BY

ERNEST RENAN

66

AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL,"

"THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE," ETC.

TRANSLATION NEWLY REVISED FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD

AND FINAL EDITION

BOSTON

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

S. J. PARKHILL & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A.

Storage

To the Pure Soul

OF

MY SISTER HENRIETTA,

WHO DIED AT BYBLOS, SEPT. 24, 1861.

FROM the bosom of God, in which thou reposest, dost thou recall those long days at Ghazir, when, alone with thee, I wrote these pages, inspired by the places we had visited together? Silent at my side, thou didst read each sheet, and copy it as soon as written; while the sea, the villages, the ravines, the mountains, were spread out at our feet. When the overpowering light had given place to the innumerable host of stars, thy delicate and subtile questions, thy cautious doubts, brought me back to the sublime object of our common thoughts. Thou saidst to me one day that this book would be dear to thee, because it had been written with thy aid, and because, also, it was after thine own heart. If at times thou didst fear for it the narrow judgment of frivo. lous men, thou wast ever persuaded that truly religious souls would, in the end, take delight in it. In the midst of these sweet meditations, Death struck us both with his wing; the sleep of fever overtook us at the same hour: I awoke alone! Thou sleepest now in the land of Adonis, near the holy Byblos and the sacred waters where the women of the ancient mysteries came to mingle their tears. Reveal to me, O good genius, to me whom thou lovedst, those truths which conquer death, deprive it of fear,

and make it almost beloved.

EDITOR'S NOTE.

In this revised version of what is widely recognised as the one great literary monument of a century of New Testament criticism, the two best known English translations have been freely used, while nearly every sentence has been recast, and the whole has been scrupulously weighed, phrase by phrase, with the original. The Scripture references have been made more precise, and some of them corrected; attention has been called to several points of recent criticism which appear to qualify the author's judgment; and additions (generally indicated by brackets) have been made here and there, in footnotes, as seemed to be required. Circumstances beyond the Editor's control have made it impossible to do more than verify in the most general way Renan's very numerous references to the remoter, especially the later Hebrew, sources; but it is hoped that the student will find the essential aid he may require in the few additions which have been supplied, while the Index now added will sufficiently serve the needs of the general reader.

A few biographical data are here appended, taken chiefly from the "Life of Renan" by Francis Espinasse: 1

Joseph Ernest Renan was born February 28, 1823, at Tréquier, a coast town of Celtic Brittany, and died in Paris, October 2, 1892. His early education was intended to fit him for the priesthood; but he abandoned this vocation at

1 Published by Walter Scott, London, 1895.