, on his
authority, been repeated by his numerous disciples.
I would remark, in the first place, that the dogma
of the immortality of our souls, makes a part of the
creed of the Jews, that this was generally the belief
of their fathers, at the time of Jesus Christ ; that,
in ascending higher into antiquity, it is found so
deeply rooted in their hearts, that they were accus
tomed to offer sacrifices for their dead, and thought
it a duty to die for their law in the hope of a better
life ; and it is from this sublime hope, that the mother
of the Maccabees derived that courage with which
she inspired her children. After all these facts,
which cannot be denied, I begin to suspect, that
this belief in so capital a point, with a nation so
invariable in its religion, must have had a still much
higher origin, and that it may be traced, age after
age, up to its very cradle.
These infidels maintain, that the Jews, a thou
sand years after Moses, borrowed the dogma of a
future life from the people whose captives they
were ; what a paradox ! Let us consult their most
authentic monuments. Daniel, who lived at the
very commencement of the captivity, gloried in his
contempt for pagan superstition, and in being faith-

86 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
ful to the religion of his fathers, and avowed that
it was to this, he owed the courage of braving death ;
it is he who says these words, " And many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt '." The author of the Book of
Ecclesiastes lived before the captivity, and these
are his words : " And, moreover, I saw under the
sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was
there ; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity
was there. I said in mine heart, God shall judge
the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time
there for every purpose, and for every workV
Isaiah lived also before the captivity, and he, after
describing the death of the proud king of Babylon,
represents him as descending to the sojourn of the
dead, in these words : " Hell from beneath is moved
for thee to meet thee at thy coming : it stirreth up
the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the
earth ; it hath raised up from their thrones all the
kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say
unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art
thou become like unto us ? Thy pomp is brought
down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols : the
worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover
thee. How art thou fallen from Heaven, oh Lucifer,
son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations ! For thou
' Daniel xii. 2. ' Ecclesiastes iii. 16, 17.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR 87
Rast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God ; I will
also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north : I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit '." How sublime an image is this, yet to
the Jews it would have been both inexplicable and
ridiculous, had they not already been imbued with
the belief of a future life. I might, were it neces
sary, adduce other very decisive quotations, from
Tobias, David, and the Book : of Job, to which, as
they have been admitted into the catalogue of their
holy books, we may very justly appeal in testimony
of the. belief of the Hebrews. Such are the irre
fragable monuments of the ancient faith of Israel.
Will it be said that we can read nothing positive
respecting the immortality of the soul in the five
books of Moses ? And of what importance is this
after all, if in ascending from age to age, we meet
with manifest traces of this belief among the
Hebrews, if it is impossible to assign any epoch
subsequent to Moses, in which this doctrine may
first have become known ; if it is contrary to sound
sense to suppose, that this people could have been
void of a knowledge of that which had been com
mon to all other people, both ancient and modern,
civilized or savage, without one single exception ?
1 Isaiah xiv. 9 — 15.

88 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
But I go too far. It is true that you will not find
in Moses the promises and the threats of a future
life, so distinctly expressed, or so developed as
they are in the books of the evangelic law ; the
time of that more abundant light had not yet
arrived ; but the narrative, the language, and the
laws of Moses, every thing, in short, that we read
in him, supposes this doctrine. In the first place
he tells us that man has been made after the image
of God : ; hence he is destined, in a far inferior
degree undoubtedly, to be intelligent, free, happy,
and immortal as his Author. In Deuteronomy,
Moses consoles the Hebrews for the death of their
relatives and friends, by telling them, " You are
the children of God 2," and as has been said by a
modern writer, "the children of men are mortal
as their fathers ; the children of God participate
in His divine nature, and are immortal as Him
self." What does the care of the dead and of their
tombs, the celebrated sepulchres of Abraham and
of Jacob, which Moses mentions, what does all
this signify ? Is it not manifest, that the respect
for the ashes of the dead, is connected with the
idea of the immortality of the soul? Whence
comes it, that, as Moses expresses it, the patri
archs call themselves strangers and pilgrims upon
earth ? " The days of the years of my pilgrim-

Genesis, chap. i. ver. 26, 27.
Deuteronomy, chap. xiv. ver. 1, 2.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 89
age," said Jacob, unto Pharaoh, "are an hundred
and thirty years: few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been, and have not at
tained unto the days of the years of the life of my
fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage1." The
earth, then, was not their abiding resting-place,
their country or their home. Why does Moses
put these words into the mouths of his old men,
that they should be "gathered to their fathers,"
and that they shou'd " lie with their fathers 2 ?"
Is not all this connected with a second life ?
Lastly ; why that express and very remarkable
prohibition, promulgated by Moses in his laws, of
evoking and interrogating the dead 3 ? Freret has
observed that this "law deserved great attention,
since it proves," says he, in opposition to modern
Sadducees, "that at the time of Moses, the He
brews commonly believed their souls to be im
mortal; had they not done so, they never would
have thought of consulting them ; men never put
questions to that which they do not believe to
exist." Let us no longer be surprised, then, that
Moses should have insisted but little on this truth,
since we have seen that it was familiar to the
Hebrews, that it was diffused among them, as

1 Genesis, chap, xlvii. ver. 9.
2 Genesis, chap. xxv. ver. 17- Chap. xxxv. ver. 39, and chap.
xlvii. ver. 30. Deuteronomy, chap. xxxi. ver. 16.
3 Deuteronomy, chap, xviii. ver. 11.

90 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
among all other nations of the earth, without any
exception ; that it was perpetuated by oral tradi
tion, by the instruction given by fathers to their
children, and by the respect paid to the tombs.
Yes, the little care which Moses takes to incul
cate this truth, proves to us how common it must
have been. His more especial design was to
warn his followers against their dominant -errors,
against every thing which might corrupt, or an
nihilate the solemn alliance of which he was the
instrument ; and this accounts for his incessantly
reminding them of the unity of God, and His
adorable perfections ; he was much less occupied
in saving his people from materialism, (then un
known,) than from idolatry, which, in his age, was
the great, the deplorable, and the universal pest of
the human race.
I now come to the public worship established by
Moses in honour of the Divinity. Before that Jesus
Christ came to establish upon earth a people of
worshippers in spirit and in truth, was there ever a
religion more pure and more holy in its practices,
more adapted to the inspiration of the fear and of
the love of God, and, hence more favourable to
morals and to virtue, than that of Moses? The
outward display of his religion announced the gran
deur of the God who was to be adored ; victims
were sacrificed on his altars, as to the sovereign
arbiter of life and of death, and these victims were
required to be without blemish and without spot,

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 91
because he himself is infinitely perfect. It is here
that Moses shines in a splendour peculiarly his
own, and which distinguishes him from all other
legislators. How much does it redound to his
glory, to have banished from his worship that licen
tiousness, those excesses of turpitude, and those
human sacrifices which had sullied all pagan wor
ship ; and which had transformed the temples of
all other nations, without excepting the most
polished and the most learned, into schools of
crime, and their priests into butchers ! I will not
mention all the magnificence of the ancient wor
ship, I shall content myself with requesting you to
observe, that the number of their feasts, the time
and the manner of celebrating them, were fixed by
law. Every year saw the same order of solemni
ties ; the old man recognized the ceremonies which
had been the delight of his youth ; and this con
stant uniformity augmented the majesty of religion
and the respect of the people. That which is per
petually changing is less effective in attaching men's
minds ; there is something indescribably august in
antiquity, which commands our veneration. It is
true, that all this no more constitutes the essence
of religion, than the guards, the sceptre, and the
crown of a king, constitute sovereignty; but, to
neglect these external means of exciting respect,
would be to betray a total ignorance of men, of
their wants, and of their weaknesses. It was par
ticularly incumbent upon Moses to put all this in

92 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
requisition with reference to the Hebrews. After
having witnessed those festivals, so pompous and so
full of spectacle, which the pagans celebrated in
honour of their gods, they would have experienced
nothing but disgust and contempt for a worship
more simple and less charged with ceremonies.
Thus, truth in doctrine, and holiness in worship, is
presented to us in the religion of Moses. Enough
has now been said, respecting the religious order
established by Moses; let us now consider this
great legislator, in his civil and political order.
In accordance with my design of vindicating the
Mosaic code from the attacks of its enemies, I now
proceed to its consideration in a more general
point of view, and for this purpose shall, in the
first place, enter somewhat into the political con
stitution of the Hebrews ; afterwards into the uni
versal end of all their legislation ; and, lastly,
answer the accusations which unbelievers bring
against it.-
That God still governs by His providence all the
nations of the earth, that He punishes them for
their crimes, or rewards them for their virtues,
according to the designs of His justice, or of His
goodness, and that in this respect He is the sole
supreme monarch of the world ; that, as common
Father of all men, He gives to all, certain proofs
of His love, that He grants them the enjoyment of
all those good things with which nature is embel
lished and enriched ; that He has never ceased to

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 93
manifest Himself to their eyes, by the beauty of
"His works, and to speak to their hearts by His
benefits, by reason, by conscience, and by that
perpetual succour of which He is the inexhaustible
source, has already been proved. It has pleased
Him, however, to grant to Abraham and to his
descendants, extraordinary favour, favour which He
owed to no one, which had its origin, not in their
natural merits, but in His pure liberality. After
having extricated them from their bondage in
Egypt by a series of surprising prodigies, after
having covered them with the shield of His might,
against the attacks of their enemies, He becomes
Himself their legislator and their monarch, and
Moses is the instrument of the sacred and peculiar
alliance, which He deigns to make with the Hebrews.
It is by his ministry, that the Lord makes them
hear these words : " Ye have seen what I did
unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles'
wings, and brought you unto myself. Now there
fore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto
me above all people : for all the earth is mine.
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and
an holy nation. These .are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel 1."
What do we see in this ? We see, on the one
side, the Hebrews regarding God himself as the
1 Exodus chap. xix. ver. 4, 5, 6.

94 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
author of their civil as well as their religious laws,
engaging to recognise Him as their temporal'
monarch, and faithfully to obey His command
ments ; and, on the other side, we see God making
certain promises and threats, which He alone could
execute. Peace, plenty, and liberty, were to be
the rewards of their fidelity; war, famine, and
slavery, the chastisement of their revolt. It is not
that religion might not have proposed to the faithful
adorer, and the faithful observer of the law, the
far more precious rewards of a future life ; but we
ought to observe, that the Mosaic covenant was
contracted, not with each individual, but with the
body of the nation, and a nation has no other good
to hope for, and no other evil to fear, than that
of the present life. We see, then, that the Hebrews
are deeply penetrated with the idea, that their
whole law is divine ; that they are the chosen
people, the people of God ; and this is celebrated
by the prophet, five hundred years after Moses,
when he says, " He sheweth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgment unto Israel. He
hath not dealt so with any nation 1." Yes, public
worship, sacred ceremonies, the form of the taber
nacle, the vesture of the priests and Levites, laws,
police, and domestic regulations, all, in the eyes
of the Israelites, possessed a sacred character, all
was the work of God himself. It was not only
' Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 95
Moses, as minister of God, but God even as the
author of the law, who presented Himself to the
Hebrews, with all the grandeur of His promises,
and all the terror of His threats, animating or re
straining them by those two grand motives of
human action — hope and fear. The passions, and
the examples of pagan nations, might certainly
enfeeble this intimate persuasion, but in the body
of the nation, it ever remained deep and lively,
and was constantly reanimated by the misery which
was the consequence and the punishment of a
temporal forgetfulness of it. What power and
authority then, did not this belief give to the insti
tutions of Moses ! We are not here demonstrating
that it was not an imposture, or a ridiculous super
stition ; I shall not either recapitulate those striking
proofs which Moses has given us of his divine
mission, which I have laid before you ih another
discourse ; I consent, for the moment, to regard
him merely as a man, abandoned to the dictates
and impressions of his own genius alone. For if we
should not be compelled to see in Moses an inspired
legislator, we must still regard him as the greatest
of mortals; for after all, if the first glory of a
legislator is to make men love his institutions and
his laws, and to ensure their empire and their
duration, what idea must we form of that man
who was the author of a law, which for the space
of fifteen centuries, regulated the destinies of the
Jews in Palestine, and which, eighteen centuries
1

96 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
after their dispersion, is still so dear to the scattered ;
-remnant of this unfortunate people, and to this
moment reigns in their hearts, by means of those
regrets and desires, with which it incessantly in
spires them ?
But in order more fully to feel all the excellence
of the Mosaic legislation, let us consider its chief
end. If the common object of all governments
is to maintain and perpetuate themselves, if all
ought to look to the happiness and conservation of
subjects; still each government appears also to
possess its own genius, and its own character, and
to propose to itself one particular object; thus,
Sparta formed warriors, Rome conquerors, and
Carthage merchants and navigators. In general,
when the legislators of antiquity succeeded in rais
ing and establishing a powerful and flourishing
people, their task was accomplished. The thoughts
of Moses, however, are far more elevated ; his aim
is the most noble and the most sublime, which man
can conceive. His chief object is to form a people,
which, by faithfully adoring the one true God,
should afford to all other nations, the example of
a pure and reasonable worship. In those times of
universal depravity, when the passions had so com
pletely taken possession of the human heart, that
instead of commanding them as a master, it wor
shipped them as a slave ; amidst those dense
clouds, which darkened, as it were, the light of
truth, respecting the Divine perfections, the origin,

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 97
and the end of man, and his most sacred duties ;
Moses conceives the design of creating a nation,
in which, doctrines most precious to morality
might be preserved for ages, pure and uncorrupted.
It is to this great end that the whole of his legis
lation tends, and this we ought never to forget, if
we would form a correct judgment of it. Hence
we find in the Mosaic code, those prohibitory laws,
which by straitening or by limiting the connexion
of the Hebrews with other nations, tended to pre
serve them from the impious customs, and licen
tiousness of the pagans. Let it not be said, that
the Jews, by their particular laws and customs,
constituted themselves the enemies of the human
race, they were only the enemies of the worship
of other nations, of their abominable practices, and
of their horrible sacrifices; and certainly their
legislator was justified in being jealous of main
taining among his people, the purity of its religion
and its morals. Hence, was it not wise, to multi
ply around it, barriers which might secure it from
that idolatry to which it was but too warmly
inclined? To him who sees in the civil and
domestic legislation of Moses, nothing but a mass
of trifling and useless puerility, I would make
answer in the words of Bossuet1, "With regard
to the great number of observances which he
imposed upon the Hebrews, although they may
¦ Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, chap. III. p. 2.
VOL. II. H

98 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
now appear superfluous, yet they were then neces
sary, in order to separate the people of God from
other nations, and to serve as a barrier against
idolatry, in the fear of its corrupting this chosen
people, as it had done all other nations." I would
make answer again in the words of Jean Jacques 1 :
" The proof that these laws were just what they
ought to have been, is, that they have resisted the
attacks of time, of fortune, and of conquerors." I
would answer, lastly, in the words of Montesquieu2:
" A religion charged with numerous observances is
more binding than another which is less so. Men
are always very tenacious of those things which
continually occupy their attention." How incon
siderate it is, then, to reproach Moses with those
observances, which, from their connection with the
very end of legislation, were a master-piece of
wisdom !
We are accustomed to evince a somewhat exclu
sive admiration ofthe ancient Greeks and Romans;
of their patriotism, their courage, and their exploits.
But what must have been the attachment of the
Jewish nation to its institutions, its laws, and its
country ! From the narrow limits of its commerce,
and from its infrequent connection with other
people, it more strictly preserved its own peculiar
character, and truly national spirit. Has it not

1 See the Philos. Catechism, Book IV. chap. ii. art. 2.
2 Esprit des Lois, Liv. XXV. chap. ii.

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 99
also had good kings, and brave warriors ? ' Have
these Greeks, struggling against the armies of
the great king, presented to the world a more
surprising spectacle, than that heroic family
of the Maccabees, who re-animated the broken
courage of their fellow-subjects, and, with pro
digies of valour, resisted the most formidable of
the successors of Alexander? And if, afterwards,
the nation fell under the efforts of the Romans,
it did not fall without having opposed, with the
most undaunted courage, those conquerors destined
to subdue the nations, and to break the thrones of
all the kings of the earth.
I now come to the most serious reproach brought
against Moses. He is accused of having established
laws with reference to some offences, which were
replete with cruelty and barbarity, and with having
consecrated the extermination of certain people.
It is true, that his laws are very severe against the
crime of idolatry ; but do you not see, that by the
Mosaic constitution, the Hebrew people have the
Lord himself for their temporal king ; and there
fore, that every idolatrous act was not only an
apostacy, but a revolt against the sovereign, a crime
of high treason, which tended to subvert the whole
social edifice ? Who is not also aware of the cruel
ties and the infamies to which idolatry leads ? It is
true, again, that his laws were rigidly severe against
certain excesses ; but how can we reproach Moses
with having armed the magistrate against disorders
h2

100 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
which outrage nature, corrupt all morals, and carry
shame and discord into families ? Above all, I know
that Moses is never pardoned for his military laws,
and for those measures of extermination which were
put in force against the Canaanites. But let us
take care, that the spirit of declamation does not
deceive us, and cause us to confound those things
which we ought to investigate separately. The
Canaanites were an infamous people, long aban
doned to the most criminal idolatry, and the most
barbarous superstitions, plunged in debaucheries,
more shameful and more abominable than those of
Sodom and Gomorrah : the measure of their iniqui
ties was filled to the brim ; the God of justice had
resolved to punish them ; and who will dare to dis
pute with the Supreme Arbiter of human destiny,
with the Master of life and of death, the right of
chastising a criminal nation by the sword, as he
might, chastise it by pestilence or by famine ? If
subjects under the orders of their prince may march
against the enemy, if a magistrate may without
committing a crime, condemn to death a man found
guilty of an act which deserves it ; why should not
Heaven, harassed by the crimes of the Canaanites,
be justified in determining on their destruction, or
why may it not have chosen the Israelites to be
the instruments of its incontrovertible judgments ?
I admit, that in their wars, the Jews have, more
than once, violated the rights of humanity, and
displayed towards their enemies a ferocious cha-

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 101
racter ; but to judge correctly on this subject, we
ought to transport ourselves to those ancient times,
in which Christianity with its pure maxims, had
not mitigated the more revolting barbarities of war.
Of old, as at this day among savages, it appears
that arms were taken up, for the purposes of
plunder, rapine, destruction, and even extermina
tion. Were Hercules, Theseus, and the heroes of
Greece, sung by Homer, less implacable than the
chiefs of the Israelites ? Without going back to the
early rapine of the Romans, we find Paulus Emilius
in Epirus, Scipio Africanus at Numantia and at
Carthage, Titus at Jerusalem, and Germanicus in the
country of the Marsi, committing coolly, and after
victory, the greatest cruelties ; and these, however,
are the most virtuous captains which antiquity pre
sents to us. Do not let us exact from the Hebrews
a softness of manners, incompatible with their age.
If, then, you except certain people devoted to de
struction on account of their crimes, and who would,
in their turn, have exterminated the Jews, if they
had not been vanquished themselves ; you will find
that the martial laws of Moses are full of humanity.
Look at his prohibitions touching the passage of
armies through the provinces of allies, and their
ravages on those of enemies, with regard to be
sieged towns and prisoners, and all this will appear
to you far more humane than any like usages of
other ancient people. Where is the candour and
the impartiality of the detractors of Moses and of

102 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
his law? Ofthe fact, that the most extolled people,
the Romans, for instance, have, with reference to
their slaves, their gladiators, and their captives,
been guilty not only of occasional barbarities, but
that they have adopted a regular system of cruel
legislation, which caused innocent blood to run in
streams, our apostles of humanity, for the most part,
say nothing. But when the Hebrews, by one ex
ception to their ordinary laws, treat their vanquished
foes with terrible severity, we hear nothing but
lamentations and reproaches ; where is candour
here? We shall now terminate our third and last con
ference respecting Moses. Now that we are able
to appreciate more justly the whole code of his
religious, moral, and civil laws, let us, for a mo
ment, inquire of our own hearts, whence Moses
could have derived such various and such sublime
knowledge ? At the epoch in which he appeared,
dense mists enveloped men's minds ; how could so
brilliant a light have beamed from such utter dark
ness? How, in the midst of the most shameful
superstition, could the voice of Wisdom make itself
heard ? Is this merely an extraordinary but tran
sient manifestation of the powers of the human
mind, or must we seek the source of so pure a
doctrine in Heaven itself? When common legis
lators skilfully take advantage of established super
stitions, when they flatter current errors, or even
cherished passions, Moses will not enshackle truth,

MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR. 103
nor abase himself by having recourse to the ordi
nary stratagems of false policy. In the midst of
the multitude of the gods of paganism, he founds
his religion on the unity of God ; in the midst of
the many infamous and cruel worships diffused
throughout the world, he establishes one as pure
as it is severe. Nothing can be compared with the
beauty of his morality, or with the wisdom of his
laws. I am not surprised that he should have been
so anxious to confirm and perpetuate their dura
tion. When he felt his last hour to be approaching,
he called around him the elders of the people and
the chiefs of the tribes, and in their presence, com
mences that admirable song, beginning with these
words : — " Give ear, oh ye Heavens, and I will
speak ; and hear, oh earth, the words of my mouth1."
In the silence of all nature he speaks with inimi
table force ; but, all at once, he rises beyond him
self, and finding all human expressions inadequate
to his subject, he makes God himself speak, with a
majesty and a kindness, at once inspiring both fear
and love. The people learn this song, which is a
summary of the benefits of God, of His magnificent
promises, as well as of His terrific threats ; and this
great man dies happy in the thought of not having
forgotten any thing which might tend to perpetuate
the memory of the favours, and of the precepts of
the God of Israel ; he leaves behind him so deep
1 Deuteronomy, chap, xxxii. verse 1.

104 MOSES CONSIDERED AS A LEGISLATOR.
an impression of his virtues and of his divine au
thority, that three thousand years after his death
his name and his laws awaken among his people
both love and respect. How strange and almost
incredible is this ! This Jewish people, which was,
as it were, the outcast of all other nations, professes
the highest and purest maxims of religion and of
morality; it possessed neither greater industry in
the arts, nor more capacity for humane sciences,
than any other nation ; yet, its women and its
children knew more, and greater truths than all
the philosophers of Athens. Who can explain to
us this phenomenon, unique in the annals of the
human race ? Let us conclude, that we have here
something more than human, something which is
really Divine. Thus, Moses is not less admirable
in the legislation which he established, than in the
wonders which he wrought ; at the time in which
he lived his doctrine was a miracle in the order of
morality, as his triumphant passage, through the
waters of the Red Sea, was a miracle in the order
of nature ; and thus the beauty of his religion, of
his morality, and of his laws, unite with the splen
dour of his marvellous acts, and jointly attest the
Divinity of his mission.

CHAPTER XVIII.

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.

I have thus, in three of my discourses, pre
sented to you, Moses, as the most ancient of
historians, the most sublime of philosophers, and
the most wise of legislators ; you have recognized
in him the envoy of heaven, the founder of a
people destined by providence to be the depositary
of sacred truth in the midst of the darkness, and
universal corruption of the human race. Had it
formed part of our plan to have developed to you
the sense of the figures, the worship, and the oracles
of the ancient law, you would have perceived, that
it was only the type and prelude of that more per
fect law which governs the Christian world ; and it
is this of which we are now about to treat. We
have hitherto stopped in the vestibule of the temple,
it is now time to enter within its gates, and advance

106 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
towards the sanctuary. We are now, then, about
to call your attention to every thing which is most
venerable and most sacred to the Christian, and,
we may also say, most worthy of the admiration
of every man, who, without being happy enough
to profess Christianity, is still far from insensible
to the beauties of a pure morality, or to the heroism
of virtue; we are now about to treat of Jesus
Christ, and of our Gospels, which are nothing more
than the narrative of His actions, His discourses ;
in a word, the history of His mortal life. To the
eyes of the Christian, Jesus Christ is the light of
the world by His doctrine, as He is its model by
His virtues ; and the Gospels are the sacred code,
the inviolable rule of his faith, of his morality, and
of his worship. But that which the Christian
reverences and adores, is but too often to the
unbeliever an object of derision, contempt, and
even hatred ; and, from the very origin of Christ
ianity, Jesus Christ, with His cross and His mys
teries, and the Gospel with its precepts, have
excited against them the pride of the mind and
the corruption of the heart, and stirred up into
revolt, all the prejudices, and all the passions of
the human race. In the first ages of the Christian
Church, the obstinacy of the rude and carnal Jew,
the love of idolatry, with its convenient and volup
tuous worship, the haughty pride of sophists, the
jealous and sanguinary policy of the Caesars, the sel
fishness and superstition of the priests of the false

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 107
gods, these were the enemies which our religion had
to combat. Innovators perverted its doctrine, the
indifferent banished it wholly from their thoughts,
unbelievers made it the object of their raillery,
libertines, who read in our Holy Scriptures their
own condemnation, would, in their rage, have torn
their pages into atoms. In spite of all this, the
name of Jesus Christ was, for the space of seven
teen centuries, reverenced upon earth, even by
those who were not His disciples; He was at
least regarded as an extraordinary person, whose
virtues entitled Him to universal respect, and
His Gospel was looked upon as a book, ad
mirable for its simplicity, its light, and the
perfection of its maxims ; and there had not been
a man, not even Mahomet himself, who did not
speak of it with sentiments and in terms of the
most profound veneration. It was reserved for the
evil days of the last century to produce those
apostate Christians, who have basely travestied our
Holy Scriptures, disputed their antiquity, vomited
forth against the very person of Jesus, the most
brutal and most abject insults, and whose under
standing has been so darkened, that they have
ended by questioning even His existence. We
intend, therefore, to devote several of our con
ferences, to the reanimation of our belief in all
these points, and to its vindication from the attacks
of its enemies. We shall commence by discussing
the three following questions, as to the authority of

108 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
the Gospels. Firstly, Did Jesus Christ appear in
Judea, at the epoch marked out in our Gospels?
Secondly, Have our Gospels been really written
by the contemporary authors whose names they
bear, namely by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke,
and St. John ? Thirdly, Have these Gospels come
down to us without any material or fundamental
alteration? Such is the plan and distribution
of this first discourse on the authority of the
Gospels. That there appeared in Judea, eighteen centuries
ago, an extraordinary person, called Jesus of Naza
reth, remarkable from the holiness of His doctrine,
more remarkable still from the holiness of His life,
and that the hatred of the Jews caused Him to be
put to death upon the cross, during the reign of
the Emperor Tiberius, is a fact attested by the
most ancient, the most constant, and the most
universal belief, by an unbroken series of written
testimonies, which from their origin succeed and
mutually sustain each other, and even by the
authority of the, most cruel enemies of the Christian
name, the Jews and Pagans. Thus the real ex
istence of Jesus Christ, at the epoch in which the
evangelic history places it, is better proved than
the existence of any of the famous persons of
antiquity, such as Socrates, Alexander, and Csesar,
which nobody doubts ; and to see in Jesus Christ
nothing more than a fabulous being, would not only
be the acme of impiety in the eyes of the Christian,

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 109
but the acme of madness in the eyes of every man
in possession of his senses.
Since, however, by a more than human boldness,
some foolhardy minds have dared to raise the
clouds of scepticism, even on this point, we shall,
the more thoroughly to confound them, enter into
some details ; and by appealing to the most incon
trovertible testimony, make them feel how com
pletely they are overpowered by the public belief
of the whole universe. Yes, Christian nations, the
Jewish nation, pagan nations, all consent in unani
mously attesting the existence of Jesus at the
commencement of our vulgar era.
I say, Christian nations. We know that in all
ages, Christian people have professed to reverence
Jesus as the founder of their faith. The Christian
religion has, for eighteen centuries, been professed
upon earth ; before that time it was not in ex
istence ; the very name of Christian was unknown :
this religion has then had its commencement and
its author ; and in ascending from age to age up
to its very origin, our researches must end in Jesus
Christ. The mere denomination of Christian attests
our origin, for the word Christian means the fol
lower of Jesus Christ. To begin with the first
century of our era, have we not a series of works,
the antiquity of which is generally admitted, inces
santly alluding to Jesus Christ ? And do not all the
component parts of our religion, its mysteries, its
worship, its observances, rest upon the foundation-

1 10 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
stone of the edifice, which is, Jesus Christ ? We
hold in our hands the four Gospels, the Book of
the Acts, the Epistles of St. Paul and of others,
all which collectedly form the New Testament.
I am not yet inquiring whether these works were
actually written by those to whom they are attri
buted ; but all must admit that they date from the
origin of Christianity, and that they have been com
posed by some of the first followers of Christ; all
these writings speak of Jesus Christ, of His life, of
His actions, of His conversation, and of His death,
in a manner so positive and so circumstantial, that
to read them is alone sufficient to make us feel
how extravagant it would be to think that all this
is purely allegorical. We have also many writings
of the first century of the Christian Church ; letters
of St. Clement of Rome, of St. Ignatius, Bishop of
Antioch, of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and
disciple of the Apostle St. John. I am not here
examining the doctrine taught, or the particular
facts narrated in these letters; but it is unques
tionably true, that they issued from the hands of
the oldest followers of Christ, and that all repre
sent Him as being the founder of our religion. It
would be easy to show that this series of testimony
is continued, in the second century, by Justin, by
Tertullian, by Clement of Alexandria, those men
so eminent for talent and for wisdom, who were
born in the bosom of paganism, but who have yet
become converts to Christianity. Should Jesus

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. HI
Christ disappear, the Christian religion would
crumble into pieces ; with Him, however, every
thing is explained and connected. Yes, I repeat,
all the historians, all the monuments, all the tradi
tions, all the creeds, all the religious solemnities of
Christian nations, ascend and refer to Jesus Christ ;
and not to recognise Him as the author of our
religion, would be a thousand times more absurd
than not to recognise Mahomet as the author of
the superstition which bears his name.
I know too, that by means of fanciful and forced
analogies, of mutilated passages, arbitrary suppo
sitions, and studied concealments which are nearly
allied to falsehoods, some have succeeded in dark
ening every thing, and have proceeded from error to
error, and from chimera to chimera, even to say,
that Christians have hitherto been ignorant of
their religion, and that the first votaries of Christ
ianity, in their adoration of Jesus Christ, wor
shipped nothing but the sun. But, I know also,
that by such processes, there is no folly which may
not be disseminated. Because some infamous secta
ries of the third century, called Manicheans, making
a monstrous mixture of Christianity and idolatry,
have in their senseless worship confounded Christ
with the sun ; because some obscure calumniators
have accused Christians of adoring the sun, from
their having been accustomed to meet for the
exercises of their worship, on the day which the
Latins called the Day of the Sun ; as they were
1

1 12 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
also accused of feeding, in their secret mysteries,
on the flesh of an infant, from their receiving the
divine eucharist ; because some singular minds may
have remarked a remote affinity between certain
points of the mysteries of Christ, and several of
the constellations ; therefore, the most ancient, the
most invariable, and the most universal belief of
the human race is to be accounted for nothing!
Our monuments, which ascend from age to age up
to the very cradle of Christianity, are to be effaced
by these delusions of the imagination ! Jesus Christ
is then to be the sun, and the Apostles who have
founded His religion, the twelve signs of the
Zodiac ! Was there ever a more pitiable excess
than this ? Thus, the first propagators of Christ
ianity, who proposed to the imitation of the people,
the charity, the humility, the patience and the
sanctity of Jesus Christ, pretended to preach only
the virtues of the sun ! Thus, those high-minded
martyrs, who sacrificed their lives to their faith in
Jesus Christ, died for the love of the sun ! Thus,
those pastors, those teachers, those apologists, who
opposed idolatry, and taught the unity of God, the
creator of both sun and stars ; who rejected, as im
pious, all homage which was not paid to the only
true God ; all these laboured and exposed them
selves to death, for the purpose of establishing an
idolatrous worship of the sun ! And you, oh noble
Paul, when, in those epistles to the most flourishing
towns of the Roman empire, you preached Jesus

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 1 13
dying on the Cross for the salvation of the world,
you intended to preach the religion of the sun!
Oh shame, oh madness of human reason ! Let us
bewail these enormous delusions, or rather, let us
congratulate Christianity on its enemies being re
duced, in these our days, to the adoption of such
strange and puerile attacks as these.
I have, in the second place, appealed to the tes
timony of the Jewish nation. We know, that from
the first ages of Christianity, and then, more par
ticularly, warm quarrels have arisen between the
Jews and Christians ; and we do not find that the
former ever thought of disputing the existence of
Christ. They certainly may have treated Him as a
magician, may have calumniated and loaded Him
with injuries ; but, to this their attacks were con
fined, and these very attacks suppose his existence.
See again how their monuments accord in the
attestation of it. What better witness can we have
than a contemporary author, their celebrated Jose-
phus ? I will not avail myself of a passage of that
historian, which the disputes of modern critics has
rendered so famous, but there is one in his Jewish
Antiquities1, which cannot reasonably be disputed,
and which is sufficient to our design of establishing
the actual existence of Jesus. Josephus tells us,
that the high-priest, Ananus, assembled a council,
' Book XX. chap. ix.
VOL. II. I

114 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
before which he cited James, the brother 1 of Jesus,
who was called Christ, as also some others, and
that he condemned them to be stoned, as guilty of
a violation and transgression of the law. Will it be
said that James, cited before the tribunal of the
Jews, was a constellation in affinity with the sun ?
In the system which I am opposing, all is grossly
absurd. We are fully aware, that the Jews, in their
Talmud, which bears date from the second century,
have continued against Jesus Christ the accusations
of their fathers, but we also see that they have
never thought of disputing his existence. The tra
ditions respecting this easily-ascertained fact were
too constant and too uniform.
What shall I say of pagan nations? Listen to
those of their writers who lived nearest to the
origin of things; to Tacitus, who, in his Annals^
tells you that the name of Christian comes from
Christ, who, under the reign of Tiberius, Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judea, was condemned to
suffer death; to the younger Pliny, who, in his
letter to Trajan, tells him that the Christians were
in the habit of assembling together on an appointed
day, to sing hymns in honour of Christ : listen to
Lucian of Samothrace, who appeared in the reign
of Trajan ; in his account of the death of a philoso-
1 The Jews called cousin-germans and other near relatives brothers.
Many examples of this might, if necessary, be quoted ; but all inter
preters of Scripture agree on this point.

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS 115
pher, named Peregrin, he tells us, that he had
learned in Judea the doctrine of the Christians,
and, he adds, in mockery, " These people adore
that great man who was crucified in Palestine, be
cause he was the first who taught men this reli
gion." Lampridius, also, in his life of the Emperor
Alexander Severus, tells us, that this prince was
accustomed to pay homage to Christ every morning,
and that he even wished to build a temple to his
honour. Celsus, lastly, that subtle and learned
enemy of the Christians ; Porphyry, whom St. Au-
gustin considered as an able philosopher; Julian,
whose wit and malice are known to all the world ;
Hierocles, the pagan magistrate, who is known to
us through Eusebius ; — these have all employed,
against the Christian religion, the united efforts of
their talents, wit, and learning; but they never
thought of attacking the fact of the existence of
Jesus Christ. Here then all nations, all ages, and
all writers of authority, who lived nearest to the
time of the fact, unanimously agree as to the exis
tence of Jesus Christ in Judea, and as to his quality
of founder of Christianity. How illogical and how
impudent is it, to put in parallel with this irre
sistible array of historic proofs, some few popular
traditions respecting certain fabulous personages;
traditions which possess neither succession, connec
tion, the support of contemporary authors, nor the
conviction of enlightened men ! This would be to
compare darkness with light, to maintain that be-
i2

116 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
cause there are fabulous stories, there can be no
true history. Much may be advanced in contra
diction of all ancient facts, but this which we are
now establishing, must remain for ever incontro
vertible. But, why should we dwell longer in
demonstration of that which is clearer than the
sun ? These men would have banished from Christ
ian society, Jesus Christ, who is its founder, as
they would have banished from the universe the
great God, who has created it. Errors follow each
other like truths ; when a man has once fallen into
the darkness of atheism, the understanding is ob
scured, the taste for truth becomes extinct ; all
that is most visionary and most fanciful gradually
grows familiar to him ; he insensibly loses all sense
of shame, violates even the seemliness of falsehood,
and ends by promulgating the most foolish errors,
unreservedly, and, perhaps, almost imperceptibly to
himself; and, after having arrived at this degree of
cynism, is the only person who does not blush at
his monstrous singularity.
But, where is the history of Jesus Christ to he
found? in our Gospels. But, have these Gospels
actually been composed by his apostles and his dis
ciples, St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. Mark, and St.
John, whose names they bear? Or, to use the
language of criticism, are our Gospels authentic?
This is my second question.
I address myself to an unbeliever, and say ; Are
there in antiquity any works, the authenticity, of

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. ] 17
which may be established by proofs capable of con
vincing every man who has not given himself up to
the most extravagant pyrrhonism ? would you not
regard that man as mad, who should dare to dis
pute with Demosthenes, with Cicero, and with
Caesar, the works which bear their names? How
was the famous Father Hardonin received in the
literary world, when, in opposition to the belief of
all ages, he attempted to deprive Virgil of the glory
of having composed the iEneid ? you would blush
at being made the disciple of this scholar, who was
as erudite in paradoxes, as he was skilful in sup
porting them with plausible arguments. To dis
pute with the disciples of Jesus Christ, the com
position of those books which have been reverenced
under their names, would be actually to plunge
into the like errors. On this point, what can the
most rigid critic exact ? Would you have the authen
ticity of our Gospels to be supported by the uni
versal, the immemorial, and even the written tradi
tion of all Christian societies ? Would you have it
to be supported by the avowals and admissions of
those very people who must have been the natural
enemies of those books ? Lastly, would you have
their authority supported by the impossibility of
assigning any one epoch in which they might suc
cessfully have been forged? We, certainly, have
here enough to satisfy the severest critic; and
where is the work of profane antiquity, which can
present in its favour an union of such numerous

118 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
and such manifest traits of its authenticity ? These,.
however, are the titles which confirm that of our
four Gospels.
I have said that it was supported by the constant
and immemorial tradition of Christian societies.
Question the different Christian people scattered
over the surface of the earth, demand the titles of
their origin, of their belief, of their morality, and of
their worship ; you will find them divided as to
points of doctrine and of discipline, but all will
agree in presenting you with the four Gospels, as
the foundation of their religion. How striking is
this accordance ! We are not here speaking of those
unimportant books which are wholly unconnected
both with Christian doctrine, and with the rules of
morality, and which consequently interest Christ
ians but slightly ; we are not speaking of books laid
up in the libraries of the curious, whose leaves are
turned over by a comparatively small number of
readers, and which possess not a very great publi
city ; nor are we treating of books known only by
vain and vague rumours, and accredited solely by
the illiterate classes of the people. But when we
speak of our Gospels, we refer to books which are
a source of the religion of many nations ; which, by
their very importance, must have constantly excited
the attention of the Christian world, must have
ever 'been found in the hands of the enlightened
classes of society, must have been the perpetual
rule with pastors of churches, and which must con-

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. H9
sequently have ever been discussed and examined
with the greatest care and severity. How could it
have happened, that, with reference to these books,
the whole of the Christian world should have
allowed itself to be abused up to this very day ; and
that even from the earliest ages, ages approaching
nearest to the facts which they relate, such a num
ber of people, so opposite in manners, ages, and
climates, should have consented to regard, as pro
ceeding from the apostles, works which actually
did not proceed from them ?
Infidels are compelled to admit that already,
that is, in the second century, the Gospels which
we now possess, were known, quoted, and revered,
as the productions of the first disciples of Jesus ;
this is a fact, in support of which we- can adduce
incontestible witnesses. The first will be Justin;
he was the first philosopher in the school of Plato,
but embraced Christianity at the age of thirty.
Born at the commencement of the second century,
he had seen, not the apostles, but their immediate
disciples. Towards the year 150, he presented an
apology for the Christians to the Roman emperors,
Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Verus, to the
senate, and to the people. He tells us that the
Christian Churches were accustomed to read in
their congregations those writings of the Apostles
which are called the Gospels ; and in this, as in
another shorter apology, he quotes a host of pas
sages from them, which are still read by us. The
1

120 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
second witness is Irenseus, the learned Bishop of
Lyons, who had come over from the east into Gaul,
and who had been the disciple of Polycarp, — Poly-
carp himself having been the disciple of St. John.
His single testimony is of immense value ; in his
work against heresies 1, he says, in express words,
that there are neither more nor less than four
Gospels, and that these are the works of our four
evangelists, whom he quotes by their proper names.
This chain of testimony respecting the belief of
the second century, is continued by Tertullian,
Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. I now ask you,
who is to be believed respecting the antiquity and
the origin of our Gospel, — the empty critic of the
eighteenth century, who raises his frivolous doubts,
or those Christian churches, which, from the second
century, professed the most profound respect for our
Gospels, as proceeding from the Apostles them
selves ? I request you to recollect, that the east and
the west, Asia minor, Greece, Egypt, and Italy,
received their faith immediately from the first
founders of Christianity ; and who could have been
better acquainted with every thing which regarded
the Apostles, than the Churches which were
founded by them ? And if, from the second century,
so many different people have attributed our Gos
pels to the Apostles, whence could this accordance
proceed, if not from the unanimous testimony of
1 Adv. Hser. lib. iii. cap; i. et ii. n. 8.

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 121
their predecessors ? This is the second link of that
chain, which is attached by the first, to the very
cradle of Christianity. The heritage of the fathers
has been received by the children ; it is manifest
that the belief of the second century, which was so
firm, so universal, and at the same time, so incon
testable, supposes the belief of the first. But have
we nothing to produce from this first century ? But
a small number of its writings are now extant, and
for this we may very naturally account. At the
origin of Christianity, its propagation by preaching
was studied much more than the composition of
books ; the heads of the infant churches exercised
their divine mission in the midst of labours and
perils of every description. Books are the fruit of
time and of leisure ; let us not then be surprised
that the number produced in the first, should have
been less than those published in succeeding cen
turies. But those which do remain to us bear
sufficient testimony of the authenticity of our Gos
pels. We have two letters from St. Clement of
Rome, several from St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch,
one of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and disciple of
St. John ; the epistle which bears the name of St.
Barnabas, and which if it be not his, must at all
events, be attributed to some apostolic writer; the
book of the Pastor by Hermas ; lastly, several frag
ments of Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, which have
been preserved by Eusebius '. This last names St.
1 Hist. Eccles. Lib. III. cap. xxxix.

122 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
Mark and St. Matthew, as having written the
words and the actions of Jesus Christ. As to the
other writers of the first century, they have done as
ascetic writers and Christian orators do still, when
they quote the Holy Scriptures from memory, with
out indicating either the particular book, the chap
ter, or the sacred writer, in which their quotations
are to be found; they content themselves with
saying ; It is written, The Lord hath said, or, As is
said in the Gospel x. But we should observe, that our
apologists have extracted from these different au
thors of the Apostolic age, many passages which
we still read in our Gospels, or which make manifest
allusion to the Evangelic text.
What will be said for the purpose of weakening
this ancient belief of the primitive churches, this
series of testimony which, commencing in the first,
develops itself so clearly and so powerfully in the
second, and succeeding centuries ? Some one here
may call our attention to the pretended ignorance
and credulity of the primitive ages ; but, as I in
tend to make this unfounded accusation the subject
of a particular discourse, I shall confine myself, to
day, to some short but decisive reflections. Do
you know who those persons were, who, for the
most part, performed the offices of the pastors,
the pontiffs, and the teachers of the primitive
churches? They were enlightened Jews and pa-
1 Eccles. Hist, Book III. chap, xxxix.

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 123
gans, who had embraced Christianity, and who,
previous to having abjured the religion of their
fathers, had been obliged to struggle against the
prejudices of the mind, and passions of the heart ;
their testimony, also, is the more incontrovertible,
inasmuch as they were more interested than others
in a minute investigation of the authenticity of our
Gospels, and approached nearest to the epoch of
their origin. We possess the works of many of
those Christians of the three first centuries, works
which disclose the learning of their authors, as well
as the beauty of their genius. Will it now be said,
that Christians ought not to be listened to on the
subject of their own sacred books, and that they
are suspicious witnesses in their own cause ? But
how long, with reference to the laws, the manners,
the religion, and the history of any particular peo
ple, has it been deemed advisable to reject this
people's own testimony? Would men reason thus,
if they were not deluded by the open or secret
hatred of Christianity ? In the history of ancient
Greece, how many things are there, which are only
known to us by the statements of Greek authors,
and which, nevertheless, we never doubt! In
Roman history, how many events are there which
we take upon the credit of Latin historians only !
With reference to any memorable facts of our
own national history, would men listen to him who
should despise all our monuments, all our best
traced and best connected traditions, under the

124 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
vain pretext that the French should not be listened
to on any point which concerned their own his
tory? Men require in favour of the antiquity of our
Gospels, other testimony than that of a Christian
people ; they have no right to exact this ; but we
possess the means of satisfying this demand, capri
cious and unjust as it is. From the earliest times,
the books of the new law had for their enemies
the Jews, who transferred to His disciples the
hatred which they had borne to Jesus Christ him
self, and the pagan sophists, who armed themselves
against the Christians with all the resources to be
supplied by wit or by knowledge. Have they
ever accused the Christians of reverencing the
works of a vile impostor, as the production of the
Apostles ? No ; the like accusation has never
been brought against them. Has the Christian
religion ever had more able or more crafty enemies
than Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian? They were
well acquainted with our Gospels; they deduce
from them some of their arguments against Christ
ianity, and ridicule the doctrines which they teach ;
but they have never raised the slightest doubt as
to their origin; and yet how important would it
have been to their cause, could they have repre
sented them as fabricated by an impostor ! This
would have been a most effectual method of under
mining the very foundations of Christianity, of
covering its followers with disgrace and contempt,

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 125
and of exposing them as a set of men betrayed by
the most shameful credulity. We know that the
emperor Julian was brought up in Christianity;
he was well acquainted with its history and its
books ; and yet he has formerly admitted that our
Gospels were the works of the Apostles, whose
names they still bear ; and this we may collect from
the manner in which he attempted to disprove
the divinity of Jesus Christ. He has said that
neither St. Matthew, St. Mark, nor St. Luke have
mentioned it, and that St. John was the first who
dared to speak of it '. The argument of the
sophist emperor is doubtless bad; but his testi
mony is not the less precious in reference to the
question before us. We see here the four Evan
gelists expressly named by Julian the Apostate. It
is consolatory, it is glorious, thus to see the most
august and the most authentic titles of our reli
gion, become still more so, by the admissions of
its enemies ! And when the most famous and the
most learned unbelievers of the second, the third,
and the fourth centuries, who lived in times so
much nearer the origin of facts, and were sur
rounded by every thing which could enlighten
them, have recognized the authenticity of our
Gospels, it certainly does not say much for the
good sense or good taste of some infidels of the
eighteenth century, who have armed themselves
1 S. Cyrill. Alexahdr. Contra Julian. Lib. X. op. torn. vi. p . 327.

126 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
against them with all the trifling cavils of an
hyper-criticism, which they would blush to apply
to any other species of literary production.
Lastly, and this is my third proof of the authen
ticity of our Gospels ; there is no medium here, the
Gospels are either actually the productions of the
Apostles whose names they bear, or they have been
forged by an impostor, who has published them and
caused them to be received under the names of the
Apostles; but this last supposition is perfectly
chimerical. At what epoch would you date this
fraud? at the time of the Apostles, or after their
death ? I give you the choice : Would you place it
during the life of the Apostles ? — would they not
indignantly have opposed this forgery? would not
the plot have been discovered as soon as concerted?
and would not an universal cry of indignation have
consigned it to oblivion or to contempt? What!
would those Apostles, so intrepid in defending the
glory of their Master, who in the propagation of his
doctrine, braved dangers, sufferings, and even death
itself, would they have preserved a cowardly silence
respecting this gross imposition, which a simple
disavowal would annihilate for ever? All this is
absurd ; thus you are compelled to place the fabri
cation of our Gospels after the deaths of the Apos
tles. But we have already seen, that in the time
of St. Justin, towards the middle of the second cen
tury, all the Christian world was accustomed to read
our Gospels in their religious assemblies, a custom

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 127
which supposes them to have been known and
revered some time before. If they had resulted
from the imagination of an impostor, this must have
happened towards the commencement of the second
century. But the immediate disciples of the Apos
tle St. John, and those of the other Apostles, were
living, at this epoch ; the churches which they had
formed, the bishops who succeeded them, the
enlightened pagans of all classes whom they had
converted, were now become numerous. With
what energy would they have exclaimed against
the impostor who should attempt to promulgate
and to gain credit for books of his own composition,
under the names of the Apostles, their masters, and
the founders of their faith ! They would have said
to him, We have seen the Apostles, we are well
acquainted with their actions and their doctrine ;
our churches were founded by them; we have
never heard of any writings which they have left
behind them ; — by what privilege are you their sole
depositary ? where are your proofs ? where are your
titles ? — begone ! we have too great a respect for
these divine men, to whom we owe the light of the
faith, the happiness of knowing God and the truth,
that we should, on your bare word, adopt, as issuing
from their hands, certain books which hitherto
were unknown to us. Thus the imposture would
have been repelled ; and far from taking the faith
of Christians by surprise and fraud, the shame of
this enterprise would have fallen on its authors.

128 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
We do not mean to say, that in the early ages of
Christianity, false gospels did not appear ; and this.
subject will call forth elucidations, which will tend
to shed a new light of truth on the cause which we
are defending. In those primitive ages, some pious
believers, with a zeal, laudable no doubt, but still
liable to abuse, have themselves composed narra
tives of every thing which they had learnt respect
ing Jesus Christ and His Apostles, their doctrine,,
their discourse, their actions, and their whole lives.
These writings, without having the authority of
those of the Apostles, might yet be respectable,
and worthy of being quoted with eulogy ; of this
number, as Eusebius tells us, was the Gospel of ihe
Hebrews 1 ; it is also believed that Ignatius Martyr
has quoted a passage from this, in one of his epistles,
not as from a book written by an apostle, but as
from a pious or religious work. Do we not hear
our own Christian writers and orators quote pas
sages of even profane authors, after the example of
St. Paul, who cited to the pagans of his day, several
maxims of their own poets, Aratus, Epimenides,
and Euripides ? In addition to these books, the fruit
perhaps of too warm a zeal, others were published
by evil-disposed innovators, with the design of
attaching credit to their errors. But do we see that
these rash men have succeeded in persuading the
churches scattered through the different countries
' Hist. Eccles. Lib. Ill, cap. xxv. &c.

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 129
of the world, to receive, as proceeding from the
Apostles, writings which were not theirs ? No ;
there has always been imposture, as there has
always been vice ; and there have also been rules
of criticism, as there have been rules of virtue.
Among the primitive Churches, there is not one
which has rejected either of our Gospels ; while
false gospels have obtained only some few sectaries,
and their partizans. No attempt to pass these
false gospels, the fruit of error, of ignorance, or of
an unenlightened piety, as sacred, has ever suc
ceeded; the Churches founded by the Apostles,
their pastors, and their teachers, have rejected these
books with indignation and contempt. The zeal
which induced them so to discard them, is a sure
warrant, that those which they have transmitted to
us as authentic, are really so ; we may confidently
rely on their careful discrimination and discern
ment ; their criticism, holy, enlightened, and severe,
was, as it were, the sieve which holds the good grain,
but lets fall the chaff.
But to resume ; if I seek an epoch in which
an impostor may have successfully fabricated our
Gospels, and find none ; — if I question the natural
enemies of these books, and find them favourable
to their antiquity ; — if I consult the universal tra
ditions of the Apostolic Churches, and the writers
who have appeared since their foundation, and
meet with the same admission, I must conclude
that the authenticity of our Gospels is carried to
VOL. II. K

130 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
the highest degree of historic certainty. Take any
production of the Augustan age, and you will find
that its authenticity, although undoubted and un
questioned, is not better supported than that of
our Gospels. But are they now the same as when
they first issued from the hands of the Apostles ?
What must we think of their integrity ? This is
our third and last question.
That during the course of eighteen centuries, some
slight errors may have crept into our Gospels, from
the inattention or ignorance of copyists, I readily
admit; yet that one or several verses may have
been interpolated, I am far from acknowledging.
But with infidels, I am not obliged to enter upon
this discussion, as it cannot possibly occasion
any material change in the argument ; all that I
now maintain is, that our Gospels, as to the sub
stance of their doctrine, their morality, and their
facts, have never been altered; so that funda
mentally, they are now the same as when they
first issued from the hands of the Apostles. Of
this, some few reflections as to the origin and the
nature of these holy books will convince us. The
Apostles and the disciples of Jesus Christ spread
themselves through the different countries of the
known world ; the east and the west received their
doctrine; every where Christian Churches were
formed, and governed by the pastors who had
established them. Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria,
Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, have seen within
1

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 131
their walls, those wonderful men who called the
whole universe to the knowledge of the only true
God. They have eventually consigned the doc
trine which they preached to certain writings, and
these writings are published in all the Churches.
These are the books in which pastors study the life
and the doctrine of Jesus Christ ; the books which
they expound to His followers, and which they
place in the hands of the faithful. These books
are reverenced as divine; religion accounts their
mutilation a crime ; the first duty of the Christian
Church is to preserve them unblemished, and to
transmit them, in all their purity, to posterity.
The earlier Christian pastors were so penetrated
with respect for them, that they believed them
selves obliged to suffer persecution, even unto
death, rather than abandon them to the profana
tion of the Gentiles. Suppose, whilst the Christian
world reverences these holy books, an impostor
should attempt to corrupt them, and to introduce
a new point of doctrine, or a precept before un
known ; I ask you, if the alteration had been
attempted, could it have succeeded ? Would any
one have undertaken to mutilate the text of a
book published among the different nations of the
whole earth, and yet hope, that the falsification
would pass unnoticed ? Could it be observed by
pastors, or by those faithful Christians who were
so. inviolably attached to every thing which they
k 2

132 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
had received from preceding ages, without exciting
the most indignant opposition ?
How could the projection and the success of so
notorious a falsification be conceived ? Nobody
can possibly say, that an impostor could possess
himself of all the copies of our Gospels, dissemi
nated through the whole earth, for the purpose of
corrupting them at his pleasure, and returning
them thus falsified into the hands of their former
possessors ; all this is evidently impossible. Will
any one say that the falsification might have been
commenced in some few copies, and been after
wards insensibly transferred into all? This is a
new chimera, which requires that all the bishops,
all the pastors, all educated men, all believers, all
the churches, both Greek and Latin, should have
been silent as to the enterprise of this impostor;
and that, in spite of the opposition of prejudices, of
education, of genius, and of character, they should
have unanimously agreed to reverence and to con
secrate one and the same imposition ! All this is
not in nature. I might as well say, that fourteen
centuries ago, a forger might have so materially
altered all the copies of the iEneid dispersed
throughout the world, as to render it a poem
wholly different from that composed by Virgil.
Observe, too, that we are not speaking of one
single book, but of four different books, composed
by different authors, and published at different

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 133
times, which, nevertheless, agree in substance ; so
that it was necessary to falsify not one Gospel
only, but the whole four at one and the same time,
which increases, if that is practicable, the impos
sibility of any substantial alteration. We know
that some innovators, for the purpose of rendering
the Gospels favourable to their own vain systems,
have ventured to alter them; but we know also,
how, by so doing, they have excited the indignation
of the churches. The Christian fathers accounted
this a crime, as is seen by Origen1, who reproaches
Valentin and Marcion with it ; by Tertullian2, who
accuses the latter of distorting and adapting the
Gospels to his own foolish opinions, " Evangelium
interpolando suum fecit." We should certainly
betray our ignorance of the spirit which animated
the primitive churches, were we to believe that
they were indifferent to their sacred books ; they
were, on the contrary, still so deeply penetrated
with a respect for the apostles, their founders, and
for the writings published by them, that their zeal
would have been alarmed at the slightest innova
tion. History attests the extent to which they car
ried this scrupulous superintendence of the purity
: of the text of our Scriptures. Thus, in the fourth
century, when a bishop, by name Tryphillius, who
possessed a reputation for eloquence, had, in a ser-
' Contra Celsum. Lib. II. p. 27.
2 Contra Marcion. Lib. IV. cap. i.

134 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
mon, changed a word of one of the Gospels, which
did not appear to him to be sufficiently noble or
expressive, what was the consequence ? Why, that
a bishop of the Isle of Cyprus, by name Spiridiom
venerable by his virtues, arose in the midst of the
assembly, and indignantly exclaimed against even
this trivial alteration1. We know that St. Jerome,
who edited a new Latin translation of the Scrip
tures, at first excited complaints and clamours,
because it was feared that it would only be trouble
some to the believers so long accustomed to the
version then in use. St. Augustin2 also tells us,
that a bishop having caused this version to be read
in his church, there arose a great tumult among
the people, on account of some few words which
were found to differ from those already in use.
Translated into all languages, dispersed through
all nations, placed in the hands of believers of all
classes, the number of the copies of our Gospels
must have been wonderfully multiplied ; hence
arises the multitude of various readings in the
evangelic texts. After thirty years of patient
labour, an English doctor has collected thirty thou
sand of these variations; and yet how remarkable
is it, that among all these, no difference, really
essential, is to be found ; they occur in the con
struction of phrases, not in facts, and refer to words,

1 Sozom. Eccles. Hist. Book I. chap, xi.
2 Epist. LXXI. ad Hieron. p. 5.

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 135
but not to things. We know also, that the writers
of certain manuscripts have taken the liberty of
approximating and of uniting the texts of the four
Gospels, that they have transferred to one that
which belonged to another ; but take up the most
incorrect copy you can find, you will read of a doc
trine, of morality, and of events, essentially and
fundamentally the same as those to be found in a
copy of the purest text. Scholars say, that they
have reckoned more than twenty thousand different
readings in the works of Terence ; this is no reason
why the work, which now remains to us, should
not be essentially conformable to that which issued
immediately from the pen of that author : the great
number of copies arid of manuscripts which must
have been consulted, would itself furnish the means
of re-establishing the original reading in all its pri
mitive purity ; so that this, of all the works of anti
quity, is found to possess the purest and most correct
text. So it is with our Gospels.
Lastly; should infidels still persist in representing
our Gospels as forged, we can overwhelm them with
one fact. We may say to them, — We still possess
a great number of the works of the fathers of the
church in the early ages, and I cannot imagine that
any infidel would be foolish enough to assert, that
all these writings might have been forged. It might
as well be said, that all now remaining to us of the
Augustan age, the works of its orators, poets, his
torians, and philosophers, might have been com-

136 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS:
posed or corrupted by an impostor : this idea is not
only paradoxical but extravagant. If you run over
the writers of the early ages of Christianity, you
will find, that in their commentaries, in their trea
tises on points of doctrine, in their homilies, in
their various religious books, they have, as it were,
transcribed the whole of the New Testament ; you
will find that they always preserved the sense, and
generally the very words of our holy writers, so
that, should it by any possibility occur, that this
sacred volume should at once disappear, it would
be easy to reconstruct it, by collecting the quota
tions dispersed through the writings of the early
ecclesiastical authors. The copy of our Gospels,
then, which was read in the earliest ages of the
church, is conformable to that which we read now ;
so that, in their descent to us, they have not suf
fered any substantial or material alteration.
Thus when I read the Gospels, I may say,— I
hold in my hands, books composed nearly eighteen
centuries ago, by the apostles and disciples of Jesus
Christ ; these books are now the same as when they
first issued from their hands ; I know their doctrine
as surely and as correctly, as if I heard it from their
own mouthy, and I know all this with far greater
certainty than I know that Caesar was the author
of those Commentaries which are attributed to him.
Let us not be told, that there are some learned
men who dispute the origin of our Gospels. What
are some few modern scholiasts, who, with all their

AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS. 137
reading, may still possess but weak judgments?
What are they in comparison with that host of men,
whose genius is so superior, whose learning is at
least equal to theirs, and whose judgment and eru
dition has been consecrated by the veneration of
antiquity ? There are philosophers also, or men who
have the reputation of being such, who have pro
fessed atheism, and who would teach the human
race to account for every thing without the inter
vention of God ; but because such men have existed,
are we obliged to become atheists ? Erudition with
out judgment, is but an overpowering burden. The
treasures of memory are to a weak mind, like rich
materials in the hands of an unskilful architect.
Who ever read more than the famous father Har-
donin, and yet, who ever advanced more revolting
paradoxes ? It must be admitted that this celebrated
scholar has combatted the antiquity of the iEneid,
by criticisms not less embarrassing, and not less
subtle than those which have been opposed to the
antiquity of our Gospels ; he has not, however,
gained one partizan in the literary world, whilst our
apostles of infidelity, have made numerous disci
ples ; how is this ? Why, because human passions
have a manifest interest in weakening and even in
destroying the authority of our Holy Scriptures.
How unimportant is it to us after all, whether the
glory of having sung the deeds of iEneas, is to be
attributed to a monk of the thirteenth century, as
Hardonin maintains, or to Virgil. The passions

138 AUTHORITY OF THE GOSPELS.
are corrupt judges : when they decide, truth always
suffers ; but their triumph is as ignominious as it is
transient. Unhappy will be our lot should our
resistance tend to the subversion of this truth. Our
salvation must result from its victories ; let us hope,
for our own repose, and for that of generations yet
to come, that it will prevail against falsehood, and
that we shall see it arise more beauteous and more
brilliant, from the very shocks of contradiction, like
the torch, which ever emits the most vivid light,
when most violently agitated.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.

Should Christians be required to produce the
titles of their faith in Jesus Christ, in his Gospel,
in his doctrine, and in his promises, they may con
fidently adduce the most indubitable and the most
convincing, such as cannot fail of stamping on all
reasonable minds, the most vivid and profound im
pressions of their genuine truth. It is not our de
sign to submit these titles to you in all their bear
ings and extent, but if one thing can, more than
another, attach us to the religion of Jesus Christ, it
assuredly is the all-divine splendour of those won
ders which accompanied his steps, and which mani
fest, I do not say the sage and the philosopher only,
but the envoy of God Himself, who was sent to
enlighten the universe, and to reform the belief, the
morals, and the worship of the human race. The

140 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
miracles recorded in our Gospels are eternal monu
ments of the Divine mission of Jesus, and should
the Christian possess no other, they alone would
afford a sufficient justification of his faith. By the
vehement repetition of the word superstition, or
credulity, — by the importance attached to those
false miricles of various people, by which an un
worthy parallel has been drawn between Jesus
Christ and these notorious impostors, the Christian
may certainly be afflicted and embarrassed, but if he
is well versed in the proofs of his religion, his faith
will stand unshaken. To him, the pleasantries and
sarcasms of infidels, however ingenious, or however
cutting, are not reasons. He knows, that, between
the weakness of the unbelieving, and the pride of
the stubborn mind, there is a just and happy me
dium ; that there are rules of a rigid, but not cavill
ing criticism, by which trust-worthy histories may
be distinguished from fabulous narratives ; that false
prodigies can by no means pervert real miracles,
any more than counterfeit can destroy good coin,
or sophism, reason. And when he recalls to his
memory the long list of those most celebrated for
talent and genius, for eighteen centuries, — those
personages most eminent for knowledge and virtue,
most deeply versed in the languages and annals of
antiquity, who have sincerely believed in the reality
of the evangelic miracles, he feels that he too may
believe in them ' without being chargeable with
weakness, arid that he may easily console himself

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 141
for being vaguely and commodiously reproached
with credulity.
I have already in a former discourse upon miracles
in general, established their possibility and authority.
I have already explained the method of distin
guishing them from natural facts, and of demon
strating the certainty of their occurrence, and if
I have succeeded in dissipating the prejudices
which in our day have been diffused around this
subject, we shall enter with much more facility
upon our present discussion. In the progress of
this discourse, I shall omit nothing that relates to
these evangelic miracles ; we shall neither conceal
nor elude the attacks of infidelity. With reference
to this question, unbelievers may be divided into
two classes ; the one composed of those, who have
endeavoured to avert or enfeeble the force and the
authority of these miracles; the other of those, who
have denied their very existence. This latter class
maintains, that these miracles are not supported by
testimony to which no suspicion can be attached,
or by evidence calculated to command the assent
of enlightened men; the former declaring, that
they are to be regarded as nothing more than sur
prising and extraordinary effects of nature, and of
human industry ; that it is impossible to determine
whether they are the work of the Divinity, or of
some intermediate agent, who is the enemy of truth
and virtue ; and, that should Jesus really have
wrought them, he appears to have done so with a

142 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
view to assist and solace the unhappy, rather than
with an intent of establishing his mission and his
doctrine. We have here the substance of all the
attacks made by ancient and modern unbelievers
upon the miracles of Jesus Christ. In answer to
them, I shall establish the two following proposi
tions : — the first, that the existence of the evan
gelic miracles cannot reasonably be disputed ; the
second, that their authority cannot be eluded.
It is not my intention to enumerate the various
and striking wonders related in our Gospels; I
shall only remind you of those, which it is most
important to dwell upon in the present discussion.
Abandoning his obscure and humble life, Jesus
commences his more public career by announcing
his doctrine in Galilee, and there by his word alone
restores to health the lame and sick. His reputa
tion spreads itself into Syria ; men labouring under
every description of disease are presented to Him ;
He heals them at once, without effort, and without
preparation. In his passage through the towns and
villages of Judea, we see the same miracles wrought
with the same facility. Jews, Samaritans, Canaan
ites even, all participate in the favours of His all-
powerful goodness. We see Him by a single word
appeasing storms, raising the dead, giving sight to
the blind, curing the paralytic, multiplying some
few loaves of bread to so wonderful an extent, as
to be enabled to feed and to satisfy the hunger of a
prodigious multitude, and putting to flight all the

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 143
maladies which afflict humanity. This is but a
feeble sketch of the wonders that accompanied his
steps ; He wrought them with a promptitude and a
success, which proved that the hand of the Master
of Nature was there. I maintain, then, that there
is nothing in the history of antiquity more certain,
than these miracles of our Gospels. For to be
fully assured of facts which we have not seen with
our own eyes, which have occurred in countries
remote from our own, or far back in preceding ages,
what can we require ? Would you have these facts
to be of the greatest publicity and interest, and
most remarkable by their consequences and their
their results ? Would you have them to be narrated
by contemporary historians, who were convinced of
their certainty, and to whom no suspicion of im
posture has ever been justly attached? Nothing
more than this can be exacted ; for where is the
event of profane antiquity which presents us with
any more striking characteristic of its truth ? Let
us see if these various characteristics may be applied
to the evangelic occurrences.
In the first place, they were facts altogether
public, and sensibly discernible; facts, which oc
curred not in the darkness of the night, but in the
broad glare of open day, before witnesses of every
age and every condition. Their publicity then
becomes a surety against fraud and surprise. In
dark and secret places, the imagination and the
senses are liable to the illusions of error, and may

144 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
sometimes take appearances for realities. But was
there ever any thing more striking, more visible, or
more exposed to the eyes of all men, than the evan
gelic miracles ; that, for instance, of the resuscita
tion of Lazarus ; of giving sight to the blind man ;
of healing the paralytic ; of the multiplication of
the loaves ; of that crowd of sick people restored to
health, at once, in all places, in the streets and
public places, and throughout the villages of Judea?
The profound physician was not the only person,
who could see these facts ; any man who had eyes
might have beheld and witnessed them. Wonders
like these, are, by their very nature, as visible as
human events can be, as discernible by the senses,
as the fact of our having met this day within these
walls ; and certainly it does not require the skill of
a Newton in the laws of optics, to know, that you
see me, and that I see you.
In the next place, they are to be considered, not
as obscure, doubtful, and uninteresting facts, which
are admitted or rejected with equal indifference;
but as events of the highest importance, which have
excited public curiosity, which have attracted the
attention of enlightened men, and even that of
public authorities, which have been most diligently
and carefully examined, and most elaborately dis
cussed, and whose occurrence is, at last, after the
most laborious investigation, admitted to be indis
putable. For what can be more important than
the miracles of Jesus Christ ? The Jews are waiting

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 145
for a Messiah, a liberator, who was promised to
their fathers; a report of the time being near at
hand when some extraordinary person was to appear
out of Judea, was spread abroad even among the
pagans ; express mention is made of it by Tacitus '
and by Suetonius2. In the midst of this universal
expectation, Jesus appeared ; He represents himself
to be the person announced in the ancient oracles,
He says, that He has been sent from Heaven to
fulfil them, to establish a new worship, and to
abolish sacrifices; and, as a proof of the Divine
Mission, which, He says, has been conferred upon
Him, He performs miracles. Could any thing be
more interesting to the religion of the Jews, to the
worship and the usages of a people so firmly and
even obstinately attached to the laws and customs
of its fathers? Could any thing have excited a
more lively attention, not only among the priests
and the doctors of the law, but among the whole
nation ?
They are to be considered again not as facts de
tached from the chain of history, but as facts which
are so intimately connected with subsequent events,
and with certain material changes in the religious
and political order of things, that they must, from
the very nature of the case, have excited the
highest degree of interest, called forth the most
serious and most universal reflections, and at the
1 Tacit. Hist. lib. V. cap. xiii. 2 Sueton. in Vespas. cap. iv.
VOL. II. L

146 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
same time furnished most abundant means for the
demonstration of their truth. For, are not the
miracles of Jesus Christ rendered remarkable by
their connection with those events which were
their result, and does not this alone supply an in-
contestible proof of their reality? Christianity was
not founded by eloquence, by arms, or by volup
tuousness, but by a belief in those evangelic mira
cles which were announced to the whole world.
Thus it is, that they are bound up with the most
surprising, the most universal, and the most durable
revolution to which the human race has been ever
subjected. For what is the empire of Darius, of
Alexander, or of the Romans, compared with the
reign of Jesus Christ, which, by its extent and its
duration, embraces all the ages of eternity as well
as all the nations of the earth ? Antiquity presents
us with a multitude of events, which can lay no
claim to this combination of characteristics, yet our
belief in them is justified by the testimony of his
tory ; but, when facts so visible, so important, and
so public as the miracles of our Gospels, are related
to us, it appears to me, that we should readily
believe, that they who are the witnesses of these
facts, could not have been the puppets of illusion
or imposture, since they might with the utmost faci
lity have informed themselves of their truth ; and
thus, as to the nature of the facts, the most severe
and scrupulous criticism is fully satisfied.
We admit, you will say, that the miracles attri-

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 147
buted to Jesus Christ, in the Gospels, possess all
these traits of interest and publicity : but who will
warrant their reality ? How can we be assured that
they have not been invented by impostors, after
wards promulgated by them, and adopted by credu
lous and superstitious nations ? Here we may defy
infidels to produce any one fact of antiquity, the
actual occurrence of which is supported by more
incontrovertible testimony than that which esta
blishes the facts narrated in the Gospels ; so that
they are reduced either to the absurdity of believing
nothing which has formerly existed, or compelled
to be so far consistent, as to acknowledge the reality
of the miracles of Jesus Christ.
When several historians agree as to the main
incidents of their narrative, when they have been
contemporary with the events which they relate,
when their account bears that impress of virtue and
of probity, which imposture cannot counterfeit ; and,
when, lastly, their testimony has been handed down
to posterity, uncontradicted by those who must have
investigated it with the utmost severity, and with
the secret desire of convicting it of falsehood ; we
have then arrived at the highest degree of historic
certainty. We should recollect that the authority
of history is not derived solely from the personal
qualities of him who has written it, but from the
consent of all his contemporaries; in reading an
historian, I believe myself to be listening to his
nation, to his age ; and who does not perceive that,
l2

148 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
should he impudently attempt to deceive his con
temporaries as to any very striking, important, and
notorious facts, a cry of indignation would be raised
against him, which would vibrate through posterity,
and denounce him to all succeeding ages, as the
most notable of impostors ? This is not a place to
develop the rules of criticism ; they who are best
versed in these matters know well, that it is impos
sible to invent any, more rigid or more severe than
these ; and every one must feel that there is a host
of facts which we believe solely on the testimony of
others. Let us proceed to the application.
In attestation of the evangelic miracles, would
you wish for historians who have written, not long
after the events, not in reliance upon vague ru
mours and obscure and doubtful traditions, but
who, in reference to the very origin of these facts,
have possessed all the means of ascertaining them ?
If this is required, we can cite eight different
authors, five of whom were eye-witnesses, and
three contemporaries. These are the authors from
whose writings the New Testament is composed.
St. Matthew, St. John, St. Peter, St. James, and
St. Jude had been of the number of the twelve
apostles attached to the person of Jesus Christ,
assiduous witnesses of his virtues and his miracles ;
St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. Paul lived at the very
period in which these miracles were wrought. An
attempt has certainly been made to deny the au
thenticity of their respective writings ; but, in my

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 149
last discourse, I have established and vindicated that
of the four Gospels. The authenticity of the Book
of the Acts, and of the Epistles of St. Paul may
also be proved with equal facility.
Look at the confidence, at the tone of assurance
and conviction adopted by the evangelists. They
mention by name, towns, villages, families, persons
who have been the witnesses, and even the objects
of these miracles; they do not wish to give the
Jews proofs of that which they advance, they ap
peal boldly to the public belief, to the knowledge
of the whole nation. The apostles do not narrate
old facts which took place among former genera
tions, but they declare themselves to be the his
torians of events, which occurred under the eyes
of those very Jews who were listening to them;
and how great would have been their impudence,
or rather their folly, had they appealed to the
Jewish nation in testimony of that which it had
never seen ! Jesus Christ was no unknown person,
who had lived in remote ages, and, concerning
whom, it would have been easy to invent or to say
any thing ; but He had passed through the towns
and villages of Judea ; He had taught in their
temple, had conversed with their chief priests and
doctors of the Law, the people had followed Him
in crowds to the mountain and the desert ; all the
most exalted in the nation might have seen and
heard Him, as well as the multitude. Yet, this
Jesus Christ, who was known to them all, had never

150 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
either raised Lazarus from the dead, restored sight
to the blind, multiplied the loaves, or healed the
host of the sick and the lame who were ever throw
ing themselves in His path ; although the apostles
appeal to the testimony of persons yet living, in
verification of all these prodigies ; and, although
St. Peter, raising his voice in the midst of an as
sembly of Jews, dares to exclaim, " Ye men of
Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you, by miracles, and won
ders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know1 ". If this was
an imposture, how gross, how ill-contrived, and how
easy of discovery would it have been ! Could St.
Peter have hoped to have been able to persuade the
Jews, that they knew that which they did not know,
that they had seen that which they had not seen ?
Yes, public ridicule and contempt would have de
servedly followed the sacred writers, had their nar
rative been nothing more than an impertinent fable ;
and they would have been contradicted by the very
persons whom, in their folly, they had dared to call
as witnesses. Thus it is, that their quality of con
temporary authors gives an invincible force to their
testimony. Would you wish for historians who give the most
striking proofs of sincerity and good faith, in their
writings ? Read our Evangelists ; observe the sim-
y Acts, chap. v. verse 22.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 151
plicity, the frank artlessness of their narrative ;
with them, you find no studied reflections, no pa
rade of words, all breathes an air of innocence and
candour, there is no concealment of their own
faults, of the indiscreet zeal of some, the ambitious
pretensions of others, the ignorance and rudeness
of all, the cowardice which disperses them, or of
the denial of St. Peter ; nothing humiliating to
themselves is withheld, or glossed over. Their ac
cordance in the main events of their narrative,
proves that they must have derived its truth from
one common source, and the very diversities obser
vable in their separate accounts, prove that there
could have been no preconcerted fraud. What his
torian does not endeavour to exalt his heroes, does
not feel indignant at the injustice which they expe
rience, and is not angry with their enemies? In
our Evangelists there is no excitement, no bitter
ness, no feelings of revenge, no malice, nothing
savouring of hatred, no trait even of emphatic
energy. They relate the sorrows and the sufferings
of their Master with the same simplicity as they
recount His miracles ; at the very time when they
depict Him as invested with a power all-divine,
they represent Him as susceptible of all the frail
ties of humanity ; the history of the dreadful scene
of His crucifixion is given in these words, — " There
they crucified Him." There are in their tone and
language, certain indescribable traits of simplicity
and truth, which falsehood can never counterfeit.

152 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
In reading them, the heart cannot conceive a sus
picion of fraud or even of exaggeration; it feels
convinced ; it is the powerful and unavoidable at
traction of virtue and candour. In vain is it said,
that the Evangelists have affected this frankness
and simplicity the more effectually to seduce us.
Affectation betrays itself in a thousand different
ways, and what would the characteristic traits of
truth avail, if imposture could so faithfully and so
successfully copy them ? I am aware that the
evangelic history does not address itself to the
hearts of sophists, hardened and withered by mate
rialism, nor to the depraved taste of perverted
genius ; but, it speaks to the heart of J. J. Rous
seau, when it extorts from him this genuine and
often-cited homage. " I admit, that the majesty of
the Scriptures astonishes me ; the sanctity of the
Gospel speaks to my heart. Look over the books
of philosophers with all their pomp, they are trifling
when compared to this !  Shall we say that
the history of the Gospel is a fiction ? It is not
thus that men invent; and the facts relating to
Socrates, which no one doubts, are far more feebly
attested than those referring to Jesus Christ. This
is to shift the difficulty but not to destroy it ; it is
more inconceivable that several men should, of one
accord, have fabricated this book, than that one
man should have furnished its subject  The
Gospel possesses such great, such striking, such
perfectly inimitable characteristics of truth, that

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 153
its fabricator would be more wonderful than its
hero1." But, a proof still more admirable remains, a
proof which is unique in the annals of the human
race, and which places the sincerity of the apostles
in an incomparable light. Our sacred writers do
not confine themselves to the mere publication of
the facts which had come under their own imme
diate cognizance ; they brave all dangers, expose
themselves to all kinds of outrages and torments,
they suffer death itself, in attestation of the truth
of those facts which they relate ; and where is the
historian of pagan antiquity who would have done
this? We here feel all the force of a testimony
sealed with the very blood of those who give it ;
and do not let us fancy that we can avoid or weaken
it by any irreconcileable or fallacious parallel. That
men of elevated minds, who have been educated in
opinions which are false, may still believe them to
be most true ; that under this persuasion, they may
readily sacrifice every thing, even life itself, in their
defence, I admit ; the falsehood, which they believe
to be truth, possesses over their hearts, all the
rights and all the empire of truth itself. But, that
a certain number of men should invent facts en
tirely false, — that they should then, at the peril of
their lives, publish them as true, — that they should
suffer themselves to be put to death for attesting
' Emile, liv. iv.

154 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
that they have seen that which they have not seen,
and heard that which they have not heard, is a
kind of frenzy hitherto unknown. The apostles, as
Bossuet1 has observed, are not men of strong pre
possessions, who die in support of the sentiments
which they had imbibed with their mother's milk ;
nor are they theorists, who make their opinions
their idols, and defend them at the hazard of their
lives. The apostles do not say to us, We have
thought, we have meditated, we have come to a
conclusion ; their thoughts may be false, their medi
tations ill-founded, their conclusions illegitimately
deduced and faulty ; but they tell us, " that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which
we. have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled 2." This it is that
gives such force to the celebrated saying of Pascal,
that unbelievers have pretended not to comprehend.
Pascal has not precisely said : I readily believe those
who die in support of their opinions; but he has
said, " I readily believe a history, when its witnesses
suffer death in attestation of its truth." Let us
acknowledge then, that the writers of the New
Testament were animated by the love of truth;
and that, by their simplicity, their accordance, and
the courage which they display by dying in sup
port of the miraculous facts of which they declare

1 Panegyr. de St. Andre, premier point.
2 St. John, 1st Epistle, chap. i. verse 1.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 155
themselves to have been eye-witnesses, they afford
us proofs of veracity and sincerity, for which it
would be vain to seek in the historians of pagan
antiquity. Whence is derived the right of telling us that
the miracles of Jesus are related by His own dis
ciples only ? Of what importance is this to us, if
their testimony is incontrovertible, if they them
selves possess all those characteristics of viridical
authors, which can possibly be required, if it is
most clear that they have not been either deceived
or deceivers, and if they have done no more than
relate with fidelity that which they knew with
certainty ? Observe too, that our sacred historians
were not born Christians, and that they do not
speak from the prejudices of education ; they have
embraced Christianity, only because they have been
induced so to do by the miracles of Jesus Christ ;
their conversion was the result of these miracles ;
so that their quality of Christians, augments rather
than diminishes the weight of their testimony.
How unjust is it to exact any other ! But it has
been the will of providence that the depositions of
our sacred writers should be confirmed by the
works of even their most violent enemies. We
read of the quarrels which, at the very origin of
our faith, arose between the Jews and the pagans
on one side, and the Christians on the other. The
first have omitted nothing which could render the
second odious and ridiculous, or cast discredit on
1

156 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
their doctrine, and on their books ; but the dis
putes between the enemies and the defenders of
Christianity, never turned upon the reality of the
evangelical miracles \ During the life of Jesus
Christ, they were not disputed ; the Jews certainly
were so far unbelievers, as to attribute them to a
daemon. It is also known that Celsus, Porphyry,
and Julian, far from denying the miracles of Jesus,
content themselves with regarding them as magical
operations. Whether these admissions alone form
a complete and decisive proof, I shall not at present
inquire ; but, that the reality of our miracles should
be thus confessed by those very persons who dis
played such hatred and contempt for Jesus Christ,
and for His disciples, is a very remarkable circum
stance. Although he does not stand in need of
these adventitious supports, the Christian delights
in seeing the truth vindicated from the attacks of
modern unbelievers by the admission of unbelievers
of former days. How can they avail themselves of
the silence of some few Jewish or pagan authors ?
It is contrary to all the rules of good sense, and
of criticism, to oppose to the most positive, and the
most incontrovertible testimony, which history can
offer us, a silence for which it is so easy to account,
by indifference, hatred, prejudice, policy, or by other
like passions and considerations, which possess but
too powerful a sway over the heart of man. Christ-
1 Duvoisin, Demonstrat. Evangel. Article V. Miracles ii. 2.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 157
ianity presented itself, to the pagans in particular,
in what they must have considered as the most sin
gular externals; externals which were liable to render
it odious and contemptible; for it had originated
among the Jews, a nation then obscure and despised,
and was, in fact, often confounded with the Jewish
religion itself. We see that authors, on other
points the most exact and best informed, such as
Suetonius and Tacitus, were but slightly acquainted
with the foundation and the doctrine of Christianity,
and that they have spoken of it as men would do
who are prejudiced against the little which they may
happen to know of their subject. Plutarch, whose
knowledge was so extensive, has not said one single
word of the Christian religion, although it is very
certain that, in his time, it had spread into every
part of the empire. The attempt, then, to oppose
to the incontrovertible authority of our sacred
historians, the silence of some few authors of anti
quity, is vain and inconsiderate. Such is the force
of the evangelical testimony respecting miracles,
that in order to get rid of it altogether, a modern
atheist has desperately resolved to deny the very
existence of Christ ; these are his words, " To
admit the testimony of these books (the Gospels)
as a proof of the existence of Christ, is to engage
one's self to believe every thing ; for if their writers
speak the truth when they tell us, that Christ
lived among them, what reason can we adduce for
not believing that he has lived, as they relate, and

158 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
that His life has been signalized by the miraculous
events which they recount ? Good Christians believe
this, and if they are imbecile they are at least con
sistent1." I shall not dwell upon the grossly indecent
expression of a writer, who allows himself to tax
with imbecility, such a host of those most celebrated
for talent and for knowledge, who have sincerely
believed the account of the miracles of Jesus, as
given us by the Evangelists. If in this controversy
it is absolutely necessary to adduce some of these
imbeciles, I certainly cannot refer you either to
Bacon, Pascal, Descartes, Newton, Locke, Fenelon,
Bossuet, Leibnitz, or so many other minds of a
superior order, whom we still reverence as the
princes of human knowledge, and at the same time
as men who have recognised Christianity, as the
work of God himself. But, let us forget this
epithet, which is degrading only to him who has
applied it. He is then, reduced to this deplorable
necessity ; that he might not be compelled to admit
the miracles of Jesus Christ, he sees that he is
forced to deny His very existence; and this cer
tainly is one of the most signal follies of the
human mind. Should any new proof of religion
be required, it might be found in the monstrous
opinions of its enemies.
We have now established that nothing is more
certain than the evangelic miracles. We add that
1 Dupuis.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 159
there is nothing more decisive in favour of the
mission, and of the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
When once we are convinced of the reality of
the miracles of Jesus Christ, how can we refuse to
admit the truth of His mission, and of His doctrine ?
What more striking, more convincing, or more
divine proof could He give of it, than the power
of commanding all nature and making it obey?
What, however, has been spun out of the imagina
tion of man for the purpose of weakening the im
pression of these marvels ? The assertion that it
is not positively certain that these miracles may not
be explained as resulting from purely natural causes,
or that they may not have been wrought by some
agent superior to man, but an enemy to truth ;
or the doubt whether Jesus has performed them
in proof of His mission, or merely from a sentiment
of compassion for the miserable ; but nothing can
be more vain than these subterfuges.
In the first place, if you read the evangelical
history, you will find nothing either in the circum
stances of the miracles, or in the manner of their
occurrence, which betrays or raises even a sus
picion of the action of physical causes, or the
subtle resources of human industry. Jesus wrought
these miracles without preparation, without the
intervention of any natural agent, without any
mechanical apparatus; at every instant, in every
place, in open day, suddenly by a single word, as
objects are presented to Him. / will, be thou whole.

160 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
This is all His art, and all His remedy ; and at
these words, the paralytic, the deaf, the dumb,
the blind, and lepers, are in an instant entirely
delivered from their several afflictions. " Lazarus
come forth," and at these words, a dead body is
restored to life. Certainly if this is industry, it is
at least the industry of the Divinity.
Vain has been the attempt to degrade these
miracles by false and ridiculous parallels. Thus,
that the son of Croesus, who was dumb from his
birth, might at the sight of an enemy upon the
point of inflicting a deadly blow upon his father,
have in his fright exclaimed, " Man, do not kill
Croesus," I readily admit : but I can see in this
nothing more than a violent action, infusing an
extraordinary commotion into the organs, and thus
causing this happy derangement. Thus,, that with
infinite care, we may eventually redress some de
formed member, or make men deprived of the
organ of speech, articulate words, I also admit;
out I can see in this nothing more than the result
of long and painful industry. When, by the action
of a condensed fluid, the muscles of a dead animal
may be made to undergo transient convulsions, in
this we see nothing but a mechanical effect, similar
to that of the vibrations of a string under the
fingers of him who strikes it — an effect which has
nothing in common with the phenomena of life.
But who does not see that these results, and many
others of a like nature, the fruit of art and of time,

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 161
are distinct, are separated from the evangelical
miracles by an infinite distance ? It is impossible
to refer the miracles of Jesus Christ to the impe
tuous excitement of a passion, to length of time,
to any reiterated efforts, to an unforeseen, but
fortunate accident, or to the play of any hidden
springs ; with Him all is produced at once, and in
perfection, in accordance too with collateral occur
rences, without any apparatus, not by means which
are proportioned to their effects, but by a single
word ; by an act of the will, in fact, which nothing
can resist. Such are those complete resuscitations
of dead bodies, teeming with the corruption of the
grave ; such are those instantaneous multiplications
of a few loaves, which, in a moment, satisfy the
hunger of several thousands of men. I ask if all
this is not a manifest violation of the laws of
nature, and does not bear the visible impress of
Divine Omnipotence ? In our day men have made,
and still make, a great noise respecting certain
extraordinary phenomena, the cause of which is
not well known, and which have so divided the
learned world, that they have been celebrated by
some with enthusiasm, and regarded by others as
objects of derision. Infidelity, always greedy of
that which flatters its desires, has laid hold of
these, and has not feared to assimilate them to
the evangelic miracles. It does not form part of
my design to discuss the reality of these facts ; I
leave this critical examination to others. Suppose
VOL. II. M

162 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
that after having thoroughly disentangled the true
from the false, after having torn away every thing
fabulous, which the imagination, want of reflection,
vanity, or sometimes empiricism, may have succeeded
in mixing up with truth, suppose that after this
judicious discrimination, there should still remain
some remarkable cures which appear to result
from no ordinary means ; how disgraceful would it
be to reason, should we dare to place these in
approximation with the miraculous cures related in
our Gospels !
I shall here make one general and decisive ob
servation ; it is this, that the same Jesus Christ
who has wrought all these marvellous acts re
counted by our evangelists, whether it be those
which may be called the first in order, or those
which appear to be somewhat less surprising ; yes,
He, who raised Lazarus from the dead, who restored
sight to the blind, who multiplied the loaves in
the desert, cured also, maladies and infirmities of
every kind. The resurrection of Lazarus, is a
miracle which proclaims Divine omnipotence, and
which rises infinitely superior to all the feeble
imitations of man ; for I am not aware that Europe
has ever seen any one so expert in the art of
healing, as to pique himself upon being able to
restore to life bodies which have already fallen
into partial decomposition beneath the marble of
the tomb. But, if Jesus Christ has wrought this
great miracle by His all powerful will, why should

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 163
we not attribute his other miracles, although some
what less surprising, to the same principle ? And
what right have we to make a ridiculous dis
tinction, attributing some to the immediate action
of the Divine power, others, to the mediate action
of a natural but unknown agent ? Do we not see
in all, the same Jesus commanding the obedience
of universal nature ?
But let us now, for a moment, proceed to the
examination of the parallel which it has been
attempted to establish. It will not be difficult to
make its fallacy apparent.
The cures which are opposed to the evangelical
miracles, require time, patience, and successive
processes; the results of art are uncertain, they
are often incomplete, they are not always happy,
and sometimes they have been fatal. All here
announces a cause, unknown and singular, if you
please, but a cause the action of which, as that
of all physical causes, has its commencement, its
progress, and its end. As to the cures wrought
by the Saviour of men, they present nothing which
betrays impotence, uncertainty, or weakness ; they
are sudden, they are instantaneous, certain, and per
fect. Thus, on one side, I see the progress, and the
developement of a medical cure, surprising if you
please, but a cure which possesses its secret natural
cause; on the other side, I see the immediate
instantaneous action of the Divine power ; between
these two cures the interval is immense.
M 2

164 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
What an age is this, which appears to possess
science and wit, merely for the sake of opposing
religion with arguments and approximations, void
of all sense and logic ! What times are these,
when the apologists of Christianity are obliged
seriously to refute these unworthy comparisons!
If any one should think it strange that I should
degrade my ministry by a controversy such as this,
I would make answer and say, that I have learned
with the great Apostle, to be weak with the weak ;
and experience and conscience have more than
once justified this humility. I might also remind
you of the words which the same Apostle, when
obliged to deviate from ordinary seemliness, and
compelled to speak of himself, and to make his
own eulogium for the purpose of dissipating the
false reports which had been spread abroad re
specting him, addressed to the Christians of his
day, " I am become a fool in glorying, ye have
compelled me V
Must we, then, regard the miraculous works of
Jesus as the work of God himself? There is no
need of long and elaborate arguments to prove
this. Observe that we are not here considering
one miracle in particular, but the whole body of
these miracles, their number, their notoriety, their
end, their variety, the promptitude with which they
were wrought, and the durable effects which they
1 2 Cor. chap. xiii. ver. 11.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 165
produced. They present such manifest traits of the
greatness, the holiness, and the goodness of God, that
it is impossible not to acknowledge the presence
of His all-gracious and all-powerful hand. In their
circumstances, and in their details, there is nothing
indecent, nothing impure, nothing cruel, nothing
which can possibly betray an odious and malevolent
agent ; no scandalous scenes which outrage mo
rality, but all is done to promote the virtue and
the welfare of humanity. What idea are we to
form of those subaltern spirits called demons?
We ought to regard them as spirits which are the
enemies of man, and the parents of falsehood, as
the instigators of all error and all crime. Thus
their true reign was that of idolatry with its con
comitant vices and infamies. But Jesus has said
that He was sent by God, to destroy the errors and
the vices of paganism, to bring men to the knowledge
of the one God, the Creator of the universe, and to
restore virtue to the world. If, then, He had wrought
His miracles by the power of a demon, this demon
would have laboured for the destruction of its own
empire, it would have employed its own power
against itself. It is certainly inconsistent that a
demon should endeavour to overthrow the reign of
vice and establish that of virtue. This made Jesus,
in His repulse of the absurd accusation of the Jews,
say to them, " Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation, and every city or house
divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan

166 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how
shall then his kingdom stand ! ?" This is an answer
which admits not of a reply. His miracles were
then Divine.
One only resource now remains to infidelity,
which is to say, that Jesus wrought His miracles
rather from a sentiment of compassion and kind
ness, than with a view to establish the divinity of
His mission or His doctrine. Could you believe
infidels to be capable of a blindness so strange as
this, if their writings did not afford us proof that
they were so ? J. J. Rousseau has yielded to this
pitiable excess. Jesus Christ himself, however,
disproves that foolish assertion. Let us call to
mind some few traits of His life. When He cured
the man sick with the palsy, He expressly declares,
that He did so " that ye may know that the Son
of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins 2."
When the disciples of John the Baptist were
sent to inquire of Him, whether He is really the
Messiah ; instead of making any verbal reply, He
performs miracles in their presence, and then adds,
" Go, and show John again those things which ye
do hear and see : The blind receive their sight, and
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
Gospel preached to them 3." After the cure of the
1 Matt. chap. xii. ver. 25, and following.
2 Matt. chap. ix. ver. 6.
3 Matt. chap. xi. ver. 4, 5.

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 167
man who was born blind, when some of the chief men
among the Jews came around Him as He walked
in the porch of the temple, and asked Him to tell
them plainly whether He was the Christ or not ;
Jesus answers, "The works which I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me I." At the
moment of His raising Lazarus from the dead,
He formally announces His design of doing so,
that the people who stood by and witnessed the
miracle, might know that He had been sent by
God 2. The Apostles, also, who doubtless were
acquainted both with these acts, and with the pro
posed end of their performance, constantly repre
sented them as the titles of His mission. It is
true that Jesus passed through the world doing
good, — that the greater number of His miracles
were the fruit of His benignity ; but it is clear that
He also intended that they should strikingly mani
fest the divinity of His mission, and His doctrine.
To make the heart-touching effusions of His com
passion serve as a groundwork for attacking the
divinity of His mission, is to hide the most odious
impiety beneath the veil of gratitude. But we
will dwell no longer upon this most ridiculous of
all arguments.
It is time to draw the natural consequence de-
ducible from the reality of the evangelic miracles ;
and we shall, for the present, confine ourselves to
its simple statement, inasmuch as we intend to
1 John, chap. x. ver. 25. 2 John, chap. xi. ver. 42.

168 THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES.
make its fuller developement the subject of another
conference. If the miracles formerly wrought by
Jesus, announced to the inhabitants of all Judea,
that He was sent by God, that He was that person
to whose voice they should listen, and whose doc
trine, with all its mysteries and with all its
precepts, they should profess, they still, after the
lapse of eighteen centuries, announce the same
to us. That which these miracles formerly were
to the Jews and pagans, they are now to us. This
seems to afford me a fitting opportunity for dis
persing a very common prejudice ; which is, that
facts which are seen through the mists of ages, are,
with reference to us, as if they had never been.
This is an illusion : whatever may be the distance
which separates them from us, their actual occur
rence is not on this account the less certain. Truth
never grows old. The impression of ancient occur
rences, may be less sensible than those of modern
or present times ; but a conviction of the certainty
of both one and the other is often the same.
Nothing would be more ridiculous than to pretend
that the certainty of facts diminishes, as the number
of intervening ages increases. No, I am not more
certain of the existence of Louis XIV. than of that
of Henri IV., nor of the existence of Henri IV., than
of that of Charlemagne, nor of the existence of
Charlemagne than of that of Constantine, nor of
the existence of Constantine than of that of Augus-
tus. When events have been preserved and handed

THE EVANGELIC MIRACLES. 169
down to us through a great number of generations ;
when their very nature has been such as to excite
general discussion ; and when this discussion has
been followed by universal belief, I consider this as
a new motive for our acquiescence in them, as a
confirmation rather than an impeachment of their
reality. I would, in conclusion, address myself to those,
who may still be balancing between infidelity and
Christianity, and I would say to them ; which will
you adopt ? To deny the possibility of miracles, is
to rush into atheism; to dispute the reality of
those of the Gospel, is to abandon yourselves to the
most universal and the most unreasonable historic
Pyrrhonism ; to believe in those miracles, and yet
not to be Christians, is to betray the grossest in
consistency. The events of our Gospels are better
proved than a host of other events which you never
dream of doubting ; the proofs in favour of Christ
ianity which we may deduce from them, are not to
be arraigned; and we may here venture to repeat
the words of Aguesseau, " Whoever has well medi
tated on all these proofs, finds, that it is not only
more sure, but more easy, to believe than not to
believe, and I give thanks unto God for having
ordained, that the most important should also be
the most certain of all truths, and that it is not
more possible to doubt of the truth of the Christian
religion, than to doubt of the existence of a Cesar
or an Alexander.

CHAPTER XX.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

That Jesus Christ really died upon the cross, as
related by our sacred writers, is an historical fact,
which the most furious enemies of His religion,
the Jews and pagans, have never disputed. The
prodigy of the resurrection of Christ is so astonishing
and so decisive, that nothing which might tend to
throw doubt upon its reality, or obscure its glory,
has been forgotten or neglected ; but we have
never heard that the Sanhedrin, the Rabbi, or the
Greek and Roman sophists, ever thought of saying,
that He never died, and that it was therefore easy
to represent Him as a man who had raised himself
from the grave. According to all that has reached
us of the old disputes between the apologists of
Christianity and its adversaries, the controversy is
never found to turn upon the reality of the death

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 171
of Jesus, since both parties regarded it as indubit
able. According to the most ancient and invariable
belief of Christians, Jews, and Pagans, the slightest
doubt on this point is now inadmissible ; and cer
tainly if we recollect that Jesus after a cruel
scourging, hung upon the cross for three hours,
bathed in His blood, and suffering the most horrible
torments ; if we call to mind, that His side was
pierced with a spear, and that before He was taken
down, His executioners had assured themselves
that He was really dead ; that He was then laid in
a sepulchre, wrapped in linen, which was overlain
with a quantity of such powerful aromatics, that
had He been yet alive, they alone would have stifled
Him ; we may easily conclude that His death was
most real.
The point resolves itself into one of two alter
natives : He must either have arisen, or if His body
was not to be found in the sepulchre, His disciples
must have carried it away. Listen to the words
of the infidel: he says, — The disciples of Jesus
conspire together and form the plot of stealing
away the body of their master ; either by bribery,
violence, or fraud, they triumph over the vigilance
of the guards stationed around His tomb, and then
spread the report that He had returned to life.
This story is propagated among a people naturally
credulous, and is soon converted into a reality.
The account given us by the evangelists, if you
consider it attentively, presents those contradictions
1

172 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
in details and in circumstances, which cannot but
render it suspicious ; and again, if Jesus had arisen,
instead of appearing to His disciples only, would
He not have shown Himself in the synagogue, to
all the city of Jerusalem, to all His enemies, in
order to confound them, and by the glory of His
resurrection efface from their memories, the ob
scurity of His life and the ignominy of His death ?
Such is the language of infidelity; I repeat it
candidly and openly ; for religion is too strong to >
fear or to dissemble the attacks of its enemies.
Now, if you listen to the Christian, he will tell
you, that the fact of the resurrection is supported
by incontrovertible testimony ; that the supposition
of the stealing away his body is perfectly un
founded ; that the apparent contrariety of the evan
gelists in some of the details, instead of enfeebling,
rather confirms their statements ; that Jesus has
given us sufficient proofs of his resurrection, proofs
which cannot fail of convincing every man in pos
session of his faculties ; proofs, which with refer
ence to ourselves, preserve all their force, and that
thus this miracle is the triumph of the religion of
Jesus Christ. This discourse will be consecrated
to the establishment and vindication of this belief. .
In the first place, we shall establish the reality of
the resurrection, as all other facts are established,
by testimony ; we shall afterwards develop the
consequences which result from it. We shall thus
have the proofs and the consequences of the fact

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 173
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ : such is the
intent of this conference.
Christians, always reasonable in their faith, be
lieve in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, only after
considerations and motives, which are adapted to
impress upon every judicious mind the clearest
certainty and most profound conviction. Yes, I am
induced to believe it, from the depositions of incon
trovertible witnesses, because they are certain of
the fact, and sincere in the account which they give
of it ; I am induced to believe it from the authority
of those, who shortly after its occurrence, after the
most scrupulous investigation, unshrinkingly be
lieved it ; I believe it, from the very absurdity of
the supposition, to which I must be reduced should
I not believe it ; lastly, I believe it, from the very
futility of the arguments which are opposed to it.
If all these motives for our belief are put together,
how great must be their force !
I have said that I am induced to believe the re
surrection from the depositions of incontrovertible
witnesses who were certain of the fact, and are sin
cere in the account which they give of it. In the
first place, is it not evident that the disciples of
Jesus could not have been themselves deceived as
to the reality or falsity of the resurrection ; that
they must have known perfectly well whether it
had actually occurred or not ? For we see, that at
first, they were very hard of belief, and this distrust
guarded them against surprise. When the holy

174 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
women who visited the sepulchre declared that
they had seen the Lord alive, they were treated
as visionaries ; when He himself appeared to the
assembled apostles, they fancied that they saw a
spirit : he who was absent refuses to credit his bre
thren, and protests that he will not believe it until
he has thrust his hands into his sides. How happy
was this unbelief, how adapted to the overthrow of
ours, inasmuch as it proves to us how rigid the
investigation of the disciples must have been, and
as it must convince us that they were not the sport
of an unreflecting credulity. Observe, again, that
they had time enough, and opportunities enough, of
thoroughly convincing themselves of the fact. Jesus
appeared, not to one person only, whose declaration,
by being solitary and unsupported, might be liable
to suspicion, but to a great number at once, to
Magdalene, to the other women, to St. Peter, to
St. James, to two disciples, to eleven apostles, and
lastly, to an assembly of five hundred people. Jesus
appeared, not in the darkness of the night, when
the imagination sometimes takes phantoms for reali
ties ; but in full day, in different public places, in
the garden, on the road of Emmaus, in the room of
his last supper, on the banks of the lake Genneza-
reth, and on a mountain of Galilee. Jesus ap
peared, not in a rapid and fugitive manner, but for
the space of forty days, speaking with his disciples,
permitting them to touch him, and eating with
them. What ! the apostles had lived with Jesus

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 175
three whole years, on terms of the greatest fami
liarity ; his voice, his conversation, his features, his
mien, his manners, his person, must have been
perfectly known to them, and yet they were so
stupid as to confound with this same Jesus, of whom
they had not lost sight for a longer period than that
of a few days, a something which was not their
Lord ! They must have believed, that they saw that
which they did not see, heard that which they heard
not, and touched that which they touched not ; that
is to say, without having exhibited any previous
symptoms of madness, they must, all at once, have
been agitated by the same mania, and by a mania
so exactly uniform, so precisely the same in all, and
so durable, that for forty days, their troubled brains
experienced the same sensations, and reproduced
the same phantom ! To this absurd conclusion must
tend the argument of those who maintain, that the
Apostles were the dupes of a heated imagination,
and that they took a phantom for Jesus Christ.
Still, some one may say, I admit that they could
not themselves have been mistaken as to the fact
of the resurrection, but they may have invented it
with all its details, and by this imposture have
deceived the whole world. But it is certain that
every consideration, and every circumstance con
nected with the subject, must tend to the rejection
of this supposition ; and in order to make the
apostles to be so many impostors, who have fabri
cated, promulgated, and maintained even unto

176 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
death the fable of the resurrection, it would he
necessary to reconcile facts the most conflicting,
the most revolting, and the most contradictory.
For the Apostles were not philosophers formed in
the schools of Rome, or of Athens, nor men possess
ing souls naturally elevated, and capable of great
designs ; they were, on the contrary, ignorant, rude,
and timid men ; and yet the infidel would make
them to be the most extraordinary and most
courageous of men ; for he attributes to them the
completion of the mightiest project which the
human mind has ever conceived, that of making
the whole world adore as God a crucified impostor ;
and yet, wonder of wonders, they have succeeded in
their attempt ! The apostles were not either knaves
or infidels ; in supposing even that they had been
so simple as to allow themselves to be deceived, yet
the wisdom of their morality, their virtues, and
their irreproachable conduct, prohibit our supposing
them to have been monsters of impiety and villainy ;
and yet such, according to the system of the infidel,
they must have been. Was there ever anything
more horrible than thus conspiring to impose upon
the whole human race, than thus representing a
man whom they knew to be dead, as recalled to
life by the Divine power, and of daring all this for
the sole purpose of bestowing Divine honours on
Him who merited nothing but hatred and con
tempt? Lastly; the Apostles were not frantic,
were not madmen, who, without any motive, and

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 177
even in opposition to their best interests, would
wish to form so execrable a conspiracy. Man is
not wicked, is not a cheat, for nothing, or without
knowing why he is so; yet the infidel must say
that he is; for what interest could the Apostles
have in representing Jesus Christ as a man who
had risen from the dead ? What good could they
expect to accrue to them from this imposture ?
What were they to expect in the present life ? —
nothing but the fury of the Jews, chains, re
proaches, punishment, and death. What were
they to expect in the life to come ? — if there exists
a God, who is the avenger of crime, how terrible
must be the chastisement reserved for these impi
ous deceivers ! This is not all ; if Jesus is not
risen, as He himself announced that He would
rise again, He is convicted of imposture, and the
Apostles must regard Him as a cheat who has
deceived them. And yet the infidel would make
them, after this acknowledgment, to be but the
more zealous in support of His mission and doc
trine ! This is not in the nature of man.
In the supposition that the Apostles had entered
into such a conspiracy as this, I figure to myself
their assembling themselves together for the pur
pose of concerting their plot, and the boldest of
them addressing his fellow conspirators thus : "My
friends, we are now fully aware that Jesus has
deceived us; He promised to rise again, but He
still lies in the tomb. It would be to our interest
VOL. II. N

178 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
to unmask the impostor, but no, let us sacrifice
everything — conscience, honour, repose, and even
life, to His glory. We know that we have stolen
His body from the sepulchre, but no matter; in
opposition to all truth, we will publish the report
of His having arisen from it alive, and will wor
ship Him as a God. We must be aware that we
shall excite against us, the Synagogue, and the
whole Jewish nation ; yet we will brave every
thing in support of this vile falsehood. If there
is a God who is all justice, and all truth, He
will chastise us for our horrible imposture ; but in
spite of all this, let us boldly face the avenging
wrath of heaven and of earth. Without any
interest, as regards this present life, without any
interest with reference to the life to come, in
opposition, in fact, to all our interests, let us go
about and publish everywhere the false resurrec
tion of Jesus ; and if it must be so, let us suffer
ourselves to be put to death in support of this
fable of our own invention."
Such is the more than infernal project which
must be attributed to the disciples of Jesus. This
is not all ; we must suppose, too, that, after having
concerted it among themselves, there is not one
among them who, torn by remorse, eventually
abjures his detestable engagement; not one who
by the hope of reward betrays the secret ; not one
who suffers it to escape him through imprudence,
or inadvertence ; not one from whom it is extorted

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 179
by the fear of punishment ; — they would carry with
them into the tomb the horrible glory of having
died in support of a fact which they knew to be
false ; losing everything, if all ends with death, but
if there exists an avenging God, finding nothing
beyond the grave but misery and woe. These are
prodigies more incredible still, than that of the
resurrection : it is manifest, then, that the disciples
of Jesus, who represented themselves as having
been the eye-witnesses of His resurrection, cannot
be suspected of illusion or of imposture. Then
their testimony is incontrovertible.
I have said, in the second place, that I believed
in the resurrection, from the authority of those
who were unable to withhold their faith from it,
at the time of its occurrence. The Apostles begin
by preaching Jesus arisen again, in the midst of
Jerusalem, and among the people of Judea; the
resurrection is the miracle which they give out as
being the groundwork of their religion, and which
they submit as the most striking title of the divine
mission of Jesus Christ. St. Peter announces it to
the Jewish people in the temple: "You have
killed," said he, " the Prince of Life, whom God
hath raised from the dead, whereof we are wit
nesses1." Shortly afterwards Paul preaches it at
Athens, even before the Areopagus 2. When this
great Apostle writes to the Corinthians, what does
1 Acts, chap. iii. ver. 15. 2 Acts, chap. xvii. ver. 31.
n2

180 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
he say to them ? " If Christ be not raised your
faith is vain." " We are found false witnesses of
God V This is the most excellent of all the mira
cles ; this reflects its splendour on all the rest ;
this is the centre, this is the pivot, on which
Christianity revolves. The believer may be igno
rant of many of the wonders contained in our holy
writings ; yet his faith may not, on that account,
be corrupt ; but he cannot be ignorant of the mi
racle of Jesus, free even in the arms of death,
arising triumphant from the darkness of the grave.
He who believes in this miracle must be a Christ
ian, — he who does not believe it, cannot be one.
If, at the beginning, some of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, Corinth, Athens, Ephesus, Antioch,
Alexandria, Rome, were among the first votaries
of Christ, it was because the Apostles there
preached His glorious resurrection. And who am
I, that after a lapse of eighteen centuries, I should
dispute a fact, which the pagans and the Jews of
these famous cities have so intimately and so pro
foundly believed, which they have made the rule
of their faith and of their conduct, and, in the
maintenance of which, many of them suffered
death ?
That many people have rejected it, is easily
explained by the empire of the passions, always
in revolt against the yoke of a religion which
1 1 Cor. chap. xv. ver. 15. 17.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 181
thwarts them ; but, that many people have acknow
ledged, and professed it, even at the peril of their
lives, this may be explained by their intimate per
suasion and conviction of the fact, resulting from
the best devised and most rigid investigation.
Their belief would strike me less forcibly if I could
suspect it of being interested ; but what possible
interest^ could the Jews and the pagans have in it?
everything would appear rather to warn them
against it ; this was not one of those novelties which
gained votaries by agitating the hearts of men, by
flattering those inclinations which are so dear to
them, their ambition, their pride, and their love of
pleasure. It was only by the sacrifice of these
pleasures that a man could become a Christian;
it was inviting the gross and carnal Jew who
awaited a powerful, and magnificent Messia , to
worship Him whom the priests and the doctors of
His law had caused to be put to death as an impious
wretch who was an enemy to God and to the
religion of Moses. It was inviting the voluptuous
and sensual pagan to profess a religion of sufferings
and of selfdenial. Oh, how powerful must have been
the motives which could have induced both the
one and the other to rise superior to the sway
of prejudice and sensuality! And if all their
motives rested upon the miracle of the resurrec
tion, with what severe, with what scrupulous
attention must they not have investigated it!
and, hence, is not their intimate conviction of

182 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
the fact, which carried them so far as even to
die in its attestation, of immense weight ?
I have said in the third place, that I believed in
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the very ab
surdity of the supposition to which one is obliged
to have recourse in order not to believe it. Here
there is no middle course ; Jesus either arose from
the dead, or we must suppose that his body was
stolen away by his disciples. I am justified in ob
serving, that it is contrary to all the rules of good
sense and of criticism, to oppose vague rumours,
conjectures, and gratuitous suppositions, to well-
proved facts. The apostles were fully aware of the
report which was spread abroad, concerning the
carrying off of the body ; they themselves relate it,
as a story invented by the Jews, and do not on that
account the less persist in bearing testimony of the
resurrection of Jesus, and sealing it even with their
blood. Can any one accuse them of illusion or of
imposture ? Were they deceived, or were they de
ceivers ? this is the precise point of the question.
As long as the proofs which are given of the sin
cerity of their testimony are not attacked, that
testimony preserves its whole force. I produce to
you certain witnesses of a fact, I prove to you that
their testimony is incontrovertible, and yet you
content yourself with a simple negation void of all
proof ! It is not enough to say, that the theft of
the body was possible, its actual occurrence must
be established. Either admit the well-proved fact

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 183
of the resurrection, or prove, by positive arguments,
the fact of the theft. With the monuments of his
tory in your hand, you have proved to me that
Caesar met with a tragic death in a full assemblage
of the Roman Senate; and I believe myself at
liberty to withhold my belief by merely alleging a
simple possibility of the contrary ! Certainly by this
method of reasoning, all history would soon be anni
hilated. Let us for a moment discuss this supposi
tion of the removal of the body. We will say to
unbelievers ; you know, and you admit, that Roman
soldiers were set as guards over the sepulchre :
would you have these guards to be bribed by
money, and thus become accomplices of the removal
of the body? Would you that the disciples used
violence, and by open force triumphed over their
resistance? or would you, that the guards having
fallen asleep, the disciples furtively carried the body
away ? Make your choice. It is sad to be obliged
to adopt one of these suppositions, for they are all
equally untenable.
If the guards had been corrupted by gold or silver,
we must suppose that the apostles presented them
selves to them in the conviction, that they were men
void of all sense of shame and conscience, who came
to make a bargain for crime ; we must suppose that
they themselves did not tremble at making offers,
the refusal of which would have plunged them into
the lowest depths of misery ; and that among the
soldiers, there was not one to be found who was

184 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
inaccessible to corruption : not one who from the
hope of reward would have denounced the apostles,
rather than associate himself in a criminal enter
prise, the issue of which might be so fatal to its
authors ! we must suppose too, that the council of
the Jews would have preserved silence instead of
informing against the guards and the apostles, and
thus discovering the whole plot, and preventing
those consequences which it was so anxious to
arrest ! The Jews had taken so many precautions
against fraud ; they had themselves required a guard
from the governor, they had affixed to the sepulchre
the seal of public authority ; they were so inter
ested in stifling all belief in the fact of the resur
rection, and yet they bring no accusation against
the guards and the disciples, in order to bring their
conspiracy to light ! This first supposition is so re
volting in all its bearings, that the Jews have never
hazarded it.
Will it be more successfully advanced, that the
disciples used violence, that they drove away the
guards by force, and then carried away the body?
but they were so timid, so cowardly even, fright
had, on a former occasion, dispersed them ; Peter
went so far as to deny his Master at the voice of a
serving maid ; they were disconcerted at the death
of Jesus Christ, they knew not what to think of
him or of his promises ; they had the candour not
to disguise their fears and their doubts; and, all
at once, behold them transformed into men of the

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 185
greatest intrepidity, who boldly confront dangers
in the darkness of the night, and who rush upon the
Roman soldiers and disperse them ! Where is pro
bability here ? But this is not all : if the soldiers
had suffered such violence, they would not have
failed in their own justification, of denouncing this
outrage of the Apostles ; and on their denunciation,
the Apostles would have been juridically prose
cuted, as profaners of tombs, and audacious vio
lators of the seal of public authority : there does
not, however, exist the slightest trace of such an
accusation. There now remains the third supposition only,
which is, as the Jews have pretended, that the
guards having fallen asleep, the body was carried
away by stealth. This Jewish story is fully worthy
of being repeated by men, who believe everything,
except that which they ought to believe. In effect,
to admit this supposition, we must say, that all the
guards had agreed, as it were, to fall asleep at once,
and that not one of them was aroused by the noise
of several persons coming to the sepulchre, rolling
away the enormous stone from its mouth, entering
within it, dragging forth the body, and carrying it
away. Here, again, another remarkable circum
stance presents itself; instead of bearing the body
away all wrapped up as it was, which certainly
would have been the easiest and shortest method,
these strange robbers do quite the contrary ; they
detach from the body the linen which covered it,

186 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
and leave it behind in the sepulchre ; they even
fold, and place by itself the napkin which was
bound around the head ; for all these particulari
ties are expressly related by our evangelists.
Should it be said that the Apostles gained access
to the sepulchre by a secret subterranean passage,
we would on this subject make an observation
which admits not of a reply, which is, that such
a fraud must have left manifest traces behind it.
The sepulchre was hewn out of the rock ; an open
ing must, then, have been effected in it, and this
opening would have betrayed the plot and the
sacrilegious theft ! You see, then, that this sup
position of the carrying away of the body, in addi
tion to its being entirely gratuitous, has not even
the merit of simple probability ; it is nothing but
a scaffolding composed of badly assorted pieces,
which are perpetually falling asunder. And we
may here say with the Roman poet,
" Credat Judasus, non ego."
Lastly ; I have said that I believed in the resur
rection from the very futility of the objections
which are opposed to it. Nothing gives greater
force and brilliancy to truth than the weakness of
the efforts made in opposition to it : we are, then,
most sensible of its advantages and of its triumph.
For, what have unbelievers spun out of their ima
ginations, and brought to bear against the historic
proofs of the fact of the resurrection ? They have

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 187
said, in the first place, that the evangelists are
uncertain and vacillating in their accounts, that
they relate contradictions, that they do not agree
among themselves, either as to the appearances
of the angels, the re-appearances of Jesus Christ,
the visits which were paid to the sepulchre, or as
to the hours in which these visits occurred. The one
supposes that only one angel appeared, the other
supposes several; that which one places before,
the other places after sunrise ; how is the truth
to be unravelled from these conflicting and con
tradictory statements ? All I ask is candour ;
among even the most authentic facts of antiquity,
is there one to be found which in its details and
necessary circumstances, does not embarrass critics
with some obscurities ? Is it allowable to combat
the testimony of the four evangelists with some
peculiarities which may have been intelligible to
their contemporaries, although they may be embar
rassing to us, who are separated from the fact by
an interval of eighteen centuries? It is so easy
to conceive how it has happened that the accounts
of the evangelists should present some apparent
contrarieties ! For what has really been the case ?
Different women, and different disciples set out
for the sepulchre at different hours, — make dif
ferent journeys to it, by different roads; at one
time, it is one angel, at another time there are
two angels who appear. Of all these equally
indubitable particulars, that which is related by

188 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
one evangelist is past over in silence by another :
hence, we may have diversities, but no real con
tradictions ; and it is not perceived that these
apparent oppositions make the sincerity of the
Apostles still more conspicuous ! If they had
meditated an imposture, it was so easy for them to
concert a narrative which should present nothing
conflicting in any of its details or circumstances ;
but no, truth alone guides the pens of the sacred
writers; each relates, with simplicity, that which
he believes he ought to relate, persuaded that
everything he says may be reconciled with that
which any other may say. Their accounts are
similar enough, to place them out of the reach of
all suspicion of imposture, and yet different enough
to save them from the reproach of concerted
fraud. We now come to the last resource of the unbe
liever, which is, that if Jesus Christ did really rise
from the dead, would He have contented Himself
with appearing to His disciples, who already believed
in Him ? Should he not rather have shown Himself
to His enemies, and thus conquered their unbelief?
It is true, if Jesus had wished His resurrection to
be the most striking or the most especial demon
stration of His mission, that He ought to have given
us such proofs of its reality, as were calculated to
convince every reasonable mind ; but, if those which
He has afforded us are sufficient, if they carry with
them an unavoidable impression of truth, if they

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 189
can be combatted only by empty frivolities, what
are we, that we should require others more clear
and more convincing still ? Must Heaven measure
its designs by our feeble thoughts ? And ought we
not to be reasonably content and grateful for those
which it does vouchsafe to us, instead of murmuring
and repining after those which it has thought fit to
withhold ? Has Jesus Christ manifested His resur
rection by incontestable witnesses ? Is their testi
mony known to us, and is it submitted to us in a
manner calculated to win our assent? We have
here every thing which can render our belief wise
and justifiable, and our unbelief inexcusable. " And
to whom is it pretended that Jesus Christ was
obliged thus evidently to manifest Himself? To
that cowardly governor who, against his own con
science, had condemned Him? — to the vain and
pleasure-loving Herod, who had basely mocked
Him ? — to those priests, to those doctors, to those
Pharisees, who had incessantly persecuted Him with
those calumnies and intrigues which eventually
brought Him to Calvary? — to those furious Jews,
who, although loaded with His benefits, had shouted
for His death, and wished that His blood might be
upon them and their children ? How had all these
guilty men deserved the favour of His manifesta
tion? It is unreasonable to pretend that God
should shower down His mercies the more abun
dantly as man renders himself the more unworthy
of them, or should multiply proofs in proportion to

190 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
the resistance made against them 1." Jesus shows
Himself to His disciples ; He then makes them the
heralds of His resurrection, it is through them that
He is manifested to the world ; it is by their testi
mony, continued and handed down from age to
age, that He still manifests Himself to us. You
wish that He had forced His enemies to silence, by
the irresistible splendour of His glorious presence ;
this is precisely what He wished not to do. If He
would have our faith to be well-grounded in order
to be reasonable, He also would have it to be free
in order to be meritorious ; He owes to all suffi
cient proofs ; but he who has received less, has no
right to complain and raise the cry of injustice,
because another has received more. You ask, why
Jesus did not appear to all the city of Jerusalem, in
the synagogue, to all His enemies ? and I, in my
turn, ask you, why He did not appear at Rome, at
Corinth, at Ephesus, at every place, in short, where
His resurrection was preached, and given out as
the foundation-stone of His religion? But these
demands would be interminable.
But, may it not be said with J. J. Rousseau, " I
know this miracle, only as I know others, through
men. Who has seen it ? men. Who relate it to
me? men. Always men between God and me.
Would it not have been far more simple for Him

1 La Luzerne. Dissertation sur la Religion, Disser. II. chap. ii.
p. 74.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 191
to have spoken to me Himself?" It is highly be
coming a haughty sophist to adopt this tone of
insult towards that God who has given him his
being and those talents which he thus abuses by
blaspheming Him ! How did Rousseau know the
existence of Caesar, his conquests, and tragic death,
if not by the testimony of those intermediate gene
rations, which have occupied the interval of eighteen
centuries ? Between these events and him, he has
still "men;" but does he, on this account, fancy
that he is justified in withholding his belief from
them? or, rather would he not be looked upon as
a madman, if he believed them not ? He wishes
that God had Himself spoken to him ; and why to
him in preference to every other man ? Could he
think that the fire of his imagination constituted
any title of preference in the eyes of Him who
esteems innocence and virtue before every thing ?
God must then have manifested Himself by special
revelations to every individual of the human race;
He must thus have incessantly subverted the natural
order of things, He must have multiplied his mira
cles to infinity, must have rendered them of such
daily and common occurrence, that no longer pos
sessing the splendour and force of miracles, they
would become powerless and useless ; to this point
must all the pretensions of a false and self-sufficient
wisdom converge.
Thus, if I investigate the deposition of the eye
witnesses of Jesus, after His resurrection, I find
1

192 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
that their statement is fully deserving of credit ; if
I investigate the authority of the Jews and Pagans,
who, at the commencement of our religion, believed
in the miracle of the resurrection, and maintained
it even in torments, I find that their attestation is
of immense weight ; if I investigate the supposition
of the body having been carried away, I find that
it does not possess the slightest shadow of proba
bility. Lastly, if I investigate the difficulties and
objections raised by unbelievers, I find them to be
altogether unfounded, and when contrasted with
our historic proofs wholly untenable. Then to be
reasonable, I must believe that Jesus has arisen
from the dead. I now come to the consequences
of this resurrection.
It is not enough, however, simply to believe in
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or to admire this
striking trait of the divine power. " Whatsoever
things were written aforetime," says the great
apostle, " were written for our learning1." In the
religion of the only true and thrice-holy God, every
thing must tend to enlighten our minds and to
regenerate our hearts. We are not here treating
of any of those historical facts which have been
deposited in monuments worthy of our belief, and to
which we give credit because it is reasonable so to
do, but which, as they are wholly unconnected with
our religious principles and our conduct, inspire,
' Romans, chap. xv. verse 4.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.. 193
after all, no very lively interest. We believe in the
death of Socrates, in the consulship of Cicero, in
the reign of Augustus ; but these, at last, are facts,
of which we may, with impunity, be ignorant, or in
which we may believe, and yet not derive any use
ful consequence from this belief. It is not so with
the fact of the resurrection ; it draws after it certain
inevitable consequences, which must for ever con
firm our belief, which must warn us of that which
we ought to practise, by disclosing to us that which
we ought to believe ; which must regulate our con
duct, our worship, and our homage, towards Jesus
Christ, and connect our present life with our future
destiny. The first consequence of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, is the proof that He was really sent by
God. Jesus appeared in the midst of Judea ; He
says that He has been sent from heaven to establish
a people of worshippers in spirit and in truth ; He
does not dispute, He decides ; He does not speak
as a philosopher who discusses, but as an arbiter ;
wisdom is on His lips, as innocence is in His
actions ; sublime in His simplicity, He teaches
without parade, without effort, but as one having
authority ; the people listen to Him with delight,
and declare that "Never man spake like this
man1." The sanctity of His life, the beauty of
His doctrine, doubtless announce Him as being
! John chap. vii.. ver. 46.
VOL. II. O

194 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
some celestial essence which the world has not
yet seen, and disclose a personage, who possesses a
greater right than any other, to enlighten and
instruct men in religion. But men require sensible
proofs of His mission ; He himself refers them to
His miracles. If He goes about doing good, He
does so by performing miracles, which are, for the
most part, intended to comfort the unhappy, to
console the afflicted, or to convert sinners. He
solemnly announces that He would rise again on
the third day ; and He points to this miracle, as
the most striking proof of His divine authority;
hence if He has really risen, He was what He
announced himself to be during His life. It is
not only as a philosopher, more wise and more
enlightened than others, but it is as the depository
of the secrets of God, that He has come to reveal
them to men, and to instruct them in every truth
necessary to their happiness.
A second consequence involved in the first, is,
that Jesus Christ should be listened to as being
truth itself. The wisest of philosophers is sometimes
deceived ; limited in his thoughts, deluded by pre
judice, or led astray by passion, he allows himself
to be beguiled by falsehood, and in his turn be
guiles others. Even the purest virtue is not beyond
the reach of all illusion ; with a truly upright soul,
we may certainly be innocent, but we are not on
that account infallible. But in Jesus Christ we
must constantly recognise the interpreter of the

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 195
will of God ; He does not speak in His own name,
but in the name of God, and God authorizes this
by miracles, and principally by that of the resurrec
tion ; this is the seal of His embassy from heaven
to earth ; and if He has deceived us, it is God
himself who has deceived us. It is not then
enough to respect the doctrine of Jesus Christ,
to cite His authority as possessing the greatest
weight, or to appeal to His Gospel as to the work
of a philosopher of Rome or of Athens ; we must
believe, must submit our wills to His ; and must
attach to His lessons, the faith which is due to the
word of God.
A third consequence resulting from the second,
isj that we ought to receive the doctrine of Jesus
without allay or exaggeration, without retrench
ment as without addition ; " Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away1."
The ancient philosopher might certainly gain zealous
disciples, he might subject them for a time to his
authority, but they soon exalt themselves into the
judges of their master ; they discuss, they examine
his doctrine, they change, they modify it at pleasure ;
they, in their turn, become masters; from this
original school many others spring up, and the
reformers have, in effect, the same right with their
founders. It is not so with the school of Jesus
Christ; His doctrine stands eternally the same ; the
rash attempt to pervert it, is a sacrilegious outrage
' Matt. chap. xxiv. ver. 35.
o 2

196 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
upon the truth of God. With Him, it is not a
question of invention, but of conservation ; His
word perpetuated from age to age, must remain
in its inviolable purity even unto the end.
A fourth consideration, which is the result of all
the others, is, that we should equally receive the
mysteries which we cannot comprehend, and the
precepts which are intelligible to us. In vain is
the mind perplexed and disconcerted by the depth
of these mysteries ; reason tells me that God has
spoken through Jesus Christ, and that God, with
His infinite intelligence, can see, what man, with
his finite intelligence cannot see. In the study of
religion we ought not to seek to render its mysteries
intelligible, but credible ; we should not endeavour
to penetrate their nature, but to assure ourselves
of their reality ; inasmuch as we know our religion
to be what it is, by the testimony of Jesus Christ,
who has revealed it to us in the name of that God
who is the very truth. Thus, from the testimony
of nature, I know God, without comprehending
Him. Thus, without comprehending any of the
wonders of vision, the man who is born blind,
believes in them from the testimony of his fellow-
creatures. In vain does the heart rebel against
the purity of the evangelic morality; reason tells
me, that God has spoken through Jesus Christ;
and that God, who is goodness and wisdom itself,
would not burthen men with a yoke too heavy for
their weakness. We shall hereafter consecrate a

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 197
discourse to the vindication of religion in its mo
rality, as in its mysteries ; at this moment, we shall
content ourselves with raising our voice against those
demi-christians who nullify religion, by admitting
or denying whatever they please, as if Jesus, arisen
from the grave, is to be believed on one point, and
to be disbelieved on another. To admit some
points of revelation and to reject the remainder, is
to make a fantastic alliance between Christianity
and infidelity ; is to be at once a Christian and not
a Christian. Are we then the dispensers of the
Gospel, that we should be allowed to mutilate and
disfigure it after our own tastes and caprices ? Or
is our religion the production of two different
authors, one of whom ought to be reverenced as the
Divine organ of truth, and the other rejected as
an apostle of falsehood ?
It is not with religion, as with the works of
men; these are far from being perfect at their
birth ; time and experience induce new discoveries,
and the history of human attainments frequently
presents nothing more than a succession of opposite
systems. But as to the Christian doctrine, it has
received, at its origin and at once, all the per
fection which God intended to bestow upon it
here below. At the creation, God said the word,
and every thing was made. The universe still
remains, and man cannot either create or destroy
one single particle of matter. In the Christian
revelation, God has spoken, and His word must

198 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
remain even unto the end, without man's having
the power of retrenching one iota from it, or of
adding one tittle of their own invention to it.
There is no middle course, every thing must be
admitted, or every thing must be rejected. When
all is equally taught by God, all should be equally
revered. If you believe in God, without believing
in providence, if you believe in providence in
general, without believing that it concerns itself
about the actions of men in particular ; if you
believe in this special providence, without believing
in another life ; if in another life, without believing
that there are rewards for virtue, and punishments
for vice ; if you believe in these primary and funda
mental truths, without believing those which have
been revealed by Jesus Christ; if you believe in
the beauty of His morality, and yet do not believe
yourself obliged to practise it ; in a word, if your
faith, by any voluntary, any wilful misapprehension,
does not embrace the whole body of revelation, or
if you set up a private creed of your own invention,
you are no longer a Christian. Religion in its
dogmas, as in its precepts, is entirely based upon
the immoveable truth of God, manifested by Jesus
Christ ; and I ask you to produce the proofs which
justify you in not admitting them at all, or in
admitting them only in part.
In conclusion, the last consequence, which is an
essential truth of Christianity, is,, that Jesus Christ
is not only a just man, the friend of God, the Mes-

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 199
siah, but that He is really God made man. For if
He was not really God, He would not have been the
Messiah ; if He was not worthy of our adorations,
He would have merited our execrations as the great
est of all impostors. Do not imagine that this is
an oratorical exaggeration, it is a strictly true asser
tion, of which you must shortly be convinced. For,
in effect, if Jesus really was sent by God for the
instruction of men, He told the truth ; He was then
full of zeal for the interests and glory of the true
God, and jealously anxious to make men pay Him
those homages which are due to Him alone ; He
held idolatry then in horror; then, if He was not
God, He would most carefully have avoided every
thing which might tend to make men look upon
Him as God; He would have banished from His dis
course every expression which might induce them
to attribute to Him Divine perfections, or pay Him
divine honours. To be nothing more than simply
the messenger of God, and yet so to speak, and so
to act, as to cause and permit men to believe that
He was God, would convict Jesus of the most hor
rible impiety. Observe, how emphatically Moses
and the prophets openly declared, that they were
only the instruments of the Divinity, and how care
fully they avoided every word which might excite
a suspicion of their being God made visible. Ob
serve the conduct of Paul and Barnabas, when the
inhabitants of Lystra declared them to be " Gods
come down to them in the likeness of men;" how

200 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
" they rent their clothes, and ran in among the
people," crying out, "Sirs, why do ye these things?
We also are men of like passions with you, and
preach unto you, that ye should turn from these
vanities, and serve the living God V Now Jesus
does the very opposite to this, and His conversation
invariably tends to induce the persuasion, that He
is really God. He is ever repeating that He is
equal to the Father ; that He has been sent from
the bosom of the Father ; that He was before Abra
ham; that He existed before all things; that the
Father and He are One ; that which the Father
does, the Son does also ; that eternal life consists
in knowing the Son as well as the Father ; He even
permits men to pay Him Divine honours ; He ap
plauds one of His disciples for exclaiming and call
ing him, "My Lord and my God2." Distinct from
a host of less clear expressions, the tendency of His
most ordinary language was calculated to induce
men to attribute to Him that which belonged only
to God. We must observe also, that it would not
be enough, in His justification from all sacrilegious
Usurpation, to say that His expressions were equi
vocal and ambiguous, and did not absolutely signify
His Divinity; for a man should not only abstain
from declaring distinctly that he is God : but the
fact alone of his not studiously avoiding every ex
pression which might insinuate such a construction,
1 Acts, chap. xiv. ver. 10, &c. 2 John, chap. xx. ver. 28.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 201
of his not rejecting with a holy horror, every thing
likely to lead his fellow-creatures into error, — by
this alone, I say, he would outrage Him who in
Scripture is called, " the jealous God," and would
stand convicted of the most accursed impiety.
Even this is not all ; what is the first law imposed
by Jesus Christ on his disciples ? It is to love Him,
to do every thing for His love and for His glory, to
constitute Him the centre of their thoughts and
affections ; He exacts from them the most generous
and even the most heroic proofs of their love ; He
would have them love Him above their nearest and
dearest relatives, better than friends, or than life
itself; He would have them be ready to shed their
blood for Him, and declares that he who would not
do all this is not worthy of Him. That Jesus Christ
died to give glory to God, and that He invited us to
walk in His steps, I can conceive and admit ; but
if, in reality, He is not God, that He should never
theless command us to show Him those marks of
love which are due to the Supreme Master of life
alone, I can neither conceive nor admit. " Every
man," says Massillon \ " who proposes himself to
men as an object of their adoration, is an impious
impostor, who attempts to usurp the most essential
right of the Supreme Being ; he is a monster of
pride and extravagance, who would raise altars to
himself even in men's hearts, the only sanctuary
1 Sermon for Circumcision.

202 THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
which the Divinity has never yielded to profane
idols." Jesus announces Himself as coming to form for
His Heavenly Father a people of worshippers in
spirit and in truth, as coming to destroy the wor
ship of idols, and make men adore the only true
God ; but if He is not God, He has deceived the
world, He is nothing more than a false prophet ; His
religion is nothing more than a new species of
idolatry, for the first care of His disciples is to pre
sent Him as a God to the homage of nations, and to
induce men to pay Him that tribute of respect and
of love which is due to God alone ; so that His reli
gion, in its purest times, would have been a super
stition as gross as any in which the world had pre
viously been plunged. Yes, we would say, and
without any fear of offending or of infringing upon
the honour due to Jesus Christ, but rather with a
sentiment of the most profound respect for the
holiness of His life, the truth of His words, and the
Divinity of His mission, that if He is not God, He
was the most despicable, the most odious, and the
most impious of all impostors ; and if this thought,
and these expressions, excite your horror, what re
mains for you, but to present yourselves before Him
in the innumerable train of his faithful adorers ?
We must now conclude. The Christian church
has, for eighteen centuries, professed a belief in
Christ arisen from the dead, and has made this
wonder of wonders to be the basis of their religion ;

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 203
even the annual festival, which is as old as Christ
ianity itself, and which is celebrated to this day, is
one of the authentic monuments of this miracle and
this faith. The fact of the resurrection is proved,
by that mode of proving facts, which is universally
received and admitted in all the tribunals of all
nations, by testimony ; and as this testimony is
more investigated, so much the more is it found to
be worthy of our belief. I have given you an ex
position of the proofs of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ and the consequences which result from it ;
if my proofs are incontrovertible, and my conse
quences just, you can no longer hesitate. Let us
root out prejudice, let us stifle the dictates of that
false shame which holds truth a captive in our
hearts ; it is only when all around us is impious,
that any merit is due to the courage of defying these
contagious influences. Glory be to Jesus Christ !
Let every knee bow down before Him; let His
name be in our mouths, His law in our hearts ; let
the fervency of our worship attest the sincerity of
our faith, and let us, at this moment, solemnly en
gage upon His holy altar, ever to profess and hold
fast that holy religion, of which the miracles in
general, and the glorious resurrection of its Author
in particular, are the unshaken foundations.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.

The design conceived by Jesus Christ, eighteen
centuries ago, of establishing His religion in the
midst of paganism, and of renewing by its means
the face of the whole earth, is the most beautiful
in its object, the most comprehensive in its extent,
and the most astonishing by its success, ever re
corded in the annals of the human race.
I say, that it was a design most beautiful in its
object. It was not confined merely to the polish
ing a barbarous people, and to subjecting it to cer
tain laws, which, in repressing the fierceness of its
inclinations, still suffered the grossest superstitions,
and the most shameful disorders, to be generally
prevalent; but it was intended to regenerate the
whole man ; to purify his ideas of the Divinity ; to
attack evil at its very source, by a reformation of

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 205
the heart ; to declare war against all errors, as
against all vices ; and to create a new world in the
midst of the profane idolatry of the old. Christi
anity was a moral creation, issuing from a chaos of
the most profound as well as the most universal
corruption. I say, that it was a design of the most compre
hensive extent. Preceding ages had certainly seen
legislators, heroes, and philosophers form plans of
reform, and following out these plans with much
courage and ability, signalizing themselves at the
same time by their zeal in promoting the welfare
of their fellow creatures ; but, their labours em
braced one city, or, at most, one nation only : and,
more than once, they have built up the fabric of
their own country's happiness upon the ruin and
misery of some other. But Jesus Christ embraces
the whole world ; if He commences by evangelizing
Judea with his own mouth, He, at the same time,
announces that He intends to enlighten all nations
by His messengers; to throw down the wall of
division which had hitherto separated them ; to
unite, by the bonds of the same religious belief, the
Jew and the Gentile, the Greek and the barbarian,
and to infuse through the whole human race a spirit
of fraternal benevolence.
I say, that it was a design most astonishing by
its success. At the voice of the disciples of Jesus,
the Roman world opens its eyes to the light, it
discovers its prodigious delusions, and abandons

206 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
idolatry for the Gospel; the pacific conquests of
Christ extend themselves beyond even its limits,
and are perpetuated from nation to nation, and
from age to age, down even to us.
You have here but an outline of the design of
Jesus Christ in the foundation of Christianity, and
yet I may, perhaps, have already said enough to
make you feel, how far He is exalted above every
thing which antiquity can present to our admira
tion. This it was, which, in the second century,
made the famous Clement of Alexandria say, " The
Greek philosophers acquired credit and honour only
among their own countrymen, and have not been
listened to by all, even of them : Plato is the dis
ciple of Socrates, Xenocrates of Plato, Theophrastus
of Aristotle, and Cleanthus of Zeno. These philo
sophers have only succeeded in gaining some few
followers; but the word of our Master is not con
fined within the boundaries of Judea, as philosophy
was within the limits of Greece, but is promulgated
throughout the whole earth, among barbarians as
among Greeks; has carried persuasion with it, into
nations, into cities, and into towns; and has led
into the ways of truth, most of those who have
listened to it, and several philosophers even among
the number1."
Infidels have omitted nothing which might tend
to obscure the glory resulting to Christianity, and
1 Stromat. Lib. VI. cap. xviii.

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 207
hence to its Author, from the fact of its establish
ment; they fancy that they have explained every
thing by the words, superstition, credulity, and fana
ticism, expressions which are rendered unmeaning,
purely from being so universally applied ; and which
form a convenient and ultimate resource to those
who are so ungenerous as to condemn Christians
without hearing them.
Among those who, in modem times, have en
deavoured to weaken the force of the wonderful
propagation of the Gospel among pagan nations, I
individualize an English author, whom, as a pohtical
writer, I do not pretend to judge ; but whom, in
every thing which regards religion, I boldly accuse
of being both a weak logician and a faithless histo
rian ; who, at first a Protestant, then a papist, and
at last a deist or sceptic, was as wavering and con
tradictory in his reflections on Christian antiquity,
as he was undecided in conduct ; I am speaking of
the author of the History of the Decline and Fall qf
ihe Roman Empire. He was an enemy the more
perfidious and dangerous, as he sometimes conceals
his hatred under the veil of respect, and ever arrays
himself in all the externals of an imposing erudi
tion. The tactics of this writer consisted in exag
gerating the natural means of propagation possessed
by Christianity, in weakening the obstacles opposed
to its progress, in raising ill-founded doubts as to
the greatness and the extent of its success, in attri
buting this success to nothing but superstition,
1

208 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
ambition, and intrigue, and in craftily mixing up the
true with the false. With him, the Christianity of
the three first centuries is like a picture seen in a
bad light, which, when it brings out its blemishes
and defects, disfigures or obscures its charms and
beauties. I shall in two consecutive discourses en
deavour to represent the propagation of the Gospel
among idolatrous nations in its true light. Let us
observe, in the first place, how rapid it has been,
and, secondly, how astonishing it has also been.
This is the subject of our first conference on the
foundation of, Christianity.
One fact which the most incontrovertible monu
ments of pagan as well as sacred antiquity certifies,
is, that the Christian religion was propagated with
the greatest rapidity among idolatrous nations, and
more particularly, in the provinces of the Roman
empire. Let us here go back to the very origin of
the Christian society. In the last years of His
mortal life, Jesus selected a small number of dis
ciples, who after having been eyewitnesses of His
actions, and educated in His school, were to be
come the propagators of His doctrine; He does
not hesitate to tell them, " All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth ; go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations 1."
Faithful to His commands, the apostles com
mence their astonishing ministry in Judea itself.
1 Matthew, chap, xxviii. ver. 18, 19.

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 209
On the very first day of their preaching in Jeru
salem, three thousand people embraced the religion
of Christ. A second discourse of St. Peter, makes
five thousand proselytes. Certain priests and doctors
of the law, soon caused the apostles to be cited
before the tribunal of the nation ; and on being
forbidden to preach in the name of Jesus, they
make answer and say, " Whether it be right in
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the
things which we have seen and heard V A simple
yet strong expression, which will resound through
all ages, and never fail of acquiring for the truth,
highminded champions ready to sacrifice even life
in its defence.
The resistance of the Jew, however, was a source
of spiritual wealth to the Gentile; the storm of
persecution disperses the apostles among infidel
nations, and the light of the Gospel accompanies
them. At their voice, the pagan world is aroused,
nations tremble, and the darkness of superstition
begins to disappear. The east and the west, Asia,
Egypt, Greece, Italy, soon receive the Gospel ;
Antioch, Ephesus, Athens, Corinth, Thessalonica,
Alexandria, Rome, see arise among them wor
shippers in spirit and in truth. About ten years
after the death of His master, St. Peter addresses
his first epistle to the faithful dispersed through
1 See Acts, chap. ii. verse 41 ; also Acts, chap. iv. verses 4. 19, 20.
VOL. II. P

210 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
St. John founds and governs the churches of Asia
Minor. St. Paul writes letters to those which
he has established in the most famous cities of the
empire ; Rome also will hear his voice, he will
there be fettered and imprisoned, but the word of
God will not be enchained with him : Peter will,
in his turn, arrive there ; and here this prince
of the apostolic college will fix his seat ; and hence,
as from the centre of the Christian universe, the
evangelic light will be diffused ; and by a succes
sion of conquests, widely differing from those of
Scipio and of Paulus Emilius, Rome having be
come the capital of a spiritual empire, without
limits and without end, will really be the eternal
city. The apostles, the immediate disciples of Jesus
Christ, die, but their zeal does not die with them ;
there will spring up from their ashes, not avengers
armed for the extirmination of their enemies, but
the generous inheritors of their labours, their zeal,
and their devotion. What a list of witnesses of their
prodigious success am I enabled to produce to you! In
it we may find the names of Justin, Irenaeus, Clement
of Alexandria, Tertullian, Arnobius, Eusebius, and
many others celebrated both for knowledge and
enlightenment. Several among them, brought up
in paganism, after having cultivated human philo
sophy, ended by embracing that religion which
they had at first disdained, and which they saw

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 211
diffuse itself with so glorious a rapidity throughout
the universe.
About fifty years only after the death of the
evangelist St. John, what said St. Justin in his
dialogue with the Jew Tryphon? These are his
words : " I call to witness the different people of
the earth, Greeks or barbarians, or any other race
of men, whatever may be their denomination or
their manners, whatever may be their ignorance
of the arts or of agriculture, whether they dwell
under tents, or whether, wandering in the midst of
desarts, they transport their household in caravans ;
and I maintain, that there does not exist a nation
in which prayers have not been offered, in the name
of Jesus Christ, to the Father and the Creator of
all things 1." Do not let us say with some unbe
lievers, that this is a pompous exaggeration, a sally
of the imagination, the fiction of a pious but
inexact writer, who measured his belief by his
desires; for there would be more malignity than
justice in this reflection. Christians are aware
that this passage of St. Justin contains a form of
speech similar to those well-known expressions, that
Alexander conquered the world, that Rome became
the mistress of the universe ; we know what the
common acceptation of these terms is, they always
mean, that Alexander vanquished, and that Rome
reigned over, vast countries of the world. Thus the
1 Dial, cum Tryph. n. 117.
P2

212 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
mode of expression adopted by St. Justin, would
imply nothing more, than that, a century after the
death of Jesus Christ, the Gospel had penetrated
into a great number of countries, civilized as well
as barbarous; and this admission is all that we
require. It accords well with the general character of
infidelity, to wish thus to obscure a fact avowed
in so positive a manner by a contemporary author,
his testimony being supported by that of so many
others, whose fidelity is as irreproachable as his
own. I have already cited that of Clement of
Alexandria, a writer of the same century. We
learn afterwards from Arnobius and Eusebius \ that
the Gospel in the three first centuries had spread
far beyond the Roman empire, among the Persians,
the Parthians, the Scythians, and many other people
whom they do not mention by name.
In reference to the Roman empire in particular,
I content myself with the testimony of Tertullian.
" We are but of yesterday," said he, " and we fill
all your empire — cities, isles, castles, towns, villages,
camps, tribes, decuries, palaces, the senate and the
bar ; we leave you your temples only ; we might,
without arms and without revolt, but by separation
only, conquer you. If being so numerous we should
withdraw into any other part of the world, the

1 Arnob. adv. Gentes, lib. ii. cap. xii.— Euseb. Demonst. Evang.
Mb. ii. cap. v.

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 213
loss of so great a number of citizens, would
endanger your dominion; their simple secession
would punish you ; you would tremble at the soli
tude, to which this universal silence would consign
you, and at the deathlike stupor in which your
empire would be wrapt 1." I admit that Tertullian
may have had a fervid mind, that he may have been
somewhat inclined to declamation ; I admit even, if
you will have it so, that there may be some
oratorical exaggeration here. Still Tertullian was
not a madman, and what folly would it have been
in him, thus, in an apologetic work presented to
the most powerful and the most enlightened men
of the empire, to advance, in reference to the
extent of Christianity and the number of its
votaries, a statement, the falsity of which might
be made apparent to every one !
Observe too, how the same writer expresses
himself on this subject, with regard to another
circumstance. More than a century before the
reign of Constantine, Scapula, the Governor of
Africa, was inclined to become a persecutor of the
Christians ; Tertullian addresses a letter to him in
the hope of disarming his wrath ; he asks him, how
many axes and swords it would require to immolate
so many thousands of victims, of every rank, and of
every dignity ; he dwells upon the inviolable fidelity
of Christians, who had never abused their strength
1 Apolog. cap. xxxvii.

214 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
or their number, by betraying the empire ; " For,"
says he, " we compose the greater part of almost
every state, pars pene major civitatis cujusque V
I would here make one decisive reflection, which
is, that the ancient apologists of religion have
availed themselves of its astonishing propagation,
and have set out from this as from a most striking
and notorious fact, which nobody could question,
in order to make men feel that their religion pos
sessed a power all divine, and that it was well
calculated to subdue minds and reform hearts.
In spite of the accordance of all ecclesiastical
monuments, as to the rapidity with which Christ
ianity was propagated in the earliest ages, does the
unbeliever, Without well-knowing why, still hesi
tate ? If he would but open his eyes, we possess
that which would enlighten him, namely, the most
positive testimony of pagan antiquity. I might
cite Tacitus, who informs us, that at the origin of
Christianity, under the reign of Nero, people were
astonished at discovering in Rome so great a mul
titude of Christians, multitudo ingens2. I might cite
Pliny the younger, Governor of Bithynia; about
sixty years after the first preaching of the Apostles,
he informs the Emperor Trajan, that Christianity
was professed by a great number of persons, of
every age and of every condition, omnis ordinis3,

Ad Scapul. n. 2. » Annal. lib. xv. cap. xliv.
3 Plin. lib. x. epist. 97.

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 215
that this new worship spread like a contagion, not
only through towns, but through villages and ham
lets, so that he had found the temples of the gods
abandoned. I might cite Lampridius1, author of
the life of Alexander Severus : this prince being
favourably inclined towards the Christians, had con
ceived the design of building a temple to Jesus
Christ, but was dissuaded from so doing, by the
priests of the false gods, who assured him, that if
he executed this project, all his subjects would be
come Christians, and all the temples of their gods
be deserted ; so eagerly did the pagans crowd to
the Christian church, and such was the fear of
seeing Christianity become universal, which the
great increase of Christians inspired among the
priests of the idols ! I might cite even the very
edicts of the emperors. Eusebius, a contemporary
writer, has preserved two of Maximin the Second ;
the first is an edict of persecution, which was en
graved upon a pillar at Tyre, and which Eusebius
himself read. The tyrant in it deplores the evils of
the empire brought on, as he supposes, by the per
nicious errors of the Christians, " which," said he,
"penetrate into men's minds, and spread a kind
of darkness and confusion over the whole world,"
universum prope diwerim orbem terrarum confusione
quddam oppressit2. The second edict is a letter of

1 Lamprid. in Alex. Sever, cap. xliii.
2 Hist. Eccles. Lib. IX. cap. vii.

216 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
tolerance, inspired by policy, in which Maximin, at
its commencement, states, that the emperors Dio-
clesian and Maximian had determined to denounce
vengeance against Christianity, seeing that almost
all men had abandoned the worship of the gods to
become Christians, omnes fere homines, relicto deorum
cultu1. I ask you, if all these monuments of anti
quity, whether pagan or Christian, relative to the
times preceding the conversion of Constantine, do
not prove, that even before the reign of this prince,
the Christians were very numerous in the different
provinces of the Roman empire ? How comes it to
pass, that the English writer, whose refutation I
have now chiefly in view, has not cited and dis
cussed the testimony I have just presented to you?
If he was ignorant of it, he is a judge without
knowledge; if he was aware of it, and did not
adduce it, he is an historian without fidelity. With
more reflection, would he have dared to say, that
before the conversion of Constantine, the empire
computed only the twentieth part of its inhabitants
to be Christians ? On this point, he abandons him
self to the most vague and false conjectures, of
which I will give you some few specimens.
Our historian is inclined to believe, that at the
middle of the third century, Rome had at least a
million of inhabitants ; and, according to a descrip
tion of the Roman clergy of that era, which we find
1 Hist. Eccles. cap. x.

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 217
in a letter of Pope Cornelius, he presumes, that not
more than about fifty thousand Christians were to
be found in Rome, which makes the twentieth part
of its population ; but, if he had read the whole of
this letter, he would have seen, that the multitude
of Christians there was immense, and nearly innu
merable, immen s etpene innumerabili populo1. These
are the express words of this pontiff. If, as is
pretended, Rome, towards the middle of the third
century, computed even a twentieth part of its
population to be Christian, the Gospel must, fifty
years later, and this still before the conversion of
Constantine, have made prodigious progress; for,
according to the formal testimony of Eusebius, a
contemporary author, the tyrant Maxentius affected
at first to be a Christian, in order to please the
people of Rome2.
But the following is the principal argument of
this writer. According to him, towards the end of
the fourth century, the celebrated city of Antioch
contained about five hundred thousand inhabitants ;
and, he pretends, that according to a passage of
St. Chrysostom, it reckoned only a hundred thou
sand Christians. He maintains too, that in those
great cities which had originally received the Gospel,
the religion must have spread with more facility,
and in a much more rapid manner, than in other

Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. VI. cap. xliii.
Ibid. Lib, VIII. cap. xiv.

218 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
less considerable cities, in towns, or in rural diss
tricts; and that tbe most favourable calculation
which can be drawn from this example, does not
permit us to suppose, that, out of all the subjects
of the empire, more than a twentieth part was en
rolled under the banners of the Cross, before the
important conversion of Constantine
What must we think then of all these details ? I
shall not raise a question as to the population of
Antioch ; I will also spare you the discussion of
the passage of Chrysostom, on which our unbeliever
mistakenly relies. I now proceed to a decisive
point of the question ; Julian, whose conduct has
acquired him the surname of the Apostate, lived
before St. Chrysostom, and he has proved, that
already in his time, the city of Antioch, far from
computing only the fifth part of its inhabitants to
be Christian, was almost wholly so. History, in
fact, attests, that Julian, when at Antioch, was as
surprised as he was indignant to find, that it was
opposed to the worship of the gods whom he wished
to restore ; above all, he never forgives it the blood
stained mockeries in which it permitted itself to
indulge, at the expense of his whimsical taste for
idolatry. What does he do ? hiding his rage under
the mantle of his philosophy, he avenges himself
on Antioch, by a satire which is still extant, and
known by the name of The Misopogon; in this,
addressing the inhabitants, he tells them, " you wor
ship Christ instead of Apollo and Jupiter * * * *

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 219
I know that I have displeased the greater part, or
rather almost all of you, both your senate and your
rich men ; for the greater number of your people,
or rather, all the inhabitants of your city, having
abjured the worship of the gods, are offended at
seeing that I am attached to it." I ask you, what
are we to believe respecting the state of Christian
ity at Antioch, and what are we to believe respect
ing this modern author, who thus hazards his con
jectures and his calculations, or what of Julian, who
was perfectly acquainted with, and even an eye
witness of the facts which he advances ? Thus the
learned and judicious Fleury has said in his history,
" Julian, seeing that all Antioch was Christian, took
an aversion to it."
I cannot terminate this discussion without observ
ing, that infidels are not in accordance on this point.
There are some among them who have not believed
in the sincerity of the conversion of Constantine,
and have pretended that it was an act of policy, that
in declaring himself . in favour of Christianity, he
had aimed at conciliating the Christians ; but where
would be the policy of this, if, as the English
writer will have it, nineteen twentieths of the
empire was still pagan ? Let us learn then, to dis
trust these rash authors, who boast of their enlight
enment, and yet diffuse around them nothing but
darkness ; who affect a great independence of opi
nion, only to fall into the most pitiable errors, and
who array themselves in all the externals of an
1

220 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
erudite criticism, but yet are so ridiculous as to
dispute the best verified facts of history. In
the learned discourse which he has placed at the
head of his Dictionary qf Heresies, Pluquet has said,
in express terms, " the Christians form the greatest
part of the empire." We do not pretend to any
precise or minute decision of this question, but con
fine ourselves to the assertion, that even under the
pagan emperors, the Christian religion had made
immense progress in the different countries of the
empire, without speaking of those people, beyond
the limits of the Roman sway, among whom it had
already been established.
Let us now proceed to the consideration of the
wonders which its propagation must present to every
mind not blinded by passion or by prejudice
By consulting history, experience, and the human
heart, we may easily discover the means, by which
the celebrated personages, who, from time to time,
have appeared upon earth, have been enabled to
succeed in their designs. There are certain springs,
which when put into play by skilful hands, act
most powerfully upon the human species. Men
are either subdued by force, directed by policy,
hurried on by the cry of liberty, beguiled by the
bait of pleasure and worldly possessions, or daz
zled by the splendour of talents and knowledge.
Such are the various human means of success. It
is by these that the ancient philosophers have esta
blished schools, that legislators have governed the

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 221
minds of their respective people, that warriors have
been conquerors, and that Mahomet, in particular,
has founded his religion and his empire. But if no
one of these human resources has contributed to
the establishment of Christianity, is it not reason
able to suppose that it was effected supernaturally
and divinely ?
For the purpose of placing this truth in the full
est light, I am about to advance a supposition,
which, should it be presented to you for the first
time, may perhaps be deemed somewhat striking.
I shall humbly dare to attribute to Jesus Christ,
words which certainly never issued from his holy
mouth ; but we are aware of the amiable condescen
sion with which He conversed with men, how He
answered their questions, and entered into a kind
of discussion with them on the titles of His Divine
Mission ; and if the supposition which I am about
to hazard, should tend to make His glory and His
power still more manifest, I trust I shall be par
doned for adducing it.
Transporting myself then in thought to those
ancient times, in which all nations were idolatrous, I
suppose, that at the moment in which Jesus com
mences his passage through Judea, for the purpose
of there announcing His religion, he is met by a
philosopher, deeply versed in that knowledge which
the world esteems; I suppose Him to hold the
Mowing conversation with this philosopher : —
"What," inquires the philosopher of our Saviour,

222 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
" what is your design in thus passing through the
towns and villages, of Judea; for the purpose of
teaching the people a new doctrine?" — "My design,"
answers Jesus, " is to reform the morals of the whole
earth, to change the religion of all nations, to de
stroy the worship of the gods whom they adore, and
to make them bow down before the only true God ;
and astonishing as my enterprise may appear, I
affirm, that I shall succeed in it."
"But, are you," rejoins the philosopher, "wiser
than Socrates, more eloquent than Plato, more
learned than all those so celebrated for genius and for
talent, by whom Rome and Greece have been ren
dered illustrious?" — "T," replies Jesus, "pride not
myself on teaching human wisdom ; I intend to
convince men, that the wisdom of those vaunted
sages is but folly ; and the reformation which they
have never dared to attempt in one single city, I
mean to work through the whole world by myself,
or by my apostles."
" But your disciples will at least, by the brilliancy
of their talents, their renown, their dignity, and
their riches, emit so splendid a light, that the Por
tico and the Lyceum will soon be eclipsed ; and the
people easily gained ?" — " No, my messengers shall
be men, both ignorant and poor, men taken from
the lower order of the people, and of the Jewish
people too, which you know to be despised by all
other nations; and, nevertheless, it is by their
means, that I intend to triumph over the philoso-

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
phers and powers of the earth, as over the bulk of
the people."
" You must, then, undoubtedly reckon upon in
numerable legions, more invincible than those of
Alexander, or of Caesar, who are to carry with
them terror and dismay, and thus forcibly compel all
nations to fall down at your feet?" — " No ! I have
never thought of any such means ! I intend that
my messengers shall be as innocent and unresist
ing as lambs, that they shall permit their enemies
even to slaughter them, and I shall make it a crime
in them to draw a sword in the establishment of
the reign of my law."
" You, then, hope that the emperors, the magis
trates, the senate, and the governors of provinces
will back your enterprise with all their authority ?"
" No. All the powers of the earth will rise in arms
against me, — my disciples will be dragged before
their tribunals, they will be hated, persecuted, and
put to death ; and for three whole centuries, my
religion and its votaries will be bathed in streams
of blood."
" But what will there be, then, so attractive in
this doctrine, as to enable it thus to convert the
whole earth ?" — " My doctrine," replies Jesus, "will
rest upon certain incomprehensible mysteries. Its
morality will be far purer than any hitherto taught ;
my disciples will publish respecting me, that I was
born in a manger, that I led a life of poverty and
suffering, and they may add, that I expired upon

224 THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
a cross, for by this death am I to die. All this
will be loudly and boldly announced, — all this will
be believed among men, and it is the very person
who is now speaking to you, whom the world must
one day adore."
"That is to say," replies the philosopher, in a tone
of pity, " you pretend to enlighten sages by boors,
to conquer the powers of the earth by weak,
unassisted individuals, to attract the multitude by
combating its vices, to make disciples by promis
ing them sufferings, contempt, insults, and death ;
you pretend to dethrone all the gods of Olympus,
and cause yourself to be worshipped in their
stead; you, who, as you say yourself, are to be
nailed to the cross as a malefactor, or the vilest
of slaves. Go ! your project is an empty folly,
and public ridicule will soon do it justice ! To
succeed in your enterprize you must regenerate
all human nature; and certainly the reformation
of the moral world by the means which you pro
pose, is as impossible as the reformation of this
material world ; and rather than believe that you
will succeed, I would believe that you could shake
the whole earth, and make the sun and the stars
fall down from the firmament !"
This, I figure to myself, is the manner in which
the philosopher to whom Jesus communicated His
design of converting the pagan world to Christ
ianity, would both have thought and spoken. And
certainly, by consulting human reason only, all

THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 225
the wisdom would be on the side of the philoso
pher. Yet, that which appeared humanly impos
sible is precisely that which has actually happened ;
human wisdom has been confounded, all ordinary
ideas have been subverted ; the foolishness of the
cross has triumphed over the universe, and has
become the immortal monument of the divinity
of Christianity. You may now comprehend that
memorable saying of a learned writer, " If, in at
taching myself to Christianity, I am deceived, it is
thou, Lord, who hast deceived me ; for it possessed
traits and characters which thy hand alone could
have impressed upon it."

vol. n. Q

CHAPTER XXII.

THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY THE
WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT.

When Jesus Christ, eighteen centuries ago, ap
peared upon earth, all nations, both civilized and
barbarous, with one only exception, that of the
Jews, were plunged in all the darkness of idolatry.
Although the pagan religion was nothing more
than a mass of the grossest errors, which could
not preserve the respect of an enlightened reason ;
still it appears to me to have possessed everything
calculated to retain and confirm the affections and
homage of the people. Deeply enrooted by habit,
— sustained by all the weight of antiquity, — sup
ported by all the authority of the laws, — embel
lished by all the pomp of feasts and ceremonies,
by the charms of poetry, by games, by the plea
sures and fascinations of the theatre, — defended
by the interested zeal of the high-priests and

THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED, &c 227
ministers of the false gods, — how agreeable and
how dear must idolatry have still been to that
frail and corrupted nature, whose every inclination
it fostered and flattered! It is, however, in the
midst of this chaos of superstition and of vice, that
Jesus sends His disciples to diffuse the true light.
It is before these beguiled nations, so fully con
firmed in the ways of falsehood and of vice, that
the apostles are to bear testimony to the holiness,
to the doctrine, and to the miracles of their Divine
Master : " Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and
in the uttermost part of the earth 1." What a
design is this ! The changing the religion, the
morals, the customs, the habits of the whole pagan
world ; and that by the preaching of a few obscure
men, whose lot has been rudeness and ignorance !
How powerful the obstacles ! how weak the means !
how apparently impossible the success ! yet should
the enterprise succeed, how great the miracle !
That our religion was established in the midst of
pagan nations with the most astonishing rapidity ;
that even before the conversion of Constantine, it
had made immense progress among the various
people of the then known world, and more parti
cularly in the provinces of the Roman empire, is a
fact, which is proved to us by incontestible monu
ments, both of profane and Christian antiquity.
1 Acts, chap. i. verse 8,
q2

228 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
All those apologists of religion who have appeared
in the early centuries of our faith, have supposed
and advanced this wonderful propagation of the
Gospel, as a striking, notorious, and indisputable
fact, as a fact calculated to make men feel, that
the rapidity of its triumphs over the hearts and
minds of pagan nations, betrayed and manifested
the power and intervention of God. We are not
then to regard the foundation of Christianity as
merely one of those revolutions which are brought
about by human passions, and which, from time to
time, change the face of all the kingdoms of the world.
I shall in this conference prove to you, that it
was God alone who could have thus founded it, and
show you the frivolity of those explanations of its
establishment, which are given us by unbelievers.
Yes, the most astonishing spectacle which the
history of the human race, from its very origin,
can present to us, is that of the Christian religion,
struggling from the moment of its birth against the
combined opposition of all errors, and all vices, dissi-
patingwith its light the darkness of paganism, causing
the purest virtues to bud forth and blossom out ofthe
bosom of the most profound corruption, laughing to
scorn the subtlety of the sophist and the ignorance
of the multitude, penetrating, by the arms of per
suasion alone, into the heart of the most barbarous,
as well as the most civilized nations, extending its
empire on all sides, in spite of the resistance of
every prejudice, and with every passion in league

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 229
against it ; and yet, after the conflicts and victories
of three hundred years, at last sitting with Con
stantine triumphant on the throne of the masters
of the world. But by what power has this mar
vellous revolution been wrought ? On this subject,
I shall address unbelievers with an argument, the
groundwork of which belongs to St. Augustin.
Would you have our religion to be established by
the help and means of the miracles related in our
Holy Scriptures, and attested by the first monu
ments of Christian antiquity ; or would you have
it to be established without the aid of these
miracles? Take your choice. If these miracles
were really wrought by Jesus Christ, by His
apostles, and their first disciples, why do you
hesitate to profess a religion which you thus admit
to be stamped with the seal of God himself? Do
you maintain that these miracles are but fables ?
By so doing, you are shaking the very foundations
of all history; you condemn yourself to believe
nothing of all the historic narratives of antiquity ;
for where will you find facts better verified than
those of Jesus Christ and His disciples? But, I
grant you for a moment all you require; if the
religion has been established independently of the
aid of the miracles, you must admit that this
establishment is itself the greatest of all miracles.
In whatever point of view you look at religion,
whether you contemplate it with reference to the
persons of its first promulgators, as to the doctrine

230 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
which they taught, or as to the epoch in which they
appeared, you must perceive that our faith, at first,
had every thing against, and nothing for it ; so that
had it not been sustained by an all-divine hand
it must have perished.
I say in the first place, that the Christian religion
had its own founders even against it. Jesus Christ
formed the design of reforming the pagan world by
His disciples; but whence does He select the
ambassadors, whom He is about to depute to the
nations and to the kings of the earth ? Will He
select them from the senate of Rome, from the
Areopagus, the Portico, or the Lyceum, or from the
chief men ofthe synagogue? It would seem, that for
an enterprise so extraordinary, it would be necessary
to choose men whose illustrious birth, distinguished
education, general enlightenment, oratorical talents,
and worldly experience, might acquire them im
portance and weight in the eyes of all men. We
delight in hearing a doctrine announced, and pro
mulgated by men of a superior order : the patronage
of a great name gives a powerful impulse to its
diffusion ; a high reputation for talent and know
ledge may impose upon the multitude, and even
upon philosophers ; but the ignorance of the teacher
brings disgrace on the doctrine, and men are ashamed
to become the disciples of a master whom they
despise. But the messengers of Jesus are neither
Jewish doctors, nor learned philosophers, nor polished
orators, nor skilful politicians; they are illiterate

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 231
men, without education, without credit, without
riches, without power, without any of those ad
vantages which are so effectual in gaining an
influence over the minds of men. We Christians
of the present day look at the apostles through
the veneration and homage of eighteen centuries ;
we believe that they were invested with super-.
natural power, given to them for the establishment
of the Gospel ; but infidels do not recognise in
them any miraculous gift : hence we must divest
them of that celestial glory and splendour, which,
according to us, had been vouchsafed to them by
God himself. What then would they be, when
reduced to their personal and natural qualities?
They would be very ordinary men, — several of them
fishers by profession, who were acquainted with
nothing but their boats and their nets ; rude and
ignorant as those men of like occupation who dwell
on the banks of our own waters, but perhaps less
adroit and less acute. These, however, are the
men who undertake the conquest of the world,
and the reform of pagan nations, — these are the
men who commence, with the most surprising
success, that stupendous moral and religious revolu
tion, which is perpetuated from age to age and from
nation to nation, down even to us. Let us honestly
confess, that there is here something at variance
with all human ideas.
Let us not either deceive ourselves by drawing
false and ridiculous parallels. Thus, that some few

THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
factious men, belonging to the very dregs of the
people, may succeed in exciting a tumult, in forming
a seditious mob into a sort of short-lived sect, dis
tinguished by its licentiousness and ferocity, might
perhaps occur; but what has this ephemeral suc
cess, the manifest result of violence, of debauchery,
and of passion, in common with the conversion of
the pagan world, with that of so many cities and
people opposed in manners, interests, and language ;
a conversion too, wrought by men, who instead of
flattering the passions, opposed and thwarted them,
and who, instead of having recourse to violence,
breathed nothing but peace, humility, and kindness ?
Thus, when Mahomet, holding in one hand the cup
of pleasure, and in the other the sword of slaughter,
— this destroying what that could not seduce, —
succeeds in forming among a people sunk in the
lowest depths of ignorance, an informal, gross, and
voluptuous religion, in this we can distinguish
nothing more than an event produced by human
means : yet the empire of the false prophet of
Mecca, is of itself a striking proof of the wonders
which genius, aided by cunning, by the passions,
and by the force of arms, can effect among men.
But, as Pascal has well observed, in answer to an
objection which has been shamelessly and very
frequently advanced in modern times, " Jesus Christ
and Mahomet have adopted means so totally oppo
site, that where Mahomet succeeded, Jesus Christ
must have failed, and Christianity have perished,

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 233
had it not been sustained by a power all-
divine 1."
Christianity, at its birth, had against it, its own
founders ; for they were ignorant, and apparently
contemptible men, whom a proud and haughty
world would naturally repulse.
I have said, in the second place, that it had
against it, its own doctrine. To-day, when, from
the impressions of infancy, education, and habits,
we are familiarized with the Christian doctrine,
with its mysteries, its morality, and its practice,
and when we see it consecrated by the homage of so
many preceding ages and so many nations ; we
cannot justly conceive or feel how revolting it must
originally have been ; to do this, we must transport
ourselves in imagination, to the time at which it
was first announced to mankind. Our religion, on
its first presentation to the world, must have ap
peared surcharged with incomprehensible dogmas,
alike shocking to a haughty and inquisitive reason,
all far removed from universally received ideas,
and all striking at the deeply-rooted beliefs and
prejudices of the whole world. The Jews are wait
ing for a Messiah, all-powerful, and all-magnificent;
the pomp of their oracles seemed to justify their
ambitious hopes ; and thus, when, contrary to their
desires, a poor crucified man, a man who had been
condemned by the supreme council of their nation,
1 Pensees, chap. xvii. p. 7.

234 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
by their priests and doctors of the law, is presented
to them as this Messiah, how incredible a doctrine
must this have appeared !
But how far more revolting still must it have
seemed to the pagans ! Their religion is so com
modious, so replete with fascination and voluptuous
ness,- — it is that of their fathers, of their country, of
their infancy, of magistrates, and of public authori
ties, — the religion, in fact, of the whole world ; and
yet here are a few men wholly undistinguished and
unknown, who would destroy all the objects of their
worship and their adorations, overthrow all their
altars, abolish their feasts and solemnities, detach
them from all their former habits, and that ancient
belief, which to them was so charming and so dear !
And all for what ? to make them receive a religion
of privations and of sufferings, a religion which
would expose them to the loss of liberty, property,
and life ; and to make them adore a person put to
death in Judea ; what could appear to them more
revolting than all this ? Where is then that invin
cible power which enabled the Apostles to triumph
over all this resistance? The idolatrous world is
living at its ease, is taking its pleasure, is satisfying
all its desires ; and its passions are its gods. The
most irregular desires, and those vices which they
inspire, are in the eyes of the pagan but innocent
blandishments ; and yet here are reformers without
authority, who come and demand a sacrifice of the
dearest objects of their affections, pretending that

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 235
they ought scrupulously to regulate every word,
deed, and even thought. How violently, how natu
rally, would they from their hearts have exclaimed
against a yoke so overpowering, so intolerable as
this !
To be modest even to humility, charitable even
to the loving of enemies, kind even to the pardon
ing of injuries, patient even to the stifling of a
murmur, disinterested to the preference of even
indigence to injustice, chaste even to the condem
nation of an involuntary thought, to be so faithful
to the laws, as even to die in their defence ; these
are virtues of which paganism knew little in theory,
and still less in practice, virtues which their philo
sophers could never inspire, but which the Gospel
promulgates through the most depraved cities of
the Roman empire, and which it renders common
and popular in the most uncivilized as in the most
polished regions of the world. No, in the ages of
Christian antiquity, we are not to look for the dis
ciples of the Gospel, either in the obstreperous and
licentious feasts of Bacchus, in the temples and
bowers consecrated to voluptuousness, in the circus,
soddened with streams of human blood spilt for the
brutal gratification of a self-styled civilized people,
nor in those theatres in which profane love and
criminal passions were personified and honoured ; —
the idolaters converted to the Gospel appear to
have changed their very nature ; they are, in fact,
new men. But how could the pagan world thus

236 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
arouse itself from the long intoxication of passion
and of pleasure, and become so docile, as to bear
the yoke of Christian maxims ? We may here say
with Bossuet1, "The Cross has triumphed over
hearts, and I account it far more glorious to have
gained such a victory as this, than to have disturbed
the whole order of the universe ; because I can see
nothing in the universe more intractible, more
proud, and more indomitable, than the heart of
man." Religion then had against it its own doctrine,
which being humiliating to the mind, and revolting
to the heart, must naturally have been repulsive to
pride and sensuality.
I have said, in the third place, that it had against
it, the very epoch in which it appeared upon earth.
If Christianity had been first announced in times
of ignorance and barbarity, unbelievers would
undoubtedly have availed themselves of this cir
cumstance, for the purpose of explaining its esta
blishment, and its mighty conquests over paganism ;
but we know that it appeared in the age of
Augustus, at the era in which both Europe and
Asia were most enlightened, and when a taste for
the sciences, for literature, and the arts had been
most universally diffused. What had not religion
to fear? what opposition was it not destined to
experience, on the part of that host of philosophers,
1 Premier Sermon, pour l'Exalt. de la Croix, page 1.

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 237
of rhetoricians, and scholars, dispersed through all
the countries of the east and of the west ? if, after
eighteen years of glory and of triumph, which
should, one would think, place it out of the reach
of all insult, we have seen, in our day, legions of
sophists arise in arms against it, what prodigious
efforts must not these minds so subtle, so haughty,
and so much the slaves of their passions, have made
against it at its birth ?
In order to persuade us, that the time of its ap
pearance was favourable to it, some have pretended
to say, that idolatry was then tottering to its fall,
that the people were secretly disposed to abandon
it, and that their philosophers were more than ever
disabused respecting it. This observation is, how
ever, wholly disproved by history. It is said, that
paganism was on its decline; but history attests,
that during the three first centuries of the Christian
era, all the Roman emperors, without any excep
tion, professed idolatry, and defended it as the
public religion of the state ; that during these three
centuries the Christians were persecuted precisely
on account of their aversion to paganism, that they
were hunted down as infidels, and accused of irri
tating the gods by deserting their altars, and of thus
drawing down upon the empire the scourges which
then desolated it. It has been said, that their phi
losophers were disabused respecting idolatry ; they
did not certainly believe in it so fully and so ex
clusively as did the people ; but their maxim was,

238 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
to respect the established worship, and not to in
fringe upon popular superstitions, whether they
were themselves disabused respecting them or not;
Some adopted a strange mixture of Judaism, Christ
ianity, and paganism; others, Celsus, Julian, Por
phyry, and Hierocles, for instance, opposed our
religion with all their knowledge and their wit.
After his apostacy what efforts did not Julian make
to annihilate the religion of Christ, and restore the
gods of paganism ! And are we not aware of the
number of sophists by whom he was supported, who,
far from showing themselves disabused, seconded
his enterprise with all their power ?
We must also remark, and this remark is de
cisive of the question, that with the philosophers it
was one thing to recognise the vanity of idols and
of popular faiths, and another to embrace Christ
ianity. After the reign of Augustus, manners were
pervaded with an effeminacy, the souls of men with
a degradation, the schools of philosophy with a
spirit of pride, impiety, and epicurism, which were
all far from being favourable to the simplicity, the
sanctity, and the severity of the evangelic doctrine.
The philosopher could not cease to be an idolater,
without becoming a Christian. The barbarous savage
is not so far removed from the Gospel as the cold,
indifferent wit ; the simplicity of the ignorant man
is far more accessible to truth than the pride of the
sophist ; and when the corruption of the talented
mind is confirmed by that of the heart, how great

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 239
an obstacle does it oppose to the belief of those
lofty truths, which are as captivating to the reason
as they are uncompromising to the passions of men !
Yes, from the idolatry, however insincerely pro
fessed, to the Christianity, which is embraced, prac
tised, and abandoned only with life, the interval is
immense ; and yet philosophers, legislators, the
rich and the happy of the age, have, at the voice of
some few obscure and despicable Jews, o'erleapt
this space ! This is the wonder, this it is, which
can never be explained by purely human causes.
We must conclude then, that the Christian reli
gion did not find, either in the enlightenment of
its founders, the attractions of its doctrine, or the
circumstances of the period of its origin, the means
of its establishment. It had not on its side any of
those things which usually induce the success of
human enterprises ; on the contrary, the prejudices
of the mind, the passions of the heart, the force of
habit, the authority of example, the policy of
governments, were all against it. How then was
it established ? We must here have recourse either
to miracles or to a secret operation in the souls of
men, on the part of Him, who is called in our
Holy Scriptures, the Father of Light and the God
of Virtue. The Gospel has triumphed over the
pagan world, and this triumph alone is the eternal
monument of its divinity.
But, that you may feel this truth more deeply,
I shall expose the frivolity of the explanations of
7

240 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
its establishment, which are given us by unbe
lievers. Infidels have omitted nothing which might tend
to obscure the glory resulting to Christianity from
the wonders of its establishment. I have already
adduced some of their frivolous objections ; but, it
is essential to the triumph of the Gospel, that we
should still further discuss their explanations of its
surprising propagation. They tell us seriously, that
the Gospel, by its novelty alone, must have excited
the most lively and public curiosity, and thus made
partisans ; that a reckless enthusiasm having, in the
first place, seized some few exalted minds, was soon
diffused; that when once the sect of Christians
was established in some few places, it owed its
rapid increase to fanaticism, and its virtues to the
spirit of party; for what could not the terrible
threats and the magnificent promises of a future
life, with which the preaching of the Gospel was
accompanied, effect upon the minds of men ! Such
is the language of infidelity ; a vain attempt to ex
plain that which is inexplicable by any human
causes. But to resume.
I am aware, that novelty possesses certain pecu^
liar attractions ; but I also know that a doctrine,
although new, does not easily make proselytes,
unless it is in accordance with the tastes and incli
nations of those to whom it is announced. The
heart readily persuades itself of the truth of that
which it desires and loves ; but ever hardens itself

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 241
against the maxims which thwart it. Would you
win the multitude ? flatter its inclinations. Would
you alienate it? oppose its vices. Falsehood is
agreeable only so long as it is flattering. We
may at certain times and seasons be captivated by
the beauties of a pure morality, but if we love it
in speculation, we are often tempted to reject it in
practice, and admire its exemplification in others
far more than in ourselves. We may be easy of
belief in those indifferent things, which impose no
duty ; but the maxims which command painful
sacrifices ever find a secret resistance in the heart.
That men, greedy of novelty, should allow them
selves to be captivated by those doctrines which
are flattering and commodious, which promise
licentious indulgence, and impunity ; this is a
natural, and very common circumstance : but that
men should, without motives, without examination,
in spite of all prejudices, and all passions, and in
opposition to all their interests, embrace a religion
which obliges them to the practice of the purest
virtue, and which incessantly exposes them to new
sufferings and new dangers, this is an unexampled
kind of seduction.
The conversion of pagans to the Gospel, has
been regarded as the effect of a kind of reckless
enthusiasm. Thus, according to unbelievers, at
the voice of some few Jews, a species of pious
mania impelled the pagans to abandon the bland
and commodious religion of their fathers, and to
vol. ii. k

242 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
embrace a religion which was diametrically opposed
to all their desires ; and this mania did not only
seize some few cities and towns, but the various
provinces of the Roman empire, civilized as well
as barbarous people ; countries the most opposite,
in manners, character, and language; this mania
also agitated not only some few more exalted and
fervid, but even the most sober minds ; old age
and youth, the magistrates as well as the people ;
the learned as well as the ignorant; this mania,
too, was not confined to any inconsiderable
space of time, but lasted three long centuries,
and eventually succeeded in purifying manners, in
subverting cruel superstitions, in making men bet
ter and more enlightened, in every where raising
more virtuous fathers, more submissive children,
more faithful husbands, more just masters, and
more upright magistrates. We know the homage
which Pliny, the younger, in his famous letter to
Trajan \ has paid to the virtues of the Christians
of his time. Certainly a mania which combines all
these characters at once, which thus regenerates
the human species, bears a strong resemblance to
the highest wisdom ; and thus, you see, that the
early Christians are far less liable to the charge of
madness than their accusers.
Some have dared to call them fanatics ; but in
fanatics there is something sombre and ferocious;
their zeal is violent and sanguinary ; the flame and
1 Epist. Lib. X. ep. xcvii.

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 243
the sword are their agents of success and of con
quest. Fanatics meditate vengeance and perpetrate
crime, in the name of heaven ; they persecute and
slay, conscientiously, and yet remorselessly ; this is
fanaticism. By these traits of malignity and fury,
how could we recognize those early believers, who
breathe nothing but peace, charity, and forgiveness
of injuries, who knew how to suffer and how to
die, their last moments spent in prayer for the
pardon of their murderers? Without doubt they
were zealous in the propagation of the faith ; they
did not look with indifference upon the errors and
the vices of paganism, they felt that they were
ready to sacrifice everything, even life if it was
necessary, to gain souls to Jesus Christ: but, to
extend his empire, they used no other arms than
those of persuasion, of patience, and of prayer;
they knew how to shed their own blood, but not
that of their enemies. Can we see anything in their
conduct which savours of anger or of hatred?
Where are the pagans, whom in their fanaticism
they have sacrificed to their religion ? Where are
the persecuting Caesars, whose ruin they have plot
ted and accomplished? Where are the countries
which they have invaded sword in hand, to establish
the reign of the Gospel ? We read of nothing like
this in the annals of the three first ages of the
church, of which alone we are now speaking, and
here again, I can recognize fanaticism, only in the
blind hatred of their detractors.
r 2

244 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
When unbelievers discover that they cannot
avoid feeling some sentiments of admiration, when
contemplating the virtues of these founders of the
primitive churches, they would diminish its value,
by endeavouring to explain them away, by the
stronsr motives which Christians must have had for
acquiring a good reputation and gaining public
esteem ; in a word, by the influence of party spirit ;
but, in reality, what can be more vague and more
unmeaning than this? Party spirit invests men
with the appearances of virtues, rather than gives
the virtues themselves ; it may sometimes reform
the outward man, yet it changes not the heart, but
suffers it to throb on in all its pride and all its
waywardness. Party spirit does nothing more than
conceal the passions beneath a mask, which they
often indignantly throw away, to disclose them
selves in all the hideousness of excess and fury.
Party spirit may inspire the courage to perform
some few brilliant actions, and fortitude enough to
make some few ostentatious sacrifices : but in the
constant and faithful performance of our more
humble and inobtrusive duties ; in that succession
of the simple and modest actions of every day, and
of every moment ; in the practice of all this, there
is but one religion which can sustain us. Party
spirit may make pharisees but cannot make Christ
ians. Lastly; party spirit, however disguised, is
always the same, that is to say, restless, eager,
vindictive, and seditious ; and, who does not know,

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 245
that the Christians of the primitive churches were,
on the contrary, the most mild, the most charitable,
the most patient of men, the most submissive, and
the most faithful of citizens ? We may, in truth,
say, that a holy emulation of doing good incessantly
animated them, and that they sought mutual en
couragement and edification from good examples.
If this is what unbelievers call party spirit, glory, say
I, be to that party spirit, which has thus dissemi
nated through the world virtues before unknown !
Would that our infidels, animated by this species
of party spirit, had shown themselves to be ex
amples of modesty, of disinterestedness, of submis
sion to the laws, of respect to the institutions of
their country, and of devotion to the throne ; would
that they had every where gained disciples, who,
influenced by this same party spirit, and walking in
the steps of their masters, might have presented
the delightful spectacle of the purest and most
heroic virtues ; then, indeed, instead of being known
only by its ravages and its devastations, modern
infidelity might boast of having done some good to
humanity. When the pagans, at the calling of the disciples
of our Saviour, entered in crowds into the Christian
church, when they exposed themselves to perils, to
the hatred of their relatives, to the prosecution of
magistrates, to the loss of their property, their tran
quillity and their lives, they were, doubtless, sus
tained by the hope of one day receiving the reward

246 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY
of so many generous sacrifices. But, I ask, in the
first place, whence did the Apostles and their dis
ciples derive such lofty, pure, firm, and determinate
ideas of this future life, respecting which philoso
phers had hitherto been so vacillating and even
contradictory ? I ask, how comes it, that some few
obscure Jews have been empowered to impress this
doctrine so deeply in the hearts of the people, of
philosophers, of the voluptuous, and the rich among
the pagans ? Is it not wonderful that these ignorant
men should have elevated themselves above the
most illustrious sages of Rome and of Athens ?
Now, to give a direct answer to those who would
explain the propagation of the Gospel, by the effect
which the enumeration and repetition of its pro
mises and its threats must produce upon the minds
of men : I admit, that when a man is once con
vinced of the truth of Christianity, when he once
sincerely believes in its doctrine, and in all that it
tells us respecting a future life, he may be some
what staggered by this explanation ; but they who
do not believe in Christianity, laugh at both its
promises and its threats. The first impulse of the
pagans must have been to ridicule the Apostles and
their doctrine ; and all the hopes and fears of the
future which they endeavoured to awaken within
them, could have affected them no more than all
that had previously been promulgated respecting
the happiness of Elysium, and the misery of Tar
tarus. Thus Tertullian, born a pagan, has, after
1

THE WONDERS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT. 247
his conversion, written these words, " And we also,
we have ridiculed like you, the Christian religion ;
men are not born Christian, they become so 1."
And we have the right to demand, how the pagans
became so. On this subject we may say with St.
Athanasius, "With their voluminous works, phi
losophers have succeeded in inculcating their dogmas
respecting the immortality of the soul, and the
manner of living honestly, within the hearts of an
inconsiderable number of disciples ; yet Jesus Christ,
using ordinary language, and by means of unlearned
men, has persuaded numerous Churches over all
the earth, to despise death, and the things of time,
and to esteem only those of eternity 2."
In vain then do the enemies of Christianity
attempt to hide themselves from the brightness
which encircles it, and which, to the attentive eye,
betrays its celestial origin ; far from being obscured
by the sophisms of infidelity, the glory which results
to the Gospel 'from its wonderful establishment
among pagan nations, still beams in all its splendour.
We ought, then, to reverence as the work of God,
the religion which has for fourteen centuries been
that of our country, which Clovis seated with him
on the throne of France, which Charlemagne pro
tected with all the strength of his mighty arm,
which St. Louis honoured with his heroic virtues ;
to which so many kings have owed the prosperity
' Apolog. 18. 2 De Incarn. verbi. n. 47.

248 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED &c.
of their reigns, or the consolation of their misfor
tunes. Shall this religion then be destined to
perish in the midst of us, by our sacrilegious indif
ference ? Alas, it is not for its fate that we should
be alarmed, but for our own. History attests, that
religion has always known how to repair its losses
by fresh conquests ; it is a sun which leaves one
region in darkness only to illuminate another ; and
wretched would be our lot, should we know this by
fatal experience ! Religion may do without France,
but France cannot do without religion. But no !
Christianity will never perish ; Heaven, which has
already saved it by so many miracles, will, if neces
sary, interpose and save it still, by others yet greater.
Happy then is the nation which finds its models in
its masters, and which has only to walk in their
steps to arrive at glory in time, and happiness in
eternity.

CHAPTER XXIIL

THE MARTYRS.

If I listen to the Christian who is well-versed in
the history of the early ages of the Church, and
zealous for the glory of his religion, he tells me of
the rage and cruelty displayed by the Roman em
perors, magistrates, and people against the disciples
of the Gospel. For three whole centuries, the
blood of Christians flowed in torrents. Nero, Do-
mitian, Decius, and Dioclesian, tortured them with
punishments of the most refined cruelty ; the cross,
the wooden horse, the flaming pile, the iron spike,
the fang of the wild beast, were all put in requisi
tion. If some more indulgent rescripts of imperial
authority induced occasional intervals of peace, the
flame of persecution seems to have been quelled
for a season, only to blaze forth again with redou
bled fury ; and three hundred years of our history,

250 THE MARTYRS.
is nothing more than three hundred years of per
secution. But, in the Christians, what courage and
what heroism ! The patience of their executioners
is wearied sooner than the constancy of the mar
tyrs. What a multitude of innocent victims here
spent their last breath in prayers for the pardon of
their murderers ! They were tormented, but not
subdued ; their sufferings are a lure to draw pagans
to their religion ; the blood of the martyrs is the
seed of Christianity ; for the steel which reaps one
harvest of victims, vivifies the germs of another.
How wonderful was it to see such magnanimity
thus displayed on all sides ; not in incidental
accesses of a transient effervescence, but for the
space of three centuries ; not in some few isolated
parts of the world, but in all the provinces of the
Roman Empire ; not in some few individuals, who,
by their education, their natural strength of mind,
and their condition in life, might have been exalted
above the weakness of other men, but in a multi
tude of persons of all ages and of all classes ; from
youth to old age ; from the hardy warrior to the
timid woman. Why should this heroism be so far
more excellent, and so far more beautiful, than any
thing which the annals of pagan antiquity can pre
sent to us ? As for myself, when I see such courage
united to such virtue, I believe that I have at last
discovered who were the real philosophers, and fully
concur in the testimony which St. Cyprian has
borne to Christians, when he said, " We are not

THE MARTYRS. 251
philosophers in word, but in deed ; we do not only
carry the mantle of wisdom, but we practise her
dictates ; we do not say great things, but we endea
vour to do them V I confess, that this spectacle
of an invincible courage united with the purest vir
tues, both surprises and delights me ; I suspect the
presence of the Divinity: I discover a strength
which cannot proceed from man ; and if the par-
tizans of superstition could have been distinguished
and ennobled by traits so sublime as these, what
would have been the characteristics of the votaries
of the true religion ? thus speaks the Christian.
Should I listen, however, to the infidel on the
same subject, he would tell me ; Christians make a
great noise about their martyrs, as if all religions
did not abound with similar examples. The Jew,
even now, would suffer death in defence of
the law of Moses ; and the Indian still rushes
headlong under the wheels of the triumphant car,
which is loaded with his idols. All the sects of
Christianity cannot profess the truth, inasmuch as
they profess opposite dogmas ; and all, from the
Donatists of the fifth century to the reformers of
the sixteenth, may boast of having been martyrs.
What will not an imagination inflamed with reli
gious sentiments effect? But after all, to what
are your persecutions of the early ages reduced?
The ecclesiastical writers have charged their picture
1 De bono patientiae, p. 247.

252 THE MARTYRS.
with the darkest colours, and credulity repeats
every thing which prejudication and party spirit
have misrepresented and disfigured. What reproach
can you bring against Trajan, Antoninus, Marcus
Aurelius, Adrian, Alexander Severus, and other
emperors ? Can you possibly believe that the masters
of the empire were no better than savage beasts,
maddened with blood and carnage ? Dioclesian
himself was too skilful in the art of reigning to be
such a monster of ferocity. The Christians were
rebels against the laws ; and sometimes provoked
and subjected themselves to their vengeance, by
insulting and mocking the gods and the religion of
the empire. Hated as they were by a people, who
required their blood, several of them, it must be
confessed, were sacrificed from policy ; but this can
afford no ground for triumph : and if the courage
of the martyrs must, after all, be looked upon as
something extraordinary, still it may be explained
by two words — superstition and fanaticism. Thus
speak the philosophers of the eighteenth century.
Which then are we to believe, the Christian or
the infidel ? We will discuss the arguments of each
with the most rigid impartiality, and decide only
after the most severe investigation. What is the
question? In what are the two parties in ac
cordance ? Where does their disagreement com
mence ? That in the early ages of Christianity
persecutions were raised against its votaries ; that
these persecutions cost a considerable number of

THE MARTYRS. 253
Christians their lives, and that these martyrs suffered
death with a courage which astonished every one,
are facts which have been admitted on all sides.
But the duration and violence of these persecutions,
the number and innocence of the sacrificed Christ
ians, and the glory which their death might sub
sequently attach to religion ; these are the points
which must be cleared up. Is it true that the
persecutions instigated against the Church in the
three first centuries, were so numerous or so cruel
as Christians suppose? This is our first question.
What does history distinctly state respecting the
number of the martyrs, the causes and the circum
stances of their death ? This is our second question.
What advantage may the apologists of the Christian
religion deduce from the history of the martyrs ?
This is our third and last question, and this forms
the subject of the present conference.
I do not intend to fatigue your imagination, or
harrow your feelings by a detailed recital of the
bloody executions, and the unheard of cruelties,
which every page of the annals of the primitive
Church presents to us ; still I think it is my duty
to say enough to establish the fact, both of the
duration and of the barbarity of these persecutions ;
and those examples which I do advance will be
strong enough to permit you to take for granted
those which I may be induced to pass over in
silence. Should it be necessary to facilitate your
belief in these matters, and to put you on your

254 THE MARTYRS.
guard against conceding too much to the apparent
improbability of that succession of cruel scenes, of
which the Christian world was the theatre, I shall
only have to remind you of the circumstances
under which the Christian religion appeared, of the
maxims which it inculcated, and of the then
sanguinary manners of the Roman people.
The empire had its gods, its temples, its sacrifices,
and its public religion ; paganism was supported by
the laws, backed by the authority of the emperors
and the magistrates, and confirmed by the credulity
and the habits of the people ; yet the Christians
come and boldly profess a religion altogether new,
and treat that which has so long been established,
as an abominable superstition. Their first duty
was to avoid the temples of the idols ; to be both
in their conversation and their conduct, in distinct
contradiction with the pagans, and to abhor every
thing which was the object of public veneration ;
this alone was enough to raise the pagan universe
in arms against them. The philosopher saw nothing
in these votaries of a crucified God, but a set of
ridiculous and extravagant sectaries; the magistrate
looked upon them as dangerous innovators; the
people as impious enemies of the gods; and the
priests of the idols, as formidable rivals. The most
horrible crimes are imputed to them ; they did not
adore false gods, they are, therefore, accused of
being atheists ; in their religious assemblies they
exhibited the ordinary endearments of fraternal

THE MARTYRS. 255
charity, they are, therefore, accused of incestuous
love ; they partake of the bread of the Eucharist,
they are, therefore, accused of infanticide, and of
renewing the feast of Thyestes. These are the
accusations which Justin, Athenagoras, Tertullian,
Origen, and Minutius Felix, are obliged to repel.
These calumnies are spread abroad, and accredited
in all the provinces of the empire ; and when once
fully established and enrooted, how are they to be
counteracted or refuted? These prejudices were
not prevalent among the people only; they were
shared by the best educated and best conducted of
their citizens ; Suetonius1 applauds Nero for having
condemned Christians to death, who, says he, are
a species of men abandoned to a new and dangerous
superstition. " Genus hominum superstitionis nov<s
et maleficcB." Tacitus 2, in his annals, describes them
as a set of men, who were detested for their crimes,
and convicted of hating mankind. Yes, they are
regarded as the irreconcileable enemies of the gods
and of the state. Are the provinces desolated by
any scourge, by pestilence, by famine, or by the
overflow of their rivers? The Christians are re
sponsible for these calamities. Hence how must
they have been abhorred ! Is it strange then that
the passions should have arisen in arms against
them in all their fury, and all their malignity ?
How excessive must have been the ferocity of
1 Suet, in Neronem, cap. xvi. 2 Lib. XV. cap. 49.

256 THE MARTYRS.
the Romans at that period ! That people, whose
very festivals were massacres, must have looked
upon the torrents of Christian blood then shed,
with indifference and even pleasure ? Among the
Roman emperors is there one more mild, more
humane, or more merciful, than Titus ? Yet when,
at Cesarea of Palestine, he celebrates the anniver
sary of the birth of his brother by the exhibition
of some public games, we read that more than two
thousand five hundred persons are either slain by
wild beasts, consumed in flames, or butchered in
the combats of the gladiators. If the same emperor
wishes to celebrate the birth-day of his father, Ves
pasian, at Berytes, his humanity does not prevent
his devoting some thousands of Jews to be torn to
pieces by wild beasts '. With prejudices such as
these against Christians, and such manners in
Romans, can that which Origen mentions, in one
of his homilies, any longer surprise us ? " The
senate, the people, and the Roman emperors,
have decided that there should no longer be any
Christians 2."
But let us exaggerate nothing ; that the imagina
tion may not throw a false light upon, or paint
things in false colours, let us investigate the monu
ments of profane and sacred antiquity. In the
five first centuries, what writer, whether ecclesiastic,

1 Josephus. De Bello Judai. Lib. VIII. cap. iii.
2 In Lib. Joshua. Horn. IX. p. 10.

THE MARTYRS. 257
apologist, historian, orator, or theologian, is there,
who has not referred to the persecutions, and
eulogised the courage of the martyrs, and the
triumphs of the church ? Living at different
epochs, placed in the different countries of Asia
and Africa, in Italy, and in Gaul, all agree on this
point. What do St. Justin, Tertullian, Athena-
goras, Origen, Theophilus of Antioch, Meliton of
Sardis, and Minutius Felix, prove in their apolo
gies ? They not only establish the truth of their
religion, but they vindicate Christians from the
atrocious calumnies of their enemies ; they lament
more particularly, that innocent men, or men
whose only crime was their bearing the name of
Christian, should be incessantly persecuted. What
did St. Cyprian, proconsul of Africa, say ? " You
spoliate, you incarcerate, and you load innocent
men with chains ; you pitilessly give them up to
wild beasts, to the flames, to the steel of execu
tioners, you study to prolong their sufferings ; and
are ingenious in inventing new and barbarous tor
ments. Whence this insatiable rage for slaughter?
Whence can this merciless lust of cruelty which
thus hurries you on, be derived? Ques heec est
insatiabilis carnificinoe rabies, quce inewplebilis libido
scevitice L f " Who was more learned, or lived
nearer to the occurrence of these facts, than
Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian of the fourth
1 Lib. ad Demetrianum, p. 220.
VOL. II. S

258 THE MARTYRS.
century? Of the ten books which compose his
history, there is not one in which he does not speak
of the persecutions carried on under the different
emperors. Lactantius has written a book called
the Death of the Persecutors, in which he enumerates
the six emperors who were so cruelly hostile to the
Christian church, and whose tragical end seems to
have been an effect of the vengeance of heaven.
He more parcicularly describes the persecution of
Dioclesian, of Maximian and Galerius, the longest
and most cruel of all. When did Lactantius live ?
Even in the midst of the furies of this last perse
cution ; and what was he ? The most distinguished
scholar, and the purest writer of his age, eminent
alike for talent and for virtue ; the man whom the
emperor Constantine called to be near his person,
and to whom he entrusted the education of his son.
We should observe, too, that the conversion of
Constantine the Great was rendered more particu
larly remarkable from having occurred precisely at
the epoch, in which tranquillity was restored to
the churches, after the storms, which, under the
preceding reigns, had so agitated them. All these
ecclesiastical writers could not have been madmen,
they were not all affected with one and the same
mania, and did not all dream of persecutions which
never existed.
What do we learn from pagan authors ? Listen
to Tacitus : (this passage is doubtless well known,
but it is important to my cause that I should repeat

THE MARTYRS. 259
everything which bears upon the question :) " Nero
lay under the imputation of having been the author
ofthe burning of Rome; but, in order to silence this
report, he imputed this crime to a set of men who
were called Christians — upon them he inflicted pun
ishments of the most refined cruelty .... Those who
confessed that they belonged to this sect were the
first to be punished ; but afterwards a vast multi
tude were apprehended upon their information, and
convicted, not so much of having set fire to Rome,
as of hatred to mankind. Their execution is
aggravated by mockery and insult ; some disguised
in the skins of wild beasts, were torn to pieces by
dogs ; others tied to stakes, were burnt, and made
to serve for torches during the night. Nero lent
his own gardens for this spectacle, and appeared in
the habit of a charioteer, mounted on a car, as in
the Circensian games '."
Spartianus, in his life of Severus, tells us that
this emperor forbad men, on the pain of the
heaviest punishment, to embrace either Judaism or
Christianity 2.
Lampridius, in his life of Alexander Severus,
tells us that this emperor being more favourably
inclined towards the Christians, suffered them to
live at liberty, Christianos esse passus est 3. This
tolerance, then, could not have been common.
1 Annal. Lib. XV. cap. xliv.
' Spartian. in Sever, cap. xvii.
3 Lamprid. in Alexand. Sever, cap. xxii.
S2

260 THE MARTYRS.
We learn from Lactantius », that under the reign
of this somewhat tolerant prince, Domitius, a pre
fect of Rome, in a work on the Duty of a Proconsid,
collected the rescripts of the emperors against the
Christians, that proconsuls might be fully conver
sant with the different kinds of punishment which
were to be inflicted upon those who professed the
religion of Christ. We may judge, from the work
of this pagan, of the hatred, which, up to that time,
had animated the Romans against Christianity.
A testimony which bears precisely upon the
question is that of the sophist Libanius. In his
eulogium of Julian the Apostate, he makes it a
subject of praise to his hero, that being persuaded
of the extent to which Christianity had spread,
purely from the courage of its votaries, he had not
here walked in the steps of his predecessors, who
had inflicted upon them the most cruel punish
ments. Would you have an original letter preserved by
Eusebius ? It is that of the emperor Maximin II.
Originally an enemy to the Christians, he afterwards
changed his policy, and addressed to the governors
of provinces under his command, a letter favour
able to their religion, but -which supposes that
before his time, it had been most horribly perse
cuted; it begins thus: "I believe that you, and
that everyone else knows, how that Maximian and
1 Divin. Inst. Lib. V. cap. xi.

THE MARTYRS. 261
Dioclesian, our fathers and our predecessors, having
seen that almost all men renounced the worship of
the gods to become Christians, strictly ordered that
those who had abandoned their religion should be
constrained to resume it." You see, then, that all
writers of this period, both pagan and Christian,
agree as to the cruelties inflicted upon Christians.
In the long interval between Nero and Constan
tine, the Roman empire had certainly been swayed
by men qualified to govern and command, but the
very best of its masters, if they did not themselves
issue sanguinary edicts against the Christians, still
permitted those previously enacted by their pre
decessors to remain in force, and to be put in
execution. They also tolerated the excesses com
mitted by the governors of provinces, by the magis
trates, and by the people during those times of
anarchy and confusion which preceded and brought
on the total ruin of the empire. Trajan was cer
tainly a great prince ; he it is, however, who con
demned St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, to be
exposed to the fury of lions in the Amphitheatre.
Pliny, governor of Bithynia, at last affrighted at
the multitude of innocent victims whom he was
compelled to sentence to death, writes on the
subject to Trajan ; and what is the answer of the
emperor in his rescript? "That the Christians
were not to be sought after, but when denounced,
they were to be interrogated, and if they confessed

262 THE MARTYRS.
that they were Christians, to be punished V What
a strange answer was this, and how calculated to
increase the number of accusers and of martyrs ;
which, according to Eusebius, actually was its
immediate result.
Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Verus,
were not the most barbarous persecutors ; these are
the men, however, of whose iniquitous persecutions
of the Christians, St. Justin, in his Apology, com
plains. It is to Marcus Aurelius that Meliton
addressed the following words, preserved by Euse
bius, " Unheard of thing ! Innocence is to-day per
secuted and hunted down throughout the provinces
of Asia by new decrees. Under cover of the impe
rial edicts, shameless informers, greedy of the pos
sessions of others, labour day and night to spoliate
the guiltless. If all this is done by your orders,
great Prince, we must submit even unto death ; we
only ask, that you would yourself examine those
who are accused, and then determine, by the exer
cise of your own judgment and equity, whether they
are deserving of death, or are worthy of life ; but
if the decrees, by which their judges now pretend
that they are authorized, and which they dare not
carry into execution even against the barbarians,
have not really issued from your hands, we most
earnestly implore you not to permit us to be any
longer the victims of such cruel spoliation2." You
1 Hist. Eccle. Lib. IV. cap. xxvi. 2 Ibid.

THE MARTYRS. 263
may now rightly estimate the vague assertions
made by Voltaire in his General History, that
Nerva, Trajan, Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius,
did not persecute the Christians, but that they were
favourably inclined towards them. Let us say with
Bossuet ] ; " The Christians were always persecuted
under the good as under the bad emperors. These
persecutions originated at one time, from the orders
of the emperors, at another, from the individual
hatred of magistrates, at another, from a sudden
insurrection of the people, and at another, from the
decrees authoritatively propounded by the senate,
from the rescripts of the emperors, or from their
verbal orders."
Can the reality, then, of the persecutions of the
primitive ages, their long duration, and their bar
barity, be any longer denied ? When facts speak
out so boldly, are we to be arrested in our deduc
tions by vague and improbable conjectures? Our
philosophers have accused the ecclesiastical writers
of having exaggerated the rigours of these persecu
tions. Yet these very philosophers have them-
selves contrived to facilitate our belief in every
occurrence the most revolting and most barbarous
which the annals of the early ages of our Church
relate. For alas ! what seenes of horror have not
we seen with our own eyes ; scenes which cannot
pass for dreams ! Hereafter, when posterity shall
1 Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, Part I. A.D. 95.

264 THE MARTYRS.
read certain sanguinary pages in our own history, it
will refuse to credit them ; it will observe, that the
eighteenth century was a period of enlightenment,
a period when the arts and sciences had made some
advance, that the manners of that day were rather
frivolous than ferocious ; it will probably oppose to
the testimony of history, some passages extracted
.from the books of our philanthropists, (should
these books live thus long,) and ask, how so much
politeness could be united with so much barbarity.
You must be aware, that should our descendants
reason thus, they would deceive themselves ; we
too, should equally deceive ourselves, were we to
form our judgments of the persecutions of the pri
mitive Church, by conjectures and pretended impos
sibilities. Appearances may warrant these conclu
sions, but truth would be against us. Unhappily,
in the consideration of human wickedness, it but
too often happens, that truth is far from looking
like truth.
We now come to the second question ; viz.,
What does history distinctly state respecting the
number of the martyrs, the causes and the circum
stances of their deaths ?
It is not by martyrologies or by catalogues of
martyrs, that we are to judge of their number;
how many lists of this nature may have been lost
in the lapse of time, and how many thousands of
victims may have been passed over in silence, and
fallen into oblivion! When a destroying scourge,

THE MARTYRS. 265
war, pestilence, or famine, desolates the provinces
of a vast empire, we may easily appreciate its gene
ral ravages, and may even collect some particular
details, but we cannot possibly pretend that we
have made a rigorously exact, an arithmetical calcu
lation of all its victims ; we have no need of gilded
legends, nor of false records which sound criticism
disavows ; religion is strong enough to disdain such
vain supports. The enemies of Christianity attack
it by falsehood, her champions defend it by truth.
On this point, the language of the ecclesiastical
writers of the five first centuries, is uniform; in
their histories, their homilies, their apologies, their
various treatises, they always suppose that mur
derous persecutions have made innumerable victims ;
and by what right do we refuse to admit the testi
mony of so many sober, enlightened, and eminently
virtuous personages, several of whom, after having
been the witnesses of persecution, become its vic
tims? With reference to others, St. Leon, St.
Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Augustin, and Theo-
doret, for instance, must not they have held in their
hands, and seen with their eyes, numerous and
sensible monuments of those times of destruction
and of carnage, which had just transpired ? I am
aware, that Origen has said in express terms, that
there had been but few martyrs, a passage which
has afforded cause of triumph to the infidel ; but in
addition to the fact, of Origen's having written
before the persecutions of Decius, Valerian, and

266 THE MARTYRS.
Dioclesian, the most blood-stained of them all, it is
evident that Origen intended simply to say, that
the number of martyrs was small, compared with
that of the Christians who had not perished ; " God
not wishing," as he observes, "that the Christian
society should be entirely destroyed 1."
I must here enter into some few details of the
persecution of Dioclesian, the longest and most
cruel of them all, and over which the philosophers
have succeeded in casting the clouds of scepticism.
Who could have been better acquainted with its
circumstances, than Eusebius and Lactantius, both
of them contemporaneous with it ? What does
Eusebius tell us ? " It is impossible to enumerate
the multitude of martyrs which this persecution
every where made2." Did non potest quot et quantos
Christi martyros in omnibus locis atque urbibus passim
cernere licuerit. What does Lactantius tell us?
" All the earth was cruelly tormented, and, with
the exception of Gaul, both the east and the west
were ravaged and desolated by three monsters 3."
This persecution of Dioclesian and his colleagues
was so frightful, as to induce them to believe, that
they had exterminated Christianity from the em
pire. " There is still to be seen," it is said, in The
Art of verifying Dates, " a medal of Dioclesian, bear
ing this inscription, Nomine Christianorum deleto, in

1 Contr. Cel. Lib. III. n. 8. * Hist. Eccles. Lib. VIII. cap. 4.
3 De Morte Persec. cap. 16.
1

THE MARTYRS. 267
memory of the abolition of the name of Christians."
I do not pretend to deny Dioclesian, either his war
like or political qualities, or the tolerance of the
early years of his reign. Whether or not he was
skilful in the art of governing men, is a matter
of doubt ; it is certain that he and his colleagues
were most savage persecutors. Must he not have
shed whole streams of blood, and must not all
things have been overthrown, dispersed, and de
stroyed in the tempest of persecution, before he
could thus have dared to boast of having exter
minated a religion which had already become pre
valent through the whole empire ?
I cannot comprehend what Voltaire could have
intended, when he said, " Towards the conclusion of
the reign of Dioclesian, it has been stated, that
there were about two hundred martyrs through the
whole extent of the Roman empire." Gibbon admits
that about two thousand had been condemned by
juridical sentences.
This last-mentioned writer conjectures that Pa
lestine formed the sixteenth part of the empire of
the East ; and we learn from Eusebius, in his enu
meration of the martyrs of Palestine, that eighty-
two Christians only had any right to that honourable
denomination. But, we have here the number
of those only whom a juridical sentence had con
demned to death ; are they, however, who groaned
in fetters, who were sentenced to labour in the

268 THE MARTYRS.
mines, who were exiled, who hid themselves in
caves and among rocks, who underwent torture,
and perished at last the victims of prolonged and
cruel suffering, are they to be reckoned as nothing ?
How long has it been a rule to compute the num
ber of victims made by war, by the number of those
who die on the field of battle ?
Eusebius attests, that in the Thebaid1, from ten
to a hundred persons often suffered martyrdom on
the same day; and, alas! it. is not for us to dispute
the possibility of like executions. Gibbon, in order
to weaken this testimony, observes, that Eusebius
has selected, as the scene of this unheard-of cruelty,
the most distant and most isolated province of the
whole empire. But where is here the candour of
the English author? Eusebius must have been so
much the better acquainted with the fact, from
having been himself on the spot ; for he tells us,
that during his stay there, he saw many Christians
given up to execution. Gibbon further observes,
that Eusebius has designedly made use of an equi
vocal word, which might mean that he had seen or
that he had heard it said. But Eusebius has twice
said the same thing, and the second time, in terms
so strong, that M. de Valois has translated his ex
pressions, thus, " We have seen with our own eyes,"
oculis nostris conspeximus. If, as Gibbon will have
1 Hist. Eccles. Lib. VIII. cap. ix.

THE MARTYRS. 269
it, Eusebius is sometimes obscure and embarras
sing, what right have we to suppose that he is so
here? The same Eusebius relates, that a town of Phry-
gia1, with all its inhabitants, its governor, and its
magistrates, was given up to the flames ; and this,
because it refused to sacrifice to the false gods.
Gibbon, however, animated by his philosophizing
spirit, observes, that Lactantius speaks only of the
fall of a conventicle which was burnt with all who
were within it ; but, Lactantius says, in express
terms, that " he burnt all the people as well as the
conventicle," universum populum cum ipso pariter
conventiculo concremavit5. Can you, after this, rely
upon philosophers in any thing which regards reli
gion? Listen rather to the historian Sulpicius
Severus, who wrote a short time after the perse
cution of Dioclesian : " Ten successive years of
devastation have desolated the Christian church.
 War had never before so exhausted the
human race, and never has the church acquired
such glorious triumphs, since ten years of carnage
have not vanquished it." Per decem continuos annos
plebem Dei depopulata est  Nullis unquam magis
bettis mundus exhaustus est, neque majore unquam tri-
umpho vicimus, quam cum decem annorum stragibus
vinci non potuimus3. Thus, without determining the
1 Hist. Eccles. Lib. VIII. cap. xi.
2 Divin. Inst. Lib. V. cap. xi.
s Sulp. Sever. Sacr. Hist. Lib. II.

270 THE MARTYRS.
number of the martyrs with mathematical precision,
we may say with Fleury, " Christians have persisted
in bearing testimony to the truth when undergoing
the most cruel torments, and even unto death ; and
this occurred not in an inconsiderable number of
philosophers, but in an innumerable multitude of
every age, of each sex, and of every condition1."
But why did they suffer? Was it as Christians?
or were they convicted of any capital crime ?
Philosophy has dared to calumniate Christians by
representing them as a set of seditious men, or as
men carried away by a false zeal against paganism ;
but the shame of this accusation reverts to those
who adduce it. In favour of the innocence of the
martyrs, I can cite the letter of Pliny to Trajan,
the answer of this prince, the edict of Maximin:
these demonstrate that the Christians were perse
cuted solely on account of their religion, as enemies
of the gods and of the worship of the pagans. I
appeal to the ancient apologists, who all suppose,
as a verified fact, that the Christians were not con
victed of any crime, or that their only crime was
their religion ; from this established fact they pro
ceed to make us feel all the iniquity of the laws,
and of the magistrates in regard to them. I appeal
to all that is extant of the authentic records of
our martyrs. Let us read over the interrogatories
which are put to them : of what nature are they ?
' II. Discours sur l'Histoire Ecclesias. n. 2.

THE MARTYRS. 271
on what points do they bear ? what does the ma
gistrate demand? what does the accused answer?
what is the sentence? Are they condemned for
having committed any crime ? Never.
If calumny succeeds in spreading the vague ac
cusation of infanticide, or of incest, where is the
proof? this does not actuate their judges. They
do not adore the gods, they are Christians ; this
is all their crime. Thus to have denied their reli
gion would have gained them a pardon ; all perse
cutions make apostates ; a simple denial of the
Christian faith, a little incense burnt before the
gods of the Gentiles, would have saved them from
death : what ! if the accused had been convicted
of any abominable crimes, would the mere declara
tion that they were no longer Christians, have
enabled them to escape the punishment which
deservedly awaited them? I am aware that zeal
has sometimes carried Christians too far ; but these
examples are rare ; this was not the spirit of their
religion; and to seek, in their contempt of autho
rity, or in their spirit of revolt against the magis
trate, a cause for their persecution, is a gross
absurdity. We learn from Lactantius, that Dio
clesian having caused his edict of persecution to
be publicly posted up at Nicomedia, some person
snatched it down and tore it to pieces ; but Lac
tantius, although he regarded this as a courageous
act, adds, that the individual was actuated by mis-

272 THE MARTYRS.
placed zeal '. Polyeuctes, breaking the idols of the
false gods, has been cited ; but all the genius of
Corneille cannot make certain that which is doubt
ful. If it is verified that the generous Polyeuctes
shed his blood in defence of his faith, it is not
verified that he overthrew the altars ofthe pagans;
this particular is disputed by the learned ; and
Gibbon admits that it is not fully authenticated.
A Centurion, by name Marcellus, is also cited,
who, throwing his girdle and his arms on the
ground, proclaims that he is a Christian, and that
he will only serve the Eternal King ! Voltaire
regards his conduct as an act of sedition ; and
Gibbon does not speak of it in a more favourable
manner. Both the one and the other have shame
lessly misrepresented the fact. In the record of his
martyrdom, the authenticity of which is never dis
puted, we read that Marcellus exclaimed in these
words, — " If such is the condition of a soldier that
he is obliged to sacrifice to the gods and to the
emperors, I throw away my gauntlets and my belt,
I abandon my standard, and I renounce arms."
This man is a Christian who refuses to be an
apostate, and who remains faithful to the maxim,
that it is better to obey God than man. And we
see that Voltaire and Gibbon, here, as on every
other occasion, are constant to that spirit of false-
1 De Morte Persec. cap. xiii.

THE MARTYRS. 273
hood and of calumny, which ever animated their
opposition to Christianity.
" The rules of the church," says Fleury, " forbad
Christians to expose themselves to martyrdom, or
to do anything which might irritate the pagans, or
attract persecution, as the breaking their idols, the
setting fire to their temples, the mockery of their
gods, or the public ridicule of their superstitions '."
Such were the maxims generally adopted.
From the history of the martyrs, and of their
conflicts in defence of their faith, (which I am far
from having exaggerated,) we may deduce two
consequences, most glorious to our religion ; the
first of which is, that it is impossible to attribute
their courage and their contempt of death to any
of those fierce or base passions, which too often
animate mankind ; and the second of which is, that
it is impossible to establish any parallel between
the martyrs of the Christian religion and those of
any other.
In the first place, how can we regard the martyrs
as men actuated by human passions ? Would you
accuse them of stupidity or folly? but all that is
most sublime in virtue, most tender and compas
sionate in charity, and most heroic in courage,
were the characteristics of these primitive Christ
ians ; and are these the traits of stupidity ? But
those heads of the infant churches, those pagan
1 Mceurs de Chretiens, n. 19.
VOL. II. T

274 THE MARTYRS.
philosophers who were converts to Christianity,
those doctors whose writings are now extant, those
officers of the courts of the Caesars, those magis
trates, those warriors, those illustrious personages
of whom the church in its earlier ages was par
tially composed ; were they stupid and foolish ?
Fanaticism has been mentioned ; this word is most
commodious, inasmuch as it is very vague ; philoso
phers would do well to define it. Can we detect
anything like the gloomy ferocity of fanaticism in
the zeal of our martyrs? on the contrary, with
what peace, with what serenity, and oftentimes
even with what joy, were their features illumined !
I have ever thought fanaticism to be a short-lived
madness, a casual frenzy, limited to times and to
places ; yet three whole centuries, and so many
different people have seen the same constancy
perpetuated and renewed ! Fanaticism often de
generates into violence and rebellion, or into a
tumultuary revolt against authority ; yet the primi
tive Christians, although they were so numerous,
and so invincibly courageous, breathed nothing but
peace in the midst of the avenging fury of those
tyrants who were their implacable enemies ; on the
scaffold and on the pile, they spent their last breath
in supplicating Heaven for the pardon of their
murderers. This certainly was a strange fanati
cism. Were they impelled by a love of glory?
That the desire of future celebrity exalts some souls,
I admit ; but that an immense multitude of men,

THE MARTYRS. 275
of every age, and of every condition, should die
under the most cruel torments, sustained only by
the hope of living in posterity, is strangely fantas^
tical. No, no ! there is nothing here either of the
baseness or of the vanity of human passions.
I have said also that it was impossible to esta
blish any parallel between our martyrs and those of
any other religion. In the first place, I might,
with all our apologists, remark, that a very great
number of our martyrs died, not as the martyrs of
other religions, in defence of certain speculative
opinions with which they were imbued, and which
their minds presented to them as true, but in at
testation of, and in dependance upon, those strik
ing and public facts, the miracles of Jesus Christ
and his Apostles ; miracles which they had either
themselves seen, or learnt from eye-witnesses, who
had sealed their .testimony with their blood. Mar
tyr, according to the etymology of the word, signi
fies witness. "When St. Stephen, the two St.
James's, St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Simeon, and
others, died for Jesus Christ, what did they attest ?
that they saw Him work miracles ; that they saw
Him dead, and afterwards alive again; that He
had ordered them to preach such a doctrine. Is
their testimony as to the occurrence of these sensi
ble facts worthy of credit, or is it controvertible ?
Is it decisive or is it not? this is all the question 1."
1 Bergier, Traite de la vraie Relig. Part III. chap. v. art. 5.
torn. ix. in 12mo.
T2

276 THE MARTYRS.
Were they so frantic as to invent facts, and to die
in attestation of that which they knew to be false ?
This is a species of madness hitherto unexampled.
If men have died in defence of false opinions, be
cause they believed them to be true, we have
never heard of their dying in defence of facts which
they knew to be false. When the disciples of the
Apostles, St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp, for in
stance, died under their torments, of what did they
bear testimony ? They attested that the Apostles
had related to them the miracles of Jesus Christ,
with his glorious resurrection, and they sealed these
truths with their blood. Succeeding martyrs handed
down the same testimony ; so that the different
generations of martyrs perpetuated the chain of
incontestible depositions in favour of those facts
which were the foundation of their religion. Where
will you find evidence which can be compared with
this? But I would contemplate the martyrs in another
point of view. To die for his religion rather than
to renounce it, although by renouncing it, he may
escape death, is the true character of a martyr.
Thus apostacy or death are set before you ; the
choice is given you ; if, of your own free will, you
prefer death, you are a martyr ; and this was the
condition of a very great number of the Christian
martyrs. What was the alternative proposed ? the
simple declaration that they were not Christians,
and the simple exhibition of some sign of respect for

THE MARTYRS. 277
the gods of the empire; they had the option of
an external renunciation of their religion, or of the
most horrible torments : this has been demon
strated ; but, should a new proof be required, I
might find it in Origen : " The Christians are the
only accused persons whom the magistrates would
restore to peace and to liberty, upon their con
senting to abjure their religion, to offer sacrifices,
and to take the accustomed oaths 1." Thus I have
a right to represent the martyrs of Christianity, as
voluntary and magnanimous victims to their faith ;
hence, let no one compare them to Pagans, Jews,
Mussulmen, or sectarians dying with arms in their
hands, perishing in massacres, or suffering the
pangs of death in obedience to laws whose severity
they could not avoid. I require the citation of
idolaters, who have preferred death to a confession
of the unity of God ; of Jews, refusing to purchase
the prolongation of their days, by an external pro
fession of Christianity ; of Mussulmen, refusing to
save their lives by a feigned abjuration of Maho
met; of sectarians, who have boldly mounted the
pile, rather than abandon their peculiar doctrines ;
I demand, in a word, the production of martyrs
like ours, who, on reflection, and of their own free
choice, prefer the most excruciating torments to a
renunciation of their belief? By this single obser-
1 Contra Celsum. Lib. II. n. 13.

278 THE MARTYRS.
vation, the great majority of the pretended martyrs
of other religions will sink into insignificance.
There now remains but one consideration, which
is that of a small number of men braving and cou
rageously undergoing the pains of death, in defence
of false doctrines. That certain natural motives,
party-spirit for instance, pride, the love of glory,
the shame of a disavowal, a moment of enthusiasm,
may, on some very extraordinary occasions, induce
a small number of men to suffer death, I readily
admit. But, the spectacle of a prodigious number
of persons, of all classes, of all ages, and of all
characters, during three whole centuries, suffering,
not in the accesses of a mad enthusiasm, but with
all the coolness of reflection, and with imperturb
able patience; suffering, not a prompt and easy
death, but the most frightful pains, and the most
prolonged, and most refined tortures ; suffering, not
only with a certain degree of courage, but with
serenity, with actual joy, and in a manner so won
derful, so persuasive, that it touches the hearts of
the pagans, and even that of their executioners;
this, I say, is a spectacle which the church of Jesus
Christ can alone present to us ; this it is which, by
surpassing the strength of man, supposes the inter
vention of God. We admire Socrates draining the
poisoned chalice, in preference to a disobedience of
the laws, which had unjustly condemned him ; Re-
gulus, returning to Carthage, where a cruel death
awaits him; and, Epictetus, imperturbable under

THE MARTYRS. 279
the blows of a barbarous master. And, if this sub
lime courage had been manifested by a greater
number of men, our admiration would of course
have been proportionably increased. But, when
for the space of three centuries, a heroism, far more
astonishing than this, animates persons who appa
rently, either from the weakness of age, the timidity
of sex, or the habits of station, were unsuscepti
ble of such exalted sentiments ; when it ani
mates women, old men, children, and all classes of
society, then the wonder seems incredible ; then
we behold a deviation from the ordinary laws of
nature ; and, if we are compelled to believe it, we
are compelled to recognise it as a miracle in the
moral order of things. I say to myself, — If the
God of Heaven and Earth, who, by his own es
sence, is holiness, wisdom, and truth, any where
has worshippers, in whose homage he delights, by
what traits am I to distinguish them? I would
have them to be the most virtuous of all men,
faithful husbands, affectionate and respectful sons,
disinterested, full of tenderness for their fellow-
creatures, generous friends, and of incorruptible
probity. I would have these worshippers to be the
lovers of public order, submissive to the laws, full
of deference to the magistrate, of love for their
country, of courage in its battles, of integrity on its
tribunals, of zeal in all public employments. I
would have them thus prove themselves to be the
faithful servants of the God of order and of wisdom ;
1

280 THE MARTYRS.
I would, lastly, have these worshippers to be always
ready to sacrifice every thing, honour, fortune, and
reputation, rather than duty ; I would wish them
to have no other rules but those of truth, and that
they should think it a triumph to die in its defence.
I know of nothing which can be compared with
men like these. Such were the Christian martyrs,
and if by these traits we are not to recognise the
worshippers of the true God, I know not where
they are to be found.
Let us not forget that we are descended from
these heroic Christians, and that we may, with far
more justice than the patriarch of the old law,
exclaim ; We are the children of the saints ; as they
have preceded us in their career, so they await us
in the sojourn of their glory ; let us fight the good
fight like them, that we may also triumph like
them ; let us console our Church, by a devotion to
its doctrines and its laws. Modern infidelity, with
its sophistry and its false toleration, will pass away ;
it is, however, a scourge which will leave behind it
deep-traced vestiges of its ravages ; but let us hope,
that there will result from this new species of per
secution, that which resulted from those of the
olden time; glorious memorials to the Church
which endured them. Where are those Romans
who persecuted her? where is that people which
vaunted of being the masters of the world ? They
have been delivered up to barbarians ; that empire
which flattered itself that it was eternal, has fallen

THE MARTYRS. 281
to the dust. Rome, with its false gods, is buried in
its own ruins, and its memory is only preserved
by that other Rome which arose from its ashes,
and became the centre of the kingdom of Jesus
Christ.

CHAPTER XXIV.

JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS THE BENEFACTOR OF
THE HUMAN RACE.

I am the truth and the life." — John, chap. xiv. verse 6.

What a language is this ; and who could without
pride have uttered it? Who is He that had the
right of bearing this magnificent testimony of him
self, that he was the " truth and the life ?" and who
is He that when speaking of himself, could make
his voice to be heard through all nations, saying,
Before me there appeared philosophers who have
been celebrated for the enlightenment of their
doctrine and the brilliancy of their genius, and who
have taught men some useful truths ; but their
minds were far from being impervious to all error,
and they have too often abused their talents by
disseminating and attaching credit to falsehood ;
but it is I alone who possess the fulness of real

JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED, &c 283
wisdom ; ' I am the truth.' Before me, some few
friends of humanity, some few skilful legislators,
have laboured and have partially succeeded in
civilizing, policing, and reforming the manners of
different people; but how imperfect and how limited
have been their efforts ! But, I have come to diffuse
new sentiments throughout all hearts, and to sow
those seeds of life, from which the most abundant
and the most wholesome fruit will every where
spring up ; ' I am the life.' "
Who is he that could without ostentation have
held a language such as this, and thus represented
himself as the light and as the reformer ofthe world?
It would be vain to seek this extraordinary person
age in the Portico or in the Lyceum, amidst the
sages of Rome, or of Athens ; pagan antiquity has
never seen him. Light mixed up with error, vices
by the side of virtues, a zeal, apparent rather than
real, for the reformation of the human race ; this
it may have seen.
On turning to the Jewish nation, you will find
at its head, its legislator Moses, an inspired author,
with a law doubtless admirable ; but he was rather
the light and the guide of one people than of all
nations: his code is not without some imperfec
tions ; it was an outline rather than a finished work ;
it was the dawning of that Sun of Truth, which was
eventually to rise and dissipate the clouds of
idolatry. No, from the creation of the world to the

284 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
present day, there has been but one person who
could without pomp and without restriction, call
himself, with reference to all times and to all
nations, The Truth and the Life; and this personage
thus unique in the annals of the world, is, as you
must anticipate, the Liberator for whom the children
of Jacob were waiting, is He whom the prophet
styled " The Desire of the Nations ;" is the Paci
ficator of heaven and of earth who appeared in
Judea, during the reign of Augustus, when, the
temple of Janus being closed, the whole universe
was at peace ; is the divine Founder of our holy
religion, is in short, Jesus Christ.
At this sacred name, hell trembles, all the passions
are let loose, and " the kings of the earth stand up,
and the rulers take counsel together, against the
Lord and against His anointed. Let us break their
bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
But they have spoken in vain. " He that dwelleth
in heaven shall laugh them to scorn." Jesus Christ
has triumphed : before Him every knee shall bow
through all the earth. His triumph is the hap
piness of the world ; and the heathen who so
furiously raged together against Him, see that they
were rejecting the Saviour.
It is my present design to attach you to Jesus
Christ and to His law, by bonds as soft as they
are powerful, those of gratitude ; to strengthen
your belief in Him, by making you love Him, and
by showing you how worthy His religion is of the

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMA^ RACE. 285
bounty of God, by the benefits which have accrued
to us from it. Why is it that sophists so frequently
and so complacently enumerate the evils which
through the perverseness and vices of man, it may
have occasioned, and yet cast a veil over the im
mense good of which, by its spirit and its maxims*
it has been the undoubted source? We will
endeavour to enlighten the minds of those who
may have been pre-occupied on this subject, and to
attach all hearts to Jesus by the history of His
benefits ; we will remind you of every thing of
light and of virtue, which humanity owes to Him ;
we will show you that He has been the " truth"
and the " life ;" the truth, by dissipating the errors
of the pagan world ; the life, by diffusing through
it, a new spirit which has regenerated it. Such is
the plan of this conference on Jesus Christ, as the
benefactor of the human race.
To-day, when enlightened by the Gospel, we
entertain such pure and lofty ideas of the Divinity
and of providence, of vice and of virtue, of the
rewards and punishments of a future life ; of the
combination of duties which we have to fulfil
towards our Creator, our fellow-creatures, and our
selves ; to-day, when the sublimest truths of religion
are become popular, when they enter into the in
structions and lessons of our earliest infancy;
when they are passed, as it were, from hand to
hand, through families, and when we seem to
possess them as our birthright; we can hardly

286 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
conceive the depth of the darkness into which the
human race was plunged before the appearance of
Jesus Christ upon earth. We are tempted to be
lieve that all nations have ever been as enlightened
as we are now ; the familiarity of our enjoyment
of the blessings of Christianity diminishes our
value of them. We regard as the work of man,
the light which proceeds from a divine revelation ;
and the lofty ideas which we delight in forming
of the power and comprehension of the human
mind, supply us with a veil for our ingratitude.
Nevertheless all the monuments both of profane
and of sacred history accord in attesting the
ignorance of the ancients ; and, it would seem, that
providence has preserved so many of the master
pieces of Rome and of Greece from the ravages of
time and through the lapse of ages, solely for the
purpose of eternalizing the delusions, and the errors
to which man is liable when left to himself. We
must then, for a moment, lose sight of the Christian
world in which we are now living, and transport
ourselves in thought to that almost other world,
and to those remote ages, which preceded the birth
of Christianity ; for it is only by so doing, that we
can distinctly see how Jesus Christ has manifested
Himself to be the truth, by dissipating the capital
errors of the pagan world.
Eighteen centuries ago, one nation only, that of
the Jews, worshipped the true God ; but they
being then obscure and contemptible, the light

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 287
which beamed upon them, was no more than a faint
glimmering, hardly perceptible in the density of
the surrounding darkness; all other nations were
bewildered and benighted ; the whole world was
idolatrous. Deluded by his senses, man stops at
that which he sees, and prostitutes to the creature
the homage due only to the Creator; his reason
intoxicated by the fumes of falsehood, he stumbles
from error to error ; he degrades himself so far, as
even to fall prostrate before gods, whom he has
seen crawl upon the earth, or graze in the field.
Pushing his folly farther even than this, he trem
bles before the piece of wood or stone which his
own chisel has fashioned ; he persuades himself
that gods and goddesses dwell within the statues,
the animals, and the plants, which he reveres.
The earth is one temple of idols, and man has so
far forgotten that one God has made it, as to fancy,
that he is capable of making gods himself.
Let it not be imagined that the civilized and
polite here possess any advantage over the bar
barous nations. It must, to the shame of literature
and of human knowledge, be confessed, that neither
the wisdom, nor the so much vaunted laws of Egypt,
nor the intelligence and politeness of the Greeks,
nor the policy and gravity of the Romans, have
escaped this universal contagion. This frightful
superstition makes the whole human race its
puppet, and envelops all things in its loathsome
atmosphere. The Persian adores the luminary by

288 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
whose fires he is scorched, Egypt worships its
ox Apis, Delphos its Apollo, Ephesus its great
Diana, Rome its Jupiter ; and it is in the very age
of taste, of wit, and of light, that this queen of
cities erects that famous temple, (still subsisting in
modern Rome,) where the cross was one day to be
planted in memorial of Christ's victory over the
idols of the nations.
If the history or the worship of these gods had
been capable of making men more virtuous, if the
celebration of their mysteries, and of their festivals,
had been able to awaken within their souls any
precious sentiments of tenderness or of virtue, if
they had quitted their temples imbued with a more
sincere love of their duties, or with purer manners ;
but no, the heart, in the delirium of the passions*
had peopled Olympus with filthy or cruel gods, and
these could only be adored with a worship of inde
cent sensuality, or monstrous cruelty. What kind
of divinities were an incestuous Jupiter, a san
guinary Mars, a dissolute Bacchus, or a prostitute
Venus ? Yet the poets have celebrated their quar
rels, their amours, and their jealous furies. What
were the Bacchanalia, the Saturnalia, the Luper->
calia, what were often the games of the circus, or
of the theatre, but excesses of debauchery and of
cruelty, exhibited in honour of their gods? Who
would dare to detail the scenes which the temples
of Juno, of Adonis, of Priapus, and of Cybele have
witnessed, or the indecencies of the feasts of Flora,

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 289
which they dared not celebrate before Cato ? I will
not sully either my tongue or your ears, by a recital
of these monstrous delusions.
The knowledge of one God, the Author of all
things, of a Providence which presides over the
destinies of man, the knowledge of a future life,
with its rewards and punishments ; these precious
truths were, doubtless, more or less, diffused among
pagan nations; and independently of their having
a never-dying root in the heart of man, who is by
nature religious, they are constantly preserved by
popular traditions, by the songs of the poet, the
writings of the sage, and the laws of the legislator.
But obscured by the mists of this multitude of super
stitions, they diffused but a deceptive light, they
left the irregular desires almost without a restraint,
and virtue without a support ; thus every passion
had its altar, every passion was a God. The human
race was delighted to find in religion, an apology for
its frailties, and thought that it was plunged in the
darkness of idolatry, only that it might wallow the
more uninterruptedly in the mire of vice.
Who then will come to dissipate this dense, this
universal darkness ? Whence will this light be shed ?
Who will eventually cause it to beam upon these
idolatrous nations? Do they await its emanation
from philosophers, from sages, and from politicians?
To spare you all dry discussions, I appeal at once to
experience. From the creation of the world to the
birth of Jesus Christ, many ages had rolled away ;
VOL. II. u

290 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
men, extraordinary by their talents, their know
ledge, and their discoveries, had appeared in differ
ent nations ; conquerors, legislators, philosophers,
poets, orators, had played their parts on the
theatre of the world; Greece had possessed its
Homer, its Solon, its Lycurgus, its Plato, its De
mosthenes ; Rome its Numa, its Scipio, its Cato,
its Varro, its Cicero, and its Virgil. Time had
developed and matured all the excesses, all the dis
orders, which an impure and cruel superstition had
disseminated, but time had not invented any new
code either of religion or of morals ; it had induced
no reformation either in private or public manners.
The world remained ever idolatrous, and did not
become either more enlightened, more virtuous, or
more happy.
It is then clear, that all mankind is condemned
to remain steeped in ignorance, in superstition, and
in Vice, if it cannot hit upon some surer remedy for
these evils, than the lessons which can be taught by
human philosophy or human wisdom. It is ad
mitted, that in pagan antiquity, no one particular
school possessed the whole truth, and that it was
the maxim of all to pay an external respect to the
established worship, and to the popular superstitions.
What philosopher would then have undertaken the
real reformation of religion, of morality, and of the
habits of the people, at the expense of his repose
and at the peril of his life? To effect this, it would
require a sage more clear-sighted and more skilful'

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 291
than any of Rome, or of Athens ; a sage, who pos
sessed such an influence over all hearts and minds,
as would enable him to triumph over every vice and
every error, and to make truth at last prevail, by
persuading men to adopt its pure yet rigid maxims.
This extraordinary personage, whose want had been
felt by the most sublime of the Greek philosophers,
and to whom he seems to have addressed his vows,
must come down from Heaven, for earth cannot
give him to man.
Jesus Christ at last appears, and this anarchy of
the moral world begins to disappear. He himself
preaches His own Gospel in Judea ; He associates
with himself certain disciples, whose rude manners
He patiently endures, and whose ignorance He with
unlimited goodness enlightens and dissipates. He
says to them, " Go and teach all nations." Obedient
to the word of their master, they apportion be
tween themselves the different countries of the
earth, and the word of truth resounds from Jeru
salem to the uttermost extremities of the world.
A new order of things commences. Those capital
truths, whose consequences are infinite, and which
are the solid foundation of all morality and of all
virtue, are at last fully announced to all nations.
The doctrine of one only God, of a Providence, of
a life to come, shines out all-brilliant and all-pure,
from the midst of the darkness which had obscured
it. It is in speaking of the life to come, that Jesus
Christ makes the truth beam forth in more especial
u2

292 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
brightness; all His discourses are impregnated with
this belief ; on this hangs all His law; it is by the
fear of future punishment, and by the hope of
future rewards, that He imposes a rein on vice,
and applies a spur to virtue. Here is a God who
interrogates consciences, who will recompense every
thing that is good, and punish every thing that is
evil ; who promises to virtue immeasurable happi
ness, to misery ineffable consolation. What a doc
trine is this ! How powerful, and how benignantly
fruitful ! And when once it shall be engraved, with
all its force and all its purity, on the hearts of the
whole human race, how vast will be the change
which it will effect throughout the world !
No, Jesus Christ is not one of those sages, who
founds a new school for a small number of disciples
only ; He is sent to all men. How worthy is this
of Him who makes His sun to shine upon the poor
as upon the rich ; upon the ignorant as upon the
learned ; who gives to the earth a religion, the
comforts of which are especially communicated to
tile greater portion of mankind, that is, to the
ignorant, the indigent, and the unhappy ! That
Socrates should have risen superior to the so
phisms of his day, and should have made consider
able advances towards the attainment of that real
wisdom, which teaches men to live virtuously ; that
Aristotle should have penned some very beautiful
sentences on morality ; that Cicero should have
composed a very beautiful treatise on our duties ;

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 293
all these learned lessons, imperfect as they were,
never reached the multitude. It is Jesus Christ
alone, who, in His sublime familiarity, humbles
Himself to the intelligence of all men, either by
Himself or by His disciples. Their boundless cha
rity makes no distinction between Greek and bar
barian, between master and slave ; they regard all
men as brothers whom they are to enlighten ; by
their means, the most exalted wisdom is diffused
through all ranks and through all conditions; it
descends to every one, the most lowly and the most
obscure ; truth, in a word, becomes popular. What
a wonder is here ! Formerly, without any certain
light, without any determinate dogmas, the pagan
philosophy floated about under the influence of
every wind of doctrine ; it vacillated on the most
fundamental points ; yet, that of which philosophers
were then ignorant, the multitude now knows, and
is enlightened and firm, where they were ignorant
or dubious. Take the most simple villager of a
Christian nation, question him as to God, a future
life, his duties, and even on any point of morality ;
you will find that he is better instructed and more
conversant with all these subjects, than any of the
sages of Rome or of Greece could have been. Yes,
the village pastor, with his unpretending and fami
liar lessons, educates a far greater number of real
sages, than ever Plato did, with all the pomp of
rhetoric and the charms of eloquence; and this
made the. author of a celebrated preface observe,

294 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
" By means of the light which the Christian religion
has diffused, the people even are more firm and
more decided on a variety of interesting questions
than were all the sects of the philosophers." Such
is, then, the inappreciable advantage of the evan
gelic doctrine. It embraces all classes of people,
not for the purpose of corrupting, but for that of
enlightening them as to their duties. It is equally
adapted to the most simple and to the most ele
vated minds. This sun of the intelligent world is
like that visible sun which animates all nature, and
which illumines the humblest valley as well as the
loftiest mountain.
I confess, that after contemplating so many
precious truths, thus promulgated by the Gospel
throughout all nations, I cannot comprehend the
cause of those violent attacks which have been
made upon it by so many modern writers. Can we
do other than regard these authors as the most
short-sighted and the most inconsiderate of men ?
And should we not say to them who would still
walk in their steps : — In labouring so zealously to
destroy Christianity, to ruin its worship and belief,
what end do you propose ? Have you dreamt of,
or have you spun out of your own imaginations a
society without a religion, or without an established
worship ? Any pretension of this kind is really so
foolish, is so totally belied by the history of all
nations, and would suppose such a total ignorance
of the human heart, that I cannot possibly attri-

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 295
bute to you any such thought. Will you still talk
to me of that natural law, which you are pleased to
call the law of Socrates and of Marcus Aurelius?
But, do you not see that this is all idle talking?
Show me one civilized people upon earth, which
has confined itself to your pure natural law. There
is not one which does not rely upon a revelation
either true or false, not one which has stood fixed
in pure deism, not one which has not felt the want
of an external and public worship. He cannot
know mankind who imagines that it could confine
itself to certain purely speculative ideas of religion.
When you tear away Christianity from it, what do
you propose to substitute for it? You would be
abandoning men to uncertainty, you would be plung
ing them into a wide sea of conflicting opinions, or
into a sort of practical atheism, which would cor
rupt their virtues, and from which they would rush
into superstitions not less gross, perhaps, than
those of paganism. Let us return, then, to Him
who alone possesses true wisdom. Before Him, the
pagan world had neither the means nor the hope
of rising up out of darkness ; Jesus Christ has been,
then, both the light and the truth. I add, that He
has recreated the moral world, by diffusing through
it a new spirit which i has regenerated it; so that
He was justified in saying, " I am the Life."
If, instead of contenting ourselves with a vague
and rapid glance over pagan and Christian nations,
we would approximate and seriously compare them;

296 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
by thus ascertaining their characteristic differences,
we should be far more sensible of the extent to
which Jesus Christ has been the benefactor of the
human race, by diffusing, as it were, that new life
into the social world, which has so salutary an
influence over civil society in general, and domes
tic society in particular, and more especially, over
those classes, unhappily too numerous in all coun
tries, the poor and the wretched.
I have mentioned, in the first place, the influ
ence of the Gospel over civil society. With what
disorders, what excesses, did the social world
of ancient paganism abound ! what barbarity in
its public worship ! one custom which formed a
part of the religion of all the nations of the earth,
was that of sacrificing human victims to the gods ;
history attests that all nations have been more or
less sullied by these superstitious cruelties. What
barbarity in their games ! can anything be more
disgustingly brutal than those conflicts of the
gladiators, which were so frequent among that very
people, which accounted itself the most polished
of the universe ; conflicts, in which so many thou
sands of human creatures butchered each other for
the gratification of the spectators ? What barbarity
in their wars ! they were too often wars of exter
mination, wars which were brought to an end only
by the destruction of cities, by the massacre of
their inhabitants, or by slavery. What barbarity
in their legislative enactments relative to slaves,

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 297
who at that time formed so great a portion of the
human species ! It granted masters the liberty of
sporting with their lives, as with that of the vilest
animals. What barbarity with reference to the
imperial succession ! History teaches us that the
palace of their emperors was frequently nothing
more than a theatre of carnage.
There is not one of these scourges which has
not been either wholly destroyed or sensibly miti
gated throughout the different nations of the world,
accordingly as Christianity has been established
among them. It is true, that we do not find in
the Gospel either a political treatise on the best
form of government, or a code of civil laws, or
precise rules for the administration of justice ; but
we find something far more precious, a code
adapted to all ages, to all governments, and to all
nations. The Gospel consecrates the maxims which
are the foundation of all human societies ; in order
to render authority the more inviolable, it gives it a
sacred origin, and derives it from God himself. In
order the better to assure the obedience of subjects,
it represents that obedience to be due, not as the
result of fear, but as a duty of conscience. If it
commands us to render unto God that which is
God's, it also commands us to render unto Caesar
that which is Caesar's. The respect which it im
parts to and impresses upon the majesty of kings
is such, that Tertullian went so far as to style it,

298 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
the religion qf the second majesty l ; a language very
different from those seditious doctrines, which flatter
the multitude only to delude it, and which inces
santly remind it of its rights, the more effectually
to make it forget its duties. To restrain, however,
the rich and the powerful within the bounds of
justice, and to prevent their excesses, Christianity
humbles all conditions and all ranks, before Him
who calls Himself the King of kings, and the Lord
of lords ; it reduces all men to one common end,
as it refers them all to one common origin, and
reminds them, that it is without any regard to per
sons, that the same God will judge them all. Our
Scriptures breathe only peace, the pardon of offen
ces, the moderation of our desires, the contempt
of all celebrity which does not accord with virtue,
the vigilant restriction of those passions which
paganism has deified, pride, cupidity, and volup
tuousness, that empoisoned source of all the dis
orders which have desolated both empires and
families. In the evangelic doctrine everything
depends upon the love of God and of men. It is,
at last, announced to idolatrous nations ; it is pre
sented to them with magnificent promises for its
faithful votaries, and with frightful threats with
reference to the disobedient. And in proportion
as it gains an empire over the hearts and minds
1 Apolog. cap. xxxv.

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 299
of men, a happy revolution is wrought in their
sentiments, their habits, their religion, and their
laws. Human sacrifices, which were an outrage to
God and to nature, disappear ; men divest them
selves of their ferocity ; governments are more just
and more mild ; subjects more obedient, and revo
lutions less frequent; conquerors display more
humanity and more generosity ; the wars of exter
mination wholly cease, or at least become rare.
The pagans, by their laws, were not obliged to
regard their slaves even as men ; the Gospel orders
Christians to look upon all men as brethren ; thus
the evangelic charity, in the first place, mitigates,
then insensibly weakens, and, eventually, breaks in
pieces, among those people whom it has regene
rated, that humiliating and cruel yoke, which
crushed down to the dust so great a portion of the
human species.
When, from the wrecks of the Roman empire,
the barbarians of the North founded our European
monarchies, the Gospel softened their manners, and
civilized them. The servitude which was then
established among our ancestors, was far removed
from the barbarous slavery of Sparta, or of Rome ;
it was also continually on the decline ; and it is to
the happy ascendancy of a Roman pontiff, Alex
ander III., as Voltaire himself has remarked, that
the emancipation of all classes of our people is due.
Such is, then, the glory of Christianity, that if it
has not destroyed all the scourges of humanity, it

300 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
has mitigated them all, and has found out the
secret of giving at once more liberty to the people,
and more stability to governments. The author of
L 'Esprit des Lois has recognized this, when he said,
"That if men would contemplate the continual
massacres of the kings and leaders among the
Greeks and Romans ; the destruction of people and
of towns by these same leaders; the ravages of
Timour and of Gengiskan, who have devastated
Asia ; they would find that a certain political right
in governments, a certain right of nations in war,
for which human nature cannot be too grateful, is
due to Christianity V
But if its enemies should, as it were, recrimi
nate, and reproach it with the divisions, the ex
cesses, and the wars, of which it has been the
pretext, I shall not here discuss these accusations
in detail, as I intend that they should supply the
subject of a particular discourse, but limit myself
to some few reflections, which, although they may
be general, will not be the less decisive. I ask
you, is there one vice which the Gospel does not
condemn ? one excess which it does not reprove ?
one virtue which it does not command ? one per
fection which it does not counsel and inspire?
And why, then, should we impute to it, that which
is never the consequence, but always the violation
of its maxims ? How often have men abused the
1 Montesq. Espr. des Lois, liv. xxiv. cap. iii.

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 301
laws of justice and of power, for the purposes of
oppression ? Must we on that account have no
codes of law, no tribunals, and no governments ?
How often have men abused literature and the
sciences, by diffusing doctrines subversive of the
social order! Must we, on that account, have
neither literature nor the sciences ? Civil society
has produced disorders which are monstrous
although refined ; must we, on that account, be
replunged into the unsocial barbarity of savages?
We are told of what people frequently would
become by the abuses of religion ; but we are not
told of that which they would become were they
to be totally deprived of it. It would not be dif
ficult to show that if religious sentiments should
become extinct, our morals and our laws would
lose their firmest support ; that our people could
no longer be restrained, but by force, by terror, and
all the violent measures of despotic governments ;
and that if Europe lost Christianity, it would lose
with it, civilization and liberty, and thus relapse
into its ancient state of ferocious rudeness. Let
us again say, with the author of L 'Esprit des Lois.
that "it is a bad argument against religion to
exhibit an elaborate enumeration of the evils
which it has produced, without doing the same
as to the benefits which have resulted from it.
If I were to detail," adds he, " all the evils which
civil laws, monarchies, and republican governments

302 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
have caused, I should be compelled to write incre
dible horrors 1."
I now come, in the second place, to the influence
of Christianity upon domestic society. Yes, if we
penetrate into a family, and there consider the
relative duties of father, husband, wife, and chil
dren, with what new sentiments of gratitude must
our religion inspire us !
Among the most civilized people of paganism,
their religion was so favourable to the irregular
desires, and so far from acquiring any restraint
over them, that in order to maintain subordination
and domestic peace, the law carried paternal power
to excess, and armed it with that avenging sword
which ought to be deposited in the hands of public
authority only. Christianity, however, has rendered
the sentiment of filial piety more sacred and more
profound ; it has displaced fear and substituted per
suasion ; hence paternal authority, without ceasing
to be firm and vigilant, has lost all its ferocity, and
with us, every father is not a Brutus. The Christ
ian mother has not the obdurate pride of those of
Lacedemon ; but high-minded, without ceasing to
be affectionate, she knows how to arm her son
against the enemy, and to say to him, — I would
rather see you dead than sullied with a single
crime. 1 Liv. xxiv. cap. ii.

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 303
Among even the most vaunted nations, the
Greeks and Romans, for instance, the exposure
and the murder of new-born infants was author
ized and even commanded by the laws, in certain
provided and predetermined cases. Religion, like
a tender mother, takes these innocent creatures
under its own protection, and makes that which
the gravest legislators of antiquity regarded as a
politic measure, be deemed a barbarous and enor
mous crime.
Before Christianity, polygamy and divorce were
generally prevalent, — an usage, nevertheless, which
is a source of sanguinary rivalries, which, by dividing,
naturally weakens the affections of the husband,
and but too often tends to the oppression of the
wives. Jesus Christ comes, who reduces marriage
to its primitive unity, and who, by strengthening
the conjugal tie, destroys that which contributes
most to the tyranny of the husband, and the de
basement of the wife. Her yoke of submission is
not broken, but it is mitigated ; she is the compa
nion, and not the slave of her husband. It is an
indisputable fact, that no religion upon earth has
ever so powerfully protected woman, so sweetened
her lot, or given her so many rights and dignities
in her family, as Christianity has done. Thus
Christianity has ameliorated the condition of one
half of the human species; and, here I cannot
refrain from making the passing remark, that the
Christian woman who abjures, and blasphemes her
1

304 JESUS CHRIST CONSIDERED AS
religion, denies, unconsciously, perhaps, her greatest
benefactor, and is so unfortunate as to add to deser
tion a real act of ingratitude.
I have mentioned, in the third place, the special
influence of religion over those classes unhappily
so numerous in all nations, the poor and the
wretched. This is the greatest of its triumphs.
The Greeks and the Romans have been celebrated
through the world, by means of their literature,
their arts, their wars, their systems of polity, and
their very advanced state of civilization. "Their
wisdom and their foresight," says Fleury, " went so
far as to banish the slothful and able-bodied men
dicant ; but we do not see, that there ever existed
any public institution of the state, devoted to the
care of those wretched beings who are no longer
able to render it any service 1." See, on the con
trary, how, out of all the varieties of necessity and
misfortune, there is not one which has escaped the
tender solicitude of the Christian Church. History
tells us, how the spirit of charity animated it from
its commencement ; how it shone forth in the
midst of persecutions, how it perpetuated itself
from age to age, until at last it was fully manifested
by those innumerable retreats for indigence and
misfortune with which Christendom is now adorned.
I think it my duty to remark, to the glory of that
compassionate sex, which ever devotes itself so
1 Moeurs des Chretiens, n. 51.

THE BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 305
courageously to the solace of all human sufferings,
that the first person cited in the Christian annals,
as the foundress of a public asylum for the poor,
or, if I may call it by its proper name, of an hos
pital, is Fabiola, a Roman but Christian lady of the
fourth century.
Behold then this Christian religion, not such as
its perfidious enemies would wish to represent it,
in portraits, coloured by passion or by prejudice,
but such, as when it first issued from the hands of
its divine founder, surrounded by all the lights
which it has since diffused ; by all the virtues which
it has inspired, and the victories which it has gained
over vice and over error ; behold that wholesome
religion which evil men would tear from us, but
which is so incorporated with our monarchy, that
the ruin of the one must hasten that of the other
also.

VOL. II. x

CHAPTER XXV.

EXCELLENCE OF THE MYSTERY OF THE
INCARNATION.

After having promulgated the Gospel, and formed
a Christian Church in the bosom of one of the most
flourishing and most licentious cities of Greece, the
Apostle St. Paul addresses to these converts two
epistles, which are still extant, in which he endea
vours to confirm them in their newly-adopted faith.
In the first of these he more particularly applies
himself to unfold to their comprehensions the mys
tery of Jesus Christ, of God made man, and in His
humanity, living, suffering, and dying like us, and
for us : on this subject, he addresses to them words
which were a scandal to the Jew and foolishness to
the Gentile, and which are still revolting to the
infidel, harsh and unacceptable to the weak Christ
ians of modern times, and probably offensive to the
haughty delicacy of some of my present hearers.

EXCELLENCE OF THE MYSTERY, &c 307
St. Paul did not hesitate to say, that the wisdom
of the philosophers of his day was folly, and their
knowledge vanity, that he counted for nothing the
studied harangues of human eloquence, and that
all his knowledge was the crucified Jesus. " For
I am determined not to know any thing among
you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified 1." How
strange must this language have appeared in the
age in which the Apostle lived, the age of wit, of
knowledge, and of voluptuousness ! Then every
nation had its heroes, whose exploits it sung, its
orators of whose eloquence it vaunted, its sages,
whose maxims it admired, and its gods, upon whose
altars it burnt incense. And behold a man, un
known, without authority, without power, sprung
from a despised nation, a Jew, a barbarian, comes
and announces to the earth, even to Greece so
learned and so polite, that every thing which it had
hitherto admired and worshipped, was replete with
folly and with falsehood ; that the only solid glory,
the first of all acquirements, was the knowledge of
a person who had died upon a cross. " Jesus Christ
and Him crucified." Thus, the foresight of poli
ticians, the wisdom of philosophers, the famous
schools of Rome and of Athens, the celebrated
games of Greece, the festivals of Corinth, the
beauty of its edifices, its flourishing commerce, and
the advantage of its position ; are all forgotten by
1 1 Cor. chap. ii. verse 2.
x 2

308 EXCELLENCE OF THE
the Apostle, and his heart filled with the single
object of his love and admiration, his thoughts fully
occupied and his affections wholly engrossed by
Jesus Christ, Him he preaches to all nations. The
apostle of the Gentiles might have contented him
self with inviting people to the contemplation of
Jesus Christ, with regard to the holiness of His
life, the purity of His virtues, the beauty of His
doctrine, His love for the poor, the splendour
of those miracles which accompanied His steps, or
in the triumphs of His conversation and discourses
over the most rebellious hearts ; but no, he does
not hesitate to fix the attention of the whole world
on the sufferings and on the death of his Divine
Master. The instrument of torture, the bloody
apparatus, the body covered with wounds, all this
he delights in displaying before the eyes of the
nations; Jesus crucified, this is the knowledge in
which he wishes to instruct these proud and sensual
men, " Jesus and Him crucified." To conceive the
design of making a person who had been put to
death as a malefactor upon the cross, to be wor
shipped as a god, by all the earth, and to succeed
in this project ; what a thought is this ! and how
does it confound all human ideas ! how does this
success alone, when fully investigated and under
stood, disclose a something beyond the invention of
man, some power all divine, which furnishes us
with the most striking proof of the truth of our
religion.

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 309
We have already exposed some of the proofs of
the Divinity of the religion of Jesus Christ ; we
have already established that we ought to reverence
Him, not only as a man who was the friend of God,
but as God made man. It is on this mystery, that
the whole fabric of Christianity is founded; and
it is this mystery, with all its consequences and
dependencies, which I propose to make the subject
of our present conference. I would make you feel
all the excellence and all the beauty of a religion
which rests on such a foundation. Our lot has
been cast in the bosom of a city, which is celebrated
for its advancement in the sciences, in litera
ture, and in arts : let us, however, for a moment
forget, as the apostle did at Corinth, its proud
palaces, its delicious gardens, its learned academies,
its immense population, and the masterpieces of
art with which it is embellished ; these are all the
things of time and of man. Let us raise our
thoughts far higher ; let us endeavour to arrive at
just and noble ideas of the religion which we
profess, and to discover some portion of those
treasures of light and of wisdom, which the apostle
found in Jesus Christ. I shall prove that far from
blushing at the humiliations and the death of the
Divine founder of his religion, the Christian should
glory in them ; and I shall also prove, that Christ
ianity borrows astonishing brilliancy and grandeur
from those very clouds which might at first appear
to overshadow and obscure it. My design is to

310 EXCELLENCE OF THE
present to you the mystery of the incarnation, that
is to say, the doctrine of God made man for us, in
its true light. I shall endeavour, in the first place, to
disclose to you all the grandeur and all the beauty
of this mystery ; and in the second place, show you,
how ill-founded are all the arguments of the infidel
in opposition to it. Such is the plan of this con
ference on the excellence of the mysteries of the
incarnation. One truth which is equally felt by all, which is
inspired by sound reason, and which, above all, is
admirably developed in the Gospel, is, that God
could have created nothing which was not to tend
to His glory, and that He is the sole end of all
things, by the very reason of His being the sole
beginning of all things. Yes, when in the counsels
of His wisdom, He determined to communicate a
portion of that existence of which He is the source
and the fulness, He could have had no other
design than that of impressing upon His creatures
the image of His own perfections, of manifesting
Himself, of being known, adored, and glorified.
It is written of Him, " I am the beginning and the
end1." And Solomon said three thousand years
ago, " The Lord has made every thing for Him
self2 ;" not that He could fail of finding His own
felicity within Himself, or that to be happy, He
requires the knowledge or the homage of His
1 Apoc, chap. ii. ver. 8. ' Prov. chap. xvi. ver, 4.

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 311
creatures ; but He owes it to Himself, not to divest
Himself of the sovereign empire which He pos
sesses over them, but to exact from them a tribute
of dependence and of love. Whoever of created
beings, solely and exclusively seeks his own hap
piness, and constitutes himself as the central object
of his affections, is not only an egotist in the
eye of reason, but in a religioUs point of view,
he is a sacrilegious usurper of the rights of the
Divinity. Thus it is said in Scripture, " That the
Lord thy God is a jealous God V Thus, in that
prayer, so simple and so sublime, which Jesus Christ
taught His disciples, the first supplication is, that
the name of God be hallowed, that His empire
should be recognized throughout the world, and
that His supreme will should be accomplished, " In
earth as it is in heaven." But to attain this sole
end of the creation, what ought the Creator to do ?
What plan ought He to follow in the formation of
both the intelligent arid the material world? It
certainly does not become us to trace out the
methods which the Creator ought to have adopted;
and if revelation did not partially remove the veil
which conceals from us the depths of the secrets
of God, our ideas of them would be most vague and
uncertain. I take things then as I am taught them
by Christianity. If on one side, I know that God
looked to His own glory in the creation of the
1 Exodus, chap. xx. verse 5.

312 EXCELLENCE OF THE
universe ; on the other side, I find that by the
incarnation, this design is executed in a manner
most wonderful, and most worthy of His infinite
majesty ; but why is this ? Because that after the
incarnation, the homage of the creature assumes a
character of divine grandeur; the whole world
adoring God through man, man adoring Him
through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ being God
and man together, it results from this, that God is
known and glorified by God. We have here a
chain of reasonings and of truths, which demand
your undivided attention.
We learn from the Holy Scriptures, that God,
arising from His eternal rest, gives existence to that
which previously existed not, and draws out of non
entity this universe with all its wonders. Already
the stars sparkle like diamonds in the vault of
Heaven ; the sun fills all space with its light, the
moon, queen of the stars, presides over the night,
the seas are shut up in the prisons of the great
deep ; the earth now made fruitful covers itself
with flowers and with fruits; earth, sea, and air,
are all peopled with a multitude of different beings ;
all things are obedient to the laws of the Sovereign
Creator, and there is nothing which is not wonder
fully adapted to His designs. Thus the sacred his
torian represents Him as being pleased with the
visible world which He had just produced, seeing
that every thing was in its place, that each feature
of this immense picture had its own grace and its

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 313
own beauty, and that every part, with reference to
the whole, was subservient to the views of His
wisdom through all succeeding ages ; " God saw
that it was good \"
But, after all, of what use is this material uni
verse, and what glory can result from it, to God,
if there do not exist certain intelligent beings, who
can both know and adore Him ? Insensible crea
tures, the sun, the moon, the earth, and the seas,
know not themselves, and certainly cannot know
God ; they have not the sentiment either of their
own existence, or of the existence of their Author.
They are, therefore, incapable of gratefully referring
to God, that which they have received from His
beneficent and all-powerful hand. God is not like
those artificers, who, doubtful of their own talent,
delight in making essays and experiments in the
different productions of their industry ; He was not
necessitated to make any preparatory proof of his
power in the formation of this world ; and yet to
have created it without any ulterior end, would
have been an act unworthy of Himself. I do not
hesitate to say, that the creation of the material
without that of the intelligent nature, could offer
nothing to God which might be worthy of His
Supreme Majesty. If matter existed alone, all
would be dead in nature ; this physical world would
be an immense solitude, a palace without a master,
1 Genesis, chap. i. ver. 25.

314 EXCELLENCE OF THE
an empire without a king, a temple without a
priest. How does the Creator then act? After
having formed the material universe, with all its
beauties, and all its wonders, the Scriptures repre
sent Him as meditating within himself upon the
creation of something more excellent than He has
hitherto made ; " Let us make man," said He, " in
our own image 1." With this design, His all-power
ful hand fashions a little clay ; he animates it with
one breath ofhis Divinity ; and behold, man appears,
man, who is related to God by his spirit, and to
earth by his body ; who bears within his soul those
traits of the divine perfection, which shine resplend-
ant on his brow ; who finds himself like his Author,
to be capable of intelligence and of love, and who,
being free, by this very freedom is enabled to render
unto God, a homage which is glorious to the
Creator, and meritorious in the creature. It is
God Himself, who, by communicating to him some
portion of his Supreme royalty, establishes him king
of the earth, and subjects to him all those beings
which live and breathe upon its surface. From
this moment, creation has an end worthy of the
Sovereign Author of all things. The insensible
creatures exist for man, and man exists for God.
Material beings know not God, but they make him
to be known, they manifest His glory, and they
render His perfections, in a manner, visible ; their
1 Genesis, chap. i. ver. 26.

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 315
splendour, their beauty, their harmony, excite man
to glorify their Author. That sun, and those stars,
scattered through the firmament, are not they so
many mirrors from which the rays of the Divinity
are reflected down to us ? If the prophet invites all
inanimate creatures, the earth and the seas, the
winds and the storms, to bless their Creator, this is
not a sally of pious enthusiasm on his part ; it is on
the contrary, a method of giving us to understand,
that by the grandeur, and by the concert of their
movements, by the marvellous spectacle which they
present, they are inviting us to pay in their name,
to our common Master, the tribute of their homage
conjointly with our own. We may also add, that
man is not here a mere spectator, that he is not
only an admiring witness, but that in the creation,
all refers to him. We know not, it is true, that
which passeth in other worlds, or whether God has
placed in them, beings capable of knowing Him ;
but we do know, that man lives in the full enjoy
ment of all the works of omnipotence. Yes, the
air, the light, and the stars, are all subservient to
his use, his wants, and his pleasures ; and without
pretending that this world has been made exclu
sively for man alone, yet it is incontestible, that he
may regard himself as the central point of an im
mense sphere. Thus we are authorized in saying,
that material creatures, bless and adore their
Creator, not of themselves, but through the media
tion of man who knows them, and who, by their
1

316 EXCELLENCE OF THE
means, raises his thoughts to their Author, and who,
as the officiating priest of all nature, offers his own
and nature's homage to the Divinity.
This homage of inanimate creatures, through the
medium of man ; and of man, by his own personal
worship, must be agreeable to God. When our first
parents, still in the integrity of their original nature,
enriched with the most precious blessings, their
hearts all penetrated with gratitude and love, bowed
down in humble thanksgiving to the God who had
given them life, and so many perfect gifts ; the ex
pression of their sentiments, certainly, could not fail
of pleasing Him, who had inspired them. But, after
all, Man, however virtuous and however holy we
may suppose him, is always a finite being; his
homage emanates from a nature too weak not to
be confined to the occupation of a position, situated
at an immeasurable distance from infinite greatness.
What can fill up that vast interval ? Where can
man acquire that which can enable him to offer
unto God a tribute proportionable to the Divine
Majesty ? We know that the hoiriage paid to power
or to merit, is so much the more precious, as the
person who offers it is himself more dignified.
Thus, a powerful monarch, however gratified he
may be by the homage of his subjects, would be
far more so by that of kings, whom he might see
prostrate at the foot of his throne. But, after all,
how is man empowered at all to approximate to the
infinite majesty of his God ? It is here that we feel

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 317
all the beauty and all the mystery of the incarna
tion of the word. I by no means pretend to say,
that God must necessarily have chosen that very
order of things which he has chosen ; that he had
but this one method of creating the most perfect
of worlds, and that he was obliged to create it as
He has created it. I leave this doctrine of Leib
nitz, or of Mallebranche, as I find it ; it is, perhaps,
more easy to ridicule the optimism of these two
great philosophers, than to refute it ; but I certainly
may be permitted to regard it as a sublime dream,
a dream, however, which they have known how to
support with very specious arguments. At this
moment, disengaged from all spirit of system, I
confine myself to that which Christianity teaches
me. And what does it teach me ? That the eternal
Son of God takes upon Himself the nature of man :
in this nature, He humbles and abases Himself before
the Most High ; at the same time, He forms a people
of worshippers, whom He associates with Himself,
and into whom He instils a portion of His own
spirit ; He thus becomes the head of a mysterious
body, of which we Christians are the members ; and
thus you may see how the vast magnificence of the
plan of the creation gradually unfolds itself. Mate
rial beings worship through the mediation of man,
man, through that of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ,
who is God and man, worships in a manner worthy
of God. Thus, by the incarnation of the Divine
Word, the universe joins in a glorious concert of

318 EXCELLENCE OF THE
praise, which is as infinite as the majesty of Him
who is its object.
This is far from being a new system of theology ;
it is a consequence which is involved in the mystery
of the incarnation when fully understood ; I believe
that its elements are to be found in St. Paul, who
penetrated so far into the depths of this mystery.
For we find, that some differences having arisen in
the Christian Church, founded by this Apostle at
Corinth, believers being divided between their par
ticular teachers ; some being for Cephas, and others
for Apollos ; — rthe Apostle, to put an end to these
vain disputes, reminds them, that men are nothing ;
that Christians ought to rise superior to all human
considerations, and to think that their only glory
and desire should be to belong to Jesus Christ, that
in Him all things belong to them; and he then
addresses them in these words, " Whether Paul, or
Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come ; all are yours ;
and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's 1."
Let us give some little development to this
thought of the Apostle ; for it is a thought which
is mbst deserving of our meditation. Religion
teaches us, that our first parents, having become
prevaricators, fell ; that God did not abandon them
after their fall, but, when He punished their revolt,
He, at the same time, promised a Redeemer to
1 1 Corinthians, chap. iii. verses 22, 23.

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 319
them and to their posterity. This promise being
thus entrusted to the elder families of the human
race, is perpetuated and handed down through a
series of successive generations, which were its
faithful guardians, until one particular people, the
Hebrews, were specially appointed its depositary.
This Redeemer was Jesus Christ, God and man
together, who, by His death, expiated the sins of
the earth ; and whose merits, embracing all ages,
sanctified all the just from the beginning even to
the end of time. This is the Christian faith with
reference to the promises and the consequences of
the Incarnation, and hence you may see the glory
which results from it to God.
If the sacrifices of Abel, of Noah, of Abraham,
of Melchisedeck, — if the mysterious ceremonies of
the ancient law, — if the faith of the patriarchs, the
zeal of the prophets, the virtues of all the just men
who lived before the preaching of the Gospel ; — rif all
these had no connection with the future sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, their merit would be trivial and limited;
but, by their union with the merits of the awaited
Redeemer, they acquire immense value, and are
somewhat more proportioned to the Divine Majesty.
Thus, even before the coming of Jesus Christ, insen
sible creatures praised God through the just of the
earth, the just through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ
through Himself, in a manner worthy of God. " All
things are yours; ye, are Christ's, and Christ is
God's." In accordance with this idea, how great is

320 EXCELLENCE OF THE
the glory which results to God from the zeal of the
Apostles, the conflicts of the votaries of the Gospel*
the courage of its martyrs, the prayers of the pious,
and the resignation of the afflicted Christian, the
inexhaustible benevolence of charity, and all those
touching and sublime virtues which our religion
inspires; for that glory, although proffered by a
weak and finite creature, is rendered infinite by the
union of the believer with God made man. The
faithful soul possesses all things. Jesus Christ pos
sesses the faithful soul, and God possesses Jesus
Christ. " All things are yours ; for ye are Christ's,
and Christ is God's." Even this is not all : religion,
although under different forms, is as old as the
world, and is perpetuated by it, to endure even
after it. It is a germ, which first buds forth under
the patriarchs, grows up under the Mosaic Law, is
developed by the Gospel, and at last comes to its
full and perfect maturity in Heaven. There every
thing is consummated; the elect make one with
Jesus. Christ, and Jesus Christ is one with the
heavenly Father; the glory of the head is thus
reflected on all the members. It is through Him,
that the blessed praise and for ever exalt the gran
deur and the mercy of their God ; and their adora
tions, identified with those of Jesus Christ, who is
God made man, are infinite as the God who is their
object. Thus, by a consequence of the mystery of
the Incarnation, God has received from the begin
ning, and will receive beyond the end of time* an

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 321
homage as infinite as Himself. Hence, what reli
gion is more worthy of God, and what more glorious
to Him, than a religion founded as ours is, upon
the mystery of the Incarnation of His Son ? Were
this nothing more than a mystery, it would still be
the most sublime of human conceptions; but all
this is too far exalted above all human thoughts
that man should have invented it. I am not then
surprised, that the fault of our first parents should
have occasioned the Incarnation of the Word ; and
this Incarnation redounding so vastly to the honour
of God, the Church, when it deplores the first fall,
consoles itself by the contemplation of those inef
fable blessings which Providence has extracted
from it.
I cannot conclude this first part of our conference
without observing, that the doctrine which I have
just explained, should be the more dear from its
being the more consolatory to us. Compare it with
that of modern materialists, and decide between
them. Atheists have talked much and emphati
cally, on the dignity of the human species; they
would, as they say, restore to man that majesty
which has been crushed under the yoke of super
stition ; and yet, with all their systems, they have
only corrupted and degraded him. What do they
teach us respecting the origin and the destiny of
man? They make him to be born I know not
how, and convert him, by fantastic metamorphoses,
from a mineral to a vegetable, from a vegetable to
VOL. II. y

322 EXCELLENCE OF THE
an animal, and hence to a human being. They
regard him as nothing more than a little organized
clay ; they make him die physically and spiritually
like an insect ; and this is what has long been, and
what is even yet sometimes called, philosophy. To
make us virtuous, the atheist begins by disembar
rassing us of a belief in the Divinity, and thus when
he abandons us to every vice, he, at the same time,
deprives us of our best defence against their various
influences : to console us under the afflictions of
life, he talks to us of the inflexible necessity which
overwhelms us. Pride for dignity, licentiousness
for liberty, passions for virtues, blasphemous impre
cations or a hideous suicide for consolation, these
are the gifts which the atheist presents to humanity ;
and, if a happy inconsistency did not render him
better than his system, we might say, — This is the
man of atheism. On the contrary, made in the
likeness of God, his Creator, animated by His im
mortal Spirit, classed pre-eminently alone, consti
tuted the king of all nature by his intelligence,
sustained in affliction by hope, ennobled, perfected,
and, as it were, deified by the union of the Word
with his nature, made a participator in the merits
and in the holiness of Jesus Christ, and destined to
reign with Him in eternity: this is the man of
religion. Now decide on which side is greatness
and on which baseness.
I have now, I trust, said enough to convince
you, both of the grandeur and ofthe beauty of this

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 323
mystery of the Incarnation ; it now remains to see
if the arguments adduced by the unbeliever in
apposition to it, possess any solid foundation.
If you listen to infidels, they represent the mys
tery of the Incarnation as a strange compound
of contradictions, of cruelty, of injustice, of base
ness, and as :being totally unworthy of the goodness
and the greatness of God. A God, they say, im
mortal, impervious to suffering, immense, to be shut
up in a mortal body, to grow up, to suffer and to
die ; what absurdity ! A God enduring every species
of humiliation and reproach ; what can be more re
volting or more unworthy of the Supreme Majesty !
A God who condemns to death not guilty men, but
Jesus Christ, who is innocence itself; what injus
tice ! Let us not, however, be even startled by all
this. These arguments are founded upon false
notions and conceptions, and would altogether
vanish were you to devote some little time to the
formation of correct ideas, in the first place, of the
very foundation of the mystery, as taught us by
religion ; secondly, of its true grandeur, as repre
sented to us by sound reason ; thirdly, of the mira
culous and divine effects which have resulted from
those very abasements of which the infidel would
avail himself in his contradiction of Jesus Christ.
In the first place, it is above all things impor
tant, that we should contemplate the mystery of
the Incarnation in that light in which religion sets
it before us, and not as prejudice or levity may
y2

324 EXCELLENCE OF THE
represent it. Religion teaches us, that by uniting
itself with our nature, the Divine Word neither lost
any thing of its grandeur, nor contracted any thing
of our frailty ; that in Jesus Christ, God and man
together, the Divinity ever remained impassible and
immortal. It would certainly be absurd to imagine,
that the Divinity was held in a human body, as a
liquor is contained in a vessel, or as we are enclosed
within the walls of this temple ; but, since God fills
all space with His immensity, He, doubtless, has
the power of rendering His presence more sensible
in some particular places ; and since He gives
motion and life to all His creatures, He is certainly
enabled, should He so be pleased, to unite Himself
in a more intimate manner with our human nature,
and to govern, and direct it by a more special action
of His Omnipotence. In Jesus Christ, the human
was united to the Divine nature, as in man, the
body is united to the soul. This comparison, all-
imperfect as it is, still serves to elucidate the mys
tery ; and the fathers of the Church have ever
applied it to this purpose. Man is spirit and body
together; in each of us, the spirit and the body
have their distinct functions ; but the ordinary lan
guage of mankind involves both the one and the
other in the appellation of a person ; all these func
tions, both corporeal and spiritual, are attributed to
the person : hence, in whatever capacity you may
regard the human species, in that of its body or of
its soul, you may predicate of the same man, that

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 325
he is brutal and rational, corruptible and incorrup
tible, mortal and immortal. The application is
manifest ; in Jesus Christ, we ought to know how
to distinguish that which is peculiarly man, from
that which is peculiarly God ; in Him, the human
nature suffers, the Divine nature not being subject
to suffering; the human nature dies, the Divine
nature not being subject to death ; but, by a con
sequence of the union of the two natures, we may
say of Jesus Christ, that He is God and man, en
gendered in eternity, born in time, ever living, and
ever dying upon the cross. In Jesus Christ, the
Word governed and directed the humanity; and,
hence it is, that we ought to attribute to Him
those sufferings and that death whose reward is so
infinite. Certainly, if Jesus Christ, being innocent, had
been condemned to suffer death for the crimes of
the guilty, and had been forcibly compelled to
undergo a punishment which He had not deserved,
this would have been an injustice. But suppose,
on one side, that God, justly irritated by the
iniquities of men, should exact a reparation for the
outrages committed against His majesty ; suppose,
on the other side, that the , Divine Word, from an
impulse of love, should become a mediator, should
voluntarily offer Himself as an expiatory victim, and
that, with this intent, He should take upon Himself
a nature similar to our own, in which to suffer and
to die ; where is the injustice of this ? Let us

326 EXCELLENCE OF THE
rather admire how beautifully, in the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, justice is combined with mercy. The
justice of God is fully satisfied by an atonement
worthy of Himself; His mercy is manifested by
the acceptance of this atonement, which He might
have refused. A familiar example may throw much
light on this matter : suppose a king to be offended
by the rebellion of his subjects ; he has the right
of taking summary vengeance upon them, and of
not acceding to their offers of satisfaction. But
suppose at the same time, that his only son should
offer himself as a nlediator ; that, in the name of
his criminal subjects, he should present himself
before his father ; and that his mediation should be
accepted: where would be the injustice of this?
The rights of the throne would be vindicated* and
the clemency of the king be manifested ; the glory
of the father being that of the son, it might be
said, that the honour which would result to the
father from the reparation of the son, would be
reflected back to the son himself. I certainly do
not pretend to say that this comparison dissipates
all the obscurities in which this mystery is involved,
for were it so, it would no longer be a mystery- In
our own soul, in the manner in which it forms its
thoughts, in its union with the body, how many
points are there, which are equally mysterious, and
equally incomprehensible ! At all events, in forming
bur judgments of this mystery by the ideas which
religion suggests to us, we are compelled to admit,

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 327
that it does not involve any of those revolting
absurdities, which the misconception and misre
presentation of infidels would attribute to it.
In the second place, in order that we should be
less shocked at the humiliations and debasements
of Jesus Christ, let us determine and define the
notions and characteristics of solid greatness ; and
in so doing let us adopt for our rule, not the pride
which is shocked by appearances, but the reason
which judges by realities. And what does this
tell us? That real greatness is in virtue, and
baseness only in vice ; that man even is never so
great as when, unjustly persecuted, he suffers death
in all the calm of innocence. Socrates owes more
of his glory to the poisoned draught which he was
unjustly condemned to drain, than to his know
ledge orto his estimable qualities. Have the torments
of Regulus dying at 'Carthage, a victim to perjury,
been ever regarded as degrading? Is St. Louis
in fetters, bearing misfortune with the resignation
of a Christian, and the dignity of a king, less great
than St. Louis on the throne ? And if Jesus, after
having been persecuted with the blindest fury, dies
with all the magnanimity and all the simplicity of
virtue, must he not be a poor philosopher who is
shocked by His humiliations and sufferings ? The
pagans may be said to have been more enlightened
on this subject than our modern freethinkers. For
in a fragment of the third book of the Republic
preserved by Lactantius, Cicero pourtrays the

328 EXCELLENCE OF THE
characters of two very different men ; the one, is a
wicked man who passes for being a good man, and
who, deceiving his fellow-creatures, is loaded with
riches, with honours, and with all the favours of
virtue ; the other is a good man who passes for
being a wicked man, a man whom his fellow-
citizens persecute, enchain, overwhelm with evil,
and reduce to the utmost misery : " Yet," says
the Roman philosopher, " were we obliged to be
come either the one or the other of these two men,
who among us would be mad enough to hesitate ?"
When in the second book of his Republic, Plato
draws the picture of his perfectly just man, he does
not represent him as encanopied in gold, or invested
in purple, as arrayed in all the pomp of worldly
grandeur, as seated on the car of victory and
passing under the triumphal arch, or as stunned
with the rapturous plaudits of the multitude ; but
he makes him to resemble the lowly Jesus, repre
sents him as humiliated, and persecuted like Him,
as looking to heaven alone for any approval of his
virtues, and, although the most just of men, yet
condemned as a malefactor. We know that the
pagan philosophers considered no spectacle to be
so worthy of the contemplation of heaven, as that of
virtue struggling with misfortune.
Let us consult our own peculiar notions and
ideas, and apply them to Jesus Christ in some
other points of view. When we are told of those
sublime minds, which did not hesitate to humble

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 329
themselves to the level of the comprehension of
the simple and ignorant, for the purpose of in
structing them ; when we are reminded of powerful
kings who sometimes divested themselves of their
majesty and mixed with their people, in order to
form a more correct estimate of their wants or
grievances, we are softened and affected by these
considerations ; we delight in seeing sages descend
from the heights of their genius, kings from the
elevation of their thrones, and the splendour of
talent and of power thus blended with conde
scension. But were we to suspect that there, was
any weakness or pusillanimity in this, we should
no longer admire it ; but no, we feel all the great
ness of man's thus humbling himself for the good
of humanity. We cannot certainly suspect the
existence of any thing savouring of frailty or of
folly in Jesus Christ. It is for us that He has
debased Himself, but this debasement is always
stamped with characteristics of the most heroic
virtue; certain traits of an all-divine greatness
beam forth from the lowest depths of His humili
ations. For look at His whole life ; if He is born
in a manger, angels celebrate His birth with hymns
of joy ; if He appears in all the helplessness of
infancy, the high and the low, the shepherds of
Judea, and the wise men of the east, crowd around
His cradle; if He is presented in the temple as
an ordinary child, the aged Simeon takes Him in
his arms, and prophesies His greatness and His

330 EXCELLENCE OF THE
glory. In the midst of the people of Judea, He
converses with the poor and ignorant, as with the
rich and learned ; perfect wisdom is in His words,
and innumerable miracles accompany His steps.
Does He allow Himself to be seized by an armed
band ? It is after having struck it to the earth by
a single word as by a thunderbolt. Does He die
upon the cross? All nature is convulsed and
trembles ; and He, lastly, descends into the grave,
only to rise from it again, the conqueror of death.
I am willing, for a moment, to put these traits
of His Divine power out of the question, and to
look simply at His debasement; and I maintain,
that, far from being degrading to Jesus Christ, it
makes His greatness to be the more wonderfully
conspicuous. Why? because certain miraculous
events, fully worthy of the Divinity, result from it.
This is my third and last reflection.
Fifteen centuries have elapsed since one of the
most vigorous writers of Christian antiquity, Ter
tullian, addressed the enemies of the Divinity of
Christ in these words ; " His debasements appear
to you to be unworthy of God ; but recollect, that
they were most useful to man, and that, on this
very account, they became most worthy of God, for
nothing is more worthy of God, than to do good to
His creatures." This thought deserves some con
sideration and development. In God, all perfec
tions are infinite ; His goodness is unlimited, as
well as His power and His wisdom ; it is even His

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 331
distinctive attribute, inasmuch as He is designated
by the epithet of Most Gracious, as frequently as by
that of Most Mighty ; in Him, bounty is a pro
pensity to communicate and diffuse those treasures
of life and of happiness, of which He is the source.
It is not with God as it is with us men, involved in
or perpetually gravitating towards the centre of our
own personal affections, busied in the supply of our
own wants : we do not delight in giving to others,
or, at all events, when we do give, we do so with
certain limits and restrictions ; we feel that by
giving to another we are taking away from our
selves. But God wants nothing, He gives without
impoverishing Himself; it belongs to the dignity
of the first of all Beings, to give according to the
impulse of His own will, and to anticipate the de
sires of all hearts ; and it is because He is the
Sovereign Being, that He embraces us all in His
Sovereign bounty. Should it please Him to give
a free, an unrestrained course to this bounty, He
might extend it to a point which to us would be
inconceivable ; for being infinitely communicable,
where is the point which His love could not reach ?
What did He see upon earth ? Error and vice had
Covered it with darkness and infamy ; on it crimes
were deified, and virtues unacknowledged ; the na
tions were, in the language of Scripture, like sheep
going astray without a shepherd ; some were all
diseased and covered with sores ; some were crimi
nals, who, stifling conscience and remorse, turned

332 EXCELLENCE OF THE
against God even the blessings which He had
imparted to them, and incessantly outraged Him
by their iniquities. They needed an example, a
physician, a Saviour. God had already " spoken
at sundry times, and in divers manners, by the pro
phets ;" but God had resolved to do still more, He
had determined to grant the earth a more universal,
a more precious, and a more durable blessing. He
is about to perform an act by so much the more
worthy of Himself, as it will display a greater love
and condescension towards mankind. The pagans
imagined that the gods sometimes visited men ; yet
that which to them was but a fable, is to us a real
ity. God becomes visible, assumes our nature,
lives among men, enlightens them by His words,
sanctifies them by His example, and saves them by
His death. If we had been beings of a purely imma
terial intelligence, He might have contented Him
self with enlightening us by certain internal revela
tions ; but we are men, we have senses, organs, and
a body. God then renders Himself like unto us,
and vouchsafes to us the benefit of a revelation
which is sensible, external, and adapted to our
nature. He might, doubtless, have appeared in
His habitual state of grandeur and of glory, might
occasionally have shown Himself to men, and dis
appeared again without passing through any of
those grades of poverty, of humiliation, and of suf
fering, to which He subjected Himself; but this
would have been inadequate to His. love, and in-

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 333
effectual for our instruction. He passes through
all the stages of human life, He submits to the
most rude reproofs, He renders Himself obedient
even to the death of the cross, because in His im
measurable love for men, He wishes to become the
model of all mankind, to make His life a picture of
all the virtues, to present to us example by the
side of precept, and to enlighten us more by His
conduct than by His lessons. Pride, ambition, and
the love of pleasure, those three tyrants of the
human race, were ruling with so despotic a sway,
that to liberate the earth from their thraldom, and
to establish the reign of their opposite virtues, it
required nothing less than the perfect examples of
humility, of worldly detachment, and of purity,
which were so gloriously exhibited by Jesus Christ.
Behold, then, this unique legislator, who, to His
last breath, was Himself ready to submit to those
laws which He imposes upon us. Behold Him,
who, after having been judged by every word and
by every action, has a right to say to His enemies,
" Which of you convinceth me of sin 1 ?" How
charming is the accordance of His example with
His doctrine ! In His life, there is not an action
which is not an example ; in His conversation, not a
sentence which is not a truth. How frivolous do
all the sages of antiquity appear before this just
man ! Where is the philosopher who has known
1 John, chap. viii. ver. 46.

334 EXCELLENCE OF THE
how to speak and how to live like Him ? Aristotle
and Plato may have gained disciples, and may have
reigned alternately in the schools of ancient or
modern philosophy ; but have we ever been able to
retrace or discover in their lives, the doctrine which
they have taught in their books ? Has any one
ever thought of proposing them as the models of
all perfection ? As to Jesus Christ, His conduct is
the personification of His doctrine ; and wherever
His Gospel may penetrate, men may be told to
observe, and to act after the example which is here
presented to them. Thus it is, that Jesus Christ
by His debasement, has shown Himself to be really
God, by giving us the example of all virtues for
our sanctification, and by sacrificing His life for the
salvation of the world. If we admire the prince
who devotes himself to death in defence of his sub
jects, if we think that by so doing, he merits a title
which may commemorate his glory, we must admit,
with Bossuet, "that a God coming down from
Heaven to live among men could do nothing more
great, nothing more royal, nothing more Divine,
than save the whole human race by a generous
death." I may, in conclusion, say to you : — you are scan
dalized at the humiliations of the Saviour ; but
observe the miraculous consequences which have,
in all ages, resulted from His sufferings and His
death ; and how His cross is become His triumph.
Jesus Christ has announced, that when He should
1

MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION. 335
be raised from earth He would draw up all things
to Himself; what a prediction! That a cross, the
instrument of ignominy, should become the source
of such glory ; what a prodigy ! and never has any
oracle been more miraculously accomplished. To
this the whole universe bears solemn witness. All
nations become the inheritance of the crucified
Jesus. Rome herself, the mistress of the world,
with vast cost and labour erects a temple conse
crated to the preservation of all the gods of the
earth, yet this monument of its policy and super
stition will be converted into a trophy for the cross
of the Saviour. This symbol of our salvation will
be planted on the pantheon, and the gods of the
nations, in chains at its foot, will serve as decora
tions to the triumphs of Christ. Jupiter has fallen
headlong from the capitol, and his thunderbolts, so
celebrated by the poets, have not saved him from
eternal dissolution. The Roman Empire will perish,
the religion of the crucified Jesus will last for ever.
The fierce inhabitants of the North, will rush forth
from their forests, and spread ruin and desolation
over the Roman provinces ; this colossus of power
will fall under the blows of the barbarians, and the
barbarians in their turn will fall at the foot of the
cross, and the Remi will say to Clovis, " Bend your
head, proud Sicambrian, burn that which thou hast
adored, and adore that which thou hast burned."
The most savage people of our Europe will become
humanized and civilized by the Gospel ; and Europe

336 EXCELLENCE OF THE MYSTERY, &c.
itself, when converted to Christianity, will become
the torch of the rest of the world.
Such have been, and such are still the triumphs
of Jesus crucified. Thus that Cross, at which in
fidels would have us blush, has, by its power and its
virtue, conquered the universe. By taking then
the mystery of the Incarnation, such as our Church
represents it, disengaged from the absurd and gross
ideas in which prejudice has involved it, you will feel
how glorious it is to God, and how salutary to man.
Being then Christians in deed, as well as in faith,
you will pay homage to Jesus Christ, both with the
affections of your hearts, and the submission of your
minds ; you will respect Him as the Mediator be
tween God and man, and as the Saviour of the world ;
and repeat with the announcing angels, " Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will
towards men."

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE PROPHECIES.

I have already had occasion to treat of the destiny
of the Jewish nation, to which Moses gave a code
of laws surprising alike for its duration and its
wisdom : I have reminded you of the miracles with
which his history abounds ; I have endeavoured to
point out to you every thing most extraordinary
and singular, which his character, his government,
and his position with reference to the other nations
of the world, present to us. I now proceed to
consider the Jewish nation in a new point of view,
by which I shall enable you to understand how it has
pleased God to make it an agent in bringing about
the accomplishment of His eternal designs, and in
preparing the way for that holy religion which He
had resolved to establish upon earth. To have rescued
from oblivion the memory of the past, by ordering
VOL. II. z

338 THE PROPHECIES.
His servant Moses to write down the origin of
things, and to assure to mankind a durable monu
ment, which is the depositary of their primitive
traditions, this would have been but a slight exem
plification of His bountiful goodness. Equally trivial
(trivial at least when compared with His immea
surable kindness) would it have been, to have
provided for the present or temporal necessities of
His chosen people, and to have led them by the
hand through a perpetual succession of miracles.
The thoughts of salvation which the Most High
had conceived, were not to be confined to one
single country or to one single people; and His
providential care of the children of Israel in par
ticular, is nothing more than the preannouncement
and prefiguration of that grand work of mercy,
which He is meditating in favour of all the children
of men. Ages may yet roll away, before this work
is fully accomplished. But wishing to typify it
by traits which could not be mistaken, and to apply
some consolation to the afflictions of the world, by
giving it cause to expect a deliverance, He, from
age to age, raises up men replete with His own
spirit and His own light, before whom he draws
aside the veil of futurity, and whom He charges to
go and communicate to their brethren every thing
which they had seen and heard. Hence comes
that series of prophecies which we meet with so
frequently in the books of the ancient law, where
we may read the anticipated history of the future.
1

THE PROPHECIES. 339
Of these prophecies, some refer to the Jewish
people only, or to some one of the many cities or
nations which surrounded them ; others, and these
form the subject of our present inquiry, seem to refer
to one single object, to which they incessantly recur,
and which they represent under all its forms and
in all its details, as being of the highest importance
and most universal interest. Both Jews and Christ
ians agree in seeing, in these last oracles, the promise
of a Redeemer or of a Messiah, who in the fulness
of time, should come into the world, and whose
blessings, as well as empire, should embrace all the
nations of the earth. But when the latter affirm
that this august personage is already come, and
that Jesus, the son of Mary, who was crucified at
Jerusalem, eighteen centuries ago, was the Messiah ;
the former, on the other hand, maintain that the
Saviour is yet to come. Infidels, on their side,
pretend, that both the one and the other are
equally in error, and that none of the prophecies
deserve credit. Amidst this shock of conflicting
opinions, where is truth ? This a question which I
will now endeavour to answer.
In order to render this discussion more clear and
regular, I shall reduce it to the three following
questions. Is it true, that there are in the books of the
Old Testament, certain predictions which announce
the coming of the Messiah ?
Is it true, that the predicted characteristics of
z 2

340 THE PROPHECIES.
this incomparable personage have been realized in
Jesus Christ ?
Is it true, that the difficulties which are opposed
to this belief have any solidity ?
Such is the distribution of our conference on the
Divinity of the Christian religion, proved by the
prophecies. It is an indubitable fact, that the expectation of
a Messiah, that is to say, of a powerful Redeemer
destined to reign over all the nations of the world,
has been, in all ages, one of the fundamental points
of the Jewish religion. We can trace well-defined
vestiges of this tradition, from age to age, down
even to our own day. Many authors, Jewish as
well as pagan, agree in attesting that at the epoch
in which Jesus Christ appeared in the world, this
expectation of a Messiah was universal \ But has
this belief so ancient and so deep-rooted, any real
foundation in the sacred books ? Of this it is easy
for every man of candour and honesty to convince
himself. Nothing, in fact, in the books of the
Old Testament is more frequently repeated than
the promise of a Messiah, under the general idea
of a Redeemer destined to lay the foundation of a
new covenant. It is true that this promise is not
equally developed in all ages or in all prophecies ;
it is a light which has its beginning and its progress ;
1 Joseph, de Bello Judaico, lib. vi. c. v. n. 4. Thalmud Babyl.
Saup. cap. xi. — Luke iii. 15. John i. 19, 20; iv. 25. Sueton. in
Vespas. cap. iv. Tacitus, Histor. lib. v. cap. xiii.

THE PROPHECIES. 34l
which does not, however, enlighten all ages; it is
at first nothing more than an isolated ray, which
gradually increases in volume and effulgence, and
at last pours forth an all-pervading stream of im
perishable light.
Scarcely had our first parents, by their rebellion,
incurred the reproachful anger of their Creator,
when they hear from the mouth of their Sovereign
Judge, the promise of a Redeemer who should
liberate them from the service of the devil. " 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 1." The some
what obscure and figurative style of this prophecy,
in which the devil is designated under the emblem
of a serpent, may certainly be liable to objections,
and is not free from difficulties ; and I must go so
far as even to admit, that if this prediction had not
been elucidated by a series of others which succeeded
it, it would not of itself have been sufficiently strong
or decisive, to have furnished us with a rigorous
demonstration of the promise of a Redeemer.
Observe, however, that the sense of these myste
rious words is clearly determined by the most
ancient traditions of the human race. Not only
the Jews 2, but the pagans themselves, as Boulanger 3
expressly admits, have preserved the tradition of an
1 Gen. chap. iii. verse 15.
2 See the Targums or Chaldaic paraphrases.
J Boulanger, Antiquite devoilee.

342 THE PROPHECIES.
all-powerful Redeemer, who should bring salvation
to men, and reconcile them to their God ; and,
what is not less remarkable, a messenger from on
high has been represented in several mythologies
under the image of an incarnate God, who is
bruising the head of a serpent, a reptile ever
peculiarly offensive to the human race '. Whence
could a tradition of this sort, common to so many
different nations, have sprung, if not from that
primitive tradition, which has explained the promise
made to our first parents in the sense which we
now attribute to it? By examining the whole
bearing of this text, and the fatal decree which it
contains, we shall find, that every word betrays
mercy attempering justice. In the terrible God
who curses His guilty creatures, we still recognize
the father rather than the judge ; we feel that He
strikes with regret and reluctance, and that when
He chastises for the moment, He reserves to Him
self a future day in which He will pardon. The
aim then of this prediction is clearly to console the
guilty in their affliction, and to reanimate their hope.
But has God afforded them any real consolation,
by confining Himself to the bare announcement
of the enmity which was henceforth to exist be
tween the natural man, and the natural serpent?
We must then give to these Divine words the

1 See Faber's Hora Mosaicae, sect. i. chap. iii. See also Essai
sur l'lndifference, torn. iii. chap, xxvii. page 408.

THE PROPHECIES. 343
sense which we attribute to them, in connection
with the most ancient and most universal of all
traditions; by so doing we shall find, that they
fully express the proposed end of God, which was
to revive the courage of fallen man. The least
that our first parents could have inferred from this
promise, was, that one of their descendants should
gain a glorious victory over the devil ; that by so
doing he would render their state less desperate,
and that they should one day be delivered from the
evils which their disobedience had drawn down
upon them.
But let us follow out the long chain of prophecy,
of which this is but the first link ; and we shall
see the designs of Divine mercy gradually un
folding themselves, and successively acquiring the
clearest light.
About two thousand years before Jesus Christ,
when all nations were plunged in idolatry, God
chose Abraham and all his family to be the founders
of a privileged nation. He predicts to this holy
patriarch, not only that he should be the father of
an innumerable people, but that from his race a
branch should spring, in which all the nations of
the world should be blessed. " Get thee out of
thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy
father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.
And I will make of thee a great nation ; and I will
bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou
shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that

344 THE PROPHECIES.
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee ; and in
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed1."
The same promise is renewed in the same terms to
Isaac and to Jacob, the descendants of Abraham2 ;
and when on the bed of death, Jacob himself, in
spired by a fresh access of divine light, points
out the very tribe, that of Judah, from which the
Desire of Nations should spring. " The sceptre,"
(that is, the sovereign authority,) " shall not depart
from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come ; and unto Him shall the gather
ing of the nations be 3." Who, by this last trait,
does not immediately recognize the celebrated per
sonage already promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and
to Jacob, Him in whom all the families qf the earth
should be blessed, the Redeemer announced to guilty
man from the origin of the world ?
I am aware that the modern Jews, embarrassed
by this prophecy, which thus determines the precise
epoch of the coming of the Messiah by such remark
able characteristics, have neglected nothing which
might enable them to elude its force ; and that they
have even applied the oracle of Jacob to a meaning
altogether different from that, which we attribute
to it. But, without going into the elaborate dis
cussions of the learned on the original text, which
would be incompatible with the plan of these con-
1 Genesis, chap. xii. verses 1, 2, 3.
2 Ibid. chap. xxvi. verses 3, 4 ; chap, xxviii. verses 13, 14.
' Ibid. chap. xlix. verse 10.

THE PROPHECIES. 345
ferences, may we not solve the whole difficulty by
one decisive observation ? It is certain that all the
ancient Jews, both before the birth of Jesus Christ,
and during the first ages of Christianity, applied
the oracle now in question, as we apply it, to the
Messiah. The translation of the Holy Scriptures,
known by the title of the Version of the Septuagint
nearly three hundred years anterior to the birth of
Jesus Christ, the paraphrases or commentaries
published by the Jews since the coming of Jesus
Christ \ all the writings of their doctors 2, unani
mously adopt the explication which we at this day
give of the celebrated prophecy now under consi
deration. What then are we to think of the suspi
cious interpretations spun out of the imaginations
of their modern teachers, after so long a series of
ages ? Are we not justified in accounting them as
a last resource in the defence of a desperate cause ?
By what right is it that the pretended scholar of
modern times dares to boast of having more clearly
defined, or penetrated deeper into the meaning of
the prophecies, than those learned interpreters,
who, in the first place, approximated very closely
to the period in which the Hebrew first ceased to
be the vulgar tongue ; and who, in the second

' See in the English Polyglott Bible the paraphrases of Onkelos
and Jonathan.
2 Thalmud. Gemar. Tract. Sanh. cap. ii.

346 THE PROPHECIES.
place, must have still possessed the depositary of
the ancient traditions in all its integrity ? Let us
ever bear in mind this important observation, which
anticipates or solves most of the difficulties which
have been raised by modern Jews.
But, as we descend from age to age, this promise
becomes still more clear and detailed ; the pro
phetic books, more particularly, contain numerous
predictions, which, by the consent of both ancient
and modern Jews, can only refer to the Messiah.
In every page of these divine books, we meet with
the announcement of a new covenant, which was
no longer to be contracted with the children of
Israel in particular, but which should diffuse through
out all the nations of the earth the knowledge and
the worship of the only true God, and which should
eventually subject all people to the reign of the
Messiah. With what magnificence is this great event pre
figured in the book of Psalms ! Frequently, in his
sublime songs, David appears at first to be solely
intent on the celebration of the glory of Solomon
his son, when all at once he is transported beyond
himself, and being penetrated with heavenly light,
perceives afar off, Him, of whom Solomon is only
the type ; and hence proceeds to depict the Mes
siah in colours and with features, which it is impos
sible to apply to any other. Not only does he, like
Abraham, see that " men shall be blessed in Him,

THE PROPHECIES. 347
and that all nations shall call Him blessed1;" but
he contemplates with admiration and delight the
time when all the world should submit to His em
pire, and fall prostrate at the feet of the only true
God. " In His days shall the righteous flourish,
and abundance of peace so long as the moon en-
dureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to
sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow down
before Him ; and His enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring
presents ; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer
gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him :
all nations shall serve Him.'' In another place, it
is the Messiah himself, who, speaking in the person
of the prophet, announces this great event, and re
presents it as being the reward of His own labours,
and the fruit of His own sufferings. " My praise
shall be of Thee in the great congregation : I will
pay my vows before them that fear Him  All
the ends of the world shall remember and turn
unto the Lord ; and all the kindreds of the nations
shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is
the Lord's; and He is the Governor among the
nations2." Was it possible to present us with a
clearer prediction of the downfal of idolatry, and of
the call of the Gentiles to the worship of the only

Psalm lxxii. 17; ibid. 2, &c.
Ibid. xxii. verses 25, 27, 28.

348 THE PROPHECIES.
true God ? Yet, the clearness of these prophecies
is still augmented, if that is possible, by those con
tained in the succeeding books.
Three hundred years after David, Isaiah, the most
sublime of the prophets, describes in most magnifi
cent language, the future reign of the Messiah, and
principally insists upon the distinctive character of
this reign, that is to say, upon the conversion of the
Gentiles to the worship of the true God. " And it
shall come to pass in the last days, that the moun
tain of the Lord's house shall be established in the
tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And
many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of
the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways,
and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem  And the loftiness of man
shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man
shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be
exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly
abolish 1." " For in that day there shall be a root
of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the
people ; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest
shall be glorious2." " So shall He sprinkle many
nations, the kings shall shut their mouths at Him:

1 Isaiah, chap. ii. verse 2.
2 Ibid. chap. xi. verse 10.

THE PROPHECIES. 349
for that which had not been told them shall they
see ; and that which they had not heard shall they
consider1." " Behold, I have given Him for a wit
ness to the people, a leader and commander to the
people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou
knowest not, and nations that knew not thee, shall
run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and
for the Holy One of Israel ; for He hath glorified
thee 2." "Sing, O barren," adds the prophet, elated
at the foresight of the ever-increasing multitude of
the worshippers of the true God, " thou that didst
not bear ; break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
thou that didst not travail with child ; for more are
the children of the desolate than the children of the
married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of
thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of
thine habitations : spare not ; lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break
forth on the right hand and on the left ; and thy
seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the deso
late cities to be inhabited  For thy Maker is
thy husband (the Lord of Hosts is His name), and
thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of
the whole earth shall He be called 3." " It shall
come, that I will gather all nations and tongues,
and they shall come and see my glory. And I will

1 Isaiah, chap. Hi. verse 15.
2 Ibid. chap. Iv. verse 4 and following.
3 Ibid. chap. liv. verse 1, &c.

350 THE PROPHECIES.
set a' sign among them, and I will send those that
escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul,
and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to
the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, nei
ther have seen My glory; and they shall declare
My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall
bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord,
out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and
in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to
My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as
the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean
vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also
take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the
Lord 1."
How numerous are the predictions equally dis
tinct with those given above, which refer to the
same object ! But I again ask, was it possible to
place the promises which were made to Abraham
and our first parents, in a clearer point of view than
this ? Was it possible to pour a more vivid stream
of light upon those words which were so often re
peated to the patriarchs ; In Him shall all the fami
lies of the earth be blessed. The consequence and
the connection of all these prophecies, compel us
to admit, that several ages before the appearance
of Jesus Christ, it was clearly predicted, that the
knowledge and the worship of the true God should
not be always concentrated in the chosen people,
1 Isaiah, chap. lxvi. ver. 18, &c.

THE PROPHECIES. 351
but that all the nations of the world should one
day abandon their superstitions to worship the only
living God, manifested by the ministry of a de
scendant of David. This prediction, too, is the more
remarkable, inasmuch, as it was in direct opposi
tion to the pride and prejudices of the Jewish
people, which was naturally so jealous of its privi
leges, and so indisposed to admit strangers to any
participation in its peculiar rights.
But we have dwelt long enough on a point, in
which the Jews themselves, our declared enemies,
are in accordance with us. After having seen the
promise of the Messiah clearly announced in the
books of the Old Testament, let us now ascertain
if the predicted characteristics of that extraordinary
personage have been realized in Jesus Christ.
The epoch of the coming of Jesus Christ, the
history of His birth, of His life, and of His death,
the prodigious effects which have followed His
ministry, prove even to demonstration, that Jesus,
the Son of Mary, is really the Messiah foretold by
the prophets.
We have already seen in the prophecy of Jacob,
the epoch of the coming of the Messiah indicated
by a double change, one referring to the Jewish
people, and the other to the Gentile world. Ac
cording to that celebrated oracle, in the days of the
Messiah, all the authority of the house of Judah
should cease ; which, as Bossuet remarks, implies

352 THE PROPHECIES.
the total ruin of the state ". At the same epoch, a
new kingdom was to arise, composed, not of one
people only, but of all nations, of which the ex
pected Messiah was to be the head. And what
has really happened ? Why, that the tribe of Judah,
as well as the whole race of the Jews, has been dis
persed here and there, over the face of the earth ;
is without any political or national form of govern
ment, and entirely divested of that authority which
the prediction of Jacob ascribed and assured to it,
up to the coming of the Messiah. At what period
did it lose this prerogative ? In the very age in
which Jesus Christ appeared. The usurpation of
Herod, an Idumean by birth, preceded the nativity
of Jesus Christ by thirty-six years ; and thirty-seven
years after his death, the total ruin of Jerusalem
deprived the tribe of Judah not only of its pre-emi
nence, but of its political existence. What more
do we see at this epoch? From the ruins of this
fallen empire a new kingdom all at once springs up,
to which all the nations hasten in crowds, which
soon embraces the whole earth, and which worships
Jesus Christ as its divine head. How, after this,
can we entertain a doubt of His being the person
really designated in the prophecy of Jacob ? What
other personage appeared at the same time, to whom
we can, with any shadow of probability, ascribe the
title of the Messiah ?
1 Disc, sur l'Hist. Univer. part. ii. cap. ii. vers la fin.

THE PROPHECIES. 353
Let me now call your attention to the develop
ment of this oracle of Jacob, which is given us by
Daniel, who wrote towards the end of the captivity,
more than five hundred years before Jesus Christ.
This prophet, revered even by the idolatrous
kings for his rare prudence and supernatural en
lightenment, foresees the succession of the four
great monarchies which were to precede the reign
of the Messiah \ He traces and defines them by
their peculiar characters, with so much precision,
that the greatest enemies of our religion, following
in the steps of Porphyry 2, being unable to elude
their force, have ventured upon questioning their
authenticity. He sees, in the first place, the em
pire of the Assyrians overthrown by that of the
Medes and Persians ; this, shortly giving way to the
empire ofthe Greeks, and all, at last, confounded
under the Roman dominion. But from the very
bosom of this latter empire, he sees a kingdom of a
more excellent order to arise, which he styles the
dominion ofthe Son of Man; but "there was given
Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all
people, nations, and languages, should serve Him ;
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed 3."
You now clearly perceive that the Messiah was
1 Daniel, chap. ii. iii. v. viii.
2 Preface of the Commentary of St. Jerome on Daniel.
a Daniel, chap. ii. ver. 44 ; chap. vii. verses 13, 14. 27.
VOL. II. a a

354 THE PROPHECIES.
to come before the fall of the Roman empire ; but
we now come to a circumstance which is still more
astonishing and more minute.
The time appointed in the designs of God for the
Babylonish captivity, was about to expire, and
Daniel was offering unto God the most ardent vows
and supplications, for the deliverance of his brethren,
when, all at once, he is exalted to a knowledge
of the highest mysteries; he sees a deliverance
which is far more important, nothing less than the
redemption of the whole human race now liberated
from the bondage of Satan, and the blessings dif
fused over the earth by the Messiah. The Angel
Gabriel appeared to him and said, " O Daniel, I am
now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
At the beginning of thy supplications the command
ment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for
thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the
matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks
are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy
city, to finish the transgression and to make an end
of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and
to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal
up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most
Holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from
the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, shall
be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks : the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in
troublous times. And after three score and two

THE PROPHECIES. 355
weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself;
and the people of the Prince that shall come, shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end
thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of
the war desolations are determined. And He shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week ; and
in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacri
fice and the oblation to cease, and for the over
spreading of abominations He shall make it deso
late, even until the consummation, and that deter
mined shall be poured upon the desolate '." Let
us dwell for a few moments on this minute predic
tion, the consequences of which have so thoroughly
confounded all the enemies of our religion.
Observe, in the first place, that the Prince, the
Messiah, announced in this oracle, is incontestably
Jesus Christ, for to whom but to Him could these
expressions of Daniel be applied, " that He was to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring
in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy ?" Thus
the few modern Jews, who have endeavoured to
apply this prophecy to another object, are, on this
point, as on a multitude of others, in manifest oppo
sition with the most ancient and the most constant
traditions of their nation 2.
Observe, also, that in Scripture, the word week
1 Daniel, chap. ix. ver. 22, &c.
2 Thalmud. Gem. Tract. Sanhed. cap. 2.
Aa2

356 THE PROPHECIES.
is sometimes taken for the ordinary week of seven
days, and sometimes for a revolution of seven years '.
Would you have them to be weeks of days ? but
how can you believe that so short an interval of
time could suffice for the successive accomplishment
of the great events announced in this prophecy?
This idea is equally at variance with reason and
with history. On the contrary, by taking the
seventy weeks for so many weeks of years, that is
to say, for a period of 490 years, every thing is clear
and reasonable in the oracle of Daniel ; and the
duration of time which he designates, manifestly
comes to an end about the thirty-third year of the
Christian era, according to the unanimous compu
tation of chronologists — a computation so unde-
viating, and so precise, that to elude its conse
quences, some modern Jews have ventured to
maintain, that the seventy weeks of Daniel are
weeks of centuries, and that the Messiah is not to
appear upon earth until forty-nine thousand years
after this prophecy. It would, doubtless, be super
fluous in us to combat a supposition so visibly arbi
trary, and so void of any foundation either in the
customs of the Jews, or in those of any other
people. If the narrow limits of this discourse permitted
us, it would be easy, holding in one hand the text
of Daniel, and in the other, the Gospel, to follow
1 Levit. chap, xxviii. ver. 8.

THE PROPHECIES. 357
out this prophecy in all its details, and to show,
that all its parts have been perfectly accomplished
in Jesus Christ, in spite of the unimportant discus
sions of the learned, with reference to the exact
determination of the various epochs. " But why
should we argue further ?" says Bossuet, " God has
solved the difficulty, if difficulty there was, by an
argument which admits of no reply. One manifest
event places us beyond the reach of all the refine
ments and all the cavils of chronologists ; and the
total ruin of the Jews which followed so closely
upon the death of our Lord, renders the accomplish
ment of this prophecy intelligible to the most in
considerate." The prophets characterized the epoch of the
coming of the Messiah by another trait, which is
admirably in accordance with the time of Jesus
Christ. On their return from captivity, the Jews
hasten to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem ; but
in spite of all the efforts of their zeal, this temple
is far inferior in magnificence to that of Solomon.
The elders of Israel are afflicted at this; imme
diately two prophets, who are sent to console them,
publish the glory of the second temple, and hesitate
not to prefer it to the first. " Yet, once it is a
little while, and I will shake the heavens and the
earth, and the sea, and the dry land : and I will
shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall
come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the
Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold

358 THE PROPHECIES.
is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this
latter house shall be greater than of the former,
saith the Lord of Hosts ; and in this place, will I
give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts 1." " Behold,
I will send my messenger, and He shall prepare
the way before me ; and the Lord whom ye seek
shall suddenly come to His temple : even the mes
senger of the covenant whom ye delight in ; behold,
He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts 2."
Who but the Messiah could thus have been
designated by the grand characteristics of the
desire qf nations, the Lord whom ye seek, and
the Messenger qf the covenant f Who but the
Messiah could have been represented as the Master
of the temple, as suddenly coming to His temple ?
The glory then which elevates the poverty of the
second temple above all the magnificence of the
first is, that it should be honoured with the presence
of the Messiah. The Messiah must then come
when this temple was still standing, and we know
how closely its ruin followed the death of Jesus
Christ. Let us concentrate then the miscellaneous pro
phecies which we have just cited, into one point,
and see if it is possible for the precise epoch of
the coming of the Messiah, to be more clearly
pointed out. According to the oracle of Jacob,
the sceptre is to remain in the tribe of Judah until
1 Haggai, chap. ii. ver. 6, &c. 2 Malachi, chap. iii. 1.

THE PROPHECIES. 359
the arrival of the Messiah ; according to the oracles
of Malachi, and of Haggai, this new legislator is to
come into the world before the fall of the second
temple of Jerusalem ; lastly, according to the oracle
of Daniel, He is to be put to death about five
centuries after the edict issued by the king of
Persia, authorizing the Jews to rebuild their temple;
all these epochs terminate precisely at the very
period when Jesus Christ appeared upon earth,
that is to say, in the interval between the reign
of Herod and the expedition of Titus against
Judea. Thus the Jews of that time were not deceived.
All the monuments of history, both sacred and
profane, attest that they were at that period uni
versally and intimately persuaded that the coming
ofthe Messiah was near at hand1. The priests,
and the people, the Jews, dispersed throughout the
Roman empire, as well as those who inhabited
Palestine, the Samaritans even, who on many im
portant points were so opposed to the rest of the
nation, in this respect agreed with it by partici
pating in the general expectation. Never had this
expectation been so lively, never had the desire
of the nations been so impatiently awaited. The
modern Jews themselves admit that the epoch
fixed by the prophets for the coming of the Messiah
1 Suet, in Vespas. cap. 4. Tacit. Hist. lib. v. cap. 13.
Josephus, de Bell. Judaic, lib. v. cap. 31. Luke, chap. iii. ver. 15.
John, chap. i. ver. 19 ; iv. 17-

360 THE PROPHECIES.
has long expired, and their most celebrated doctors
are now busied in inquiring or in endeavouring
to inquire into the motives which could induce
God to have so long deferred the accomplishment
of His promises. At one time, they attribute this
delay to the infidelities of their nation : at another
time they pretend that the oracles which announce
the Messiah, were purely conditional ; that is to
say, that this messenger from on high was to appear
upon earth, provided nothing opposed His advent.
Are they really serious in adducing reasons such
as these ? Do they not see that these oracles are
expressed in the most unequivocal, the most
absolute terms, and that their interpretation of
them would subvert the very foundations on which
the authority of all prophecy is founded? They
are, in fact, so fully sensible of the weakness of
their answers, that to cut short all difficulty, they
have long pronounced an anathema against those
who would compute the time of the Messiah J ; "As
in a storm," says Bossuet, " which has driven him
far out of his course, we see the pilot abandoning
all calculations, and suffering his vessel to go where
chance or the waves may toss it 2."
But let us complete our consolation, and the
assurance of our faith, by comparing the principal
traits of the life of Jesus Christ, with the ancient

1 Gem. Tract. Sanhed. cap. 2. Abrav. de cap. fidei.
2 Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, Part ii. cap. 23.

THE PROPHECIES. 361
predictions which have characterised the person and
the ministry of the Messiah.
Not content with marking out the epoch of the
coming of the Messiah with so much precision, the
prophets enter into a truly wonderful detail of the
different circumstances of His birth, of His life, and
of His death, and lastly of the surprising revolution,
which His ministry was to effect throughout the
universe. The nearer the time approached, the clearer
and more circumstantial became the oracles ; every
prophet was commissioned to add some new feature
to the picture already drawn by their elder brethren,
and the history of Jesus Christ, was in fact, written
before He came into the world.
You have heard the prophecies which announce
that the Messiah should descend from Abraham,
from Isaac, and from Jacob, and even from the
family of David. The modern as well as the ancient
Jews were so persuaded of this, that they commonly
style Him the Son of David1. At the time of
Jesus Christ, their common persuasion was, not only
that the Messiah was to descend from David, but
that He was to be born at Bethlehem2, the country
of this prince, conformably to the prophecy of
Micah 3. All this we find to be minutely accom
plished in the person of Jesus Christ.
Who has not read Isaiah ? Is it a prophet, or

Matt. chap. xx. ver. 19 ; chap. xxii. ver. 42, &c.
Matt. chap. ii. ver. 5. 3 Micah, chap. v. ver. 2.

362 THE PROPHECIES.
rather is it not an evangelist who speaks? The
preaching of John the Baptist ', the humility and
unlimited charity of the Messiah 2, the multitude
of His miracles 3, the ignominies and the sufferings
which were to lead Him to glory 4, His new cove
nant with all the nations of the world, the pro
digious increase of His church 5, the unbelief of the
Jews and their just chastisement, nothing is omitted
in this anticipated history of the Messiah ; every
thing is depicted in such faithful colours that it is
impossible to apply the description to any other
than Jesus Christ without doing manifest violence
to the expressions of the prophet.
Read, more particularly, the predictions which
announce the ignominies and the death of this just
man, who was to come into the world. They re
quire neither explanation nor commentary. " Who
hath believed our report ? and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up
before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of
a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that
we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him ;
He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely
He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows ;
1 Isaiah, chap. xl. ver. 3. 2 Ibid. chap. xlii. ver. 1, &c.
3 Ibid. chap. xxxv. ver. 5, &c. i Ibid. chap. liii. ver. 5, &c.
J See the passages previously quoted.
1

THE PROPHECIES. 363
yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities :
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and
with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray: we have turned every one to
his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquities of us all. He was oppressed, ' and He
was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth : He
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth
not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from
judgment, and who shall declare His generation ?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living ;
for the transgression of my people was He stricken.
And He made His grave with the wicked and with
the rich in His death ; because He had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet
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 ; and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the
travail of His soul and be satisfied ; by His know
ledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will
I divide Him a portion with the great, and He
shall divide the spoil with the strong : because He
hath poured out His soul unto death ; and He was
numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the

364 THE PROPHECIES.
sin of many, and made intercession for the trans
gressors '.
That this sublime strain of prophecy refers to
the Messiah, requires no farther proof. Besides
that the most ancient traditions of the Jewish
people unanimously admit that it does so, who but
the Messiah could thus take upon Himself the
sins of the world, and make satisfaction to God for
the crimes of men ? Who, but the Messiah could
receive princes and the powerful as His heritage,
and by His sufferings merit so incomparable a
glory? By these new traits which are to charac
terise the Messiah, can we fail of recognizing the
founder of the Christian religion, who has arrived
at glory by an ignominious death, and whose cross
has become an object of veneration through the
world ?
To this anticipated history of the passion and of
the death of Jesus Christ, I shall still, to complete
the picture, add some few traits, which are found
dispersed through the books of the other prophets.
Among the innumerable blessings which Heaven
poured down upon the Jewish nation, Zachariah has
reckoned the modest yet glorious triumph of the
poor, the lowly, the just, and the pacific King, who
should enter into His city of Jerusalem " riding
upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass2."

1 Isaiah, chap. liii. verse 1, &c.
3 Zachariah, chap. ix. verse 9.

THE PROPHECIES. 365
The same prophet foresaw that the Lord would be
Sold for thirty pieces of silver, and the price of this
treason applied to the purchase of the potter's field1.
The same prophet foresaw that the Lord " would
pour upon the house of David and upon the inha
bitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of sup
plications: and they shall look upon Him whom
they have pierced ; and they shall mourn for Him
as one mourneth for his only son2." What shall I
say of those divine songs, in which David, with
equal energy and truth, represents to us both the
glory and the griefs of the Messiah ? " The king
shall joy in thy strength, O Lord ; and in thy sal
vation how greatly shall He rejoice !  His glory
is great in thy salvation, honour and majesty hast
thou laid upon Him3." In the Psalm which fol
lows, how different is his strain, how affecting his
lamentations, and how minute his details. " My
tongue cleaveth to my jaws ; and thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. For dogs have com
passed me; the assembly ofthe wicked have inclosed
me : they pierced my hands and my feet. I may
tell all my bones : they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them, and cast lots
upon my vesture."
In this multitude of extraordinary oracles, we

1 Zachariah, chap. xi. verse 12, 13.
2 Ibid. chap. xii. verse 10.
3 Psalms xxi. and xxii.

3G6 THE PROPHECIES.
must not forget those which predict the grand revo
lution which is to be wrought by the ministry of the
Messiah. You recollect, that at His coming, a new
covenant was to be founded; a covenant, which
would not be limited, as the first had been, to one
people, but which should promulgate through all
the nations of the world, the knowledge and the
worship of -the true God. You know that this em
pire was to be the fruit and the reward of His
humiliations. What more can be required, after
all that has been already said, to make you fall
prostrate, before Jesus Christ, and adore Him as
the Redeemer promised and expected for so many
ages, and who, in the fulness of time, came to fulfil
His heavenly mission ? Do you not see that the
sufferings and the disgrace of the Cross have to him
become a fruitful source of glory ? Is it not by His
word, as by that of His messengers, that the idols
have been broken in pieces, and that the worship
of the true God is spread even to the extremities of
the earth? Is it not He, who, after having been
the scorn of His own people, now reigns by means
of the religion which He has founded over so many
nations of the world ?
This is not all ; at the very time when the pro
phets announce the happy event of the conversion
of the Gentiles, they also announce the unbelief of
the Jewish nation and its just chastisement. " And
after three score and two weeks," says the prophet
Daniel, " shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Him-

THE PROPHECIES. 367
self; and the people of the Prince that shall come,
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary1." " For
the children of Israel," says Hosea, " shall abide
many days without a king, and without a prince,
and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and
without a seraphim." But then he adds, " After
ward shall the children of Israel return, and seek
the Lord their God and David their king, and shall
fear the Lord and His goodness in these latter
days2." This deplorable state of a nation, formerly
so privileged, would, according to Malachi, display
the mark of the finger of God the more visibly, be
cause all the idolatrous nations would be converted
in crowds, and offer unto God a pure and spotless
victim. " I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord
of Hosts ; neither will I accept an offering at your
hand. For from the rising of the sun even to the
going down of the same, My name shall be great
among the Gentiles; and in every place incense
shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering ;
for My name shall be great among the heathen,
saith the Lord of Hosts3."
What oracle ever had a more visible accomplish
ment ? The discussion of the particular predictions
which we have hitherto cited, although it may
be replete with light in itself, sometimes depends
upon certain facts which all men may not be
1 Daniel, chap. ix. verse 2(5.
2 Hosea, chap. iii. verses 4, 5.
3 Malachi, chap. i. verses 10, 11.

368 THE PROPHECIES.
able to trace out or to ascertain ; but, in order to
complete the authority of the prophecies, and to
render them sensible to all, God has made choice
of some few public, notorious, and verified facts, of
which nobody can be ignorant, and which nobody
can question. These facts, to the truth of which
the whole universe bears witness, are the conversion
of the Gentiles, and the desolation of the Jews.
According to all the old prophets, these two events
were to concur with the coming of the Messiah;
and, if there is any thing certain in the records of
history, it is the fact, that the conversion of the
Gentiles, and the total ruin of the Jews, are to be
dated in the very age in which Jesus Christ ap
peared upon earth, and in which His Gospel was
first preached. At that epoch, idolatry is attacked
on all sides, and the nations, which had for so many
ages been lulled into a total forgetfulness of their
Creator, awake out of their long sleep. At the
same time, the ancient worship is destroyed at
Jerusalem, and is buried under the ruins of its own
temple. That which was formerly the cherished,
the chosen people of God, is visibly cut off from the
promises made to its fathers, is banished from its
country, enslaved, dishonoured, without any form
of government, with a yoke of iron around its neck,
by which it would be wholly overwhelmed, did not
God, according to His holy word, reserve it still to
adore the Messiah whom it had spurned. Upon
the consideration of these predictions, so manifestly

THE PROPHECIES. 369
Divine, and so incontestibly accomplished, far from
obstinately persisting in a rejection of the truth,
which pours forth so brilliant and so clear a light,
ought we not rather to sigh over the inexcusable
blindness of the Jewish people ; and may we not
here exclaim with Bossuet, whose thoughts, and
even whose words, I have been for some time bor
rowing, " What hast thou done, oh ungrateful
people ! how is it that the God who chose thee
hath now forgotten thee, and where are His mer
cies of old? What crime, what outrage, greater
than idolatry, hath subjected thee to a punishment
severer than any which thine idolatries ever drew
down upon thee ? Thou art silent, thou canst not
comprehend why God should remain thus inexora
ble ! Call to mind these expressions of thy fathers,
' His blood be on us, and on our children,' and ' we
have no king but Caesar? The Messiah shall not be
thy king ; look to Him whom thou hast chosen ;
remain the slave of Csesar and of the kings, ' until
the fulness qf the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel
shall be saved V "
What do I say, is this nation of Deicides the only
people who have been struck with this deplorable
blindness ? Alas, may it not be the lot of some who
are now listening to me ? may not the vivid light
which beams forth from our Divine oracles, be still
obscured by the . mists of passion or of prejudice ?
' Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, Part ii. chap. xxiv.
VOL. II. B b

370 THE PROPHECIES,
Who but God could have dictated in so beautiful
an order, and to so many prophets, that multitude
of successive predictions, whose combination and
whose eventual verification is so wonderful? For,
who but God, could, at so great a distance of time,
have established this accordance between the pre
diction and the event ? In a word, who but God,
could have thus, with unerring hand, have traced
the anticipated history, and drawn, as it were, the
faithful picture of that which was to come to pass
after the lapse of so many ages ? To pretend that
one or two of these prophecies have been fulfilled
by mere chance, would be a very extraordinary sup
position ; but to maintain that the great body of
those prophecies which were successively announced
during so long a series of ages, owe their accom
plishment only to chance, is a supposition revolting
to all good sense, and absurdly ridiculous ! " Should
one man alone," says Pascal, " have written a book,
containing certain predictions of Jesus Christ, with
reference to the time, and to the manner of His
coming; and should Jesus Christ have actually
come conformably to these prophecies, this would
have been of infinite force ; but here we have still
more powerful motives for conviction. We have a
succession of men, who, for four thousand years,
one after the other, constantly and without varia
tion, predict the same event. We have a whole
people which announces it, and which subsists for
the space of four thousand years to bear witness in
7

THE PROPHECIES. 371
a body, of the assurances which, they have of it, and
from which they cannot be detached by any threats
or persecutions 1."
I am aware that this as well as all the other proofs
of our religion, has been attacked in various ways ;
but I do not hesitate to say, that the very weakness
of the difficulties which have been objected to it,
tends only to augment its force. This I am about
to show, in answer to the third question of our pre
sent conference.
In order that we should justly appreciate these
objections, it would be sufficient to remark, that
they are in opposition or rather in direct contra
diction to each other. Among infidels, some reject
our prophecies, because, as they pretend, they are
both obscure and ambiguous 2, and others, because
they consider them so clear that they could not have
been written before the event 3. Does not this
strange variety, in the attacks of our adversaries,
afford strong corroborative evidence in favour of
the truth of our religion ? Should we not be fully
justified in contemning these contradictory objec
tions, and in calling upon infidels to agree with
each other before we refute them ?
But, foregoing any advantage which we might
derive from this general observation, let us proceed
at once to the details of the difficulties which are
here opposed to us.
1 Pense'es, chap. xv. n. 2. 2 Bayle, Collins, Tindal, Voltaire.
s Porphyry, Preface de St. Jerome sur Daniel ; Spinosa, Volney, &c.
b b 2

372 THE PROPHECIES.
The first class of unbelievers, attacks the very
authenticity of our prophecies. There are some,
it is said, which are so very clear that it is impossible
to believe that they could have been written before
the events. This objection is brought against those
prophecies of Daniel in particular, in which the
succession of the empires is so minutely described.
Voltaire, however, not content with applying this
difficulty to the oracles of one prophet only, has
boldly endeavoured to shake the authenticity of the
sacred books of the Jews in general, by insinuating
that this people only learnt to write at Babylon, or
even at Alexandria.
To solve this difficulty, it may be sufficient to
observe, that we receive these prophecies from the
Jews themselves, our greatest enemies, whose inter
est it would be to dispute their authenticity, but
who, nevertheless, regard it as one of the funda
mental points of their faith. How can we imagine,
that the Jews, if they had not been forced to do so
by the evidence of facts, would ever have admitted
the authenticity of those books, which furnish
others with such terrible weapons against them
selves ? Is there any upright mind which does not
subscribe to this judicious reflection of Pascal,
" This book which dishonours the Jews in so many
ways, they would preserve at the expense of their
lives ; this is a sincerity, which has neither its ex
ample in the world, nor its source in nature '."
1 Pensees, chap. viii. n. 2. ; chap. x. n. 10. 22.

THE PROPHECIES. 373
This could only be effected by that Divine power,
and that special Providence, which has visibly des
tined this people to be the witness of the Messiah,
which it abhors. Thus a philosopher of the last
century, in spite of his well-known prejudices
against the Christian religion, has been struck with
the force of this proof. " One advantage which
this religion possesses," says he, " and one of which
no other can boast, is that of having been announced
many ages before it was founded, and that by
another religion, which still preserves the evidence
of its truth, although it has since become its most
cruel enemy V
The more you investigate this reflection, the
more deeply will you feel that conviction, which
must be its inevitable result, with every man who
is not wilfully blinded by prejudice ; for when it is
supported by testimony such as "this, how can we
with any appearance of reason, question the authen
ticity of our prophecies ? Will any one say that they
have been fabricated, or altered, since the founda
tion of Christianity ? This hypothesis would be pal
pably absurd ; for the Jews would never have
agreed with us in recognizing prophecies of so
recent an origin ; and we Christians could never
have executed a like fraud unknown to the Jews,
and consequently without exciting their indignant
remonstrances. Will any one say, that our pro-
1 Essaide Philosophie Morale, par Maupertuis, chap. vii.

374 THE PROPHECIES.
phecies were fabricated before the coming of Jesus
Christ? This is, in effect, the theory which Por
phyry has maintained, with reference to the Pro
phecies of Daniel, which, as he will have it, were
composed at the time of the Maccabees, that is to
say, about a century and a half before the Christian
era. But were this supposition as plausible as it
is untenable, what would the enemies of religion
gain by it ? Would it be less true, that the appear
ance of Jesus Christ, with that extraordinary detail
of circumstances which we have just enumerated,
has been clearly announced, at a time when no
natural sagacity of man could have foreseen it?
Should we not still be justified in regarding as divine,
any prophecies, which, at an epoch preceding by
nearly two centuries the occurrence of the events,
have predicted the different circumstances of the
birth of Jesus Christ, of His life, of His death, and
of the grand revolution which His ministry was to
effect throughout the world ?
But what grounds are there for thinking that the
prophecies have been fabricated or altered, either
at the time of the Maccabees, or at any other epoch
posterior to the Babylonish captivity ? You must
observe, that from this period, the Jews were not,
as before, concentrated in Palestine, but that they
were dispersed through all the kingdoms of the
East, in Babylon, in Alexandria, and through all
the surrounding provinces. Observe, again, that
the sacred books were translated into Greek about

THE PROPHECIES. 375
two centuries before Jesus Christ \ and from that
time published, not only among the Jews, but
among the pagan nations, in the language which
was best known, most used, and most cultivated
among the literary or educated men of all countries.
To forge these books, or to interpolate these pro
phecies at some later date, it would have been neces
sary to corrupt at once the Hebrew text, and the
septuagint version ; it would have been necessary
to have had for accomplices, not only the dispersed
Jews, but the Gentiles, who were in possession of
some copies, either of the original text, or of the
translation. A multitude of men situated at a great
distance the one from the other, and manifestly
incapable of understanding one another, must neces
sarily have participated in this plot, and must have
preserved the secret with such fidelity, that no one
was induced to form the slightest suspicion of it. I
ask, will any reasonable man ever admit the occur
rence of so extraordinary a succession of supposi
tions, and can they be admitted at all without
utterly subverting all historic certainty ? We have
here certainly said more than enough, to place the
authenticity of our prophecies beyond all dispute.
As to the assertion of Voltaire, that the Jews only
learnt to write at Babylon, or even at Alexandria,
' Although the learned do not agree as to the precise epoch in which
the translations of the hooks posterior to the Pentateuch were pub
lished, they generally admit that a complete version of the old law
was in existence about 200 years before Jesus Christ.

376 THE PROPHECIES.
it is too evidently gratuitous, and disproved by his
tory, as well as by common sense, to be worth the
trouble of another refutation.
But, some one may say, Jews and Christians are
not the only people who can boast of having had
prophecies ; the Greeks, the Egyptians, and most
other people have had their oracles and their sooth
sayers. This proof being common to all religions,
how can we draw any conclusion from it in favour
of one, which cannot also be deduced in favour of
the others ' ?
Is this difficulty seriously proposed? Who has
ever heard of a religion supported by a body of
prophecies, which can be compared with our own ?
The history and the vicissitudes ofthe Jewish people,
the succession of the empires which were to pre
cede that of the Messiah, the history of the Mes
siah Himself, with the extraordinary detail of the
circumstances which were to precede, to accompany,
and to follow His coming, are the important objects
of the prophecies which I have just laid before you.
Can one or two isolated oracles advanced in favour
of an absurd and ridiculous worship, be fairly put in
parallel with our majestic chain of prophecy ? No ;
imposture has never yet gone so far as to advance a
similar succession of oracles, in support of any other
religion, and it is fully proved that Christianity
alone possesses this decisive argument. But let us
1 Voltaire, Philosoph. Diet., Tolerance; Philosophie de l'Histoire.

THE PROPHECIES. 377
investigate this difficulty farther, and for a moment
compare our own divine oracles, with those which
have been advanced in favour of other religions.
Most religions, it is said, can boast of their pro
phecies. Yes, there are false prophecies, as well as
false histories, because to counterfeit truth, is the
property of falsehood. But because false histories
have been published, must we deny or question all
historic truths? and because we sometimes doubt
some few sophisms, must we, on that account, doubt
every thing ? This consequence can only be adopted
by ignorance or by folly. A rightly constructed
mind easily comprehends, that in the matter of pro
phecy, as in that of history, the folly of indiscrimi
nately rejecting every thing, is not less than that of
inconsiderately admitting every thing. The ques
tion to be solved, then is, not whether other reli
gions have or have not possessed their prophecies,
but, whether the prophecies, of which we are now
treating, have or have not certain traits of a Divine
origin? How can we fail of being struck by the
divine characteristics which distinguish our prophe
cies? However slightly we may consider their
object and their fulfilment, how can we do other
wise than recognise the language and the operation
of God Himself? However perfect a created intel
ligence may be, its predictions and its conjectures
can only extend to events, which have natural and
necessary causes. It is thus that a skilful naturalist
predicts certain phenomena which are purely phy-

378 THE PROPHECIES.
sical ; so it is, that an astronomer computes and
predicts the revolutions of the planets ; and thus it
is, that a physician pre-announces the crisis of a
fever ; but with reference to events, which depend
solely on the free determination of a multitude of
men, which are not yet in existence, all the know
ledge of the creature is set at naught, all his pre
dictions are necessarily vague and general. Thus
it was a common trick with the augurs of paganism,
as we are told by Cicero, to utter their oracles in
terms so general, or so ambiguous, that they might
be applied to any event.
What a difference between these pretended
oracles, and the prophecies of our Scriptures !
These last announce, several centuries beforehand,
certain future events, of which no natural cause is
as yet in existence, and which absolutely depend
on the free determination of God, or of His intel
ligent creatures. They announce these events, not
only without equivocation and without ambiguity,
but with such a detail of circumstances, that it is
impossible not to recognize the operation of Him
from whom no secrets are hid. To confine our
selves here, then, to those prophecies which are the
subjects of this discourse, that is to say, to those
whose object is the Messiah, who but God could,
so many centuries before the appearance of Jesus
Christ, have foreseen that the tribe of Judah should
preserve the sovereign authority up to the coming
of an extraordinary personage, who was to be the

THE PROPHECIES. 379
expected and the desired of nations ? Who but
God could have revealed to Daniel the succession
of the four grand monarchies, so clearly and so pre
cisely, that the philosopher Porphyry could elude
the force of these prophecies, only by supposing
them to have been written after the events ? Who
but God could, so many centuries before hand, and
with so minute a detail, have determined the dif
ferent circumstances of the birth of Jesus Christ,
of His life, of His death, of His preaching, and of
the great revolution which His ministry was to
work throughout the world? Will any one say
that all these predictions are the result of a purely
natural sagacity ; but in what natural cause, can
one foresee several centuries before hand, events
which depend upon the combination of a multitude
of free and arbitrary actions ? And as experience
teaches us, that in the physical order of things, a
man cannot carry a house upon his shoulders ; does
not common sense also teach us, that, in the moral
order of things, predictions such as these surpass the
sagacity of all created intelligence ? Will any one
say that the perfect accordance of these predictions
with the events, is nothing more than the work of
chance? This, as I have before said, might be
granted as a supposition, if we were treating of
two or three general and isolated predictions. But
who does not see the absurdity of such a sup
position when applied to so great a number of
predictions, published several centuries before hand,

380 THE PROPHECIES.
by different prophets, — predictions which embrace
the most minute circumstances of a variety of free
and arbitrary future events ? To wish to give the
honour of this to chance, would be to imitate the
folly of the man, who maintained, that the magni
ficent pictures of Raphael and of Rubens might
have been the result of a mass of colours thrown
down upon the canvass, without plan and without
design. But in addition to the fact that the object of
these prophecies, considered in itself, was so mani
festly inaccessible to all created intelligence ; if we
examine the circumstances which are continually
recalling them to our attention, I mean, their con
nection, and their long succession, the design and
the end which the prophets had in view ; how
wonderfully will our conviction be increased ! What
can be more astonishing than that chain of pro
phecy, whose first link is attached to the origin
of the world, and which prolonging itself thence
through all ages, approximates, and at last unites
together all our oracles, both modern and ancient ?
" Recollect," says Pascal, " that from the origin of
the world, the expectation or the adoration of a
Messiah has subsisted without interruption; that
He was promised to the first man, immediately
after his fall ; that men have since appeared who
have maintained, that God had revealed to them,
that a Redeemer was to be born, who should save
His people ; that Abraham then came, and said, that

THE PROPHECIES. 381
he had received a revelation that He should
spring from him, by a son who was to be
born to him ; that Jacob has declared, that of
his twelve children, this Redeemer was to arise
from Judah; that Moses and the prophets have after
wards designated the time and the manner of His
coming ; reflect too on their assertion that the law
which they possessed was only preparatory to that
of the Messiah ; that the one should subsist up to
that time, but that the duration of the other should
be eternal ; that thus, either their own law or that
of the Messiah, of which theirs was the type, should
be always existent upon the earth; that in fact,
it has lasted for ever ; and that at last Jesus Christ
Himself has come, in conformity to all predicted
circumstances ; this is wonderful 1." — " If we do
not discover here a design ever sustained, and if
we do not here perceive the order of the councils
of God," adds Bossuet, " who prepares at the be
ginning, that which He completes at the end of
time; and who, under different states, but with
an ever constant succession, perpetuates to the eyes
of all the universe, the holy society in which He
wishes to be served, we deserve to see nothing, and
to be abandoned to our own hardness of heart, as
the most just and the most severe of all punish
ments 2."
What shall I say of the design and of the end of
1 Pensees, chap. xv. n. 12.
2 Disc, sur l'Histoire Univers. Part ii. chap. xxx.

382 THE PROPHECIES.
these prophecies? When the pagan oracles had
usually no other aim than that of satisfying the de
mands of curiosity or ambition, or at most, that of
serving the temporal interests of some few indivi
duals or provinces ; the prophecies of the Jewish
people tended to preserve in that nation the funda
mental dogmas of the primitive religion ; I mean,
the belief of the unity of God, of His providence,
and of His chief attributes. At a time in which
these great truths were so wonderfully obscured in
other nations ; at a time in which the Jews them
selves were so strongly inclined towards idolatry,
the prophets are the constant props and bulwarks of
the holy doctrine. Exhortations, promises, threats,
all tend to the maintenance of these fundamental
truths, and to authorize and to confirm their belief.
What end could be more excellent or more worthy
of God ! Thus, in spite of the violent inclination of
the Jews towards idolatry, in spite of the contagious
example of foreign nations, the knowledge of the
true God is always preserved among them, and is
at last, by their means, promulgated to the whole
universe. Yes, it is to these sacred books that the
nations owe that glorious light which has dissipated
their illusions, and which has caused them to re
nounce the absurd superstitions of paganism ; and
it is certainly very remarkable, that not one nation
can be cited, as having arrived at the knowledge of
the true God, without having previously become
acquainted with the prophecies of the Jews.

THE PROPHECIES. 383
Let us admit, then, that in whatever light we
view this subject, we discover in it the seal of God,
and the character of divine inspiration ; and, as
long as truth differs from error, so long will there
be a difference between these prophecies and the
pagan oracles with which some affect to compare
them. But, must you not at least admit, rejoin our ad
versaries, that the prophecies of the Old Testament
are in general very obscure, and that the most
learned interpreters are at issue with regard to the
meaning of a very great number of them ? What
advantage can your religion possibly derive from a
proof which is subject to such an infinity of dis
putes ?
I am far from maintaining, that all the prophe
cies contained in the books of the Old Testament
are clear or easily understood. The prophecies are
not histories, written according to the rules of
chronological order and precision, but bold pic
tures, or rather designs, which represent on the
same ground, both close and distant objects ; their
interpretation, and their perfect comprehension, de
pend sometimes on their exact comparison and
correspondence with events ; to make this compa
rison, and fully to appreciate this correspondence,
requires very diligent study, and an extensive know
ledge of the history and the usages of antiquity. I
candidly admit, that the antiquity of our Scriptures,
the poetical and figurative style of the prophecies,

384 THE PROPHECIES.
and our ignorance as to several points of ancient
history and geography, must, in the course of time,
have increased the obscurity which is attached to
the very nature of prophecy ; and this consideration
has caused the sacred writers themselves to com
pare the language of prophecy to " A light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawns, and
the day-star arise in your hearts1."
But, if we are compelled to admit, that there
are some obscurities in our prophetic books, it is
equally indubitable that these obscurities by no
means weaken the proof which is furnished to us
by our Holy Scriptures. In fact, if there may be
some prophecies which are obscure and open to
disputes, there are many whose meaning is incon-
testible, and only to be obscured by the cavils of
ignorance or disingenuousness. The prophecies of
Daniel are assuredly of this number ; for their ac
cordance with the events is so clear and so obvious,
that the most determined enemies of our religion,
as I have before observed, can neither distort them
nor elude their force. Of this number too are the
greater part of tbe prophecies which we have ad
duced in the two former parts of this discourse, the
sense of which is clearly determined, not only by
the rules of criticism, but by the most ancient tra
ditions of the Jewish nation. We are, doubtless,
fully authorized in counting for nothing the objec-
1 2 Peter, chap. i. verse 19.

THE PROPHECIES. 385
tions of modern Jews, when we have in our favour
sureties which they dare not refuse to accept, that
is to say, all the old versions of Scripture, the para
phrases, and the commentaries composed by Jewish
authors, at a time in which they still possessed a
perfect knowledge of their national traditions, and
in which they were free from those prejudices which
tend so powerfully to the disunion of men of the
present day.
But we now come to a difficulty somewhat more
serious. It is true, reply our adversaries, that, col
lectively and artfully introduced, the words -of the
prophets whom you have cited, draw a picture
which, it must be confessed, bears some resem
blance to Jesus Christ ; and if, upon opening the
books from which these words are extracted, we
found them there combined in the same order, and
disposed thus continuously, we should not for a
moment hesitate in recognizing Jesus Christ, as the
Messenger from Heaven, and even as the God who
came to save the world, and our homage would soon
be united with your own. But it is not thus ; the
picture, which you present to us, and for which you
claim our admiration, is your own work, and not
that of the prophets. You did not find it made to
your hands ; but you have gone here and there in
quest of those colours which would best blend with
the design of your composition. You detach phrases
from that which precedes, and from that which fol
lows them. In one and the same oracle you lay
vol. n. c c

386 THE PROPHECIES.
hold of the passage which answers your purpose,
and pass over that which does not : you jump from
one prophet to another, in order to select any trait
which you may think necessary. Where is the won
der then of this resemblance? By so doing, you
might make the prophets say any thing you re
quired, when, by restoring every passage to its
respective place, and by comparing texts with the
context, you would perceive that their object was
altogether different from that which you are so
anxious to ascribe to them.
This objection is specious, and no one will, I
should think, accuse me of having extenuated it.
Before I proceed to its direct refutation, permit me
to make some few important observations, which
may of themselves greatly diminish the force of
this difficulty.
In the first place, you must recollect that the
prophets are not cold historians, ever subjected to
the rules of a methodical order, both as to times,
places, and events ; but that they often pass from
one object to another, with a rapidity which we
have often some difficulty in following. In the
profane poets these bursts of enthusiasm do not
surprise us : why then should they shock us in the
prophets ? Is that which we admire in Pindar as
the result of genius and of inspiration, nothing
more, in Daniel or Isaiah, than the ebullitions of
a morbid imagination, whose enigmatical follies are
not worth the trouble of solution ? Let us be just ;

THE PROPHECIES. 387
and if we believe that our respect is due to the
obscurity in which poetical imagery may be some
times enveloped; let us be on our guard against
entertaining an injurious or sacrilegious contempt
for the holy obscurity of those oracles, in which
it has pleased the Lord to reveal the future to
mankind. On the other side ; if I am obliged to admit that
the natural and sensible object of the prophecies is
the temporal destiny of the children of Israel ; you
will also be obliged to admit, that this single object
does not suffice to explain every thing which we
read in the Prophecies. There are expressions so
sublime, pictures so noble, so grand, and so majestic,
that it would be ridiculous to regard them as simply
announcing something which was to happen to an
obscure people, universally despised, and condemned
for so long a series of ages, to drag on a wretched
existence among other nations. We must then of
necessity admit, that in addition to their reference
to one people in particular, the sacred oracles have
another object which is far more important, if we
judge of it by the magnificence with which the pro
phets have described it. What is this object? After
all that has been said in the course of this discussion,
all which is unanimously attested by the Holy Scrip
tures, and by the most ancient as well as the most
authentic traditions, I believe I may advance, with
out the fear of being contradicted by any one, that
this extraordinary and important object is the com-
cc2

388 THE PROPHECIES.
ing of the Messiah, who was promised to the Jews,
the history of His life, of His death, and of the
grand triumph which He was to gain over His ene
mies. Whoever reads the Prophets attentively,
cannot fail of acknowledging, that the chief end of
their mission was to predict, from age to age, the
coming of the Redeemer. Observe them when
reciting the natural events which they announce :
should the most transient image incidentally present
itself which recalls the Messiah to their memory, it
all at once rekindles the whole ardour of their pious
fires ; it is He whom they see, it is He whom they
hail afar off, as the object of their love and most
cherished hopes ; it is His picture which they trace
with colours so vivid, and hands so bold, until the
enthusiasm which has transported them out of
themselves, gradually subsides, and permits them to
resume the thread of calmer history which they had
so hastily and so suddenly abandoned.
But to prevent our confounding this double
design of the prophecies, and to facilitate our dis
tinguishing that which agrees with the one, from
that which belongs to the other, you may find, the
following rule, which I have imposed on myself, to
be useful. It is, never to apply any passage of the
prophets to the Messiah, but when I cannot reason
ably understand that passage as referring to a pre
sent or natural object; and when, by afterwards
applying it to a supernatural object, it presents at
once the clearest and most reasonable meaning. If

THE PROPHECIES. 389
this should even involve other celebrated passages
which have been often quoted by theologians, but
which evidently do not agree with the natural
object of the prophecy, and if their correct inter
pretation cannot be adjusted without an abstract
and indefinite discussion, I would rather forego this
new means of defence, which truth will never need,
than subject myself to the imputation of saying any
thing, in a public discourse, which may be construed
into a subtilty.
Now, what are we to think of the objection under
review ? reduced to its simple intention, what does
it mean, but that we do wrong in seeing any pro
mise of a future Redeemer, or of a Messiah, who
was to come and save the world, in those oracles
which we have cited ? This is the only point of the
difficulty which is here opposed to us by unbelievers ;
for they themselves admit, that, if it was once
granted that the object of these oracles is the
announcement of the Messiah ; Jesus Christ would
indubitably be this Messiah, for in Him these pro
phetic expressions have had their full accomplish
ment. Let us take up all the terms of this specious
argument, and learn justly to appreciate them.
We are charged with distorting the prophecies
from their natural and present object, for the pur
pose of applying them to some supernatural and
mysterious object, which is called the Messiah.
But if we confine ourselves to attach to these ora
cles that sense which has been unanimously given

390 THE PROPHECIES.
to them by the most ancient traditions of the
Jewish nation, by all the paraphrases, all the com
mentaries, all the translations of the Holy Writings,
and all doctors, ancient as well as modern, (with
the exception of some few, who are manifestly too
much interested in maintaining a contrary position,
to be admissible as witnesses on this question) ; if
we do nothing more than give these oracles the
only sense of which they are susceptible, defying
our adversaries to affix to them any other which is
at all reasonable, where is the trick, where the
attempted illusion which is ascribed to us ?
We are reproached with subverting the order of
the prophecies, with putting the beginning at the
end, and the end at the beginning ; of going from
one oracle to another ; from one passage to another
passage; instead of permitting them to stand as
they are in Scripture, with that which precedes and
that which follows them. But the prophets, as we
have already proved, have always two distinct
objects in view; the one, ordinary and natural,
the other extraordinary and supernatural, between
which they are continually divided. They pass
rapidly from the one to the other, as their minds
impel them. Are we to be compelled to follow
them in their impetuous and often interrupted
transitions, and to attend at one and the same
time to the recital of ordinary and natural events,
which were to happen to the Jewish people,
ancl which are comparatively uninteresting to us,

THE PROPHECIES. 391
and to the announcement of future events of a
far higher importance, of which these were only
typical? But besides that this immense labour
would, in a public discourse, be above the powers
of the audience as well as those of the orator ; who
does not see that by so doing, we should be under
taking an absolutely superfluous labour? But, to
disengage this question from every shadow of un
certainty, what more have unbelievers a right to
exact from us, than that we should adopt some
sure method which may warrant our never con
founding these two objects of prophecy, and of
never attributing to one, that which is only appli
cable to the other ? Yet, this is the very method
which we have adopted, and among all the passages
of the prophets which we have applied to the
Messiah, and which so perfectly correspond with
Him, we again defy our adversaries to cite one,
which may reasonably be understood as referring
to any ordinary or natural object. Where then is
stratagem or a wish to deceive?
We are reproached with taking a set of texts
detached from all parts of Scripture, which after
having skilfully combined or, concentrated in one
frame, we represent as being' the faithful portrait
of the Messiah. How rashly is this reproach
made ! I have before said, when we find in an
oracle regarding a purely natural object, some un-
looked for phrases, isolated in the prophetic dis
course, which evidently cut the thread of the

392 THE PROPHECIES.
narration, and which can have no reasonable sense
but in their application to the Messiah, why should
it be accounted criminal in us to claim them as the
disjointed traits of the Messiah, which the Divine
Spirit has scattered here and there, for the purpose
of giving us the care of recollecting them, and
hence composing His picture ? Suppose a famous
sculptor of antiquity, after having chiseled sepa
rately, with infinite art, the different members of
a statue of Alexander or of Csesar, to have hid
them in the earth at great distances from each
other, for the purpose of affording future ages the
agreeable surprise of this precious discovery; sup-
pose that one of these parts being casually found,
it should, by the rare perfection of the work, invite
men to seek for its fellows, and that they all were
eventually brought to light ; tell me, as the labour
of digging into the earth was going on, with a view
to the completion of this discovery, would you
obstinately persist in confounding these disjointed
members with the vile clay in which they had been
buried ? And if a skilful hand should unite them,
and present to you the statue, complete in all its
admirable proportions, and in all the nobleness and
symmetry of its form, would you still, in opposition
to evidence, persevere in denying that the workman
had ever any thought of reproducing in marble,
the features of the conqueror of Gaul, or of the
conqueror of Asia ?
But there are not only some detached texts

THE PROPHECIES. 393
which we have combined into a whole, there is
also a multitude of images and of pictures which
are complete in themselves, always perfect resem
blances, yet varied to infinity. Such are some
entire psalms of the prophet-king ; such are several
successive chapters of Isaiah and of Daniel, which
are usually quoted word for word, and which are
so clear and positive, that we think we are reading
a history rather than a prophecy.
You will acknowledge, then, that, after we have
restored to their respective positions, the greater
number of those prophecies to which we have
referred, and after we have compared them with
those which preceded, and those which followed
them, they can have no object other than that
which we attribute to them. You see that by
applying these means to the discovery of the mean
ing of these mysterious expressions, we make the
prophets say, that which they really have said, and
not that which we would wish them to say, as we
have been reproached with doing. You see, lastly,
that in spite of the sophisms of infidelity, the
miracle remains unimpeached; and far from par
ticipating in the impious doubts of those haughty
minds, which although surrounded with light,
obstinately persist in walking in darkness, do you
not rather feel impelled to exclaim with one of the
prophets; "This is the Lord's doing, and it is
marvellous in our eyes 1."
1 Psalm cxviii. ver. 23.

394 THE PROPHECIES,
But after all, it may be said, it is not only the
Jews, it is not only sceptics who dispute the sense
of these prophecies ; Christians themselves are far
from being unanimous as to the true meaning of
the most important prophecies.
Yes, there exist even among Christians, con
troversies respecting a certain number of pro
phecies ; but who does not know, that in all ages,
and in all countries, some singular minds will arise,
which can discover difficulties in the most incon
testable truths ? Is a proposition less demonstrated,
because the process of its proof, or the proof itself,
is not deemed satisfactory by some few strange or
eccentric minds ? Should the fanciful ideas of Father
Hardouin, for example, make us doubt the authen
ticity or the true sense of the works, which all
antiquity attributes to Cicero, to Virgil, to Csesar,
and to the most celebrated writers of the Augustan
age ? The singular ideas of a few scholiasts would
be a bad argument against the divinity of our
prophecies. But yet, among those learned men, who are
believers in our religion, what is usually the subject
of these controversies, concerning which so great a
noise is made? Is it the foundation, or the very
substance of prophecy ? This may perhaps be the
case with some ; but these disputes most frequently
turn on some few accessory questions only, questions
which never impugn the proofs in favour of reli
gion which we deduce from prophecy, but which

THE PROPHECIES. 395
grant them their full force. Thus it is generally
admitted, that the oracles to which we have alluded
apply to the Messiah; that in Jesus Christ, they
have had their full accomplishment ; that they
clearly establish His divine mission ; yet the dis
pute turns upon some points of criticism abso
lutely extraneous to the main question. It is
admitted, for example, that the prophecy of Jacob
and that of Daniel, have been accomplished in the
person of Jesus Christ ; but a question is raised as
to the precise time in which the sceptre departed
out of Judah, and as to the epoch at which the
seventy weeks of Daniel ought to commence.
Whether the sceptre departed from Judah one
or two ages sooner, or whether the seventy weeks
of Daniel commenced twenty years sooner or later,
is it at all less certain, that the time assigned by
Jacob and by Daniel for the coming of the Messiah,
has long elapsed? This argument, drawn from the
controversies of the learned even among Christians,
is wholly untenable.
I am aware that there is a certain class of learned
men, who, although they bear the name of Christ
ians, are in reality, deists, reducing all Christianity
to a bare system of philosophy, the most astonishing
miracles recounted in the Bible to facts purely
natural, and the most extraordinary prophecies to
simple conjectures. This opinion has, it must be
admitted, gained for the last half century, numerous

396 THE PROPHECIES.
partizans in a neighbouring nation ". We shall
not dispute the erudition of those scholars who
are opposed to us, but we will say without hesita
tion, that if any regard is to be paid to authority,
that of these modern philosophers would vanish
before that of the innumerable host of learned men
of all ages, who have done homage to the divinity
of our prophecies. We might confidently add that
the opinion of these modern critics is founded upon
an untenable system, the hollowness of which we
have elsewhere demonstrated, I mean, upon that
naturalism, which tends to nothing less than to
destroy the very existence and possibility of revela
tion. I shall add, in the last place, that those
writers who pretend to explain the most astonishing
miracles of our Scriptures, and even the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, in a manner purely natural, those
writers, the boldness pf whose principles leads them
to look upon the prophets of the Old Testament,
as fanatics or charlatans, and on Jesus Christ Him
self as an impostor or a magician2 ; these writers,
I say, are too visibly devoted to the spirit of error
and of system, to make their rash criticism at all
palatable to any fair and candid man.
I shall conclude by saying, that the objections
which are opposed to the prophecies, possess no
1 Eichhorn, Rosenmuller, and several learned German critics.
2 See the Entretiens philosophiques sur les reunions des difFerentes
communions Chretiennes, par le Baron de Sturck, pag. 118, &c.

THE PROPHECIES. 397
force calculated to make an impression upon any
upright or docile heart. This proof of religion,
like all other proofs, has its difficulties ; it presents
to us, like our religion itself, a certain admixture
of light and of darkness ; but do not let us forget
that this admixture is a natural consequence of the
weakness of our minds, and that it is constantly to
be found in the general plan of providence, in the
manifestation of its eternal decrees. Be fearful
then of augmenting, either by unjust prejudices, or
by secret passions, the obscurities which necessarily
present themselves to ypur understandings in the
study of religion. Open your eyes to the vivid
light which is ever beaming from these sacred
oracles. Jesus Christ, promised and expected in
the Old, recognized and adored in the New Testa
ment ; — this, in a word, is all the religion which we
have the happiness to profess. How beautiful, how
august, how venerable by its antiquity alone, is
that religion which ascends to the very origin of
the world ; and which has never ceased to be the
common bond of the worshippers of the true God ;
that holy religion, which was doubtless destined to
pass through different gradations, to have its pro
gress and its developement, but which, essentially,
is ever the same ! The Jew was the child, who
knew only the first elements of the law ; the Christ
ian is the man, who possesses its full and perfect
knowledge. Thus, to borrow again the language of
that astonishing man, whose genius penetrated so

398 THE PROPHECIES.
deeply into the secrets of God, and who has seen
the magnificent works of His admirable providence
in so beautiful a light, "To be expected, to come,
to be recognized by a posterity which is to be
as lasting as the world, is the character of the
Messiah in whom we believe l," is the character of
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever 2. 1 Disc, sur l'Hist. Univ. Part ii. cap. 31.
2 Hebrews, chap. xiii. ver. 8.

CHAPTER XXVII.

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.

The Christian religion possesses those characters
of light and of truth, which are calculated to make
a deep impression upon every reasonable and im
partial mind. It never evades the most searching
discussions; all it dreads is prejudice and passion,
and provided the investigation be entered upon
with sincerity and candour, it must ever feel fully
assured of a glorious triumph. Thus it is at all
times ready confidently to submit the indisputable
titles of its heavenly origin to the inspection of the
unbeliever. Intended for all, for the ignorant as
well as for the learned, it does not look for support
in systems which are beyond the comprehension of
ordinary minds, but in those great historical facts
which are recorded by the most incontrovertible
monuments, facts, which are better attested than
12

400 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
those relating to Socrates, of whose truth a doubt
is never raised, and facts which are at the same
time connected with the most astonishing revolution
ever effected upon earth, namely, the destruction
of idolatry, and the conversion of the heathen
world. Still, religion does not attempt to conceal the
mysterious shades in which it is enveloped : on the
contrary it tells us, that we are still living in times
of darkness and obscurity; that it certainly pos
sesses truth, but that this truth is partially veiled ;
that the divine secrets of its doctrine, like those
of nature, will only be entirely manifested, in the
abodes of full and perfect light. But how does
the unbeliever act here? He wilfully closes his
eyes against the clear, and opens them only on the
obscure side of Christianity ; he disdains its obvious
proofs, but attacks those mysteries which religion
itself admits to be impenetrable. In this he re
sembles him, who, in the strange but well-attested
phenomenon of the falling of stones from the sky,
looks only at the improbability and apparent impos
sibility of the fact, and neglects to investigate the
testimony which proves its actual occurrence.
Let us not, however, fear to follow infidelity in
the attacks directed against the mysteries, or to
contemplate religion in its darkest side ; that its
enemies may confess themselves to be repulsed and
conquered, in that very point which had appeared
to them to be the weakest and most vulnerable.

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 401
The infidel will tell us, that should the God of
Truth and of Light, condescend to speak to men,
He would reveal to them nothing which was not
most clear. I shall show, however, that some few
incomprehensible points are far from being incom
patible with, but, on the contrary, that they are
most seemly in a truly divine religion. The infidel
will add, that the mysteries of Christianity are
affairs of pure speculation, wholly unconnected with
the rules of morals, and that they may be neglected
with impunity. I shall, however, show, that the
Christian mysteries are most useful, with reference
to morality. Thus the suitableness of mysteries to
a divine religion, and the utility of those of Christ
ianity, is the subject and the distribution of the
following discourse.
I understand by mysteries, certain points of doc
trine, which surpass all human understanding ;
points, which reason could never discover, but which
we believe upon the Divine authority which has
revealed them ; points, the nature of which, we can
never penetrate ; such is the dogma of a God made
man for the salvation of the world. Far then from
being shocked at meeting with mysteries in a
Divine religion, I should be rather surprised at find
ing it wholly free from them.
If I raise my thoughts to the Divinity, if I con
template the adorable perfections of Him, through
whom every thing lives, and moves, and has its
being in this universe ; that power which created
VOL. ii. D d

402 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
it, that wisdom which governs it, that goodness
which delights in communicating and diffusing itself
to all around, that holiness which repels even the
slightest taint of evil, that justice so formidable to
vice, and so consolatory to virtue ; I certainly, in
spite of the weakness of my intelligence, know
enough of these Divine attributes to feel, that I
ought to fall down before His Infinite Majesty, and
pay Him the homage of my adoration, and my love;
and that I should draw from these notions of Him,
however imperfect they may be, certain rules which
should govern my affections and my conduct in this
present life. But, at the same time, I am equally
sensible, that by wishing to penetrate farther into
the perfections of this Infinite Being, I should
plunge myself into an abyss, whose depths I can
never sound, into a shoreless and unfathomed ocean,
in which the mind would be tossed about and lost.
He is an incomprehensible God, that God whom we
adore, and it is by this appellation that we can best
characterize Him. It, is not enough to say, that
He is a Being supremely good, wise, and intelligent;
we must add, that He is good, but of a goodness
incomprehensible; wise, but of a wisdom incom
prehensible; intelligent, but of an intelligence in
comprehensible. Must not religion, then, if it is
His work, bear the impress of its Author? The
works of man are finite like men ; those of God,
who is an Infinite Being, must participate His
infinity. Should my religion be void of all mystery,

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 403
it would be suspicious to me. I should fancy that
I recognized in it a purely human invention, and the
hand of some skilful impostor, who did not wish to
startle or disconcert the reason of his fellow-crea
tures. There must necessarily be some incompre
hensible points in the religion of God, who would
cease to be God, were He fully comprehended.
Thus mysteries, far from rendering Christianity
unworthy of God, rather stamp it with the signet
ofthe Divinity.
Let us give farther development to this thought.
The mysteries, it is said, are incomprehensible ; but
this it is, which renders them more worthy of the
infinite intelligence of God. Why, among men
even, the learned possess a varied mass of know
ledge, which is strange and inaccessible to vulgar
minds ; and is He who is perfect knowledge and
perfect light, to be denied the possession of truths
which are far beyond the reach of our utmost pene
tration ? Tell a boor, that the sun which he sees
rising, ascending towards its meridian, declining
towards its setting, and finally disappearing, is,
nevertheless, stationary in the vault of Heaven;
tell him, that this earth, on which he stands so
firmly, is, at that moment, revolving with the most
frightful rapidity; you would see him smile, he
would think that you were ridiculing his ignorance
and simplicity ; and should you not suceeed in im
parting to him certain intermediate ideas, which
might facilitate his belief in your assertions, he
d d 2

404 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
would regard that as an extravagance, which you
know to be a reality. What would you think of
the rustic who should say to one of our philoso
phers ; I do not at all comprehend your doctrine of
the immobility of the sun, whose motion I can
follow with my own eyes, nor that of the rotatory
motion of the earth, which I feel to be immoveable;
all this is unintelligible to me, and I shall continue
to believe only that which I see. You would,
doubtless, look with pity on this rustic reasoner;
yet your own arguments against our mysteries, are
still less solid than his. For after all, there exist
certain points of affinity and of comparison between
you and him ; you are both men, for instance, and
as men your intellects are weak and limited, and if
the interval which separates you is great, it cer
tainly is not immeasurable. But from you to God,
were you even the most learned of all men, the
distance is infinite ; that reason which puffs you up
with pride, is but a slight emanation from that
ocean of knowledge and of light, which is God; and
the Heavens are less distant from the earth, than
the Divine is exalted above the human intelligence.
Our minds are not acute enough to penetrate into
the essence of things, to seize either their combina
tions, or their variously ramified details. Objects
very often possess affinities which are most real, but
which, nevertheless, escape our observation ; and
hence it is, that a truth may sometimes wear the
appearance of a startling improbability. But God

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 405
sees the very essence of things, and thus discovers
accordances where we fancy ourselves to be detect
ing oppositions. The measure of our minds is too
contracted to admit of our embracing the immen
sity of divine knowledge ; it would be like wishing
to hold the waters of the ocean in the hollow
of our hands.
The mysteries are incomprehensible ; but, by
being so, they are only the more worthy of the
wisdom of God. Jesus Christ came into the world
to heal the whole man, to apply a remedy to the
deep wound which pride had inflicted on his mind,
and voluptuousness on his heart. The spirit of
wilful curiosity had precipitated him into the most
monstrous errors, as the love of sensible things had
plunged him into the habitual indulgence of the
most brutal corporeal gratifications. It was then
necessary that his heart should be purified by a
holy law, and his mind humbled by the announce
ment of incomprehensible truths. It is from the
Father of Light that we hold the reason which
guides us, but if, by an unworthy abuse, it should
rebel against its Author, how could it better expiate
its revolt, than by offering itself as a sacrifice to the
reason of the Most High, and of bending beneath
the yoke of the incomprehensible, but infallible
truths of God ?
The mysteries are incomprehensible; but they
are therefore more worthy of the general plan of
Providence in the government of this world. For

406 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
God, being jealous of the reasonable and meritorious
worship of men, has willed, that His religion should
be wrapped at once in light and in darkness : were
it more obscure we might be excusable in not be
lieving in it ; were it more clear, we should not
believe, but we should see. Yes, in religion, as in
nature, God is at once visible and concealed : He
is visible by means of the Heavenly light in which
He has surrounded the mission of Jesus Christ and
the Apostles; hence it is, that reason draws the
motives of its belief, and hence it is, that our belief
is reasonable ; He is concealed by the impenetrable
nature of the doctrine which He has caused them
to announce to us ; and this it is, which constitutes
the merit of faith. What merit is there in believ
ing the existence of the sun which we see with our
own eyes ? He who seeks after truth, will ever find
sufficient motives for his belief; but he who loves
it not, will never fail of inventing pretexts for his
infidelity. The God of Christianity dwells in the
distant recesses of those clouds, from which issue
those bland yet vivid beams which delight all
docile minds, but from which also is darted that
dazzling lightning which blinds the eyes of the
proud and self-sufficient.
But what does infidelity oppose to these reflec
tions ? God, it says, is not a God of darkness ; why
then should He have revealed to man, dogmas
which are unintelligible to him ? Do not let us pay
any attention to these mysterious doctrines, which

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 407
to us are nothing more than words without ideas.
Rousseau has thus expressed himself; and his lan
guage is so unreasonable as to be disproved by daily
experience. We certainly by no means possess complete or
perfect ideas of our mysteries; we do not pene
trate into their inmost substance, nor do we see
them divested of every obscurity. But we know
enough of them to be able to speak distinctly, and
rationally concerning them ; we know enough of
them to prevent our confounding the one with the
other, and to enable us, not only to distinguish
sound doctrine from error, but even to deduce from
them, many very useful and very effectual lessons
for our conduct in this life. There are mysteries
in our religion, as there are in many of those things
which are commonly talked of by us all, by the
learned as well as by the people, concerning which,
however, we possess but imperfect, vague, and con
fused notions. Thus every body speaks of time, of
space, of infinity, and of eternity ; yet by reflecting
attentively on these expressions, we should find,
that they represent ideas, the innate nature of
which is hidden from us, and that our notion of
these subjects is altogether incomplete, and mixed
up with impenetrable obscurity. Who can flatter
himself that he thoroughly comprehends the nature
of space, and that he can put an end to the disputes
ofthe most subtle metaphysicians on this point?
Would you make space to be an immense capacity

408 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
distinct from this world, and in which this world is
contained? But is this capacity any thing real?
Would you make it out to be a real being, or is it
only something imaginary, a non-entity? Would
you say that space is not distinct from the manner
in which bodies exist, with reference to each other ?
But how can material things exist without being
contained in a place which is distinct from them
selves ? It must be admitted that the human mind
here verges upon limits which it knows not how to
pass. One of the most penetrating minds which
ever appeared upon earth, St. Augustine, was so
embarrassed in the formation of a precise idea of
time, that he has somewhere declared, " When I am
not asked what time is, I fancy that I could answer
the question, but when I am asked what it is, I feel
that I cannot do so." That man can never have
reflected deeply, and must be altogether a stranger
to that knowledge which is the foundation of all
others, namely, metaphysics, who does not know, that
the greater part of our acquirements is connected
with objects, our ideas of which are frequently in
complete, and sometimes wrapt in the most profound
obscurity. Let us cease, then, to exact from God,
that he should reveal to us those things only, con
cerning which we possess the most complete and
perfect ideas.
But, rejoins the unbeliever, I should be reason
able, before I become Christian; why would you
make me blindly subscribe to that which I do not

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 409
comprehend ? Should faith extinguish reason ? No,
I answer ; it certainly should not : when we per
fectly understand, we feel that reason conducts us
to faith ; it is reason which opens the portals of the
Divine sanctuary, and there consigning us to the
arms of religion, leaves us under its empire. Guided
by reason, I discover that Jesus Christ, and his
Apostles, appeared upon earth ; that they gave mani
fest proofs of their Divine mission ; and, respecting
these facts, I entertain the same kind of certainty,
as respecting the existence of Caesar and his con
quest of Gaul. Reason discusses and investigates
these facts, and to these should the investigation
of the Christian be directed. I invite you, in the
name of religion, to scrutinize its claims on your
homage ; they are proof against time, against criti
cism, and against all the passions in league against
them; and some few arguments adduced by modern
sceptics cannot possibly subvert that, which eighteen
centuries of conflict have tended only to establish.
But, when reason has once convinced us of the
Divine authority of Jesus Christ and of His disci
ples, reason itself imperiously commands us to sub
mit to their doctrine, and that our weak intelligence
should do homage to that of the Most High. When
God speaks, man should be silent. Thus, of what
importance is it, that our faith should be obscure
in some points of belief, if it is most clear in the
motives which inspire that belief? If reason does

410 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
not render the mysteries intelligible, it certainly
renders them credible.
To this the unbeliever may reply, by observing,
that the Christian mysteries are not only incompre
hensible, but that they involve contradictions in
terms. Such, according to them, is the mystery of
the Trinity. One God in three persons — what can
be more contradictory ! Let us, however, endea
vour to unravel the intricacies of this question. If
you say that our mysteries, considered in them*
selves, are improbable, that they deviate from the
ordinary sphere of human conceptions, that they
present some apparent contrarieties, that they are
subject to difficulties, the solution of which is not
always clearly perceptible ; in all this we should
agree with you ; for, were it not so, the mysteries
would no longer be mysteries. But, I must remind
you, that the affinities of truth, although they are
most real, frequently evade our comprehension, and
thus render us liable to take apparent, for real con
tradictions. I must remind you, also, that we should
not transfer to the Infinite Being the properties of
the finite being; that it would be an error, rigo
rously to apply to the Divine Person, the notions of
tbe human person. I would tell you, that you need
not blush to admit with Descartes, that it is not
permitted us to deny those truths which have been
once proved, on account of apparent difficulties
which our weak reason is incompetent to solve. I

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 411
might elucidate this thought by a multitude of ex
amples. In the natural sciences, in that science
even which is said to be the most unerring of all,
we arrive, by a series of successive propositions, at
results so strange, that we know not how to recon
cile them either with each other, or with sound
reason. It is to be demonstrated, that two lines
may incessantly approach each other and yet never
meet ; that they may also be prolonged to infinity,
and this seems to be an obvious impossibility. But,
to give you a more familiar example ; take a man
who was born blind; cause him to run his hand
over the surface of a picture, which, according to
the laws of optics, presents to your eyes, certain
elevations, a series of heights and depths ; tell this
blind man, that on this plane superficies, you see
cavities containing a variety of objects. How could
he form a conception, that a surface, which was
plane to the touch of his hand, should appear deep
and indented to you ? What ! concavity, convexity,
and a plane superficies all at once, and together,
the blind man might exclaim, what absurdity!
This, to the blind man, is a something revolting
and contradictory, is in fact a real mystery; and
what does he require for its solution ? He requires
another sense, that of sight ; the negation of which
renders him a stranger to the phenomena of light,
to its perspective and reflective qualities. Yet we,
ourselves, with regard to the mysteries of religion,

412 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
are in the same situation with this blind man ; we,
in this present life, want a degree of intelligence
which we shall some day possess. The blind man,
on the testimony of other men, ought reasonably to
believe the wonders of vision, although he does not
comprehend them; and we, on the Divine testi
mony of our Saviour and his Apostles, ought rea
sonably to believe in the mysteries of religion,
although we may not be able to penetrate them.
When our young unbelievers permit themselves
to treat our mysteries with such levity, and when
they fancy that they can detect contradictions in
them, has it ever occurred to them, that the diffi
culties which obstruct their belief, did not also
obstruct that of those men the most celebrated for
learning and for genius, whom the world has ever
seen ; that these pretended contradictions have
been examined and discussed by the greatest phi
losophers, that Europe, for the last three centuries,
has produced, namely, by Bacon, by Descartes, by
Pascal, and by Leibnitz? And how can a man,
scarcely initiated into the secrets of the higher
branches of metaphysics, dare, inconsiderately to
accuse our mysteries of containing absurdities, which
were not perceived by those very men whom we
still revere as the princes and the creators of modern
sciences ?
Some little explanation will suffice to show, that
they have, for the most part, attacked in our

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 413
mysteries, not that which our faith inculcates, but
that which their own imaginations unjustifiably
impute to them.
Our faith teaches us to worship one only God,
in three persons, which persons possess the same
perfections. There is then in God, an unity and
a trinity, both together ; but this, not in the same
relationship ; we do not say that three persons
make one person, that three gods make one God,
this would be a palpable contradiction; we main
tain the unity of the divine nature, and the trinity
of the persons. There is then unity in one respect,
and trinity in another respect, which is sufficient to
show, that there is no contradiction in the terms of
the mystery. And he who, with a view of rendering
our faith ridiculous, accuses us of believing that
three make only one, has not even comprehended
the sense in which we profess this doctrine. The
fathers of the Christian church, in order to throw
some light upon the obscurities which surround this
mystery, have made use of a striking comparison.
In man, they say, the soul exists, knows itself, and
loves itself; now to exist, to know itself, and to
love itself, are three distinct things, but which are
nevertheless found in one and the same essence;
and this is an image, the perfect model of which is
in God. God exists from all eternity, together
with the infinite knowledge, and the infinite love
of His infinite perfections, and who knows enough
bf the internal operations of the infinite Being, or

414 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
of that which may result from that infinite know
ledge and infinite love, to dare to say, that the
doctrine which revelation teaches us, may not be
that result ?
I shall here terminate this first portion of our
discussion, by a reflection which may be novel to
many among my auditors. I would say to the
detractors of Christianity, imagine, if you can, a
system of philosophy which does not involve dif
ficulties as startling, and contrarieties as apparent,
as those which are attributed to our mysteries;
and I will then, and not till then, permit you to
despise them. What are your opinions ? Are you
atheists, materialists, fatalists, sceptics, or deists?
Make your choice. I shall not take occasion here
to prove the fallacies of your systems, or the justice
ofthe remark made by Bossuet, when he said, "In
order to reject incomprehensible truths you plunge
into incomprehensible errors." I here confine myself
to the bare declaration, that, belong to whichever
of these classes; you may, you are obliged to swallow
difficulties quite as revolting, as those which you
attach to our mysteries.
I say to the atheist; if you are consistent, you
ought to believe that, this universe, in which the
traits of an infinite intelligence are so manifest, does
not suppose an intelligent cause ; you are obliged to
resist that first cry of sound sense and experience,
that, as a temple supposes an architect, this world
supposes a God ; and to explain this world with all

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 415
the harmony of its parts, and all its wonders, you
content yourself with a set of words wholly inap
plicable to the subject, — chance, nature and necessity,
for instance. How irrational, and how incoherent
is all this.
I would say to the materialist ; you believe, then,
that which thinks within you to be matter ; that
your soul thus possesses extent, that it is sus
ceptible of colour, and divisible; nevertheless* its
thoughts are without extent, without colour, and
without divisibility; you believe then that from
an assemblage of parts, which are material, brute,
and devoid of all reason, the intelligent and reason
able man has sprung into being. How contradictory
is all this.
I would say to the fatalist ; you believe then that
at the very moment in which I am now speaking
to you, I am impelled so to speak, by a force which
I cannot resist; nevertheless, I feel that I am
endowed with the power of being silent, as dis
tinctly as I feel my own existence; how can you
reconcile this insurmountable necessity with this
internal sentiment of freedom ? You believe then
that the assassin when stabbing his victim, is not
in reality more free than the tiger, when tearing
down its prey; why then do you prosecute the
assassin as a criminal? Why do you make him
responsible for this murder? How inconsistent is
all this.
I would say to the sceptic; — you doubt every
1

416 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
thing ; nevertheless you are perpetually induced to
believe that you exist : reconcile then, if you can,
this doubt with this sentiment of conviction.
Do not fancy that you are more fortunate in
seeking refuge in that deism, which professes
to believe in a God, a providence, and a future
life ! for then I should say to you ; you acknow
ledge a God, an immortal Spirit, who is the Creator
of this universe : and certainly a Spirit who could
extract matter from non-entity, is a mystery as
overwhelming to all human reason, as the mysteries
of Christianity. This is not all ; you acknowledge
a God, who is supremely perfect, consequently a
God who is at once indivisible and immeasurable ;
free and immutable ; who masters our wills, without
doing violence to our freedom ; yet I may venture
to predict, that should you even attempt to recon
cile all these attributes, the one with the other,
you would encounter obstacles apparently insur
mountable. Lastly, I would say to all ; — by the very reason
that something exists to-day, something has existed
always ; there exists then, an eternal being ; whe
ther it be God, or whether it be matter, is
foreign to the present question ; in either case, you
must admit a duration, which has had no com
mencement. Is this duration composed of suc
cessive instants? Or is it ever the present, with
out a past and without a future ? But in the one
case, how can there be a succession of instants, in

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 417
that which has no first instant ; and in the other
case, how can there be a continuation of duration,
where there is no past or future duration ? Confess
then that you are surrounded with obscurities on
every side ; cease to combat our mysteries, by those
incomprehensibilities and contrarieties, which you
find to be equally incidental to and prevalent in all
other opinions. If you are wise, you will apply
yourselves to examine and ascertain the fact of the
revelation of these mysteries. To believe without
proof is puerile credulity ; to wish to penetrate
every thing, is not the strength, but the weakness
of reason. "The last process of reason," says Pascal,
" is to know that there is an infinity of things,
which are beyond its attainment ; and that reason
must be truly weak which does not attain this
knowledge1." I now proceed to the consideration of
the utility of the Christian miracles, with reference
to morality.
Every thing which tends to diffuse lofty ideas
of the Divinity, of that justice, by the fear of
which, we are maintained in our duty, of that
goodness, the recollection of which consoles and
reanimates our weakness; every thing which en
lightens man, as to his origin and to his destiny ;
every thing which humbles, but does not discour
age him, and exalts without puffing him up with
pride ; that which is capable of applying a remedy
i Pensees, chap. v. p. 1.
VOL. II. E e

418 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
to all his vices, and inspiring all his virtues ; this, I
say, evidently tends to render him more virtuous and
more happy, and is consequently connected with
that morality which consists rather in the practice
of virtue, than in dry and barren speculations. It
cannot be denied that the mysteries of Christianity
possess these precious advantages ; but to make you
feel their salutary effects, it may be necessary to
call your attention to some few of them.
That original hereditary sin which corrupted the
human race at its very source, and which has
divested it of its primitive nobility, is certainly a
great mystery. This is not the place to develop all
the arguments and similitudes which theology pre
sents to us, not however in the hope of entirely dis
sipating the impenetrable darkness with which it is
covered, but with the intention of facilitating our
belief in it. But recollect how wonderfully the
positive revelation of this mystery enlightens man,
as to the destiny and the contradictions of his
nature. Reason murmurs, and is offended at seeing
in man such a mixture of base passions and hea
venly aspirations, — that love of virtue, that strong
tendency to vice, that subjection of the mind to the
empire of the senses, with the disorders and the
evils which are the inevitable consequences of this
subjection. Man is thus an inconceivable enigma
to himself; who can tell us what he is ? To say that
there is no God, and that in this world every thing
goes on by chance, is not a resource, but it is mad-

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 419
ness; and rather than rush into so frightful an
abyss, man was obliged to believe, that some hidden
truth existed which was as yet concealed from his
weak intelligence. But here religion comes to the
aid of disconcerted reason. That which some of
the philosophers of pagan antiquity appear to have
suspected ; that which was confusedly preserved in
the traditions of all nations; that which fabulous
mythology typified in Prometheus stealing fire from
Heaven, and by this sacrilegious theft, drawing down
upon earth the various scourges by which it was
desolated ; that which the poets have sung under
the names of the Age of Gold, and the Age of Iron,
our religion has clearly revealed to us. It teaches
us that man did not issue from the hands of his
Creator, such as he is to-day ; that, in the actual
order of things, he is nothing more than a degraded
being, a dethroned king, but a king, who, in his fall,
preserves some traits of his former greatness. There
is no attempt to make man to be a being wholly
great and wholly good, in spite of the internal sen
timent which he possesses, of his weakness and his
corruption : this opinion would only intoxicate him
with silly pride, and awaken within him an un
bounded self-love, and would, sooner or later, con
vert him into a stoical and haughty philosopher.
There is no attempt either to make him wholly
earthly and despicable, in spite of the internal
sentiment which he possesses, of his nobility and
ofhis dignity ; this opinion, by abasing and degrading
e e 2

420 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
him, would plunge him into epicurism, and into the
grossest sensuality. The Christian religion holds a
middle course, between these two extremes ; it
shows us, in man, the disfigured but not the defaced
image of God ; and teaches him to distrust himself,
without destroying those elevated ideas of his own
nature, which he is justified in forming. Thus it is,
that from the very depth of the most mysterious
darkness, a stream of light is diffused over the
nature of man, and the present order of things.
That God should condescend to take our nature
upon Him, is certainly a great mystery ; but con
sider how admirably it brings into light the Divine
Attributes, and the dignity of the human soul.
How formidable is that justice, which would only
be appeased by the supplications of God made Man !
How great, how deadly, must have been that sin,
which required the expiatory sacrifice of such a
victim ! How unspeakable is that goodness which
deigns thus to humble itself; and how estimable
must be the dignity of those souls which could only
be redeemed by a price like this ! How calculated
are these thoughts to make us glow with gratitude
towards God ; and to penetrate us with a horror of
that sin, which has so offended Him, and, at the
same time, so degraded us !
No, it is not with the mysteries of Christianity as
it is with what have been called mysteries among
the pagans ; with those purely fanciful dogmas, those
impure ceremonies which were adapted to stifle,

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 421
rather than to inspire, virtue. In the Christian
religion, the centre, towards which every thing gra
vitates, is Jesus Christ ; who was the light of the
world, by His doctrine ; the Saviour of men, by
His death ; and who is still the model of their con
duct, by His virtues. The mysteries of the birth,
of the life, of the sufferings, and of the death of
Jesus Christ, are nothing more than His morality
in action, and they form a popular yet sublime
series of pictures, in which every virtue is portrayed
and represented. To be modest even to humility,
meek even to the forgiveness of injuries, charitable
even to the loving of enemies, resigned under the
evils of life even to the stifling of a murmur, chaste
even to the condemnation of an involuntary
thought, and to be so faithful to God, as willingly
to die in defence of His law ; these are Christian
virtues. Who does not feel the force and the
authority which these precepts here derive from the
example of Jesus Christ, who inculcated nothing
more than he himself practised, who was humble,
meek, charitable, even to the suffering in our stead,
and even to the forgiving of His murderers ?
Here, I appeal to an incontestable witness,
namely, to experience. If you cast your eyes over
the records of the Christian Church, you will,
doubtless, find many vices and many disorders ; but
you will also find, in all ages, among all people, and
in all conditions of life, Christians who have done
honour to their faith, by virtues the most pure, the

422 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
most heroic, and the most useful to their fellow-
creatures. It is indisputable, that these virtues
have their chief source in those mysteries which
men now affect to despise. Yes, could we but ask
the question of the many holy pastors, the many
apostolic labourers, who have spent their lives in
the sufferings and fatigue of evangelizing the differ
ent people ofthe earth, and in detaching them from
vice and ignorance ; they would make answer and
say, that their courage was derived from the pro
mises, and from the example of Jesus Christ, in
sacrificing Himself for the salvation of men. Ask
the many philanthropists who have been animated
by so pure a charity, what it was that inspired them
with so much tenderness for the poor, and for the
afflicted upon earth ; and you would find that this
tenderness was enkindled by that of Jesus Christ ;
that they had before their eyes, Him, who is the
friend and the father ofthe indigent and the unhappy,
and that they believed they were doing Him service
by alleviating the wants of the poor, who are His
adopted children. To love God, and to love man, is
the whole Jaw, is the whole morality of the Gospel.
What can be better calculated to inspire and to
nourish this double love, than the belief in a God,
who has so loved us, as to have made Himself sen
sible to us by taking our nature upon Him ? " For
God so loved the world," exclaimed the Apostle of
Charity, " that He gave His only-begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 423
have everlasting life 1." This sentence has re
sounded throughout the universe, and produced more
virtues than the most lofty speculations of human
philosophy. Our mysteries are so connected and combined,
that by the removal of one stone from the sacred
edifice, you would endanger the whole structure.
The mystery of the Incarnate Word supposes that
of the Trinity, the , mystery of Redemption that of
original sin, the mysteries of Grace are, in their
turn, bound up with those of redemption. A tres
pass infinitely fatal, an expiator of infinite merit,
a rewarder of infinite munificence, and an avenger
of infinite justice, are intimately connected, and
mutually sustain each other. Where every thing is
Eevealed, every thing :should. be respected. Should
the human mind give itself free scope in its
treatment of the mysteries, it would soon be bold
enough to attack- the precepts of the Law, and
morality would be no more respected than doctrine ;
the mind would extract from the Gospel those
mysteries which humble its intelligence, and the
heart would deprive it of those precepts which
appal its frailty. It is only since these dogmas have
been so subtilized, that the foundations of morality
have been shaken. The Socinian does not believe
in the Trinity. The deist does not believe in Jesus
Christ. The atheist comes, who does not believe
1 John, chap. iii. ver. 16.

424 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
in God. False sages also have appeared, who
would make both virtue and vice problematical, and
who would even defend the turpitude of pagan
manners. When man has once overstepped the
boundaries which were set by God Himself, he
knows not where to stop ; but abandoning himself
to chance, runs on, and, at last, plunges headlong
into a career of vice and falsehood.
Far from us, then, be that maxim which is now
so diffused and credited, that the dogma is nothing,
but the morality every thing ; that we should
abandon the dogma, and cling to the morality : this,
however, would be like constructing the edifice
before we had laid its foundations. But what are
the dogmas which they would have us abandon ?
A God, a Providence, a future life, these are points
of belief, these are dogmas, to which all the ideas of
order and of justice upon earth refer ; and I have
already, in another conference, proved, that these
sacred truths were equally the principles of mora
lity and of society. Would they have us abandon
the doctrines peculiar to Christianity ? I might as
well say, that we ought to abjure Christianity, and
leave the school of Jesus Christ for that of Plato.
What ! are Christians to be interdicted the men
tion of Jesus Christ, the Divine Founder of their
religion? Who does not see that the mystery of
God made man, is intimately connected with all
the other mysteries ? It is no longer permitted us
to say, that these mysteries are unconnected with

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 425
the regulation of manners, for we have already
shown the weight and the persuasive force which
they attach to morality.
But, it is asked, Should you teach these mys
teries to children ; should you load their minds
with an useless weight, which will only overpower
them? all this can only harass and fatigue their
mental powers, and restrain the development of
their faculties. But this pity is false, and this dread
hypocritical. Children most undoubtedly can en
tertain but vague ideas of these mysteries ; they are,
in fact, entrusted rather to their memories, than
to their judgments ; but these notions, being im
planted in their minds at an age when they are
most susceptible of impression, develop themselves
as they advance in years, and can never be wholly
obliterated. Our fathers were thus educated.
Bacon, Newton, Descartes, Locke, Pascal, and
Bossuet, were thus educated ; yes, these great men
began by learning their catechism (if I may be
allowed to use that popular expression), but this has
not prevented them from having possessed, each in
his way, a creative mind, or from becoming the
lights of the world. Thus too have most of us been
educated, and I cannot perceive that this method
has, in any way, injured our health or our intelli
gence. Believe, then, not in the vain discourses of
idle speculators, but in the personal experience of
those, who, however exalted may have been their
subsequent position in the scale of society or of

426 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
intelligence, were not strangers to a Christian edu
cation when young. We unhesitatingly maintain,
that with a little art and a little patience, we might
succeed in imparting to infancy a taste for acquir
ing the knowledge of the loftiest truths. In our
Gospels, the mysterious is so blended with the mira
culous, there are so many applicable and. affecting
parables, so many traits of humanity, so many
maxims of the purest morality, so many pleasing or
terrible images, that the young and the old, that
people of all ages, must be interested in their
perusal. And do we not bring with us into the
world a very strong relish for extraordinary, hidden,
or mysterious things ; and does not the very fact of
their being wrapt in obscurity only make our
curiosity the more lively? When Jesus is repre
sented to infancy as cradled in a manger, as cele
brated by angels, as visited by the shepherds of the
neighbouring mountains, as growing up under the
eyes of His parents, to whom He is obedient and
submissive, as quitting His retreat for the purpose
of preaching His Gospel ; when He is represented
as solacing the afflicted, as blessing little children,
as weeping over the grave of Lazarus, and over the
ungrateful Jerusalem, as ascending Mount Calvary,
and there yielding up His life as an . expiation for
the crimes of His enemies, as quitting the sepulchre
in which He had been laid, and at last, rising
triumphantly to Heaven ; is not all this calculated
to captivate the imagination and the heart, and to

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 427
make a deep impression upon the memory ? Lastly,
I appeal to yourselves, when, yet young, you were
obliged to apply to the study of those languages in
which Virgil and Homer formerly sung, and to
repeat, according to the rules of these languages,
lessons expressed in scientific, or even in somewhat
barbarous terms ; were you capable of attaching any
precise and correct ideas to these terms, or were
these ideas so fully developed then, as they have
since been ? No, certainly not ; but your minds,
nevertheless, retained them, and you so far com
prehended them as to be able to apply them, at first
uncertainly, afterwards more firmly, and at last,
most happily. So it is with the elementary princi
ples of Christianity when taught to children.
Some among our detractors would not have our
mysteries even mentioned ; others have dreamt of
a morality without religion ; another comes, who
tells us, that young people should not hear the
name of God pronounced, until their reason is
developed ; and the time has been, when we should
render ourselves liable to a charge of fanaticism, if
we did not regard this extravagance as a trait of
genius. Let us abandon, then, all these silly theories,
all the fallacious lights of this false wisdom, and
ever be guided by the torch of experience. Yes !
the teaching of the whole body of Christianity, of
its mysteries as well as its precepts, will always be
the groundwork of a Christian education ; and it is

428 RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES.
from the mysteries of the life and of the death of
Jesus Christ, that we are enabled to deduce the
most touching lessons of virtue. Yes, the manger
and Mount Calvary will ever be more eloquent and
more persuasive than the most elaborate or the
most beautiful discourses. Yes, with the Bible in
his hand, the humble minister of the Gospel may
console the afflicted, appease anger or hatred, re
store peace, inspire benevolence in the rich, and
awaken remorse or infuse hope in the heart of the
guilty, more effectually than the most pompous
philosopher. Ye wise men of the age, — who regard
all this as fanaticism, and fancy that ye alone pos
sess all the treasures of wisdom ! — let Us retain
this our fanaticism, which can thus apply consola
tion to the wretched, and make men more happy
and more virtuous, and do ye keep that wisdom of
yours, which is so strong in pulling down, but so
weak in building up, so mighty in all evil, but so
powerless in all good. Wrap yourselves up in your
own desolating doctrines, but let us work on in
peace to re-establish the faith of our fathers and
the virtues which that faith inspires. Yes, we de
light in this pretended fanaticism, that holy doctrine
which has formed so many virtuous fathers, so many
faithful husbands, so many upright magistrates, so
many modest philosophers, so many generous among
the rich, and so many resigned among the poor, so
many warriors as humane as brave, so many fami
lies all concord and all happiness ; yes, we would

RELIGION CONSIDERED IN ITS MYSTERIES. 429
entreat you to keep to yourselves that mockery of
wisdom, those fallacious doctrines, which, by detach
ing the people from the love as from the fear of
God, are the fruitful sources of anarchy and desola
tion. Is not the wound which has already been
inflicted upon public manners broad enough or
deep enough ? Will you still enlarge, will you still
labour to render it incurable? If you are deter
mined not to second our efforts with your own, at
least be silent, be impious only towards yourselves ;
and for the sake of even your own interests, for the
sake of those of your children, for the surety of
your property, and the safeguard of your persons,
permit us to persevere in the task of reanimating
the sacred fires of religion, and of rekindling the
still glowing embers of public virtue.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

The Gospel presents us with a code of morality
which is as simple as it is pure, and which, when it
traces out to all men the path of duty, opens to
them a career of unlimited perfection ; a code,
which is adapted to all climes and to all govern
ments ; and which embraces, in the universality of
its precepts, the whole human race, from the tribe
wandering in the desert, to the nation which has
grown old in civilization, men in the most obscure,
as well as men in the most elevated conditions of
life ; a code, which perfects and consecrates all the
virtues, both civil and domestic ; which purifies all
the lawful affections, and prevents their excesses ;
a code too, which being founded upon certain inva
riable dogmas, ever places by the side of its precepts,
the most powerful motives for their observance,

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 431
which abundantly repays every sacrifice which it
requires, and which places its votaries under the
eyes of that Almighty God, who holds in one hand,
crowns of immortal glory as rewards for the good ;
and in the other, avenging lightnings, as a punish
ment for the wicked. The whole range of pagan
antiquity, the celebrated schools of Socrates and
of Zeno, cannot supply us with a code like this.
We certainly may glean from the writings of
many of the ancient philosophers, some precious
fragments of morality ; but they are, at best, but
detached maxims, floating about, as it were, upon
a sea of error and superstition. Plato is thought
to be the greatest philosopher of antiquity, and his
treatise on the Republic is accounted his master
piece; yet the perusal of the fifth book of this
treatise must convince us, that all his wisdom could
not save him from the adoption of some disgraceful
errors. No, you will no where find a code, so
perfect, at once so pure in its precepts, and so
powerful in its motives, as that contained in the
Gospel. There was a time in which the enemies of Christ
ianity, when they opposed its mysteries and its
worship, admitted the beauty of its morality. Bos
suet makes this observation in one of his sermons:
" Thanks be to the Divine Mercy, they, who are
constantly disputing with us as to our faith, admit
the purity and perfection of our moral code."
But, in the last century, when the most extrava-
7

432 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
gant and most fatal doctrines became so prevalent,
when egotism was systematically exalted, and when
so many hearts were withered by atheism, men be
came incapable of perceiving or of feeling any thing
good, beautiful, or consolatory in our Holy Scrip
tures. For how could the materialist, with his all-
animal and sensual doctrine, relish a law, which
tended to elevate men above all temporal and sen
sible things, and which commanded them to sacrifice
the dearest inclinations of their nature at the shrine
of duty? Thus the evangelic code of moral law
became a butt for all the empoisoned shafts of
sophistry. Christianity commands detachment; it
is therefore accused of condemning honours, digni
ties, and riches; of inspiring a disregard for the
things of this world, an apathy, which, should it
once become general, would prove destructive to
commerce, to the arts, to industry, and eventually
to the whole social body. Christianity commands
humility; it is therefore accused of inculcating a
virtue which degrades man in his own eyes, which
renders him indifferent to public esteem, and which
inspires only abject and contemptible sentiments.
Christianity, lastly, wages war against all the irre
gular desires, and pursues them even into the sanc
tuary of the heart : it spares no passion, no vice,
but commands the practice of every virtue ; it is
therefore accused of excessive severity, and of im
posing an overwhelming weight upon weak morta
lity. Thus, that it is hostile to society, by the

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 433
detachment which it requires ; abject, by the humi
lity which it inculcates ; and impracticable, by the
severity of those duties which it imposes ; such is
our Christian morality in the opinion of its adversa
ries. I shall devote this conference to its vindication
from this triple accusation.
If there is a passion fruitful of injustice, capable
of stifling every sentiment of honour and of probity,
and of sowing the seeds of division and discord
among families, it is cupidity ; I mean, the extra
vagant love of riches and of the things of this
world. Why those frauds so common in business ?
Why those methods of acquiring wealth, which, by
being more summary, are generally the more ille
gal? Why those cruel speculations on the wants
of others, who are induced to purchase temporary
relief at the expense of deferred but inevitable
ruin? Why those barbarous refusals to pay the
labourer the wages which he has earned by the
sweat of his brow ; or, why those perjuries, those
quarrels which arm brother against brother, wife
against husband, and sometimes child against pa
rent ? Why those speculative and hazardous enter
prises which, in their failure, too often involve the
guileless and the amiable in the ruin of their pro
jector ? Why all these disorders ? What is their
source? It is cupidity. And when this unbridled
love of riches seizes all minds, and men live and
breathe only to get money, and thus to procure for
themselves the pleasures which money can pur-
VOL. II. F f

434 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
chase ; when a nation deserves that reproach which
the Roman poet brought against his contemporaries,
that they ranked virtue after money, " Virtus post
nummos1;" what then becomes of honesty, honour,
or elevation of thought and sentiment ? What be
comes of public and domestic virtue? Must not
all things degenerate and become debased? It is
written in our Scriptures, that " the love of money
is the root of all evil2;" and, if it be so, what better
service could the Gospel render to humanity, than
that of applying a check upon this devouring pas
sion? Here, as in all things else, the profound
wisdom of the Divine Legislator is eminently con
spicuous, and it is only after His doctrine has been
disfigured and misrepresented, that it can be com
batted. No, with regard to temporal things, the
Gospel does not prohibit our legitimate and mode
rate attachment to them, but solely that irregular
affection which never fails of drawing us into the
most fatal excesses. In the eyes of religion, it is
not poverty, the estrangement from honours, or the
exemption from civil or domestic cares, which con
stitute virtue : a man may be detached in the very
bosom of riches, and moderate in the midst of
grandeur, as he may be avaricious in the lowest
depths of misery, and ambitious in the most obscure
of conditions. It is in the order of Providence and

• Horace, Epist. book i. epist. i. verse 54.
2 1 Timothy, chapter vi. verse 10.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 435
of religion, that there should be rich and poor, and
high and low; and by impugning the maxims of
Christianity on this subject, men betray a sad want
of reflection.
Where do we see in our holy books, that they
condemn riches, or that their possession must be
regarded as a crime ? We certainly no where find
in them a treatise on the wealth of nations ; but we
are there taught to use the good things of this
world without centering our affections in them:
they menace the hard-hearted rich man, who does
not relieve the indigent ; they represent riches as
being a dangerous and frequently a fatal rock in
the sea of life; and are we not taught by expe
rience, that they irritate all the passions by fur
nishing means for their gratification ? If, for the
consolation of by far the greatest portion of the
human race, Jesus Christ chose to be born amidst
all the wants of a lowly condition, still He has
disdained not to have rich men for His disciples,
Zaccheus and Joseph of Arimathea for instance;
and we find that the wise men of the East, as well
as shepherds, crowded around His cradle. It is in
His name, that the Apostle charges the rich, not to
strip themselves of their wealth, but " that they be
not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches;"
" that they be ready to distribute, willing to com
municate1." And how many rich men have there
1 1 Timothy, chapter vi. verses 17, 18.
Ff 2

436 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
been in all ages, who have made their opulence to
be the instrument of their virtues !
Where have we read in our Holy Scriptures,
that they condemn dignities ? It is true that
they are represented as being important trusts, of
which their holders must render a strict account;
but it is Jesus Christ himself who has consecrated
the maxim, that we should " render unto Csesar
the things that are Csesar's ; " and it is one of
His apostles who tells us, that " the powers that
be are ordained of God1," for the peace of so
ciety. Lastly, where have we ever read in our Holy
Scriptures, that they condemn a moderate regard
for the good things of the earth, or the prudent
and honest industry which preserves or augments
them? Let us here learn to distinguish between
the injunction and the advice. To possess the good
things of this world without seeking them anxiously
and greedily, to use them with sobriety, to know
how to lose them without murmuring against the
Providence who gives and who takes away ; this is
the injunction. To carry self-denial even to effec
tual divestment, to renounce not only the love of
these good things, but the good things themselves ;
this is the advice. The injunction is for all, the
advice can be but for few. And such is the order
of things among men, that we need not fear that
1 Romans, chapter xiii. verse 1.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 437
an excess of disinterestedness should make society
a desert. From its origin, Christianity has reckoned men
of all classes among its votaries. Religion does not
disarrange the various conditions of society, it
rather consolidates and urges them to practise their
respective duties, with a more constant and assured
fidelity. It does not command the magistrate to
descend from the seat of justice, and to spend at
the foot of the altar that time which should be
devoted to the discharge of his public functions ;
nor does it require of the warrior that, in the day
of battle, he should endanger his own life, by
sparing that of his enemy ; nor does it charge the
mother of a family to abandon those domestic cares
which she owes to her husband and her children.
One admirable trait of the wisdom of Christianity
is, that it makes the duties of the state precede all
other duties : thus, in its eyes, it is nothing for the
magistrate to be enlightened, if he is not just ; nor
for the minister to be regular, if he is not zealous ;
nor for the warrior to be humane, if he is not cou
rageous ; nor for the father of a family to be tender,
if he is not vigilant ; nor for servants to be respect
ful, if they are not faithful. The Gospel condemns
not economy, but avarice; not business, but the
frauds which disgrace it; not the arts, but their
abuse in being applied to the embellishment of
vice ; not the lawful defence of one's own rights,
but that spirit of "hatred and of vengeance, which it

438 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
too often engenders. " Let every man then abide
in the same calling wherein he was called1." Re
ligion only condemns that which is evil, it conse
crates every thing that is good ; it perfects it, and
furnishes men with new and powerful motives for
its practice. Such is religion when well under
stood. I advance nothing which is not admitted
by all Christian moralists; and what right have
men to attribute to it, maxims, which are not its
own? In the accusations which they now bring against
Christianity, its enemies have not even the sad
merit of novelty. Fourteen centuries have elapsed,
since St. Augustin answered the unjust reproach,
which the pagans, who were but partially acquainted
with its doctrines, cast upon our religion, the
reproach of its being injurious to the welfare of
societies, by its maxims of meekness, of self-denial,
of forgiveness of injuries. What kind of a man,
said they, is he, who permits his enemy to despoil
him of his property ? Where is he who would not
render evil for evil to the barbarians who ravage
his country ? It is interesting to contemplate the
answer which Augustin makes to this accusation
in his letter to Marcellinus 2, a man distinguished
by his dignities and merit. The holy father observes
that the pagans themselves had celebrated clemency

1 Corinthians, chapter vii. verse 20.
Epist. cxxxviii. n. 9, &c.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 439
as an heroic virtue, and that Caesar had been praised
for his never forgetting any thing but injuries ;
that by a strict observance of the evangelic maxims,
the minds and the hearts of men would be better
reconciled and united than by all the institutions
of Romulus and Numa ; that the charity which
forbids the rendering evil for evil, does not prohibit
the punishment of evil-doers, nor their being treated
with wholesome severity ; that we are not to
imagine a society to be prosperous, because it
builds magnificent houses, erects theatres, or be
cause its rich men incur foolish and extravagant
expenses, and at the same time permit that virtue,
which is the real ornament of the soul, to decay
and perish. He proceeds, by reminding them that
Rome owed its greatness to the austerity of its
manners and its maxims ; that the republic declined
from the very moment in which the spirit of rapine
and of avarice seized the minds of its citizens and
its armies ; that then, as the poet x has sung, luxury
paralyzed Rome and avenged the conquered world.
" Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem."
Let those, says Augustin, and I shall use his words
in addressing the inodern enemies of Christianity,
let those who accuse the doctrine of Jesus Christ
of being injurious to the welfare of states, act as
1 Juvenal, Sat. vi.

440 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
husbands, as parents, as children, as masters, as
servants, as magistrates, as warriors, and as kings,
in accordance with it, and we shall see if its maxims,
when fully understood and practised, do not ensure
the safety and the prosperity of states. Such, in
substance, was the answer of St. Augustin, and you
must admit that it was both just and solid.
In modern times, it is the sophist Bayle and the
romantic Rousseau, who have advanced that a
society of true Christians could not subsist ; as if
Christianity did not account all the civil and poli
tical virtues, as duties ; as if it condemned any
thing in the different conditions of life, but the
vices which debased them ! Montesquieu, less
fanciful and more just towards religion, answers its
calumniators in these remarkable words1: "Bayle,
after having insulted all religions, aims his deadliest
blow against that of Christ ; and dares to advance,
that true Christians could not form a society which
would subsist. Why not ? They would be citizens
infinitely enlightened as to their duties, and ardently
zealous in their fulfilment ; they would, thoroughly
comprehend and justly estimate the rights of natural
defence ; the more they believed to be due to their re
ligion, the more would they believe to be due to their
country." — " How admirable it is, that the Christian
religion, whose only object seems to be the felicity of
1 Esprit des Lois, liv. iii. chap. vi.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 441
another life, should still bring us happiness even in
this ] !"
Some infidels have contrasted a Christian with
a Spartan society, and, in this dream of the imagi
nation, have fancied themselves triumphant, in
saying, that the Christian people must either
abandon the principles of their religion, or be ex
terminated. But why should this be ? It is impos
sible to assign any valid reason for the necessity of
this alternative. Would these Spartans then have
a right to abandon themselves to the impulses of
their ferocity, even should the Christians, their
neighbours, be commanded to allow themselves to
be slaughtered without a struggle? Where do we
see that war is absolutely forbidden to Christians ?
The God whom they worship is called the Lord of
Hosts, as well as the Lord of Peace. Can a people
have a more lawful motive for war, than that of
preserving its existence, its government, and its
laws ? Is a civil society of Christians necessarily a
society of Cenobites, who in solitude devote them
selves to a forgetfulness of the world and its
occupations ? In a Christian society, the first duty
of its head is to watch over its safety, to arm
himself in its defence, and should he decline to do
this, under the plea of detachment, he would, in
the eyes of religion, be a cowardly prevaricator.
One of the greatest statesmen of modern ages,
1 Esprit des Lois, liv. iii. chap, iii

442 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
Ximenes, was raised from the recesses of a cloister
to the head of a vast monarchy ; he there preserved
all the simplicity and all the austerity of his former
profession ; still he did not think that his religion
forbad him to employ all the apparatus of public
authority and power against the enemies of his
state. Read the narratives of Charlevoix, or of
Muratori, respecting the Christian colonies of
Paraguay. Humanized, and civilized by religion,
they lived in an innocence of manners which
seemed to realise the dreams of the age of gold.
Yet you would see, how they armed themselves in
their defence, with what ardour and impetuosity
these fervent Christians rushed against their
enemies ; gentle as lambs before the legislator who
had policed them, but terrible as lions in the hour
of battle.
The exploits of the Greek and Roman warriors
have been celebrated by historians and immortalized
by the songs of poets ; but this has not been the
lot of many of the warriors of modern ages. In our
classics, much is said of the devotion of Leonidas
and his three hundred Spartans at the passage of
Thermopylae, and it doubtless was a beautiful in
stance of heroic valour ; but where is the troop of
soldiers taken at hazard, from any country of
Christendom, who would not, at the first signal,
show that they were capable of a similar sacrifice ?
Does not the history of the religious and military
orders of modern Europe, present to us a series of
1

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 443
the most heroic deeds performed against the enemies
of Christianity ?
It is true that the Gospel has not said in express
terms, Thou shalt love thy country ; as it has said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour ; but it enjoins
sentiments of benevolence, of disinterestedness, of
devotion ; it commands, in a word, those sacrifices,
of which the love of country is constituted. When
a man, for conscience sake, obeys the laws, respects
the magistrate, pays his tribute, and fulfils with
fidelity the various duties of his situation, is he
not a good citizen ? Is not this true patriotism ?
I do not here speak of that fierce and exclusive
love of country, that species of national egotism,
which engenders the hatred of all other people.
The Christian loves all men; but still is allowed
to indulge in sentiments of predilection for his
countrymen. The love of country has been con
secrated by Jesus Christ Himself; He wept over
Jerusalem, and over the evils which threatened
her. In his Politique Sacree1, Bossuet says on this
subject, " that He shed His blood with a particular
regard for His own nation; and that in offering
this great sacrifice, which was to be the expiation
of the whole universe, He wished that the love of
country should find its place there."
I have now investigated the reproach which has
been made against Christianity of being hostile to,
' Liv. i. art. vi. seconde proposition.

444 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
and even destructive of society, by the detachment
which it commands. This reproach is founded upon
false notions. I now proceed to the second objection,
which is, that it is abject, by that humility which it
enjoins, and in which it places the foundation of
every virtue.
Humility, in the opinion of the unbeliever, is the
inevitable rock against which every apologist of
religion must strike. What can be more abject,
says he, than that virtue which debases man in his
own eyes, by forbidding him to esteem himself,
which tends to discourage him, to render him use
less to his fellow-creatures, by prohibiting the
desire of public esteem ? In all this, I can see
only that humility which has been disfigured by the
enemies of Christianity ; I cannot here recognize
true Christian humility. In this as in every thing
else, the simple establishment of just notions of
things, will be sufficient to assure the triumph of
religion. What then is humility ? It is a virtue
by which man, acknowledging that he has received
every thing from God, refers every thing to God ;
thus for riches, honours, health, talents, knowledge,
success, for all these gifts the truly humble Christ
ian does homage to the God who has bestowed
them. St. Paul furnishes us at once with a
correct idea of and a motive for this humility,
when he says, " For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou which thou
didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 445
it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not
received it * ?" What can be more clear or more
reasonable than this? When a man exults, and
complacently admires himself in the abundance of
his riches, the beauty of his mansion, the splendour
of his equipages, or the beauty of his apparel ; the
world never fails to remark that these things are
not part and parcel of himself; that they have
nothing to do with his merits as a man ; that they
are often possessed by persons who are any thing
but worthy of them, and that true merit consists
in the man's personal attainments only. But are
all these qualities of the mind and the heart, talents,
knowledge, and virtue, all those advantages in
whose pursuit he is most anxious, and in whose
possession he most glorifies, are they after all the
work of man alone ? Is it he who has given
himself his being, with the faculties which compose
his nature ? The only laudable and the only good
portion of the work which can justly be ascribed to
him, is the development of the primitive gifts
which he received with his life, seconded by the
gifts of a superior order which he owes to Jesus
Christ, and of which God is the end as He is the
source. Here again, do not let us confound the
injunction with the advice. To delight in the
neglect of men, and in humiliations, to receive
them not only with submission, but with joy, is the
i 1 Cor. chap iv. ver; 7-

446 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
advice. To render unto God that which is God's,
to aim at His glory rather than our own, is the
injunction ; and is it not consistent with the eternal
order of things, that the creature should live in
dependence on the Creator ?
Were this injunction faithfully observed, how
many disorders would disappear from the earth !
By pride, a man exacts more, and renders less than
is his due ; he is obdurate in manners, and dicta
torial in conversation ; he crushes the weak, and is
irritated by the slightest resistance. By pride, man
sees virtues in his own vices, and vices in another's
virtues ; converts his own savage outrages into tri
vial errors ; hates every thing which he does not
admire ; demands reparations where perhaps he
owes excuses ; and abandons himself to ungovern
able bursts of passion and of fury at the merest tri
fles. By pride, man sets himself before every body,
feels himself humbled by another's merit, aspires
after sovereign command, and presents himself to
the eyes of his fellow-men as an idol to whom they
ought to burn incense. By pride, lastly, man sees,
loves, and worships himself alone in the universe ;
he is himself his own god. By humility, on the
contrary, every thing is in order, all these haughty
pretensions are lowered ; man admits his depend
ence, refers every thing to its source, which is God;
and this it is, which is the foundation of every
solid virtue. The pagans too often combatted one
vice by another vice, one passion by another passion.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 447
Their intentions were not pure, and the virtuous
efforts of the wisest among them, were nothing
more than trophies erected to their pride. " I tread
under foot the pride of Plato," said Diogenes : " Yes,
but by another pride," replied Plato. " Humility,"
says the celebrated Author of the Maximes, " is the
real test of Christian virtue ; without it, we retain
all our defects ; they are only veiled by the pride
which conceals them from others, and often from
ourselves 1."
Thus, educated in the school of Jesus Christ, the
Christian is not idolatrous of himself, he is far from
being fascinated with his own merit ; for certainly,
if he reflects upon the weakness and the delusions
of his reason, the base and grovelling propensities
of his heart, and the maladies to which his body is
subject, he cannot very highly esteem himself.
But, on the other hand, how can that man fail of
forming high ideas of himself, who, enlightened by
faith, and regarding the earth as a non-entity, raises
his thoughts far above this universe, his whole soul
glowing with the hope of immortality ? He certainly
does not account, as his highest happiness, the
good opinion of men, whose inconstancy and whose
iniquity the pagans themselves have admitted and
deplored ; he knows how to rise superior to their
vain applause, when his duty commands him to do
so ; but how can he be indifferent to public esteem,
i La Rochefoucauld, Max. 368.

448 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
to whom the command is announced, that he should
take care of his reputation, and do nothing which
was not honest and laudable ? " Have regard to thy
name, for that shall continue unto thee above a
thousand great treasures of gold V
Do not fancy that humility is opposed to truth,
that the wise man, for instance, is commanded to
account himself a fool, or the brave warrior to
believe himself a coward. No, it says not this.
The learned man is certainly permitted to have a
consciousness of his acquirements, and the warrior
to have a consciousness of his valour. All that is
required of them is to render homage to Him from
whom they have received these gifts. Pride makes
egotists, who concentrate all their affections in them
selves. Humility expands and exalts the heart, by
turning it towards the Divinity. Appearances very
often deceive us ; a man may be humble though
encanopied in gold and velvet, or shining in all the
splendour of talents and success ; a man may be
proud in the obscurity of ignorance, or in the livery
of misery.
I now proceed to the reproach which is generally
brought against the Christian morality, of being
impracticable by its severity.
Such, it is said, is the severity of the Christian
law, that it aims at the regulation not only of action
and of conversation, but even of the desires and the
1 Ecclesiasticus, chap. xii. ver. 12.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 449
thoughts ; that, by the mortification of the senses,
of the heart, and of the mind, by the continual vigi
lance which it exacts, man is engaged in a perpetual
warfare against himself, and is crushed under a
yoke which his weakness cannot bear. In replying
to those who bring this new accusation against the
Christian morality, I shall begin by saying : — Whom
are we to believe here, those, who, without making
any effort to practise it, content themselves by de
claring it to be impracticable ; or those, who have
faithfully observed all its injunctions? If, in all
ages, it has had its faithful observers, how can it
be said, that its practice is impossible? For in
glancing over the annals of the Christian Church,
I find, that the Gospel, ever fruitful in virtues, has
produced and brought them to perfect maturity, in
all nations, in all climes, and even in the bosom of
corruption itself. It has always possessed some
zealous votaries, in all ranks, and in all conditions,
in the tumult of the world as in the retirement of
solitude; amidst the license of camps, and in the
retreats of piety ; in the hurry and bustle of public
life, and in the tranquillity of privacy ; under the
purple and the tiara, as under the modest habits of
mediocrity. We must not either compute the
number of true Christians, by those memorials of
them which have been preserved by history ; for
what a multitude of others are there, whose virtues
were less conspicuous, and whose humbler names
have not been recorded! For the few who have
VOL. II. g g

450 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
escaped oblivion, and whose glory has been made
manifest by Heaven itself, how many have lived
in cities and in rural districts, and have delighted
and edified their generation by a spectacle of the
purest virtues, whose names are to-day unknown
to us !
Let it not be said, that circumstances have
changed ; for the Gospel, at its origin, was the same
as it is now : there has been in all its ages, the
same God, the same temptations, and the same
conflicts. The world has ever spread before the
eyes of mortals its smiles and its allurements, plea
sure has unveiled its bewitching blandishments,
ambition its apparent grandeurs, riches its sweet
indulgences, and glory its intoxicating visions.
Infancy has ever had its fickleness and caprices ;
youth its fire and impetuosity; manhood its gloomy
anticipations, and anxious foresight ; and old age
its mortifications and infirmities. Yes, the virtuous
Christians of former days were, by the nature of
their inclinations, men like ourselves, and we, by
our efforts, may now be what they were. But in
our search after really Christian virtues, why should
we go back to the early ages of our Religion ? Since
its source was opened by Jesus Christ, the stream
of virtue has never ceased to flow through the most
corrupt or impious ages. And we ourselves, do
not we know either in our own families, among our
relatives or friends, Christians indeed worthy of the
name, whom, although we may be too irresolute to

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 451
imitate, we are, nevertheless, compelled to respect ?
Their example confounds all our excuses, ancl is
alone a sufficient apology for the precepts of the
Gospel. When we are judging and appreciating the seve
rity of these precepts, let us avoid all exaggeration ;
let us not confound the command with the advice,
duty with perfection, defects with vices, human
frailty with predetermined malice, slight errors with
serious crimes. If we ought to hold ourselves at
a distance from that culpable and weak indulgence
which sees evil no where, so we ought to be equally
removed from that fierce egotism which sees crime
every where. We should disfigure Christian virtue
were we to represent it under affrighting images, as
ever surrounded with the blood-stained instruments
of penance, or dwelling among the caves and rocks
of the wilderness. Extraordinary displays of virtue
are only for the few. Jesus Christ, who is the
model of all perfection, led, for thirty years, a sim
ple and ordinary life. No, it is not only in solitudes
that piety resides ; it is to be found beyond the
deserts of the Thebaid or of Syria ; and a man may
be a good Christian without being a Pacome or an
Hilarion. I admit that the Christian law would penetrate
the very soul, and regulate its desires and its
thoughts ; but does not this prove it to be really
divine? Oh ! how worthy was it of Him, who
judges by realities and not by appearances, to ap-
Gg2

452 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
preciate man by his internal dispositions, and to
affix the seat both of his virtues and his vices, in
his affections ! Oh ! how thoroughly did He know
the human heart, who, in order to arrest evil at its
very source, has forbidden every vicious thought,
every irregular affection ; and who has said, " Thou
shalt not covet." It is by our wills alone that we
are accounted good or evil before God ; in His eyes
we are never innocent when the heart is guilty, and
never guilty when the heart is innocent. I admit
again, that the practice of the Christian virtues,
such as gentleness, patience, the forgiveness of in
juries, and purity of manners, demands vigilance,
efforts, and conflicts. Yes, I confess that the law
of the Gospel is a law of sacrifices ; but how could
it be otherwise? If it proceeds from God, it must
necessarily command every thing which is laudable,
beautiful, and great ; and where is moral beauty,
merit, and greatness of action, to be found, if not
in the victories which a man achieves over his own
inclinations; that is to say, in sacrifices? Here
reason is perfectly in accordance with the Gospel.
What are the actions which appear to us as being
most worthy of our praise, respect, and admiration ?
They are precisely those in which we see man
struggling against himself, and issuing victorious
from this painful conflict. We know that the
pagans accounted it more beautiful for a man to
conquer himself, than to gain the most glorious vic
tory over another. I ask you, do you admire the

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 453
young voluptuary, who abandons himself to all the
excesses of debauchery ; the prodigal, who foolishly
dissipates his patrimony ; the vindictive man, who,
by treachery, gluts himself with vengeance ; or the
indolent man, who consumes his days in disgraceful
sloth? No, you admire nothing of all this; and
why? Because here you can see neither efforts,
struggles, nor conflicts, but an unresisting abandon
ment, a weak facility in following the impulses of a
corrupt nature. Virtue is courage ; and Rousseau
was right when he said, that there is no virtue
without effort, and that the way of vice is cow
ardice. Such are the sentiments of the human race, and
the most memorable examples clearly confirm them.
Among the Greeks, we admire Socrates stretched
upon the bed of death ; his firm hand holding the
poisoned goblet; and in all the tranquillity of a
soul which was master of its thoughts, consoling
the friends who were weeping around him. Among
the Romans, we admire Fabius, who, braving the
reproach of inactivity and even of cowardice, and
rising superior to all empty clamour, conquers by
prudence the enemy whom he could not subdue by
force. In what does the beauty of all this consist?
Is it not true, that where you can discover no pain
ful, no generous effort, no sacrifice, there you can
find no merit? Socrates, divided between the
natural love of life and the obedience which he
thought to be due to the laws which had unjustly

454 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
condemned him, dies in obedience to those laws ;
this is the sacrifice. Fabius suffers himself to be
accused of weakness and of cowardice, he immo
lates, as it were, his own glory to the salvation of
his country; this again was a great sacrifice. I
have designedly selected examples which have been
celebrated by the pagans themselves, in order to
make you feel more sensibly, that in the judgment
of all, even the most corrupt nations, there is no
virtue without a sacrifice. Were it permitted me
to look for lessons of wisdom in what has too often
been converted into the school of vice, namely, the
theatre, I should say ; what is it, in the dramatic
scene, which excites the liveliest interest, and most
affects the spectators ? Although I have never been
a spectator myself, I still may venture to affirm,
that it is not an undisturbed happiness, an unre
sisted crime, an ordinary virtue, or an interested
compliance : it is rather a courage which triumphs
over all obstacles and all perils ; a clemency which
pardons the greatest outrages ; a virtue which is
victorious over the severest trials ; so true it is, that
our acts are beautiful, laudable, and sublime, in
proportion with the efforts and the sacrifices which
they exact. And if this constitutes the grand
characteristic of the Gospel, does it not constitute
its glory also ?
Men complain of the sacrifices which virtue
demands, but say nothing of those exacted by the
passions. What are they, very frequently, but

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 455
cruel divinities, to whom their worshippers are
compelled to sacrifice happiness, peace, and even
life itself? What will not the warrior perform for
a transient blaze of glory, which, were it even as
durable as it is generally fleeting, he could not
carry with him into the tomb ! Look how the
greedy merchant faces all dangers, and voyages
amidst the rocks and tempests of a mighty ocean,
to seek in another hemisphere those riches which he
will find to be as fugitive and deceitful in the new,
as they are in the old world. What mental fatigue,
what midnight wakings does not the literary man
undergo, in the hope of obtaining an uncertain
celebrity ! Are not our very pleasures themselves
accompanied by sensations of annoyance, weariness,
and disgust ? Does not the splendour of the most
gorgeous festivities frequently conceal an inex
haustible spring of bitterness and woe? Even
fashion is converted into a capricious tyrant, who
requires from his slaves the sacrifice of both health
and virtue.
Cease, then, from reproaching the Christian
morality, with the sacrifices which it exacts. It
has been sufficiently vindicated from the vain
attacks of infidelity. It now remains for us to
submit to the holiness of its laws. For what shall
we be able to advance in palliation of our revolts
against it ? Should we urge the force and violence
of our inclinations ? But have we not great motives
and powerful means for their subjection? We
12

456 THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
must take Christianity as it is, with its precepts
and its divine resources, its rigours and its con
solations, its trials and its hopes. Do not con
template the Christian at that season only in which
he is struggling in the race, look at him when
victorious he has reached the goal, and is receiving
the glorious prize of all his efforts. The epi
curean delivers up his arms without striking a
blow ; he fears nothing so much as pain : the stoic
trusts only in himself; he looks to heaven for health,
but to his own powers for wisdom : this is an excess
of weakness, or of false greatness. The Christian
suffers, and admits his sufferings ; he has conflicts
to sustain, but he does not fight alone, he feels that
he is weak, but he trusts in the strength of God ;
and looking up to heaven, is encouraged by the
sight df the immortal crown which there awaits
him. You have, you say, strong passions: then it is
more worthy of your courage to struggle against
these powerful enemies ; they are lions which are
ever roaring around you, but, perhaps, were it not
for their tumultuous energy, you would be lulled
into the most fatal security. Less violent passions
may have caused less sensible, but perhaps more
fatal ravages. There is a calm which is more
dangerous than the tempest. Your passions are
violent ; well, I am almost tempted to say, so much
the better ; they are obstacles which may eventually
become the means of virtue. Saul had the zeal

THE MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 457
of a persecutor, and lo ! he is animated with that
of an apostle. Augustin had a heart consumed
with the fires of profane love, and he glows the
more fervently with the love of God. Xavier
carried within his soul the germ of unbounded
ambition, and he becomes the apostle of the Indies.
Your passions are fiery coursers, which, abandoned
to their natural impetuosity, would drag you on, and
precipitate you into the abyss ; but preserve the
coolness of true courage, take the reins in your
hands, master and direct these headstrong monsters,
and you will compel them eventually to conduct
you in triumph to the abodes of immortality.

THE END.

LONDON:
GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.