Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net THE LIFE OF JESUS BY ERNEST RENAN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN HAYNES HOLMES [Transcriber's note: Introduction by John Haynes Holmes not included in this etext due to copyright restrictions.] MODERN LIBRARY NEW YORK INTRODUCTION COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC. _Random House_ IS THE PUBLISHER OF THE MODERN LIBRARY BENNETT A. CERF * DONALD S. KLOPPER * ROBERT K. HAAS Manufactured in the United States of America Printed by Parkway Printing Company * Bound by H. Wolff TO THE PURE SOUL OF MY SISTER HENRIETTE _Who Died at Byblus on the 24th of September, 1861_ Dost thou recall, from the bosom of God where thou reposest, those long days at Ghazir, in which, alone with thee, I wrote these pages, inspired by the places we had visited together? Silent at my side, thou didst read and copy each sheet as soon as I had written it, whilst the sea, the villages, the ravines, and the mountains, were spread at our feet. When the overwhelming light had given place to the innumerable army of stars, thy shrewd and subtle questions, thy discreet doubts, led me back to the sublime object of our common thoughts. One day thou didst tell me that thou wouldst love this book--first, because it had been composed with thee, and also because it pleased thee. Though at times thou didst fear for it the narrow judgments of the frivolous, yet wert thou ever persuaded that all truly religious souls would ultimately take pleasure in it. In the midst of these sweet meditations, the Angel of Death struck us both with his wing: the sleep of fever seized us at the same time--I awoke alone!... Thou sleepest now in the land of Adonis, near the holy Byblus and the sacred stream 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 terror, and make it almost beloved. PREFACE In presenting an English version of the celebrated work of M. Renan, the translator is aware of the difficulty of adequately rendering a work so admirable for its style and beauty of composition. It is not an easy task to reproduce the terseness and eloquence which characterize the original. Whatever its success in these respects may be, no pains have been spared to give the author's meaning. The translation has been revised by highly competent persons; but although great care has been taken in this respect, it is possible that a few errors may still have escaped notice.