SR
← Discours sur l'histoire universelle/Book 1 · Discours sur l'histoire universelle — Seconde partie : La suite de la religion
Chapter 7DiscoursHistUniv.1.7

La descente du Saint-Esprit

The Descent of the Spirit and the Birth of the Church

The Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost, empowering the apostles to preach and establishing the Church through the conversion of thousands.

The descent of the Holy Spirit, the establishment of the Church, and God's judgments on the Jews and the Gentiles. To spread such lofty truths in every place and every age, and to put such pure practices into force there amid corruption, more than human strength was needed. That is why Jesus Christ promises to send the Holy Spirit to strengthen his apostles and forever give life to the body of the Church. This power of the Holy Spirit was to appear in weakness, so that it might show itself even more clearly.✦1 To keep to this order they remain shut in for forty days: the Holy Spirit comes down at the appointed time; the tongues of fire that fall on the disciples of Jesus Christ mark the power of their speech; the preaching begins; the apostles bear witness to Jesus Christ; they are ready to suffer anything to uphold that they have seen him risen. Miracles follow their words; in two of Saint Peter's sermons eight thousand Jews convert, and weeping over their error they are washed in the blood they had shed.✦✦2

The Calling of the Gentiles and the Rejection of Israel

As the Church expands to the Gentiles through the ministry of Peter and Paul, the Jewish nation faces divine judgment and dispersion for their unbelief.

So the Church is established in Jerusalem and among the Jews, despite the disbelief of most of the nation. The disciples of Jesus Christ demonstrate a charity, strength, and gentleness that no society has ever known. Persecution rises; the faith grows stronger; the children of God learn more and more to desire only heaven; the Jews, by their stubborn malice, draw down God's vengeance and hasten the extreme evils with which they had been threatened; their state and their affairs grow worse. While God continues to set apart many of them and include them among his elect, Saint Peter is sent to baptize Cornelius, a Roman centurion.3 He learns first through a heavenly vision, and then through experience, that the Gentiles are called to know God. Jesus Christ, who wanted to convert them, speaks from above to Saint Paul, who was to be their teacher; and by a miracle unprecedented until then, he transforms Paul from a persecutor into not only a defender but a passionate preacher of the faith: he reveals to him the profound secret of the Gentiles' calling through the rejection of the ungrateful Jews, who make themselves increasingly unworthy of the gospel.4 Saint Paul reaches out his hands to the Gentiles: he handles these important questions with marvelous force.5 .6 . And so on. He proves the affirmative from Moses and from the prophets, and calls the idolaters to the knowledge of God in the name of Jesus Christ risen from the dead.7 They convert in crowds; Saint Paul shows that their calling is an effect of grace, which no longer distinguishes between Jews and Gentiles.✦ Fury and jealousy seize the Jews, and they form terrible plots against Saint Paul, outraged chiefly that he preaches to the Gentiles and brings them to the true God. At last, they hand him over to the Romans, just as they had handed Jesus Christ over to them. The whole empire is stirred against the newborn Church, and Nero, persecutor of the whole human race, was the first persecutor of the faithful. This tyrant puts Saint Peter and Saint Paul to death. Rome is consecrated by their blood, and the martyrdom of Saint Peter, prince of the apostles, establishes the principal seat of the religion in the capital of the empire.8 Meanwhile the time was drawing near when divine vengeance was to break out upon the impenitent Jews: disorder sets in among them; a false zeal blinds them and makes them hateful to everyone; their false prophets bewitch them with the promises of an imaginary kingdom.✦ Seduced by their deceptions, they can no longer bear any legitimate rule, and set no bounds to their crimes. God hands them over to a reprobate mind.✦9 They revolt against the Romans, who crush them; Titus himself, who ruins them, recognizes that he is only lending his hand to God, angered against them. Hadrian finishes destroying them.10 They perish with every mark of divine vengeance: driven from their land and slaves throughout the world, they no longer have temple, altar, sacrifice, or country, and in Judah one sees no form of a people left.✦

The Continuity of the People of God

The Church is grafted onto the ancient promises made to the patriarchs, ensuring the continuity of God's worship while the Jews remain preserved as a witness to divine judgment.

God, however, had provided for the eternity of his worship: the Gentiles open their eyes and unite in spirit with the converted Jews. By this means they enter Abraham's line, and having become his children by faith, they inherit the promises that had been made to him. A new people is formed, and the new sacrifice so much celebrated by the prophets begins to be offered throughout the whole earth.✦ Thus Jacob's ancient oracle was fulfilled point by point: Judah is multiplied from the beginning more than all his brothers; and having always kept a certain preeminence, he at last receives the kingship as hereditary.✦ Later on, God's people is reduced to his line alone; and confined within his tribe, it takes his name.11 In Judah this great people promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob continues; in him the other promises are perpetuated—the worship of God, the temple, the sacrifices, and possession of the promised land, which is now called only Judea. Despite their various conditions, the Jews always remain a body as an ordered people and a kingdom, living under its laws.12 There one always sees either kings, or magistrates and judges, arise until the Messiah comes: he comes, and the kingdom of Judah little by little falls into ruin.✦ It is completely destroyed, and the Jewish people are driven without hope from the land of their fathers. The Messiah becomes the expectation of the nations, and he reigns over a new people.✦ But to maintain succession and continuity, this new people had to be grafted, so to speak, onto the first—as Saint Paul says, the wild olive onto the cultivated olive—so that it might share in its good sap. And so it came about that the Church, first established among the Jews, at last received the Gentiles to make with them one same tree, one same body, one same people, and to make them sharers in its graces and its promises. What happened afterward to the unbelieving Jews under Vespasian and Titus no longer concerns the ongoing history of God's people. It is a punishment of rebels who, by their unbelief toward the seed promised to Abraham and to David, are no longer Jews, nor sons of Abraham except according to the flesh, and renounce the promise by which the nations were to be blessed.✦ So this final and terrifying desolation of the Jews is no longer a deportation, as the exile to Babylon was; it is not a suspension of the government and the state of the people of God, nor of the solemn service of religion: the new people, already formed and carried on with the old in Jesus Christ, is not carried away; it spreads and expands without interruption from Jerusalem, where it was to be born, to the ends of the earth.✦ The Gentiles joined to the Jews become from now on the true Jews, the true kingdom of Judah set against that schismatic Israel cut off from the people of God, the true kingdom of David through the obedience they render to the laws and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, son of David.✦ After the establishment of this new kingdom, we should not be surprised if everything perishes in Judea. The second temple was of no further use once the Messiah had accomplished there what was marked out by the prophecies. This temple had received the glory promised to it when the Desired of the nations had come there.✦13 Visible Jerusalem had done what remained for it to do, since the Church had taken its birth there, and from there was stretching out its branches day by day over the whole earth. Judea is nothing more to God or to religion, any more than the Jews are; and it is right that, in punishment for their hardness of heart, their ruins should be scattered over the whole earth.✦ That is what was to happen to them at the time of the Messiah according to Jacob, according to Daniel, according to Zechariah, and according to all their prophets: but since they must one day return to this Messiah they failed to recognize, and since the God of Abraham has not yet exhausted his mercies toward the race of that patriarch, unfaithful though it is, he has found a way—and there is only this one example of it in the world—to preserve the Jews outside their country and in their ruin even longer than the peoples who conquered them. No remnant is left of the ancient Assyrians, nor of the ancient Medes, nor of the ancient Persians, nor of the ancient Greeks, nor even of the ancient Romans. Every trace of them is lost, and they have been mixed in with other peoples. The Jews, who were once the prey of those ancient nations so famous in history, have outlived them. By preserving them, God keeps us waiting for what he still intends to do with the unhappy remnant of a people once so favored. Meanwhile, their hardness of heart serves the salvation of the Gentiles and gives them this advantage: they find, in hands above suspicion, the Scriptures that foretold Jesus Christ and his mysteries.✦14 Among other things, we see in these Scriptures both the blindness and the misfortunes of the Jews who preserve them so carefully. So we profit from their disgrace: their unbelief is one of the foundations of our faith; they teach us to fear God, and they are an everlasting spectacle of the judgments he carries out on his ungrateful children, so that we may learn not to boast of the graces given to our fathers.✦ A mystery so marvelous, and so useful for the instruction of the human race, well deserves to be considered.✦

The Apostle Paul on the Mystery of Israel

Bossuet examines Saint Paul's teaching in Romans 11 regarding the fall of the Jews, the salvation of the Gentiles, and the hope of a future restoration.

But we don't need human speeches to understand it: the Holy Spirit has taken care to explain it to us through the mouth of Saint Paul, and I ask you to listen to what this apostle wrote about it to the Romans. After discussing the small number of Jews who received the Gospel and the blindness of the rest, he reflects deeply on the fate of a people honored with so many graces. At the same time, he shows us both the benefit we gain from their fall and the fruits their conversion will one day produce. Have the Jews then fallen, he asks, never to rise again?✦ . . . etc. Who wouldn't tremble to hear these words from the apostle? How can we not be terrified by the vengeance that has broken out so terribly upon the Jews for so many centuries, since Saint Paul warns us on God's behalf that our ingratitude will bring the same treatment down on us? But let's hear what follows in this great mystery. The apostle continues to speak to the converted Gentiles. . . etc. Here the apostle rises above everything he has just said, and entering into the depths of God's counsels, he continues his discourse like this.✦ . . etc. This passage from Isaiah, which Saint Paul cites here according to the Septuagint as he was accustomed to do because their version was known throughout the whole earth, is still stronger in the original, and taken in its full sequence.✦ For there the prophet first foretells the conversion of the Gentiles with these words: those of the West will fear the name of the Lord, and those of the East will see his glory.✦ Next, using the image of a swift river driven by a violent wind, Isaiah sees from afar the persecutions that will cause the Church to grow.✦ Finally, the Holy Spirit teaches him what will become of the Jews and declares:15 . . etc. He therefore makes us see clearly that after the conversion of the Gentiles, the Savior whom Zion had failed to recognize, and whom the children of Jacob had rejected, will turn toward them, wipe away their sins, and restore to them the understanding of the prophecies they will have lost for a long time, so that it may pass on successively, from hand to hand through all posterity, and never again be forgotten.✦16 The Jews will return one day, and they'll return never to go astray again; but they won't return until East and West—that is, the whole world—have been filled with the fear and the knowledge of God. The Holy Spirit shows Saint Paul that this blessed return of the Jews will be the result of the love God has had for their fathers.✦ That’s why he concludes his reasoning this way. Regarding the gospel we’re preaching to you now, he says,✦17 .18 .19 And so on.20 This is what Saint Paul says about the election of the Jews, their fall, their return, and finally the conversion of the Gentiles, who are called to take their place and, at the end of time, bring them back to the blessing promised to their fathers—that is, to the Christ they have renounced. This great apostle shows us the grace that passes from one people to another to keep every nation in fear of losing it; and he shows us its invincible power in this: that after converting the idolaters, it reserves as its final work the overcoming of Jewish hardness of heart and faithlessness.

The Miraculous Spread of the Gospel

The gospel spreads with miraculous speed across the known world, fulfilling prophecy and drawing all nations to Christ.

By this deep counsel of God the Jews still endure among the nations where they are scattered and captive; but they endure with the mark of their reprobation—visibly fallen, through their unbelief, from the promises made to their fathers, banished from the promised land, without even any land to cultivate, slaves wherever they are, without honor, without freedom, without any form of a people. They fell into this state thirty-eight years after they had crucified Jesus Christ, and after they had spent the time left them to come to their senses in persecuting his disciples. But while the old people are rejected for their unbelief, a new people grows every day among the Gentiles. The covenant once made with Abraham extends, as promised, to all the peoples of the world who had forgotten God. The Christian Church calls everyone to him, and, remaining peaceful through several centuries amid unheard-of persecutions, she teaches them not to look for their happiness on earth.✦21 That, my lord, was the most worthy fruit of the knowledge of God, and the effect of that great blessing the world was to expect through Jesus Christ. She kept spreading every day from family to family, and from people to people: men opened their eyes more and more to see the blindness into which idolatry had plunged them; and despite all the power of Rome, you could see the Christians, without revolt, without stirring up any trouble, and only by suffering every kind of cruelty, change the face of the world and spread throughout the whole universe. The unprecedented speed with which this great change took place is a visible miracle. Jesus Christ foretold that his gospel would soon be preached throughout the earth. This wonder was to happen right after his death; he had said that once he was lifted up from the earth—that is, once he was fastened to the cross—he would draw all things to himself. His apostles had not yet finished their course, and Saint Paul was already telling the Romans that their faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world.✦ He told the Colossians that the gospel had been heard by every creature under heaven, that it was being preached, that it was bearing fruit, and that it was growing throughout the whole universe.✦✦ A constant tradition teaches us that Saint Thomas carried it to the Indies, and the others to other distant lands.22 But we don't need histories to confirm this truth: the result speaks for itself, and we can see clearly how rightly Saint Paul applies to the apostles that passage of the psalmist, and so on.✦23 By the time of their disciples, there was almost no land so remote or unknown that the gospel hadn't reached it. A hundred years after Jesus Christ, Saint Justin already counted many wild nations among the faithful, even those wandering peoples who roamed about on wagons without any fixed home. This wasn't an empty exaggeration; it was a solid, well-known fact that he presented before the emperors and the entire world. Saint Irenaeus comes a little later, and you can see the number of churches growing. Their agreement was wonderful: what people believed in the Gauls, in the Spains, and in Germany, they believed in Egypt and in the East; and as there was only one and the same sun, etc.24 No matter how little you advance, you're astonished by the progress you see. By the middle of the third century, Tertullian and Origen point to entire peoples in the Church who, just a short time before, weren't counted among its members. Those whom Origen left out—people living in the farthest reaches of the known world—are included shortly after by Arnobius. What could the world have seen that made it surrender so quickly to Jesus Christ? If it has seen miracles, God has visibly taken part in this work; and if it could somehow be that it had not seen any, wouldn't that be a new miracle greater and more incredible than the ones people refuse to believe—to have converted the world without a miracle, to have brought so many of the unlearned into mysteries so high, to have inspired humble submission in so many of the learned, and to have persuaded unbelievers of so many unbelievable things?

The Church's Virtues and Internal Trials

The Church is refined through martyrdom and internal heresies, proving her divine origin by remaining unshaken through every trial.

But the miracle of miracles, if I may put it that way, is that along with faith in the mysteries, the most outstanding virtues and the hardest practices have spread across the whole earth. The disciples of Jesus Christ have followed him on the hardest paths. Suffering everything for the truth has been an ordinary exercise among his children; and to imitate their Savior, they have run to torments with more eagerness than others have run to pleasures. You can't count the examples—neither of the rich who made themselves poor to help the poor, nor of the poor who preferred poverty to riches, nor of virgins who imitated on earth the life of the angels, nor of charitable pastors who made themselves all things to all people, always ready to give their flock not only their night watches and their labors, but their own lives.✦ What can I say about penance and mortification? Judges don't administer justice on criminals more severely than penitent sinners have administered it on themselves. What's more, the innocent have punished in themselves, with incredible rigor, that prodigious bent we have toward sin. The life of Saint John the Baptist, which seemed so astonishing to the Jews, has become common among the faithful; the deserts have been peopled with his imitators; and there have been so many solitaries that more perfect solitaries have been forced to seek deeper solitudes—so thoroughly has the world been fled, so thoroughly has the contemplative life been savored. These were the precious fruits the gospel was intended to produce. The Church is just as rich in examples as it is in precepts, and its doctrine has proven holy by producing countless saints. God, who knows that the strongest virtues are born among sufferings, founded her by martyrdom and kept her in that state for three hundred years, without her having a single moment to rest. After showing through such a long experience that he didn't need human help or earthly power to establish his Church, he finally called the emperors into it and made Constantine the Great an open protector of Christianity. From that time on, kings have flocked to the Church from every side, and everything written in the prophecies about its future glory has been fulfilled before the eyes of the whole world. And if the Church has been invincible against attacks from the outside, it is no less so against internal divisions.25 The heresies so often foretold by Jesus Christ and his apostles have arrived; and the faith, while persecuted by the emperors, was simultaneously suffering a more dangerous persecution from heretics.✦ But this persecution was never more violent than in the time when the pagan one was seen to end. Hell then made its greatest efforts to destroy through the Church herself this Church that the attacks of its declared enemies had only strengthened. She had barely begun to breathe again thanks to the peace Constantine provided when suddenly Arius, that wretched priest, stirred up greater troubles for her than she had ever suffered before. Constantius, son of Constantine, seduced by the Arians whose dogma he authorizes, torments the Catholics throughout the world—a new persecutor of Christianity, and all the more formidable because under the name of Jesus Christ he makes war on Jesus Christ himself.26 To top off these misfortunes, the divided Church fell into the hands of Julian the Apostate, who did everything he could to destroy Christianity and found no better way than to stir up the factions that were already tearing it apart. After him came Valens, who was just as devoted to the Arians as Constantius, but far more violent. Other emperors protected other heresies with equal fury. The Church learned through these many experiences that she had no less to suffer under Christian emperors than she had under pagan ones, and that she had to shed blood to defend not only the entirety of her doctrine but every individual article as well.27 Indeed, there is not one that she has not seen attacked by her own children. A thousand sects and a thousand heresies, born from her own womb, have risen against her. But if she has seen them rise just as Jesus Christ predicted, she has also seen them all fall just as he promised, even though they were often backed by emperors and kings.28 Her true children have been, as Saint Paul says, recognized by this trial; the truth has only grown stronger when contested, and the Church has remained unshaken.✦

Read the original Latin

La descente du Saint Esprit : l’établissement de l’Eglise : les jugements de Dieu sur les Juifs & sur les Gentils.

Pour répandre dans tous les lieux et dans tous les siecles de si hautes veritez, et pour y mettre en vigueur au milieu de la corruption des pratiques si épurées, il falloit une vertu plus qu’humaine. C’est pourquoy Jesus-Christ promet d’envoyer le Saint Esprit pour fortifier ses apostres, et animer éternellement le corps de l’eglise.

Cette force du Saint Esprit, pour se déclarer davantage, devoit paroistre dans l’infirmité… etc. Pour se conformer à cét ordre ils demeurent enfermez quarante jours : le Saint Esprit descend au temps arresté ; les langues de feu tombées sur les disciples de Jesus-Christ marquent l’efficace de leur parole ; la prédication commence ; les apostres rendent témoignage à Jesus-Christ ; ils sont prests à tout souffrir pour soustenir qu’ils l’ont veû ressuscité. Les miracles suivent leurs paroles ; en deux prédications de saint Pierre huit mille juifs se convertissent, et pleurant leur erreur ils sont lavez dans le sang qu’ils avoient versé.

Ainsi l’eglise est fondée dans Jérusalem, et parmi les juifs, malgré l’incredulité du gros de la nation. Les disciples de Jesus-Christ font voir au monde une charité, une force, et une douceur qu’aucune societé n’avoit jamais eûë. La persecution s’éleve ; la foy s’augmente ; les enfans de Dieu apprennent de plus en plus à ne desirer que le ciel ; les juifs, par leur malice obstinée, attirent la vengeance de Dieu, et avancent les maux extrémes dont ils estoient menacez ; leur estat et leurs affaires empirent. Pendant que Dieu continuë à en séparer un grand nombre qu’il range parmi ses eleûs, saint Pierre est envoyé pour baptiser Corneille centurion romain. Il apprend premierement par une celeste vision, et aprés par experience, que les gentils sont appellez à la connoissance de Dieu. Jesus-Christ qui les vouloit convertir parle d’enhaut à saint Paul, qui en devoit estre le docteur ; et par un miracle inoûï jusqu’alors, de persecuteur il le fait non seulement défenseur, mais zelé prédicateur de la foy : il luy découvre le secret profond de la vocation des gentils par la réprobation des juifs ingrats, qui se rendent de plus en plus indignes de l’evangile. Saint Paul tend les mains aux gentils : il traite avec une force merveilleuse ces importantes questions,. .

. etc. Il prouve l’affirmative par Moïse, et par les prophetes, et appelle les idolatres à la connoissance de Dieu, au nom de Jesus-Christ ressuscité. Ils se convertissent en foule : saint Paul fait voir que leur vocation est un effet de la grace, qui ne distingue plus ni juifs ni gentils. La fureur et la jalousie transporte les juifs ; ils font des complots terribles contre saint Paul, outrez principalement de ce qu’il presche les gentils, et les amene au vray Dieu : ils le livrent enfin aux romains, comme ils leur avoient livré Jesus-Christ. Tout l’empire s’émeut contre l’eglise naissante, et Neron persecuteur de tout le genre humain, fut le premier persecuteur des fideles. Ce tyran fait mourir saint Pierre et saint Paul. Rome est consacrée par leur sang ; et le martyre de saint Pierre prince des apostres établit dans la capitale de l’empire le siege principal de la religion.

Cependant le temps approchoit où la vengeance divine devoit éclater sur les juifs impenitens : le desordre se met parmi eux ; un faux zele les aveugle, et les rend odieux à tous les hommes ; leurs faux prophetes les enchantent par les promesses d’un regne imaginaire. Séduits par leurs tromperies, ils ne peuvent plus souffrir aucun empire legitime, et ne donnent aucunes bornes à leurs attentats. Dieu les livre au sens réprouvé. Ils se révoltent contre les romains qui les accablent ; Tite mesme qui les ruine, reconnoist qu’il ne fait que prester sa main à Dieu irrité contre eux . Adrien acheve de les exterminer. Ils perissent avec toutes les marques de la vengeance divine : chassez de leur terre, et esclaves par tout l’univers, ils n’ont plus ni temple, ni autel, ni sacrifice, ni païs, et on ne voit en Juda aucune forme de peuple.

Dieu cependant avoit pourveû à l’éternité de son culte : les gentils ouvrent les yeux, et s’unissent en esprit aux juifs convertis. Ils entrent par ce moyen dans la race d’Abraham, et devenus ses enfans par la foy, ils heritent des promesses qui luy avoient esté faites. Un nouveau peuple se forme, et le nouveau sacrifice tant célebré par les prophetes commence à s’offrir par toute la terre. Ainsi fut accompli de point en point l’ancien oracle de Jacob : Juda est multiplié dés le commencement plus que tous ses freres ; et ayant toûjours conservé une certaine prééminence, il reçoit enfin la royauté comme heréditaire. Dans la suite, le peuple de Dieu est réduit à sa seule race ; et renfermé dans sa tribu, il prend son nom. En Juda se continuë ce grand peuple promis à Abraham, à Isaac et à Jacob ; en luy se perpetuënt les autres promesses, le culte de Dieu, le temple, les sacrifices, la possession de la terre promise qui ne s’appelle plus que la Judée. Malgré leurs divers estats, les juifs demeurent toûjours en corps de peuple reglé et de royaume, usant de ses loix. On y voit naistre toûjours ou des rois, ou des magistrats et des juges, jusqu’à ce que le messie vienne : il vient, et le royaume de Juda peu à peu tombe en ruine.

Il est détruit tout à fait, et le peuple juif est chassé sans esperance de la terre de ses peres. Le messie devient l’attente des nations, et il regne sur un nouveau peuple.

Mais pour garder la succession et la continuité, il falloit que ce nouveau peuple fust enté pour ainsi dire sur le premier, et comme dit saint Paul, l’olivier sauvage sur le franc olivier, afin de participer à sa bonne seve . Aussi est-il arrivé que l’eglise établie premierement parmi les juifs, a receû enfin les gentils pour faire avec eux un mesme arbre, un mesme corps, un mesme peuple, et les rendre participans de ses graces et de ses promesses.

Ce qui arrive aprés cela aux juifs incredules sous Vespasien et sous Tite, ne regarde plus la suite du peuple de Dieu. C’est un chastiment des rebelles, qui par leur infidelité envers la semence promise à Abraham et à David, ne sont plus juifs, ni fils d’Abraham que selon la chair, et renoncent à la promesse par laquelle les nations devoient estre benies.

Ainsi cette derniere et épouvantable desolation des juifs n’est plus une transmigration, comme celle de Babylone ; ce n’est pas une suspension du gouvernement et de l’estat du peuple de Dieu, ni du service solennel de la religion : le nouveau peuple déja formé et continué avec l’ancien en Jesus-Christ n’est pas transporté ; il s’étend, et se dilate sans interruption depuis Jerusalem où il devoit naistre jusqu’aux extrémitez de la terre. Les gentils aggregez aux juifs deviennent d’oresnavant les vrais juifs, le vray royaume de Juda opposé à cét Israël schismatique et retranché du peuple de Dieu, le vray royaume de David par l’obéïssance qu’ils rendent aux loix et à l’evangile de Jesus-Christ fils de David. Aprés l’établissement de ce nouveau royaume, il ne faut pas s’étonner si tout perit dans la Judée. Le second temple ne servoit plus de rien depuis que le messie y eût accompli ce qui estoit marqué par les propheties. Ce temple avoit eû la gloire qui luy estoit promise, quand le desiré des nations y estoit venu. La Jérusalem visible avoit fait ce qui luy restoit à faire, puis que l’eglise y avoit pris sa naissance, et que de là elle étendoit tous les jours ses branches par toute la terre. La Judée n’est plus rien à Dieu ni à la religion, non plus que les juifs ; et il est juste qu’en punition de leur endurcissement, leurs ruines soient dispersées par toute la terre.

C’est ce qui leur devoit arriver au temps du messie selon Jacob, selon Daniel, selon Zacharie, et selon tous leurs prophetes : mais comme ils doivent revenir un jour à ce messie qu’ils ont méconnu, et que le dieu d’Abraham n’a pas encore épuisé ses misericordes sur la race quoy-qu’infidele de ce patriarche, il a trouvé un moyen, dont il n’y a dans le monde que ce seul exemple, de conserver les juifs hors de leur païs et dans leur ruine plus long-temps mesme que les peuples qui les ont vaincus. On ne voit plus aucun reste ni des anciens assyriens, ni des anciens medes, ni des anciens perses, ni des anciens grecs, ni mesme des anciens romains. La trace s’en est perduë, et ils se sont confondus avec d’autres peuples. Les juifs qui ont esté la proye de ces anciennes nations si célebres dans les histoires, leur ont survescu, et Dieu en les conservant nous tient en attente de ce qu’il veut faire encore des malheureux restes d’un peuple autrefois si favorisé. Cependant leur endurcissement sert au salut des gentils, et leur donne cét avantage de trouver en des mains non suspectes les ecritures qui ont prédit Jesus-Christ et ses mysteres. Nous voyons entre autres choses dans ces ecritures, et l’aveuglement et les malheurs des juifs qui les conservent si soigneusement. Ainsi nous profitons de leur disgrace : leur infidelité fait un des fondemens de nostre foy ; ils nous apprennent à craindre Dieu, et nous sont un spectacle éternel des jugemens qu’il exerce sur ses enfans ingrats, afin que nous apprenions à ne nous point glorifier des graces faites à nos peres. Un mystere si merveilleux et si utile à l’instruction du genre humain merite bien d’estre consideré.

Mais nous n’avons pas besoin des discours humains pour l’entendre : le Saint Esprit a pris soin de nous l’expliquer par la bouche de saint Paul, et je vous prie d’écouter ce que cét apostre en a écrit aux romains. Aprés avoir parlé du petit nombre de juifs qui avoit receû l’evangile, et de l’aveuglement des autres, il entre dans une profonde considération de ce que doit devenir un peuple honoré de tant de graces, et nous découvre tout ensemble le profit que nous tirons de leur chute, et les fruits que produira un jour leur conversion. les juifs sont-ils donc tombez, dit-il, pour ne se relever jamais ? . . . etc. qui ne trembleroit en écoutant ces paroles de l’apostre ?

Pouvons-nous n’estre pas épouvantez de la vengeance qui éclate depuis tant de siecles si terriblement sur les juifs, puis que saint Paul nous avertit de la part de Dieu que nostre ingratitude nous attirera un semblable traitement ? Mais écoutons la suite de ce grand mystere. L’apostre continuë à parler aux gentils convertis. . . etc. Icy l’apostre s’éleve au dessus de tout ce qu’il vient de dire, et entrant dans les profondeurs des conseils de Dieu, il poursuit ainsi son discours. .

. etc.

Ce passage d’Isaïe, que saint Paul cite icy selon les septante comme il avoit accoustumé à cause que leur version estoit connuë par toute la terre, est encore plus fort dans l’original, et pris dans toute sa suite. Car le prophete y prédit avant toutes choses la conversion des gentils par ces paroles : ceux d’Occident craindront le nom du Seigneur, et ceux d’Orient verront sa gloire . En suite sous la figure d’un fleuve rapide poussé par un vent impetueux , Isaïe voit de loin les persecutions qui feront croistre l’eglise. Enfin le Saint Esprit luy apprend ce que deviendront les juifs, et luy déclare,. . . etc. Il nous fait donc voir clairement, qu’aprés la conversion des gentils, le sauveur que Sion avoit méconnu, et que les enfans de Jacob avoient rejetté, se tournera vers eux, effacera leurs pechez, et leur rendra l’intelligence des propheties qu’ils auront perduë durant un long-temps, pour passer successivement, et de main en main dans toute la posterité, et n’estre plus oubliée.

Ainsi les juifs reviendront un jour, et ils reviendront pour ne s’égarer jamais ; mais ils ne reviendront qu’aprés que l’Orient et l’Occident , c’est à dire tout l’univers, auront esté remplis de la crainte et de la connoissance de Dieu.

Le Saint Esprit fait voir à saint Paul, que ce bienheureux retour des juifs sera l’effet de l’amour que Dieu a eû pour leurs peres. C’est pourquoy il acheve ainsi son raisonnement. quant à l’evangile, dit-il que nous vous preschons maintenant,. . . etc.

Voilà ce que dit saint Paul sur l’élection des juifs, sur leur chute, sur leur retour, et enfin sur la conversion des gentils, qui sont appellez pour tenir leur place, et pour les ramener à la fin des siecles à la benediction promise à leurs peres, c’est à dire au Christ qu’ils ont renié. Ce grand apostre nous fait voir la grace qui passe de peuple en peuple pour tenir tous les peuples dans la crainte de la perdre ; et nous en montre la force invincible, en ce qu’aprés avoir converti les idolatres, elle se réserve pour dernier ouvrage de convaincre l’endurcissement et la perfidie judaïque.

Par ce profond conseil de Dieu les juifs subsistent encore au milieu des nations, où ils sont dispersez et captifs : mais ils subsistent avec le caractere de leur réprobation, décheûs visiblement par leur infidelité des promesses faites à leurs peres, bannis de la terre promise, n’ayant mesme aucune terre à cultiver, esclaves par tout où ils sont, sans honneur, sans liberté, sans aucune figure de peuple.

Ils sont tombez en cét estat trente huit-ans aprés qu’ils ont eû crucifié Jesus-Christ, et aprés avoir employé à persecuter ses disciples le temps qui leur avoit esté laissé pour se reconnoistre. Mais pendant que l’ancien peuple est réprouvé pour son infidelité, le nouveau peuple s’augmente tous les jours parmi les gentils : l’alliance autrefois faite avec Abraham s’étend selon la promesse à tous les peuples du monde qui avoient oublié Dieu : l’eglise chrestienne appelle à luy tous les hommes ; et tranquille durant plusieurs siecles, parmi des persecutions inoûïes, elle leur montre à ne point attendre leur felicité sur la terre. C’estoit là, monseigneur, le plus digne fruit de la connoissance de Dieu, et l’effet de cete grande benediction que le monde devoit attendre par Jesus-Christ. Elle alloit se répandant tous les jours de famille en famille, et de peuple en peuple : les hommes ouvroient les yeux de plus en plus pour connoistre l’aveuglement où l’idolatrie les avoit plongez ; et malgré toute la puissance romaine on voyoit les chrestiens sans révolte, sans faire aucun trouble, et seulement en souffrant toute sorte d’inhumanitez, changer la face du monde, et s’étendre par tout l’univers.

La promptitude inoûïe avec laquelle se fit ce grand changement, est un miracle visible. Jesus-Christ avoit prédit que son evangile seroit bientost presché par toute la terre : cette merveille devoit arriver incontinent aprés sa mort ; et il avoit dit, qu’aprés qu’on l’auroit élevé de terre, c’est à dire qu’on l’auroit attaché à la croix, il attireroit à luy toutes choses . Ses apostres n’avoient pas encore achevé leur course, et Saint Paul disoit déja aux romains, que leur foy estoit annoncée dans tout le monde . Il disoit aux colossiens que l’evangile estoit oûï de toute créature qui estoit sous le ciel ; qu’il estoit presché, qu’il fructifioit, qu’il croissoit par tout l’univers . Une tradition constante nous apprend que Saint Thomas le porta aux Indes, et les autres en d’autres païs éloignez. Mais on n’a pas besoin des histoires pour confirmer cette verité : l’effet parle, et on voit assez avec combien de raison Saint Paul applique aux apostres ce passage du psalmiste, etc. Sous leurs disciples il n’y avoit presque plus de païs si reculé et si inconnu où l’evangile n’eust penetré. Cent ans aprés Jesus-Christ, Saint Justin comptoit déja parmi les fideles beaucoup de nations sauvages, et jusqu’à ces peuples vagabonds qui erroient deçà et delà sur des chariots sans avoir de demeure fixe.

Ce n’estoit point une vaine exageration ; c’estoit un fait constant et notoire, qu’il avançoit en presence des empereurs, et à la face de tout l’univers. Saint Irenée vient un peu aprés, et on voit croistre le dénombrement qui se faisoit des eglises. Leur concorde estoit admirable : ce qu’on croyoit dans les Gaules, dans les Espagnes, dans la Germanie, on le croyoit dans l’Egypte et dans l’Orient ; et comme il n’y avoit qu’un mesme soleil etc.

si peu qu’on avance, on est étonné des progrés qu’on voit. Au milieu du troisiéme siecle, Tertullien et Origene font voir dans l’eglise des peuples entiers qu’un peu devant on n’y mettoit pas. Ceux qu’Origene exceptoit, qui estoient les plus éloignez du monde connu, y sont mis un peu aprés par Arnobe. Que pouvoit avoir veû le monde pour se rendre si promptement à Jesus-Christ ? S’il a veû des miracles, Dieu s’est meslé visiblement dans cét ouvrage ; et s’il se pouvoit faire qu’il n’en eust pas veû, ne seroit-ce pas un nouveau miracle plus grand et plus incroyable que ceux qu’on ne veut pas croire, d’avoir converti le monde sans miracle, d’avoir fait entrer tant d’ignorans dans des mysteres si hauts, d’avoir inspiré à tant de sçavans une humble soumission, et d’avoir persuadé tant de choses incroyables à des incredules ?

Mais le miracle des miracles, si je puis parler de la sorte, c’est qu’avec la foy des mysteres, les vertus les plus éminentes, et les pratiques les plus penibles se sont répanduës par toute la terre. Les disciples de Jesus-Christ l’ont suivi dans les voyes les plus difficiles. Souffrir tout pour la verité, a esté parmi ses enfans un exercice ordinaire ; et pour imiter leur sauveur ils ont couru aux tourmens avec plus d’ardeur que les autres n’ont fait aux délices. On ne peut compter les exemples ni des riches qui se sont appauvris pour aider les pauvres, ni des pauvres qui ont préferé la pauvreté aux richesses, ni des vierges qui ont imité sur la terre la vie des anges, ni des pasteurs charitables qui se sont fait tout à tous, toûjours prests à donner à leur troupeau non seulement leurs veilles et leurs travaux, mais leurs propres vies. Que diray-je de la penitence et de la mortification ? Les juges n’exercent pas plus severement la justice sur les criminels, que les pecheurs penitens l’ont exercée sur eux-mesmes. Bien plus, les innocens ont puni en eux avec une rigueur incroyable cette pente prodigieuse que nous avons au peché. La vie de Saint Jean Baptiste qui parut si surprenante aux juifs, est devenuë commune parmi les fideles ; les deserts ont esté peuplez de ses imitateurs ; et il y a eû tant de solitaires, que des solitaires plus parfaits ont esté contraints de chercher des solitudes plus profondes, tant on a fuy le monde, tant la vie contemplative a esté goustée.

Tels estoient les fruits précieux que devoit produire l’evangile. L’eglise n’est pas moins riche en exemples qu’en préceptes, et sa doctrine a paru sainte, en produisant une infinité de saints. Dieu qui sçait que les plus fortes vertus naissent parmi les souffrances, l’a fondée par le martyre, et l’a tenuë durant trois cens ans dans cét estat, sans qu’elle eust un seul moment pour se reposer. Aprés qu’il eût fait voir par une si longue experience qu’il n’avoit pas besoin du secours humain ni des puissances de la terre pour établir son eglise, il y appella enfin les empereurs, et fit du grand Constantin un protecteur déclaré du christianisme. Depuis ce temps les rois ont accouru de toutes parts à l’eglise ; et tout ce qui estoit écrit dans les propheties touchant sa gloire future, s’est accompli aux yeux de toute la terre. Que si elle a esté invincible contre les efforts du dehors, elle ne l’est pas moins contre les divisions intestines. Ces héresies tant prédites par Jesus-Christ et par ses apostres sont arrivées, et la foy persecutée par les empereurs souffroit en mesme temps des héretiques une persecution plus dangereuse. Mais cette persecution n’a jamais esté plus violente que dans le temps où l’on vit cesser celle des payens.

L’enfer fit alors ses plus grands efforts pour détruire par elle-mesme cette eglise que les attaques de ses ennemis déclarez avoit affermie. A peine commençoit-elle à respirer par la paix que luy donna Constantin ; et voilà qu’Arius ce malheureux prestre luy suscite de plus grands troubles qu’elle n’en avoit jamais soufferts. Constance fils de Constantin, séduit par les ariens dont il autorise le dogme, tourmente les catholiques par toute la terre, nouveau persécuteur du christianisme, et d’autant plus redoutable, que sous le nom de Jesus-Christ il fait la guerre à Jesus-Christ mesme. Pour comble de malheurs, l’eglise ainsi divisée tombe entre les mains de Julien L’Apostat qui met tout en oeuvre pour détruire le christianisme, et n’en trouve point de meilleur moyen que de fomenter les factions dont il estoit dechiré. Aprés luy vient un Valens autant attaché aux ariens que Constance, mais plus violent. D’autres empereurs protegent d’autres héresies avec une pareille fureur. L’eglise apprend par tant d’experiences, qu’elle n’a pas moins à souffrir sous les empereurs chrestiens qu’elle avoit souffert sous les empereurs infideles ; et qu’elle doit verser du sang pour défendre non seulement tout le corps de sa doctrine, mais encore chaque article particulier. En effet, il n’y en a aucun qu’elle n’ait veû attaqué par ses enfans.

Mille sectes et mille héresies sorties de son sein se sont élevées contre elle. Mais si elle les a veû s’élever selon les prédictions de Jesus-Christ, elle les a veû tomber toutes selon ses promesses, quoy-que souvent soustenuës par les empereurs et par les rois. Ses veritables enfans ont esté, comme dit Saint Paul, reconnus par cette épreuve ; la verité n’a fait que se fortifier quand elle a esté contestée, et l’eglise est demeurée inébranlable.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩2Cor.12.9 — And he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So most gladly I will rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
  2. ↩Acts.2.41;Acts.4.4 — So those who received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added. Acts.4.4 — But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
  3. ↩Acts.2.37-Acts.2.41;Rev.1.5;1John.1.7 — Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Acts.2.38 — Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Acts.2.39 — For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God may call to himself. Acts.2.40 — And with many other words he testified and urged them, saying, "Be saved from this crooked generation." Acts.2.41 — So those who received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added. Rev.1.5 — and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth — to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 1John.1.7 — But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
  4. ↩Gal.3.28;Rom.10.12 — There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Rom.10.12 — For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord of all is rich toward all who call upon him.
  5. ↩Matt.24.11;Acts.5.36-Acts.5.37 — And many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. Acts.5.36 — For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody important, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were scattered and came to nothing. Acts.5.37 — After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew people away after him. He also perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
  6. ↩Rom.1.28 — And just as they did not see fit to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a disapproved mind, to do what is not fitting.
  7. ↩Hos.3.4;Dan.9.26-Dan.9.27 — For many days the children of Israel shall sit, without king and without prince and without sacrifice and without pillar and without ephod and teraphim. Dan.9.26 — And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the city and the sanctuary shall be destroyed by the people of the prince who is to come. His end shall come in a flood, and until the end of the war, desolations are decreed. Dan.9.27 — And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease, and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, and until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.
  8. ↩Mal.1.11 — For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
  9. ↩Gen.49.8-Gen.49.10 — Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you. Gen.49.9 — Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down like a lion, and like a lioness—who dares rouse him? Gen.49.10 — The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
  10. ↩Gen.49.10 — The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
  11. ↩Gen.49.10 — The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
  12. ↩Gen.12.3;Gal.3.8 — And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Gal.3.8 — And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham: 'In you all the nations will be blessed.'
  13. ↩Acts.1.8;Isa.49.6 — But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Isa.49.6 — And he said, "It is too light a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
  14. ↩Rom.2.28-Rom.2.29;Gal.3.7;Phil.3.3 — For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something outward and physical. Rom.2.29 — But the one who is truly a Jew is one who is so inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter. His praise is not from human beings but from God. Gal.3.7 — Know, then, that those who are of faith—these are the children of Abraham. Phil.3.3 — For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
  15. ↩Hag.2.7 — I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
  16. ↩Rom.11.7-Rom.11.25 — What then? What Israel sought, it did not obtain, but the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened. Rom.11.8 — Just as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day." Rom.11.9 — And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a retribution to them." Rom.11.10 — Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and let their backs be bent forever. Rom.11.11 — I ask, then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous. Rom.11.12 — Now if their trespass is the wealth of the world, and their failure is the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be! Rom.11.13 — Now I am speaking to you Gentiles: inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry Rom.11.14 — if somehow I might provoke to jealousy my flesh and save some of them. Rom.11.15 — For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Rom.11.16 — Now if the first portion is holy, the batch is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are also. Rom.11.17 — But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root and the richness of the olive tree, Rom.11.18 — Do not boast over the branches. But if you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. Rom.11.19 — Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Rom.11.20 — Well said: they were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. Rom.11.21 — For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Rom.11.22 — Consider then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. Rom.11.23 — And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Rom.11.24 — For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree! Rom.11.25 — For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be wise in your own estimation: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
  17. ↩Rom.11.11-Rom.11.25 — I ask, then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous. Rom.11.12 — Now if their trespass is the wealth of the world, and their failure is the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be! Rom.11.13 — Now I am speaking to you Gentiles: inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry Rom.11.14 — if somehow I might provoke to jealousy my flesh and save some of them. Rom.11.15 — For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Rom.11.16 — Now if the first portion is holy, the batch is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are also. Rom.11.17 — But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root and the richness of the olive tree, Rom.11.18 — Do not boast over the branches. But if you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. Rom.11.19 — Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Rom.11.20 — Well said: they were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. Rom.11.21 — For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Rom.11.22 — Consider then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. Rom.11.23 — And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Rom.11.24 — For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree! Rom.11.25 — For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be wise in your own estimation: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
  18. ↩Rom.11.18-Rom.11.22 — Do not boast over the branches. But if you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. Rom.11.19 — Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Rom.11.20 — Well said: they were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. Rom.11.21 — For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Rom.11.22 — Consider then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
  19. ↩Rom.11.25 — For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be wise in your own estimation: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
  20. ↩Rom.11.11 — I ask, then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous.
  21. ↩Rom.11.33 — Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!
  22. ↩Isa.59.19-Isa.59.20;Rom.11.26-Rom.11.27 — So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing river, the Spirit of the LORD driving it forward. Isa.59.20 — And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the LORD. Rom.11.26 — And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' Rom.11.27 — And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.
  23. ↩Isa.59.19 — So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing river, the Spirit of the LORD driving it forward.
  24. ↩Isa.59.19 — So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing river, the Spirit of the LORD driving it forward.
  25. ↩Isa.59.20-Isa.59.21;Rom.11.26-Rom.11.27 — And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the LORD. Isa.59.21 — "As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have placed in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the LORD, from this time forth and forever." Rom.11.26 — And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' Rom.11.27 — And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.
  26. ↩Rom.11.28 — As regards the gospel they are enemies for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
  27. ↩Rom.11.28 — As regards the gospel they are enemies for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
  28. ↩Gen.12.3;Gal.3.8 — And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Gal.3.8 — And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham: 'In you all the nations will be blessed.'
  29. ↩Rom.1.8 — First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.
  30. ↩Col.1.23 — if indeed you continue in the faith, established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant.
  31. ↩Col.1.6 — the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so also it is among you, from the day you heard and truly understood God's grace.
  32. ↩Rom.10.18;Ps.19.4 — But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed, their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world. Ps.19.4 — There is no speech, and there are no words; their voice is not heard.
  33. ↩1Cor.9.22 — To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
  34. ↩Matt.24.11;Acts.20.29-Acts.20.30;2Pet.2.1;1John.2.18-1John.2.19 — And many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. Acts.20.29 — I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Acts.20.30 — and from among your own selves men will rise up, speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 2Pet.2.1 — But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 1John.2.18 — Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; from this we know that it is the last hour. 1John.2.19 — They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us—but this was to make it plain that not all who came from us truly belonged to us.
  35. ↩1Cor.11.19 — For there must be factions among you, in order that the genuine among you may be made evident.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source sentence ends in an ellipsis and 'etc.', so the French is truncated or abbreviated in the witness; the English follows the supplied text as far as it goes.
  2. 2 ↩'lavez dans le sang qu'ils avoient versé' is kept as washing in the blood they had shed: conversion and baptismal cleansing by Christ's blood, which those who cried for his death had effectively shed.
  3. 3 ↩en séparer points back to separation from the Jewish nation into the elect; rendered as 'set apart a great number of them'.
  4. 4 ↩les / en refer to the Gentiles (docteur des gentils); réprobation kept as the technical term for divine rejection in this historical-theological frame.
  5. 5 ↩Source ends with a stray comma-period ('questions,.'); the sentence appears truncated before the next section's continuation on Moses, the prophets, and idolaters.
  6. 6 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period; no recoverable French content. Left untranslated rather than invented.
  7. 7 ↩l'affirmative: the affirmative side of the questions Paul is treating—that the Gentiles are called and may enter the knowledge of God.
  8. 8 ↩siege principal: the principal see/seat (papal seat at Rome), not a military siege.
  9. 9 ↩French 'sens réprouvé' is the traditional rendering of Romans 1:28 (Vulgate 'reprobum sensum'); kept as 'reprobate mind' for the familiar biblical cadence rather than softened to 'debased thinking.'
  10. 10 ↩French 'Adrien' = Emperor Hadrian; 'acheve de les exterminer' is historical hyperbole for the Bar Kokhba war's aftermath, not literal total annihilation.
  11. 11 ↩"sa seule race" / "sa tribu" / "son nom" refer to Judah: Israel is narrowed to Judah's line and takes the name Jew/Judean from that tribe.
  12. 12 ↩"estats" can mean political states or successive conditions; here "various conditions" fits Bossuet's historical survey of changing regimes while the people remains a coherent body.
  13. 13 ↩"le desiré des nations" is Bossuet's traditional messianic title for Christ, rendering Haggai's phrase often given in older English as "the Desire of all nations."
  14. 14 ↩"leur donne" takes the Gentiles as beneficiary: Jewish hardness aids Gentile salvation and places the prophetic Scriptures in independent (Jewish) custody.
  15. 15 ↩Source ends mid-clause with trailing comma and period ('et luy déclare,.'); the actual declaration appears cut off and is resumed only by later etc. / summary sentences.
  16. 16 ↩'Il' is rendered 'He' as the Holy Spirit / prophetic speaker from the preceding sentence; if the subject is instead the Isaiah passage itself, 'It' would also be possible.
  17. 17 ↩Source sentence appears truncated mid-quotation (trailing comma before the final period); English follows the supplied fragment only.
  18. 18 ↩Source unit is only a bare period; no recoverable French clause to translate.
  19. 19 ↩Source unit is only a bare period; no recoverable French clause to translate.
  20. 20 ↩Source is an elliptical 'etc.', signaling continuation of the truncated Pauline quotation rather than a full sentence.
  21. 21 ↩«à luy» is masculine and most naturally points to God (just named), not the Church; rendered as “to him.”
  22. 22 ↩Object of 'le porta' is the gospel (l'évangile) from the preceding sentence.
  23. 23 ↩Source ends with 'etc.' without quoting the psalm text; the allusion is almost certainly Psalm 19:4 via Romans 10:18 ('Their voice has gone out into all the earth').
  24. 24 ↩Bossuet breaks off with « etc. », alluding to Irenaeus’s image of one sun over the whole earth as a figure for the churches’ single shared faith.
  25. 25 ↩French 'Que si' is a classical adversative/conditional opener ('And if' / 'Now if'); rendered as 'And if' to keep the concessive pivot into the next sentences on heresy.
  26. 26 ↩French Constance names the emperor Constantius II (not Constans); rendered as Constantius.
  27. 27 ↩infideles rendered as pagan, matching the prior contrast with payens / unbelieving emperors rather than a modern sense of 'infidel.'
  28. 28 ↩French ses in selon ses promesses is ambiguous in isolation (his/her); parallel structure with les prédictions de Jesus-Christ points to Christ's promises, not the Church's.

Discours sur l'histoire universelle companion

Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat

Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.

Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.

  • A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
  • One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
  • Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →