Concerning the origin, dignity, object, necessity, fruit, amplitude, difficulty, examples, method, and dispositions of sacred scripture.

That famous Egyptian theologian, the near contemporary of Moses, whom the pagans called Hermes the "Thrice-Greatest," after pondering at length how best to describe this universe, uttered this at last: "The universe is the book of God, and this glimmering world is the mirror of divine things." Indeed, he had learned theology from this book, after lengthy study and meditation. "The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands." "For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby," and "his eternal power also, and divinity," so that in the great tables of the heavens, the pages of the elements, and the volumes of time, one who has an observant eye can clearly read, as it were, the lessons of divine teaching. From the very beginning of the world and its construction from nothing, we get an estimate of the almighty power and energy of its creator; from the multiplicity, variety, and discordant concord of created things we can measure the abyss of his kindness; from the ample aggregation of other spirits, bodies, motions, and times, we perceive, up to a point, his eternity and immensity. Thus it is possible, from the weight, number, and measure of these things, to see and admire the exceptionally wise πρόνοια of the architect and the measured and elegant harmony and concept of every nature, which has bound every part of the universe in fixed and clearly immovable ways both to itself and to every similar part in friendship, and by its continual influence preserves and guards this friendly bond, so that harmonious variations may take place within a stable pattern. This is what the eternal Wisdom publicly declares about itself in Proverbs 8:22 [sic, 27]: "When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths: when he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: when he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth; I was with him forming all things," as if to signify that Wisdom inscribed certain marks of itself in this formation.

Nevertheless, although this beautiful microcosm discloses to our vision the archetype from which it is expressed by its author, namely the sacred power and the uncreated sphere of the highest divinity, this book is imperfect in many parts, and supplies only the outlines, the traces, from which one may judge the lion from its claw, so to speak, rather than a clear and complete description of the writer. Moreover, since it has been written in the style of nature alone, it has nothing to say about the things that transcend the boundaries of nature, the things by which we may be carried to the heaven of the Holy Trinity and to our perennial good, which we pursue in life and death with all our desires.

Therefore, it seemed best to the divine and boundless goodness--that wise writer who writes quickly and with wonderful regard--to take up another pen, to show us other tablets, and to leave far different marks of himself, which would present not a silent picture but words for our eyes, sounds for our ears, and for our minds sensations and vivid images of the divine. With these he would not just clearly, but also kindly and wisely portray himself, as well as the heavenly minds, all created things, and whatever leads us to living well and happily. In admiration of this fact, Moses, who was to give the law of God to Israel, said in Deuteronomy, 4:7: "Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation. Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions. For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before your eyes?" Indeed, how wonderful it is to have the holy books of divine scripture, the letters which God has written for us and the undoubted testimonies of his will, always at hand, and to read and turn them over again and again! How good, pleasant, and salutary it is to be given a domestic oracle to consult--not Apollo speaking from a tripod, but God himself speaking much more clearly and certainly than he did from the ancient ark and cherubim! This is what St. Charles Borromeo was thinking when he read the scriptures with his head uncovered [2] and on bended knee, as if he were handling the oracles of God.

For this reason churches once had two niches, located on either side of the apse. In one of these, the Holy Eucharist was reserved; in the other, the sacred books of divine Scripture. Hence, St. Paulinus (as he testifies in Letter 12 to Severus), when he built a church in Nola, had these verses inscribed on the right:

This is the place where the venerable store is kept, the nourishing display of the sacred ministry.

and these on the left:

One who is taken by a desire to meditate on the holy law may pause here and read the sacred books.

Even today the Jews in their synagogues keep the law of Moses, like an oracle, in a splendid tabernacle, just as we reserve the Holy Eucharist, and they bring it forth on public occasions. They are careful not to handle the books of the Bible with unwashed hands; they kiss them as often as they open and close them; they will not sit on a bench where the books are placed; if a book falls to the ground, they fast for an entire day, so that one is all the more amazed that some Christians take and handle the Bible so carelessly. St. Gregory in book 4 of his Letters, no. 84, reproaches Theodore, a physician, for reading the holy scriptures in a careless fashion: "The emperor of heaven and the Lord of angels and men has sent letters to you for your life, and you neglect to read them with enthusiasm! For what is holy scripture, other than a letter from God almighty to his creature?" For this reason I will speak at somewhat greater length, first, about the excellence, necessity, and fruit of holy scripture; second, about its matter and amplitude; third, about its difficulty; fourth, I will adduce the judgments and examples of the holy fathers in this matter; fifth, I will show the preparation and the effort that are required to undertake this study.

I. The philosophers teach that it is necessary to know the principles of sciences and demonstrations before the demonstrations and sciences themselves. For the sciences, like everything else, have their own order, and every truth is either primary and obvious to everyone, or derived from a primary truth by certain channels. If you intercept these, just as one cuts into the ducts of a fountain, you will choke off all the rivulets of truth that arise therefrom. Moreover, holy scripture comprehends the elements of the whole science of theology. For theology is nothing other than the science of conclusions drawn from certain principles by faith, and so it is the most prestigious, as well as the most certain, of sciences; but the principles of faith and faith itself are comprehended by holy scripture. From this it clearly follows that scripture lays the foundational principles of theology, with which a theologian, like a mother with her offspring, births and brings forth his demonstrations using the reasoning of his mind. Therefore, anyone who thinks that he can sunder scholastic theology from the serious study of holy scripture is vainly hoping for a child without a mother, a house without foundations and suspended, as it were, over the ground, an aqueduct without a source, a harvest without seeds, and a conclusion without principles. Such thinking is not merely superficial, but delusional, as well.

This was clear to the divine Dionysius, whom all antiquity admired as the acme of theologians and πετεινὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, a bird of heaven. As he discourses about God and heavenly things in various passages, he claims to advance with holy scripture as his principle and guiding light. Let this serve as an example of all the things he says Concerning the Divine Names, at the very outset of his work: "Now concerning this hidden super-essential godhead we must not dare, as I have said, to speak, or even to form any conception thereof, except those things which are divinely revealed to us from the holy scriptures. For agnosia (supra-knowledge) of its superessentiality---to it must we attribute the super-essential science, so far aspiring to the highest, as the ray of the supremely divine scriptures imparts itself, whilst we restrain ourselves in our approach to the higher glories by prudence and piety as regards things divine--that the Father is fontal deity, but the Lord Jesus and the Spirit are, if one may so speak, God-planted shoots, and as it were flowers and superessential lights of the God-bearing deity, we have received from the holy scriptures. That mind of itself in its essential nature is beyond the reach of all created things; but by its help and good pleasure, we are elevated to the glories which illuminate us in the sacred scriptures, and are led by their light to the supremely divine hymns, by which we are moulded to the sacred songs of praise." [tr. Parker, adapted] Again, in his book On the Mystical Theology, he teaches that the spiritual and mystical theology, which transcends all created things by the way of negation, without symbols, and so comes to the superessential, hidden darkness of God, is narrow and so restricted, and that it falls silent in the end; but the theology of symbols, in which God comes down to our speech in scripture and puts its sensible figures before us, is fittingly wide. For this reason, he wrote, St. Bartholomew was accustomed to say that theology is both very great and very small, and the Gospel is wide and great, but also concise. For in its mystic sense and by ascending, it is small and brief; but symbolically and by descending, it is great and wide.

Indeed, if we were deprived of the symbolic, if God had given us no images of himself and his affairs in our holy books, how mute and speechless all our theology would be! If scripture had been silent about the holy trinity of a single monad and essence, would not that deep and perennial teaching of the scholastics, so vast in subject matter, concerning its relations, origin, generation, spiration, notions, persons, word, image, love, gift, power, notional acts, and all such things remain unspoken? If divine words did not locate our happiness in the vision of God, what theologian could have guessed, let alone hoped for it? If the holy prophets and writers of the new covenant had concealed faith, hope, religion, martyrdom, virginity, and the entire chain of divine virtues that surpass nature, [3] who would pursue them by means of his intelligence, will, and desire? Indeed, these things escaped the notice of the ancient sages, who were endowed with a prodigious and almost miraculous power of understanding. They were unknown to the Academy of Plato. There is not a word about them in the entire school of Pythagoras. In this matter, Socrates, Pimander, Anaxagoras, Thales, and Aristotle are untutored boys. I pass over the fact that the divine letters speak with greater clarity and certainty than any ethical treatise about co-natural virtues, about the law and the duties that befit a man in view of his reason and about the opposite vices, and the whole matter of moral philosophy, so that they alone deserve Cicero's praise of philosophy, or rather of ethics. They alone are, and are rightly called, "the light of life, the mistress of morals, the medicine of the soul, the norm of living well, the nourisher of justice, the guiding light of religion."

St. Justin learned this by experience, to his great benefit. He testifies in the beginning of his dialogue Against Trypho that, being eager for philosophy and the wisdom that leads to God, he made a marvelous circuit of all the better-known sects of the philosophers, an odyssey of sorts, but all in vain. At last he came to rest in the Christian ethic of the holy scriptures, finding this alone to be solid. First, he attached himself to a Stoic, from whom he heard nothing about God. Next, he found a Peripatetic teacher, whom he came to despise as trafficking in wisdom. He came next to a Pythagorean, but since Justin was neither an astrologer nor a geometer (which were required subjects in that school, as a prerequisite for living happily), he fell in with a Platonist, having now been deluded by all of them with the fleeting and empty hope of wisdom. At length and unexpectedly he stumbled upon a divine philosopher, whether a man or an angel, who encouraged him to stop making the rounds of learning and to read the books of the prophets instead, whose authority was greater than any demonstration and whose wisdom would be most salutary, and to focus all his desire for knowledge on these. That man departed and was never seen again, but he instilled in Justin such a desire for sacred study and the reading of the divine books that he immediately gave up teaching those other subjects and applied himself eagerly to this alone, and he pursued it so steadfastly that it gave us Justin the Christian, philosopher, and martyr. We would all do well to follow the advice of this divine philosopher--we who desire to imbibe the true sense of God and piety, Christian morals, and the spirit of a holy life.

There is a fallacious opinion, which hinders the understanding of many people, that sacred letters are for someone else to study, namely one who intends to be a professor or a churchman. This is like depriving oneself of the good that one wishes for others, and, like a hired hand, digging up a treasure for other people but not for oneself. Such is not the view expressed in the divine sayings themselves. St. Peter says in his first [sic; second] epistle, 1:19: "And we have the more firm prophetical word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." To this light, then, you should first attend; this you should follow, so that the day star that arises in your hearts may shine for others, as well.

The royal Psalmist calls blessed not the one who pours the sayings of God into others, but the one who meditates on his law day and night. This man indeed is like a tree planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in due season. God's purpose in having the sacred books written for us and in setting forth his word was primarily this: to be a light to our feet, and to shed his light on our paths, so that walking in these pleasant gardens, more brilliant than those of Alcinous, we might feed on the delightful sight of heavenly fruit and also enjoy its taste. Just as one who walks in a palace garden, among the green shoots of trees and flowers or the gleaming skin of apples, must of necessity be refreshed by their scent and color, and just as one who walks in the sunlight, if only to clear his head, seems to grow warmer and ruddier, so also those who religiously and carefully read, hear, and study the divine scriptures must, in their minds, sentiments, counsels, intentions, and manners, acquire a kind of divine color and be kindled with holy affections.

Who, indeed, would not be invested with purity of mind when he hears the pure words of the Lord, like silver tried by fire, commending it with so much praise and such great rewards? What heart is so chilly that it would not warm with charity when it hears Paul, burning with the same love and casting the fires of divine love in all directions? Whose mind would not so rejoice at reading in scripture about heavenly goods that he would not spurn with disgust these lower things? Armed with this hope, who would not try to imitate the life of the angels in a human body and live as an angel among men? Who, in keeping with his faith and piety, would not make firm his manly breast and, facing legions of evils, seek wounds and a fair death when his ears and mind, all alert, hearken to the sacred trumpets that summon with such vigorous persuasion all his fortitude and constancy? Thus the Machabees (1 Machabees 12:9), having only the holy books for comfort, glory in remaining impenetrable to all their enemies, having invincible strength. Likewise the Apostle arms the faithful against every harsh and difficult thing, saying (Romans 15:4): "For what things soever were written, were written for our learning: that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope." Indeed, the words of God secretly breathe some vital spirit into those who read them, so that if you compare them with the writings of learned men, the latter, ardent as they may be, appear soulless, while you will find that the former are alive and fill you with vitality.

[4] A single verse of scripture, "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor," was enough to inflame the great Anthony, who was then still a young man, distinguished by birth and wealth, with such love for evangelical poverty that he divested himself on the spot of all the goods that usually blind mortals for so long, and through his monastic profession embraced the heavenly life while still on earth. So says St. Athanasius in his life of that saint. Divine scripture was likewise able to turn Victorinus, the proud orator of Rome, from the superstition and arrogance of paganism to the faith and humility of Christians. A passage from St. Paul was enough not only to unite the heretical Augustine to orthodox Christianity, but to pull him from the foul abyss of habitual sexuality and to impel him to embrace continence and chastity, not merely in the married state, but as a celibate religious as well. See his Confessions, 8.2 and 7.21. A single passage from the Gospel, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted," was enough to cause an immediate conversion in Simeon the Stylite and to bring him to the point that he stood with one foot on a column for eighty years, so that he might pray all day and all night. Living practically without food and sleep, he became a marvel to the world, as if not a man but an angel had come into the flesh. Why, you may ask, do we, who read holy scripture so often, not experience the same passionate enthusiasm and the same changes in our manner of living? The reason is that we read them casually and listlessly, so that we justly incur the reproach of St. Marcianus, reported by Theodore [sic; Theodoret?] in his Philotheus, when bishops asked him for a salutary word: "God speaks to us every day through his creatures and through sacred scripture, and yet we make very little use of these. How, then, will I be helpful to you, since I too lose this opportunity?"

Ezechiel, the most mysterious of the prophets, once saw a great river issuing from the threshold of the house of God, which he was unable to cross, "for the waters were risen so as to make a deep torrent, which could not be passed over. And when I had turned myself, behold on the bank of the torrent were very many trees on both sides." What are these? Surely they are all the saints, both ancient and new, of the Law and the Gospel, who, sitting by the streams of the evangelists, apostles, and prophets, ever flourish like beautiful trees and abound in every kind of fair and delicious fruit. The same river favors both sides; in other words, the same Holy Spirit, who is its author, has woven scripture that is one and is tending in the same direction through diverse ages, and, with both old and new instruments, has instilled it with life-giving juice, if only we are willing to drink it.

II. But now, that we may draw these conclusions from a higher principle, let us consider the kind and the magnitude of the themes of scripture and determine its subject matter. In a word, the object of holy scripture is every knowable thing, every discipline; whatever can be known is embraced there. Therefore, it is a kind of university, containing all the sciences, both formally and eminently. Origen, commenting on the first chapter of the Gospel of John, says that divine scripture is the intelligible world, established in four parts, like the four elements. Of these, earth, being in the middle, like the center of a circle, is history. Around it, like water, flows the abyss of moral understanding. Over history and ethics, the two parts of this world, passes the air of natural science. Beyond all these is the etherial and fiery empyrion. Here the supernal contemplation of the divine nature, which they call theology, has its sphere. So Origen. In this way, likewise, you may associate the historical sense with the earth, the tropological sense with water, the truly allegorical sense with air, and the anagogical sense with fire and ether.

I contend further that holy scripture, not only in the mystic sense, but also in the literal sense, which has the first place and which ought to be studied before all else, contains all science, all that is knowable.

To prove this, I posit a three-fold order, to which philosophers and theologians relate all that exists. The first is the order of nature or of natural things; the second is the order of supernatural things and grace; the third is the order of the divine essence with its attributes, both essential and notional. The first order, of nature, is investigated by physics and the other disciplines of natural philosophy. The second and third are explored in this life by revealed teaching, which pertains to faith and theology, and in the next life by the vision of divinity, with which the angels and saints are blessed. That holy scripture treats of the first order, that of natural things, is the teaching of the holy doctor Thomas at the very beginning of the Summa Theologica, In article 1 of the First Question, where he inquires into the necessity of another kind of teaching beyond philosophy. He replies with a twofold assertion. First, "a teaching revealed by God, in addition to the philosophical disciplines, is necessary for salvation" in order to know the things that surpass the intellect of man and his natural powers. Second, "the same revealed teaching is necessary also in those things which can be investigated through philosophy by the natural light of reason." He adds, by way of explanation, that truth is acquired through philosophy over a long time and mixed with many errors. Therefore, revealed teaching is needed to direct, correct, and transmit philosophy to all men with ease and certainty.

Two outstanding examples are the chief philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, who comprehended many things with remarkable insight, but often with such ambiguity and obscurity that commentators in Greek, Latin, and Arabic have labored strenuously for many centuries to explain them. I will pass over [5] their most egregious mistakes, such as Plato's teaching that God has a body or that God is the soul of the world, which he mixes with his great body; that there are junior and lesser gods; that souls existed before bodies, and that they atone for the misdeeds of a previous life in the body, as in a prison; that our knowledge is only a recollection; that women in his Republic should be shared; that deception should be employed as a purgative; that there will be a recurrence of men, animals, times, and all things, so that after ten thousand years we shall all be sitting here studying, teaching, and learning the same things once more; that there is a return and palingenesis of souls, such that:

After they have turned the wheel for a thousand years, they begin with a desire to return to the flesh [tr. Kline].

Pythagoras, as if drawing from the same source, believed that souls come down to the bodies of men and beasts in turns. Hence he said:

I myself remember that in the Trojan war I was Euphorbus, son of Panthous, who was pierced by the spear of the younger son of Atreus.

You don't believe it? αὐτὸς ἔφα. "Viewing a picture of this strange condition, would you not laugh at such an exhibition?" [tr. Colman]

Here, surely, we see the truth of the Hebrew maxim: אשר ריק קרא למרה לא אמר לברא, ascer ric core lemore lo omen lebore. This means, "One who easily and carelessly believes a teacher disbelieves in the Creator."

Aristotle (in whose genius, says Averroes, nature showed the extent of her power) located the prime mover in the East. He asserted that the same was moved by fate and natural necessity, that this world existed from eternity, that the truth of future contingents is not determined, and that God does not have a definite knowledge of them. As for the providence of God for men and the entire sublunar sphere, as well as future rewards and punishments, he either denies them or so obscures them that, like a cuttlefish wrapped in its arms, they can scarcely be recognized and unravelled; because of his affected obscurity he is regarded and called the "torturer of minds." Perceiving these shadows of the natural light, Democritus and Empedocles confessed outright that nothing is truly known by us. Socrates used to say that he knew only that he didn't know. Arcesilaus added that even this could not be known. Anaxagoras and his school held that all our knowledge is mere opinion, and that things only seem so to us. Indeed, they said, one cannot know for certain that snow is white; it only appears to be. For all the senses can be deceived, just as the most exact vision is fooled when, owing to the refraction of light, it sees the back of a dove endowed with heavenly colors that a dove does not in fact possess.

Therefore, in this night, in this sea and abyss of clouded perception, we need the lamp of revealed teaching, like a lighthouse. "Thy word is a lamp to my feet," says the royal psalmist, Psalm 118:105, "and a light to my paths. The wicked have told me fables, but not as thy law." This true and solid wisdom, as Baruch (3:22) says, "hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths. But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her; he that prepared the earth for evermore, who sendeth forth light, and it goeth: this is our God. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterwards," so that he might teach this knowledge, "he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men."

You will ask, then, where physics, ethics, and metaphysics are taught in the sacred writings. I reply that physics, in its most ancient and original form, is taught in Genesis, Ecclesiastes, and Job; ethics, through brief maxims and aphorisms, in Proverbs, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus; metaphysics, primarily in Job and the Psalms, where the power, wisdom, and immensity of God, as well as his works--the angels and all other things--are celebrated in song. If you are seeking a history and chronology from the beginning of the world to the times of Christ, you will not find one more reliable, pleasant, and varied than Genesis, Exodus, and the books of Joshua, Judges, Kings, Esdras, and Macchabees. How sacred scripture condemns sophistry, and what solid argumentation and logic it employs, can be learned from St. Augustine in the second book On Christian Doctrine, chapter 31. The same author discusses mathematics, as they pertain to numbers, in book 3 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 35. Geometry is clearly seen in the building of the tabernacle and the temple, both Solomon's and the one that is wonderfully measured in Ezechiel. Rightly, then, does St. Augustine say at the end of the second book On Christian Doctrine: "But just as poor as the store of gold and silver and garments which the people of Israel brought with them out of Egypt was in comparison with the riches which they afterwards attained at Jerusalem, and which reached their height in the reign of King Solomon, so poor is all the useful knowledge which is gathered from the books of the heathen when compared with the knowledge of holy scripture. For whatever man may have learnt from other sources, if it is hurtful, it is there condemned; if it is useful, it is therein contained. And while every man may find there all that he has learnt of useful elsewhere, he will find there in much greater abundance things that are to be found nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the wonderful sublimity and wonderful simplicity of the scriptures." [tr. Dods] All the liberal disciplines, all languages, all sciences and arts, which are contained in certain bounds, are handmaidens to scripture, their mistress and queen. This sacred science surrounds and embraces all things, making use of them all; and being the most perfect, it should come to be studied at last as their end and goal.

Therefore, sacred letters [6] investigate the order of things, i.e., of nature, with greater certainty and more reliably than the natural sciences, particularly where God and the attributes of God, the immortality and liberty of the soul, rewards and punishments, and all created things are concerned, and when the sciences err, they bring them back to the way of truth.

As for the second order, that of grace, and the third, that of divinity, no one can fail to see with St. Thomas that they were unknown to the philosophers (since they transcend the light of natural reason) and cannot be known without the revelation of God and God's word. You can see, then, how sacred scripture embraces and penetrates all things, and like the sun of wisdom diffuses the rays of all truth.

Aristotle, or whoever was the author of the book On the Universe, to the question, 'What is God?', makes this reply: "As the steersman in the ship, the charioteer in the chariot, the leader in the chorus, law in the city, the general in the army, even so is God in the universe." [tr. Forster]. But while governance in these matters is laborious, having its share of perturbation and anxiety, for God it is easy, free, and perfectly ordered. You could say the same about sacred scripture, which is the leader, the law, the prince and moderator of the other sciences. When asked what God is, Empedocles answered: "God is an uncontainable sphere, whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere." Likewise, when someone asks you what sacred scripture is, you could rightly say that it is an uncontainable sphere of learning; its center is everywhere and its circumference, nowhere; for sacred scripture is the Word of God. Hence, just as the word of our mind relates the mind itself and all its sensations, sacred scripture, the word of the divine mind, unique in itself and adequate, as it were, to God's understanding and knowledge (with which God perceives himself and all things, both natural and supernatural, in a single instant), expresses many different things, so that it may gradually impart to the narrow confines of our minds, which cannot grasp its uniqueness and vastness, the whole truth indeed, but in small bites, through diverse sayings, examples, and comparisons, as if to children. Then, from this ocean, as it were, the scholastics draw the streams of theological conclusions. Remove holy scripture, and you will have not scholastic theology, but philosophy; you will be a philosopher, not a theologian. Bring them together, and you will carry every point, both of the theologian and the philosopher.

Likewise, the subjects that are treated in the first part by St. Thomas and the scholastics, namely the essence and attributes of God, predestination, the angels, man, the work of six days (which obviously comes entirely from Genesis, chapter 1), are derived from what is revealed to us in the sacred books. For this reason, St. Dionysius, pointing to his sources, begins his Celestial Hierarchy thus: "Let us aspire, as far as is permissible, to the illuminations handed down by our fathers in the most sacred oracles, and let us gaze as we may upon the hierarchies of the heavenly minds manifested in them symbolically for our instruction." [tr. Parker]. Indeed, if the angels were not painted for us by sacred letters, what Apelles, what eye, what intelligence could have sketched them?

St. Clement, the companion and disciple of St. Peter, has the same opinion in Epistle 5.

As for the questions that are treated in the third part concerning the incarnation, everything is taken from the four Gospels, which narrate the life of Christ; concerning the sacraments of the old law, from Leviticus; concerning those of the new, from various passages in the New Testament. Questions in the prima secundae concerning beatitude, human acts, liberty, free will, the passions, original sin, venial and mortal sin, grace, merits, demerits--where else are they settled, but in the revelation of God? The subjects that are discussed in the secunda secundae, namely faith, hope, and charity, are so closely related to sacred letters that an understanding of the latter is considered foundational by St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, book 2, chapter 40. "Now the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart, a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith." "Unfeigned faith": here you have faith that is sincere; "a good conscience": here is hope, for a good conscience is one that hopes, while a bad one despairs; "charity from a pure heart": here you have charity. What theologians teach about justice, fortitude, prudence, temperance, and the virtues annexed to these is encompassed by Moses in Exodus and Deuteronomy with the precepts, whereby he gives to each virtue its own law; by Solomon in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom; and by Ecclesiasticus, who is accordingly called πανάρετος, "having every virtue."

For sacred scripture has been so elegantly woven by the Holy Spirit that it accommodates itself to all places, times, persons, difficulties, and illnesses; to repelling all evils and summoning all goods; to choking off errors and establishing correct teachings; to inculcating virtues and abolishing vices. St. Basil rightly compares it to a well-appointed store, which supplies every kind of medicine for every disease. Indeed, it was from scripture that the Church, in the time of the martyrs, drew her constancy and fortitude; in the era of the Doctors, the light of wisdom and rivers of eloquence; in the age of the heretics, the supports of faith and the overturning of errors. From scripture she learned humility and modesty in good times, magnanimity in bad times, and fervor and diligence in times of lukewarmness. If, over the long years, she should ever lose her beauty from age or wrinkles or spots, she will obtain from scripture the restoration of lost ways and a return to her original dignity and condition. Thus, St. Bernard comments on those words of Christ: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: "These are the words that have taught the entire world to contemn the world, and to embrace voluntary poverty; they have filled cloisters with monks and deserts with anchorites." The Council of Trent bases the reformation of the Church on holy scripture, and in the entirety of its first decree On Reformation speaks with urgency and at length about the need to institute or restore the reading of scripture in every place.

[7] And so, I need not speak of the usefulness and indeed the necessity of the discipline of sacred letters for those who do not live for themselves alone, but devote a part of life to the good of others, especially those who occupy sees. The common practice of all churchmen testifies to this. Nor is it a new development. If one prefers ancient authorities, one will find in these a much more complete knowledge of the sacred writings and one that is so much richer that every word of theirs seems not merely replete with scripture, but a tightly woven garland of passages. Nor will it come as a surprise to find that the Origens, Anthonies, and Vincents are described as oracles, temples, and arks of the covenant.

St. Gregory, Moralia 18.24, gives an excellent explanation of the words of Job, Silver hath beginnings of its veins: "Silver is the clearness of speech or wisdom, and the veins are holy scripture, as if he said in plain words that he that is fitting himself for the words of true preaching, the originals of the cases he must of necessity derive from the sacred page, so as to bring round every thing that he speaks to a foundation of divine authority, and in that set firm the edifice of his own speaking." [tr. Parker, adapted] St. Augustine says to Volusianus: "By these means wayward minds are corrected, weak minds are nourished, and strong minds are filled with pleasure, in such a way as is profitable to all. This doctrine has no enemy but the man who, being in error, is ignorant of its incomparable usefulness, or, being spiritually diseased, is averse to its healing power." [tr. Cunningham]

Thus, one rightly deplores even now what St. Jerome reproached in men of his own time in the Helmeted Prologue [sic; Letter 53 to Paulinus]: whereas in all other arts men learn before they teach, in the case of sacred letters, most prefer to teach what they have never learned. "The art of interpreting the scriptures," he says, "is the only one of which all men everywhere claim to be masters, and when they charm the popular ear by the finish of their style they suppose every word they say to be a law of God. They do not deign to notice what prophets and apostles have intended, but they adapt conflicting passages to suit their own meaning, as if it were a grand way of teaching — and not rather the faultiest of all — to misrepresent a writer's views and to force the scriptures reluctantly to do their will." [tr. Fremantle et al.] Indeed, many are gripped by an incurable compulsion to teach, but few have a love of learning, and a small one at that. Like wax, they spin scripture in every direction, and, through a remarkable transformation, squeeze it into every shape. Like dice-throwers, they play with the sacred words according to chance, often doing them violence in the process. Thus they distort them, in a manner that poets would never tolerate in Virgil, into alien meanings, contrary to the solemn decrees of the Fathers, the Canons, and the Councils -- the Council of Trent above all. What is the cause of all this? I attribute it to a chronic and pervasive laziness. They have engaged in dubious studies, and they are loath to learn well what they intend to teach. Sloth casts darkness over their minds, so that they think that holy scripture is easy and accessible to the understanding of anyone. They think they know what they do not, and they are ignorant of their own ignorance. The root of this evil must be entirely pulled out, like an infection that has crept into many and spread itself widely.

III. Let us consider, then, what was asked under the third heading: how easy the divine books are to understand. To state briefly what I think and the point that I am trying to elaborate: I contend that sacred scripture is much more difficult to understand than any profane literature, whether in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew. Let us see whether this is in fact the case. By universal consent, sacred scripture excels all other writings in this respect, among many others: while the latter convey one sense at a time, scripture has at least four; for it not only contains the meaning of the words, but also that of the things indicated. Thus it happens that the literal sense conveys the understanding of a story or something expressed in sacred words. But this story or expression also utters a prophecy concerning the Lord Christ according to the allegorical sense, and something suitable for forming morals according to the tropological sense; and reaching higher, through the anagogical sense, it proposes heavenly mysteries "to be seen in a glass darkly." From these, you would scarcely attain one truth. How would you so blithely guarantee the rest?

But, you will say, the historical sense is the most important, and it is this alone that I seek. I gather and measure it sufficiently with the truth of scholastic philosophy; I don't trouble myself about the symbolic meaning, which is uncertain and which anyone can make up for himself. See, however, that you don't become like Ennius' Neoptolemus, who said that he was "willing to philosophize, but only a little, for he didn't much like it," and so play the theologian only in name and on the surface. That the mystical is the principal sense of scripture is the message of the entire Old Testament, which relates the deeds of that time (or what ought to be done), but everywhere signifies Christ above everything in a symbolic manner. The same can be said about the other senses.

To use a familiar example: when Jonathan, in 1 Kings, chapter 20, intending to give a covert signal to David that he should take flight, shot an arrow and commanded a servant to go out to collect it, he spoke with a double meaning: first, and more immediately, that the servant should pick up the arrow; second, and more remotely, but in accord with his real intention, that David should heed the warning and take to flight. In the same way, the historical is the prior sense, but the mystical is the more important. From the latter as from the former a theologian will derive the strongest evidence of his teaching, as long as the sense is genuine, just as Christ and the apostles often drew the most efficacious conclusions in this way. But if it is unclear whether a mystical interpretation is appropriate to the passage, is it surprising that dubious premises lead to a dubious conclusion? Likewise, from the historical and literal sense, if this is uncertain and doubtful, you will never arrive at any certainty.

Moreover, that spiritual senses are contrived, and that anyone can adapt them on his own authority to any message--as if someone, in imitation of Proba Falconia (the Roman Sappho) and Eudocia, who accommodated the Aeneid of Vergil and the [8] Iliad of Homer to Christ, should adjust holy scripture to his own pious contrivance--is a pernicious thought and a more perilous deed. For if the mystical sense is the true sense of scripture, and if this is what the Holy Spirit wished to communicate above all, how can anyone be free to explain it as he wishes? On what pretext will he claim that the invention of his own brain is the mind of the Holy Spirit, and like a fanatic, sell himself and his own ideas as those of the Spirit? The Fathers who were most versed in allegory foresaw this and carefully guarded against it; being full of the same Spirit, they did not thoughtlessly obtrude allegory for applause or to build up their ideas for amusement, nor did they (as one commonly says) put greaves on their heads and helmets on their shins, but they limited their interpretation to the subject matter, so as to fit it in all respects. In the historical sense, words signify deeds; so too, in the allegorical, deeds signify something more hidden. Thus, if allegory does not correspond to history, it is false and evanescent. St. Jerome, writing on Osee, chapter 10, says that it is impious to relate what is said about the king of Assyria to Christ in a tropological sense--something he himself had imprudently done before. Likewise, in the prologue to Abdias, he reproaches himself for having explained this prophet allegorically before understanding the historical sense.

Now, that the historical sense alone may suffice for you, how many kinds of assistance are required? How often is it hidden? How often does a Hebrew or Greek phrase or some new, unprecedented manner of speaking conceal it? How often does it raise itself to sublimity? Nor is this surprising. If the words of wise men bring forth the thoughts of a wise soul, and if the word corresponds to the conception of the mind, is it not necessary for the former to be both heavenly and divine when the latter is so? No one doubts that the language of the sacred books contains the thoughts of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the eternal Word; consequently, one must not crawl on the ground but raise oneself on high if one wishes to soar, by means of these utterances, to the thoughts of God and ultimate truth.

I admit that the scholastic doctors fetch many things from scripture and examine them with subtlety, but they measure their course with theological questions. These, being most useful, and indeed necessary, for his material and work, are sufficient for the theologian, and in his professional capacity he cannot do otherwise. Similarly, one who interprets the sacred scriptures unfolds theological conclusions, which are wrapped therein with sacred language, with greater accuracy; but, lest he go "beyond the shoe," he immediately withdraws to his own study. Nevertheless, it is one thing to take a sample from a text and another to go through it in a definite and sequential order; it is one thing to examine a statement and another to unfold an entire volume and all the statements contained in it with a diligent and precise examination of what precedes and follows, with an investigation of the Greek and Hebrew sources and a study of the holy fathers, and to imbibe its manner of expression and dwell in it, so to speak, as a housemate. Whoever fails to do this, being content with a few recondite comments taken from various sources, will never enter into the sacred shrine and the mystery of the holy utterances. Rather, he will easily stray from the truth and the mind of the writer. One may observe this in some of the older writers, men who were otherwise not unlearned, but who in matters of theology carelessly seized and misapplied a sacred principle, to the amusement of our heretics and the consternation of Catholics.

St. Gregory, in the preface to his commentary on the Book of Kings, does well to warn the reader that he is explaining history differently than the holy Fathers did. For, he says, if they had explained all things in the order that they touched upon them in part, they would not have been able to maintain the order that they appeared to keep. Many things are inserted, or go before, or come after the passage under consideration, which ought to be compared with it; the manner of sacred speech must be investigated in other passages, as well as the phrasing. If these do not cohere with your explanation, in no wise do you have the genuine meaning of the passage or the power, force, and notion of the language. Thus, you are often in doubt as to which is more obscure: the subject matter or the way it is expressed.

I will not mention the great variety of material in scripture, of virtually every kind; for what is not touched upon or handled in the entire new and old testaments? To give one example: in order to understand the books of Kings, Macchabees, Esdras, Daniel, and the other prophets, how varied your knowledge of pagan history must be, and how many kingdoms of the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Romans you must know! How many pagan customs and rituals pertaining to contracts, warfare, sacrifice, and marriage you must investigate! How many cities, rivers, mountains, and regions you must be able to locate by studying the most ancient chronologies and maps!

Lest some scruple remain, however, come, let us consider the matter from the beginning and see how, in every age, both the difficulty and the dignity of holy scripture have increased the respect and kindled the zeal that the saints have for it. Among the Hebrews there is a tradition, to which St. Hilary, in his commentary on Psalm 2, and Origen, in Homily 5 on Numbers, have subscribed: that on Mt. Sinai Moses received from God both the law and an explanation of the law, and that he was commanded to write the law, but to reveal the hidden mysteries and meaning of the law to Josue, and Josue to the priests and their successors thereafter, with a solemn vow of secrecy. Hence Anatolius, according to Eusebius in the Histories, book 7, chapter 28, says that the Seventy Translators answered many questions of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the king of Egypt, from this tradition of Moses. Moreover, Esdras, or whoever wrote the fourth book of Esdras (which, although it is not canonical, is regarded as an adjunct to the canonical books), in chapter 14, says that Moses was told this: "Thou shalt make these words public, and these thou shalt hide." Likewise, when he (Esdras) had dictated 204 books at the prompting of God, he received this command: [9] "Make public the earlier books, which you have written, and let both the worthy and unworthy read them; but the last seventy books thou shalt save and give to the wise of thy people; for in these is the vein of understanding, the font of wisdom, and the river of knowledge; and so I have done."

Thus Moses, especially in Deuteronomy, wished that every ambiguous and difficult judgement of the people concerning the law should be referred to the priests. For, as Malachias 2:7 says, "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth." For this reason, when the Lord requires priests to be studious of the law, he commands in Leviticus, book 10: "That you may have knowledge to discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean, and may teach the children of Israel all my ordinances which the Lord hath spoken to them by the hand of Moses." To impress this care more deeply on the high priest, God required him to bear on the breastplate of his priestly garment symbolic characters for teaching and truth--or as it is in Hebrew, אורימ אורימ [sic, אורימ ותמימ], urim vetummim, illumination and integrity--the two ornaments of the priestly life. But let us go further.

The royal prophet, who is a great part of the sacred writings, and indeed, the organ of the Holy Spirit, recognizing the sublime and secret darkness contained in these matters, often prays in these and other words (Psalm 118): "Open thou my eyes: and I will consider the wondrous things of thy law." Here the Hebrew says, גל עני ואביטה, gal enai veabbita, "roll down from my eyes (the veil of obscurity), and I shall clearly see the wonder of your law." "Now," says St. Jerome To Paulinus, "if so great a prophet confesses that he is in the darkness of ignorance, how deep, think you, must be the night of misapprehension with which we, mere babes and unweaned infants, are enveloped! Now this veil rests not only on the face of Moses but on the evangelists and the apostles as well, and unless all things that are written are opened by Him who has the key of David, who opens and no man shuts, no one can undo the lock or set them before you." [tr. Fremantle et al.]

Jeremias hears in chapter 1: "Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations." And yet he exclaims, "Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child."

Isaias, in chapter 6, saw a seraphim flying toward him and opening his mouth, which was destined for prophecy, with a burning coal.

Ezechiel, in chapter 2, at the sight of the quadrifid creature and the glory of God, falls prone on his face, and, raised by the spirit, remains silent, so that his mouth may likewise be opened.

Daniel (7:2) keeps the word of God in his heart, but he is troubled in his thoughts and his countenance is changed, and he is perplexed at the vision, because there is no interpreter. Shall we claim to possess a more ready understanding of the same prophecies, parables, mysteries, and symbols, or greater eloquence in expounding them, as if it were natural and congenital to us?

Far otherwise does Ecclesiasticus depict the wise man, and he demands untiring study with devout prayer: "The wise men will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets (or, as the Greek source has it, in the prophecies). He will keep the sayings (in Greek, διήγησιν, discourse, narration, explanation) of renowned men, and will enter withal into the subtleties in the secrets of parables. He will open his mouth in prayer, and will make supplication for his sins. For if it shall please the great Lord, he will fill him with the spirit of understanding: and he will pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers, and he shall shew forth the discipline he hath learned, and shall glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord."

The ancient Jewish Rabbis were totally devoted to sacred letters; hence, they were called ספרימ, sopherim, γραμματεῖς or scribes. After Christ, however, as everyone knows, they knew nothing other than sacred scripture and were otherwise unlettered. There is a story about a rabbi who was asked by his grandson, an enthusiast for the sciences, whether he was permitted to study Greek authors, as well. The rabbi answered ironically that it was indeed permitted, as long as one did not do it either by day or by night. For it is written: "On the law of the Lord one should meditate day and night."

Let us proceed to the new covenant. When St. Peter mentions the letters of St. Paul, he adds that they contain "certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter, chapter 3). Earlier, in chapter 1, he writes, "No prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation, for prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost."

His brother in ministry and the crown of martyrdom, St. Paul, credits not human strength, but the distribution of the gifts of the same Spirit for the fact that "to one indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom, and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another, faith in the same Spirit; to another, the grace of healing in one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, diverse kinds of tongues; to another, interpretation of speeches" (Corinthians 12), and so, he says, God has appointed some in the church to be apostles, others, prophets, and others, teachers. Elsewhere, he glories in the fact that he studied the law at the feet of Gamaliel; in another place, he urges pastors and bishops to present themselves as workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, that they may give counsel in sound doctrine and confute those who contradict them. But why linger on this point?

Let us listen to Christ: "Search the scriptures." In his farewell and ascension, Christ entrusted this gift to the Church along with the power to do wonders and every kind of miracle, and he disclosed the meaning of the scriptures to his apostles, that [10] they might understand and teach them to their own disciples and so pass them on them through a personal tradition. That they received them in this way is stated by St. Dionysius, the disciple of St. Paul, and by St. Clement, the disciple of St. Peter.

With this in mind, and at the same time, St. Mark of Alexandria initiated Christian commentary on the sacred Writings. One can see in the book On the Contemplative Life by Philo, a Jewish eye-witness, and in book 14 of Eusbeius' History of the Essenes, how the Essenes, the first Christians of Alexandria, spent the entire day, from dawn until dusk, reading and hearing the sacred books and probing the sublime allegorical meanings taken from the commentaries of their fathers. Here was the beginning of the Alexandrian school, which grew thereafter and wonderfully matured, giving to subsequent centuries legions of martyrs, an illustrious chorus of doctors and prelates, and the luminaries of the world. To measure the rest from one example: Eusebius reports that Origen was accustomed, even as a boy, to recite a few sacred verses to his father from memory as a kind of daily task. Not content with these, he began to investigate and inquire into their deeper content and meaning. When he became older and was endowed with a professor's chair, he continued his studies day and night, and for this reason alone he learned the Hebrew language, collected the versions of various translators from around the world, and set a new precedent by publishing, at great expense of labor, the Hexapla and Octapla, to which he added notes.

These were followed in the East by that golden pair, the Doctors of Greece, Basil and Gregory the Theologian. They sought the solitude, peace, and rest of the monastery, and for thirteen years, removed from all the books of the Greek secular writers, they devoted themselves to holy scripture alone. "They commented on the divine volumes," says Rufinus, History, book 11, 9, "not with individual presumption, but relying on the writings and authority of the elders, who themselves had taken their rule of understanding from the succession of the apostles." Is it possible that such great men, endowed with such wisdom, intelligence, and eloquence, thought it necessary to invest so many years in the rudiments of holy scripture, while we consider sacred letters so easily mastered that we loathe to devote three or four years to them, or, if more are required, we think we have wasted all our time and trouble? St. Ephrem the Syrian was a contemporary of St. Basil; his zeal for sacred scripture can be judged from his nocturnal studies.

That schools of sacred scripture were established at Nisibis at the time of the emperor Justinian is attested by Junilius, an African bishop, in his book To Primasus. Pope Agapetus, who reigned under the same emperor, attempted to introduce such schools in Rome, according to Cassiodorus in the preface to the Institutes: "Together with blessed Agapetus, Pope of Rome, I made efforts to collect money for expenses to enable Christian schools in the city of Rome to employ learned teachers from whom the faithful might gain eternal salvation for their souls and the adornment of fine, pure eloquence for their speech." (tr. Halporn)

Among Latin authors, moreover, St. Jerome must be considered the foremost, the phoenix of his age. He devoted himself so completely to this subject that he advanced in it to an extreme old age; his legacy to the Church was a Latin translation of the Bible from Hebrew. This work shows him to be an outstanding teacher of sacred scripture. This saying of his is likewise famous: "Let us learn on earth what should remain with us in heaven," and "Study, as if you were going to live forever; live, as if you were going to die always." For this reason he learned to read Hebrew, just as Cato had learned Greek, as an old man; for this reason he went to Bethlehem and the holy sites; for this reason he read all the Greek and Latin commentators, as St. Augustine attests, and named the ones that he followed in the prologues of practically all of his commentaries. He also gravely reproaches those who claim knowledge of the scriptures apart from the grace of God and the teaching of the elders.

St. Augustine had such a keen intellect that he fathomed the categories of Aristotle by his own effort, and he read nothing without thoroughly assimilating it. Shortly after his conversion, on the advice of St. Ambrose (as we read in book 9 of the Confessions), he took up the prophet Isaias, but he was immediately deterred by the depth of the prophet's words, when a first reading surpassed his understanding. He stepped back and postponed further study of the text until he was better versed in the Lord's way of speaking. Much later, in his first letter to Volusianus, he wrote: "For such is the depth of the Christian scriptures, that even if I were attempting to study them and nothing else from early boyhood to decrepit old age, with the utmost leisure, the most unwearied zeal, and talents greater than I have, I would be still daily making progress in discovering their treasures. For beyond [what is necessary for] faith, so many things which are veiled under manifold shadows of mystery remain to be inquired into by those who are advancing in the study, and so great is the depth of wisdom not only in the words in which these have been expressed, but also in the things themselves, that the experience of the oldest, the ablest, and the most zealous students of scripture illustrates what scripture itself has said: 'When a man has done, then he begins.'" (tr. Cunningham)

The difficulty is increased by the idioms of the Hebrew and Greek languages. These are scattered everywhere, and a knowledge of both languages is required to understand them, as St. Augustine teaches in book 2 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 10. Written words fail to be understood for two reasons: the signs and words in which they are dressed are either unknown or ambiguous. Both problems are not uncommon in any translation in which content is simply poured [11] from one idiom into another. Moreover, as St. Augustine says in chapters 11 and 13, "the best remedy against unknown signs is the knowledge of languages." For there are some words which cannot be translated into another language, and even if the interpreter is learned and does not deviate from the sense of the author, one cannot see the meaning until one looks into the language that is being translated. Among others, Augustine offers this example (Wisdom 4:3): "Bastard vitulamina shall not take deep root." The Latin translator follows the Greek and deduces, as it were, μοσχεύματα from μόσχος, that is, vitulamina from vitulus [a bull calf]; for μοσχεύματα are twigs or branches, the cuttings from a tree that are planted in the ground. Indeed, it is obvious that the Latin Bible abounds in Greek and Hebrew idioms, nor is it surprising that St. Augustine recalls, in his Retractions, 5.54, that he collected phrases from sacred scripture in seven small books, which still exist today. His example was imitated by Eucherius of Lyon in the book On Spiriual Forms and by many others in our own century.

In agreement with St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom does not hesitate to assert, in Homily 21 On Genesis, that there is not a syllable or jot in the sacred literature in which a great treasure does not lie hidden. For this reason, he adds, we need God's grace, so that we may approach the divine utterances by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Gregory the Great, the pope and doctor, goes still further. Commenting on Ezechiel, he finds so many hidden mysteries in the holy books that he asserts that some of them have not yet been revealed to mortal spirits and are only available to the angels. Shall we wonder at the fact that Gregory, Augustine, Ambrose, Eusebius, Origen, Jerome, Cyril, and the whole chorus of the holy fathers toiled night and day over the sacred books? Shall we wonder that they, the first and foremost, grew old in this learning, and that only death made an end of their studies? Shall we wonder that Jerome had Gregory of Nazianzus and Didymus, that Ambrose had Basil, that Augustine had Ambrose, that Chrysostom had Eusebius, and that others had still others as teachers? Shall we wonder that schools of sacred letters were erected right from the beginning of the Church? There is no doubt about the school of Alexandria, the parent of so many doctors and prelates. As for the rest, we have sufficient evidence in the labors of the fathers, which were performed many centuries before theology was taught in the scholastic method, and which deal with this subject almost exclusively.

In Constantinople there was a famous monastery, to which its founder gave the name Studion from the study of sacred letters and the more perfect life. St. Plato was its head. Afterwards, Theodore the Studite, around the year 800, left many monuments of his intelligence and devotion to the sacred literature, keeping his students busy, in the way of ancient monks, with writing it down. Both absent and present with these, he struggled with the iconoclastic emperors, Constantine Copronymus and Leo Isaurus, in a bitter contest; he strangled the heresy and dedicated a monument of victory for the holy faith to all posterity.

From England, hear what the Venerable Bede says in his Ecclesiastical History: "Having entered the monastery at seven years of age, I wholly applied myself to the study of scripture; and amidst the observance of monastic rule and the daily charge of singing in the church, I always took delight in learning, or teaching, or writing." (tr. Sellar, adapted) Thus, there exist commentaries of Bede on practically all the books of scripture. Nor did he cease writing on account of infirmity, but even in his final illness he labored on the Gospel of St. John. When he was almost on the point of dying, he summoned a scribe to finish it, saying, "Take a pen and write quickly," and finally, "It is finished well." Like a swan, singing, "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit," he peacefully breathed his last--he who, for his faithful labor, was to be blest with the vision of God in the year 731.

A contemporary of Bede was Flaccus Albinus or Alcuinus, who was the teacher, or rather close friend, of Charlemagne. He taught sacred letters at York in England. St. Ludger came from Frisia to hear him, and he profited to such an extent that, when he returned to his countrymen, he earned the title "Apostle of the Frisians." Witnesses of this are the Annales Frisiae and the author of the Life of St. Ludger.

Among the Belgians, St. Boniface, as he and his companions were spreading the law of Christ, always carried a book of the Gospel, which he kept even in martyrdom. For when, in the year 755, the Frisians aimed a sword at his head, he held out this book as a spiritual shield; and through a singular miracle, although the book was sliced through the middle by a sharp blade, not a single letter was destroyed.

Among the Francs, the emperor Charlemagne, who was thrice great with respect to erudition, piety, and success in war, founded schools of sacred scripture in various places, including Paris. This school is so ancient that it is the mother of the school in Cologne, and the grandmother of that in Louvain. Charles himself, according to Einhard's biography, carefully reformed the practice of reading and psalmody. He was so devoted to the sacred literature that he died with it. Thegan, in his Life of Louis, says that Charles, after his son Louis was crowned at Aachen, devoted himself entirely to prayer, alms, and the sacred scriptures. Indeed, he was practically on the point of death when he corrected the four Gospels, using the Greek and Syriac texts. With good reason, therefore, is the Codex of Charlemagne reverently kept at Aachen, as I myself have seen.

Consequently, the decree of the Lateran Council under Innocent III concerning a chair of sacred letters is not an innovation, but should be regarded as renewing and strengthening an old custom. Indeed, the Council of Trent [12] took such great care that this custom should not decline that, in session 5, it establishes and decrees at length that the reading of sacred scripture be established, taught, and promoted in all communities of canons, monks, and regulars, and in all public schools, and that both teachers and students [of scripture] who receive ecclesiastical benefices, where the reception of fruits has been accorded by common law, should receive them even when absent. Surely, when our sectarian enemies toil exclusively at prattling about the scriptures, a Christian and orthodox theologian should be ashamed to concede even this much to them; he should be ashamed of being overcome and defeated by them. Rather, let theologians not merely prattle about the words of the scriptures, but explore their true meaning. Thus will they attack the heretics with their own weapons, and so defeat and strangle all heresies with scripture. This is what Bellarmine, that champion of the faith and destroyer of heresies, did so precisely and reliably in his Controversies. That work is incomparable and impregnable, the like of which the Church has not seen in this genre, so that it can rightly be called the wall and bulwark of Catholic truth.

V. From all this one can easily see the eager and unfailing diligence required of a student of this discipline, the intellectual preparation with which he must approach it, and the supports with which he must be strengthened. The first preparation for deriving any benefit from this study is the frequent reading of scripture, the frequent hearing of the same, the living voice of a teacher, and constancy in all these; for divination is in the mouth of the teacher, and his mouth shall not err in teaching. Plutarch, in his book On the Education of Children, teaches that the memory is an inner storehouse of learning. Plato asserts in Theatatus that memory is the mother of the muses, and wisdom is the daughter of memory and experience. This is especially true in holy scripture, according to St. Augustine in book 2 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 9, which consists of a such a variety of subject matter and of so many books and ideas. Hence the Church, in order to aid our memory, distributes portions of the Bible throughout the daily celebration of the sacrifice of the Mass and the canonical hours, that we may cover the whole of it every year. We are also helped by, among other things, the pious custom of churchmen and religious to have a chapter of the Bible read at table during lunch and dinner, so that food is seasoned, as it once was among the fathers, with sacred letters. Accordingly, the Council of Trent, at the beginning of the second session, mandates the reading of the divine scriptures at the tables of bishops. Nor should theologians omit this practice, which is prescribed by the laws of the most learned men, so that they may become more familiar with scripture through daily reading.

St. Augustine, in book 2 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 9, says, "In all these books, those who fear God and are of a meek and pious disposition seek the will of God. And in pursuing this search, the first rule to be observed is, as I said, to know these books, if not yet with the understanding, still to read them so as to commit them to memory, or at least so as not to remain wholly ignorant of them," [tr. Shaw] and then to investigate the meaning of each of them more carefully. St. Basil in his prologue to Isaias writes, "There is need for the study of the scriptures, in order that the solemnity and mystery of the divine sayings may be impressed on the soul through continuous study." [tr. Lopatin]

Second, an important disposition for this study is humility and modesty of soul. Saint Augustine says of this in Letter 56 To Dioscorus, "I wish you to construct no other way for yourself of grasping and holding the truth than the way constructed by him who, as God, saw how faltering were our steps. This way is first: humility, second: humility, third: humility, and however often you should ask me I would say the same. And so, just as Demosthenes gave ‘delivery' as the first, second, and third principles of public speaking, so, I, in the matter of Christ's wisdom, would give the first, second, and third place to humility. For to teach this our Lord was humbled in birth, life, and death." [tr. Parsons, adapted]

The same author, in book 2 On Christian Doctrine, chapter 41, states: "But when the student of the holy scriptures, prepared in the way I have indicated, shall enter upon his investigations, let him constantly meditate upon that saying of the apostle's, 'Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth,' and this saying of Christ: 'Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart,' that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height--that is, to comprehend the cross of our Lord, by which all Christian action is symbolized, viz., to do good works in Christ, to cling with constancy to him, to hope for heaven. And purified by this Christian action, we shall be able to know even 'the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,' who is equal to the Father, by whom all things were made, 'that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.'" [tr. Shaw] For where humility is, there also is wisdom, says Solomon in Proverbs 11; and Christ himself says, "I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones. Yea, Father; for so hath it seemed good in thy sight."

Indeed, if you know yourself, you know an abyss of ignorance. What, I ask, is human knowledge in comparison with the wisdom of God or an angel? Man learns a little from God; what he doesn't know is without limit. Aristotle, and following him, Seneca, said that there has never been a great mind without a touch of madness, and that only an inspired mind can say anything great or above the thoughts of other men; moreover, he praises intoxication, provided that it is rare. Here you need a raving mind, either Aristotle's or another man's, that he may philosophize deeply. St. Bernard put it well in Sermon 37 On the Song of Songs: "But it is expedient and necessaryto acquire, first of all, that twofold knowledge of God and self, in which, as I have already shown, our salvation essentially consists. " Sow for yourselves unto justice, and reap the hope of life," after which he added, "and light for yourselves the lamp of knowledge."! And one does not proceed to this, unless the germ of righteousness comes first to the soul, to form the grain of life, not the husk of glory." [tr. Priest of Mellery, adapted] St. Gregory says in the preface to the Moralia, [13] chapter 41 [sic]: "Scripture is like a river again, broad and deep, shallow enough here for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough there for the elephant to swim." [tr. O'Donnell]

From this humility follows gentleness of soul and peace, which is able to contain all wisdom. Just as waters that are not agitated by the wind or air but remain unmoved are clear, and clearly receive any image that is projected upon them and become the most perfect mirror, so the mind that is free from passions and disturbances in its calm and peaceful silence clearly discerns the point, plainly grasps every truth, and surveys it calmly and with keen judgment. St. Augustine, commenting in his [first] book On the Sermon on the Mount on the verse, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God, says, "Wisdom corresponds to the peacemakers, in whom all things are now brought into order, and no passion is in a state of rebellion against reason, but all things together obey the spirit of man, while he himself also obeys God." [tr. Findlay]

The companion of peace is purity of mind, which is the third disposition, and most appropriate to this discipline. "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." If they shall see God, why not the words of God? On the other hand, "wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding, and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in." (Wisdom 1:4) St. Augustine, who said in his Soliloquies, "O God, who wished that only the pure of heart should know the truth," revises this in the Retractions, 1.4: "Many indeed who are not pure know many things" (tr. Eller); but if they were pure of heart, they would know more things more clearly and easily. And only the pure of heart will acquire true wisdom, which flows from a wise understanding into one's affect and activity, which is the science of the saints. In St. Athanasius' biography, St. Anthony says, "And if even once we have a desire to know the future, let us be pure in mind, for I believe that if a soul is perfectly pure and in its natural state, it is able, being clear-sighted, to see more and further than the demons." [tr. Ellershaw] Thus God soon revealed to Antony himself all that he wanted to know. We have the same teaching by word and example from St. John the Anchorite in Palladius, Lausiaca, chapter 40.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as Rufinus tells us, was studying in Athens when he saw in a dream two handsome women siting beside him as he was reading. With instinctive chastity he looked at them from the corner of his eye and asked who they were and what they wanted. Approaching him in a familiar and pleasant manner they said, "Do not be vexed, young man; we are well known to you. One of us is wisdom, and the other, chastity. We have been sent by the Lord to dwell with you, because you have prepared a welcome place for us in your heart." So here you have twin sisters, chastity and wisdom.

This purity consecrated St. Thomas, the Angelic Doctor. He hinted as much as he was dying to his companion, Reginald: "I am dying full of consolation, because whatever I asked of the Lord, I received. First, that no affection for carnal or temporal things should corrupt the purity of my mind or weaken its strength; second, that I should not be raised from a humble state to prelatures or episcopal ribbons; third, that I might know the state of my brother, Raynaldo, who was so dreadfully slain. For I have seen him in glory, and he said to me: 'Brother, your affairs are in a good place. You will come to us, but greater glory is prepared for you.'"

St. Bonaventure teaches that St. Francis, a commoner, but endowed with a pure mind, was questioned by cardinals and others concerning the most profound difficulties of holy scripture and theology, and he gave such fitting and sublime answers that he far surpassed the doctors of theology.

True indeed is this statement in the Life of St. Zenobius: "The intellects of the saints are the most vigorous of all; their purity of mind draws from the smallest indications to predict even future events." For as Philo, though a Jew, rightly states: "Legitimate worshipers of God are strong in mind; for the true priest of God is also a prophet. Therefore, he is ignorant of nothing, for he has within himself an intelligible sun." And Boethius justly says, "But the splendor that supplies / strength and vigor to the skies / and the universe controls, / shunneth dark and ruined souls, and follows the shining mind." [tr. James, adapted]

So Cardinal Hosius, who presided over the Council of Trent, a man of great integrity and a notable scourge of Lutheranism, was the only one to suspect Andreas Dudith, the bishop of Knin and the representative of the Hungarian clergy at the Council, who was admired by the rest for his eloquence. Rather, the Cardinal said, this man was in danger of apostasy and would become a heretic. And so it happened: he fled as an apostate to the camp of Calvin. When asked how he had foreseen this, Hosius replied, "It was only the man's pride. His state of mind presaged that he would cling to his own judgment and fall into this ditch."

Fourth, one needs prayer, like a heavenly conduit or pipe, with which one may draw the meaning of the word of God. St. Augustine wrote a book On the Teacher, in which he shows that this title especially belongs to Christ: "Your only teacher," he says, "is Christ." In Retractions 1.4, however, he revises this by saying that there are many ways to truth, but there is only one way, one truth, and one life, which is Christ. Therefore, the knowledge and predictions of the prophets were divine, and hence most certain, sublime, ample, and provident.

St. Gregory relates in Diologues, Book 2, chapter 35, that St. Benedict, when he was praying one evening at a window, saw a light that was brighter than the day and chased every shadow. In this light, he says, he saw the entire world presented to his eyes, as if gathered under a single ray of the sun. There he saw, among other things, the soul of Germanus, bishop of Capua, being brought by angels to heaven in a fiery globe. Peter then asked him how he was able to see the entire world. [14] Gregory responded that to a soul that sees the creator, the whole creation is small. By means of the divine light, the recess of the inner mind is relaxed and expanded in God, so that it stands above God and itself. "The soul of Benedict, as he beheld God, was enlarged, so that it might see without difficulty that which is under God. Therefore, in that light which appeared to his outward eyes, the inward light which was in his soul ravished the mind of the beholder to supernatural things and showed him how small all earthly things are." [tr. P. W., adapted]

Likewise, St. Bernard acquired by meditation an understanding of the sacred books, and from this both wisdom and honeyed eloquence. He used to say that in the study of scripture he had no other masters than beech trees and oaks, and as he prayed and meditated among these, it seemed to him that all of sacred scripture was explained to him; so says the author of his biography in Book 3, chapter 3, and book 1, chapter 4. The same thing obviously happened to the prophets. Iamblichus said that the teaching of Pythagoras, which was handed on from the gods (as he, himself deceived, persuaded his disciples), could not be understood unless one of the gods interpreted it; a student must therefore ask for the divine help that he so much requires. The Jews, as exiles of God, crawl on the ground and so cling to the dry bark of the sacred books that they taste none of the sweetness of the sap, being nothing other than hucksters of nonsense and makers of fables. Heretics, because they wander over such vast and uncertain waters trusting in the oars and sails of their intelligence alone, without looking at a compass or any celestial body, never arrive at the port. Rather, they are always tossed about in the waves, not understanding what they read ad nauseam, except what is pertinent to the liberty of the belly, to the pleasures beneath, and the claims of the abdomen--and this they seize eagerly. What is needed, then, is not a Delian swimmer, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit and heavenly beings, so that we may begin this journey with our eyes fixed on Mary, the shining star of the sea. She will carry a torch before us.

Daniel, that man of desires, managed through prayer and instruction from Gabriel to interpret the dreams of the King of Chaldea and foretell the seventy years of Israel's exile.

Ezechiel, when his mouth was opened (to God, that is), was fed with a scroll in which lamentations, canticles, and woe had been written on both sides.

Gregory, also named Thaumaturgus, being a client of the Blessed Virgin and so commanded by her in a dream, received from St. John an explanation of the beginning of his Gospel and a creedal formula, which was divinely revealed for use against the Origenists. The source of the anecdote is the biography by Gregory of Nyssa, who also relates the formula.

As St. Chrysostom, the great admirer of St. Paul, was dictating his commentaries on the latter's epistles, someone who resembled Paul was observed standing beside him and whispering into his ear what he should write.

Ambrose, if we trust the account of his deeds by St. Paulinus, when we was reading the scriptures for a sermon in defense of the Son's divinity, appeared to have an angel who inspired his words. An Arian who was allowed to witness this novel sight was moved to embrace the truth of Catholicism and abjure his heresy.

Upon St. Gregory the Great, who was the most accomplished interpreter of the tropological sense, the Spirit in the form of a dove was seen to alight, according to the eye-witness testimony of Paul the Deacon.

The divine catechist of Justin Martyr, when he urged him to read the prophets, also gave him this method: "But you must wish above all else that the doors of light be opened to you by prayers and petitions; for these things are not perceived and understood unless God the Christ grants understanding." Not without reason, then, did St. Thomas, the prince of scholastic theology, who was also well versed in scripture, place so much hope in propitiating the Deity during his lectures on the holy books that he was accustomed to fast, as well as to pray, for understanding of every difficult passage. One must therefore strive to the utmost by praying to God that he would lead us into his sanctuary and reveal his hidden sayings.

From this follows the last thing most necessary for this kind of learning: that our mind, purged of all human filth and cleared of the fog of passions, and made holy and sublime, should be rendered suitable and capable of drawing on these holy teachings. As Gregory of Nyssa beautifully says, divine things and the light born with them, which is seen with the mind, can be perceived with an empty and unspecified meaning if one turns one's attention to humble and lowly matters with crooked and untaught preconceptions. And so, if we would get to the veins and marrow of the heavenly words and clearly survey their profound and hidden mysteries, the eye of the heart must be sublime and holy.

St. Bernard does not hesitate to assert (to the Brothers of Mont-Dieu) that no one will enter into Paul's meaning unless he has previously imbibed his spirit, nor will he understand the songs of David unless he has first put on the holy sentiments of the Psalms. All told, the spirit in which the sacred scriptures were written is the sense in which they should be understood. He puts it well when writing on Canticles: "This knowledge is not taught through lessons, but through anointment; not through letters, but through the spirit; not through erudition, but through training in the commandments of the Lord. You err, you err, if you believe that you can find among the teachers of the world that which only the disciples of Christ, that is, those who despise the world, achieve through the gift of God." [tr. Doebler] Cassian tells us that the holy monk Theodore, who was untutored to the point of illiteracy, was so well versed in the divine books that he was consulted by the most learned men. He was accustomed to say, "More effort should be spent on extirpating vices than on paging through books; for when the former have been pushed out, the eyes of the heart will admit the heavenly light, and when the veil of the passions has been removed, the mysteries of the scriptures [15] will naturally be open to contemplation." Indeed, it was this holiness of life that chiefly taught the likes of Francis, Anthony, and Paul, all unlettered, the deepest mysteries and meanings of the words of God. And so, if you come to this study with a holy mind, relying on prayer and trusting in God, and if hard work is added, such that no day passes in which you do not say (as Cyprian said of his daily reading of Tertullian, in Jerome's account), "Give me my teacher," you will swiftly and easily overcome any difficulty. That which is in the bark of wisdom will refresh you, but its celestial marrow will nourish you more pleasantly, and you will never have reason to fear any stupefying heretic, even if he has memorized the entire Bible. For this is practically their entire study, which they use to attack us; and so it is fitting for us to fight them with the same weapons and to reclaim them from unjust possessors, that we may engage them boldly in this kind of battle and weaken them with their own devices. Nor will you need to fear an academic chair, no matter how learned and famous; but with security and confidence, solidly equipped with learned concepts and holy opinions, you will play the part of Ecclesiastes. Moreover, scholastic theology will not take it ill, but will gladly accept the help of her sister discipline and will share labors which will be profitable to both.

As for me, I am quite sensible of the burden I bear and how difficult has been the road that must be travelled. For it is one thing to roll out long commentaries, often with ambiguous results; it is quite another to render in brief the meaning from the Fathers, to join the historical sense with the allegorical, and to distinguish one from the other. I know, following the Nazianzene in his second sermon On Easter, that a middle way must be taken between those who cling with duller minds to the letter, and those whose constant delight is in allegorical speculation alone. The first habit, which is lowly and characteristic of the Jews, and the second, which is inept and typical of dream-interpreters, are equally worthy of reproach. As St. Augustine observes in book 17 On the City of God, chapter 3, those seem overly bold who assert that all things in scripture are wrapped in allegorical meanings--as Origen, who inclined to this extreme, did when he avoided, or rather elided, the historical truth and often replaced it with something symbolic. For example, he thinks that the formation of Eve from Adam's rib must be understood spiritually; that the trees of paradise signify angelic fortitude; that garments of skin represent the human body; and he offers many similar mystical interpretations. Thus "he makes his own genius" (which was certainly extraordinary) "to be the mysteries of the Church," as Jerome says in book 5 of his commentary On Isaias. Indeed, he incurs this censure: "Where Origen spoke well, no one better; where he spoke ill, no one worse." So Cassiodorus. But what Oedipus will tell them apart? What St. Jerome said about priests--"many priests and few priests"--I would say about interpreters: there are many interpreters, and there are few. Ambrose and Gregory generally give the mystical sense; Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome, and other Fathers sometimes weave the historical, sometimes the mystical into the same discourse, so that one needs more than a Lydian stone to find the historical sense, which is foundational, in the fathers. How rarely do we find interpreters who have been immersed in the Greek and Latin sources and who have rendered their authentic phrasing and completely reconciled it to our version? What then? I see that I must labor here and struggle, so that by reading and investigating much, I may imitate the bees and make a selection of honey from the more suitable flowers. Thus I may first explore the historical sense with an exact analysis. If this is one option among many, I will say so; in such a multitude of opinions, which keep their hearers in a state of anxiety and turmoil, I will choose the one which is most consistent with the text. In this matter, I have always assumed that the Vulgate edition, in accordance with the decree of the Council of Trent, should be upheld. If the Hebrew text appears to disagree with it, in order to respond to heretics, I will show it as it agrees with the Vulgate, and if the Hebrew suggests some other devout and learned understanding which is not at variance with our text, I will bring it forth, but in such a way as to render the Hebrew words in Latin, so that those who do not know Hebrew may understand them. Those who do know it may consult the sources. But I do all of this sparingly, and only as the situation requires.

As far as the Rabbis are concerned, I will have no fellowship with them, except when they agree with Catholic doctors or when they tacitly follow Christians, especially St. Jerome, as has often been discovered. Otherwise, this vulgar race of men, abject, stupid, and unlettered after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the whole nation was bereft of its kingdom, city, judges, temple, and literature, remains, according to the prophecy of Osea, without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim. As for the mystical understanding, I will never invent it myself, but I will always attribute it to its authors, and where it is better known I will discuss it briefly. Otherwise, I will point to the sources where it may be found. Moreover, I will do this with greater brevity than I did for the Epistles of Paul, so that I may bring the entire course of the Bible to completion (if God grants the strength and the grace) in a few years and a few volumes. The amount of untiring labor and study, along with keen judgement, that is required to consult the Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Syriac, and Chaldaean texts with their variant manuscript readings; to read the Geek and Latin Fathers and more recent interpreters as they go in various directions and at such great length; to form a judgment in each matter as to what is certain, what is probable, what is improbable, what is literal, what is most authentic, what is allegorical, tropological, and anagogical; to distill all these things and combine them into three words; to be obliged often to find the genuine sense oneself and break the ice for the first time--this is known only to one who has experienced it. [16] Happy indeed is the reader and auditor who enjoys all this labor of the teacher! Let the doctor long for martyrdom, and in place of his blood consecrate and exhaust his energies, and let him use up his eyes, mind, mouth, bones, fingers, hands, blood, and every vital spirit--indeed, life itself--and by slow martyrdom render it to him who first gave his own, as God, for us men. I will keep my strength for you; I will not seek gain, or applause, or the smoke of glory. Let them fault me, praise me, applaud, or explode; I will not tarry, for I am not so foolish or pusillanimous as to sell my life and labors for such cheap vanity. Who is there who, like St. Thomas, would send a reply to a question and hear Christ saying from the cross: "You have written well of me, Thomas; what shall be your reward?," and not immediately respond, "None other than you, Lord"; my reward is great indeed. The world is crucified to me, and I to the world; my works are not my gifts, but yours; I give them back to you. You instructed my infancy, you showed me the way in the wilderness, you strengthened the infirmity of my mind and body, you dispelled the darkness with your light; for you have chosen the weak things of the world that you may confound the strong, and the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, and things that are not, that you may bring to nought things that are, so that no flesh should glory in your sight, and he who does glory may glory in you alone. Why, then? All fruits, the new and the old, my beloved, I have kept for you; I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feeds among the lilies. Put me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts; and after this myrrh, a cluster of cypress will be my love to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi. That he may grant this in rich abundance, I will continually beseech all the saints, especially my patrons: the Virgin mother of eternal Wisdom, St. Jerome, and that Moses whom I have in my hands; that just as St. Paul to Blessed Chrysostom, so he may be present to me as an angel of instruction, to be a leader and teacher to me in writing, to others in hearing, and to both in understanding, and in knowing, wishing, completing, and teaching and persuading others of the same things, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all meet in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ, who is our love, the end, the goal, and the boundary limit of our race, our study, our life, and our eternity. Amen.