The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-22
SCHOLARLY TREATMENT OF AN
GENT DOCUMENTS BEARING
ON THE ADVENT OF THE
MESSIAH.
TRANSLATED from the German for The
Advance, by Rev. S. cooIen.)

TRANSLATED from the German for The
Advance, by Rev. S. cooIen.)
Our Holy Church distinguishes a
three-fold coming of our Lord: the
historical, that is His birth in Bethle-
hem; secondly, His coming with His
grace to individuals; and lastly, His
coming or rather His return on the
day of the general judgment.
His first coming is the most i'm
portant. For if we realize that He
whose birthday we celebrate on
Christmas day, is Christ the Son OF
God and the Saviour of the world, we
way for His reception into our hearts
and we will much more firmly believe
that He will come again to judge the
living and the dead.
We will, therefore, consider the ex'
pectations which the ancient peoples
cherished of the Savior and the pro-
phecies made concerning Him. They
teach us conclusively that Jesus OF
Nazareth is verify the Savior desired
by all the nations of the earth.
One day Samaritan woman, whom
Jesus met at the well of Jacob, said
to Him: 81 know that the Messias
cometh (who is called Christi .
when He is come, He will tell us all
things"
In these words is summarized the
whole expectation of the Jews and
Samaritans alike.
Expectation Among the Jews.
The promise made to Abraham, the
parent of the Jewish race, that, in
one of his descendants, all the nations
of the earth would be blessed, ever
remained the firm belief and the
steadfast hope of the Jewish people;
and, at frequent intervals, this hope
was revived by the writings of its
prophets.
We are acquainted with these proph.
ecies. The first, we know, is written
on the first page of Holy Writ. This
prophecy made by God himself reads:
"And the Lord God said tc the ser.
pent: l will put enmities between thee
and the woman, and thy seed and her
seed; she shall crush thy head, and
thou shalt lie in wait for her heel"
We know furthermore that the
prophets of the Jewish nation fore
told the whole history of the life and
of the kingdom of the Messias. Oh
His life they foretold, the time and
place of His birth, the unmistakable
sketch of His passion from His en-
trance into Jerusalem to His death
on Golgotha, and finally His resurrec
ton. Of His kingdom they foretold
its establishment and perpetuity, the
calling of the Gentiles, the destruction
of Jerusalem and the rejection of the
Jewish people.
That these prophecies are genuine
and authentic is evident from the fact
of their having been spread through
out the whole world centuries before
their fulfilment.
Malachias, the last of the prophets
lived 400 years before Christ He
designates the precursor of the Mes
sias in the following terms: Il sent
my angel and he shall prepare the
way before my face. And presently
the Lord whom you seek and the an
gel of the testament, whom you desire
shall come to his temple. Behold he
cometh." (Mal. 3:1.)
Here the prophecy ceased until its
fulflment began with the birth of st
John, the forerunner of Christ.
All the prophecies of the Jewish
people have been realized in Jesus o.
Nazareth. Christ himself says
SEARCH the Scriptures; the same are
they that give testimony of me-
John V: 39.)
The expectations of the pagans o
antiquity are less known than the
prophecies of the Old Testament and
on this account, they will be more
interesting to us.
| Before his death, the Patriarch
Jacob summoned his sons and gave
each a blessing. When he came tt
Juda, he said: "The sceptre shall no
be taken away from Juda nor a rule
from his thigh, till he come that is tt
be present and he shall be the ex
pectation of nations"
This awaiting for the Savior by thu
nations of old shall be the subject o
our present paper.
The feeling of the need of a re
demption and the consciousness of the
misery, weighing upon mankind, per
vaded the entire pagan world. tt
various religions spoke of sin, guilt
atonement and of a conflict between
God and man. But they did alst
speak of a Savior who was to come
Messianic Prophecies of Paganism.
1t is a remarkable fact that thu
Messianic prophecies of paganism ar,
evidently founded on the prophecie
contained in the Old Testament ant
made in Paradise. According to then
the conqueror of the serpent is de
scribed not as the son of a morta
man but as the son of mortal woman
call your attention to few of tn,
religious legends that obtained amons
the better known nations of antiquity
i The ancient Persians gave tn,
name of "Sosipsch," that is Savior
to the one that was to crush thu
power of the wicked god Arihman. H,
- e. ro~ - a xy;rsry;r TJo ie y,ra