tracts of desert land or mountain ridge, which treasure beneath the
surface richest mines of gold, and caverns of splendid crystal and
rarest marble, so the reader of the sacred books, in search of
knowledge, may wearily tread along the paths of Bible truths, his eye
bewildered by endless repetitions of precepts and monotonous scenes and
seemingly uninteresting facts, unconscious of what wealth and beauty
lie beneath him. And the reason of this listless and tiring sense in
scanning over the pages of this book, which has from the first
captivated the admiration of the noblest minds of every race and age,
is the lack of sufficient preparation. The traveller looks for mines
of gold and diamonds, but he has never learnt the art of prospecting.
He stumbles over the heavy, dark ore, and the clods of metallic sand,
and his feet toil along the path lined with pebbles that, if polished,
would rival the stars of heaven, but they are a hindrance to him, for
he does not know _that_ or _how_ he should examine and utilize their
precious contents. He requires the previous training of the
prospector, the sharp eve of the skilled mining master, and the
unwearied courage to go down to examine the often crude-looking stones.
Without these qualities he not only fails in his attainment of wealth,
but becomes discouraged and even sceptic of its existence.
In other words, there are certain essential conditions required upon
which depends the acquisition of that excellent knowledge which the
Scriptures contain for every sphere of life. They are conditions which
affect us in our entirety as men--I should say as the images of God, in
whose likeness we were created. Sin has tarnished this image, and we
are to restore it to its original beauty by correcting it. Our model
is God Himself. The Bible is the text-book containing the image of
this Model, drawn by Himself, and He has provided the preceptor to
explain the various meanings of lines, lights, and shadows, and the use
of the instruments which must be employed in completing the process.
It is a little tedious, as all art training is in its beginning.
Sometimes we copy with tracing-paper, and of late the kodak has done
much to help us by the aid of photography.
XV.
USING THE KODAK.
You know that through the art of photography a perfect picture of an
object may be produced by the action of light upon a smooth and
sensitive surface. The light reflected from the object which is to be
photographed enters through a lens into the dark chamber of the camera,
and makes an impression upon the plate which is rendered sensitive by a
film of chloride (or nitrate) of silver. To produce a good picture,
therefore, three things are principally required:
1. _A faultless sensitized plate_ on which the reflection of the object
is to be made;
2. _A concentrated light_; that is, the rays must enter the camera
through a lens, but be excluded from every other part;
3. _The right focus_; that is to say, you must get the proper distance
of your object in order to preserve the just proportions between it and
its surroundings.
The same requisites may be applied to ourselves when we wish to image
in our souls the object of divine truth, which is identical with God.
1. The sensitive plate of our hearts and minds must be clean, without
flaw, so as to admit the ray of heavenly light, and let it take hold
upon its surface. A tarnished mirror gives but a blurred and imperfect
reflection. Just so the mind occupied with the follies and vanities of
worldliness, the heart filled with the changing idols of unworthy
attachments, is no fit surface for the delicate impressions of those
chaste delineations of truth which are nothing else but the image of
God in the human soul. To His likeness we were created, and to His
likeness we must again conform ourselves by a right study of truth.
2. Next, in order to obtain a correct impression of the sublime truth
contained in the sacred volumes, we must concentrate our lights. That
is to say, we must read with assiduity, must study with earnestness,
and also with prayer, to obtain the light of the Divine Spirit who
caused these pages of the Bible to be traced for our instruction--for,
as one of our greatest English writers, though not a Catholic, has
beautifully said:
"Within that awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries!
Happiest they of human race
To whom God has granted grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch and force the way;
And better had they ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn."[1]
This implies that all side-lights which may distract the mind from this
concentrated attention and reverend attitude should be excluded. To
read the Sacred Scriptures in a flippant mood, or even in an irreverent
posture, and without having previously reflected on the fact that it is
God's word, is to lessen immeasurably one's chance of profiting by the
reading. The Mahometan or Jew in the East reverently lifts each piece
of paper or parchment which he finds upon the road, for fear that it
might contain the name of Allah or Jehovah, and be profaned by being
trodden under foot. We owe no less to the inspired word of God, above
all if we would gain the key to its intelligence.
The concentration into a focus is obtained through a perfectly-shaped,
convex lens. Now this lens, which is capable not only of bringing into
one strong point all the scattered rays of light, but under
circumstances gathers the particles to intensity of heat producing a
flame, is that centre of the affections commonly termed the heart.
There is a tendency among those who seek intellectual culture to
undervalue this quality of the heart, which nevertheless contains the
secret power of generating supreme wisdom. We are considering true
wisdom, not superficial, exclusively human wisdom, which is the very
opposite, and which debases man to a mere repository of facts and
impressions, like an illustrated encyclopedia, or makes of him a shrewd
egotist, whose cleverness we may admire as we admire the antics of a
dancing serpent without wishing to come in contact with its slimy body
or its poisonous fangs.
"As in human things," says Pascal, "we must first know an object before
we can love it, so in divine things, which constitute the only real
truth at which man can worthily aim, we must love them before we can
know them, for we cannot attain to truth except through charity." "In
all our studies and pursuits of knowledge," says Watts, "let us
remember that the conformation of our hearts to true religion and
morality are things of far more consequence than all the furniture of
our understanding and the richest treasures of mere speculative
knowledge."
If it be true that "nothing is so powerful to form truly grand
characters as meditation on the word of God and on Christian truths,"
then we must suppose an inclination, a love for the lofty ideals which
Christianity sets before us. "To whom has the root of wisdom been
revealed?" asks that wise and noble old rabbi, son of Sirach; and he
answers: "God has given her to them that love Him." If the wise man in
the sacred book tells us that "wisdom walketh with chosen women," may
we not assume that it is because woman enjoys the prerogative of those
qualities of heart which make her counsels so often far surer than the
carefully pondered reasons of men?
If the fear of the Lord is the _beginning_ of wisdom, is not charity or
love its consummation? "Blessed is the man that shall continue in
wisdom. With the bread of life and understanding God's fear shall feed
him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink, and ... shall
heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall cause him to
inherit an everlasting name. But ... foolish men shall not see her:
for she is far from pride and deceit.... Say not: It is through God
that she is not with me, for do not thou the things that He hateth"
(Eccles., ch. xiv. and xv.).
But there is no need of multiplying these sayings of God. The
knowledge we seek here is the knowledge which comes from the Divine
Spirit, source of all science as of all goodness and beauty. What the
fruits of that spirit are we are told by St. Paul: Charity, joy, peace,
patience, etc.; and we know how the Apostle of the Gentiles, who had
learnt much in many schools, at the feet of Gamaliel and in the halls
of the Greek philosophers, valued these fruits of wisdom above all the
doctrines of men.
Catholics are fortunate in this, that they may gain from the study of
the Bible that purest light of wisdom which is only partially
communicated to those who find no way, through the sacraments, of
cleansing their souls,--that mirror in which God's image can show
clearly only when it is polished and purified from the dust-stains of
our earthly fall. Whatever opportunities for thorough study of the
Bible we may have, there can be no doubt that this is one of the most
important conditions for its proper and fruitful appreciation, because
the intelligence is always warped by sin.
A correct knowledge of our faith, as the primary rule of our conduct,
is, of course, supposed. We cannot understand the written word of God
unless we have become accustomed to the language He speaks to the
heart, and that language is taught in our catechisms and textbooks of
religion. Some need less of this knowledge than others, so far as the
difficulties and controversies of religion are concerned. The Bible is
a book of instruction for all, and hence the preparatory knowledge
required varies with the mental range and ability, and the consequent
danger of doubts and false views of each individual. A child knows the
precepts and wishes of its parent often by a look or gesture, without
receiving any explicit instruction, because love and the habit of faith
supply intelligence. Others require a certain amount of reasoning to
move their hearts to the ready acceptance of divine precepts. This
reasoning is supplied by the study of popular theologies, of which we
have a good number in English.
3. Lastly, we must not only get a right glass, a good lens, but we must
likewise get the right focus for our picture. We must know the
distance of our objects and their surroundings, the lights and shades,
the coloring, natural and artificial. In other words, we must become
familiar with the circumstances of history, the dates, the places, the
customs and laws, national and social, which throw light upon the
meaning of the incidents related in the Sacred Scriptures, and which
often aid us in the interpretation of passages mysterious and
prophetic. Hence we have to give some attention to, and study what we
can, of the ancient records and monuments brought to light by the
archaeologist and the historian. We must likewise inquire into the
origin, history, authority, purpose, and general argument of each of
the inspired books. All this is the object of what is called
_Introduction to the Study of the Sacred Scriptures_, and is nothing
else but a becoming and essential preparation for the right use of the
Bible.
Ah, may our understanding ever read
This glorious volume which God's wisdom made,
And in that charter humbly recognize
Our title to a treasure in the skies!
[1] Scott, _The Monastery_, c. xii.
XVI.
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE IMAGE.
The Bible is not only a text-book which leads us to the acquisition of
the highest of arts--that of fulfilling the true purpose of life--but
it is itself, as has already been suggested, a work of fairest art
inasmuch as it contains a perfect delineation of the divine Beauty
drawn by the sovereign Artist Himself.
Now true art needs, as a rule, an interpretation; for the outward form
which appeals to the senses may have its deeper and real meaning
disguised beneath the figure, so as to be understood only by the finer
perceptions of the intellect and heart. Take, for example, a canvas
such as Millet's popular picture entitled "The Angelus." It is a
small, unpretentious-looking work, representing a youth and a maid in a
fallow field, a village church in the distance, all wrapt in the gloom
of eventide. Ask a child looking at the picture what is the meaning of
it, and it will probably answer: "Two poor people tired of work." Ask
a countryman, without much education, and he will say: "Two poor lovers
thinking of home." But to the poet who has perchance dwelt in some
village of fair Southern France, and knows the simple habits of
devotion among the peasant folk, the picture will awaken memories of
the sound of the Angelus:
"Ave Maria," blessed be the hour,
The time, the clime, the spot where I so oft
Have felt that moment in its fullest power
Sink o'er the earth, so beautiful and soft,
While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,
Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,
And not a breath crept through the rosy air.
And the reflecting, devout Catholic will see in that picture even more
than the thoughts it suggests to the poet. It will speak to him of the
angelic salute to a Virgin fair at Nazareth; it will touch a chord of
tender confidence and hope in the Madonna's help and sympathy; it will
arouse a feeling of gratitude for the mystery of the Redemption. And
all this difference of judgment arises from the varying degrees of
intelligence and knowledge with which we approach the image.
Now the Sacred Scriptures present just such a picture, only larger,
more comprehensive, truer, deeper, containing all the fair delineation
of God's own image, the pattern according to which we are to correct
the same divine likeness in our souls, spoiled somewhat and blurred by
sin.
Let us look at the outline. There are words and a fact. In the words
truth is enunciated, in the fact those words are exhibited as being a
divine utterance. In their _literal_ meaning the word affects us just
as a picture would at first sight. In the one case we have a precept
or an incident or a scene in the life of our Lord; in the other case we
have an act of prayer or a scene from the daily life of French
peasants. But just as in the picture we may, by reason of artistic and
spiritual culture, recognize not simply an ordinary scene of peasant
life, but a poetic thought, or a practical moral lesson calling for
imitation, or, finally, a mystery of religion, so in the Sacred
Scriptures we may see below the literal sense one that is internal,
hidden, and in its character either simply figurative, or moral, or
mystically spiritual. An old ecclesiastical writer has given us a
Latin hexameter which suggests these various senses in which the sacred
text may at times be understood:
Litera _gesta_ docet, quod credas _allegoria_;
_Moralis_ quid agas, quo tendas _anagogia_.
An example of the four different senses (namely, the _literal_, the
_allegorical_, which appeals to our faith, the _moral_, and the
_mystic_) in which a word or passage of Holy Writ may be interpreted is
offered in the term "Jerusalem." If we read that "they went up to
Jerusalem every year," we understand the word Jerusalem to represent
the chief city of the Hebrews, situated on the confines of Judah and
Benjamin. If we happen upon the passage of St. John where he says: "I,
John, saw a holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God; ... behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell
with them," we know that this _new_ Jerusalem on earth can be no other
than the Church, where God has His tabernacle, dwelling with men. The
word is used _allegorically_, that is to say, it appeals to our faith;
to the internal, not to our external sense. Again, the word
"Jerusalem" may be used in the sense which its etymology suggests
without reference to any city. Etymologically it consists of two
words, signifying _foundation_ and _peace_. A rabbi might, therefore,
bid his disciples to strive to build up "Jerusalem," meaning that they
should seek to lay solid foundations of peace by conforming their lives
to the law of Jehovah. This would give the word Jerusalem simply a
_moral_ signification. Finally, the word is used as a synonyme for
"heaven," as in Apoc. xxi. 10: "And He took me up in spirit, ... and He
showed me the holy city Jerusalem, ... having the glory of God." Here
we have the term in its _anagogical_ sense, that is, referring to the
future life.
Without entering into the various figures of speech with which the
language of the Hebrews abounds, let me suggest some points which must
be observed in order that the true sense of the Sacred Scriptures may
not escape us so as to mislead the mind.
For the discovery of the literal sense we must, of course, be guided by
the rules of ordinary grammatical construction. Where this proves
insufficient we must have recourse to the idiomatic use of language,
the habits of speech, which prevailed among the Hebrews or those with
whose utterances or history we are concerned. This is very important
in order that we may get a right understanding of the expressions
employed. As an instance of misconception in this respect may be cited
the words of our Lord to His holy Mother at the nuptials of Cana, which
literally sound like a reproof, yet are far from conveying such a sense
in their original signification. The like is true of the use of
certain comparisons which to our sense seem rude and cruel, yet which
were not so understood in the language in which they were originally
spoken or written. Thus when our Lord said to the Canaanitish woman
who followed Him in the regions of Tyre and Sidon that it is not right
to give the bread of the children to "dogs," He seemed to spurn the
poor mother, who prayed Him for the recovery of her child, as a man
spurns a cur. Yet such is not the sense of the expression, which
hardly means anything more than what we would convey by "outside of the
pale of faith."
Besides the usage of speech peculiar to a people or district or period
of time, we must have regard to the individuality of the writer. His
subjective state, his temperament, education, personal associations,
and habits of thought and feeling necessarily influence the style of
his writing. Thus in the letters of St. Paul we recognize a spirit
which the forms of speech seem wholly inadequate to contain or express.
He writes as he might speak, impatient of words. His thoughts seem
often disconnected; he omits things which he had evidently meant to
say, and which the hearers might have supplied from the vividness of
the image presented, but which become obscure to the reader who only
sees the cold form of the written page. There is no end of
parenthetical clauses in his discourses; often he begins a period and
leaves it unfinished. Sometimes there appears a total absence of
logical connection in what he intends for proofs and arguments; then,
again, there is a wealth of imagery, which suggests the quick sense and
power of comparison peculiar to the Oriental mind, but slow to impress
itself on the Western nations. All this makes it necessary to _study_
St. Paul rather than to read him, if one would understand the Apostle.
Of this St. Peter shows himself conscious when he writes that certain
things in the Epistles of St. Paul are "_hard to be understood_, which
the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures,
to their own destruction" (II. Pet. iii. 16).
Another element which contributes to the right interpretation of the
Sacred Text is the knowledge of what may be called the historical
background of a passage or book. This includes the various relations
of time, place, persons addressed, and other circumstances which
exercise an influence upon the material, intellectual, and moral
surroundings of the writer. Accordingly, different parts of the Sacred
Scriptures require different treatment and different preparation on the
part of the reader. Thus to comprehend the full significance of the
Book of Exodus we must study the geographical and ethnographical
condition of Egypt. For a right understanding of the Book of Daniel we
should first have to become acquainted with the history of Chaldea and
Assyria, especially as lit up by the recent discoveries of monuments in
the East. The Canticle of Canticles presupposes for its just
interpretation a certain familiarity with the details of Solomon's life
during the golden period of his reign. The Letters of St. Paul, in the
New Testament, reveal their true bearing only after we have read the
life of the Apostle as it is described in the Acts; and so on for other
parts of the Sacred History.
Finally, a proper understanding and appreciation of the inspired books
depend largely on our realization of the proximate scope and purpose,
the character and quality, of the subject treated by the sacred writer.
The Bible is a wondrous combination of historic, didactic, and
prophetic elements. Each of these goes to support or emphasize the
other, but each of them has its predominant functions in different
parts of the grand structure. Hence we may not judge a prophecy as we
judge the historical narrative which introduces and supports it; we may
not interpret in its literal sense the metaphor which is simply to
convey a moral lesson to the mind.
XVII.
"DEUS ILLUMINATIO MEA."
The subject-matter of the Bible obliges us, however, to apply not only
the various cautions and methods of interpretation which are required
for the understanding of the classics generally, but it exacts more.
The Sacred Scriptures, as a grand work of art, have not only a human,
but primarily a divine conception for their basis. Hence it does not
suffice to have mastered the meaning of the words and the outline of
the subject, or the individual genius and human ideal of the writer who
acted merely as the instrument executing a higher inspiration. We must
enter into the conception of the divine mind. If the principal and
all-pervading motive of the great Scriptural composition is a religious
one, it stands to reason that it can be comprehended only when judged
from a religious point of view.
Now the divine mind is so far above us that we can reach it only if God
Himself brings it down to us. He has to descend, to lift the veil from
His immensity, not by opening to us, before the time, those sacred
precincts which "eye hath never seen," but by emitting a ray of light
to clear up our darkness, to give us a glimpse of the awful splendor
which vibrates in those celestial realms where light and sound and
warmth of eternal charity mingle in the sweet harmony of the divine
Beauty whose tones speak now to our senses in separate forms. God
descends to our humility to interpret His own image. First He came in
human form, and told us all the things we were to believe and do. Then
He sent the Paraclete, and under His direction men of God taught the
same things. Then they wrote them, or, as St. John tells us, some of
them. The Paraclete veils Himself, as our Lord had announced to His
Apostles, in the Church, whose divinely constituted earthly chief was
to be Peter--to the end of time. The Church, therefore, founded by
Christ, and an ever-living emanation of the incessant activity of the
Holy Spirit, although necessarily speaking to men through men, is the
first and surest interpreter of the purpose and meaning of each and
every part of Holy Writ.
And because God cannot contradict Himself it follows that every truth
of the written word must correspond with every truth of the spoken
word. In doubtful cases, therefore, as to the meaning of a word or
text in the Sacred Writings, we have recourse to the supreme,
divinely-guided judgment of the Church. Her doctrines, defined, are
the first and most important criterion of Scriptural truth.
But the Church has not defined every expression of truth, though she
holds the key to all truth. She points to the light which illumines
our night; she declares the stars whence that light issues directly or
by reflection; but she does not always indicate where the rays of the
one body begin to mingle with those of the other, or what precise
elements determine the motion or stability of each. Only when there
are conflicts or threatened disturbances of the centres of attraction
and repulsion she reaches out her anointed hand, informed with the
magic power of her Creator and founder, and directs the courses of
bodies that otherwise would clash unto mutual destruction. Hence the
freedom of investigation allowed the Catholic student of the Scriptures
is limited only by the rules of faith taught by the same divine Teacher
who watches over the spoken and written revelation alike. And as, in
cases where we have not the express command of a superior, we interpret
his will by his known desires and views in other respects, so in the
interpretation of those parts of Holy Writ regarding the meaning of
which we have no definite expression in the doctrinal code of the
Church, we follow the _analogy of faith_; which is manifest from the
general consent of the Christian Fathers and Doctors, and from the
teaching of learned and holy commentators. These we may safely follow
in all doubtful cases, that is to say, where there is no evidence to
show that they were mistaken, either through want of certain sources of
information or proofs which we have at our command presently, or
because they accepted the views of their time and people, feeling that
any departure from the received tradition would make disturbance, and
fail of its intended good effect.