g in the midst of agonizing pains, abused, insulted, cursed
by a whole nation, is the most horrible that could be feared.
Socrates, in receiving the cup of poison, blessed indeed the
weeping executioner who administered it; but Jesus, in the midst of
excruciating tortures, prayed for his merciless tormentors. Yes, if
the life and death of Socrates are those of a sage, the life and
death of Jesus are those of a God. Shall we suppose the evangelic
history a mere fiction? Indeed, my friend, it bears not the marks
of fiction; on the contrary, the history of Socrates, which nobody
presumes to doubt, is not so well attested as that of Jesus Christ.
Such a supposition, in fact, only shifts the difficulty without
removing it; it is more inconceivable that a number of persons
should agree to write such a history, than that one only should
furnish the subject of it. The Jewish authors were incapable of the
diction, and strangers to the morality contained in the gospel, the
marks of whose truth are so striking and inimitable that the
inventor would be a more astonishing character than the hero.

So far in eloquent ascription of incomparable excellence to the Bible
and to the Founder of Christianity. But then immediately Rousseau's
Curate proceeds:--

And yet, with all this, the same gospel abounds with incredible
relations, with circumstances repugnant to reason, and which it is
impossible for a man of sense either to conceive or admit.

The compliment to Christianity almost convinces you,--until suddenly you
are apprised that the author of the compliment was not convinced
himself!

Jean Jacques Rousseau, in the preface to his "Confessions," appealed
from the judgment of men to the judgment of God. This judgment it was
his habit, to the end of his days, thanks to the effect of his early
Genevan education, always to think of as certainly impending. Let us
adjourn our final sentence upon him, until we hear that Omniscient
award.

XVII.

THE ENCYCLOPAEDISTS.

A cenotaph is a monument erected to the memory of one dead, but not
marking the spot in which his remains rest. The present chapter is a
cenotaph to the French Encyclopaedists. It is in the nature of a memorial
of their literary work, but it will be found to contain no specimen
extracts from their writings.

Everybody has heard of the Encyclopaedists of France. Who ar