have; that Jacob declared that, of his
twelve sons, the Messiah would spring from Judah; that Moses and the
prophets then came to declare the time and the manner of His coming; that
they said their law was only temporary till that of the Messiah, that it
should endure till then, but that the other should last for ever; that thus
either their law, or that of the Messiah, of which it was the promise, would
be always upon the earth; that, in fact, it has always endured; that at last
Jesus Christ came with all the circumstances foretold. This is wonderful.

618. This is positive fact. While all philosophers separate into different
sects, there is found in one corner of the world the most ancient people in
it, declaring that all the world is in error, that God has revealed to them
the truth, that they will always exist on the earth. In fact, all other seas
come to an end, this one still endures, and has done so for four thousand
years.

They declare that they hold from their ancestors that man has fallen from
communion with God, and is entirely estranged from God, but that He has
promised to redeem them; that this doctrine shall always exist on the earth;
that their law has a double signification; that during sixteen hundred years
they have had people, whom they believed prophets, foretelling both the time
and the manner; that four hundred years after they were scattered
everywhere, because Jesus Christ was to be everywhere announced; that Jesus
Christ came in the manner

of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of
reasoning. Other religions do not say this of their faith. They only give
reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring them to it.

279. Faith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of
reasoning. Other religions do not say this of their faith. They only gave
reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring them to it.

280. The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.

281. Heart, instinct, principles.

282. We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart, and it is
in this last way that we know first principles; and reason, which has no
part in it, tries in vain to impugn them. The sceptics, who have only this
for their object, labour to no purpose. We know that we do not dream, and,
however impossible it is for us to prove it by reason, this inability
demonstrates only the weakness of our reason, but not, as they affirm, the
uncertainty of all our knowledge. For the knowledge of first principles, as
space, time, motion, number, is as sure as any of those which we get from
reasoning. And reason must trust these intuitions of the heart, and must
base them on every argument. (We have intuitive knowledge of the
tri-dimensional nature of space and of the infinity of number, and reason
then shows that there are no two square numbers one of which is double of
the other. Principles are intuited, propositions are inferred, all wi