 section 9 of Pensei. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Derek McLaughlin, London, Ontario, Canada. Latin and Greek language reading by Lenny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pensei by Blaise Pascal. Translated by W. F. Trotter. Section 9. Perpetuity. 589. On the fact that the Christian religion is not the only religion. So far as this from being a reason for believing that it is not the true one, that on the contrary it makes us see that it is so. 590. Men must be sincere in all religions. True heathens, true Jews, true Christians. 591. Note, the text shows an inverted triangle with the words heathens and Mohammed at the top corners and ignorance of God at the bottom corner. A vertical line extends from the top side to the initials J. C. End of note. 592. The falseness of other religions. They have no witnesses. The Jews have. God defies other religions to produce such signs. Isaiah chapter 43 verse 9. Isaiah chapter 44 verse 8. 593. History of China. I believe only the histories whose witnesses got themselves killed. Which is the more credible of the two, Moses or China? It is not a question of seeing this summarily. I tell you there is in it something to blind and something to enlighten. By this one word I destroy all your reasoning. But China obscures, say you, and I answer, China obscures, but there is clearness to be found. Seek it. Thus all that you say makes for one of the views and not at all against the other. So this serves and does no harm. We must then see this in detail. We must put the papers on the table. 594. Against the history of China. The historians of Mexico, the five sons of which the last is only 800 years old. The difference between a book accepted by a nation and one which makes a nation. 595. Muhammad was without authority. His reasons then should have been very strong, having only their own force. What does he say then that we must believe him? 596. The Psalms are chanted throughout the whole world. Who renders testimony to Muhammad? Himself. Jesus Christ desires his own testimony to be as nothing. The quality of witnesses necessitates their existence always and everywhere, and he, miserable creature, is alone. 597. Against Muhammad. The Quran is not more of Muhammad than the Gospel is of St. Matthew, for it is cited by many authors from age to age. Even its very enemies, celsus and porphyry, never denied it. The Quran says St. Matthew was an honest man. Therefore, Muhammad was a false prophet for calling honest men wicked, or for not agreeing with what they have said of Jesus Christ. 598. It is not by that which is obscure in Muhammad, and which may be interpreted in a mysterious sense that I would have him judged, but by what is clear as his paradise and the rest. In that he is ridiculous, and since what is clear is ridiculous, it is not right to take his obscurities for mysteries. It is not the same with the Scripture. I agree that there are in it obscurities as strange as those of Muhammad, but there are admirably clear passages and the prophecies are manifestly fulfilled. The cases are therefore not on a par. We must not confound and put on one level things which only resemble each other in their obscurity, and not in the clearness which requires us to reverence the obscurities. 599. The difference between Jesus Christ and Muhammad. Muhammad was not foretold. Jesus Christ was foretold. Muhammad slew. Jesus Christ caused his own to be slain. Muhammad forbade reading. The apostles ordered reading. In fact, the two are so opposed that if Muhammad took the way to succeed from a worldly point of view, Jesus Christ from the same point of view took the way to perish. And instead of concluding that, since Muhammad succeeded, Jesus Christ might well have succeeded, we ought to say that since Muhammad succeeded, Jesus Christ should have failed. 600. Any man can do what Muhammad has done, for he performed no miracles. He was not foretold. No man can do what Christ has done. 601. The heathen religion has no foundation at the present day. It is said once to have had a foundation by the oracles which spoke. But what are the books which assure us of this? Are they so worthy of belief on account of the virtue of their authors? Have they been preserved with such care that we can be sure that they have not been meddled with? The Muhammadan religion has, for a foundation, the Quran and Muhammad. But has this prophet, who was to be the last hope of the world, been foretold? What sign has he that every other man has not who chooses to call himself a prophet? What miracles does he himself say that he has done? What mysteries has he taught, even according to his own tradition? What was the morality? What the happiness held out by him? The Jewish religion must be differently regarded in the tradition of the Holy Bible and in the tradition of the people. Its morality and happiness are absurd in the tradition of the people, but are admirable in that of the Holy Bible. And all religion is the same, for the Christian religion is very different in the Holy Bible and in the Casuists. The foundation is admirable. It is the most ancient book in the world, and the most authentic, and whereas Muhammad, in order to make his own book continue in existence, forbade men to read it, Moses, for the same reason, ordered everyone to read his. Our religion is so divine that another divine religion has only been the foundation of it. 602. Order. To see what is clear and indisputable in the whole state of the Jews. 603. The Jewish religion is wholly divine in its authority, its duration, its perpetuity, its morality, its doctrine, and its effects. 604. The only science contrary to common sense and human nature is that alone which has always existed among men. 605. The only religion contrary to nature, to common sense and to our pleasure, is that alone which has always existed. 606. No religion but our own has taught that man is born in sin. No sect of philosophers has said this. Therefore none have declared the truth. No sect or religion has always existed on earth but the Christian religion. 607. Whoever judges of the Jewish religion by its course or forms will misunderstand it. It is to be seen in the Holy Bible and in the tradition of the prophets who have made it plain enough that they did not interpret the law according to the letter. So our religion is divine in the Gospel, in the apostles, and in tradition, but it is absurd in those who tamper with it. The Messiah according to the carnal Jews was to be a great temporal prince. Jesus Christ according to carnal Christians has come to dispense us from the love of God and to give us sacraments which shall do everything without our help. Such is not the Christian religion nor the Jewish. True Jews and true Christians have always expected a Messiah who should make them love God and by that love triumph over their enemies. 608. The carnal Jews hold a midway place between Christians and heathens. The heathens know not God and love the world only. The Jews know the true God and love the world only. The Christians know the true God and love not the world. Jews and heathens love the same good. Jews and Christians know the same God. The Jews were of two kinds. The first had only heathen affections. The other had Christian affections. 609. There are two kinds of men in each religion. Among the heathen were shepherds of beasts and the worshipers of the one only God of natural religion. Among the Jews the carnal and the spiritual who were the Christians of the old law. Among Christians the Corsair-minded who are the Jews of the new law. The carnal Jews looked for a carnal Messiah. The Corsair Christians believed that the Messiah has dispensed them from the love of God. True Jews and true Christians worship a Messiah who makes them love God. 610. To show that the true Jews and the true Christians have but the same religion. The religion of the Jews seemed to consist essentially in the fatherhood of Abraham, in circumcision and sacrifices, in ceremonies, in the ark, in the temple, in Jerusalem and finally in the law, and in the covenant with Moses. I say that it consisted in none of those things, but only in the love of God, and that God disregarded all the other things. That God did not accept the posterity of Abraham. That the Jews were to be punished like strangers if they transgressed, Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 19, If thou do at all forget the Lord thy God and walk after other gods, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish, as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face. That strangers, if they loved God, were to be received by him as the Jews. Isaiah chapter 56 verse 3. Let not the strangers say the Lord will not receive me. The strangers who join themselves unto the Lord to serve him and love him will I bring unto my holy mountain, and accept therein sacrifices, for mine house is a house of prayer. That the true Jews consider their merit to be from God only and not from Abraham. Isaiah chapter 63 verse 16. Moses himself told them that God would not accept persons. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 17. God said he, regardless neither persons nor sacrifices. The Sabbath was only a sign. Exodus chapter 31 verse 13. And in memory of the escape from Egypt, Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 15. Therefore it is no longer necessary, since Egypt must be forgotten. Circumcision was only a sign. Genesis chapter 17 verse 11. And thence it came to pass that, being in the desert, they were not circumcised, because they could not be confounded with other peoples. And after Jesus Christ came, it was no longer necessary. That the circumcision of the heart is commanded. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 16. Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 4. Be circumcised in heart. Take away the superfluities of your heart, and harden yourselves not. For your God is a mighty God. Strong and terrible, who accepteth not persons. That God said he would one day do it. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6. God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, that thou mayest love him with all thine heart. That the uncircumcised in heart shall be judged. Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 26. For God will judge the uncircumcised peoples, and all the people of Israel, because he is uncircumcised in heart. That the external is of no avail, apart from the internal. Joel chapter 2 verse 13. Etc. Isaiah chapter 58 verses 3, 4, etc. The love of God is enjoined in the whole of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19. I call heaven and earth to record that I have set before you life and death. That you should choose life, and love God, and obey him, for God is your life. That the Jews, for lack of that love, should be rejected for their offenses, and the heathen chosen in their stead. Hosea chapter 1 verse 10. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 20. I will hide myself from them in view of their latter sins, for they are a froward generation without faith. They have moved me to jealousy, with that which is not God, and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, and with an ignorant and foolish nation. Isaiah chapter 65 verse 1. That temporal goods are false, and that the true good is to be united to God. Psalm 143 verse 15. That their feasts are displeasing to God. Amos verse 21. That the sacrifices of the Jews displeased God. Isaiah chapter 66 verses 1 to 3. Chapter 1 verse 11. Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 20. David. Miserere. Even on the part of the good. Expectawi. Psalm 49 verses 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. That he has established them only for their hardness. Micah, admirably chapter 6. First Kings chapter 15 verse 22. Hosea chapter 6 verse 6. That the sacrifices of the Gentiles will be accepted of God, and that God will take no pleasure in the sacrifices of the Jews. Malachi chapter 1 verse 11. That God will make a new covenant with the Messiah, and the old will be annulled. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31. Ezekiel. That the old things will be forgotten. Isaiah chapter 43 verses 18 and 19. Chapter 65 verses 17 and 18. That the ark will no longer be remembered. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15. That the temple should be rejected. Jeremiah chapter 7 verses 12, 13, 14. That the sacrifices should be rejected, and other pure sacrifices established. Malachi chapter 1 verse 11. That the order of Aaron's priesthood should be rejected, and that of Melchizedek introduced by the Messiah. Vixit Dominus. Vixit Dominus. That this priesthood should be eternal. Ibit. That Jerusalem should be rejected, and Rome admitted. Vixit Dominus. That the name of the Jews should be rejected, and a new name given. Isaiah chapter 65 verse 15. That this last name should be more excellent than that of the Jews, and eternal. Isaiah chapter 56 verse 5. That the Jews should be without prophets. Amos. Without a king. Without princes. Without sacrifice. Without an idol. That the Jews should nevertheless always remain a people. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 36. 611. Republic. The Christian Republic, and even the Jewish, has only had God for ruler, as Philo the Jew notices, on monarchy. When they fought, it was for God only. Their chief hope was in God only. They considered their towns as belonging to God only, and kept them for God. 1 Chronicles chapter 19 verse 13. 612. Genesis chapter 17 verse 7. Note, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. End of note. Verse 9. Note, and God said unto Abraham, and as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations. End of note. 613. Perpetuity. That religion has always existed on earth, which consists in believing that man has fallen from a state of glory and of communion with God, into a state of sorrow, penitence, and estrangement from God, but that after this life we shall be restored by a Messiah who should have come. All things have passed away, and this has endured, for which all things are. Men have, in the first age of the world, been carried away into every kind of debauchery, and yet there were saints, as Enoch, Lamech, and others, who waited patiently for the Christ promised from the beginning of the world. Noah saw the wickedness of men at its height, and he was held worthy to save the world in his person, by the hope of the Messiah of whom he was the type. Abraham was surrounded by idolaters, when God made note to him the mystery of the Messiah, whom he welcomed from afar. In the time of Isaac and Jacob, abomination was spread over all the earth, but these saints lived in faith, and Jacob, dying and blessing his children, cried in a transport which made him break off his discourse. I await, oh my God, the Saviour whom Thou hast promised. The Egyptians were infected both with idolatry and magic. The very people of God were led astray by their example. Yet Moses and others believed him whom they saw not, and worshipped him, looking to the eternal gifts which he was preparing for them. The Greeks and Latins then set up false deities. The poets made a hundred different theologies, while the philosophers separated into a thousand different sects, and yet in the heart of Judea there were always chosen men who foretold the coming of this Messiah, which was known to them alone. He came at length in the fullness of time, and time has since witnessed the birth of so many schisms and heresies, so many political revolutions, so many changes in all things, yet this Church, which worships him, who has always been worshipped, has endured uninterruptedly. It is a wonderful, incomparable, and altogether divine fact that this religion which has always endured has always been attacked. It has been a thousand times on the eve of universal destruction, and every time it has been in that state, God has restored it by extraordinary acts of his power. This is astonishing, as also that it has preserved itself without yielding to the will of tyrants. For it is not strange that a state endures when its laws are sometimes made to give way to necessity, but that, see the passage indicated in Montaigne. 614. States would perish if they did not often make their laws give way to necessity, but religion has never suffered this, or practiced it. Indeed, there must be these compromises or miracles. It is not strange to be saved by yielding, and this is not strictly self-preservation, besides in the end they perish entirely. None has endured a thousand years, but the fact that this religion has always maintained itself, inflexible as it is, proves its divinity. 615. Whatever may be said, it must be admitted that the Christian religion has something astonishing in it. Some will say this is because you were born in it. Far from it, I stiffened myself against it for this very reason, for fear this prejudice bias me. But although I am born in it, I cannot help finding it so. 616. Perpetuity. The Messiah has always been believed in. The tradition from Adam was still fresh in Noah and in Moses. Since then the prophets have foretold him while at the same time foretelling other things, which being from time to time fulfilled in the sight of men, showed the truth of their mission, and consequently that of their promises touching the Messiah. Jesus Christ performed miracles, and the apostles also, who converted all the heathen, and all the prophecies being thereby fulfilled, the Messiah is forever proved. 617. Perpetuity. Let us consider that since the beginning of the world, the expectation or worship of the Messiah has existed uninterruptedly. That there have been found men, who said that God had revealed to them that a Redeemer was to be born, who should save his people. That Abraham came afterwards, saying that he had had a revelation that the Messiah was to spring from him by a Son, whom he should have. That Jacob declared that of his twelve sons the Messiah would spring from Judah. That Moses and the prophets then came to declare the time and the manner of his coming. That they said their law was only temporary till that of the Messiah. That it should endure till then. But that the other should last forever. That thus either their law or that of the Messiah, of which it was the promise, would be always upon the earth. That in fact it has always endured. That at last Jesus Christ came with all the circumstances foretold. This is wonderful. 618. This is positive fact. While all philosophers separate into different sects, there is found in one corner of the world the most ancient people in it, declaring that all the world is in error, that God has revealed to them the truth, that they will always exist on the earth. In fact all other sects come to an end. This one still endures and has done so for four thousand years. They declare that they hold from their ancestors that man has fallen from communion with God and is entirely estranged from God. But that he has promised to redeem them. That this doctrine shall always exist on the earth. That their law has a double signification. That during sixteen hundred years they have had people whom they believed prophets for telling both the time and the manner. That four hundred years after they were scattered everywhere because Jesus Christ was to be everywhere announced. That Jesus Christ came in the manner and at the time foretold that the Jews have since been scattered abroad under a curse and nevertheless still exist. 619 I see the Christian religion founded upon a preceding religion and this is what I find as a fact. I do not here speak of the miracles of Moses, of Jesus Christ and of the apostles because they do not at first seem convincing and because I only wish here to put in evidence all those foundations of the Christian religion which are beyond doubt and which cannot be called in question by any person whatsoever. It is certain that we see in many places of the world a peculiar people separated from all other peoples of the world and called the Jewish people. I see then a crowd of religions in many parts of the world and in all times but their morality cannot please me nor can their proofs convince me. Thus I should equally have rejected the religion of Muhammad and of China, of the ancient Romans and of the Egyptians for the sole reason that none having more marks of truth than another nor anything which should necessarily persuade me reason cannot incline to one rather than the other. But in thus considering this changeable and singular variety of morals and beliefs at different times I find in one corner of the world a peculiar people separated from all other peoples on earth, the most ancient of all and whose histories are earlier by many generations than the most ancient which we possess. I find then this great and numerous people sprung from a single man who worshipped one God and guide themselves by a law which they say they obtained from his own hand. They maintain that they are the only people in the world to whom God has revealed his mysteries that all men are corrupt and in disgrace with God that they are all abandoned to their senses and their own imagination whence come the strange errors which happen among them both of religions and of morals whereas they themselves remain firm in their conduct but that God will not leave other nations in this darkness forever that there will come a savior for all that they are in the world to announce him to men that they are expressly formed to be forerunners and heralds of this great event and to summon all nations to join with them in the expectation of this savior. To meet with this people is astonishing and seems to me worthy of attention. I look at the law which they boast of having obtained from God and I find it admirable. It is the first law of all and is of such a kind that even before the term law was in currency among the Greeks it had for nearly a thousand years earlier been uninterruptedly accepted and observed by the Jews. I likewise think it strange that the first law of the world happens to be the most perfect so that the greatest legislators corrode their laws from it as is apparent from the law of the twelve tables at Athens afterwards taken by the Romans and as it would be easy to prove if Josephus and others had not sufficiently dealt with this subject. 620 advantages of the Jewish people In this search the Jewish people at once attract my attention by the number of wonderful and singular facts which appear about them. I first see that they are a people wholly composed of brethren and whereas all others are formed by the assemblage of an infinity of families this though so wonderfully fruitful has all sprung from one man alone and being thus all one flesh and members one of another they constitute a powerful state of one family. This is unique. This family or people is the most ancient within human knowledge a fact which seems to me to inspire a peculiar veneration for it especially in view of our present inquiry since if God has from all time revealed himself to men it is to these we must turn for knowledge of the tradition. This people is not eminent solely by their antiquity but is also singular by their duration which has always continued from their origin till now. For whereas the nations of Greece and of Italy of Lassidamen of Athens and of Rome and others who came long after these ever remain and in spite of the endeavours of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them as their historians testify and as it is easy to conjecture from the natural order of things during so long a space of years they have nevertheless been preserved and this preservation has been foretold and extending from the earliest times to the latest their history comprehends in its duration all our histories the law by which this people is governed is at once the most ancient law in the world the most perfect and the only one which has been always observed without a break in a state this is what Josephus admirably proves against Apion and also Philo the Jew in different places where they point out that it is so ancient that the very name of law was only known by the oldest nation more than a thousand years afterwards so that Homer has written the history of so many states has never used the term and it is easy to judge of its perfection simply by reading it for we see that it has provided for all things with so great wisdom, equity and judgment that the most ancient legislators Greek and Roman having had some knowledge of it have borrowed from it their principal laws this is evident from what are called the twelve tables and from the other proofs which Josephus gives but this law is at the same time the severest and strictest of all in respect to their religious worship imposing on this people in order to keep them to their duty a thousand peculiar and painful observances on pain of death whence it is very astonishing that it has been constantly preserved during many centuries by a people rebellious and impatient as this one was while all other states have changed their laws from time to time although these were far more lenient the book which contains this law the first of all is itself the most ancient book in the world those of Homer, Hesiod and others being six or seven hundred years later 621 the creation and the deluge being passed and God no longer requiring to destroy the world nor to create it anew nor to give such great signs of himself he began to establish a people on the earth purposely formed who were to last until the coming of the people by his spirit 622 the creation of the world beginning to be distant God provided a single contemporary historian and appointed a whole people as guardians of this book in order that this history might be the most authentic in the world and that all men might thereby learn a fact so necessary to know and which could only be known through that means 623 Jaffet begins the genealogy Joseph folds his arms and prefers to keep silent 624 why should Moses make the lives of men so long and their generations so few? because it is not the length of years but the multitude of generations which renders things obscure for truth is perverted only by the change of men and yet he puts two things the most memorable that were ever imagined namely the creation and the deluge that we reach from one to the other 625 Shem, who saw Lamech who saw Adam saw also Jacob who saw those who saw Moses therefore the deluge in the creation are true this is conclusive among certain people who understand it rightly 626 the longevity of the patriarchs instead of causing the loss of past history conduced on the contrary to its preservation the reason why we are sometimes insufficiently instructed in the history of our ancestors is that we have never lived long with them and that they are often dead before we have attained the age of reason now when men lived so long children lived long with their parents they conversed long with them but what else could be the subject of their talk save the history of their ancestors since to that all history was reduced and men did not study science or art which now form a large part of daily conversation we see also that in these days tribes took particular care to preserve the genealogies 627 I believe that Joshua was the first of God's people to have this name as Jesus Christ was the last of God's people 628 antiquity of the Jews what a difference there is between one book and another I am not astonished that the Greeks made the Iliad nor the Egyptians and the Chinese their histories we have only to see how this originates these fabulous historians are not contemporaneous with the facts about which they write Homer composes a romance which he gives out as such and which is received as such for nobody doubted that Troy and Agamemnon no more existed than did the golden apple accordingly he did not think of making a history but solely a book to amuse he is the only writer of his time the beauty of the work has made it last everyone learns it and talks of it it is necessary to know it and each one knows it by heart 400 years afterwards the witnesses of these facts are no longer alive and no one knows of his own knowledge if it be a fable or a history one has only learned it from his ancestors and this can pass for truth every history which is not contemporaneous as the books of the Sibles and Trismegistus and so many others which have been moved by the world are false and found to be false in the course of time it is not so with contemporaneous writers there is a great difference between a book which an individual writes and publishes to a nation and a book which itself creates a nation we cannot doubt that the book is as old as the people 629 Josephus hides the shame of his nation Moses does not hide his own chain who is me he did would only as prophetant footnote, Numbers chapter 11 verse 29 at Moses said unto him art thou jealous for my sake would that all Jehovah's people were prophets that Jehovah would put his spirit upon them end of footnote he was weary of the multitude 630 the sincerity of the Jews Maccabees after they had no more prophets since Jesus Christ this book will be a testimony for you defective and final letters sincere against their honor and dying for it this has no example in the world and no root in nature 631 sincerity of the Jews they preserve lovingly and carefully the book in which Moses declares that they have been all their life ungrateful to God and that he knows they will be still more so after his death but that he calls heaven and earth to witness against them and that he has taught them enough he declares that God being angry with them shall at last scatter them among all the nations of the earth that as they have offended him by worshiping gods who are not their God so he will provoke them by calling a people who are not his people that he desires that all his words be preserved forever and that his book be placed in the ark of the covenant as a witness against them Isaiah says the same thing chapter 30 632 on Esdras the story that the books were burnt with the temple proved false by Maccabees Jeremiah gave them the law the story that he recited the whole by heart Josephus and Esdras point out that he read the book Baroneas Anales Ecclesiastiki page 180 footnote nothing is found within the ancient Hebrew writings which recorded that the books perished and were restored through Esdras except in Esdras 4 and a footnote the story that he changed the letters phylo in vitamoesis and the language of the character with the ancient writing of Esdlex remained the same except in Esdras footnote the same language and character in which the law was written in ancient times remained till the substituent and a footnote Josephus says that the law was in Hebrew when it was translated by the 70 under Antiochus and Vespasian when they wanted to abolish the books and when there was no prophet they could not do so and under the Babylonians when no persecution had been made and when there were so many prophets would they have let them be burnt Josephus laughs at the Greeks who would not bear note in the text the thought is incomplete end of note for in the poet in spirit rursus reformare quema modum Babylonia omne instrumentum Iudaica and literature per Esdram constant restauratum footnote the cultu feminarum end of footnote he says that Noah could as easily have restored in spirit the book of Enoch destroyed by the deluge as Esdras could have restored the scriptures lost during the captivity theos entepi nabucodonosor aigmaloya tulau diafareison tom grafon enepneu se Esdra toyerei ectes lules leui tuston progelonoton propheton pantas anataksastay logus kay apocatastessay tulao tendia museos footnote Eusebius history book five fifty eight he alleges this to prove that it is not incredible that the seventy may have explained the holy scriptures with that uniformity which we admire in them and he took that from Saint Irenaeus Saint Hilary in his preface to the Psalms says that Esdras arranged the Psalms in order the origin of this tradition comes from the fourteenth chapter of the fourth book of Esdras Septuaginta anus judaeis descendentibus in regionem sua et pos de indetemporebus artaxercis versarum regis inspirauit Esdra i sacerdoti tribus leui preteritorum profetarum omnes rememorares sermonis et restituere popolo e amlegem kwaidata es permoisen note this quotation is from Irenaeus against terraces chapter 21 God was indeed glorified and the scriptures were acknowledged as truly divine for all of them read out the common translation which they had prepared in the very same words and the very same names from beginning to end so that even the Gentiles present perceived that the scriptures had been interpreted by the inspiration of God and there was nothing astonishing in God having done this he who when during the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar the scriptures had been corrupted and when after seventy years the Jews had returned to their own land then in the times of Atazerxes king of the Persians inspired Esdras the priest of the tribe of Levi to recast all the words of the former prophets and to reestablish with the people the mosaic legislation end of note 633 against the story in Esdras Book 2 Maccabees 2 Josephus Antiquities 2 1 Cyrus took occasion from the prophecy of Isaiah to release the people the Jews held their property in peace under Cyrus and Babylon hence they could well have the law Josephus in the whole history of Esdras does not say one word about this restoration 2 Kings 17 verse 27 634 if the story in Esdras is credible then it must be believed that the scripture is holy scripture for this story is based only on the authority of those who assert that of the seventy which shows that the scripture is holy therefore if this account be true we have what we want therein if not we have it elsewhere and thus those who would ruin the truth of our religion founded on Moses establish it by the same authority by which they attack it so by this providence it still exists 635 chronology of rabbinism the citations of pages are from the book Pugio page 27 R. Hakadosh ano 200 author of the Mishnah or vocal law or second law commentaries on the Mishnah ano 340 the one Sifra Barajatot Talmud Hirosol Tosftot Bereshit Raba by R. Oseya Raba commentary on the Mishnah Bereshit Raba Bar Nakoni are subtle and pleasant discourses historical and theological this same author wrote the books called Rabaat 100 years after the Talmud Hirosol 440 AD was composed the Babylonian Talmud by R. Ase by the universal consent of all the Jews who are necessarily obliged to observe all that is contained therein the addition of R. Ase is called the Gamara that is to say the commentary on the Mishnah and the Talmud includes together the Mishnah and the Gamara 636 it does not indicate indifference Malachi, Isaiah Isaia Sivolumus in quacum quedie 637 prophecies the scepter was not interrupted by the captivity in Babylon because the return was promised and foretold 638 proofs of Jesus Christ captivity with the assurance of deliverance within 70 years was not real captivity but now they are captives without any hope God has promised them that even though he should scatter them to the ends of the earth nevertheless if they were faithful to his law he would assemble them together again they are very faithful to it and remain oppressed 639 when Nebuchadnezzar carried away the people for fear they should believe that the scepter had departed from Judah they were told beforehand that they would be there for a short time and that they would be restored they were always consoled by the prophets and their kings continued but the second destruction is without promise of restoration without prophets, without kings without consolation, without hope because the scepter is taken away forever 640 it is a wonderful thing and worthy of particular attention to see this Jewish people existing so many years in perpetual misery it being necessary as a proof of Jesus Christ both that they should exist to prove him and that they should be miserable because they crucified him and though to be miserable and to exist are contradictory they nevertheless still exist in spite of their misery 641 they are visibly a people expressly created to serve as a witness to the Messiah Isaiah chapter 43 verse 9 chapter 44 verse 8 they keep the books and love them and do not understand them and all this was foretold that God's judgments are entrusted to them but as a sealed book end of section 9 section 10 of Ponce this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Derek McLaughlin London, Ontario, Canada Latin language reading by Lenny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ponce by Blaise Pascal translated by W. F. Trotter section 10 typology 642 proof of the two testaments at once to prove the two at one stroke we need only see if the prophecies in one are fulfilled in the other to examine the prophecies we must understand them for if we believe they have only one meaning it is certain that the Messiah has not come but if they have two meanings and that He has come in Jesus Christ the whole problem then is to know if they have two meanings that the scripture has two meanings which Jesus Christ and the apostles have given is shown by the following proofs one, proof by scripture itself two, proof by the rabbis Moses Maimonides says that it has two aspects and that the prophets have prophesied Jesus Christ only three, proof by the Kabbalah four, proof by the mystical interpretation which the rabbis themselves give to scripture five, proof by the principles of the rabbis that there are two meanings that there are two advents of the Messiah a glorious and humiliating one according to their dessert that the prophets have prophesied of the Messiah only the law is not eternal but must change at the coming of the Messiah that then they shall no more remember that the Jews and the Gentiles shall be mingled six, proof by the key which Jesus Christ and the apostles give us 643 Isaiah 51 the red sea an image of the redemption footnote Mark chapter 2 verses 10 and 11 but that ye may know that the son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins he saith to the sick of the palsy I say unto thee arise, take up thy bed and go unto thy house end of footnote God wishing to show that he could form a people holy with an invisible holiness and fill them with an eternal glory made visible things as nature is an image of grace he has done in the bounties of nature what he would do in those of grace in order that we might judge that he could make the invisible since he made the visible excellently therefore he saved this people from the deluge he has raised them up from Abraham redeemed them from their enemies and set them at rest the object of God was not to save them from the deluge and raise up a whole people from Abraham only in order to bring them into a rich land and even grace is only the type of glory for it is not the ultimate end it has been symbolized by the law and itself symbolizes glory but it is the type of it and the origin or cause the ordinary life of men is like that of the saints they all seek their satisfaction and differ only in the object in which they place it they call those their enemies who hinder them etc God has then shown the power which he has of giving invisible blessings by that which he has shown himself to have over things visible 644 Types God wishing to form for himself a holy people whom he should separate from all other nations whom he should deliver from their enemies and should put into a place of rest has promised to do so and has foretold by his prophets the time and the manner of his coming and yet to confirm the hope of his elect he has made them see it in an order through all time without leaving them devoid of assurances of his power and of his will to save them for at the creation of man Adam was the witness and guardian of the promise of a savior who should be born of woman when men were still so near the creation that they could not have forgotten their creation and their fall when those who had seen Adam were no longer in the world God sent Noah whom he saved and drowned the whole earth by a sufficiently indicated the power which he had to save the world and the will which he had to do so and to raise up from the seed of woman him whom he had promised this miracle was enough to confirm the hope of men the memory of the deluge being so fresh among men while Noah was still alive God made promises to Abraham and while Shem was still living sent Moses etc 645 Types God willing to deprive his own of perishable blessings created the Jewish people in order to show that this was not owing to lack of power 646 the synagogue did not perish because it was a type but because it was only a type it fell into servitude the type existed till the truth came in order that the church should be always visible either in the sign or in the substance 647 that the law was figurative 648 two errors one to take everything literally two to take everything spiritually 649 to speak against two greatly figurative language 650 there are some types clear and demonstrative but others which seem somewhat far fetched and which convince only those who are already persuaded these are like the apocalyptic but the difference is that they have none which are certain so that nothing is so unjust as to claim that theirs are as well founded as some of ours for they have none so demonstrative as some of ours the comparison is unfair we must not put on the same level and confound things because they seem to agree in one point while they are so different in another the clearness in divine things requires us to revere the obscurities in them it is like men who employ a certain obscure language among themselves those who should not understand it would understand only a foolish meaning 651 extravagances of the apocalyptic pre-adamites millenarians etc he who would base extravagant opinions on scripture will for example base them upon this it is said that this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled upon that I will say that after that generation will come another generation and so on ever in succession Solomon and the king are spoken of in the second book of chronicles as if they were two different persons I will say that they were to 652 particular types a double law double tables of the law a double temple a double captivity 653 types the prophets prophesied by symbols of a girdle a beard and burnt hair etc 654 difference between dinner and supper in God the word does not differ from the intention for he is true nor the word from the effect for he is powerful or the word from the effect for he is wise last servant Augustine volume 10 this rule is general God can do everything except those things which if he could do he would not be almighty as dying being deceived lying etc many evangelists for the confirmation of the truth their difference useful the Eucharist after the Lord supper truth after the type the ruin of Jerusalem a type of the ruin of the world 40 years after the death of Jesus I know not as a man or as an ambassador Mark chapter 13 verse 32 Jesus condemned by the Jews and the Gentiles the Jews and the Gentiles typified by the two sons Augustine Luke 20 chapter 29 655 the six ages the six fathers of the six ages the six wonders at the beginning of the six ages the six mornings at the beginning of the six ages 656 Adam footnote Romans chapter 5 verse 14 nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses a man that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression who is a figure of him that was to come end of footnote the six days to form the one the six ages to form the other the six days which Moses represents for the formation of Adam are only the picture of the six ages to form Jesus Christ and the church if Adam had not sinned and Jesus Christ had not come there had been only one covenant and the creation would have been represented as accomplished at one single time 657 types the Jewish and Egyptian peoples were plainly foretold by the two individuals whom Moses met the Egyptian beating the Jew Moses avenging him and killing the Egyptian and the Jew being ungrateful 658 the symbols of the gospel for the state of the sick soul and the sick bodies but because one body cannot be sick enough to express it well several have been needed thus there are the deaf the dumb the blind the paralytic the dead Lazarus the possessed all this crowd is in the sick soul 659 types to show that the Old Testament is only figurative and that the prophets understood by temporal blessings other blessings to prove first that this would be unworthy of God secondly that their discourses express very clearly the promise of temporal blessings and that they say nevertheless that their discourses are obscure and that their meaning will not be understood whence it appears that this secret meaning was not that which they openly expressed and that consequently they meant to speak of other sacrifices of another deliverer etc they say that they will be understood only in the fullness of time Jeremiah chapter 30 the third proof is that their discourses are contradictory and neutralize each other so that if we think that they did not mean by the words law and sacrifice anything else than that of Moses there is a plain and gross contradiction therefore they meant something else sometimes contradicting themselves in the same chapter now to understand the meaning of an author note in the text the thought is incomplete end of note 660 lust has become natural to us and has made our second nature thus there are two natures in us the one good the other bad where is God where you are not and the kingdom of God is within you the rabbis 661 penitence alone of all these mysteries has been manifestly declared to the Jews and by Saint John the forerunner and then the other mysteries to indicate that in each man as in the entire world this order must be observed 662 the carnal Jews understood neither the greatness nor the humiliation of the Messiah foretold in their prophecies they misunderstood him in his foretold greatness as when he said that the Messiah should be Lord of David, though his son and that he was before Abraham who had seen him they did not believe him so great as to be eternal and they likewise misunderstood him in his humiliation and in his death the Messiah said they abideth forever and this man says that he shall die therefore they believed him neither mortal nor eternal they only sought in him for a carnal greatness 663 typical nothing is so like charity as covetousness and nothing is so opposed to it thus the Jews full of possessions which flattered their covetousness were very like Christians and very contrary and by this means they had the two qualities which it was necessary they should have to be very like the Messiah to typify him and very contrary not to be suspected witnesses 664 typical God made use of the lust of the Jews to make them minister to Jesus Christ who brought the remedy for their lust 665 charity is not a figurative precept it is dreadful to say that Jesus Christ who came to take away types in order to establish the truth came only to establish the type of charity in order to take away the existing reality which was there before if the light be darkness how great is that darkness 666 fascination footnote psalm 76 verse 5 the stout hearted are made a spoil they have slept their sleep and none of the men of might have found their hands end of footnote figura huius mundi footnote first Corinthians chapter 7 verse 31 and those that use the world as not using it to the full for the fashion of this world passeth away end of footnote the Eucharist Pomedes panem 2 footnote deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 9 a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper end of footnote panem nostrum footnote Luke chapter 11 verse 3 give us day by day our daily bread end of footnote inimikidei terrem dingent footnote psalm 72 verse 9 they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust end of footnote sinners lick the dust that is to say, love earthly pleasures the Old Testament contained the types of future joy and the new contains the means of arriving at it the types were of joy the means of penitence and nevertheless the paschal lamb was eaten with bitter herbs kum amaditu dinibus footnote Exodus chapter 12 verse 8 and they shall eat the flesh in that night roast with fire and unleavened bread with bitter herbs they shall eat it end of footnote singulari sum egodonek transem footnote Psalm 141 verse 10 let the wicked fall into their own nets whilst that I with all escape end of footnote Jesus Christ before his death was almost the only martyr 667 typical the expressions sword shield potentissimi 668 changed only by departing from charity our prayers and our virtues are abominable before God if they are not the prayers and the virtues of Jesus Christ and our sins will never be the object of mercy but of the justice of God if they are not those of Jesus Christ he has adopted our sins and has admitted us into union with him for virtues are his own and sins are foreign to him while virtues are foreign to us and sins are our own let us change the rule which we have hitherto chosen for judging what is good we had our own will as our rule let us now take the will of God all that he wills is good and right to us and all that he does not will is bad all that God does not permit is forbidden sins are forbidden by the general declaration that God has made that he did not allow them without general prohibition in which for that reason are said to be permitted are nevertheless not always permitted for when God removes some one of them from us and when by the event which is a manifestation of the will of God it appears that God does not will that we should have a thing that is then forbidden to us as sin since the will of God is that we should not have one more than another there is this soul difference between these two things it is certain that God will never allow sin while it is not certain that he will never allow the other but so long as God does not permit it we ought to regard it as sin so long as the absence of God's will which alone is all goodness and all justice renders it unjust and wrong 669 to change the type because of our weakness 670 types the Jews had grown old in these earthly thoughts that God loved their father Abraham his flesh and what sprung from it that on account of this he had multiplied them and distinguished them from all other nations without allowing them to intermingle that when they were languishing in Egypt he brought them out with all these great signs in their favor that he fed them with manna in the desert and led them into a very rich land that he gave them kings and a well-built temple for up-beasts before him by the shedding of whose blood they should be purified and that at last he was to send them the Messiah to make them masters of all the world and foretold the time of his coming the world having grown old in these carnal errors Jesus Christ came at the time foretold but not with the expected glory and thus men did not think it was he after his death St. Paul came to teach men that all these things had happened in allegory the kingdom of God did not consist in the flesh but in the spirit that the enemies of men were not the Babylonians but the passions that God delighted not in temples made with hands but in a pure and contrite heart that the circumcision of the body was unprofitable but that of the heart was needed that Moses had not given them the bread from heaven etc but God not having desired to reveal these things to this people who were unworthy of them having nevertheless desired to foretold them in order that they might be believed foretold the time clearly and express the things sometimes clearly but very often in figures in order that those who loved symbols might consider them and those who loved what was symbolized might see it therein all that tends not to charity is figurative the sole aim of the scripture is charity all which tends not to the sole end is the type of it for since there is only one end all which does not lead to it in express terms is figurative God thus varies that sole precept of charity to satisfy our curiosity which seeks for variety by that variety which still leads us to the one thing needful for one thing alone is needful and we love variety and God satisfies both by these varieties which lead to the one thing needful the Jews have so much love the shadows and have so strictly expected them that they have misunderstood the reality when it came in the time and manner foretold the rabbis take the breasts of the spouse for types and all that does not express the only end they have namely temporal good and Christians take even the Eucharist as a type of the glory at which they aim 671 the Jews who have been called to nations and kings have been the slaves of sin and the Christians whose calling has been to be servants and subjects are free children 672 a formal point when Saint Peter and the apostles deliberated about abolishing circumcision where it was a question of acting against the law of God they did not heed the prophets but simply the reception of the Holy Spirit in the persons uncircumcised they were certain that God approved of those whom he filled with his spirit then it was that the law must be obeyed they knew that the end of the law was only the Holy Spirit and that thus as men certainly had this without circumcision it was not necessary 673 fac secondum exempl quattibios tempsum estimonte footnote Exodus chapter 25 verse 40 and see that thou make them to their pattern which hath been showed thee in the mount end of footnote the Jewish religion then has been formed on its likeness to the truth of the Messiah and the truth of the Messiah has been recognized by the Jewish religion which was the type of it among the Jews the truth was only typified in heaven it is revealed in the church it is hidden and recognized by its resemblance to the type the type has been made according to the truth and the truth has been recognized according to the type saint paul says himself that people will forbid to marry and he himself speaks of it to the Corinthians in a way which is a snare for if a prophet has said the one and saint paul had then said the other he would have been accused 674 typical do all things according to the pattern which has been shown thee on the mount on which saint paul says the Jews have shadowed forth heavenly things 675 and yet this covenant made to blind some and in light in others indicated in those very persons whom it blinded the truth which should be recognized by others for the visible blessings which they received from God were so great and so divine that he indeed appeared able to give them those that are invisible and the Messiah for nature nature is an image of grace and visible miracles are images of the invisible footnote Matthew chapter 9 verse 6 but that ye may know that the son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins then saith he to the sick of the palsy arise and take up thy bed and go up unto thy house end of footnote Isaiah says that redemption will be as the passage to the red sea God has then shown by the deliverance from Egypt and from the sea by the defeat of kings by the manna by the whole genealogy of Abraham that he was able to save to send down bread from heaven etc so that the people hostile to him are the type and the representation of the very Messiah whom they know not etc he has then taught us at last that all these things were only types and what is true freedom right, true circumcision true bread from heaven etc in these promises each one finds what he has most at heart temporal benefits or spiritual God or the creatures but with this difference that those who therein seek the creatures find them but with many contradictions with the prohibition against loving them with the command to worship God only and to love him only which is the same thing and finally that the Messiah came not for them whereas those who therein seek God find him without any contradiction with the command to love him only and that the Messiah came in the time foretold to give them the blessings which they ask thus the Jews had miracles and prophecies which they saw fulfilled and the teaching of their law was to worship and love God only it was also perpetual thus it had all the marks of the true religion and so it was but the Jewish teaching must be distinguished from the teaching of the Jewish law now the Jewish teaching was not true although it had miracles and prophecy and perpetuity because it had not this other point of worshiping and loving God only 676 the veil which is upon these books for the Jews is there also for evil Christians and for all who do not hate themselves but how well disposed men are to understand them and to know Jesus Christ when they truly hate themselves 677 a type conveys absence and presence, pleasure and pain a cipher has a double meaning one clear and one in which it is said that the meaning is hidden 678 types a portrait conveys absence and presence, pleasure and pain the reality excludes and pain to know if the law and the sacrifices are a reality or a type we must see if the prophets in speaking of these things can find their view and their thought to them so that they saw only the old covenant or if they saw therein something else of which they were the representation for in a portrait we see the thing figured for this we need only examine what they say of them when they say that it will be eternal do they mean to speak of that covenant which they say will be changed and so of the sacrifices etc a cipher has two meanings when we find out an important letter in which we discover a clear meaning and in which it is nevertheless said that the meaning is veiled and obscure that it is hidden so that we might read the letter without seeing it and interpret it without understanding it what must we think but that here is a cipher with a double meaning and the more so if we find obvious contradictions in the literal meaning the prophets have clearly said that Israel would be always loved by God and that the law would be eternal and they have said that their meaning would not be understood and that it was veiled how greatly then ought we to value those who interpret the cipher and teach us to understand the hidden meaning especially if the principles which they deduce are perfectly clear and natural this is what Jesus Christ did and the apostles they broke the seal he rented the veil and revealed the spirit they have taught us through this that the enemies of man are his passions that the redeemer would be spiritual and his reign spiritual that there would be two advents one in lowliness to humble the proud the other in glory to exalt the humble that Jesus Christ would be both God and man 679 Types Jesus Christ opened their mind two great revelations are these one all things happen to them in types where is Raelite where in liberty true bread from heaven two a God humbled to the cross it was necessary that Christ should suffer in order to enter into glory that he should destroy death through death two advents 680 Types when once this secret is disclosed it is impossible not to see it let us read the Old Testament in this light and let us see if the sacrifices were real if the fatherhood of Abraham was the true cause of the friendship of God and if the promised land was the true place of rest no they are therefore types let us in the same way examine all those ordained ceremonies all those commandments which are not a charity and we shall see that they are types all these sacrifices and ceremonies were then either types or nonsense now there are things clear and too lofty to be thought nonsense to know if the prophets confined their view in the Old Testament or saw therein other things 681 Typical the key of the cipher footnote John chapter 4 verse 23 but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers worship the father in spirit and truth for such doth the father seek to be his worshipers and the footnote eche agnus de equitoli peccata minli footnote John chapter 1 verse 29 on the morrow he seeeth Jesus coming unto him and sayeth behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world and the footnote 682 Isaiah chapter 1 verse 21 chapter good into evil and the vengeance of God Isaiah chapter 10 verse 1 chapter 26 verse 20 chapter 28 verse 1 miracles Isaiah chapter 33 verse 9 chapter 40 verse 17 chapter 41 verse 26 chapter 43 verse 13 Jeremiah chapter 11 verse 21 chapter 15 verse 12 chapter 17 verse 9 that is to say who can know all its evil for it is already known to be wicked egodominus et cetera chapter 7 verse 14 et cetera trust in external sacrifices chapter 7 verse 22 et cetera outward sacrifice eche agnus de equitoli peccata minli footnote et cetera outward sacrifice is not the essential point chapter 11 verse 13 et cetera a multitude of doctrines Isaiah chapter 44 verses 20 to 24 chapter 54 verse 8 chapter 63 verses 12 to 17 chapter 66 verse 17 Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 35 chapter 44 verses 22 to 24 chapter 5 verses 4 and 29 to 31 chapter 6 verse 16 chapter 23 verses 15 to 17 types the letter kills all happened in types here is the cipher which St. Paul gives us Christ must suffer a humiliated god circumcision of the heart true fasting sacrifice a true temple the prophets have shown that all these must be spiritual not the meat which perishes but that which does not perish ye shall be free indeed then the other freedom was only a type of freedom I am the true bread from heaven 684 contradiction we can only describe a good character by reconciling all contrary qualities and it is not enough to keep up a series of harmonious qualities without reconciling contradictory ones to understand the meaning of an author we must make all the contrary passages agree thus to understand scripture we must have a meaning in which all the contrary passages are reconciled it is not enough to have one which suits many concurring passages but it is necessary to have one which reconciles even contradictory passages every author has a meaning in which all the contradictory passages agree or he has no meaning at all we cannot affirm the letter of scripture in the prophets they undoubtedly are full of good sense we must then seek for a meaning which reconciles all discrepancies the true meaning then is not that of the Jews but in Jesus Christ all the contradictions are reconciled the Jews could not reconcile the cessation of the royalty and principality foretold by Hosea of Jacob if we take the law the sacrifices and the kingdom as realities we cannot reconcile all the passages they must then necessarily be only types we cannot even reconcile the passages of the same author nor of the same book or sometimes of the same chapter which indicates copiously what was the meaning of the author as when Ezekiel chapter 20 says that man will live by the commandments of God and will not live by them 685 types if the law and the sacrifices are the truth it must please God and must not displease him if they are types they must be both pleasing and displeasing now in all the scripture they are both pleasing and displeasing it is said that the law shall be changed that the sacrifice shall be changed that they shall be without law without a prince and without a sacrifice that a new covenant shall be made that the law shall be renewed that the precepts which they have received are not good that their sacrifices are abominable that God has demanded none of them it is said on the contrary that the law shall abide forever that this covenant shall be forever that sacrifice shall be eternal that the scepter shall never depart from among them because it shall not depart from them till the eternal king comes do all these passages indicate what is real? no do they then indicate what is typical? no but what is either real or typical but the first passages excluding as they do reality indicate that all this is only typical all these passages together cannot be applied to reality all can be said to be typical therefore they are not spoken of reality but of the type Agnus Oquisus est aborigni mundi eternal law changed the eternal covenant a new covenant good laws bad precepts Ezekiel 687 types when the word of God which is really true is false literally it is true spiritually said they abextrismes footnote Psalm 110 verse 1 Jehovah sayeth unto my lord sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool end of footnote this is false literally therefore it is true spiritually in these expressions God is spoken of after the manner of men and this means nothing else but that the intention which men have in giving a seat at their right hand God will have also it is then an indication of the intention of God not of his manner of carrying it out thus when it is said receive the odor of your incense and will in recompense give you a rich land that is equivalent to saying that the same intention which a man would have who pleased with your perfumes should in recompense give you a rich land God will have towards you because you have had towards him the same intention as a man has towards him to whom he presents perfumes so a jealous God etc for the things of God being inexpressible they cannot be spoken of otherwise and the church makes use of them even today quia confortao etceres etc footnote Psalm 147 verse 13 for he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates he hath blessed thy children within thee end of footnote it is not allowable to attribute to scripture the meaning which it has not revealed to us that it has thus to say that the closed mem footnote in allusion to certain features in Hebrew writing end of footnote of Isaiah signifies 600 has not been revealed it might be said that the final tsadeh and the may signify mysteries but it is not allowable to say so and still less to say this is the way of the philosopher's stone but we say that the literal meaning is not the true meaning because the prophets have themselves said so 688 I do not say that the mem is mystical 689 Moses Deuteronomy chapter 30 promises that God will circumcise their heart to render them capable of loving him 690 one saying of David or of Moses as for instance that God will circumcise the heart enables us to judge of their spirit if all their other expressions were ambiguous and left us in doubt whether they were philosophers or Christians one saying of this kind would in fact determine all the rest as one sentence of epictetus decides the meaning of all the rest to be the opposite so far ambiguity exists but not afterwards 691 if one of two persons who are telling silly stories language with a double meaning understood in his own circle while the other uses it with only one meaning anyone not in the secret who hears them both talk in this manner will pass upon them the same judgment but if afterwards in the rest of their conversation one says angelic things and the other always dull common places he will judge that the one spoke in mysteries and not the other the one having sufficiently shown that he is incapable of such foolishness and capable of being mysterious and the other that he is incapable of mystery and capable of foolishness the Old Testament is a cipher 692 there are some who see clearly that man has no other enemy than lust which turns him from God and not God and that he has no other good than God and not a rich land let those who believe that the good of man is in the flesh and may from sensual pleasures satiate themselves with them and die in them but let those who seek God with all their heart who are only troubled at not seeing him who desire only to possess him and have as enemies only those who turn them away from him who are grieved at seeing themselves surrounded and overwhelmed with such enemies take comfort I proclaim to them happy news there exists a redeemer for them I shall show him to them I shall show that there is a God for them I shall not show him to others I shall make them see that a Messiah has been promised who should deliver them from their enemies and that one has come to free them from their iniquities but not from their enemies when David foretold that the Messiah would deliver his people from their enemies one can believe that in the flesh these would be the Egyptians and then I cannot show that the prophecy was fulfilled one can well believe also that the enemies would be their sins for indeed the Egyptians were not their enemies but their sins were so this word enemies is therefore ambiguous but if he says elsewhere as he does that he will deliver his people from their sins as indeed do Isaiah and others the ambiguity is removed and the double meaning of enemies is reduced to the simple meaning of iniquities for if he had sins in his mind he could well denote them as enemies but if he thought of enemies he could not designate them as iniquities now Moses, David and Isaiah used the same terms who will say then that they have not the same meaning and that David's meaning which is plainly iniquities when he spoke of enemies was not the same as that of Moses when speaking of enemies Daniel chapter 9 prays for the deliverance of the people from the captivity of their enemies but he was thinking of sins and to show this he says that Gabriel came to tell him that his prayer was heard and that there were only 70 weeks to wait after which the people would be freed from iniquity sin would have an end and the Redeemer, the Holy of Holies would bring eternal justice not legal but eternal end of section 10 section 11 of Pensei this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Derek McLaughlin London, Ontario, Canada Latin language reading by Lenny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pensei by Blaise Pascal translated by W. F. Trotter section 11 the prophecies part 1 693 when I see the blindness and the wretchedness of man when I regard the whole silent universe and man without light left to himself and as it were lost in this corner of the universe without knowing who has put him there what he has come to do what will become of him at death and incapable of all knowledge I become terrified like a man who should be carried in his sleep to a dreadful desert island and should awake without knowing where he is and without means of escape and thereupon I wonder how people in a condition so wretched do not fall into despair I see other persons around me of a like nature I ask them if they are better informed than I am they tell me that they are not and thereupon these wretched and lost beings having looked around them and seen some pleasing objects have given and attached themselves to them for my own part I have not been able to attach myself to them and considering how strongly it appears that there is something else than what I see I have examined whether this God has not left some sign of himself I see many contradictory religions and consequently all false save one each wants to be believed on its own authority and threatens unbelievers I do not therefore believe them everyone can say this everyone can call himself a prophet but I see the Christian religion wherein prophecies are fulfilled and that is what everyone cannot do 694 and what crowns all this is prediction so that it should not be said that it is chance which has done it whosoever having only a week to live will not find out that it is expedient to believe that all this is not a stroke of chance now if the passions had no hold on us and a hundred years would amount to the same thing 695 prophecies great pan is dead 696 footnote acts chapter 17 verse 11 now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word righteousness of the mind examining the scriptures daily whether these things were so end of footnote 697 footnote read what has been handed down note what has been fulfilled bring together what is to be fulfilled end of footnote 698 we understand the prophecies only when we see the events happen thus the proofs of retreat discretion, silence, etc are proofs only to those who know and believe them Joseph so internal in a law so external outward penances disposed to inward as humiliations to humility thus the note in the text the thought is incomplete end of note 799 the synagogue has preceded the church the Jews the Christians the prophets have foretold the Christians Saint John Jesus Christ 700 it is glorious to see with the eyes of faith the history of Herod and of Caesar 701 the zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple Josephus and phylo the Jew adchaem but other people had such a zeal it was necessary they should have it Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world the ruler taken from the thigh and the fourth monarchy how lucky we are to see this light amidst this darkness how fine it is to see with the eyes of faith Darius and Cyrus Alexander the Romans Pompey and Herod working the story of the gospel 702 zeal of the Jewish people for the law especially after there were no more prophets 703 while the prophets were foremaintaining the law the people were indifferent but since there have been no more prophets zeal has succeeded them 704 the devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ because he would have been their salvation but not since the Jewish people scorned by the Gentiles the Christian people persecuted 705 Proof prophecies with their fulfillment what has preceded and what has followed Jesus Christ 706 the prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ it is for them also that God has made most provision for the event which has fulfilled them is a miracle existing since the birth of the church to the end so God has raised up prophets during 1600 years and during 400 years afterwards he has scattered all these prophecies among all the Jews who carried them into all parts of the world such was the preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ and as his gospel was to be believed by all the world it was not only necessary that there should be prophecies to make it believed but these prophecies should exist throughout the whole world in order to make it embraced by the whole world 707 but it was not enough that the prophecies should exist it was necessary that they should be distributed throughout all places and preserved throughout all times and in order that this agreement might not be taken for an effect of chance it was necessary that this should be foretold it is far more glorious for the Messiah that the Jews should be the spectators and even instruments of his glory besides that God had reserved them 708 prophecies the time foretold by the state of the Jewish people by the state of the heathen by the state of the temple by the number of years 709 one must be bold to predict the same thing in so many ways it was necessary that the four idolatrous or pagan monarchies the end of the kingdom of Judah and the 70 weeks should happen at the same time and all this before the second temple was destroyed 710 prophecies if one man alone had made a book of predictions about Jesus Christ as to the time and the manner and Jesus Christ had come in conformity to these prophecies this fact would have infinite weight but there is much more here here is the succession of men during 4,000 years who constantly and without variation come one after another to foretold this same event here is a whole people who announce it and who have existed for 4,000 years in order to give corporate testimony of the assurances which they have and from which they cannot be diverted by whatever threats and persecutions people may make against them this is far more important 711 predictions of particular things they were strangers in Egypt without any private property either in that country or elsewhere there was not the least appearance either of the royalty which had previously existed so long or of that supreme council of 70 judges which they called the Sanhedrin and which having been instituted by Moses lasted to the time of Jesus Christ all these things were as far removed from their state at that time as they could be when Jacob dying and blessing his 12 children declared to them that they would be proprietors of a great land and foretold in particular to the family of Judah that the kings who would one day rule them should be of this race and that all his brethren should be their subjects and that even Messiah who was to be the expectation of nations should spring from him and that the kingship should not be taken away from Judah nor the ruler of his descendants till the expected Messiah should arrive in his family this same Jacob disposing of this future land as though he had been his ruler gave a portion to Joseph more than to the others I give use that he one part more than to your brothers and blessing his two children Ephraim and Manasseh whom Joseph had presented to him the elder Manasseh on his right and the young Ephraim on his left he put his arms crosswise and placing his right hand on the head of Ephraim and his left on Manasseh he blessed them in this manner and upon Joseph's representing to him that he was preferring the younger he replied to him with admirable resolution I know it well my son but Ephraim will increase more than Manasseh this has been indeed so true in the result that being alone almost as fruitful as the two entire lines which composed a whole kingdom they have been usually called by the name Ephraim alone this same Joseph when dying bade his children carry his bones with them when they should go into the land to which they only came two hundred years afterwards Moses who wrote all these things so long before they happened himself assigned to each family portions of that land before they entered it as though he had been his ruler in fact he declared that God was to raise up from their nation and their race a prophet of whom he was and he foretold them exactly all that was to happen to them in the land which they were to enter after his death the victories which God would give them their ingratitude towards God the punishments which they would receive for it and the rest of their adventures he gave them judges who should make the division he prescribed the entire form of political government which they should observe the cities of refuge which they should build and note in the text what is incomplete end of note 712 the prophecies about particular things are mingled with those about the Messiah so that the prophecies of the Messiah should not be without proofs nor the special prophecies without fruit 713 perpetual captivity of the Jews Jeremiah chapter 11 verse 11 I will bring evil upon Judah from which they shall not be able to escape types Isaiah chapter 5 the Lord had a vineyard from which he looked for grapes and it brought forth only wild grapes I will therefore lay at waste and destroy it the earth shall only bring forth thorns and I will forbid the clouds from raining upon it the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant I looked that they should do justice and they bring forth only iniquities Isaiah chapter 8 sanctify the Lord with fear and trembling let him be your only dread and he shall be to you for a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble against that stone and fall and be broken and be snare and perish hide my words and cover my law for my disciples I will then wait in patience upon the Lord that hideeth and concealeth himself from the house of Jacob Isaiah chapter 29 be amazed and wonder people of Israel stagger and stumble and be drunken but not with wine stagger but not with strong drink for the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep he will close your eyes he will cover your princes Daniel chapter 12 the wicked shall not understand but the wise shall understand Hosea the last chapter the last verse after many temporal blessings says who is wise and he shall understand these things etc and the visions of all the prophets are become unto you as a sealed book which men deliver to one that is learned and who can read and he saith I cannot read it for it is sealed and the book is delivered to them that are not learned they say I am not learned wherefore the Lord said for as much as this people with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me there is the reason and the cause of it for if they adored God in their hearts they would understand the prophecies and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of man therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and their understanding shall be hid prophecies proofs of divinity Isaiah chapter 41 show the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods we will incline our heart unto your words teach us the things that have been at the beginning and declare us things for to come by this we shall know that ye are gods ye do good or do evil if you can let us then behold it and reason together behold ye are of nothing and only an abomination etc who among contemporary writers hath declared from the beginning that we may know of the things done from the beginning and origin that we may say you are righteous there is none that teacheth us ye there is none that declareeth the future Isaiah chapter 42 bring forth the blind people that have eyes and see not and the deaf that have ears and hear not let all the nations be gathered together who among them can declare this and show us former things and things to come let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified or let them hear and say ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods ye are gods have made away in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, I am he that drowned and destroyed for ever the mighty enemies that have resisted you. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth, shall ye not know it, I will even make away in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. This people have I formed for myself, I have established them to show forth my praise, I, even I, am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put in remembrance your ingratitude, see thou, if thou mayest be justified. Thy first Father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Isaiah chapter 44. I am the first, and I am the last, sayeth the Lord, let him who will equal himself to me declare the order of things since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming. Fear ye not, have I not told you all these things? Ye are my witnesses. Prophecy of Cyrus. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 4. For Jacob's sake, mine elect, I have called thee by thy name. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 21. Come and let us reason together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? Isaiah chapter 46. Remember the former things of old, and know there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Isaiah chapter 42. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Isaiah chapter 48 verse 3. I have declared the former things from the beginning. I did them suddenly, and they came to pass, because I know that thou art obstinate, that thy spirit is rebellious, and thy brow brass. I have even declared it to thee before it came to pass, lest thou shouldst say that it was the work of thy gods and the effect of their commands. Thou hast seen all this, and will ye not declare it? I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning. I have kept them hidden from thee, lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them. Yea, thou newest knot, yea, thou hurtest knot, yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened, for I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and must call the transgressor from the womb. Reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles. Isaiah chapter 65. I am sought of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. I said, Behold me, Behold me, unto a nation that did not call upon my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto an unbelieving people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts, a people that provoked me to anger continually by the sins they commit in my face, that sacrificeeth to idols, etc. These shall be scattered like smoke in the day of my wrath, etc. Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers will I assemble together, and will recompense you for all according to your works. Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it, and a promise of fruit, for my servant's sake I will not destroy all Israel. Thus I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountains, and mine elect in my servants shall inherit it, and my fertile and abundant plains, but I will destroy all others, because you have forgotten your God to serve strange gods. I called, and you did not answer. I spake, and you did not hear, and you did choose the thing which I forbade. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. My servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry and howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen, for the Lord shall slay thee and call his servants by another name, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in God, etc., because the former troubles are forgotten. For behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountain. Isaiah 56 verse 3 Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice, for my salvation is near to come, and to my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, that keepeth the Sabbath, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the strangers that have joined themselves to me say, God will separate me from his people. For thus saith the Lord, whoever will keep my Sabbath and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant, and unto them will I give, in mine house, a place, and a name better than that of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Isaiah 59 verse 9 Therefore, for our iniquities is just as far from us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. For brightness but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind. We stumble at noonday as in the night. We are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and we mourn sore like doves. We look for judgment, but there is none. For salvation, but it is far from us. Isaiah 66 verse 18 But I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall see my glory. And yet I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Africa, to Lydia, to Italy, to Greece, and to the people that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory, and they shall bring your brethren. Jeremiah 7 Reprobation of the temple Go ye unto Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people. And now, because ye have done all these works, sayeth the Lord, I will do unto this house wherein my name is called upon, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to your priests, as I have done to Shiloh, for I have rejected it, and made myself a temple elsewhere. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the seed of Ephraim, rejected for ever. Therefore pray not for this people. Jeremiah 7 verse 22 What avails it you to add sacrifice to sacrifice? For I spake not unto your fathers, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey and be faithful to my commandments, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. It was only after they had sacrificed, to the golden calf, that I gave myself sacrifices to turn into good and evil custom. Jeremiah 7 verse 4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. 714 The Jews, Witnesses for God, Isaiah 43 verse 9, 44 verse 8 Prophecies fulfilled, 1 Kings 13 verse 2, 1 Kings chapter 23 verse 16 Joshua chapter 6 verse 26 1 Kings chapter 16 verse 34 Deuteronomy chapter 23 Malachi chapter 1 verse 11 The sacrifice of the Jews rejected, and the sacrifice of the heathen, even out of Jerusalem, and in all places. Moses, before dying, foretold the calling of the Gentiles, Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 21, and the reprobation of the Jews. Moses foretold what would happen to each tribe. Prophecy Your name shall be a curse unto mine elect, and I will give them another name. Make their heart fat, and how? By flattering their lust and making them hope to satisfy it. 715 Prophecy Amos and Zechariah They have sold the just one, and therefore will not be recalled. Jesus Christ betrayed. They shall no more remember Egypt, see Isaiah chapter 43 verses 16 to 19 Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 6 and 7 Prophecy The Jews shall be scattered abroad. Isaiah chapter 27 verse 6 A new law Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 32 Malachi The Second Temple Glorious Jesus Christ will come Haggai chapter 2 verses 7 to 10 The calling of the Gentiles Joel chapter 2 verse 28 Hosea chapter 2 verse 24 Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 21 Malachi chapter 1 verse 11 716 Hosea chapter 3 Isaiah chapter 42 48 54 60 61 Last verse I foretold it long since that they might know that it is I. Jadis to Alexander 717 Prophecies The promise that David will always have descendants. Jeremiah chapter 13 verse 13 718 The external reign of the race of David, second chronicles, by all the prophecies and with an oath, and it was not temporarily fulfilled. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 20 719 We might perhaps think that, when the prophets foretold that the scepters should not depart from Judah until the Eternal King came, they spoke to flatter the people, and that their prophecy was proved false by Herod. But to show that this was not their meaning and that on the contrary they knew well that this temporal kingdom should cease, they said that they would be without a king, and without a prince, and for a long time. Isaiah chapter 3 verse 4 720 Footnote John chapter 19 verse 15 They therefore cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. End of footnote Therefore Jesus Christ was the Messiah, since they had no longer any king but a stranger, and would have no other. 721 We have no king but Caesar. End of section 11 part 1