which they were not guilty, and a prophet whom they were taught from the beginning of the world to expect as the light of Israel and the Redeemer of his people; and, besides, in what manner doth Jesus Christ fulfil his ministry, and what is his language with regard to the Supreme Being? Moses and the prophets, charged with the same mission, never cease to proclaim that the Lord was one and the same; that it was impious to compare him to the similitude of the creature; and that they themselves were only his servants and messengers, vile instruments in the hands of a God, who, through them, operated great things. No dubious expression escapes from their mouth on so essential a point of their mission; no comparison of themselves to the Supreme Being, always dangerous, in consequence of the natural tendency of man to prostitute his homages to men, and to raise up for himself palpable and visible gods; no equivocal term which might have blended themselves with the Lord, in whose name they spake, and have given birth to a superstition and an idolatry, to combat which they only came.
But if Jesus Christ be only a messenger such as they were, with how much less fidelity doth he fulfil his ministry! He continually says, that he is equal to his Father; he acquaints us, that he hath come down from heaven, and that he hath quitted the bosom of God; that he was before Abraham; that he was before all things; that the Father and he are one; that eternal life consists in the knowledge of the Son, as well as in the knowledge of the Father; that whatever is done by the Father, the Son also doth. Had any prophet, down to Jesus Christ, spoken in a language so new, so strange, so disrespectful toward the Supreme God; and who, far from rendering the glory to God as the author of every good gift, hath attributed to his own efficiency the great things which the Lord hath deigned to operate through his ministry? Every where he compares himself to the sovereign God; on one occasion, indeed, he says that the Father is greater than he; but what language is that, if he be not himself a God manifested in flesh? And would we not consider as a fool any man who should seriously tell us that the Supreme Being is greater than he? Even to dare to compare himself with the Divinity, is it not equalling himself to him? Is there any proportion either of greater or less between God and man, between the whole and nothing? But what do I say? Jesus Christ is not content with saying that he is equal to God; he even justifies the novelty of these expressions against the murmurings of the Jews who are offended at them; far from clearly undeceiving them, he confirms them in the offence; on every occasion he affects a language, which, unless cleared up and justified by his equality to his Father, becomes either foolish or impious. If he be not God, what came he to do upon the earth? He comes to offend the Jews, by giving them room to believe that he compares himself to the Most High: he comes to seduce nations, by procuring to himself the adoration of the whole earth after his death: he comes to spread fresh obscurity over the universe, and not, as he hath vaunted, to
