cannotspendALLmytimeinsaying，HailMary，beforethestatueoftheVirgin。”TheresultwasawarmpersonalattachmentbetweenSimonandRenan；bothwereBretons，educatedinthemidstofthemostorthodoxinfluences，andbothhadunwillinglybrokenawayfromthem。
Renanwasnowemancipated，andpursuedhisstudieswithsucheffectthathewasmadeprofessorattheCollegedeFrance。HisLifeofJesus，andotherbooksshowingthesamespirit，broughtatempestuponhimwhichdrovehimfromhisprofessorshipandbroughtgreathardshipsuponhimformanyyears。Buthisgeniuscarriedtheday，and，tothehonouroftheFrenchRepublic，hewasrestoredtothepositionfromwhichtheEmpirehaddrivenhim。FromhispenfinallyappearedtheHistoireduPeupleIsrael，inwhichscholarshipbroad，thoughattimesinaccurateinminordetails，wassupplementedbyanexquisiteacutenessandapoeticinsightwhichfarmorethanmadegoodanyofthoselessererrorswhichaGermanstudentwouldhaveavoided。Athisdeath，inOctober，1892，thismonumentalworkhadbeenfinished。Inclearnessandbeautyofstyleithasneverbeenapproachedbyanyothertreatiseonthisoranykindredsubject：itisaworkofgenius；anditsprofoundinsightintoallthatisofimportanceinthegreatsubjectswhichhetreatedwilldoubtlesscauseittoholdapermanentplaceintheliteraturenotonlyoftheLatinnationsbutoftheworld。
AninterestinglightisthrownoverthehistoryofadvancingthoughtattheendofthenineteenthcenturybythefactthatthismostdetestedofheresiarchswassummonedtoreceivethehighestofacademichonoursattheuniversitywhichforageshadbeenregardedasastrongholdofPresbyterianorthodoxyinGreatBritain。
InFrancetheanathemaslavisheduponhimbyChurchauthoritiesduringhislife，theirdenialtohimofChristianburial，andtheirrefusaltoallowhimagraveintheplacehemostloved，onlyincreasedpopularaffectionforhimduringhislastyearsanddeepenedthegeneralmourningathisdeath。[488]
[488]ForaremarkablyjustsummaryofRenan’swork，eminentlyjudicialandatthesametimedeeplyappreciative，seetheRev。