文集與書信 第 14 章 第 1/8 段

Cyprian to his son Quirinus, greeting. I was bound to comply, dearest son, with your spiritual desire, which by a most earnest petition sought the divine instructions whereby the Lord has deigned through the holy Scriptures to educate and instruct us, so that, led away from the darkness of error and enlightened by His pure and bright light, we might hold the way of life through the saving sacraments. And indeed, as you asked, so has a discourse been composed by us and a little book arranged in an abbreviating summary, that I might not expand what was being written with broader abundance, but might, as far as a modest memory suggested, gather together whatever was necessary in excerpted chapters and appended notes; in which we may seem not so much to have treated the subject as to have furnished material to those who treat it.

But also for readers such brevity profits greatly, since a longer book scatters the understanding and sense of the reader, whereas by a subtler abridgment a tenacious memory keeps what is read. I have embraced two little books of equal quality: one in which I have endeavored to show that the Jews, according to what had been foretold beforehand, had departed from God and lost the indulgence of the Lord, which had both been given them of old and promised for the future; but that in their place there had succeeded the Christians, deserving the Lord by faith and coming from all nations and from the whole world.

Likewise the other little book contains the sacrament of Christ: that the same one has come who was announced according to the Scriptures, and has done and accomplished all those things by which He was foretold that He could be understood and recognized; which things may meanwhile profit the reader for forming the first lineaments of faith. More strength will be given you, and the understanding of the heart will work more and more, as you search the old Scriptures and the new more fully, and read through all the volumes of the spiritual books entire. For we have now filled with a little draught from the divine fountains, that we might meanwhile send it to you. You will be able to drink more abundantly and to be filled more copiously, if you too will come with us to drink together at the same fountains of divine fullness. I wish, dearest son, that you may always be in good health.

Book One. Chapters. I. That the Jews grievously offended against God, in that they forsook the Lord and followed idols. II. That they did not believe the prophets and put them to death. III. It was foretold that they would neither know, nor understand, nor receive the Lord. IV. That the Jews would not understand the holy Scriptures, but would understand them in the last times, after Christ had come. V. That the Jews can understand nothing of the Scriptures unless they first believe in Christ. VI. That they would destroy Jerusalem and abandon the land which they had received. VII. Likewise, that they would lose the light of the Lord. VIII.

That the first carnal circumcision is made void, and the second spiritual circumcision is promised. IX. That the former law, which was given through Moses, would cease. X. That a new law would be given. XI. That another dispensation and a new testament would be given. XII. That the old baptism would cease and a new one begin. XIII. That the old yoke would be made void and a new yoke given. XIV. That the old shepherds would cease and new ones begin. XV. That Christ would be the house and temple of God, and that the old temple would cease and the new begin. XVI. That the old sacrifice would be made void and a new one celebrated. XVII. That the old priesthood would cease and a new priest would come who would be forever. XVIII.

That another prophet like Moses was promised, namely one who would give the new testament and who ought rather to be heard. XIX. That two peoples were foretold, the greater and the lesser, that is, the old people of the Jews and the new which would be from us. XX. That the Church, which had formerly been barren, would have more sons from the Gentiles than the synagogue had had before. XXI. That the Gentiles would believe in Christ more readily. XXII. That the Jews would lose the bread and cup of Christ and all His grace, but that we should receive them, and that the new name of Christians would be blessed in the earth. XXIII. That the Gentiles rather than the Jews would attain to the kingdom of heaven. XXIV.

That the Jews can obtain pardon of their sins only by this one means: if they wash away the blood of the slain Christ by His baptism, and, passing over into the Church, obey His precepts. That the Jews grievously offended against God, in that they forsook the Lord and followed idols. In Exodus the people said to Aaron: 'Arise, and make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we know not what has become of him.' Likewise there, Moses said to the Lord: 'I pray, Lord, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made themselves gods of gold and silver; and now, if you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book which you have written.' And the Lord said to Moses:

'Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.' Likewise in Deuteronomy: 'They sacrificed to demons and not to God.' Likewise in the book of Judges: 'And the children of Israel did evil against the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed the gods of the nations which were around them, and provoked the Lord, and forsook God and served Baal.' Likewise there: 'And the children of Israel again did evil against the Lord and served Baal and the gods of strangers, and forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.' In Malachi: 'Judah has been forsaken, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah has profaned the holy things of the Lord, in which he delighted, and has loved strange gods.

The Lord will utterly destroy the man who does these things, and he will be brought low in the tents of Jacob.' That they did not believe the prophets and put them to death. In Jeremiah the Lord says: 'I sent to you my servants the prophets. Before the light I sent them, and you did not hear me nor incline your ears, saying: Let each one turn from his evil way and from your most wicked affections, and you shall dwell in this land which I gave to you and to your fathers from age to age. Do not walk after strange gods, to serve them, and do not worship them, and do not provoke me by the works of your hands to your own destruction: and you did not hear me.' Likewise in the third book of Kingdoms, Elijah said to the Lord:

'I have been very jealous for the Lord God Almighty, because the children of Israel have forsaken you, they have torn down your altars and slain your prophets with the sword; and I am left alone, and they seek my life to take it away from me.' Likewise in Ezra: 'They have revolted from you, and have cast your law behind their backs, and have slain your prophets, who testified against them, that they might turn back to you.' It was foretold that they would neither know, nor understand, nor receive the Lord. In Isaiah the prophet: 'Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten sons and exalted them, but they have spurned me. The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib:

'But Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood me. Woe to the sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, lawless sons: you have forsaken the Lord and have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel.' Likewise in the same prophet the Lord says: 'Go and say to this people: With your ear you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown gross, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and they have closed their eyes, lest perhaps they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them.' Likewise in Jeremiah the Lord says: 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug out for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water.' Likewise in the same prophet:

'Behold, the word of the Lord has become to them a reproach; they have no will for it.' Likewise in the same prophet the Lord says: 'The turtledove has known her season, and the swallow; the sparrows of the field have kept the times of their coming in; but my people has not known the judgment of the Lord. How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? In vain has the false measure been made; the scribes have been confounded, the wise have trembled and have been taken, because they have rejected the word of the Lord.' Likewise in Solomon: 'The wicked shall seek me and shall not find me; for they hated wisdom, and they did not receive the word of the Lord.' Likewise in Psalm 27: 'Render to them their recompense, because they have not understood in the works of the Lord.' Likewise in Psalm 81:

'They have not known nor understood; they walk in darkness.' Likewise in the Gospel according to John: 'He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God, even to those who believe in his name.' THAT THE JEWS WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, BUT WOULD COME TO UNDERSTAND THEM IN THE LAST TIMES, AFTER CHRIST HAD COME. In Isaiah the prophet: 'And all these words shall be to you as the words of a sealed book, which if you give to a man who knows letters to read, he will say: I cannot read, for it is sealed. But in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind, both those who are in darkness and those who are in mist, shall see.'

Likewise in Jeremiah: 'In the last of days you shall understand these things.' Likewise in Daniel: 'Fortify the words and seal the book until the time of consummation, until many learn and knowledge be fulfilled: for when the dispersion shall come, they shall know all these things.' Likewise in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: 'For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud.' Likewise to the Corinthians, second epistle: 'Their senses were dulled until this very day, the same veil remaining in the reading of the old testament, which is not unveiled because in Christ it is done away; and even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil is over their heart.'

'But when one is converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.' Likewise in the Gospel the Lord after the resurrection: 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written concerning me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms. Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and he said to them: Thus it is written that Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all nations.' THAT THE JEWS CAN UNDERSTAND NOTHING OF THE SCRIPTURES UNLESS THEY FIRST BELIEVE IN CHRIST. In Isaiah the prophet: 'And unless you believe, neither shall you understand.' Likewise the Lord in the Gospel:

'For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins.' And that righteousness stands by faith, and that life is there, was foretold in Habakkuk: 'But the just man shall live by my faith.' Hence Abraham, the father of the nations, believed. In Genesis: 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.' Likewise the apostle to the Galatians: 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Know therefore that they who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the nations by faith, foretold to Abraham: In you shall all nations be blessed. Therefore they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.' THAT THEY WOULD LOSE JERUSALEM AND WOULD FORSAKE THE LAND WHICH THEY HAD RECEIVED.

In Isaiah the prophet: 'Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers shall devour your region in your sight; and the daughter of Sion shall be left forsaken and overthrown by foreign peoples, like a hut in a vineyard and like a watch-shed in a cucumber-field, like a city that is besieged. And unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom and we should have been made like Gomorrah.' Likewise in the Gospel the Lord says: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who killest the prophets and stonest those who are sent to thee, how often have I willed to gather thy children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate.' LIKEWISE THAT THEY WOULD LOSE THE LIGHT OF THE LORD. In Isaiah the prophet:

'Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. For he has dismissed his people, the house of Israel.' Likewise in his Gospel: 'There was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world. He was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.' Likewise there: 'He who has not believed is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.' THAT THE FIRST CIRCUMCISION, THE CARNAL, WAS DONE AWAY, AND A SECOND, THE SPIRITUAL, WAS PROMISED. In Jeremiah the prophet: 'Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to those who inhabit Jerusalem: Renew among yourselves newness, and sow not among thorns:

circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart, lest my anger go forth like fire and burn, and there be none to quench it.' Likewise Moses says: 'In the last days God shall circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God.' Likewise in Jesus son of Nun: 'And the Lord said to Jesus: Make thee knives of stone, very sharp, and sit down and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.' Likewise Paul to the Colossians: 'You were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, in the putting off of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ.'

Likewise, that Adam was first made by God uncircumcised, and Abel the just, and Enoch who pleased God and was translated, and Noah who, when all on earth were perishing for their offenses, alone was chosen, in whom the human race might be preserved, and Melchisedech the priest, according to whose order Christ was promised: then, that that seal does not avail for women, whereas all are sealed with the sign of the Lord. THAT THE EARLIER LAW WHICH WAS GIVEN THROUGH MOSES WAS TO CEASE. In Isaiah the prophet: 'Then shall they be made manifest who seal the law, that men learn it not. And thou shalt say: I wait for God, who turns away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him.' Likewise in the Gospel: 'All the prophets and the law prophesied until John.' THAT A NEW LAW WAS TO BE GIVEN.

In Micah the prophet: 'For the law shall go forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and he shall judge among many peoples and shall rebuke and shall lay bare mighty nations.' Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: 'For from Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the nations.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'And behold a voice from the cloud saying: This is my most beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear him.' THAT ANOTHER DISPENSATION AND A NEW TESTAMENT WAS TO BE GIVEN. In Jeremiah the prophet:

'Behold, the days come, says the Lord, and I will accomplish for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new testament, not according to the testament which I disposed for their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my testament, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the testament which I will dispose for the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will give my laws into their mind and will write them, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people; and they shall not teach every one his brother, saying: Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least even to the greatest of them, for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.'

THAT THE OLD BAPTISM SHOULD CEASE AND A NEW ONE BEGIN. In Isaiah the prophet: 'Remember not the former things, and consider not the things of old. Behold, I make new things, which now shall spring up, and you shall know them; and I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in a waterless place, to give drink to my chosen race, my people whom I have acquired, that they might set forth my praises.' Likewise in the same prophet: 'If they shall thirst through the deserts, he will bring them water; out of the rock he will produce it for them; the rock shall be cleft and water shall flow, and my people shall drink.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew John says: 'I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'

Likewise according to John: 'Unless one be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' THAT THE OLD YOKE SHOULD BE DONE AWAY AND A NEW YOKE GIVEN. In the second Psalm: 'Why have the nations raged, and the peoples imagined vain things? The kings of the earth have stood up and the princes have come together as one against the Lord and against his Christ. Let us burst their bonds and cast their yoke from us.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew the Lord says: 'Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is good and my burden is light.' In Jeremiah: 'In that day I will crush the yoke from their neck and will burst their bonds; and they shall not serve others, but they shall serve the Lord God, and I will raise up for them David their king.' THAT THE OLD SHEPHERDS SHOULD CEASE AND NEW ONES BEGIN. In Ezekiel: 'Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hands and will turn them away, so that they shall not feed my sheep; and they shall no longer feed them, and I will draw my sheep out of their mouth and will feed them with judgment.' In Jeremiah the prophet the Lord says:

'And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you, feeding you with discipline.' Likewise in Jeremiah: 'Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the islands that are far off. Say: He who scatters Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock: for the Lord has rescued Jacob and has rescued him out of the hand of one stronger than he.' THAT CHRIST WAS TO BE THE HOUSE AND TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE OLD TEMPLE SHOULD CEASE AND A NEW ONE BEGIN. In the second book of Kingdoms: 'And the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: Go and say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord:

Not thou shalt build me a house to dwell in; but it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy womb, and I will prepare his kingdom. He shall build me a house for my name, and I will set up his throne forever, and I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son; and his house shall obtain faithfulness, and his kingdom forever in my sight.' Likewise in the Gospel the Lord says: 'There shall not be left in the temple one stone upon another that shall not be dissolved.' And: 'After three days another shall be raised up without hands.' THAT THE OLD SACRIFICE SHOULD BE DONE AWAY AND A NEW ONE CELEBRATED. In Isaiah the prophet: 'What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord.

I am full; I do not want the holocausts of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and of goats. For who has required these things at your hands?' Likewise in Psalm 49: 'Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Most High your vows. Call upon me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.' Likewise there: 'The sacrifice of praise shall honor me; there is the way by which I will show him my salvation.' Likewise in Psalm 4: 'Sacrifice the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord.' Likewise in Malachi: 'I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands.

For from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name is glorified among the nations, and in every place odors of incense are offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice, for great is my name among the nations, says the Lord.' THAT THE OLD PRIESTHOOD SHOULD CEASE AND A NEW PRIEST COME, WHO WOULD BE FOREVER. In Psalm 109: 'Before the morning star I begot thee. The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.' Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms God says to Eli the priest: 'And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do all things that are in my heart, and I will build him a faithful house, and he shall pass before my anointed ones all his days:

and it shall come to pass that he who remains in thy house shall come to worship for a small piece of money and for a single loaf of bread.' THAT ANOTHER PROPHET LIKE MOSES WAS PROMISED, NAMELY ONE WHO WOULD GIVE A NEW TESTAMENT AND WHO OUGHT MORE TO BE HEARD. In Deuteronomy God to Moses: 'And the Lord said to me: I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren like thee, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he shall speak to them the things which I command him. And whoever shall not hear what that prophet shall speak in my name, I will take vengeance.' Concerning whom Christ also in the Gospel according to John: 'Search the scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life. These are they which give testimony of me; and you will not come to me, that you may have life.

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would also have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?' THAT TWO PEOPLES WERE FORETOLD, A GREATER AND A LESSER, THAT IS, THE OLD ONE OF THE JEWS AND THE NEW ONE WHICH WAS TO COME FROM US. In Genesis: 'And the Lord said to Rebecca: Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be divided from thy belly, and people shall overcome people, and the greater shall serve the lesser.' Likewise in Hosea the prophet: 'I will call not-my-people my people, and not-beloved beloved. For it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said: You are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God.'

THAT THE CHURCH, WHICH HAD FORMERLY BEEN BARREN, WAS TO HAVE MORE SONS FROM THE NATIONS THAN THE SYNAGOGUE HAD HAD BEFORE. In Isaiah the prophet: 'Rejoice, O barren one, who dost not bear; break forth and cry out, thou who dost not travail, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband. For the Lord has said: Enlarge thy tabernacle and fix the stakes of thy curtains; spare not, lengthen thy cords and make firm thy stakes. Stretch out yet to thy right hand and to thy left, and thy seed shall possess the nations, and thou shalt inhabit the cities which were desolate. Fear not, for thou shalt prevail, neither be afraid that thou wast detestable, for thou shalt forget the eternal confusion.'

So too with Abraham: when his first son had been born of the handmaid, Sarah remained barren a long time, and late in old age, by promise, she bore a son, Isaac, who was a type of Christ. So too Jacob took two wives: the elder Leah, with weaker eyes, a type of the synagogue; the younger, beautiful Rachel, a type of the Church, who also remained barren a long time and afterward bore Joseph, who himself too was a type of Christ. And in the first book of Kingdoms Elkanah has two wives, Peninnah with children and Hannah the barren, of whom Samuel is born, not according to the order of generation, but according to God's compassion and promise, after she had prayed in the temple; and Samuel when born was a type of Christ. Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms:

'The barren has borne seven, and she who had many has become weak.' Now the sons of the Church are seven. Hence Paul too writes to seven churches, and the Apocalypse sets forth seven churches, that the sevenfold number be preserved: as the seven days in which God made the world, and the seven angels who stand and dwell before the face of God, as the angel Raphael says in Tobit; and the sevenfold lamp in the tabernacle of testimony, and the seven eyes of the Lord which behold the world, and the stone with seven eyes, as Zechariah says, and the seven spirits and the seven candlesticks in the Apocalypse, and the seven pillars upon which Wisdom builds her house in Solomon. THAT THE NATIONS SHOULD BELIEVE IN CHRIST RATHER. In Genesis:

'And the Lord God said to Abraham: Go out from thy land and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, and go into that land which I will show thee. And I will make thee into a great nation and will bless thee and will magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed. And I will bless those who bless thee, and I will curse those who curse thee, and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.' Likewise there: 'And Isaac blessed Jacob: Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed. And may God give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fruitfulness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine and oil. And let the nations serve thee, and let princes adore thee, and be thou lord of thy brother, and let the sons of thy father adore thee;'

'and let him who curses thee be cursed, and let him who blesses thee be blessed.' Likewise there: 'But when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it seemed grievous to him; and Joseph took hold of his father's hand to remove it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh. And Joseph said to his father: Not so, father; this is my firstborn, lay thy right hand upon his head. But he would not, and said: I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he shall be exalted; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall be a multitude of nations.' Likewise in Genesis: 'Judah, thy brothers shall praise thee, thy hands shall be upon the back of thy enemies.