Senses Historical, Allegorical, and Moral. 7 chance to find at hand any occasion of seasonable edification, LEAND. he should, as it were, force the streams of discourse towards the adjacent valley, and, when he has poured forth enough upon its level of instruction, fall back into the channel of discourse which he had proposed to himself. k A at the III. But be it known that there are some parts, which we See note go through in a historical exposition, some we trace out in end of allegory upon an investigation of the typical meaning, some this Epistle we open in the lessons of moral teaching alone, allegorically conveyed, while there are some few which, with more particular care, we search out in all these ways together, exploring them in a threefold method. For first, we lay the historical foundations; next, by pursuing the typical sense, we erect a fabric of the mind to be a strong hold of faith; and moreover as the last step, by the grace of moral instruction, we, as it were, clothe the edifice with an overcast of colouring. Or at least how are the declarations of truth to be accounted of, but as food for the refreshment of the mind? These being handled with the alternate application of various methods, we serve up the viands of discourse' in such sort as to prevent all disgust in the reader, thus invited as our guest, who, upon consideration of the various things presented to him, is to take that which he determines to be the choicest. Yet it sometimes happens that we neglect to interpret the plain words of the historical account, that we may not be too long in coming to the hidden senses, and sometimes they cannot be understood according to the letter, because when taken superficially, they convey no sort of instruction to the reader, but only engender error; for here, for instance, it is said, Under Whom they are bent who bear the world". Now Job 9, in the case of one so great, who can be ignorant that he never so follows the vain fictions of the poets, as to fancy the weight of the world to be supported by the labour of the giants. Again, under the pressure of calamities he exclaims, So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than Job 7, life. Now who that is in his right senses could believe that m of speech used metaphorically. vide n E. V. The proud helpers do stoop 13. 15. 8 Some things cannot be taken literally, EP. To a man of so high praise, who in a word, we know, received from the Judge of that which is within the reward of the virtue of patience, settled amidst his afflictions to finish his life by strangling? And sometimes even the very literal words forbid its being supposed that perchance they ought to Job 3, 3. be understood according to the letter. Thus he says, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. And a little ver. 5. while afterwards he subjoins, Let darkness seize it, and let it be involved in bitterness. And in cursing the same night he adds, Lo! let that night be solitary. Assuredly this day of his birth, which rolled itself out in the mere current of time, could never stand fast. In what way then did he wish it might be involved in darkness? For having gone by, it no longer was, neither yet, if it had existence in the nature of things, could it ever feel bitterness; it is evident therefore that the words cannot possibly be spoken of a day without feeling, when the wish expressed is that it be struck with a feeling of bitterness; and if the night of his conception had gone by, blended with the other nights, after what fashion would he have it become solitary, which as it could not be arrested from the flight of time, so neither could it be separated from Job 7, union with the other nights. Again he says, How long wilt Thou not depart from me, nor let me alone, till I swallow Job 6,7. down my spittle. Yet he had said a little above, The things which my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. Now who does not know that spittle is more easily swallowed than food? it is wholly inconceivable then in what connection he, who tells of his taking food, declares that he cannot swallow Job 7, his spittle. Again he says, I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O Thou preserver of men? Or more unequivocally, Job 13, Wouldest Thou destroy me by the iniquities of my youth? And yet in another answer he subjoins, My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. How then does his heart not condemn him so long as he lives, who by a public avowal testifies that he has been a sinner, for faultiness of practice and acquittal of conscience can never meet together. Yet doubtless whereas the literal words when set against 19. 20. 26. Job 27, 6. "Interno. some edd. read, 'the Eternal Judge.' it. • E.V. Let the shadow of death stain others must. The work composed in sickness. 9 each other cannot be made to agree, they point out some LEAND. other meaning in themselves which we are to seek for, as if with a kind of utterance they said, Whereas ye see our superficial form to be destructive to us, look for what may be found within us that is in place and consistent with itself. 16-20. IV. But sometimes, he who neglects to interpret the historical form of words according to the letter, keeps that light of truth concealed which is presented to him, and in laboriously seeking to find in them a further interior meaning, he loses that which he might easily obtain on the outside. Thus the Saint saith, If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Job 31, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; .... If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; where it is to be observed, that if these words be violently strained to an allegorical signification, we make void all his acts of mercy. For as the word of God, by the mysteries which it contains, exercises the understanding of the wise, so usually by what presents itself on the outside, it nurses the simpleminded. It presenteth in open day that wherewith the little ones may be fed; it keepeth in secret that whereby men of a loftier range may be held in suspense of admiration. It is, as it were, a kind of river, if I may so liken it, which is both shallow and deep, wherein both the lamb may find a footing, I planus and the elephant float at large. Therefore as the fitness of each passage requires, the line of interpretation is studiously varied accordingly, in that the true sense of the word of God is found out with so much the greater fidelity, in proportion as it shifts its course through the different kinds of examples as each case may require. 1 V. This exposition being such as I have described, I have transmitted to your Blessedness for your inspection, not as being due for its worth's sake, but because I remember that I promised it on your making the request. In which whatsoever your Holiness may discover that is languid or unpolished, let it be most readily excused in proportion as the circumstance is known that it was said in a state of sickness; for when the body is worn down with sickness, the mind being also affected, 6. 10 The body an imperfect organ to the soul. EP. To our exertions to express ourselves likewise become faint". For many a year's circuit has gone by since I have been afflicted with frequent pains in the bowels, and the powers of my stomach being broken down, makes me at all times and seasons weakly; and under the influence of fevers, slow, but in constant succession, I draw my breath with difficulty; and when in the midst of these sufferings I ponder with earnest Heb. 12. heed, that according to the testimony of Scripture, He Scourgeth every son whom He receiveth; the more I am weighed down by the severity of present afflictions, from my anticipations for eternity, I gather strength to breathe with so much the better assurance. And perchance it was this. that Divine Providence designed, that I a stricken one, should set forth Job stricken, and that by these scourges I should the more perfectly enter into the feelings of one that was scourged. Yet it will be evident to all that consider the thing aright, that bodily ailment hinders the pursuits wherein I labour, and that with no slight power of opposition in this respect, that, when the powers of the flesh are not strong enough to discharge the office of speech, the mind cannot adequately convey its meaning. For what is the di cum office of the body saving to be the organ of the mind; and cantan- though the musician be ever so skilled in playing', he cannot put his art in practice unless outward aids accord with 2 canti- himself for that purpose, for we know that the melody 2 which the hand of the proficient bids, is not rightly given back by instruments that are out of order; nor does the wind express his art, if the pipe, gaping with crevices, gives a grating sound. How much more affected in quality then is a thing like this exposition of mine, wherein the grace of delivery is so dissipated by the broken condition of the instrument, that no contrivance of skill can avail to recover it! But I beg that in going through the statements of this work, you would not seek the foliage of eloquence therein for by the sacred oracles the vanity of a barren wordiness is purposely debarred those that treat thereof, in that it is forbidden to plant a grove in the temple of God. And doubtless we are all of us aware, P His letters add severe attacks of the gout to the infirmities mentioned here. see 1. xi. ep. 32. &c. : q'Adversitate.' This sense should be borne in mind when the Church prays against adversity.' Artificial refinement ill suits Holy Writ. 11 that as often as the overrank crop shews stalks that abound Leand. in leaves, the grains of the ears are least filled and swelling. And hence that art of speaking itself, which is conveyed by rules of worldly training, I have despised to observe; for as the tenor of this Epistle also will tell, I do not escape the collisions of metacism', nor do I avoid the confusion of barbarisms, and I slight the observing of situations and arrangements, and the cases of prepositions; for I account it very far from meet to submit the words of the divine Oracle to the rules of Donatus". For neither are these observed by any of the translators thereof, in the authoritative' text of Holy' auctoWrit. Now as my exposition takes its origin from thence, it is plainly meet that this production, like a kind of offspring, should wear the likeness of its mother'. Now it is the new Translation that I comment on; but when a case to be proved requires it, I take now the new and now the old for testimony, that as the Apostolic See, over which I preside by ordinance of God, uses both, the labours of my undertaking may have the support of both. i. e. either the collision of ms, or the letter m at the end of a word, followed by a vowel at the beginning of another. Vide Du Cange, in voc. • Donatus was a great grammarian of the fourth century, the preceptor of S. Jerome, who highly commends him. His work on grammar was in such general use as to be called a Donatus,' as we speak of a Virgil,' or a Horace, or an Ainsworth. Vide Biogr. Univ. Paris, 1814. t. xi. There was a great number of Versions of both the Old and New Testament in the Latin tongue, from the Greek. Of these there was one NOTE A. S. Thom. Aq. thus settles the question of the hidden sense of Holy Writ. Summ. Theol. Qu.i. Art. 10. "I answer, it is to be said that God is the Author of Holy Scripture, Who has the power not only to adapt words to convey a meaning, which even man may do, but even things themselves, and so whereas in all sciences words have a signification, this particular science has this property, that the very things which are signified by words do also signify somewhat further. That primary signification, therefore, whereby words signify things, ritate |