Book 4

Table of the Fourth Book.

In this fourth [book] objections are raised against the article of the preceding book up to the twelfth chapter, and then the objections are resolved; and it contains 35 chapters.

The first chapter objects from the restoration of the royal dignity in the person of the Messiah, from the prophecy of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

The second chapter objects through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and specially as to the king David promised.

The third chapter contains objections through Isaiah about the glory and wealth of the city of Jerusalem in its stability.

The fourth chapter contains objections through Isaiah about the acceptance of the Jewish people and its perpetual stability in good.

The fifth chapter contains objections through Isaiah about the glory, wealth and power and the stability of the city and the nation.

The sixth chapter contains objections through Isaiah, Jeremiah and Malachi from the restoration of the Levitical priesthood and of the sacrifices at the coming of the Messiah.

The seventh chapter contains objections through Jeremiah about the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem beyond its former measure.

The eighth chapter objects through Zechariah about the rebuilding of the city and the temple, to be done by the Messiah.

The ninth chapter contains an objection through Isaiah, Micah and Zechariah about perpetual peace at the coming of the Messiah.

The tenth chapter contains an objection through Isaiah chapter 40 about the forgiveness of the sin of the city of Jerusalem and its consolation.

The eleventh chapter contains an objection through David, through Isaiah, through Zechariah, about the royal power of the Messiah.

The twelfth chapter proves the first foundation laid for resolving the objections, namely that the kingdom of the Messiah must be understood as spiritual.

The thirteenth chapter proves the second foundation for the same, namely that Jerusalem, Sion, Israel must be taken for the congregation of the just.

The fourteenth chapter proves the third foundation for the same, namely that the promises of the Old Testament have an implicit condition.

The fifteenth chapter contains an objection against the first foundation, with its solution.

The sixteenth chapter objects against the preceding and resolves it, showing that by maternal right Christ could have been called king of the Jews.

The seventeenth chapter contains an objection against the second foundation, with its resolution, showing the Messiah to be king of the Jews.

The eighteenth chapter contains an objection against the third foundation and its resolution.

The nineteenth chapter resolves the objections in the first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, tenth and eleventh chapters, and this in general; and specially it resolves the objection through Jeremiah in the second chapter.

The twentieth chapter resolves the objections of the seventh and eighth chapters, and of Jeremiah 37¹³ and Isaiah.

The twenty-first chapter resolves the objections of the second chapter from Ezekiel and Hosea, and expounds the day of the nativity.

The twenty-second chapter resolves what is set out from Isaiah in chapters 4 and 3, and expounds the text "thou shalt not drink it again any more."¹⁴

The twenty-third chapter expounds the objection from Isaiah in chapter 3 of this [book], namely from chapters 33 and 35.

The twenty-fourth chapter resolves the objection from chapter 54 of Isaiah set out in chapter 4 of this [book].

The twenty-fifth chapter resolves the objections set out in chapter 6, which are taken from Jeremiah 37 and Malachi.

The twenty-sixth chapter resolves the objections of chapter 5, which are taken from 60 and 61 in Isaiah.

The twenty-seventh chapter resolves the objections in the same chapter from 62 of Isaiah.

The twenty-eighth chapter resolves the objections of the ninth and tenth chapters, which are taken from Isaiah, Micah and Zechariah.

The twenty-ninth chapter objects through the saying of Jeremiah 33 about the perpetuity of the priesthood, and resolves the objection.

The thirtieth chapter replies through many authorities as to sacrifices, circumcision and the other legal observances.

The thirty-first chapter proves the rejection of the Levitical priesthood and of the legal observances, and of circumcision specially.

The thirty-second chapter shows the same through many sayings of the apostle Paul, and through the decree of the apostles and the deeds of Christ.

The thirty-third chapter resolves the objections of chapter 29.

The thirty-fourth chapter is about [?],¹⁵ and objects about the observance of the sabbath, and resolves it.

The thirty-fifth chapter objects from the deeds of Paul as to the observance of the old law, and how he rebuked Peter, and resolves those objections, showing the legitimate cause of Paul's rebuke of Peter, etc.

The Fourth Book.

John. Since you have shown that our Christ whom we worship is the Messiah promised to the fathers and foretold by the prophets, I ask you to resolve not only what the Jews object to us, but besides that the things which seem to imply, from the scripture of the Old Testament, that he is still to come. For just as you have shown from the things accompanying his coming, in express scriptures which have already been fulfilled, that his coming is already past, so from the things which do not yet seem to have come about in the past it seems that it can still be affirmed that he is to come. Of these resolve at least the more difficult, applying a method or general rule for understanding

the rest.

Richard. Set out openly what moves you inwardly.

John. One accompaniment or one effect of the Messiah's coming seems to be the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, to last forever. Of this Isaiah says in chapter 9, having foretold the coming of the Messiah in these words, "For a child is born to us," etc.; there follows: "He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Again, in chapter 62, having foretold the coming in these words: "For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest till her just one come forth as brightness, and her saviour be lighted as a lamp. And the Gentiles shall see thy just one, and all kings thy glorious one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name," there then follows: "And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken: and thy land shall no more be called Desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure, and thy land shall be inhabited";¹⁶ and soon after: "The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength: Surely I will no more give thy corn to thy enemies: and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for which thou hast laboured." Here, from the coming of the Messiah, is foretold the restoration of the royal dignity, "and thou shalt be a diadem of thy kingdom," etc., and also its perpetual stability in good, "thou shalt no more be called," and "I will no more give thy corn," etc. Yet at the coming of Christ, and from then on, they were under a foreign king, and afterwards captive up to the present. Therefore from these sayings of Isaiah the Messiah seems still to be coming and to do these things. Again, in the last [chapter] of Lamentations, having foretold of Christ thus: "The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles," there follows: "Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity."¹⁷ Since, then, they are in exile at present throughout the world, it follows also that the coming of the Messiah is still to come, so that he may at last accomplish this, as it seems. Again, Jeremiah 33, having foretold the coming of the Messiah in these words: "In those days, and at that time, I will make a just bud to spring forth unto David, and he shall do judgment and justice in the earth. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely: and this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord, the just one,"¹⁸ there follows: "For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. Neither shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man before my face to offer holocausts, and to burn sacrifices, and to kill victims continually. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: Thus saith the Lord: if my covenant with the day can be made void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and night in their season: also my covenant with David my servant may be made void, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites and priests my ministers." The same is repeated at the end of this chapter. See how in both places it seems that at the time of the Messiah's coming the kingdom will be restored, and consequently will last forever; yet at present it is cut off, and at the coming of our Christ it was not restored; indeed Herod, a foreigner, then reigned there. Hence some, recalling those scriptures, asked him, when he was ascending into heaven, whether he would at this time restore the kingdom of Israel, as is read in Acts, chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Again, Jeremiah in chapter 30 of his book seems to speak thus of this restoration of the kingdom of the Jews at the coming of the Messiah: "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands: and strangers shall no more rule over him: but they shall serve God and David their king."¹ It seems that this was not fulfilled at the time of the return from the Babylonian captivity, for then they no longer had a king named David; and so too from what Ezekiel says in a like sentence, in chapter 34 of his book: "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. And I the Lord will be their God: and my servant David the prince in the midst of them." And afterwards there follows, about the stability of this kingdom: "I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they that dwell in the wilderness shall sleep secure in the forests. And I will make them a blessing round about the hill: and I will bring the rain in its season, and there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be in their land without fear: and they shall be no more for a ruin to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them: but they shall dwell securely without any fear. And I will raise up for them a bud of renown: and they shall be no more diminished with famine in the land, neither shall they bear any more the reproaches of the Gentiles."² Here it seems that by David the Messiah is to be understood, since he then says, "And I will raise up for them a bud of renown," speaking without doubt of the Messiah; and their stability in their land will come about, as he says, through David their prince, and it will come about, as appears from the order of the text, through the presence of the bud of renown, that is, of the Messiah, which bud Jeremiah calls "the just bud," as was clear above. Here, therefore, he calls the Messiah David, as it seems. Now what he promises has not yet been done, namely "they shall be no more diminished with famine in the land, neither shall they bear any more the reproaches of the Gentiles," since they bear the greatest reproaches at present. Therefore these things are to be awaited in future times. Again, he seems to say the same more clearly in chapter 37, thus: "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to their own house: and I will make them one nation on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms. Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with their abominations: and I will save them out of all the places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And my servant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd: they shall walk in judgments, and shall keep my commandments, and shall do them. And they shall dwell upon the land, they and their children, and their children's children, for ever. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall know that I am the Lord the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever."³ Here he seems to call the Messiah David, because no other king who has been since the time of this prophecy, nor any who is to come among them, except the promised Christ, will be their king for ever, as is said here, "and my servant David their prince for ever"; and also from what is said, that their kingdom from the time of that king David is to be perpetual, and their dwelling, that is, the Jews', upon the land for ever, it seems to follow that these things are still to come through the Messiah, since they do not yet seem fulfilled. Hosea too, in chapter 3 of his book, seems to speak of this kingdom of their David: "The children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim.⁴ And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, in the last days." This does not seem fulfilled through any king named David, and so it is awaited to be fulfilled through the Messiah; and what he says here, that it is to be "in the last days," seems to tell much for this, for it seems to say the same as "at the end of the world," etc.

Chapter 3.

Again, to this accompaniment or effect of the Messiah, namely the restoration of the perpetual kingdom of the Jews, there seem to belong the wealth, glory, power and perpetual stability of the city of Jerusalem and of Sion, which the prophets announce as to come at the coming of the Messiah. Of these Isaiah 33 says thus: "Look upon Sion the city of your solemnity: thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a dwelling that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, and all the cords thereof [shall not] be broken,"⁵ etc. And there follows there, as the cause, concerning the coming of the Messiah: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will come and will save us." See, of its wealth and stability. Again, Isaiah 35, having foretold the coming of the promised Christ, says thus: "The Lord himself will come and will save us. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free," etc., as I set out above in chapter 11 of the book.⁶ There follows: "And they shall walk that shall be delivered and redeemed by the Lord, and shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy upon their heads." See, here he says that from then on they shall obtain everlasting joy. Again, Isaiah 49, having foretold the coming in these words, "I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth," and afterwards, "I have given [thee] to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the lands, and possess the inheritances that were deserted"; there follows afterwards: "And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes. Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee. For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of ruin shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in. And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destroyed and alone: and these, where were they? Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him."⁷ See, here is foretold the wealth of the city at the coming of the Messiah, and the multitude of its people, and its power and glory, as it seems, and the service and worship of kings and queens, which have not yet come to pass, as it seems.

Chapter 4.

Again, chapter 52:⁸ "Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art drunk but not with wine. Thus saith thy Ruler the Lord God, who fighteth for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it again any more." And below: "Put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth the uncircumcised and unclean shall no more pass through thee." And with other things set in between, there follows on this, as the cause, concerning the coming of the Messiah: "Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself that spoke, behold I am here. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace," etc. And below: "The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of men: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." See, here it is foretold of Sion and Jerusalem that at the coming of Christ the Saviour, whom all the ends of the earth shall see, he will take from them the dregs of the cup of his indignation, so that they shall drink it no more, and that afterwards no uncircumcised man shall ever pass through Jerusalem; yet the uncircumcised dwell there at present. These things, therefore, are to be awaited in future times. Again, having described the passion of Christ the Saviour in chapter 53, as plainly as our evangelists who describe it (as I set out above in the second book, chapter 5), in chapter 54, turning his speech to Israel, he says: "Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise and a hymn, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles, spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left: and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate cities. Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, nor blush: for thou shalt not be put to shame, because thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood. For he that made thee shall rule over thee, the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called [the God] of all the earth.⁹ For God hath called thee as a woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, and as a wife cast off from her youth, saith the Lord thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from thee, but with everlasting mercy have I had mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. This thing is to me as in the days of Noe, to whom I swore, that I would not bring in the waters of the flood upon the earth: so have I sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee. The mountains shall be moved, and the hills; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved: saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort, behold I lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones; all thy children taught of the Lord, and great peace to thy children. And thou shalt be founded in justice: depart far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. Behold, an inhabitant shall come, who was not with me, he that was a stranger to thee before, shall be joined to thee." See, here he says that because of the coming of the Messiah and the redemption to be made by him, Israel would pass on to the right and to the left, and its seed would inherit the Gentiles and inhabit the desolate cities; and that they would blush no more nor be confounded, because the Lord would have had mercy on it with everlasting mercy; and that the Lord swore that he would be angry no more, just as he swore that he would bring in the waters of the flood no more; and that from then on his mercy would not depart from Israel, nor the covenant of his peace be moved; and that he would lay its stones in order and found it on sapphires: all of which seem plainly to point to the wealth, glory and power and the lasting stability of this people and of the city of Jerusalem through the coming of the Messiah, which are not present; therefore the Messiah seems still to be coming, etc.

Chapter 5.

Again, Isaiah, at the end of chapter 59, having foretold the coming of the Messiah, says thus: "And they from the west shall fear the name of the Lord: and they from the rising of the sun, his glory, when he shall come as a violent stream, which the spirit of the Lord driveth on: and there shall come a redeemer to Sion, and to them that return from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord God. This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is in thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever."¹ There follows in chapter 60: "Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries [of Madian] and Epha:² all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord. All the flocks of Cedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nabaioth shall minister to thee: they shall be offered upon my acceptable altar, and I will glorify the house of my majesty. Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows? For the islands wait for me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning: and I will bring thy sons from afar: their silver, and their gold with them, to the name of thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, who will glorify thee. And the children of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee: for in my wrath have I struck thee, and in my reconciliation have I had mercy upon thee. And thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut day nor night, that the strength of the Gentiles may be brought to thee,³ and their kings may be brought. For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish: and the Gentiles shall be wasted with desolation. The glory of Libanus shall come to thee, the fir tree, and the box tree, and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary: and I will glorify the place of my feet. And the children of them that humbled thee shall come bowing down to thee, and all that slandered thee shall worship the steps of thy feet, and shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. Because thou wast forsaken, and hated, and there was none that passed through thee, I will make thee to be an everlasting glory, a joy unto generation and generation: and thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt be nursed with the breasts of kings: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will offer gold, and for iron silver: and for wood brass, and for stones iron: and I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers justice. Iniquity shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction in thy lands, and salvation shall possess thy walls, and praise thy gates." See, here is foretold the glory and wealth of the city of Jerusalem at the coming of the Messiah, and, from his coming, its power, in that kings shall minister to it and shall come to it to worship there; and that the nation and kingdom that will not serve it shall perish; and that the children of those who humbled it shall come bowing down to it; and that it shall be made an everlasting glory; and that it shall suck the milk of the Gentiles and be nursed with the breast of kings; and that its gold and silver and brass shall be multiplied. Again, its perpetual stability in all these goods is foretold next: "and I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers justice. Iniquity shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction," etc. Again, next, in chapter 61, having foretold the coming of the Messiah in these words, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek," there follows immediately in the text the effect of his coming, thus: "to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: to comfort all that mourn: to appoint consolation to the mourners of Sion,⁴ and to give them a crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit of grief: and they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice, the planting of the Lord to glorify him. And they shall build the places that have been waste from of old, and shall raise up ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate cities, that were destroyed for generation and generation. And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandmen, and the dressers of your vines. But you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: Ye ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and you shall pride yourselves in their glory. For your double confusion and shame, they shall praise their part: therefore shall they receive double in their land, everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I am the Lord that love judgment, and hate robbery in holocausts: and I will make their work in truth, and I will make a perpetual covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of peoples: all that shall see them, shall know them, that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth her bud to shoot forth: so shall the Lord God make justice to spring forth, and praise before all the nations." See, here to the children of Sion, at the coming of the Messiah, are foretold the rebuilding of cities that are to last, abundance of flocks, and the [?] service of strangers,⁵ lordship over other nations, everlasting joy, and a perpetual covenant with them, and his blessing upon them. Since, then, these things have not come to them, it seems to them that the Messiah is to come, to give them these things.

Chapter 6.

Again, another effect of the Messiah's coming seems to be the restoration and approval of the Levitical priesthood and of the sacrifices of the old law. Of this it is said in the authority set out above in chapter 1, from the same Jeremiah, chapter 33. Again, Isaiah in the last [chapter], at the end, having foretold the coming of the Messiah and the conversion of the Gentiles through the apostles (as many of our holy doctors understand it) in these words: "I come that I may gather them together with all nations and tongues: and they shall come and shall see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send of them that shall be saved, to the Gentiles into the sea, into Africa, and Libya, them that hold the bow: into Italy, and Greece, to the islands afar off, to them that have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory to the Gentiles: and they shall bring all your brethren out of all nations for a gift to the Lord, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and in coaches, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as if the children of Israel should bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord"; there follows then immediately: "And I will take of them to be priests, and Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens, so also the new earth, which I will make to stand before me, saith the Lord: so shall your name stand."⁶ See, through the coming of the Messiah there will be that taking up, in perpetuity, of priests and Levites from the brethren of the Jews, to whom the prophet's speech is there addressed. Therefore this seems still to come. Again, Malachi 3, having foretold the coming of the Messiah in these words: "Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before thy face. And presently the Ruler, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to thy holy temple.⁷ Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him?" There follows immediately: "For he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb: and he shall sit refining and cleansing as silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord in justice. And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years." Here, moreover, it seems that at the coming of the Messiah the sons of Levi will be purged of sin, and that they will then offer the accustomed sacrifices, and that the sacrifice of Juda and Jerusalem will then please the Lord [and] will not be rejected, and destroyed or fail,⁸ as you laboured to show above. Again, at the end of the chapter, foretelling the coming of the prophet Elijah at the end of the world in these words: "Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," he puts first: "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments"; and then there follows immediately, "Behold, I will send," etc.⁹ Therefore he seems to mean that at the coming of Elijah the Jews ought to keep the law of Moses, and consequently he also seems then to approve all the ceremonies of the law.

Chapter 7.

Again, another effect of the Messiah's coming seems to be the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem beyond its old measure, as Jeremiah says in chapter 31 of his book, where he foretells the coming of the Messiah in these words: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda," etc. And there follows afterwards: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel even to the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall go out farther in his sight upon the hills of Gareb: and it shall compass Goatha,¹⁰ and the whole valley of dead bodies, and of ashes, and all the country of death, even to the torrent Cedron, and to the corner of the horse gate towards the east, the Holy of the Lord: it shall not be plucked up, and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever." See, a rebuilding of the city which has not yet been done, which he also says here is to stand for ever.

Chapter 8.

Again, Zechariah, in the sixth chapter of his book, says that the Messiah will build the temple, in these words: "Behold a man, the Orient is his name: and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord"; whereas our Christ never built a temple. That this was said of the Messiah, and not of Jesus the priest then living, appears from this, that another text has, "Behold a man, Messiah is his name."¹¹ Again, Isaiah says in chapter 45 of his book, having first said of the Messiah, "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just," etc.; and there follows: "He shall build my city, and let go my captivity, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord of hosts," etc.

Chapter 9.

Again, another effect of his coming seems to be a multitude of peace that will last for ever, so much so that peace and dwelling together are promised between the most savage beasts and domestic animals. For see: Isaiah 9, having foretold the coming of the Messiah in these words, "For a child is born to us, and a son," etc., as I set out at the beginning of this [book], goes on: "His empire shall be multiplied, and of his peace there shall be no end." And Isaiah 11, having foretold the coming of the Messiah in these words, says: "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness; and he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears; but he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins." It goes on: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid," etc., as I objected above in chapter 11 of the third book.¹ Like this the same prophet says in chapter 65: "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain." Again, Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, having foretold the coming of the Messiah, say this: "In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it: and he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people." There follows immediately: "And they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war."² In these words many things are to be weighed. First, that these things will be in the last days; and so they do not seem to have been done yet, because the last days have not yet come, as it seems, since the last days seem to be called the final ones. Again, second, it must be noted that he says that the mountain of the Lord will then be exalted above the hills; and this exaltation of the mountain of the Lord, namely of Mount Sion, which is commonly called "the mountain", has not yet been made. Again, that he says that all nations shall flow unto it: which moreover does not yet stand fulfilled in our Christ. Again, he says that nations shall not lift up sword against nation, nor be exercised any more to war: the contrary of which we see at present. Therefore this prophecy is not yet fulfilled, but seems to be still to be fulfilled. Again, Zechariah 9, having foretold the coming of Christ in these words, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh to thee, the just and saviour, poor, sitting upon an ass and upon the foal of an ass,"³ there follows immediately: "And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles," etc.

Chapter 10.

Again, Isaiah 40: "Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith the Lord your God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins." There follows, as it seems, the proof or declaration of this promise or foretelling, thus: "The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled,⁴ and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken." If therefore it is the Messiah through whom, it is evident, these things must come about, it follows that the sin of that city is altogether forgiven, and, what follows from that, that from then on it ought to have been comforted and not to mourn, as it did afterwards because of its destruction by Titus and Vespasian. Since this, as it seems, has not been done, it follows that the Messiah is yet to come and will do these things, etc.

Chapter 11.

Again, it does not seem that our Christ was the Messiah, because our Messiah is described by the prophets as being a king and as going to have an empire not only in Jerusalem but even to the ends of the earth. For it is said in the second psalm, in his person, as you proved above at the beginning of the second book: "But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain"; and Psalm 20 says of him: "In thy strength, O Lord, the king shall joy"; and Psalm 44: "I speak my works to the king", and "the king shall greatly desire thy beauty"; and Psalm 71 says of him: "Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king's son thy justice", where it not only affirms him to be king but the son of a king, adding in the same place: "And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." So too Isaiah says in chapter 9 that he will be the Prince of peace, that his empire will be multiplied, and that he will sit upon the throne of David; and in chapter 33 he says of him: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king"; and Daniel says in chapter 7 of his book that he has a kingdom, and Zechariah in chapter 9, and the other prophets, as you set out above in the second book to prove that he was to be God. Now it is evident that our Christ was poor; indeed, when they wished to take him by force to make him king, he fled from them into the mountain alone, John chapter 6. It does not seem, therefore, that our Christ was the promised Messiah. Unless, then, you prove that the foregoing, and also other things which I have not set down, do not stand in the way of our believing that the Messiah has come, the things you set down before do not seem to me firm enough. I do not deny, however, that these very things which I have set down here can without danger be expounded in another sense than that sense to which you adduced them above, as all the holy doctors, Latin and Greek, accordingly expound them. But to expound them so seems to prove nothing at all concerning our faith. For a moral or allegorical exposition, or any other besides the literal sense of Scripture, seems to me to prove nothing at all, because no one can prove from the circumstance of the text that that sense is the sense of Scripture. For if this could be proved of any exposition, it seems to follow, according to what was treated in the first book, that that exposition would be the literal sense of the Scripture itself, since it would be proved from the text itself that this is signified.⁵ Again, in this way the Jews could, without danger, expound otherwise than you did the things you adduced above for us and against them; yet they would weaken nothing at all as regards the literal sense you set down, unless they proved the sense they proposed from the Scripture itself. Prove therefore that that literal sense is in the texts I have adduced, and in similar sayings, which I have proposed⁶ — which seems to me difficult; or, if you cannot accomplish all that, at least show that we are not bound to believe that this sense which I proposed is the literal one, which I think suffices for us against the Jews; or show that another literal sense can reasonably be stated.

Chapter 12.

Richard. You ask for a very difficult thing. May he of whom we are speaking now stand by us. And first, to do this, it seems to me that some foundations must be laid. The first foundation is that the kingdom or empire of the Messiah which the prophets announced, or his royal power or throne, as to its exercise or as to the manner of his rule, is to be understood as spiritual, that is, in the rule of souls for gaining eternal salvation, not temporal or bodily as the Jews understand it; although the promised Messiah himself was prophesied as king on another title.⁷ This is clear from Zechariah chapter 9, as I set out above, saying of him: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass"; and there follows after: "And his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the ends of the world." For if he had been going to be a king in temporal power, how then would he be poor, or ride an ass against the honour of a kingdom? Certainly none of these things would be so; and if he were thus their king in temporal things, his coming to Jerusalem in such cast-off array would have been a cause of grief and mourning [?],⁸ not a cause of exultation and jubilation, as Zechariah says. His royal power, therefore, from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth, was to be understood in spiritual things as to its exercise, since it cannot be understood in temporal and bodily dignity; which the prophet elegantly expressed in Psalm 2, for he says in his person: "But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment." Again, you objected this as a Jew would:⁹ [the prophet], after the things foretold of the Messiah, "For a child is born to us," etc., added: "His name shall be called Wonderful, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and of his peace there shall be no end," which you set out above. In this saying he shows clearly that his empire will be in spiritual things, not in transitory temporal things, as you seemed to understand. For he speaks of the peace that has no end, by which man is allied with God through charity, is made his friend, loves every man and hates none. This peace belongs to the blessing to be given to the Gentiles through the Messiah, as is said in chapter 9 at the place cited, "he shall speak peace to the Gentiles"; of which peace it is said in Psalm 71: "In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away", which is [not] understood of bodily peace;¹⁰ so, because of the conformity of the statement, it follows that he speaks of a spiritual empire, not a bodily one. So too of the like kingdom and throne of David: since he premises that he will be called the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace, it is evident from this that of what kind that peace is, of that kind is the principality, which principality he accordingly calls empire, the throne of David and his kingdom, namely the just people of the Jews. But the just from among the Gentiles are never included in such a way that they belong to that kingdom; and why will be clear below. To this sense contributes what is added, "for ever", since no temporal kingdom remains for ever, that is, without end; for so "for ever" is properly taken. But if, according to the sense of the Jews, they take "for ever" less properly, namely "until the end of the world", as it is frequently taken in Scripture, even so it cannot be understood of a bodily kingdom of the Messiah, since Isaiah in chapter 53 of his book foresaw in plain speech that he was to be slain, and that for this God "will distribute to him very many", that is, will multiply his empire, as he says here; and there, immediately after, in chapter 54, foretelling the enlarging of his kingdom: "Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not," etc., as you adduced above. And Daniel moreover foretells that he is to be slain. A kingdom bodily until the end of the world, bodily as they understand it, the Messiah himself could not continue, since he would die before the end of the world;¹¹ for in what way he would reign when dead they cannot show at all. The kingdom of the Messiah, therefore, as to the kingdom described by the prophets, is to be understood as spiritual, not bodily. This the prophet Daniel describes in chapter 7 of his book in an express vision, as I adduced above in book 3, chapter 4, saying: "I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, in the clouds of heaven [one like the Son of man]¹² came, and he came even to the ancient of days: and they presented him before him. And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, and tribes, and tongues shall serve him: and his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed", or corrupted. Now it is evident that every bodily and temporal kingdom is to be corrupted and taken away, and likewise every bodily power, which we call temporal, over peoples, tribes and tongues; it follows therefore that the prophet is not speaking of such a thing. Of the same kingdom of his he says in chapter 2: "But in the days of those kingdoms God will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people." But there is no doubt that every bodily and temporal kingdom will be destroyed, at least before the final judgment; which the same prophet immediately after this shows clearly, saying: "And it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms: and itself shall stand for ever." Similarly in chapter 7, at the end: "And thus he shall sit for judgment, that the power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end. And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, which is above every kingdom, may be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is everlasting."¹³ See how plainly he says that all these kingdoms will be consumed by the kingdom of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, namely of the promised Christ, and that the power of such kingdoms will be broken by the kingdom of the saints of the most High, which he earlier called the kingdom of the Son of man, whom he had seen approach the ancient of days. Again, that foundation is clearly evident if the things said of him above by David, by Isaiah, by Zechariah and by Daniel are called back to memory; for they do not befit an earthly king: "I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head", and "they parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots." Will the Jews say that they dare to do these things to their earthly king? Again, that he was slain for the sins of the people, and that "there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness", but [he was] as a leper struck by God and delivered up with the wicked, as Isaiah says; and that he will be slain by his own people, as Daniel says; that he will be sold for thirty pieces of silver by the Jews, as Zechariah says; and, by his brethren,¹⁴ things expressly said of him which neither the Jews nor others ever did, or dared to do, to their king, namely an earthly one: these sufficiently affirm that his kingdom would not be as to earthly rule. Again, if his empire to the ends of the earth were to be earthly and in bodily things, how would he be "the desired of all nations", as the prophet Haggai says,¹⁵ and not rather hateful to all, as one who was going to subjugate them to his empire, seeing that the manner of his rule would be, according to the prophet in Psalm 2, harsh and violent, according to that: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel"; and Balaam foretells him as a rod: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel"? For such a king in temporal things is not commonly desired by peoples. Again, if the Messiah was to be king in the governing of temporal things, how would that be true which was said to Solomon in 3 Kings chapter 3: "Behold I have done for thee according to thy words, and have given thee a wise and understanding heart, in so much that there hath been no one like thee before thee, nor shall arise after thee"? And in 2 Paralipomenon chapter 1 it is said: "So that none of the kings." For here no king to come after Solomon is excepted; and yet there is no doubt that the Messiah was to be at least wiser. It is not, therefore, a kingdom in temporal things that the prophets ascribe to the Messiah; but the Messiah himself, by reason of his origin from that people, ought to have a right to the kingdom, as will be shown below.

Chapter 13.

The second foundation is that these names, Jerusalem, Sion and Israel, can reasonably be taken in Holy Scripture for the congregation of the just, that is, of men who are in the way of eternal salvation, which congregation we call the church, provided that the circumstance of Scripture does not compel another sense. This is clear thus. Any name whatever reasonably belongs to that to which its principal sense belongs; [the principal sense] of these names belongs to the church, or the congregation of the just; therefore etc. The minor has no doubt, and the major is proved.¹ The sense of this name Sion is "mirror", or "watchtower", or "seed"; the sense of this name Israel is "a mountain seeing God", or "a prince to his God", or "the strong guidance of his God".² These senses not only belong to the congregation of the just, but belong to it more principally than to anything else. For no one doubts that all these cannot belong to a land or an insensible city; nor do they belong at all to a people or a man that is ungodly or wicked, in whom there is neither perfect fear nor peace nor guidance, nor is he the seed of God or a mirror. For nothing ought to be called a mirror unless it is a clean and pure thing, such as no wicked man having sin is; for all sins are called uncleannesses in Scripture: "Wash me," says David, "from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sins."³ Hence it follows without doubt that these names not only reasonably belong to the congregation of the just, but belong to it more principally and more properly than to a land, a city, a place, a man or a people that is ungodly and not just — of which kind the people of the Jews is everywhere, as the Jews themselves cannot deny, since they do not keep the precepts and judgments of the law given them through Moses, as regards the precepts and the other sacrifices in the law; and also because everywhere they lend money at usury and take back increase, and no such man shall ascend, or is in the way of ascending, into the mountain of the Lord, that is, into heaven, whither the just shall ascend, as Psalm 14 describes: "Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle?" Again, Ezekiel 18: "If a man be just, and do justice and judgment, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols," etc., "and hath covered the naked with a garment, hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase," etc., "he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord. And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that hath done some one of these things, though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the mountains, and that defileth his neighbour's wife, that grieveth the needy and the poor, that seizeth spoils,⁴ that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes to idols, that committeth abomination, that giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such a one live? He shall not live." See: everyone who gives at usury or takes increase shall die and not live. And in chapter 22 he numbers usury among the sins for which the Jews were to be led captive. It is evident therefore that if these [names] belong to the Jews, this is according to the names alone and not according to their sense — which we Christians do not contest;⁵ but to the congregation of the just these names truly belong both according to the names themselves and according to the sense of those names. Hence it is clear that in Holy Scripture, if the circumstance of Scripture itself does not stand against it, they can reasonably be taken for this same congregation of the just, that is, for the church.

Chapter 14.

The third foundation is that the foretellings of temporal or eternal benefits made to the people of the Jews by the prophets of old — benefits or goods which God was going to give them for their merits then to come — carry an implicit condition, this one, "if they persevered in justice", or another like or equivalent to it. This is clear also from Deuteronomy chapter 28 — and there is a like statement in chapters 4 and 8, 11 — where blessings and curses foretold to this people are set out, and it is said thus: "Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all the commandments which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all the nations on the earth; and these blessings shall come upon thee." And after these blessings have been enumerated, in the abundance of very many animals and of the fruits of the earth and of temporal glory, there follows concerning a spiritual blessing too, thus: "And the Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he swore to thee." And below: "But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God," etc., "all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb," etc. The same statement is made also in Deuteronomy chapter 26,⁶ as it is said in Isaiah chapter 1: "If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath, the sword shall devour you, because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Again, in 2 Kings chapter 7 the Lord says by the prophet Nathan to David: "I will raise up thy seed after thee, and it shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house to my name, and I will establish my name for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and if he commit any iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. But my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before my face. And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before my face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever."⁷ This saying contains a foretelling of the succession of David's sons in the royal dignity, properly, that is, until the end of the world, and no condition is expressed; and yet in the third [book of Kings], chapter [2],⁸ David at his death, repeating this promise to Solomon, says that it was made under a condition, thus: "If thy children shall take heed to thy ways, and shall walk before me in truth, with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from thee a man on the throne of Israel." Again, 1 Paralipomenon chapter 28, where there is discourse of the same matter, it is written thus: "And among my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord. And he said to me: Solomon thy son shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be a father to him; and I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he continue to keep my commandments and my judgments, as at this day." See the said condition expressed. And in 2 Paralipomenon chapter 6 Solomon is read to have prayed thus: "Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfil to thy servant David my father what thou hast spoken to him, saying: There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit upon the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to my ways, and walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me." Where too the said condition is expressed; the same is said expressly there in chapter 7. Again Psalm 131, where the same matter is read, speaks thus, referring the saying to the second promise: "The Lord hath sworn this to David, and he will not make it void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne. If they keep my law, and hold these commandments which I shall teach them, their children also for evermore shall sit upon thy throne."⁹ Here he expresses the condition of that promise, which yet he did not express in 2 Kings in that promise. Again Jeremiah 17: "If you will hearken to me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burdens," [etc.], "then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever," etc. "But if you will not hearken to me, to sanctify the sabbath day, I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." See: here this aforesaid condition is expressed both of the kings and of the perpetual inhabitants of the city. He says the same more fully in chapter 7, thus: "If you will order well your ways and your doings: if you will execute judgment between a man and his neighbour, [if you oppress not] the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange gods to your own hurt, I will dwell with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers from the beginning and for evermore." And below: "And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, and you have not heard, and I have called, and you have not answered, I will do to this house, in which my name is called upon, and in which you trust, and to the place which I have given you and your fathers, as I did to Silo; I will cast you away from before my face, as I have cast away all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim." See the condition set first. Again the Lord affirms this through Jeremiah in chapter 18 of his book, where it is said thus: "I will suddenly speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it. If that nation shall repent of their evil, which I have spoken against it, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them. And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it. If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it." See that here plainly, in such promises or foretellings of benefits, the aforesaid condition is understood, namely "if it remains in justice", although it is in no way expressed. Again, in chapter 22 the same [prophet] says thus: "Execute judgment and justice. For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people. But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation." See the condition; and yet according to the letter this foretelling was made to Zedekiah, who was the last king in Jerusalem before the Babylonian captivity, so that if he and the people had stood in the way of justice, that captivity which threatened him and the people at hand would not have taken place. Again, Isaiah 58 says thus: "If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not; when thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday; and the Lord thy God will give thee rest, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones," etc. See here the condition expressed concerning the stability of the dwelling and of the rest promised them. Again, in 1 Kings chapter 2 it is read that a man, Samuel, a man of God,¹⁰ came to Heli the priest and said thus: "Wherefore thus saith the Lord of Israel: I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should minister in my sight for ever. But now saith the Lord: Far be this from me: but whosoever shall honour me, him will I glorify: but they that despise me shall be despised." See: here is clear not only what I said, but the reason is expressly added why the condition is understood in every such promise, namely that God glorifies those who honour him and makes despised those who despise him; and this is most just. You see the concordant judgment of the prophets for establishing that third foundation set out above, which moreover you have more fully declared by me in the first conclusion on the prophet Jonah.¹¹ And note well the conformity and connection of those three foundations. The first says that the kingdom of the Messiah, or of the promised Christ, is spiritual only, not bodily, as to his actual rule. Connected with it is the second, which says that his people is spiritual, and that his city, Jerusalem or Sion, can reasonably be understood in the same sense; for this follows manifestly from the first. The third affirms that the promises of goods made to his people are to be understood under a qualification,¹² namely "if they stand in the way of justice"; which, by the two earlier foundations, is the same as that they remain a spiritual people of God and under a spiritual king. This seems to follow from those two, or at least to agree very reasonably with them, since, from the moment others cease to be of the spiritual kingdom of God, they make themselves altogether strangers to the promises made to the spiritual people of God for the continuation of merits; hence the things promised ought not to be rendered to them, as that first authority adduced here for this last foundation says.

Chapter 15.

John. Please, do not be wearied if I raise a few objections against the foundations set out above, so that you may fix them more firmly. Against the first foundation seems to be everything you did in the first and in the second [book]. For if the Messiah is to be God, all the kingdoms of the world will be his, and whatever else is in this world; therefore he will have an earthly kingdom. Again, to rule in spiritual things belongs rather to the office of a priest or prophet than to a king. Unless, therefore, you show some other cause why the Messiah was foretold as king, it will not appear to me why, on account of a spiritual kingdom, he was to be openly called king by the prophets; for in that way Moses or Samuel would have been called king in Scripture.

Richard. I did not say or prove that the Messiah would not have an earthly kingdom, but that the kingdom ascribed to him by the prophets is to be understood as spiritual; and I showed that it was to consist in spiritual things, not in earthly and transitory ones, so that he would govern men in the things that concern the salvation of souls, and that according to his humanity, living among mortal men, and would not govern them as these earthly kings rule their subjects, namely in bodily glory, riches and honour and through temporal laws which they establish for themselves. But if at any time it is hinted by some prophet that he is king of the earth or lord of the earth and of all earthly things, this is to be understood because he is God, not because he was to exercise in his humanity the said temporal kingdom, in the way in which I excluded a temporal kingdom from him in the foundation written above. Yet you said prudently that he ought not to be called king, or foretold by the prophets as a future king or leader or prince or as one to have a kingdom or empire, from spiritual rule alone, since to rule so, as you rightly affirm, belongs more to a priest than to a king; and for this reason, unless he could be called king from some other cause, he would rather have been foretold in those prophecies about him as priest or prophet or teacher than as king.

John. Since the matter requires it, tell me, please, according to Scripture, in what way he was fittingly to be called king.

Richard. Four [ways] occur to me, other than the aforesaid, that is, other than spiritual rule, for each of which the Messiah could fittingly be called king: [first], in the way that Herod and Pilate seem to be called kings,¹ as is clear from Acts 4, where it is written thus: "Lord, thou that didst make heaven and earth, etc., who, by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, hast said: Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people meditate vain things? The kings stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done"; or because he was a heavenly king, that is, reigning through glory in the blessed, in which way he seems to speak in John 18: "My kingdom is not of this world"; or because he was lord of all, that is, of heaven and earth, in which way Scripture very often calls God king, as is said in Esther 14: "Give me boldness, O Lord, king of gods and of all power"; or because, by the law of nature or by the law given, he was to be king of the Jews according to his origin in the flesh — in which sense we can take what he himself says in John 18, when Pilate concluded, "Art thou a king then?": "Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born in this world," etc.² No more causes occur to me, besides the first, already proved, why the Messiah could fittingly be called king in the prophetic foretellings. But that he was so prophesied on account of a temporal kingdom, the things I adduced above from the Old Testament to establish the first foundation do not permit. Moreover, the truth of the Gospel contests it, since he not only despised the temporal glory of this [world], or bodily riches, or a kingdom of temporal things, but made and taught his disciples to despise them, according to the truth of the Gospel. And when the people wished to take him for their king, he fled into the mountain alone, as is read in John 6; and to the young man who said to him, "Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me," he answered, "O man, who hath appointed me judge?"³ — manifestly showing that he was not, and had not been, appointed judge or divider of temporal things, as it belongs to earthly kings to divide possessions and lands and the rest. And to another young man he answered, speaking of himself, beyond doubt: "The Son of man hath not where to lay his head," Matthew 8 — which did not at all befit a king in temporal things. He was not, therefore, foretold as king on account of a temporal kingdom. And that he was so prophesied because he was the heavenly king, or because he was king of heaven and earth, may perhaps be shown in some foretellings; yet, as it seems, in most foretellings of his kingdom and his rule neither of these causes can have place, namely in those foretellings which affirm him to be king of Israel, as is said in Micah 5, "Thou Bethlehem, etc., for out of thee shall come forth the leader that shall rule my people Israel,"⁴ and in John 12, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel"; or those which assert him to be king of the Jews, according to that of Zechariah 9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh to thee"; or king over Mount Sion, as is said in Psalm 2, "But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain"; or over the throne of David and over his kingdom, as the angel said to his mother, "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father." Nor, as it seems, can either of the two causes have place in any such [texts]; for in these and the like it cannot fitly be understood that the Messiah is called king or leader or prince of Israel, over Mount Sion, over the throne of David and his kingdom, because he was king of all spiritual goods, since from those causes he would equally be called king of the Egyptians, king of Arabia or of India, and king over the throne of Tiberius Caesar or of any other Roman emperor, and king over Jupiter's Capitol. Therefore [it must be] from some other cause that these things were said and foretold of God.⁵ And if anyone says that these things were foretold of God from one of the aforesaid causes together with another, particular cause — namely that he, besides being king of heaven and earth, was to be set over the Israelite people in a singular way in spiritual rule, as he is read to have answered his disciples, "I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel," Matthew 15 — so that these sayings and the like are taken as said of him from these causes together, not from the general cause alone, namely that he was the heavenly king: the very words of Psalm 2 seem to stand against him, "But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain"; for he who was heavenly king before this appointment was not appointed by God heavenly king over Mount Sion. For although he, being heavenly king, was appointed over Sion his holy mountain, yet he was not appointed by God heavenly king over Mount Sion, etc. Again, that rule is added here as the effect of his appointment as king, when it says "preaching his commandment"; he is not, therefore, called king on account of that effect as on account of a cause, but rather he is called king from another, prior cause, to preach the commandment of the Lord. It will be seen, therefore, that here he is called king from another cause than from those causes joined together. And similarly there in Psalm 71, it seems: "Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king's son thy justice: to judge thy people with justice," etc., where without doubt the prophet speaks of the Israelite people and of the future spiritual rule of that people through Christ. Nor would the prophet prudently pray for it,⁶ nor does it seem that we can in any good way understand such a power as prayed for, absolutely, for the heavenly king or the king of the world, since the heavenly king had such judgment before, unless he had expressed the nature in which he could receive this power anew, as Christ himself said⁷ that the Father "hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man," John 5. But since he accordingly adds in that psalm, "He shall come down like rain upon the fleece," describing the human nature in which he could receive this power, he therefore prays for it for the king of Israel and the son of the king of Israel according to fleshly origin. Again, that the angel had said to his mother, "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father," shows that he was to be king, where it says that David his father was king and that he was to succeed his father.⁸ Hence another cause is hinted at for his being king than that he had a heavenly kingdom or that of the whole world, or even a spiritual kingdom, since that is described by the angel immediately after, when he adds, "And he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever." Again, the people of the Jews, crying before Pilate, "If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend," and adding as the reason, "For whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar," John 19, without doubt understood not a king of the world or of heaven but a king of that land. Therefore Pilate, asking Christ, "Art thou the king of the Jews?", took the name of king in a like way and for a like cause. Hence it follows that either Christ did not answer him according to the intent of the question — which is not to be said of the supreme Wisdom — or, by answering "Thou sayest", he asserted Pilate's sense, namely that he was king of the Jews and of that land, that is, in habit and by right of origin,⁹ although he had another kingdom, as he expressed to Pilate, saying: "My kingdom is not of this world." Again, what Isaiah says of Christ or the Messiah in chapter 33 of his book, "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord himself our king will come and will save us,"¹⁰ does not seem able to be taken thus, that the prophet says that Christ or God, because he was then to come to save them, would be king, namely because he was to be king of heaven or of the whole world; since he calls him king as he calls him judge and lawgiver, and those two he says of him because he was to come in his humanity to save them by giving them a law and judging them. Therefore he means that he was to be king in this way, namely in the nature in which he was to come to save them, since he was not to be [this] of the other nations. Nor can this be said on account of spiritual rule, because that is understood by the name of judge or lawgiver, namely to govern in spiritual things. There remains, therefore, the fourth way: that he calls him their king because in his humanity, and according to it, he was to be their king by right of origin. Again, that the wise men asked, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come with gifts to adore him," Matthew 2,¹¹ sufficiently affirms that Christ was king of the Jews otherwise than of other nations; but he was not then king of the Jews on account of any actual rule, either bodily or spiritual, and that according to his humanity, according to which he is said to have been born of them. Hence it follows that he was then properly king of the Jews by right of origin. Hence for this reason it can be understood that Christ answered Pilate, who asked, "Art thou the king of the Jews?": "Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born," to show that he was, and from his origin had been, king of the Jews. For this reason too Hosea seems to say in chapter 11 of his book: "As the morning passeth, so hath the king of Israel passed away. Because Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of Egypt" — all of which seems to be said of Christ, as the last clause is said of him on the testimony of the Gospel, Matthew 2, where it is said that he was there until the death of Herod, "that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son." But at his birth, when he passed into Egypt, he was not called king of Israel on account of any kingdom, bodily or spiritual, as has been said; therefore he was so called on account of the right of his origin to the kingdom of Israel. And if anyone insists altogether that the foregoing and things like them can be understood on account of his spiritual kingdom, or the kingdom of the world, or his heavenly kingdom, or on account of two of these causes together, let him show this from the circumstances of the text if he can. To me, however, it seems more probable to say that these things were said on account of Christ's original right to the kingdom of the Jews, and that they can be drawn to this sense less violently than to another. Nor does Christ seem to me to have meant anything else in Matthew 17, when those who received the didrachma came to Peter and said to him, "Doth not your master pay the didrachma?", and Christ, when he had come into the house, prevented him, saying: "What is thy opinion, Simon? The kings of the earth, of whom do they receive custom, of their own children or of strangers?" And he said: "Of strangers." He said to him: "Then the children are free. But that we may not scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook: and that fish which shall first come up, take: and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater: take that, and give it to them for me and thee." For those officers were not asking the custom from Peter, but were hinting that the custom was to be asked of and paid by Peter's master: "Doth not your master," they say, "pay the didrachma?" And Christ, wishing to show himself free from this, took from the common admission of princes that tribute is not to be taken from the sons of the king, and by this wished to show himself exempt, hinting that he was the son of a king. But if he had understood himself to be an adopted son, or the son of the eternal King, he would not on that account have been exempt — he, namely, who was made the Son of man to fulfil the whole law, and with his own mouth defined that the things that are Caesar's are to be rendered to Caesar, Matthew 22 — nor would he have been excused from such custom; but only if he had been the son of an earthly king was he not bound to pay such tribute. Therefore in that place Christ, in my judgment, meant this; nor do I see that anything else can fitly be understood in that place.

Chapter 16.

[RICHARD.] So then it seems to me, saving a better judgment, that Christ was king of the Jews, because, namely, to his mother, who was of the house of David (there is no doubt of that, since otherwise Christ, having no carnal father, would not have been the son of David, nor his bud, against the Scripture of Jeremiah 23 and 33), the royal dignity had devolved by hereditary succession, according to the law given in Numbers 27 and the last chapter concerning the daughters of Saphath,¹ in this form: "When a man dieth without a son, his inheritance shall pass to his daughter"; that is, if he have no brethren, "he shall give the inheritance to his father's brethren. But if he have no uncles by the father, it shall be given to them that are the next akin."² So that Christ, as carnal heir of Mary his mother and of her progenitors, could truly be called king of the Jews, although he would not use that right as regards temporal things, as the things I adduced above show. For so the apostle says that he and Barnabas had the power of taking bodily things from those among whom they sowed spiritual things: "but we have not used this power," he says, 1 Corinthians 9.

John. It seems that a man's daughter could not succeed him in every inheritance, since a woman cannot fulfil the office of a king. For a woman is by nature unfit for battle, nor does fighting become her; and she also by nature lacks discretion of judgment, nor ought she to be anointed as kings are; and yet it was for these purposes that a king was at first not only asked of God but given. For so it is read in 1 Kings, chapter 8: "For a king shall be over us, and shall go out before us, and fight our battles for us"; and in chapter 9: "Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: This same hour, to morrow, I will send thee a man of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel: and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon my people, because their cry is come to me."³ Behold the office of a king: that he was to judge the people and fight its battles, and at his taking up to be anointed. Hence it does not seem that a woman, who cannot exercise these things, could succeed to a royal right. And in Deuteronomy 17 it is said: "Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother"; yet this could come about, if a woman could succeed to a king's inheritance: a Hebrew woman betrothed to a man of another nation would make king a man of another nation, to whom, as the Hebrew woman's [husband], the inheritance of that kingdom would be owed.⁴

Richard. The law given for the daughters of Saphath was not given to them alone but to all the tribes of Israel, as is clear where you cite it. Therefore it had to be kept in the same way in the tribe of Judah, namely the royal tribe, and in the house of David, as in any other. Therefore, as far as that law goes, the right to the kingdom of the Jews could pass to the mother of Christ. Yet it does not at once follow from this that a woman would reign in act, since that law was so completed⁵ that the women to whom an inheritance passed should marry men of their own tribe; and since "the head of the woman is the man," 1 Corinthians 11, consequently [the man] would reign, since he could judge the people and wage wars for them, not the woman; yet in the woman's stead, not as king, but as filling the king's place on behalf of his wife until her offspring came of age. Hence on this head you do not weaken [the claim] that Christ could truly be called king in the manner stated. As to what you object from Deuteronomy 17, it is answered in two ways: because it was commanded that women should marry only men of their own tribe; and because the text says "thou mayst not make," it does not by this deny that it could be done.

Again, from another clause of the law you cited above it could have come about that Christ ought to be king of the Jews, namely from that clause, "But if he have no uncles by the father, the inheritance shall be given to them that are next akin." For even if the right to the kingdom did not pass to a daughter or a wife, and so had not passed to Christ's mother, yet if the father of the Virgin Mary, Christ's mother, or her brother had had a right to the kingdom, or had actually been king, and he had died having no brothers or uncles by the father, the right to the kingdom ought to have passed to the son of the Virgin Mary, as to the nearest in blood to that dead man, since the law says that "the inheritance shall be given to them that are next akin"; even though the Virgin's father or her brother had had kinsmen from his uncles and others in blood besides Christ,⁶ since a daughter's son, or a sister's son too, is nearer to a man than the son of his uncle by the father. Moreover, from the same clause it could have come about that a grandfather of the Virgin, such as her father's father or her mother's father, or an uncle of the Virgin Mary, or another of her progenitors, to whom the royal succession was owed, had died leaving no male near in blood except Christ; whence it follows that the inheritance was owed to Christ.

Hence it seems to me that, according to Holy Scripture, it can probably be said that in the Jewish kingdom the right to the kingdom belonged to our Christ through his mother, by reason of his carnal origin. In favour of this is the form of Matthew's narrative describing the origin of Christ: for since Matthew the evangelist states in advance that he will narrate the generation of Christ, from David down to Zorobabel the leader he names none but kings in the time of the kings, and princes or leaders in the time of the princes who succeeded the kings for that people. This is clear enough from the book of Paralipomenon, 1, chapter 3, from the book of Ezra, chapter 3, and from the prophecy of Haggai and Zechariah; and it is likely that it was so with the rest that follow whom he names, that all were kings in the manner stated, namely succeeding in the kingdom of the Jews by hereditary right; so that we may consequently say that Joseph is named there for this reason, that through his wife the governance of that kingdom was owed to him, at least for a time, as will be shown more fully elsewhere, if God grants, in the question on this in that chapter of the evangelist Matthew.

Yet this does not impugn the foundation laid above, which I understood, as I said, of the kingdom or royal dignity as exercised, that is, of actual rule, not of the bare right to the kingdom according to the divine law, which no doubt contains the law of nature, namely that the one nearer to a man in carnal propagation succeeds him in temporal and carnal inheritance. In this way I said Christ was called king there, where it says "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?", and there where Christ answered Pilate, asking "Art thou the king of the Jews?": "Thou sayest it," Matthew 27. And on this account can be understood what was said by the angel to Christ's mother about him: "And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house" etc., Luke 1; and that of Isaiah 9: "He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom"; and that of Jeremiah 23: "I will raise up to David a just branch, and a king shall reign, and shall be wise"; and that of Luke 19:⁷ "Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord"; and that of John 12: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel"; and Micah 5: "For out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel";⁸ and many like sayings. From the foregoing we can gather that Christ, by right of carnal succession, ought to have been king of the Jewish people, and that he never exercised actual rule over them in temporal things, but only in spiritual.

Chapter 17.

John. As to the second foundation, it seems to me that it is sufficiently resolved concerning Jerusalem and Sion. For Jerusalem in Abraham's time was called Salem, of which Melchisedech was king, as Genesis 14 says; afterwards, at the time of the division of the land of the Canaanites to the Hebrew people, it was called Jebus, as appears in Joshua 18;⁹ and then too it was called Jerusalem, as is said in the same place. Since, then, between these names Jerusalem and Sion and the names of that nation, namely Jews, Hebrews, Israel, Jacob, Judah and the like, there is no fittingness as to the carnal sense, such that these names Jerusalem and Sion should have taken a single sense from any of those, it seems to follow that these names took their sense and origin from the conditions of the Jewish people, namely from their virtues; and so they can fit another people as reasonably as that one, provided the sense and reason of these names be observed in it. But of Israel it does not seem so to me. For although as to the sense or senses you expounded above it could thus fit another people, yet this does not seem to be the chief sense; [the chief sense seems] to be carnal, namely by reason of the carnal parent who had been called Israel.¹⁰ Hence this people is frequently called the children of Israel, from Israel their father, namely their carnal father; and it seems that this is the principal origin of this name and of its sense, and according to that sense it does not seem that it could fit the church, or the congregation of the just.

Richard. Observe that our Christ, the mother of Christ, the apostles of Christ, and all his disciples who were with him, and very many converted to Christ by Christ and his apostles in the time of his preaching and of his apostles' in that land which we call the land of promise, were by carnal origin of the Jews. Hence in Acts 21,¹¹ when Paul came to Jerusalem, the brethren said: "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews that have believed in God,¹² and they are all zealous for the law." And so it is evident that the church of Christ, gathered from all nations, was principally from the Jews, indeed from Jerusalem; of whom very many, namely Peter, James and others, greatly increased that primitive church of Christ not only by spiritual justification but also by carnal propagation. So that by this reason, even if there were no other, the whole church of Christ, or, to speak in conformity with the Jews, the whole congregation of the just, could reasonably claim for itself carnal names, as also these names Sion and Jerusalem, by reason of its more principal part from the beginning, and by reason of the continuation of that part through carnal succession; so that the church may properly and fittingly be called Israel, Jacob, Judah, Sion and Jerusalem, when these names are taken for a people.

Nevertheless, lest the foundation laid down above should totter on the other side, let us inquire into the first origin of this name Israel. For behold, in Genesis 32 we shall find what we seek, where it is said thus of Jacob: "and all things that belonged to him being sent over, he remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till morning. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob. By no means, he said, shall thy name be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? And afterwards he called the name of this place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved." Then in chapter 35 it is read thus: "And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him, saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel, and said to him: I am God almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of nations shall come forth from thee, kings shall come out of thy loins."¹³

You see the origin of this name: namely that the name is imposed on him from the sense of the name, and not, conversely, that it took its sense from the imposition, as happens in our names, where names, because they are imposed by us to signify, receive their sense and signification. Again, you see that that naming is conferred as a blessing: "and he blessed him, saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name"; which would not be so by reason of the bare name, but by reason of its sense. Hence in chapter 28, when the promise was being made to him, it is said: "in thee shall be blessed";¹⁴ and in the promise to Abraham or to Isaac this was not done in this way; and that is from no other cause than that those to be blessed in the seed, namely in Christ, were to have his name and its sense. Again, you see that the name itself is common, not proper, since the sense by reason of which it is imposed is common. For although this name, by reason of its imposition made on Jacob himself by the angel, designated that person as it were singularly and appropriately, yet that singular or proper signification of the name was later than the other, common one held beforehand; therefore the preceding one, which is common, is shown to be its principal sense.

From which it is clearly shown that by reason of carnal descent this name can in no way belong to his successors, unless carnal descent made the sense of the name belong to the successor, which the nature of propagation has not had since the time of the first parent's sin. For a name having a common sense belongs to no one except by reason of its sense, as you see in all. For no one is newly called just unless he has the virtue of justice, nor rich unless he has riches, nor a man unless he has a rational soul and a body; so no one ought to be called Israel unless he be beloved with God. Hence in Isaiah 48 it is said: "Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda"; where he openly affirms them to be sons of Judah, but does not call them sons of Israel, because they were wicked, as is described there afterwards; and so they falsely usurped that name to themselves; hence he says to them, "you that are called by the name of Israel."

But if the Jews or any others tell us that Israel, by the angel's imposition, became Jacob's own proper name, what we intend is all the more strengthened by this. For a parent's proper name never descends to the son by force of carnal propagation: the son of a John is never called John,¹⁵ nor the son of a William called William, from his paternal origin, unless that name be imposed on the offspring as on the father. Therefore on account of that parent the Jews or others can in no way properly be called Israel, although for this reason they could reasonably be called sons of Israel. You see, therefore, that the foundation written above holds the truth more plainly about this name Israel than about the names Jerusalem and Sion, whose origin is not so clearly evident to us. And so you see that the Jews, unless they were just, are wholly strangers to this name Israel; and likewise, by the reply given above, to these names Jerusalem and Sion, which do not properly belong except to the church militant, or triumphant, that is, heavenly, or to their members, according to the sufficiently solid argument given above: because their sense properly fits no other at all.

Chapter 18.

John. The third foundation, too, would seem to me solid enough, except that it seems to follow from it that the promises and foretellings made of the Messiah have this condition implicit in them. And so it does not seem that the things you laid down above to prove that he has come contain an absolute truth, but a conditioned one: if the people remained in justice. It is evident that this condition was not found in the people, as you seem to hint, and it is true; and for this reason the other things promised them did not come about.

Richard. You have not understood carefully enough the foundation laid above. For I laid it down only of the benefits, or the good things promised to the people or to the kings, which God was going to give them for the continuance of their merits. But of those things which God was going to do not for their merits, but rather against their merits and of his mere grace, namely of the promise of the promised Christ and of the things that concerned his coming, I did not say that the condition stated above must be understood; since he came both against the merits of the Jews and especially for the saving of other nations, as the form of the promise shows. For it is said: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," and elsewhere "all the tribes of the earth," Genesis 26 and 28. And so the foundation stated above does not concern the coming of the Messiah. You therefore must cautiously distinguish, in their places, when it is needed, what should belong to an absolute promise or foretelling and what to a conditioned one.

Chapter 19.

John. I shall be attentive enough; go on where you are going.

Richard. By these three foundations, which cannot be denied, I think I plainly show what you asked above. For from this third foundation it follows that, although our Christ was the promised Messiah, it still does not follow that the good things promised, concerning the kingdom, concerning David the promised king and shepherd,¹ concerning the continuance of the priesthood, concerning the multitude of peace at his coming, concerning perpetual dwelling, and the other things you counted in the authorities, were bestowed on the Jews at his coming. For it is evident that at that time they did not keep the way of justice. This is evident from the effect, namely that at that time Herod of Ascalon, who was a foreigner, reigned over them, and so the kingdom had passed from the seed of David, contrary to the promises given them if they remained in justice, as I have shown above. You have, therefore, from this single foundation that we are not bound to believe that the sense you laid down as literal in the authorities above is the literal one. Rather, we are compelled to confess that the literal sense is another, namely the one by which these things are designated as to come to them under a condition, through the coming or at the coming of the Messiah, or at the bringing back of the Babylonian captivity: things which, because of their wickedness and hardness of heart, will never come for ever, since the time has lapsed in which they ought to have come. This will presently appear clearer than light. That time is the time of the restoration from the Babylonian captivity, which began from the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, as is clear at the end of Paralipomenon and at the end of the book of Ezra,² and ended in the devastation of the city of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews brought about by Titus and Vespasian, emperors, that is, 42 years after the death of our Christ. In that restoration, between these two general captivities, more than six hundred years passed.

Now it is evident that the promises you laid down from the book of Jeremiah were made to the Jews for this time, if you look at the course of his book. For behold, in chapter 29 of his book it is said that Jeremiah, after the captivity had begun in the person of Jehoiachin, of his mother and of his household, while Zedekiah was ruling in Jerusalem, sent a letter to those captives in Babylon, urging them to build there and plant vineyards and pray for the peace of the king of Babylon, since they were to be kept there for seventy years, and when the 70 years were completed were to be visited and brought back into Judaea. And there, by the word of the Lord, he rebuked Shemaiah the Nehelamite, because he falsely foretold to king Zedekiah and the people that that captivity would quickly end. Hence in chapter 30 there is foretold, in sequence, the bringing back from that captivity and the gravity of the sins for which it had to last so long. And among the words of that foretelling of the bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, I for my part judge that nothing is said there of the Messiah, but of a king David to come if the people had remained in justice after the return. I do not know whether that was fulfilled, since the Jews had many kings and leaders before, or at least after, the times of the Maccabees, of whom no mention is made in our Scripture. But if it was not fulfilled, it is awaited in vain to be fulfilled, like what was promised to the Jews in the same place, for that time and in the same sequence: "and strangers shall no more rule over him." For it is evident that this was never fulfilled and is never to be fulfilled, since it is evident that it was foretold for the time of that return. For if "strangers shall no more rule over him" had been fulfilled then, they would not at present be in servitude, as we see with our eyes that they are; although this and other like things can also reasonably be understood otherwise, as will be clear below.

Chapter 20.³

[RICHARD.] Again, this prophecy speaks next, in chapter 31, of the time of the bringing back from the aforesaid Babylonian captivity, as no one looking at the text can deny, and also some things of the Messiah, such as "the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall compass a man," and then of the giving of the new law, as I treated above. And fittingly, since he came in the time of this restoration, namely in that fifth age of the world, and so in that age his coming is prophesied by the prophets in sequence. For they foretell the restoration from that Babylonian captivity, and then, in sequence, they foretell the building of the city of Jerusalem beyond the line: "and the city shall be built to the Lord" etc.⁴ Some say this was fulfilled to the letter under Nehemiah. But what follows, "and it shall not be plucked up" etc., it is evident was never fulfilled of that city and is never to be fulfilled, since it was destroyed by Titus and Vespasian; and deservedly, since the condition written above did not remain in the people. And yet it is not against us, nor for the Jews as regards a future coming of the Messiah.

And if we take that about the rebuilding of the city beyond the line etc. wholly to the letter, as still to come, this seems probable. For in Apocalypse 11 it is said of Enoch and Elijah (as we understand it of the two witnesses whom he will send at the end of the world to prophesy and preach) that "their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified." Since, then, the Lord was crucified outside the gate, as the apostle says in Hebrews, the last chapter, it follows that that city which is to be great there will go out beyond the line, as is said here, namely the ancient line, since its streets will be where the Lord was crucified, as is said here. But let the Jews observe that the city is not foretold here to be built on account of the coming of the Messiah, but is simply foretold there;⁵ likewise it is not foretold to be built for the Jews, nor even by the Jews, but by the Lord. Therefore it does nothing for them or against us. And so what follows, "it shall not be plucked up for ever," must be understood both by the Jews and by us either "until the end of the world" or "not by the incursion of enemies," and so it is true. But many saints do not think it is understood of an earthly city but of a spiritual one, since there is added, "it shall not be plucked up, and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever." For this cannot to the letter [be said] of any earthly city, as it seems to them, according to the primary sense of the term "for ever": since, if this is to be, it will be about the end of the world, and so this city will stand a short time; hence Scripture would not say of it, "it shall not be plucked up and it shall not be destroyed for ever," since then it would be about to be destroyed shortly, as it seems to them. Which of these expositions is literal, let the prudent doctor judge; to me, however, it seems that the first is, and the second I would in no way believe to be literal.

That from Zechariah 6 you object for the Jews in vain, since our Jesus, to the letter, through his apostles and disciples built not one temple only but innumerable ones; although that temple could, I think, be understood more truly according to the prophet's sense as spiritual, as the congregation of the faithful is called his church there: "let his praise be in the church of the saints." And there, in Psalm 10:⁶ "The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven"; and there also in 28: "and in his temple all shall speak his glory." So too in Isaiah 45 it is read of a city to be built, namely a spiritual one, of perfect men, when he says: "I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord of hosts," as the following words show. For there follows immediately: "Thus saith the Lord: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and of Sabaim, men of stature shall come over to thee, and shall be thine: they shall walk after thee." Behold the declaration of what sort that building of the city by the Messiah is: namely that both the Egyptians and the Ethiopians and the men of stature of Sabaim shall walk after him, and come over to him, and be his. Hence it seems to be one and the same thing that one prophet says, namely that he will build a temple, and that another says, namely that he will build a city.

Again, in chapter 32, for the time of this bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, the Lord, in order to confirm the foretelling, next commanded the prophet to buy the field of his cousin in the town of his origin, namely Anathoth, so that the people, seeing the prophet buy the field in hope of the bringing back from captivity, might await that bringing back more confidently. And so he prophesies that bringing back, or return, at length in another chapter, namely chapter 33, and adds what you added above first from Jeremiah: "I will make the just bud to spring forth unto David" etc.,⁷ and "there shall not be cut off a man" etc. Since it is evident that this last was promised for that time of the return and is not fulfilled, the condition written above must be understood, and so it is awaited in vain to be fulfilled.

Chapter 21.

[RICHARD.] Now I want you to attend diligently to this, both here and in all similar sayings of the prophets, as I also warned you above: namely that the first part of this foretelling, since it concerns the mere grace of God, not the merit of the people but rather its sin and demerit, as Ezekiel 36 says, "It is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which is polluted among the nations, which you have polluted in their midst,"⁸ is to be understood absolutely; whereas what is foretold afterwards, concerning the merit and perseverance of the people in the way of justice, is to be taken under the condition written above. And if you consider this attentively, you will suffer fewer difficulties in similar sayings. Understand in this way the first authority that you objected above from Ezekiel: namely that what concerns the Messiah must be understood absolutely, while the rest does not follow ever to be fulfilled, for want of the condition written above. As there, in Ezekiel 34, "I will save my flock": understand that it was absolutely to be fulfilled, and it was to be fulfilled at the time of the bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, during which this prophet prophesied. But what follows immediately, "and it shall be no more a spoil," since it concerns the perseverance of the people in good, you must understand under this condition, according to the third foundation proved above; it can, however, be taken otherwise, reasonably, as will be clear in the following chapter.

But by David, neither here nor in the others you set down above, do I think the Messiah is understood, but the seed of David in general, succeeding him. Nor do you rightly affirm from the authority of Ezekiel chapter 34 that the good things foretold there to the Jewish people are prophesied as coming to them because of the presence of David their shepherd and prince, or because of the presence of the bud of renown.⁹ For he does not hint this there; rather he foretells these benefits named before together with David the prince and the coming of his bud, namely the Messiah, just as other things are foretold there as to come to them.¹⁰ If you understand them according to the third foundation laid above, they do not stand against what I proved of the Messiah's past coming.

Nor does what you adduced from Zechariah make against my proposition, whether Scripture calls the Messiah David or not, but rather David's seed succeeding him, as I said. For just as no other king, so neither the Messiah, whom the Jews were going to kill, as was clear, was [to be] their earthly king for ever, as you seemed to understand. But you should understand that all these things were to be fulfilled, according to the third foundation, at the bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, of which it is evident that the prophet speaks beforehand there and through the three preceding chapters; so that the kingdom of the Jews would have lasted from then until the end of the world if the people had persevered in good. But now, since the contrary is evident, they are awaited in vain to be fulfilled.

What you set down from Hosea chapter 3 does not pertain at all to the Messiah, nor did you prove that it does; hence it is neither against us nor for the Jews, nor even for us. But it can be understood of the Babylonian captivity and the bringing back from it, and so by David one must understand a king of his seed, since it is foretold that at the return they would seek him; and if this is not fulfilled, then, according to this third foundation, it is awaited in vain to be fulfilled. Nor does that phrase "in the last days" stand in the way, since the last age of the world is called "the last day," as Peter alleges in Acts 2. And yet it can be understood of the liberation of the Jews from this misery and error in which they now are, which will take place through Elijah the prophet at the end of the world, as is promised them in Malachi 3 at the end,¹¹ as you set down above among the objections; and Joel 3 at the beginning, where he says that "in those days and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem, I will gather together all, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat, and I will plead with them there" etc. For then, as the apostle Paul says, "all Israel shall be saved," Romans 11; and he alleges for this, as far as it seems to me, the scripture of Isaiah, chapter 59 at the end, which you set down above here. And Ezekiel, in chapter 34¹² of his book, seems to speak of the restoration of the Jews then to come, and of the slaying of Gog and Magog in the land of Israel by the people Israel; and the Saviour says, Matthew 17: "Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things."

Nor does the phrase "in the last days" stand in the way, since in Scripture the last day is sometimes called the last age of the world, as is clear in Acts 2, where Peter alleges Joel, saying: "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day: but this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons shall prophesy" etc.; where he calls the time of Christ and the apostles the last days, that is, the last age of the world. Indeed Scripture without distinction calls remote future times the last days, that is, the last age of the world, as in Genesis 49¹³ it is said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days," although he foretells the dwellings of the tribes in the land of promise, long since past, and many other things, as is clear to anyone looking at the text, which it is evident have been fulfilled. Nor in this way does it work anything else against us, whether they are then to have a king named David or not, since these things are not promised them through the coming of the Messiah.

[RICHARD.]¹⁴ According to that foundation, that text of Isaiah chapter 52, if you take it so, does not stand against us. For what is promised there, the taking away of the cup of sleep and of the indignation of God, that is, of punishment,¹⁵ it is evident was absolutely fulfilled, since by that cup of God's indignation, that is, of punishment, he means the penalty of captivity and of the destruction of the city or the scattering of the people; which cup he removed at the bringing back from captivity. But the rest, because the condition of merit did not exist, have not been continued up to the present, if they are understood by way of foretelling or promise; but rather [they are to be understood] by way of counsel or precept. Moreover, that text, and what follows, "the uncircumcised and unclean shall no more pass through thee," and other like things you objected above, do not import perpetuity, but seem reasonably to be understood as sometimes declaring the end of those penalties for the captive Jews, not that they would never afterwards begin again upon them; as we are accustomed to say of a man about to be freed from prison, "you will be no more in prison, nor any longer in his custody," although perhaps after his release he may have to be imprisoned again for some new offence in the future. So it is said in Zechariah 11, "I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord," which was said for a time, not for always, since the Lord never dealt so mercifully with the inhabitants of the land as he did after this saying. So in 4 Kings 6 it is said, "the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel," which had truth only for a time.

So too are fittingly understood that text about Jerusalem which I expounded above in chapter 20,¹⁶ that which I expounded in chapter 19, that of Ezekiel 34 which I expounded in the chapter just before, and likewise that of Isaiah chapter 2, "neither shall they be exercised any more to war," and that of chapter 4 of the book of Micah which you set down in chapter 4; so that such sayings prove nothing for them, nor do they weaken anything else among our proofs. And what you set down about earthly things does not, according to that foundation, argue a future coming of the Messiah: for that the Jews are in their present exile is because the condition written above, of their continual justice, is not found, as the effect itself shows and they themselves confess.

And that text of Isaiah chapter 49, "I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles" etc., and "Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me" etc., was fulfilled to the letter of the bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, since it is evident that under Ezra and Nehemiah the walls of Sion were built, as in Nehemiah 6 and 7. And afterwards, at the coming of our Christ, there was opulence and abundance of people there; at the time of his nativity three kings of the Magi came there to adore; and after Christ's passion, kings and queens innumerable came there to adore the Lord, no doubt with many converted to Christ from the Jews and from the Gentiles, who are called brothers of the Jews, after the Lord had lifted up his standard to the peoples, as is said there,¹⁷ that is, had made the sign of the cross through his apostles, and had exalted it, and there it is said to be preached and commended among the Gentiles; and so the whole is fulfilled to the letter. What is said in chapter 49, therefore, "I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles," and "Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me" etc., is resolved by the third foundation. For he foretells these things for the time of the bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, since he says in the preceding chapter, "Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans," and then, after interposing many things about the Messiah, he adds these that you set down; and if they were not fulfilled in that return, they are awaited in vain.

[RICHARD.]¹⁸ Just as you understand the foregoing according to the third foundation, so you should take several other things according to the second foundation. The first of them, from Isaiah chapter 9, was discussed above in the declaration of the first foundation that I laid down. But what you set down from chapter 33, "Look upon Sion" etc., you should understand according to the second foundation laid above, since it is not said of an earthly city. For it does not fit an earthly city that it "cannot be removed," since it can be destroyed, nor that "the nails thereof shall not be taken away for ever, and all the cords thereof shall not be broken," since every earthly city will, no doubt, be destroyed at the final judgment, if not before. Again, it would not befit the earthly city of Jerusalem, if it were of such glory, to be a place of rivers; rather it would stand on dry ground. But here there follows of it immediately: "a place of rivers, very broad and spacious streams," which must be taken of the streams of spiritual grace, since it does not fit bodily things at all. Therefore, from the circumstance of the text, it was not fulfilled according to the carnal sense of the Jews;¹⁹ rather, as you see, it drives that sense out. But the whole is elegantly taken of the congregation of the just, that is, the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah. Hence, as the cause of the foregoing, there follows: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will come and save us."²⁰ This kingdom of the Messiah, or this city Jerusalem of the Messiah, cannot be removed: for although some of it could be turned aside and removed, yet the whole is always permanent in its place and immovable from its place. And so its virtues, or its prelates, are holy and are its nails and cords, and they shall not be broken nor taken away, since God alone rules and judges it and gives it the law that it follows; and it is evident that this city is very rich in spiritual gifts. Whether these sayings are understood for the time of grace of this city of the Messiah or for the time of its glory makes no difference to the present business. From this it is evident that the literal sense of this saying cannot be carnal, but from the circumstance of the text it is also shown to be spiritual.

I want you, however, to understand such sayings of the prophets cautiously, since in the same sequence the discourse is sometimes about this spiritual city Jerusalem for the time of its warfare upon earth, and some things are mixed in about its state in glory after the final judgment or at the final judgment, as will be clear below. This can reasonably happen, since all concern the same thing, and they succeed one another in it; just as in the prophecies the discourse is sometimes about the first coming of its king, namely the Messiah, and some things are mixed in about his second coming to the final judgment. Carefully, then, distinguish these four from the circumstances. So what you set down from chapter 35 of Isaiah, "God himself will come" etc., seems to be said of his first coming; and what you added at once, "and they shall walk that shall be delivered" etc., is fittingly taken as to be fulfilled at the second coming; so that first, from Christ's coming, the justice of the church as to its members and its redemption are shown, and consequently its final glorification. They can also be understood, fittingly enough, of the time of grace, but better in the first way. In no way, however, can it be understood carnally of the earthly Sion, as you seemed to understand it, since there cannot be everlasting joy in that, nor can it stand without labour, in groaning, at least, of women in labour and of infants. Chapter 52²¹ has something similar, almost word for word: "And now they that are redeemed by the Lord" etc., which you should understand in the same way.

Chapter 24.²²

Again, that text of Isaiah 54, according to the second foundation, it is evident is said of the church that was to be enlarged and increased from the Gentiles, as is said here: "Enlarge the place of thy tent" etc., "thou shalt pass on to the right hand and to the left: thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles." That the prophet is not speaking there of an earthly city is evident, since "I will lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy bulwarks of jasper" does not fit an earthly city. Again, at the end the cause is declared to which the whole discourse is directed, when it says: "This is the inheritance of the servants of God,²³ and their justice with me, saith the Lord." Hence it is clear that all are said generally of the congregation of the servants of God, not of the ancient earthly city or of the Jewish nation especially. This is also evident from the fact that he calls her to whom he speaks "a wife cast off from her youth," which does not fit the synagogue, which flourished in the time of its youth, but rather fits the church of the Gentiles, or the church by reason of the converted Gentiles, in whom she was cast off when she flourished in the Jews, since then there were few faithful or just among the Gentiles. Again, that earlier text, "Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise and a hymn, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that had a husband,"²⁴ could not fit the synagogue of the Jews, since she had been fruitful in bearing before and had a husband, as the Lord frequently calls himself the husband and spouse of this people: Jeremiah 3, "Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am the husband"; in Hosea 2 it is said, "I will espouse thee to me for ever," or "in perpetuity." Again, if the synagogue itself were understood by the barren and desolate one, we shall not find which congregation we are to say had a husband, since at that time he had no other nation joined to him as a faithful spouse, of which our Scripture gives evidence. Therefore, since the whole must be understood [of another], one must take the whole of the church of the Gentiles, or, as the apostle seems to mean in Galatians 4, of the church above, namely "that Jerusalem which is above, which is our mother," or of the last church, by reason of the Gentiles to be converted. Hence immediately, in chapter 55,²⁵ the prophet cries: "All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat"; adding of the Messiah: "Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the Gentiles." And speaking to her to whom [he spoke] in the previous chapter, as is clear from the sequence of the text, he adds: "Behold thou callest nations which thou knewest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run to thee."²⁶ Hence it is evident that he speaks of the church which was to be increased and multiplied among the Gentiles by the Messiah.

Chapter 25.

[RICHARD.] So too that text of chapter 60 which you set down above, "Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem" etc., you will take according to that foundation. For it cannot be taken of the earthly city of Jerusalem, even together with its people, since it cannot fit it that "Thou shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day, neither shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory. Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not decrease: for the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light." Are the Jews so foolish as to say that so splendid a city lacks altogether the light of the sun by day and the light of the moon by night, or that in the time of its glory the moon will not have from the sun its alternation of increase and decrease, or even that this sun will then not set? Rather, the sayings would then contradict each other: "thy sun shall go down no more" and "thou shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day," since it would always be day if the sun never set. But that you may clearly see that it must be understood according to the foundation written above, behold, there follows at the end: "And thy people shall be all just, they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand to glorify me." He speaks, then, of that Jerusalem whose people are all the just, not a few Jews.

Hence what follows at the end of the discourse fits the apostles of Christ: "The least shall become a thousand, and a little one a most strong nation: I the Lord will suddenly do this thing in its time." Of these, Paul, who had been last in his calling and calls himself the least, 1 Corinthians 15 and Ephesians 3, converted a people almost infinite, and so did each of the other apostles. For all the apostles of Christ, very simple men and like little ones, converted a strong nation to the faith of Christ, flying through the countries. Hence he set down of them above, here: "Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?", expressing their course through the nations by the name of clouds and their simplicity by the name of the dove. Further, so that the thing might be more astonishing and the faith firmer, he affirms that all this was done as it were suddenly, in the time of Christ; hence, turning the discourse to him, namely the Messiah, he says: "in its time I will suddenly do this."¹ And immediately he joins on, of himself, what you set down above from chapter 61, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me" etc., describing the cause of his coming, namely "to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up," which belong to the consolation and redemption of the human race and the liberation of our parents from hell. And then he adds the office of the apostles there: "and they shall be called in it," namely in the Sion and Jerusalem spoken of above, "the mighty ones of justice, the planting of the Lord to glorify him," that is, the apostles and other holy preachers planted by Christ in this Jerusalem to glorify him by the strength of their justice etc. Hence at the end he concludes thus: "so shall the Lord God make justice to spring forth, and praise before all the nations."

That these things cannot be understood of the city of Sion or Jerusalem or of its nation, the sequence of the text affirms. For speaking to them he says, "But you shall be called the priests of the Lord," which does not fit the Jewish people but only a few Levites. Again, "everlasting joy shall be unto them" is foreign to the people of an earthly city and to its earthly dwelling. Again, he says that the budding of which he speaks is to be among the Gentiles and in the midst of the peoples, not only in the earthly Jerusalem or Sion. Again, he says that the budding of which he speaks is of justice; therefore here he is speaking of the building of ruined and deserted cities² in a spiritual sense, not a bodily one, since bodily building does not pertain to justice. Hence these and the other things said there fit the church, the apostles and the other disciples of Christ very beautifully: namely that "in their land they shall receive double," that "everlasting joy shall be unto them," where the final beatitude of body and soul is promised them, namely in the land of the living, the land from which he says Christ was cut off,³ and of which he said above, in chapter 38, "I said: I shall not see the Lord⁴ in the land of the living." To them also fits "I will make their work in truth, and I will make a perpetual covenant with them" etc., and what follows, which I have by no means undertaken to expound here. For this business let it suffice that these sayings are shown not only to be capable of being understood otherwise than the Jews understand them, but to be wholly incapable of being understood in that way.

Chapter 26.⁵

[RICHARD.] To this church, namely Jerusalem, fit the things that are prophesied in the following chapter, not to an earthly or bodily city. For it does not fit such a city that "Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day and night, they shall never hold their peace." For there is no perpetual watch upon the walls of any bodily city; but upon the walls of the church there is the watch of the angels, who will never for ever cease from the praise of God, whether we call its walls the perfect, or the prelates, or the diverse peoples in which and upon which the church is founded and built. For if you attend to the second foundation written above, you will find all the things said in these three chapters, on which the Jews raise themselves against us, wholly foreign to them, except insofar as some of them are or were parts of the church of Christ, whose building, royal dignity, glory, eternal stability and newness of name (that it be called holy, as is said at the end of the chapter) are described in the whole of this chapter 62. Of this Jerusalem the prophet speaks next in chapter 65, both for the state of its glory and for the state of grace in the present: "Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." Understand these things of the state of glory of this most noble city. But what follows you should take of the state of grace in the present: "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of my hands shall be of long continuance. My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bud forth in trouble;⁶ for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."

Chapter 27.

[RICHARD.] But the texts you set down from Jeremiah, Isaiah and Malachi about the restoration of the Levitical priesthood and the approval of the sacrifices of the old or Mosaic law through, or at, the coming of the Messiah do not prove what you intend to affirm. For the first, from Jeremiah, as was clear above in chapter 19, is understood according to the third foundation. The second, from Isaiah, if it is taken of the first coming of the Messiah, contains the truth to the letter: namely that from the Jews converted to the faith of Christ by the apostles, the Lord took many to be Levites and priests according to the order of Melchisedech,⁷ so that they might offer a clean oblation, as Malachi says in chapter 1 of his book, as I adduced above. And such priests and Levites, whom he called ministers here above in chapter 61, he will take until the end of the world; and from then on, the new heaven and the new earth having been made, they will stand for ever, as he said before⁸ above in chapter 61, that "in their land they shall receive double, everlasting joy shall be unto them."

Moreover, that text of Malachi 3, "he is like a fire" etc., if it is taken to the letter of the first coming of the Messiah, is fulfilled in the apostles and disciples of Christ themselves, many of whom were of the tribe of Levi, whom Christ purged spiritually from their sins and made priests and Levites, so that they might "offer in justice," as he says: not in the blood of goats or of calves.⁹ And such a sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem pleased him, as formerly the oblations of the just from the beginning of the world did, more, that is, than the sacrifices of the law, which had been imposed as a burden on a people prone to idolatry. For this is understood¹⁰ manifestly from his saying "as in the days of old, and in the ancient years." But this is not said for the approval of the legal sacrifices through the coming of the Messiah, since the same prophet, of that very time, says in chapter 1 of his book that in the time of the Messiah the Lord will not receive them, saying: "I will not receive a gift of your hand." Nor did he ever approve them for ever. Hence it follows that they are wholly reprobated, and that from the time of the passion of our Christ they no longer were or will be necessary for salvation, as was defined by our apostles, Acts 15,¹¹ or rather by the Holy Spirit, as is asserted there by the college of the apostles and disciples.

Chapter 28.

[RICHARD.] As to the things you objected in the ninth chapter about the multitude of peace, you should observe that the first, from the ninth chapter of Isaiah, is understood of spiritual peace, as was proved in the twelfth chapter of this [book]. That from the eleventh chapter, too, it has been proved must be understood otherwise, in the eleventh [?] chapter of this [book],¹² where the same thing was objected by you. But what you had set down from the second chapter of Isaiah and the fourth chapter of Micah, which you also set down in chapter 9, does not move [us] as much as it claims to. For one need not weigh much his saying "It shall be in the last days," so as to take them as the very last days of all, since the Jews themselves deny this. For how would so noble a peace come about through the Messiah, or how would the kingdom of David be strengthened through him for ever, if he came in the very last days of all? Therefore let us take the last age of the world, namely the sixth age, or a time remote from the time of that prophecy, as I expounded and confirmed above in chapter 20 of this [book].

Again, you do not rightly take "the mountain of the Lord" carnally as Mount Sion; you should take it as the Messiah, for otherwise, as appears from the sequence of the text, nothing is said there of the Messiah. Moreover, if you take it carnally, how is what Isaiah himself says in chapter 40 of the coming of the Messiah true, as you objected in the same chapter: "Every valley shall be filled,¹³ and the hill shall then be made low"? [Then] Sion will not be [exalted]: then Mount Sion will not be lifted above the hills.¹⁴ Hence, as here by mountains we must understand powerful men and by valleys humble men, so there by the mountain we must take the God-man Christ, namely the Messiah, as Daniel took it in the second chapter of his book when he says: "But the stone that struck became a great mountain, to which all nations flowed,"¹⁵ that is, many from every kingdom. Hence Isaiah says there in this prophecy: "And nations shall flow unto it, and many people shall go"; Micah says: "Many peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come in haste." These two sayings, it is evident, are taken by the prophets for the same thing, and they foretell one prophecy.

Nor, moreover, should it move [you] that he says "Neither shall they be exercised any more to war, nation shall not lift up sword against nation." For this is said of the time of the Messiah's coming, and of the time before and after and surrounding it,¹⁶ as I explained above in chapter 21 in similar cases, not so that "any more" imports perpetuity. And it was said so because there was then so great a peace, and before and after for forty years, namely until the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Titus and Vespasian, that there was never a greater or better one there. Indeed, at that time the heads of the whole world were enrolled under the rule of one man,¹⁷ which argues a wonderful and very solid peace among mortals; indeed we read of none such ever from the beginning of the world. Hence, as far as this effect or sign of the Messiah's coming goes, we can confidently affirm that our Christ is the Messiah, because of the abundance of peace that there was at his birth, as the prophets foretold, if anyone contends that they said or foretold such things of bodily peace. Yet as it is said of him in Psalm 71, "In his days shall arise abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away,"¹⁸ this has no truth of bodily peace if the Messiah is said to be still to come, since it is evident that after his coming, at the end of the world, there will be the battles of Gog and Magog in the land of Israel, as is clear in Ezekiel 38 and 39, before the moon is taken away.¹⁹ This too was shown more fully in chapter 12 of this [book], in supporting the first foundation that I laid down. Hence in Ezekiel 38 and 39 it is foretold of Gog and Magog that "at the end of years" they will come "to the land that is returned from the sword," and that they will fall there, and their weapons in such a multitude that for seven years the children of Israel will burn them with fire, nor will they bring wood out of the countries, since the weapons will suffice them for fire. Again, in Daniel 7, 11 and 12 the coming of Antichrist is foretold, and his power in the multitude of his army, and how he will be killed; indeed it is said in the twelfth chapter that then "a time shall come, such as never was from the time that men began to be,²⁰ even until that time." Hence it is evident that there will be wars then. Therefore the things said above are more fittingly taken of spiritual peace, as I expounded above in chapter 12 of this [book].

Again, Isaiah chapter 40, "Be comforted" etc., "for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is blotted out,"²¹ was verified to the letter in the bringing back from the Babylonian captivity, which the prophet expressed in the preceding chapter. But you do not rightly argue that it ought never afterwards to be punished, namely the iniquity for which the captivity had to be completed; since afterwards it committed another, greater iniquity. According to the first foundation, all the things you set down above about his royal or imperial dignity are removed, since his kingdom will be in spiritual rule only, as was shown above. So then, by these three foundations, all the things you adduced above against us are resolved; and so too I think that the same foundations break down the other things that seem to be in favour of the Jews.

Chapter 29.

John. I accept these things gladly; but I am troubled, since if I understand that passage of Jeremiah 33 on the permanence of the priesthood and of the priests of the Levitical line, who are to offer holocausts, burn sacrifices and kill victims all their days, as is said there,¹ according to the rule of the third foundation, namely with a condition,² it seems to follow from this that if the people of the Jews had persisted in the way of justice to the end of the world, this rite of priesthood would have been continued. And so, it seems, of baptism and the other sacraments: that it would never have been instituted as necessary for salvation, or else [the two] would have been observed together. Which we do not believe, since that rite was the figure and shadow of this one, and so, when the day and the light came, the figure too had to pass away.

Richard. That about the priests and Levites can be understood according to the second foundation, so that "to offer holocausts, burn sacrifice and kill victims" is understood literally of the rite of the Christian priesthood, as of the rite of the Levitical priesthood. And so it is verified literally in the present as to priests and Levites, who continually so offer, burn and kill. Yet take another [answer], which pleases me more. Every temporal law given to men (I call temporal one which is not from the law of nature, but is promulgated for a certain cause, for a certain time and for a certain people, by God or by man, for the rule of the people), even if it is promulgated to be observed perpetually, is nevertheless taken, as to its perpetuity, under a qualification, namely: unless the author of the law has decreed that it is to be changed or taken away. For who, I do not say of angels but of men, establishing a law for governing some people, would not change it for the better or delete it altogether, if the time or another reasonable cause, or a great benefit or the freedom of the people, required the change or removal of that law? No prudent man [would fail to]; there is no doubt of it,³ although he promulgated it to be observed perpetually; since by that promulgation of perpetual observance it would be observed more diligently by the people, yet without prejudice to the prudence of the legislator, so that it remained lawful for him to change it for the better at his will, or take it away. How much more will you understand this qualification for the temporal laws given by God to men for the exercise of good works and virtues, since the Lord plainly knows, and always, whether their continuation or their removal or change profits the people more for salvation. Perpetuity in such things can also be openly understood thus: that it would never have been lawful for subjects to transgress them or dissolve them, although their author was in no way bound by this. In this way it is said in Exodus 19: "Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever." And Deuteronomy 15: "Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever." And Exodus 21: "And thou shalt bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be thy servant for ever."⁴ Apply this qualification to what you adduced about the perpetual observance of the legal offerings, and you will not conclude their perpetuity, but perpetuity, or at least their duration, until the legislator, namely God, decreed that they were to be changed or taken away. Now it is evident from what I adduced above in book 3, chapter 9, for their setting aside, from Hosea,⁵ that [God] willed to despise and cast them away at the coming of the Messiah; which ought to suffice you for the present, although you do not know the cause of that contempt or casting away.⁶ And yet, if you consider rightly, you will see that the people of God also now obtains great benefit and freedom from the removal of the legal observances. Hence the apostle Peter says in Acts 15, against those who affirmed that Christ's disciples converted from the Gentiles must observe the legal observances: "Now therefore," he says, "why do you attempt to put anew a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But by the grace of the Lord Jesus we believe that we are saved, in like manner as they also."⁷ Does it not seem a great benefit to be freed from so unbearable a yoke and to be given freedom?

John. So I judge. But notwithstanding this, it still seems to follow from what has been said that the rite of the old priesthood would have been perpetual if the Israelite people had persisted in justice.

Richard. If the Israelite people had persisted in justice to the end of the world, it would not have been unfitting, as you affirm, that the rite of the priesthood of Aaron should have been observed to the end of the world, even together with the rite of the Christian priesthood, so that figure and thing figured would have been [kept] together by the faithful who wished to observe them; as in the primitive church the Jews converted to Christ observed the legal rites in all things together with the Christian rite. Yet they were not compelled of necessity to observe them together, but could lawfully leave the figure aside when its spiritual sense was present, as will be shown just below, and as you yourself posited above, etc.

Chapter 30.

John. So I take note gladly; but I am not yet wholly set at rest. For although you have proved from Scripture that at the coming of the Messiah God willed to cast away the sacrifices and priesthoods of the old law, yet of the removal of circumcision, which was given before the law, and also of the feasts and solemnities and fasts and the other things commanded to the people of the Jews in the law, that they have been set aside, you have adduced nothing at all. Hence, since such things were handed down to them to be observed by a perpetual rite, they seem still necessary to them for salvation, unless it can be proved that these too have been set aside by the said legislator. This seems to me capable of being confirmed of the law of circumcision, since at its first institution, Genesis chapter 17, it is said in the person of God to Abraham: "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant." And there follows shortly after, of this covenant: "[This] is the covenant which you shall observe between me and you, and thy seed after thee: all the male-kind among you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. And an infant of eight days shall be circumcised among you, and every manchild in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant, shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant. The male whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of that people: because he hath broken my covenant."⁸ Here he says expressly that that covenant of circumcision is to be a perpetual covenant for the seed of Abraham; indeed, not only this, but it is said: "The male whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, his soul shall be destroyed out of the people." Hence it seems to follow that circumcision was necessary for salvation to all the male posterity of his seed. Again, of the observances of the sabbath and of the feasts, and of the firstfruits, of the pasch and of others; of fasts; of the immolation of the paschal lamb; of the manner of the sacrifices; of the lamps burning in the temple; of the loaves of proposition; of the priesthood's right to firstfruits and tithes, and the [?] of tithes, and the tithe of tithes;⁹ of the victim of the red cow for sin; of the daily sacrifice; and of the sacrifice at the beginning of each month; and of the other ceremonies commanded to the Jews in the law, it is frequently said: "this is to you a perpetual ordinance," or "a perpetual covenant," or "a perpetual sign," and the like, as is clear in Exodus 27 at the end, 28, 29, 30 and 31. Of the sabbath, Leviticus 16 and 23; [so too] of the feasts and the fast and many other things. Again, of the lamps and the loaves of proposition, Leviticus 24; of the right of firstfruits, Numbers 18; of the right of the priesthood and of tithes, Numbers 19 and the last [chapter] of Leviticus, where there is also the right of tithing the tithes; of the victim of the red cow for sin, Numbers 20; of the daily sacrifices and [those] at the kalends, Numbers 29; and of the law of the fugitives, Numbers 36.¹⁰ Hence it seems to follow that these things are still necessary to the Jews for salvation. Again, nowhere in the New Testament, namely in any of the four evangelists, or in an epistle of any of the apostles or evangelists, do I find circumcision forbidden to the Jews, or the celebration of the sabbath, or any of the ceremonies commanded in the law. Indeed, not even the apostles, gathered together on this question, whether converts to Christ from the Gentiles ought to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, decreed that this observance should be forbidden; [they decreed] that converts from the Gentiles are not bound to this legal observance, Acts 15 and 21. Indeed, in Acts 21, as will be clear below, Paul fulfilled the old law of the Nazarites given in Numbers chapter 6, by common counsel.¹¹ Again, the apostle Paul himself says in Romans 2: "Circumcision profiteth indeed, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." And there follows in chapter 3: "What advantage then hath the Jew: or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way," where, following the preceding text, he is speaking to Jews. And so he seems to affirm that circumcision then had to be kept by the Jews, and that its profit was great. Again, not only do these things seem profitable and necessary to the Jews for salvation, but they seem also not unlawful for Christians; indeed they seem necessary to them for salvation. For behold, in Apocalypse chapter 2 it is said to him, that is, to the angel, the bishop of Pergamus, in the person of [?] man:¹² "But I have against thee a few things: because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things offered to idols, and to commit fornication."¹³ And shortly after he says to the angel, or bishop, of the church of Thyatira: "But I have against thee a few things: because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat of things sacrificed to idols"; where he says that it is a seducing of his servants to eat of things sacrificed to idols,¹⁴ that is, of the things that are immolated to idols. Therefore this was not lawful but pernicious; and consequently the command of the old law ought to be observed which forbade eating of things immolated to idols, or touching them at all, Exodus chapter 34.¹⁵ Again, Paul circumcised Timothy, as is read in Acts 16, whose father was a Gentile; which he would not have done had it been unlawful; therefore it was then lawful to be circumcised. Again, Paul himself, by the counsel of the apostle James and of the brethren, observed the law of the Nazarites, that all the Jews might know that he himself walked keeping the law, as is read in Acts 21. Again, our Christ kept circumcision in himself, as is clear in Luke 2, and in his mother he kept the law of purification and of the offering of the turtledove, as is said there. Again, in his own person he kept the law of the paschal lamb on the eve of his passion. Hence, since his deeds are examples for us to imitate, and were so for his disciples, which no Christian would dare deny, it seems to follow that we ought to do such things. Again, in Mark 1 it is read that he commanded the leper whom he had cleansed to show himself to the priest, that he might offer for his cleansing what Moses commanded;¹⁶ where it is plainly clear that he willed the law laid down in Leviticus 14 on the leper to be cleansed to be observed. Again, whenever the doctors reproached him with breaking the law of Moses, he always lawfully excused himself, showing that in his works and words he did not break it. So when he called himself the Son of God, and for this they asserted that he was a blasphemer, he alleged Scripture and reason for himself, that he said nothing against the law, as is clear in John 10. And when he was reproached for breaking the sabbath, when he healed a man on the sabbath, he excused himself by reason, as is clear in John chapter 5. And similarly, when he was reproached because his disciples broke the sabbath when they plucked the ears of corn and ate, he proved himself and them free of breaking the sabbath, as is clear in Matthew 12;¹⁷ and so of many other works and words of his. Hence it seems to follow that in no way did he will to infringe the law according to the literal sense; which he himself seems to affirm expressly when he says: "Do not think that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: for I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled," Matthew chapter 5. Again, he himself says to someone, as is read in Matthew 19: "But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments"; similarly Luke 18; and [Luke] 16: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fall."¹⁸ Since therefore God gave the whole old law into the hand of Moses, and Christ never broke it, indeed says that he would break nothing of it until heaven and earth should pass, it seems that it ought always to be observed, not only by the Jews but also by all Christians, and that its observance is necessary to all for salvation.

Chapter 31.

Richard. Although you now bring in a question not necessary to this work, yet lest you go astray, hear not me but the apostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews and proving what you ask. For behold, in chapter 7 he proves the translation of the priesthood from that [word] of the prophet David: "The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech." And he added: "For the priesthood being translated, it is necessary that a translation also be made of the law." And there follows: "There is indeed a setting aside of the commandment, because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof: for the law brought no one to perfection."¹ And the apostle uses a very firm argument, namely that if the confirmation of perfection came about through the observance of the law,² it was not and is not necessary that a priest should be brought in according to another order than the order of Aaron, who was the priest of that law, since a priest according to that old order would have accomplished perfection of every kind. Since therefore [another] had to be brought in, indeed God confirmed by an oath that another must be brought in ("The Lord," he says, "hath sworn," etc.), it follows altogether that perfection of life did not come from the observance of the old law, but that the law itself was weak, bringing no one to perfection; and for this reason another, which accomplishes [it], according to the order of Melchisedech, had to be brought in, and the former had to be set aside because of its weakness, although it had been fitting for the men of that time. And in chapter 8, from that prophecy of Jeremiah chapter 31, "Behold, the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will perfect unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Juda a new testament, not according to the testament which I gave to their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt," etc., he concludes, saying thus: "Now in saying a new, he hath made the former old. And that which decayeth and groweth old is near its end."³ Here he affirms the setting aside not only of the sacrifices but of the law, or commandment, or testament, or covenant according to our translation, which he gave to the fathers when he led [them] out of Egypt. Now it is evident that he then gave the whole law of Moses; therefore the whole law then given has been set aside, except in so far as it has been in part restored by the new law. But this is to be understood as to the literal sense, since the spiritual sense we keep in all things; and there is no doubt that the spiritual [sense] is more principal than the carnal or literal, since it is its fruit and end, and the literal is its figure. Of this sense, as it seems, our Saviour understood [his words] when he said, "I am not come to destroy the law but to fulfil," and "one jot or one tittle shall not pass of the law till all be fulfilled": [that is,] according to the spiritual or allegorical sense. From these things it is evident that neither Jews or Hebrews, nor Christians, nor any others at all are bound to keep the legal observances; and so it is evident that they are not necessary to anyone for salvation. Hence through the whole epistle to the Galatians he reproves them because they wished to observe the law, thinking not only that they were bound to it but that they were justified by the ceremonies of the law. For he says in chapter 2: "For I, through the law, am dead to the law." For he who is dead to the law is not bound to live according to the law, no doubt. And in chapter 3 he says: "Wherefore the law was our pedagogue in Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after the faith is come, we are no longer under a pedagogue." Behold that neither he himself, who was a Hebrew, as he himself says in [2 Corinthians] 11⁴ and in Acts 21 and 22, nor others were under the law. Galatians chapter 5: "I Paul say," or "testify," "to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man circumcising himself that he is a debtor to do the whole law. You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law: you are fallen from grace. For we in spirit, by faith, wait for the hope of justice. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision: but faith that worketh by love";⁵ and below: "But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law." Hence it is evident that circumcision has not the effect of justifying or of obtaining grace, and also that it avails nothing for salvation, and that no one is bound to it. Indeed, what is more, it manifestly appears from this saying of the apostle that he who observes the legal observances, placing the hope of justification in them, is made void of grace and of Christ, and that no one living spiritually is bound to observe the legal observances. Hence it plainly follows that they have been set aside; as, writing to the Colossians, chapter 2, he says: "Let no man therefore judge us in meat or in drink or in respect of a festival day or of the new moon or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ";⁶ meaning that no one ought to reproach another for not observing the commands of the law about meat or drink or feasts, because such things were nothing but a shadow of the body of Christ, namely the church; and therefore, the body being present, no one is reprehensible who does not follow the shadow but despises it. And to the Romans, chapter 3, he says: "For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law." Now if among the Jews the works of the law still had the force or vigour of a command, as they had of old, there is no doubt that without them the salvation of man in God could not be. Now he writes to the Jews and Greeks who were at Rome, as [appears] in chapters 1 and 2; it is well evident that he intends to affirm that the salvation or justification of the Jews is without the works of the law. Hence he says to them consequently in chapter 6:⁷ "For you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." And in chapter 7: "But now we are loosed from the law of death wherein we were detained, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter"; where he plainly affirms that they are not bound to keep the letter of the old law, but only the spiritual sense; indeed, that neither he nor they are under the law.

Chapter 32.

Again, in chapter 14 he reproves those who judge others for eating the foods forbidden in the law, which are called common, affirming thus: "I know, and am confident in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is common of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be common, to him it is common."⁸ And there follows: "Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. If any of them that believe not invite you, and you be willing to go, eat of anything that is set before you ... for his sake that told it, for conscience' sake: conscience I say, not thy own, but the other's."⁹ He states the same view in chapter 8, on the breaking, too, of the old law as to forbidden foods. 1 Timothy 4:¹⁰ "Now the Spirit manifestly saith that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience held captive,¹¹ forbidding to marry, to abstain from meats, which the Lord hath created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and by them that have known the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." And to Titus, chapter 1, speaking of the same thing, he says: "For all things are clean to the clean." Moreover our Saviour, in Luke 10, commanded the disciples whom he sent to preach thus: "Into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you"; so he gave them leave, without distinction, to take any foods whatever. Hence it is evident that no one is bound at all to observe this old law on the prohibition of certain foods, given in Leviticus chapter 11, and by like reason neither any other like it. For there is no reason why we ought to observe one rather than another, according to the saying of Paul above, Galatians chapter 5: "And I testify again to every man circumcising himself that he is a debtor to do the whole law." For by like reason he could have said: I testify to every man doing this law or that, that he is a debtor to do the whole law; since if he thinks himself bound to one, he is bound to all by like reason, as to one. Again, in 1 Corinthians 9 the apostle says: "I became to the Jews a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as if I were under the law, whereas myself was not under the law."¹² Behold that he was not obliged to keep the law, and yet it is evident that he was a Jew, as was clear above from his own words. Again, 2 Corinthians 3, when he says: "Our sufficiency is from God, who hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. For the letter killeth: but the spirit quickeneth. Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was in glory, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which is made void: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory? For if the ministration of condemnation be in glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory." Behold: calling the scripture of the old law the ministration of the law of death and the ministration of condemnation, and the ministry of the new testament the ministry of justice and of the spirit, he affirms that it is made void. Here also he says consequently, more plainly, thus: "For if that which is made void is in glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory." What could be said more plainly than that the ministration of the law given on stones has been made void, and at present kills? Now it is evident that the law was given by way of a ministry;¹³ therefore it has been made void, since the letter, that is, the literal sense of the law, kills. Again, to the Ephesians, chapter 2, he says that Christ "is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh, making void the law of commandments contained in decrees." Behold the making void of the commandments in the law. But this is to be understood [to hold] except in so far as they are approved by the evangelical and apostolic law. Or this saying and the like can be understood of the ceremonial, figural [commandments], not of the moral commandments contained in the tables, and of the others which pertain to true piety, which the new law labours especially to guard. For those moral [commandments] Christ did not break according to the literal sense, as you showed above, since Christ says they are necessary for salvation; and he enlarged them, as is clear in Matthew 5, where he says: "You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill; for whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment"; and below: "You have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform thy oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, Love your enemies."¹⁴ From these the enlargement of the moral commandments contained in the tables is clear, since now the deed and the will are forbidden, [whereas] of old in many [cases] the deed alone was forbidden. So in John 8 it is read that he would not allow the woman taken in adultery to be stoned, as had been alleged to Christ himself by the scribes and Pharisees; so he willed to annul or change [that law]. So too he enjoined concerning the law of the bill of divorce, which he revoked entirely, as is clear in Matthew 5 and 19. Again, this question of yours, as is read in Acts 15, was raised in the time of the apostles, thus: "And some, coming down from Judea, taught the brethren: That, except you be circumcised, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had no small contest with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of the other side should go up to the apostles and priests to Jerusalem about this question. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and by the apostles and ancients, declaring how great things the Lord had done with them. But there arose some of the sect of the Pharisees that believed, saying: They must be circumcised and be commanded to observe the law of Moses. And the apostles and ancients assembled to consider of this matter. And when there had been much inquiry, Peter, rising up, said to them: Men, brethren, you know that in former days God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts, gave testimony, giving unto them the Holy Ghost, as well as to us, and put no difference between them and us, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, in like manner as they also. And all the multitude held their peace," etc. "And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying: Men, brethren, hear me. Simon hath related how God first visited to take of the Gentiles a people to his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written: After these things I will return and will rebuild the temple of David, which is fallen down, and the ruins thereof I will rebuild, and I will set it up: that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all nations upon whom my name is invoked, saith the Lord, who doth these things. To the Lord was his own work known from the beginning of the world. For which cause I judge that they who from among the Gentiles are converted to God are not to be disquieted, but it shall be written to them that they refrain themselves from the pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood."¹⁵ You see your question resolved by Peter and James as to converts from the Gentiles, namely that nothing at all of the legal observances ought to be imposed on them; to which answer all the apostles and ancients consented, as is read in what follows, and they sent the answer by Silas and Judas, with Paul and Barnabas, to the brethren of Antioch. Again, why the faithful, who have another law, should keep that law which had been given to the Jews alone, does not appear. Now the Mosaic law had been given to the Jews alone and to those subject to them, in memory of their being brought out of Egypt by God, which is very frequently repeated in the four books of the law, namely Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Hence it does not appear why it should be observed by Christians, except in so far as it is approved by their own law.

Chapter 33.

These things can suffice you for the setting aside and making void of all the legal commandments (not the moral ones), and that as to the literal sense; and therefore it is evident that such things are necessary to no one for salvation, as you were striving above to show to the contrary, although they had been to be observed by the Hebrews simply and perpetually. For, as I said above, the perpetuity of such laws has an implied condition: unless the legislator decreed to change or take them away. Now it is evident from what has been said that the Lord has taken them away. As for your objection that circumcision or any other old law is never forbidden in the gospel or in the apostolic [or] evangelical scripture, it is true, as far as occurs to me. For although Paul, as was clear above, says in Galatians 5, "If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing," yet since he says next, "You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law," that preceding [saying] therefore seems to be taken [thus]: if you place the hope of justification in circumcision or in any other legal work, Christ will profit you nothing. Hence from that [text] is proved not the prohibition of circumcision but its uselessness. Nor does what the apostle puts before it there, "Stand fast, and be not held again under the yoke of bondage," speaking of the yoke of the old law, seem to be taken as though he commanded them not to keep the legal observances, but [as meaning] that they should not think themselves obliged to keep the law, nor hope to be justified by the works of the law; so in chapter 3 he calls them senseless, and in chapter 2 transgressors,¹ [those] who think they are justified by the works of the law. Hence he says: "Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified"; and below: "This only would I learn of you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you are made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so great things in vain? He therefore who giveth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, [doth he do it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? As it is written: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. Know ye therefore that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Behold the conclusion: that the children of Abraham, namely those who obtain the blessing of Abraham, as he next expounds, are children on account of faith and not on account of the works of the law. For this he strives to affirm through the whole epistle; and therefore the sayings above seem to have to be referred to that sense. So it does not occur to me that the observance of the legal observances is anywhere [?] expressly forbidden in the New Testament,² since it appears from what you yourself set out above that Paul and other disciples and apostles frequently observed the legal observances; which they would by no means have done, nor counselled to be done, had they been forbidden. But it is evident from the premisses that they are useless for salvation and that [men] are in no way bound to them. Understand in this way that all the ceremonies of the old law have been set aside: namely, that they oblige no one as they obliged of old, nor are they profitable for salvation. And I will say plainly what I think on this: it seems to me that no one is bound to a command of the law at all, except to those only which are approved in the new law, that is, in the evangelical or apostolic scripture, or by a decree of the church. As for your objection that Paul said, Romans 2,³ "Circumcision profiteth indeed, if thou keep the law," etc., he does not say it approving that circumcision ought then to be done, but approving it as done in those in whom it had formerly been rightly done, since many of these were still surviving then (indeed he himself was one of them); meaning that the circumcision which they had rightly received would profit them if they kept the law, namely the commandments of the law; otherwise that circumcision would become useless to them for salvation. But whether circumcision was profitable only for that which the apostle there adds, namely that to the circumcised and not to others "the words of God were committed," or whether circumcision also applied a remedy against original sin, and how, this is not the place to inquire at present; but this will be treated in the eighth book. As for what you objected from Apocalypse 2, it does not prove that it is unlawful for anyone to eat of things immolated because of the precept of the law; rather, this was forbidden to converts from the Gentiles lest they practise idolatry as they had done before. Hence the apostles decreed, Acts 15 and 21: "For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay no burden upon you than these necessary things: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication." For this was commanded to converts from the Gentiles, since they had formerly been given to idolatry, lest they take occasion against the law; for it was only an occasion of sin or of scandal, in the eater himself or in his neighbour, in which case one would have to beware even of lawful things, as was clear above from the saying of Paul, 1 Corinthians 8.⁴ There was therefore sufficient cause for the aforesaid prohibition made by the apostles to converts from the Gentiles; and yet they did not prohibit it except by the counsel of the Holy Spirit, as the text says. Hence it is evident that they did not prohibit this because of the law, since then they would likewise have prohibited the other legal observances to them as well as these, etc.

Chapter 34.

The reason why Paul circumcised Timothy was lest the Jews, otherwise converted to Christ, should be scandalized and offended; for at the beginning of the nascent Christian church all the converted Jews still observed the whole law to the letter as before, not yet understanding that it had been made void. Hence Acts 21, as Luke says of Paul and himself and others: "And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James: and all the ancients were assembled. Whom when he had saluted, he related particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. But they hearing it glorified God, and said to him: Thou seest how many thousands there are among the Jews that have believed: and they are all zealous for the law. Now they have heard of thee that thou teachest those Jews who are among the Gentiles to depart from Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, nor walk according to the custom. What is it therefore? The multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee. We have four men who have a vow on them. Take these and sanctify thyself with them, and bestow on them, that they may shave their heads: and all will know that the things which they have heard of thee are false, but that thou thyself also walkest keeping the law." Behold, here it is evident that the faithful Jews kept the law at the beginning of the apostles' preaching. Hence Paul himself did what the ancients counselled, and without fault, lest the converted Jews be offended and for this reason withdraw from the Christian religion newly begun; not approving the legal observances as to any spiritual profit of theirs, but showing that they were not forbidden, since otherwise neither would he have fulfilled any of them, nor would the apostles and ancients together have persuaded him to do it. Nor should it move [you] that our Lord was circumcised, since baptism had not then been instituted by him; once it was instituted, circumcision was made void through the baptism received in his own person. If it conferred, or could confer, anything of profit before, that was then conferred much more perfectly through baptism; hence from then on circumcision was superfluous, and consequently altogether useless. Similarly of his offering in the temple and the turtledoves offered for him, understand that confirmation now provides more than that offering had provided, and, as I think, takes its place. But the purification of women is observed at present not because it was commanded in the law but because it is approved by the church, although perhaps its observance was taken from the rite of the Jews;⁵ just as we keep many things commanded in the law of God, not because they are precepts of that law, but because they have been introduced by the faithful for another honest cause. As to the immolation of the paschal lamb, that law was made void in the immolation of our immaculate lamb, namely Christ on the cross, and not before; and therefore Christ observed that law while he lived. Hence the apostle, 1 Corinthians 5: "For Christ our pasch is sacrificed." Hence Christ in his own person fulfilled the law to the letter, to show that it was given by God; but just as he instituted new sacraments through himself and his own, so little by little he made void the old ones. Hence generally, in all his deeds and teachings, we ought to imitate him in moral things, but not in legal things according to the literal sense, which he himself disposed to make void little by little through the institution of the sacraments and through the teaching of his disciples. Of this kind was the rite of offering for the cleansed leper, which the Lord commanded to the cleansed man, as you objected; but we ought to imitate him in such things only according to the spiritual or allegorical sense, since it was for that future sense that those figural things had been instituted. Hence our Christ so came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it, as the foregoing sufficiently shows; and in this way neither one jot nor one tittle shall pass of the law.

John. Why then do we not keep the command about resting on the sabbath, since Christ answered one who asked in general about the principles of salvation, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," Matthew 19?

Richard. Because that command was figurative of the rest to come, which the apostle, Hebrews 4, calls the sabbath-rest of the people of God;⁶ which sabbath-rest Christ first entered by rising on the Lord's day, as he himself says, Luke at the end: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?" And therefore we keep the Lord's day as a sabbath, as the spiritual sabbath, not the literal sabbath. Hence Colossians chapter 2: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat and drink, or in respect of a festival day or of the new moon or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, of the body of Christ."⁷ Behold that the sabbath was a figure or shadow. But the other nine commandments of the tables we keep literally, because they were truly moral.

John. Why then did God command that questioner to observe that command with the others? For he excepted none, but included all ten commandments when he said, "Keep the commandments."

Richard. Because Christ had not yet risen, nor disclosed that spiritual sabbath-rest; and therefore the literal sabbath had to be observed until his resurrection.

Chapter 35.

John. If the apostle Paul, by the counsel of the apostles, kept the law in his own person, and also had it kept in the persons of his disciples, and blamelessly, as you said above, how then does he reproach Peter for doing this? Why could not Peter keep the law as Paul did? Indeed, he not only reproaches him but says that he did not walk according to the truth of the gospel. For he writes of himself to the Galatians, chapter 2, thus: "When Cephas was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, for he was to be blamed. For before that some came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them who were of the circumcision. And to his dissimulation the rest of the Jews consented, so that Barnabas was led into that dissimulation. But when I saw that he walked not uprightly unto the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all: If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews do, how dost thou compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" Behold that he reproaches Peter because he withdrew from eating with the Gentiles, conforming himself to the Jews. How then was it lawful for Paul to keep the law and not for Peter?

Richard. Distinguish places and times and persons and cause, and what you ask will appear. Paul kept the law on account of the faithful Jews zealous for the law, lest they be scandalized and withdraw from Christian worship; nor did he harm the others, converted from the Gentiles, in this, namely by giving them occasion of judaizing, since he did this by the common counsel of the brethren, as I set out in the preceding chapter,⁸ many of whom were from the Gentiles; and similarly he circumcised Timothy, as is likely, by the counsel of some of the faithful converted from the Gentiles. And therefore, since he benefited the Jews by withdrawing from them the occasion of scandal, and did not harm the converts from the Gentiles, he kept the law blamelessly in those cases. But Peter, conversely, as Paul affirms in the aforesaid chapter to the Galatians, compelled the Gentiles to judaize; therefore he acted reprehensibly, and so Paul lawfully reproached him. That Peter erred appears from another deed of Peter's at Joppa,⁹ in a like case, where he ate and drank with Cornelius the centurion and his [household], converted, and communicated with them by a command given to him, as with men purified by God; and when the Jews found fault with this, he showed lawfully that he had not acted against the law, since those with whom he communicated had been purified, as is clear in Acts chapter 11, where it is read thus: "And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying: Why didst thou go in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them? But Peter began and declared to them the order of the vision, saying: I was in the city of Joppe praying, and I saw in an ecstasy of mind a vision, a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came even unto me. Into which looking, I considered, and saw fourfooted creatures of the earth, and beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Arise, Peter; kill and eat. I said: Not so, Lord; for nothing defiled or unclean hath ever entered into my mouth. The voice answered: What God hath made clean, do not thou call common. And all were taken up again into heaven. And behold, immediately there were three men come to the house wherein they were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Holy Ghost said that I should go with them, nothing doubting. And these six brethren went with me also, and we entered into the man's house. And he told us how he had seen an angel in his house, standing and saying to him: Send and call hither Simon, who is surnamed Peter; he shall speak to thee words whereby thou shalt be saved, and all thy house. And when I had begun to speak, the Holy Ghost fell upon them, as upon us also in the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said: John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. If then God gave them the same grace as to us also who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that could withstand the Lord, that he should not give the Holy Ghost to those who believe in the name of Jesus Christ? Having heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified the Lord, saying: God then hath also to the Gentiles given repentance unto life."¹⁰ As Peter acted here, so he ought to have acted in the other case; and this deed of his here shows sufficiently that in his other deed, namely in the dissimulation, he had erred. Hence Paul lawfully reproached him, because he was compelling the Gentiles to judaize, and gave them an example of judaizing, namely of keeping the legal observances and of believing that they must be kept as they were kept of old; whereas there was no necessity, nor any danger of peril to others if he had set them aside, such as I said above there was in the cases in which Paul observed the legal observances. Hence Paul acted blamelessly, and Peter erred in his dissimulation, as Paul affirms of him. Nor did Peter keep the law in this, since the law did not command avoiding communion except with the unclean, which those were not who had been purified by faith in Christ. Hence you did not rightly set down above, in your objection, that Peter then kept the law. This matter of the abolition of the ceremonial [precepts] you have fully treated in the 19th book, from the beginning up to the 18th chapter.¹¹

Here ends the fourth book.