2, this
monumental work had been finished. In clearness and beauty of style it
has never been approached by any other treatise on this or any kindred
subject: it is a work of genius; and its profound insight into all that
is of importance in the great subjects which he treated will doubtless
cause it to hold a permanent place in the literature not only of the
Latin nations but of the world.

An interesting light is thrown over the history of advancing thought at
the end of the nineteenth century by the fact that this most detested of
heresiarchs was summoned to receive the highest of academic honours
at the university which for ages had been regarded as a stronghold of
Presbyterian orthodoxy in Great Britain.

In France the anathemas lavished upon him by Church authorities during
his life, their denial to him of Christian burial, and their refusal
to allow him a grave in the place he most loved, only increased popular
affection for him during his last years and deepened the general
mourning at his death.(488)

(488) For a remarkably just summary of Renan's work, eminently judicial
and at the same time deeply appreciative, see the Rev. Dr. Pfleiderer,
professor at the University of Berlin, Development of Theology in
Germany, pp. 241, 242, note. The facts as to the early relations between
Renan and Jules Simon were told in 1878 by the latter to the present
writer at considerable length and with many interesting details not here
given. The writer was also present at the public funeral of the great
scholar, and can testify of his own knowledge to the deep and hearty
evidences of gratitude and respect then paid to Renan, not merely by
eminent orators and scholars, but by the people at large. As to the
refusal of the place of burial that Renan especially chose, see his own
Souvenirs, in which he laments the inevitable exclusion of his grave
from the site which he most loved. As to calumnies, one masterpiece,
very widely spread, through the zeal of clerical journals, was that
Renan received enormous sums from the Rothschilds for attacking
Christianity.

In spite of all resistance, the desire for more light upon the sacred
books penetrated the older Church from every side.

In Germany, toward the close of the eighteenth century, Jahn, Catholic
professor at Vienna, had ventured, in an Introduction to Old Testament
Study, to class Job, Jonah, and Tobit below other canonical books,
and had only escaped serious diffi