sinners: let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion." Psalm cxxviii. 1—4. Some of her enemies have sacrilegiously attempted to unroof the house of God,,others to throw down its walls, others, finally, to undermine its very foundations; but what was the result of all these mighty projects? The Lord arose and said, "where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease from among men." Deut. xxxii. 2. Julian, the apostate,* with a view of giving the lie to the clear predictions of Christ, attempts with incredible preparations to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, and this ungodly undertaking has, in the designs of the Most High, no other effect but to give a complete accomplishment to the words of Christ. "There shall remain no stone upon another that shall not be destroyed." Julian wished to raise what the Lord had thrown down, and he was "confounded," the enemies of religion wish to throw down the church which God has established, and they, too, are "confounded and turned back."

The enemies of the divinity of Jesus Christ, I mean, the Arians have been confounded and turned back as early as the third century, and if the learned works of the christian writers of that age were in the hands of the public, there could be no need of a new refutation of Unitarianism, which is nothing more than the echo of Arianism. But this not being the case, we shall follow these new Arians through all the mazes of

*"Julian conceived the project of rebuilding, at immense expenses, the famous temple which stood once at Jerusalem, and the taking of which cost Vespasian and next Titus his son, many a bloody battle. He for that purpose made incredible preparations, and urged the work with uncommon activity. But no sooner had they dug out the foundations, than, behold, fiery globes issuing forth repeatedly from the same, consumed several times the workmen, and thus rendered the place unapproachable, and so the devouring element continuing to repel with, as it were, an intelligent obstinacy the ungodly undertaking, the project was for ever abandoned." This important event has been left recorded by the contemporary Pagan historian Amminianus Marcellinus, Lib. xxiii. cap. I. who was a great admirer of Julian; next by St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, &c.

↑ Mark xiii. 3.

metaphysical subtleties and fallacious sophisms, in which they like to dwell, and thus convince the enemies of religion how impossible it is to attack christianity with any thing like solid and connected reasoning. Let us begin.

DIVISION OF THIS WHOLE DISSERTATION.

CHAPTER I.

On the Personal Greatness or Perfections of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER II.

On the Law and Moral Doctrine of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER III.

Christ, as to his Divine Nature, existed before he was born of the blessed Virgin Mary.

CHAPTER IV.

Christ as God, is begotten of the eternal Father, by an eternal generation.

CHAPTER V.

Christ, by nature and substance, is one and the same God with the Father, or Christ is consubstantial with the Father.

Objections answered.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER 1.

On the Personal Greatness or on the Perfections of Jesus Christ.

CLV. In perusing attentively the sacred volumes of the four gospels, I easily discover, that the whole history of Jesus Christ, such as the evangelists have left it to us, reduces itself to three chief heads: namely, to what Jesus Christ was, to what he spoke, and to what he did; or, if you please, to the personal qualifications of Jesus Christ, to his doctrine, and to his works or wonders. The personal qualifications of Jesus Christ are so eminent and so admirable, that it is evident that Jesus was the most worthy man that could be chosen by the Almighty, to be the minister of a new revelation and of a new law. The doctrine of Jesus Christ, which may be divided

into two parts, the dogma, which contains that which we are to believe, and the morality, which comprises that which we are to practise, is so holy and so sublime, that it is manifestly worthy of God. The miracles of Jesus Christ, whether they be considered in themselves, or in relation to the circumstances that accompanied them, are such, that thence it evidently results not only that Jesus Christ was an envoy of God to instruct and to save men, but moreover that he was a God-man.

Such are the grand and stupendous objects which the history of Jesus Christ offers to our view, and which we shall now contemplate in the following articles.

ARTICLE 1.

Wisdom of Jesus Christ.

CLVI. Had I not been taught from my infancy to look upon Jesus Christ as on my Saviour and my God; did I owe nothing to Jesus Christ, nor look up to him for any thing; were I nothing to Jesus Christ, and were Jesus Christ nothing to me; in fine, had he wrought no miracle whatever, he would nevertheless be the object of my admiration and of my most profound respect. It would be very difficult for me, not to adore him. His wisdom and his virtues are still more above man than his miracles.

No, it is not enough to say that Jesus Christ was the great est man, the world ever beheld; we ought to say, that he was infinitely above all the ideas which the human understanding is capable of forming to itself of the greatness of man; we ought to say, that, if the eminence of the character of Jesus. Christ considered in itself, and quite alone, does not demonstrate absolutely and invincibly that he is God, it proves at least that, if there be any God-man, it is he; it proves that, if it be true that God had a design to become man, he must have taken the character of Jesus Christ and shown himself to the world such as Jesus Christ was. To substantiate this assertion I reason thus:

All the greatness of man consists in the perfection of his nature, which I call here wisdom, and in the perfection of his will, which I call sanctity. All other advantages, whatever worth, prejudice or vanity may attach to them, contribute nothing to the true greatness of man. One may be very little and despicable, although he possess them all, and one may be very great and venerable, athough he possess none of them. All mankind are agreed upon this head.

Now it will be a very easy task to show, that Christ not only surpassed in wisdom and sanctity all men that ever appeared upon earth before or after him, but that he has fulfilled the whole idea, which the human mind is able, of itself, to conceive of perfect wisdom and of perfect sanctity, and that even he went much beyond that idea.

CLVII. Here is my proof: the wisdom of Jesus Christ shows itself with the greatest lustre in his doctrine, a masterpiece of equity, reason and good sense. We shall make this the matter of a distinct article. What truth, what precision, what perspicuity in the precepts of this grand legislator! I feel that this is the manner which a God, hidden under the form of man, would have used when addressing men.

I feel no less this divine manner in the maxims or sentences which came from the mouth of Jesus Christ. I discover there characteristics with which my mind is the more struck, because it seems next to impossible to unite them together. These maxims are so identified with good sense, that every one adopts and falls in with them, as soon as he hears them enounced, and at the same time they are so new, that it is not possible to hear them pronounced for the first time without being struck. They are so clear, that they cannot but be understood; so true that it is impossible not to assent to them; so simple and so natural that they are within the reach of the most ordinary minds; so great and so beautiful, that they are the admiration of the greatest geniuses. They comprise, in a few words, the most important instructions that have ever been given to men. The more one meditates on them, the more he admires them. These heavenly maxims are suited to

all men, they are a light friendly to all eyes, a spiritual food fit for all minds. "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what exchange will he give for his soul ?""*"Where your treasure is, there is also your heart." "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." &c.

CLVIII. Who can read the gospel and not be charmed with the beauties of those truly divine parables, in which the incarnate wisdom used to deliver the secrets of his heavenly doctrine! What beauty in the invention of those parables! What a natural easiness in the narration! What justness in the allegory! What solidity in the morality!

Bring to your mind the parable of the prodigal son; that of the seed; that of the unfaithful steward; that of the master of the family, who sends successively, at different hours of the day, several bands of labourers into his vineyard, and, at the end of the day rewards them all equally; that of the ten virgins, &c.

All that the ancient and modern authors have written most excellent in this kind, is nothing in comparison with the parables of Jesus Christ. These authors meant as much to amuse as to instruct men,Jesus Christ was only intent on instructing them, and never thought to amuse them: their principal object was to pourtray the ridiculousness of the conduct of men: Jesus Christ attacked but their vices. They aimed at making men prudent of the prudence of the world, that is to say, at rendering men subtle, cunning, dexterous to avoid the snares that are laid for them, and to lay them, in their turn, for others. Jesus Christ was occupied in rendering men prudent of that prudence only, which consists in the fear of God, in trusting only in him, in preferring duty to all the rest, in sacrificing all for the sake of salvation, and in possessing no other cunning than that of being just and irreproachable. The morality of those writers is often frivolous, and at times pernicious, that of Jesus Christ is always serious and holy; his parables contain always great lessons, worthy of the greatest of all Masters.

*Matth. xvi. 28.

+ Lake, xii. 34.

Matth. vi. 34.