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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

THE REDEEMER.

The Redeemer

^igcourgses

EDMOND DE PRESSENSE, D.D.

WITH INTRODUCTION BY

WILLIAM LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D.

EDINBURGH :
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
LONDON : HAMILTON ADAMS & CO. DUBLIN : JOHN ROBERTSON & CO.
1864.

INTRODUCTION.

Having had something to do in promoting the publi
cation of this volume, I have been requested by those
most interested in it to prefix to it a few words by way
of introduction. With this request I very cheerfully
comply, though I feel that the work needs no recom
mendation from me ; the name of its author, its sub
ject, and its contents, furnish a claim upon the atten
tion of the community, to which nothing needs be
added. To all who take an interest in the state of religion
on the Continent, the name of M. Edmond de Pres-
sense is well-known. He stands forth as one of the
most zealous, fearless, and eloquent defenders of evan
gelical truth and the claims of the Bible, alike against
the influence of traditionalism on the one hand, and
the assaults of neologianism on the other, at present
on the field in France. A man of high culture and
large intellectual resources ; intimately acquainted as
well with the history of the Church in past ages, as
with the current of religious speculation, the state of
religious life, and the tendencies of prevailing opinions
and habits, among those immediately around him;
gifted with remarkable powers of clear, pointed, and
eloquent discourse ; and possessing thus unusual means
of rendering aid to any cause whose side he may

vi Introduction.
espouse, he has ever shown himself ready, by tongue
or pen, to consecrate his best energies to the defence
and propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One
of the most eloquent preachers in Paris, he has also
earned for himself no mean place among the few who,
in modern French literature, have brought genius,
learning, and philosophy to the service of genuine and
intelligent piety.
In the little work which is now presented in trans
lation to the English public, M. de Pressense has had
in view primarily the peculiar state, in a religious
aspect, of the community in the midst of which he
labours ; but his survey is so broad, and he has
based his reasonings and appeals on so just an analysis
of human nature in its essential qualities and necessities,
that nearly every sentence he has uttered will be
found fitted to be as useful here as in France. He
appears to have aimed at giving his work both an
apologetic and a practical character. Under the
former he presents an argument in favour of Christi
anity based on the fact that in the person and work
of Jesus Christ we find the proper end of all the
world's preceding history ; the only solution of the
deep enigma of man's inner life, as manifested in the
heathen no less than in the Jewish world ; the satis
faction of all the conscious and all the unconscious
longings of the human heart, for light, and purity,
and peace ; the fulfilment not only of that body of
prediction which was uttered in clear words, through
divine inspiration, among the favoured people, but also of
all those half-articulate aspirations after renewal, which
broke forth ever and anon from the heart of heathen
ism, and those dim foreshadowings of a better future
which tended to mitigate its otherwise unbroken

Introduction. vii
gloom. Under the latter character he labours to send
home the conviction that apart from Christ, the
Divine Redeemer, there is no prospect of permanent
amelioration for society or the individual ; that all the
means and appliances of material civilization are im
potent to alleviate the burdens, or calm the restless
ness of the human soul ; and that only by accepting
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus can man's path
through life be other than a disturbed, beclouded and
weary passage to a darker and more cheerless
future. Both these aspects of his subject the author
seems to me to have presented with great ability, force,
and eloquence.
Addressing persons not much addicted to theologi
cal disquisition, and desirous of producing an impres
sion in favour of Christianity upon a community
unhappily not imbued with any just acquaintance with
its principles and doctrines, the author has wisely, I
think, sought to present the truth in a free and popu
lar rather than a scientific manner ; and indeed has
apparently been careful to avoid those technical for
mulas in which the truths of Christianity are generally
presented in this country. It is necessary to keep
this in mind in reading his work, otherwise he might
be suspected of defective statement of truth, when in
reality the only thing wanting is the ordinary vehicle
in which the truths of the Bible are wont to be pre
sented. I would not, indeed, claim for the author the
name of a profound theologian. On the contrary, I
am free to confess that it is here if anywhere that a
weak point is to be found in his writings. Indeed he
sometimes seems to me to express himself, especially
when touching on points involving the more difficult
questions of theology, in such a way as to suggest the

viii Introduction.
suspicion that he has not thoroughly investigated the
subject. Nevertheless any deficiencies which may
appear in his statements of divine truth will be found,
on careful and unbiassed consideration, to exist for the
most part in appearance only, and not in reality. On
the all-important subject, for instance, of the effect of
our Saviour's sufferings, the avoidance of the words
" atonement " and " propitiation " may lead some to
suspect the author of unsound or defective views on
this cardinal point ; but though I confess I should have
been better pleased had the author more fully and
explicitly brought forward the vicarious character and
propitiatory effect of the sufferings of Christ, I think
it due to him to remind the reader that he has uttered
nothing which is opposed to sound doctrine on this
head; that he has advanced no theory of sacrifice
which is calculated to do away with the proper aton
ing efficacy of the Saviour's obedience unto death ;
that he has expressly and repeatedly asserted that the
sufferings of the Redeemer were expiatory ; and that
he utterly repudiates all opinions which would go to
resolve the effect of these into a mere attestation of
our Lord's sincerity as a teacher, or a mere example to
His people of meek submission to the will of God.
There is one point, however, incidentally touched
upon by M. de Pressense, on which I much regret
that he should have given utterance to sentiments with
which few evangelical Christians in this country will
accord. I refer to his views respecting the design of the
Sabbath, and its permanent obligation under the Chris
tian dispensation. He has dragged this subject in with
out any apparent reason, so far as his main theme is
concerned, for the purpose, as it would seem, of giving
expression to a somewhat vehement assertion of the

Introduction. ix
opinions respecting it, which unhappily prevail on the
continent, even among evangelical Christians. From
the manner in which he has expressed himself, it ap
pears to me that he neither justly apprehends the
opinions and habits of those whom he denounces, nor
is aware of the arguments on which they rest their
case. To those who have studied the subject, his
remarks on it will appear shallow and prejudiced. He
confounds the Jewish Sabbatical system with the primi
tive Sabbath ; which, though of necessity incorporated
with the Levitical institute, was perfectly distinct
from it, and independent of it, and which, as it has ex
isted from the beginning, must continue to exist until
it be absorbed in that of which it is the symbol and
the foretaste — the rest that remaineth for the people
of God. He has overlooked the fact that the sabbath
forms part of a code of moral law which was marked
off from the rest of the Levitical legislation by God
Himself, who wrote it with his own hand on the tables
of stone, whilst the other parts were conveyed
through the mediation of Moses. He shows, also,
defective knowledge of human nature, when he sug
gests that now every day is to be kept in every sense
alike holy ; an idea which cannot be acted upon with
out imminent risk of all days becoming alike unholy,
seeing it is only by special observances and sanctities
that the general current of religious affection and feel
ing can be sustained amid so much that tends to im
pede and degrade it. And he betrays the usual ignor
ance of those with whom he sides when he represents
those whose views he opposes as having no way of
keeping the Sabbath-day holy, but by turning it into
a day of austerity, penance,' and gloom ; — as if there
were no such thing as holy joy, and sacred mirth, and

x Introduction.
the jubilant gladness of those who, when they are
merry, sing psalms ! I could have wished this part of
the book had been deleted.
Taking the work as a whole, I would earnestly
commend it as well adapted to be useful. Believers
will find in it much that' is fitted to elevate their
thoughts of the person and work of the Redeemer,
and to draw out their warmest affections towards Him ;
and if it should fall into the hands of any who may
have doubts as to His claims, or who, admitting these
in words, have never submitted to them in effect, I
cannot but indulge the hope that, if they will give it
their candid perusal, it may, with God's blessing,
prove the means of leading them to sounder views,
and to a settled acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as
their Redeemer — their Prophet, Priest, and King.
I have only to add, that the translation, which is
the production of a lady whom I have not been able
to persuade to put her name to her work, very faith
fully represents the original in form as well as in sub
stance.
W. L. A.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION.

These discourses are not sermons : a course of ser
mons on the work of salvation was certainly the
occasion of their composition, but they have been
modified before being committed to the press. They
present a sketch of the history of redemption under
its different phases, especially under the one essen
tial phase, — the life of Jesus Christ; and I have
thought that there would be an advantage in leaving
to this sketch the direct and animated style of the
discourse, which ill comports with dogmatic or philoso
phic abstractions. I have, of course, drawn abundantly
from the sources of contemporary theology. The
works of Neander, Lange, Ullmann, Liicke, and
Sartorius, the numerous commentaries on the Gospels,
as also the writings of the reformers, and, above
all, Calvin's Harmony of the Gospels, I have ex
tensively employed. I have not, however, supposed
it necessary to crowd my pages with notes and refer
ences, because I have rather taken general impressions
from these great theologians than made direct quota
tions. I pretend not to have given a life of Jesus from
a scientific point of view; though I have had constantly
in my mind the work of Strauss, the negative results
of which have entered much more extensively into con-

xii ' Preface to the First French Edition.
temporary ideas than is generally believed. But the
presentation of the. facts of redemption as a great
whole, possesses in itself an apologetic value. The
revelation is proved when it is set forth in its glorious
unity from the fall to the cross and the resurrection.
The beauty of the sheaf is owing to the tie which
binds together the separate ears of corn.
I have not entered directly on the discussion of
those grave questions on which so many minds are
now divided from each other — non erat hie locus. I
wholly disapprove of the summary method, too often
adopted, of cutting the knot of the most serious diffi
culties by an exclamation. Oratory is not argument,
and this I have endeavoured to bear in mind. But,
on the other hand, I have not feared plainly to indi
cate my views. Firmly believing in the agreement of
Christianity with conscience, I have set myself to bring
out that profound harmony on which, after all, every
attempt to establish the truth of the Gospel among
unbelievers must be founded. I have sought to give
a historical demonstration of the relation pre-existing
between the human soul and Christ, by showing that
the Saviour was not only the free gift of God's love,
but also the. desire of all nations. It is with this ob
ject that I have entered at some length into that which
concerns the work of preparation for Christianity; for
I regard this preparation as having consisted entirely
in the development of the desire of salvation. This
view seems to me to throw great light on Judaism,
and on its connection with the general history of
humanity. We know how sorely the agreement between con
science and revelation may be abused. It is so when
the identity of the two is asserted, and nothing more

Preface to the First French Edition. ¦ xiii
seen in revelation than a simple commentary upon con
science. Christianity is thus regarded as designed
merely to revive men's recollections ; and Christ de
scends from the rank of a revealer to that of a simple
interpreter of truth already possessed. We believe
that something more required to be done on earth
than to remind mankind of a forgotten lesson ; and
that neither was Christ nor were his apostles mistaken in
speaking of a redemption. The cross is not in our
view simply a testimony of the Father's love, like the
flowers under our feet, and the starry heavens above
our heads ; but the altar of the great sacrifice which
restores man to God, and God to man. Christ is for
us a Saviour as well as a Revealer.
A revelation which is a salvation, a work of de
liverance and reconciliation, the heart of man may de
sire ; but assuredly it does not contain it even in its
deepest recesses. The hunger and thirst for salvation
are in the human soul, but the bread and the water to
satisfy them must come from above. Conscience is
predisposed to receive a saving Christ, but it needs
Him not the less on that account. This is the point
of view at which we have constantly placed ourselves,
as the very title of our work indicates. We no more
wish to sacrifice in religion the object to the subject,
than the subject to the object.
We would put far away from us that barren dog
matism which reduces religion to a series of formulas,
and, recognizing no relation between conscience and
revelation, insists upon that which it cannot verify.
Nor less do we repudiate the absolute subjectivity that
sees nought in revelation beyond the pure and simple
expression of that which is in the conscience. The
former system offers us a stone for bread ; the latter

xiv Preface to the First French Edition.
would feed us with our own hunger. That which in
our view meets the highest necessities of man is the
eternal Christianity, which, from the days of the
apostles to our own, has comforted and saved thousands
of poor sinners — which, beginning by proclaiming the
fall, leads us to the cross of Golgotha, and bids us
there adore the Saviour God, seen in the fulness of
His divinity. Who would dare to assert that the
christian conscience has known any other Christianity
during eighteen centuries ? Whatever be our respect
for science, we maintain that it is only christian so long
as it keeps within its proper limits.
I do not, certainly, put forward the absurd preten
sion of offering, in these few pages, the solution of
the formidable problem regarding the relation of the
subject to the object, of liberty to authority. 1 offer
rather my testimony than my system ; but ought we
not to take into account, in this great discussion, the
different manifestations of the christian conscience ?
Have they not in this view alone a right to be attended
to, and seriously weighed ? Moreover, where can we
find a complete and fully organized system? We
meet with separate suggestions rather than a compact
body of doctrines. If we express our fears, however,
with some earnestness, it is by no means with the de
sign of committing ourselves to that theological reac
tion which would arrest every movement of thought ;
and, under the name of simplicity of faith, would con
demn us to darkness. We hold this method to be
dangerous in all respects. Though the gospel is -the
same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, theology does
not share in its immutability. The history of dogmas
is the history of their variations, though with a certain
basis of unity on essential points. The doctrines of

Preface to the First French Edition. xv
the reformation were no more definite as a scientific
system than were those of the second and third cen
turies. We are thus engaged, like our predecessors,
in an immense movement. We believe ourselves to
know the point to which we are tending, which is the
more profound discrimination of the human and the
divine elements in the christian scheme. Roman
Catholicism had sacrificed God to man by its miser
able Pelagianism. The theology of the sixteenth
century, by its formal and logical systematizing, made
too little of the human elements, while giving the
most useful impulse to modern society by a paradox,
which a careful examination can explain. The mission
of the third great phase of church history is to main
tain both the terms of the religious problem in their
respective rights, and to harmonize, as far as possible,
the human and the divine, the moral and the religious
elements. We are hence called to place ourselves
more immediately at the centre of Christianity, which
has for its first principle the profound union of
humanity and divinity in the person of Jesus Christ.
Our object should be, by earnestly studying the
Holy Scriptures, profiting by all the accumulated
labours of those who have preceded us, to become
more thoroughly christian in our notions, that is to say,
to reject every Pagan and every Jewish element.
The task is no less perilous than extensive ; but all
who have eyes to see must acknowledge that it is ap
pointed us by God. Is not the great question now in
every domain that of liberty and authority ? And, to
speak only of religion, does not the most violent attack
on Christianity proceed from pantheism ? And have
we not in this fact a providential warning that we
should strengthen ourselves at the threatened point,

xvi Preface to the First French Edition.
and no longer sacrifice the moral, which is, after all,
the divine element within us ? This warning has been
understood by the first theologians of our age.
Neander, Tholuck, Julius Miiller, Vinet, and others,
have clearly pointed it out. Precious materials are
already amassed for the theological reconstruction,
which it has devolved on this unsettled age to accom
plish ; and we' have the assurance that the greatest
number of those who are labouring in silence are
following the course which we have indicated, and are
desiring, with us, to harmonize without identifying the
human and the divine elements. Neither the object
without the subject, nor the subject without the ob
ject — this is their motto. All this, it may be said, is
vague. It is vague, we answer, like a problem to be
solved. But we hope that the reading of these dis
courses will assist in determining the direction of our
thoughts, and in enabling us at least to understand
what are our desiderata. Who could better teach us
the true fusion of the human and the divine than He
who was the God-man ? May we contribute, in
our weakness, to render His image more real to our
readers ! We do not forget that the christian life is
of far greater importance than theology ; and it is our
dearest wish to make men love Christ more through
knowing Him better. Our aims are admirably ex
pressed in those beautiful words of a great Christian
man, which we take for our motto : —

Fac ut possim demonstrate,
Quam sit dulce te amare,
Tecum pati, tecum flere,
Tecum semper congaudere.

Paris, October 6th, 1854.
E. DE Pressense.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

This second edition being merely the reproduction of
the first, with some few corrections of detail, I have
nothing to add to the preceding pages. The state of
men's minds has not changed — the same tendencies
exist, perhaps even more definitely. That which I
believed four years ago, I believe still. I will there
fore content myself with reproducing my former pre
face, praying to God to make these pages conducive
to the glory of His name, and the triumph of His
love.

Paris, September "jth, 1858.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page i

XI

Introduction, ......
Preface to First French Edition,
The Fall and the Promise, . . . . i
The Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
Discourse First. Before Judaism, . . . 24
Discourse Second. Judaism, . . . 53
Discourse Third. Paganism, . . . 07
The Nature of Jesus Christ. The God-man, . . 137
The Plan of Jesus Christ, . . . . 166
The Holiness of Jesus Christ, . . .199
Jesus Christ a Prophet.
Discourse, First. The Teaching of Jesus Christ, . 226
Discourse Second. The Apology of Jesus Christ. Scrip
ture — Miracles — Internal Proof, . . 253
Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
Discourse First. The Early Part of the Ministry of
Christ, or His Manifestation to the World, . 283
Discourse Second. The Agony and the Cross, . 316
Jesus Christ a King, ..... 344

THE FALL AND THE PROMISE.
" I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." — Gen.
iii. I J.
Since these words were spoken, the aspect of our
world has changed indeed. It was opening then
upon fallen man like a vast and dreary desert. Nothing
concealed the sadness of the place of banishment.
The sentence of condemnation was read alike in the
heaven, now for the first time veiled, and in the hardened
earth, that would only henceforth yield its harvests to
persevering labour. The contrast between the
blessed life of Eden and the bitterness of the curse,
rendered all illusion impossible. Death was striking
his first blows, sorrow shedding her first tears. An
outlaw torn from his family feels a less horrible shock
than did man on leaving his primitive condition. Now,
although nothing is altered, it is more easy to forget
the dreary reality that lies at the foundation of our
being. We are farther by six thousand years from
the day when the condemnation was pronounced. In
one sense, indeed, that condemnation has not grown
old — it resounds only the more terribly from the
accumulated dust of so many generations ; but it
finds a less vibrating echo in our hearts. It no longer
stands, if I may so express it, bare before us, but is
dressed and sometimes disguised by civilization. The

i The Fall and the Promise.
prodigious power of man over nature, often hides
from us her degeneracy. Space and time are conquered.
We have found for our thoughts and our volitions,
instruments almost as- rapid as themselves. Those
who only judge of things after the appearance, might
find it hard to recognize in our powerful humanity,
developing its riches in immense cities, advancing by
discovery after discovery in the conquest of nature,
which becomes ever more and more the docile servant of
its will ; — to recognize here, I say, the race of
primitive man taking in tears his first steps in the
desert of a cursed world. And yet man is still an outlaw
— an outlaw, indeed, who may be restored to favour,
but who, until he find his God again, lives under the bur
den of His anger. Of this we must remind you,
society of the nineteenth century, society worn out,
incredulous, intoxicated with your strength and with your
gold, with your railroads and your riches, society cor
rupted and refined, becoming, in spite of tempests and
of shocks, more profoundly asleep in materialism, and
tempted to mistake a palace of industry for a paradise
regained. In the midst of these dwellings, brilliant
with luxury, in this vortex of elegant life, in this
tumult of business, we find again the old Adam, the
exile of former days, on whom still weighs the ancient
sentence. Civilized man, the man of the world, smiling and
amiable, now surrounded by the prestige of wealth
or honour, now shining with the fame of science and
literature, this is the artificial man — but the real man
is seen at length. He appears on the day of mourn
ing and of death. But he only half appears even then,
for death has its civilization. It is surrounded with
pomp and with homage. If we would see man as he is in

The Fall and the Promise. 3
reality, if we would have an exact idea of his condition
since the fall, we must view him on that day which
preceded all illusions and all lies, when truth had the
brilliancy of lightning, on that day when he quitted
Eden ! The foundation of our destiny will then rise
in a manner beneath our eyes, it will be laid bare
before us. We shall learn to know not merely
certain particular sufferings, but the great woe of
humanity, and at the same time its great consolation.
We shall descend into that abyss of the fall, where is
found, says Pascal, the knot of every question. The
little matters which frivolity fancies great — matters of
industry, of art, of politics — will be lost in the
question of life or death, the question of perdition
or salvation ! May God enable me to treat this
question with all the seriousness which it deserves ! I
propose to develope in a series of discourses the plan of
salvation, so grandly realized in Jesus Christ. Our text
contains its substance. The condemnation and the
promise are here set forth in grand prophetic charac
ters. The way of banishment and the way of return
open at once before us. Here is the first stage of
that long road leading to the cross, and by the cross to
heaven; and with a rapid glance we can see it as a whole
— its thorns and its briars as well as its glorious end.
By marking clearly the starting-point of the enter
prise of our salvation, we shall better appreciate its
nature and its greatness. We shall see how low man
had fallen, how high God would raise him; and we shall
understand that all in the past, the present, and the
future tends to the accomplishment of this vast design.
The work of Christ will unfold itself before us in its
infinite proportions, and no consideration could more '
directly tend to the glory of His grace.

The Fait and the Promise.

I will put enmity, said God, speaking to the serpent,
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel.
The serpent personifies, in our text, the power of
darkness, the power of sin and death. The seed of
the woman must be understood to refer to that blessed
descendant, by whom, at the appointed time, humanity
was to be raised from its fall. Our text teaches us
then, first of all, that the earth is the scene of a
perpetual conflict between the power of gctod and
the power of evil. We have but to open our eyes
to recognise that there is an incessant and mysterious
strife going on here below between opposing forces.
Do we not see them at war without ceasing in society,
in individual life, in nature itself? Is not all trouble
and agitation ? Is not this world a world of contrasts
and of discords? The simplest experience teaches us
this sad truth, but it carries us no farther. It does
not reveal to us the profound meaning of the universal
struggle. Human reason, in despair of explaining this conflict,
makes it a fatal condition of all development. It con
siders it an enactment of divine wisdom, (when at least
it believes in a personal God) that progress on the
earth should be shackled with this hard law of suffer
ing, without anyj conceivable motive for such an
arrangement. But the Bible gives not this ironical
explanation. He who reads it in faith, finds that
these opposing powers are not blind forces by chance
in antagonism, but free and moral powers — the power

The Fall and the Promise. 5
of perdition and the power of salvation ! They follow
one another and fight in the whole creation, from the
soil which we tread under our feet even to the depths
of our heart. The power of evil has left its trace on
the earth itself, and its impure breath awakens our sin
ful desires. At the same time the power of love
shines in the azure of heaven, in the beauties that
remain to us in nature, — and it also inspires our con
science. This gigantic struggle, carried on under all
skies and in all ages, in the history of nations and in
that of individuals, has for its stake (if I may so ex
press it) the immortal soul of man. You understand,
my brethren, what bearing this revelation has on the
events that occur in the world. Neither the history
of humanity nor the history of individuals is henceforth
a fantastic enigma. The cause of the whole contest
is the grandest conceivable. Eternal interests are en
gaged in the strife. Behind the visible champions are
others invisible, pursuing ever the same end, — on the
one side that of hatred, on the other that of love. God
has declared it : There is war between the seed of
the serpent and the divine seed of the woman. With
what emotion should we witness this conflict ! — and
perhaps it has never even entered our thoughts. Indif
ferent spectators of the most momentous drama, the
conclusion of which has a direct influence on our eter
nal destiny, we have, it may be, attended only to its
decorations and its incidents, or even fallen asleep, as
though it were a frivolous fable ! And yet heaven
and hell are awaiting its issue as regards each one of
us. Shall this man be lost or saved? The question
is asked unceasingly.
But the thought naturally occurs to our minds:
Wherefore this conflict ? Is it a necessary, an indis-

6 The Fall and the Promise.
pensable condition of human life ? Has the earth been
always given up to an unrelaxing war? No, my
brethren ; and if you doubt of this I will conduct you
to the place where the words of our text were spoken.
They were spoken in Eden, at the moment, however,
when it was about to close for man. Cast a rapid
glance over it, — it will soon have disappeared ; it will
have faded as fades the pure and brilliant dawn of a
sultry day. See how all is beautiful and harmonious
here! What adornments on the earth not yet
withered by the power of death ! What brightness
in the sky ! What felicity ! How we recognize that
the might of love alone has been here, and has freely
displayed itself in the generosity of its gifts !
Doubt you still ? Is it difficult to believe that there
was a time without war, without contention ? Look
at man even at the moment when God announces to
him this conflict. He flies in confusion from his
Father; he trembles, fears, and hides. It is because
he feels that if the power of sin and death is un
chained, it is the work of his own hand, — because he
knows that he has himself to blame for this sad con
dition of conflict which was not natural to him. Ima
gine, then, his shame and his terror ! He is still new
to deceit. He has not had time to seek for words
with which to impose on himself. Soon he will be
contented with sophisms, and will pretend that all is
normal in his condition. Place more reliance, then, on
his first impressions than on his tardy reasonings.
Hear in his trouble the cry — the true cry of conscience,
and confess with us, that if the power of love be not
alone manifested before us, it is because man has de
parted from his natural way.
Let us collect and examine the testimony of Scrip-

The Fall and the Promise. 7
ture on this subject. And first, if there is conflict, it
is not that from eternity two opposing principles have
been at work. For this supposition we should have
to admit a God of evil opposed to a God of good — a
God of darkness to a God of light — Ahriman to
Ormuzd. This would be in effect to proclaim Athe
ism. What would that God be who should not be
the absolute and sovereign being ? Let us confess
with the Bible that good alone is eternal, that it alone
had no beginning. It is God himself — the God who
can say, " I am that I am." Evil, on the contrary, had
a beginning. It existed neither in the Creator nor in
the plan of creation. It can in no sense be attributed
to God under pain of destroying the very idea of God.
It can come but from the. creature ; and it is here, my
brethren, that I ask your whole attention, for the
solution of this question contains in the germ that of
every other.
All that comes from the hand of God is perfect like
Himself, and bears a divine impress. But among the
beings whom He has created, there are some possess
ing a superior nature, made in His image, spiritual
beings. These are not subject to mechanical laws.
It is not with them as with the star which cannot quit
the path on which the Sovereign hand has started it, but
is held in the sky by an invincible necessity. Spiritual
beings are free. Not by a physical law are they made
to gravitate towards God. They are called to turn to
Him freely and of themselves. In other words, they
are called to love Him. Love reposes on liberty. A
constrained love is not a true love. As well might
we say that the earth, turning to the sun, loves the
sun. It follows, then, that spiritual beings must
decide freely for God, under pain of ceasing to be

8 The Fall and the Promise.
spiritual beings. But how should they decide freely
for God if the opportunity be not afforded them ? At
the moment when they leave the hand of their Crea
tor, they are in a state of infancy. They have not yet
distinguished themselves from Him. They have no
consciousness of what they owe to Him. Thus are
they incomplete, morally unfinished. They will not
have accomplished their destiny till, by an act of will,
they shall have consummated the gift of themselves to
God. And for this an appeal must be made to their
will. They must learn to distinguish it from that of
God, in order to be able to give it back to Him.
There must be a trial of their liberty ; they must have
to choose between love and selfishness, — a perilous
choice, a dangerous trial I allow, but necessary to the
full development of spiritual beings. If they issue
from it victorious, then are they fixed in unity with God,
without being absorbed by Him ; if they fall, it is by
their own fault. And thus all is to the glory of God.
Such is, according to our belief, the teaching of the
Bible. If now we are told that we are making much of the
liberty of the creature, we accept the reproach. If
this liberty be not seriously admitted and maintained,
we understand nothing either of the Gospel or of con
science, but see these two revelations sinking in the
abyss of pantheism. We no longer know anything
of good and evil, or' of duty. The alternations of
good and evil are fixed as those of day and night.
Astronomy supersedes morality, and we can no more
repeat the beautiful lines —
" Tous les cieux et leur splendeur
Ne valeut pas, pour ta gloire
Un seul soupir d'un seul coeur."

The Fall and the Promise. 9
And let us not be told that we are exalting human
pride. A strange way of doing this truly, to attri
bute all evil to the creature — all good to the Crea
tor ! Without the sincere acceptance of freedom it is
impossible not to trace evil up to God. It is then
His cause that we defend in asserting our liberty — we
are jealous for His rights, which we are sometimes
accused of sacrificing. Moreover liberty is a gift of
God, and we maintain in it the root of all moral life.
We wish to have a heart to give, because we wish to
love. Many mysteries remain, -and we pretend not to
explain either foreknowledge or the acting of grace.
We see immense shadows covering this region of the
infinite. But it is not the darkness of a winter's night,
the heavy darkness of fatalism. It is a night in
summer, illumined with celestial splendours. Divine
love shines in it like the deep azure in which the stars
sparkle, and it is our faith in liberty that preserves
this love pure and unassailed, prevents evil from re
bounding to God, and throws it all upon the erring
creature. Think not, brethren, that we are giving way to
suppositions more or less plausible. The facts of
revelation are on our side. The Bible teaches us the
glorious origin of that power of darkness which is per
sonified in our text by the serpent. It is that of an
archangel, to whom we may apply the words of the
prophet: " How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning ?" The Lord has said of him that
he abode not in the truth. Abode ! what does that
mean but that he was once in the truth. We cannot
lift the veil that hides from us the history of angels ;
but the fall of Satan teaches us that they also have
had their trial. They have been called to determine

1 o The Fall and the Promise.
for God. They have abode in the truth, and have
attained the complete development of their being.
The others .... See the part which Satan acted in the
garden of Eden, his impatience to ruin the designs of
God, to destroy His new creation. See the hatred of
him whom Christ calls a murderer and a liar from the
beginning; and, remembering that he was formerly one
of the seraphim who approach nearest to the throne
of the God of love, you will perceive the greatness of
his fall, and will better understand his fearful destiny
while thinking of the unheard of perversity which could
from so great a height descend to so low a depth.
We now know whence comes that power of perdition
which appears near man in the garden of Eden. We
are thus in a position to comprehend the design of the
commandment which was given to man, and which im
perilled his liberty. Created in the image of God,
created free, he also, like the angels, must have his
probation. He is still a child, he is in a state of inno
cence, and needs to pass into a state of holiness. He
is bound to God like the ivy that encircles the oak.
A bond of love must replace this bond of nature. He
is called to give himself up, to love, conscious of what
he is doing. Do not complain of the danger he incurs !
This would be to complain of the means offered him
to fulfil his high destiny. To ask for him the impos
sibility of falling, were to ask for him the inert nature of
the plant. The commandment of God is the trial of his
liberty ; — comprehend, then, its importance. God in
effect places before man the most solemn question : I
reveal to thee, He says, thy freedom ; thou canst
choose between my will and thine own — between me
and thyself — me, who have loaded thee with benefits,
and thyself, who, from the breath that animates thy

The Fall and the Promise. 1 1
dust even to thine immortal soul, hast received all from
me — Wilt thou love me ?
You know what was man's answer to this question.
No, he said by his actions, no, I will not love Thee
— I will believe the first who comes rather than Thee
— I will believe him though he come as Thine enemy,
and that which will most allure me in his words will
be the promise of supplanting Thee. Such was
Adam's petty fault, as it is regarded by the world !
Seems it not, then, my brethren, that all is lost ?
The solemn decisive probation is ended — rebellion
has repulsed and offended God in the most unworthy
manner. Without doubt the miserable being who
has dared to set himself up against God must go in
chains of darkness to rejoin the rebellious angels.
Already are these exulting, and tasting by anticipation
the only joy that is possible in hell, the joy of satisfied
hatred. But they are deceived. Love has resources
which hatred could not foresee. Man must be
punished; he shall be exiled, he shall die. The
just God cannot draw back from his threatening ; but,
at the same time, He will pardon. Oh foolishness !
Can the great God of heaven forget such an outrage ;
raise the crawling worm that wished to be a god ;
love him on the very evening of the fatal day of re
bellion, and forget so far His offended dignity ! Foolish
ness surpassing the wisdom of sages ! Holy and
glorious foolishness of infinite and unequalled love !
Then commenced the sacrifice of the Lamb, slain,
as says the Gospel, from the foundation of the
world. The first manifestation of redeeming love
was that very conflict now entered on between the
power of good, and the power of perdition. Man
deserved to be left to himself, and to death ; to be

1 2 The Fall and the Promise.
given up wholly to the angel of darkness, whom he
had preferred to God. If there be a conflict then, it
is because there' has been a miraculous and merciful
intervention of the power of love. This power could
not be manifested otherwise, for the rights of divine
justice cannot be abrogated. There must be reparation ;
and this reparation must be obtained from humanity
itself. Humanity must labour for it; and, as the
powers of darkness have been let loose in its heart,
and in the world, this can only be effected at the price
of the most persevering conflict. But the very fact of
this conflict is the manifestation of God's forgiveness.
It could not be conceived of as taking place in the
abode of irreversible condemnation. There only the
dreary uniformity of evil, and the fearful stillness of
despair can be.
Recognize God's love, first, then, in the succession of
human generations, — in the tumultuous stir of history,
— in the confusion of ideas and feelings which always
attends the great struggle between good and evil, be
tween truth and error ; and confess that a world of
conflict is a world not abandoned by the God of love.
Recognize in the rending of your heart, and the
struggles of your thoughts, the presence of a merciful
power. The simple fact of this conflict, which our
text brings before us, ought to make us bless the God
of love !
Not only, moreover, is the war announced, but also
its issue; it was said to the serpent, The seed of the
woman shall bruise thy head. It was not possible that
the power of evil should triumph over the power of
good. Love is more indefatigable than hatred. It is
never weary ; it never seeks its own satisfaction, — the
more unhappy and destitute be its object, the more

The Fall and the Promise. 1 3
does its infinite compassion shine forth. Fear not,
then, that the merciful power will yield the ground
to the malevolent one. It will but display itself the
more because this world is a world of sorrow. Let
us not forget that it is God who speaks. It is He
who, with a word, created the world, and whose
breath maintains universal life. It is He, above all,
who made the heart of man, who knows all its springs,
who has preserved for Himself a witness in the depths
of the human soul. It is the all-powerful Father, who
holds in His hand all the threads of our moral being
by which to draw us. Besides, He has promised, and
this promise was the worst punishment of the tempter.
He pronounced it on the first day of history ; He re
peated it by the mouth of His Son, when a second
phase of history was inaugurated, declaring that the
gates of hell should not prevail against His Church.
Thus we advance under the blessing of a promise of
victory. Let us never forget this. The worst device
of the enemy is to deprive us of the recollection.
Take care that your unbelief do not give the lie to
God. The power of evil fortifies itself with all the
strength that you attribute to it. It profits by your
supposition to cast down your trembling soul. Never
assist it then so far as to believe in the possibility of
its triumph. When it appears to you to have achieved
a decided conquest in society — when truth and justice
seem to be stifled by error, hypocrisy, and unrighteous
ness — when your moral sense is grievously chafed by
the success of evil and by its insolent joy : in the
name of the promise of early days, let not your faith
in goodness and justice be shaken ; doubt not their
ultimate victory. If the religious society — the Church,
appears to you well nigh asleep ; if superstition,

14 The Fall and the Promise.
heresy, materialism — that subtle venom of the ser
pent — have disfigured the Gospel of God ; if the
difficulties of reform seem to you almost insurmount
able : in the name of the promise of early days, believe
in a blessed renewal, a salutary purification. Doubt
not of the victory. And finally, if, in your individual
life, assailed by temptations, surrounded with snares,
pursued by the seductions of a corrupt world, you
imagine yourself about to yield, and cry, The combat
is too severe, the temptation too strong — then take
courage in the name of the promise of early days.
Rely on Him who has promised to fight within you.
Doubt not of the victory. Never in our sad life was
it more necessary to draw from this first of promises
hope and consolation. It is destined to be for us in
our long journey through the desert what the bright
cloud was for Israel. Let it now illumine our gloomy
road. There is no dark way that it has not brightened.
Did it not cheer the first descent of man into the valley
of probation? When did the serpent lift its head
with more appearance of victory than on the day when
sinful man, seduced by it, fled from his God among
the trees of the garden ? And yet it was then told
that its head should be bruised. Let the comfort
that sufficed for that day — that saddest of days, suffice
for us now.
Our text not only reveals to us the great strife be
tween good and evil and its issue, but also teaches us
what is the principal weapon employed. Singularly
the weapon is the same on both sides. It is wielded
with directly opposite intentions, but it is in the hand
of both the combatants. This weapon is suffering.
God said to the serpent : " Thou shalt bruise the head
of the seed of the woman." This image represents the

The Fall and the Promise. 1 5
unnumbered woes which are the result of the con
demnation, — woes which wound our souls, by God's
grace, but not mortally, as is figuratively expressed
by the bruising of the heel. They might have seemed
a striking proof of the victory of Satan ; but it has
been found that these afflictions — I speak of afflictions
generally, not of those only which are endured by the
servants of God — have contributed in the most effica
cious way to secure the triumph of divine love, and to
prepare for its supreme manifestation in Jesus Christ.
External prosperity in sin conduces to harden, but
suffering breaks the heart. On the one side no doubt
it serves the justice of God, but it no less serves His
love. Moreover, the attributes of God constitute an
essential unity. Love cannot be separated from jus
tice, nor justice from love. Rejoice not, then, Satan,
that man is driven from Eden. Nothing would have
better promoted thy dark designs than the possession
of this delightful dwelling-place after the fall. There
thou mightest have counted on success. But now
exile and bitterness will melt his pride. Soon will the
sigh and the tear chase the blasphemy from his faded
lips. It is not thy cursed angels who guard the en
trance to the terrestrial paradise. It is the seraphim
of the God of love, and their sword reminds us that
He is a consuming fire. If the earth is covered with
thorns and thistles, it is not only because it is the
scene of condemnation, but also because it is the scene
of preparation and of salutary discipline. Every time
that man eats his bread in the sweat of his brow, he
will be reminded of his sad destiny, and the moment
will arrive when in spite of thee all these accumulated
labours and sorrows shall impel him to cry to God in
his distress. Only wound him, thou wilt but cause

1 6 The Fall and the Promise.
him to fly more rapidly towards the Deliverer. Thou
thoughtest to conquer on seeing his tears flow, and lo,
the first words of thy mighty adversary are these :
" Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be com
forted." How does this view of affliction tend to strengthen
us ! In every sorrow justice and mercy meet. Let
us seek to discern the hand of justice which strikes us
for our rebellion, and the hand of love which in strik
ing knocks at the door of our hearts. Who would
not learn resignation, from the certainty that affliction
is the special weapon of the power of love ? Who
would not willingly be pierced by that blessed sword
which is fatal only for the power of perdition ? Every
time we feel its sharp point let us believe that we
were about to yield to the attack of our enemy, and
that the warning stroke has saved- us from a defeat
that might have been final. Yes ; it is affliction which,
throughout our spiritual life, has caused the power of
salvation to prevail within us over the power of per
dition. It is this which has detached us from the
vanities of time, which has aroused us from our moral
slumber, and made us exclaim, My soul thirsteth for
God. It is this which has caused us to experience the
drought of summer of which .the psalmist speaks,
which has broken our bones, brought us into the dust
of death, and prepared us to utter the cry : Lord, save
us, we perish. A mysterious messenger sent to the
prodigal son, it has brought him back to his father
overwhelmed, with garments soiled and torn. And at
the very hour that we have found our Father, our
grief, spiritualized, ennobled, changed into sorrow for
sin, has drawn from our eyes the tears of repentance.
It has preceded and caused our recovery. Ever since

The Fall and the Promise. 1 7
the day of reconciliation, trial, like the angel of God
who aroused St. Peter, has been our guardian angel ;
and this austere companion of our journey will leave
us only on the threshold of the city above where they
weep not, because they sin no more. Thus does our
individual experience support the general statement
that we have verified. The wound of sorrow pre
cedes, accompanies, and perfects the work of salva
tion. But it is time to speak of this work itself, without
which all that we have been saying would be devoid
of meaning. And it is here that we come to the
grandest part of our subject. How has this work
been accomplished ? By the greatest of sufferings ; it
could be achieved in no other way. Satan is not con
tented with the afflictions which are the natural result
of sin. He , pursues with his murderous assaults all
the people of God. In tracing the religious history
of humanity we shall see that if the adversary seeks
to retain his own adherents by worldly enjoyments, he
tries at the same time to weaken and conquer the
friends of God by persecution. But he has always
grossly failed in this attempt. The -weapon has re
turned against himself, for affliction has constantly
furthered and honoured the cause of God. The evil
one has fallen into the snare that he had made. But
never was he more signally foiled than when attacking
Him who was in a peculiar sense the Man of God.
He brought to bear upon Him all conceivable afflic
tions. He wounded Him. in the heel with his sharpest
darts. But he found that that very wounded heel
crushed his head. This was suffering truly salutary
and victorious. The sufferings of which we have
spoken would have had no utility without those of

1 8 The Fall and the Promise.
the Redeemer. They have no expiatory value, be.
cause they are more or less impure, like all that per
tains to man. All the tears that have watered the
earth, all the blood that has flowed on it, all afflictions
general and special, more numerous than the sand of
the sea, could not efface one of the sins committed
by the descendants of Adam. God desires not our
tears but our heart. This heart has been taken from
Him and must be restored to Him again. It has been
taken from Him by an act of rebellion ; it must be
restored by an act of obedience, and this can be
nothing but a sacrifice unto death. For the will of
God is not now to be accepted under the blessed con
ditions of Eden, but under the unfavourable conditions
of condemnation, — that is to say, all the consequences
of condemnation must be accepted and accepted freely,
without being deserved. There must be obedience
unto death, because death is the destiny of the sons
of Adam. Suffering is, then, the indispensable con
dition of salvation, without which it could not be
effected. This death has been endured — salvation
has been wrought out; and now our own sufferings have
a blessed effect in preparing us to desire and to re
ceive it.
Who, then, is that descendant of the woman destined
to realize the promise? Look again at our text, for
it answers this questionalso : "Iwill put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seedand her seed."
The combat is, as we have said, between the power
of perdition and the power of love, between Satan and
God. But these two powers do not fight directly
one with the other. Both have their champions.
The seed of the serpent fights agaiqst the children of
God — and both must be sought among the sons of

The Fall and the Promise. 1 9
Adam. Humanity is divided into two portions — one
of which is so assimilated by the power of darkness
as to be called the seed of the serpent ; the other
is so assimilated by the power of divine love as to
become its incarnation. Nor could it be otherwise.
Man as a free being could not be the prize of a combat
in which he had not mingled. Satan can only triumph
over man through man; — all the legions of fallen angels
are of less value to him, than a single man enrolled
under his standard. Nor could the work of salvation
be accomplished without our help. It is humanity that
has forsaken God. It must itself return to Him, it
must offer the sacrifice of reparation. But it cannot
certainly do this by itself, for it is sold under sin, and is
its slave. Thus when God promises that the seed of
the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, He engages
for a sovereign intervention in the work of our salva
tion ; He promises a complete assimilation of humanity
by Himself, and observe here, that I do not speak
only of a moral, but of a positive assimilation, and I
know no method by which this could be effected
save the incarnation of the Son. But it is no less
true, that the Son must be indeed man not only
through the flesh, which He borrowed from humanity,
but also by a moral tie contracted with the race. He
must represent it, and be one with it, at least with
that portion not given up to Satan. He must spring
not only from the flesh of humanity, but also from its
broken heart. If Jesus Christ was marvellously born
of a woman, He was no less marvellously begotten in
the soul of humanity. The desire which it felt for a
Saviour was a seed of God.
And this divine seed was deposited in the heart of
all the saints who prepared for the advent of Christ.

20 The Fall and the Promise.
The power of love thus gradually assimilated humanity
to itself, and the men who assisted in this blessed
preparation, were from the beginning of the world
designated as the sons of God — they represent the
divine seed. This seed attained not at first its full
development. Four thousand years of conflict were
necessary, because the seed of the serpent was also
being developed in opposition, that is to say satanic
humanity was striving unceasingly to stifle the seed
divine. It would be ungrateful in us to forget this
conflict, the struggle of so many generations to pre
pare for the coming of Christ. Many sons of God,
such as are mentioned in Genesis, were needed before
the only Son of God was born — He in whom dwelt
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; before it could
be said, "unto us a child is born" — the child of God
most high, and the child also of our prayers, our tears,
and our desires — desires which constituted the divine
seed deposited in us by the Spirit of God.
It is to this preparation, this gradual development
of the seed of the woman, that we would now call your
attention while we trace the great outline of its history.
This will be the object of our next discourse. We
shall find the contest between the two powers
of the commencement of which we have spoken,
acquiring a new degree of energy. It is no longer
merely a war between good and evil, but it concerns
the coming of the Saviour, the seed of the devil seek
ing to stifle in its blessed germ the salvation of the
human race. But the woman's posterity still preserves
and develops that germ under the action of the Spirit
of God, until the day when it shall arrive at maturity
in the incarnation, and the triumph of the power of
love shall be consummated. We shall see the power

The Fall and the Promise. 2 1
of perdition pursuing a parallel development ; and in
the day of the full assimilation of humanity to God,
assimilating rebellious humanity more completely to
itself, so that it would seem as if Satan were fighting
in person, without any intermediate agency. Thus
has our text really given us the theme, which history
has only developed. The great universal conflict is indi
cated by the words, " I will put enmity between thy
seed and the seed of the woman." The final triumph ap
pears in the result: "The seed of the woman shall bruise
thy head." The condition of this triumph is also set
forth : " Thou shalt bruise his heel." In suffering the
triumph is prepared ; and by a great sacrifice it is con
summated. The champions on both sides are men.
God in humanity, communicating Himself to it entirely
in the person of His Son, the divine seed of the
woman, is to crush Satan who is also present in
humanity. Such is the magnificent scheme unfolded
before us in our text. Oh that I may have succeeded
in exciting within you the admiration with which it
has inspired myself !
But it is not admiration of the divine scheme which
I especially demand from you in closing this discourse.
1 desire to leave you under a more serious impression.
Have you considered the opposition which our text
indicates between the seed of the serpen^ and the
posterity of the woman ? It seems to imply that those
who serve the serpent are not truly a portion of
humanity. The true humanity, the seed of the
woman, is the divine humanity, that which fights for
God. It alone answers to the true idea of humanity
such as it is in the thought of the Creator. It alone
serves the interests of the fallen race. You who are
allied to the enemy and murderer of your kind, who
c

22 The Fall and the Promise.
are his accomplices in achieving its ruin, it is right in
disowning you. You are not the woman's seed, but
the seed of the serpent. You appear, indeed, to
espouse the cause of humanity with ardour — you have
its name ever on your lips — you assert its dignity, its
greatness, sometimes even its divinity; — such was
Satan's language on the day of the fall. Flatterers of
human pride, you borrow his envenomed words. I
know no more severe condemnation for you than the
simple words of my text, which shew you to be so
assimilated to the power of perdition that you are no
longer members of the human race, but the seed of
the serpent. True humanity, the true posterity of
the woman, this is found among those who speak more
of degeneracy than of greatness — more of our misery
than our dignity. Their language is opposed to that
of the serpent. They are the posterity of the woman
because they are the children of God ; and because,
as the apostle says, humanity is in its essence of a
divine race. The nearer it approaches to God by
humility, the more is it permitted to realize its high
destiny. You, then, who have thought to serve it
apart from the religion of the humble, be undeceived.
You have opposed its highest interests — you have
served the power of perdition: but remember that
you are not disinherited by nature ; that one move
ment of faith and humility will carry you over to the
camp of God ! Alas for you if, with generous ideas,
and a sincere desire to do good to your fellow-men, it
should appear, at last, that you have been lending
your aid to their greatest enemy. He is not only a
murderer, but a liar also. He has imposed on you,
perhaps, through your noblest instincts. Oh, then,
while yet there is time, in the name of your brethren's

The Fall and the Promise. 23
welfare, in the name of your own salvation, take the
side of God in the great and solemn conflict. This
will be to take the side of man. There is identity in
the two causes. How should not the interests of eter
nal love be also those of fallen man ? Let us all,
whoever we may be, take our side. Our text shows
us but two camps. There is no intermediate position.
We must either be ourselves of the serpent's seed, or
else labour with the seed of the woman to bruise his
head. Christians, you do not hesitate, — you have al
ready chosen your chief. But remember that to
sustain efficiently this formidable combat, you will
have need of all your strength, and all your time. Take
everything that you possess and cast it into the current
of good. If you bring thither but your drop of water
you will not be useless ; but dread, above all things,
to swell, by a single word, a single action, the current
of evil which rolls its waters near us. Agents enough
are engaged for the misery of humanity — work ye for
its salvation ; ever fearful of aiding the old serpent in
his deadly designs, and ever leaning upon Him who
has already gloriously fulfilled the promise of our text,
and who is ever ready to accomplish it anew for each
one of us.

II.
THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF
JESUS CHRIST.

<§XBZOUT&£ Jf.
BEFORE JUDAISM.
"In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." — Gen. xii. 3.
In our last discourse we have seen that the strife
everywhere waged in this world, in the outer world as
in the inner, was in reality the great war of the power
of love against the power of darkness. We know
beforehand that the triumph of God has been secured
at the price of inexpressible suffering ; and it will be
all the more decisive a victory for having been dis
puted. We know also that it will be won by human
ity ^ but by humanity fully assimilated by God : in
other words, by the God-man ; the blessed seed of the
woman bruising the serpent's head. I have now to
speak to you of the work of preparation by which the
great victory of the power of love was gradually
brought about. Our text indicates the most charac
teristic feature of this work. It was said to Abraham
that all the families of the earth should be blessed in
his posterity. The election of a special people by
God is revealed in these words. Now this election is

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 25
the most important fact that marks the period of pre
paration. You may, perhaps, feel a certain difficulty
in understanding how the promise made to Abraham
is to be reconciled with that which was made to
Adam. Is there not a contracting of the promise of
Eden ? That spoke of the seed of the woman, and
now it is only the seed of Abraham. How are we to
reconcile these two expressions, alike employed by
God ? We shall have to resolve this difficult and im
portant question. We shall shew you that the second
promise contributed to the accomplishment of the
first ; and that the election of a people of God was an
efficacious means of preparing for the coming of the
Saviour. The old covenant had no other object than
that of hastening the full realization of salvation. It
was destined to prepare humanity for salvation by its
series of revelations. This view is the only one that
gives us a key to the Old Testament, which has often
proved a stone of stumbling to men who have joyfully
accepted the Gospel revelation. And whence has
their more or less scandalized astonishment arisen ?
From the differences which they found between the
two Testaments. But are not these differences per
fectly natural and comprehensible directly we admit
that the Old Testament speaks to us of the prepara
tion for salvation, while the New Testament tells of
its realization ? It is not matter of surprise if the first
steps of the ladder which connects earth with heaven
be nearer to the earth than the higher steps which
lose themselves in the very light of heaven. Are
they not admirably adapted to the weakness of the
human creature ? To complain that less spirituality
is found in the Old Testament than in the New — in
the first pages of the Bible than in the last, this is to

26 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
complain that the celestial Father has spoken in an in
telligible manner to the child man. When we recog
nize a preparation for salvation, then we understand that
the education of humanity, like that of the individual,
has been progressive, and that the revelations of God
must not be viewed in the mass but in their chain and
succession. There has been a development, a history
of revelation. The strange form in which its teach
ings are sometimes clothed, instead of shocking us
ought to affect us, as does the sight of a father stoop
ing to lift to himself his new-born son.
This point of view gives to the Old Testament the
most beautiful, the richest unity. Jesus Christ is at the
foundation of each narrative, of every page. He is the
end towards which all aspires ; there is not an institu
tion which does not tend to Him. It is, as He Him
self said, His day which is rising, at first well nigh
imperceptible, like the earliest light of dawn, then
more and more brilliant. He who knows not that the
dawn from above is beginning to shoot forth in these
first rays, regards them with no great attention. But
what admiration fills the heart of those who watch
in the first pages of the Sacred Book the rising of
the heavenly day ! If, in the reflections which we are
about to present to you, we could help to lift the veil
which hides Moses not only from the Jews, but also
from a great number of Christians, we should believe
that we had laboured successfully for your edification
and for the glory of our God.
Wherein, then, was to consist the work of prepar
ation ? Let us understand this point first of all. It
is the only way to comprehend the design and the
bearing of the election of a special people. We have
already seen that the Saviour must be not only the

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 27
Son of God, but also the Son of man, — that He must
represent God to humanity and humanity to God.
This means not simply that He was to take a body
like ours. It was necessary that being the Son of
God most holy, He should be morally the Son of
man also. In what sense must we understand these
words ? Is it that humanity was called by its own
might to produce the Saviour ? Nay, my brethren ;
and here lies the great error of human religions and
philosophies. To produce the Saviour, that is to
save ourselves — to save ourselves, by the unfolding of
human faculties : — such is the pretension of pride. It
is an impious and mad pretension, which consists in
looking for salvation in perdition, and seeking the
remedy in the poison which requires to be counter
acted. We assert strongly that, left to his own re
sources, man can produce nothing. We deceive our
selves. The apostle James teaches us what man
obtains from himself: "When lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin : and sin, when it is finished, bring-
eth forth death."1 Death — death in every sense;
this is what humanity, abandoned to itself, has drawn
from its own bosom since the fall. It is not for it,
then, to produce the Saviour. The Saviour can be
but a free gift of God. The promise can be accom
plished only by Him who made it. But we must not
fall into the opposite extreme to that which we have
combated.. And we should be doing this by repre
senting the Saviour as descending suddenly from
heaven, transforming thus the greatest of events into
an unexpected incident, without any relation to that by
which it was preceded, — by denying the human filiation
of Him who has been called " the seed of the woman."
'James i. 15.

28 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
We know to what this filiation is restricted. To say that
man is incapableof producing the Saviour is to saythat he
has no creating part in the birth of the divine descend
ant of the woman. He has only to receive the gift
of God. The vocation of the Creator is to give — a
vocation which in His free love He has willingly
chosen. He is, as the apostle says, the Author of
every gift. The vocation of the creature is to receive.
The Creator gives — the creature receives His gifts ;
this is the normal order. That which is true of the
divers gifts of love divine, is true of its supreme gift,
the gift of the Saviour. Humanity has only to receive
the Saviour, but then it must receive Him.
God has from eternity begotten His Son ; but in
order that this eternal Son should become the pos
terity of the woman, the Son of man, it was necessary
that God should find in humanity the dispositions
requisite for assimilating to itself the celestial gift, the
seed divine. The miraculous conception of Jesus
Christ is to us the most positive of realities. We be
ware of transforming into symbols the facts of the
Gospel history, but it is not the less true that the
great fact of which we speak is also a sublime type.
It represents to us in their reciprocal relations the part
of God and the part of man in the coming of the
Saviour. God who gives, humanity which receives,
which assimilates. The external miracle reveals an
internal one, and the latter has cost more, if we may
speak thus, than the former. It required but one
short moment for Jesus Christ to be conceived in the
virgin's womb — it required four thousand years for
the soul of man to be formed by the power of
the Spirit to receive the Saviour. The material
world is transformed a thousand times more quickly

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 29
than the spiritual world, because the will is not
changed like matter, but must be won over and per
suaded. Absolutely to isolate the miracle of the in
carnation would be to impoverish the work of our sal
vation. Without the incarnation the work of prepar
ation would have been useless ; but without the work
of preparation the incarnation would have been only
an external fact, a miracle in empty space. The
proof of this is found in the delay of the birth of
Christ. The hour for the outward miracle sounded
in the heart of man.
To whom, then, are we to attribute this double
miracle ? . To whom, if not to God ? God not only
gives the Saviour, but He gives the power of receiving
Him. He is not only the author of every gift, but He
also purifies and develops the human soul, without
ever destroying its freedom, — He inclines it towards
Himself. Thus may we say with the apostle, address
ing man, — " What hast thou that thou didst not
receive ? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
glory?" And when I speak of humanity you must
not forget that we have distinguished two humanities
— that which is satanic, which has willingly become
the seed of the serpent; and that which is after God,
which responds to His love. The latter is always in
the minority. It is sometimes reduced to one family
— to a few chosen ones. But it matters little, it is still
the humanity which is after God, that which realizes
His plans, and from it in every sense must come the
Saviour. We are now in a position to determine with exact
ness, what the work of preparation was. It consisted
on the part of God in developing in man the disposi
tions most favourable for receiving His gifts, and espe-

30 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
daily the greatest of his gifts — the Saviour of the
world. If you ask what were these dispositions that
required to be developed, I will appeal to your own
experience. When are you best disposed to receive
any gift ? Is it not when you have first desired it ? If
you do not desire it, you either refuse it or receive it
with indifference. But if you have long sighed after
any good, if its attainment has inflamed your desire,
then when this good is offered to you, with what ardour
do you seize it — with what joy do you take possession
of it ! Thus, then, humanity will be prepared to receive
the Saviour in that measure, in which the desire for
the Saviour shall have been kindled in its heart. If it
desire Him feebly, or at best only in a vague and
general manner, it will not be ready to appropriate
Him. He would remain a stranger, He would be as
it were outside of humanity if He appeared during the
period of its languid desire. When the desire has be
come at once more precise and more intense, humanity
will be better disposed to seize — to embrace the Saviour
as. its treasure, — to incorporate itself with Him. But
when the desire has attained its full intensity, when
humanity feels that it cannot do without the Saviour;
when it calls for Him with its every voice, its every tear,
then if He appear it will cry aloud, By this I know Him,
that He is flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, soul of
my soul. It will unite itself closely to Him — it will
be His as He will be its own — He will be truly the Son
of man. Thus, to kindle, to encourage, to develop
this holy desire for the Saviour, this is the whole work
of divine preparation.
But we must go farther into this, which is the fun
damental thought of our discourse, and which seems
to us to cast a vivid light on the Old Testament. The

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 3 1
more closely we consider it, the more will it grow
bright before our mind. Since the work of prepara
tion consists in developing the faculty receptive of the
gifts of God, that is to say the desire of salvation,
what is the best method of developing this desire ? I
appeal once more to you, my brethren, for I do not
wish to lose myself in vain reasonings. I wish to
ground all on experience. I discover in each one of our
desires, whatever be the object to which it points, two
feelings — first, one of want and suffering. We wish for
a good, because we feel that is lacking to us — lacking to
our happiness ; if we had all that was necessary to us, if
our felicity were absolute, it is evident that we should
form no desire at all. Every desire is accompanied by
a sigh. In the second place, there is found in it also
a certain hope. If we had not the idea that the good
wished for might be granted, us, our desires would be
stifled in their germ, or rather they would turn against
us and devour our heart. Desires not sustained by
the breath of hope fall to the ground. An impossible
desire ought not to be called desire but despair. Thus
the sting of suffering awakens desire — the wing of
hope sustains it. Suffering and hope — these are the
two elements which are fused in each of out desires.
We shall find them both in the desire for the Saviour.
Man will only call for the great Deliverer when he
shall have bitterly felt the void of a life without God.
And he will only raise his eyes towards heaven when
he shall have the hope of seeing that heaven one day
open to give a Redeemer to the earth. To say that
God wished to develop the desire of salvation in
humanity, is to say that He wished to develop both the
great sorrow of condemnation and the great hope of
deliverance. You will see all the revelations of the

32 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
ancient covenant tend to this double object ; with the
one hand God strikes the rebel race, strikes it with
terrible and redoubled blows, and with the other He
lifts it up to shew it the end to which it is tending,
though with fall after fall, humiliation after humiliation.
Each new phase of revelation is marked by a new and
more resounding stroke from the rod of condemnation,
and by a more radiant vista of the promised future.
The last phase will shew us the humiliation of human
ity carried out to its extreme shame and its most
frightful chastisements, and also the soaring of a magni
ficent and universal hope. And if so many phases
succeed one another, if so many generations disappear
before the blessed one to which the Saviour shall
belong, be not astonished. God alone is not at work.
The enemy is working against Him, sprinkling with
tares the half-sown field. The enemy is working,
aided by a multitude of misguided men. To each new
display of celestial love there corresponds an unfolding
of the hatred of hell. Hence the apparently intermin
able succession of revelations. Every time that Satan
and his agents strive to overthrow the plan of God
this plan expands, and some new manifestation of divine
love comes forth from its treasures. Far from being
scandalized at the innumerable ages that preceded the
coming of Christ, take occasion from the fact to praise
the love of your God. Recognize the unwearying
goodness that He has shewn you in waiting through
so many years in spite of your rebellion and your in
difference. And complain not that we detain you on
the threshold of the gospel history, while we unroll for
you the work of preparation. God, the great God of
heaven, remained there Himself during more than forty
centuries, knocking at the door of the human heart.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. t>3
The delay of which you perhaps complain is the delay
of His anger in bursting over you. O patience' of
my God, thou art not the least admirable, the least
touching of His mercies !
Let us now trace the work of preparation in its
great outline. This work is twofold. God deve
loped the desire of salvation by events, and by revela
tions granted to those who were serving His designs.
We have to shew how these events and these institu
tions gradually increased the sorrow of condemnation
and the hope of deliverance, till the moment when the
two feelings were blended as it were in the positive
arrival of the Saviour. At present we shall speak only
of the early phases of revelation.
Let us first consider the situation of man after he had
received the promise of pardon. You will perceive with
us that the plan of God received in this promise its first
realization. And as the essential features of man's situa
tion are repeated still in every human life, you will have
cause in your own name to bless the merciful hand of
the Lord for those general dispensations of His love
c'ommon to us all, which too often escape our attention.
Contemplate this divine love first, as shewn in the
dwelling-place of fallen man. We may say of the
entire world, what the Psalmist said of the starry sky :
" There is no speech nor language, and yet its voice is
heard."1 This voice conveys to us a word of condemna
tion and a promise of pardon ; received by the faithful
heart it forms itself into a sigh after Christ. Oh ! I
know well that it is too rarely heard. I know well that
nature, given up to man's inspiration, is made by him
to speak the language of his own corruption, that he
1 Psalm xix. 3.

34 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
asks from her a guilty intoxication, and willingly sur
renders himself to her fascinations. Nothing is more
dangerous than that luxurious contemplation of the
outer world which enervates the soul, and robs it of
the power of self-control.
There are two ways of turning into poison the noble
enjoyment of nature. The first is to allow one's self
to be ruled by her and absorbed in her — this is a
pantheistic admiration of nature. It deifies and adores
her — it is a pure and simple idolatry which takes us
out of ourselves. There is another way of loving
nature, which, though directly opposed to the former,
is not less treacherous. We mean a selfish admira
tion — seeking in her a mirror for our own impres
sions, whether mournful or joyous — making her a great
harp to reproduce our faintest emotions — degrading
her to act this mean part, and asking from her the
subtle enjoyments of a sickly egotism. You constantly
find in the literature of our day this double error re
moving man from God. Man thus makes nature his
accomplice in the work of his own destruction. Need
we say that such is not the purpose for which God
has designed her. When we draw evil impressions
from nature, we are turning a gift of God against our
selves. God speaks through nature. He says to us
by her unnumbered voices, Thou needest a Saviour,
and He is not far from thee. Nature is a witness on
the side of truth, and we have no right to deprive our
selves of her testimony. Given, as it is, under every
sky, but continually misinterpreted by man's folly, it
is most important that we should penetrate to its true
and divine meaning.
Fear not that we are allowing ourselves the easy
gratification of accumulating poetical descriptions. It

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. i>5
is not a matter of poetry but of truth and of salvation.
What did the first man, when driven from Eden, see
in the external world ? He found a confirmation of his
own destiny, which he read in the vast book of nature.
That destiny was twofold — the curse weighed on him,
but it was lightened by the promise of pardon. Was
not the curse written all around him in the changed
condition of the earth, overthrown, darkened, reluctant
to supply food, but yielding thorns in abundance? Did he
not see it sadlyrealized in thatpowerof destruction which
was trying its hand on the animals before attacking him
self? Did he not hear the tempest mutter it in the
air ? All those fearful spectacles which the earth pre
sents, did they not cry to him with one voice : Thou
art condemned ! thou hast sinned ! And on the other
hand, the exquisite beauty still remaining on our poor
earth, the harmony, the grandeur, the marvellous days
of which each year keeps a reserve, the enchanted
spots sublime or lovely, all these reminiscences of the
former earth, did they not tell of love divine ? Do
they not still say to man, — Fear not, poor fallen crea
ture — thou art not abandoned — there is yet hope ?
Thou hast sinned, — but hope still: these are the
two sayings that predominate in the vast murmur of
nature. But these two sayings are both echoes of
revelation. Let us then no more be told that nature
is a deist, and speaks only of the Creator. She speaks
of the Saviour also. It is therefore that He has
borrowed from her so many parables and teachings.
"The whole creation," says the apostle, "groaneth
together until now, waiting for the manifestation of
the sons of God." This groan, this desire of salva
tion, comes from irrational nature, only that it may
penetrate into our hearts, and help thus in the great

36 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
work of preparation, which tends simply to develop
the desire of the Saviour in man. Oh that he may
not remain deaf to the universal sigh, but may see in
the spectacle which earth presents, an invitation to turn
to the Saviour God! He will then find a bless
ing in that which, through his own fault, once brought
him only temptation.
If the external world speaks to man of sin and of
pardon, his own nature still more fully tells him of
the same. There are two facts in the outward life of
humanity that bring to us the twofold message of
nature. The first of these facts is death. What a
preacher of the justice of God! How well is its
dreadful eloquence adapted to remind us of our con
demnation ! It walks unceasingly through our streets
and our dwellings, repeating over the inanimate re
mains of our fellowmen the original sentence, giving
to all the tempter's lies the most glaring contradiction ;
and yet in the very face of such crushing evidence we
still yield to the suggestions of the spirit of pride.
Yes, there are men even in our day who seek to be
as gods, and suffer themselves to be deluded by the
very words which seduced the first man. We can
understand that before death existed illusion was pos
sible. But for any one now to think that he could
succeed in the impious attempt to be equal with God,
this is insanity. Man equal with God ! And hast
thou not then seen thy pretended god such as death
has made him ? Hast thou not seen him first silent
and immovable, soon dust and ashes — the very image
of weakness and corruption ? Which of you has not
witnessed this doleful spectacle of the annihilation of
every hope of human pride ? To us, indeed, Chris
tians, death presents itself softened and embellished.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. $J
There is, through Christ, something angelic in it, but
let us not forget its original character. Let us not
cease to see in it the humiliation of humiliations, the
response of the Creator to the insolent defiance of the
creature. Let it remain the king of terrors for all
that are not in Christ. Let us oppose that tendency
of human philosophy which lends its reasonings to
worldly levity, and sees in death only a natural fact,
to which it is needful to become accustomed. Let us
say aloud that it is a fearful thing, and contrary
to nature, that the immortal creature should be com
pelled to die — that it is an overturning of his destiny!
Let death thus unfold before our eyes condemnation
in all its consequences, and carry us back to the sin
in which it had its birth ! Then will it fulfil its mis
sion, and lead us, through sorrow and fear, to seek
for deliverance.
But the word of love and hope, who will bring us
that, my brethren ? for we need it sorely. The feel
ing of condemnation must be tempered by a sweet
hope. The word of love sounds in the first cry of
every new-born child. What does that cry teach us
but that humanity is not a race irretrievably devoted
to the power of death and destruction ? If the con
demnation were absolute it is evident that there would
not be a succession of generations on the cursed earth.
Can we imagine the God of love multiplying beings
devoted beforehand to perdition, and only coming out
of nothingness to sink into hell? In the abode of
the second death is there birth ? Have demons a
posterity ? From the fact that God permits the mul
tiplication of humanity we may conclude that He
wishes to save men, and to use them for His merciful
designs. Thus is each new-born child a witness of His
D

38 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
love. Before the coming of Christ man was thus re
minded of the promised divine child that was to be born
for the deliverance of humanity. Since Christ's com
ing we are reminded of the accomplishment of the great
prediction. We may apply in this sense those words
of the Psalmist : "Out of the mouth of babes and suck
lings Thou hast perfected praise." Thou seemest to
say to us through them, Unto you the child is born.
They lead us to the manger of Bethlehem, to the
humble entrance of the Eternal Son into our poor world.
This message of condemnation and of love, which
echoes for our soul in the two most striking facts of
the outward life of man — birth and death — we might
call you to hear also in all the circumstances of life,
in that mingling of joys and sorrows, of good and evil,
of labour and success, which forms its universal tissue.
But we hasten to make you listen for it in the higher
life of man. It is here that contrasts abound indeed.
Beneath the marks of corruption are found the traces
of a high origin. The workings of selfishness are
followed by some sudden impulse of generosity. To
day the heart appears buried in the dust of this world,
— to-morrow it will be disturbed by a thirst after the
infinite. All this is because the moral condition of
man since the fall has not been a simple condition.
Sin has changed all — spoiled all, — but it has not abso
lutely destroyed our original nature. This is in
accordance with the doctrine of the Bible. The
apostle Paul explicitly recognizes that fallen humanity
is of a divine race. But we must hasten to say, that
the soul of man is indeed fundamentally corrupted, —
that it can present to God no acceptable service, —
and that by itself it has no hope of salvation. Let us
add, that if the well-nigh extinguished flax still smoke

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 39
— if the bruised reed be not quite broken, — it is to
the grace of God that we must attribute it — to that
sovereign grace which from the very day of the fall
commenced its work of restoration. The idea that
after the fall man retained no vestige of his origin, —
that he is not only dead in sins in such a sense that
he cannot participate in salvation before conversion,
but also that he is in a state of absolute moral insensi
bility — of total hardness, — deaf as a stone to the voice
of God, — this idea is founded neither on the Bible nor
on experience. It restricts the work of salvation by
limiting it to a moment of time — denying the prepa
rative action of grace which works on the heart of
every man. It represents the work as a mechanical
and external one. It renders useless all appeals to
the conscience. According to it we should have
nothing serious or useful to do in intreating the sinner
to be converted. Far from his pride being thus over
thrown, it is confirmed, all the responsibility of his
unbelief being taken from him. We frankly confess
to you, brethren, that on the day when we should
adopt such a notion we would descend from our pulpit
for ever, preaching having become an anomaly in the
Church ! But mark well that we do not efface from
the holy writings any of the severe words by which
they depict our condition. No, we say with them,
that there is none righteous, no, not one — that we
have drunk iniquity like water — that the ox knoweth
his master's crib, while we have forgotten our God —
that from the sole of the foot even to the head there
is no soundness in man.
To those who think this picture overdrawn we would
say, — Open your eyes and see ! Look around you,
mark all the disgrace, the infamy, the meanness, the

40 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
corruption of poor humanity, such as it were a crime
even to describe. Contemplate your own selves !
Think of what you alone know; — each of you has his
own mysteries of iniquity. To convince you of your
debasement I need not single out your worst actions —
the good ones will suffice. You know what have too
generally been theirmotives,- — how often, while youhave
been applauded, you have been at heart interested and
selfish. I need not speak even of your actions. I may
appeal to the secrets of your hearts and your thoughts.
Not one of you would consent that the inner depths
of his being should be brought under the full light of
day. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the
pride of life, have penetrated and poisoned your inner
most nature. So much for the dark side of the inner
life. As to its other side we cannot call it bright-^-it
is too much stained by sin. But still is it not true
that there are in you aspirations after something better
than this passing life — a need of truth, and of peace,
— even, at certain moments, a sigh after God, or, at
least, a mysterious sadness without any apparent cause ?
Are there not some chords besides those of self-inter
est that vibrate within you ? Or, if these are broken
by your own fault, have you not admired in others,
acts of spontaneous devotion which shone in their life
like lightning from heaven ? What mean these con
trasts? You have within you a voice of God that
explains them, the voice of that conscience which is
one of the best proofs that man though fallen is not
absolutely hardened. What less than our fall does
conscience declare ? "Be silent," it says to the reason
ings by which you may be trying to disprove the fall —
" be silent — remember what thou art, not thine appar
ent, but thy true, thy real self ! Thou art under con-

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 41
demnation, and thou knowest it well. Thou tremblest
when alone with me." But conscience has also words
more consoling. It urges us towards God — it gives
us the hope of salvation, which has everywhere im
pelled humanity to seek Him. Thus this contrast,
this discord' in the higher life of man, conveys to us
the word of condemnation and the word of hope. We
may sum up our thoughts on this subject in these
words of Pascal's, who rounded his Apology for Chris
tianity chiefly on the strange contrasts in our nature —
" If thou exalt thyself," he says to man, " I abase
thee. If thou abase thyself, I exalt thee." If thou
exalt thyself I abase thee by shewing thee thy corrup
tion and thy nothingness. If thou abase thyself by
denying thy origin and thy destiny, I exalt thee by
pointing out the remains of thy greatness. From
thine abasement I draw a proof of thy condemnation
and of thy need of a Saviour. From thine exaltation
I draw a proof that salvation is reserved for thee by
Him who has not permitted that thy degradation
should be total. The abasement and the exaltation
concur to form within thee that desire for the Christ
which prepares thee to receive Him !
Will you not then hear at last this appeal of divine
love, ye, who, until now, have refused to believe the
Gospel ? You have not wished to accept it, because
it tells you of your misery and of the grace of God.
But these, the two principal dogmas of Christianity —
the offences to your pride — you encounter every
where. Nature proclaims them with all her voices-
history unfolds them before your eyes, and you are
yourselves the unanswerable witnesses to their truth —
you cannot escape from the revelation. If you were
at the end of the world it would start up again under

42 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
your eyes. You cannot escape from it, but in escap
ing from yourselves. To destroy the Bible will not
rid you of it. You must tear out your very heart,
for as long as it beats within your breast it will
afford a clear echo of the scriptural truth. Why
then resist such universal evidence? Why not be
convinced by these striking contrasts ? Why not fall
at the feet of Christ broken down by the word of
condemnation, that you may rise consoled under the
benediction of the word of love ? Divine peace and har
mony would then succeed to these agonizing conflicts,
and you would lose the bitter thought that you have
been a prey to a sorrow without object and without
result !
Thus, my brethren, we have seen that in the condi
tion of man after the fall, the work of preparation was
commenced. But more than this was necessary —
there must be first the experience of life, and then the
positive revelation of God, without which the meaning
of these contrasts would have been lost. We have
now to shew you by what circumstances, what revela
tions and institutions, God developed the desire of
salvation in the first ages of humanity. The facts are
well known, and I have only to recall them briefly to
your recollection.
Even in the first family we see the strife going on
between good and evil — between the seed of God
and the seed of the serpent. Abel represents the
faithful portion of humanity, as Cain the unfaithful
portion, by his hardness and his murderous hatred. The
first blood which watered the earth wrote on the soil
a mournful prophecy — it announced the death of a
multitude of just persons, and especially of that Just
One whose shed blood speaks better things than that

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 43
of Abel. If we trace the destiny of Adam's race up
to the deluge, the same fact still appears. The chiL
dren of God are always opposed to the children of
men — to those who walk in the way of rebellion.
There was a moment when it seemed as if the power
of evil were about to triumph. The sons of God
made alliances with the children of men, and from
this impious association there resulted such an overflow
of iniquity that one faithful family only remained, —
that of Noah. It was then that by a terrible punish
ment — the greatest which has ever overwhelmed the
earth — God broke the.power of sin. The deluge was,
as it were, a second general condemnation of humanity.
It was designed to testify everywhere, and in all time,
to the sin of man, and to his punishment, while the
deliverance of Noah was to inspire confidence in the
divine compassion. But the family of the patriarch,
like that of Adam, was divided. Sin soon, overflowed
anew, and with sin punishment. Unfaithful humanity
fell into idolatry, and some families only preserved
their faith in the true God. For those few believ
ing souls how well adapted were these past events to
excite the desire of salvation ! That frightful manifes
tation of evil, — the sight of the immortal creature pro
strating himself before wood and stone, — the spectacle
of his degradation would render more sad and poig
nant the conviction of the fall ! The traces of the
deluge everywhere visible, would forcibly impress the
soul with a salutary terror of the justice of God. On
the other hand, the multiplied blessings granted to His
own children spoke of the goodness of the Lord, and
revived the hope of complete forgiveness. And was
not its pledge seen in the rainbow with which God
had connected His second covenant with humanity ?

44 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
Then, my brethren, in addition to events, there
was the word of God, His positive revelation. The
promise of salvation became more precise. It was
not now simply the great human family from which
the Saviour was to spring. It was the branch of Seth
in the family of Adam, the branch of Noah in the
family of Seth, the branch of Shem in the family of
Noah. But at the same time that hope was strengthened
in the heart of man, his sins were condemned in the
clearest words. And there is one institution especially,
traceable to the earliest ages, since we find it in the
family of Adam, which plays an important part in the
work of preparation — I mean that of sacrifice. When
I call this an institution, I would not say that it was
directly founded by God. It is possible that it was
so ; or it may have been that there was no special
revelation on the subject ; none is found in the sacred
narrative. It would certainly have arisen naturally
from the condition of man and the promise of God.
The proof of this is in the universality of sacrifice; — a
nation without an altar has yet to be discovered.
Sacrifice is then the expression of a universal need of
the conscience. What does it signify ? With what
design was it instituted ? It is a sensible manifestation
of the desire of salvation, and this desire, as is the
case with all our emotions, while being expressed, is
also excited and developed. Why are sacrifices
offered? Is it not in order to obtain reconciliation
with God ? In this hope the lamb and the bull are
slain, the fruits of the ground are presented. Sacri
fice is an attempt at reconciliation — an inefficacious
attempt, since it is constantly renewed. What means
this if not that man confesses himself to be a sinner,
and condemned? Would he seek to be reconciled

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 45
with God if he did not feel that he had deserved His
anger ? The confession of his misery rises with the
flame of every burnt-offering. This is the first feeling
contained in the desire of salvation — the sorrow of con
demnation, expressedbysacrifice. But the second feeling,
the hope of deliverance, finds equally here its symbols.
Would sacrifice be offered by those who believed them
selves irreversibly condemned ? Would an impossible
reconciliation be attempted? One only offers sacrifice to
a God in whom one has hope. This is what is spoken
by the victims everywhere slain — the first-fruits laid
upon a thousand altars- — the offerings consumed by
fire : " O God ! be appeased ! be appeased ! we
have offended Thee. We tremble, and yet we hope,
since we come to Thee. When shall the pure victim
appear ? When shall the sacrifice of a perfect recon
ciliation be presented?" And as man knew that God
took pleasure in these sacrifices, he acquired more and
more the assurance of pardon, even amidst the con
fusion of sin. We may say that from each altar
there went up a sigh after the Saviour — a sigh often
polluted by the impure incense of idolatry, but yet
received by the true God.
The first period of revelation has shewn us, then,
the rough draught of the work of preparation. If we
pass now to the second, this work will appear farther ad
vanced. The second period comprehends the election
of a family, and in this family of a special people of
God. Let us first remark that this was not an arbi
trary choice, any more than the election of Noah. He
feared and built the ark, Abraham believed and obeyed.
Faith is always the means by which divine favours are
received. Let it not be forgotten that the father of
the chosen race was also the father of the faithful. If

4-6 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
we consider this election in itself, we shall understand
how well it was adapted to further the vast plans of
divine love. God said to Abraham, " Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred." Such was the condi
tion of the promise made to him in these words: — " In
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
The election of a family and of a nation, had not for its
object to create a race of privileged persons ; we learn
this clearly from the words just quoted. This election,
like every other, was a ministry, and a ministry which was
to exercise itself for the good of all mankind. We
must never lose sight of the divine intention in choos
ing the people of Israel. God wished through them
to bless all the families of the earth. There is no ex-
clusiveness in this fact; the mercies of God are not shut
up to an election to be imprisoned therein, but rather
to be preserved that they may overflow so much the
more abundantly upon all. How often has this elec
tion of Israel been misconstrued and depreciated ! To
judge by certain interpretations of prophecy, one would
certainly say that humanity only existed for the Jews,
rather than the Jews for humanity, forgetting the very
words of their election, which so plainly define its ob
ject, — in thy seed all the families of the earth shall be
blessed ; a temporary fact with a special purpose is
transformed into a permanent fact. The Church seems
but a satellite of Judaism, called to shine in the future
only by the light which it lends. That there are bless
ings reserved for this nation we willingly grant, but
that its destiny is to be always as it were the axis of
universal religious history, this we deny, in the name
even of the election of Abraham. God in this election
was working for the salvation of all the families of the
earth.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 47
It remains for us to inquire how this special election
has contributed to the work of preparation. You
will remember, my brethren, in what we have con
sidered this work mainly to consist, i.e. in developing the
desire of the Saviour. It was necessary that humanity
should come to acknowledge its condemnation, and
also to cast a look of hope and supplication towards
heaven. The election of a special people was designed
to produce and to strengthen this twofold feeling.
The chosen people, by the very fact of .its absolute
separation from other nations, proclaimed the unwor-
thiness and corruption of our nature. Its isolation
taught that in order to stand in relation to God, it was
necessary to be kept apart from the human race, even
in a sense to break with it. What could more
clearly reveal its misery, and its condemnation ? It was
then a race profane, lost, accursed, since the first con
dition of belonging to God was to dissolve one's rela
tion with it, and to avoid in some sort its contact.
What a shame, what a reproach for humanity ! The
very existence of the people of God was an accusing
witness of the fall. But, on the other hand, did not
the choice of a portion of mankind indicate that all was
not lost, that there were resources of grace on which
man might count? This imperfect mediation pre
dicted that which should be perfect ; chosen men had
the right to communicate with God. Every link was
not broken between earth and heaven, and the moment
might arrive when human nature, pardoned and regen
erated, should regain the divine communion of former
days. The word of condemnation, and the word of
love — Judaism contained both the one and the other.
There is one fact which it is interesting to notice,
viz. that the election of the people of God fundamen-

48 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
tally corresponds to a necessity of conscience univer
sally manifested. We have seen that altars and sacri
fices existed everywhere. We may add that every
where, also, before Christ, priests were found. Now
the sentiments which gave rise to the priesthood, are
precisely those which God designed to develop by the
election of the people of Israel. The priesthood is
Judaism in miniature, as Judaism is the priesthood on
a larger scale. What, in fact, is expressed by the
choice of particular men to present to God the incense
of sacrifice, if not the conviction that the rest of man
kind, that is to say the mass, the generality are not
worthy to approach Him, consequently ith&t humanity
is fallen. The priest is an exceptional man; rftaSj then,
regarded as man, is too corrupt to enter into oifect
communication with the Divinity. The priesthoodls
a confession of the fall made by man, while the flec
tion of a peculiar people proclaims it in the name of
God. The priesthood had also its prophetic sidei did
it not speak of a possibility of man's finding JWs God
again ? Would he have attempted a mediation if he
had had no glimpse of pardon ? The prists were like
the first fruits of humanity, reseryadir^ri the sanctuary
against the day when it jhgsdJS'frrter there as a whole
through Jesus Christ. ( TLnus God, by the election of
His people, sanctioned a fact which was universal as
conscience. He accepted this fact, or rather He Him
self first produced vi\ by the disposition which He in
spired in the heart of Van, and He took it under His
immediate direction, that by cultivation He might cause
it to bring forth, salutary fruits. Let us no longer, then,
be scandalize4 at this election, as if it had interrupted
the development of humanity. Before it was revealed
from heaven^ it was partially realized by the priesthood.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 49
Israel is a priest nation. As no one accuses the ancient
priests of having been opposed to the general interest,
but sees in them, on the contrary, a valuable institu
tion for each nation, so should we recognize in the
priesthood of Israel a salutary institution for all man
kind. Moreover, brethren, to whom was it owing that one
particular nation was chosen ? Must it not be attri
buted to other nations, and their frightful state of cor
ruption ? Have we not seen them so deeply degraded
that they bowed before the material objects they
had deified ? Idolatry was one of the essential causes
of the election of Israel. The worship of false gods
spread with fearful rapidity. It speedily attained its
lowest depths of infamy. Without doubt God did
not wish to abandon these idolatrous nations, and we
shall point out even in their history the traces of a
general work of preparation ; but it was not the less
necessary that a barrier should be set up against the
impure torrent of paganism. It was necessary that the
true faith should reserve some place for itself, and that
there should be a nation placed under God's direction
to receive His revelation, and to guard the depot of the
promises till the day of their realization. Israel, to
employ the figure of the prophets, was like an enclo
sure, planted by the divine hand, and secured by a close
hedge from the attacks of wild beasts,, which well
represent the gross and impure religions of the old
world. If it was thus protected ; if God even built a
tower and a wall to guard it, it was because there the
divine germ was being cultivated, which was to pro
duce the salvation of humanity. We shall see in our
next discourse how this germ reached its maturity, and

50 Preparation for ths Coming of Jesus Christ.
how the desire of the Saviour gradually attained to its
greatest intensity.
The election of the people of God had then for its
object the good of all the families of the earth ; such
is the thought which springs from the last part of this
discourse. May it remain graven on your hearts ! It
not only justifies the love of God, but also teaches us
to look upon our privileges in a christian spirit. Our
privileges, like those of the Jews, are a ministry of
love for poor sinners ; they invest us with a mission of
charity ; the more numerous they are the grander is
our mission. We mistake their nature when we regard
them as designed for our own profit ; we are not the
reservoir but the channel of God's grace. Woe to us
if we seek to arrest its course ! Woe to us if we trans
form into selfish enjoyment the happiness of Christians!
There have been those who, not contented with taking
in an exclusive sense the election of the people of Israel,
have spoken in a no less narrow way of the existing privi
leges of the people of God. To listen to them onewould
imagine that their best consolation consisted in their
small number : — a little nation, a little flock — such are
their favourite expressions. They resign themselves with
deplorable facility to the idea that humanity, as a whole,
should be lost ; they feel no interest in its destiny ;
they only see in history a vast display of the infer
nal power, a bringing about of condemnation. As to
them they find in the view of those terrible approach
ing judgments, which shall in no way personally con
cern themselves, an undisguised satisfaction. This
tendency to exclusiveness, which has always been for
the most part foreign to Christians, belongs, if you
like, to Judaism — but to Judaism such as it shewed
itself in the days of Saint Paul, proud and narrow,

Preparations for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 51
openly attached to its privileges as to a monopoly. It
is not primitive Judaism — Judaism after God, by which
all the families of the earth were to be blessed ; it is
least of all Christianity. Let us put far away from us
this narrowness which libels the love of God ! Let us
acknowledge indeed, that many are called but few
chosen — few responding to the call ; but let us acknow
ledge it with tears. Let us have a tender sympathy
for humanity. Humanity! I love that word. It cor
responds to the greatness of the divine compassion. It
was for humanity that Christ died ; His blood was
shed for all. " Our Saviour," says Saint Paul, "will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the know
ledge of the truth."1 Let every gift that we have
received, pass from our own heart into others. Let
us receive in order to give. To give is to receive still,
for the more faith communicates itself the more is it
nourished. Everything around us protests against the
narrowing of divine love. We have shewn you that
the outer world, the ordinary facts of our life, the con
trasts which strike us in every soul, and especially the
great universal voice of conscience, convey to every
human creature a call to conversion. Let us not, then,
treat any as strangers. Let us say that the Spirit of
God breathes upon all, and that the work of prepara
tion is rough-hewn in each one. Let us bring the
gospel to our brethren, as it has been brought to us,
with love, with sympathy. Let us shew them, that
this Christ, whom we possess, is in reality the desired
of their hearts ; let our peaceful and joyous faith
prove better than our words, that there is a sovereign
satisfaction to be found in Jesus of Nazareth for the
deepest aspirations of the heart and conscience. Then,
1 1 Tim. ii. 4.

52 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
brethren, shall we realize the will of God manifested
by our election, and so admirably expressed in the
words spoken to Abraham: — " I will bless thee, and
thou shalt be a blessing." Blessed by the Eternal
may we all become blessings to the families of the
earth, and lovingly labour in the work of redeeming
love !

III.
THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF
JESUS CHRIST.

§i$tOKT8£ fjf.
JUDAISM.
" Salvation is of the Jews." — John iv. n.
We proved to you in our last discourse that the elec
tion of a peculiar people of God, contributed to the
accomplishing of the first promise contained in these
words : — " The seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent's head." We have now to shew you, in the
history and the institutions of the chosen nation, the
development of the work of preparation. Our text pos
itively declares that salvation is of the Jews. The
circumstances under which these words were spoken
indicate their importance. The Saviour was convers
ing with a Samaritan woman, and she had put to Him
the grand question for herself and for her people : —
Which are right, the Jews or the Samaritans, in their
respective pretensions of having the true worship ap
proved of God ? Is it on this mountain or at Jerusalem
that men ought to worship ? The Lord now proclaims
aloud that the approved worship is that celebrated at
Jerusalem. He announces, indeed, the coming of the

54 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
blessed time, when all local and national worship shall
be superseded by the worship m spirit and in truth ;
but as concerning the past He gives His verdict fully
for the Jews. " Salvation," he says, " is of the Jews."
That which He asserts of the Samaritan worship, He
would have asserted equally of any other outside of
Judaism. Thus the mission of the chosen people ap
pears before us in all its grandeur. It was essentially
temporary, as is proved by this prediction of worship
in spirit and in truth ; but it was a magnificent mission.
We, who do not admit that other nations were abso
lutely abandoned by God, but recognize His hand in
their history, are not the less convinced that the work
of preparation was directly accomplished only in Juda
ism. We say with Saint Paul : " What advantage
hath the Jew ? Much every way : chiefly because that
unto him were committed the oracles of God."1
These oracles have sounded from Jewish lips ; the
prophets and the saints have belonged to the chosen
nation. God has spoken through it, and it has been
permitted to speak to God in the name of penitent
humanity, and to call for the coming of the Saviour.
The voice of heaven promising salvation, and the
voice of earth praying for pardon, have met on its
sacred soil. In its seed humanity and divinity were
united; in one of its towns it was said, " Unto us is
born a Saviour." The patriarchs, the believers, the
kings, the men of God in all times, have been the
ancestors of Christ in a moral as well as in a natural
sense. It is this which gives its beauty to that gene
alogy of the Saviour which the Gospels give us with
so much care. You have perhaps only seen in it a
dry enumeration ; but to those who read it with a
1 Rom. iii. 4, 2.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 55
profound insight into the history of God's people,
each of these names appears a bright link in the long
chain of revelations that were to end in Jesus Christ.
No ; we will not diminish thy glory, people of Abra
ham, of Moses, of David, and of Isaiah ! If we can
not entertain for thee chimerical hopes, that lower and
materialise thy true mission, we declare aloud, that
no other nation has had a vocation such as thine.
Cast down, despised, like all the elect of God, thou
didst bear in the old world the reproach of Christ.
Other nations may have shone more brilliantly in his
tory. Thou hadst not the artistic prestige nor the
science of Greece, which remains the great enchantress
of our minds. But it was better to be an earthen
vessel in which, to use the apostle's words, the trea
sure of the knowledge of God was deposited, than a
vessel of gold in which error and corruption should be
contained. To all the contempt of the learned,
ancient or modern, thou mayest reply in the words of
Christ to the woman of Sychar : Salvation is of the
Jews. Let us develop, my brethren, this important
truth ; and may I, by the considerations which I shall
present to you, render the study of the Old Testa
ment more useful and more edifying ! You have
undoubtedly experienced sweet and solemn impressions
in reading its most striking facts and its most touching
pages. You have imbibed that grand and divine
poetry which is lavishly scattered therein. But we
should be edified, not by the details alone, but by
the book regarded as a whole. The relation of
each portion of the Old Testament to the one'
final end of the economy being perceived, light will
be reflected on many obscure points, and that which
had been previously read in a fragmentary manner

56 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
will now assume a new interest. I shall suppose the
history of the Jewish people to be known by you in
its principal features, and shall merely now remind
you of them, devoting myself entirely to giving you a
guiding thread for the multiplicity of facts and of
divine oracles.
We know what was comprised in the work of pre
paration. It tended to develop the desire of the
Saviour. It led man to weep over his condemnation,
and to look for the promised Comforter. It had no
other object than the developing of those two feelings
which produce the desire of salvation — the sorrow, the
conscious bitterness of sin, and the hope of forgiveness.
We need not repeat what we have said of the election
of the people of God. It is in their history that we
have now to show you the progress of the conviction
of sin and of the assurance of reconciliation. We
distinguish four periods in Judaism. The first is the
patriarchal period. The second is the period of forma
tion, of constitution, extending from Moses to the
kingship of David. The third is the period of full
development, rapid and transitory, like every phase
of prosperity on earth ; it reaches from the kingship of
David to the fall of Solomon. The fourth is the
period of decline, at first little observable, and broken
by gleams of the ancient glory ; this period extends
from the schism of the ten tribes to the subjection of
the Jews by the Romans, which was the completion
of their temporal ruin. We shall have to inquire of
each of these epochs what God has said to humanity
by His revelation, and what the chosen people have
replied ; for it is not enough to know how much of
the divine seed God sowed in each period ; we must
also learn how and in what measure it was received.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 57
We shall show you the desire of salvation kindled
ever more brightly in the hearts of the true Israelites
from time to time, until it burn with its full blaze
even over the ruins of the terrestrial glory of Israel,
and until the birth of Christ shall give its supreme
realization to our text : Salvation is of the Jews.
Let us now consider Judaism such as it was, while
wholly restricted to the family of the patriarchs.
Everything in their life tells of the condemnation of
man, and of the love of God. The most trifling inci
dents have a remote bearing on the great future.
Each event brings a double message from God: at
first it might seem to speak only of the present ; but
a second meaning soon comes forth concerning future
times. It appears like a divine messenger, who
before taking his leave points onwards by some sign
the eye and the thought of man. Let us contemplate
with this view the trials and the blessings common to
all the patriarchs. They were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth, possessing only the room necessary for
their burial in the cave of Machpelah. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, though owning great riches, ceased
not to dwell in tents. There was here something
more than the simple fact of the nomadic life of shep
herds of old ; there was an express direction from God.
The patriarchs traversed countries where flourishing
towns had been built, and they would have liked, no
doubt, to make for themselves a place of repose.
But they were forbidden to settle in any country,
however fertile and attractive it might be. It was a
real trial to be thus strangers everywhere — travellers
without rest. But what condition could have been
more favourable for promoting the feeling, that since
the fall this earth is only a vast place of banishment ?

58 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
Nothing could have been better adapted to convince
the patriarchs of this fact, than to lead in reality, and
in the very land of their birth, the life of an exile.
Every place was for them a strange country, even the
best known and loved, except the narrow spot where
their fathers rested and where they themselves were
to be laid. Their wandering life was like a striking
and ever fresh revelation, written not in dead letters
but in symbolic facts, of the condition of fallen man.
Thus their tents served St. Paul for a type by which
to describe our destiny here below : " We that are in
this tabernacle," said he, "do groan." How should
we not groan if in a tabernacle ! How not sigh with
regret, and with desire after a more stable life ! Cer
tainly the patriarchs did groan ; far from growing
acclimatized or slumbering in their present condition,
they sighed, as we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
after a better country. They were men of desire —
men of the future. And of this better country God
had given them the promise ; for he said to Abraham,
speaking of the land of Canaan, " I will give unto
thee the land wherein thou art a stranger."1 This
promise was renewed to all the patriarchs. Undoubt
edly it was to have an earthly accomplishment, and
had it in fact, but this was secondary. To regard it
as other than a symbol, to imagine that the eternal
possession of the land of Canaan has been secured to
the Jews, is to deny all progress in the mode of divine
revelation — to remain indefinitely on its lowest step,
on that which is nearest the earth. What interest is
there, religiously speaking, in the fact that a family
or a nation should have in prospect a fine temporal
inheritance? We grant that this promise, like all
1 Gen. xvii. 8.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 59
others, had an outer covering that was material, but
beneath this lay concealed the immortal hope of salva
tion. The thick veil was designed to render it palpa
ble to the child-man. The veil in itself is of no
value, but only what it conceals. This land of
Canaan represented to the patriarchs all that was-
good, all that was beautiful in the future. It was the
land of rest and of joy — it was for them the accom
plishment of their aspirations after a better order of
things here below. In fact, it was in their eyes
the kingdom of God re-established — salvation real
ized. And thus, strangers and pilgrims as they
were, they had but one object before them, and this
they regarded unceasingly — they strove after it with
all their strength. They were indeed men of desire. ,
There was another trial and another blessing which
marked the life of the early patriarchs 5 the trial was
the long waiting for descendants, and the blessing was
their birth. God had not only promised the possession
of Canaan to themselves, but he had said to each of
them, " I will give. this land unto thee, and to thy
seed." Those who understand the promise of Canaan,
in a temporal rather than in a spiritual sense, and are still
looking for its full accomplishment, must regard in the
same manner the promise concerning the posterity of
Abraham. They must admit equally that the impor
tant matter here was the multitude of his descendants,
who became indeed more numerous than the sand of
the sea. No Christian interpreter will consent to this
view, especially after Saint Paul has, in his epistle to
the Galatians, distinguished the spiritual' substance of
this prophecy from its temporal form. The symbolism
admitted in the latter case ought to be seen in the
former also.

60 Prsparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
The promise of a blessed posterity made to Abraham,
stands in close connection with the promise of the gar
den of Eden. The first of all the prophecies spoke of
the triumph of divine love over the power of darkness
through the seed of the woman. Every prediction
bearing on this seed of the woman, necessarily implied
the birth of a Saviour. Thus the patriarchs could not
but see in the posterity which was promised them, and
which was to be called to conquer the land of Canaan,
a realization of the promise of salvation. I know well
that at first they looked for an immediate accomplish
ment of the words of God. They expected that their
posterity should be enriched with worldly blessings,
but I doubt not that their hope, almost unconsciously to
themselves, outgrew this temporal interpretation of the
promise. As the land of Canaan represented salva
tion to their eyes in its general outline, so the poster
ity that was to establish itself therein represented to
them the Saviour, the deliverer. The temporal bless
ing enclosed the spiritual, the eternal one. The hope
of salvation became more firm. On the other hand
the trial which preceded the blessing, developed effica
ciously the feeling of human misery, not only because it
was sorrow, but also by the peculiar nature of the sorrow.
You know, my brethren, how the fulfilment of the pro
mise of posterity was delayed in the case of the first
patriarchs. Abraham, especially, who, with his wife,
had reached old age, had to hope against hope. Isaac
was bom in opposition to the laws of nature, he was
the child of miracle. Was there not in this delay a
grand symbol of the divine seed of the woman ? Was
there not an indication that this blessed descendant
would be not the fruit of human strength but of the
grace of God ? Isaac was visibly a free and miraculous

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 61
gift. When his father held him in his feeble arms, he
must have said to himself, This heir of all the promises,
this precious child for whom so high a destiny is
reserved, he is the son of my old age. He is a monu
ment of the power of God, to whom be all honour and
glory ! Thus humility would combine with the joyous
hope of salvation, and the desire of the Christ, though
vague, would still rise purified to heaven. The rite
of circumcision, instituted by God for the posterity of
Abraham, was the seal of his election. It set forth
on the one hand moral circumcision, the mortification
of the heart and will rendered necessary by the prin
ciple of rebellion which sin had brought with it ; on
the other hand it represented the favour of God to the
chosen race.
If, now, from the facts common to the life of all the
patriarchs, we pass to those which were peculiar to
each one, we shall recognize the same object pursued
by God in relation to them all. I shall only mention
the most remarkable events. The faith of Abraham
passed through a fearful trial. He was commanded by
the Lord to sacrifice his son, that Isaac on whose
head rested all his hopes. No words can describe the
conflict which must have rent his heart between the
feelings of the father and those of the saint. It was the
greatest sorrow of his life, but its richest blessing also;
for deliverance as complete as it was unexpected
arrived at length from heaven. The altar of Moriah
was a monument of the divine compassion up to
the day when, illumined with a new light through pro
phecy, and above all through the cross of Jesus, it be
came the type of the most inscrutable mystery of the
love of the Father, who gave up His only Son for a
redeeming sacrifice. The life of Isaac contains nothing

61 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
that is striking ; it seems like a partially effaced reflec
tion of that of his father. But Jacob's history is full
of the most touching interest. That which we noticed
in the earliest human families reappears in the chosen
one. The seed of the serpent is here also developed
by the side of the seed divine. Ishmael represents in
the family of Abraham this miserable portion of human
ity. Esau continues the evil line in the family of Isaac.
Esau is the gross man, given up to the time present;
the man of the world, the materialist who sacrifices for
his flesh the glorious heritage of the promises ; Jacob is
the man of desire and of the future. His greatest
trials were caused by his brother, but were partially
merited by the guilty deceit which mingled with his faith.
He was compelled to fly in sadness from the paternal
roof, twice exiled in the world, first as belonging to
the pilgrim family of the patriarchs, and then as forced
to leave his old father and his mother Rebecca. Afflic
tion follows him to the house of Laban, where he is
reduced to virtual slavery; it attends him in his anxious
flight, and in his meeting with his brother; it inflicts
on him its heaviest strokes, when he buries the wife of
his choice, and when he mourns his favourite son as
dead. But amid his trials how abundant are his con
solations. There is first the vision of Bethel, the shin
ing ladderrepresentingthe communication re-established
between earth and heaven; then the protection afforded
him in the different dangers that he encounters ; his
numerous posterity; his beloved son found again on
the steps of Egypt's throne. One fact in his life seems
to sum up its sorrows and its blessings, and to reveal
the link between them ; we mean his mysterious conflict
with the Eternal. He wrestled with tears and suppli
cations, according to the prophet Hosea. The hand

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 63
of his powerful adversary inflicted on him a severe
wound, which became the sign of his victory, for he
received immediately afterwards the name of Israel,
which means a prince with God. Thus, then, God
sent him so many trials only to bring him to that con
trition which is all powerful with Him, who has said
that He is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.
I God only wounds us that we may overcome with Him. ,
Man may be Israel, a prince of God ; but this not by*
his strength but by his weakness,- by the destruction of
his pride. The conflict and the victory of Jacob are a
grand symbol of our relation with God. The wound
of the patriarch reminded him to what a sinful race he
belonged, while his name assured him of the mercy of
God, who will be conquered by our sighs. This is
why the same patriarch, who said to Pharaoh, " Few
and evil have the days of the years of my life been,"
could, on his death-bed, breathe out his soul in a glo
rious song, depicting the high destinies of his race.
Trials and blessings had rendered his desire of salvation
more positive, and never came the breath of prophecy
from more prepared lips.
Such, then, was the patriarchal epoch. Revelation
appears in it under a fresh and childlike form, which
gives it an incomparable charm. The truth is rendered
visible and palpable by striking facts. The revelation,
is in the life of the patriarchs like an acted parable.
But the divine seed has been sown in good ground —
it has been received by humble and believing souls.
The mission of the patriarchs was accomplished. They
had appropriated the portion of revelation that was
granted them. Humanity in their persons had deve
loped the germ of salvation deposited within it by the
Spirit of God. The desire of the Saviour was more

64 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
lively at the end of this period, than it had been at its
commencement. In the following one we shall find it
marked by a still increasing growth.
This second period is that of Mosaism. Let us first
speak of its facts, and then touch upon its institutions.
The events of the history of God's people divide them
selves equally into two classes — trials and blessings.
There is ever on the one side the rod of God smiting
the sinner, to convince him more and more of his con
demnation, and, on the other, the helping hand of the
gracious and holy Father raising, consoling, restoring
to hope, the afflicted heart. The first trial of Abra
ham's descendants after they had become a great nation
was the captivity in Egypt. This remained in the
memory of the people as the very type of misfortune.
Egypt was for them a country of sorrow and of oppro
brium. The whip of the taskmaster fell heavily and
without reprieve on the poor captives, all the more
pitiable as knowing themselves called to a nobler
destiny. And yet the very excess of their affliction
was to lead them towards this destiny ; for without
the frightful persecutions, the crushing labour, the
murderous sword of Egypt, the twelve tribes would
have soon blended with the dominant race. The
children of Abraham would no longer have been
strangers and pilgrims. The cruel treatment which
they experienced raised an insurmountable barrier
between them and the race of their oppressors. And
this suffering of a whole nation beaten, mutilated,
down-trodden, repeated as it was in every family, fell
with all its weight upon each individual to subdue and
humble him before God.
The exodus from Egypt was itself attended with
many trying circumstances. How long it was expected !

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 65
What delays ! What miserable complications ! How
often did it not seem that all was lost, and that the
chains of slavery had but been riveted the more securely
by a useless attempt at escape ? What a mysterious
trial was that period of forty years passed in the burn
ing desert ! To imagine its sufferings it is enough to
remember that the chosen people more than once in
the desert regretted Egypt. The descendants of
Abraham were not merely strangers like their ances
tors, from the fact that they possessed not an inch of
ground in this world; they were absolutely away
from all the nations, lost in an immense solitude,
turning round, as it were, in a fatal circle, from which
they-could not escape, within a few days' march of the
land flowing with milk and honey, but separated from
it by the impassable distance formed by a prohibition
from God. Every murmur was chastized, each rebel
lion put down. The generation that had quitted
Egypt left its dust almost entirely to the sand of the
desert. Certainly the God of justice was speaking
with fearful severity to the proud heart of man in this
long solitary dialogue between Himself and Israel !
But, at the same time, when was His goodness more
astounding than then ? When was it manifested by
greater prodigies? Shall I speak of the deliverer
miraculously saved from the waters to be raised up at
the right moment for the help of the oppressed nation ?
He was prepared for his work, as are all God's instru
ments, in solitude, humiliation, and suffering. The
mission is not given to Moses at the court of Egypt —
there he is yet too proud— but to the Moses of the
desert, the lowly shepherd trembling at the voice of
Jehovah. Shall I speak of Egypt ten times plagued
and terrified, before it broke the bonds of Israel,— of

66 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
the waters driven back and heaped into a liquid wall
to let the fugitives pass on dry land, while they rolled
their avenging waves over Pharaoh and his army, — of
the rock changed into a refreshing spring, — of bread
from heaven falling periodically to nourish a too often
unbelieving people, — of the cloud, the visible sign of
the divine presence ? You would be weary of listen
ing to the enumeration of these constant miracles
before we had exhausted the proofs of God's paternal
goodness to Israel.
But it is especially in the conquest of Canaan that
both love and justice are displayed. You know, my
brethren, how rapid was this conquest ! Human means
were little used, it was the arm of the Eternal that
struck down the walls of Jericho and opened the pro
mised land to the chosen people. I know that their
entrance was attended by terrible and mysterious cir
cumstances, at which some have taken offence. The
extermination of the Canaanitish nations chills us with
horror, even at the distance of so many centuries. But
we must not forget into what depths of wickedness
these evil nations had fallen. Israel was, as it were,
the sword of divine justice. This extermination was a
grand national punishment, and since we do not ques
tion the right of God to inflict such punishments, we
must regard the destruction of these idolatrous nations
as we regard the deluge. God made use of the sword
of Israel as formerly of the overflowing torrents and
the waters of heaven. Besides, it was necessary that
under the ancient covenant His justice should alarm
mankind. The terrible Jehovah alone could humble
them in the dust and make them sigh for pardon.
This was an indispensable part of the work of prepara
tion. Do you comprehend, my brethren, the mingled

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 6y
impression that was produced on the hearts of the
chosen people by the manifestation of the wrath of the
Most High, of which they were the instruments, and
by the continual revelation of His love in that beautiful
land which was its most precious bestowment ? This
mingled impression, was it not precisely a desire for
the Redeemer, for the divine Joshua of the future, an
aspiration after the full possession of that salvation of
which Canaan was the magnificent symbol ?
The design of God presents itself to us still more
clearly in the institutions given by Moses in His name
to the chosen people. They were admirably contrived
for awakening and increasing that holy desire which
was the soul of the ancient covenant. They enveloped
the life of the Jew as with a close net-work, which
surrounded him everywhere, in the sanctuary as in his
home, on common days and on solemn festivals. You
have no doubt been astonished at the minute details
into which the inspired legislator of Israel entered.
They have appeared to you unworthy of God. But
it would argue a very slight knowledge of human
nature to trust entirely to great institutions to rule and
penetrate it. It would be to forget the infinite re
sources of our frivolity. In order that a truth may
act efficiently on us, it must mingle in our entire life,
we must be reminded of it by everything — it must be
like the sea which undermines the rock by the con
stant action of its thousand little waves. Details mat
ter more than generalities, however grand these may
be. What are these minutiae after all but the adap
tation to each moment, to every circumstance of life,
of the sublime truth which is at the foundation of the
institutions given by God? This truth in its gene
rality is like an ingot, useless till coined into little

68 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
pieces of money. Let us bless God, then, for the
minute care with which He regulated everything in
the life and worship of His people. We do not wish
to justify the exaggeration of those who are always
seeking for types, and pretend to read the Gospel in
the vestments of the high priest, in the smallest
details of the ark, and the most trifling directions of
the ceremonial law. This is to transform the inter
pretation of Scripture into a puerile sport, a kind of
guessing of enigmas, which amuses the mind while
withering the heart. We only seek in Mosaism the
grand features of the work of preparation, the great
outlines of prophecy. These we discover everywhere,
but nothing more. We must beware that under pre
text of taking off the veil from Moses, we do not put
on one still more obscuring. Of what use, besides,
is the multiplying and refining of types ? Assuredly
the Jews did not understand them ; they were not
designed for their benefit. As to ourselves, we have
what is better than figures ; we have the realities of
the Gospel. This mania for types has greatly injured
the preaching of the fulness of Christ. It has ex
hausted the forces of great minds in barren subtleties.
In our own day it has spoiled more than one work
adapted for edification. Instead of allowing the sweet
ness of that word which the Psalmist compares to
delicious honey to flow into the soul, we are called on
to number the colours in each ray of light, and to
discuss their combination.
Having made these few remarks, let us now consider
the institutions given by God to the chosen people. If
we look at them closely, we shall recognize in all the
same thought that has struck us in the fact of the
election of a nation.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 69
These institutions may be characterized by several
general features. The chosen people constituted a
theocracy, that is to say, they were under the imme
diate direction and government of God. In the laws
which He gave them we find constantly the same prin
ciple ; a distinction between the profane and the
sacred. The chosen nation was separated from all
others as a holy people ; within this nation the tribe
of Levi was distinguished from the other tribes. The
life of the people was divided into days of rest and
days of labour. ' A holy place was set apart in the
land wherein they dwelt. The animals were formed
into two classes — the pure and the impure. In the
same way as Israel was set apart by God, so in Israel
the priests were distinguished : in the ordinary life
the Sabbath and the festivals were divided from other
days ; in the land of Judea the sanctuary at Jerusalem
was the only consecrated place ; and certain animals
alone were regarded as clean. Nothing better charac
terizes Judaism than this setting apart. It is found
in it as a whole, and in its details it appears again and
again in one sphere after another, and in a series of
concentric circles. From the national life it passes
into that of the individual. We must endeavour to
explain this remarkable fact in its relation to the work
of preparation.
We have already, indeed, given the solution when
speaking of the election of the people of God, for the
thought that presided over this election lives again in
each of the institutions of Israel ; and we have
shewn how it contributed to develop the desire of
salvation. It proclaimed, on the one hand, the fall —
the perdition of human nature. Humanity was shewn

70 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
to be lost indeed, since it was necessary to be separated
from it by God before entering into relation with Him
self. On the other hand, the possibility of a return to
favour was declared, since God deigned to accept a
human mediation, imperfect but prophetic. No man
can approach the holy God except by special grace,
to which no claim can be presented, and what renders
the fact certain is that this grace has an exceptional
character. This exceptional character is very import
ant. The exception confirms the rule, i.e., the general
ruin of humanity, at the same time that it announces
recovery by shewing it to be possible. We discover,
then, the same character in the divers institutions of
Mosaism. It was not enough that the chosen people
should be as a whole separated from other nations.
The human heart is so fertile in illusions that they
would soon have forgotten the profound reason of this
separation- — this exception. They would have for
gotten the corruption of human nature. Thus the
separation was made to re-appear within themselves.
Hence the choice of a sacerdotal tribe ; hence the
priesthood which, to employ a figure borrowed from
the sciences, is Judaism at the second power. The
priesthood fulfils the same mission to the nation which
the nation fulfils to humanity ; it recalls the misery,
the unworthiness of man, and also the goodness of God,
who prepares for him a means of reconciliation with
Himself. Even this is not enough, human nature is
not only in a general sense corrupt, but also in its
various manifestations. The life of man is an impure
life. He must be made to feel that he has become
incapable of approaching God, — that the habitual
course of his life flows at a distance from Him, and
that an extraordinary grace is necessary before he can

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 7 1
present himself before God. Hence the distinction
between holy and common days. The Sabbath, the
festival, the sacred day tells of the habitual corruption
of human life, and of the condescension of God, who
deigns to furnish man with an opportunity of shaking
off that corruption for a time. Even this is not
enough; man must feel that the ground which he
treads is accursed, that acceptable worship cannot be
offered on every part of it. Hence the distinction
between sacred places and those which are not
so. Hence the building of a sanctuary that should
be a monument at once of the fall and of forgiveness
— of the fall in that it was required, of forgiveness in
that God approved it. Again, man must feel that the
curse which has overtaken the earth has affected all
that it contains. Hence the distinction between
animals clean and unclean, and all those laws of puri
fication which proclaimed at once the universality of
the stain, and the possibility of its removal. Thus,
brethren, this double word of condemnation and of love
which we have heard in the outer and in the inner
world, and which is echoed by the prayer of man
calling for his Saviour, sounds not less clearly from
all the different institutions of Mosaism. They
repeat it from one to the other : " Thou hast sinned,"
say they in one voice to man ; " thy race is con
demned. This is why there is a priest-nation : this
is why there are priests within that ¦ nation. Thy life
is corrupted at its source ; this is why there must be
exceptional days for thy worship. The earth itself
is included in the condemnation : this is why thou
needest a sanctuary. All that surrounds thee is
infected by the principle of evil : this is why
thou requirest constant purifications." The priest-

72 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
hood, the Sabbath, the tabernacle, the ceremonial
laws, there is not one of these institutions that does
not tend to develop the conviction of sin and the
hope of reconciliation, in other words, the desire of
salvation. I have not mentioned one institution which occupies
a most important place in Mosaism, because I have
already referred to it and described its character when
treating of the first family of mankind — I mean
sacrifice. You know how great a part it played in
the life of every Israelite. Moses gave the most
minute directions for the numerous occasions of offer
ing victims to the Lord. Sacrifice was for sin, because
of sin ; it revealed its enormity and announced repara
tion. In every lamb that was slain man confessed his
guilt, and God promised pardon. I need not insist
upon a truth so evident.
But there are two great facts in Judaism to which
we ought to call your attention, because they afford a
striking justification of our views. These two facts are
as it were rne pillars of the ancient economy ; I refer
to the law and to prophecy. Each of these answers
to one of the feelings that constitute the desire of
salvation, — the law to the conviction of condemnation,
and prophecy to the hope of pardon. We have on
our side the most decisive interpretation, that of the
Apostle Paul. The Law of Sinai was,- according to
him, a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, that is to
say, a severe governor preparing them for the rule of
the gentle Master. How does it do this ? By render
ing sin exceeding sinful, says the same apostle, that is,
by compelling it to manifest itself clearly in the full
light of day. Sin loves the darkness, it loves to
spread through all our feelings like a subtle, intangible

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 7$
poison, it dreads the light like the serpent by which
it is personified, it crawls on the ground esteeming
itself the more secure as it is better hidden. Well,
the law of God tears away its deceitful veil. It can
no longer dissimulate, for the law reveals true holiness
to man. It sets him in the presence of God. It casts
a pitiless light on his heart, forcing him to acknow
ledge its corruption. It places before his eyes the pure
mirror of the divine perfections, and he is compelled
with horror to perceive and to curse his own impurity.
Thus does sin become exceeding sinful. This is not
all. The law awakens in man the desire to realize
that moral ideal which his conscience approves. But
the commandment of the ancient law brings light with
out heat. Man necessarily fails in his attempts, and
there remains to him nothing but the persuasion of
his incurable weakness. The law is ever the daughter
of Sinai, the mount of divine anger. It was promul
gated amidst lightnings before a people struck down
with terror, and it sounds unceasingly over the head of
man like a thunderbolt ready to burst, the awful
threatening, Do this or thou shalt die. Thus has
it a triple mission, to reveal the holiness of God, and
by contrast the corruption of man, to bring his weak
ness to the proof, and to terrify him with the thought
of the divine wrath. It presents to him the justice of
God apart from His love, not only in the domain of
religious but also of civil life. The law of retalia
tion, " An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,"
realized first in the relations of man with God passes
into his different social connections. The law of
Sinai, to employ a Scriptural figure, bears in its hand
the sword of the Eternal, and transfixes man with it
first in one part and then in another, to tear him from

74 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
the dreams of pride, and to make him fall down
crushed and annihilated at the feet of his Lord, cry
ing out, I am but a poor sinner — have pity!
And already God had pity. Prophecy saved man
from sinking in despair. Like the angel that collects
our sighs and our prayers it received the tears and
the groans which the law drew forth from man, and
changed them into prayers. The law cast him down
in the dust wounded and bleeding. Prophecy raised
him up and poured into his wounds the oil and wine
of celestial love. It told him of deliverance, painting
for him beforehand, in mystic pictures, the triumphs of
the power of mercy. We shall form but an incom
plete idea of prophecy if we discover it only in the
oracles of the prophets. It circulates through Judaism,
it appears in every institution, and in every event.
Mosaism, as a whole, was a figure of that which was
to come. Thus, even had the prophets not existed, the
voice of prophecy would have been heard without
ceasing. It spoke even in silence, by the worship, the
altar, the blood of the victims that were offered.
Let us not divide the law from prophecy, but
dwell upon their double ministry simultaneously
exercised. The law said- to man, God is a jealous
God. Woe ! woe to the wicked ! His indignation
is like the great waters. Rebels and sinners shall be
punished together, and those who have forsaken the
Eternal shall be consumed. Ah ! I will be satisfied,
hath He said, in the punishment of my adversaries — I
will be avenged on mine enemies. Prophecy immedi
ately took up the word, and said, Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. The law
cried, Desolation! desolation! Prophecy overpowered
its voice with the words, The desert shall blossom as the

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 79
rose. Take courage — behold your God ! The eyes
of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. Thus the law and prophecy
marched side by side, the one thundering and terrify
ing, the other consoling and strengthening! Man
between the two, at once humbled and encouraged,
advanced along a devastated path towards a brilliant
end, projecting himself onwards with his whole soul
from a present that was overshadowed by the law
towards a future that was illumined by prophecy.
The law and prophecy rendered the Mosaic institu
tions complete. We have already seen how transitory
they were. The law in its Jewish form was to be
abolished at the very time that it was fulfilled, — Old
Testament prophecy was to retire before the coming
of the Saviour, as a figure before the reality. The
distinction between the sacred and the profane was
also to fade away when the redemption should have
been accomplished, and man be replaced in his
primitive condition. Priests, Sabbath, sanctuary, the
distinction among animals, all these institutions, linked
together by the same thought, were destined to dis
appear like Judaism itself with which they were indis-
solubly bound up. To transport them into Christi
anity is to deny the difference between the preparation
and the realization of salvation. Happy would it have
been for us if certain grievously mistaken persons had
not incited some pious Christians carefully to collect
the relics of the old covenant and introduce them
into the spiritual temple, not adding thereby either to
its beauty or its solidity. Let us leave the Mosaic insti
tutions to their true destination, which is indeed suffi
ciently glorious.
If you desire to have not an abstract idea but a

76 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
kind of intuition of the influence which these institu
tions were calculated to exert, follow me into the holy
city at the time when Mosaism had attained its full
development. Let us imagine the life of a pious
Israelite at this period. He knows that he belongs to
an elect people, and that he is surrounded by idolatrous
nations, with whom he must avoid all contact. " Take
heed to thyself," God has said, " lest thou make a
covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou
goest." He remembers how these nations were
exterminated in the days of his fathers, and he reminds
himself with trembling that his God is a holy God
who hates evil. He recognizes his absolute depen
dence on this jealous God by the gifts and offerings
which he lays on His altar. His misery and unworthi-
ness are recalled to him by the sight of that descendant
of Aaron who presides alone over the worship. He
cannot sit down at his own table even for a festival of
rejoicing, but the idea of the universal corruption
recurs to his mind from the care which he must take not
to touch the flesh of any unclean animal. If he walk
in the streets of his city he is compelled to avoid all
profane contact. The feast days are full of the same
teaching. The Sabbath, the new moon, the seventh
month, the seventh year, recall to him that time of
innocence when the whole of life was devoted to the
peaceful service of God, as alas ! it is not now, since
. it has become necessary to set apart special times for
worship. The passover revives his recollection of the
deliverance from Egypt. The mystic lamb leads him
to anticipate another redemption a thousandfold greater.
Pentecost carries him back to the day when the law
was spoken. Sinai rises again before him, and he
smites upon his breast. The feast of tabernacles

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 77
reminds him of the sojourn in the desert, when Israel
like his ancestors lived in tents. Blessings as well as
chastisements live again in his memory. But who can
fully describe what he experiences when he witnesses
the offering that is made morning and evening for the
people, — above all, when he himself presents a sacrifice
for his sins ! He lays his hands on the lamb or the
bull that he may make it his representative. Before
its immolation he was sinking under the burden of his
sin ; his heart is relieved now that the blood has flowed.
Can you think that this arises merely from the death
of the victim ? Is there not a divine voice, a voice of
prophecy, and an inward voice also, which enables
him to read in the shed blood a promise of complete
atonement ! He returns to his house with more of
hope, but also with a more ardent desire for forgive
ness, and a more fervent aspiration after the Lamb of
God, who shall take away the sins of the world.
There was one day in the year which was in a special
sense devoted to sacrifice. This was the day of atone
ment. Conceive for yourself that solemn scene, and
the impression which it would make upon every pious
Israelite. The high priest begins by offering a sacri
fice for himself and his family. Then he kills a he-
goat for the sins of the people, and purifies the whole
sanctuary by the sprinkling of its blood. What, then!
would the believing Jew exclaim, has that which is
most pure, most holy on all the earth need of purifica
tion in the eyes of God ! O race condemned, race
impure, humble thyself in the dust ! The high priest
remained during this sacrifice alone in the sanctuary,
and not only did he touch the horns of the altar with
the blood, but he even entered within the veil into
the holy of holies. What a moment was that !

78 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
This veil, only lifted on that day and for that man,
when will it be raised for me? When shall I be
satisfied with the glory of Thy likeness, O my God ?
What pious heart but must have burned in that
solemn hour to enter within the veil ! But all is not
over. The high priest has taken the goat and laid on
it, by the imposition of his hands, the sins of all the
people, and now he sends it away to the desert, as if
to declare that iniquity should be one day altogether
borne away from the condemned race. Oh! when
will dawn that day of real forgiveness ? When shall
we re-enter our dwellings freed from this dreadful and
overwhelming burden of our sins ? O Thou who art
to come, divine seed of the woman, Messiah, Deliverer,
Saviour, come quickly ! Thus there went up from
the sanctuary at the time of the solemn feasts, as day
by day from the home of the humblest child of Israel,
that sigh for the Saviour which it was the mission of
all these Mosaic institutions to inspire.
We have dwelt thus long on Mosaism, my brethren,
because it was essential to our design that it should be
well understood by you. We shall pass more rapidly
over the remaining epochs of the history of Israel.
The period of the full development of the chosen
nation was short as it was brilliant. After the con
quest of the promised land came the troublous times
of the judges, so fertile in disasters and in deliverances.
The moral fluctuations of the people, who alternated
between the worship of the true God and idolatry,
were attended by corresponding changes in their des
tiny. When they abandoned God they were forsaken
by Him, and then came chastisements. When they
humbled themselves under His rod, a deliverer was
raised up, a type of the future Redeemer, who should

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 79
come in a time of deepest humiliation. The figure of
Samuel, who was in a special sense the Seer, shines
with a mild light during this gloomy period. It was
he who anointed the first king of Israel. Until then
the invisible king had sufficed. External royalty was
the fruit of unbelief; but God, bringing good out of
evil, made the king an august type of the promised
Messiah. Prophecy gained another trait by which
to depict beforehand the image of the Saviour. The
king after God's own heart was David. He was taken
from the desert like all God's greatest servants, and
often sent thither again during that time of probation
which preceded his* actual kingship. Afflictions
seemed as it were interlaced with blessings in his life,
which was at once so human and so pious. The reign
of David, and of Solomon his son, carried the glory of
Judaism to its culminating point. After their days it
began to decline, though spiritually it still lasted ; for
we may well comprehend within the period of the full
development of the ancient covenant, the epoch of the
four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and
Ezekiel. Let us inquire into the results of this period
as regards the work of preparation. It is characterized
especially by the magnificent putting forth .of prophecy,
as that which preceded it had been by the display of
the severities of the law.
We must not suppose, however, that in the era
signalized by the appearance of the great prophets, the
law Was silent. It is a false and exclusive notion to
represent the prophet's mission as consisting simply in
the revealing of the future. He was a man of the
law as well as of the promise. The Hebrew word by
which he is called signifies primarily minister, witness
for God. It was not only said to him : " Comfort ye,

80 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
comfort ye, my people;" but also: "Announce to
them my wrath." Who ever uttered more terrible
anathemas against sinners than the prophets ? Who
painted the iniquity of Israel in more fearful colours ?
To employ their own metaphor, they write the sin of
Judah with a pen of iron and with the point of a
diamond.1 They engrave it upon the table of their
heart and on the horns of their altars. If they call on
heaven and earth to keep silence, it is that they may
tell of the ingratitude of Israel. The Eternal has put
into their hand, which is that of the law, the cup of
His anger, and they cause all the nations to drink of
it, Jerusalem first, and the cities of Judah with the
kings and princes thereof, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and all the mingled people of Arabia, Edom, Moab,
Tyre, Sidon, and all the kings of the North.2
But at the same time that they prophesy against the
sinner by the commandment of God, they also announce
the miracles of divine love. They complete the pic
ture of the expected future, representing it in colours
so true that they sometimes seem rather to be relating
past events than foretelling those which were to come.
Let us take up the predictions concerning the Messiah
where we left them. We heard them last from the
lips of Jacob. We know even from the promise given
in Eden that the Saviour was to be the Son of man.
We have learned to what family He should belong,
i. e., to that of Judah. In the family of Judah, He was
to be a son of D avid. But prophecy is not contented with
indicating His genealogy : it also describes His mission.
The earliest oracles preserved a grand generality. They
told only of a triumph over evil, of a blessing that should
come upon all the nations of the earth. With Moses the
1 Jer. xvii. i. * Jer. xxv.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 8 1
prophets take a step farther. "The Lord thy God,"
said he to the people of Israel, " will raise up unto
thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken."1 We
have here not merely the deliverer but also the pro
phet, the witness for God, the revealer. With David,
prophecy becomes still more precise. It is not the
prophet only, but also the king! "I have set my
king," said God, " upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou
art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of
me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inherit
ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy pos
session."2 Soon afterwards we find not only the pro
phet and the king, but also the sacrifice. "He shall
grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground : He hath no form nor comeli
ness : He is despised and rejected of men ; a man of ¦
sorrows : He hath borne our griefs : He was wounded
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniqui
ties. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; but when
His soul shall make an offering for sin, He shall see
His seed, He shall prolong His days. He shall see of
the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. My
righteous servant shall justify many."3 Triumph
through suffering, salvation springing from the death
of the Just One, — it is in this thought that the gospel
and the earliest promise meet ; it is the serpent
crushed by the heel that he had bruised.
Here, then, my brethren, let us stay for a moment,
to consider in what form prophecy is as it were enve
loped. It is very important that we should have cor
rect ideas on this subject, lest we should materialize
the oracles of God. The form is essentially symbolic.
¦ Deut. xviii. 15. 2 Ps. ii. 6-8. ' Isa. liii.

82 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
The prophet paints the future through the features of
the present, with colours and figures furnished by the
country and the period in which he is placed. This
is the only way in which he could make himself under
stood. The customs of his nation, the facts most
generally known, compose for him a rich and glowing
language in which to reproduce the revelations that he
has received. A literal interpretation of prophecy is
therefore senseless, since it confounds the sign with
the thing signified, words with ideas, the vesture with
the body. Again, the prophet generally speaks of
events near and immediate, but the prophetic spirit
runs in a sense through all his words, and these events
become the type of others infinitely more important in
their bearing. Jesus Christ, in the ruin of Jerusalem,
describes the end of the world, the two predictions
being, as it were, interlaced with each other. The
establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth was
announced to the Israelites under the figure of the
conquest of Canaan. The prophets of the period at
which we have arrived represent the destinies of God's
kingdom in the future under the figure of the Jewish
theocracy. Sion, its temple, its worship, its history,
furnish them with the most admirable symbols. To
understand their descriptions literally, would be to
transport the prose of our cold West into the brilliant
and poetic East. When the prophets speak of the
Messiah they do so symbolically. We doubt not that
the Psalms which relate to Him, applied in an inferior
sense to David or Solomon, or to the Israelitish kings
in general; but as the Messiah was to be the one
real king of Israel the predictions applied also in a
higher sense to Him. The whole of Judaism points
to Christ and prophesies of Him. Present facts never

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 83
exhaust this latent prophecy — all relates definitively to
Him. This very simple idea is of a nature to dissi
pate many forced interpretations which, in order to
make certain passages in the New Testament corre
spond to others in the Old, do violence to the text.
The positive predictions which relate exclusively to the
Messiah have always a typical veil ; they are some
times spoken of David, sometimes of Cyrus. It is the
same with the oracles which concern the development
of the work of salvation — the return from captivity
prefigures, as did formerly the conquest of Canaan, the
consolation and triumph of the people of God. They
are naturally called Israel by the prophet, — later they
will be called the Church. This beautiful name is not
for ever to belong exclusively to the descendants of
Abraham. The prophets themselves, when announcing
the effusion of the spirit, predict that the time shall
come when " all the ends of the world shall remember
and turn unto the Lord ; and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before Him."1 A new people
shall spring up to be a witness of this grand spectacle.
As to the predictions regarding the distant future of
the Church, we leave them on one side, for they do
not belong to our subject, although we are deeply con
vinced that the same method of interpretation ought
to be applied to them. Let us only add that this
spiritualistic interpretation in no way prevents our
admitting that the kingdom of God will triumph even
over the external world ; for us, as for others, the new
heavens and the new earth are a reality.
Revelation was gloriously developed in the fruitful
age of David and the four great prophets. Never
was the awful mission of the law more forcibly carried
1 Ps. xxii. 27.

84 Preparation for .the Coming of Jesus Christ.
out; never was the hope of pardon aroused by
clearer oracles of prophecy. It remains for us
to inquire whether this double word of God was
heard and received by men ; in other words, whether
the object of revelation was attained. We have
in our sacred books the most beautiful and affect
ing proofs that while God spake, man, under the
influence of His Spirit, heard and understood. The
life of the saints under the old dispensation, that
humble and pious life of faith, marked by a character
of such patient submission during this lengthened
probation, was in itself a response to the appeals of
God. But there is one part of the Old Testament
which introduces us to a closer acquaintance with
these saints ; we no longer listen only to the word of
God sounding from heaven, but also hear its lively
echo in the heart of man. The oracles of the inspired
writers are as it were interrupted by the overflowings
of their believing souls. First, we have the bitter
complaining of Job, that wail of desolation in which
the afflicted of all ages have mingled their tears.
Who has ever mourned human sorrows like Job ?
Who has better sounded their depths ? " Let the
day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which
it was said, There is a man child conceived."1 Next
comes the melancholy discouraged strain of Eccle-
siastes : " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." The sad
contrasts of human life have been well .understood.
Could the conviction of sin be better expressed than
in these words : " All we like sheep have gone
astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ? "*•
You recognize here the voice of Isaiah. Listen again
to the weeping prophet seated on the smoking ruins
1 Job iii. 3. 2 Isa. liii. 6.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 85
of his Jerusalem, and speaking in the name of his
people : "I am the man that hath seen affliction.1
Mine eyes do fail with tears. Behold, O Lord ; for
I am in distress : mine heart is turned within me ; for
I have grievously rebelled." Hearken once more to
one of the later prophets, as he pours out his soul
before God : " O Lord, the great and dreadful God,
we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have
rebelled. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee,
but unto us confusion of faces. O Lord, to us belongeth
confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our
fathers, because we have sinned against Thee."2 But
this wail of mourning which passes from one inspired
mouth to another, is not the only sound that rises to
heaven. The song of hope is also lifted up. Some
times it is peaceful in its trust : "To the Lord our
God belong mercies and forgivenesses ; " at others it is
mingled still with sadness. Jeremiah, after saying,
" I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay,"
continues thus: " Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the
Lord ; for He hath delivered the soul of the poor
from the hand of evil-doers."3 Often is the strain
replete with energetic assurance : "The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him ; and with His stripes we
are healed." The sorrow and the hope which com
bine in the holy desire of salvation, have thus found
the most touching, the most sublime utterance.
But there is one book of the Old Testament in
which these are brought before us in a manner still
more striking. This book, in which the most ardent
and pious heart is fully unveiled before us, enables us
to read revelation no longer on tables of stone, but in
the impressions of a sacredly penetrated soul. Who
1 Lam. iii. I. * Dan. ix. 4 8. * Jer. xx. 9, I}.
G

86 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
has not divined that we speak of the Psalms, those
immortal prayers which, in the most solemn hours of
life, are ever on our lips as the perfect expression of
all that man can ask from God ? In the Psalms we
hear the voice of elect humanity responding to the
appeals of divine love, and recounting with emotion
all that it owes to the unwearied acting of grace.
We have witnessed the external operation of this
grace in the institutions and the history of the people
of Israel. Now we see its internal action, and behold
the blessed fruit of this work of love. In David's
soul it appears before us — in that soul, so human, so
sensitive, which discloses itself in words so tender and
so fervent, we hear the sighs and the gracious exer
cises of all the pious Israelites. It is truly the harp of
Zion. What does it say to God ? By His law and
by the severity of His justice He has sought to pro
duce in man the conviction of sin : listen, then, to this
bitter complaint of the prophet-king, and acknowledge
that the end of the Lord has been : fully attained :
" When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through
my roaring ; my moisture is turned into the drought
of summer. I acknowledge my transgressions, and
my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only,
have I sinned. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot
out all mine iniquities. Thou desirest not sacrifice ;
else would I give it : Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit."1
In this melting of the proud heart of man, in this
breaking of his spirit, we see the most complete
accomplishment of God's designs. Sacrifice is viewed
in its prophetic sense ; this first object of the old
covenant is realized. And is the second less fully
accomplished ? You know that God wished to deve-
' Ps xxxii. 3, 4; li. 3, 4, 9, 16, 17.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 87
lop the hope of forgiveness. But is not that hope
manifested by the very form of prayer which David
gives to his confession? His faith in the reconcilia
tion is so firm that he enjoys by anticipation the most
glorious results of the redeeming work: "Blessed,"
he cries, "is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. I acknowledged my sin
unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said,
I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; and
Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."1 The hope
is as firm as the repentance was earnest. Never
before was faith in salvation manifested in so intelli
gent a manner. Severe laws, minute regulations, ex
clusive priesthood, strictly kept Sabbath, bloody sacri
fices, — never more will we take offence at what has
often seemed strange in your character. Your
full justification meets our eyes in this penitent
sinner. Nor will we call the oracles of the prophets
incomprehensible, for this cry of hope reveals their
mighty effect. At the close of this period, as at that
of the preceding one, we recognize that the divine
seed has been received into the human soul. The
Saviour is nearer to the lost race, for the desire which
calls for Him is more positive and ardent. The work
of preparation has taken an immense step forwards.
And yet this was not its last ! The heart of man
is so hard that heavier trials still were needed to break
it. It has the fatal art of turning against itself the
best gifts of God. Thus did it attempt to spoil the
institutions which were designed to .prepare for the
coming of the Saviour, and which had indeed no other
object. Judaism may be compared to a vast ship
1 Ps. xxxii. I, 2, 5.

88 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
admirably constructed, with solid masts and sails
unfurled, waiting only for a favourable wind. With
out the breath of heaven the ship is useless — it is but
an inert mass. The breeze which was needed to
swell the sails of Judaism was just the desire of the
Christ. If this was wanting Judaism was like an
immovable and useless vessel, and unfortunately this is
what it tended to become. The Jews admired the
beauty of its appearance, and forgot that its only des
tination was to conduct them to the haven of salva
tion. They settled themselves in the preparatory
economy as if it had been a final one. The sail was
no longer unfurled before the wind of heaven. It
was necessary that the external glory of their institu
tions should be tarnished, that the theocracy should
be humbled and abased, in order that aspirations
towards heaven might take the place of barren satis
faction in that which was present. The humiliations
of Judaism were of two kinds. They bore first on
the political life of the nation and then on its institu
tions. The first preceded the second, and this fact it
is which has permitted us to comprehend within the
flourishing period of revelation the prophets of the
captivity. The abasement of the theocracy begins
with the reign of the son of Solomon. The schism
which destroyed the unity of the people of God by
cutting off ten branches from the sacred trunk, was
decline in its commencement. For some time the ten
separated tribes still preserved a religious connection
with the tribe of Judah, though it was often broken
by idolatry. Two great prophets, Elijah and Elisha,
were granted to them, whose oracles have not come
down to us, but we know that they were indomitable
w itnesses of the holiness of God in a dark age. Soon

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 89
however this feeble tie was dissolved. The ten tribes
were conquered and carried far away. A small remnant
alone remained, and this, mingled with a motley com
pany of heathens, formed the Samaritan nation. The
tribes of Judah and Benjamin continued the true
Israelitish tradition, but their frequent falls into idola
try brought on them the heaviest chastisements from
God. Of these the most remarkable was the cap
tivity of seventy years in Babylon. The return hence,
a sublime type of the spiritual deliverance of humanity,
seemed to inaugurate a new era of glory. Ezra and
Nehemiah remind us of the ancient leaders of Israel.
The institutions of Mosaism, which had been more
or less forgotten, now flourish again. A second
temple is erected. But the independence of the Jews
is not of long, duration. They share in the fluctu
ations of the history of Asia at the time of the dis
memberment of Alexander's empire. The heroic
sword of the Maccabees for a* moment delivers them
from the yoke of the stranger ; but very soon it falls
on them again more heavily than before. The Roman
domination encloses them in that immense chain which
bound well nigh the whole of the known world. A
procbnsul exacts respect for the eagles of Rome in
towns where David and Solomon have reigned. It is
a terrible humiliation for this people, whose patriotism
amounted to fanaticism. But their spiritual humili
ations were greater still. The visible glory of God
never appeared in the second temple. Prophecy was
hushed after the twelve minor prophets. Moral dis
sertations were heard, such as the Book of Wisdom,
but the breath of the Spirit is not in these learned
and philosophical pages. The temple existed still,
the ceremonies were regularly performed in it day by

90 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
day, a multitude surrounded it at the great festivals ;
but it was now only a magnificent monument of the
past — revelation spoke no more. How greatly hum
bled must the Jews of this sad period have felt when
comparing themselves with their ancestors ! What a
difference between the words of the doctors of the
law and the mighty voice of the prophets ! We shall
have occasion, when we come to the life of the
Saviour, to depict more minutely the condition of
Judaism at this time. We have said enough now to
indicate how low it had fallen. Ah well ! its decline
wonderfully furthered the designs of God. It brought
to perfection the work of preparation.
But forget not, my brethren, that if prophecy spoke
not anew, the great voice of the ancient prophets
resounded still in Jerusalem. The contrast between
the present condition of the Jews and the sublime
future which was promised to them was of a nature
to develop an inexpressible desire for the Redeemer.
It was impossible to rest satisfied with institutions
which had not prevented the subjugation of Judea. It
was inevitable to cast a glance beyond. It was with
the Jews then as it had been with their ancestors in
the desert, on the borders of Canaan. The lassitude
caused by the burning sky, the barren sand, the
bare and gloomy ground, impelled them to dwell by
anticipation on that happy moment when they should
enter the smiling and fertile country. We have even
in the Gospels proofs of this universal expectation. A
man no sooner appeared calling himself the Messiah,
but he was followed with the greatest eagerness.
John the Baptist — the humble and brave forerunner,
was taken for the Redeemer Himself. Art thou He
that should come ? was the question put to him on all

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 9 1
sides. These desires were undoubtedly among the
great mass of the people gross and materialistic, but
they still prove that the work of preparation was
approaching its consummation. Moreover, there were
some souls in which, as on an altar preserved from all
profane contact, there burned the pure fire of the
true desire of salvation. Marvel not that these were
few in number. The seed of the serpent is ever in
the majority here below. But these few souls were
no less certainly the true humanity — humanity after
God. Their spiritual development was the most
beautiful and perfect fruit of the work of preparation.
It shewed that elect humanity was ready to receive
the divine Son who was to bruise the head of the
enemy. And here, my brethren, we are not left
to suppositions, but have positive proofs in the
Gospels. Look at that aged man and woman in the
temple of the Lord, who were waiting for the consola
tion of Israel with confidence so firm that they knew
they should not die till their eyes had beheld the
Saviour. Read the song of Zacharias on the birth of
John the Baptist, and that of Simeon when he took
the infant Jesus in his arms, and you will confess that
never before had the desire of salvation been so
admirably expressed. There is no longer anything
that is vague, but they speak of " The salvation pre
pared before the face of all people ; — a light to
lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel."1 The
sufferings of Christ are hinted at under the symbol of
that sword which should pierce the heart of Mary.
The mother of Jesus herself supplies the most
touching proof that the preparation is completed, for
she seems to us in her dispositions of mind and heart
1 Luke ii., 3-32.

gz Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
a personification of the elect humanity that was
destined to receive the Saviour. Fear not, my
brethren, that we should fall into superstitious ideas
on this subject. We repel with indignation the
thought of worshipping the mother of Jesus. But
however strong be this indignation, we feel convinced
that it could never equal that which Mary would her
self experience could she see her image on the altar.
We firmly believe, however, that she presented to
grace a soul well prepared, and that she was so full of
the hope and the desire of salvation that she repre
sented our poor fallen race on the day when she gave
birth to the divine Child. This is why the new
dogma, proclaimed by the Bishop of Rome, strikes at
the principal foundation of Christianity. If the
mother of Jesus were not truly a daughter of man, —
if she belonged not actually to our poor fallen humanity,
then Jesus Christ did not assume human nature,
and could not be the Mediator. He is not in that
case the Son of man, but the son of some imagin
ary humanity dwelling in a cloud between earth
and heaven. There was not then that necessary
meeting between God who gives and the human soul
that receives His gifts with the joy and eagerness of
a holy desire. Mary could not have felt the desire
of salvation if she had not been a sinful creature. It
was precisely because having sinned she had wept
over her misery, and sighed for the Redeemer, that
she was chosen to give Him birth through the power
of the Holy Ghost. She was only deemed worthy
to be the mother of the Saviour because of the pro
found conviction which she had of her own unworthi-
ness. O Virgin of Nazareth, if thou wert blessed
above women, it was because thou wert the humblest

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 93
of them all! Humble was thy position; though a
daughter of the kings of thy people thou didst hide
in obscurity thy noble origin, and representedst in
thine own abasement that which was proper to thy
nation. Humble was thy soul, and the song in which
its feelings are disclosed to us is the purest and
most spiritual expression of that desire of salvation of
which thou didst represent the complete maturity:
" My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath
rejoiced in God my Saviour."1 You hear — it is of
the Saviour that she speaks ; — He is not simply in her
eyes, the king, the prophet, the sacrifice. He is all
these together, for He is the Saviour. " He hath
regarded the low estate of His handmaiden." Here
are the words of humiliation waited for during so
many ages. Let us not deprive Mary of this convic
tion of her lowness ! To bring men to such senti
ments God had not ceased to abase them at His feet.
"He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of
their hearts ; He hath put down the mighty from their
seats." Satan is vanquished — he should know it by
these words, for humanity, by the mouth of Mary,
confesses its nothingness, and mourns its rebellion.
" He hath exalted them of low degree." The low,
the little — these are God's chosen ones — and it is
because she is of this blessed number that she can
add: "He hath remembered His mercy!" Yes,
, He has indeed remembered it ; already has the angel
Gabriel announced to her the birth of herSaviour. She
confesses in the name of our fallen race her meanness
and her condemnation, and she clearly sees the mercy
of her God. The time is ripe ; nothing remains to be
added to the desire of salvation. Therefore does she
1 Luke i., 46-47.

94 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
already bear within her the divine seed promised to
humanity during so many ages.
Nothing would now be left to us, my brethren, but
to trace out for you the life of Christ, if we needed
not first to shew how God had, though in a less direct
manner, prepared man outside of Judaism to sigh after
the Deliverer. This will be the object of our next
lecture. It seems to us that the result of our present dis
course is a serious call to conversion addressed to our
souls. This immense work of preparation, which we
have endeavoured to unfold before your eyes, had as
its object salvation for each one of you. Yes, my
brother, whoever thou mayest be, though the most
miserable and the meanest of mankind, God was
thinking of your soul during the whole course of the
ancient dispensation. For it was the infinite chain of
His revelations laid down. He was preparing your
salvation in those first days under the trees of Eden,
when He promised to Adam the divine posterity
that should bruise the serpent's head, during the
patriarchal period when He conversed with Abraham,
when the angel of His presence broke bread with
him at Mamre, and when He strove with Jacob by the
brook. He was preparing it in the chosen people ;
in their deliverances and their chastisements, in the
desert as in the promised land. He was preparing it
when from the top of Sinai He revealed His terrible
law, and when He announced by the lips of Moses
the great prophet who should save His people. On
the altar of sacrifice also, in the solemn feasts, and in
those innumerable ordinances designed to impress on
the heart of Israel the meaning of his election. He
was preparing it by the oracles of His great prophets,

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 95
by the penitent tears of David, as by the ardent and
sublime hymn of Isaiah, in the glories as in the humi
liations of the theocracy, on the ruins of Jerusalem
as by the rivers of Babylon ; and in the latest and
worst of sorrows, when the stranger trod as a con
queror the sacred ground. If God, according to
Christ's saying, has wrought from the beginning of
the world, it is for thee, my brother ! His eye dis
cerned thee in thy obscurity, hidden in thy genera
tion. The salvation which He prepared was not a
collective but an individual salvation ; it was salvation
for thee. And now it is thine to determine whether
the labour of so many ages shall be useless. By
refusing to be converted thou wouldst render it so as
far as is in thy power. Thou wouldst make it abor
tive as regards thine own soul. It would be in vain
that God should have, during four thousand years,
smitten, blessed, humbled, exalted humanity. Jd my
brother, wilt thou repay with such ingratitude this
persevering love ? Wilt thou mar the plan of divine
mercy ? Wilt thou render barren . so many revela
tions, so many prophecies ? Shall it be in vain that
the arm of the Lord has been put forth with power
so vast, that His mouth has spoken in accents so
paternal ? In vain ! No, that cannot be. Others
will receive the salvation which thou refusest. It will
be with thee as with those Israelites who, after forty
years of journeying in the wilderness, fell dead on the
frontiers of Canaan. They already saw the wonder
ful land ; their feet touched its soil, but they doubted
God, and their long pilgrimage resulted only in bitter
disappointment. Since the work of preparation has
ended, we dwell on the borders of the spiritual Canaan.
Shall we fall there like the unbelieving Israelites ?

96 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
Oh ! rather let us acknowledge that the Lord has done
everything to facilitate our entrance ; let us be con
vinced by those numberless revelations which have led
us to the threshold of the true land of promise, and
let us penetrate therein in the steps of the divine
Joshua, blessing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the God of David, Isaiah, and Daniel, the God
of Simeon and of Mary, the God of the patriarchs,
prophets, and saints. And to Him be all the glory,
from age to age, of the work which He has accom
plished for us under the old as well as under the new
dispensation !

IV.
THE PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF
JESUS CHRIST.

§ is roars* $IJ.
PREPARATION IN PAGANISM.
Acts xvii. 16-34.
We have sketched in its great outlines the prepara
tion for the coming of Christ in the history of the
people of Israel. I shall now call your attention to a
subject too much neglected, — I mean the work of pre
paration in the heathen world. Here, as always, the
doctrine of the Bible is infinitely broader than the
theology of men. While representing the Jewish
people as the sole recipients of positive revelation, it
includes other nations in the vast plan of redemption,
and shews us the finger of God in their history also.
"God," says St. Paul, "hath made of one blood all
nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation." Thus the historical
development of these nations, the frame-work, even of
that development, was ordered by God ; and as every
thing works and concurs in His hand for the realiza
tion of the plan of salvation, we may be assured that

98 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
the history of the heathen nations before Christ
tended to prepare for His coming. We are never
weary of repeating that the special elections of God
are designed for the greatest good of humanity, which
is itself His great election so long as it does not
thwart the purposes of His love by the persistency of
its rebellion. It has not in the past any more than in
the present been altogether left to itself. The God
of Abraham has not ceased to be the God of Adam.
If He developed the desire of salvation in the pos
terity of the patriarchs, He developed it also, though
less directly, beyond the limits of the favoured people.
We have the most striking proof of this in the facility
with which Christianity was propagated in the pagan
world. It seemed like an incendium, which spread on
the wings of the wind when once the first flame had
burst forth, because all was ready to take fire. Three
centuries had not elapsed before the Christians could
say to the heathens : " We fill your cities, we form
your armies, we are everywhere." Who does not
see that the times were ripe ; that the furrows had
been cut out to receive eternal truth ? And unless
we suppose that they opened of themselves without
God's operation, we must recognize the action of
grace in this happy preparedness. If the persecutions
inflicted by the heathens on the Christians should be
brought forward as an objection to our view, we will
reply that the Jewish people did what was still worse ;
they put to death the Son of God himself, and yet
they were God's people. We must always consider
not the unbelieving masses, but the individuals who
have stood out from among these to receive the
appeals which God has addressed to them by divers
means.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. '99
We require, then, to determine the nature and to
trace the history of this preparation in the heathen
world, and that we may not be led astray by vain
suppositions we will ground our thoughts on the ad
mirable discourse of Paul at Athens, which compre
hends all that we need to know on this important
subject. We shall bring forward nothing that is new,
our point of view will be that of the ancient Christian
church. The fathers of the three first centuries
loudly assert that there were in heathen antiquity
many noble spirits who, unconsciously to themselves,
sighed after the great Deliverer. They collect these
sighs with care ; they invoke in their apologies the
testimony of those poets or philosophers who, in the
midst of thickest darkness, have shed forth some ray
of truth. The idea had not yet arisen of regarding
the appearance of Christianity as a fact wholly isolated
in the history of humanity. Those noble Christians
of early times were persuaded that there is a close
connection between Christ and conscience, and they
never failed to set this forth while chronicling with
incomparable energy the crimes and disgraces of pagan
ism. Tertullian fears not to cite the human soul as a
witness to the truth. He goes so far as to declare
that it is not naturally Christian, in such a sense
as to need no regeneration, but that, unless its true
nature be falsified by sophism, its spontaneous cry is a
prayer to the God of the Gospel. "Thou art not,
as far as I know," he says to the soul, " Christian by
nature ; thou art not born Christian, but must be
come so. Nevertheless Christians invoke thy testi
mony."1 Justin Martyn goes farther still. He recog-
1 Tertullian, De testimonio anim<z, *.. i.

too Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
nizes in the earnest men of pagan times a seed of
the eternal Word, undeveloped, incomplete, but still'
most precious. "Every one," he says, "by the germ
of the divine Word which is within him, sees that
part of truth which is congenial to himself."1 Clement
of Alexandria, while pointing out the inferiority of the
high culture of Greece as compared with the Hebrew
revelation, sees in it, nevertheless, because of the por
tion of truth which it contained, a gift of God.2 As
having awakened the conscience which was asleep
beneath the altars of false gods, it has been a school
master to lead unto Christ.3 It has been like a flick
ering candle, and has only to be extinguished before
the radiant sun ;4 and forget not that this large-minded
apology for Christianity was put forth by martyrs, and
that Justin who, first among the fathers, sought to
connect the Gospel with the noblest aspirations of
high Grecian culture, afterwards died for his faith.
These facts will re-assure you, proving convincingly
that these heroic defenders of Christianity made no
concession to error, and that if they sought in the im
pure ruins of sinking paganism for some fragments of
truth, it was with the holy desire of winning souls to
Christ by becoming, like St. Paul, all things to all
men. Therefore did there crowd around them, drawn
by the loadstone of genuine sympathy, united to a
solid belief, those earnest men who, eager for faith
and for consolation, had asked them in vain from the
philosophy of their time. At Alexandria a large
school of catechumens was founded, and Clement and

1 Justin, Apologia, I., p. 51 (ri <r\rfywes opZv).
s Clement, Stromata, II., 15 (5u/)fd QeoO).
3 Strom. II. 20.
* Strom. II. 63 (cos \tixvos -irpb tj\lov).

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 101
Origen were surrounded by a multitude from the most
different points of the empire. They had found at
last, in place of the frigid doctors or the puerile rhetori
cians to whom they were accustomed, men who under
stood their anxieties through having experienced them,
and who could discern in their present beliefs a basis
for the new and definitive faith. Let us beware that
we be not narrow as to doctrine and broad as to prac
tical concessions ; — that is to say, narrow for others
and broad for ourselves. It is not permitted to the
Christians of our day to accuse those of the first three
centuries of a spirit of exaggerated concession. Such
a reproach springing from halls of luxury to bring
blame on the Church which suffered and was crucified
like its Master, — such a reproach, I say, would be a
scandal. It would be chargeable with heresy ; for it
would touch the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who
first set the example to the fathers in his discourse at
Athens. It is clear, then, that our point of view is that of
the apostolic church, or that church which was in
immediate contact with the pagan world. The con
trary notion, which denies all work of preparation
outside of Judaism is new and foreign to the true
tradition of the Church, by which I understand the
tradition of the Bible. It is, then, with great freedom
that I enter on this important subject, which gives its
full breadth to the work of preparation, and conse
quently to the work of redemption. We shall have
to discover in what manner God developed the desire
of salvation among those heathen nations which have
most powerfully influenced the destinies of the world.
You will understand that we allude to the Greeks and
Romans. I shall connect all my illustrations with the
H

102 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
discourse of Paul, of which I will first offer a succinct
analysis. Taking advantage of the altar to the un
known God which he had seen in the city of Athens,
he addressed himself to that religious need which this
fact implied ; and starting from the general idea of the
Deity and of the relation sustained to Him by man,
which had already been recognized by a heathen poet,
he announced to the Athenians the true God, who
cannot be contained in a material temple, who is near
to each one of us, and who, after a time of ignorance,
had revealed truth and salvation in Jesus Christ, and
given us in Him the pledge of the resurrection. I
need not follow the apostle's every word, but only fix
your attention on what directly concerns the work of
preparation in heathendom.
But let us here make one preliminary remark, /". e.,
that historical revelation was not absolutely withheld,
from pagan nations, but is met with everywhere in its
essential features. It would seem to have been with
these universal traditions as with those remains which
the waters of the deluge have carried into so many
countries, across plains and over mountains. The tide
of primitive emigrations spread in like manner the
dogmas of the fall and of redemption, often altered
and disguised, indeed, but still recognizable in spite of
the wild growths by which they have been covered
and well nigh concealed. It is allowed that the
nations nearest to the chosen people have best pre
served these traditions which belong to all humanity.
Notwithstanding the high barriers raised between
different nationalities, all contact between them could
not be prevented. The nearer we approach to the
epoch that witnessed the Saviour's birth the more fre
quent does the contact become. The dismemberment

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 103
of the vast monarchy of Alexander even brought
together Europe and Asia. The Roman empire ren
dered the clashing or rather the mingling of ideas and
beliefs more complete, more universal. The revela
tion given to the Jews, without being correctly known,
diffused itself at least as an influence through the
moral atmosphere, and we must never forget this
method in which the oracles of God operate, for it is
very powerful though difficult of appreciation. No
one will dispute the importance of this fact. But we
must not exaggerate its weight by supposing that
there was no other trace of divine working in the
pagan world than these fragments of revelation which
had gradually entered into the circulation of the ideas
of the period. We believe that there was a more
direct preparation developing the desire of salvation,
and we are supported in our belief by St. Paul.
He, in fact, cites a very remarkable expression from
a profane author: "We are the offspring of God,"
the poet Aratus had said. The sense which the
apostle gives to these words is evidently this ; that the
kindred of the soul with its Creator existed even
among the heathen, that the relation between God
and man was still found there in some degree. We
may hence conclude that the heathen nations were
acted on by the Spirit of God, though less directly
than the chosen people. We know already in what
manner this action was exercised. To develop the
desire of salvation was the whole work of preparation.
If the pagan nations were not abandoned by God, it
follows that we shall find among them signs of a desire
for the great deliverance ; that is to say, signs of the
conviction of condemnation and of the hope of forgive
ness. I shall not repeat what was said of man in

104 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
general, when we were demonstrating that everything
both in his external and internal condition reminded
him of his fall, and spoke to him of hope. We must
think now not of man in all times and places, but of
pagans peculiarly. The question to be resolved is
this : Were there in them any signs more or less de
veloped, of a desire of salvation ? The quotation of
St. Paul itself supplies an affirmative answer ; all the
more so as, to prove this kindred and consequently
this divine action in heathen nations, he appeals to
positive proofs taken from the very life of the pagans.
He alludes to what he had seen in this same city of
Athens. He had been struck by four characteristic
facts, which bore the impress of the high destiny of
man, and also of his efforts to fulfil it completely. What
were these facts, and what their bearing ? This we
must now ask of the Apostle himself.
And, first, he had recognized, both in the public
and the private life of the pagans, incontestable traces
of the moral law, which speaks through conscience.
Corruption no doubt abounded — it overflowed every
where like an impure torrent ; but, even in the vilest
and most degraded cities, the moral sentiment was not
entirely stifled. As long as a society continues to ex
ist, one may be quite sure that there remains some
element of good in its constitution. The total absence
of the moral law would be equivalent to the annihila
tion of the society ; there would remain nothing but a
frightful and unruly struggle, without relaxation, and
without result, between self-interest and ferocious
passions. It would be like a desert inhabited by wild
beasts. There is no society without law ; and there
can be no law without the ideas of good and evil, often
most deplorably false in their applications, but proving^

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 105
nevertheless, that conscience still speaks among men.
It was enough for Paul to pass through a city such as
Athens to find in it the social bond, which, however
imperfect it might be, still constituted a moral bond —
a bond with God. But the moral sentiment manifested
itself even more forcibly in individual life. Had not a
poet of this same Athens spoken of those eternal laws
in which is a God who grows not old ; laws of im
mutable justice, against which the unjust laws of men
have to break, as against an immoveable rock .?1 Was
it not in the shade of a garden, well known at Athens,
that the most ideal of thinkers had developed the
purest and most disinterested morality ? Had he not
declared that it was a thousand times better to be the
victim of the wicked than to be the wicked in triumph ?
Had he not laid down a principle of conduct, which
seems like an echo of the Gospel : — " We should in all
things imitate God ? " If this city had been troubled by
many shameful scandals, had it not also been the wit
ness of great acts of courage and devotedness ? Was
it not in one of its prisons that Socrates, though un
justly condemned, had refused to fly for fear of being
guilty of the slightest deceit ; and had drunk the cup
of poison, as he said himself, for obeying God rather
than men ? How many other facts in antiquity had
proved that the voice of conscience was not dumb !
Such recollections as these crowded on the mind of
Paul, when he said to the Athenians, " We are the
offspring of God."
I well know the means employed for getting rid of
the virtues which the heathen world presents to us.
The famous expression is repeated : " They are but
splendid sins." If it is meant that these virtues were
1 Sophocles — (Edipus ting, v. 872

106 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
mixed with sins, we fully admit the fact ; but if it is
pretended that they had no reality, but were only an
appearance of virtue, we deny it — we deny it with
Saint Paul, who declares in his epistle to the Romans,
that the pagans shew the work of the law written in
their hearts.1 The law in their hearts is one with that
which was thundered from Sinai ; and when it mani
fests itself in their life, it fulfils the same mission. It
exhibits the gross darkness of the evil, which it lights
up as with a passing ray ; it awakens the aspiration
after the holy and the just, which is in the depths of
the human heart. It has also its prophetic side ; for
the manifestations of goodness in paganism, the acts of
heroism and of devotion, were like those marvellous
fruits brought one day from the land of promise to the
people of Israel, while they still wandered in the desert.
There is hope for the future. Conscience is a title of
nobility, which gives not indeed the right to resume a
rank forfeited by the fall, but which confirms, in a re
markable manner, the words of the apostle to the
Athenians : " We are the offspring of God."
These words Paul had read again and again on each
of the innumerable altars which filled the most brilliant
city of Greece : and here we find the second of the
characteristic facts to which we have referred. "Ye
men of Athens," said Paul, at the opening of his dis
course, " I perceive that in all things ye are too super
stitious." He knew better than any other what a
miserable thing their religion was ; for he was speak
ing of that heathen worship which was stained with so
much that was disgraceful, and which was offered to
divinities so abominable. Paul had seen the famous
Parthenon, that magnificent temple erected to Minerva,
1 Rom. ii. 15.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 107
near the citadel of Athens, in which there gleamed the
gold and ivory statue of the goddess. He had passed
before the temple of Jupiter ; even from the wooded
height on which he was then standing, his glance com
prehended a multitude of statues and monuments
which had each a pagan subject. All the divinities
were false and corrupting. And yet the fact of a re
ligion, however degraded it may be, is a proof that the
idea of God is still in existence among men. I need
not repeat what I have already said of sacrifices, which
are so closely connected with a belief in redemption,
and which are enough in themselves to establish the
reality of the work of preparation in the pagan world.
I take the fact of a religion in its grand generality, and
1 assert that it fully justifies the words of Paul to the
Athenians : " You are the divine offspring." In spite
of the errors and corruptions of your mythology, he
might have said, I perceive in you the need of enter
ing into relations with the deity. I well know that
you have made idols of your own passions, and that
they are enthroned on the summit of your sacred
mount ; but it is not the less true that you cannot dis
pense with a divinity of some sort. You acknowledge
your dependence on a supreme power. With that you
seek to be reconciled. It is that which you dread and
adore whenever you are serious and earnest ; and not
the infamous Jupiter and his vile associates ! Your
devotion, whatever it be, evinces in you a mysterious
anxiety regarding the wrath of the divinity, and a
vague hope of appeasing it. The demons erect no
temples. It is not possible to you, even in your lowest
profligacy, to shake off the yoke of the divine idea ;
and nothing better proves its power than the fact that

108 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
it continues in existence, even while you are wishing-
to serve your passions only.
We find, in our text, traces of a third fact, which
confirms still further this grand assertion. We read,
in the eighteenth verse, that certain philosophers en
countered the apostle. I do not now enquire of what
school these philosophers were — I think only of that
quality which was common to all ; and I say that the
mere fact of a search after truth reveals at once the
fall and the hope of recovery. The word philosophy
sounds ill in christian ears, because it speaks too often
of rebellious thought, and of the pride of reason. Too
often, especially since the introduction of Christianity,
has human philosophy been among its most active op
ponents ; it has demanded elaborate discussions, where
a heart that was right would have been satisfied to be
lieve and obey. It has either insulted Christ, or passed
Him by in disdainful silence, as having no place in its
systems ; or else it has sought to make Him speak on
its side, surreptitiously intruding its own impious
principles beneath His divine words. Rarely has it
been seen kneeling by the cross, humbly seeking to
sound the great mystery of love. But in pagan
antiquity the case was quite otherwise. Philosophy
was truly then the search after wisdom and truth. It
stood in opposition to the religions of its own time,
but not to religion in itself considered. It often in
volved a brave attempt to tear off the veil from the
pagan myths, in the hope of arriving at a purer idea of
God. The endeavour was indeed fruitless ; for, as
the apostle has said, these are things that enter not
into the heart of man. Philosophy became too fre
quently the unworthy accomplice of moral corruption,
by legitimatizing it. The Sophists were the plague of

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 109
ancient philosophy ! But when we regard it as it is
seen in a Socrates, or a Plato, it appears very imper
fect truly, very misty in its results, but very grand in
its aspirations. It has not that intractable pride which
denies the fall. It recognizes it in the most affecting
manner. "Formerly," says Plato, "we enjoyed a
ravishing spectacle ; we were initiated into mysteries
•which may be called blessed ; and we celebrated them
free from the evils and imperfections which afterwards
appertained to us — we admired objects perfect, simple,
full of calmness and beatitude ; and contemplated them
in a pure light — pure also ourselves. Let us be for
given," he adds, and we seem to perceive the traces
of a tear in his words, " let us be forgiven for the sad
regrets inspired by the remembrance of the sight in
which we then rejoiced."1 I cite this passage to shew
that ancient philosophy, in spite of all its wanderings,
was not always a rationalistic philosophy, flattering
human pride. It preserved, nay, it awakened the
conviction of a fall ; while its very existence proved
that some hope was left to man of one day recovering
the truth. It was a flickering torch, to borrow a
metaphor from Clement of Alexandria,2 whose trem
bling light could not replace the sun ; and in this sense
we may ask, Where is the wisdom of the. wise ? But
it could reveal the darkness, which was something
gained ; and by its little ray could excite the desire
that the star of the morning might arise. Faith in the
immortality of the soul, in moral responsibility, in the
good and the just, though insufficient to give peace to
the soul, yet developed its higher instincts. In regard
to salvation itself, that is to say, to absolute truth, the
1 Plato, Phtedrus, or Beauty.
2 Clement of Alexandria, vol. iii. p. 22. (Leipsic Edition.)

no Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
wisdom of the Greeks, like all human wisdom, was
foolishness ; but in regard to preparation, it had an
important mission. However numerous and deplor
able may have been the errors of its systems, we should
not the less recognize in them the fact that this search
after truth revealed at once the need and the pos
sibility of redemption. Why should that be sought
for which was either possessed already, or hopelessly
lost ? Surely we may say to our fellow men with Saint
Paul, even in the view of the philosophers of the
decline — Offspring of God ye are ; for if ye had
not in your immortal soul a thirst after truth, ye would
not make for yourselves so many cisterns, which,
though broken and impure, are still evidences of that
sacred yearning for the true which consumes you ;
offspring of God, but offspring fallen ; for if not so,
ye would still, as one of your noblest representatives
has said, pure yourselves, contemplate in pure light
those simple and perfect objects of absolute truth
which are full of beauty and of calmness ! Fall and
recovery, sorrow and hope ; the desire of salvation
burns on this profane earth — the work of preparation
is here carried on.
There is one more fact which might have led Paul
to say, you are the divine offspring. These are not
the apostle's own words, though adopted by him. He
borrowed them from an ancient poet. He expresses
this when he says : " As certain also of your own poets
have said, For we are also His offspring." This last
fact, then, which demonstrates the reality of the work
of preparation in paganism is the existence of poetry
or art. I do not wish to exaggerate the apostle's
thought — he did not certainly mean to say that poetry
had contributed directly to bring man back to God,

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 1 1 1
but that it had had indirectly a great effect in this
direction. Its influence was especially felt in that
native land of art, under that marvellous sky, in that
country which seemed its chosen dwelling-place. The
apostle acknowledges that the Greek poets had some
presentiment of the truth. He employs their expres
sions to depict the high destiny of man. This is a
fact the bearing of which cannot be weakened, and
which was remarked by the earliest Christians.1
Thus, then, poetry or art, to speak generally, has
had its part in the work of preparation. And here,
my brethren, you must rise from the imperfect and
often corrupting productions of art to art itself; you
must rise to the general fact present in all its divers
manifestations. Too often has poetry, as well as philo
sophy, wrought intoxication in the poor heart of man,
and bound it to earth by its fascinations. Too often
has it been like those enchantresses of old, who urged
to the rocks the unfortunate beings whom they had
seduced, — charming only that they might destroy.
But the quotation of Paul stands before us still ; there
are poets in his opinion who have well expressed the
high origin of man ; whence it follows that there are
those also who have well mourned his actual condition.
In fact from the depths of all poetry and of all art
there rises this complaint : " We are the offspring of
God, but His offspring miserably fallen." We have
seen that religion, which is the search after God,
shews that we have lost God, but that we may find
Him again. We have seen also that philosophy which
is the search after truth, shows that we possess not
truth, but that still it is not far from us. Poetry reveals
the same fact in yet another sphere. It is in this world
1 Clement of Alexandria, II., p. 64.

112

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.

the pursuit of the ideal which is the supreme beauty.
If you ask why we pursue it, a Greek poet will reply.
According to Plato, those enjoyments which afford us
the few traces of beauty that are to be found here
below, are a remembrance of what the soul has seen
when possessed of its true being1 — they are pale
reflections of the region of absolute beauty in which
man once dwelt. Poetry seeks to multiply these, and
thus it recalls our high origin. If this imperfect world
were our own country, we should no more regret
immortal beauty than the bird of night regrets the
day. We endeavour to escape from the real world,
because it is for us a place of exile, — because we are
the offspring of God. If our dungeon were shut in
on all sides we should fall asleep within its walls. But
it is not so ; to employ a comparison of this same Plato's,
though chained to the floor of the cave where we are
imprisoned, we see painted on its walls ravishing pic
tures of the region of perfect beauty. Our aspirations
after this beauty prove that the fallen race is not
banished without hope of return. Whenever the poet
or the sculptor seeks to give a transparent reality to
the ideal of which he has a glance, a recollection and
a hope meet in his work and constitute its greatest
beauty. The recollection is sometimes bitter, like an
inconsolable regret ; that which is most tragic in human
destiny is depicted therein ; the contrast between what
it ought to be and what it is in fact, is represented in
a most affecting manner. The choruses of the ancient
tragedy contain more than the expression of private
grief; they raise towards heaven the great human
lament — the lament of the fall — "Oh, unhappy race of
i Plato — Phadrus.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ, i (3
mortals!"1 — this is their doleful burden. Special
calamities are absorbed in the universal woe. At other
times it is the ideal side that appears in art. It shews
us the harmony of the soul and the body fixed in a
dream of beauty in the marble or on the canvass ; or
else it affords us a glimpse of the purest moral beauty
in some sublime creation. Have we not a foretaste of
Christian charity in the Antigone of Sophocles, when
she justifies herself for having done good to her
enemies in these well-nigh evangelical words : "I was
not born to hate but to love!"2 In other cases, as
for example in the Prometheus chained of Eschylus,
poetry predicts the fall of the pagan divinities, and
speaks of a god of the future whose victorious dart
should pierce them upon Olympus. In these different
manifestations poetry ever sets out from the feeling of
the fall, and rises in its unfettered dreaming towards
the ideal, the realization of which is inseparable from
the work of recovery. We can then well understand
that a poet should have spoken the grand words adopted
by Saint Paul. A race that cannot dwell at ease in
the realities of the present, nor be satisfied with its
daily food, but that shakes its destiny like a chain in
the endeavour to create for itself an ideal world of
beauty and perfection — this race is divine ; it is not
made to bend towards the ground which it tills ; but, as
another poet has said, fallen from heaven it remembers
heaven. A desire of redemption breathes in .the strains
of its lyre at once so sad and so beautiful ! O Athe
nians, your poets have not deceived you — you still
belong to the offspring of God.
Thus, brethren, do the four most characteristic facts
1 'lib yeveal fjpor&v. — (Eaipui ling, v. 1216. [1186 ed. Erfurdt.]
2 OS toi irod' a-vvix^el"i <£M& avjupCKziv (<p\iv. — Antigone, v. 530. [523].

1 14 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
of pagan antiquity come to the support of our text. I
know well that they constantly appear in history tainted
with sin ; devotion has been degraded by heathenism ;
philosophy has too often fallen into the hands of sophists
and libertines ; poetry and art have been fearfully cor
rupted by licentiousness, in especially later times ;
human virtue has been spoiled by pride. Neverthe
less these four facts taken in themselves render testi
mony to the indestructible kindred of the soul with
God. They shew us this soul, such as the fall and
the promise have made it, obliged to seek laboriously
for what was formerly its own, but daring to attempt
the search in the name of a mysterious hope, which is
but the distant and often feeble echo of the first
promise. Let us hasten to add, that the work of preparation
would have been incomplete if it had been marked
only by those general features which belonged to all
times and all countries during the pagan era. A cer
tain desire, for salvation was then diffused through
society, and increased when it found expression ; but
more than this was needed. In the same way as the
institutions given to the Jewish people were illustrated
by the events of their history, so these characteristic
facts of pagan life only gave forth their profound
meaning through long and often repeated trials. Ac
cording to the figure employed by a father of the
church, the hard rind which concealed the savoury
fruit needed to be broken by degrees, and for this
purpose the slow labour of ages was required. The
development of the destinies of pagan humanity, though
often painful, realized the plan of God with regard to
these nations. That which is commonly called profane
history, had a divine aim ; like sacred history it tended

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 115
from beginning to end to prepare for the coming of
the Redeemer. The discourse of Paul at Athens casts
the most vivid light on this important subject.
We read in the twenty-sixth verse, that " God
hath determined the bounds of the habitation of all
nations, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they
might grope after Him and find Him." Try to com
prehend this thought of the apostle's, for it explains
to us the whole work of preparation in paganism.
He is evidently speaking here of heathen nations, for
the people to whom the holy oracles were confided
were not reduced to groping after God. It was de
signed then that these nations should endeavour to find
God by groping. Did He refuse them the light of
revelation in anger? No, brethren, God never re
fuses to give the truth ; we firmly believe that if
humanity as a whole had been capable of sustaining
at once the full light of truth it would have been
granted without delay. But human pride rendered
such premature salvation impossible. Pride needed
first to be broken. We have seen by what dispensa
tions this was effected among the chosen people.
That which revelation did for them, the absence of
revelation, admirably characterized in our text as
groping, wrought among the heathen. In Judaism
God revealed Himself, but in such a way as to crush
rebellion. In paganism He did not reveal Himself by
a historic revelation ; and wandering man, wholly lost
in the maze of his own thoughts, was equally hum
bled. Here it was the manifestation of God's power,
which subdued the creature, who was more or less
left to himself, and convinced him of his own nothing
ness. Thus, though carried on in different ways, the
work of preparation is the same, and when the times

116 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
are fulfilled, the Jew and the Gentile are alike found
humbled at the foot of the cross, just as it is said that
the rich and the poor meet before God. And if the
heathen is not entirely without hope, this is because
the Spirit of God has spoken in his heart, as He
spake by the oracles of the Hebrew prophets. At
the very time that he was convinced of his own nothing
ness, a mysterious voice told him of recovery. From
one groping to another the humiliation became more
complete and the hope more lively. The desire of
salvation burned more brightly from time to time,
from illusion to illusion.
The preparation for salvation in paganism consisted
then, according to St. Paul, in a long and overwhelm
ing experience of human impotence ; a series of fruit
less attempts to find God ; a groping' on wards towards
the light. This great work was completed when man,
overpowered by a darkness almost as thick at the
end as at the beginning of history, uttered a long cry
of distress. That this sad period went by so slowly
must be attributed only to the obstinacy of the illu
sions of pride. It was not through the good pleasure
of God that ages of darkness succeeded each other.
We know not which is most inconceivable in this
prolongation of the pagan era — the patience of divine
love or the stubbornness of human pride.
These gropings of humanity, seeking its God by
itself, we cannot now describe,1 but shall confine our
selves to reminding you of the most remarkable
instances. We distinguish three periods in the history
of paganism, which seem like the three principal
gropings along this gloomy road. All nations, of
1 A complete picture of the history of ancient religions may be found
in the Introduction to our History of the Three Pint Centuries of the Church.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 1 1 7
course, did not pass at once from one period to
another. There are some, indeed, whom we may call
the laggards of religious history, for they have re
mained till now in the first groping. Of these we
shall take no account, as we wish to speak only of
those nations that played a part on the true theatre
of history before Jesus Christ. These, then, passed
through three principal phases. Strange to say, their
first step was their lowest fall. The first groping of
humanity consisted in the grossest idolatry. Man
took for his God that which he found under his hand,
*'. e., inert matter, or rather nature, the external world
both in its attractive and its terrible aspects. The
religions of nature are at once voluptuous and san
guinary, debasing and savage ; the powers of produc
tion and of destruction both are worshipped. The
impure Astarte and the cruel Baal, to whom little
children were sacrificed, are the two essential divinities
of these gross religions ; their worship is a medley of
revelry and murders. The Old Testament paints
these rites in the most hideous colours, as practised by
some of the Canaanitish races. In such religions you
find no moral idea ; they do not even rise to the dis
tinction of good and evil, for nature contains not any
of the revelations of conscience, and her worshipper
finds in her nought but blind forces. The refined
pantheism of India is very superior to the gross
naturalism of Asia Minor ; but even this only leads to
the most extravagant asceticism, which would absorb
the whole world in the abyss of absolute being.
Humanity cannot rest in this first stage of its jour
ney; it gropes onwards still. The Persian religion
is an attempt to escape from the religions of nature,
but an attempt that only half succeeds. Light, and

1 1 8 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman, belong still to the
lower sphere. The moral world is not reached.
Thus this new religion cannot mark a second period,
which begins only among the Greeks. From groping
to groping man had now come to conceive of the
divinity under the human form. In a splendid climate,
with a race young and endowed with brilliant genius,
this idea rapidly flourished, and was delineated in
most poetic colours. Man imagined himself at the
end of his groping. He had a moment of enchant
ment. The heaven was blue above his head; he
was in the strength of his youth. To celebrate his
new deity he had the most gifted poets, whose crea
tions are eternally fresh and enchanting ; to represent
the divine beauty he had the chisel of a Phidias and a
Praxiteles. He worshipped on Olympus, and in
splendid sanctuaries. But in fact he worshipped
everywhere, and without ceasing. Was not a Grecian
city a great temple erected to humanity ? Was it not
humanity that was feted in the gymnasium, in the
solemn games, in the theatres ? Grecian life, glowing
brightly beneath the sun, was a joyous worship of
man. Patriotism, the love of country, and of human
society, was, to speak truly, the most serious religion
of that day. The care of his dignity was to the
Greek the essence of virtue. Humanity believed it
had nothing left to desire ; did not a divinity sharing
its own nature answer to its every need ? We should
be ready to admit that it did if the gods worshipped
in Greece had been true gods ; if they had descended
from heaven to invest and purify human nature. Not
to make the divinity spring from the earth, to place
him in some sort in man while yet unregenerated, this
is the worst of illusions, and we shall soon see to what

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 119
results it led. There is no God-man possible but
through an incarnation. This enchantment, this fes
tival of Grecian life, could not last, thank God. This
Eden, attempted in a world of sin, must be closed like
the other. Grecian paganism, even in its most
flourishing epoch, contained the germ of its own
destruction. Grecian thought, even while deifying
humanity, was the first to touch on a domain superior
to the religions of nature. The moral idea is too
closely linked with humanity not to emerge gradually
beneath the eyes of its admirers. Conscience, in the
East almost entirely asleep, re-appears in Greece, and
with it the vengeful flame that shall consume paganism.
Grecian legislation is infinitely superior to that of the
East. A certain severe morality pervades the highest
literature. But the moral idea only develops itself in
opposition to paganism. Socrates and Plato give it
its sublimest expression outside of revelation, and well-
nigh lead to the worship of one God. Philosophy
was the most energetic foe to Grecian paganism.
Scarcely had man congratulated himself that he no
longer needed to grope his way, when he was com
pelled to resume his journey and his uncertain re
searches. He will only have ended them when he
shall fall by the way overcome with grief and fatigue.
This grief and this weariness characterize the last
period of the history of paganism. Many circum
stances led to them — one of the most important being
indisputably the extension of the Roman domination,
which, by connecting the gods of all countries, set
them forth in combination. They could not be
brought together without being destroyed. The
triumph of Rome was, moreover, the result of a great
number of checks and sufferings of all kinds. Rome

120 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
herself, to use the beautiful image of an old writer,
when she had vanquished the world, was like a
gladiator who, after triumphing over his antagonists,
can but turn his sword against his own breast.
Humiliations on the one hand, satiety on the other,
the wide spreading scepticism engendered by the con
fronting of different religions with one another, the
delicate flower of poetic Grecian paganism spoiled by
the rude hands that held the nations in chains, the ex
haustion of vigour in the old age of the race : all these
causes combined together, brought on an epoch of
bitter and universal delusion. The attempt to find
God had shamefully failed. Humanity was groping
everywhere, east, west, north, and south, and finding
nothing. It cursed the divinities that it knew ; and,
with the relics of all their temples, it built an altar to
the unknown God. This is the most solemn moment
in .the history of ancient nations ; for it is the comple
tion of the work of preparation. I shall, therefore,
call your attention more particularly to this last period
of paganism, so admirably characterized in the words
of Saint Paul. The desire of salvation burns on this
altar to the unknown God, for it is made out of the
relics of paganism, and is, at the same time, an effort
towards Christianity. It sums up, as we think, the
latest phase of pagan antiquity, in its delusions and its
aspirations. Delusion, aspiration, all is comprised in
these two words. To this point God had designed to
bring humanity, by one fruitless search after another.
You meet with bitter incurable delusions in every
sphere of life, national and individual. Many proofs
of this fact were furnished by the city through which
the apostle had been passing. And, first, what cruel
delusions in social relations ! You know the import-

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ, 121
ance attached to public life among the pagans. It
absorbed that of the individual. Everything was
viewed in its relation to the state ; men lived, as it
were, in the forum. The Athenian had long been
able to honour his country, for it was free and flourish
ing in spite of its littleness. Had it not driven back
the fleets and armies of the great king at Salamis and
Marathon? The defence of its liberty, the jealous
care of its interests and its glory, had roused the en
thusiasm of the Athenians for ages past. It cannot
be disputed that the feeling of human dignity was
very keen in these little republics ; their agitations,
their struggles even, had raised it to an indomitable
fierceness ; but these times of glory and of liberty
were times also of incurable pride. And now what
had become of that national independence which in
spired the finest discourses of human eloquence ?
Attica is a Roman province ; proconsuls have come
from Rome to defraud it. No more animated discus
sions, no more passionate harangues ! The people
still come together in public places ; but the sacred
historian tells us that it is only to hear some new thing.
And that which happened at Athens happened also
elsewhere. Liberty everywhere disappeared, and
Rome herself became the most subject of cities. The
times of the tribunes were never more to return. A
great writer of the period expresses its abasement in
one word: "consuls, senators, knights, all," says he,
"rushed emulously into slavery;"1 and they who had
most to lose made the greatest haste.
If, now, we touch on the domain of thought, here
also we find delusion. How many researches, how
much groping, since the day when the first philosopher
1 " Ruere in servitiuro." — (Tac, Ann I, VII.)

122 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
formed his system ! What royal genius was evinced
by the Greek mind, now rising with Plato to the
regions of the ideal — now examining with Aristotle,
by a minute analysis, the inmost depths of reality !
Apart from negative conclusions, and from moral in
fluence, what has been the result of these grand
systems ? The philosophers mentioned in our text
teach us but too truly ; they belonged to the sects of
the Epicureans and the Stoics. The doctrine of the
former was comprised in this word, to enjoy. That of
the latter had for its formula, to die ; for its last re
source was suicide. These were both doctrines of
despair. They frankly abandoned all high and pro
found speculations ; declaring that they lead to no
thing, and comparing them to puerile sports.1 To Wns4
dejected discouraged spirits of this period, the t Epi
curean offered but one consolation : " Turn awal'y
thine eyes from heaven," he said to man — "heaverria
an immense void ; seek oblivion in enjoyment — cr^>wn
thy brow with roses, and make thy life a long festival."
Epicureanism is despair smiling ; which is despair/ in
its most frightful form, for nothing is more bitter than
this forced smile. " Leave politics, art, speculation,"
it says, "and enjoy."2
The soul, finding only such comfort as this, next
turns to the Stoic. His austere appearance, his sad
and serious air, inspire confidence. Alas ! far from
curing despair, he declares it to be without remedy,
and says to man, "Thou hast nothing else to expect,
for the fates guide us.3 Die in thy suffering ; only
try to die erect. If the suffering be too great, seek to
1 Seneca, Letter, 107.
' Plutarch, against Colopheneus, c. XXXIII.
3 " Fata nos ducunt." — (Seneca, De procidentia.')

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 123,
escape from it by destruction ; thou mayest even look
to wine for oblivion.1 If it return inveterately, over
whelmingly, then die."2 Suicide is thus the last re
source of Stoicism. Such is the result of human
philosophy ; to die either of material enjoyment or of
suffering ! Nothing now remains for philosophy but
to proclaim its own decease ; and this it has not failed
to do, by professing universal scepticism, which is
equivalent to the suicide of philosophy, in these melan
choly words of Cicero's: "The philosophers of the
Academy affirm nothing ; they despair of arriving at
any certain knowledge."3 They despair! you hear
it — ancient philosophy abdicates in despair.
These repeated delusions, however, are of little
matter, if man has not been deceived in his endeavours
to find his God. If this hope has not failed him, he
may take consolation for all his other failures ! But,
as you know already, the worst delusion of this period
is that which concerned religion. Freedom is lost,
philosophy vanishes, above all, the gods perish.
They are still upon their altars, the ordinary sacrifices
are offered, the sacred circlets, the victims, the pomp,
the auguries, all the external apparatus of wor
ship continues ; but all is dead. Faith, which is the
soul of religion, has withdrawn from paganism ; and
soon, like a lifeless body, it will return, we say not to
the dust, but to the mire from which it was taken.
These gods, so reverenced in the past, are now scoffed
at and ridiculed in the most insulting manner. Some,
like Lucretius, deny their existence ; others, like
Euhemerus, transform them into agricultural symbols ;
1 De tranquillitate animi, XV. — " Usque ad ebrietatem veniendum."
2 Seneca, letter 70.
• "Desperata cognitione certi." — (Cicero, De bonis, II., 14.)

124 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
or, like Plutarch, subtilize them into a sort of vague
pantheism. The one thing certain, is, that they are
believed in no longer, save by a few who, unable to
find peace from them, fall into the agonies of a super
stition, which becomes a real insanity. A pagan
author has depicted for us the melancholy condition
of such: " Leave," say they, " leave the unfortunate,
the impious, the cursed one, hated of all the gods, to
endure his punishment. The superstitious man seats
himself in the dust— or, clothed in sackcloth, rolls on
the ground. Near the altars he feels only terror.
The spectres of his imagination pursue him night and
day. His reason dreams unceasingly, and his fears are
ever awake."1
The decline of religion shews itself also externally.
The oracles are dumb. A heathen author declares that
the communication with the gods is like a river dried up
in the sand. Silence and solitude reign at Delphos.2
The divinities expire. But there is one god especially,
which, like Vulcan in the fable, falls miserably from
Olympus, where he had been thoughtlessly placed.
This is man— man so poetically worshipped by Greece.
Never, certainly, were greater efforts made for his
apotheosis, but never did it prove a more ignoble
comedy. The human divinity of Saint Paul's time
was personated by the Roman emperor. Nero is the
god to-day, as Claudius or Caligula was yesterday, as
Commodus or Domitian will be to-morrow. With a
nod he governs sea and land, and orders peace or war.3
He has the right to say : All is lawful to me towards
all.4 And this human deity, who has temples and
1 Plutarch, De Superstitione.
2 Plutarch, De Oraculis, V.
3 Pliny the Younger, Panegyric on Trajan.
* Suetonius, Caligula.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 125
altars, is in most cases a monster — sometimes a fool —
who, plunged in shameful debauchery, refreshes him
self in the intervals of his licentiousness with pillage
and murder. Grecian polytheism found its consumma
tion in the bald and squinting Caligula or the obese
Vitellius. What a fall ! We can understand that the
known divinity being some unworthy Caesar, men should
sigh after the unknown God !
But it was not only in the person of the emperor
that humanity was debased. The corruption was
general and extreme, such as it would be a crime to
delineate. It is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret, says Saint Paul.
Remember the admirable first chapter in the Epistle to
the Romans, where the apostle sums up the dreadful,
though sober, description he had been giving of the
people of his day in these powerful words : " God gave
them up unto vile affections." When we read the
authors of this age, we rise from their writings with
our minds disturbed, and as it were polluted, by con
tact with wickedness so extreme. The cynical excla
mation, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,"
resounds from end to end of the empire — it passes
from one hall of festivity to another, like an ill-omened
chorus. We die — ah well ! let this day that shall
have no morrow be a day of unlimited debauchery, of
splendid voluptuousness. We seem to see the crew
of a vessel about to sink, consuming in one last revel
what was meant to sustain them on a long voyage*
Nor is corruption the privilege of a class. We have
the most positive evidence that it affected women as
well as men, the lower orders with the higher, the
slave with his master. Licentiousness and cruelty,
those two inseparable sisters, went hand in hand. The

126 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
emperor put the senator to torture, the senator de
frauded the wealthy man, the wealthy man punished
the slave, the whole of humanity was to the sovereign
like a vile herd, and this herd again divided itself into
two parts — on the one side masters, on the other
slaves. Oppression was found on every step of the
social ladder. Everywhere division, hatred, infamy.
We were right then in saying : It was a time of de
spair. And yet the word despair indicates too much
of moral energy. Man was satiated, wearied with
everything. There is a profound saying of a contem
porary writer's which describes this miserable period :
" That which troubles us," says Seneca, "is not the
tempest but the sickness."1 The sickness! that is to
say the secret, incurable, universal ennui of humanity
set free from all its illusions. It suffers from this moral
sickness without power to cure itself, and yet wishing
to obtain a cure at any price. Hence that unheard of
luxury, those festivals costing millions of money, those
barbarous entertainments. The Roman people require
that rivers of blood should flow in their circus, because
they are a weary people. The more weary they
become, the more cruel are their amusements. Just
as the dose of opium has to be increased in the case of
an obstinate malady, so does this moral sickness seek
for ever increasing excitement in its sanguinary plea
sures. When you see the sovereign people inundat
ing the circus with its terrible waves, rejoicing in
carnage, and never satisfied unless the combat of the
gladiators end in a real battle, forget not this saying
of Seneca's: "We suffer not from the tempest, but
from the sickness ;" and at the sight of those hateful
spectacles or those unbridled debaucheries, say to your-
1 " Non tempestate sed nausea vexor." — {De tranquiilitate animi, c. I.)

Preparation for the Coming of J^sus Christ. 127
selves that nothing less would suffice to make humanity
forget that all its efforts and its gropings had resulted
in nothing. Delusion, universal delusion !
Delusion, certainly, but aspiration also, the trembling
of a mysterious expectation ! This expectation is only
blessed and fruitful in some cases, but it exists univer
sally. We have proof of this even in our text.
Scarcely had Paul arrived at Athens, — scarcely had the
people learned that he taught a new doctrine, than they
crowded around him, listened to him with eagerness,
and pressed him with questions. The Athenians
manifested the same dispositions as did the Jews in the
time of John the Baptist, when, at the beginning of
his ministry, they sent messengers to him to ask : " Art
thou He that should come ?" But we have still surer
indications of this universal aspiration. The historians
of the time are unanimous in imputing to their contem
poraries a strange readiness to accept what they call
foreign superstitions. "They find entrance more and
more," we read in Tacitus.1 The people thus shewed
that their religion appeared to them insufficient, and
that they had a vague hope of discovering one that
should be better. But it was towards the East espe
cially that all eyes were turned. Suetonius tells us
that the belief prevailed that the dominion of the world
was to belong to a man springing from Judea.2
The aspiration was expressed in various ways in the
different classes of society. Among the people it
took a gross form, shewing itself in the belief in
magic, which was everywhere diffused. The magi
cian had an immense influence over the lower classes,
as we see strikingly exemplified in the Acts of the
1 " Externa? superstitiones valescunt." — Annals, XI., c. 15.
2 Suetonius, Vespasian, IV.

128 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
Apostles. We find a whole people at Samaria fascin
ated by the arts of Simon the magician, and we learn
from history that this fact represents a general ten
dency. Why were these impostors followed with so
much eagerness ? It was from the same motive which
impelled the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go to the
desert after the false Messiahs with whom this period
abounded ; it was in the hope of finding a deliverer.
They said of Simon Magus : "This man is the great
power of God."1 They saw in him a manifestation of
divine power ; they hoped to find in him a Saviour.
False deliverers, false saviours, only succeed when the
true one is expected and desired. Among serious
men the aspiration after salvation was otherwise ex
pressed. They seem at times to have caught a glimpse
of the Christian ideal. Words escape them which
sound like an echo of the Gospel. They speak of
women and of slaves 2 in a manner well-nigh Christian,
but again within a few lines they contradict themselves.
Yet that which Christianity was to bring to the world,
was foreseen and most certainly was desired by them.
They also express very forcibly the want of a new
consolation. " Give me," wrote Pliny the younger to
one of his friends in a time of sorrow, — " give me new
and strong consolations, such as I have never heard or
read of yet. All that I have read and heard returns
to my memory, but my grief is too great ! "3 Does he
not speak in the name of universal humanity ? " My
sufferings are beyond any comfort of which I know."
It is the cry of a heart undeceived. " Give me new
consolations !" It is the eloquent expression of a
1 Acts viii. 10.
2 See the works of Pliny the younger, and of Seneca.
* Pliny, Epistle I., cap. xii. — " Aliqua magna, nova solatia."

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 129
fervent aspiration after the Comforter. These words
are, as it were, the hymn raised by the pagan world
in chorus to the unknown God. Listen, finally, to the
account given by a man of that day who became at
last an earnest Christian, but who, before his conver
sion, represented his times in many different ways.
The fictitious hero of the Clementines, giving forth in
this case a faithful echo of truth, describes to us in the
following terms the commencement of his life ; —
"From my earliest youth," he says, "I was exercised
with doubts. They pursued me everywhere with
their torments, and when I wished to be free from
them they only increased. I knew well that there
was a celestial guide, who could conduct me to the
truth, and I sought Him from place to place. Exer
cised by these thoughts from my youth, I went through
the schools of the philosophers, but in vain. I was
tossed about from one doctrine to another, more
miserable than ever, as if I were the sport of a whirl
wind of contrary ideas, and I sighed from the depths
of my soul."1 This sigh, my brethren, is it not the
whole work of preparation ? Blends it not in a sense
with the expectant yearnings of Simeon and of Anna
the prophetess as with the prayer of Mary ? Has not
the desire of salvation reached its highest point ? Has
it not risen to God from the altar of the unknown
deity like the sweet incense of prayer ? Are we not
warranted in saying of the heathen world what we
said of the chosen people : " The times are fulfilled?"
It was just because Paul was proclaiming, not the
Jewish Messiah only, but also the desire of all nations,
that, " ignorant of the art of speaking well, with the
1 Recognitionei, c. i. to vi.

130 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
rude language which bespeaks a stranger, he could go
boldly into polished Greece, the mother of philoso
phers and orators, and in spite of the world's opposi
tion, found more churches in that country than Plato
gained disciples by eloquence that has been thought
divine."1 The experience of the nothingness of man
is now complete. He has no more to hope for on
earth. The divine object is accomplished. He has
groped long enough, to use the metaphor of our text, to
understand that he can discover nothing which can in
itself satisfy him. He has become like that poor blind
man of whom the evangelist Luke tells us, who sat at
the gate of Jericho, asking alms of the passers by!
Yes, pagan humanity in its misery and despair begs of
the philosopher to ascertain if he has a doctrine that
can comfort ; of the Egyptian priest, also, and the
wise man of the East, to know if their faith is less
empty than the religion of the Greeks ; of the magi
cian even, to see if his sorcery may not contain virtue
from God. But neither one nor another can give him
aught that shall be salutary or efficacious. Poor blind
one, take comfort notwithstanding ! Thou shalt not
have long to grope in the night. Already, like Barti-
meus, thou hast heard a faint sound of the coming
Deliverer, and hast begun to cry after him. Already
thou sayest from the depths of thy heart : Have pity
on me, and heal me ! Fear not, He is near. Has not
St. Paul declared that God is not far from us ? He
comes, He has come already. The unknown God is
unveiling Himself, and at the first touch of His merci
ful hand light shall burst on thy darkened eyeballs !
Thy cry has been heard ; the times of preparation are
1 Bossuet, Panegyric on St Paul.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 131

completed. The Saviour is bom to us, and to Him,
my brethren, will we now conduct you. We will
keep you no longer on the threshold of the Gospel
history, but will enter within it in our next discourse.
We will seek our Saviour in the eternal glory of the
Father, that we may the better measure the extent of
His abasement. This is to say, in other words, that
His divinity and His humanity will first engage our
attention. Afterwards, knowing what His nature is,
we shall inquire what He came to do upon earth,
what was His plan, what means He put in operation,
in what sentiments His plan is realized. Thus, follow
ing Him from the manger to the cross, and from the
cross to the garden, where He appeared in risen form
to Mary Magdalene, we' shall seek to unfold before
you the picture of His ministry, up to the day when
He ascended to heaven, from whence He will come
again in like manner, and does in fact continually come
by the Holy Spirit, which unites us to Him by faith.
There is one analogy which I cannot forbear to
point out at the end of this discourse, but which you
have no doubt already perceived. What a striking
resemblance is there between our own epoch and that
which we have been describing ! Does it not seem
that our age also is destined to demonstrate the im
potence of man to accomplish anything good or useful
apart from God ? In spite of the Gospel revelation,
amid the full light of Christianity, humanity as a
whole has once more undertaken to walk alone, refus
ing the help of Christ, and condemning itself thus to
miserable groping. And so, by one attempt after
another, it has come into a state like that of the
heathen world, as much so, at least, as is possible for a
society that has within it the leaven of the Gospel, or

132 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
rather the salt of truth, which alone preserves it from
absolute dissolution. Let us speak for exampleof French
society. Is it not true that this age is a hard one for
France, — an age of many delusions intertwined one
with another ? In the domain of social life as in that
of philosophy, has there not been a breaking up of all
the hopes which brightened the close of the last cen
tury — hopes founded on man, and consequently frail
and unsubstantial ? In the sphere of religious life has
not scepticism made frightful advances ? The super
stition which Plutarch described, the dread of a soul
that has not found a God who will pardon, has not
this appeared once more ? And on the other hand,
does not scoffing infidelity boast thousands of organs ?
Above all, is not torpor and universal weariness gra
dually gaining ground ? And might not the men of
our generation repeat the melancholy words : That
which makes us suffer is not so much the tempest as
the sickness ? Yes, there is a general satiety. Can
we find men in our day who have impulse to act, en
thusiasm, faith in anything? Where are they? If
they do indeed exist, where' are they hidden that we
see them so little ? There is not now even a genuine
youthfulness with any illusions or generous eagerness.
Gold circulates abundantly. Industry does wonders, I
allow ; but what avail the instruments of activity if the
moral springs relax, if materialism render all fruitful
work impossible ? Disappointment, disappointment,
this is the character of our age also. It is at the same
time, however, its greatness, for disappointment leads
to aspiration. The altar to the true God will be con
structed once more from the remains of every other.
And this time it will not be dedicated to a God un
known, but to a God who has been forgotten.

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 133
This altar, we feel assured, is already in building.
Yes, there is in men's hearts a sigh that materialism
cannot still. An immense void is felt, which only a
God can fill up, — a sadness which this world cannot
remove. All that we ask of you, O ye by whom all
this is experienced, is that you take not comfort too
soon, that you delude not your sacred thirst for truth
and salvation ! Let not the history of the past be
without profit ! Accept not consolations that are not
real ! Repeat the profound saying of the heathen :
I must have new, strong, earnest consolations ! If, for
example, you are told : Forget your sadness, take your
place at our festivities, and share our licentiousness, —
recognize at once the epicurean of paganism, and reply:
Thou art no new comforter — thou didst ruin all who
believed in thee eighteen centuries ago — begone from
me ! If you are told : Trust only to thy reason, deny
all revelation, and lift a bold front towards heaven—
here is the proud philosophy of former days — say to
it in reply : Thou art no new comforter, thou reservest
suicide beyond a doubt for the last of thy counsels —
begone ! If you are told : Rejoice in the progress of
civilization, in the victories of man over nature, and
anticipate others still greater to be won by a reorgan
ized society — answer : The Roman roads, as marvellous
for that day as our railroads for our own, only carried
the weariness of man more rapidly from one extremity
of the empire to the other. The remedy for my woe
is not to be found in these outward things, I need
something new. If you are told : Keep to the faith
of your ancestors without examining it, follow the
practices of their worship without verifying them,
slumber on the pillow where they found repose — then
reply : The trial of external religions and traditional
K

134 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
beliefs has been made. We know what they proved
to be worth in evil days. Real, earnest consolation is
not to be found in multiplied ceremonies or in rigid
external authority. Where is it, then, for I need it
sorely ! May it reach you on the day when you shall
utter this cry of distress ! on the day when, weary
with groping, you shall become like the blind man of
Jericho ! Your God is not far off ! He is there, He
is waiting for you ! Fear not that He will pass on
without hearing you ! Your hopes shall no more be
frustrated than were those of your ancestors ; — He has
words as mighty as He had of old ! When once He
has spoken you will grope no more, but be changed
from desponding seekers into joyful believers ! But all
this is on condition that you rest not in the carnal con
tentment of materialism, but recognize in _ the trials,
both general and individual, with which this age
abounds, a merciful appointment of God, who will not
cease to smite you till He has wounded your heart like
that of Jacob, in order that He may bless you ! Blessed,
truly blessed, are they that weep and groan, they shall
be comforted ; between them and the Comforter there
stands no obstacle that cannot be surmounted.
It were too much to say no obstacle at all. Between
poor souls and Christ, christians too often stand. We
read in the narrative of the cure of blind Bartimeus
that the disciples interposed for a moment between
him and the Saviour. And is not this the part which
the believers of our day too often act ? There are
some who, erroneously regarding themselves as the
sole representatives of Christianity, believe it their
mission to be the medium between the poor blind ones
of their day and the divine Physician. They tell them
to go not to Him but to themselves. But they are

Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ. 135
not Christ ! They have neither His mercy nor His
power ; they are severe and narrow-minded, and sub
stitute for truths fables that seem gathered from the
relics of paganism. What a part to act ! to come
between the sinner and Christ, and hide Him by
appearing in His place ! What a responsibility ! That
there are still so many poor gropers we must attribute
in great part to these usurpers of the rights of God,
who only possess His Word to conceal it ! Yes,
many sighs and aspirations are fruitless, because the
priest comes between souls and Christ, presenting him
self as the incarnation of Christianity. We can easily
understand how a religion so represented should prove
but little attractive.
But, in conclusion, brethren, let us think of our
selves as evangelical Christians ! We also, we have
discouraged many proselytes, by shewing them a semi-
Christianity without life or warmth ! The gospel is
the same now as it was eighteen centuries ago, if only
we caused it to be seen as well as read ! Would you
know the secret of Paul's power in preaching ? It
consisted not simply in the doctrine which he pro
claimed, but also in the spirit in which he proclaimed
it ! We have the doctrine, although not entire, but
often much contracted and impoverished ; the discourse
of Paul at Athens goes beyond our theological systems
on all sides. But still, in essential points, we have
the doctrine of salvation. Have we also the spirit
which animated Paul? have we that fervent charity
that consumed his heart ? Luke shews him to us at
Athens sorrowfully traversing the city, and shudder
ing at the sight of the idolatrous altars with which it
abounded. Paul contemplated the pagan city with
feelings such as those that caused Jesus Christ to weep

136 Preparation for the Coming of Jesus Christ.
over Jerusalem. Look into his heart sacredly stirred
within him, and you will comprehend how his words
could found, as Bossuet says, more churches than Plato
could make disciples ! That deep emotion, that love,
that grief — these are wanting in us ; and when we shall
come to traverse the streets of our great city with a
heart stirred as was Paul's at Athens, then shall we
also do a great work to the glory of Christ, and the
altar to the unknown God shall no longer be raised in
vain in those souls that are waiting only to behold true
Christians before acknowledging and adoring the Sa
viour of the world. O my God ! in these days so
solemn and so troubled, let it not be said that there
were disciples of Christ, but that they stood as obstacles
between Him and the diseased society that was need
ing Him ! Nay, Lord, but let our single effort be to
lead souls to Him who hath the words of eternal life !
Let nothing in our works or words keep them away
from Christ ! but let us be ever pure from our brothers'
blood !

V.
THE NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST.

THE GOD-MAN.
" The Word was made flesh." — John i. 14.
The desire of the Saviour had attained its full maturity
in that period of universal decline of which we have
attempted to give a rapid outline. Like a fire smoul
dering beneath the ruins of an edifice which it has
devoured, this desire burned on under the ruins of
Paganism and of Judaism, and a little flame might
even be seen mounting to heaven, victorious over the
whole ancient world which it had consumed. To
describe in few words the dispositions of such
earnest spirits as belonged to this memorable epoch,
we cannot do better than borrow the noble and poetic
language of Origen. He sees in the bride of the
Song of songs waiting for her husband, a type of the
human soul expecting her Saviour. She was betrothed
to Him by the promise of Eden, she knows that He
is coming, and at this solemn moment she calls for
Him with inexpressible ardour. Origen teaches' us to
hear her voice first in Judaism and then in Paganism.
" The Church," he says, " by which I mean the com
munity of saints, wishes for her union with Christ,

138 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
and thus expresses her desire: "I have been laden with
gifts, I have received abundantly the pledges of my
divine espousals. During the time of my betrothal to
the Son of the King of heaven, to the Sovereign of all
creation, the angels brought me the law as a gift from
my Lord. The prophets, filled with the Holy Spirit,
have constantly quickened my love, and animated my
holy desires,1 by speaking of His coming, of His vir
tues innumerable, and His generous gifts. They
have depicted for me His noble beauty and His tender
mercy, till I can bear no longer the yearnings of my
love.2 Already is the actual economy drawing to a
close. But as yet I only see His messengers ascending
and descending upon the shining ladder. To Thee I
turn, Father of my Lord, and implore Thee to have
pity on my love and to send Him to me, that He may
no longer speak by His servants and His prophets,
but may come Himself and let me hear His words and
His teachings."
It was not, however, in Judaism only that the
divine Spouse was called, but also, according to
Origen, in the midst of Paganism itself. " The
human soul," he says,3 " even among the heathen, has
a deep desire to unite herself with the Word. She
has received the earnest of the divine espousals. Just
as the law and the prophecies were the pledges of the
future to Israel, so the law of conscience, reason, and
free will, were the gifts of betrothal to the human
soul outside of Judaism. No doctrine of philosophy
satisfied her desire and her love.* She asks the illu-
1 " At desiderium ejus succenderint."
* "Ad amorem ejus intolerabiliter inflammarer." — (Origen, In Cantic.
cantic., Lib. I.)
3 Idem.
* " Plena atque perfecta desiderii sui amoris expletio.''

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 139
mination and the visitation of the Word. Neither
men nor angels content her ! She seeks the divine
embrace of the Word I"1
If such, then, are the dispositions of humanity, is
it not evident that the celestial Bridegroom is about to
descend from heaven? This desire, — who has inspired,
nourished, and developed it, if not the God to whom
the broken heart of man addresses itself? He has
pursued no other end during many ages but the
maturing of this desire ! And now that the great
design is realized, shall the heavens close and be deaf
to the universal prayer ? No, no, anything is possible
but refusal ! I appeal to the numerous proofs of
divine love, to its patient and persevering working
during the time of preparation. 'The coming of the
Saviour shall not be delayed for an instant. Already
does the hymn of peace resound on the plains of
Bethlehem. He is coming, He is coming, says that
hymn ; or rather, He has come already ! We may
join with the shepherds and the magi, the first-fruits of
Christian humanity, the former representing the chosen
people and the latter the nations (the Gentiles) ; we
also may offer to the Saviour our myrrh, our incense ;
above all, the treasures of our hearts ! We may
adore Him in the manger ! But to worship Him in
His humiliation we must first recognize His divinity
through His humanity ; and on this important subject
I now propose to you to meditate, as suggested by the
words of my text : " The Word was made flesh."
There are, no doubt, in this assembly some who
refuse to believe in the perfect divinity of Christ, and
others who doubt His perfect humanity. In all times
has this twofold tendency been manifested. Those
1 " Ipsius oscula Verbi Dei."

140 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
who deny or qualify the perfect divinity of Christ,
prolong, or rather revive Paganism ; for that has ever
sought to humanize the divine. Those who deny or
qualify His perfect humanity, prolong or revive Ju
daism, which separated the divine from the human, and
raised between earth and heaven the high and terrible
barrier of Sinai. Christianity is the final religion, just
because it reconciles the divine and the human without
changing either the one or the other. It is the reli
gion of the God-man. To deny in Jesus Christ either
the God or the man is to take from Christianity the
very reason of its existence. It is, in fact, to suppress
it altogether; for we might well in that case be
asked, " Of what use is a new religion which is
nothing more than a pale reflection of an ancient one ?
It needed not that heaven and earth should be shaken,
or told to keep silence, that they might h£ar that
which they already knew." Here, then, is the very
essence of the Gospel ; and as the Gospel is the good
news of salvation, here is the indispensable condition
of this salvation. May God give me to convince
those who doubt, and to confirm those who believe in
the perfect divinity and the perfect humanity of their
Saviour ! We are enjoying day by day the results of
this great doctrine, but we do not contemplate it in
itself as we should. The abundant and precious
fruits which it brings to us seem sometimes even to
conceal from us the tree on which they grow. And
yet there is a rich edification to be found in these sub
lime truths. Like high mountains they contain the
freshest springs. May we now have a proof of this
fact in our meditation on our text, which is at once so
concise and so profound ! This great subject — the
nature of Jesus Christ — is the burning bush of the

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 1 4 1
new covenant. May it inspire us with that holy reve
rence which filled the man of the law in the wilder
ness, and with that filial confidence whidi belongs to
the men of grace !
A child is bom in a small town of a small country.
This child is called Jesus, and the name announces all
that He comes to do here below. Whoever you may
be, you will at least admit in a certain measure that
He has brought a great deliverance to the world.
But what ideas do you entertain of His person ?
What is He in your eyes ? To resolve the great
question of the nature of Jesus Christ, I shall first pass
in review the different solutions that have been given
by those who reject the Gospel ; and to refute these
solutions I shall appeal rather to themselves than to
revelation. It suffices to bring such notions into con
tact with the heart of man, with his mysterious and
infinite desire of salvation, and they will be consumed
by his unsatisfied longings as straw by the fire !
What, then, has been told you concerning Christ ?
Perhaps that He never really existed, but is only a
mythical and fabulous personage like Linus or Orpheus ;
that the Gospel is a brilliant tissue of legends drawn
from popular superstitions ; that Christ is in fact only
the symbol of our own divinity — of that union of man
with God which ought to be realized in each one of
us through the development of reason! Have you
heard such doctrines as these ? Nothing is more pos
sible ; for the schools of scepticism have scattered
their dust through the air which we breathe, and the
impiety of false sages pervades our streets. I shall
not refute this absurd opinion by dwelling on the
imposing mass of historical testimony which guarantees
the reality of the Gospel facts. I shall not repeat the

1 42 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
well-known quotations from Jewish and Pagan authors,
who confirm even by their enmity the truth of the
sacred narrative. I shall not speak of the blood of
apostles shed for what is called a myth ; a fact which,
if the notions of modern rationalism were true, would
be as inexplicable on the part of the executioners as
on that of the victims. Legends and dreams inspire
neither so much fury nor so much devotion.. I con
tent myself with appealing to the human soul. Was
it to discover a myth, a beautiful legend, a well-
invented fable, that thou hast suffered and groaned so
long, that thou hast searched under all skies and in
all times ? What ! at the price of such grief and
weariness thou hast pursued a poetic expression of a
truth already possessed ! If man, by his own reason,
be the true Christ, why has he desired another?
What meaning is there in the history of religions ?
What sense in the anxiety and agitation of our hearts ?
It seems to us that to state these questions is to
answer them.
But again, what has been told you of ' Christ ?
Perhaps you have been assured that He was a great
social reformer, and that the Gospel is the plan of a
new society ? This idea has lingered too long in our
poor world to be unknown to you. I will not remind
you of the profoundly spiritual character of the Gospel,
or of the Master's words so often repeated, by which
He raised the eye of man from earth to heaven :
" My kingdom is not of this world. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and allother
things shall be added unto you. Labour not for the
meat which perish'eth, but for that meat which endur-
eth unto everlasting life " — words which trace all
external reform to inward moral renovation. Here,

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 1 43
also, I appeal to the desire of your own hearts. Think
you that this would be fully satisfied by social refor
mation ? To state the case in the best way : — Suppose
that the earth no longer grudged to any their daily
bread, but was covered with harvests a thousandfold
more abundant than at present ; that the paths of the
year dropped plenty upon all (and would to God it
were so! we are only here combating materialism).
Suppose that there were no more starving beggars at
the door of the rich, but that, seated in his turn at a
magnificent table, and clothed in purple and fine linen,
the poor man — no longer poor — exemplified in a per
fectly equalized society the extent of social progress.
Suppose that this were the- sole work of Christ, and
that it had fully succeeded. Think you that here all
aspiration would cease, that every desire would be
extinguished within "you ? Ah ! you have a better
opinion of human nature ! You despise it not so '
much as to believe this ! You know very well that it
would still break forth from the present time as from
a prison, — from the earth as from a place of exile, —
because it lives not upon bread alone, but, above all,
upon truth ! You know that on the very morrow of
the fortunate day we have depicted, the void would
be but the greater in the heart of the poor man now
grown rich, because an infinite void — the void caused
by a lost God, only makes itself mournfully appreciated
by that which has been thrown in to fill it up. No,
no ; it is not for this only that all creatures have
sighed during six thousand years. Each of these
immortal souls feels in its inmost depths that the
whole world — even a world transformed after the
fairest dreams of social reformers — would avail it not ;
and if the Christ of eighteen centuries ago were only

144 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
a reformer for time and for earth, ah well ! it would
seek another, it would know that the true Deliverer
must yet be to come !
You may have been told, once more, that Jesus of
Nazareth was a sage, a philosopher, the Socrates of
Jerusalem ! I shall not speak of the miraculous and
mysterious character of His life and of His doctrine,
which transports us from the domain of theory into
that of sovereign reality. I appeal once again to the
desire of your hearts. Is it a sage, a philosopher that
you need ? But had not the ancient world more of
such than it required ! It had the purest, the greatest,
the most admirable possible, and still it could not rest
in their schools. It demanded from the East some
thing new and powerful, and can you believe that if
the East had provided one more philosopher with
some higher moral notions than others had possessed,
the world' would have been satisfied ? What ! a new
reasoner, a man of suppositions and hypotheses, pre
senting himself with a system derived from former
ones ! Should this be the Saviour, the Deliverer ?
But have you not understood that it is certainty, an
immediate and absolute certainty, that should be like a
sight of the invisible, for which man yearns ? He has
heard enough of reasoners, rhetoricians, philosophers.
He has agitated ideas, started questions, tried doctrines
long enough. The old. world, — and we all belong to it
in this respect, cannot bear the weariness of all this !
It hungers for belief, for God, and you offer it the
empty food with which it is already deeply disgusted.
It thirsts for consolation, and you lead it to the
damaged and broken cistern of human wisdom. Give
it the bread and the water which it demands. Give
to it its God, its living God. If you do not this, if

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 1 45
God be not brought to the world by your Christ, ah,
well ! it must seek for another.
This other Christ, then, shall He be a prophet, the
divinest of prophets, as has, perhaps, been suggested
to you? Prophets will not avail, and the proof of
this is, that the greatest of them have been those who
have most ardently desired the Saviour. He who,
according to Christ himself, was at once the last and
the first of the prophets, John the Baptist, did he not
declare that he was not worthy to unloose the latchet
of His shoes ? A prophet ! but he would be a man,
one of ourselves, purified it might be, and chosen to
be the organ of the Spirit ; sanctified by a burning
coal, such as touched the lips of Isaiah ; elevated to
the contemplation of things ineffable ; but one of our
selves still ; infected with the sore disease of sin, con
demned like all the rest ; and it is not a sharer in the
sickness that should be the physician. No, you need
more than a prophet; and this is why, after Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Daniel, the Jews still looked for Him
that should come !
Or shall it be an angel — the brightest, the nearest
to the throne of God? I will not remind you of
those words of a sacred writer's: "To which of
the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right
hand?"1 I will only refer to Origen's true and
beautiful expression of the desire of our hearts,
when he represents the human soul as saying : "I
have hitherto only seen thine angels descending and
ascending the shining ladder! Have pity on my
love, O Father ! Let my Lord speak to me no longer
through His servants, but come Himself — speak to me
Himself!" If we experience so profound a need of
seeing the Son of God without any finite medium, —
1 Heb i. 13.

1 46 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
seeing and hearing Him in person, what can we have
to do with any creature ? It is the eternal Word that
we want. If an angel could have been the Christ,
Mary would have seen Him in Gabriel ; but the angel,
like Mary herself, spoke of the promised Saviour who
had not yet come. The angels could celebrate His
birth, but not one of them could have filled His place.
Humanity knew the servants, and aspired to possess
the Master.
Thus has it sufficed for us to -confront these false
ideas of the Saviour with the secret and burning desire
of our hearts to recognize their inadequacy. But let
us pass from these notions, which are somewhat vague,
to the desire of salvation, such as we have analyzed it.
We shall very soon be convinced that man asked
nothing less than what God has given ; — that is to say,
a Saviour uniting in Himself humanity and divinity.
I fear not to take this ground, for I find a wonderful
harmony between man's sacred desire and the positive
prophecies that were designed to make it both pure
and fruitful. When the true cry of the soul has risen
to heaven, that cry has been for a God-man. When
ever the soul has spoken freely and sincerely, without
being bound or chilled by a captious philosophy, it
has sought for an incarnate Redeemer. This wish
has, indeed, been too often wrapped around with
gross and impure myths, but it proves irrefragably
that the incarnation alone could respond to man's
desire, and that violence is dune as well to human
nature as to revelation, by denying this great miracle.
What, in fact, have we all along discovered, breth
ren, in the desire of salvation ? Two well-defined
sentiments — the sorrow of condemnation and the hope
of recovery. This hope is essentially the hope of

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 1 47
finding God — of possessing Him once more. It is for
Him alone that man has sought from one religion to
another. And observe well that it is not the inert
and isolated God of philosophy, lost in the solitudes of
heaven like an eastern king in the depths of his palace.
No ; man sighs for a living God — a God that shall
unite Himself with his whole being. He has misera
bly degraded the notion of a divinity by breaking it
into fragments, and dragging it, debased and mutilated,
in the dust of the material world, to which in a sense
he has given these fragments. The tree, the flower,
the vast ocean, the fresh stream, the sun, the breeze,
the golden corn, — all beings, all elements have been
made divine, and there was not an action of life over
which a deity did not preside. Say that these are
odious superstitions, and we agree with you, but con
fess, also, that they envelop, while, alas ! profaning it,
a true sentiment. "I must have a God at hand, a
God who speaks to me, who guides me." This is
what man has never ceased to repeat by all the reli
gions that he has invented. "Make us gods which
shall go before us,"1 said the Israelites to Aaron.
This instinctive demand is the motto of all the pagan
isms of the ancient world. Materialistic on one side,
it is true on the other. Man cannot do without a
real God, and he will only be able to believe in his
own recovery when he shall have seen a God walk
before him on his mournful way. He has always
been seeking, while without the religion of the true
God, to get near to the Divinity, to join himself to
Him, to fasten again the severed links that had united
him with God, to possess Him again in reality. We
have the strongest proofs that it was not enough for
1 Exod. xxxii. i .

148 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
man to worship a God in the distant heavens, but that
he keenly desired that heaven should come near —
should stoop to earth. Even the saints of the old
dispensation, the worshippers of the true and holy
God were not satisfied with their condition. They
needed something more than they possessed, as is
indicated by their so constantly looking forwards; and
by the lips of one of their number they cried, "As
the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God,
for the living God."1 Try, then, to satisfy a heart
which has thus aspired, with a Saviour that shall be
less than God !
We have been considering the incarnation so far,
especially on its divine side ; but its human side, the
perfect humanity of the Redeemer, His humanity
humbled, suffering, crucified, is no less the object of
our desires. The hope is preceded by the sorrow of
condemnation. This sorrow withers the heart of man,
it covers his life with the veil of the divine anger.
The weight of his guilt crushes him. His pride may
be caressed and flattered, but he still feels that he be
longs to a fallen and accursed race. It is in vain that
he tastes pleasure ; the gnawing worm, the worm that
never dies, is in the fruit. It is in vain that he throws
himself into external activity ; that he becomes an
orator or a warrior ; that he robes himself with glory ;
he escapes not thus from the dark fear of death, or
from the immense weariness of life I He knows that
for him the present is desolate, and the future alarm
ing; for he depends on an offended and wrathful
God. Oh! how he longs to appease Him! He
takes the finest produce of his fields, and lays it on the
1 Psalm xlii. 1 i.

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 149
altar ; but he returns troubled as before. He talces
what is more precious, the first-born of his flocks —
he is lavish of sacrifices — he offers up whole hecatombs ;
but his God is not satisfied ! There must be a human
sacrifice; for the entire race feels itself guilty before God.
The privations to which man exposes himself in order
to offer sacrifices, are wholly unavailing ! Well,
then, he will hesitate no longer. Oh! spectacle of
horror ! he will devote his child, his brother ; he will
slay him without pity, if only his God may be appeased.
But it avails nothing, for the victim was not pure !
. The lamb and the sheep without spotwere pure indeed ;
but they were not human. The human victim was
not pure. A sacrifice must be found that shall be at
once pure and human ! And this, from akar to altar,
has been sought in tears and blood from that heaven
which remains still closed. Those who ignore the
Saviour as a victim, and see in Him only the revealer
of divine love, overlook these terrible manifestations
of a conscience at once erring and peremptory, raving
wildly in her burning, though misguided, thirst for re
demption ! They have not stood before those bloody
altars which would be set up again to-morrow, if the
Lamb, that taketh away the sins of the world, should
disappear from our sight ; and which do, in fact, exist
in all places where that Lamb is unknown ! No doubt
this desire, this need of the conscience, is at once puri
fied and satisfied by the Gospel ; but no ingenious
theory can root it out ; and we are warranted in say
ing, it is not only a God of glory, it is a God-man, it
is a sacrifice, that lost humanity demands ; and until it
has found this it will search on still. If Christianity
provide it not, it will seek farther. For many ages -it
has sighed after an incarnation — an incarnation in
L

150 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
order to a redeeming sacrifice, and it will be contented
with nothing less !
This is also what had been promised to mankind.
The desire was only the inward promise, as the pro
mise was the divine sanction of the desire. I shall not
repeat all the illustrations that I have given of the pro
phecies of the old dispensation. It will be sufficient
to remark that Isaiah, who calls the Saviour, by antici
pation, Wonderful, Counsellor, Son of the Most High,
calls Him also the man of sorrows, the despised, the
slain lamb ; ancient prophecy thus recognizing in
His person the man and the God, the victim and the
king. Was not the incarnation implied even in the
first of the prophecies ! That seed of the woman
which was to crush the serpent, was it not humanity
fully assimilated by God, and the bruise inflicted by
the serpent did not that most fitly represent the
reality of an incarnation that should involve suffering
and death?
God and man, then, the Saviour must be, in the
name of the promises of heaven, and the desires of
earth. Was He both in fact ? In other words, has
the Saviour come ? Such is the question which our
text decides : " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us."
We know that the heart of man asks no less —
that God has promised no less. Let us next con
sider the accomplishment of this desire, — the fulfil
ment of this promise, as suggested by these words
which comprise the whole of Christianity — "The
Word was made flesh." What is this but to say that
before being made flesh it existed in God. The
divinity of Jesus Christ is not simply then a virtue
emanating from God, and coming to animate the body
of a man, like a ray shot from the sun at a certain

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 151
moment. No, the Word existed before the incarna
tion as a personal being. It was, according to the ex
pression of Saint John, with God from the beginning,
and was God. Let us not here be charged with
touching on the theology of the schools ! The eter
nal divinity of the Word, the Son of God, is an indis
pensable condition of salvation. If it consisted only
in a divine virtue, a divine influence, it would have in
it nothing special or absolutely distinctive. We all
receive more or less of divine influences. We might
then speak of the divinity of Christ as of our own ;
merely acknowledging that the divine influence was
more powerful on Him than on us ! Those who deny
the pre-existence, the eternity of the Word which
was incarnate in Jesus Christ, deny also His divinity
in the scriptural sense. To continue to assert the
latter is to play with words — to avoid the indignation
of the Christian conscience by an equivocation, — to
be wanting in sincerity. The God whom we need is
the God of heaven, for He it is whom we have lost.
The incarnation has no other object than to reinstate
us in communion with Him ; and it does this only if
the incarnate Word is also the eternal Word.
Nor is this all ; not only is the reality of our salva
tion is question, but also the knowledge of the true
God. " Whosoever hath not the Son, hath not the
Father." The true God, the free, living, holy God,
He it is whom Saint John described when he wrote in
his first epistle : " God is love." A God who was not
love, who did not love, would be a God dead — no God
at all. Shut up in His omnipotence, as in a desert,
He would be but the cold impalpable shadow of divi
nity. But how should God be from all eternity a God
of love, if He had no object for His love ? Will you

152 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
say that He was from all eternity able to multiply
creatures? Take care! this is to make creatures
essential to the Creator, to take away His freedom in
creating, to suppose the creation His necessary com
plement, to connect God with the world as a slave with
his chain, to open the abyss of pantheism ! Where,
then, will you find the perfect object of His eternal
love, if not in Himself ? Where, if not in that Word
which is God, and yet is distinct from Him, since the
apostle tells us that the Word was with God ! The
Son gives us the Father. Through Him we recognize
and we adore eternal love ; and seeing love grounded
in the very being of God, we comprehend that it is
the law of the universe. The Word was in the
beginning the brightness, the express image of the
divine glory ; and above all the object of the divine
love. The only Son, says John, was in the bosom of
the Father, a touching and sublime expression, which
shews us in eternity all that love has most sacred and
most tender, and which alone enables us to measure
the extent of the redeeming sacrifice. They who see
the divinity of Christ only in His holiness, understand
not the whole bearing of His sacrifice. They are
touched when they see Him scourged, outraged, slain ;
but what would they feel if they said to themselves :
It is from the bosom of the Father that He has de
scended even to the garden of Gethsemane, to the hall
of judgment, to the cross ! It is the only Son of the
Father that is here trodden under foot ! And it is the
Father that has given Him up to ignominy for the re
bellious race. Oh, love of the Son, love of the Father,
profound abysses ! we are not angels, and if'they can
not see into these depths, how should we ! We must
be silent and adore. Word made flesh ! we worship

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 153
Thee in the bosom of the Father, as Thou didst reign
in eternity before a single creature existed ! Thither
must we penetrate to understand Thy humiliation and
Thy death !
The Word that was made flesh was then eternal.
Such is the first teaching of our text. It gives us also
a second very precious lesson, by shewing us the living
nature of God's revelations. A word is the revelation
of our soul. The Word of God is equally His reve
lation. It is not with His word as with ours. Our
soul manifests itself by words that pass away imme
diately after having vibrated in the air on which they
struck. The Word of GoA is not dissipated when
once uttered. A perfect revelation of the living and
eternal God, it is living and eternal as Himself. It is
not a simple form of speech — it is a personal being, an
express image of the Father, the very brightness of
His glory. Thus is each utterance of the living Word
a work that has life like that Word itself. God has
spoken in eternity, and His Word is the only Son of
the Father, God like Himself. He spake in time, and
creation was the echo of His Word. " All things
were made by Him. God said, Let there be light,
and there was light." He spake in revelation, and
His Word was not simply a doctrine, but a magnifi
cent reality ; each of the syllables being a fact, — now
the election of Israel, now the law, now prophecy as
a grand whole, now stupendous miracles. At last the
Word spake in redemption, and this was the greatest
of events — rit was the incarnation. " The Word was
made flesh," says our text. It was poured entire into
a human soul — it lived there, loved there, manifested
itself in a man's life and death, and may be said to
have dwelt among us. Thus, whether considered in

154 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
heaven or in earth, the Word of God is ever a living
Word. This is what distinguishes it from the words
of man, and gives it its sovereign power. It is not a
system, even the most perfect of systems, but a living
reality from age to age ; it rather manifests than
proves itself. A revelation, which is an incarnation,
becomes palpable and evident to the most simple ; and
we may say with an apostle, "That which we have
seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, that
declare we unto you." Humanity had need of such
a revelation. It had the germ of the Word in its pre
sentiments — it possessed it as a floating idea ; but the
incarnation alone could give it its salutary power.
There was no need, first, to overthrow false doctrines,
— this could easily be done by putting the true in
their place ; but rather to destroy the works of sin.
A great work of God was then necessary. The
power of darkness, present on the earth, must be
vanquished. The presence of the power of love was
therefore indispensable. The word of hell, a word of
pride and rebellion, had taken shape in humanity — it
was made flesh, it was incarnate day by day. The
Word of heaven must also be incarnate. Our text,
then, after having reminded us of the eternity of
the Word, teaches us the method of its revelations —
living revelations, therefore perfect and efficacious !
The apostle John does not enlarge on the fact of
the incarnation. He contents himself with stating,
without defining it, for indeed it eludes every attempt
at definition, and contains an inscrutable mystery. The
Gospel reveals this to us ; it tells us how, by His
miraculous birth, Jesus Christ was exempted from the
original stain. It constantly declares that He is the
Son of man, and the Son of God. But it goes no

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 155
farther. Why has not its wise reserve been more
often imitated ? With how many difficulties has not
the theology of men invested this great doctrine?
It has sought, in some way, to measure by line the
spheres of the divinity and the humanity in Christ;
to say with precision where the divine or the human
begins or ends. And the result of these attempts to
circumscribe the human and divine natures within ex
act limits, has been to freeze up piety, and to take
from the person of Christ its living unity. This divid
ing of His being has always ended in a complete
duality. Thus, in the writings of some of the
Fathers, the divinity of Christ is so separated from His
humanity, that the former is represented as present at
the passion, an unmoved spectator. There is some
thing in these theological subtleties cold, far-fetched,
false, such as the great apostolic era never knew. We
will content ourselves with what was then found suffi
cient. " God," says Saint Paul again, " was manifest in
the flesh ; " the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily
in Christ. We conclude from these words that the
divine and human natures profoundly penetrate each
other in the Redeemer. We should add, that the
Deity, in uniting Himself to condemned humanity,
humbled Himself, and took upon Him the form of a
servant. This humiliation was free and voluntary,
and could not therefore injure the dignity of the divine
nature. Let us, at the same time, beware of attenuating the
humanity of Christ. It is no less necessary to our
salvation than His divinity. The Word incarnate was
in reality the second Adam; desired, called for, by
the lost race. He represented it so completely, that
in fighting for it against Satan He fought for Himself,

156 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
according to the beautiful image used by a Father :
He was like a man defending his own hearth or
country.1 He was pre-eminently the man, while also
one with the Father ; thus was He able to consummate
on the cross His redeeming sacrifice, drawing the
heart of man to God, and the heart of God to man.
Let us content ourselves with recognizing the unity of
the divine and the human, and leave untouched by our
subtle distinctions a mystery so great and ineffable.
For ourselves, we gladly accept that beautiful saying
of Irenasus : " The Word of God was made man, to
accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in
man."2 We know not a sublimer paraphrase of the
words of Saint John : " The Word was made flesh."
And now that we have considered the great doc
trine of the divinity and the humanity of Christ in
itself, and perceived that it alone responds to the
revelations and promises of God, as well as to the need
of our nature, let us rapidly trace some of the proofs
which, in our view, establish this doctrine beyond dis
pute. In the first place, the very history of Jesus
Christ, in its various phases, shews us divinity and
humanity closely united in His person. Go back to
His entrance into this world. See the little infant in
swaddling clothes, lying in the manger, like all new
born children, weak, piteous as they, poorer than the
poorest — here was the man ! But what rays of glory
surround Him ! The armies of heaven sang His birth,
even the stars celebrated it, and wise men were seen
coming from the East to worship Him — here was
the God ! He was subject to the conditions of slow
'"Erat homo pro patribus certans,"— (Irenajus, edition of Feuardentius,
p. 284.)
2 Verbum filius hominis factus est, ut assuesceret Deum habitare in homine.
— (Irenseus, p. 289.)

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 157
and gradual development, which belong to our nature ;
and an evangelist could say of Him, that He increased
in stature and in favour. He passed through that
first period of human life, at once so humiliating and
so touching, when thought and language are by
degrees unloosed — here was the man ! From His
tenderest years His holiness manifested itself in His
gentle and complete obedience to His parents ; at the
age of twelve He confounded, in the temple, the
judges and doctors of Jerusalem, and revealed His
close communion with His Father — here was the
God! He had not a place where to lay His head. He
traversed the towns of Judea and Samaria, and was
seen resting from His fatigues. He hungered, thirsted,
suffered^ sank under the weight of His cross, the
thoraS of the soldiers wounded His brow, the nails of
crucifixion tore His body — here was the man ! But,
/'at the same time, He ruled over nature ; He spoke to
the waves of the sea, and they were still ; He touched
the blind man, and his eyes were opened ; He said
one word to the paralytic, and he arose and walked —
here was the God ! His sorrows pressed and accumu
lated on Him ; He was at last overcome by the very
force of His anguish ; He died — here was the man !
But He had often spoken to death as a Master — the
daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow, the brother
of Martha and Mary, had been called back to life by
Him, He Himself would break the bonds of the sepul
chre, and break them for all mankind — here was the
God ! If we pass from the domain of outward to
that of spiritual life, the divinity and the humanity of
the Saviour equally appear before us. He knew the
sadness of isolation and of bereavement, — He groaned

158 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
within Himself over the death of Lazarus — "Jesus
wept," says the evangelist — here was the man! But
this same Jesus dried the tears of the afflicted by His
mighty consolations; they came to Him smiting on
their breasts, and returned with thanksgivings on their
lips — here was the God ! He was tempted by Satan,
He endured contact with him in the desert, He heard
his profane words as the first Adam had done in-th^
garden of Eden — here was the man. But with three
texts of Scripture, as with three pointed arrows, He
transfixed the tempter, and had the right to say at
the end of His earthly career, "He hath nothing in
me" — here was the God ! He passed through the ex-
tremest agonies of mental conflict — great drops of
blood were on His brow — He lay prostrate in the
dust of Gethsemane :• — "In the days of His flesh,"
we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "He offered
up prayers and supplications, with strong crying
and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him
from death "1 — here was the man ! But scarcely had
He risen from His prayer, scarcely had He uttered
those words of perfect obedience : " Father, Thy will
be done ! " when, on the very morning of the terrible
day of His passion, the impious troop of His enemies
fell down awe-stricken at His feet, unable to bear that
glory of holiness and love which shone out from all
His being — here was the God ! He was taken to
judgment, He was condemned — here was the man !
As a sovereign, He pardoned sins — here was the
God ! His last struggle was the most mysterious.
Bearing the world's condemnation, He cried, " My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" — here
was the man ! But immediately afterwards He spoke
1 Heb. v. 7.

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 159
those grand words, "It is finished!" — here was the
God ! Forget not, my brethren, that many things
which we have now presented to you as distinct and
separate, were one in the unity of the life of Christ,
and you will acknowledge with us that the evangelical
history, from beginning to end, is but a commentary
on the saying of our text: "The Word was made
flesh." Jesus Christ had Himself the constant consciousness
of His nature as both divine and human. He speaks
of Himself as the Son of man and as the Son of God.
He declares that He had been sent into the world by
the Father to save those who should believe in Him.
He commands His disciples to baptize repentant sinners
in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, connecting Himself thus with God in the solemn
act which symbolizes the work of conversion. He espe
cially insisted on His unity with the Father in His last
conversations with His disciples, when He opened to
them the depths of His heart, and gave them His
sublimest teachings in the most touching form on the
solemn eve of His solitary and bloody conflict. He
feared not to say to them, " He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father. I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. I and the Father are one." He directed
His disciples to pray in His name, and He made their
holiness to depend on their union with Himself: "1
am the vine, ye are the branches." And not only
did He thus teach, but He also allowed His enemies
to accuse Him of making Himself equal with God,
not protesting against the charge, but remaining
dumb, even under the weight of this condemnation.
To be silent at such a moment was to admit the accu
sation, — to acknowledge the truth of the fact. If the

1 60 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
charge had been false, He must have spoken at all
risks. It would not have been lawful for Him to re
frain from justifying Himself, for it is never right to
allow a wrong to be committed when it can be pre
vented. It is evident, then, that Christ had a clear
consciousness of His own divinity.
The apostolic church, again, has not ceased to pro
claim the doctrine. The works of God have been
attributed to Christ ; a share in the creation and
government of the world;1 the raising of the dead and
judging them; the rule of the church,2 which supposes
omnipotence and omniscience. Beyond this, the primi
tive church did positively worship Christ.3 "Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit," said the first of the martyrs
at his last moment. The apostolic church invoked
Him as its Lord and its God,4 and declared that to
Him every knee should bow. We see, then, that
there is no medium. Either the Church was right in
recognizing the perfect" divinity of Christ, or else it
fell into gross idolatry. Idolatry ! the Church of the
apostles and martyrs ! There are some suppositions
that one is ashamed of putting into words.
From all these considerations it follows that if there
be one positive doctrine guaranteed by the most
irrefragable testimonies, it is that of the divine and
human nature of Jesus Christ. With it the whole of
Christianity must fall, or at any rate what remained
would not be worth notice. Whenever this doctrine
has been weakened, the very bases of religion have
trembled. All has been shaken, and the zealous
efforts of the Church to strengthen her " corner-stone "
have in all ages proved that she associated with the
1 Col. i. 16; 1 Cor. viii. 6. 2 Rom. xiv. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 10.
3 Luke xxiv. 5252 Cor. xii. 8. * 1 Cor. i. 2.

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 1 6 1
triumph of this doctrine her preservation and her
progress. We may not therefore flatter you, O ye who from
different points of view admit not this truth ! Your
position is that of the destroyers of Christianity.
There are among you those who will willingly accept
such a character. May we ask them for whose sake
they do so ? What is the motive that urges you to
reject the eternal divinity of Jesus Christ ? Is it for
the sake of God or of man ? For the sake of God,
you will perhaps reply ; as we might be induced to
believe from your name of deist, to which, however,
you have so little right. A deist, according to the
etymology of the word, should defend better than
other men the cause of God ; but in this sense no one
deserves the name less than yourselves. We have
shewn you what God would be without the eternal
Word. The Father without the Son is no longer the
Father. In place of the living God, — the God whose
name is love, whose compassions are stirred towards
us, who speaks to us and helps us, — you give us an
abstract divinity, afar off, hard, inflexible, who concerns
Himself no more with our world than we do with the
leaf which our hand has cast to the winds ! You give
us a phantom instead of a reality. We know not
where to find your God, and we know that if He be
found He has no word of love, no help in store for
us. He has never dried a single tear nor made one
heart glad ; not even your own. Because your heart
is barren, it has pleased you to make a God barren
and cold like yourselves, and yet you profess to be in
an especial manner the followers of God ! You have
libelled Him by representing Him as equally insensible
with yourselves ; and far from serving His cause, you

1 62 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
would have compromised it for ever if your words had
been believed ; for humanity will never content itself
with a silent God. Would you declare it unworthy
of His greatness to be so far occupied with poor
humanity as to consent to the incarnation of His Son ?
You suppose, then, that greatness consists entirely in
external glory, and have never understood that there
is a glory of a far higher kind, — never known the
greatness of love. From this latter point of view
nothing is more beautiful, nothing more worthy of
God, than the voluntary humiliation of His love for a
mean creature. The meaner be the creature, the
greater appears the love that saves him. Speak no
longer, then, of the glory of God. Once more we
say, "He that hath not the Son hath not the Father."
Are you advocating the cause of man ? But know
you not that his conscience has never demanded any
thing but that which God has given it ? Do you sup
pose yourself to know better than the human con
science, as it has spoken during six thousand years ?
How is it that you do not see that in taking away the
Christ-God, you take the water from the burning
thirst of man, and the bread from his devouring
hunger. You disappoint his long-cherished desire.
Without thinking of humanity in general, I will ask
you yourselves : Are you contented with your doc
trine ; does it satisfy you ? Has it comforted you in
evil days ? Is nothing still wanting to you ? You
will not dare to say so ! You will not dare, whatever
be your illusions, because all is wanting to you, and
the Saviour, the Deliverer, has brought us all only in
bringing us God.
There are others who deny the divinity of Christ,
while still pretending to remain Christians. They

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 1 6t,
should know that their intermediate position is not
tenable. It is not in fact intermediate. Their hom
age to Christ covers a terrible accusation brought
against Him ; they charge Him with falsehood and
hypocrisy ! Is it true or is it not that Christ affirmed
His own divinity ? If it be clearer than the day that
He did profess to be the Son of God, it is equally
clear that to deny His divinity is to proclaim Him a
liar in the face of the world. It avails nothing to say
with a certain philosopher: "The morality of the
Gospel touches and penetrates me !" If Jesus Christ
was not the Son of God, the Gospel ought to be torn
to pieces as an imposture, and Christ spoke falsely
through His whole life. He deceived His disciples
in the very last night that He passed with them.
He knowingly allowed His adversaries to commit a
dreadful crime which He could have prevented by a
word. Say no more, then, of His holiness — of His
moral purity ! Rather say, that in a sense the Jews
and Pilate were right in condemning Him. But, O
Lord, pardon our words ; we tremble to utter them.
Pardon them on account of the object we have in
view, which is to tear off the veil from those pretended
friends of the Gospel who believe that they love Thee
while they accuse Thee of imposture. They may per
haps be alarmed at the thought of the blasphemy
hidden under their negative words; — perhaps in the
impossibility of recognizing an impostor in the humble
Jesus of Nazareth, in the gentle Master, in the victim
resigned and merciful even in the hour of His punish
ment, they will fall at Thy feet crying out : If He must
have been either a deceiver or a God, we cannot hesi
tate — yes, this man was a God !
Let all those who might be tempted to question the

1 64 The Nature of Jesus Christ.
divinity of Christ carefully weigh these considerations.
Let them be sure that on the day when the Church
shall find herself assaulted anew on this vital point,
even though by the most alluring mysticism, her voice,
her great voice, which needs not councils to make
itself heard, will resound as it did formerly in the days
of Arius or of Socinus. The most terrible excom
munication for a doctrine is the shriek of terror and
indignation uttered by the Church when, wounded in
the person of her divine Lord, she cries out like the
women of Jerusalem : " I am seeking my Saviour, and
I know not where they have placed Him." Ah! we
hope that the old rationalism which is passing away
may not reappear under more specious forms. It
would be very soon recognized, and would be really
nothing but the dead burying his dead.
It is to you, Christians, that the charge of preserving
this glorious doctrine is especially entrusted. Doc
trines are expressed in confessions of faith, but they
must not slumber within them. They are only truly
preserved by a living faith. If doubts arise around
us concerning the human and divine nature of Jesus
Christ, let us shew what we derive from it of comfort,
strength, and happiness. Christ was a man like our
selves, experienced in all things save in sin ; thus we
have recourse to Him with fullest liberty, secure of
His compassion. We take not a step in life but we
find ourselves on His path. Are we walking through
the rugged way of poverty ? He has trodden it before
us. Are we in the path of suffering ? He has pre
ceded us there also. Are we following the way of
opprobrium? Which of us will be insulted as He
was ? Do we weep for a beloved one ? He seems to
say, "I also have wept." And have we at length

The Nature of Jesus Christ. 165
arrived at the rough and gloomy pass of death ? He
knows its anguish and its solitude. " He was made
in all things like unto His brethren, that He might be
a merciful and faithful High Priest."1 But this
brother in weariness, conflict, and sorrow is at the
same time the mighty God ? In Him we are more than
conquerors. If Satan and the world combine together
against us, still are we sure of gaining the victory. It
has been indeed already gained by Christ. His glory
shall be ours. The past is effaced, the present trans
figured, and the future radiant ; for the God-Man was
put to death for our offences, and was raised again for
our justification, and has ascended to heaven to pre
pare a place for us, while He is ever by His Spirit
present in our midst, to direct His people and to
strengthen the poor Christian who bends beneath his
daily cross. Oh ! that he may preserve as long as he
lives an ever-growing faith in the human and the
divine nature of his Redeemer, assured of His tender
sympathy by the former, of His effectual succour by
the latter — of eternal salvation by the two com
bined. May he begin even here below the song
which he will finish and repeat in heaven among saints
and angels : " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom,, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever
and ever ! "2

1 Heb. ii. 17. » Rev. v. 12-13.
M

VI.
THE PLAN OF JESUS CHRIST.

" I am not come to destroy but to fulfil." — Matt. v. 17.
In our last discourse we considered the nature of Jesus
Christ. We recognized and adored in His person the
God-man. Now we are to ask no longer what He was,
but what He came to do on earth, what was His plan.
That Christ had a well-determined plan follows from
His declarations and from His' entire life. How often
did He not speak of a work which He had come to
accomplish! " Father," He said, on the eve of His
death, " I have finished the work which Thou gavest
me to do." What an admirable unity was there in
His ministry ! One thought animated Him from the
first day to the last. He advanced towards the end
which He had proposed to Himself without once turn
ing aside, along a road most inflexibly straight, knowing
neither rest nor relaxation. Not a single action can
be cited that was not strictly the carrying out of His
plan ; and yet there was nothing constrained about
Christ. He was not like those men who are impri
soned in their idea as in a vice. We feel that the
plan of Christ was in a manner incorporated with
Himself. He was so profoundly penetrated with it,
that it was connected with everything in His life in
the most natural and spontaneous way. He moved
freely within the boundaries that He had traced out

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 167
for Himself; His words and His works flowed as from
a spring, without calculation and without preme
ditation. How then could He be accused of not having
had a uniform plan ?
Rationalistic theologians have pretended that Christ
formed a first scheme which failed, and that He
then conceived a second which was entirely different.
They consider the first to have been that of restor
ing the kingdom of Judah in splendour, and giving
a new glory to the Jewish theocracy. It was in
this sense, then, that He announced the acceptable
year of the Lord in the synagogue of Nazareth ; but
not encountering the dispositions on which He had
reckoned, He modified his plan, and instead of pro
claiming a prosperous era, asserted that the kingdom
of God belonged to those that weep. He would have
thus thrown Himself upon a spiritual kingdom as in
despair of His cause. But how, on this supposition of
infidelity, can we understand the fact, that even before
entering on His active ministry, Jesus Christ indig
nantly repelled in the desert the suggestions of Satan,
tending to the materializing of His work ? How can
we explain it, that one of His first sayings to His dis
ciples concernedHis death? "Destroy this temple," said
He, "and in three days Iwill raise it up. But he spake,"
adds the evangelist John, " of the temple of His body!"
We shall not now set ourselves to refute in detail an
objection so evidently contradicted by history. There
is, moreover, one fact which predominates over all
others ; it is that of the divine humanity of our Saviour.
Could we, then, admit that the God-man should have
made His designs depend on external circumstances,
and that His definitive plan should have been imposed
pn Him by a difficulty? So servile a dependence on

1 68 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
events cannot be reconciled with His nature as the Son
of God most high. The reality of His sacrifice again
would not be less compromised than His divinity.
What but a mock sacrifice is one that is forced?
Christ's sacrifice was only real if it was voluntary. He
must have freely consented to it, and for this purpose
He must have foreseen it, offered it as it were by an
ticipation. Everything in the work of Christ breathes
a sovereign and absolute liberty, and therefore is it the
work of love. " I have power," said He, " to lay
down my life, and I have power to take it again." If
He laid it down it was not because it was impossible
for Him to do otherwise, it was of His own free will
for the salvation of mankind. The plan of salvation
was then evidently formed by Christ, and it was just
the profound consciousness which He had of it that
marked His entire work with a divine seal.
Let us now enquire, brethren, what this sublime plan
was in all its grandeur ! I find it admirably defined in the
words of my text, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
The plan of Jesus Christ was to accomplish the period
of preparation. To accomplish does not mean to pro
long, but to bring to perfection, to realize fully. In
promising to accomplish the period of preparation,
Christ did not mean that He would render it definitive,
that He would bind us to the ancient law by conse
crating it afresh; on the contrary He declares in these
words, that He puts an end to this law, that He is
Himself its end. For Him to accomplish the an
cient covenant is to develop, to complete it. But
it could only be developed by being spiritualized ;
now the ancient covenant spiritualized becomes the
new covenant. We must expect that many institutions
inherent in the first economy would disappear, that

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 169
many ordinances would be abrogated. It is a necessity
of this accomplishment. The economy could only be
truly accomplished, that is to say brought to perfection,
when the more or less gross and material covering,
which enclosed the truth should be broken up. There
was then necessarily something to abolish in the ancient
covenant, in order to its true accomplishment. When
Christ says, "I am not come to destroy," we must not un
derstand His words in an absolute sense, for it is a fact
that the new dispensation has profoundly modified the
old. The Lord intended to point out the close con
nection in which His work stood to former revelations.
Far from suppressing these He rested on them, for in
fact they had come from Himself. His mission, like
all things great and fruitful, was essentially positive;
He abolished only what stood in the way of the com
plete realization of the will of God.
And here, brethren, was the secret of Christ's
reforming power. If He had been contented with
denying and abolishing, His work would have had no
originality, no vast or profound influence. The human
soul has a horror of a void as to faith, and prefers a
false belief to a cold incredulity. Before Christ came,
all that had before constituted the religion of mankind
had been disbelieved and denied. But a negation
that is only a negation, has no force even for destruc
tion. Men deny with their lips, but retain the
superstition in the depths of their heart, and return
to it in moments of suffering or of dread. The
ancient philosophers confuted paganism during their
life, but paid it homage at their death, by observing
the ceremonies commonly practised. If Christ had
said, I am come to destroy, and had said only this,
it would have happened with Him as with His prede-

1 70 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
cessors. But he says, I am come to fulfil, I bring an
absolute certainty, a positive truth; and I join it on to
all that existed, true and divine, before me. At these
words we feel that we behold not Him in a reasoner
but a revealer, and we fear not to abandon an imper
fect truth for one that is more sublime.
The plan of Christ, then, consisted in accomplishing
the period of preparation. We have to determine
how He understood this accomplishment, and what
modifications of ancient institutions it involved. This
subject is very important, for a confusion between the
two covenants is one of the most fruitful sources of
error in the church. The whole history of Christianity
is marked by constant returns towards that past, which
was abolished when it was accomplished. It was an
admirable saying of Saint Augustine's, that the New
Testament is hidden in the Old, and the Old shines
through the New. But instead of entering into the spirit
of these grand words, and reading the Old Testament
in the light of the New, the very reverse has been
done. The veil which concealed the face of Moses
has been taken off only to be spread over the Gospel,
and the divine book has thus been robbed of a portion of
its power. This is what the Galatian and other
churches did in the earliest times, and even in our
day the same deplorable error has been too often
incurred. It is necessary to compare all the erroneous
views of Christianity with the Master's real plan, in
order rightly to comprehend His thought, and to
realize it in all its consequences.
You know that the period of preparation is not,
according to our views, restricted within the limits of
Judaism. There was also a less direct work of pre
paration, of which traces are constantly found in the

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 171
history of paganism. Among the heathen nations as
among the Jews, we have recognized the progress of
the desire of salvation. It was this desire that Christ
came to accomplish, but as its perfect and divine ex
pression is found in the institutions of the chosen
people, we shall speak now exclusively of Judaism,
and in showing how the desire of salvation in the
descendants of Abraham was satisfied, we shall in
reality exhibit the same with regard to all people, since
the holy nation represented humanity before God.
If we consider the form which the desire of salva
tion assumed among the Jews, we shall perceive that
it was confounded in their minds with the establishing
of the kingdom of God upon earth. Their institutions
were prophetic. Now the chosen nation was under
a theocracy — the visible government of God. It was
consequently to a restoration of the divine kingdom
that their hopes pointed. They aspired not merely
after individual salvation, but also after a grand develop
ment of the theocracy. Thus the prophet who im-
mediately preceded Christ, summed up all the hopes
of his people in these words: "The kingdom of God is
at hand." It is indeed true that God does not seek
only to save individuals, but also to found a kingdom
upon earth; man is not cast isolated upon its surface,
but belongs to a vast body. His recovery can only be
complete when a humanity after God is constituted
anew, and the rebel world again forms a part of the divine
kingdom. Jesus Christ coming to fulfil the ancient
covenant, connected His work with this idea of the
kingdom of God. He wished to free the idea from
all imperfection, and to realize it in an absolute manner.
His plan was to found on earth the true kingdom of
God, and this involved the abolition of institutions

172 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
which, however useful for the gradual advancement of
humanity, would have militated by their external
character against the fulfilment of this great design.
To accomplish the kingdom of God in abolishing its
first and transitory form, — all the plan of Christ is
here. We shall have to investigate with care both
the abolition and the accomplishment.
The kingdom of God under the old dispensation
presents itself to us first as a great prophecy of salva
tion. It is " the shadow of good things to come."1
Everything in the institutions of the people of God
announced a Saviour — everything lifted towards God
the desire of fallen man that was seeking that
Saviour, and brought back also the promise of the
Father, who would give Him to mankind. Nothing
better characterizes the ancient dispensation than the
expectation of the Redeemer. It is in this sense
especially that Christ said : "I am not come to destroy
but to fulfil." Prophets and saints, ye faithful servants
of God who, during so many ages, have sighed after
the deliverance of Israel, I am not come to disappoint
your desire, to give the lie to your faith ! I am He
whom you have been expecting, and I am here ! I
have no other mission in this world. I am come to
accomplish all that you have wished — all that you have
prayed for. You have asked a Saviour, I am the per
fect Saviour, and if you could all re-appear in one day,
you would recognize in me the end and accomplish
ment of your aspirations. Abraham would see in me
the true child of promise ; Moses, the great prophet
who should come ; David, the glorious son to whom an
eternal empire was ensured; Isaiah, the mighty deliverer
and the man of sorrows ; all would adore me and say :
1 Hebrew x. s..

The Plan of Jaus Christ. 1 73
Look no longer for the Messiah, He is possessed by
us. "I am not come upon the earth to destroy, but
to fulfil."
Thus is it the essential plan of Christ to accomplish
the desire of salvation, to reconcile man with God, to
offer the sacrifice of redemption, to fulfil the promises.
All His purposes connect themselves with this one.
Whoever ascribes to Him any other object, has not
understood our text. If Christ came for anything, but
to save men, He did not come to fulfil the ancient
dispensation; there is then no relation between the
old and the new covenants, and the harmony of the
divine revelations is destroyed. But far from this,
the new dispensation bears the same relation to the
old, as the answer to a prayer does to the prayer, or
rather as the shadow projected by a body to the
body itself. Jesus Christ, when referring to the sacri
fice which should sum up and complete His redeeming
work, said: "For this hour I am come." We have here
the finest commentary on our text. To come on
purpose to endure the cross, was to come to accomplish
the law and the prophecies ; for these had awakened
in the heart of man the desire of a redemption.
Definitively to found the kingdom of God by the re
conciliation of man with Him, such was then essentially
the plan of Christ.
This fulfilling of the ancient covenant implied that
.profound modifications should be made in it in the
accomplishment of the Lord's design. The principal
institutions of Judaism, such as we have already
described it, were closely bound together by its one
fundamental thought. Being sensible manifestations
of the desire of salvation, they could not of course
survive that desire. When once it was satisfied, their

174 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
continuation would have been unmeaning. To wish
to transport the shadows of the old dispensation into
the new, is to deny that the sun of righteousness and
truth has risen. To perpetuate Judaism is to dispute
its accomplishment, — is to say to Christ : Thou didst
certainly form the plan of fulfilling the law and the
prophecies, but Thou deceivedst Thyself. Every
Jewish institution preserved in Christianity is, as far
as it goes, giving the lie to Christ. It is an incessant
protestation against His redeeming work, and, to
employ the forcible words of Saint Paul, a frustrating
of the Gospel of grace. We cannot be at once Jews
and Christians — we cannot praise God that we have
a Saviour, and act all the time as if He had not yet
come !
Recall to your minds, my brethren, the principal
institutions of Judaism, and you will perfectly under
stand the necessity for their transformation. The first
and most salient feature of the old dispensation was
its unspiritual character. Religion, under it, was more
or less external to the man. Thus it multiplied forms
and ceremonies ; whereas a religion which easily pene
trates the heart, which gains entrance and dwells there,
needs not to be rendered visible to the eye by so many
symbols. It is all the less without as it is the more
within. Now the religion of the Old Testament was
essentially external. We know the immense variety
of its rites and ordinances, and the pomp of its wor
ship. It made itself evident by ceremonies without
number. It was restricted within the limits of a
country, it had its visible centre within the walls of a
sanctuary, it was incarnate in the priest, it was con
centrated in the Sabbath day. I need not insist longer on
this outward character of Judaism. It arose naturally

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 175
from the condition of those who were under the
ancient covenant. How should religion not be exter
nal to man, so long as a barrier existed between him
and God ? He could not communicate freely with
his God ; the sentence of condemnation was between
him and heaven. He was still in fear of God, for
until the day of redemption he felt himself under the
weight of His judgments. Man necessarily remained
at a distance from a God with whom he was
not at peace. Hence this external character of an
imperfect religion, which only promised salvation, and
bestowed it not.
But this external character must disappear in the
religion of Christ, if He be indeed a perfect Saviour.
The first effect of His work is to restore God to us,
for the reconciliation is a reunion. For the future,
communion becomes possible between God and us.
He is no longer a God afar off, but a God near at
hand. He is even willing to dwell in us, and thus
religion which was once external becomes internal,
that is to say, spiritual. If God be in us we shall not
be compelled to seek for Him in consecrated places and
holy days ; He is with us everywhere, we are in Him.
Thus Christ, in bringing forgiveness to the world,
brought at the same time spirituality, which every
where supersedes the external character of the ancient
covenant. This covenant is only accomplished in being
spiritualized. The spirituality is inseparable from the
pardon. But the word spirituality is too vague, too
general, to express the most glorious consequence of
redemption. Let us rather say that the first result of
the sacrifice of Christ was the gift of the Holy Spirit.
You remember how often Christ renewed the promise
of this gift in those last discourses when, talcing in with

176 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
a glance His entire work, He reckoned up its glorious
results as a reaper counts the sheaves of his field. This
precious gift occupies the first place in His plan,
because nothing could better convince us that the
sacrifice of redemption had been accepted by God.
Christianity is the religion of the Spirit just because
it is the religion of pardon. Before the pardon was
obtained, the Holy Spirit indeed acted on the hearts
of men, but not in a continuous manner, because of
the separation which existed between humanity and
God. This separation exists no more, now that
redemption has come, and God can henceforth dwell
in us. The Holy Spirit conveys to us in a mysterious
manner all the gifts of heaven, makes religion a life,
a real inward life, and renders us participants of the
divine nature. Christian spirituality has then nothing
cloudy or intangible about it ; it is exactly defined
when it is called the presence of God in our souls, by
His Spirit. It is in our view the divine pledge of
pardon, and the strongest proof that there is no
longer any distance between us and our heavenly
Father. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the very accom
plishment of the ancient covenant, and it involves the abo
lition of the inherent imperfections of that covenant.
Wherever spirituality is wanting, you may be sure that
men have fallen again from the New Testament to
the Old, from the period of accomplishment to that of
preparation! You may be sure that faith in forgiveness
is weakened, that the work of the Saviour is misunder
stood, and His plan disfigured ! Let us now pass
in review some few cases in which alterations are
thus made in the Gospel.
Judaism was a religion of purely external authority,
a ministration of the letter, to use the words of the

The Plan of Jesus Christ. i 77
apostle Paul.1 The revelation was graven on stone
rather than on the heart of man. It was imposed on
him from without. It was a sacred yoke under which
he was required to bend. No deviation was allowed
from the most inflexible uniformity, because there was
no progressive assimilating of revelation, no unfettered
research. The truth, like God himself, was external
to man. Such is the meaning of those words : " the
ministration of the letter." The new covenant, on
the contrary, is called by the same apostle, " the
ministration of the Spirit." Not that there is opposi
tion between the letter of the Scriptures and the Holy
Spirit. Nothing of this kind is intended. Christ said,
" I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." He did not
destroy authority in religion. His mission was not
negative in that respect any more than in others. Far
from destroying authority, He accomplished it ; — that
is to say, He brought it to perfection by rendering it
more spiritual, opening to it by gentle persuasion the
domain of the soul. Thus, in the new covenant, as in
the old, the Holy Scriptures alone convey to us the
truth, and have in this respect a sovereign authority.
But this truth, like the God whose expression it is,
must enter within us. It must be written on our soul
in living letters, and these letters are traced by the
finger of the Spirit. It is He who "guides us into
all the truth," according to the words of the Lord, by
which we understand the truth of the Scriptures.
"His unction," we may say with St. John, "teaches
us all things." We no longer need that any but God
should instruct us. Free access to Him is opened for
us. Away, then, with all who would come between
us and God ! We have the privilege of communicat-
1 2 Cor. iii. 6.

178 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
ing freely with Him. It is our right ; it is the right
won for us by the blood of Christ ; it is the conse
quence of pardon ; it is the fulfilment of the ancient
covenant. What shall we say, then, to those who
deny us this right, who put tradition between us and
God, and wish to impose it on us with authority ?
What but that they are overthrowing the plan of
Christ, denying the efficacy of His death, and carrying
us back to the point at which humanity stood before
His coming ! Ministers of the dead letter, pretenders
to despotic authority in religion, whoever you may be,
whatever be your disguise, whether Catholic or Pro
testant, — all ye who make truth an inert tradition, an
iron chain to be passed on from generation to genera
tion, you deny both redemption and the gift of the
Spirit, and by your pretensions say to Christ : Thou
hast not accomplished the ancient covenant, for we
continue it as if Thou hadst not come.
The external character of Judaism is seen again in
the law given by Moses to the people of God. The
apostle Paul calls it the "law of commandments con
tained in ordinances." It regulated, in fact, the smallest
details of life. It guided men by its minute directions
as by leading strings, and was more occupied with the
outside of the cup than with the inside. A severe
and terrible law, it had its sanctions in multiplied chas
tisements. It was for this very reason an impotent
law, for terror alone has never changed a single heart.
It belonged to the plan of Christ to give us a much
higher law. In this sense also He said: "I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil." Let us beware of
supposing that grace has abrogated law, considered as
such, and set us free from the rule of holiness. This
would be to say, " Let us sin that grace may abound ;''

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 179
this would be to make Christianity a rebellion against
conscience. No ; Christ, with all His mercy, did not
come to destroy the law, but on the contrary to fulfil
it, to complete it, to bring it to perfection. Woe to
the pretended Christian, who imagines himself to be
emancipated in this respect ! Jesus Christ enlarged
the law in fulfilling it, honoured it in spiritualizing it.
It is no longer a law of precepts. There is now but
one commandment: "Be ye perfect, even as your
Father who is in heaven is perfect ;" but from this
commandment the Holy Spirit causes the whole of the
Christian life to flow. He himself becomes, in deepest
harmony with Scripture, a living law, acting rather by
inspiration than by precept.' "Being led by the
Spirit, we are not under the law."1 The new law is
directed rather to the heart whence are the issues of
life, than to the outward actions. Being a law of
love, it works on the affections by renewing them, and
the Christian is able to say, " The love of Christ con-
straineth me." It is, as Saint James says, a perfect law
and a law of liberty — perfect even in its liberty ; for
having no special directions, neither has it any limita
tions. The Christian is called to perfection, and
Christ aimed at nothing less in His plan than the holi
ness of His disciples. What shall we think, then, of
those who carefully collect the fragments of the
ancient yoke which humanity was not able to bear,
that they may impose it anew ; who constitute afresh
a Mosaic code, multiply cases of conscience and en
slave souls by minute regulations ? What shall we
think, above all, of those who, denying the freeness
of salvation, would bring us back to a servile and
barren fear, to a proud self-righteousness and to the
' Gal. .. 18.

180 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
inflictions of a rigorous justice ? What but that they
are taking us from grace to law, from Christ to
Moses; that they are denying both redemption and
the Holy Spirit, and saying to the Saviour: Thou
didst profess to accomplish the ancient covenant, but
we continue it as if Thou hadst not come.
The Jewish worship bears, in a more evident manner
than any other institution, the impress of the ancient
dispensation. Sacrifice and the priesthood are the
most striking features of this worship, and it is espe
cially under this double point of view that it has been
at once abolished and accomplished. The priesthood
announced the perfect Mediator, and sacrifice was a
prophetic type of redemption. The Saviour is the
only priest of the new covenant, " a priest made after
the power of an endless life. Because He continueth
ever, He hath an unchangeable priesthood."1 His
sacrifice, being perfect and accepted of God, is sub
stituted for all others : " Christ was once offered to
put away sin."2 If priests reappear, if sacrifices are
presented anew, the ancient covenant still exists. All
those who now maintain the permanence of the priest
hood, and who cannot conceive of worship without
sacrifices, set themselves against redemption. They
contest with Christ the reward of His sufferings, which
is the salvation of souls, and unconsciously accuse
Him of error or of falsehood. Yes, wherever a priest
officiates, wherever an altar is raised, there is a posi
tive denial of salvation, and a witness against the
Saviour's work. If we are told that priests and altars
are found in temples erected to His glory, we reply
that priesthood and sacrifices are in reality opposed to
His glory, since they dispute the efficacy of His death.
1 Heb. vii. 16, 24. 2 Heb. ix. 26.

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 1 8 1
It is in vain that the cross on these churches is pointed
out to us. The cross is but dead wood if the redeem
ing sacrifice is not fully recognized. The sweetest
songs mingling with the fumes of incense prevent not
Christ from hearing the lie that is given to Him by
every priest before every altar. Thou hast not ac
complished the ancient covenant, these vain ceremonies
say to Him, for we continue it as if Thou hadst not
come, in the very institutions which most clearly signify
the absence of a perfect Saviour.
We need not insist on the external character of the
Jewish worship, nor on the pomp of its ceremonies.
It could only be celebrated in a sanctuary and on cer
tain days. The Sabbath and the temple were strictly
connected with Mosaism. Christ came not to destroy,
but to fulfil. He destroyed not, then, the religious
festival nor the solemn worship. But the entire life
has become a Christian festival. Do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, singing hymns and spiritual songs.
The Christian himself has become a sanctuary conse
crated to God : "Ye are the temple of the Holy
Ghost." I will go farther, and say, that the religious
festival and the temple are not, properly speaking,
excluded by Christianity, while they have no longer
that monopoly of consecration which distinguished the
Sabbath and the sanctuary at Jerusalem. Sunday is
not the continuation of the Sabbath, but has been
substituted for it by the necessities of Christian wor
ship without being in itself more holy than any other
day of the week. In Judaism one day of the week
was sanctified — in Christianity the whole week is
devoted to God. So also our temples are no longer
more holy than our dwellings. The Spirit is not im
prisoned within walls. "The hour cometh," said
N

1 82 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
•
Christ to the Samaritan woman, "when ye shall neither
in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him
must worship Him in spirit."1 The fulness of redemp
tion is denied, therefore, whenever consecrated days
and places are adopted in an exclusive manner, and we
are then warranted in saying with St. Paul, "Ye observe
days, and months, and times, and years. How turn ye
again to these weak and beggarly elements ?"2 What,
then, shall we think of those who make well nigh the
whole of sanctification to depend on these beggarly
elements, — who multiply distinctions in days and in
food, who recognize in the year a season of religion
after a season of worldliness, and who make their
churches sanctuaries like that of Jerusalem ? What
but that they refuse, in spite of the Master's declara
tions, to admit that the ancient covenant is abrogated.3
There are two distinctive features of Judaism which,
though apparently opposite, are closely connected with
one another : these are, its national exclusiveness and
its religious nationality. On the one hand the chosen
people formed a nation apart, distinct from others —
the kingdom of God was restricted within the bound
aries of Judea. On the other hand, whoever was
born of a Jewish father, belonged to the nation, and
its privileges were transmitted with its blood. Every
circumcised child became a child of Abraham. The
prophets, indeed, often insisted on the circumcision of
the heart, but prophecy was the anticipation of the
new covenant. This spiritual and prophetic side of
1 John iv. 21, 24. 2 Gal. iv. 9, 10.
* These considerations apply also to what is generally called Sabbatarianism,
which is foreign alike from Christian antiquity and from the Reformation,
and which, by Judaizing the Sunday, changes the nature of this holy and
beautiful festival.

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 183
the Old Testament did not prevent Judaism from
forming a compact national body distinct from the rest
of mankind.
There is an intimate connection, brethren, between
religious nationality and exclusiveness. When a reli
gion is incorporated in a nation, it only exists among
that nation. Like the nation it has a country of its
own, it is attached to a particular soil and confined
within the same limits as the people to whom it be
longs. It shares in their isolation, and is, like them,
restricted by time and space. We can say in what
degrees of longitude and latitude it will be found, and
we may borrow the famous words of Pascal's : Truth
on this side of the mountain, error on the other.
Religious nationality, then, narrows religion. It may
seem at first to give it possession of a whole nation ;
but it is not so. It only possesses that nation in an
external and superficial manner, while it has the same
limits as the people by whom as a whole it has been
received, and cannot by any possibility go beyond
these boundaries.
Religious nationality in its most extreme exclusive
ness, entered, as we have already shewn, into the plan
of God, under the ancient covenant. The plan of
Christ was just to take from religion this external and
national character, and to render it at once human and
individual. Christ did not wish to be merely a Jew.
He called Himself rather the Son of Man. He was in
deed sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
but He declared that He had other sheep also, and that
all together should constitute a single flock. The
apostle .Paul has commented on this promise, by his
sublime saying, " In Christ there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scy-

1 84 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
thian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all."1 In
other words it entered into the plan of Jesus to found
a Christian humanity, that should break through all
the barriers of nationalities. Wonderful to say He
has revealed to us not divinity alone but humanity also.
Humanity has never felt its unity but in Him. Before
His coming it was all scattered and divided. There
were then Greeks and Barbarians, circumcised and un-
circumcised, bond and free. Since Christ came there
has been but one humanity. It is to Him, and to Him
alone that we owe those grand ideas of association
and fraternity, the abuse of which should not lead us
to overlook their greatness.
But it is no vague idea of humanity that Christ has
brought into the world. His plan went infinitely
beyond this ; He wished to found a great human
community, and this great human community is the
Church, the Church whose members are united to
Himself as the branches to the vine, forming a living
unity, the Church which is His body, nourished by
His substance and His life ! The Church is nothing
more than the true humanity, humanity after God ;
for it recruits itself from all tribes and all nations, and
the Saviour-God is worshipped in every language upon
earth. We can no more say of the Church than of
Christ, It is here or it is there. It is in every place
where He is loved. Where Christ is there is the
Church, there is Christian humanity, one in God through
Him. He alone could throw down the wall of separa
tion, and make one people out of two, because He alone
has reconciled humanity with God, and because the
plenitude of His redemption, like a broad river, over
spreads the whole earth. 1 Col. iii. n.

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 185
Thus does all religious exclusiveness disappear in
the plan of Christ, and religious nationality is alike
destroyed, for exclusiveness follows it as effect follows
cause. The Church is universal, because it is allied
with no nationality, it rests on an individual profession
of faith, not on one that is vague and collective, and
binds no one in particular; it is built up with
living stones, not with the confused dust of an uncon
verted multitude. Men enter not the Christian church
as they became Jews, by birth and circumcision, — by an
accidental fact and a form. To belong to the Church
we must be born anew. The Master has said, " Ex
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God;" and these words are admirably interpreted
by Tertullian in that famous saying, " We are not bom
Christians, but become such." The entrance to Judaism
was by birth, the only entrance to the Church is by
the new birth. There is all the difference between
the two methods of introduction, which there is be
tween an involuntary fact and a moral one, between the
birth of flesh and blood, and the glorious regeneration
of the Spirit of God ! The Church, according to Christ's
plan, is not a nation like any other, but a people that
is such by its own free-will, recruited one individual at
a time by personal and living faith. And as free-will
belongs not to Judea nor to Greece, nor to any other
country, as it descends from Him from whom all grace
flows, and who is near to every one of us; as the
Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and men have never
succeeded in confining it to any form whatever, so this
voluntary nation is the largest, the most human that
can possibly be imagined. Thus those who look
mainly to individual faith for the realizing of the Mas
ter's plan, far from giving us a narrow religion, give us

1 86 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
primitive Christianity in all its breadth, the Christianity
of Jesus Christ Himself, who accomplished the ancient
covenant by abolishing its exclusive and national cha
racter ! All ye, then, who would bring us back to ex
clusiveness and to nationality, you are restoring a dis
pensation that has been abrogated. Ye who derive
a certain selfish satisfaction from narrowing the heart
of God, and who make the members of the new cove
nant a stern and isolated people, almost meriting the
calumnious charge brought against the early Christians,
of hating the human race, do not deceive yourselves ;
you are not Christians, you are eighteen centuries be
hindhand in your miserable narrowness. You are
Jewish Pharisees ! Ye who conceive of the Church
only as an immense frame, open on all sides, in which
the world lias a place and a right, and which you would
gladly ally to divers nationalities, imagining that there
is an English church, a German church, a French
church, talk not ye of your breadth of mind ! You
are bringing back distinctions which have been abol
ished, exchanging the universal character of the Church
for one that is private, local, and accidental — above all,
enervating it by an unseemly mixture ! Ye again who
combine exclusiveness and nationality in the Church,
who receive into it whole nations with all their succes
sive generations, by an external ceremony, and think
that by sprinkling water on the brow of your neo
phytes, you communicate to them the grace of God ;
and then to this frightful multitudinism (to employ a
word of modern times), add the proscription for time
and eternity of all who are outside your church ; it is
vain for you to inscribe universality on the front of
your temples. True catholicity is neither external nor
exclusive. If the faith of our fathers has been called

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 187
the pretended reformed religion, we must be permitted
to call the opposite faith the pretended universal reli
gion. You who profess it are all alike eighteen cen
turies behindhand, and you are unanimous only in say
ing to Christ, " Thou hast not accomplished the ancient
covenant ! " for your every effort tends to the conti
nuation of that covenant.
Again, my brethren, the kingdom of God under the
former dispensation was a theocracy, that is to say, an
external and material government of God. There were
not then two societies, one temporal and the other
spiritual, but only one, which was at once temporal and
spiritual. Jerusalem was at the same time the Jewish
capital, and the holy city. Religion and patriotism were
confounded together. Every offence against the law
of the state was a religious crime, every religious crime
was an offence punishable by the magistrate. The
Mosaic code regulated civil life, no less than worship
and doctrine. This absolute blending of the temporal
and the spiritual societies makes us comprehend how
the Jewish theocracy should have been established and
maintained by material force. The swords of the war
rior and of the executioner were alike consecrated to
its service. It was this state of things that Christ
came to abolish, in order to the accomplishing of the
ancient covenant. The child-man had required such
direct tutelage of God. Moreover, the dispensation of
the law was a dispensation of constraint, the glorious
liberty of the children of God was not yet originated.
Redemption altered everything in this view as in others.
The kingdom of the Holy Spirit cannot be assimilated
to this material government of God. The gross type
of a terrestrial monarchy became useless when the in
carnation brought God near to man, and when the

188 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
Spirit descended freely from on high. After redemp
tion constraint disappeared before love and its free
persuasion. The theocratic form fell to the ground as
falls the covering that has enveloped a winged insect.
The ancient covenant could only be accomplished by
the abolition of the theocracy strictly so called. This
was expressly recognized by Christ when He said, "My
kingdom is not of this world," a grand saying, whose
meaning is clear as the light of day ! " My kingdom is
not of this world." What is this but to say that the
spiritual society must never be confounded with the
temporal; that the former must remain now as distinct
from the latter, as they had been conjoined and
mingled in Judaism.
Temporal society has its alternations, its revolutions,
its triumphs. It falls, it rises, it falls again. The
spiritual society, the Church, must remain fixed on the
Rock of ages, which is not a creature of a day, not
even an apostle, but the God who made the ages. No
doubt the Christian belongs to both societies, and has
duties to fulfil to the one and the other. Render unto
Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the
things that are God's — such is the Master's command.
But it is well understood that if ever there be opposi
tion between Caesar and God, the- Christian will "not
hesitate — his choice is already made. He will treat
man as man, and God as God !
That which is especially abolished, my brethren, is
the employment of external and material means for
bringing about the kingdom of God. While these
were in their right place in Judaism, they are wrong in
Christianity. The religion of the Spirit must be
established by the spirit. It must incessantly triumph
over matter. It must not be said on the day of its vie-

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 189
tory It is not the truth but material force that has
triumphed. The plan of Christ was to conquer by
the spirit. This is why He not only prohibited the
employment of force in religion, declaring that he who
drew the sword should perish by the sword, and that
consequently a religion that should defend itself by a
material weapon, might perish also by that weapon,
because it would have thus taken its place among ter
restrial things ; not only did He deprecate by antici
pation all external constraint, all the spirit of ven
geance, saying to His disciples, who asked that fire
from heaven should consume the Samaritan village,
" Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of ; " but
He also repudiated all pomp, all human greatness of
any kind whatsoever. He was born in poverty, He
lived in humiliation — there was no sort of display about
Him. He was like " the things which are not," and
in all times He has chosen such things to bring to
nought the things that are. Far from investing His
disciples with any outward strength or grandeur, He
deprived them of all this, sending them forth as sheep
among wolves. " Provide neither gold nor silver,"
neither two coats; be poor among the poor, weak
among the weak, and nevertheless baptize all nations in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost ! Thus did Christ desire that His cause
should triumph not through worldly power but through
weakness, not through riches but through poverty, not
through glory but through shame. He never declared
Himself a king but once, and this was before [the
tribunal of Pilate, when He had been smitten and
reviled, at the very moment when He was to be given
over to the Roman soldiery. O Christians, behold
your King ! He has thorns for His crown, and a cross

1 90 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
for his sceptre! Compare Him with the King of Israel,
surrounded by his court and his armies, and then acknow
ledge that the ancient covenant has indeed been finally
abolished. Acknowledge, also, that every attempt to
make the Church a theocracy is a disgraceful falling
back, and that any employment of force is equivalent
to the giving up of the new covenant, a cowardly de
sertion of the cause of Christ, and a repudiation of
His weakness and poverty. Oh ! spare Him the in
sult of a protection which He has not asked, and which
dishonours His gospel ! And above all, transform not
into a Jephtha or a Gideon, Him who only accomplished
the ancient covenant by abolishing all constraint, and
bringing to the world a truth sufficiently beautiful and
comforting to win hearts by itself, without the foreign
help which would convict it of impotence. Every
persecution, small or great, is a sinful denial of the
new covenant.
There is, however, one view of the theocracy ac
cording to which it is spiritually accomplished by the
Saviour. The theocracy shewed us the kingdom of
God as embracing all the different spheres of life, both
individual and social, and absorbing while it embraced
them. For the future the two societies are to be
entirely distinct, but we are firmly convinced that that
which is purely religious is called on to penetrate that
which is temporal, to transform it, to model it after
the thought of God. We believe that the plan of
Jesus Christ comprehended, as a secondary object, the
reformation of temporal society, to be worked out
under the influence of the Gospel. Did He not Him
self compare His kingdom to leaven, which gradually
penetrates through the whole of the meal? This
meal represents unconverted humanity — society taken

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 191
as a whole. The Gospel, like a penetrating leaven,
acts strongly on this mass which is so difficult of trans
formation. It acts primarily on individuals, but also
on the community. It is thus that Christianity has
changed the old pagan society, that it has broken the
fetters of the slave, emancipated woman, elevated the
poor. It is thus that the Reformation has made sacred
the rights of conscience, which had so often been
despised. Thus, while not of the world, the Church
acts mightily upon the world, and the more the two
are kept distinct from each other, the more powerful
and penetrating is the divine leaven, the more has the
salt of savour. It would be easy for us to shew you
that the countries where the great principles of justice
and freedom are best carried out, are those also
where the Church has exercised the most blessed and
spiritual influence. All that is good in modern society
is due to Christianity. Every desirable reform in
social order, grievously imperfect as it still is, will
arise from Christianity — true Christianity, individual
and spiritual, separate from the world that it may the
better save the world. I defy you to bring forward
one idea of justice or righteousness which is not owed
to Christianity. We put far away from us those
narrow doctrines which condemn the Christian to a
selfish isolation, and permit him not to occupy himself
with the general interests of humanity, even though his
aim should be to assert the rights of conscience. These
doctrines are foreign to the plan of Christ. They
dwarf it, indeed, under pretence of greater spirituality.
They take from the Gospel its broad and fruitful
operation, and were they to triumph, they would
make the Church a narrow and barren clique. The
Church, did we say ? We were forgetting that the

192. The Plan of Jesus Christ.
word is forbidden us by these pitiful sects that recog
nize only scattered Christians, solitary exiles in a
spacious Thebaid, from which, however, they carefully
banish every heroic mortification.
The plan of Christ connects itself once more with
the theocratic idea through that glorious future which
it unfolds before our eyes. The kingdom of God is
to triumph finally in every region. The resurrection,
the new heavens and new earth, so clearly announced
by the Lord, lead our thoughts to that blessed day
when harmony shall be re-established, and the re
covery from the fall complete, — that happy condition
which the Scriptures express in these words : " God
shall be all in all." The return of Jesus Christ to
judge the living and the dead, will bring about this
consummation, this accomplishment of all the dispen
sations. The prospect of His coming should be to us
at once a stimulant and a consolation. Under all that
afflicts us and saddens our hearts, let us say : He will
return to re-establish His kingdom. Under all the
humiliations of the present time, all the manifestations
of our own weakness, let us say : He will come again
with power. Under all the imperfections of our
work, let us say : He will come to finish what we
have so feebly commenced. We shall find in this
thought a precious encouragement to redoubled
activity. But while fully recognizing this prophetic
side of the Lord's plan, let us beware of materializing
it, as has so often been done in the Church, and set
ting before ourselves, through a gross interpretation of
prophetic language, a felicity purely terrestrial, a glory
merely external, adding also thereto the hope of a
startling vengeance to be taken on the enemies of the
Church. This would be a last method of denying

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 193
the accomplishment of the ancient covenant, and we
must guard against it with all care in the study of
prophecy. "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." These
words have now for us their full richness of meaning.
The plan of Christ lies unfolded before us in all its
grandeur. To found the kingdom of God by restor
ing, through redemption, man to God and God to
man, — to set up at the same time the kingdom of the
Holy Spirit, while abolishing all that belongs to the
letter which killeth, — to inaugurate worship in spirit,
and in truth, and the perfect law of liberty; — to
establish on the basis of personal faith and on the
ruins of an external religion the Church, the true
Christian humanity, and by the Church, weak and
powerless though it be in the eyes of the world, to
penetrate and transform society until that day when
the new earth on which righteousness dwelleth shall
replace this world of sin and strife. Salvation, in
short — salvation with all that that word expresses, this
is the plan of Christ. A perfect accomplishment of
the period of preparation, it surpasses all our desires.
God has given more than we had dared to expect, and
there is not a single aspiration, a single lawful wish,
that is not gloriously satisfied by this divine plan.
You will, no doubt, have remarked and perhaps
regretted, brethren, the polemical tone of this dis
course, but it was impossible to us, in considering the
plan of Christ, not to bring it constantly into relation
with the doctrines by which it has been disfigured.
Is it our fault if there is a church which seems to have
devoted itself to the perversion of this plan in its every
part ; if, while Christ established the ministry of the
Spirit and the law of liberty, it sets up by its tradi-

1 94 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
tion the ministry of the dead letter and the law of
commandments ; if, while Christ inculcated worship in
spirit and in truth, it builds temples as splendid as the
ancient sanctuary with images in addition ; — if it speaks
to the eye and not to the conscience ? Is it our fault
if, while Christ said, " 1 am the way ; no man cometh
unto the Father but by me," this church contradicts
Him, and says, It is I that am the way ; pass by my
priests and my saints, — if, while Christ has founded a
spiritual society upon His word — a society distinct
from the world, but open to all who name His name,
it beckons the multitude on the one hand that it may
introduce thejn into that society by an external sign ;
and cries, on the other, Beyond me there is no salva
tion ; Woe to every one who admits not all that our
doctors have taught ; if, while Christ said, " My king
dom is not of the world," it aspires to reign upon earth
in the fashion of kings and princes ; while Christ was
poor it seeks to be rich ; while He desired the shed
ding of no blood but His own, it sanctions persecution,
and binds and imprisons the servants of God now that
(to its great regret) it can no longer put them to
death ? Is it our fault if it calls itself the Roman
Catholic Church ? Let it not be charged on us that
we oppose this church, but on the plan of Christ ! On
the apostle Paul, also, and his epistles, in which still
burns the fire of his indignation against all who would
bring back the church from grace to law. If it has
been thought allowable in a public discourse to place
Protestantism by the side of Atheism,1 it may surely
be permitted us to place Catholicism by the side of
Judaism. Moreover, there is nothing but love in our
hearts for individuals. We understand the force of
1 See the discourse of the Abbe' Combalot.

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 1 95
prejudices. We know very well that there are
brethren in Christ who have strayed into this vast
church, where, under pretence of unity, tendencies so
numerous find shelter. If we oppose Catholicism it is
because we cannot endure to see so many noble spirits
wasting themselves within it, and so many others scared
away from Christianity because they confound it with
a doctrine which nevertheless transforms it so com
pletely. Ardently attached as we are to toleration,
we do not advocate a false peace or politic concessions
in religion, and as long as we possess any means of
making ourselves heard, we will constantly declare
that Catholicism is working in opposition to the plan
of Jesus Christ.
But it is not in this church alone, my brethren, that
we encounter tendencies opposed to the divine plan.
The cause of Christian spirituality is not yet gained in
the churches of the Reformation. Certain alarming
symptoms of a return to Catholicism have been wit
nessed even in some of these. What shall we say of
those clerical notions which have too often transformed
the evangelical ministry into a sort of priesthood?
What of those false doctrines regarding baptism, which,
in the midst of protestantism, have endeavoured to
enthrone the Romish sacrament — a sacrament saving
by an outward act, regeneration flowing from the
baptismal water ? What of the attempt to organise
Christian states, virtual theocracies, exactly reproduc
ing the ancient dispensation, if you except prophecy
and miracles ? What of the union of various
churches with the government of different* countries,
of the refusal of religious liberty among protestant
nations, — of a human tradition of orthodoxy imposed
without examination — of the admission of nominal

1 g6 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
Christians in a mass into the spiritual society ? What
of every church that has not these words written on
its doors, " No one enters here by birth, but by con
version ! " What of all these deviations from the plan
of Christ, except that they constitute Judaism, a denial
of the new covenant, a return towards the old ? I
express myself with all the more freedom, because it
is easy to foresee that this noble cause of Christian
spirituality, so often smothered by its adversaries
under shameful names, is touching now upon its
triumph. Is not the breath of God heard passing over the
dry bones? Are not faithful Christians rallying
round great principles ? Are they not beginning to
understand that the great question regards not little
details of the church, but the church herself — the
church that is only living when separate from the
world ? Do they not see that the generous desire to
speak to the masses which possesses so many hearts
will be all the better realized when we imitate more
closely the primitive church that conquered the world,
of which the apostle says it was the scum ? Yes, a
magnificent and fruitful unity is being constituted, to
labour under circumstances peculiarly unfavourable
for the realization of this plan. Work on, my
brethren, in the track of the true principles. The
question is not about particular views of the church,
but about Christian spirituality, about the reign of the
spirit, about religious sincerity and that personal faith
which is alone real and saving — about the normal
development of our glorious reformation, and a return
to the most beautiful period of the church. The
moment may perhaps have come when we must suffer
for these great principles ; they, even they, may be

The Plan of Jesus Christ. 1 97
about to receive their baptism. But be assured that
it is worth your while to suffer for them, for it would
be to suffer for God. Be assured that persecution
has never interfered with the plan of Christ, since it
forms a part of that plan — nay, it is, as it were, its
crown! Let the thought of this plan detach your minds
from the trifles of your ordinary life. When you shall
have given all your strength, all your time, all your
prayers, to realize it, you will still have given too
little. Never forget, above all things, that it has for
its final aim the salvation of souls. Never attach
yourselves to any truth, however beautiful, without
connecting it with this ruling object. Let not medita
tion on the designs of God hinder you from realizing
those designs to the extent of your ability. The plan
of Christ requires rather workers than admirers.
Realize it for yourselves by your personal holiness,
which is one great object that it seeks. Realize it,
also, for your brethren. Be never weary of setting
forth the Saviour as accomplishing not only the
ancient covenant that was written, but also that un
written covenant which God has made with every man
in his own heart and conscience. Implore those who
are around you, to go to the Saviour ! Tell them
what He has been for you ! Tell them that he destroys
nothing but evil, nothing but sin, that is to say, all
that mars your true nature, and that He fully com
pletes that nature itself! Appeal to their aspirations
after the future life, to their inconsolable sadness, and
shew them that Christ alone can meet these inward
necessities. They will perhaps allow themselves to be
won over, they will perhaps seek Christ. But be not
anxious ! The Saviour has provided so well for the

198 The Plan of Jesus Christ.
penitent sinner, that it is impossible but that that
sinner should reach Him — and you will have the joy
of having helped forward the realization of His plan to
the limit of your strength. You will also have to
defend this plan against the doctrines that would
pervert it. This is another method of promoting its
realization. Truth has imprescriptible rights. We
owe to it our testimony in season and out of season.
But the duty of controversy is a delicate one, and the
only way to fulfil it rightly is to imitate our Lord. Let
your arguments, like His, be always positive. Destroy
¦not save in constructing, abolish not but in accom
plishing, never make a void in any heart by the pulling
down of a false belief without immediately filling it up
by a higher faith. Let it always be clearly understood
that Christianity is essentially positive and affirmative.
Seek, therefore, edification in all things, and press every
doctrine and every truth till it yield abundantly its
nourishing supplies. Never leave mere ruins behind
you, but on these ruins establish the foundations of a
new edifice in the souls of your brethren. You are
to defend the plan of Christ in the way in which He
Himself first laid it down in opposition to Judaism.
I shall point out in my next discourse in what spirit
we ought to labour, by reminding you how the Saviour
accomplished His plan. In other words, I shall speak
of His holiness. And may God grant to us to be
labourers with Christ in His own spirit, for the pro
motion of this great work.

VII.
THE HOLINESS OF JESUS CHRIST.

" Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for
us." — i John m. 16.

After having considered the plan of Christ, we
must now inquire in what spirit He realized it. It is
not enough to have formed a sublime design, if the
manner of its execution be unworthy of itself, if little
passions are called into the service of a great thought,
for the very beauty of the plan renders such discord only
the more culpable and grievous. Do we not know
by experience that it is possible to have the most
generous and elevated ideas, to profess them even
with a certain amount of sincerity, and nevertheless in
carrying them out, to be obeying inferior motives ? It
is but rarely that one hears a man avow a low and
interested object ; and even were he to carry his
cynicism so far as to do this, it would only be done in
the strictest confidence. He would never dare to
display before an assembled multitude a mean and
shameful selfishness. The human conscience would
not endure such a failure of respect, or would avenge
itself for it by vehement indignation. Nothing better
proves the power of conscience in spite of the fall, than
the necessity under which the wicked man feels himself

200 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
of entering into negociations with it. Before he
can spread an evil doctrine, he is compelled to ask
of his conscience a sort of passport, while assuming an
appearance of generosity and moral elevation. He covers
his flag that he may fraudulently hide his detestable
merchandise. It is thus that systems the most material
istic are sheltered under great principles of justice and
philanthropy. There is often no hypocrisy in this,
or at least an involuntary hypocrisy, but there is self-
deception. The apparent greatness of the design is
,not then a sufficient guarantee for the moral greatness
of him by whom it has been conceived. Perversity
may hide itself under beautiful and noble words. But
without going so far as this, admitting that the plan
is admirable and the integrity perfect, is there not a
deplorable weakness inherent in human nature, which
frequently causes the most elevated ideas of our voca
tion to be nothing more than an ideal which we have
no hope of realizing ? Is not this distance between
our ideal and our actual life, one of our deepest and
most constant sorrows ? Is it not the seal of our
imperfection ?
We could not then be satisfied with recognizing
that the plan of Jesus surpasses all that man had ever
been able to foresee or to anticipate — that it is in fact
worthy of redeeming love. If this plan of love be
not realized by love, if Christ Himself come not up to
the level of His designs, if it be possible to discover
one shadow on the picture, one imperfection in His
life, then this plan will prove to have been the purest
and divinest dream of humanity, but nothing more; we
shall have no Saviour, salvation will not have been
accomplished. For it is not with Christ's plan as with
others. We could imagine that in a moment of in-

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 101
spiration, a man of genius might conceive a fruitful
idea, that he might launch it on the world, and that it
might make its way there without his assistance. It
matters little in fact in what manner he may defend it !
It is not incorporated with himself. But the plan of
Christ, on the contrary, cannot be separated from His
person — it has for its first condition the holiness of
the Saviour. Thus the question which is now to
engage us is closely connected with that of which we
treated in our last discourse. Was the Saviour
perfectly holy ? which is the same thing as to ask :
Has His plan been realized, or was it one of those
chimeras, one of those more or less brilliant clouds
which pass over the horizon of humanity ? I could
wish, brethren, to demonstrate the holiness of my
Saviour, by leading you to His feet; were it given
me to make you behold Him as did the inhabitants of
Judea eighteen centuries ago, I am persuaded that the
conviction of His holiness would take possession of
your minds with irresistible force. It would appear
to you clear as the sun, it would flood your being like
the light of day. His mild and gentle aspect, the
noble purity of His brow, crowned with a compassion
ate sadness before it was crowned with thorns, His
glance, profound as the love of God, benevolent as
that of a brother, His speech severe, yet merciful, the
group of afflicted ones pressing around Him as around
their natural comforter, the traces of weariness and
suffering on His features, reminding us that He had
not a place where to lay His head — all this, at once
divine and human, would tell you more than our
illustrations can do. Indeed, to speak truly, these
illustrations will be useless, if you have not before
hand obtained to a certain extent such a view of Jesus

202 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
Christ. If your conscience in reading the Gospel have
not led you to recognize in Him the just and holy One,
it will be of as little use to speak to you now of the
holiness of Christ, as to talk of colours to one that
is blind. I rely on that sudden irresistible demon
stration which takes possession of the soul on its first
contact with the Lord. If this fail, no proof will
be convincing. To render it, however, more present
to your mind and heart, to develop what is implicitly
contained in it, to speak of Christ's holiness in order to
send you back to Him to contemplate it more eagerly, •
to leave you before His absolute perfection prostrate
in the dust, to kneel with you to adore, or rather to
give voice to our common adoration, this is the whole
aim of the present discourse, which I pray God to bless
to you and to myself.
I shall not stay long, then, to prove the holiness of
Christ. I like better to show than to prove it. From
this lower point of view, however, we are very strong.
If it be true, as we have said, that there is too often a
want of harmony between a beautiful design and the
acts and feelings of him who has conceived it, we must
nevertheless acknowledge that a plan which is ab
solutely perfect, implies moral perfection. At the
highest summit all the lines meet, they are broken and
separated only lower down. The perfection of intel
ligence must correspond with the perfection of the
moral life. We could suppose a thought only half
enlightened to be compatible with a heart more or less
depraved. But if the reason be completely luminous,
we may conclude that the soul is wholly pure. As
long as there is one sin in the soul, there will be a
shadow over the intellect ; if the intellect is wholly
without shade, it is because the being to whom it be-

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 203
longs is without sin. The perfectly true and the per
fectly good blend in one ray bright as it is pure. Thus
from the perfection of the plan of Christ, we may at
once infer His sanctity.
We have again His own testimony ; " Which of
you convinceth me of sin?" demanded He of His
enemies. "The prince of this world hath nothing in
me," said He to His disciples, at the close of His
earthly career. We may invoke the witness alike of
His friends and of His enemies. Those who have
transmitted to us the narrative of His life were His
immediate disciples. They lived in intimacy with Him j
they not only saw Him in the solemn hours when He
was teaching the people, but followed Him everywhere,
eyen into the desert whither He loved to retire ; they
never left Him, and they would all have repeated, with
out hesitation, those words from the Epistle to the
Hebrews, — " He was tempted in all points, yet with
out sin." Where is the man, the hero, the saint, who
could justify such a judgment under an inspection so
constant ? The testimony of the enemies of Christ is
still more conclusive. Their settled design was to ruin
Him; they not only watched Him but also laid snares
for Him ; and when the moment arrived for them to
reap the fruits of these diabolical proceedings, when
they betrayed Him to judgment, they were forced to
suborn and pay false witnesses, and these could only
allege a single saying of the Master's, interpreted in
the most treacherous manner. What more brilliant
homage could be rendered to the holiness of the Saviour?
For the mere attempt to blacken it, it was necessary to
purchase senseless lies. But the hatred of Christ's
enemies speaks still more highly in His favour. When
we see not only great criminals, like Herod, but even

204 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
honest men in the eyes of the world, like the Pharisees,
sage sceptics like the Sadducees, flushed with anger
against the Lord ; when we see the man most highly
esteemed among the nation, the high priest, so far
carried away in a solemn hour of judgment as to smite
the accused, we may rest assured that no partial holi
ness could have kindled this hatred, but that to bring
the darkness into opposition so violent against the
truth, nothing less was needed than light in its utmost
brilliancy. We have another irresistible argument of fact. The
entire Church rests upon the perfect sanctity of Christy.
On this faith it is founded. Take away this and it
will crumble in the dust. Have we not then a right to
infer from the solidity and majesty of the edifice the
solidity of the foundation also ? What ! this temple,
or rather this citadel, continually attacked, to which
every age has laid siege in its turn, can it be founded
on a legend ? Instead of the comer-stone which seemed
to us indestructible as a rock, shall we find but the
shifting sand of a false tradition? Is it resting on a lie that
the Christian faith has survived so many storms and con
flicts ? As well might we say that one of those Roman
edifices which have conquered time so long, was built
upon a frail foundation. Let us confess that the
Church is a standing witness to the holiness of Christ.
But the very idea of the Saviour's holiness, as set
forth in the gospel, guarantees its historic reality. Such
an idea had never existed before Christianity. Glimpses
had been gained of moral perfection, but how restricted
were they in Judaism, how debased in paganism !
Christian perfection, by which I understand perfection
such as the gospel represents, this ideal of humility and
love, could only be known by being realized. A his-

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 205
tory, a divine history, is at the basis of this entirely
new conception of sanctity. Whence, then, could the
colours have been taken in which to paint the picture of
a life like that of Christ ? Had anything at all like it
been seen before ? Was it from Greece that the humi
lity could have been borrowed ? Was it the severe
Jewish theocracy that would have supplied the love ?
Add to this that it was in the period of the most fright
ful corruption that this type of perfect goodness must
have been invented ! If the gospel be an invention we
hesitate not to say with Rousseau, that the inventor
is more wonderful than the hero ! It is much easier to
believe in the holy life of Christ, than to believe that
the Evangelists imagined such holiness. Both are
miracles, but the former appears to us the more rational,
and as this is the grand support of our faith, we hold
to it with the strongest certainty and the most joyful
trust. The holiness of Christ being thus established, we
will proceed to indicate its general characteristics. It is
pre-eminently human, it goes not beyond the conditions
of our nature. The life of Christ was wholly a man's
life, or rather it was the life of God in a human life.
The more the human life is divine, the more nearly
does it approach its ideal — its true destination. Christ
was with God — He lived in God — and therefore was
He a perfect man, the type of humanity. Therefore
is He our model and our law, and the apostles were
warranted in saying to us, Be imitators of Him,
cherish sentiments like His.
More than this, we venture to affirm that Christ
even experienced the trial of His liberty. We believe
with our whole soul in His original purity, but we
believe equally in the reality of His abasement. He

206 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
submitted Himself to the moral condition of humanity.
He had His conflict, His temptation, and the perfection
which He possessed by nature, He, as it were, ac
quired anew by the determination of His will. There
is here a great mystery. How can we conceive that
the Son of God was tempted? But how can we
admit that the Son of Man, the Second Adam, could
have saved the lost race without a moral probation ?
The night in Gethsemane, those cries and tears, that
agony of conflict, that triumph purchased at the price
of so much suffering, the whole touching scene repre
sented by the evangelists, can it have been nothing
but a vain illusion, a kind of theatrical representation ?
Speak no more, then, of Christ as our model ? If His
divinity placed Him above trial and conflict, we have
nothing in common with Him. His temptations, no
doubt, differed from ours. The tempter had nothing
in Him, while He finds but too much support in our
natural dispositions. He never succeeded in exciting
one single evil desire in the holy soul of the Redeemer.
But it is not the less true that Christ had to make
efforts of will to maintain the sanctity that He had
brought from heaven. When . the Scriptures tell us
that He groaned and cried to God, we see not in
these words a mere image, but a positive and precious
fact, establishing a complete unity between Him and
ourselves. The severity of Christ's trial was the seal
of His sanctity. We know not what to think of any
one who has not been tried. The secret forces of
evil may be slumbering within him for want of an
opportunity of coming forth. There is no certain
holiness except holiness manifested amidst suffering
and peril. Was anything wanting in this respect to
Jesus Christ? What snares, what assaults, what

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 207
endurances were omitted in His case ? The people
wished to make Him a king, and afterwards put Him
to death. He passed through the trial of their exces
sive enthusiasm and through that of extremest shame ;
and finally allowed Himself to be led away to execu
tion. Holiness crucified, is not this holiness made
perfect ? Would it be possible to go beyond this ?
Who does not see that a trial, an earnest human pro
bation, was necessary to the glory of the Redeemer ?
The holiness of Christ, while profoundly human,
was distinguished by a character exclusively its own ;
viz., the harmony of all the qualities of the soul.
We do not find this harmony in any man. Take the
greatest men and you will see that their greatness
springs from the extraordinary elevation of one of
their faculties. That which strikes us in them is that
which rises above the level of their soul. An isolated
quality is all the more observed as it is more detached
from the main portion of the moral life. And yet
this indicates imperfection. What is important is,
that the whole moral life should be elevated and puri
fied, and not that it should project itself peculiarly in
any one direction. We are constantly allowing our
selves to be deceived in this respect. We experience a
more prompt and lively admiration in seeing the waves
of the sea raised by a tempest than in looking on the
same waves when calm and smooth. And yet heaven
is better reflected in the sea at peace than in the sea
in a storm. Human greatness, as it appears to us
ordinarily, is like an impetuous wave rising above the
others, majestic and roaring. The sanctity of Christ is
like the limpid water that reflects the blue of heaven in
its immensity and its, peaceful brightness. There is
no show even in His holiness, just because it is perfect.

208 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
It rises from the depths of His soul in every respect
worthy of itself ; it is more inward than outward ; it
sacrifices nothing to the glory that is of men, and has
neither rise nor fall. Thus not one of the grand
words by which we designate exceptional qualities of the
soul or spirit can be applied to Christ. We should
never say that He had a wonderful genius, nor that
He was a hero. We feel that neither intellectual
greatness nor moral greatness, regarded separately,
can be ascribed to Him. One word alone is worthy
of Him, and that is holiness, because it comprehends at
once every perfection.
But it is not enough, brethren, to consider the
general characteristics of the holiness of Christ. We
must know more particularly in what it consisted.
Pagan antiquity had already discovered that holiness
consists in the imitation of God. The Gospel has
admirably expressed this pregnant truth. "Be ye
perfect," said Christ, " even as your Father who is in
heaven is perfect." What could be more clear or
more conformable to the simplest dictates of conscience?
Where should the type of perfection be found but in
God himself? Could we believe in perfection any
where but in Him ? Is He not the supremely beauti
ful, true, and good ? It is impossible to conceive of
anything better than a life that should be conformed
to Him, and reproduce the features of His divine
image. If we wish, then, to fonn a precise idea of
holiness, we have only to ask what is the nature of
God. It is not necessary to enumerate all His glori
ous attributes. There is one which predominates over
and comprehends all the others, and this is love. "God
is love," said Saint John. Love is the nature, the very
being of God. The Gospel reveals this to us, or I

, The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 209
should rather say reminds us of the fact ; for on hear
ing this revelation conscience embraces it as a truth
for which it was prepared, nay, which it had once
known. There is not a single human conscience
which does not recognize that love is all that is morally
greatest and most beautiful. If, then, Jesus Christ
was perfectly holy, He must have perfectly reproduced
the divine nature, and His life must have been the
perfect manifestation of love, for love and holiness
cannot be separated. To prove to you His holiness,
we have but to shew you His love, as our text for
mally invites us to do : " Hereby perceive we His love,
because He laid down His life for His brethren." Love
manifests itself in the different relations of life. But
we sustain relations first to God and then to our
brethren. The law of love is realized in this double
connection. The great commandment both of the
old and the new law comprehends alike love to God
and to our brethren. We have to shew you, then,
the love of Christ in regard alike to His Father and
to man.
Love consists, as Saint John teaches us, in giving
one's life for others. It is a free and wholly disinter
ested gift. It reveals itself first by the abnegation of
self, by inward self-renunciation. It realizes itself
afterwards by sacrifice, or external self-renunciation,
and is finally consummated in the divine and immortal
joy of love ; for a sacrifice that brings not happiness,
but is offered unwillingly, is not a true sacrifice. In
order, then, to depict to you the holiness of Christ,
we must describe as far as it is given to man to do so,
His inward self-renunciation, His sacrifices, and con
stant self-immolation, and the holy and divine joy of
His love, whether it had God for its object or shed

2 1 o The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
itself abroad upon our poor humanity. If we succeed
in thus engraving the thought of our text upon your
hearts, we shall have nothing to add for the establish
ment of the holiness of the Saviour, for what is there
more holy, more perfect, more divine than love ?
Humility is the first form of inward self-renuncia
tion. Without humility it would be in vain that we
should yield up all our property, or give our bodies
to be burned. These sacrifices would not be sacrifices,
or rather they would be offered to ourselves. Our
tears and our blood would be shed upon the altar of
prid'e and selfishness. Without humility sacrifice is
hypocrisy, and devotion a lie. We must speak, then,
primarily of the humility of Christ. Recollect the
picture which Saint Paul draws of it in these words :
" Being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God " (because such equality properly
belonged to Him), "but made Himself of no reputation,
and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men : and being found in
fashion as a man, He humbled Himself.1" The incar
nation, the voluntary poverty, and the crucifixion of
Christ were the principal manifestations of His
humility. We have already had occasion to insist
upon the infinite abasement, the self-annihilation of
the Son of God. It is evident that He who being
rich,- — rich in all the divine glory, made Himself poor
— poor as being a man, poor even among men, would
never seek for earthly glory. After what He had left
in heaven, after abandoning the right hand of the
Eernal and the throne of omnipotence, what could our
lower world, our world of sin have to offer Him ?
And yet, when we remember the pitiful inconsistencies
i Phil. ii. 6-8.

The Holiness of Jesus Christ.

21 I

of human nature, we are filled with admiration in con
sidering the invariable humility of Christ in the differ
ent phases of His life. How signally was it displayed
with regard to His Father ! We are touched by the
self-abnegation of John the Baptist, who, with holy
impatience, transfers the homage and admiration that
he encounters to the person of the Saviour. But how
does his humility pale before that of Christ ? The
only Son of God, He utters not a word, He performs
not a miracle without rendering to Him the glory.
He is never weary of repeating that He is doing His
Father's work, that He is sent from Him. How often
do not we, the poor messengers of God, the miserable
and unworthy ambassadors of His grace, turn to our
own profit the glory which belongs to Him alone !
The earthen vessel in which the heavenly treasure has
been deposited, takes pride in possessing it, as if it
were truly its own. And yet He in whom dwelt all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily, the eternal Word
incarnate, the pre-eminently just and holy One ceased
not during all His earthly course to prostrate Himself
in spirit before His Father. He was more humble
than any of His servants. He declared that the
Father had given Him all power. He went so far as
to say, "I can of mine own self do nothing. As the
Father hath life in Himself ; so hath He given to the
Son to have life in Himself."1 If He spoke it was in
His Father's name : " My doctrine is not mine, but
His that sent me."2 If He wrought a miracle, His
eyes raised to heaven in humble prayer, shewed
whence He drew His strength. He speaks of " the
works which His Father had given Him."3 If dis
ciples came around Him, He attributed it neither to
• John v. 26, 30. 2 John vii. 16. » John v. 36.

212 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
His divine and powerful words, nor to His brilliant
works : " No man can come to me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him." If a feeble witness
of the truth, such as he who now addresses you, your
brother in sin and condemnation, were to insist with
so much energy on his absolute dependence upon God,
his humility would be remarked ; it would be justly
considered rare and exceptional. What shall we say,
then, of our divine Saviour ? As high above us in
holiness and in power as the heaven is high above the
earth, He submitted Himself to His Father as not one
of us has ever done. Let us confess that there is as
great a distance between His humility and ours as
between His perfection and our unworthiness.
Let us notice this same humility in the relation of
Christ with men. Who has ever worked in the king
dom of God as solitarily as He did ? Who has laboured
under the weight of such opprobrium ? I speak not
of the Christians of our day. Some few of these have
suffered injuries for Christ. But the greater part
know only through history what Paul calls the re
proach of Christ. They are well treated in the world.
They encounter, indeed, a certain amount of opposi
tion, but between such opposition and ignominy the
distance is great indeed. No, we know not what it is to
be regarded as the lowest of men, as the offscouring
of the earth. We are not cast down in the mire,
scourged, and insulted. A polished and refined society
endures us patiently, probably because we endure it
but too well ourselves. There are countries, in fact,
where piety is a ground of public respect and consider
ation. There are some — and we do not envy them —
where evangelical Christianity stands well at court,
where it may count on the highest dignities and the

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 213
most coveted employments. I know that it is not the
same everywhere. The reproach of Christ may be
endured in the bosom of the family by one who is
alone in his faith, and adheres to it steadfastly, as also
in certain countries where persecution is still permitted.
But how much is there of compensation ! By the
grace of God there are on the earth a great number
of believers scattered over every place. Christian
sympathy is like an immense electric chain that vibrates
in a moment from end to end. If in our day a Chris
tian is anywhere persecuted and trodden down, he
excites the most ardent interest, he is the object of a
thousand prayers ; his name flies from mouth to mouth,
he may count on a veritable Christian celebrity. Now,
unless he humble himself all the more as he is elevated
in the esteem of his brethren, that thirst for glory
which is imperishable in our souls, will be rekindled
in him, and he will enjoy the treacherous praises which
reach him disguised as prayers. The natural heart
will be gratified in its most inextinguishable graying.
Something like this may have occurred in the early
experience of the Church at that period when a man
might be justly said to bear in his body the marks of
the Lord Jesus. When the apostle had been beaten
with rods by the sergeant of the sanhedrim or treated
as a fanatical fool, he could mount again to the upper
chamber in Jerusalem. There he was surrounded by
his brethren, who covered him with their tears, and
testified to him at once their love and their admira
tion. In this limited circle, pride might still find
nourishment. Among all the servants of God One
alone laboured at His work without any compensation
of this kind. Those who distributed glory among
His nation were His enemies, His fierce traducers.

214 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
It would have been easy for Him to gain them over
by a single word of compliance. But instead of utter
ing such a word, He assailed their hypocrisy with an
anathema that could never be forgotten. The people
would have willingly adopted Him as their king, but
He not only repelled their gross homage, but even
crushed under His feet their most cherished prejudices.
His was an aggravated solitude. He laboured without
the sanction of the leaders of His people, and without
the sympathy of the people themselves. A few dis
ciples were certainly seen around Him, but they were
so poor, miserable, and ignorant that they only added
to His shame. Moreover, even they did not compre
hend Him. They had not as yet a just idea of His
work. Morally, He accomplished that work alone.
And when the hour of greatest agony arrived ; when
He had to plough the furrow in which the seed of
eternal life should be deposited, to be watered by His
own blood, He looked around, and behold He was
alone, without one to support Him. His friends had
fled. In the vast universe there was not a single soul
truly in sympathy with His own. His opprobrium
was complete and absolute. Oh solitude of my Saviour!
ignominy unexampled, shame voluntarily incurred!
Humility without any parallel !
Humility is the first, but not the only expression of
self-renunciation. It is not enough to forego all
glory; we must also give up our will, our interests, all
that we possess. To give up our interests, our will,
ourselves for God, means primarily to obey Him.
Obedience is the reality of love. Sudden emotions of
the heart, ardent feelings, burning words of admira
tion, are not worth so much as the smallest act of sub
mission. It is easy to be affected, or to burst forth

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 1 1 5
in praise. There may be a kind of fever, an excite
ment of heart which sinks as quickly as it rose. Love
is neither an ecstacy nor a song ; it is a gift, and the
only true gift is the gift of will. Obedience to God
is, then, the most sincere manifestation of love towards
Him. You, know, my brethren, the extent of Christ's
obedience to His Father. The entire work of re
demption was an act of obedience, and we love to
insist upon this point, because it brings out the pro
found harmony that existed between the Father and
the Son. The salvation of men was God's will ; in
accomplishing it Jesus Christ realized His Father's
design. " God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself." From the beginning to the end of
His career the Saviour had the profound consciousness
of this plan of infinite mercy. He carried it out in
every part with the most absolute submission. The
Son is represented to us as, even before His incarna
tion, accomplishing the will of His Father. From all
eternity He had said, "Behold, I delight to do Thy
will," and had presented Himself as the pure victim
for the great sacrifice. During all the course of His
earthly life He had but one thought, and that was a
thought of obedience. His first words cited by the
evangelist expressed this very thought : " Wist ye
not that I must be about my Father's business ?V1
When in the full activity of His ministry, He could
sum up that ministry in words like these : " My meat
is to do the will of my Father." He followed step
by step this holy will, caring for nothing beyond. If
He entered into any town or village, it was by the
impulse of the Spirit. When the Spirit drove Him
1 Luke ii. 45.

2 1 6 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
into the desert, thither He went. When sent apart
to avoid His enemies, He remained in the most soli
tary places. When led to Jerusalem even at the
moment of greatest peril, the hatred of the Jews being
ready to burst forth with savage violence, He hesitated
not. He who yesterday concealed Himself because
His Father willed Him to do so, appears to-day with
the utmost calmness in the midst of the astonished
multitude, in the presence of His trembling adversaries,
in the temple or the public place, in the name of the
same will. He sought not to hasten His hour, but
when it had struck, that hour of sorrow and of shame,
He cried, For it I am come. If you would know
what perfect obedience means, ask the question in
that garden of Olives, where, at the sight of the cup
of condemnation, He had no words but these, which
have never been surpassed as the expression of a sub
missive heart: "Father, not what I will, but what
Thou wilt. Father, Thy will be done." And forget
not that all was voluntary in His sufferings, that He
had but to make a sign and that gloomy garden would
have become an Eden of glory. And yet no sign was
made ; He remained in the dust, agonizing and groan
ing until the armed troop that followed the traitor took
possession of Him. He made not the sign, because
He had said, " Father, Thy will be done," and the
will of the Father pointed to the sacrifice of Golgotha.
He obeyed even unto the cross ! Could obedience go
farther than this ?
If self-renunciation is expressed primarily by humi
lity and obedience, it manifests itself also in a very
touching way by mercy. Mercy is the love of the
unhappy, of those from whom we can derive no advan
tage, who have nothing to give us in exchange for our

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 217
affection. It is a love truly gratuitous and disinter
ested. Such was the love of Christ to men. This
mercy overflows from all the words and actions of the
Saviour. There is one saying of the evangelist
Luke, which has always profoundly affected me, and
which, in its simplicity, appears to me to say more of
the compassion of Christ than all his illustrations :
"Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and
sinners for to hear Him."1 What was it which urged
them thus to approach Jesus Christ ? Whence came
this attraction ? It was not certainly the hope of find
ing in Him a convenient indulgence for their sins.
Never had purity and holiness such as His been seen
before. And yet the publicans and persons of wicked
behaviour pressed around Him to such an extent as to
give rise to the accusation that He was one of them
selves. Ah ! it was because until then they had felt
themselves despised, repulsed, severely judged. And
here was a being, pure among the purest, a man per
fectly holy, who, far from repelling them, called them
to Him, and spoke to them with love ! For the first
time they are loved — loved in spite of their misery, or
rather on account of their misery. The glance of
Jesus falls upon them with indescribable and tender
pity. Never had they felt what they feel now on see
ing themselves thus welcomed and comforted after
having been for so long a time the outcasts, the very
shame of a nation that knew no better than to tread
them under foot. They had not yet learned that
those who are last in the view of selfishness, which
lives but in degrading its neighbour, are first in the
view of love, which only lives in freely bestowing.
The favourites of a true love are the unfortunate and
1 Luke xv. 1.

2 1 8 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
the miserable. The more weak, forsaken, and lost is
any being, the more joy does free love experience in
giving itself to that being, the more opportunities does
it discover for its own manifestation. Thus does the
Son of Man, who was the incarnation of that free love,
compare Himself with good reason to a kind shepherd,
who should leave his ninety and nine sheep in the fold
to go and seek in the desert for the one that was lost.
Poor sheep ! it is not worth the trouble of the least
effort to find it ; it is of so little value compared with
those which are left to the shepherd ; it is so mean, so
far off, so likely to die ! Thus would selfishness
speak. But that which repels selfishness animates
pitying love. The sheep is miserable, worthless, lost,
afar off; therefore is it that I love it, that I will go
after it until I find it. The objections of selfishness
are the arguments of love. "The Son of man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost."
There was near to Christ, as it were, a meeting
place for weakness, misery, and ruin, of every kind !
First, you find there the little child, its very feebleness
rendering it dear and precious to the Redeemer. They
sought to drive it from Him, but He took it in His
arms, sheltered it with His love, and bestowed on it
that benediction which rests on all the cradles of the
newly-born : " Suffer them to come unto me." By the
side of the child we see the ignorant, uncultivated man,
whom the disdainful doctors were disposed to trample
down. Eternal wisdom receives him in its tender
pity, for it has milk for those who cannot bear strong
meat. Here, again, is the poor man who has waited
long enough on the threshold of the rich, enduring
contempt and scorn. He has at last found his
protector and his friend, and this friend is his God.

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 219
The divine poor man, who went through all Judea,
without possessing aught that was His own, chose to
pass through poverty in order to do it honour. He
left in it as it were a ray of brightness from His pre
sence. He has identified Himself with the poor, and
suffers in them to the end of the world. He hungers
and thirsts with them. The sick, the paralytic, the
blind, alike surround the divine Comforter. They are
His habitual attendants. All suffering follows on His
steps. Poor widow, who hast lost thine only son ;
Martha and Mary, sorrowing sisters, who buried your
beloved brother three days ago, we find you, also, at
His side. And how should you not be near Him ? Do
we not twice read in the Gospel, " Jesus wept?" He
wept for your grief. He wept with you ! He was
the very comforter that you needed. But what ! Does
the extortionate publican dare to approach Christ ?
What ! that lost woman, laden with vice, infamous
even among the lowest, is she also at His feet ? Shall
we not say with Simon, Send her away, she profanes
the threshold that she crosses ? No, no, leave her
near the gracious Master! Where shall she go if
you drive her away? Has she any other refuge?
Who else could say to her, Daughter, go in peace,
thy sins are forgiven thee ? Fear not, then ; if she
has come, bringing such shame into such a house,
it is because she read the heart of Jesus, because she
heard the call of that compassionate love which is
greater than all sin. She was made for Christ ; I ap
peal to her ruin and her repentance in proof of this.
Christ was made for her; His mercy shews it. And
so He passes on, to employ the beautiful image of
Scripture, like a king in the midst of the afflicted ones,
like the peaceful king of everlasting consolations, and

220 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
wherever now He dwells, whether in a church or -in
the person of a true Christian, this same attraction of
compassionate love is exercised, and we see again a con
course of feeble, miserable, ruined creatures. Woe
to the Church or the Christian, of whom it cannot be
said, " The publicans and sinners draw near ! " It is an
indication that pitying love is failing sorely within them.
We have only glanced at the compassions of Christ,
for indeed they are infinite ; and if it is true that they
have descended first on the most debased and miserable
beings, not the less have they been shed down on all
the lost race. As all men are included in the condem
nation, so are all embraced by the compassions of
Christ. He had pity not only on the publicans and
persons of wicked behaviour, but also on the Pharisees
themselves. Did He not weep over Jerusalem with
all its inhabitants, in the first ranks of whom were
found His enemies ? Listen to the sad complaint of
His slighted compassion : " O ! Jerusalem, Jerusa
lem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them
that are sent unto thee ; how often would I have
gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather
her brood under her wings, and ye would not ! ri It
is not now over His friends that He weeps but over
His enemies. He has nothing to expect from them
but death, but it matters not, He loves them in spite
of themselves, because His love is not measured by
what it may receive, but is altogether free. Even on
the cross His mercy is still displayed, and He dies for
giving His murderers. He has borne in His heart
the burden of all our sorrows ; His pity has taken on
itself the condemnation of the whole world ; He has
assumed the weight of it to Himself, and it was this
1 Luke xiii. 34.

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 221
dreadful load that crushed Him down in the dust of
Gethsemane !
But, my brethren, compassion is not enough, there
must be also consolation. Mercy is only complete
when it is efficacious. The compassion of Christ always
resulted in deliverance, and it is here that we must ad
mire His life of self-denial and suffering which mani
fested the inward by the outward self-renunciation.
He went about, we are told, from place to place doing
good. He knew neither fatigue nor danger when He
could help or comfort. He forgot His hunger and
exhaustion to announce the kingdom of God to a poor
harassed soul ; He hesitated not to brave all dangers to
bring divine succour to His afflicted friends at Bethany.
Nothing interrupted Him in doing good, not even the
announcement that His mother and His brethren were
seeking Him. He subordinated alike His natural affec
tions and His bodily wants, to the fulfilment of His
mission of love. We feel that He gave Himself up
without reserve. His love amounted to self-immola
tion, constant self-immolation. He regarded Himself
from the beginning to the end of His life as the holy
victim of love. He gave up not only His days, not
only His hours of rest, not only the moments when He
might have been enjoying intercourse with His family,
but even, when necessary, the hour of His prayer, that
period of heavenly refreshment, of ineffable communion
with His Father. He abridged this divine and myste
rious engagement that He might speak to the ignorant
multitudes who followed Him into desert places, be
cause He had given them food by a miracle. Was
there ever devotion comparable to His ? You will ob
serve that we have not spoken of that sacrifice which
connected and summed up all the rest, of that sorrow

222 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
of sorrows, that bleeding sacrifice, in which the most
terrible sufferings of the body were but a feeble image
of the agony of the soul ! If love consists, as our text
says, in giving our life for our brethren, shall we not
say, — Yes indeed ; we have learned in Him what love
is — we have learned it in such a way as never to for
get it more !
But we have not yet said everything about the
love of the Saviour; His life could not have been
one of perfect love if He had not added joy to sacri
fice ; first, because a sacrifice offered in bitterness is
illusive, and then because joy, a pure and holy joy, is
inseparable from love. For love dilates our soul, makes
it fruitful, answers to its highest wants. The com
munion of hearts in love, is the pre-eminent happiness.
We may hence conclude that where joy fails, love also
is wanting. There are then only partial sacrifices,
half refused or disputed with God, which leave sad
ness behind them. The complete sacrifices, which
proceed from the annihilation of self-will, bring joy;
they are without reservation, and they consummate our
union with God. We know already that Christ must -
have tasted an infinite joy, because His sacrifice was
complete — a joy indeed severe, sometimes even mourn
ful, but still an immortal joy. Veiled for an instant it
reappeared more lively and intense. This joy consisted
primarily in the feeling of His profound union with
God. Though on the earth, He still dwelt in God,
spiritually He had never left the bosom of the Father ;
He had remained the only and eternal Son. He
brought to Him all His thoughts as all His actions.
He was one with the Father, though still subject to
the conditions of His human existence. He has shewn
us by His example that no barrier exists between God

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 223
and ourselves, and that a life of prayer is a life in
heaven. It is permitted us to imagine what the Saviour
must have experienced when, after having endured the
conversation of the perverse doctor, who had been
seeking to take Him at a disadvantage, or after having
suffered from the slowness of His disciples to believe
and to understand, on the evening of a troubled day of
fatigue and sadness, He climbed the desert mountain,
and there poured out His heart, His bruised and broken
heart, into that of His Father ! What joy can be com
pared with this divine effusion, this ineffable com
munion ? It was the consummation of the mysterious
unity ! There was a great joy even in the sufferings
endured by the Saviour. Was He not suffering to
accomplish the Father's will? And was it not
the suffering of love ? As then He loved our poor
humanity, it could not be without joy that He suffered
for its sake — for its salvation. He enjoyed beforehand
the effects of the travail of His soul, and we doubt not
that when just before expiring on the shameful tree,
He cried, "It is finished," He experienced an ex
ceeding joy, for the condemnation was effaced, sin van
quished, and God satisfied ! Christ had good reason
then to say to His disciples, " These things have I
spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you."
It was the perfect joy of perfect love.
Humility, obedience, compassion, devotion, self-
sacrifice, and joy in that sacrifice, all these different
features of love, such as should be manifested here
below, appear then in Jesus Christ. And if we find
in Him any other virtue to adore, it results ultimately
from love. His love is the bond of all His perfections.
They proceed from this common foundation, it is this
which constitutes their unity in their diversity. If

224 The Holiness of Jesus Christ.
He was gentle as a lamb led dumb to the slaughter,
and at the same time strong and awful, the secret of
the gentleness and of the strength is in His love.
Nothing is more gentle than love, and nothing more
invincible — it is stronger than death. It seeks nothing
for itself; it cares not for suffering, and is indifferent
to shame. It seeks neither its own glory nor its own
interest. When made to pass through the most ter
rible trial it only comes out more burning and more
pure. Thus does love explain all the contrasts in
the life of Christ. He has shown us what love is ;
and as holiness cannot be separated from love, we may
conclude from these considerations that the life of
Jesus was the life of God in humanity.
Is there in all this assembly one who rejects this
conclusion ? Is it possible ? Are there, then, two
human consciences ? What is wanting to induce you
to adore Christ ? Are you not disabused regarding the
hypocritical virtues that sound a trumpet before them ?
Arejyou not weary of the false heroism, the noisy show,
which it is but too easy to sound ? Humble holiness
— true holiness, without parade and without pretence,
does not this speak far better to your heart ? Do you
not feel that there is something incomparable in the
life and death of Christ, something so pure, so grand,
so divine, so ideally beautiful, that you must either
close your eyes that you may not behold Him, or else
fall at His feet ? Forget our feeble words, and place
yourselves before His cross — go to it even with the
prejudices that have been attributed to you. They
cannot be more narrow or more strong than those of
the pagan centurion who presided at His execution.
Only imitate this man: he contemplated for a few-
moments the holy victim, and then he smote on his

The Holiness of Jesus Christ. 225
breast ; he was a Christian. Such gentleness, such
calmness, in the midst of such sufferings ! Words of
pardon for his enemies ! No, it is not a man ; or, if
it be, the man is a God. Do you also forget your
part, your vocation as philosopher, disputer, scoffer ?
Contemplate Jesus dying. One hour of earnestness,
with the cross before your eyes. We ask nothing
more ! We know that unless you command your con
science to silence, it will repeat the cry of the cen
turion, and, if it spoke not, the very stones would
cry out : Yes, this man was a God.
How precious is it to us Christians to have in Thee,
O my Saviour, even in this sad world of sin and degra
dation, the type of all that is good and beautiful !
What comfort for the soul, chafed by finding so much
that is wretched and mean even in the best of men, to
rest adoringly on Thee ! What joy, after some pain
ful discovery, some deception of the heart, to fix a long
look on Thee, well assured that we can never be
deceived in the Holiest of all ! What a blessing to be
able to say : This perfection of my Saviour, far from
tempting me to despair, should inspire in me a sweeter
confidence, for it is the very principle of my salvation,
the guarantee of my reconciliation with God, as well as
the law of my conscience, and in a blessed eternity it
will be fully communicated to myself: " We shall be
like Him," says Saint John, " for we shall see Him as
He is ! " What a hope is this, my brethren ; and how
should we not say with the same apostle : " Let every
man that hath this hope purify himself, even as He is
pure !

226 Jesus Christ a Prophet.

VIII.
JESUS CHRIST A PROPHET.

gisnmrse Jfirst.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST.
" Never man spake like this man." — John vii. 46.
Having considered the nature, the plan, and the holi
ness of the Redeemer, having inquired what He was,
what He designed to do, and in what spirit He accom
plished His work, it remains for us now to unfold
before your eyes the work itself, in order that you
may appreciate its unity and its grandeur. It is cus
tomary to divide this work into three parts, corre
sponding to the three great institutions of the ancient
dispensations, which are prophecy, priesthood, and
kingship. Christ is regarded first as a prophet, then
as a priest, and finally as a king. We accept this
division of the great subject ; it rests on an important
truth, viz., the profound harmony between the old and
the new covenants. The former expressed by all its
institutions the desire of salvation. The latter fully
realized that desire. The Redeemer is the link be
tween the one and the other ; and all that brings out
this character of His mission tends to promote His
glory. This triple arrangement of His work is not,
then, one of those arbitrary and scholastic divisions,

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 227
that parcel out truth and take from its living reality
as well as from its unity. The Word required first to
manifest Himself to the world, to reveal Himself by
speech — hence His prophetic mission. He needed to
offer the sacrifice of redemption — hence His sacerdotal
office. And in this sacrifice He must triumph over sin
and death — hence His royalty. We cannot separate in
Him the prophet from the sacrifice, nor the sacrifice
from the king. If He was only a prophet He has not
completed the cycle of the precursors of the Messiah.
If He was only a sacrifice, if His sacrifice resulted not
in kingship, it was without efficacy. And if He was
only a king, then condemnation rests still upon the
race of Adam. As Bossuet has grandly said, it was
in His blood that He had to find His crown. We
shall consider then, in succession, these three portions
of the work of Christ ; and at present we shall con
fine ourselves to the prophetic mission of the Messiah,
of which we must proceed first to show the necessity.
The vocation of the prophet under the ancient dis
pensation was not restricted to prophecy, strictly so
called; the prophet was the great witness of the
truth, the revealer of God. It was in this sense that
Jesus Christ was a prophet. If He had not conveyed
in positive instructions the profound meaning of His
work, that work would not have been understood.
For we may say that in every important fact there is
both a soul and a body. The body is the fact taken
in itself, separately — the soul is its meaning, its bear
ing, its spirit. The body, the flesh, the covering of
the fact is of little value. It is the spirit that is im
portant. Now, the teaching of Christ alone could
bring out the spirit, the soul, the profound meaning
of the great event. The crucifixion of an innocent

228 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
man was nothing so new or strange in the ancient
world. To see in this a redemption, it was necessary
that the eye should pierce through the external veil,
and to enable this, I again repeat, the teaching of
Christ was necessary.
This teaching, I need scarcely say, is as admirable
as is the person of the Redeemer. It presents the
same contrasts, the same grandeur in humility, the
same depth in simplicity. It is the only teaching that
is truly fruitful, always new, always inexhaustible.
The Church, during eighteen centuries, has been bend
ing over this word of the Master, over those pages
which have preserved it for us, with an ardent desire
to penetrate its depths, to grasp its ultimate meaning.
Men of the finest genius and the greatest holiness
have meditated on it, but it has ever proved above and
beyond them. Systems have been constructed and
formularies arranged, and it has sometimes been thought
that these have comprised the divine teaching — but it
has broken and consumed them all by turns. And yet
these lessons so rich, so infinite, are far more simple than
the imperfect representations that have been given us of
them. The wisest and most pious theology inheriting
the labours of centuries cannot exhaust them, while
the humblest believer, the little child himself, on hear
ing them from the Master's lips is arrested and touched
by them ! Why do men interpose so often between
us and the divine Teacher ? Why do the most inde
pendent spirits so frequently shew themselves servile
in this respect, accepting as the teaching of Christ
what is only its pitiful disguise ? How rare are those
who have really heard the Master speak for Himself,
and have not contented themselves with certain eccle
siastical or theological traditions ! It is a fact that the

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 229
greater part of men have only read a translation of the
Gospel,— speaking not of words but of ideas. The
Gospel comes to us constantly translated, weakened,
transformed by human theology. And it is for want
of going up to the original, for want of reading it in
good faith, simply, and not through particular doctrines,
which diminish and transform it, that so many serious
men in the present day still reject Christianity. They
imagine that they have refused it with full cognizance
of its nature, while all the time they have not had a
glimpse of its divine beauty. Would to God that we
could put an end in the case of many to this wretched
misunderstanding, by presenting to them faithfully the
teaching of Christ ! This subject contains also pre
cious instruction for you who are Christians. You
are required to honour the Gospel by your testimony.
You are called then to teach like Christ. Learn from
Him how to be a perfect witness to the Gospel — learn
wherein lies the nerve of Christian speech, and how,
in the most different relations, whether required to
condemn or to console, to oppose or to persuade, to
soften or to shake, the truth may be served in a way
that shall be efficacious and worthy of itself.
" Never man spake like this man." Hear what was
said of Christ by His enemies themselves. Nothing
could be a better proof that His teaching was as per
fect as His life. We shall consider this teaching in
its object and in its form, and shall shew you that in
this double point of view, no man has ever taught, has
ever spoken like Jesus Christ.
There is a primary sense in which Christ taught as
never man taught. His instruction may be distinguished
from that of all others by the fact that He was Himself
its object. A master or teacher, even the greatest pos-
Q

230 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
sible, conveys the truth but is not that truth himself.
He shows the way to it, he proves its efficacy. Christ
alone could say: "I am the way, the truth, and the
life." This is one of the strangest sayings that ever
issued from His lips, one of the most mysterious, and
at the same time one of the most characteristic. They
understand nothing of Christianity who seek in Christ's
instructions for anything but Christ Himself, and ask
from Him a single truth or doctrine of which He shall
not be the substance but only the witness. I know
well that this identification of Christianity with Christ
has been sometimes abused, and employed to reduce
the Gospel to a weak sentimentalism, an enervating
mysticism, and to oppose a precise and positive expres
sion of the law. But everything depends on the
manner in which we regard the Saviour. If we have
but vague ideas of His person, if we see in His divinity
merely a simple ideal of human nature, if we reject His
redeeming work, we may in vain pretend to found all
upon Him, we shall be building on a cloud and not
truly upon Christ. We fully recognize that the name
of Christ may be lavishly used by those who are un
consciously working against Him. It is not enough
to feel towards Him a certain attraction of the heart.
This may exist without a true faith, for it may be so
mixed up and confused as to bear no resemblance to a
firm belief. The apostles experienced this attraction
even before understanding the work of their Master,
before being converted. Saint John, leaning on the
breast of Jesus during the solemn feast of the Pass
over, felt it in the highest degree, and yet at that very
hour he had not an adequate, enlightened, and enduring
faith. It was a precious beginning, it was the starting-
point of a strong and living faith, but it was nothing

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 231
more. It would be dangerous, then, to assert in too
general a way that a relation to Christ constitutes the
whole of religion. We should clearly understand and
express that this relation must not consist in a simple
attraction, but that it involves the conscious acceptance
of the truth that is in Christ.
With this reservation we maintain that the whole of
Christianity is in Christ — that there is not a doctrine
that is not in Himself. His person, that is all our
doctrine. Neither Christ nor His apostles taught any
other. The apostolic teaching was nothing more than
the reproduction of that of Christ, or an inspired com
mentary thereon, and the teaching of Christ had no
other object than Himself. Christianity is indeed not
primarily either a doctrine or a book — it is a fact, or
rather it is a person. This sacred person is only-
known through the inspired book, the doctrine is His
impress on the reason ; but before the book and before
the doctrine there exists the living reality. Without
apostolic testimony it is not possible to know Christ,
without doctrine we cannot attain to clearness of faith.
The apostolic testimony and the doctrine are in our
view indispensable, — we look on them as the sacred
vase that contains the divine treasure. But the trea
sure is not the vase, and the vase is not the treasure-
that which contains is not that which is contained.
Christianity is not essentially a compound of holy
oracles, a divine theology or a system of doctrine. Or
if it be a theology it is not so after the manner of man
but of God ; — the theology of man is a laboured chain
of ideas and words about God — the theology of God
is His own word about Himself, a living, acting word,
the Word incarnate. "Great," said Saint Paul, "is
the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the

232 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory."1 -Such is divine theology ; and this it
is which gave Christ a right to declare': "I am the
truth!" Let a single truth be shown us which does not con
nect itself in the most natural manner with this living
truth ! The two terms of the religious problem are
God and man. To know them, to know their true
relations, this is the whole of religious truth. " Shew
us the Father," said an apostle to Christ ; and the
Master responded, " He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father." All that we can know of God Christ
has taught us, or rather has shown us. The Father
was in Him. All the perfections of God, His justice,
holiness, and power, shone in His person with softened
rays, and His love had never known a more sublime
manifestation. The Son repeated also the works
of the Father: the creation of the world and the
whole course of divine revelations are ascribed to Him
as pre-eminently the organ of omnipotence. In the
same way all that we need to know concerning man,
his true nature and his high destiny, we see in Him
who was the perfect man. He not only teaches us
again to know both God and man, but also reveals to
us their true relations. Is He not the Mediator be
tween humanity and its Creator ? On the one hand,
by the very fact of His mediation He manifests the
fall of man and his inability to save himself; while on
the other He teaches to the world the love of the
Father, which led Him to give His Son, that who
soever believed in Him might not perish, but have
everlasting life. What can we know concerning the
1 1 Tim. iii. 16.

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 233
work of salvation that is not bound up in the person
of Christ? He is made unto us, says the apostle,
wisdom, justification, sanctification, and redemption.
To select one feature of this statement especially, do
we not see that Christian morality, through sanctifica
tion, may be entirely referred to Him ? And as to
what concerns the future, does not all depend upon
Christ ? Is it not He who shall raise the dead, judge
the world with righteousness, and introduce His own
to glory ? Is it not He, finally, who has promised
and bestowed the Holy Spirit ? Sin, grace, redemp
tion, holiness, resurrection, judgment, — have all these
divine doctrines any meaning unconnected with Christ ?
Are we not justified in saying with Saint Paul : "I
desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified?" with Saint John: "He that hath the
Son hath life?" and with the Son Himself: "Who
soever believeth in Him shall not perish?" We
must not only believe what He teaches, but also
believe in Himself. His teaching, is, after all, only
the express image of His person, as He is the express
image of the Father. Let us beware of withering up
this living teaching by our abstractions. Let us fear
lest, through our fault, the living water be transformed
into ice, and become like cold crystal, with its forms
fixed and symmetrically carved! Let us remember
that every doctrine, if separated from Christ, is
thereby smitten with barrenness, and that the chris
tian teaching, which is not a communication of Christ,
loses its proper character, and is nothing but human
philosophy. Let us not, by a new kind of scholasti
cism, give stones instead of bread to famishing souls,
forgetting that what truly nourishes now, as it did
eighteen centuries ago, is the living bread which

234 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
comes down from heaven. Never man spake like
this man, then, because never could man present him
self as the truth in person.
The incomparable excellence of Christ's teaching
results also from its perfect form. And in what does
this perfection consist ? Words are the revelation of
the soul, expressing all its different sentiments. They
would be truly perfect, then, if they were a pure
mirror of our thoughts and impressions, or rather an
exact reflection of the ray that projected them. We
can demand nothing better of a revelation than that it
reproduce completely the hidden things with which it
professes to make us acquainted. A word with
regard to God, is an eternal reproduction of His being,
an express image of His person, and therefore perfect
like all that comes from Him. The perfection of
human words should be measured by the fidelity with
which they manifest the human soul. I say the soul,
because the thoughts are not the most important
matter. It is possible that a man may be endowed
with the precious faculty of conveying his ideas with
eloquence, of giving to them a beautiful, pure, trans
parent form, and yet that his words may be after all
but a brilliant lie. This is because the centre of
man's life is not in the reason but in the heart. If
our words be not in harmony with our moral state,
whatever may be their beauty, they are false, — like
false money; they are hollow, so to speak. Not
only are they lying and hypocritical, but they have
no value, and in reality no influence. Men very soon
perceive, without well knowing why, that they are
wanting in earnestness. Thanks to God, grand words
are quickly worn through. They are but a light veil
that the slightest wind lifts or tears. There is nothing

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 235
truly powerful but sincerity. Perfectly sincere words
are perfect words, and they are only so when it can
be said : As are the words, so is the life. Then each
word reaches us filled and penetrated with an inward
strength. It is not an empty sign, but a reality.
Even if wanting in elegance and harmony it will still
make its way. Coming from the heart, it speaks to
the heart.
If this be true, my brethren, if sincerity be the
seal of perfection for human words, it is easy for us
to justify our text : " Never man spake like this
man," for never was man sincere like Christ ; by
which we mean that never did the words of a man so
completely accord with His life. Jesus Christ lived
His words and spoke His life. To say that His
words were sincere is to say too little ; for there was
a positive identity between His actions and His dis
courses. His instructions depict Him before our eyes
as plainly as His works. To prove to you the excel
lence and perfection of these instructions we shall
have then to bring out the identity between the words
and the life of Christ. His life was the perfect life
of love ; and we will make it evident that His words,
in like manner, were the perfect language of divine
love. We have seen, in our last discourse, that the love
of the Saviour rested on His humility. Now, His
words were as humble as His life. Never man spake
like this man in respect to humility. Compare the
divine Master with the teachers of His day. They
either assumed a tone of despotic authority, or else
enveloped themselves in a pompous solemnity. They
spoke, we are told, from the seat of Moses, and we
fancy that we see them elevated on this seat, keeping

236 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
the subject people at their feet, imposing upon them
their own interpretations, and regarding themselves as
the inflexible guardians of tradition. They spoke of
God only in sacred places and under consecrated
forms. Their teaching was like their persons. As
they sought to inspire respect by their long robes and
their phylacteries, so did they endeavour to impress
on their words a sovereign dignity. These also
dragged after them a sacerdotal robe, and sounded
like the voice of the temple itself. What a contrast
between these proud doctors and the humble Teacher
of Nazareth ! He sat not on the benches of any Jewish
school. He had not the credit of those official titles
which always cast brightness on such as are invested
with them. He came from Galilee, the most despised
of places ; He spoke not from the seat of Moses, but
in the streets and crossways, by the side of wells, on
the mountain, or by the lake, wherever the multitudes
might crowd. His teaching had not the majesty of
secular tradition. He imposed it on no one ; He ren
dered homage to truth without exercising compulsion
of any kind, without using those accents of command
which often of themselves exert so much influence
upon souls. What could be more simple than His
words ? They were free from all solemn form. His
profoundest teachings arose from the most ordinary
incidents of daily life, and were marked by an undis
guised familiarity. We may venture to say that no
doctor ever taught more completely in the style of a
layman than Christ ; so that the very name of doctor
was not applied to Him. He spoke as a friend to his
friends, as a mother to her son, in words brief and
telling. Neither will you find in Him the elegance
and logic of the teachers of Greece any more than

The .Teaching of Jesus Christ. 237
the solemnity of those of Judea. Socrates and Plato
taught with the most exquisite art. Not having the
magisterial authority of the scribes of Jerusalem, they
•supplied its place by the harmony and beauty of their
language, the brilliancy of their imagery, and that
logical chain of thoughts, the severest charm of which
is keenly felt by the intellect. There is nothing like
this in the discourses of Christ. To say of Him that
He was eloquent would be to offend our Christian
feelings. All pre-occupation with form and external
beauty is entirely absent from His words. "He did
not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard
in the street."1 He aimed not at effect in any sense.
We may say of His instruction what the prophet said
of His person : "It had neither form nor comeliness."
The simplicity of Christ's words is exactly that which
constitutes their perfection. The organ of eternal
truth, He did not wish, in order to justify this title,
that His teaching should be set off by external autho
rity, sacerdotal solemnity, or artistic beauty. By rest
ing on external authority, He would have confessed
that His doctrine needed foreign aid for its triumph ;
by enveloping it in solemn forms, He would have sug
gested a doubt of its intrinsic value ; by seeking for
it artistic beauty and clothing it with a splendid veil,
He would have led to the idea that it had not suffi
cient attraction to win souls. No ; it was not fitting
that the truth of God should enter the world dis
guised and embellished, ready to smite those whom
its borrowed beauty should not fascinate. Christ
knew that nothing is so beautiful or so powerful as
this divine truth, and He wished that it should appear
alone in His teaching. He put no authority, no
1 Isaiah xlii. z.

238 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
solemnity of language, no forms of oratory between
us and truth. It shines in His instructions in its native
and immortal beauty.
After all, what can be compared with the words of
Christ ? In spite of their simplicity do they not excel
all others ? You find not indeed in them the brilliant
traits of Hebrew prophecy, that splendour of imagery,
that lyrical sublimity which strikes us in Isaiah and
Jeremiah. But this difference belongs to the very
perfection of Christ. Everything is equal in His dis
courses as in His life ; grand verbal agitations imply
the excitement, the rapture of a spirit that is beyond
itself. He was never beyond Himself; it was enough
for Him to be Himself; — hence those calm, profound
words, marked with an august serenity, compressing
into a single saying a whole world of ideas and feel
ings ; — hence the supreme self-possession of His
thought, the unique, indefinable character of His dis
courses which causes us to say as we listen, " It is the
Master !"
But Christ had also another motive for not imitat
ing the doctors of His time. To speak from above is
to speak from afar. It might be supposed that one
would be better heard by being placed at a great dis
tance from one's hearers, and commanding them. But
this is a great error. The more simple your words,
the more strong they will be ; and the more strong,
the more sympathetic and appropriate to the wants of
your hearers. In proportion as you are raised in the
professor's chair, in that proportion you are removed
to a distance from souls. Each new step gained in
creases the space between you and them ; your teach
ing becomes general, abstract, pompous, and without
application. Your darts, shot from afar, touch no

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 239
individual. It is easy, then, to understand how Christ
should have left the seat of Moses to the frigid doc
tors who had nothing to say to poor sinners. He who
had a word of eternal life to bring to them, — He would
never mount to that seat. He spoke to men mouth
to mouth, heart to heart, and He was heard by them.
And let it be well understood that, if the Christian
testimony is so often robbed of its primitive force, it is
because it has been placed anew upon that fatal
height, in a sense between heaven and earth. All
conceivable methods have been employed to shew
clearly that it has an exceptional character. The very
symbols have been used that are most adapted to
cherish this miserable prejudice in the minds of Chris
tian people. The witness to the truth has been
wrapped in a solemn dress for worship, as if to invite
him to envelop his instructions in a similar vestment.
Academic language has superseded the manly and
telling accents of strong conviction. From the cold
heights of religious discourse to the soul of the listen
ers, the distance has become so great that the Chris
tian sentiments, issuing warm, perhaps, from the
orator's mind, have had time to grow cold again. Let
the preacher renounce for ever that elevation which
isolates him thus ; let him imitate the Saviour ; let him
speak rather than preach ; let him be felt to be a com
panion in conflict and in suffering instead of a master
and professor. For him as for Jesus Christ, the
secret of power is in simplicity. And when I speak
of simplicity I do not mean negligence. A true and
noble simplicity is obtained at the price of greater
labour of thought and soul, and more concentrated
meditation than is required for brilliancy of style. It
is more difficult to convey the fundamental substance

240 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
of Christianity than it is to multiply forms of oratory.
In this respect as in all others, let us be the disciples
of Chris*, — learning from Him the humility of the
Christian testimony, which is the pledge of its real
authority. Let us tear up our phylacteries as we
think of so many souls needing true consolation ; let
us cease to speak in foreign tongues, and descend for
ever from the seat of Moses, or in other words,
abandon our cold solemnity and our priestly elo
quence. These reflections bring us naturally to consider the
teaching of Christ, with regard not only to its humility
but also to its love. These two points are closely con
nected, as we have recognized in speaking of the holiness
of the Saviour. Humility is the beginning or the condi
tion of love. Christ's teaching was full of love, be
cause it was full of humility. We have established in
our last discourse that His love was especially charac
terized by mercy, which is love to the unfortunate,
the feeble, and the poor. The poor and the feeble, in
respect of instruction, are uncultivated, rough, and
simple men, the men of the people. The merciful
character of Christ's teaching is evinced by its popu
larity. It was admirably suited to the wants of the
many, to the necessities of the simple and the ignorant.
The considerations which we have already presented
to you on the teaching of Christ would of them
selves suffice to establish its eminently popular character.
Is it not evident that a doctrine which ends in a
divine history, and every dogma of which rests upon a
fact, will be much more popular than a scientifically
organized system ? The .simple require to say : Our
eyes have seen, our hands have touched the truth.
Truth, living and incarnate, can alone arrest and win

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 241
them. On the other hand, words that are humble
without ostentation, and free from solemnity of form,
have more power and authority than any others, even
over cultivated auditors ; with how much greater reason
over the ignorant and poor in spirit ! All other teach
ing would be inaccessible to them. The popularity of
Christ's words resulted, then, from their humility.
This popularity was, however, caused in part by
the fact that Christ never admitted that distinction
between the profane and the initiated which is always
found in the religions of antiquity, and in human sys
tems of philosophy. It is well known that the Greek
philosophers had two circles of auditors ; — the unini
tiated, to whom they communicated only the external
side of their system, and the initiated, to whom they
revealed the inner depths of their thoughts. This
aristocracy of intellect was thought much of in anti
quity, but there is no parallel to it in the school of
Christ. All who wish to hear Him, who desire to be
come His disciples, are equally welcome, and to
all He reveals the whole truth. They only remain
without who voluntarily exclude themselves, but who
ever draws near to Christ becomes His disciple — the
most rough untutored man of the people is admitted
to the same title as the man of greatest intelligence.
The gentle Master takes him by the hand to lead him
into the sanctuary, or, if necessary, bears him thither
in his arms as a little child is carried who knows not
how to walk. Christ taught in open daylight, without
calculation and without reserve. The doctrine that
He instilled is not the monopoly of a single caste, but
is offered alike to all. He concealed nothing because
He had nothing to conceal. He intrusted no secret
to His disciples ; whatever He told them He wished

242 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
that they should proclaim upon the housetops, because
it was needful that all should be known. To pretend
tha,t certain men alone are initiated into the deepest
mysteries of the gospel, to the exclusion of the so-called
profane mass of Christian people, is to overthrow the
Christian dispensation, and to give rise to the thought
that the gospel fears the light. Greece kept its
mysteries in the shade, and it did well so to do.
Christ had nothing to withhold from the attention of
any, and therefore he spoke openly.
And not only did Christ recognize no distinction
between the profane and the initiated, but He even gave
special thought to those who were called the profane
in ancient philosophy ; that is to say, to the ignorant
and the simple. Not that He rejected the enlightened,
but He knew that the deepest wants of our nature are
found with greatest freshness among those who have
not been able to stifle them by the refinements of civi
lization. To satisfy the soul of the simple and the
ignorant is to satisfy the human soul itself; that which
arrests, touches, convinces such a soul, is certainly ap
propriate to the wants of all. A doctrine which suits
the poor is a universal truth, while one that should
please the rich and the learned might be only a pass
ing fantasy of the mind. Christ could speak then to
the people without fear of restricting His mission.
And who has ever spoken to them like the Saviour ?
Who has better known the way to their heart ? Who
has ever represented truth under a form more clear
and more attractive.
We beg you to observe that in bringing the truth
to the feeblest reason, in such a manner that it should
be able to grasp it, Christ took nothing from the
truth, nor subjected it to any alteration. It is very

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 243
easy to gain the goodwill of rrien if we flatter their errors
and their prejudices, but popularity purchased at such
a price is treason against the cause of God. Christ
never employed this detestible system of accommoda
tion which pretends to place evil at the service of good.
No, no ; He did not seek to insinuate truth into the
heart of man as a traitor is slipped into a besieged
place under a false name and a disguise. He showed
us by His example that the means we employ should
always be worthy of the end pursued, that pious
frauds contain the worst of impieties, and that truth
can no more be served by a lie than light can be pro
duced by darkness. The most absolute fidelity in
spiritual things is alone blessed of God. Any subter
fuge, or even a too calculating cleverness, is offensive
to Him; the only policy of the Christian consists
in having none at all. Nothing disconcerts Cunning
adversaries like a perfect simplicity, because it has not
entered into their expectations, but surprises them as
something quite unlooked for. Integrity is so inherent
in Christianity that the world itself has understood the
fact, so that when it has seen the pretended disciples
of Christ trying to serve Him by the crooked methods
of human policy, it has manifested as lively an indig
nation as if it had been the first time that fraud had
appeared upon the earth. And this is because fraud,
pretending to take shelter under the name of Jesus, is
so great a monstrosity as to shock even the least
enlightened conscience.
If the divine Master then rejected all accommodation,
we can only explain the popularity of His teaching by
the form which he gave to it. He ever found means
to connect the truth with some feeling, some idea, or
some fact in harmony with itself. With a skilful and

244 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
delicate hand He grafted it on the soul of His hearers,
discerning with His penetrating eye where was the
right point of contact. It was enough for the dove
from the ark to find one green branch appearing
above the waters on which it could rest ; and so was it
enough for the eternal truth that was in Christ to find
a single point of support in the soul or spirit of man
by means of which it could enter and establish itself
therein. In the midst of the ruins accumulated by the
fall, the Saviour knew how to recognize at the first glance
upon what stone He could rebuild the fallen edifice.
It was thus that He made constant appeals to consci
ence, to the conviction of sin, to the need of deliver
ance, to the sorrow and suffering that are inseparable
from human life. Think of the opening of His sermon
on the mount! " Blessed are the poor. Blessed are
they that mourn. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness ! " Conscious poverty,
a sorrow for sinfulness, a thirst for salvation, were
found in every upright and humble soul, and from these
did Christ set out to raise it by degrees to the highest
summits of His doctrine.
Nor was He contented to rest on these general dis
positions, more or less common to all men of good
purpose. He knew what was wanted by every one
of them ; He addressed to each the precise teaching
that was made for him. Go through the narrative of
our four Gospels, recall to your minds the numerous
persons who conversed with the Saviour. They be
long to all classes ; to every position. Now they are
members of the sovereign council of the nation, like
Nicodemus ; again, they are fishermen from the lake
of Nazareth ; then poor women — sometimes Pagans,
sometimes Jews. You will not find a single word

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 245
that is not the most affecting, the most striking that
could have been pronounced under existing circum
stances. We may say, even, that the teaching of
Christ takes different shades of colouring according to
the vocation or pre-occupation of His companions, or
even to the circumstances of the moment. Is he
speaking to the poor fishermen of the lake of Naza
reth, He employs an image borrowed from their condi
tion: " Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Is He addressing a doctor of the law, He makes con
stant allusion to His dignity. He humbles him indeed
in a profitable manner by its means : " Art thou a
master of Israel, and knowest not these things ?." Is
He speaking to a great multitude that He has just
satisfied with food, He discourses of that bread which
endureth unto everlasting life. Does He meet a
Samaritan woman by Jacob's well in the heat of the
day, He tells her of water springing up unto eternal
life, and comes gradually to address to her conscience
a most serious appeal.
Was it not with the same design that Christ multi
plied His admirable parables ? The parable contained
the sublimest teaching within the most simple narra
tive, borrowed from nature or from everyday life : it
lifted the soul step by step to the eterrial laws of
God's kingdom. Just as God, under the ancient dis
pensation, according to the familiar and touching
image of the prophet Isaiah, guided His people gently
as a beast is led that goeth down into the valley,1 so
Jesus Christ guided his hearers gently over the steep
and rugged heights of truth by means of His parables.
The sower going forth to -sow his seed, the grain of
mustard seed deposited in the ground, the leaven put
1 Isa. lxiii. 14.
R

246 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
into the meal, the different fruits of good and evil
trees, the union of the vine and the branches, all
became transparent symbols for His divinest instruc
tions. None of His hearers, after listening to Him,
could look on the external world without to some
extent reading His doctrines there afresh. Nature
shewed them forth, written in characters too striking
to be forgotten, and thus instead of turning away
souls from truth, she led them back thither continually.
The parables, which were strictly narratives, produced
the same effect. On seeing a flock of sheep, must
not the remembrance have arisen of the Good Shep
herd who giveth His life for His sheep ? How should
a father pressing his children to his breast, not think
of the prodigal son and his forgiveness ? Men working
in a field or vineyard recalled the parable of the
labourers hired at different hours of the day. Men's
thoughts might rise to God from the commonest inci
dents of life, and there was nothing, even to the rela-
tions of debtors and creditors, that was not trans
formed into some sublime type.
No, never man spake like this man, because never
man loved our poor humanity like Christ. Let us
not mistake; it was His love that inspired in Him
these parables, — it was His love for souls that made
Him discover so admirably the spiritual nourishment
needed by each one. When love fills not the heart
of a witness for the truth, he restricts himself to
teaching it with fidelity, without striving to render it
accessible to his brethren, or carefully inquiring what
are their dispositions and their spiritual necessities.
Is not this one cause of the little effect of our sermons ?
Are they not too general — wanting in direct applica
tions? When our divine Saviour, rich in all the

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 247
truth of God, is seen striving to present it under
the form most appropriate to His different auditors,
we can understand that the partial truth of which
we are the depositaries has but little chance of
winning hearts so long as we present it dry and bare,
and shew not the tender solicitude of love to discover
the secret wounds of our brethren, and to pour into
them evangelical consolation.
The teaching of Christ was full of love also in
another sense. It was essentially creative and fertiliz
ing to the minds of His hearers. A master or teacher
not impelled by love to souls, but by the desire to
rule and constrain them, is satisfied when they yield
themselves up passively to be modelled by him. He
does not willingly tolerate spontaneousness of thought
in his disciples. He wishes to make them captives to
adorn his triumph, and he carefully retains them in
the chains of his system. But such was not the
method of Christ. He did not arrange his doctrines
like a catechism. It would have been easy for Him
to do so, and to obtain from His followers the most
scrupulous adherence to the letter of His instructions.
But He pursued a far higher object. He wished
that His doctrine should penetrate within them, that
they should acquire a profound understanding of it.
Therefore did He constantly appeal to their moral
powers. He did not communicate to them all the
truth at once, but gave them a glimpse of the
precious mine, and caused specimens of the pure gold
to glitter above ground, not discovering to them the
whole, that they might dig and search with persever
ing labour. The parables went no farther than this
— they gave no more than a glimpse of the treasure,
and those who had not eyes to see were contented,

248 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
and passed on. But those who had a sincere love for
truth hasted to penetrate within the soil, and soon
discovered unexpected riches, while the very efforts
they had made for their attainment only rendered
them infinitely more precious.
These considerations furnish us with a plausible
explanation of that difficult passage in the Gospel in
which the Lord declares to His disciples that He
speaks in parables, in order that ,the mass of His
auditors " seeing may not see, and hearing may not
understand." Idle souls that feel no desire for truth
have no right to its possession. So long as they
retain this disposition the truth conceals itself from
them, because they deserve to be punished for their
passive indolence, and their shameful indifference to
the most precious blessing. If the truth were com
municated to them with all its evidence it would avail
them nothing. It would be like a pearl cast before
swine. The pearl is shown them from afar, that they
may be impelled to seek it ; and they have only them
selves to blame if they acquire it not, since it is offered
to them as to others. Whoever, on seeing it afar off,
sets himself to its acquisition, is certain to succeed.
He will obtain it when he shall have sold his field ;
that is to say, when he shall have subordinated every
thing to the search. It is a thousand times better
that it should not have been given him without the
need of labour and effort, for the sacrifices that he has
made have revealed to him its true value. He now
knows what it is that he possesses, and enjoys it all
the more in proportion to the pains he has taken in
its acquisition.
Jesus Christ deposited His words in the souls of
His disciples, as so many living germs that should

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 249
grow therein. At first the instructions were com
pletely beyond them. Often, indeed, by their strange
and paradoxical character they entered into the minds
of the hearers like sharp steel into the flesh. More
than once they had need to cry, " This is a hard say
ing, who can hear it ? " But it was exactly the hard
and offending quality of the teaching that fixed and
buried it in the depths of the heart like an arrow.
The time would come when all that their Master had
told them should return to their memory illumined, as
it were, with a new brightness ; and it would then
appear, that a certain saying, which had at first given
rise to violent opposition, had insensibly become, by its
secret virtue, under the continuous action of the Holy
Spirit, the expression of their most cherished convic
tions. Jesus Christ did not hurry or precipitate anything
in the communication of the truth. Bringing to the
world the new covenant, He ceased not to be a faith
ful observer of the old ; He only hinted indirectly at
the abrogation of Mosaism. As He himself said, He
did not wish to put new wine into old bottles, but
rather by degrees to prepare the new bottles and pour
the new wine into them drop by drop. He did not treat
the mind and soul of man -like an earthen vessel, into
which the most precious things might be put at any
moment. He wished that there should be a kind of
harmony between the vessel and the treasure. He
did not regard the living organs of revelation as a
parchment on which He might write at once His
whole thought. No ; He waited patiently till these
poor fishermen of Galilee should become mature in
His school, and should be developed and spiritualized
by association with Him. With what gentleness did

250 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
He not endure their slowness of understanding and
weakness of faith ! With what indulgence did He
not explain to them His simplest parables ! With
what love did He not rectify their mistakes ! When
we think of the suffering that He must have experi
enced in finding day by day new proofs of the gross-
ness of their spirit and the materialism of their piety,
we recognize in His patience one of the most touching
manifestations of His love, especially by comparing it
with the impatience which we ourselves evince when
we encounter prejudice or error.
Finally, brethren, — and I conclude with that which
is most obvious, — the words of Christ were the ex
pression of perfect love, because never was there ad
dressed to man language so consoling as His. His
words were the ideal fulfilment of the command :
" Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." All His dis
courses might be summed up in this appeal : " Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden." He
comforted mankind generally, speaking divinely of the
Father's love: "Whosoever believeth in me, hath
everlasting life." He comforted all the afflicted :
"Blessed are they that weep," — "theirs is the kingdom
of heaven." He comforted repenting souls, saying to
each one : " Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven." He
comforted His friends, His disciples, in those last dis
courses, the inimitable sweetness, tender sadness, and
divine depths of which no words can describe, and in
which He seemed to open all His heart. Nailed to
the cross, He continued to give comfort, and among
His last words was an expression of love to His mother
and to His own. " Never man spake like this man."
Having reached the end of this discourse, I am yet
far from having exhausted the vast subject. Christ

The Teaching of Jesus Christ. 251
not only taught, He had also to combat by His words.
He had to supply the vindication of His doctrine, and
He has given us a model of the manner in which we
should defend the truth. We shall have then to
speak to you of the apology of Christ, and of His
miracles, which form a part of that apology ; and we
shall recognize here also the character of holiness
which has struck us in His teachings.
Never man spake like this man, because never man
spake as He did the language of love. But it would
have been in vain for Him to speak this divine lan
guage if He had not also lived the holy life of love.
In the harmony between His life and His words which
we have so fully pointed out to you, lay our Saviour's
great strength. And is there not in this fact a very
salutary and humbling lesson for us ? Have we not
here the secret of our miserable weakness, as opposed
to the world ? Look not for this secret in external
circumstances, or in our deficiency of knowledge.
Seek it not in the imperfect way in which we stammer
the language of love. Witness for Christ, remember
your daily life, your falls, your unfaithfulness, your
cowardice, your selfishness ! Your life is a refutation
of your words, contradicting them unceasingly. Even
those who have never seen you, find your testimony
lacking in virtue. There is something — I know not
what it is — in the soul, which enables it to discern
without being clearly conscious of so doing, whether
Christian words are or are not in harmony with the
life of him by whom they are spoken. There are
men of whose private history we are ignorant, and yet
the very pressure of whose hand communicates to us
something of God. Language through which there
somehow flows a Christian life is immediately effica-

252 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
cious. Impotence is the punishment of mere religious
talkers. And we all more or less deserve this charac
ter. The consciousness of justly merited feebleness
is the great and bitter suffering belonging to the min
istry of the word. If we truly lived what we preach
from the pulpit, — if Thy servants, O my God I never
entered it but when filled with Thyself, — if they had
Christ in their heart as much as on their lips, with
what virtue would not Thy word be invested ! Alas !
by our weakness we may estimate our inconsistencies.
The bustle of living life, — flowing words of .piety while
the life is mean and poor, — this is the great evil of the
Church in our day. But, O God, Thou knowest we
moum over it profoundly ; we would not remain in
this guilty inconsistency! We desire to speak less
and to act more. Oh ! that the example of Him who
put all His holy life into His holy teaching, may con
vert us to that absolute sincerity which is in all times
the best strength of the Church !

IX.
JESUS CHRIST A PROPHET.

§isrorxrs£ S'nottb.
THE APOLOGY OF JESUS CHRIST.
Scripture — Miracles — Internal Proof. — John v. 36-45.
Jesus Christ instructed men, and we have shown, in
our last discourse, that He did so in that perfection
which belongs to Him alone. But He did not confine
Himself to declaring the truth of God. He defended
it also, and gave it a triumphant position in face of the
strongest objections. It is important for us to have an
exact and complete idea of Christ's apology. It is
necessary that we should know on what basis the
divine founder of the final religiqn has made Christian
certainty to repose. This is necessary in a twofold
point of view — both to secure the peace of our own
mind and heart, and to teach us to present the Gospel
by its most accessible side. Where is the christian
who knows not the temptation of doubt ? Where is
the believer who has never experienced the passing of
a cloud over his faith ? On what unknown heights
of unchangeable serenity does he dwell? We are
tempted in all things — how should we not be tempted
in our faith ? It must be tempered by conflict ; it

254 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
must reveal its internal force by clashing with ideas
which are most contrary to it. Let us not ask that
it should be spared the combat, for this would be to
ask that it should lose its triumph ; since there can be
no victory without conflict and danger. Moreover,
it is salutary to know ourselves vulnerable at all points,
that we may apply without ceasing to the divine
physician of the soul. Whatever be the weight of
these considerations, it is not the less true that the
Christian is often attacked by doubts, and that a dark
night sometimes wraps him all at once in its chilling
gloom, like those thick fogs which suddenly obscure
the heavens. Nor let it be supposed that doubt is
the result only of laborious and weary thoughts, and
that by not agitating the great questions of christian
theology, we shall be sheltered from its assaults. It
is often in the happiest hours that we feel its touch ;
it takes pleasure in pursuing us when our soul is
opened to the holiest emotions. It may be at the
time of prayer ; an impalpable veil may suddenly
spread itself between us and God, so that our voice
shall seem to fall into empty space and be unheard.
It may be near a deathbed or an open grave. A
horrible thought may cross our minds : Is there any
thing beyond ? Should we not believe our eyes ? — It
may be again on some day of rare joy that seems a
foretaste of heaven. We soon hear in that beautiful
and peaceful Eden, which we are for a moment in
habiting, the hiss of the serpent. Ah, well ! we re
quire to have an immediate and triumphant response ;
we must know how to impose silence on the enemy,
for doubt is despondency, impotence, defeat, and will
soon end in a fall if it be not torn from our heart.
Christ will teach us by His divine apology how we may

The Apology of Jesus Christ. 255
destroy such doubt by a word, and regain the blessed
certainty of faith. Our subject concerns, then, all Chris
tians. Let them seek in it the strength and consola
tion which they need ; for the hour of doubt will sound
for each sooner or later.
We have then, brethren, to plead before the world
the great cause of Christ. We must give an account of
our faith^ Christianity has never been more misunder
stood than in our day. I will go farther, and say that
it has never been more badly defended than it is now
by certain religious parties. And this is one of the
most serious perils of the Church. It is not only
attacked by antichristianity, but also compromised by
a false Christianity. There are now unhappily men
imprudent or insane enough to declare that the doctrine
of Christ requires, in order to its establishment or pro
pagation, methods of compulsion. They might as
wrell assert that the cause of the Gospel is a lost one,
since a recourse to compulsion on behalf of a doctrine
is a confession of moral impotence. We do not strike
except when we cannot answer, and we do not ask
help from external force save when we despair of
persuading. These gross and fatal modes of vindica
tion would have already ruined Christianity had it been
possible for our faults so to do. We can no longer
conceal the fact that a great number of serious men
have taken Catholicism at its word, and imagined that
it is in fact impossible to demonstrate Christian truth.
We shall only bring these men back, my brethren, by
proving the contrary. Never was it more necessary
than now that Christians should truly form a militant
host, and unitedly defend the truth of the Gospel. If
they devolve this duty on a few men, who seem more
directly called to it, if the vindication of Christianity

256 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
become an official function, we may regard the battle
as lost : for we have reached one of those moments
when, to defend the sacred soil entrusted to us, the
regular army will not suffice, but when we must oppose
the rising of the multitude for infidelity by a general
levy on behalf of the faith. Let every Christian leam
then to wield the holy weapons of christian apology,
that it may be well understood that the ground which
it best becomes us to take up is that of free persuasion,
and that it is unjust to let Christianity suffer from the
cowardly discouragement afforded by the advocates of
religious persecution !
I may perhaps have a hearer who regards not with
out alarm the attempt to demonstrate the truth of the
Gospel. Too often is a certain kind of scepticism
concealed under an appearance of faith, and it is
thought that our belief is more securely based in pro
portion as our intellect is more incurably darkened.
The saying of Saint Paul regarding the foolishness of
the cross will no doubt be brought forward against us ;
but we will reply that we fully accept this foolishness
of the cross — we know that revelation is not received
through a syllogism, but though it be foolishness in
this point of view, it is not the less the wisdom of
God; and if so, it follows that it can be demonstrated
to that extent in which anything of God has been pre
served in man. It is necessary to be consistent : either
declare that man is no longer in any sense the off
spring of God, and then cease to act a ridiculous farce
by the semblance of trying to convince him, and silently
expect for him a mystical illumination — or else acknow
ledge that in spite of the fall, there is an indestructible
relation between man and God, and then try to bring
his soul into contact with revelation. In other words,

The Apology of Jesus Christ. 257
say with us, that a vindication of Christianity is pos
sible and necessary. And how should we not be
persuaded of this fact, when we see the Church from age
to age establishing her own claims and maintaining them
against the most varying attacks, above all, when we
hearthe first of her apologies from the lips of theSaviour
Himself? He had neither your timidity, your scruples,
nor your timorous theology. He did not advocate the
cowardly narrow-mindedness of certain modern evange
lical Christians any more than He advocated external com
pulsion. He said to His contemporaries, and through
them to all : Examine my teaching. He confided in the
result of such an examination. He did not certainly sup
pose that all the world would accept His instructions, for
He knew too well what impure motives often close the
heart against moral evidence. But He had the con
sciousness that He had supplied sufficient grounds of
belief for honest-hearted men. We may add that
His apology was popular like His teaching, and that
consequently a blind faith was required from no man.
But it is time, brethren, that we should consider
this apology in itself. The text which I have chosen
presents to us its essential features. The words that
Saint John reports were spoken on occasion of the first
discussion between the Lord and the Jews. The
question in dispute was precisely that to which all
Christian apology is related : Was Jesus Christ or was
He not the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Son of God ?
This question answered, every other is settled at the
same time. It is the one question ; between infidelity
and the Church there lies no other, or at any rate
all others flow from this. Christ establishes His
divine mission against His opponents by a collection of
proofs which we cannot too much admire. He refers

258 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
to the testimony of Scripture: "Ye search the
Scriptures, and they are they which testify of me."
Then to that of His miracles : " The works that I do
bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me."
And, lastly, He appeals to the souls of His hearers :
"How can ye believe which receive honour one of
another?" These proofs we say are admirable, since
they are drawn from the very nature of Christianity.
Christ does not demonstrate His doctrine as one would
demonstrate a simple fact of science or of history, a
philosophical dogma or a mathematical problem. His
proof is wonderfully appropriate to His design. He
traces out and circumscribes the true ground of reli
gious discussion. His vindication is admirable also in
that it is not exclusive. He restricts Himself neither
to external nor to internal evidence, but comprehends
them both, neglecting no means of penetrating within
the besieged place. He begins by possessing Him
self of the outer enclosure by means of historical proofs,
but he goes farther than this, — He enters within, and
stops not till He reaches the heart of the place. He
is not satisfied with rendering Himself master of the
house where the strong man dwells, but He also binds
and chains the man. To speak withoutla figure, He
shakes and convinces the mind, but He considers
nothing effected till He has reached the heart by His
words. Scriptural proof and the evidence of miracles
appear to Him necessary but insufficient, and He
crowns them with that moral evidence which forces
the adversary within his own entrenchments, his inner
court, and changes him from a vanquished captive to a
willing ally, — to a believer and a disciple. And not
only so, but the moral evidence comes before us also
as the necessary auxiliary to the proof from Scripture
and from miracles.

The Apology of Jesus Christ. 2^9
Christ appealed, then, first of all to the Scriptures. But
this kind of proof could not be employed in the same
way when designed for Jews and for Gentiles. The
former admitted the authority of the holy writings,
and it was enough to deduce the consequences from
these sacred premises ; the latter did not believe in
the holy oracles, and their divine character needed
first to be established if any conclusion was to be
drawn from them. We can conceive, then, that the
Scriptural proof must have been more or less modified
according to the different cases to which it was ap
plied. Let us first consider the way in which our
Lord presented it to the Jews, and this side of His
apology is suited to all those who admit the revelation
of the Bible as a whole. The Scriptures testify of
me, said Christ. If, then, these Scriptures contain,
as you believe, the word of God, is it not evident that
their testimony is conclusive, and that, if it be in my
favour, my divine mission is absolutely demonstrated ?
Go through them, then, from the first page to the
last, and you will recognize that they have had me
constantly in view. There is not one promise that
does not concern me, one revelation of which I am not
the end and fulfilment. It is written : "In the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."1
This hope of recovery, of glory, and of happiness, —
who, up to the present day, has realized it for you ?
It was necessary that one should come to fulfil this
promise, which is essentially the promise of salvation.
Behold me, then, come to accomplish it. It is written :
"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."2 Have you not seen in me day by day
1 Isa. xlv. 25 . 2 Isa. liii. 2.

260 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
something that you have despised, and is not the
shame with which you cover me the very seal of my
dignity as the Messiah, since the prophets have an
nounced it beforehand ! It is written : "Behold my
servant. He shall not cry. A bruised reed shall He
not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench :
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth."1 Who
before my day has ever thus combined gentleness and
holiness, judgments and compassions ? It is written :
" The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the
Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
poor; He hath sent me to bind up the broken
hearted."2 But around whom have the poor, the
sick, and the afflicted pressed, if not around me ? On
whom has there rested, as on me, the Spirit of wisdom
and of might promised to the Messiah ? The Spirit
of wisdom ! This is attested by the crowds that hang
on my lips to receive my words. The Spirit of might !
This I attest, to use the prophet's language, by the
lame man leaping as a hart, the blind regaining their
sight, and the deaf hearing once more. You will read
again, in a new light, the mysterious words that
tell of my sufferings, when you remember that it was
necessary that " the Son of Man should be lifted up."
The very last of your prophets, he who brought to
you a living echo of that revelation which had been
hushed for so many centuries, — said he not in the name
of all your prophets and seers : " This is He that was
to come ! " Take away my person from your Scriptures
and they will have no longer any meaning, but will be
like a few isolated torches, or like the dry leaves of a
withered tree blown abroad by the wind. I am the
bond that constitutes them a harmonious whole. They
* Isa. xlii. I, 2, 3. 2 Isa. Ixi. 1.

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 261
form as it were a chorus of divine witnesses that sing
my praises, and with imposing unanimity point me out
for your adoration. They are your own Scriptures
that testify of me.
Such then was the Scriptural proof as presented to
the Jews. And yet, notwithstanding its clearness, it
was conclusive only on condition that the Scriptures
were examined, their inner meaning understood, and
the spiritual depths of revelation reached. The words
taken alone are of no avail until one has inhaled the
divine breath that they contain, the spirit by which
they are animated. Men make of them whatever
they please ; they force them into the sense of their
preconceived ideas, so long as they have not their
connecting bond, their true inmost meaning. We
have a sad and striking instance of this in the Jews to
whom our Lord spoke. They had the divine words,
or rather, I should say, they had the letters. They
even counted these, lest one should be lacking, and
yet they possessed not the word of God. They had
its skeleton or its carcase, but they had never con
templated its real beauty. They read it without
ceasing, making the temple vaults resound with its
sacred sounds, and imagining that they knew it better
and better each Sabbath-day, while they had never
heard it in its reality. The words had vibrated in the
air and then had been lost. The word of God for
these hypocrites and materialists was like Christ before
Herod, it was silent ; for the most beautiful portions
of Scripture, if read without prayer and without feel
ing, no longer convey the thought of God, but are mere
unintelligible oracles. We may regard that absolute
want of intelligibility of God's word, which is the
punishment of religious indifference, as equivalent to

262 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
its silence. Moreover, what did actually happen?
The scribes, who not only studied but copied the
Scriptures, without neglecting one single stroke of a
letter, read, as it were, across the lines, a Bible falsi
fied in its spirit though minutely exact in its letter.
They found in it their own prejudices and passions, a
temporal Messiah, and a terrestrial glory. Just as
the same letters may enter into the most different
combinations, so did the words of the Bible serve to
express the precise opposite of revelation. They
drew out the text with marvellous skill, and sheltered
themselves by the dead literalism as by an impene
trable buckler, from the darts of truth. They opposed
the letter to the cutting edge of the word of God;
and, if we may employ such a figure, blunted the
sacred sword against its own scabbard to hinder it
from piercing their hearts. Ah ! the words no doubt
are precious, nay indispensable, since without them the
thoughts of God would be intangible; but, unless
they are honestly examined and studied, it is very easy
to turn them against Christ. Satan himself knows
how to employ them ; when necessary, he is the most
scrupulous citer of the Scriptures. It is not enough,
then, to scrutinize them as did the Jew, we must also
grasp their spirit., He who does this will not see in
them scattered fragments. They will no longer be for
him like a sort of admirable mosaic, without unity.
They will not contain merely a series of verses and
paragraphs, but will form a great whole, a living
organism. Of course no amount of research can
fully reach the depths of Scripture ; but yet it is pos
sible to attain to that heart of the Bible whence spring
the divers revelations, like so many different branches.-
This was done by Simeon and Zacharias, by Mary

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 263
and Elizabeth, by those few believing and upright
souls that were waiting for the hope of Israel ; they
knew that the promise of the Saviour was the central
point of the Scriptures, and their faith in Christ was
identified with their faith in the word of God. Who
ever will sound the sacred book as they did, will like
wise discover therein the most striking authentication
of the Saviour's mission.
The Scriptures are not simply a collection of pro
phecies ; they are the very history of revelation — they
contain the archives of the work of redemption in the
world. To each book in the Bible there corresponds
some new manifestation of the power of God ; some
new and important act of His mercy. It may be said
that each portion of the Scriptures has inaugurated a
phase of the religious history of humanity. He who
penetrates into their spirit learns hence the meaning of
that history. He recognizes its end and its unity, and
sees not only a chain of oracles reaching up to Christ,
but also facts linked to facts, and periods to periods ;
the whole ancient world, indeed, gravitating towards
the cross of the Redeemer. This cross becomes to
his eyes the pivot of history. The sufferings and
struggles of the nations, and especially the trials of the
people chosen to represent humanity before God, and
in its own history to give the motto for universal his
tory, — all these different events seem to him to result
in the Saviour ; so that were He wanting to the
world, not the Scriptures merely, but forty centuries
of labour, conflict, and preparation, would become al
together without meaning.
Thus, brethren, the scripture proof presented to
those who admit the authority of the Scriptures is only
valuable so far as these are understood ; and since they

264 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
are not truly understood, or their profound meaning
appreciated unless there be a desire for truth, and an
honest heart in the search after it, it follows that even
the scripture proof must rest on a certain correspond
ence of the soul with revelation, on a certain moral
disposition, on sincerity and uprightness of heart :
You do not believe, said the Saviour in our text,
because you have not the word of God in you.
A profound saying, which we should call presumptuous
from any other lips than those of the Master ; but
which shews us that so long as the divine word remains
altogether external to us, so long as it does not pene
trate within our hearts by grace, it is but a vain sound
that vibrates on the air, an authority apparent and
illusory. If we now consider, brethren, the use that may be
made of the scriptural evidence in relation to those
who do not believe in the authority of the Bible, we
must confess that it will have to be presented in a
different manner. The Bible is too commonly appealed
to in opposing the unbelieving, as if they recognized
its truth. But to do this is to wish to have a cause
tried before a judge whom one of the parties does not
accept. It is essential to set out from a common
point of departure, otherwise we do not arrive at
the same end, from not having followed the same road.
It is not that scriptural proof is of no avail in the
controversy with infidels, but we must not ask of
the adversary at the onset that which he will not
accord. Shew him in the Bible a simple collection of
testimonies to the great facts of redemption, and ask
him to apply to these testimonies the same methods of
verification that he would apply to others. Three
conditions are required of a witness before we grant

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 265
him our confidence : first, he must have seen the facts ;
secondly, he must be perfectly upright and sincere; and,
finally, he must have sufficient intelligence to compre
hend what he relates. Here, then, is the triple ques
tion which you must allow to the unbeliever : were
the Bible witnesses the contemporaries of Christ ? were
they honest men ? and were they intelligent ?
Were they contemporary with the facts that they
relate ? Press the infidel on this first question ; and
if he reply that the Gospel is a fiction invented long
after the period to which we refer its composition, de
mand of him the grounds of his assertion. Ask if he
has made the researches necessary to justify it ; if he
has examined and weighed all the different testimonies
of history ; and if he is fully warranted in refusing
them. You will be confounded at his scientific agility,
and his credulity in accepting in the mass the conclu
sions of a science no less frivolous than himself. But
you will, without difficulty, bring him to confess that
the denial of the authenticity of Scripture is less easy
to justify than he had at first supposed. And this
will be one step, one result gained that is not to be
despised ; for we only demand impartiality in the ex
amination of this question of authenticity. We do
not fear that examination, for we know that in a his
torical point of view, nothing can be more solid or
more firmly based than the Bible testimony taken as a
whole. Therefore, we put far from us the popish
notion that sees in the canon a fact not to be discussed,
and forbids conscientious researches concerning any
portion of the holy book. The desperate attempt of
a theology that is at bay, this course is adapted to
furnish weapons to infidelity. Thank God it is only
a capricious eccentricity in the history of the Church.

266 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
It has been formally rejected by the greatest teachers
in all times, from the fathers to the reformers.
After having decided the first question, let us pass
to the second: Were the witnesses honest men?
Press the unbeliever equally on this point. An im
postor has always an interested motive for deceiving
us, and where can we find such a motive for the
apostles ? Have they flattered us ? Have they car
essed human pride ? Strange flatterers those, who
said unanimously. "There is none righteous, no, not
one." Strange flatterers, Paul and Peter, who painted
human corruption in such frightful colours, and espe
cially the corruption of their own times ! Did they
flatter themselves? Did they set themselves up as
religious heroes ? No, they rather accused themselves
with true candour. Their failure to understand their
Master's words, their wanderings, their falls, their
early cowardice, all were confessed without reserva
tion. The deception, again, would have been carried
strangely far. A lie commonly stops at the borders
of the grave, for it is useless to a man that is about to
die. Earthly glory is for him vanishing like smoke,
and he knows that the hour of judgment is at hand.
The lie dies, therefore, on the cold lips. But if the
apostles were not sincere, they lied and deceived even
on the funeral pile, and under the fatal sword ! Let
those believe this who will, or who can ! A testi
mony sealed with the blood of the witness, a testimony
that involves a martyrdom seems to us impressed with
such marks of honesty that to doubt its truth is the
height of absurdity.
Once more, were these witnesses intelligent ? Did
they understand what they related ? In our view,
when revelation is in question, to be intelligent is to be

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 267
inspired ; for the Spirit alone knoweth what is in God.
The question, then, comes to be this: Were these wit
nesses inspired? To prove their inspiration, do not
lose yourselves, brethren, in long dissertations. Take
advantage, certainly, of the evidence of prophecy,
which proves a manifest and miraculous intervention of
the Spirit of God — take advantage of the incompar
able unity of books written at the most different periods,
and by the most different men. Bring out their ini
mitable beauty under all its relations ; but there is an
argument still more efficacious. Open the book, read
some of its pages, you may be sure that the infidel is
not truly acquainted with it ; sometimes it has' not
been opened, or, if opened, only carelessly looked
through. Read to him, with a softened spirit, some
portion of the holy book; and if he recognize not
the breath of God, if he cry not " God is here," it is
because he will not see or hear, because he refuses
the light ; and, even then, your case is strong against
him. You take up the fact of his incredulity, and
you may shew him that on this point, as on others, it
is not that he cannot, but that he will not believe.
You turn a question of doctrine into a question of
conscience. Thus, whether we look from their point
of view, who admit the authority of the Bible, or from
theirs who deny it, the scripture proof comes before
us as necessarily appealing both to the heart and the
conscience ; brought out in this way, it is armed with
divine power.
Let us beware of weakening or compromising this
proof by exaggerating it. It is compromised whenever
it is made to depend on any particular theory. Faith
is weakened if you say, " The evidence of Scripture
has no value unless it be understood exactly as we

268 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
understand it ; all is lost if you depart from our
system as regards the Bible. To believe in its inspira
tion is not enough, you must believe as we do, or we
shall not consider that you believe at all." And who
are you, then, it may well be asked, thus to confiscate
the writings of God, and to attach them to a theology
doubtful and disputable like all that is human and
not manifestly revealed from heaven ? The greatest
misfortune for you, and the most grievous punishment
of your imprudence would be that you should be
taken at your word, for then, indeed, the authority of
those Scriptures that you love, though hot better than
we do, would be shaken ! You suspend it entirely
on your particular notions. But ah ! the branch is
too frail to bear the sacred burden ! If it were true
that the least question raised about a text, the slightest
divergence from your own idea of inspiration, would
ruin the scriptural proof, it would have been ruined
long ago, and would be heard of no longer. Let us
beware also of robbing it of its greatest strength by
petrifying Scripture, that is to say, changing the in
spired witnesses into passive organs of revelation.
" God has revealed unto us these things by His
Spirit. We believed, therefore have we spoken."
Let us not forsake these broad data of apostolic
inspiration. Once more, let us carefully avoid falsify
ing the evidence of Scripture by employing it in a
fragmentary manner. Let us constantly go back
to the Bible as a whole — searching the Scriptures
to supply the requirements of Christian controversy —
quoting them not like the Rabbis, but like Christians,
fully persuaded that by means of isolated sayings we
might as easily make war against Christ as in His
favour. Let us intelligently and spiritually employ

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 269
the proof from Scripture. Let it be in our hands the
sword which pierces the joints and marrow, and it
will then prove for us what it has ever proved for the
Church — one of the best weapons of the Christian
armour !
We have dwelt thus on the evidence from Scripture
because of the frequent misunderstandings of which it
has been the subject. We shall touch more briefly
on the two other methods of proof employed by our
Lord, i.e., miracles and moral evidence. " The works
which the Father hath given me to finish, the same
works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father
hath sent me." I have not now to prove to you the
possibility or the reality of the miracles of Christ.
On the former point I confine myself to remarking :
Do you believe in God, that is to say, in a free and
powerful God ? If so, the question of miracles
presents no difficulty. You recognize that a God
who is free, can intervene in creation by His power
as He pleases and when He pleases, without binding
Himself to the chain of natural causes and effects.
The same hand that attached the first link to His
throne can break the chain at any moment and form
it anew at His own pleasure. As to the reality of
Christ's miracles, this follows from the sincerity of the
witnesses to His holy life — the Scripture testimony
establishes it in our view in an irrefragable manner.
When we come to unfold to you the ministry of Christ,
we shall dwell on the diversity of His miracles. Now
I take these miracles for granted, and limit myself
to the question : What is their value in the apology
of Christ ?
And first let us well understand the nature of a
miracle. It is an extraordinary fact which cannot be

270 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
explained by any natural cause, and must therefore
be attributed to one that is supernatural. It is a
direct intervention of God, suspending the natural
law by a sovereign act. The idea of miracles is then
essentially linked with that of a revelation. Pardon
itself is the first miracle — it is the most difficult of all,
and after it no other need surprise us. Sin having
been committed, the natural course of things must
have led to condemnation, absolute and universal.
Pardon has interrupted this natural course ; the love
of God has interposed, and an unheard of event has
taken place in His heart, impossible from a rational
point of view. Instead of smiting down the sinner
He has shewn him grace. From this first miracle
flow all the others — for everything that contributes to
salvation in a world of sin is miraculous, contrary, that
is to say, to the natural course of things. All the
revelations of God have been sovereign manifestations of
His love. Particular miracles were only like radiations
from the essential miracle which was the accomplish
ment of the work of salvation. The greatest miracle,
pre-eminently the miracle, was the person of Christ,
for it is in Him that the divine mercy has been fully
manifested for the destruction of the fruits of sin, the
natural consequences of the fall. But this miraculous
character of the person and work of Christ required
to be rendered visible to men by special miracles, by
works that should be its evident sign ; — the only
design of these works being to bring men to Jesus
Christ who was the incarnate miracle.
Thus, brethren, the Saviour's works had no value as
evidence, save so far as they led to the discovery and
discernment of His mission, and guided men to Himself.
They demonstrated the fact that He was approved of

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 271
God, and invested with His power. They revealed
His nature in a most impressive manner, being like
brilliant reflections adapted to strike every eye.
Particular miracles considered exclusively as marvels
had no value in the Saviour's view. They proved
nothing with certainty, for an extraordinary action
may be attributed to an infernal power. Hell may
have its miracles if God permit. That which is
important, then, is not, so to speak, the noise made by
a miracle — it is its character and its close relation to
the person of Christ that lead us to recognize its
sanctity. A miracle regarded in a general and
abstract manner, cannot be appealed to as the suffi
cient guarantee of a doctrine, since in that case we
might believe in a messenger from Satan as well as
from God. It cannot produce faith. More than this, it
hinders faith while it is thus isolated, for it only appeals
to what is most external in man — it spealcs simply to
his sight. A belief resting upon sight alone would
be the very opposite of faith, which is the sight of
the invisible. A belief based on purely external
miracles would be in no way superior to a belief based
exclusively on reasoning. This is why Saint Paul
classed together the Jew who demanded miracles and
the Greek who sought after wisdom. The miracle
that is nothing more than a prodigy, is not a more
spiritual principle of belief than is human- philosophy.
In the one case as in the other, man consults only his
sight, for human wisdom is the sight of the reason,
while a miracle is perceived by the bodily eye. Faith
rests upon the sight of the heart and the conscience.
But in a miracle that is only a marvel there is nothing
for the heart or the conscience to see. Christ always
refused to work marvels. You will remember how

272 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
He replied to those who said, "Master, we would
see a sign from Thee." " A wicked and adulterous
generation," said He, " seeketh after a sign ; and
there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of
the prophet Jonas." Was it possible to deprecate
more strongly a search for the marvellous as a ground
of belief ?
The important fact, then, regarding the miracles of
Christ is, that they are not simple prodigies, but
that they bear the impress Of His person, and are its
illustration. Christ did not lavish His miracles. He
did not seek to find occasion for them. He accom
plished them through love ; they were almost always
acts of mercy, touching marks of His compassion. And
it is a remarkable thing that they were only granted
to faith. " Believest thou ?" such was the question
asked by Christ before He wrought a cure. "He
could not do many mighty works there, because of
their unbelief." A miracle does not dissipate in
credulity; on the contrary, it has for its very con
dition a certain amount of faith. The unbelieving
"would not be persuaded though one rose from the
dead." An external miracle would excite their sur
prise and astonishment ; but there is a wide interval
between astonishment and inward persuasion. The
generation contemporaneous with our Lord, witnessed
His most startling miracles. They saw Lazarus raised
from the dead, and yet believed not; because they
stopped at the marvel, and did not discern the divine
meaning of the miracle. Even the resurrection of
Christ Himself has its full signification only for those
who understand its momentous bearing on the work
of salvation. The Jews knew that He had left the

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 273
tomb on the third day, and yet remained obstinate un
believers. Contemplate more closely the miracle wrought at
Bethany. It will serve to characterize for us the work
of Christ. The Master came thither some days after
hearing of the sickness of Lazarus. Guided by
Martha and Mary to the grave where their brother
was buried, He groaned within Himself. It was from
compassion, and from antjmpulse of tender love that He
raised the dead to life. First of all He prayed to His
Father, and showed by this prayer His perfect humil
ity. Humility and love, were not these the very
Christ Himself; and may we not say that this miracle
was a brilliant ray from His own soul, as well as a
fresh proof that the power of God wag. in Him ? It
possessed also, like all the Saviour's miracles, a sym
bolic character. It is impossible, at the sight of that
open grave, and that raised man, not to think of the
moral resurrection which Christ designed to accomplish.
Everything in this miracle, as in all the rest, bears the
mark of the spirituality and the humble love of Christy
By this splendid act, as by the other works of Christ,
the Father said to men : " This is my Son, hear ye
Him ! " But in order to hear Him, to recognize His
divine characteristics, to get beyond the external
marvel, we must have ears to hear, and eyes to see, a
certain religious capacity, a certain moral disposition ;
the miracle, like the scriptural evidence, brings us
back to moral proofs. And we must now inquire
how these were presented by our Lord.
The forty-fourth verse of the fifth chapter of John,
sums up the moral evidence in few words : " How
can ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and
seek not the honour that cometh from God only?"

274 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
Let us try to understand this saying, for it contains all
that is most profound and characteristic in the apology
of Christ. According to Him, the great obstacle to
faith among the Jews was not in their reason, but in
their heart. The cause of their unbelief was not so
much a doctrinal difficulty, as a moral impulse. They
sought human glory, they held the views of pride and
selfishness, and thus they were hindered from recog
nizing and accepting religious truth. Their religious
sensibility was blunted ; the light shone around them
without affording them illumination. The practice of th e
good would have brought them to the discernment of
the true : If any man will do the will of God, he shall
know of the doctrine that it is of God. By not
doing the will of God, by seeking human glory, they
rendered themselves incapable of recognizing a divine
revelation, even by its surest signs. At the basis of
this argument lies the great thought that there is a
profound affinity between the Saviour and the human
conscience. If this did not exist, of what consequence
in respect of religious conviction would be obedience
or disobedience to the commands of conscience ? As
conscience would stand in no relation to Christ, the
fact of its being more or less obscured would have no
influence in causing us either to refuse or to accept chris
tian doctrines. If the perversion of conscience, evinced
by the selfish ambition for human glory, prevents our
believing in the Saviour, we must then conclude that
before being totally debased it possessed the capacity
to believe in Him ; and in consequence that there
originally exists between Christ and the conscience a
pre-established harmony. This fact, indeed, we have
not now to prove ; the whole of these discourses has
rested on a firm belief of it. We have shewn you, in

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 275
Christ, the desire not only of the nations, but of every
human soul. The religious history of humanity,
which is the resounding echo of conscience, has
brought us its testimony. We have seen that the
heathen nations, under the grossest and often the
most confused symbols, have expressed the desire for a
divine Redeemer ; and that they have all celebrated
the worship of the unknown God, calling on Him and
invoking Him in every language spoken upon earth.
We have seen that every man was in fact sighing after
Christ. We have heard in his heart that voice of
God that said to him : " Seek ye my face." We
have listened to that voice, first of all in the inward
groaning, the universal complaint that we all repeat by
turns, in the cry of sorrow and distress, in the suppli
cation of condemned man who asks for a Saviour, for
a sacrifice that may save him from condemnation, and
expiate his sins. We have heard that voice again in
our aspirations after the good, the holy, the infinite,
in our fervent sighs for mercy, in that thirst for right
eousness and truth which is, in fact, a thirst for God.
The want of pardon, and the want of God, trouble
every soul of man ; and the Redeemer perfectly
satisfies both the one and the other. He brings
pardon, and He restores God to man. By pardon
He comforts our misery — by the revelation of God
He satisfies our noblest aspirations. There is then
between conscience and Christ the same relation as
between the famished body and the food prepared for
it. A divine sensibility has been left to the conscience ;
it is divinely awakened in order that it may recognize
in' Christ the deliverer whom it was expecting and de
manding, though it knew Him not.

ty6 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
The most powerful apology, then, will be one which,
without neglecting other evidence shall devote itself
especially to manifesting this relation between ourselves
and Christ. This is the method that He Himself
chiefly employed, and He has bequeathed it to us as
that most capable of convincing men ; therefore we
believe that we have done more towards establishing
the truth of Christianity by presenting to you the
holiness of the Saviour, than we should have done
by accumulating the most philosophical proofs. Every
upright conscience must have recognized immediately
by the light of sudden and irresistible evidence that
He was the Christ, the Son of God. The apology
was itself complete and unanswerable. If we consult
the experience of Christians, we shall see that it con
curs in our view. I appeal to your recollections.
What was it that cast you down on the way to Dam
ascus ? Was it external evidence ? This may perhaps
have made you attentive to Christianity, may have had
a beneficial effect upon you, but it was not in it that
you found the pricks that pierced you and against which
you could not kick. It was not after a comparative
study of the prophecies and the miracles that you fell
on your knees before the cross. It was not at the
close of a patient logical deduction that you laid down
your arms. You had not leisure to weigh the argu
ments for and against the Gospel in the balances of
your reason. A divine hero, like the great Roman
general of whom history tells us, threw his sword into
one of the scales — that is to say, His cutting words
seized, pierced, and vanquished you before you reached
the end of your syllogism. You felt all at once your
own nothingness and His power, your sins and His
love. A rapid flash of lightning crossed your darkness

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 277
and illuminated for you the divine figure of Christ.
He appeared before you as your Saviour, you compre
hended that He alone would satisfy the desire of your
heart, and you cast yourself at His feet crying out :
"My Lord and my God!"
Whence comes it, brethren, that the moral evidence
of the Gospel is so rarely felt in this manner? Our
text explains the fact. Conscience is the inner eye —
but too often we have some interest in not seeing, and
we willingly close our eye. Christ is not only our
Saviour, but also our example. He demands from us
holiness, and this is what alarms and irritates the sinner.
So long as he wishes to persevere in sin he fears to be
enlightened, and therefore flies from the light ; or better
still, since it is difficult to fly from the light, he volun
tarily blinds himself — "Ye will not come to me, that
ye might have life." The unbeliever takes measures
that he may not see. The more he busies himself in
sin, the more does he love and seek the darkness, and
by degrees his conscience becomes wholly perverted ;
so that, as the eye can only perceive the light when
there is an affinity between it and the sun's rays, so
the conscience can no longer perceive truth when it
has attained to an absolute discordance from it. Re
ligious truth in its highest expression is the divine
love in Jesus Christ. The man who lives but for
selfishness and worldly glory, can no more comprehend
the beauty of love, than the eye that has become
clouded can admire the splendour of the sun. " How
can ye believe, who seek honour one of another?"
Do not then deceive yourselves, obstinate unbe
lievers. The source of your incredulity is in your
evil heart. Speak not so loudly of the systems, the
skilful theories by which you think to have superseded
t

278 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
the Gospel. You have done this in the same way as
one supersedes the yoke of duty and the moral law.
Under these grand names you hide your vices and
your sins, and, above all, that inextinguishable love of
human glory which devours you ! You deny the God
of the Gospel because you will not renounce your
idol. If we could get to the starting point of your
grand notions, we should often find it very pitiful and
veiy vile. It is Agrippa who will not give up Bere
nice — the man of pleasure or of ambition who will not
renounce his passion, and seeks to find for it, at any
cost, a plausible justification. We shall only believe
in the sincerity of your opposition to Christianity
when you shew us your doctrines supported by a pure,
austere, and serious life ; I say more, a humble life,
free from every desire of glory. Until then, we shall
confound you with all those who have ever said of
God and of His Christ : " Let us break their bonds
asunder, for they are too heavy for us." The cry of
rebellion rises not openly from your systems, but per
vades them like a subtle yet distinct murmur. You
do not wish for the morality of Christ, because it
would constrain you, and therefore with much parade
you reject His doctrine. Thus, while taking up the
position of judges pronouncing a definitive sentence
upon the Gospel, it appears in reality that it is not
you that judge the Gospel, but the Gospel that un
masks you. It has manifested your corruption and
your attachment to evil. If you had lived before
Christianity, you might have wrapped yourselves in
the philosopher's mantle and passed for disinterested
sages. But now is this mantle torn in many places.
You have been constrained by your passions to take
your part against the perfect revelation of the good

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 279
and the true. You have cursed the light because your
eye was evil. Beware lest you go on till the inner
eye be totally blinded, and a moment come when it
shall be quite too late to perceive the least light of
the sun. Evil, when long practised, loved, and served,
ends by assimilating itself to our wholly perverted
moral nature, and penetrates even to the conscience,
which, weary of the conflict, gives it its sanction.
Then is it no more merely the opposition of darkness
to light. The usurpation of evil is consummated ; it is
no longer recognized as evil, for it calls itself good,
and the darkness calls itself light. Now, if Christ
appear, instead of being worshipped He will be called
the son of Beelzebub. A frightful overthrow is this
of every true notion, a total revolution of the con
science! When it has come to this, man ceases to
be man, and becomes a sort of moral monster ; he is
a demoniac in cold blood, and this cool delirium is a
thousand times worse than the most frightful madness.
Nor are we drawing an imaginary picture. - This state
of things was seen even in the Saviour's time ; and if
you would not that it should be repeated in you, be
sincere with yourselves, recognize the secret spring of
your unbelief. I do not tell you to believe this day.
It is impossible to lead into the full sunlight a man
whose eye is diseased. I only say to you : Cure your
diseased eye, undertake the healing of your conscience.
Endeavour to do the will of God as far as you know
it. Set yourselves to this with sincerity, and soon, by
a mysterious influence, the inner eye shall be illumined
anew. It would, indeed, be too lamentable to live
bathed in the splendour of that morning from on high
that has shone upon us during eighteen centuries, and
yet to continue like* those nations of pagan antiquity

280 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
which the prophet points out to us as sitting, or rather
buried in darkness.
The apology of Christ consisted, then, principally in an
appeal from unbelief to a consciousness of immorality,
from the wandering reason to the perverted conscience.
Such is the method that He has bequeathed to us, and I
cannot too strongly urge upon Christians to make use
of it in their relations with unbelievers. It will apply
to all, and it can be employed by all. Let them copy
their Saviour in this respect as in all others. I do not
say, neglect other methods of proof; but I say, strike
the enemy in his most sensitive point. Leave him not
the position of an arrogant judge, for it is perilous for
him ; but make him descend from his tribunal by re
minding him of his sins. On this ground we shall
be certainly victorious. Discussion only arouses the
more the intellectual forces of our adversary. The
intellect is fertile in resources, and human language
still more so. Arguments will be set against our
arguments, and our opponent will probably retire
satisfied with his talents and his dialectic skill. Let
us go in haste, then, to the fact — which is sin and
perdition — let us go thither, indeed, with tact and
with caution, but with freedom too, for we are our
selves also to be judged. Let us not quit our adver
sary, or rather the poor sinner who cannot dispense
with a Saviour, without leaving a dart buried in his
conscience. It may perhaps bring him wounded and
repentant to the divine Comforter. Scarcely had
Christ spoken a few words to the Samaritan woman
when He interrupted the conversation to address to
her the humiliating suggestion : " Go call thy husband.
I have no husband. Thou hast well said, I have no
husband." He puts His finger oh the wound of this

Jesus Christ a Prophet. 281
soul, so that she will soon ask of Him its cure. The
breach by which the Saviour enters within us is always
made in our pride. The conviction of sin prepares
His way. The preacher of repentance has ever been
the precursor of Christ. Let us, then, preach repent
ance, not in a general manner, but to each man indi
vidually. Let us make him feel the sharp edge of
that axe which is still laid unto the root of the trees,
remembering that we must prepare for testifying to
the truth by an energetic testimony against evil. He
who attacks sin in the front, strikes at once at error
and at moral evil, at that indivisible point where it is
impossible to separate them from each other. So is
this the most forcible and fruitful of apologies, because
it goes truly to the foundation of things, and, accord
ing to the Master's example, appeals to the deepest
and most earnest need of the soul — the need of sal
vation. Some of our hearers may think, perhaps, that we have
attached too much importance to the christian apology,
and that we ought to shew more confidence in the
grace of God. But such a scruple would evince a
strange misunderstanding of the divine grace which
makes human activity the ordinary channel of its
gifts. We firmly believe that we ought in season and
out of season, by the best possible means, to plead the
Master's cause. But not the less fully do we accept
the saying, "No man can come to me, except the Father
draw him." Without grace, without the action of the
divine Spirit, the heart and conscience remain insensible,
and it is especially when we are opposing infidelity,
that we feel the barrenness of human efforts by them
selves. God has not abdicated the power of acting
directly upon hearts. It is He who prepares the

282 Jesus Christ a Prophet.
ground, who gives the fructifying dew and rain, who often
invests the simplest word with a secret and irresistible
power. If He withdraw His breath, our preaching is
like the sounding brass or the tinkling cymbal. This, O
Lord, is why, — called as we are to render our testimony
before an incredulous and perverse generation, we
implore Thee to bestow on Thy witnesses a constantly
renewed effusion of Thy Spirit. Give them the
spirit of prayer, that they may never speak to their
brethren before having spoken to Thee, O Father,
to ask from Thee a word that shall be efficacious and
full of Thyself. Shake human consciences, and let
the great and severe lessons which Thou seemest to be
about to teach our age, plough in this troubled soil a
furrow for the eternal seed ! Let Thy mighty voice
impose silence on irreverent doubt and on scoffing
incredulity, and let hearts that have too long been
hardened, learning the nothingness of pride and glory,
be broken under Thy powerful hand, so that from
their humiliation faith may spring up within them,
from the teaching of the witnesses to the truth, by
Thy grace and to Thy glory !

X.
JESUS CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

gistflttrse Jirst.
EARLY PART OF THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST,
OR HIS MANIFESTATION TO THE WORLD.
"Behold the Lamb of Gdd, which taketh away the sin of the world." —
John i. 29.
We have ended our description of the prophetic
mission of the Redeemer, and must now touch upon
His priestly work. It was not enough that he should
be a prophet — it was needful that He should be also
the sacrifice of propitiation, otherwise salvation would
not have been accomplished, and the human conscience
would still have sighed after the perfect Saviour ; for
everywhere and in all times it has recognized that a
sacrifice was the indispensable condition of reconciliation
with God. Our text reveals to us the extent of this
sacrifice. It shews us that it must not be restricted to
the death of Christ alone, but that it embraces also
His entire life. These words in fact, "Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,"
were applied to the Saviour at the very moment when
He was entering on His ministry. More than two
years had passed from the day on which they were

284 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
uttered, when the redeeming blood was sprinkled on the
earth. We hence conclude that the sacrifice of the cross
was but the last term, the culminating point of a long
sacrifice, and that the immolation of Christ commenced
with His entrance into the world. He ceased not for
a single instant to be the Lamb that taketh away sin,
the expiatory sacrifice, the high priest of the new
covenant. The sacrifice of the cross no doubt united
and absorbed all the rest, as a large river absorbs all
the streams that flow into its bosom. This was pre
eminently the sacrifice, that without which all others
would have been insufficient. Therefore the Gospel
returns to it continually, bringing back all the
Redeemer's sufferings to the last, by which they were
completed and crowned. But absolutely to isolate the
crucifixion would be to misunderstand and do violence
to our text. Christ took not a single step that was
not on the road to the cross. He was ever climbing
Mount Calvary. The sufferings of His life were added to
those of His death for the great and final expiation.
And in what, my brethren, did this expiation consist?
How could the Lamb of God take away the sin of
the world ? The answer to this question will alone
make us understand the priestly work of Christ.
The normal condition of man is one of absolute
harmony and perfect union with God. But as man is
a free and intelligent creature, this harmony can only
be realized by the accordance of his will with the
divine will. The effect of the fall was the opposition
of the human will to the divine, in other words, the
violation of the law of God, or rebellion. The God
of love is at the same time the God of justice and of
holiness. He could not permit His law to be violated

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 285
with impunity without declaring that it is of no value,
and that it is allowable to scoff at it and tread it under
foot, that is to say, without overturning the very
foundations of the moral world. The guilty must be
made to feel that the discord between the creature
and the Creator is a frightful overthrow of the order
of the universe, that rebellion is not only a crime but
also a misery, or rather the only source of all miseries.
The law of God is an idle word if it bring not its
violators to account, and demonstrate not by punish
ment the madness and infamy of rebellion. A pardon
not reconcileable with justice would be equivalent to
God's abdication, for His greatness is inseparable from
His holiness. I will go farther still, and say that the
human conscience would not wish for such a pardon,
would not even believe in it, for the righteousness of
God is inscribed on conscience in letters of fire.
Punishment, then, my brethren, is the sanction of
the divine law that has been violated and outraged.
It must fall upon the guilty head ; even the hand of
the Most High could not restrain the thunderbolt irre
sistibly drawn down upon sin. And, though God
should not punish, man would punish himself; for as
sin consists in repelling God, as it is the refusal to
love, it is the refusal of happiness, it is the essence of
all misery ; sin and misery, indeed, from an absolute
point of view, are one and the same thing. Pardon
cannot then consist in the pure and simple abrogating
of condemnation ; it cannot reinstate guilty humanity
in communion with God so long as it is in a state of
rebellion.- If it could, it would follow that God was
no longer God, and love no 'longer love ; that is to
say, the profound harmony of two beings. Humanity
cannot be saved but in returning to God ; and it will

286 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
only return to God when the divine law shall have
been perfectly accomplished by it. Heavenly mercy
is manifested, not by at once suppressing condemnation,
but by giving man the means of recovering his God,
and of restoring to Him his heart. If Christ had
come into the world to bring a salvation not founded
on perfect obedience, He would have come in reality
to deny the justice of God, and to hold it up to our
contempt. It would have been better for Him not
to leave the heavens, but to spare Himself a humilia
tion so useless, nay, so fatal in its consequences.
Not one of the children of Adam, brethren, could
satisfy the divine justice. Were they not all shut up
in sin and condemnation as in a close circle ? The
circle required to be broken, in a sense, by a creating
and all powerful act. The Son of man, conceived
of the Holy Ghost, the God-man, could alone fully
realize the divine law. Moreover, obedience must
extend to sacrifice, for the rebellion of humanity had
entailed awful chastisements. Human life had become
a life of sorrows, and the world a valley of tears. It
was not now to be obedience, as at the first, in a bright
and glorious dwelling-place, but obedience in the world
of condemnation. It was necessary, then, for Christ
to enter into this condemnation, to accept it, to take
it on Himself; and in this His priestly work consisted.
That which the Scriptures call the wrath of God,
rested on our poor world. In coming down to it the
Saviour placed Himself under that wrath ; that is to
say, He subjected Himself to all the punishments that
spring here below from sin, as from an inexhaustible
and infected source. From the humiliating weakness
of infancy, to the still more humiliating weakness of
death ; from physical suffering to moral anguish,

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 287
carried to its utmost limit, so as to draw from Him
those mysterious words : " My God, my God, why
hast Thou forsaken me?" Christ took upon Himself
all the consequences of the fall. Freely and volun
tarily He accepted them, for He had not deserved
them. He who was without sin was treated as a sin
ner. He suffered and died ; but even His sufferings
and His death rose to the height of a free sacrifice of
love and obedience. Condemnation so accepted was
no longer simply condemnation ; it was an act of
union with God, an act of reparation, a redemption.
We may say with the prophet, that the chastisement
that should have fallen upon us fell upon Him. His
sacrifice has sealed for ever that union between
humanity and divinity, of which His person was" the
certain pledge. His obedience unto death, even the
death of the cross, has re-established the harmony be
tween the human and the divine will which the fall
had destroyed ; for He was slain as the Son of man.
He is the real representative of humanity. "He con
centrated it in Himself," says Irenseus. His priestly
work was then His essential work; and as it consisted
in the voluntary acceptance of all the consequences of
the fall, of all the sufferings of human life, we are
justified in saying that it embraced His earthly course
from its beginning to its close ; and we shall now pro
ceed to trace it in its most general characteristics.
And all the time we shall be shewing to you the
Lamb of God coming up to the altar to take away
the sins of the world.
We pretend not, brethren, to unfold before you
the entire life of the Saviour. We suppose it known
to our hearers. And, besides, evangelical preaching
is ever returning to this inexhaustible subject. We

288 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
desire only to give you a guiding thread that may
direct you amid the multiplicity of facts, and to pre
sent to you a general view of that holy life which was,
indeed, one long self-immolation. We shall devote
ourselves to bringing out this, which is the principal
side of the sacrifice. Let us never forget that at the
basis of all the individual sacrifices lies the primary one
from which every other flows, — the humiliation of
the Saviour, His incarnation, His appearance in a world
of sin. This is at once sufficient to compel us to re
cognize in Him the Lamb, the victim that taketh away
the sin of the world. But we may not stop here.
We must endeavour to point out the particular sacri
fice that marked each period of the Redeemer's life,
up to the mysterious hour which shews us all the
sufferings of the Man of sorrows combined in one
single indivisible burden to overwhelm Him and to
save us.
In order to give you a complete idea of the ministry
of Christ, it would be necessary to transport you to
the place where He lived, and to make you, in a sense,
tread that Jewish land which was His country ; for
while He was pre-eminently the man of all countries
and all times, He had, notwithstanding, a well defined
individuality. He was placed in certain circumstances,
and in connection with certain facts ; and the more
exact be the account which we take of these circum
stances and these facts, the better shall we know the
Saviour. There will then be nothing abstract in our
notions of Him — we shall see and hear Him. He
will live in our view. He will no longer be the truth
reduced to an idea ; but the truth living, and conse
quently appearing under an individual form. We
must then call your attention to the sphere of His

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 289
activity before dwelling on that activity itself. We
ought to depict to you the condition of Judaism at
this memorable epoch.1 We ought to shew it you as
in every point resembling expiring paganism, with its
stoics and its epicureans, only the stoics were called in
Jerusalem pharisees, and the epicureans sadducees.
These two tendencies, which flourish only on the ruins
of falling religions, and which try to escape from despair
either through pride or through licentiousness, reappear
thus, under different names, in the sacred land of
revelation. The pharisee wraps himself in his legal
righteousness, as the stoic in his cold virtue. Both
the one and the other in reality worship only them
selves. The sadducee, like the epicurean, no longer
believes in the immortality of the soul; but saying,
All is vanity on earth and in heaven, fails not to add, —
except enjoyment. A .third sect, that of the essenes,
a kind of Jewish monks, living in abstinence and in
solitude, represented in Judea the asceticism of the old
east ; while in Alexandria, a fanciful mysticism was
seeking to make the ancient faith young again by
practices of devotion, and to appease the troubled
conscience by useless mortifications. Religion was no
longer more than a vain form ; and if it still exerted a
certain influence on the people, it was because they
confounded it with patriotism, to which the misfortunes
of their country, and its subjection to the Roman yoke,
had lent a kind of gloomy enthusiasm. We ought to
paint in lively colours the gigantic formalism, the un
believing priests, the scribes and doctors stifling with
the letter of the ancient dispensation its vivifying

1 See on this subject the picture of Judaism in its decline, in the Introduc
tion to our History of the Three frst Centuries of the Church,

290 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
spirit, the gross and fanatical crowd groaning under
foreign domination and looking for a temporal deliv
erer. We ought to collect the indications of that
vague expectation of a great event at hand which
agitated all the world, disturbed Herod on his throne,
troubled the sanhedrim, and impelled the people to
follow in the steps of every impostor who could work
on their passions. We ought, in short, to make you
live the life of that time and of that country. Then
would the Gospel history gain for you an interest
entirely new. But we are unfortunately obliged to
content ourselves with these general indications.
What we especially regret is that we cannot dwell on
the mission of the courageous prophet who was the
immediate precursor of Christ, and gave voice mightily
to those secret presentiments, to those pious hopes of
salvation, to that inward prophecy which, in the silence
of prophecy strictly so-called, had developed itself in
sincere souls, and was ever announcing more and more
clearly that the long and ardent desire of Israel was
about to be satisfied ! What a grand and beautiful
figure is that of John the Baptist ! May we not call
him the ancient covenant personified saluting or rather
adoring Him who was to come, — who had at length
come? Have you not discovered in him the two
most characteristic features of the preparatory dispen
sation? Who would not recognize the man of the
law as he preaches repentance with energy so indomi
table, and with accents at times so terrible? We
might imagine that he had come down from Sinai,
and that we could see on his austere countenance a
burning reflection of the divine anger ! As he plunges
his numerous proselytes in the waters of Jordan does
he not seem to be accomplishing the grand mission of

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 291
the Old Testament, which was to plunge the burdened
sinner in the bitter conviction of his sin, to bury him
therein, in a sense, in order that he might turn towards
the God of forgiveness? On the other hand, have
you not recognized the man of prophecy in those
words which terminate his every appeal : " The king
dom of heaven is at hand ?" and again in his constant
saying, " There cometh one after me ?" Law and pro
phecy, have we not in these the whole of the ancient
covenant ? John the Baptist came then in the name
of that covenant, solemnly to declare that it was ac
complished, and that before the sun of truth the pale
beauty of the dawn had only to disappear. We
should love to bring together the divers qualities
which make this great servant of God the model for
the witnesses to the truth! Consumed by zeal for
his mission, living but for it, his whole being impressed
with that seal of austere greatness, that deep and aw
ful earnestness, which becomes a representative of
God, the man of the desert even in the crowd, chas
tising by his rough and manly words the mighty
and the powerful who were living in sin ; disturbing
Herod by his severe reproofs, even amid the impure
festivities of his palace, and burying in his. conscience
a dart that shall never be extracted ; above all,
humble among the humble, having but one ambition,
which was to efface the traces of his own steps, that
the Messiah alone might be admired ; as anxious to
decrease as others are to increase, and at length
crowning by martyrdom an heroic life of fidelity, — -
such was John the Baptist, and such should we love
to depict him in the latter circumstances of his minis
try ; but we must content ourselves with reminding
you in a general manner how the arrival of Christ was

292 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
prepared for by His precursor. It is time to enter on
His own work of sorrow and of love. Let us trace
the different phases of the Saviour's life, seeking in
each to justify the words of our text: "Behold the
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world."
Behold Him first in the manger at Bethlehem. He
submitted to the humiliating commencement of human
life, and passed through the absolute impotence be
longing to the little child. He was seen lying in
swaddling clothes like the meanest of the newly-born.
This was the beginning of his voluntary abasement,
for it was not to Him merely a natural fact. On
leaving heaven He knew to what degree of weakness
it was necessary to descend. Infancy, then, was the
first of His accepted humiliations — the first of His
sacrifices. We must pass rapidly over the years regarding
which the Gospel history gives us no details, respect
ing a divine design in this silence. Legendary tradi
tion has given itself full scope in depicting this period
of the life of Christ, because history was silent regard
ing it ; and if we would know to what extent such
tradition can spoil what it pretends to embellish, and
adulterate what it professes to preserve, we have but to
read the apocryphal gospels. Let it suffice us to know
that Christ passed through all the degrees of human life
one after another, that He subjected Himself to the
conditions of gradual development, that He was like
us in everything excepting sin, and that He experienced
much of the suffering, privation, and anguish, inherent
in our condition here below, during the thirty years of
solitary labour and obscurity spent at Nazareth.
We now arrive at the important moment when He
entered on His active ministry. After receiving a kind

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 293
of inauguration and consecration by baptism from the
hands of the man of the ancient dispensation, He
was driven into the desert, as if to prepare Himself
there for the holy activity that He was about to dis
play. It was there that He was to undergo one of
the greatest sufferings of human life. /". e. temptation.
Since the fall a mysterious power has been accorded
to the spirits of darkness. Man has to contend against
an invisible but furious adversary, who pursues him
everywhere. We shall not attempt to demonstrate
the existence of the rebel angels and their chief. We
will only ask those who deny the fact for the sake of
a preconceived system, whether they are quite sure
that they have never felt this direful influence ;
whether they have never been pierced by a poisoned
dart that no human hand had hurled, never heard a
seductive voice more imperceptible than the slightest
murmur of the wind and yet stirring the secret fibres
of their heart or raising the tempest of their passions ?
Ah! for ourselves, we know but too well this obstinate
and perfidious tempter, who is called the prince of this
world. The present life is a scene of conflict and
temptation, and Christ would not have been truly the
Redeemer had he not been tempted like as we are.
Behold, then, this Lamb of God opposed to the devour
ing lion ! He accepted this humiliation and this suffer
ing. He whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity,
allowed Himself to be approached by the leader of all
rebellion, the liar and murderer from the beginning.
Ah ! who then would dare to say that this tempta
tion did not form a part of His passion and of His
redeeming sufferings ! This would be to compre
hend but little the holy aversion of good from evil, of
light from darkness. The sacrifice commenced in the
u

294 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
manger, was continued then in the desert. We may
add, that no preparation could have been better than
that which our Lord found in His temptation for the
opening of a career in which so much of conflict
awaited Him. Nothing prepares for victory like
victory ; the best means of conquering is to have .al
ready conquered. The Saviour entered on His con
flict having just vanquished His adversary in that
strange combat which had the desert for its theatre.
And not only was the temptation in itself a sacrifice, it
was also an occasion on which Christ consecrated Him
self afresh and altogether to the accomplishment of
His mission of love. Satan tempted Him as the
Messiah, seeking three times to persuade Him to em
ploy His miraculous power for a personal and selfish
object : " Command that these stones be made bread."
" Cast Thyself down from the temple that the angels
may bear Thee up." " Aim at the possession of the
kingdoms of the earth." In other words, " Seek Thine
own profit from Thy miracles. Live for Thyself and
not for others." The temptation of Christ was thus,
you see, under a special form, the eternal and univer
sal temptation of selfishness. And you know how
Christ three times repelled that temptation, shewing
that having come to accomplish a work of love, He
wished to accomplish it by love ; and that He placed
His miraculous power, like the whole of His life, at
the service of His brethren, without diverting any
portion of it to Himself. Thus was the temptation of
Christ a renewing of the gift of His being to God and
man, as well as a part of His sacrifice.
After preparing Himself thus in the conflict of the
desert, Christ entered on His active ministry. This
was a new step on the road to crucifixion, and fresh

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 295
sacrifices awaited Him. During the first part of His
ministry, His life was a human life, consisting of that
tissue of labours and sufferings which it is impossible
to analyse, but which is woven for all. He accepted
this freely. He fed on our daily food, which is often
the bread of bitterness ; and ever broke it with thanks
to His Father. And to those troubles which are in
herent in our life here below, Christ added that of
poverty. He took the most miserable form of human
existence, because He wished to bear the burden of
our greatest sorrows. Poverty is one of the saddest
, consequences of the fall : sad for the poor whom it
afflicts ; still more sad, perhaps, for the rich whom it
reproaches. It had necessarily, then, to find a place in
the sacrifice of Christ. Another suffering, which
never left Him, because it flowed from His love, was
that of compassion. Christ's pity bore no relation to
ours, so superficial, so transient, so easily borne. It
was a true communion with those who wept and
suffered : there was no suffering near Him but His
heart was torn. More than this, He suffered even
for those who did not suffer for themselves ; He wept
over the hardened sinner, and nothing wounded Him
so much as the sight of impenitent wickedness. The
Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world bore its
burden on His heart. We can well conceive how the
contact with men must have pierced His soul ; and
whoever has had a glimpse of the Redeemer's love will
understand that His compassion formed a true element
of His passion.
But, apart from. those sufferings that were common
to all the phases of His ministry, each special period
had its contingent of sorrows. We can distinguish
three epochs in the active course of the Redeemer.

296 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
That course was very short, not covering quite three
years. In fact, if we reckon the feasts of the pass-
over, the only method of determining the duration
of His ministry, we find only three mentioned by
Saint John. The first was that when Christ drove
the merchants from the temple.1 The second is
referred to in the sixth chapter of John. At this
Christ was not present. The third is the great
and solemn feast at which the true paschal Lamb
was substituted for the typical one. The whole
of our Lord's ministry was contained in these two
years and a half; and in this short space of time we
discern three distinct phases. In the first, Christ
revealed Himself to the world, manifesting Him
self as the Messiah, the Son of God. This period
commenced with the enthusiasm of the people, and
ended with their desertion. It opened with the
miracle of Cana, and closed with the discourse in the
synagogue of Capernaum on the spiritual food, after
which the crowd forsook Christ. The second period
was that of the declared conflict between Him and the
Jews — a constant melancholy combat. It began with
the feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem, when they
wished to imprison Christ, and ended with the raising
of Lazarus, which exasperated the Saviour's enemies,
and decided them to keep no terms with Him. The
last period was the consummation of the struggle — the
last journey of Christ, the ineffable suffering, Geth-
semane, Golgotha. These three phases are like three
steps to the altar of sacrifice. The Lamb that taketh
away the sin of the world, ascended them one after
the other. He renewed His self-immolation on each
1 John ii. 16.

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 297
one, till He was led to execution, without opening
His mouth. These are the three acts of His passion.
We shall now occupy ourselves only with the first.
But, before reminding you of the principal features
of this holy life, there is one fact which we must,, as it
were, place on one side, because it stands in equal
connection with the three phases of Christ's ministry.
We refer to the choice and education of the apostles.
The Gospels tell us that twelve men, belonging to the
lower classes of society, were selected by our Lord to
be His habitual companions, the witnesses of His
actions, the hearers of His words, His intimate disciples
in some sense. There are few facts that have been more
distorted than this, or of which error and superstition
have made a more lamentable use. We cannot enter
on a formal discussion of this important subject, but
must content ourselves with explaining our own view
of the apostolate according to its institution. The
word apostle signifies messenger. The apostles were
then the messengers of the Lord. In this respect
their mission had nothing special about it, since all
Christians are the messengers of Christ. They were
twelve, — a symbolical number, recalling the twelve
tribes of Israel. These twelve tribes constituted the
ancient people of God. The apostles, by their typical
number, represented the new Israel, the new people
of God. But neither in this sense were they invested
with a character exclusively their own ; for We are all
designed to enter into the voluntarily constituted
nation, as we are all called to convey the divine mes
sage. The promise of the Holy Spirit, again, was
not a privilege confined to the apostles, for the Holy
Spirit belongs to the assembly of Christians. Nor
was miraculous power a gift peculiar to the apostolate,

298 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
since it was largely shed down upon the early Christians.
What, then, was the character proper to the apostle ?
for he had an exceptional character: the choice of
Christ abundantly proves this, as also the care of the
eleven to make up their number after the treason of
Judas. The special characteristic of the twelve
apostles was this, that they were the first witnesses
for Christ — His accredited witnesses. That which
was required of Matthias, in order to his being invested
with the charge, was to have been with our Lord from
the baptism of John until the resurrection.1 The
mission of the apostle was to preserve alive the teach
ing and the remembrance of the person of Christ ;
and so to lay down the corner-stone, that the Church
of all ages might be built thereon. He was pre-emi
nently the christian and the messenger, because He
was commissioned to render a supremely trustworthy
testimony to Christ. The apostle was not simply a
witness, but the witness prepared by Christ Himself
in an altogether special manner, by daily contact with
Him. The apostolate of Saint Paul is an exceptional
case ; and if he was recognized, it was because the
miracle of his conversion was a consecration no less
valid than the peculiar preparation which the other
apostles had received from the Master. This prepara
tion was the rule, the entrance into the apostolate by
another way was wholly exceptional. The apostles,
then, did not constitute a college of priests, but a
group of witnesses chosen from among the first dis
ciples, and prepared by Christ to make up for His
visible presence by their preaching or their writings,
or by the writings of their immediate disciples. He
1 Actsi. 21, 22.

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 299
so disposed everything that they might render an ade
quate testimony. He first formed them Himself, and
then gave to them the Holy Spirit ; not only for the
fulfilling of their general christian vocation, but aho
for the accomplishment of their special charge, as the
first witnesses of redemption. It is evident that, in
this point of view, we cannot speak of an apostolical
succession. If the apostles were the immediate wit
nesses, they could have no successors ; for after im
mediate witnesses there follow only mediate ones.
No institution can transmit the quality of ocular testi
mony ; and since the authority of the apostles belonged
to the relation that existed only between themselves
and Christ, this authority was incommunicable. They
personified and symbolized, not a body of bishops, but
the Church itself, the christian people, the eternal
Israel, the twelve tribes of the new dispensation.
This church, taken as a whole, is their heir — it is the
great messenger of God, the permanent witness of
Christ, the apostle without a successor ; and it is all
these in so far as it rests upon the primitive testimony.
It is with the apostolate as with a large river that
flows first in a narrow bed, a perfectly pure and limpid
stream ; but its channel soon widens, it rolls in waves
innumerable, and extends into a vast basin, while its
waters are more or less changed. He who would
taste them free from mixture, must drink of them near
the source. The vocation of the existing church is
certainly the apostolate, it is the great mission of
christian witnessing ; but it is the apostolate altered
as well as enlarged. The primitive apostolate is the
only one that conferred authority. From it arose all
religious truth, and to it we must continually go back ;
but it is not the less certain that the church, regarded

300 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
as a whole, continues it, and that there is no other
apostolical succession than this. So true is this fact,
that even in early times the name of apostle was not
given exclusively to the twelve — it was applied also to
Christians, such as James, who had received no special
consecration. Already was the approaching and
necessary extension of the apostolate foreseen.
Whatever be the solution of these disputed ques
tions, it is certain that Christ did choose some men
from among the people to be His special witnesses.
He selected them from the lower grades of society,
because it was in these that He found the most simple
souls, the most capable of receiving His divine impress.
Moreover, every great religious reformation is popular;
it begins in spirits fresh and impetuous, upright and
ardent, that embrace the truth with uncalculating
enthusiasm and unreserved devotion. The first dis
ciples were no common men, but were representatives
of the principal diversities of character to be found in
this world. There were among them both ardent and'
calm natures, — practical men, and profound and mysti
cal souls. Fashioned by a delicate and mighty hand,
penetrated with the Master's spirit, they present to us
the beautiful spectacle of regenerated human nature
in its best defined types, each of them reflecting the
Master on one side or another, and thus preserving for
us the complete image of His divine humanity. No
thing is more admirable in the life of Christ than the
manner in which He carried on the education of these
rough and uncultivated men, who were for a long time
attached to Him rather by the instinct of the heart,
than by a rational conviction. With what art
did the divine sculptor chisel that hard and shapeless
marble till the brightness of His own thought could be

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 301
seen therein ! How He helped and cared for those
fishermen and publicans ! , He deposited in their hearts
the seeds of truth, and then watered and cultivated
them by His Spirit, giving them the explanation of
all His works. More than this, He sent them' on a
mission, placing them in the salutary school of experi
ence, and impressing on their minds the lessons they had
received by causing them to teach them to others. For
them He spoke His greatest words, those which were
most mightily to regenerate the world. This handful
of unlettered men were the brilliant auditory selected
by the eternal Word. Let us learn of Him the
fruitfulness of Christian labour in its very humility !
If we can only speak to a few souls, let us speak to
them without discouragement, provided that it be with
faith and love ! Let us cultivate them in obscurity
with tender care. Let us remember that the latest
discourses of Christ were uttered in an upper chamber
in Jerusalem before eleven disciples, who scarcely
comprehended Him ; and that these same words,
transmitted from age to age, and flying from one end
of the world to the other, have supplied consolation to
thousands of Christians. Let us remember that these
eleven disciples became the conquerors of the old
heathen world, and were the first stones of the Church
laid upon the divine foundation. After this, how
should we doubt the blessed influence of Christian
activity in the most limited sphere ? ,
But we must return, brethren, to the ministry of
the Saviour and His priestly work, of which, however,
we have not for a moment lost sight, for suffering
had a large share in His daily relations with the dis
ciples of His choice. One of the bitterest sorrows of
the present life is the. imperfection of human affections,

302 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
and the heart-wounds and painftd shocks which they
continually inflict. Affection without a cloud would
be affection without sin. Poor sinners even in loving
often cause each other suffering. No doubt, the
Saviour's love for His disciples was perfect like His
whole nature; and if He suffered, it was never through
His own fault. But contact with these souls so little
developed in faith brought Him inevitable trials ; their
want of sympathy, their feelings of pride and irritation,
and later, their disgraceful infidelity, more than once
wounded His heart, and drew from him words such as
these : " How long shall I be with you, O men, slow
to believe and to understand ! "
But if He was not always understood by His dis
ciples, He was at least loved by them, though hated
by the world. This hatred, however, did not at first
appear. In the early part of His ministry He mani
fested His glory to the Jewish people, and excited in
them a lively, even an enthusiastic admiration ; but
the enthusiasm was quickly extinguished. The more
Christ made Himself known to men, the more was He
abandoned by them ; and precisely here was the great
suffering of this phase of His life. It is hard to be
solitary amid one's generation, to speak in the desert
after having once awakened a resounding echo. Such
is, however, always the condition of goodness and
truth in this world up to the day when the cross prepared
for their immolation is at length planted on the earth,
that they may be exposed to utter ignominy. Christ
accepted this condition, and submitted Himself to it
in every circumstance. Let us trace with careful eye
the progressive manifestation of His doctrine ; at each
revelation we shall see the ranks of His disciples
clearing. He is the less admired, as He shews Him-

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 303
self the more admirable ; the more His holiness shines
forth, the more does the admiration felt for Him
diminish. Christ revealed Himself first as a powerful Messiah.
He multiplied miracles, the principal object of which
was to call the attention of the Jews to His mission,
and to lead them to recognize in Him a messenger from
God. Saint John in speaking of the first of Christ's
works says, that " He manifested forth His glory."1
In fact, the miraculous healing, the raising from the
dead, the sovereign power that He exerted over nature,
cast great splendour on His person. As long as He
did many miracles He was the object of the popular
complacency. "Jesus, "says Saint Matthew, "went
about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people. And His fame went throughout all
Syria : and they brought unto Him all sick people
that were taken with divers diseases and torments,
and those which were possessed with devils, and those
which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy ;
and He healed them. And there followed Him great
multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis,
and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond
Jordan." If Christ had confined Himself to manifest
ing forth His glory, the whole nation would have
certainly remained faithful to Him. A powerful and
glorious Saviour who cures the sick and multiplies
bread to appease the hunger of the people, is sure to
be accepted by all the world. There is nothing in Him
to wound the prejudices and passions of the crowd.
1 John ii. 11.

304 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
May He only continue ! A few more miracles and He
shall be crowned a king !
But, as we have said, miracles were only the more
outward side of Christ's work. It was necessary that
He should reveal the more elevated design of His
mission, which was a spiritual one. And now He will
encounter opposition. John tells us that after having
manifested forth His glory at Cana, the Lord went to
Jerusalem to attend the feast of the passover. This
was His first journey in Judea after he entered on His
active ministry. He went to the temple, found it
profaned by those who bought and sold, and the
changers of money, and drove them out ignominiously
in holy wrath. Christ no longer appeared only as a
prophet working miracles. The people felt that He
was one sent against all that was evil and in opposition
to God. They felt that He was a religious reformer,
and they remembered that saying of a prophet :
" The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." Those
who made their gain out of sacred things trembled
before Him, and beyond a doubt, implacable hatred
was kindled against Him in more than one bosom on
that solemn day.
Christ was a religious reformer, but it must be
known in what sense He was so. He first attacked
the most gross and obvious abuses ; but he did not
wish the people to be deceived, and to imagine that
He had come only to make clean the outside of the
cup and the platter. In His conversation with
Nicodemus, which took place at the same period, He
insisted on the necessity, not only of an external
renovation, but also of a new birth : " Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 305
enter into the kingdom of heaven."1 He proclaimed
at once that there was salvation only in Himself, and
that He was the only Son of the Father who had
been given to the world, that whosoever believed in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.2
This sublime doctrine was not yet understood; but in
the measure in which it was comprehended, so far did
the Son of God encounter a more lively opposition.
He returned from Jerusalem into Galilee through
Samaria, and took advantage of this journey to reveal
a new side of His mission, which was sure to alienate
from Him a great number of the Jews. The simple
fact of His conversing freely with a Samaritan woman,
proved that He did not consider Himself as sent
exclusively to the Jews. His words, repeated to the
disciples and by the disciples to the Jews, were still
more explicit. Did He not declare that the day was
coming when men should no longer worship at
Jerusalem exclusively, but in all times and places should
celebrate worship in spirit and in truth, to the honour
of the God who is a Spirit ? To speak thus was to
deposit a new leaven of hatred in the heart of those
proud Jews who profoundly despised foreign nations,
and the' Samaritans above all. Here was a new re
velation and growing hatred !
On His return to Galilee our Lord wrought many
striking miracles : — He cured the son of Herod's
officer, and the demoniac of Gadara ; He raised to
life the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of
Nain. These miracles no doubt excited great admir
ation, but as Christ revealed not only His glory, but
at the same time His doctrine, the admiration was
mingled, and in many cases began to be replaced by a
1 John iii. 5. 2 John iii. 16.

306 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
gloomy displeasure. It was thus that in the town of
Nazareth they sought to put Him to death, because
He had offended the national pride of the inhabitants
by shewing them that the grace of God was not
restricted to any country, and that those who believed
themselves to have a natural right to it were, on the
contrary, deprived of it by their very pride. " Many
lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet;
and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the
Syrian." 1 The touching scene that took place in the
house of Simon the pharisee, the forgiveness so
mercifully granted to the poor sinful woman, completed
the exasperation of the proud Jews against Christ.
Here was on the one side a pharisee, a man, that is
to say, esteemed in the nation, a just man according
to the world's opinion, who thought he had no cause
for self-reproach. On the other side was a miserable
degraded creature, a lost woman. She shed a few
tears, she uttered a prayer, and Christ declared her
justified, placed her, that is, on the same rank with the
just and virtuous Simon, or rather I should say far
above him, for she had more loved Him who is alone
worthy of being loved. Thus, then, with his righteous
ness and his good works, the pharisee was placed below
the penitent sinner. He felt that the Master would not
say to him as to her, " go in peace," but that He
regarded him as outside of salvation. Nothing could
be more odious to the proud man than this practical
revelation of free forgiveness. He trembled with
rage. You will remember also that in the parable of
the pharisee and the publican, our Lord supplied so
clear a commentary on this fact, that it was impossible
to be deceived as to his real ideas. It was understood,
1 Luke iv. 27.

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 307
then, that He had brought a doctrine which reduced
all self-righteousness to nothing, and only rewarded re
pentance and love. Again we may say: anew revelation
and growing hatred !
A second time Christ went to Jerusalem for the
celebration of one of the Jewish feasts, though which
one it is difficult precisely to determine — we only know
that it was not the Passover.1 Our Lord took ad
vantage of this occasion to reveal still better the nature
of the reformation that He wished to effect. He cured
a paralytic by the pool of Bethesda on a Sabbath day.2
This was to set Himself in direct opposition to the
tradition of the pharisees. It had happened to them
as it does to all who have lost the religious life, and
yet wish to preserve a certain kind of religion. Having
no longer the reality, they attach themselves to the
appearance, conceiving that it will bring them the same
advantages. They hold all the more, to the forms, as
they have lost what is essential and fundamental in re
ligion. Thus the better to deceive themselves, they
multiply these forms indefinitely, and exaggerate the
ceremonial side of worship the better to conceal the
frightful absence of faith. There was at Jerusalem
an idolatrous attachment to the Sabbath, just because
the worship of the living God had ceased. A profound
faith is above these exaggerated scruples — a religion
that is external and consists in practices, believes itself
lost if one of these mere forms escape from it. It
needs for its support a whole religious apparatus. It
fears in reality that if this apparatus were removed it
might be condemned to that earnestness which it would
1 John v. 1 . The most important of the Jewish feasts would not have been
indicated without an article, as this is in the original.
- John v. 9.

308 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
avoid at any price. It multiplies defences that the
man may be more free within. But Christ, in boldly
setting Himself above the pharisaic traditions regard
ing the Sabbath, overthrew the scaffolding that had
been so laboriously raised to hide the irreligion and
infidelity that reigned in the hearts of men. He
shewed, hereby, that He wished religion to be regarded
as something serious ; and that the faith which He
brought to the world demanded not the pretence of
vain forms, and a material devotion, but the gift of the
heart and life. The simple fact of a cure wrought on
the Sabbath day had then a most weighty signification ;
it was the express condemnation of all that the doctors
of the nation had taught. Thus Saint John tells us,
that the Jews already on this occurrence sought to
put Christ to death. Once more, then, we find a new
revelation, and growing hatred !
Our Lord quickly returned into Galilee, and it was
then that He spoke the sermon on the mount, which
may be regarded as the charter of His kingdom. In
this discourse He summed up all that He had said and
done from the commencement of His ministry. His
opposition to the formalistic Judaism of His day was ,
manifested in a most complete and cutting manner.
If He avowed that He had come to accomplish the
true Judaism, that of the law and the prophets, He
indignantly repelled the false and hypocritical Judaism,
the Judaism of tradition, of noisy alms-giving and long
prayers, rigidly observing the law of retaliation, and
boldly violating the eternal law of God ; finding means
also to suppress that law, under pretext of interpret
ing it. Christ openly broke with this Judaism. He
unmasked and crushed it. He proclaimed a spiritual
law, the infinite law of love. He announced a spiri-

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 309
tual kingdom, founded on the pardon of sins, the
entrance to which is through tears, through the hunger
and thirst of the soul ; and sufferings and persecutions
are predicted for those who enter. The way is narrow,
and the gate strait. Only by becoming poor and
small can it be passed. Christ certainly was not such
as He had been expected to be. If with one hand
He raised and healed, with the other He presented a
cross. " If any man will come after me, let him take
up his cross and follow me." How should we not
once more exclaim : A new revelation, and growing
hatred !
But the time was at hand when our Lord was to
reap the fruit of His courageous fidelity. The people
followed Him still, because they liked to see His
miracles, and hoped to profit by them without accept
ing His doctrine. A new passover, the second during
Christ's ministry, was approaching. But as His hour
had not yet come, and as He had everything to fear
from the pharisees of Jerusalem, He remained still in
Galilee. Then took place that significant event re
lated in the sixth chapter of Saint John. The Lord
had by a splendid miracle satisfied the hunger of a
numerous crowd that had followed Him near to the
sea of Tiberias. On the morrow, this same multi
tude, charmed and excited by the marvel, and hoping
to find in Jesus, notwithstanding His declarations, the
temporal Messiah that they desired, sought Him be
yond the sea of Tiberias. They rejoined Him in
the great synagogue of Capernaum, and pressed
around Him. Christ found once more the people of
former days — they contemplated Him with admiration,
they celebrated His power, they were ready to kiss the
hand that had broken to them the miraculous bread.

3 1 o Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
If you had entered that synagogue, you would have
certainly believed His triumph final. They called
Him Master ; they disposed themselves to hear Him,
perhaps to worship Him. " Master, " say they,
"when earnest Thou hither?" Now, He speaks.
No doubt an audience so favourably disposed will be
carried away with enthusiasm. But listen to Christ.
Instead of promising some new miracle, He speaks of
the spiritual and eternal food. This is the first dis
appointment. The people had come to Him because
they had been satisfied with bread, and He tells them
to labour for enduring nourishment. And this
labour, in what is it to consist ? they ask. If we
must turn away from the good things of this world, at
least we must be able to conquer heaven by our works
— what shall we do? "This is the work of God,"
replies our Lord, "that ye believe."1 At this say
ing they remember all that they have heard of Him,
they think of the pardon He had granted to publicans
and sinful women, and they begin to tremble with in
dignation. But Jesus goes farther still. This faith
is to be placed in His own person. " Whosoever seeth
the Son, and believeth on Him, hath everlasting life."
Nay, should we believe in Thee, in Thee, the son of
the carpenter ! this is asking too much. " Is not this
Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know?" Without noticing these murmurs, the Lord
touches on the most mysterious points of His doctrine.
He speaks of His death, of His body that was soon to
be crucified ; and in lively imagery declares that all
who would live to life eternal must eat His flesh and
drink His blood ; that is to say, must receive into their
1 John vi. 29.

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 3 1 1
hearts the crucified Christ. The hearers now cer
tainly find themselves too far from the point from
which they had started. They came to ask for
material miracles, and they are brought into the pre
sence of all that is most spiritual, profound, and offen
sive in the Saviour's doctrine. He has now fully
revealed Himself, and He is not the Messiah whom
they desire. They understand this clearly ; and see
with what eagerness they retire ! They are as im
patient to go away as they were to come. There re
main but a few disciples. Surely these, then, are
faithful friends ; surely these may be depended on !
Alas ! some even detach themselves from this little
group, and rejoin the crowd. Then the Master-
seized with indescribable sadness, turns towards the
twelve to say to them, "Will ye also go away?"
The revelation of Christ has been finished, and the
desertion is almost complete ! This is the result of
the first period of His ministry. He manifested Him
self to the world, and the world rejected Him. What
more terrible judgment could have been pronounced
on our poor humanity ! The Holy One and the Just
appeared, such as He was, without a veil ! Count,
then, those who remained with Him, and reckon if
you can, those who forsook Him. For ourselves, we
want no other proof of the depth of our fall. On the
day that Christ stood fully revealed, He found Him
self alone with twelve apostles, and one of them was
a traitor! Canst thou boast now of thy greatness,
of thy moral dignity, O miserable human nature !
I only require to crush thee these words of my
Saviour to the disciples of His choice: "Will ye
also go away ? " See the opinion that He had of
thee. He had found thee so materialized, so cor-

3 1 2 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
rupted, that He doubted even His own ! And forget
not that we are still only in the period of desertion.
The conflict, the mortal conflict, has yet to begin ;
and if there remain to you any illusion concerning
humanity, you need but wait to lose it, for the nearer
considerations of that conflict and its sanguinary re
sult, to which we shall invite you in our next dis
course. Is there not, my brethren, a very serious appeal to
your consciences in the simple narrative of this first
period of the ministry of Christ ? The number of
those who think that they belong to Him is in our
day considerable. But may there not be some mis
understanding, which it would be well to dissipate?
For what should assure us that the men of our genera
tion are better than the contemporaries of Christ ? Is
human nature in itself superior at one time to what it
is at another ? What, then, should be the reason of
the present adherence, and the former desertion ?
Know you not that the Saviour met with an enthusi
astic reception at the commencement of His ministry ?
So long as He manifested His glory by miracles, He
was surrounded by the very same crowds that forsook
Him when His severe doctrines became known. May
we not, hence, conclude that the greater number of those
who now call themselves Christians have as yet con
sidered only the external side of Christianity ?
Miracles, properly so called, have been rare since the
apostolic age ; but there is always a brilliant side to
Christianity — it is that of social consequence, general
influence, and a glorious history. Be assured, then,
that the great mass of professing Christians of our day,
in every communion, and every Church, have attached
themselves mainly to this point of view. If it had

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 3 1 3
been generally understood that it was a question of
conversion, humiliation, and sacrifices, you would have
seen long ago the waves retiring, and leaving the shore
dry. There would be around the true representatives
of Christ the same solitude as formerly ; or, perhaps,
the desertion would be still more complete. Let but
the cross be perceived by the greater part of the pro
fessing Christians of our day, and you will see them
flee with hasty steps ; some sorrowful, like the rich
young man ; others irritated and furious, and ready to
persecute Christ in the person of His true disciples.
I will go farther still, and suppose .that the divine
Saviour were to enter this temple as He entered the
synagogue of Capernaum. Suppose that He spoke to
you as He spoke to the Jews; that He demanded pain
ful sacrifices — that He required from you an earnest,
consistent Christianity. Suppose that He brought to you
His cross, and presented it, not only that you should,
worship, but that you should bear it; is it sure that you
would all remain here ? Suppose that He called upon
you to give up a portion, a large portion — observe
that I do not say the whole, of your goods to the
poor ; is it quite sure that you would remain ? Sup
pose that He charged you to break that idol, to dis
solve that connection that keeps you from Him, to
give up that habit that is so dear to you; is it sure that
you would remain ? Suppose, finally, that He made
you comprehend what He meant by eating His flesh,
and drinking His blood, and what constitutes that
identification with the crucified Christ to which we
are called ; is it very sure that you would all remain ?
Alas ! we feel a mournful certainty that a great num
ber from among you would rise and go away like the
inhabitants of Capernaum, crying, If we had known

314 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
that this doctrine was so severe, we would never have
come to embrace it. " This is a hard saying — who can
hear it?" Would toheaven that you could thus be made
to know yourselves ; for we are sure that you would
go away with a sharp arrow in your soul; and it
might at length so transpierce you as to bring you,
overwhelmed with the burden of your sins, to the feet
of the Son of David, saying to Him : "Take pity on
us. Speak now, and we will do all that Thou command-
est." Oh that God may Himself tear away your
illusions, and force you to acknowledge that hitherto
your Christianity has been a lie ! This is the best de
sire that we can form for you.
But I resume my hypothesis. Suppose that this
temple had become almost empty, like the synagogue
of Capernaum — that there remained only a few true
Christians, and that the Lord turned towards them
and asked, " Will ye also go away ?"
Is it quite sure that there would be no hesitation,
even among these, when they should come to under
stand what the Master means by bearing His cross ?
Is it quite sure — but no, I will not contemplate the
desertion of the Lord by true Christians ! No, Lord !
the hesitation could not last with us, who have per
ceived not only what Thou requirest from us, but also
what Thou givest us in exchange ! No, we will not
go away. Whither should we go ? How should we
live — how die without Thee ? Weak as Peter, fal
lible as he, we, nevertheless, say with him, "Thou
hast the words of eternal life. We have known and
believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the liv
ing God ! " We say, trusting not to ourselves, but
to Thy compassions, and to the assurance of Thy help,
between Thee and us the union is for life, for death, for

• Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 3 1 5
eternity. Thou wilt give us to follow Thee in Thine
isolation, to follow Thee in Thy conflict, and even in
Thy death — we shall thus be ever with Thee ; and
after having suffered with Thee, with Thee also shall
we reign !

XI.
JESUS CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

gisrours* §}HBtlh.
THE AGONY AND THE CROSS.
" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." —
John i. 29.
We have divided the ministry of Christ into three
periods : — His manifestation to the world ; His con
flict with the proud Jews, and the result of that
struggle; His passion and death. We have traced
with you the first period ; we have seen the eager and
enthusiastic reception which was given to the Saviour
so long as He contented Himself with revealing His
glory through His miracles. We have seen Him
deserted by the same crowds that had followed Him
even to the desert, as soon as He manifested not only
His power but His holiness. At the end of our last
discourse we showed you this divine Redeemer left
alone with a few disciples in the synagogue of Caper^
naum, and asking them, " Will ye also go away ?"
But desertion was not enough. It was to be speedily
followed by open and declared conflict. . With Christ
no neutral position can be maintained ; He must be
either adored or hated. It is this awful conflict be-

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 317
tween light and darkness that we come now to wit
ness. In truth, as we have already shewn in the first
of these discourses, this conflict has never been inter
rupted on earth for a single instant. It has been carried
on everywhere, in all times, and under the most diverse
circumstances. It alone constitutes the exciting in
terest in the history of humanity. But as in every
war there is one decisive day, when the hostile armies
meet with a terrible shock, so in the war sustained
by the power of love against the power of perdition
there is a final day, the results of which must be de
cisive. This awful but triumphant combat is that of
Christ against the world. Nothing can be more
solemn or more grand! Every event is small and
pitiful compared to this ! Let us then follow,
brethren, the phases of this momentous struggle be
tween good and evil. Let us learn to measure the
depth of our fall, seeing in the dying Christ the true
ideal of humanity ; while His enemies and His
murderers remind us of the degradation of our race —
for here we meet with the extremes of good and evil.
Let us learn what are the conditions of truth here
below. The disciples may not be better treated than
was the Master ; the world will hate and persecute in
them what it cursed and crucified in Him. The truth
is condemned to a cross in this world of sin and infi
delity. Let us leam not to be overtaken with a
cowardly astonishment when the opposition of the
world to the Gospel reappears, when the conflict
threatens to arise anew in a serious manner. Let us
recognize in this fact the realization of a fixed law in
religious history. Finally, let us learn of Christ to
fight as we ought to fight, to conquer as we ought to
conquer, to be at once calm and strong, gentle and

3 18 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
indomitable. May the picture of His conflict with
evil, in recalling to us all that is most essential in the
work of redemption, teach us, at the same time, all
that is most important in the Christian life.
We must pause for a moment, brethren, before
rapidly tracing the principal incidents of the conflict,
to consider what are the respective forces of the com
batants. Forget not that what took place eighteen
centuries ago at Jerusalem occurs afresh in every
period of the Church's history. The same enemies of
the truth re-appear under different names, though they
are less recognizable, their features less clearly defined
than in the gospel history. It is there that we must
examine our adversaries, if we would know them well.
The Gospel paints them in colours so true, that we
see them thoroughly. Never had they a better
opportunity of displaying themselves. The truth
then appeared alone, so to speak, without any ex
ternal support, without the fame of great triumphs
already won, without the sanction of centuries. There
was no need, from a human point of view, to treat it
tenderly ; men could insult and blaspheme it at their
pleasure. They did not require to cover their fatal
dart with deceitful homage. That was not the time'
for delicate irony and indirect assaults. The hatred
of Christianity in its rise possessed a certain freshness,
and it was entertained in all security. Never, also,
were there writers like the sacred historians for making
the personages of their narrative live under our eyes.
To relate thus is hardly to relate ; it is to resuscitate,
to give life to those who once lived. By the force,
not of art, but of simplicity, they present to us the
very reality of the facts. Herod, Caiaphas, Pilate,
Judas, all are so naturally represented, that we know

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 3 1 9
them as if we had conversed with them. The various
types are so admirably characterized, the gloomy
figures so expressively drawn by the evangelists, that
their very features are graven on our minds, never to
be forgotten. And the Gospel is no less admirable
in the setting forth of evil than in the revelation of
divine love. This is because it is almost as. important
to us thoroughly to know the former as the latter ;
and we ought to profit by the clear light which the
sacred narrative throws on the Saviour's enemies, to
examine ourselves, and see whether we can be hidden
in their ranks. The details, however, that we have
already given regarding some of them will save us the
necessity of any lengthened illustrations.
The first of these enemies is he whom the scrip
tures call the adversary, or Satan, the opponent of all
that is good, true, and salutary. We may say that
the two great champions in this terrible war, which
has been carried on during so many ages, now meet
at length in single combat. No being intervened
between the devil and his divine adversary. We have
no longer before us only men — some under the influence
of the Spirit of God, and others obeying the impulse of
Satan. On the one side we have the God-man, in
whom dwelt the fulness of the Deity ; on the other,
an accursed humanity, in which dwelt all the fulness
of devils. God in humanity is opposed to Satan also
in humanity. It is a single combat between the chiefs
of the two armies. But we must discover in what
manner this visible action of hell was carried on. We
have one proof of its exercise, at once palpable and
incomprehensible ; 1 mean possessions. I know that
I shall appear at the present day very much behind
hand in criticism in admitting the fact of possessions.

320 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
According to certain teachers, they involved nothing
more than a wild form of madness, a very simple and
ordinary fact ; and Christ in addressing demons and
driving them out, lent and accommodated Himself to a
popular prejudice. For ourselves, we declare that it
would be impossible to us to conceive of such an
accommodation without our ideas of the Saviour being
seriously affected. What! could He knowingly and wil
fully favour a gross superstition, cherish a senseless pre
judice ? Still more, He must have apparently driven
out demons, knowing full well that a monomania was
not a demon. He must have virtually acted a comedy.
He must have been, not the divine Revealer, but one
of those magicians of the East, so common at that
period, who based their power on pretended miracles.
If He did not act a comedy, He must have been quite
deceived on an important subject, and we could no
longer place in Him absolute confidence. If one of
the facts on which the gospel testimony is most ex
plicit be thus got rid of, we know not what can resist
criticism. Moreover, this fact has a moral importance.
It is impossible for us to explain how the demoniacal
influence was exerted, but we can well understand
that in this final crisis of religious history the agency
of hell, like that of heaven, would be manifested with
far more power than in the ordinary course of things.
It had to put forth its most violent effort to ruin the
plan of God. After -having believed itself the
legitimate possessor of humanity, it felt that humanity
was about to escape from its grasp ! How should it
not have stirred itself mightily to retain this fatal
power. To deny the possibility of such acting of the
infernal powers on mankind, we ought to know, better
than it is given us to do, the relation of the visible

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 321
world with the invisible. It is difficult to define with
precision the limits of the natural and the supernatural,
and in periods of profound and universal perturbation,
we should be often inclined to say that the two
spheres blend. However this may be, we fully admit
the demoniacs of the gospel. We believe that the
possessions were not without some relation to the
moral condition of the afflicted persons. We think
that nothing better prepared for this miserable and
mysterious state than the mental trouble induced by
sin — that it, no doubt, commenced with some terrible
crisis of the inner life. It was certainly a proof of
the power yet left to Satan to combat the Redeemer.
And did not this power appear equally in the un
heard-of perversity of His enemies ? Evil reached in
them a degree never known before. We feel that we
are not witnessing the ordinary display of wickedness,
but what the Scripture calls a mystery of iniquity.
There are, in fact, mysterious depths of evil, almost
as astounding as are the depths of good. Hell has
its secrets as well as heaven, surpassing and over
whelming human reason. Once and again, behind the
Visible combatants the invisible ones appear, and the
presence of demons, as the presence of God, reveals
itself by extraordinary signs. The demoniacs who
most confound us are not those that were delivered
by the powerful word of the Master, but the judges
and executioners of Christ, the miserable men who
cried : Crucify Him ! crucify Him ! and who, be
neath the cross, prayed that His blood might be upon
themselves. This was the most awful possession !
There was a moment when the whole Jewish people
was, as it were, one wild demoniac, the passive instru
ment only of the wrath of hell. Nothing proves

322 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
more surely than the conduct of that people the
direct and personal intervention of Satan in the
conflict. Next to Satan, or rather, under his standard, nearly
all the men of high rank in the nation fought against
Jesus. He was opposed by all the privileged classes,
by all the rich with a few easily numbered exceptions.
We acknowledge that the rich and the learned may be
Christians, that they do become so in all ages ; but it is
not the less true that this fact so remarkable in early
days has constantly reappeared in history. Our Lord
Himself gave it great weight by this astounding
saying : " It is easier for a camel to go through a
needle's eye, than for. a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God." We can easily understand that
those who wish to live in splendour on earth, and who
employ their riches to feed their vanity and multiply
their pleasures, range themselves among the enemies
of Christ. He came into the world to oppose all that
they are doing in it. He came to humble all that
is exalted, to bring all vain appearances to nothing,
to crush all the powers of the age. He came not
only to command patience in those who suffer, but
also self-renunciation in those who enjoy. He said to
all : '" Give up your goods, sell them for the poor,
that is to say, place your life and your property at
the service of God and of suffering humanity ! " How
should not those have been indignant who believed
that their wealth was given them that they might be
clothed in fine linen, might live in magnificence and
be insolent to the poor ! At first they went away
sorrowful like the rich young man in the Gospel, but
soon returned furious and exasperated, and were the
first to demand the death of Him who had spoken

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 323
the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and who
had preferred the widow's mite to their proud and
ostentatious alms. Let the rich men of our day
examine themselves well to see whether they are with
Christ or against Him. The only way for them to
be certain on this point, is to enquire whether they
have become poor in spirit ; — for all the rich who
continue rich in heart are most assuredly in the ranks
of the Lord's enemies.
The highest council of the nation signalized itself
especially by its animosity to Christ. Alas ! how
often have not men, high in authority, acted anew the
same sad part ! Worldly dignities, when not received
as a high mission of love, become a pedestal for the
great idol, the human Me so universally adored. They
carry pride to a great degree of exaltation. The
consideration, the flattery by which they are sur
rounded, provide them with a triple rampart against
humility. When Christ appeared to proclaim at once
universal condemnation and free forgiveness, the great
ones of this world, loving their seeming greatness,
trembled with indignation at being thus disgraced ;
they accused the Gospel of being a social overturning,
a fermenting of revolution, and they took a marked
place among the enemies of true Christianity. But
the most implacable adversaries of the Gospel were
found among those who were invested with religious
authority. The body of priests were distinguished by
their violent hatred of the Saviour ; and nothing could
be more natural than this, since those who regulate
religion, and draw from it both glory and profit,
charge with usurpation any who attack their credit
by a religious reformation. Christ, in introducing to
the world the universal priesthood, was the living

324 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
condemnation of the sacerdotal spirit, and whenever this
spirit did not succeed in either overpowering or
changing the Gospel, it could not find thunders or
anathemas enough for its abuse and proscription.
We have already referred to the pharisees in
several connections. They stood in the first rank in
the conflict with Christ. What alliance indeed can
there possibly be between a religion of form and a
religion of spirit ? The pharisees felt that at the first
breath that mummy, trebly dead, which they were
wrapping in sacred bands by calling it religion, would
fall to dust. They felt that their hypocrisy was
unmasked by the very appearing of Christ, and that
before His holiness the pretence of an outward piety
was clearly unveiled. They felt that their reign would
^nd whenever Christ should triumph. And do they
not feel the same now wherever they still exist ?
Between them and Christ the struggle is ever to the
death ; for He pursues them from one intrenchment
to another. From Judaism the pharisee passed into
the external church; he carried into that his long
robe, his lengthened prayers, and his traditions. From
the great unfaithful church he passed into the churches
of the reformation, established himself in them, and
in the course of time fashioned them more or less
completely for his own use : and he reappears in every
church, even in that which is the best organized,
and if necessary, takes possession of all belonging to
it that is most anti-pharisaic in doctrines and institu
tions, to insert in this his fatal formalism. He may
be known by his self satisfaction, by the cold and
barren regularity of his piety, by his high and dry
dogmatism, by his joy at being unlike other men, by
the severity of his judgments, by the hardness of his

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 325
heart. Here, then, is the immortal pharisee — Christ's
enemy, open or concealed, in all communions! Would
to God that he were not here, listening to us, and re
joicing that our words concern him not in the least !
As to the sadducee, he was the liberal-minded marl,
the philosopher of Jerusalem. He rejected the greater
part of revelation with the ease of superior intelligence.
He was no scrupulous devotee, but a man of pleasure
and of elegant habits. Would it not seem probable
that he at least would be tolerant, and would not mingle
with the brutal enemies of Christ ? Why should he in
this matter join himself to the hypocritical devotees,
he who knew so well how to scoff at them on occasion,
he,' the liberal philosopher? But that came now to
pass, my brethren, which has happened in every period
of the Church's history. Men of infidel tendencies have
always made common cause with hypocrites to extir
pate true Christianity from the world. It is hated
equally by both classes. Christ had to complain of
the former as much as of the latter, because He came
to disturb their voluptuous life and to shake their con
venient philosophy. He came to tell of judgment to
those who said, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow
we die." He was the solemn witness to that invisible
world which theydesired to forget. It was necessary,
therefore, that they should free themselves from Him
before resuming their life of pleasure. And be not
deceived ; the materialistic philosopher is in reality of
the same opinion as the Sadducee of Jerusalem, and
through his fine words and his pretended homage,
there penetrates an inveterate hatred of the foolishness
of the cross, though that hatred is only manifested in
our day by a smile of disdain and an expression of
inward satisfaction in not believing as the simple dp,
T

326 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
the letter of the Gospel. But let the requirements of
Christianity be felt by our sceptical philosophers in a
serious manner ; let them be placed in the presence of
a true Church bearing its cross, and you will hear a
fierce burst of anger from these men of exquisite re
finement, of liberal mind, these Athenians of philoso
phy. We know now how to value the toleration of
free thinkers, since we saw a considerable number of
them demanding the blood of the Just One, above all,
since He was given up to crucifixion by a sceptical
philosopher whom no one certainly will accuse of
fanaticism after hearing his disdainful inquiry, What
is truth? It is a strange fact that following the wealthy, the
men high in office, the priests, pharisees, and saddu-
cees, even the mass of the people took part against
Christ ! They reached, indeed, such a degree of
delusion and of fury as to demand the deliverance of
a miserable robber, in order to be sure that Christ
should not escape the most ignominious death. It
seems that the people had no pretext for their hatred ;
for Christ had never despised them, — had done them,
indeed, nothing but good. And more than once they
had shown themselves grateful; they had followed
Him, and seemed to love Him. Even a few days
before the passover they had evinced a return of
enthusiasm. But it mattered little! There needed
but a few agents of the Sanhedrim, a few pharisees
mixing with the people, to raise them in mass
against their benefactor like a furious sea under a
sudden rising of the wind ; so that in the end they
furnished Christ's enemies with an army well pre
pared. The history of this weak and cruel people is
the history of all those who form part of a multitude

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 327
professedly Christian, without having given themselves
to the Saviour by an individual act. There is no
root in their attachment to His person ; they follow
Him to-day for the very same reason that will induce
them to abandon Him to-morrow. As there is nothing
earnest in their faith, as soon as ever the following of
Christ shall require them to pass by the judgment
hall and by Calvary, they will not hesitate, but will
be found with the persecutors against the persecuted,
and perhaps will be the most violent of the number !
They will follow out to the end the impulse received.
Passive instruments of the anger of others, they will
serve that anger basely, even though it lead them to
crime. Always, to the end of time, shall the unde
cided and wavering multitude be seen in the day of
peril turning against Christ and cursing Him whom
they once adored ! Whoever has not been detached
from this multitude by a positive and regenerative act,
which has divided his life into two portions, is a latent
enemy of Christ, whose hostility will sooner or later
be revealed by circumstances. Satan counts upon
him, and will know where to find him in his time.
But whom do I see next among the enemies of
Christ ? An apostle, one of the twelve, a companion
of the Saviour ! What ! was it not enough that so
many foes were leagued against Him, but must the
most cowardly defection thin the ranks of His natural
defenders ? And let it not be supposed that this was
the execution of a fatal decree which, taking off the
responsibility from Judas, would bring to weigh upon
Christ the accusation of having chosen him in order
the more surely to ruin him — an idea which no theo
logy in the world could induce us to accept, and which
runs counter to the sovereign assertions of conscience 1-

328 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
The mystery is great — who can doubt it ? But we
accept it as it is, provided only that it be not employed
to overturn the moral world; for Christianity could
not survive morality but with it must be maintained
or overthrown. Christ chose Judas to make him an
apostle, not a demon, and if he became a demon the
cause must be sought in himself alone. God who
brings good out of evil, did in the end make use of him
as He makes use of Satan, but He no more desired the
crime of Judas than He desired the existence of hell.
The defection of the apostle remains then a moral fact
holding out to us a terrible warning. Here was a
man who had no doubt felt a certain attraction towards
Christ, and in whom the Master had recognized cer
tain dispositions adapting him for a grand vocation.
This man was, during three years, near to Christ, and
yet it was he who sold Him ! He allowed the most
fatal tendencies to get the rule within him and sought
to follow them, while still in the Master's service. He
asked of Him glory and power, and when he saw that
shame and the cross were coming in their stead, he
wished to compensate himself for the disappointment,
and so received the thirty pieces of silver ! Just as in
every age the world has found a Caiaphas to conspire
against Christ, a Pilate to condemn Him, an ungrate
ful people to demand His death, so has it ever found
a Judas to betray Him. There are but few churches
that can hear without well-warranted fear those words
of our Lord : " One of you shall betray me!" Ah!
how should we not work out our salvation with trem
bling when we remember this saying? There has
always been a traitor at hand when he was needed for
the plans of Satan ! My God ! let it not be one of
us; for of all miseries the greatest, the most awful, is

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 329
that of betraying the Saviour ! Let us labour for Him,
for Him alone, without any thought of personal interest
or of human glory, and then shall we be able to say
that " the prince of this world hath nothing in us."
Such, then, brethren, were the enemies of Christ.
They were both numerous and skilful. They pos
sessed power and reputation ; and they had a traitor
on whom they could reckon. They were not deterred
by any scruple. Christ, on the contrary, was alone
with a few disciples who were soon to flee ; He had
no external power, nor did He wish for any, but put
it far from Him. How, then, could He stand against
enemies so formidable ? His very weakness was His
strength — weak on the human side, He was almighty
on the divine. He is one with the Father, and this
unity rendered Him invincible. He needed no human
skill, because He had but one desire, and that was to
reveal the whole truth. Finally, He had love that
even the furies of hell could not affect. This is why
the Lamb of God was at the same time that Lion of
Judah whom prophecy has shewn us marching in His
strength. And now that we are acquainted with the combat
ants, let us witness the combat, the successive phases
of which it will not be difficult rapidly to trace.
The first phase of Christ's ministry came to an end in
the synagogue of Capernaum. He knew that for the
future the conflict must be waged and carried on without
interruption to the hour of His death. He wished to
prepare His disciples and to prepare Himself for the serious
events that were at hand, and He therefore retired with
them far from the ordinary scene of His activity. And
this He ever did on the eve of each important crisis of
His life. The need of solitude was remarkable in our

330 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
Lord. He could never do without the desert, for thither
He went to collect new forces for His days of trial ;
shewing us that the source of all fruitful activity, like
the sources of great rivers, is hidden in solitary places ;
that it also springs from rugged heights far from the
tumults of the world. Let the Church not forget the
example of the Master, but like Him frequently keep
its watch in the desert ; let it take refuge in the sacred
solitude of divine communion before engaging in con
flict; let it often return thither, feeling that, if the
Master needed to do so, much more should the disciples
repair their spiritual strength in silence and seclusion !
Jesus Christ crossed the lake of Gennesaret to go
northward into Galilee, to Cesarea Philippi. He took
advantage of this journey to converse with His disciples
upon the mission which they had accomplished in His
name in the smaller towns of Judea and of Galilee, by
which mission He had designed to give them a practi
cal lesson in the work to which they were called. He
recognized that notwithstanding the weakness of their
faith they had decidedly risen above the prejudices of
their contemporaries, and He shewed, on occasion of
Peter's saying, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God," that the explicit and courageous confession
of His name would be in all ages the foundation-stone
of the Church. At the same time He clearly announced
His death to His disciples, and for the future spoke
of it frequently. He desired to prepare them for it,
and also to make them understand that this death was
on His part a free and conscious sacrifice. The pro
phetic words of Christ on this subject are of great im
portance. He was the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world, because He foretold and accepted
His death. On the northern frontier of Galilee He

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 33 1
met that Canaanitish woman, whose unwearied faith
obtained from His power a splendid miracle, leaving
us a most admirable example of persevering prayer.
It was in returning from this journey that the miracle
of the transfiguration took place. Have you ever
observed the subject of the conversation of Christ with
Moses and Elias during that hour of glory amid the
celestial brightness ? They spoke, we are told, of His
death and of His cross, affording a new proof that this
time of seclusion was for the Lord a solemn preparation
for the sufferings and griefs that awaited Him.
After having thus fortified Himself on this glorious
mount, and received the startling testimony of His
Father, Christ returned to Jerusalem. To go thither
was to go to conflict, and He knew it ; but the time
had come when He should sustain that conflict with
indomitable energy. I shall put aside now all facts of
detail, and confine myself to a general outline, en
deavouring above all to bring out the Saviour's bear'
ing in this combat, the sanguinary result of which He
knew full well.
He reached the holy city at the time when one of
the great Jewish feasts was being celebrated, the feast
of tabernacles. He knew that ever since the cure
wrought on the Sabbath day, He had had implacable
enemies at Jerusalem, and that they had power to do
Him harm. Had He consulted human prudence
therefore, He would have been silent ; for to proclaim
His doctrine was to place Himself in opposition to the
Sanhedrim. What, then, did He do? Saint John
tells us, relating the words of some of his hearers :
" Is not this He," said the Jews, " whom they seek
to kill? But, lo, He speaketh boldly." You hear
this; He speaketh boldly. He does not teach in

332 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
secret. No; He enters the temple in which the
multitude congregate, and proclaims His doctrine in
the very face of His enemies with amazing force. He
has thus taught us what attitude the Church should
assume in the great fight of truth, which is ever being
renewed, and with what courageous fidelity it should
respond to the threatenings of its adversaries. He
who at Jerusalem spoke boldly, was the same who, on
a recent occasion, had commanded to render unto
Cassar the things which were Caesar's. And by His
example He shewed that His disciples should recog
nize established authorities, and submit to their pre
scriptions so long as they impinge not on the rights of
God. But the same impulse of conscience that leads
them to obey within such limits, compels them to dis
obey as soon' as those limits are passed. Christ spoke
boldly, because it was a duty to speak, when souls
were to be saved. As the great Ambassador of the
Father, as the Messenger of His love, the Saviour
could not be silent ! What ! because it had pleased
a few sinful men to lay the truth under an interdict,
to forbid its witness and representative to speak, should
He be silent ? When He knew that He had a word
of healing for lost souls, should He be silent ? When
God had said to Him, " Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people," should He be silent ? When He saw that
people like sheep wandering in the desert, should He
be silent ? Let those who have nothing useful to say,
be silent and be prudent! Christ will speak, and
speak boldly, because He has the words of eternal
life ; and He will be heard to cry within a few steps of
the priests and doctors who had resolved to take Him
prisoner, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me
and drink." It was not from man that He would ask

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 333
permission to save and deliver souls. He must speak
freely by the right of divine love, of His own love.
He must speak alike under all circumstances, before
His judges as before His disciples. His voice should
only be stifled in His blood, and from that blood there
should rise a testimony more powerful than all His
discourses. And thus will all speak who have a
doctrine of salvation to proclaim to a perishing world ;
they cannot be silent. The good news of pardon
cannot be withheld, and whoever should keep it to
himself under pretext of being forbidden to announce
it, would .prove thereby that He had not really received
it. This freedom in conveying the evangelical testi
mony is moreover not only the accomplishment of a
duty, it is also the secret of irresistible power. It
denotes such strength of conviction that it attracts
souls that feel the need of solid faith. It is as it were
the seal of a divine mission. Thus do we hear the
people cry out while listening to Christ : Truly
this is a prophet. This courage produces an inefface
able impression on men's hearts, placing him who
manifests it above all difficulties and all opposition.
Oh that the Church of our day may not deprive itself
of the power which springs from indomitable fidelity !
But the Lord not only proclaimed the good tidings
of salvation, He also openly combated error. We
saw, on occasion of His apology, how He established
the truth of His doctrine by appealing to the con
science of his hearers ; and we then remarked the
character of sincerity in His words. But He went
further still. Not content with pointing out, in a
general manner, that incredulity had its source in sin,
He attacked the men of His time, characterizing them
as they deserved; and specifying the peculiar form of

334 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
error and of sin in the presence of which He found
Himself. He unmasked His adversaries, and even
hurled at them terrible anathemas. His words had a
bitter point for false teachers and hypocrites. Look
through His discourses at this period, as contained in
the eighth, ninth, and tenth chapters of Saint John,
and you will acknowledge that no disputant ever dis
played more vigour than Christ. "Ye are from be'
neath ; I am from above. Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do."1 " Woe
unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites ! forye devour
widows' houses. Ye fools and blind : ye strain at a
gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are like unto whited
sepulchres. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how
can ye escape the damnation of hell?"2 Is this the
meek and humble Master who speaks ? Is it Jesus of
Nazareth, the friend of the afflicted, He who took
little children and blessed them ? Yes, brethren, it is
still the Saviour. He was not contented with affirm
ing the truth; but also denounced indignantly the
false teachers of His time. He did not share the
scruples of many Christians, who are ready to take
offence at the first animated attack upon those by
whom our holy religion is disfigured. The example
of Christ teaches us that the Church, in the combat
of truth, cannot dispense with a vigorous controversy.
It should, of course, be elevated and serious like that
of Christ ; it should address itself continually to the
heart and conscience : but it should be cutting and
energetic ! To affirm truth is no doubt the first duty
of the Church. It should build up — its work is essen-
1 John viii. » Matthew xxiii.

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 33$
tially positive ; but it should also destroy. It would
not be enough to manifest the Gospel, if the doctrines
that oppose it were not overthrown. The human
heart is so fertile in illusions that it would seek to
harmonize error with truth if it were not driven to
choose between one and the other. It is necessary,
then, that Christians should forcibly protest against all
adulteration of the truth ; and should indicate aloud
all that appears to them contrary to that truth in a
manner not to be mistaken. So long as they have not
fulfilled this duty, they are more or less responsible for
the misunderstandings which their silence sanctions.
And how should we not protest, with some warmth,
when we know the value of souls, and see them taken
in the snares of the devil ? Let those who see no
danger in spiritual blindness use all possible caution
in the enlightening of their erring brethren ; but for
ourselves, who believe that blindness to be fatal, we
will tear the bandages from their eyes with a hand
that may be thought to be rude. And if we are
accused of a lack of charity, let it be known that such
a reproach touches Christ Himself; for never will our
words equal the burning indignation which appeared
in His. For ourselves, we recognize in that indigna
tion the same love which caused Him to weep over
the impenitence of Jerusalem. How should not He,
who wept thus, have experienced a holy wrath against
the instigators of the rebellion ?
At the same time it was not enough for Christ
openly to denounce the false teachers of His day. He
never for an instant ceased to do good, and His works
of mercy inflicted the most dangerous wounds on His
adversaries ; and thus- precipitated the close of the
struggle. The marvellous cure of the man who had

336 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
been bom blind excited great admiration in the people,
and, consequently, great fury in the Sanhedrim,
which was still increased by the simplicity and candour
of the man's own testimony. Our Lord thought it
well to withdraw Himself, for the second time, from
the hatred of His enemies. He went again into
Galilee, but made only a short sojourn there, return
ing through Samaria to Jerusalem, for the feast of the
dedication. The opposition between Him and the
Jews became now more bitter than ever. He avoided
several murderous attacks, and retired with His dis
ciples to the banks of the Jordan. It was there that
He received the news of the sickness of Lazarus, upon
which He braved all dangers to go and comfort the
sisters of His friend; and, finally, raised him to life
before a great number of Jews. This miracle, accom
plished at the gates of Jerusalem, brought to its height
the fury of His enemies. His death was quite deter
mined on ; and we now enter the third period of His
ministry, which comprehends His last journey to Jeru
salem, His passion and His death. Thus, in spite of
all the dangers that surrounded Him, Christ continued
His mission of love. He never allowed Himself to be
absorbed in His controversy with the pharisees ; but
sought to do good, to comfort the afflicted, and heal
the sick, as in the first period of His ministry. No
thing could deter Him from scattering His benefits.
A sublime example for the militant church, which has
no better means of defence or of conquest than its
love ! Let us beware of ever neglecting the work of
consolation with which we are charged, under the pre
tence that we are engaged in meeting unjust attacks.
Let us meet • them as Christ did, by opening the
treasury of grace, and becoming its more generous

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 337
dispensers. The enemies of Christianity are completely
vanquished by this response of love, which clearly
demonstrates the excellence of the religion that they
calumniate, and heaps coals of fire on their heads.
The Saviour's adversaries were plainly recognized as
vanquished by Him, since to His latest miracles they
could only oppose a hateful crime. What a frightful
part did they act during the whole of the conflict !
While Christ opposed them by openly preaching His
doctrine, comforting the afflicted, healing the sick, and
pointedly attacking the unworthy rulers of the nation,
they employed against Him methods the most per
fidious. They had but two weapons at their service,
which were cunning and violence. Now they laid
snares for Christ, and libelled Him ; now they urged
the people on to stone Him. They had no other
argument to bring to bear against Him than the sense
less one of brutal force. When the Lord overpowered
them by His last and most brilliant miracle, they in
voked against Him murder and treason. He must die
— this was their determination. To buy over Judas,
to pay false witnesses — these were their tactics. They
never thought that they were thus providing a most
effectual vindication of Christianity ; by taking the
ground of violence and cunning, they proved that it
could only be damaged by means infamous and abomin
able, and could not, in any way, be conquered by
honourable weapons.
We have now reached the last period of the minis
try of Christ. His hour had come, the solemn hour
of indescribable suffering, and of perfect obedience !
Now, especially, may we say with John the Baptist :
"Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin
of the world!" Behold Him slain and bleeding!

338 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
Christ withdrew with His disciples after the raising
of Lazarus to Ephraim, which was near to the wil
derness.1 The passover was at hand, therefore He
passed but a few days in this secluded place, and at
Jericho joined the numerous parties which were com
ing from all parts of the country to the holy city.
Once again He manifested His power in the cure of
blind Bartimeus, and in the remarkable conversion of
the publican Zaccheus. From Jericho Christ went to
Bethany, to spend the Sabbath in the family of Lazarus.
Many times before had He come thither to seek for
repose, for here was He tenderly loved ; and fervent
gratitude had been combined with love since the rais
ing of Lazarus. Mary, whom Luke has described for
us as listening to Jesus, and the bare sketch of whom
in the Gospel has given us a type of deep inward piety,
which is full of sweetness and beauty — Mary now
sought to express all the love and gratitude which her
heart contained for the Master, by emptying upon His
feet a vase of perfume. Let us leave the avaricious
Judas to complain of this, and let us bless her for hav
ing rendered this pious homage to the Saviour! Alas !
those feet were soon to be torn by nails ; soon would
He be given up to ignominy. It is sweet to us to
think that ere that time came He should have found in
this sinful world some hearts that understood Him and
comforted Him beforehand. But the Lord soon
quitted Bethany to go up to the feast, the companies
of travellers joining Him on the road. These
travellers had no doubt heard of the raising of
Lazarus, and they felt for Christ the enthusiasm of
former days, and led Him again in triumph to Jeru-
1 John xi. 54.

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 339
salem ; scattering palm leaves on His path, and sing
ing hymns to His glory ! And He consented to this
triumph in order to remind His disciples, in a visible
manner, that glory belonged to Him, and that if He
deprived Himself of it voluntarily, the day would
come for Him to take it again in its utmost splendour.
The day of palms was the prophecy of the future
triumph of the Church, and of its divine Lord. At
Jerusalem Christ met once more His obstinate enemies,
who sought to turn His triumph into confusion by
proposing to Him difficult questions ; but the Saviour's
indignation burst forth on them, vehement and terri
ble, and they had not a word to say in reply. It was
at this period, also, that Christ uttered the prophecies
about Jerusalem and the future of the Church, and
those solemn parables in which He recommended to His,
disciples the vigilance of the wise virgins, and the
fidelity of the good servants in administering the talents
intrusted to them.
Our Lord had now but a few hours to pass on
earth before the great sacrifice. He went to the
upper room where the feast of the passover was pre
pared, and no human words can describe the scene
that took place there on that solemn eve. After
having washed His disciples' feet, that He might teach
them by a palpable sign what He meant by humility,
He broke the bread and passed the cup, saying, "This
do in remembrance of me." The Lord's supper was
instituted as the sacrament of redemption and the
feast of love. The traitor had just gone out to com
plete his accursed work. Then did the Master pour
out His heart into the hearts of His disciples ! Pro
mises, consolations, the overflowings of holy and divine
love, all are contained in these last discourses, in which

340 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
the very soul of Christ is breathed. Nothing can be
compared with them. It is the christian heaven that
opens ; that region of purity and love of which we so
rarely catch a glimpse, here spreads itself before us,
luminous, profound, serene.
After having spoken to His disciples, Christ spoke
for them to His Father. He took them to His breast,
and placed them under the eternal arms, and then He
could say, with His eyes raised towards God, " I
have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do."
He had finished it, no doubt, but it remained for
Him to crown it by His death. He had gone with
His disciples into the garden of Olives. Once more
He sought seclusion, for He had to prepare Himself
for the final combat. What a night was that passed
in Gethsemane ! While the disciples were sleeping
for sorrow, He remained alone in the presence of the
terrible sacrifice that He was to offer on the morrow.
All the bitterness of human life was poured into His
cup. How He groaned ! He uttered loud cries,
He lay in the dust, great drops of blood stood on
His brow ! Men have been found impious enough
to mock at His anguish, and to draw from it an
argument against Him ; but we would have them
know that it is by this anguish and this extreme
humiliation that we recognize our Deliverer ! That
Saviour who fought and suffered, who prayed and
wept, it is He that we need ; for the cry, "Father,
Thy will be done ! " certainly came from a human
heart, since it came from a heart that was broken,
and for our salvation that cry overpowers the first
Adam's cry of rebellion !
The day of execution has dawned, and we see Judas
with his impious band. But they could not endure

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. 341
the lustre of holiness which shone from the person of
Christ. They fell down as if thunderstruck, and only
gained possession of Him because He was willing to
give Himself up. From the insults of the Sanhedrim
He passed to the outrages 'of the judgment hall.
The cowardly Pilate condemned Him in spite of his
conscience ; and crowned with thorns He was led to
Calvary, sinking under His cross. The Jews there
crucified Him between two thieves, and had even the
shameful daring to mock at His sufferings !
Fix your eyes, then, on this cross, my brethren,
and never remove them thence. It is this which con
summates your redemption ! All the sufferings that
constitute condemnation were comprised in this sacri
fice — comprised and accepted in one act of perfect
obedience, accepted by the Just and Holy One,
and consequently transformed into a saving expiation.
Shall I speak of bodily sufferings ? I may point to
those sacred limbs so frightfully torn. Shall I speak
of sufferings of the heart ? I appeal to the disgrace,
to the disciples in flight, to the afflicted mother and
friend weeping near the shameful tree, on whom
Christ cast a glance so full of sadness and of love !
Shall I speak of anguish of soul, of the cry : My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? The
mysterious identity between condemned humanity and
the only Son of the Father is revealed in these
astounding words which no human explanation can
interpret in a satisfactory manner ! Shall I speak
of the woe that combines and unites all others, of that
which is especially the wages of sin — I mean death ?
However marvellous it may appear, the Prince of life
has died ; He has been buried ; the wages of sin He
z

342 Jesus Christ a Sacrifice.
has received — He, the innocent one. Shew us a
single suffering wanting at the cross, excepting that of
remorse ? Shew us a single thorn lacking in the
bloody crown ? If then it be true, that all the sorrows
of human life were poured upon this innocent head,
if He made of them one single sacrifice, and offered it
to His Father in its voluntariness and in its sanctity,
we must confess that nothing more remains to be done
for salvation, for there is nothing more to suffer,
nothing more to accept, and we may say with Him :
"It is finished !"
Yes, "it is finished." The great work which we
have tried to describe to you, begun on the day after
the fall, continued during forty centuries of prepara
tion, carried on without intermission by the Son of
God Himself, has now reached its conclusion ! Divine
love is no longer in the presence of rebellion, but of a
love equal to itself. There is no more discord between
it and humanity. There is perfect harmony, absolute
union, — and this union is the re-establishment of man
in His high condition ; it is salvation. To the revolt
in Eden we can oppose the sacrifice of Golgotha ; to
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the tree of
the cross; to humanity in rebellion humanity obedient
unto death ; Christ, in a word, to all condemnation
and all perdition ! Therefore would we henceforth
know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We would pitch our tents on the mountain of the
cross ! There, day by day, would we learn afresh
the goodness of our God and the love of our Saviour,
and read our pardon in those characters of blood in
which alone it could be written for a race perverse as
ours ! There would we sing the praises of the Lamb

Jesus Christ a Sacrifice. .343
that was slain for us, and has taken away the sin of
the world ! Thence would we derive love and con
solation, and, dying to ourselves with Christ crucified,
would prepare to rise with the risen Christ unto life
everlasting !

XII.
JESUS CHRIST A KING.

" Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory." — i Tim. iii. 16.
We have looked at the work of Christ on two sides.
We have considered Him as a prophet and as a sacri
fice ; we must now regard Him as a king. And thus
shall we have completed this grand and magnificent
subject, or at least completed the sketch of its external
outline. To enter into its inner depths, our whole
life would not suffice, nor will they be exhausted in
eternity. We have recognized and adored redeeming love
in the prophet who traversed Judea and Galilee
announcing the kingdom of God, and in the holy
victim slain on Calvary ; nor shall we less adore it in
the divine king of the Church. The words of Christ
were the words of love, His sacrifice was the sacrifice
of love, and His royalty was the royalty of love.
Our text, after referring to the incarnation in these
words: "God was manifest in the flesh," presents
to us, in the clauses that follow, the successive phases
of our Lord's royalty: "He was justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory."
His resurrection, His ascension, the power of His

Jesus Christ a King. 345
Gospel over the church and the world, and His final
triumph, such are the different degrees of His glory.
Let us trace them rapidly in order, to perceive that
His kinglyywork was no less perfect than His prophetic
or His priestly one, and that we no more have to look
for another king than for another prophet or another
sacrifice. If Christ did not enter on His royalty in an evident
manner until after His resurrection, He yet never
ceased to be in a spiritual sense a king. He no more
ceased to be a king than to be God. His divinity
like His royalty was veiled; He had voluntarily
quenched the brightness of both by His abasement.
The king of glory had taken on Him the form of a
servant, but under that form He was still no less the
king of glory. Thus we are told that the celestial
spirits, whose glance cannot be obscured or deceived
by appearances, worshipped Him at the very moment
of His greatest humiliation. He was adored by
angels in the wilderness of the temptation. On more
than one occasion His royalty shone forth like a bright
and rapid flash of lightning. Who is this, said the
people, who speaks with authority to the winds and
the waves ? Who is this that forgives sin ? Strange
to say, it was before the tribunal of His judge, it was
on the cross that the eternal kingship which belonged
to Christ was revealed in the most positive manner.
Think, brethren, of the amazing declaration of the
Lord to Pilate. " Art thou a king ? " asked the pro
consul scornfully, wishing by cold irony to set forth
the contrast between His position as accused and His
high pretensions. "I am a king, thou sayest it,"
replied Christ. ' ' Whence, then, is thy right, thy power ? '
"It is here : I am a king, for I bear witness unto the

346 Jesus Christ a King.
truth." Thus, according to Christ, the testimony
borne to the truth invested Him with true royalty.
Truth, in fact, brethren, is made to reign, and reigns
by a divine and absolute right. The eternal thought
of" God, it must of necessity be realized. It cannot
but triumph, for its defeat would be the defeat of
God Himself. To it belongs the ultimate teaching in
all ages, the teaching which brings light absolutely
into the ever-renewed chaos of human opinions. - It
alone has deep roots, because it is rooted in God.
That which is opposed to it has but a borrowed and
essentially transitory life. Every idea, every doctrine
that comes not from it is destined to feed upon itself, and
however brilliant be its blooming it will soon be said :
" I passed by and it was no more." Truth advances
slowly but surely to universal dominion. The
sovereign in heaven, it must reign with splendour upon
earth. It matters little if it be often subjected to
ignominy. The ignominy is but for a time, and
the glory shall be eternal. It matters little if it
be apparently supplanted by usurpers. It is not the
less queen and sovereign. Each new usurpation
prepares for it a new triumph. Whoever bears
witness to it connects himself with its glorious
destinies. Whoever utters a word of truth utters a
royal word that must be victorious over all contradic
tion. We share in its royalty in the measure in which
we are faithful to it. Thus, if a man be found who
possesses the truth not in part, but in completeness,
who is identified therewith, we may say that that man is
king in an absolute sense. Such a man has been found
— the God-man. He was not merely the witness to
the truth, but also its living expression. He could
say, I am. the truth. And with equal right He

Jesus Christ a King. 347
could say, I am a king ; for even in our sinful world,
the truest, the most durable, the only immortal and
invincible royalty is that of the truth. It is well for
us to remember this when we see that truth ensnared,
insulted, trodden under foot.
Christ shewed Himself a king also on His cross.
"Having spoiled principalities and powers," says Saint
Paul, " He made a shew of them openly, triumphing
over them in His cross."1 These principalities and
powers represent in Scripture language the forces of
evil acting in the world and ruling it; and Christ
shewed Himself a kingwith regard to these in two ways.
First He made a shew of them, then He triumphed over
them. His adversaries had supposed that by nailing
Him to the cursed tree, and inflicting on Him the pun
ishment of a slave, they were dishonouring Him for
ever. But they were deceived; the infamy fell on them
and not on the victim. It was seen what the world was
fundamentally, — that world, the enemy of God, which
in the ordinary course of life conceals its hatred and
succeeds in passing for honest. Here on the cross it
was fully unmasked — seen without its veil which had
so often been woven of apparent virtues, of hypocriti
cal moderation, and vain religiousness. On this ter
rible day it stood entirely revealed, as the murderer
of the Holy One and the Just, finding no suffering
sufficient for its animosity. Long had it nourished
in the depths of its heart this impious hatred against
Christ ; but it had been silent. Now it spoke, and
manifested itself in full liberty. What had till then
been whispered, burst forth openly in the awful cry :
"Crucify Him, cmcifyHim!" The powers of the
world were then truly made a shew of before heaven
1 CoL a. 15.

348 Jesus Christ a King.
and earth. They found in the cross a position of in
famy, and could never escape from it again. They were
torn from the obscurity in which they love to dwell,
plotting against God and against His Anointed. Christ,
condemned to death, overwhelmed with the shouts of
an ungrateful people, appearing the most abandoned
and pitiful of men, was in reality a triumphant Con
queror, dragging after Him His vanquished enemies,
and making them a shew.
Triumphant ! the word is not too strong, my breth
ren, and the apostle was warranted in adding that the
cross of Christ did triumph over the powers of the
age. The world first tried, by the excess of the tor
ments inflicted on the Saviour, to trouble His soul.
Satan endeavoured to take it in the snare of pleasure
and worldly glory, and was, as we have seen, ignomi-
niously vanquished. He attempted on the cross to
crush that strong and holy soul, by suffering carried
to its utmost limit. And he found that he had but
given a new lustre to its moral perfection. If Christ
shuddered in Gethsemane before the fatal cup, this
shuddering had no other result than that of rendering
His obedience more real, more human, more redeem
ing. The hateful ingratitude of the Jews could not
excite in His heart a single bitter or irritated feeling.
Nailed to the cross, He still remained the incarnation
of love. It was not possible to diminish that exceed
ing love which, in itself alone, revealed His divinity.
You may spit upon Him, smite Him on the face, nail
and tear His limbs, mock at His sufferings, offer Him
vinegar when He said, I thirst — drown His groans in
laughter. You may slay Him, but you cannot kindle
within Him a spark of anger. Approach Him at the
moment when the soul is about to quit the body,

Jesus Christ a King. 349
when it is weakened by extremest suffering ! Hearken
to the latest words of His agony: "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do I" This is His
vengeance and His wrath. Recognize, then, your
impotence, and, overcome and as it were crushed by
His forgiveness, confess that your victim triumphs over
you by the force of love, and that never even in the
glory of heaven had He displayed more sublimity than
in this dark hour cf His humiliation. Moreover, for
get not that this death was the sacrifice of redemption,
the crushing of the serpent's head. Often in the heat
of a combat a conquering chief, covered with dust and
blood, seems nearer to defeat than to victory. But
what signify appearances ? He knows full well that
the enemy is in flight, and that he is inflicting his last
blows. When Christ exclaimed at the moment of
yielding up His spirit, It is finished ! He uttered His
cry of victory. This cry escaped Him as His breast
heaved with its latest breath, but not less surely had
He broken the strength of the great adversary. The
powers of the age were vanquished. They knew it
not, but supposed on the contrary that they had freed
themselves from this awful representative of the cause
of God. At the very hour when hell was perhaps
rejoicing at having destroyed the plan of divine love,
what was this crucified and vanquished one doing?
He was opening heaven to a poor repentant sinner.
"This day," He said to the penitent thief, "shalt
thou be with me in Paradise." What more striking
proof could be afforded that the wicked one had, as
ever, failed in his scheme, and that in fact Christ had
triumphed on the cross over the powers of the world,
after having made a shew of them openly.
But let us hasten, brethren, to remark that this

350 Jesus Christ a King.
moral kingship, of which Christ could not be for an
instant deprived, did not suffice to Him. It was to
lead to an external and brilliant royalty ; to have its
crown and its sceptre. We must not think that
obedience and righteousness are recompensed only in
a mystical way, if I may so express it, by the inward
happiness which they excite in the heart. This moral
satisfaction is certainly a precious compensation for the
sacrifices which are involved by the sincere and con
sistent practice of goodness in this world, but it is not
the only consolation of the righteous who are perse
cuted. They should know that if the present be
against them from a worldly point of view, the future
is on their side in every sense. If it were otherwise
the tempter's lies would be in part justified. He tries
to make us believe in a kind of opposition between
goodness and happiness. According to his treacherous
suggestions, sin and happiness are on one side, and on
the other duty and afflictions. It is important that
this false and dangerous method of stating the case
should be corrected, and that it should be understood
that man does not really have to choose between good
ness and happiness. Looking at things not simply in
the sphere of the finite, in which all is begun and
nothing finished, and no final judgment can be passed
upon anything, but from an eternal point of view, the
only one that is true and conclusive, happiness and
goodness would appear indissolubly united. The law
of goodness is the expression of that will which
governs the world. He who has promulgated it is the
Almighty One, and He will give it satisfaction in every
domain. It follows that the narrow way of obedience
and sacrifice, leading at first over hard and stony
ground, must be ever rising towards serener heights,

Jesus Christ a King. 3 < 1
till it end in light and glory. The broad road, on the
contrary, grows more gloomy continually as it tends
to the dark abyss in which at length it wholly dis
appears. If, then, the path of Calvary did not con
duct to the gate of heaven, the law of God would lose
its perfect character. The sacrifice of Christ must of
necessity lead to triumph and to royalty, and it is of
this external royalty that we have now to speak,
closely following our text.
It is first said of the Saviour that He was "justified
in the Spirit." What, then, are we to understand
by these words ? For Christ, to be justified in the
Spirit was to receive in a solemn manner the confir
mation of His words before the world; for this
justification would be like a divine seal placed on
His mission, an irrefragable declaration of the justice
of His cause and of the acceptance of His sacrifice
by His Father. Now for such a justification nothing
less was necessary than His resurrection. If He
had not risen He would have been proved to be
only an impostor, or at least an imperfect Saviour.
His name would have been added to the long list of
pretended Messiahs which chronicles the deceptions of
mankind. Christ asserted beforehand that He should
not remain in the tomb. If He had remained there He
must have been but a fallible man, and His teaching, in
validated on one point, would have lost all value in our
eyes. Christ declared Himself the Son of God; butifHe
who professed to be the creating Word could not escape
from the power of death, it would have been evident
to all that He was only one of ourselves. Finally,
and above all, He had called Himself the Redeemer,
the conqueror of sin. Had He not risen, His death
would have been heroic and sublime, but without any

3 52 Jesus Christ a King.
expiatory value. His last words must then have been
regarded as the ravings of a sufferer, and the wind
would have carried away His exclamation: "It is
finished !" like the utterance of a dying man's delirium.
The resurrection is then the only adequate and com
plete justification of His ministry. It is not only the
crown of His work, but also its necessary completion.
We know that this is one of the miracles that are
most offensive to incredulity, and that seem to it espe
cially absurd and impossible. It discourses cleverly on
the laws of our physical being ; it demonstrates with
force and clearness that from a natural point of view
the principle of life when once extinguished cannot be
rekindled, and it treats the resurrection of our Saviour
as a ridiculous fable. For ourselves we cannot hesi
tate between a material and a moral impossibility. The
latter alone seems to us absolute and invincible. We
also believe in the permanence and inflexibility of the
law of the creation ; but that which is the axis around
which everything turns is not a material but a moral
law. To it the laws of the physical world are neces
sarily subordinated ; for it God has already shaken the
earth,1 and to give it a final consecration He has said :
" Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven," — as if to shew us in the most solemn way
that all the natural laws that rule the external world
are nothing in His eyes compared with the fundamental
law of the spiritual world. Tell us no more, then, of
the impossibility of the resurrection ! An apostle tells
us what is really impossible, for Saint Peter says : " It
was not possible that He should be holden of death."1
That was impossible, because, death being the wages of
sin, the justice of God would have been infault had Christ
1 Heb. xii. 26, 27. 1 Acts ii. 24.

Jesus Christ a King. 353
been retained in its bonds after the redeeming sacrifice.
God could not demand again the payment of a debt
already discharged. These bonds of death must be
broken by Christ in the name of a necessity higher than
all the necessities of natural order. It was impossible
that He should be held in them as it was impossible that
God should be unjust. What mattered it, then, that on
the evening of the day of Christ's death all seemed to
be over in the view of His enemies, and even of His
friends, who withdrew to shed the bitter tears of despair ?
What availed that new sepulchre and the stone rolled
without? What availed the guard set around the
tomb to watch ? What mattered it that a night and
a day went by, and that the third day began before
death gave up its prey ? Be not disturbed at the sight
of those women bringing the perfumes consecrated to
the embalming of dead bodies. What mattered those
funeral cares that evinced so little faith, and so much
affection for the Master ? Spite of all these appear
ances it was not possible that He should remain in the
grave. The stone is heavy, but it will be rolled away
by the angels of God, the guard set around will flee
at their appearing, and the pious women who came
sadly to pay the last duties to their Lord, will return
with a song of triumph, for behold, on the morning
of this third day He has risen. He has shaken off
His winding-sheet, and soon will He be recognized by
the palpable signs of His crucifixion as well as by
the accents of His voice, which will cause the hearts of
His disciples to burn within them. Justified in the Spirit
before His own, He will be justified also before the
world by their testimony, and this testimony shall be so
clear, so precise, and so unanimous in spite of differ-,
ences in detail, «which d,o but bring out all the more

354 Jesus Christ a King.
the accordance in essential points, that to shake it
the very foundations of historical certainty will need
to be overthrown. The witness of their life and of
their death will be more powerful still, for by their
calmness in suffering, by their joy in chains or under
the blows of their persecutors, by their radiant hope
in the midst of death, even of execution, they will not
cease to say: He is risen, and this is the secret of our
courage and our peace. Were He not risen, we
should be of all men most miserable ; x but He is, and
though we are the scorn and off-scouring of the world,
though oppressed and overwhelmed on all sides,
wounded, imprisoned, in labours, in watchings, in
fastings, like sheep destined for the slaughter, we are
nevertheless the happiest of men, on the ground of
this glorious resurrection.
You know, brethren, the importance that the
ancient church attached to this fact of the Saviour's
resurrection, which is now kept too much in the shade.
We feel, in reading the discourses of the apostles.
that they could not be weary of dwelling on it. That
great and glorious third day had brought them all
light and all consolation. They saw in Christ not
simply the gentle Master and the resigned victim, but
also the King of glory and the Prince of life. They
comprehended at once His abasement and His great
ness. His humiliations appeared to them what they
really were — a voluntary abnegation. They had a
glimpse, under palpable sacrifices, of the great mysteri
ous sacrifice of the God made man. All the past
assumed for them a profound meaning, and thus the
royalty of Christ illumined His life in the retrospect
with a new brilliancy. Then His resurrection was
1 Cor. xv. 19.

Jesus Christ a King. 355
also in their eyes the triumphant evidence of the Gos
pel. They thought that as it had dissipated their
unbelief it must bring conviction to all hearts that
were not hardened. And they knew also that the
risen Christ was the first-fruits of them that slept, and
that death had been vanquished for them as well as
for Him. It was near His empty sepulchre that they
could sing that hymn of Christian immortality, founded
not on philosophical suppositions, but on a positive
fact : " O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where
is thy victory ?" The resurrection of Christ, the second
Adam, the Lord of humanity, announces then our
own, and thus is it for the Christian a source of inex
haustible consolations. It disarms death in his view, ,
dissipates its terrors and softens its bitterness, for it
takes from mourning the irrevocable character that
would transform it into despair. May this royalty of
the risen Christ be your consolation in the day of
mournful separations, helping you like the patriarch
to rise up from your dead with your heart, though
bleeding, comforted by so great a hope! Say to your
selves, when you see the body of your friend laid in
the tomb, It is not possible that he should remain within
the bonds of death, since those bonds have been rent for
us as for Christ ; and the day will come when this dust,
reanimated and become a glorious body, shall be another
witness of the efficacy of His redemption, and as it
were a second justification in the Spirit of His work.
We read again in our text, " He was seen of
angels." This was the second degree of His glory,
the second sign of His royalty. We understand by
these words the return of Christ to the region of-
divine light, where happy spirits enjoy the presence
and the sight of God. I know well that in speaking

3 56 Jesus Christ a King.
of this region we run the risk of being charged with
materialism ; for according to certain teachers, the as
cension of Christ would seem to be a gross idea, one
of those sports of the Church's infancy of which she
ought to free herself in her full maturity. For our
selves we believe in it, not only because the historical
testimony which informs us of it carries authority in
our view, but also because we have need of the belief.
No doubt communion with God is. unrestricted by
time or space, and heaven sheds its pure felicity into
every heart that possesses the divine fellowship. But
it is not the less true that there is bitter suffering in
inhabiting, even though heaven be in the heart, an
abode darkened by sin. The perpetual contrast be
tween the life of the soul and the mournful spectacle
of a polluted world, is not one of the lightest afflictions
of the righteous. We have need of harmony, and
certainly the sight of evil must have formed a part of
the long endurance of Him whose eyes are too pure
to behold it. We believe,. then, firmly that there is
a region where these distressing contrasts will exist
no longer ; where God will be all in all. This region
which, by an image no less sublime than popular, we
compare to what we know most pure, grand, and
beautiful when we call it heaven, was to re-open for
the risen Christ as the palace of His glory. There
would He exchange the society of men such as Caia-
phas and Judas for that of the holy angels, and receive
in place of shame in a world that had not known Him
the honour that was His due. Long enough had He
suffered indignity ; the eternal Hosanna was now to
drown the clamours of an unjust people. The song
of the Lamb was to replace the hooting of the impious
and ungrateful multitude, and the hymn of the seraph

Jesus Christ a King. 3^7
to succeed the mocking laugh of the pharisee. Ah !
now we understand how much glory is comprised in
those simple words : " He was seen of angels." With
what holy enthusiasm, when the gates of heaven were
lifted up to admit its King, did not the chant of adora
tion resound as if with the sacred desire of compen
sating Him for the outrages of the judgment hall and
of Calvary ! What a moment was that when they
saw Him again, and when amid their faithful hosts
He took His seat once more on that throne which He
had left to offer the holy sacrifice of love, and to
which in the triumph of that love He now returned !
" He was seen of angels."
And here, brethren, a connection, or rather a con
trast presents itself to our mind. In our first discourse
we showed you Eden closed, and the Seraphim de
fending it with their flaming swords, against man
exiled and condemned. Now He who was seen of
angels, celebrated by them, surrounded by their in
numerable choirs, was man still, or rather was man
anew, the head of the race, the type of its destinies !
It was redeemed human nature that was thus wel
comed by the blessed spirits, and is seated, as the apostle
says, in the heavenly places ! Compare this day of
the ascension with the day of condemnation. Compare
the seraphim at the gates of Eden with the angels of
the paradise regained, and you will recognize in this
contrast the greatness of the redeeming work. From
the desolation to the glory how long a road had to be
traversed ! How should we be astonished at the price
paid for such a restoration ! But how complete
was that restoration ! As the fall was deep, so great
was the raising. The fall plunged us into the abyss,
the- raising brings us to God in the person of the
2 a

358 Jesus Christ a King
triumphant Christ. Let not Christianity, then, be
spoken of as a religion that does not raise mankind.
Because it does not flatter the pride of man, he has
thought that it really abased him, and refused him his
legitimate honour. It is not true that pride leads to
glory. It presents only a vain mirage, and draws
humanity to approach that it may be left in the mire
deceived and degraded. Christianity alone satisfies
the need of glory, which has something justifiable in
it when not sophisticated. For a fallen creature glory
is only to be found in recovery, and recovery can begin
only in a recognition of the fall. Humiliation, says
the Scripture, comes before restoration ; that is to say,
it alone leads to glory. It is not an end but a means.
The end is the true glorification of human nature.
Thus while anti-christian doctrines endeavour to hide
the miseries of humanity and to conceal its shame by
artificially disposing the folds of a delusive veil over
its hideous wounds, Christianity tears off the veil that
it may heal the wounds. It stoops to the poor human
creature, fallen and corrupted, and takes him by the
hand, conducts him through forgiveness to heaven,
and places him there ; and upon the very throne of
God he recognizes himself as eternally glorified. It
is thus that the religion of humility degrades and de
bases humanity.
But, my brethren, let not this assimilation between
you and Christ, which we are warranted by the Bible
in carrying very far, prevent your perceiving the
unique and special character of our Lord's royalty.
Forget not that it was said of Him that God had given
Him a name which is above every other name ; that
every knee in heaven and in earth, and under the
earth, should bow before Him ; and that every tongue

Jesus Christ a King. 359
should confess that He is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.1 We owe Him adoration, and we
should express it in all our religious language. .Let
us have a heavenly intimacy with Him, but let us
avoid that undignified familiarity which, in the words
of certain Christians, too much effaces the impression
of reverence. His exceeding love is constantly filling
up the gulph between Himself and us ; He stoops
even to our dust, like a tender brother, to encourage
and raise the humblest Christian. Let us ever shew
that we understand that this loving Saviour is God ;
and ever manifest more and more a practical faith in
His kingship. O sacred name of my Saviour, at once
gentle and holy, we love to bend our knee before
Thee ! O our divine King, while Thou art offended
and disowned on this earth, which Thou hast sprinkled
with Thy blood, we would worship Thee, and drown
in our praises the insults of Thine enemies ! Our re
verence equals our love. At once friends and ser
vants, according to Thine own words — we would rest
with John upon Thy bosom, and sit with Mary at
Thy feet !
We have seen Christ, then, rising and ascending to
His throne ; we must now enquire how He reigns.
His royalty is that of love, and He makes it a glorious
ministry of mercy. He exercises it in heaven, first,
by His sovereign intercession. We read in the Epistle
to the Hebrews, that He intercedes for us. Christ
collects all our prayers, and adds to them His all-power
ful Amen. Begun upon earth, in the depths often
of hearts broken and overwhelmed, they are finished
by His divine lips. He lays before the Father our
iPhil. ii. 9-1 1.

360 Jesus Christ a King.
desires, complaints, and aspirations ; and as He is the
eternal Word, that is to say, the perfect expression of
the thought and will of God, His prayer is granted
before it is offered. To pray thus is to reign ; and
whoever prays in His name shares also in His blessed
royalty. Let no one, then, refuse to pray on the pre
tence of unworthiness. Unworthy of grace you are
and ever must be upon earth ; but you are not alone
in your prayer. He in whose name you pray, and
who prays with you, is worthy of being heard, for He
is the great High Priest, the king of the new cove
nant. If the Son of God were not heard, who could
be so ? But He is and ever must be heard. Not one
of our requests is lost ; all are accepted'and consecrated
by Him. Let them rise to Him, then, without ceas
ing, and blend themselves with His own, as the little
streams are lost in the mighty waters of a broad
river !
But the royalty of Christ manifests itself not only
in His relations with His Father, but also in the power
which He exerts over mankind. We shall soon see
the measure in which this power is exercised ; let us
dwell for the present on its method. It is by the Holy
Spirit that Christ governs and reigns over hearts. As
we have seen, it entered into His design to give the
Holy Spirit to the world; and the work of this
mysterious agent of divine love in our souls charac
terizes, in an especial manner, the reign of Christ.
It is the reign of the Spirit. He is constantly present
in the world, inclining, changing, directing hearts, and
rendering them fruitful. Strangely erroneous notions
are sometimes held regarding the work of the Spirit
of God. Through a false idea of the divine sove
reignty, He has been conceived of as a power like the

Jesus Christ a King. 361
irresistible forces of nature ; the wind that bends or
breaks the tree, the thunderbolt which consumes it.
But this is to confound two domains entirely distinct
— that of necessity, and that of liberty ; the external
and the moral world. It has been thought that grace
was glorified when it was materialized — for it is
materialized when its moral and spiritual character are
taken away. No part of Scripture represents the
Holy Spirit as a power that cannot be resisted. On
the contrary, we are taught that we can repel and
grieve Him. He is only granted to those who ask.
The reign of Christ has then no relation to that sort
of divine sovereignty with which it has too often been
sought to identify it. Such sovereignty, very far from
promoting the glory of God, would diminish it ; for
in truth, infinitely greater power is needed for reign
ing over free beings than over those that are passive
and inert. It is an infinitely grander thing to direct
creatures endowed with intelligence and free will, than
such as can neither resist nor obey. To change a
will is more than to suppress it. Absolute power be
longs to the material world — that is its domain; while
for moral purposes it is condemned to impotence, and
whenever it has attempted to intrude into the spiritual
world, it has been shamefully repulsed. Our ideas of
the liberty of conscience are founded strictly on the
incompetence of absolute power in regard to that which
pertains to the soul and the will. To transform grace
into a sort of divine sovereignty, by supposing it to be
an irresistible force, is then to deprive it of its true
character ; we maintain, in fact, that it is to rob God
of His true power, under pretence of preserving it to
Him. His, power is admirable above all in this, that
it harmonizes with liberty ; and while maintaining that

362 Jesus Christ a King.
liberty, attains its own ends. The Spirit of God
penetrates and transforms us, triumphing over our re
sistance. Grace is a divine persuasion ; it is not by a
stroke of authority, but by a secret and gentle in
fluence that we are won ; and the greatest manifesta
tions of its might are connected, as in the case of
Saint Paul's conversion, with a long inward conflict,
the decision of which may be rapid. Cease, then, to
confound Christianity with fatalism in the intricacies of
a logic which might have been justifiable three cen
turies ago, as a weapon in the great war. against
popish pelagianism, but which in our day would turn
against those who should employ it, and strike them
to death by rendering them the supporters of contem
porary pantheism. Let not the reign of Christ be
compared with what is most evil upon earth ; let not
the power of God be identified with absolute force ;
or the free and mighty Spirit of God be degraded to
the rank of a mechanical and material power.1
Having thus recognized the spiritual nature of
Christ's kingdom, it remains for us to inquire how He
established it upon earth. Our text teaches us that
it comprises two domains — one more general, and
another more special. " He was preached unto the
Gentiles, and believed on in the world." The preach-
1 We know very well that we shall be answered by an appeal to the ninth
chapter of Romans. But we are convinced that the ordinal exegesis here is
very superficial. The general thesis of the apostle is not sufficiently considered
—he is wishing to assert, in opposition to the Jew, the freedom of God's
grace, which is not Umited by any natural fact ; and he employs, in the last
part of the chapter, a style of argumentation adapted to crush his opponent,
and consisting, in fact, of a refusal of the discussion. But we shall absolutely
falsify the authority of Scripture if we dwell on this isolated portion without
interpreting it by the Bible as a whole, and by so many teachings of the
same apostle, which serve as a natural commentary for it. See the develop
ment of Saint Paul's doctrine in the second volume of our History of the Three
First Centuries of the Church.

Jesus Christ a King. 363
ing of the Gospel is the first display of the kingship
of Christ on earth — it is an evidence of His power
that extends everywhere. The faith of Christians is
a higher and more real manifestation of that power ;
for the reign of Christ over the Church is pre-emi
nently His royalty. Let us consider, then, this double
phase of His kingly character.
The apostle Paul regarded the preaching of the
Gospel as forming a part of the mystery of godliness.
We do not attach to it enough importance. In itself,
even before producing faith, it has immense influence.
It puts into circulation a host of true and fruitful
ideas, which, proceeding from revelation, compose a sort
of moral atmosphere that one cannot help breathing.
The Gospel,' by a strange inconsistency, is more
promptly realized in the social than in the individual
sphere. It is in fact easier to draw general inferences
than personal ones, which involve self-renunciation.
However this be, it is certain that the preaching of the
Gospel has had a great effect on the history of man
kind. It has but required to be preached to the
heathen, and paganism, fatally undermined, has crum
bled away stone after stone, till, like a gigantic ruin,
it has sunk entirely into nothingness. We are war
ranted in speaking of a christian civilization in oppo
sition to the heathen one. The modern world has
come gradually under the influence of the Gospel ;
respect for man as man, an interest in the poor, free
dom of thought and faith, all these divine features by
which it is more or less characterized, and without
which it would fall into barbarism, are owed to the
preaching of the Gospel. There is also at the basis
of modem literature a foundation of thoughts and
feelings entirely unknown to the pagan world. If

364 Ji.sus Christ a King.
we put together all these facts we have a right to sly,
in the beautiful words of a great thinker: "Y^u
could not suppress Christianity without tearing up \\j
the roots all that is good and beautiful in that civilis
ation on which you pride yourselves."1 We recog\
nize, then, the royalty of Christ, the royalty of truth^
in these general results of evangelical preaching, and
we firmly believe that there is reserved for us in the
future still more of a salutary application of christian
principles in the domain of social life.
But the preaching of the Gospel reveals in a more
profound sense the kingship of Christ. His word is in
itself a power. It cannot die away without echo, and
fall into empty space. It cannot return to Him without
effect. Wherever it resounds it leaves an ineffaceable
trace of its passage — either the bright lines of redeem
ing love or the furrows of the vengeful lightning. It
binds or it looses. When repulsed it leaves behind it
the dust from the feet of the divine messengers in the
persons of whom it has been anew despised, and in
this dust are sown the severest judgments of God.
When this word comes to a fresh country it is not
certain that it will be received with eagerness, but it is
certain that it will produce the most striking effects.
It will disturb souls and shake consciences. Its
arrival will be known by the anger that it will excite,
and by the actings of the grace that it will, inspire.
It will bring either a blessing or a curse, according to
the way in which it is received. The same fact is
realized in the soul that is brought into contact with
Christ's word. It is a moment of fearful solemnity
when the Gospel comes to a man. His whole future
life depends on the reception that he gives to it.
It will return to heaven either to proclaim His salva-
1 Schleiermacher, Discourses on Religion.

, Jesus Christ a King. 365
tion or to register His obduracy. It is this word
which from henceforth exercises judgment upon earth.
" Ye have one that judgeth you," said Christ; " the
word that I have spoken to you." This infallible
judge constrains men's hearts to unveil themselves
before it, to show whether they love the darkness or
the light : it tears from them by its declarations,
which are so precise and so opposed, to sin, the masks
of worldly virtue, and lays them bare before itself.
They cannot evade its power ; with a single word it
often transfixes them. It is the two-edged sword
piercing even to the joints and marrow. In the
period of Christ's ministry this influence of His word
already made itself felt, but it was restricted because
the Gospel was not yet preached to all the nations of
the earth, but had only been proclaimed to the Jews.
Thus the apostle Paul notices as a fact of high
importance, that God manifest in the flesh was
preached to the Gentiles. Henceforth the royalty of
God's word, and consequently of Christ, has no
limits. It may extend over the whole world; the
Christian mission, which is ever conquering for it new
domains, daily enlarges its empire, and contributes
directly to the glorification of Christ as a king.
After having said, "He was preached to the Gen
tiles," the apostle adds : "He was believed on in the
world." But real faith is only found in the Church.
It is of the Church, therefore, that he here speaks.
Christ reigns over it in a sense altogether special.
The general reign in the world by the preaching of
the Gospel does not suffice for Him. He has His
own people, who recognize His laws alone, and this
people form the christian Church — not any one of
its fractions, but the entire Church in its true, which
is its spiritual catholicity. Christ is its only Head ;

366 Jesus Christ a King.
He governs it in every point, He feeds it with His
life, He lavishes on it His gifts : from Him it draws
its substance, both as a whole and in each one of its
members. Therefore does it owe to Him an abso
lute and undivided submission. Not to depend on
Him alone, but to recognize in the smallest degree
the rule of a human power, is to dispute the royalty
of Christ, to rob Him of it in part. It is impossible
from this point of view to hesitate about the constitu
tion that should be given to the Church. The ques
tion is so simple that it is put to our christian good
sense. Is it true, or is it not, that Christ is the king
of the Church ? If He be its king, does it not follow
that the Church must recognize no authority but
His own? Is it in its normal condition when sub
jected to sinful men? Does it not really take from
Christ all that it loses of freedom? If we do not
seek for vain subtleties, but content ourselves with a
simple response, we shall surely recognize that the
royalty of Christ implies the complete independence
of the Church. But let it ever remember that this
independence has no value for it save as it leads to an
obedience ever more inward and more true to its
divine King. He desires to reign over it only by
love, for this Head of the Church is at the same time
its Spouse. By loving Him with fervour, by uniting
itself ever more closely to Him, it will best glorify
Him. Let not, then, the Christians of our genera
tion, by their spiritual coldness, refuse this blessed
royalty of love !
Saint Paul sums up in a word all the divine charac
teristics of the royalty of Christ, when he says at the
close of our text : " He was received up into glory."
What in fact but a receiving up into glory are His

Jesus Christ a King. 367
resurrection, His ascension, the power of His Gospel
in the world, and His supreme authority over the
Church. But this elevation to glory, absolute in one
sense, is progressive in another — the royalty of Christ
is to be constantly extending over the earth, and the
succession of human generations during eighteen cen
turies has had no other object than to promote the
development of the kingdom of God, which is identi
fied with the reign of His Son. Nothing can be
added to the glory of Christianity such as it is con
tained in the Gospel ; but in passing through our
limited intellects and our polluted hearts, it has inevit
ably undergone more than one alteration. The Chris
tianity of the Church did not long remain the primitive
Christianity, that of Christ and of the Gospel. It did
not enter into the designs of God to preserve His
revelation from all damage, for to do this it must have
been placed by the Church beyond our reach, buried
in the earth like the talent of the wicked servant in
the parable. God designed, on the contrary, that by
personal labour we should possess ourselves of His
truth, and Christ become truly Christ within us. But
to attain this last result of religious history, many sad
experiences, many gropings, many digressions and falls
were inevitable. Nevertheless the divine object is
constantly pursued, and Christianity rises in glory
from one period to another in spite of the persistent
efforts of anti-christianity which leaves it neither truce
nor repose.
From . the sanguinary persecutions of the first cen
turies, in spite of heresy and oppression, Christianity
rose in glory, victorious over the old Roman world,
which had thought to crush it in its cradle. From
the thick darkness of the middle ages, in spite of the

368 Jesus Christ a King.
Church of Rome, the successor of heathen persecutors,
it rose in glory by a heroic return to the apostolic age,
drawing out the book of God from under the bushel
of human traditions. From the frightful infidelity of
the last century, it rose in glory with new life and
youth. From the confusions of our nineteenth cen
tury it rises in glory, treading all that opposes it under
foot, breaking the bonds of insufficient systems of
doctrine, drowning the voice of a loose criticism, free
ing itself from the shackles of state-religions, and
reconquering the spirituality of early days, both in
doctrine and in life. Once more shall it rise in glory
when, at the appointed time, fulfilling the long desire
of the Church, the Son of God shall reappear in a
visible form to wage one last combat with anti-Christ,
to raise the dead, to judge the world, to crown His
own, and to consummate the triumph that He has been
winning during eighteen centuries. Then shall be the
end, the end of all that we know-— the impenetrable
veil of eternity falls here ; and we can only listen to
the resounding of the song of the Lamb that was slain
and has saved us, and join our voices to those which
praise Him from everlasting to everlasting.
We have now ended our series of discourses. We
have presented to you in its successive phases the
infinite work of the world's redemption. We have
seen it begun in heaven and in Eden, carried on slowly
during the dark ages of preparation, receiving its
highest accomplishment in the life and death of Christ,
and finally completed on the throne of glory where
He took His seat after His resurrection, and whither
He draws us by His Spirit. Our parting word, our
conclusion from all that has gone before is to implore
you to come to Him, the Redeemer and the King !

Jesus Christ a King. 369
No other answers as He does to the wants of your
hearts. Ye spirits, tormented with doubts, wishing to
believe, but unable yet to do so from having breathed
the injurious air tainted with scepticism and with licen
tiousness, which seems to be the moral atmosphere of
our age — come to Christ the Prophet, and He will give
you those firm convictions for which you yearn, He
will dissipate your painful uncertainty, and will bring
you into contact with a living truth that you will never
lose again. Ye troubled hearts, seeking to attain to
goodness but without success, trembling before an
offended God, secretly longing for a free pardon — come
to Christ at once the Priest and the Sacrifice. Come
to be sprinkled with that atoning blood which purifies
and justifies. Accept this great mystery of redemp
tion. It is the very foundation of Christianity. There
is neither peace nor holiness save beneath this cross.
And you, weak and timid Christians, who know not
how to enjoy* your power and your glory — come to
Christ the King, and the lustre of His victory shall be
reflected upon you. You shall be no longer mournful
witnesses for the grace of God. You shall tell of
it, as is fitting, with joy and with power, and the cer
tainty of one day reigning with Christ shall give you
courage to share now in His sufferings. Let us all,
whoever we be, come to God our Saviour ; — and to the
Father who has prepared salvation, to the Son who
has accomplished it, to the Holy Spirit who realizes
it anew within our hearts, — to God thrice holy and
eternally blessed, be honour, glory, and praise, for
ever and for ever !

EDINBURGH :
TURNBULI. AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, GEORGE STREET.

DR LANGE'S LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Now Eeady, in 6 Volumes demy 8vo, cloth, red edges,
THE LIFE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST :
A COMPLETE CKITICAL EXAMINATION OP THE ORIGIN,
CONTENTS, AND CONNECTION OF THE GOSPELS.
TRANSLATED FROM TUB GERMAN OF
J. P. LANGE, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN ;
AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES,
BY THE REV. MARCUS DODS, A.M.
The Price to Subscribers is 35s. for the whole Work.
Dr. Lange is well known as the author of the ' Theological and Homiletical Commen
tary on St. Matthew's Gospel,' <fcc And in Bishop EllicoWs Hulsean Lectures,
wliere Lunge's ' Life of Christ ' is constantly quoted with approbation, it is spoken of
thus : —
' See especially the eloquent and thoughtful work of Dr. Lange, already several times re
ferred to— a work which, we sincerely hope, may ere long meet with a competent trans
lator.'— P. 35.
The object of this comprehensive and masterly work is at once to refute the views of
the Life of our Lord which have been propagated by negative criticism, and to substitute
that consistent history which a truly scientific, enlightened, and incontrovertible criticism
educes from the Gospels.
The work is divided into three Books. The First Book is introductory. In this the
Author explodes the philosophical fallacies on which the negative criticism rests, and ex
poses its unsound and inconsistent principles of criticism, establishing, in opposition, the
fundamental ideas of the Gospel History (especially that of an individual incarnation),
and delivering the principles and method of a trustworthy criticism. The sources of the
Life of Jesus are then also discussed, and the authenticity and credibility of the Gospels
are vindicated, their origin unfolded, their unity exhibited, and their peculiarities illus
trated with greater detail, and in a more interesting manner than has elsewhere been
done. The Second Book, which is the bulk of the work, presents a detailed history of the Life
of Jesus, drawn from the Gospels by a minute critical examination. This is given in
what is technically called a pragmatical narrative ; that is to say, it is so narrated that it
is explained ; every character introduced is rendered distinct and intelligible ; every word
and action appears in connection with its motive and meaning, and the whole is set in a
frame-work of careful, historical, chronological and topographical research. It thus
forms virtually a pregnant commentary on the Gospels, while the reader is not interrupted
by discussions of controverted points, nor by verbal criticism. All this is relegated to the
notes which accompany each section, and which further confirm, or show the grounds of
those views which are stated in the text.
While the Second Book presents the life of Jesus in that unity which is formed by the
four accounts taken together, the Third Book gives us that same life in its four different
aspects, according to the four different Evangelists. In the Second Book one representa
tion is given, formed from the four narratives; in the Third, these four representations
are separately given in their individual integrity. This is not the least instructive por
tion of the work, bringing out, as it does very distinctly, the fine an-angement of each
Gospel, and the propriety and harmony of its various material.

EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK. LONDON: HAMILTON & CO.

In One Volume, demy 8vo, Price 7s. 6d.,
THE RELIGIONS BEFORE CHRIST;
BEING
AN INTRODUCTION

THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES OF
THE CHURCH.

EDMOND DE PEESSEISTSE,
PASTOR OF THE FRENCH EVANGELICAL CHURCH, AND DOCTOR OF
DIVINITY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRESLAU.

TRANSLATED BY
L. COEKEAN
WITH PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Prom the Morning Herald.— "The object ofthisbpok is briefly to showunder
what conditions Christianity began its life and death struggle with Paganism. The
object is as useful as the result is admirable. M. de Pressense" has done the religious
world a service by his publication of this volume, and we can have no doubt that by the
religious world the value of his' labours will be duly appreciated."
Dublin Evening Mail. — " We are glad to see that the valuable works of this
pious and erudite French pasteur have at last attracted the attention they deserve from
the English religious public, and that Messrs Clark have undertaken their publication,
through the medium of a translation, which seems to us peculiarly faithful and powerful,
rendering all the force and terseness of the original with an elegance rarely attained in
a translation." JsTorthern "Warder.—" A remarkable work, and the fruit evidently of great learn
ing and research. The translation possesses all the merits of elegance, ease, and accuracy
combined, and is most felicitously executed."

EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK. LONDON: HAMILTON & CO.