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ought to have said; and all that he has done, is precisely wha he ought to have done. Never is he found in fault; all in him flows from the heart. It is not possible to imagine a virtue more true, more frank, more free, more independent, more above all prejudice and all human consideration, all fear, all hope, all interest of whatever kind. When he defies the Jews to convict him of sin, we are forced to believe him; for he has already convinced us that he is impeccable.

Such are the general characteristics of the Sanctity of Jesus Christ, justified by the narration of the Evangelists.

CLXIX. I shall now take notice of some particular traits. I observe, in the first place, that Jesus Christ has given to men established in dignity, to kings and to their ministers, to the priests and the great men of the world, all that was due to the character with which they were invested: but, I observe, at the same time, that he has never given them more. I observe moreover, that he has never given any praise either to talents or to greatness, or to riches; and that he has praised virtue only. I perceive, in fine, that by his whole conduct he gave clearly to understand, that, what he esteemed and honoured in men, is man himself, and the dignity of human nature; and I know, that of all virtues this is the rarest.

CLXX. Next, in examining the miracles of Jesus Christ, I find that he has never wrought any but such as are worthy of a God-man. No miracles of punishment. His power was the instrument of his bounty. That he has never wrought miracles, but from such motives as were worthy of a Godman. It was always to succour the distressed, to glorify his heavenly Father, to evince the divinity of his mission. Never did any human motive enter into his divine actions. The Pharisees, with an imperious tone demand, that he would let them see a wonder from heaven.* It is a challenge which they give him. They mean to tempt him, and put his power to the test. It is, therefore, pride that demanded this prodigy one might have thought, of course, that pride would have done it: and Jesus refuses it.

* Math. xvi. 1.

His disciples, filled with indignation against the city of Samaria, which had refused to receive him, wish him to cause the fire of heaven to come down upon the ungrateful city. * It was vengeance that solicited this miracle; one might, then, have believed, that vengeance would work it. Jesus Christ rejects, with indignation, the prayer of his disciples, and answers them, "You know not of what spirit you are; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men, but to save them." When Jesus Christ was brought before Herod, Herod had great joy. He, for a long time, had wished to know him, and to see him work a miracle. It was the mere curiosity of a king, that prompted Herod to wish for this miracle. Jesus Christ did not gratify it; he did not work the miracle which Herod wished to see, but he wrought another. He wished rather to pass for a crazy man, than for a flatterer; and he taught by this example the Ministers of his Gospel, that they are not to use the talents which they have received from heaven, but for the instruction and the conversion of kings, and never for their amusement.

*

No

CLXXI. It has been said, that virtue is not heroic, but when it unites the two extremes of opposite virtues, as extreme justice, and extreme bounty. This observation is true. thing is so difficult to men, as to unite these two extremes. Men almost never possess a virtue in an eminent degree, but at the expense of the opposite virtue. He that is very good, is ordinarily weak: he that is very just, is ordinarily severe : he that is very prudent, is generally slow and timid, &c.

Jesus Christ is the only man that has united all extremes of opposite virtues. Of this, the Gospel furnishes us a thousand examples, the greatness of which cannot escape a reflecting reader.

CLXXII. Do you wish for examples of extreme goodness, of extreme meekness, of extreme humanity? Represent to yourself Jesus Christ presiding over the judgment of the adulterous woman: conversing with the Samaritan woman, sitting on the well of Jacob :§ making, in the house of Simon

*Luke ix. + Luke xxiii. ‡ John viii. John iv.

to the Pharisee an apology of the most abandoned woman in ́ the city:* inviting himself to Zaccheus,† &c. Call to your mind all that he has said and done on these occasions. Does not all the charity, which we are capable of conceiving in a God made man to save men, strike your eyes? Can there be any thing greater and more affecting? Do you not, at these traits, recognise the good Shepherd, and the Father of the prodigal Son? § Are you not obliged to confess, that Jesus Christ has depicted himself in these two parables?

CLXXIII. Do you want examples of extreme force and extreme liberty? Figure to yourself the noble intrepidity, with which Jesus Christ rose up so often against the Scribes and the Pharisees, reproached them to their faces with their hypocrisy, their secret disorders, the sacrilegious abuse which they made of all that is most holy in religion, with the impious rashness with which they destroyed the law by the interpretations which they gave to it. Are not these illustrious traits of an intrepid zeal, which no human consideration can arrest or weaken ?

It is worthy of notice, first, that the sinners, whom Jesus Christ treated with so much charity, had it not in their power, humanly speaking, to do any thing either for him or against him; and that those against whom he rose up with so much vigour, could, humanly speaking, do every thing for him or against him they were men in power, and of credit: they moved every thing at their pleasure; all trembled before them. They were the masters of the reputation and life of Jesus Christ. They could at their pleasure cause him to be received as the Messiah, or cause him to be rejected as an impostor. Thus, Jesus Christ has risen up against disorders with an intrepid freedom, in those terrible conjunctures, when human respect reduces to silence even the most courageous, and causes them to forget all they owe to God. And he has shown nothing but charity and meekness, in those circumstances,when the greatest cowards show ordinarily haughtiness and

* Luke vii. Luke xix. Math. xviii. Luke xv.

hard-heartedness, think only what they can do against men, and forget all that they owe to humanity.

It is not less remarkable, in the second place, that the sinners, to whom Jesus Christ has shown but kindness, were sin-. ners of mere weakness, or at least penitent and humble sinners; and, of course, of that class, whom we would decide, he ought to pardon, if it were our province to give laws to his justice; and that the sinners to whom Jesus Christ has shown nothing but indignation, were all sinners of pure malice; men wicked upon principle and by system, capable of committing the greatest crimes, and of defending them openly; and, of course, such sinners as we would loudly pronounce God ought not to pardon, if it belonged to us to set limits to his mercy. CLXXIV. But, in order to behold Supreme Virtue in all its brightness, we must consider Jesus Christ dying. It is in his passion that this venerable man has shown all the beauty, all the strength, all the greatness of his soul. In vain would we search, in all histories, after one single man, whom we might compare to him. All that the world has most admired, is at an infinite distance beneath him. All virtue is eclipsed; all sanctity vanishes in the presence of his. No, it is not thus one suffers, it is not thus one dies, if he be no more than sim ply a man.

It is not my design here to present a full picture of the passion of Jesus Christ. All that I shall say of it, is comprised in these few words, which contain the four great characteristics which distinguish the virtue of Jesus Christ from all other virtue. He united an extreme freedom with an extreme abandonment of his cause; an extreme patience with an extreme dignity.

CLXXV. Extreme liberty. Behold how Jesus Christ speaks to the Jews, at the moment they are seizing his person in the garden of Gethsemane ;-to the prince of the priests, who interrogates him about his doctrine and his disciples;-to that audacious officer, who gives him a blow ;-to the prince of the priests again, who commands him in the name of the living God to declare whether he be the Messiah, the Son of

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the blessed God;-to Pilate, in the interrogatory, which he undergoes before him. Represent to yourselves well the words of Jesus Christ, and the circumstances in which they were spoken. Figure to yourself another man in his place, and ask yourself whether it be possible for a man, who finds himself in such a terrible situation, to preserve so much presence of mind, so much tranquillity, so much intrepid liberty.

CLXXVI. Extreme abandonment of his cause. Socrates, who is considered as the greatest man, whom Religion had not formed-Socrates, unjustly accused, speaks to his judges, who were his enemies, with a freedom that astonished all ages. But, after all, it is to defend his innocence, that he speaks thus. Jesus Christ did not speak one word to defend his innocence. Were reasons wanting to him-to him, I say, whose life was so pure, whose doctrine was so holy, whose miracles were so renowned? Were words wanting? He was the most eloquent of men. Was it courage? But he came of himself to deliver himself into their hands: he durst declare to them that he was the Son of God, although he knew that, by this declaration, he was pronouncing the sentence of his death. It was, then, not through pusillanimity or despair, but from a pure greatness of soul, that he did not say one word in his own defence. He was satisfied with not avowing himself guilty, because he was innocent. He never said that he was innocent, because his heavenly Father would, that he should suffer himself to be condemned as guilty.

CLXXVII. Extreme patience. Exposed to so much injustice and violence, to so many black calumnies, atrocious insults, unheard of outrages; smarting under such cruel torments, condemned to such an ignominious death, Jesus Christ is silent and dumb like a lamb before him who shears it. He is not seen to claim either the rights of justice, which were so openly violated in his regard; nor the respect due to human nature, which was so unworthily trampled upon. There escapes not a word of complaint or murmur, not one single sigh. Neither indignation, nor anger, nor contempt, nor any other passion is painted, either in his eyes, or his face, or his whole

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