Pascal's Pensées
"Thus saith the Lord: What is the bill of this divorcement, wherewith I
have put away the synagogue? and why have I delivered it into the hands
of your enemies? Is it not for your iniquities and for your
transgressions that I have put it away?
"For I came, and no man received me; I called and there was none to
hear. Is my arm shortened, that I cannot redeem?
"Therefore I will show the tokens of mine anger; I will clothe the
heavens with darkness, and make sackcloth their covering.
"The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how
to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He hath opened mine ear,
and I have listened to Him as a master.
"The Lord hath revealed His will, and I was not rebellious.
"I gave my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to outrage; I hid not my
face from shame and spitting. But the Lord hath helped me; therefore I
have not been confounded.
"He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? who will be
mine adversary, and accuse me of sin, God himself being my protector?
"All men shall pass away, and be consumed by time; let those that fear
God hearken to the voice of His servant; let him that languisheth in
darkness put his trust in the Lord. But as for you, ye do but kindle the
wrath of God upon you; ye walk in the light of your fire and in the
sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall
lie down in sorrow.
"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the
Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit
whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah
that bare you: for I called him alone, when childless, and increased
him. Behold, I have comforted Zion, and heaped upon her blessings and
consolations.
"Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me: for a law shall
proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the
Gentiles."
Amos viii. The prophet, having enumerated the sins of Israel, said that
God had sworn to take vengeance on them.
He says this: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,
that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the
earth in the clear day; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and
all your songs into lamentation.
"You all shall have sorrow and suffering, and I will make this nation
mourn as for an only son, and the end therefore as a bitter day. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north
even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the
Lord, and shall not find it.
"In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They
that have followed the idols of Samaria, and sworn by the god of Dan,
and followed the manner of Beersheba, shall fall, and never rise up
again."
Amos iii, 2: "Ye only have I known of all the families of the earth for
my people."
Daniel xii, 7. Having described all the extent of the reign of the
Messiah, he says: "All these things shall be finished, when the
scattering of the people of Israel shall be accomplished."
Haggai ii, 4: "Ye who, comparing this second house with the glory of the
first, despise it, be strong, saith the Lord, be strong, O Zerubbabel,
and O Jesus, the high priest, be strong, all ye people of the land, and
work. For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts; according to the word
that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit
remaineth among you. Fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet
one little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the
sea, and the dry land," (a way of speaking to indicate a great and an
extraordinary change); "and I will shake all nations, and the desire of
all the Gentiles shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,
saith the Lord.
"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord," (that is to
say, it is not by that that I wish to be honoured; as it is said
elsewhere: All the beasts of the field are mine, what advantages me that
they are offered me in sacrifice?). "The glory of this latter house
shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts; and in
this place will I establish my house, saith the Lord.
"According to all that thou desiredst in Horeb in the day of the
assembly, saying, Let us not hear again the voice of the Lord, neither
let us see this fire any more, that we die not.[272] And the Lord said
unto me, Their prayer is just. I will raise them up a prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and
he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come
to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he will
speak in my name, I will require it of him."
Genesis xlix: "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, and
thou shalt conquer thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down
before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art
gone up, and art couched as a lion, and as a lioness that shall be
roused up.
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be."
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_During the life of the Messiah._--_Ænigmatis._--Ezek. xvii.
His forerunner. Malachi iii.
He will be born an infant. Is. ix.
He will be born in the village of Bethlehem. Micah v. He will appear
chiefly in Jerusalem, and will be a descendant of the family of Judah
and of David.
He is to blind the learned and the wise, Is. vi, viii, xxix, etc.; and
to preach the Gospel to the lowly, Is. xxix; to open the eyes of the
blind, give health to the sick, and bring light to those that languish
in darkness. Is. lxi.
He is to show the perfect way, and be the teacher of the Gentiles. Is.
lv; xlii, 1-7.
The prophecies are to be unintelligible to the wicked, Dan. xii; Hosea
xiv, 10; but they are to be intelligible to those who are well informed.
The prophecies, which represent Him as poor, represent Him as master of
the nations. Is. lii, 14, etc.; liii; Zech. ix, 9.
The prophecies, which foretell the time, foretell Him only as master of
the nations and suffering, and not as in the clouds nor as judge. And
those, which represent Him thus as judge and in glory, do not mention
the time. When the Messiah is spoken of as great and glorious, it is as
the judge of the world, and not its Redeemer.
He is to be the victim for the sins of the world. Is. xxxix, liii, etc.
He is to be the precious corner-stone. Is. xxviii, 16.
He is to be a stone of stumbling and offence. Is. viii. Jerusalem is to
dash against this stone.
The builders are to reject this stone. Ps. cxvii, 22.
God is to make this stone the chief corner-stone.
And this stone is to grow into a huge mountain, and fill the whole
earth. Dan. ii.
So He is to be rejected, despised, betrayed (Ps. cviii, 8), sold (Zech.
xi, 12), spit upon, buffeted, mocked, afflicted in innumerable ways,
given gall to drink (Ps. lxviii), pierced (Zech. xii), His feet and His
hands pierced, slain, and lots cast for His raiment.
He will raise again (Ps. xv) the third day (Hosea vi, 3).
He will ascend to heaven to sit on the right hand. Ps. cx.
The kings will arm themselves against Him. Ps. ii.
Being on the right hand of the Father, He will be victorious over His
enemies.
The kings of the earth and all nations will worship Him. Is. lx.
The Jews will continue as a nation. Jeremiah.
They will wander, without kings, etc. (Hosea iii), without prophets
(Amos), looking for salvation and finding it not (Isaiah).
Calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. Is. lii, 15; lv, 5; lx, etc.
Ps. lxxxi.
Hosea i, 9: "Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God, when ye
are multiplied after the dispersion. In the places where it was said, Ye
are not my people, I will call them my people."
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It was not lawful to sacrifice outside of Jerusalem, which was the place
that the Lord had chosen, nor even to eat the tithes elsewhere. Deut.
xii, 5, etc.; Deut. xiv, 23, etc.; xv, 20; xvi, 2, 7, 11, 15.
Hosea foretold that they should be without a king, without a prince,
without a sacrifice, and without an idol; and this prophecy is now
fulfilled, as they cannot make a lawful sacrifice out of Jerusalem.
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_Predictions._--It was foretold that, in the time of the Messiah, He
should come to establish a new covenant, which should make them forget
the escape from Egypt (Jer. xxiii, 5; Is. xliii, 10); that He should
place His law not in externals, but in the heart; that He should put His
fear, which had only been from without, in the midst of the heart. Who
does not see the Christian law in all this?
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... That then idolatry would be overthrown; that this Messiah would cast
down all idols, and bring men into the worship of the true God.
That the temples of the idols would be cast down, and that among all
nations, and in all places of the earth, He would be offered a pure
sacrifice, not of beasts.
That He would be king of the Jews and Gentiles. And we see this king of
the Jews and Gentiles oppressed by both, who conspire His death; and
ruler of both, destroying the worship of Moses in Jerusalem, which was
its centre, where He made His first Church; and also the worship of
idols in Rome, the centre of it, where He made His chief Church.
730
_Prophecies._--That Jesus Christ will sit on the right hand, till God
has subdued His enemies.
Therefore He will not subdue them Himself.
731
"... Then they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying,
Here is the Lord, _for God shall make Himself known to all._"[273]
"... Your sons shall prophesy."[274] "I will put my spirit and my fear
_in your heart_."
All that is the same thing. To prophesy is to speak of God, not from
outward proofs, but from an inward and immediate feeling.
732
That He would teach men the perfect way.
And there has never come, before Him nor after Him, any man who has
taught anything divine approaching to this.
733
... That Jesus Christ would be small in His beginning, and would then
increase. The little stone of Daniel.
If I had in no wise heard of the Messiah, nevertheless, after such
wonderful predictions of the course of the world which I see fulfilled,
I see that He is divine. And if I knew that these same books foretold a
Messiah, I should be sure that He would come; and seeing that they place
His time before the destruction of the second temple, I should say that
He had come.
734
_Prophecies._--That the Jews would reject Jesus Christ, and would be
rejected of God, for this reason, that the chosen vine brought forth
only wild grapes. That the chosen people would be fruitless, ungrateful,
and unbelieving, _populum non credentem et contradicentem_.[275] That
God would strike them with blindness, and in full noon they would grope
like the blind; and that a forerunner would go before Him.
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_Transfixerunt._ Zech. xii, 10.
That a deliverer should come, who would crush the demon's head, and free
His people from their sins, _ex omnibus iniquitatibus_; that there
should be a New Covenant, which would be eternal; that there should be
another priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, and it should be
eternal; that the Christ should be glorious, mighty, strong, and yet so
poor that He would not be recognised, nor taken for what He is, but
rejected and slain; that His people who denied Him should no longer be
His people; that the idolaters should receive Him, and take refuge in