The Pharisees said to the people, who believed in Him, because of His
miracles: "This people who knoweth not the law are cursed. But have any of
the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? For we know that out of
Galilee ariseth no prophet." Nicodemus answered: "Doth our law judge any man
before it hear him, and specially such a man who works such miracles"?
830. The prophecies were ambiguous; they are no longer so.
831. The five propositions were ambiguous; they are no longer so.
832. Miracles are no longer necessary, because we have had them already. But
when tradition is no longer minded; when the Pope alone is offered to us;
when he has been imposed upon; and when the true source of truth, which is
tradition, is thus excluded; and the Pope, who is its guardian, is biased;
the truth is no longer free to appear. Then, as men speak no longer of
truth, truth itself must speak to men. This is what happened in the time of
Arius. (Miracles under Diocletian and under Arius.)
833. Miracle.--The people concluded this of themselves; but if the reason of
it must be given to you...
It is unfortunate to be in exception to the rule. The same must be strict,
and opposed to exception. But yet, as it is certain that there are
exceptions to a rule, our judgment must though strict, be just.
834. John 6:26: Non quia vidisti signum, sed quia saturati estis.188
Those who follow Jesus Christ because of His miracles honour His power in
all the miracles which it produces. But those who, making profession to
follow Him because of His miracles, follow Him in fact only because He
comforts them and satisfies
The Jews could not reconcile the cessation of the royalty and principality,
foretold by Hosea, with the prophecy of Jacob.
If we take the law, the sacrifices, and the kingdom as realities, we cannot
reconcile all the passages. They must then necessarily be only types. We
cannot even reconcile the passages of the same author, nor of the same book,
nor sometimes of the same chapter, which indicates copiously what was the
meaning of the author. As when Ezekiel, chap. 20., Says that man will not
live by the commandments of God and will live by them.
685. Types.--If the law and the sacrifices are the truth, it must please
God, and must not displease Him. If they are types, they must be both
pleasing and displeasing.
Now in all the Scripture they are both pleasing and displeasing. It is said
that the law shall be changed; that the sacrifice shall be changed; that
they shall be without law, without a prince, and without a sacrifice; that a
new covenant shall be made; that the law shall be renewed; that the precepts
which they have received are not good; that their sacrifices are abominable;
that God has demanded none of them.
It is said, on the contrary, that the law shall abide for ever; that this
covenant shall be for ever; that sacrifice shall be eternal; that the
sceptre shall never depart from among them, because it shall not depart from
them till the eternal King comes.
Do all these passages indicate what is real? No. Do they then indicate what
is typical? No, but what is either real or typical. But the first passages,
excluding as they do reality, indicate that all this is only typical.
All thes