Fra Paulo [Pablo Christiani] then said to me: "Then you
do believe that the Messiah has come?" I replied: "No, but
I believe and am convinced that he has not come and there
never has been anyone who has said concerning himself
that he was the Messiah -- nor will there ever be such who
will say so -- except Jesus. And it is impossible for me
to believe in the Messiahship of Jesus, because the prophet
says of the Messiah that "he
shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river until
the ends of the earth."
Jesus, on the other hand, never had dominion, but in his
lifetime he was pursued by his enemies and hid himself from
them, falling finally into their power whence he was not
able to liberate himself. How then could he save all Israel?
Moreover, after his death dominion was not his. . . .
Moreover the later
prophet said that in [the messianic era], "they shall
beat their swords into ploughshares . . . nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more." But since the days of Jesus up to the present
the whole world has been full of violence and rapine, the
Christians more than other peoples being shedders of blood
and revelers likewise of indecencies.
