556.... Men blaspheme what they do not know.
The Christian religion consists in two points. It is of equal concern to men to
know them, and it is equally dangerous to be ignorant of them. And it is
equally of God's mercy that He has given indications of both.
And yet they take occasion to conclude that
one of these points does not exist, from that which should have caused them to
infer the other. The sages who have said there is only one God have been
persecuted, the Jews were hated, and still more the Christians. They have seen
by the light of nature that if there be a true religion on earth, the course of
all things must tend to it as to a centre.
The whole course of things must have for its
object the establishment and the greatness of religion. Men must have within
them feelings suited to what religion teaches us. And, finally, religion must
so be the object and the centre to which all things tend that whoever knows the
principles of religion can give an explanation both of the whole nature of man
in particular and of the whole course of the world in general.
And on this ground they take occasion to
revile the Christian religion, because they misunderstand it. They imagine that
it consists simply in the worship of a God considered as great, powerful, and
eternal; which is strictly deism, almost as far removed from the Christian
religion as atheism, which is its exact opposite. And thence they conclude that
this religion is not true, because they do not see that all things concur to
the establishment of this point, that God does not manifest Himself to men with
all the evidence which He could show.
But let them conclude what they will against
deism, they will conclude nothing against the Christian religion, which
properly consists in the mystery of the Redeemer, who, uniting in Himself the
two natures, human and divine, has redeemed men from the corruption of sin in
order to reconcile them in His divine person to God.
The Christian religion, then, teaches men
these two truths; that there is a God whom men can know, and that there is a
corruption in their nature which renders them unworthy of Him. It is equally
important to men to know both these points; and it is equally dangerous for man
to know God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own
wretchedness without knowing the Redeemer who can free him from it. The
knowledge of only one of these points gives rise either to the pride of
philosophers, who have known God, and not their own wretchedness, or to the
despair of atheists, who know their own wretchedness, but not the Redeemer.
And, as it is alike necessary to man to know
these two points, so is it alike merciful of God to have made us know them. The
Christian religion does this; it is in this that it consists.
Let us herein examine the order of the world
and see if all things do not tend to establish these two chief points of this
religion: Jesus Christ is end of all, and the centre to which all tends.
Whoever knows Him knows the reason of everything.
Those who fall into error err only through
failure to see one of these two things. We can, then, have an excellent
knowledge of God without that of our own wretchedness and of our own
wretchedness without that of God. But we cannot know Jesus Christ without
knowing at the same time both God and our own wretchedness.
Therefore I shall not undertake here to prove
by natural reasons either the existence of God, or the Trinity, or the
immortality of the soul, or anything of that nature; not only because I should
not feel myself sufficiently able to find in nature arguments to convince
hardened atheists, but also because such knowledge without Jesus Christ is
useless and barren. Though a man should be convinced that numerical proportions
are immaterial truths, eternal and dependent on a first truth, in which they
subsist and which is called God, I should not think him far advanced towards
his own salvation.
The God of Christians is not a God who is
simply the author of mathematical truths, or of the order of the elements; that
is the view of heathens and Epicureans. He is not merely a God who exercises
His providence over the life and fortunes of men, to bestow on those who
worship Him a long and happy life. That was the portion of the Jews. But the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a
God of love and of comfort, a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom He
possesses, a God who makes them conscious of their inward wretchedness, and His
infinite mercy, who unites Himself to their inmost soul, who fills it with
humility and joy, with confidence and love, who renders them incapable of any
other end than Himself.
All who seek God without Jesus Christ, and
who rest in nature, either find no light to satisfy them, or come to form for
themselves a means of knowing God and serving Him without a mediator. Thereby
they fall either into atheism, or into deism, two things which the Christian
religion abhors almost equally.
Without Jesus Christ the world would not
exist; for it should needs be either that it would be destroyed or be a hell.
If the world existed to instruct man of God,
His divinity would shine through every part in it in an indisputable manner;
but as it exists only by Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ, and to teach men
both their corruption and their redemption, all displays the proofs of these
two truths.
All appearance indicates neither a total
exclusion nor a manifest presence of divinity, but the presence of a God who
hides himself. Everything bears this character.
... Shall he alone who knows his nature know
it only to be miserable? Shall he alone who knows it be alone unhappy?
... He must not see nothing at all, nor must
he see sufficient for him to believe he possesses it; but he must see enough to
know that he has lost it. For to know of his loss, he must see and not see; and
that is exactly the state in which he naturally is.
... Whatever part he takes, I shall not leave
him at rest.
557.... It is, then, true that everything
teaches man his condition, but he must understand this well. For it is not true
that all reveals God, and it is not true that all conceals God. But it is at
the same time true that He hides Himself from those who tempt Him, and that He
reveals Himself to those who seek Him, because men are both unworthy and capable
of God; unworthy by their corruption, capable by their original nature.
558. What shall we conclude from all our
darkness, but our unworthiness?
559. If there never had been any appearance
of God, this eternal deprivation would have been equivocal, and might have as
well corresponded with the absence of all divinity, as with the unworthiness of
men to know Him; but His occasional, though not continual, appearances remove
the ambiguity. If He appeared once, He exists always; and thus we cannot but
conclude both that there is a God and that men are unworthy of Him.
560. We do not understand the glorious state
of Adam, nor the nature of his sin, nor the transmission of it to us. These are
matters which took place under conditions of a nature altogether different from
our own and which transcend our present understanding.
The knowledge of all this is useless to us as
a means of escape from it; and all that we are concerned to know is that we are
miserable, corrupt, separated from God, but ransomed by Jesus Christ, whereof
we have wonderful proofs on earth.
So the two proofs of corruption and
redemption are drawn from the ungodly, who live in indifference to religion,
and from the Jews who are irreconcilable enemies.
561. There are two ways of proving the truths
of our religion; one by the power of reason, the other by the authority of him
who speaks.
We do not make use of the latter, but of the
former. We do not say, "This must be believed, for Scripture, which says
it, is divine." But we say that it must be believed for such and such a
reason, which are feeble arguments, as reason may be bent to everything.
562. There is nothing on earth that does not
show either the wretchedness of man, or the mercy of God; either the weakness
of man without God, or the strength of man with God.
563. It will be one of the confusions of the
damned to see that they are condemned by their own reason, by which they
claimed to condemn the Christian religion.
564. The prophecies, the very miracles and
proofs of our religion, are not of such a nature that they can be said to be
absolutely convincing. But they are also of such a kind that it cannot be said
that it is unreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and
obscurity to enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is such that
it surpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary; so that it is
not reason which can determine men not to follow it, and thus it can only be
lust or malice of heart. And by this means there is sufficient evidence to
condemn, and insufficient to convince; so that it appears in those who follow
it that it is grace, and not reason, which makes them follow it; and in those
who shun it, that it is lust, not reason, which makes them shun it.
Vere discipuli, vere Israelita, vere liberi,
vere cibus.100
565. Recognise, then, the truth of religion
in the very obscurity of religion, in the little light we have of it, and in
the indifference which we have to knowing it.
566. We understand nothing of the works of
God, if we do not take as a principle that He has willed to blind some and
enlighten others.
567. The two contrary reasons. We must begin
with that; without that we understand nothing, and all is heretical; and we
must even add at the end of each truth that the opposite truth is to be
remembered.
568. Objection. The Scripture is plainly full
of matters not dictated by the Holy Spirit. Answer. Then they do not harm
faith. Objection. But the Church has decided that all is of the Holy Spirit.
Answer. I answer two things: first, the Church has not so decided; secondly, if
she should so decide, it could be maintained.
Do you think that the prophecies cited in the
Gospel are related to make you believe? No, it is to keep you from believing.
569. Canonical.--The heretical books in the
beginning of the Church serve to prove the canonical.
570. To the chapter on the Fundamentals must
be added that on Typology touching the reason of types: why Jesus Christ was prophesied
as to His first coming; why prophesied obscurely as to the manner.
571. The reason why. Types.--They had to deal
with a carnal people and to render them the depositary of the spiritual
covenant. To give faith to the Messiah, it was necessary there should have been
precedent prophesies, and that these should be conveyed by persons above
suspicion, diligent, faithful, unusually zealous, and known to all the world.
To accomplish all this, God chose this carnal
people, to whom He entrusted the prophecies which foretell the Messiah as a
deliverer and as a dispenser of those carnal goods which this people loved. And
thus they have had an extraordinary passion for their prophets and, in sight of
the whole world, have had charge of these books which foretell their Messiah,
assuring all nations that He should come and in the way foretold in the books,
which they held open to the whole world. Yet this people, deceived by the poor
and ignominious advent of the Messiah, have been His most cruel enemies. So that
they, the people least open to suspicion in the world of favouring us, the most
strict and most zealous that can be named for their law and their prophets,
have kept the books incorrupt. Hence those who have rejected and crucified
Jesus Christ, who has been to them an offence, are those who have charge of the
books which testify of Him, and state that He will be an offence and rejected.
Therefore they have shown it was He by rejecting Him, and He has been alike
proved both by the righteous Jews who received Him and by the unrighteous who
rejected Him, both facts having been foretold.
Wherefore the prophecies have a hidden and
spiritual meaning to which this people were hostile, under the carnal meaning
which they loved. If the spiritual meaning had been revealed, they would not
have loved it, and, unable to bear it, they would not have been zealous of the
preservation of their books and their ceremonies; and if they had loved these
spiritual promises, and had preserved them incorrupt till the time of the Messiah,
their testimony would have had no force, because they had been his friends.
Therefore it was well that the spiritual
meaning should be concealed; but, on the other hand, if this meaning had been
so hidden as not to appear at all, it could not have served as a proof of the
Messiah. What then was done? In a crowd of passages it has been hidden under
the temporal meaning, and in a few been clearly revealed; besides that, the
time and the state of the world have been so clearly foretold that it is clearer
than the sun. And in some places this spiritual meaning is so clearly expressed
that it would require a blindness, like that which the flesh imposes on the
spirit when it is subdued by it, not to recognise it.
See, then, what has been the prudence of God.
This meaning is concealed under another in an infinite number of passages, and
in some, though rarely, it is revealed; but yet so that the passages in which
it is concealed are equivocal and can suit both meanings; whereas the passages
where it is disclosed are unequivocal and can only suit the spiritual meaning.
So that this cannot lead us into error and
could only be misunderstood by so carnal a people.
For when blessings are promised in abundance,
what was to prevent them from understanding the true blessings, but their
covetousness, which limited the meaning to worldly goods? But those whose only
good was in God referred them to God alone. For there are two principles, which
divide the wills of men, covetousness and charity. Not that covetousness cannot
exist along with faith in God, nor charity with worldly riches; but
covetousness uses God and enjoys the world, and charity is the opposite.
Now the ultimate end gives names to things.
All which prevents us from attaining it is called an enemy to us. Thus the
creatures, however good, are the enemies of the righteous, when they turn them
away from God, and God Himself is the enemy of those whose covetousness He
confounds.
Thus as the significance of the word enemy is
dependent on the ultimate end, the righteous understood by it their passions,
and the carnal the Babylonians; and so these terms were obscure only for the
unrighteous. And this is what Isaiah says: Signa legem in electis meis,101
and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling. But, "Blessed are
they who shall not be offended in him." Hosea 14:9, says excellently,
"Where is the wise? and he shall understand what I say. The righteous
shall know them, for the ways of God are right; but the transgressors shall
fall therein."
572. Hypothesis that the apostles were
impostors. The time clearly, the manner obscurely. Five typical proofs.
1600
prophets.
400 scattered.
-----
2000
573. Blindness of Scripture.--"The Scripture," said the Jews,
"says that we shall not know whence Christ will come (John 7:27, and
12:34)--The Scripture says that Christ abideth for ever, and He said that He
should die." Therefore, says Saint John, they believed not, though He had
done so many miracles, that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "He hath
blinded them," etc.
574. Greatness.--Religion is so great a thing
that it is right that those who will not take the trouble to seek it, if it be
obscure, should be deprived of it. Why, then, do any complain, if it be such as
can be found by seeking?
575. All things work together for good to the
elect, even the obscurities of Scripture; for they honour them because of what
is divinely clear. And all things work together for evil to the rest of the
world, even what is clear; for they revile such, because of the obscurities
which they do not understand.
576. The general conduct of the world towards
the Church: God willing to blind and to enlighten.--The event having proved the
divinity of these prophecies, the rest ought to be believed. And thereby we see
the order of the world to be of this kind. The miracles of the Creation and the
Deluge being forgotten, God sends the law and the miracles of Moses, the
prophets who prophesied particular things; and to prepare a lasting miracle, He
prepares prophecies and their fulfilment; but, as the prophecies could be
suspected, He desires to make them above suspicion, etc.
577. God has made the blindness of this
people subservient to the good of the elect.
578. There is sufficient clearness to
enlighten the elect, and sufficient obscurity to humble them. There is
sufficient obscurity to blind the reprobate, and sufficient clearness to
condemn them and make them inexcusable. Saint Augustine, Montaigne, Sebond.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Old
Testament is intermingled with so many others that are useless that it cannot
be distinguished. If Moses had kept only the record of the ancestors of Christ,
that might have been too plain. If he had not noted that of Jesus Christ, it
might not have been sufficiently plain. But, after all, whoever looks closely
sees that of Jesus Christ expressly traced through Tamar, Ruth, etc.
Those who ordained these sacrifices knew
their uselessness; those who have declared their uselessness, have not ceased
to practise them.
If God had permitted only one religion, it
has been too easily known; but when we look at it closely, we clearly discern
the truth amidst this confusion.
The premiss.--Moses was a clever man. If,
then, he ruled himself by his reason, he would say nothing clearly which was
directly against reason.
Thus all the very apparent weaknesses are
strength. Example; the two genealogies in Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. What
can be clearer than that this was not concerted?
579. God (and the Apostles), foreseeing that
the seeds of pride would make heresies spring up, and being unwilling to give
them occasion to arise from correct expressions, has put in Scripture and the
prayers of the Church contrary words and sentences to produce their fruit in
time.
So in morals He gives charity, which produces
fruits contrary to lust.
580. Nature has some perfections to show that
she is the image of God, and some defects to show that she is only His image.
581. God prefers rather to incline the will
than the intellect. Perfect clearness would be of use to the intellect and
would harm the will. To humble pride.
582. We make an idol of truth itself; for
truth apart from charity is not God, but His image and idol, which we must
neither love nor worship; and still less must we love or worship its opposite,
namely, falsehood.
I can easily love total darkness; but if God
keeps me in a state of semi-darkness, such partial darkness displeases me, and,
because I do not see therein the advantage of total darkness, it is unpleasant
to me. This is a fault and a sign that I make for myself an idol of darkness,
apart from the order of God. Now only His order must be worshipped.
583. The feeble-minded are people who know
the truth, but only affirm it so far as consistent with their own interest.
But, apart from that, they renounce it.
584. The world exists for the exercise of
mercy and judgement, not as if men were placed in it out of the hands of God,
but as hostile to God; and to them He grants by grace sufficient light, that
they may return to Him, if they desire to seek and follow Him; and also that
they may be punished, if they refuse to seek or follow Him.
585. That God has willed to hide Himself.--If
there were only one religion, God would indeed be manifest. The same would be
the case if there were no martyrs but in our religion.
God being thus hidden, every religion which
does not affirm that God is hidden is not true; and every religion which does
not give the reason of it is not instructive. Our religion does all this: Vere
tu es Deus absconditus.[102]
586. If there were no obscurity, man would
not be sensible of his corruption; if there were no light, man would not hope
for a remedy. Thus, it is not only fair, but advantageous to us, that God be
partly hidden and partly revealed; since it is equally dangerous to man to know
God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own wretchedness
without knowing God.
587. This religion, so great in miracles,
saints, blameless Fathers, learned and great witnesses, martyrs, established
kings as David, and Isaiah, a prince of the blood, and so great in science,
after having displayed all her miracles and all her wisdom, rejects all this,
and declares that she has neither wisdom nor signs, but only the cross and
foolishness.
For those, who, by these signs and that
wisdom, have deserved your belief, and who have proved to you their character,
declare to you that nothing of all this can change you, and render you capable
of knowing and loving God, but the power of the foolishness of the cross
without wisdom and signs, and not the signs without this power. Thus our
religion is foolish in respect to the effective cause and wise in respect to
the wisdom which prepares it.
588. Our religion is wise and foolish. Wise,
because it is the most learned and the most founded on miracles, prophecies,
etc. Foolish, because it is not all this which makes us belong to it. This
makes us, indeed, condemn those who do not belong to it; but it does not cause
belief in those who do belong to it. It is the cross that makes them believe,
ne evacuata sit crux.103 And so Saint Paul, who came with wisdom and
signs, says that he has come neither with wisdom nor with signs; for he came to
convert. But those who come only to convince can say that they come with wisdom
and with signs.
100Allusion to John 6:56; 1:47; 8:36; 6:32. "True disciple; an
Israelite indeed; free indeed; true bread."
101In discipulis meis. Isaiah 8:16. "Seal the law among my
disciples."
[102]Is. 45:15.
1031 Cor. 1:17. "Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect."