The predictions of the prophets concerning the Christian religion and its author

The prophecies of the Christian religion are contained in the books of Moses and of the other prophets.

1° God spoke to Moses, and revealed to him the Jewish religion, as is clear from Exod., XIX, 3-6. Further, if the Jewish religion is true and revealed, then Christ is the Messiah. Therefore the Christian religion, which he instituted, and of which the Jewish religion was the foundation, is true and revealed.

2° In the books of Moses and the prophets are foretold the Messiah, his birth, the place, the time of his birth, his life, doctrine, works, miracles, passion, death, resurrection and other things pertaining to this, the calling of the nations, the rejection of the Jews, the abolition of the temple and of sacrifice, the substitution of a new law and a new sacrifice, etc. And yet all these things have been verified exactly of Jesus of Nazareth, the author of the Christian law. Therefore he himself is the Messiah; therefore his religion is true and divine.

Proof of the minor. 1° Our Christ was born after the scepter had been taken away from Judah, according to the prophecy of Jacob, Genes., XLIX, 10; at the time fixed in the 70 weeks of Daniel, Daniel, IX, 24-27; before the destruction of the second temple, as Aggaeus, II, 8-10, and Malachias, III, 1 had foretold. — 2° He was born in Bethlehem, as had been foretold, Mich., V, 2; of the tribe of Judah and the family of David, Isa., XI, 1 and 10; of a virgin, Isa., VII, 14. — 3° His coming was preceded by him who would prepare his ways, Malach., III, 1. — 4° He worked miracles, as Isaias, LXI, 1 seqq. had foretold. — 5° He was sold for thirty pieces of silver, with which the potter’s field was bought, as Zacharias, XI, 12 foretold. — 6° He was spat upon and struck in the face, Isa., L, 6. — 7° He was scourged, Psal. XXXIV, 15 and CXXXVII, 3. — 8° His hands and feet were pierced, Psal. XXI, 17. — 9° He was crucified among thieves, Isa., LII, 12. His garments were divided, cast by lot for the robe, Psal. XXI, 19. Hanging on the cross, he was given gall to drink, Psal., LXVII, 22. As he was dying, the sun suffered an eclipse,

Amos, VIII, 9; he rose again, Psal. III, 6;¹⁴ he ascended into heaven, Psal. LXVII, 34; he sent the Holy Spirit, Ioel, II, 28. — 10° He called the nations through the Apostles to his religion, and destroyed idolatry, as had been foretold, Genes., XXII, 17 et 18; Isa., II, 2, 3 et 18; XIX, 19; XLIX, 6 seqq.; Zach., XII, 2, and elsewhere. — 11° He substituted a new priesthood for the Levitical, a new law for the Mosaic law, and finally rejected the Jews, as foretold everywhere in the prophets, Isai., Ierem., Ose., Amos, Mich. ¹⁴ Editor's note: the print reads "Psal. III, 6"; the passage proves Christ's resurrection, which Psalm III, 6 ("Ego dormivi") does not treat, so the citation may be a printer's error (cf. Psal. II, 7 or XV, 10).

Seek all these things set out more fully in our previous Work, tract. de Incarn., dissert. II, a. 3.

What will the deist say to these things? Will he say that Moses is a teller of fables and an impostor, who fraudulently sold false and invented things to the Israelites as true?

Sed contra : 1° Moses calls the Israelites themselves eyewitnesses of the things he narrates. He narrates the plagues of Egypt, harmless to the Israelites looking on. He narrates that they passed unharmed through the Red Sea, while the Egyptians were drowned in it. He narrates that manna was given them from heaven for forty years, and that during that time their garments were not worn out. He narrates that the law was given them by God on Mount Sinai amid lightnings and thunders. He narrates that he drew forth a fountain from the rock for their relief, and that Dathan and Abiron, while they looked on, were swallowed alive into the earth, as he had foretold; he subjects them to a most harsh law, even under pain of death in certain matters. He narrates that he ordered twenty-five thousand men to be killed by the Levites for idolatry, and many other things. If therefore all these things are false, and Moses fraudulently sold them to the Israelites as true, it must be that Moses was foolish, to hope that he could persuade the Israelites that they had seen what they had not seen, and thereby subject them to a most harsh law; and that the Israelites were in like manner foolish, to believe that they had seen what they had not seen, and thereby subject themselves to a most harsh law.

2° In memory of the deeds and prodigies which Moses narrates, feasts and sacrifices were then instituted which are still scrupulously observed by the Jews. But who would believe that a whole nation instituted feasts and sacrifices for events not certainly known to it, or fabulous, and observed them so religiously through so many centuries.

3° Moses not only narrates deeds and prodigies, but foretells many future things that depend solely on the will of God, and which were fulfilled: likewise the other Prophets. But it is not for an impostor, nor for any other man whatsoever, to predict future things that depend solely on the will of God.

Perhaps he will reply that neither Moses nor the prophets ever existed; or, if they existed, that the books attributed to them are not their own, but were fabricated after the birth of Christianity by some impostor.

Sed contra : 1° It is as certain that Moses and the prophets existed and wrote the things that are attributed to them, as it is certain that Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, Cicero, Virgil existed, and that the writings attributed to them are their own. Of these latter no one doubts, on account of the constant tradition, against which nothing can be opposed. Therefore neither may one doubt about the former.

Likewise, it is as certain that Moses and the Prophets existed, and that the works inscribed with their names were written by them, as it is certain that the Jewish nation existed and now exists, which always venerated and venerates them as Prophets and saints, and has always kept their writings, as divine, with the greatest diligence, and keeps them. But that the Jewish nation existed before the rise of Christianity is known to the whole world.

2° Aristeus, one of the legates of Ptolemy to Eleazar, high priest of the Jews, whose book exists in the Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. VII, Josephus and Philo, both Jews, relate that the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek by the 70 Interpreters, under Ptolemy king of Egypt, two hundred years before Christ was born. Likewise profane historians, Cicero, Phlegon, Tacitus, Suetonius, Sallustius, Quintus Curtius, make mention of the law, the temple and the wars of the Jews.

3° By what art could this impostor have persuaded the Jews that this was the history and law of their nation handed down by God, of which they had never heard anything, and which contains many things disgraceful to them and commands most harsh things, and could he have obtained from them so scrupulous an observance of this most harsh law, such as they profess even now? Whoever had attempted this would without doubt have been regarded by the Jews as a fanatic.

4° If the Old Testament is the work of a recent impostor, the same must be said of the New, since the latter is nothing but an explanation and fulfillment of the former, and Christ often appeals the Jews to Moses and to the prophets of the Old Testament.

5° Let the deists say who this impostor was, of what condition, stock and religion: whether a Jew, a Samaritan, or a Christian? If a Jew, he would have obtained nothing from the Samaritans, the bitterest enemies of the Jews. Likewise, if a Samaritan, with respect to the Jews. Moreover, neither would have inserted in these books things so ignominious to the Jewish and Samaritan nation, namely their crimes, ingratitudes, idolatries and punishments. If a Christian, how would he have been acceptable to the Jews and Samaritans, alike the bitterest enemies of the Christians?

6° Likewise, let them say at what time, in what year, in what part of the world this impostor appeared; whom he first deceived; how the Jews, Samaritans, and Christians dispersed through the whole world were at once and together furnished with copies of all these books, in every language, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldaic, Greek, as they were at the birth of Christianity. To these things the deists fall silent. Let them acknowledge therefore their fictions, and that they betray themselves as impostors, while they plead the cause of a fictitious impostor.

Let there remain unmoved, therefore, that the books of Moses and the prophets are their genuine works, that the prophecies which they contain concerning the Christian religion and its author are divine and revealed, and consequently that the Christian religion is true, divine and revealed; for there is no more efficacious argument for the truth of any doctrine than prophecies concerning its author and its truth, since no one but God, or one inspired by the divine Spirit, can long beforehand predict future things, which depend solely on the will of God, with all their circumstances, according to that of Isa., XLI, 23 : Announce the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that you are gods.

Obi. 1° that paganism also had its oracles.

I answer. 1° No oracles ever, whether from the priests of idols, or from pythonesses, or from demons through idols, issued forth concerning a future event that depended solely on the will of God, like the oracles of Christianity; but they were either concerning recent events already accomplished elsewhere, or which they themselves were about to do, or concerning natural futures which they predicted conjecturally from circumstances; and therefore concerning these Cicero himself, book II de Divinat., says that they were « partly false, partly true by chance. »

2° The oracles that looked to the future were ambiguous, such that whatever had happened, they were verified. Such was the oracle of Apollo of Delphi given to Croesus, king of Lydia, that « if he crossed the river Halys, he would destroy a great kingdom. » Whether his own, or another’s? this remained to be divined. Likewise this one of the same Apollo given to Pyrrhus consulting about the outcome of the war against the Romans : « I say that you, descendant of Aeacus, can conquer the Romans, » which signifies both that the Greeks can be conquered by the Romans and that the Romans can be conquered by the Greeks.

3° These oracles of paganism ceased at the birth of Christ and the advance of Christianity. Suidas, s.v. Augustus, Suetonius, in the Octavius, Nicephorus, lib. I, c. 17, relate that Apollo of Delphi, after having long remained mute, was finally compelled to answer Caesar Augustus consulting him thus :

« Me a Hebrew boy, God himself ruling the gods, commands to yield my seat, and to return sad beneath the earth. Depart therefore henceforth in silence from our altars. »

It is known that Apollo of Daphne in the suburb of Antioch long fell silent in like manner, notwithstanding the repeated sacrifices of Julian the Apostate, and finally answered him that the cause of his silence was certain dead men buried in a nearby place. These however were the holy martyrs, among whom St. Babylas.

Tertullian in the Apolog. affirms that any Christian meeting one first can render the demons mute and cast them out of bodies; and he challenges the Romans to make the experiment, consenting that this Christian be condemned to death if he should fail. Likewise Lactantius, lib. de vera Sapientia, relates that every Christian by the sign of the cross renders the demons mute and expels them from bodies.

I insist. The sibylline verses have always been most celebrated, not only among the Gentiles, but also among the ancient Fathers of the Church, in which many future things are predicted. Moreover the pagans had their oracles. Therefore there were true prophecies also among them.

I answer. that the sibylline oracles have long been held in low esteem by the learned. Even if, however, the authenticity of those verses be admitted, and that the virginity of the Sibyls was rewarded with the gift of prophecy by God, as St. Jerome says, contra Iovin., unbelief finds in them no support, since many monuments of ancient tradition are contained in them, many prophecies concerning Christ and his religion, as can be seen in digr. 2 at the end of dissert. II in tract. de incarnat., in our greater Work. Therefore the holy Fathers cited the verses of the Sibyls with praise, because they saw in them religion rather confirmed than weakened. As to the other prophecies and oracles of the pagans, although there are not lacking those who attribute all of them to the frauds of priests, whose very many arts of deceiving Herodotus himself reports, lib. 5, 6, 7 and 8, yet theologians commonly judge that not all those are to be ascribed to human arts, but that many also were produced by demons. Whence St. Cyprian, lib. de Idol. vanit., has thus : « These spirits therefore lurk beneath statues and images; these inspire the breasts of seers with their breath, and work oracles. » Although true prophecy is proper to God alone, nevertheless, considering the intelligence and nature of demons, they can know and foretell many things which can strongly excite the admiration of men. Thus they can predict evils of which they themselves will be the authors, manifest at almost the same moment what is done in a distant region, conjecture from present things certain ones soon to come, as has already been said. Since, however, the event even of things soon to come often depends on the free determination of men, and on the concourse of other things, which cannot certainly be foreseen from natural causes, hence the oracles of demons concerning these events were partly false, partly true by chance, commonly ambiguous and turning every way, so that they could be drawn even into contrary senses. The falsity of the oracles was attested, in Theodoret, by Porphyry himself, saying : « Asked about many things, they are found liars oftentimes. » They cannot therefore, except by the greatest folly and audacity, be compared to our prophecies by the oracles of the heathen, which Celsus did, whom Spinoza and other unbelievers followed. Let them show themselves any falsity, however small, in our prophecies : which they will in no way be able to accomplish; for it is evidently demonstrated that all oracles were fulfilled in Christ and in the Church. Hence augurs and soothsayers have existed indeed among all nations, but prophets nowhere, except in the people of God.

Obi. 2° with Rousseau : That prophecy may be a certain argument of truth, it would be required 1° that he who heard the prophecy be also witness of the event, 2° that it be certain that what was predicted did not happen by chance. But these do not concur in the same prophecy. Therefore.

I answer to the 1st: on this way of philosophizing nothing done by others can be believed, nothing said, unless it be heard with one’s own ears. Therefore there will no longer be any historical faith, no certainty. Moreover, although the things Rousseau requires are not found joined in every prophecy, yet it happens in many cases. Thus the resurrection of Christ had been foretold to the Apostles, who afterwards saw him alive with their own eyes.

I answer to the 2nd: there is not here question of one or another deed predicted through ambiguous words, or of one or another prophecy announced through conjectures or natural causes, but of the prophets, who succeeded one another through many centuries, who although far apart among themselves in age, regions and manners, wonderfully agreed in predicting events, not only free and contingent, but depending uniquely on God, whose places, times, and even the smallest individual circumstances they foretold, as we saw above. But who would be so senseless as to say that everything responded by chance to oracles so manifest?

Obi. 3° : Prophecies are not the work of God alone, if a natural faculty of prophesying be granted. But distinguished philosophers taught that this faculty is granted, as Aristotle, Plutarch, etc. Therefore.

I answer. I deny the minor. Those testimonies of the Gentiles prove nothing else than the common persuasion of all that divination exists; since they did not know its true origin, they took refuge in uncertain suppositions of this kind. For neither from reason nor from experience can any argument be brought forward by which this opinion is proved. We speak of prophecies properly so called, not of certain presensions arising from natural causes, whose sufficient reasons are already contained in things present or past.

Obi. 4° : A prophecy cannot be judged from the event, 1° if it can be fulfilled by the event without being true, as is said Deut., XIII, 1-3 : If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet... and foretell a sign and a wonder, and it come to pass that which he spoke, and he say to thee : Let us go and follow strange gods..., thou shalt not hear the words of this prophet; 2° if the event does not always follow a prophecy made in the name of God, as Isaias foretold to Ezechias death for the morrow, Jonas the overthrow of Nineve. 3° An event, announced only after a long time, cannot be an argument of truth; which happens in countless prophecies. Therefore.

I answer to the 1st. Since a prophecy that contradicts certain truth is necessarily false, it follows that the one treated of in Deuteronomy cannot be held a true and proper prophecy. Other interpreters think those words contain an impossible hypothesis, to express the matter more forcibly, which hypotheses are not rarely used in common speech, as the Apostle, to the Galatians, I, 8 : Though an angel from heaven evangelize to you otherwise than we have evangelized to you, let him be anathema.

Finally nothing prevents understanding those words of a prophet who, after he had uttered true prophecies, afterwards fallen into idolatry, abused his authority to corrupt the faith of the people.

I answer to the 2nd. Those predictions were not prophecies uttered in confirmation of any doctrine, but threats made, which were for the most part conditional.

I answer to the 3rd. A prophecy to be fulfilled long after could not be an argument of truth to those living at the time of the prophet, but to those who saw the event. Thus the prophecies concerning the Messiah proved nothing to the Jews living in the time of Isaias and Jeremias, but to those who were to be convinced from the prophecies in the time of the Messiah. Moreover the prophets always predicted even things soon to be, that by the events of the earlier prophecies they might win faith for the later ones.

Obi. 5° : The prophecies that foretell the last calamity of the Jews contain many things that were not fulfilled in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. Therefore they prove nothing.

I answer. the objection speaks of the prophecy read in Matth., XXIV, Marc., XIII and Luc., XXI, in which, according to the common opinion of interpreters, Christ spoke at once of the consummation of the world, of which the extreme calamities of the Jewish nation exhibit the prelude. Yet it is not difficult to distinguish between the two, especially in the series of the narration related by St. Mark. 1° The destruction of the city of Jerusalem is treated from v. 1 up to 24. 2° The overthrow of the whole world from v. 24 to 27. Both events having been foretold, Christ answers this question of the disciples : Tell us when these things shall be. And indeed returning at v. 28 to the first event, he announces it as near at v. 30 : This generation shall not pass, until all these things be done. But as to the time of the final consummation of the world, he says at v. 32 that it pertains to the hidden judgments of God : But of that day or hour no man knoweth.]