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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

20.

Superest, ut Iudaeus ille, si vult et in abscondito Iudaeus esse non littera, sed spiritu, si vult reputari verus Israhelita, in quo dolus non est, recordetur in figura illum mortuum Iesum, qui introduxit in terram morientium, et agnoscat in veritate vivum Iesum, quo duce intret in terram viventium. Talis enim iam non acerbus resistet tam perspicuae prophetiae, sed ex commemoratione Iesu, qui introduxit in illam promissionis terram, mitis effectus audiet iam ipsum, cuius nomen ille habebat, verius introducentem et dicentem: Beati mites, quoniam ipsi hereditate possidebunt terram. p. 462,6 Hic iam etiam ille gentilis, si non nimis lapideum cor haberet, aut si ex illis esset lapidibus, de quibus suscitat deus filios Abrahae, nonne miraretur in libris antiquis eiusdem gentis, ex qua natus perhiberetur Iesus, tam evidentem de illo conscriptam esse prophetiam, ut etiam nomen eius exprimeretur, simulque ibi adverteret non quemlibet hominem praedictum fuisse Iesum, sed utique deum, cum in homine illo, qui regendo et introducendo in regnum populo constitutus mutato nomine Iesus appellatus est, suum nomen esse deus diceret, eumque angelum nominaret eo ipso, quod mutato nomine mittebatur, magnum aliquid divinumque nuntiantem? Nuntium quippe graece angelum dici quis illa lingua vel tenuiter tinctus ignoret? p. 462,18 Quamobrem quilibet gentilis, si perversus et pervicax esse nollet, non ideo libros illos contemneret, quia essent Hebraei, cuius gentis lege non teneretur, sed cuiuslibet gentis libros ideo magni penderet, quia in eis tanto ante conscripta inveniret, quae suis iam temporibus impleta cognosceret, ipsumque Christum Iesum non propterea sperneret, quia Hebraeicis litteris praenuntiatum videret, sed potius eum, qui litteris quibuslibet, antequam inter homines nasceretur, per tot volumina saeculorum partim apertioribus testimoniis, partim rerum gestarum et sermonum figuris et sacramentis ita praenuntiari commendarique meruisset, cum ingenti admiratione et debita religione sectandum venerandumque censeret. 463,2 Ita illi ex rerum christianarum iam praesentatis effectibus librorum prophetia vera probaretur, ex librorum vero prophetia Christus colendus agnosceretur. Vana loqui deputer, si non ita factum est, si non ita fit, si non in eam fidem per universum orbem terrarum eorundem librorum recitatione concurritur.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

20.

It follows that this Jew, if he wishes to be a Jew inwardly, in the spirit, and not in the letter, if he wishes to be thought a true Israelite, in whom is no guile, will recognize in this dead Jesus, who led the people into the land of mortality, a figure of the true living Jesus, whom he may follow into the land of life. In this way, he will no longer in a hostile spirit resist so plain a prophecy, but, influenced by the allusion to the Jesus of the Old Testament, he will be prepared to listen meekly to Him whose name he bore, and who leads to the true land of promise; for He says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land." ¹ The Gentile also, if his heart is not too stony, if he is one of those stones from which God raises up children unto Abraham, must allow it to be wonderful that in the ancient books of the people of whom Jesus was born, so plain a prophecy, including His very name, is found recorded; and must remark at the same time, that it is not any man of the name of Jesus who is prophesied of, but a divine person, because God said that His name was in that man who was appointed to rule the people, and to lead them into the kingdom, and who by a change of name was called Jesus. In His being sent with this new name, He brings a great and divine message, and is therefore called an Angel, which, as every tyro in Greek knows, means messenger. No Gentile, therefore, if he were not perverse and obstinate, would despise these books merely because he is not subject to the law of the Hebrews, to whom the books belong; but would think highly of the books, no matter whose they were, on finding in them prophecies of such ancient date, and of what he sees now taking place. Instead of despising Christ Jesus because He is foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures, he would conclude that one thought worthy of being the subject of prophetic description, whoever the writers might be, for so many ages before His coming into the world,--sometimes in plain announcements, sometimes in figure by symbolic actions and utterances,--must claim to be regarded with profound admiration and reverence, and to be followed with implicit reliance. Thus the facts of Christian history would prove the truth of the prophecy, and the prophecy would prove the claims of Christ. Call this fancy, if it is not actually the case that men all over the world have been led, and are now led, to believe in Christ by reading these books.