eat temptation
and on great occasions, they kill Him.

791

What man ever had more renown? The whole Jewish people foretell Him
before His coming. The Gentile people worship Him after His coming. The
two peoples, Gentile and Jewish, regard Him as their centre.

And yet what man enjoys this renown less? Of thirty-three years, He
lives thirty without appearing. For three years He passes as an
impostor; the priests and the chief people reject Him; His friends and
His nearest relatives despise Him. Finally, He dies, betrayed by one of
His own disciples, denied by another, and abandoned by all.

What part, then, has He in this renown? Never had man so much renown;
never had man more ignominy. All that renown has served only for us, to
render us capable of recognising Him; and He had none of it for Himself.

792

The infinite distance between body and mind is a symbol of the
infinitely more infinite distance between mind and charity; for charity
is supernatural.

All the glory of greatness has no lustre for people who are in search of
understanding.

The greatness of clever men is invisible to kings, to the rich, to
chiefs, and to all the worldly great.

The greatness of wisdom, which is nothing if not of God, is invisible to
the carnal-minded and to the clever. These are three orders differing in
kind.

Great geniuses have their power, their glory, their greatness, their
victory, their lustre, and have no need of worldly greatness, with which
they are not in keeping. They are seen, not by the eye, but by the mind;
this is sufficient.

The saints have their power, their glory, their victory, their lustre,
and need no worldly or intellectual greatness, with which they have no
affinity; for these neither add anything to them, nor take away anything
from them. They are seen of God and the angels, and not of the body, nor
of the curious mind. God is enough for them.

Archimedes,[316] apart from his rank, would have the same veneration. He
fought no battles for the eyes to feast upon; but he has given his
discoveries to all men. Oh! how brilliant he was to the mind!

Jesus Christ, without riches, and without any external exhibition of
knowledge, is in His own order of holiness. He did not invent; He did
not reign. But He was humble, patient, holy, holy to God, terrible to
devils, without any sin. Oh! in what great pomp, and in what wonderful
splendour, He is come to the eyes of the heart, which perceive wisdom