when we narrowly examine the lustre of his wonders, we shall see them marked with divine characters which are only to be found in the life of those great men. But, to judge of them by the eyes of the senses alone, the parallel would not be favourable to Jesus Christ. Is he greater than Abraham; that man so great, that the Lord himself, among his most pompous names, had taken that of the God of Abraham, as if in order to proclaim to the world that the homages of a man, so righteous and so extraordinary, were more glorious to his sovereignty than the title of God of empires and of nations: so great, that the Jews believed themselves superior to all other nations of the earth, only because they were the posterity of that famous chief so cherished of Heaven; and that fathers, in recounting to their children the wonders of their nation, and the history of their ancestors, animated them to virtue, only by putting them in remembrance that they were the children of Abraham and the members of a holy race? Is he more wonderful than Moses; that man, mighty in words and in deeds, mediator of a holy covenant, who broke the yoke of Egypt, and delivered his people from bondage; that man, who was established the god of Pharaoh, who seemed the master of nature, who covered the earth with plagues, who divided seas, who made a new nourishment to be showered from heaven; that man, who saw the Lord face to face upon the holy mountain, and who appeared before Israel all resplendent in light? What is there more astonishing or more magnificent in the life of Jesus Christ? Nevertheless, these were only rude sketches of his glory and might: he was to be the last finishing and perfection of them. Now, if Jesus Christ were not the image of the substance of his Father, and the eternal splendour of his glory, he at the utmost, could only be equalled with these first men; and the credulity of the Jews might, without blasphemy, demand of him, " Art thou greater than our father Abraham, or than the prophets which are dead? Whom makest thou thyself r" I have then justly said, that if, in the first place, you will estimate his ministry from that pompous train of oracles and of figures which have announced him, the splendour is such, that, if Jesus Christ be but a man similar to us, the wisdom itself of God would be culpable of the mistake of those who worship him.
But, my brethren, the Christ hath been foretold with his members; we are comprised in the prophecies which have announced him to the earth; we have been promised as a holy race, a spiritual people, who were to bear the law engraven on their heart, who were to sigh only after eternal riches, and who were to adore in spirit and in truth: like Jesus Christ, we have composed the expectation of the just of ancient times, and the desire of nations: we are that new Jerusalem, pure and undefiled, so often announced in the prophets, where God alone was to be known and worshipped; where faith was to be the sole light to illuminate us, charity the only bond of union, and the land of promise the only hope to animate us. Now, do we answer an expectation so illustrious and so holy? Are we worthy of having been the earnest desire of all
