the prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; and the street shall be built again, and the walls in troublesome times. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain; and the people that shall deny Him shall not be His. And a people with their leader that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. And He shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week; and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail; and there shall be in the temple the abomination of deso lation; and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation and to the end" (Dan. ix. 24-27). Here there is manifestly ques... tion of the Messias, who is to take away sin and restore justice, etc. The prophet Aggeus plainly asserts that the Messias was to come during the existence of the second temple when, consoling the Jews, who wept as they compared the newly rebuilt temple with the more magnificent temple of Solomon, he said: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea and the dry land. And I will move all nations, and the desired of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place 1 will give peace" (Agg. ii. 7-10; cf. Matt. iii. 1).

2. The Messias was announced as a descendant of the tribe of Juda and of the house of David, to be born in Bethlehem, of a virgin mother.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse [David's father], and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.

The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea" (Is. xi. 1-9; cf. John vii. 42; Matt. xxii. 42).

"And thou,

The Messias was to be born in Bethlehem of Juda. Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands [towns of a thousand inhabitants] of Juda; out of tree shall He come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel; and His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity" (Mich. v. 2; cf. Matt. ii. 56; John vii. 42).

The Messias was to be born of a virgin. God commanded the prophet Isaias to announce to king Achaz the speedy deliverance of the country from the Syrian yoke, and commanded him to ask for a sign in token of the fulfilment of this promise. On the refusal of the king to ask for a sign, the prophet said: "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel [God with us]" (Is. vii. 14). In other words: As surely as the promised Messias is to be conceived and to be born of the virgin, so surely shall the land be delivered from the enemy. Therefore His birth of a virgin is an unmistakable mark of the Messias.

3. Among the various prophecies which have reference to the public life of the Messias those deserve special attention which represent Him as the great wonder-worker and benefactor of mankind.

66 Say to the fainthearted: Take courage and fear not; behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense; God Himself will come and will save you. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free" (Is. XXXV. 4-6). "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn" (Is. lxi. 1, 2; cf. Luke iv. 18).

4. The passion and the death of the Messias were minutely described by the prophets, and particularly by the Psalmist.

"O God, my God, look upon Me; why hast Thou forsaken Me? . . I am a worm, and no man; the reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All they that saw Me have laughed Me to scorn; they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver Him; let Him save Him, seeing He delighted in Him. They have dug My hands and feet: they have numbered all My bones. And they have looked and stared upon Me. They parted My garments amongst them, and upon My vesture they cast lots. But Thou, O Lord, remove not Thy help And I will declare Thy name to My brethren. All the ends of the earth shall be converted to the Lord" (Ps. xxi.). The prophet Zacharias (xi. 12, 13) distinctly foretold that the Messias would be sold for thirty pieces of silver; Isaias (lx. 6), that He would be reviled and spit upon; David (Ps. lxviii.), that He would be given gall and vinegar to drink; Daniel (ix. 26), that He would be put to death.

from Me.

5. The resurrection of the Messias from the dead was foretold by the Psalmist. "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; nor wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption" (Ps. xv. 10).

It is not of himself that David speaks; for, as St. Paul remarks to the Jews: "David slept and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption" (Acts xiii. 36). In like manner the ascension of Our Lord (Ps. Ixvii. 19) and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost (Joel ii. 28, 29) were distinctly foretold.

6. Finally, the destruction of Jerusalem, the rejection of the Jews, and the reception of the Gentiles into the Church

were plainly foretold as the last events in connection with the coming of the Messias (Dan. ix. 25-27). The extension of the Church among the Gentiles is circumstantially described by Isaias (lxvi. 18-21).

"I come that I may gather them together with all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see My glory. I will set a sign among them; and I will send of them that shall be saved to the gentiles into the sea, into Africa and Lydia, into Italy and Greece to the islands afar off, to them that have not heard of Me, and have not seen My glory. . . I will take of them to be priests and Levites."

All these prophecies have manifestly reference to the same person who is the desired of nations, the Son of David to be born in Bethlehem at a stated time. The Israelites expected in fact the coming of one Redeemer, and that at a time definitely fixed.

123. For wise reasons God delayed the coming of the Redeemer.

1. If we consider the origin of evil we see that it consisted chiefly in pride, which led man to rebel against God. Pride is remedied by humiliation. Now, it was certainly a humiliation for fallen man to sink deeper and deeper into ignorance and sin during the intervening centuries, while he was left in his fallen state, bereft of those means of grace which the Redeemer was to procure for him. A glance at his wretched condition could easily convince man that his revolt against God had only brought evil upon him.

2. By the delay of the coming of the Redeemer man was all the better prepared for the blessings which he was to receive. His humiliation and the consciousness of his own inability disposed him to follow his Redeemer with greater docility. The vanity of worldly aspirations, the utter dissatisfaction which earthly pleasures beget in the human heart, were well calcu lated to arouse in man thoughts and desires of higher and better things, that were dormant within im. Even now it is such experiences that urge the sinner to return again to God. Man had to be awakened to a sense of his malady and of the necessity of a physician, in order thus to become disposed to profit by the remedy offered him. It was for the

sick, and especially for those who were conscious of their wretchedness, that the Redeemer came (Matt. ix. 12).

3. The dignity of the promised Redeemer required the delay of His coming. For, we are inclined to undervalue that which is given us as soon as we ask for it. It was befitting, moreover, that mankind should be prepared for His coming, as, in fact, it was by the divine vocation of the children of Israel. The Mosaic law especially performed the function of a tutor, who was to educate the people and prepare them for the coming of the Saviour (Gal. iv. 1–4).

Even before the advent of the Redeemer God gave grace to man, both actual and sanctifying. For even then, according to the testi mony of Holy Writ, there were just men, in the strict sense of the word. Now, without grace there can be no justice, properly so called. Hence those who lived before the coming of the Redeemer, whether belonging to the chosen people or not, could merit heaven, although they could not enter it until Christ had opened it for all mankind. But this possibility and the grace implied in it was the effect of the Redemption yet to come; for it was in view of the Redemption that God conferred His grace. Grace flowed more abundantly, however, after the Saviour had actually merited, and atoned, and instituted the sacraments, which of themselves are efficacious to apply the fruits of the Redemption to our souls.

124. Jesus of Nazareth is both indirectly and directly proved to be the Redeemer promised and sent by God to man. I. It may be shown indirectly, from other truths which have already been proved, that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messias (the Christ, the anointed).

1. Jesus Christ by His miracles and prophecies proved Himself to be a messenger of God (22), who as such could only speak the truth. Besides, He distinctly asserts (John iv. 25, 26) that He is the Messias (24), the promised Redeemer; for, by the Messias the Jews understood the Redeemer that had been promised to our first parents, and foretold by the prophets.

2. Jesus Christ was the new lawgiver and prophet like unto Moses promised in the Law (24). But this new lawgiver was none other than the Messias, or Redeemer; for with Him a new law, a new covenant, a complete regeneration of man

kind, was to be inaugurated. "The Lord shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Is. ii. 3; cf. Is. lx. 1-6; Dan. ii. 44; John vi. 15).

3. Jesus Christ, who was true man, proved Himself to be the true Son of God (25), “who gave Himself for the ransom of all" (1 Tim. ii. 6). He is, therefore, in fact the Redeemer of mankind; consequently, the one Saviour, whom God had promised. Hence we may justly say that since Jesus of Nazareth, even independently of the prophecies which minutely describe the Messias, proved Himself to be the Redeemer promised by God, we are entitled, and even forced, to believe that all the prophecies have been fulfilled in Him.

II. The Messianic character of Jesus Christ is directly proved by showing that the several prophecies in reference. to the Messias were fulfilled in Him. He could confidently challenge His opponents to search the Scriptures, since every prophecy had been fulfilled in His person. "Search the Scriptures; .. they give testimony of Me” (John v. 39). Nor did the evangelists and apostles fail repeatedly to call attention to the fact that the prophecies were minutely fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The

1. Jesus came at the time foretold by the prophets. sceptre had been taken away from Juda (Gen. xlix. 10). "We have no king but Cæsar" (John xix. 15). And, in fact, if this sceptre means the independence of the Jewish people, it had been taken away by the Roman conquest; if it means the leadership of the house of Juda, it had ceased at the time. that Herod, an Idumean and foreigner, occupied the throne. If we take the sceptre to mean the prerogatives of the tribe of Juda as a body-its independence and self-government-this body was already, at the time of Jesus of Nazareth, nearing its dissolution, and possessed nothing more than nominal independence.

From the edict commanding the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the public manifestation of Christ sixty-nine (62 + 7) weeks of years (483 years) were to elapse; and in one, i.e., in the seventieth week, He was to confirm the covenant with many: