PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST
736
... Therefore I reject all other religions. In that way I find an answer
to all objections. It is right that a God so pure should only reveal
Himself to those whose hearts are purified. Hence this religion is
lovable to me, and I find it now sufficiently justified by so divine a
morality. But I find more in it.
I find it convincing that, since the memory of man has lasted, it was
constantly announced to men that they were universally corrupt, but that
a Redeemer should come; that it was not one man who said it, but
innumerable men, and a whole nation expressly made for the purpose, and
prophesying for four thousand years. This is a nation which is more
ancient than every other nation. Their books, scattered abroad, are four
thousand years old.
The more I examine them, the more truths I find in them: an entire
nation foretell Him before His advent, and an entire nation worship Him
after His advent; what has preceded and what has followed; in short,
people without idols and kings, this synagogue which was foretold, and
these wretches who frequent it, and who, being our enemies, are
admirable witnesses of the truth of these prophecies, wherein their
wretchedness and even their blindness are foretold.
I find this succession, this religion, wholly divine in its authority,
in its duration, in its perpetuity, in its morality, in its conduct, in
its doctrine, in its effects. The frightful darkness of the Jews was
foretold: _Eris palpans in meridie.[276] Dabitur liber scienti literas,
et dicet: Non possum legere._[277] While the sceptre was still in the
hands of the first foreign usurper, there is the report of the coming of
Jesus Christ.
So I hold out my arms to my _Redeemer_, who, having been foretold for
four thousand years, has come to suffer and to die for me on earth, at
the time and under all the circumstances foretold. By His grace, I await
death in peace, in the hope of being eternally united to Him. Yet I
live with joy, whether in the prosperity which it pleases Him to bestow
upon me, or in the adversity which He sends for my good, and which He
has taught me to bear by His example.
737
The prophecies having given different signs which should all happen at
the advent of the Messiah, it was necessary that all these signs should
occur at the same time. So it was necessary that the fourth monarchy
should have come, when the seventy weeks of Daniel were ended; and that
the sceptre should have then departed from Judah. And all this happened
without any difficulty. Then it was necessary that the Messiah should
come; and Jesus Christ then came, who was called the Messiah. And all
this again was without difficulty. This indeed shows the truth of the
prophecies.
738
The prophets foretold, and were not foretold. The saints again were
foretold, but did not foretell. Jesus Christ both foretold and was
foretold.
739
Jesus Christ, whom the two Testaments regard, the Old as its hope, the
New as its model, and both as their centre.
740
The two oldest books in the world are those of Moses and Job, the one a
Jew and the other a Gentile. Both of them look upon Jesus Christ as
their common centre and object: Moses in relating the promises of God to
Abraham, Jacob, etc., and his prophecies; and Job, _Quis mihi det
ut_,[278] etc. _Scio enim quod redemptor meus vivit_, etc.
741
The Gospel only speaks of the virginity of the Virgin up to the time of
the birth of Jesus Christ. All with reference to Jesus Christ.
742
_Proofs of Jesus Christ._
Why was the book of Ruth preserved?
Why the story of Tamar?
743
"Pray that ye enter not into temptation."[279] It is dangerous to be
tempted; and people are tempted because they do not pray.
_Et tu conversus confirma fratres tuos._ But before, _conversus Jesus
respexit Petrum_.
Saint Peter asks permission to strike Malchus, and strikes before
hearing the answer. Jesus Christ replies afterwards.
The word, _Galilee_, which the Jewish mob pronounced as if by chance, in
accusing Jesus Christ before Pilate, afforded Pilate a reason for
sending Jesus Christ to Herod. And thereby the mystery was accomplished,
that He should be judged by Jews and Gentiles. Chance was apparently the
cause of the accomplishment of the mystery.
744
Those who have a difficulty in believing seek a reason in the fact that
the Jews do not believe. "Were this so clear," say they, "why did the
Jews not believe?" And they almost wish that they had believed, so as
not to be kept back by the example of their refusal. But it is their
very refusal that is the foundation of our faith. We should be much less
disposed to the faith, if they were on our side. We should then have a
more ample pretext. The wonderful thing is to have made the Jews great
lovers of the things foretold, and great enemies of their fulfilment.
745
The Jews were accustomed to great and striking miracles, and so, having
had the great miracles of the Red Sea and of the land of Canaan as an
epitome of the great deeds of their Messiah, they therefore looked for
more striking miracles, of which those of Moses were only the patterns.
746
The carnal Jews and the heathen have their calamities, and Christians
also. There is no Redeemer for the heathen, for they do not so much as
hope for one. There is no Redeemer for the Jews; they hope for Him in
vain. There is a Redeemer only for Christians. (See _Perpetuity_.)
747
In the time of the Messiah the people divided themselves. The spiritual
embraced the Messiah, and the coarser-minded remained to serve as
witnesses of Him.
748
"If this was clearly foretold to the Jews, how did they not believe it,
or why were they not destroyed for resisting a fact so clear?"
I reply: in the first place, it was foretold both that they would not
believe a thing so clear, and that they would not be destroyed. And
nothing is more to the glory of the Messiah; for it was not enough that
there should be prophets; their prophets must be kept above suspicion.
Now, etc.
749
If the Jews had all been converted by Jesus Christ, we should have none
but questionable witnesses. And if they had been entirely destroyed, we
should have no witnesses at all.
750
What do the prophets say of Jesus Christ? That He will be clearly God?
No; but that He is a God truly hidden; that He will be slighted; that
none will think that it is He; that He will be a stone of stumbling,
upon which many will stumble, etc. Let people then reproach us no longer
for want of clearness, since we make profession of it.
But, it is said, there are obscurities.--And without that, no one would
have stumbled over Jesus Christ, and this is one of the formal
pronouncements of the prophets: _Excaeca_[280] ...
751
Moses first teaches the Trinity, original sin, the Messiah.
David: a great witness; a king, good, merciful, a beautiful soul, a
sound mind, powerful. He prophesies, and his wonder comes to pass. This
is infinite.
He had only to say that he was the Messiah, if he had been vain; for the
prophecies are clearer about him than about Jesus Christ. And the same
with Saint John.
752
Herod was believed to be the Messiah. He had taken away the sceptre from
Judah, but he was not of Judah. This gave rise to a considerable sect.
Curse of the Greeks upon those who count three periods of time.
In what way should the Messiah come, seeing that through Him the sceptre
was to be eternally in Judah, and at His coming the sceptre was to be
taken away from Judah?
In order to effect that seeing they should not see, and hearing they
should not understand, nothing could be better done.
753
_Homo existens te Deum facit.
Scriptum est, Dii estis, et non potest solvi Scriptura.
Haec infirmitas non est ad vitam et est ad mortem.
Lazarus dormit, et deinde dixit: Lazarus mortuus est._[281]
754
The apparent discrepancy of the Gospels.[282]
755
What can we have but reverence for a man who foretells plainly things
which come to pass, and who declares his intention both to blind and to
enlighten, and who intersperses obscurities among the clear things which
come to pass?
756
The time of the first advent was foretold; the time of the second is not
so; because the first was to be obscure, and the second is to be
brilliant, and so manifest that even His enemies will recognise it. But,
as He was first to come only in obscurity, and to be known only of those
who searched the Scriptures ...
757
God, in order to cause the Messiah to be known by the good and not to be
known by the wicked, made Him to be foretold in this manner. If the
manner of the Messiah had been clearly foretold, there would have been
no obscurity, even for the wicked. If the time had been obscurely
foretold, there would have been obscurity, even for the good. For their
[goodness of heart] would not have made them understand, for instance,
that the closed _mem_ signifies six hundred years. But the time has been
clearly foretold, and the manner in types.
By this means, the wicked, taking the promised blessings for material
blessings, have fallen into error, in spite of the clear prediction of
the time; and the good have not fallen in error. For the understanding
of the promised blessings depends on the heart, which calls "good" that
which it loves; but the understanding of the promised time does not
depend on the heart. And thus the clear prediction of the time, and the
obscure prediction of the blessings, deceive the wicked alone.
758
[Either the Jews or the Christians must be wicked.]
759
The Jews reject Him, but not all. The saints receive Him, and not the
carnal-minded. And so far is this from being against His glory, that it
is the last touch which crowns it. For their argument, the only one
found in all their writings, in the Talmud and in the Rabbinical
writings, amounts only to this, that Jesus Christ has not subdued the
nations with sword in hand, _gladiumt uum, potentissime_.[283] (Is this
all they have to say? Jesus Christ has been slain, say they. He has
failed. He has not subdued the heathen with His might. He has not
bestowed upon us their spoil. He does not give riches. Is this all they
have to say? It is in this respect that He is lovable to me. I would not
desire Him whom they fancy.) It is evident that it is only His life
which has prevented them from accepting Him; and through this rejection
they are irreproachable witnesses, and, what is more, they thereby
accomplish the prophecies.
[By means of the fact that this people have not accepted Him, this
miracle here has happened. The prophecies were the only lasting miracles
which could be wrought, but they were liable to be denied.]
760
The Jews, in slaying Him in order not to receive Him as the Messiah,
have given Him the final proof of being the Messiah.
And in continuing not to recognise Him, they made themselves
irreproachable witnesses. Both in slaying Him, and in continuing to deny
Him, they have fulfilled the prophecies (Isa. lx; Ps. lxxi).
761
What could the Jews, His enemies, do? If they receive Him, they give
proof of Him by their reception; for then the guardians of the
expectation of the Messiah receive Him. If they reject Him, they give
proof of Him by their rejection.
762
The Jews, in testing if He were God, have shown that He was man.
763
The Church has had as much difficulty in showing that Jesus Christ was
man, against those who denied it, as in showing that he was God; and the
probabilities were equally great.
764
_Source of contradictions._--A God humiliated, even to the death on the
cross; a Messiah triumphing over death by his own death. Two natures in
Jesus Christ, two advents, two states of man's nature.
765
_Types._--Saviour, father, sacrificer, offering, food, king, wise,
law-giver, afflicted, poor, having to create a people whom He must lead
and nourish, and bring into His land....
_Jesus Christ. Offices._--He alone had to create a great people, elect,
holy, and chosen; to lead, nourish, and bring it into the place of rest
and holiness; to make it holy to God; to make it the temple of God; to
reconcile it to, and save it from, the wrath of God; to free it from the
slavery of sin, which visibly reigns in man; to give laws to this
people, and engrave these laws on their heart; to offer Himself to God
for them, and sacrifice Himself for them; to be a victim without
blemish, and Himself the sacrificer, having to offer Himself, His body,
and His blood, and yet to offer bread and wine to God ...
_Ingrediens mundum._[284]
"Stone upon stone."[285]
What preceded and what followed. All the Jews exist still, and are
wanderers.
766
Of all that is on earth, He partakes only of the sorrows, not of the
joys. He loves His neighbours, but His love does not confine itself
within these bounds, and overflows to His own enemies, and then to those
of God.
767
Jesus Christ typified by Joseph, the beloved of his father, sent by his
father to see his brethren, etc., innocent, sold by his brethren for
twenty pieces of silver, and thereby becoming their lord, their saviour,
the saviour of strangers, and the saviour of the world; which had not
been but for their plot to destroy him, their sale and their rejection
of him.
In prison Joseph innocent between two criminals; Jesus Christ on the
cross between two thieves. Joseph foretells freedom to the one, and
death to the other, from the same omens. Jesus Christ saves the elect,
and condemns the outcast for the same sins. Joseph foretells only; Jesus
Christ acts. Joseph asks him who will be saved to remember him, when he
comes into his glory; and he whom Jesus Christ saves asks that He will
remember him, when He comes into His kingdom.
768
The conversion of the heathen was only reserved for the grace of the
Messiah. The Jews have been so long in opposition to them without
success; all that Solomon and the prophets said has been useless. Sages,
like Plato and Socrates, have not been able to persuade them.
769
After many persons had gone before, Jesus Christ at last came to
say:[286] "Here am I, and this is the time. That which the prophets have
said was to come in the fullness of time, I tell you My apostles will
do. The Jews shall be cast out. Jerusalem shall be soon destroyed. And
the heathen shall enter into the knowledge of God. My apostles shall do
this after you have slain the heir of the vineyard."
Then the apostles said to the Jews: "You shall be accursed," (_Celsus
laughed at it_); and to the heathen, "You shall enter into the knowledge
of God." And this then came to pass.
770
Jesus Christ came to blind those who saw clearly, and to give sight to
the blind; to heal the sick, and leave the healthy to die; to call to
repentance, and to justify sinners, and to leave the righteous in their
sins; to fill the needy, and leave the rich empty.
771
_Holiness._--_Effundam spiritum meum._[287] All nations were in unbelief
and lust. The whole world now became fervent with love. Princes
abandoned their pomp; maidens suffered martyrdom. Whence came this
influence? The Messiah was come. These were the effect and sign of His
coming.
772
Destruction of the Jews and heathen by Jesus Christ: _Omnes gentes
venient et adorabunt eum.[288] Parum est ut_,[289] etc. _Postula a
me.[290] Adorabunt eum omnes reges.[291] Testes iniqui.[292] Dabit
maxillam percutienti.[293] Dederunt fel in escam._[294]
773
Jesus Christ for all, Moses for a nation.
The Jews blessed in Abraham: "I will bless those that bless thee."[295]
But: "All nations blessed in his seed."[296] _Parum est ut_, etc.
_Lumen ad revelationem gentium._[297]
_Non fecit taliter omni nationi_,[298] said David, in speaking of the
Law. But, in speaking of Jesus Christ, we must say: _Fecit taliter omni
nationi. Parum est ut_, etc., Isaiah. So it belongs to Jesus Christ to
be universal. Even the Church offers sacrifice only for the faithful.
Jesus Christ offered that of the cross for all.
774
There is heresy in always explaining _omnes_ by "all," and heresy in not
explaining it sometimes by "all." _Bibite ex hoc omnes_;[299] the
Huguenots are heretics in explaining it by "all." _In quo omnes
peccaverunt_;[300] the Huguenots are heretics in excepting the children
of true believers. We must then follow the Fathers and tradition in
order to know when to do so, since there is heresy to be feared on both
sides.
775
_Ne timeas pusillus grex.[301] Timore et tremore.--Quid ergo? Ne timeas
[modo] timeas._ Fear not, provided you fear; but if you fear not, then
fear.
_Qui me recipit, non me recipit, sed eum qui me misit._[302]
_Nemo scit, neque Filius._
_Nubes lucida obumbravit._
Saint John[303] was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and Jesus Christ[304] to plant division. There is not contradiction.
776
The effects _in communi_ and _in particulari_. The semi-Pelagians err in
saying of _in communi_ what is true only _in particulari_; and the
Calvinists in saying _in particulari_ what is true _in communi_. (Such
is my opinion.)
777
_Omnis Judaea regio, et Jerosolomymi universi, et baptizabantur._[305]
Because of all the conditions of men who came there. From these stones
there _can_ come children unto Abraham.[306]
778
If men knew themselves, God would heal and pardon them. _Ne convertantur
et sanem eos, et dimittantur eis peccata._[307]
779
Jesus Christ never condemned without hearing. To Judas: _Amice, ad quid
venisti?_[308] To him that had not on the wedding garment, the same.
780
The types of the completeness of the Redemption, as that the sun gives
light to all, indicate only completeness; but [_the types_] of
exclusions, as of the Jews elected to the exclusion of the Gentiles,
indicate exclusion.
"Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all."--Yes, for He has offered, like a man
who has ransomed all those who were willing to come to Him. If any die
on the way, it is their misfortune; but, so far as He was concerned, He
offered them redemption.--That holds good in this example, where he who
ransoms and he who prevents death are two persons, but not of Jesus
Christ, who does both these things.--No, for Jesus Christ, in the
quality of Redeemer, is not perhaps Master of all; and thus, in so far
as it is in Him, He is the Redeemer of all.
When it is said that Jesus Christ did not die for all, you take undue
advantage of a fault in men who at once apply this exception to
themselves; and this is to favour despair, instead of turning them from
it to favour hope. For men thus accustom themselves in inward virtues by
outward customs.
781
The victory over death. "What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?[309] Whosoever will save his soul, shall
lose it."[310]
"I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil."[311]
"Lambs took not away the sins of the world, but I am the lamb which
taketh away the sins."[312]
"Moses[313] hath not led you out of captivity, and made you truly free."
782
... Then Jesus Christ comes to tell men that they have no other enemies
but themselves; that it is their passions which keep them apart from
God; that He comes to destroy these, and give them His grace, so as to
make of them all one Holy Church; that He comes to bring back into this
Church the heathen and Jews; that He comes to destroy the idols of the
former and the superstition of the latter. To this all men are opposed,
not only from the natural opposition of lust; but, above all, the kings
of the earth, as had been foretold, join together to destroy this
religion at its birth. (_Proph.: Quare fremuerunt gentes ... reges terrae
... adversus Christum._)[314]
All that is great on earth is united together; the learned, the wise,
the kings. The first write; the second condemn; the last kill. And
notwithstanding all these oppositions, these men, simple and weak,
resist all these powers, subdue even these kings, these learned men and
these sages, and remove idolatry from all the earth. And all this is
done by the power which had foretold it.
783
Jesus Christ would not have the testimony of devils, nor of those who
were not called, but of God and John the Baptist.
784
I consider Jesus Christ in all persons and in ourselves: Jesus Christ as
a Father in His Father, Jesus Christ as a Brother in His Brethren, Jesus
Christ as poor in the poor, Jesus Christ as rich in the rich, Jesus
Christ as Doctor and Priest in priests, Jesus Christ as Sovereign in
princes, etc. For by His glory He is all that is great, being God; and
by His mortal life He is all that is poor and abject. Therefore He has
taken this unhappy condition, so that He could be in all persons, and
the model of all conditions.
785
Jesus Christ is an obscurity (according to what the world calls
obscurity), such that historians, writing only of important matters of
states, have hardly noticed Him.
786
_On the fact that neither Josephus, nor Tacitus, nor other historians
have spoken of Jesus Christ._--So far is this from telling against
Christianity, that on the contrary it tells for it. For it is certain
that Jesus Christ has existed; that His religion has made a great talk;
and that these persons were not ignorant of it. Thus it is plain that
they purposely concealed it, or that, if they did speak of it, their
account has been suppressed or changed.
787
"I have reserved me seven thousand."[315] I love the worshippers unknown
to the world and to the very prophets.
788
As Jesus Christ remained unknown among men, so His truth remains among
common opinions without external difference. Thus the Eucharist among
ordinary bread.
789
Jesus would not be slain without the forms of justice; for it is far
more ignominious to die by justice than by an unjust sedition.
790
The false justice of Pilate only serves to make Jesus Christ suffer; for
he causes Him to be scourged by his false justice, and afterwards puts
Him to death. It would have been better to have put Him to death at
once. Thus it is with the falsely just. They do good and evil works to
please the world, and to show that they are not altogether of Jesus
Christ; for they are ashamed of Him. And at last, under great temptation
and on great occasions, they kill Him.
791
What man ever had more renown? The whole Jewish people foretell Him
before His coming. The Gentile people worship Him after His coming. The
two peoples, Gentile and Jewish, regard Him as their centre.
And yet what man enjoys this renown less? Of thirty-three years, He
lives thirty without appearing. For three years He passes as an
impostor; the priests and the chief people reject Him; His friends and
His nearest relatives despise Him. Finally, He dies, betrayed by one of
His own disciples, denied by another, and abandoned by all.
What part, then, has He in this renown? Never had man so much renown;
never had man more ignominy. All that renown has served only for us, to
render us capable of recognising Him; and He had none of it for Himself.
792
The infinite distance between body and mind is a symbol of the
infinitely more infinite distance between mind and charity; for charity
is supernatural.
All the glory of greatness has no lustre for people who are in search of
understanding.
The greatness of clever men is invisible to kings, to the rich, to
chiefs, and to all the worldly great.
The greatness of wisdom, which is nothing if not of God, is invisible to
the carnal-minded and to the clever. These are three orders differing in
kind.
Great geniuses have their power, their glory, their greatness, their
victory, their lustre, and have no need of worldly greatness, with which
they are not in keeping. They are seen, not by the eye, but by the mind;
this is sufficient.
The saints have their power, their glory, their victory, their lustre,
and need no worldly or intellectual greatness, with which they have no
affinity; for these neither add anything to them, nor take away anything
from them. They are seen of God and the angels, and not of the body, nor
of the curious mind. God is enough for them.
Archimedes,[316] apart from his rank, would have the same veneration. He
fought no battles for the eyes to feast upon; but he has given his
discoveries to all men. Oh! how brilliant he was to the mind!
Jesus Christ, without riches, and without any external exhibition of
knowledge, is in His own order of holiness. He did not invent; He did
not reign. But He was humble, patient, holy, holy to God, terrible to
devils, without any sin. Oh! in what great pomp, and in what wonderful
splendour, He is come to the eyes of the heart, which perceive wisdom!
It would have been useless for Archimedes to have acted the prince in
his books on geometry, although he was a prince.
It would have been useless for our Lord Jesus Christ to come like a
king, in order to shine forth in His kingdom of holiness. But He came
there appropriately in the glory of His own order.
It is most absurd to take offence at the lowliness of Jesus Christ, as
if His lowliness were in the same order as the greatness which He came
to manifest. If we consider this greatness in His life, in His passion,
in His obscurity, in His death, in the choice of His disciples, in their
desertion, in His secret resurrection, and the rest, we shall see it to
be so immense, that we shall have no reason for being offended at a
lowliness which is not of that order.
But there are some who can only admire worldly greatness, as though
there were no intellectual greatness; and others who only admire
intellectual greatness, as though there were not infinitely higher
things in wisdom.
All bodies, the firmament, the stars, the earth and its kingdoms, are
not equal to the lowest mind; for mind knows all these and itself; and
these bodies nothing.
All bodies together, and all minds together, and all their products, are
not equal to the least feeling of charity. This is of an order
infinitely more exalted.
From all bodies together, we cannot obtain one little thought; this is
impossible, and of another order. From all bodies and minds, we cannot
produce a feeling of true charity; this is impossible, and of another
and supernatural order.
793
Why did Jesus Christ not come in a visible manner, instead of obtaining
testimony of Himself from preceding prophecies? Why did He cause Himself
to be foretold in types?
794
If Jesus Christ had only come to sanctify, all Scripture and all things
would tend to that end; and it would be quite easy to convince
unbelievers. If Jesus Christ had only come to blind, all His conduct
would be confused; and we would have no means of convincing unbelievers.
But as He came _in sanctificationem et in scandalum_,[317] as Isaiah
says, we cannot convince unbelievers, and they cannot convince us. But
by this very fact we convince them; since we say that in His whole
conduct there is no convincing proof on one side or the other.
795
Jesus Christ does not say that He is not of Nazareth, in order to leave
the wicked in their blindness; nor that He is not Joseph's son.
796
_Proofs of Jesus Christ._--Jesus Christ said great things so simply,
that it seems as though He had not thought them great; and yet so
clearly that we easily see what He thought of them. This clearness,
joined to this simplicity, is wonderful.
797
The style of the gospel is admirable in so many ways, and among the rest
in hurling no invectives against the persecutors and enemies of Jesus
Christ. For there is no such invective in any of the historians against
Judas, Pilate, or any of the Jews.
If this moderation of the writers of the Gospels had been assumed, as
well as many other traits of so beautiful a character, and they had only
assumed it to attract notice, even if they had not dared to draw
attention to it themselves, they would not have failed to secure
friends, who would have made such remarks to their advantage. But as
they acted thus without pretence, and from wholly disinterested motives,
they did not point it out to any one; and I believe that many such facts
have not been noticed till now, which is evidence of the natural
disinterestedness with which the thing has been done.
798
An artisan who speaks of wealth, a lawyer who speaks of war, of royalty,
etc.; but the rich man rightly speaks of wealth, a king speaks
indifferently of a great gift he has just made, and God rightly speaks
of God.
799
Who has taught the evangelists the qualities of a perfectly heroic soul,
that they paint it so perfectly in Jesus Christ? Why do they make Him
weak in His agony? Do they not know how to paint a resolute death? Yes,
for the same Saint Luke paints the death of Saint Stephen as braver than
that of Jesus Christ.
They make Him therefore capable of fear, before the necessity of dying
has come, and then altogether brave.
But when they make Him so troubled, it is when He afflicts Himself; and
when men afflict Him, He is altogether strong.
800
_Proof of Jesus Christ._--The supposition that the apostles were
impostors is very absurd. Let us think it out. Let us imagine those
twelve men, assembled after the death of Jesus Christ, plotting to say
that He was risen. By this they attack all the powers. The heart of man
is strangely inclined to fickleness, to change, to promises, to gain.
However little any of them might have been led astray by all these
attractions, nay more, by the fear of prisons, tortures, and death, they
were lost. Let us follow up this thought.
801
The apostles were either deceived or deceivers. Either supposition has
difficulties; for it is not possible to mistake a man raised from the
dead ...
While Jesus Christ was with them, He could sustain them. But, after
that, if He did not appear to them, who inspired them to act?