“Carlyle says of Christ that he was ‘the highest soul that ever was on earth.’
“Such names will more impress the mocker than will the name of saint or apostle.
“Bid them look at his humility when he was personally criticised, and at his sublime assumption when proclaiming his mission. I am the Light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.
“Did any other teacher of men ever utter such words? See him with the scourge in his hand! See him with the lily in his hand!
“O happy blossom! to be so looked at, touched and spoken of. Did it fade away as other blossoms do? Does its seed yet live upon the earth? Does the Syrian sunshine of to-day still paint the petals of its almost nineteen hundredth generation?
“How dare these preachers of destruction try to rob the human race of such a teacher? What have they to give in exchange for him? Who among them all has a message that can gild the clouds of life, and make of pain and of obscurity a promise and a crown? Never in our era as now has there been such temporal need of the softening influences of Christianity. The poor and the oppressed of all the world, maddened by suffering and insult, outraged by hypocrisy and deceit, are rising everywhere with the desperate motto almost on their lips, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. A Samson mocked at by fools and fiends, their arms grope blindly out, searching for the pillars of a corrupted state.
“And this is the moment chosen to dethrone the Peacemaker of the universe! Verily, whom the gods would destroy they first make mad!
“Will teachers like these incite men to heroic deeds? They destroy honor and heroism from off the face of the earth! They forge their chains and lay their traps for anarchy; yet there is no preacher of anarchy so dangerous, even for this life, as he who seeks to dethrone in the hearts of men their martyred Lover, Jesus of Nazareth!”
The old man paused, and, with his eyes fixed far away over the heads of the audience to where the sky and mountains met, lifted his arms in silent invocation. Then, drooping, he came feebly down from the pulpit.
The boys for whom his address had been especially meant pressed forward to receive him, and conduct him to a seat.