legitimate cravings of the heart, Jesus had forgotten the pleasure of living, of loving, of seeing, and of feeling.  Employing still more unmeasured language, he even said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and follow me.  He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.  He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake and the gospel’s, shall find it.  What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"[3] Two anecdotes of the kind we cannot accept as historical, but which, although they were exaggerations, were intended to represent a characteristic feature, clearly illustrate this defiance of nature.  He said to one man, “Follow me!”—­But he said, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.”  Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury their dead:  but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”  Another said to him, “Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.”  Jesus replied, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."[4] An extraordinary confidence, and at times accents of singular sweetness, reversing all our ideas of him, caused these exaggerations to be easily received.  “Come unto me,” cried he, “all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me:  for I am meek and lowly in heart:  and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."[5]

[Footnote 1:  Luke xiv. 26.  We must here take into account the exaggeration of Luke’s style.]

[Footnote 2:  Luke xiv. 33.]

[Footnote 3:  Matt. x. 37-39, xvi. 24, 25; Luke ix. 23-25, xiv. 26, 27, xvii. 33; John xii. 25.]

[Footnote 4:  Matt. viii. 21, 22; Luke ix. 59-62.]

[Footnote 5:  Matt. xi. 28-30.]

A great danger threatened the future of this exalted morality, thus expressed in hyperbolical language and with a terrible energy.  By detaching man from earth the ties of life were severed.  The Christian would be praised for being a bad son, or a bad patriot, if it was for Christ that he resisted his father and fought against his country.  The ancient city, the parent republic, the state, or the law common to all, were thus placed in hostility with the kingdom of God.  A fatal germ of theocracy was introduced into the world.

From this point, another consequence may be perceived.  This morality, created for a temporary crisis, when introduced into a peaceful country, and in the midst of a society assured of its own duration, must seem impossible.  The Gospel was thus destined to become a Utopia for Christians, which few would care to realize.  These terrible maxims would, for the greater number, remain in profound oblivion, an oblivion encouraged by the clergy itself; the Gospel man would prove a