Course 1, Chapter 21

The Messiah promised and prefigured. — First Promise. — Adam and Abel the first and second figures or types o:' the Messiah.

1. How did God make known the Redeemer to come V

God made known the Redeemer to come, 1st, by promises, 2d, b} figures, and 3d, by prophecies.

2. What do you understand by figures of the Messiah?

By figures of the Messiah, I understand certain actions, certain events, certain personages, that represented .beforehand the characteristics and actions of the Messiah.

7G CATECHISM Of PERSKVKHANCE.

3. How do we know that the patriarchs, the sacrifices, and the whole Jewish people were a figure of the Messiah?

We know that the patriarchs, the sacrifices and the whole Jewish people were a figure of the Messiah, 1st, on the authority of our Lord himself, and that of the apostles and evangelists. St. Paul in particular says that Jesus Christ is the end of the Mosaic law, and that whatever happened to the Jews was a figure of what was accomplished among Christians. 2d, on the authority of the fathers of the church; St. Augus tine says that the whole Jewish people were only a grand figure of the Messiah. 3d, by the conformity or resemblance of the figures to our Lord, for in looking at several portraits of the same person, drawn by different artists, no one would say that all these portraits resemble the person merely by chance.

4. Did the patriarchs and ancient Jews know, in general, the sense of the promises, figures, and prophe cies of the Redeemer?

The patriarchs and ancient Jews knew, in general, the sense of the promises, figures, and prophecies of the Redeemer: the better instructed among them had a clear knowledge of it, the rest had what was necessary for their salvation.

5. Which was the first promise of a Messiah?

The first promise of the Messiah was that made by God to our first parents in the terrestrial paradise; lie said to the serpent, the woman shall crush thy head.

6. What was the first figure of the Messiah V

The first figure of the Messiah was Adam. Adam is the father of all men according to the flesh; our Lord is the father of all men according to the spirit Adam sleeps, and out of one of his ribs God forms for him a companion, who is to be always united to him and to give him a numerous posterity; our Lord dies on the cross, and from his opened side God raises up the church with which our Lord will be united till the end

of ages, and which will give him a great number of children.

7. Continue the same figure.

Adam, a sinner, is driven from paradise, and is condemned to labor, sufferings, and death; our Lord, loaded with the sins of the world, descends from heaven, is condemned to labor, sufferings and death. He saves all men by his obedience as Adam lost all by his disobedience.

8. What was the second figure of the Messiah?

The second figure of the Messiah was Abel. Abel offers a sacrifice which is agreeable to God. Our Lord offers a sacrifice which is infinitely more agreeable to God, his Father. The innocent Abel is conducted into the field and put to death by Cain his brother; our Lord, innocence itself, is led out of Jerusalem and put to death by the Jews, his brethren. The blood of Abel cries to heaven for vengeance; the blood of our Lord cries for mercy in our behalf. Cain, the murderer of Abel, is condemned to wander a vagabond on the face of the earth; the Jews, the murderers of our Lord, are condemned to wander over the earth without priest, without king, without sacrifice.