13 JUNE 1891, Page 21

PERE DIDON'S LIFE OF CHRIST.*

THE two large volumes entitled simply .Tesus Christ, and written by the Dominican monk, Pere Didon, have already gone through many editions, though only published in Paris last autumn ; it cannot therefore be said that religion or interest in religious topics is dead in France. On the contrary, there seems lately to have been a somewhat unexpected revival of religious life and thought, and the appearance of this book may serve to extend the movement and the demand for more knowledge and more direct Biblical teaching than has been allowed in the past to the general French public.

It is not too much to say that these volumes are both remarkable and interesting. The author's style is simple, picturesque, and sometimes extremely forcible; and this strength is derived not merely from it style, but from his intense faith in his subject. He writes con amore, his work is well proportioned, well expressed, and the graphic details with which the book abounds have not been written to produce an effect. The author has studied the history and the scenery in Palestine itself; he has followed in the footsteps of Christ with reverent love and conscientious exactitude; and the result is, that we have seldom read a book treating of this aubject which has appeared to us less forced, and in which the personality of the author is less asserted. The accessories all fall into their right place, the tone is high and pure, and the introduction, while showing wide research, is remarkable for its simplicity. At the same time, it must be owned that the aim of the book throughout is to convert unbelievers, or to confound sceptical writers. Their objections are frequently brought forward, to be at once and decidedly refuted; but we hardly think that the author will attain his object, and we very much doubt whether the book is calculated to convince the doubters, except perhaps—and we do not wish to speak lightly of this exception—by the force of its own simplicity. To us, it seems better fitted to ptir up the faith of the half-hearted, to enlighten the ignorant, and to delight all who can appreciate earnestness and a good, unaffected literary style. Pere Didon answers the objections of scoffera in a simple, straight- forward manner, with arguments which entirely satisfy him, but to which the reader, imagining himself in the opponent's place, constantly finds counter-arguments. Too much is advanced as already proved, or as capable of being proved ; and we fancy the proof would not be accepted by the great body of nineteenth-century sceptics.

In saying this, we do not wish to detract from the real merit of this new Life of Christ; but we find ourselves occasionally wishing that the sceptic were oftener absent from the thoughts of the writer, whose arguments often fail to carry to our minds that conviction which is forced upon us by the close, impassioned reasoning of a work like Dr. Liddon's well-known lectures on the Divinity of our Lord. On the other hand, we must remember that the English, as a people, are far more accustomed to reading theological literature than their neighbours ; they have for so long had the Bible in their hands, that they ought not to regard a work like this, written expressly for a French public, from their own point of view. To the ordinary Frenchman and French- woman, well versed as they are in other literature, a great part of the Bible is a sealed book, and it is to be doubted whether to them Pere Didon's writings will not appear to contain much fresh and original matter; whilst to us some of it reads rather like a profusely annotated Gospel commentary.

By these remarks, we do not mean that Pere Didon is unequal to the task of writing a far greater critical work than he has here given us ; on the contrary, we see that he has read a vast amount of foreign critical matter, including the works of some of our English theologians ; probably he kept his argument simple from deliberate choice and inclination, and from a feeling that the unadorned truth is often the most forcible argument. Also we must remember that any controversy on a less broad basis might have resulted not only in failure for a book meant for the general public, but might have entangled the author in disputes with his clerical censors. Now, however, the Life has received the seal of the Master- General of the Dominican Order, whilst the Pope has graciously thanked the writer, and has sent him his Apostolic benediction." No Ultramontane feelings have been offended, and Pere Didon has avoided the fate of Lasserre, whose last translation of the Gospel was put on the index of forbidden

* Jbese Christ. Par R. P. Didon. Pa, ie : E. Plom, Nonrrit, et Cie. books, because the author pointed out in his preface how Rome so often gave stones to her children when they asked her for bread. To balance this, the Life is free from Mariolatry, nor is undue prominence given to legendary matter ; indeed, it can be recommended with a dear conscience to even ordinary English Churchmen, who would scarcely discover from internal evidence that the author was a Roman Catholic and a Dominican monk.

To turn now to the book itself. The introduction is a very masterly piece of writing, more than eighty pages long, and should be read even by those who have not time to peruse the whole work. Then follows the first part, entitled "Los Oxigines de Jesus ; " the second begins with the preaching of the Baptist, and takes us up to the second journey in ;

the third, to the Transfiguration ; the fourth is named Les

Grandes Luttes Jerusalem ;" and the last, "Mort de Jesus et an delis." We have, besides, nearly a hundred pages of appended notes, a chronological table of the events of the life of Christ, two maps, and an excellent plan of the Temple of Jerusalem. The motif of the work may, we think, be summed up in the author's own words

"Lea 614ments essentiels de la vie de J6sus sent fournis par lea Evangiles. Celui qui lea examine avec impartialit6, h la lunaihre d'une critique affranchie do toute id6e philosophique, ant6rieure toute oroyauce, chine critique qui, soul°, it co titre, a le droit do so nommer la critique do la raison pure et impersonnelle, il pas la foi—devrait lee accepter dans lour integrit6absolue, sans Ies alt6rer on le s att5nuer, sane retrancher un soul fait, une seule parole."

This passage exemplifies our former remark, for, unfortu- nately, this simple statement of what should be done is seldom realised; neither have many writers, believers or unbelievers, been blessed with this childlike spirit. The great evil of

modern criticism, Didon tells us, is that it has treated docu- mentary evidence comma une lettre morte, instead of looking upon it as la propriete inalienable de l'Eglise Catholique ; further, that it does not regard the Church as a divine institution, 'but acts as if her past records were no better than ancient papyri. This statement is certainly one- sided, for no one can doubt that much of the modern criticism has done good service to Christianity by replacing the picture in its frame, and by employing the same critical methods with Scriptural writings as with secular literature. The result may be good or bad, but the Church should be willing, and is strong enough, to face scrutiny.

In the following statement of the Pere Didon, there is much more undeniable truth Bans bien des ass, je prefer°, comma critique, le paysan simple I. l'academicien oubtil et axis& Le premier me dira bonnement ce gull a vu ; l'autre voudra me l'expliquer," Here the author enunciates one of his simple, forcible truths ; for may not the reason why many of our writers of the life of Christ have failed to satisfy their readers be that they have seemed too eager to give, when not necessary, their own peculiar views on a very simple story P

In Didon's introduction, we are shown, again, how critics and schools of criticism have Wren hold of one side of the life of Christ, and have forced it to prove their special theories. Certainly Strauss wished to reform and refine too much, to consider part of the story as true, and part as a myth, to make use of the Synoptics to refute St John, and St. John to refute the Synoptics, causing l3aur to blame him for trying to build up a theory without looking to see if that theory had a foundation ; and Baur, in his turn, fell into the opposite extreme; whilst the rest of the Tiibingen school, each in turn, employing the same systems, tried their hand at critical

analysis of various parts of the sacred writings. Strauss, unlike Niebuhr, could not evolve, combine, and restore; he seemed able only to pull down ; but the Christ of Strauss has more spiritual reality than the Jesus of Renan, which is strange, considering that the former was more anxious to prove a myth-theory than the latter, though at the same time saying

that he did not wish to destroy the faith of the people, only to translate its transcendental matter into scientific form. Ronan, on the contrary, in beautiful though over-sentimental language, declared that in Jesus the man alone was to be found, Renan, we think, exhibits more faith than that which he allows to the Apostles when he states, and asks us to credit the statement, that the disciples believed in their Master's appearance after the Resurrection simply because they wished to believe the fact, and that it was only an etrange miroitement. Didon, on the contrary, points out that the Apostles saw their risen Lord, in spite of their disbelief, and in spite of their contrary expectation. Ronan has gained but a small portion of his aim by watering down Scripture, that aim which he has expressed by these words :—" J'ai ern servir la religion en essayant de la transporter dans la r4gion de l'inattaquable, au-delit des dogmes particuliers et des croyanees

surnaturelles." Didon, on the contrary, boldly affirms that it

is in the supernatural that the proof of Christ's divinity is to be found. In England, when Ecce Homo appeared and "called

forth commendation so warm and censure so sharp "from very opposite quarters, as Mr. Gladstone told us, the author informed his readers that the book was written for the

satisfaction of his own mind; but it had also the effect of startling, and not always satisfying, many other minds. Ecce Homo, however, putting away all tradition, takes its readers into the presence of Christ, shows him as he is to be found in the Gospel, and leaves its readers to add, if they like : "Truly this

was the Son of God." In the most popular of our Lives of Christ, Canon Farrar brought to bear upon his subject a great deal of knowledge, and much picturesque detail which Didon has also, quite independently, gathered ; but here the likeness ends, since the minds of the two writers are very opposite, as can be seen even in their descriptive passages. For instance, the first can make beautiful word-pictures, and does make one about Nazareth as it is now ; the other shows us the little town as Christ saw it, with a deeper purpose underlying his descrip- tion, and a freshness of outline which, in our mind, far exceeds in beauty the more ornate language of the English divine. Farrar says :— "In spring everything about the place looks indescribably bright and soft. Doves murmur in the trees ; the hoopoe flits about in ceaseless activity, the bright-blue roller-bird, the com- monest and loveliest bird of Palestine, flashes like a living sapphire over fields which are enamelled with innumerable flowers."

And Didon writes :-

"II a lu de longues annees dons la nature nazar6enne comme dans le livre de Dieu. C'est lk qu'il admirait lee andmones, les lis et lee touffes d'asphoclele, et le figuier qui jette an printemps see premiers fruits ; c'est 1k qu'il a vu blanchir les bles, couper les rameaux do la vigne pour qu'elle soit plus filconde, errer lee brebis perdues, ramener lee troupeaux au bercail. Cost it qu'il a vu le chacal diilint gagner ea taniare, lee aigles et les vautours s'assem- bier pour dclveror lour proie ; c'est qu'il a vu rougir le soleil du matin et du soir, en signe de ser6nito ou d'orage, d6border lee torrents qui emportent la maison mal

This seems to us a beautiful description, not written at all for effect, but penned in order to show graphically the con-

nection between human life and the mind of Christ, and to point out bow later, when his childhood should have already become a beautiful remembrance, he would draw from his memories of the scenes around his home at'Nazareth in order to teach his disciples divine wisdom clothed in simple parables.

it would be an interesting study to show in what various ways the several authors of the Life of Christ have treated the miracles and the miraculous, but space forbids our doing this, and from giving further details of this special Life. Personally, we prefer the first volume—if we may venture to criticise the arrangement—for in the second the author alter- nates too quickly the text and the exposition of it, giving us a slight feeling of mental see-saw ; but this is a mere matter of personal taste, and does not detract from the merit of a book which few, whether they agree or disagree with the text, will be able to read through without pleasure and profit.