Protestants, the Freethinkers, all the ingenuity of the Germans, have
failed to find a crack or to undermine the old rock of the Church. There
is such a body of evidence, such certainty, such demonstration of the
truth, such an indestructible foundation, that a man must be stricken
with spiritual blindness to dare deny it."

"Yes: and to the end that there should be no mistake, no possibility of
alleging that the inspired Scriptures were written subsequent to the
arrival of the Messiah they prophesy, to prove that they were neither
invented nor added to after the event, it was God's pleasure that they
should be translated into Greek in the Septuagint version and known to
the whole world more than two hundred and fifty years before the birth
of Christ."

"To imagine the impossible--supposing the Gospels were to be
annihilated, they could, I suppose, be restored, and a brief history
written of the Saviour's life as they relate it merely by studying the
Messianic announcements in the books of the Prophets?"

"No doubt; for, after all, and it cannot be too often repeated, the Old
Testament is the story before the event of the Son of Man and the
founding of His Church; as Saint Augustine bears witness, 'the whole
history of the Jewish people was a perpetual prophecy of the expected
King.'

"You will see, apart from personages prefiguring the Redeemer which you
may find in every page of the Bible: Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, Jonah,
to name five taken at random; apart, too, from the animals and objects
that symbolized Him under the Old Laws, as, for instance, the Paschal
Lamb, the Manna, the Brazen Serpent, and others, we can, if you please,
simply by quoting the Prophets, trace the broad outlines of Emmanuel's
life and epitomize the Gospels in a few words. Listen!"

The Abbe paused for thought, his hand over his eyes.

"That he should be born of a Virgin is foretold by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel--that this Advent should be preceded by a special messenger,
Saint John, is noted by Malachi, whom Isaiah confirms, adding for
greater certainty that he should be as 'the voice of one crying in the
Wilderness.'

"The place of His birth, Bethlehem, is mentioned by Micah; the adoration
of the Magi, offering gold, myrrh and frankincense, is announced by
Isaiah and the Psalm ascribed to Solomon.

"His youth and His calling are clearly suggested by Ezekiel, who speaks
of Him as seeking the lost sheep, and by Isaiah, who tells