te, et in misericordia sempiterna misertus sum tui: dixit redemptor
tuus Dominus._
Is. lxiii. 12. _Qui eduxit ad dexteram Moysen brachio majestatis suæ,
qui scidit aquas ante eos, ut faceret sibi nomen sempiternum._
14. _Sic adduxisti populum tuum ut faceres tibi nomen gloriæ._
Is. lxiii. 16. _Tu enim pater noster, et Abraham nescivit nos, et
Israel ignoravit nos._
Is. lxiii. 17. _Quare ... indurasti cor nostrum ne timeremus te?_
Is. lxvi. 17. _Qui sanctificabantur, et mundos se putabant ... simul
consumentur, dicit Dominus._
Jer. ii. 35. _Et dixisti: Absque peccato et innocens ego sum: et
propterea avertatur furor tuus a me._
_Ecce ego judicio contendam tecum, eo quod dixeris: Non peccavi._
Jer. iv. 22. _Sapientes sunt ut faciant mala, bene autem facere
nescierunt._
Jer. iv. 23, 24. _Aspexi terram, et ecce vacua erat, et nihili: et
cælos, et non erat lux in eis._
_Vidi montes, et ecce movebantur: et omnes colles conturbati sunt._
_Intuitus sum, et non erat homo: et omne volatile cæli recessit.
Aspexi, et ecce Carmelus desertus: et omnes urbes ejus destructæ sunt
a facie Domini, et a facie iræ furoris ejus._
_Hæc enim dicit Dominus: Deserta erit omnis terra, sed tamen
consummationem non faciam._
Jer. v. 4. _Ego autem dixi: Forsitan pauperes sunt et stulti,
ignorantes viam Domini, judicium Dei sui._
_Ibo ad optimates, et loquar eis: ipsi enim cognoverunt viam Domini:
et ecce magis hi simul confregerunt jugum, ruperunt vincula. Idcirco
percussit eos leo de silva, pardus vigilans super civitates eorum._
Jer. v. 29. _Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus? aut super
gentem hujuscemodi non ulciscetur anima mea?_
Jer. v. 30. _Stupor et mirabilia facta sunt in terra:_
Jer. v. 31. _Prophetæ prophetabant mendacium, et sacerdotes
applaudebant manibus suis: et populus meus dilexit talia: quid igitur
fiet in novissimo ejus?_
Jer. vi 16._Hæc dicit Dominus: State super vias, et videte, et
interrogate de semitis antiquis, quæ sit via bona, et ambulate in
ea: et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris. Et dixerunt: Non
ambulabimus._
_Et constituti super vos speculatores. Audite vocem tubæ. Et
dixerunt: Non audiemus._
_Ideo audite Gentes, quanta ego faciam eis. Audi terra: Ecce ego
adducam mala, etc._
Jer. xxiii. 15._A prophetis enim Hierusalem egressa est pollutio
super omnem terram._
Jer. xxiii. 17. _Dicunt his, qui blasphemant me: Locutus est Dominus,
Pax erit vobis, et omni qui ambulat in pravitate cordis sui,
dixerunt: Non veniet super vos malum._
The Jews witnesses for God. Is. xliii. 9, xliv. 8.
_Prophecies accomplished._--Malachi i. 11. The sacrifice of the Jews
rejected, and the sacrifice of the Gentiles, even out of Jerusalem,
and in all places.
--Moses before his death foretold the calling of the Gentiles, Deut.
xxxii. 21, and the reprobation of the Jews.
Moses foretold what would happen to each tribe.
_Prophecy._--Amos and Zechariah. They sold the just one, and
therefore were not recalled.
--Jesus Christ betrayed.
They shall no more remember Egypt. See Is. xliii. 16-19, Jerem.
xxiii. 7.
The Jews shall be scattered abroad. Is. xxvii. 6. A new law. Jer.
xxxi. 31.
Malachi. Grotius.--The second temple glorious. Jesus Christ will come
to it. Haggai ii. 7-10.... The calling of the Gentiles. Joel ii. 28.
Hos. ii. 24. Deut. xxxii. 21. Mal. i. 11.
Moses first taught the Trinity, original sin, the Messiah.
David was a great witness.
A king, good, merciful, a fair soul, a fine mind, powerful. He
prophesied, and his wonders came to pass. This is infinite.
He had only to say that he was the Messiah, had he been vain enough,
for the prophecies are clearer about him than about Jesus Christ. The
same with Saint John.
_Special predictions._--They were strangers in Egypt without any
private possessions, in that country or in any other, when Jacob
dying and blessing his twelve children declared to them that they
should possess a great land, and foretold in particular to the family
of Judah that the kings who would one day govern them should be of
his race, and that all his brethren should be subject to him.
This same Jacob disposing of the future land as though he were its
master, gave a portion to Joseph more than to the others. "I give
thee," said he, "a portion more than to thy brethren." 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 cross-wise, and placing his right hand on the
head of Ephraim, and the left on Manasseh, he blessed them thus. And
when Joseph represented to him that he was preferring the younger he
answered him with admirable decision, "I know it well, my son, I know
it, but Ephraim shall increase in a way quite other than Manasseh."
This has been in fact so true in the result that, being alone almost
as abundant as the two entire lines which compose a whole kingdom,
they have been usually called by the name of Ephraim alone.
This same Joseph when dying commanded his children to bear his bones
with them into that land to which they did not come for two hundred
years afterwards.
Moses, who wrote all these things so long before they happened,
himself made for each family the partition of the land before they
entered it, as though he had been master of it.
He gave them judges to divide it, he prescribed the entire political
form of government which they should observe, the cities of refuge
which they should build, and....
Daniel ii. "All thy sooth-sayers and wise men cannot show unto thee
the secret which thou hast demanded.
"But there is a God in heaven, who can do so, and he has revealed in
thy dream the things which shall be in the latter days." _This dream
must have caused him great uneasiness._
"And it is not by my own wisdom that I have knowledge of this secret,
but by the revelation of this same God who has discovered it to me,
to make it manifest in thy presence.
"Thy dream was of this kind. Thou sawest a great image, high and
terrible, which stood before thee. His head was of gold, his breast
and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass. His legs
of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
"Thus thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote
the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay and brake them to
pieces.
"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold,
broken to pieces together, and the wind carried them away, but this
stone which smote the image became a great mountain, and filled
the whole earth. This is the dream, and now I will give thee the
interpretation.
"Thou who art the greatest of kings, and to whom God has given a
power so extended that thou art renowned among all people, art the
golden head of the image which thou hast seen.
"But after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and
another of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
"But the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, and even as iron
breaketh in pieces, and subdueth all things, so this empire shall
break in pieces and bruise.
"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of clay and part of
iron, the kingdom shall be divided; and it shall be partly strong and
partly broken.
"But as iron cannot be firmly mixed with clay, so they who are
represented by the iron and by the clay, cannot cleave one to another
though united by marriage.
"Now in the days of these kings will God raise up a Kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed, nor ever be delivered up to another people.
"It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever, according as thou sawest that the stone was
cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it fell from the
mountain, and brake in pieces the iron, the clay, the silver and
the gold. This is what God has revealed to thee of the things
which must come in the fulness of time. This dream is true and the
interpretation thereof is faithful. Then Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his
face towards the earth, etc."
Daniel viii. "Daniel having seen the combat of the ram and of the
he-goat, who vanquished him and ruled over the earth, whereof the
principal horn being broken four others came up towards the four
winds of heaven, and out of one of them came forth a little horn,
which waxed exceeding great toward the South and toward the East, and
toward the land of Israel, and it waxed great, even to the host of
heaven, and it cast down some of the stars, and stamped upon them,
and at last overthrew the prince, and by him the daily sacrifice was
taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
"This is what Daniel saw. He asked the explanation and a voice cried
in this manner, 'Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.'
And Gabriel said,
"The ram which thou sawest is the king of the Medes and Persians, and
the he-goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn that is between
his eyes is the first king of this monarchy.
"Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms
shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his strength.
"Now in the latter time of their kingdom when iniquities shall be
grown up, there shall arise a king insolent and strong, but his power
shall be not his own. To him all things shall succeed after his will,
and he shall destroy the holy people, and through his policy also he
shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall destroy many.
He shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes, but he shall
perish miserably, and nevertheless by a violent hand."
Daniel ix. 20.
"As I was praying God with all my heart, and confessing my sin and
the sin of all my people, and prostrating myself before God, even
Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, came to
me and touched me about the time of the evening oblation, and he
informed me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee
that thou mightest understand. At the beginning of thy prayer I came
to show thee that which thou didst desire, for thou art greatly
beloved: therefore understand the matter and consider the vision.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy
city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and
to abolish iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness; to
accomplish the vision and the prophecies, and to anoint the Most Holy.
"After which this people shall be no more thy people, nor this city
the holy city. The times of wrath are passed and the years of grace
shall come for ever.
"Know therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the
Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks: the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."
The Hebrews were accustomed to divide numbers, and to place the
smaller first, so that seven and sixty-two make sixty-nine. Of this
seventy there will then rest the seventieth: that is to say the seven
last years of which he will speak next, and after these sixty-two
weeks which have followed the seven first, the Christ should be
killed, and a people would come with its prince, who should destroy
the city, and the sanctuary, and overwhelm all, and the end of that
war will accomplish the desolation. Christ shall be killed after the
sixty-nine weeks, that is to say, in the last week.
"Now one week, which is the seventieth, which remains, shall confirm
the covenant with many, and in the midst of the week, that is to say
the last three years and a half, he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall
make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined
shall be poured upon the desolate."
Daniel xi. The angel said to Daniel:
"There shall stand up yet,"--after Cyrus, under whom all this still
is,--"three kings in Persia,"--Cambyses, Smyrdis, Darius;--"and the
fourth,"--Xerxes, who shall then come,--"shall be far richer than
they all, and far stronger, and shall stir up all his people against
the Greeks, and a mighty king shall stand up,"--Alexander,--"that
shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And
when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be
divided in four parts toward the four winds of heaven,"--see also
vii. 6 vii. 8--"but not to his posterity, and his successors shall
not equal his power, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for
others beside these,"--his four principal successors.
"And the king--Ptolemy son of Lagos,--of the south,"--Egypt,--"shall
be strong,--but one of his princes shall be strong above
him,"--Seleucus king of Syria,--"and his dominion shall be a great
dominion,"--Appian says that he was the most powerful of Alexander's
successors.
"And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, and
the king's daughter of the South,"--Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, son of the other Ptolemy--"shall come to the king of
the North to make peace between these princes"--to Antiochus Deus,
king of Syria and of Asia, son of Seleucus Lagidas.
"But neither she nor her seed shall have a long authority, for she
and they that sent her and they that brought her, and her children
and her friends, shall be delivered to death,"--Berenice and her son
were killed by Seleucus Callinicus.
"But out of a branch of her roots"--Ptolemy Euergetes was the son of
the same father as Berenice--"shall one stand up in his estate, who
shall come with an army into the land of the king of the north, and
shall put all under subjection, and carry captives into Egypt their
gods, their princes, their gold, their silver, and all their precious
spoils, and shall continue many years when the king of the North can
do nought against him."--If he had not been called into Egypt by
domestic reasons, says Justin, he would have entirely ruined Seleucus.
"And thus he shall return into his kingdom, but his sons shall be
stirred up and shall prepare an exceeding great multitude"--Seleucus
Ceraunus, Antiochus the Great.
"And their army shall come and overthrow all, whereat the king of
the South being moved with choler, shall come forth and fight with
him and conquer,"--Ptolemy Philopator against Antiochus the Great at
Raphia--"and his troops shall become insolent, and his heart shall be
lifted up,"--this Ptolemy desecrated the temple--Josephus--"and he
shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened
by it.
"For the king of the North"--Antiochus the Great--"shall return
with a greater multitude than before,"--in the reign of the young
Ptolemy Epiphanes--"and then a great number of enemies shall stand
up against the king of the south, also the apostates and robbers of
thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they
shall perish"--those who abandon their religion to please Euergetes,
when he will send his troops to Scopas. For Antiochus will again take
Scopas and conquer them.
"And the king of the North shall destroy the fenced cities and the
armies of the south shall not withstand, and all shall yield to his
will. He shall stand in the land of Israel and it shall yield to him.
"And thus he will think to render himself master of all the empire of
Egypt,"--despising the youth of Epiphanes, says Justin.
"And for that he will make alliance with him and give his
daughter,"--Cleopatra, in order that she may betray her husband. On
which Appian says that doubtful of being able to make himself master
of Egypt by force, because of the protection of the Romans, he wished
to attempt it by craft. "He would fain corrupt her, but she shall not
stand on his side, neither be for him. After this shall he turn his
face unto the isles,"--that is to say, the sea-ports,--"and shall
take many,"--as Appian relates.
"But a prince shall oppose his conquests and cause the reproach
offered by him to cease,"--Scipio Africanus, who stopped the progress
of Antiochus the Great because he offended the Romans in the person
of their allies.--"He will return into his kingdom and perish and be
no more."--He was killed by his soldiers.
"And he who stands in his place shall be a tyrant, a raiser of taxes
in the glory of the kingdom," that is the people, Seleucus Philopator
or Soter, the son of Antiochus the Great--"but within a few days he
shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle;
"And in his place shall stand up a vile person, unworthy of the
honour of the kingdom, but he shall come in by skilful flatteries.
"All armies shall bend before him, he will conquer them, and even the
prince with whom he has made a league. For having renewed the league
with him, he will deceive him, and come in with a few tribes into
his province, calm and without fear. He will take the best places,
and shall do that which his fathers have not done, and ravage on all
sides. He will forecast devices, during his time."
The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple. Josephus and
Philo the Jew _ad Caium_.
What other people has so great a zeal, but for them it was a
necessity.
Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. The
leader taken from the thigh, and the fourth monarchy.
How fortunate we are to have such light amid such darkness.
How grand it is to see by the eye of faith, Darius and Cyrus,
Alexander, the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, though
unconsciously, for the glory of the Gospel!
How grand to see by the eye of faith the histories of Herod, of
Cæsar....
_The reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles._--Isaiah
lxv. "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 provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that
sacrificeth 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 gather,
and will requite you 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.
"So will I take a seed of Jacob and Judah to possess my mountains,
and mine elect and my servants shall inherit it, and my fertile and
abundant plains, but I will destroy all others, because you have
forgotten your God to follow strange gods. I have called you and you
have not answered, I have spoken and you have not heard, and you have
chosen the things 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 for ever 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 be no more 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 ox: and dust shall be the serpent's meat.
They shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain."
Is. lvi. "Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for
my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
"Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that keepeth
my salvation and holdeth his hand from doing any evil.
"Neither let the strangers, that have joined themselves to the Lord,
say, God will separate me from his people. For thus saith the Lord:
Whoso will keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me,
and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine
house a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will
give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off....
"Therefore is judgment 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 noon day as in the night; we are
in desolate places as dead men.
"We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for
judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us."
Isaiah lxvi. 18. "But I know their works and their thoughts: I come
that I may gather all nations and tongues, and they shall see my
glory.
"And I will set a sign among them, and I will send of them that shall
be saved unto the nations, to Africa, to Lydia, to Italy, to Greece,
and to the people that have not heard my name, neither have seen my
glory. And they shall bring your brethren."
Jer. vii. _Reprobation of the Temple._
"But go ye to 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, saith the Lord, I will do unto this house, in
which 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, the whole seed of Ephraim." Rejected absolutely.
"Therefore pray not thou for this people."
Jer. vii. 21. "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 my voice, and I will be your God, and
ye shall be my people. For it was only after they had sacrificed to
golden calves that I gave myself sacrifices to turn into good an evil
custom." Jer. vii. 4. "Trust not in lying words, saying, The temple
of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are
these."
_Proofs by the Jews._--Captivity of the Jews without restoration.
Jeremiah xi. 11. "I will bring evil on Judah which they shall not be
able to escape."
_Types._--Isaiah v. "The Lord had a vineyard from which he looked for
grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. I will therefore uproot and
destroy it, the earth shall produce nothing but thorns, and I will
forbid the heaven....
"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 viii. "Sanctify the Lord with fear and trembling, and let him
be your fear; but he shall be for a stone of stumbling and for a rock
of offence 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 snared, and be
taken, and perish. Hide my words and cover my law for my disciples.
"And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house
of Jacob."
Isaiah xxix. "Be astonished, and wonder, O people of Israel; waver
and stagger: be drunken, but not with wine; stagger, but not with
strong drink. For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of deep
sleep. He will shut up your eyes: he will cover your prophets
and princes that see visions." Daniel xii. "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 book
that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, and who
can read: and he saith, I cannot read it; for it is sealed: And when
the book is delivered to him that is not learned, he saith, I am not
learned.
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people with their lips
do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,"--there is
the reason and the cause, for they adore God in their heart, and
understand the prophecies,--"and their fear toward me is taught by
the precept of men.