I.—TEACHING AND CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST.CHATEAUBRIAND.Among the French writers of the nineteenth century, Chateaubriand has been one of the most distinguished. His “Genius of Christianity” is a remarkably brilliant and eloquent work.
CHATEAUBRIAND.
Among the French writers of the nineteenth century, Chateaubriand has been one of the most distinguished. His “Genius of Christianity” is a remarkably brilliant and eloquent work.
1.Jesus Christappears among men full of grace and truth; the authority and the mildness of Hisprecepts[6]are irresistible. He comes to heal the most unhappy of mortals, and all His wonders are for the wretched. In order to inculcate[7]His doctrine, He chooses the apologue,[8]or parable, which is easily impressed[9]on the minds of the people. While walking in the fields, He gives His divine lessons.
2. When surveying the flowers that adorn the mead, He exhorts His disciples to put their trust in Providence, who supports the feeble plants, and feeds the birds of the air; when He beholds the fruits of the earth, He teaches them to judge of men by their works; an infant is brought to Him, and He recommends innocence; being among shepherds, He gives Himself the appellation of theGood Shepherd, and represents Himself as bringing back the lost sheep to the fold.
3. In Spring He takes His seat upon the mountain, and draws from the surrounding objects instruction for the multitude sitting at His feet. From the very sight of this multitude, composed of the poor and the unfortunate, He deduces His beatitudes.Blessed are those that weep—blessed are they that hunger and thirst.Such as observe His precepts, and those that slight them, are compared to two men who build houses, the one upon a rock, and the other upon the sand. When He asks the woman of Samaria for drink, He expounds unto her His heavenly doctrine, under the beautiful image of a well of living water.
4. His character was amiable, open, and tender, and His charity unbounded. The evangelist gives us a complete and admirable idea of it in these few words:He went about doing good.His resignation to the will of God is conspicuous[10]in every moment of His life; He loved and felt the sentiment of friendship: the manwhom He raised from the tomb, Lazarus, was His friend; it was for the sake of the noblest sentiment of life that He performed the greatest of His miracles.
5. In Him the love of country may find a model. “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” He exclaimed, at the idea of the judgments which threatened that guilty city, “how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Casting His sorrowful eyes from the top of a hill over this city, doomed for her crimes to a signal destruction, He was unable to restrain His tears: “He beheld the city,” says the evangelist, “and wept over it.” His tolerance[11]was not less remarkable: when His disciples begged him to command fire to come down from heaven on a village of Samaria, which had denied Him hospitality, He replied with indignation, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”
[6]Preˊ-cepts, commands, rules or directions for moral guidance.[7]In-culˊ-cate, to urge, or enforce.[8]Apˊ-o-logue(log), a parable, a moral fable.[9]Im-pressˊ, to fix deep, to imprint.[10]Con-spicˊ-uous, plain, manifest, evident.[11]Tolˊ-er-ance, patient endurance, indulgence.
[6]Preˊ-cepts, commands, rules or directions for moral guidance.
[6]Preˊ-cepts, commands, rules or directions for moral guidance.
[7]In-culˊ-cate, to urge, or enforce.
[7]In-culˊ-cate, to urge, or enforce.
[8]Apˊ-o-logue(log), a parable, a moral fable.
[8]Apˊ-o-logue(log), a parable, a moral fable.
[9]Im-pressˊ, to fix deep, to imprint.
[9]Im-pressˊ, to fix deep, to imprint.
[10]Con-spicˊ-uous, plain, manifest, evident.
[10]Con-spicˊ-uous, plain, manifest, evident.
[11]Tolˊ-er-ance, patient endurance, indulgence.
[11]Tolˊ-er-ance, patient endurance, indulgence.