nary popularity has now and then been translated. But during
the past ten years France has entered the lists; and the writings of
Reville, Reuss, Nicolas, D'Eichthal, Scherer, and Colani testify to the
rapidity with which the German seed has fructified upon her soil. [18]

[18] But now, in annexing Alsace, Germany has "annexed" pretty
much the whole of this department of French scholarship,--a curious
incidental consequence of the late war.

None of these books, however, has achieved such wide-spread celebrity,
or done so much toward interesting the general public in this class
of historical inquiries, as the "Life of Jesus," by Renan. This
pre-eminence of fame is partly, but not wholly, deserved. From a purely
literary point of view, Renan's work doubtless merits all the celebrity
it has gained. Its author writes a style such as is perhaps surpassed by
that of no other living Frenchman. It is by far the most readable book
which has ever been written concerning the life of Jesus. And no doubt
some of its popularity is due to its very faults, which, from a critical
point of view, are neither few nor small. For Renan is certainly very
faulty, as a historical critic, when he practically ignores the extreme
meagreness of our positive knowledge of the career of Jesus, and
describes scene after scene in his life as minutely and with as much
confidence as if he had himself been present to witness it all. Again
and again the critical reader feels prompted to ask, How do you know all
this? or why, out of two or three conflicting accounts, do you
quietly adopt some particular one, as if its superior authority were
self-evident? But in the eye of the uncritical reader, these defects are
excellences; for it is unpleasant to be kept in ignorance when we are
seeking after definite knowledge, and it is disheartening to read page
after page of an elaborate discussion which ends in convincing us that
definite knowledge cannot be gained.

In the thirteenth edition of the "Vie de Jesus," Renan has corrected
some of the most striking errors of the original work, and in particular
has, with praiseworthy candour, abandoned his untenable position with
regard to the age and character of the fourth gospel. As is well known,
Renan, in his earlier editions, ascribed to this gospel a historical
value superior to that of the synoptics, believing it to have been
written by an eyewitness of the events which it relates; and from this
source, acco