ls,
without St. Thomas, Barhebraeus, the Rabbis of Narbonne, or the
_Motecallemin_ of Bagdad, having known each other, without Dante and
Petrarch having seen any _sofi_, without any pupil of the schools of
Perouse or of Florence having been at Delhi. We should say there are
great moral influences running through the world like epidemics,
without distinction of frontier and of race. The interchange of ideas
in the human species does not take place only by books or by direct
instruction. Jesus was ignorant of the very name of Buddha, of
Zoroaster, and of Plato; he had read no Greek book, no Buddhist Sudra;
nevertheless, there was in him more than one element, which, without
his suspecting it, came from Buddhism, Parseeism, or from the Greek
wisdom. All this was done through secret channels and by that kind of
sympathy which exists among the various portions of humanity. The
great man, on the one hand, receives everything from his age; on the
other, he governs his age. To show that the religion founded by Jesus
was the natural consequence of that which had gone before, does not
diminish its excellence; but only proves that it had a reason for its
existence that it was legitimate, that is to say, conformable to the
instinct and wants of the heart in a given age.

Is it more just to say that Jesus owes all to Judaism, and that his
greatness is only that of the Jewish people? No one is more disposed
than myself to place high this unique people, whose particular gift
seems to have been to contain in its midst the extremes of good and
evil. No doubt, Jesus proceeded from Judaism; but he proceeded from it
as Socrates proceeded from the schools of the Sophists, as Luther
proceeded from the Middle Ages, as Lamennais from Catholicism, as
Rousseau from the eighteenth century. A man is of his age and his race
even when he reacts against his age and his race. Far from Jesus
having continued Judaism, he represents the rupture with the Jewish
spirit. The general direction of Christianity after him does not
permit the supposition that his idea in this respect could lead to any
misunderstanding. The general march of Christianity has been to remove
itself more and more from Judaism. It will become perfect in returning
to Jesus, but certainly not in returning to Judaism. The great
originality of the founder remains then undiminished; his glory admits
no legitimate sharer.

Doubtless, circumstances much aided the success of this marvellous