HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 11, 12 July 1873, Page 13

HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

UK THE ABBE J. E. DARRAS.

(Translated from tl.e original French for the New Zbalaot Tablet ) 111. Jesus Chbist. Oa CS P ° V f *?* ° F THE RATIONALISTIC PAOQ-UAMME. volume, of o, igm agjj nntB t Oel.™ the philo.opher C.IZ in twt t 01 Juantt»ck. The goiiteit was nat ooiuentratecl, an it is to-d»Y on Christ, will suffice to diasipafco their idle hopes : and since hareai "s Chfiat, as Proleetantism affects to believe it * Hi, Uttme i s Jesus

Christ. The Catholio Church received this name from the Apostles » she maintains it in its complete integrity, and will not allow it to be divided, either by the whims of rationalism or the unjustifiable predilections of heresy. Now, the name of Jtsus-Ohrist is the connecting link between the two ages of human history. Christ was promised, prefigured, foretold, pointed out beforehand, and expected for the space of four thousand years. It does not suffice' then, to introduce surreptitiously, in the series of ages, an imaginary Jesus, iiprented by credulity and rendered popular by legend j to deliver him up,- as a mock King- to the derision of the vulgar. Before even dreaming of attacking the Gospel, it will be necessary to demolish all the Books of the Old Testament, which announce the coming of a Messiah ; —burn all the monuments of Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Assyrian, Persian, ©reek, and Roman literatures, which uniformly fittest the belief of the •world in a luture redemption —of which redemption, sacrifices are, in gome sort, the sacramental sign, and religious rites, the popular expression. Has the 'bold innovator reflected on the immensity of this hecatomb, which, commencing with Manethon and Confucius, and passing to Hesiod and Homer, would end with Virgil, Cicero and Tacitua ? This is not all. For, not only do the written monuments' of these nations, whose civilisation has up to this been studied, proclaim the original fall of humanity, the necessityjof a rehabilitation, and the faith in a future revealer j but' the very tones themselves assume a voice, and speak thY same language. Destroy then, previously, all the memorial inscriptions, statues, bas-reliefs, pillars, triumphal arches, marbles, and antique bronzes existing on the earth ; raze all the monuments, beginning with the Troglodyte temples of Mahalipour, and the pylones of Karnac, passing by Nimrodand Khorsabad, and ending with the chefs cParuvre of Greek and Roman art. Turn up the soil of the universe, aud when you shall have completed your task, forbid the casualty of some fresh excavation from suddenly disclosing to you a new witness of the faith of the ancient world.More yet remains to be done. There are witnesses more long-lived atill than books— more lasting than monuments— they are the human races. Now, all races of men, at this moment idolaters, are unanimous in their belief in the fall; and in the necessity of a Mediator. Go to the islands of Polynesia, explore every spot of African soil, and through the whole extent of the American and Asiatic Continents? slay those living witnesses of a creed that galls you ! All this must be done, before you can Birike at the Messiahship of Christ!

30. Chbisx in the Oia> Testament. The historic position of Christ in the Ancient World, is already, I' iinagine, a fact marvellous enough in itself. Yes ;to have taken such a position in humanity, and there to have sent forth roots so deep, that nothing less than the total annihilation of history, and the replacing it by chaos, could effect the uprooting of the Messiah, is truly a miracle ! ' And yet, this barely forms a portion of the hem of tli© divine garment of Jesus Christ. A general belief in a future Redeemer might; rigorously speaking, be brought about by the ingenuity ©f a man of genius, and end in an usurpation of title. I will tell jou how this has been provided against. The Old Testament, in its entirety, is only the description, continued from age to age, and

representing with a minute exactness, even to the least details, the figure of the Messiah to come. Rationalism hat no liking for the Old Testament : this is easily conceived : eaoh new master of unbelief hw made it his am. to destroy so importunate a witness. Success has not yet crowned so many efforts? One might say, without indiscretion, that the attack has never taken itfe stand in an advantageous position; Interminable philological discussions on a Hebrew word, itr root, its equivalents in the Arian or Shemitic languages ; pedantto displays of grammar ; the pretension, otherwise far from becoming, of knowing Hebrew better than the Jews of tha Septuagint Version ; at times a slight inclination towards geological, chemical, physiological hostility ;' or else some incidents on an obscure fact, on a minute circumstance not yet elucidated ; here ia all that has been attempted bo far. An assemblage of cloudß, gathered together, and dispersed by the firgtf stroke of the pickaxe on an historic field, or in a diluvial soil ! The Old Testament has two'guards, which must firßt be annihilated j before it can he struck af. In the firßt place, the Jewish race, whicti'perautsin expecting the Messiah, on the faith of this' Book As long aa a single son of Israel remains, your attempts against the Sacred Book of his law will go for naught. Go then j exterminate a people whom 1 twenty centuries of disasters, persecutions, opprobrium, have failed to crush. When you shall have destroyed even-t o the last of them, the' Christian world will meet you' face to face, acd present you — trium* phant and immortal — the Sacred Book of the Jews.