The Heavenly Father | Page 9

this idea appeared in all its splendor,
and began the conquest of the universe, the ancient philosophy, which
had separated itself from heathen forms of worship, and had covered
them with its contempt, contracted an alliance with its old adversaries.
It accepted the wildest interpretations of the common superstitions, in
order to be able to league itself with the crowd in one and the same
conflict with the new power which had just appeared in the world. And
this sums up in brief compass the whole history of philosophy in the
first period of our era.

The monotheism of the moderns does not proceed historically from
paganism; it was prepared by the ancient philosophy, without being
produced by it. Whence comes it then? On this head there exists no
serious difference of opinion. Our knowledge of God is the result of a
traditional idea, handed down from generation to generation in a
well-defined current of history. Much obscurity still rests upon man's
earliest religious history, but the truth which I am pointing out to you is
solidly and clearly established. Pass, in thought, over the terrestrial
globe. All the superstitions of which history preserves the remembrance
are practised at this day, either in Asia or in Africa, or in the isles of the
Ocean. The most ridiculous and ferocious rites are practised still in the
light of the same sun which gilds, as he sets, the spires and domes of
our churches. At this very day, there are nations upon the earth which
prostrate themselves before animals, or which adore sacred trees. At
this very day, perhaps at this hour in which I am addressing you,
human victims are bound by the priests of idols; before you have left
this room, their blood will have defiled the altars of false deities. At
this very day, numerous nations, which have neither wanted time for
self-development, nor any of the resources of civilization, nor clever
poets, nor profound philosophers, belong to the religion of the
Brahmins, or are instructed in the legends which serve as a mask to the
pernicious doctrines of Buddha. Where do we meet with the clear idea
of the Creator? In a unique tradition which proceeds from the Jews,
which Christians have diffused, and which Mahomet corrupted. God is
known, with that solid and general knowledge which founds a settled
doctrine and a form of worship, under the influence of this tradition and
nowhere else. We assert this as a simple fact of contemporary history;
and there is scarcely any fact in history better established.
The light comes to us from the Gospel. This light did not appear as a
sudden and absolutely new illumination. It had cast pale gleams on the
soul of the heathen in their search after the unknown God; it had shone
apart upon that strange and glorious people which bears the name of
Israel. Israel had preserved the primitive light encompassed by
temporary safe-guards. It was the flame of a lamp, too feeble to live in
the open air, and which remained shut up in a vase, until the moment
when it should have become strong enough to shine forth from its

shattered envelope upon the world. The worship of Jehovah is a local
worship; but this worship, localized for a time, is addressed to the only
and sovereign God. To every nation which says to Israel as Athaliah to
Joash:
I have my God to serve--serve thou thine own,[14]
Israel replies with Joash:
Nay, Madam, but my God is God alone; Him must thou fear: thy God
is nought--a dream![15]
Israel does not affirm merely that the God of Israel is the only true God,
but affirms moreover that the time will come when all the earth will
acknowledge Him for the only and universal Lord. A grand thought, a
grand hope, is in the soul of this people, and assures it that all nations
shall one day look to Jerusalem. Its prophets threaten, warn, denounce
chastisements, predict terrible catastrophes; but in the midst of their
severer utterances breaks forth ever and again the song of future
triumph:
Uplift, Jerusalem, thy queenly brow: Light of the nations, and their
glory, thou![16]
Thus is preserved in the ancient world the knowledge of God amongst
an exceptional people, amidst the darkness of idolatry and the
glimmerings of an imperfect wisdom. And not only is it preserved, but
it shines with a brightness more and more vivid and pure. The
conception of sovereignty which constitutes its foundation, is crowned
as it advances by the conception of love. At length He appears by
whom the universal Father was to be known of all.
Have you not remarked the surprising simplicity with which Jesus
speaks of His work? He speaks of the universe and of the future as a