St. Augustine, will be useful and advantageous. But in this matter we need hardly say that the greatest pru- dence is required, for the "ofRce of a commentator," as St. Jerome says, "is to set forth not what he himself would prefer but what his author says." ^ The question of "reading " having been, when necessary, carefully dis- cussed, the next thing is to investigate and expound the meaning. And the first counsel to be given is this: that Sess. iv. deer, de edit, et usu sacr, libror, ' De doctr. chr. iii. 4. ' Ad Pammachium. the more our adversaries contend to the contrary, so much the more solicitously should we adhere to the received and approved canons of interpretation. Hence, whilst weighing the meaning of words, the connection of ideas, the parallelism of passages, and the like, we should by all means make use of such illustrations as can be drawn from opposite erudition of an external sort; but this should be done with caution, so as not to bestow on ques- tions of this land more labor and time than are spent on the sacred books themselves, and not to overload the minds of the students with a mass of information that will be rather a hindrance than a help.
The professor may now safely pass on to the use of Scripture in matters of theology. On this head it must be observed that, in addition to the usual reasons which make ancient writings more or less difficult to understand, there are some which are peculiar to the Bible. For the language of the Bible is employed to express, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, many things which are beyond the power and scope of the reason of man—that is to say, divine mysteries and all that is related to them. There is sometimes in such passages a fulness and a hidden depth of meaning which the letter hardly expresses and which the laws of interpretation hardly warrant. More- over, the literal sense itself frequently admits other senses, adapted to illustrate dogma or to confirm morality.
Wherefore, it must be recognized that the sacred writ- ings are wrapped in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their interior without a guide; God so disposing, as the holy Fathers commonly teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardor and earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply into the mind and heart, and, most of all, that they may understand that God has delivered the Holy Scripture to the Church, and that in 286 THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
•■^•f % reading and making use of His Word they must follow \ ^he Church as their guide and their teacher. St. Irenseus ^ long since laid down that where the chrismata of God e, there the truth was to be learned, and the Holy cripture was safely interpreted by those who had the . ^ostolic succession.^ His teaching and that of other m)ly Fathers is taken up by the Council of the Vatican, which in renewing the decree of Trent declared its "mind" to be this — that "in things of faith and morals, belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that it is to be considered the true sense of Holy Scripture, which has been held and is held by our Holy Mother the Church, whose place it is to judge of the true sense and interpre- tation of the Scripiuresy alldT^heretore, that it"is*per- rnmed to'no onB^t'STnterpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against ^ the unanimous agreement of the ^Fathe rs." ^ By this most wise decree the Church by no means prevents or restrains t ]^ pursuit jo f biblical science, but rather protects it from error, and largely assists its reial progress. A wide— fretd" 15 "Still left open~lo the'"'piTvate student, in whiph his hermeneutical skill may display itself with signal_ effect ariH' tg~'t he— advanfages~of th e C&urch. OrTThe one hand7~nrTHose passages of Holy Scripture which have not as yet received a certain and /definite interpretation, such labors may, in the benignant [providence of God, prepare for and bring to maturity vli^^Ji^-^^SP^^^ °^ ^ Church; on the other, in passages already defined, the private student may do work equally valuable, either by setting them forth more clearly to the .-' flock or more skilfully to the scholars, or by defending them more powerfully from hostile attack. Wherefore the first and dearest object of the Catholic commentator •^ should be to interpret those passages which have received \ an authentic interpretation either from the sacred writers J ' Sess. iii. cap. ii. de revel.; cf. Cone. Trid. sess. iv. decret de edit, et usu sacr. libror.
\ THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
287 themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as in many places of the New Testament), or from the Church, under the assistance of the same Holy Spirit, whethfij by her solemn judgment or by her ordinary and uiuyers^ magisterium'^— to interpret these passagesiTrrKatTdentical sense, and to prove by all the resources of science that sound hermeneutical laws admit of no other interpretation. In the other passages the analogy of faith should be fol- lowed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for, seeing that the same God is the author both of the sacred books and of the doctrine committed to the Church, it is clearly impossible that any teaching can, by legitimate means, be extracted from the former which shall, in any respect, be at variance with the latter. Hence it ^ws that all interpretation is foolish or false w^hich either makes the sacred writers disagree one with anothe ^ris opposed to the doctrine of the Church. The professor^ of Holy Scripture, therefore, amongst other recomme: dations, must be well acquainted with, the whole circle of theolog}'" and deeply read in the commentaries of the holy Fathers and Doctors, and in other interpreters of mark.^ This is inculcated by St. Jerome, and still more frequently by St. Augustine, who thus justly complains: "If there is no branch of teaching, however humble and easy to learn, which does not require a master, what can be a greater sign of rashness and pride than to refuse to study the books of the divine mysteries by the help of those who have interpreted them?" ^ The other Fathers have said the same, and have confirmed it by their example, for they "endeavored to acquire the undei*standing of the Holy Scriptures not by their own Hghts and ideas but from the writing and authority of the ancients, who, in their turn, as we know, received the rule of interpreta- tion in direct line from the apostles." * The holy Fathers Cone. Vat. sess. iii. cap. ii. de fide. ^ Ibid.
Ad Honorat de util. cred. xvii. 35. * Rufinus Hist. eccL li. 9.
288 THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
"to whom, after the apostles, the Church owes its growth — who have planted, watered, built, governed, and cher- ished it";^ the holy Fathers, We say, are of supreme authority, whenever they all interpret in one and the same manner any text of the Bible, as pertaining to the doctrine of faith and morals; for their unanimity clearly evinces that such interpretation has come down from the apostles as a matter of Cathohc faith. The opinion of the Fathers is also of very great weight when they treat of these mat- ters in their capacity of Doctors unofficially; not only because they excel in their knowledge of revealed doctrine and in their acquaintance with many things which are useful in understanding the apostolic books, but because they are men of eminent sanctity and of ardent zeal for the truth, on whom God has bestowed a more ample measure of His light. Wherefore the expositor should make it his duty to follow their footsteps with all rever- ence, and to use their labors with intelligent appreciation. But he must not on that account consider that it is for- bidden, when just cause exists, to push inquiry and exposi- tion beyond what the Fathers have done; provided he care- fully observes the rule so wisely laid down by St. Augus- tine — not to depart from the literal and obvious sense, ex- cept only where reason makes it untenable or necessity requires; ^ a rule to which it is the more necessary to adhere strictly in these times, when the thirst for novelty and the unrestrained freedom of thought make the danger of error most real and proximate. Neither should those passages be neglected which the Fathers have understood in an alle- gorical or figurative sense, more especially when such in- terpretation is justified by the literal, and when it rests on the authority of many. For this method of interpretation has been received by the Church from the apostles, and has been approved by her own practice, as the holy Liturgy attests; although it is true that the holy Fathers did not 'S. Aug. c. Julian, ii. 10, 37. » De Gen. ad litt. Iviii. c. 7. 13.
THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 289 thereby pretend directly to demonstrate dogmas of faith, but used it as a means of promoting virtue and piety, such as, by their own experience, they knew to be most valu- able. The authority of other Church interpreters is not so great; but the study of Scripture has always continued to advance in the- Gfamrh, ^nd, therefo re, these- commen t taries also have theiF own honorable place, and are serv- iceable in many ways for the refutation of assailants and the explanation of difficulties. But it is most unbe- coming to pass by, in ignorance or contempt, the excellent work w hich CathohcS hg yp l^ft. in nVmnrIn ^ jHiil III liiTTA recourse to the wo rk of non-Cathol ics — and to seek in them, to the detriment oi sound doctrine and often to the peril of faith, the explanation of passages on which Catholics long ago have successfully employed their talent and their labor. For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with prudence, may sometime s be of use to the_ ^p•'•h^^l^V- student, he shoul d^lievertlieless. bear well in mind — a s the i*atners also teach m numerous passages ^ — that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt outside the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who, being without the true faith, only know the bark of sacred Scripture, and never attain its pith.
Most desirable is it, and most essential, that the whole teaching of theology should be pervaded and animated by the use of the d ivine _ Word of God. That is what the Fathers and tEe"greatest theologians of all ages have de- sired p.nd reduced to practice. It is chiefly out of the' sacred writings that they endeavored to proclaim and estabhsh the_Articlesj)f Faith and^ the tru ths therewit h connected, and it was m'them, together with divine tra - di tioiiTt hat they tound the refutation of heretica Terfo r, and the reaso'hableness, the Li'uein(iamilg, and the mutual relation of the truths of Catholicism. Nor will any one wonder at this who considers that the sacred books hold ' Cfr. Clem. Alex. Strom, vii. 16; Orig. de princ. iv. 8; in I.evit. hom. 48; Tertull. de praescr. 15, seqq.; S. Hilar. Pict. in Matth. 13, 1. such an eminent position among the sources of revelation that "without their assiduous study and use theology can- not be placed on a true footing, or treated as its dignity demands. For although it is right and proper that students in academies and schools should be chiefly exercised in acquiring- a scientific knowledge of dogma, by means of reasoning from the Articles of Faith to their consequences, According to the rules of approved and sound philosophy— nevertheless the judicious and instructed theologian will by no means pass by that method of doctrinal demonstration which draws its proof from the authority of the Bible; "for theology does not receive her first principles from any other science, but immediately from God by revelation. And, therefore, she does not receive of other sciences as from a superior, but uses them as her inferiors or hand- maids." It is this view of doctrinal teaching which is laid down and recommended by the prince of theologians, St. Thomas of Aquin; who moreover shows — such being the essential character of Christian theology — how she can defend her own principles against attack: "If the ad- versary," he says, "do but grant any portion of the divine revelation, we have an argument against him; thus, against a heretic we can employ Scripture authority, and against those who deny one article we can use another. But if our opponent reject divine revelation entirely, there is no way left to prove the Articles of Faith by reasoning; we can only solve the difficulties which are raised against them." Care must be taken, then, that beginners approach the study of the Bible well prepared and furnished; otherwise, just hopes will be frustrated, or, perchance, what is worse, they will unthinkingly risk the danger of error, falling an easy prey to the sophisms and labored erudition of the rationalists. The best preparation will be a conscientious application to philosophy and theology THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 291 under the guidance of St. Thomas of Aquin, and a thor- ough training therein — as We Ourselves have elsewhere pointed out and directed. By this means, both in biblical studies and in that part of theology which is called positive, they will pursue the right path and make satisfactory progress.
To prove, to expound, to illustrate Catholic doctrine by the legitimate and skilful interpretation of the Bible is much; but there is a second part of the subject of equal importance and equal difficulty — the maintenance in the strongest possible way of its full authority. This cannot be done 'completely or satisractorriy"e'xce ^ by meanJoTni e livings aird^oper magisfenuin oTthe Church. The Church, byT^ason"©!' her wondertul propapttolTTter distinguished sanctity, and inexhaustible fecundity in good, her Catholic unity, and her unshaken stability, is herself a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an unassailable testi- mony to her own divine mission." * But, since the divine and in fallible magist erium of the Church rests also on Holy Scripture, the first thmg to be done is to vinciicate the trustw orthiness of sacred records, at least as human docu- ments from wM^^^canHBelele^ tive and authentic testimony, the divinity and the missio n rif rj]^rigf fi•l^r fXrH ^ +V|p JT^ stitution of a hierarchical Chu rch and the primacy of Peter and his successors., It is mostj desirable, therefore, that there should be numerous mem- bers of the clergy well prepared to enter on a contest of this naturej..mid^...r£pulse_hostne_assa^^ in the armor of God recommended by the Apostle,^ but also not unaccustomed to modern methods of attack. This is beautifully alluded to by St. John Chrj^sostom, when de- scribing the duties of priests: "We must use every endeavor that the 'Word of God may dwell in us abundantly'; ^ not merely for one kind of a fight must we be prepared — for the contest is many-sided and the enemy is of every sort; Cone. Vat. sess iii. c. ii. de fide. ' Eph. vi. 13, seqq.
^Gr. Coloss. iii. 16. and they do not all use the same weapons nor make their onset in the same way. Wherefore it is needful that the man who has to contend against all should be acquainted with the engines and the arts of all — that he should be at once archer and slinger, commandant and officer, general and private soldier, foot-soldier and horseman, skilled in sea-fight and in siege; for unless he knows every trick and turn of war, the devil is well able, if only a single door be left open, to get in his fierce bands and carry off the sheep." The sophisms of the enemy and his manifold arts of attack we have already touched upon. Let us now say a word of advice on the means of defence. The first means is the study of the Oriental languages and of the art of criticism. These two acquirements are in these days held in high estimation, and, therefore, the clergy, by making themselves fully acquainted with them as time and place may demand, will the better Be able to discharge their office with be- coming credit; for they must make themselves all to all, always ready to satisfy every one that asketh them a reason for the hope that is in them. Hence it is most proper that professors of the sacred Scripture and theologians should master those tongues in which the sacred books were onginally written; and it would be well that Church stu- ents also should cultivate them, more especially those who aspire to academic degrees. And endeavors should made to establish in all academic institutions — as has already been laudably done in many — chairs of the other ancient languages, especially the Semitic, and of subjects connected therewith, for the benefit, principally, of those who are intended to profess sacred literature. These latter, with a similar object in view, should make them- selves well and thoroughly acquainted with the art of true criticism. There has arisen, to the great detriment of religion, an inept method, dignified by the name of the "higher criticism," which pretends to judge the origin, integrity and authority of each book from internal indications alone. It is clear, on the other hand, that in historical questions, such as the origin and handing down of writings, the witness of history is of primary importance, and that historical investigation should be made with the utmost care; and that in this manner internal evidence is seldom of great value, except as confirmation. To look upon it in any other light will be to open the door to many evil consequences. It will make the enemies of religion much more bold and confident in attacking and mangling the sacred books; and this vaunted "higher criticism" will resolve itself into the reflection of the bias and the prejudice of the critics. It will not throw on the Scripture the light which is sought, or prove of any advantage to doctrine; it will only give rise to disagreement and dissension, those sure notes of error which the critics in question so plentifully exhibit in their own persons; and seeing that most of them are tainted with false philosophy and rationalism, it must lead to the elimination from the sacred writings of all prophecy and miracle, and of everything else that is outside the natural order.
In the second place, we have to contend against those who, making an evil use of physical science, minutely scrutinize the sacred book in order to detect the writers in a mistake, and to take occasion to vilify its contents. Attacks of this kind, bearing as they do on matters of sensible experience, are peculiarly dangerous to the masses, and also to the young who are beginning their literary studies; for the young, if they lose their reverence for the Holy Scripture on one or more points, are easily led to give up believing in it altogether. It need not be pointed out how the nature of science, just as it is so admirably adapted to show forth the glory of the Great Creator, provided it is taught as it should be, so, if it be perversely imparted to the youthful intelligence, it may prove most fatal in destroying the principles of true philosophy and in the corruption of morality. Hence, to the professor of sacred Scripture a knowledge of natural science will be of very great assistance in detecting such attacks on the sacred books, and in refuting them. There can never, indeed, be any real discrepancy between the theologian and the physicist, as long as each confines himself within his own lines, and both are careful, as St. Augustine warns us, "not to make rash assertions, or to assert what is not known as known." If dissension should arise between them, here is the rule also laid down by St. Augustine, for the theologian: "Whatever they can really demonstrate to be true of physical nature we must show to be capable of reconciliation with our Scriptures; and whatever they as- sert in their treatises which is contrary to these Script- ures of ours, that is to Catholic faith, we must either prove it as well as we can to be entirely false, or at all events we must, without the smallest hesitation, believe it to be so." To understand how just is the rule here formu- lated we must remember, first, that the sacred writers, or, to speak more accurately, the Holy Ghost "who spoke by them, did not intend to teach men these things (that is to say, the essential nature of the things of the visible universe), things in no way profitable unto salvation." Hence they did not seek to penetrate the secrets of nature, but rather described and dealt with things in more or less figurative language, or in terms which were commonly used at the time, and which in many instances are in daily use at this day, even by the most eminent men of science. Ordinary speech primarily and properly describes what comes under the senses; and somewhat in the same way the sacred writers as the Angelic Doctor also reminds us-"went by what sensibly appeared," or put down what God, speaking to men, signified, in the way men could understand and were accustomed to.
THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 295 The unshrinking defence of the Holy Scripture, how- ever, does not require that we should equally uphold all the opinions which each of the Fathers or the more recent interpreters have put forth in explaining it; for it may be that, in commenting on passages where physical matters occur, they have sometimes expressed the ideas of their own times, and thus made statements which in these days have been abandoned as incorrect. Hence, in their inter- pretations, we must carefully note what they lay down as belonging to faith, or as intimately cormected with faith— w^hat they are unanimous in. For "in those things which do not come under the obligation of faith, the saints were at liberty to hold divergent opinions, just as we ourselves are," ^ according to the saying of St. Thomas. And in another place he says most admirably: "When philosophers are agreed upon a point, and it is not contrary to our faith, it is safer, in my opinion, neither to lay down such a point as a dogma of faith, even though it is perhaps so presented by the philosophers, nor to reject it as against faith, lest we thus give to the wise of this world an occasion of despising our faith." ^ The Catholic interpreter, although he should show that those facts of natural science which investigators affirm to be now quite certain are not contrary' to the Script- ure rightly explained, must, nevertheless, always bear in mind that much which has been held and proved as certain has afterwards been called in question and rejected. And if wTiters on physics travel outside the boundaries of their own branch, and carrj' their erroneous teaching into the domain of philosophy, let them be handed over to phil- osophers for refutation.
The principles here laid dowm will apply to cognate sciences, and especially to liistorj'. It is a lamentable fact that there are many who wot h^ great lab o r carry out and publish in vestigations on the rnonuments ot antiquitv. th e manners and institutions of nations, and other illustrative ' In Sent. iL Dist. q. i. a. 3. * Opusc. x. subjects, and whose chief purpose in all this is to find mis- takes in the sacred writings and so to shake and weaken their authority. Some of these writers Display not only extreme hostility but the greatest unfairness; in their eyes a profane book or ancient document is accepted without hesitation, whilst the Scripture, if they only find in it a suspicion of error, is set down with the slightest possible discussion as quite untrustworthy. It is true, no doubt, that copyists have made mistakes in the text of the Bible; this question, when it arises, should be carefully considered on its merits, and the fact not too easily admitted, but only in those passages where the proof is clear. It may also happen that the sense of a passage remains ambiguous, and in this case good hermeneutical methods will greatly assist in clearing up the obscurity. But it is absolutely wrong and forbidden either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture or to admit that the sacred writer has erred. For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of those difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, because (as they wrongly think) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind when saying it— this system cannot be tolerated. For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical are written holly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being; possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration,that inspiration not only is essentialy incompatible with error but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossi- ble that God Himself, the Supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church, solenmly defined in the Councils of Florence and of Trent, and finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the Council of the Vatican. These are the words of the last: "The books of the Old and New THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 297 Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, as enu- merated by the decree of the same Council (Trent) and_^ in the ancient Latin "\^ulgate, are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as sacred and canonical not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority, nor only because they contain revelation without error, but because, ha\dng been written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their Author." ^ Hence, because the Holy Ghost employed men as His instruments, we cannot, therefore, say that it was these inspired instruments who, perchance, have fallen into error, and not the primar}^ author. For, by supernatural power. He so moved and impelled them to wTite — He was so present to them — that the things which He ordered, and those only, they, first, rightly understood, then willed faithfully to vrnte down, and finally expressed in apt words and with infallible truth. Otherwise, it could not be said that He was the Author of the entire Scripture. Such has always been the persuasion of the Fathers. "Therefore," says St. Augustine, "since they wrote the things which He showed and uttered to them, it cannot be pretended that He is not the writer; for His mem bers executed what their head dictated." ^ And St. Gregory the Great thus pronounces: "Most superfluous it is to inquire who wTote these things — we loyally believe