Breviloquium

I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you power, to be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; rooted and grounded in charity, that you may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth, length, height and depth; to know also the charity of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.¹

The great doctor of the Gentiles and preacher of the truth, filled with the divine Spirit, as a chosen and sanctified vessel, in this word discloses the origin, progress and end of Sacred Scripture, which is called theology: intimating that the origin of Scripture is to be considered according to the influence of the most blessed Trinity, its progress according to the exigency of human capacity, and its end or fruit according to the superabundance of most full felicity.

For its origin is not by human investigation, but by divine revelation, which flows from the Father of lights,² from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named, from whom through his Son, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit flows forth into us, and through the Holy Spirit, dividing and distributing gifts to each as he wills, faith is given, and through faith Christ dwells in our hearts. This is the knowledge of Jesus Christ, from which originally flow the firmness and understanding of all Sacred Scripture. Whence it is impossible for anyone to enter into knowing it, unless he first has the faith of Christ infused in him, as the lamp and door and even foundation of all Scripture. For faith itself is the foundation of all supernatural illuminations, so long as we are pilgrims away from the Lord,³ the foundation that establishes, the lamp that directs, the door that brings in; according to whose measure also the wisdom divinely given to us must necessarily be measured, lest anyone think more highly than he ought to think, but unto sobriety, and to each as God has divided the measure of faith.⁴ Through this faith, therefore, there is given to us knowledge of Sacred Scripture, according to the influence of the blessed Trinity, as the Apostle expressly intimates in the first part of the authority cited above.

The progress of Sacred Scripture, moreover, is not confined to the laws of reasonings, definitions and divisions after the manner of other sciences, nor is it confined to a part of the universe;⁵ but rather, since it proceeds according to supernatural light to give wayfaring man sufficient knowledge of things, according as it is expedient for salvation, it describes partly in plain words, partly in mystical, the whole compass of the universe as in a certain sum, in which breadth is considered; it describes its course, in which length is considered; it describes the excellence of those finally to be saved, in which height is considered; it describes the misery of the damned, in which depth consists, not only of the universe itself, but also of the divine judgment. — And thus it describes the whole universe, as far as it is expedient to have knowledge of it for salvation, according to its breadth, length, height and depth,⁶ itself also having in its progress these four, according to what will be declared later⁷; because so the condition of human capacity demanded, which, great and manifold, is by nature apt to grasp things greatly and manifoldly, like a most noble mirror, in which the whole universe of worldly things is by nature apt to be described not only naturally but also supernaturally; so that the progress of Sacred Scripture is to be considered according to the exigency of human capacity.

The end or fruit of Sacred Scripture, moreover, is not just anything, but the fullness of eternal felicity. For this is the Scripture in which are the words of eternal life,⁸ which was written for this reason, not only that we may believe, but also that we may possess eternal life, in which we shall see, we shall love, and all our desires shall universally be fulfilled; which being fulfilled, we shall then truly know the charity that surpasses knowledge, and thus we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God. To this fullness divine Scripture endeavors to lead us, according to the truth of the apostolic sentence cited above.⁹ With this end, therefore, with this intention Sacred Scripture is to be searched out and taught and also heard.

And that we may arrive at this fruit and end by a straight progress along the way of the straight path of the Scriptures, we must begin from the beginning, that is, that with pure faith¹⁰ we approach the Father of lights, bending the knees of our hearts, that he himself through his Son in the Holy Spirit may give us true knowledge of Jesus Christ and with knowledge love of him, so that thus knowing and loving him, and as it were solidified in faith and rooted in charity, we may be able to know the breadth, length, height and depth of Sacred Scripture itself, and through this knowledge arrive at the fullest knowledge and excessive love of the most blessed Trinity,¹¹ toward which the desires of the Saints tend, in which is the end and completion of all that is true and good.

With the end of this Sacred Scripture longed for and intended, and its beginning at once believed and invoked,¹² its progress must be seen with respect to its breadth, length, height and depth, according to the way and order of the apostolic teaching.

Its breadth consists in the multitude of its parts, its length in the description of times and ages, its height in the description of hierarchies ordered by degrees, its depth in the multitude¹³ of mystical senses and understandings.

§ 1. On the breadth of Sacred Scripture.

If then we wish to contemplate the breadth of Sacred Scripture, at first sight Scripture presents itself to us as divided into two testaments, namely the old and the new. — The Old presents itself¹⁴ with a multitude of books. For it has legal, historical, sapiential and prophetic books, so that the first are five, the second ten, the third five and the fourth are six, and therefore twenty-six in all.¹⁵ — The New Testament likewise has books corresponding to these according to a fourfold form. For to the legal correspond the evangelical books, to the historical the Acts of the Apostles, to the sapiential the Epistles of the Apostles and especially of Paul, to the prophetic corresponds the book of the Apocalypse; so that there is a wondrous conformity between the old and the new testament, not only in the content of the senses, but also in the fourfold form of the parts. — In figure and sealing of this, Ezechiel saw wheels of four faces, and a wheel in the midst of a wheel,¹⁶ because the old is in the new, and conversely; and in the legal and evangelical books is the face of the lion on account of the excellence of authority; in the historical the face of the ox on account of examples of virtue; in the sapiential the face of man on account of sagacious prudence; in the prophetic books the face of the eagle on account of perspicacious understanding.

But Sacred Scripture is rightly divided into the old and new testament, and not into theoretical and practical, as philosophy is:¹⁷ because, since Scripture is properly founded upon the knowledge of faith, which is a virtue and the foundation of morals and justice and of all right life, knowledge of things or of things to be believed cannot be separated in it from knowledge of morals. It is otherwise with philosophy, which treats not only of the truth of morals, but also of the true considered by naked speculation. Since therefore Sacred Scripture is knowledge moving to good and recalling from evil — and this is through fear and love — it is therefore divided into two testaments, whose "brief difference is fear and love."¹⁸

And because one can be moved to good and recalled from evil in four ways, namely through the precepts of most powerful majesty, or through the teachings of most wise truth, or through the examples and benefits of most spotless goodness, or from all these gathered into one; therefore in both the new and the old testament the books containing Sacred Scripture have been handed down in fourfold form according to correspondence with the four aforesaid. For the legal books¹⁹ move through the precepts of most omnipotent majesty; the historical, through examples of most spotless goodness; the sapiential, through the teachings of most provident truth; the prophetic move from the aggregation of all the aforesaid, as is manifestly apparent in them. Whence they themselves are as it were reminders of all legal wisdom and doctrine.

Sacred Scripture is therefore like a widest river, which is aggregated more and more from the confluence of many waters, according as it runs further. For whereas at first in Scripture there were the legal books, afterwards supervened the water of the wisdom of the historical books, thirdly supervened the doctrine of the most wise Solomon, after this²⁰ also the doctrine of the holy Prophets, and at last the evangelical doctrine was revealed, uttered through the mouth of Christ's flesh, written down by the Evangelists, spread abroad by the holy Apostles; with the addition also of the teachings which the Holy Spirit, coming upon them, taught us through them: so that thus, taught all truth through the Holy Spirit according to the divine promise, they might give to the Church of Christ the doctrine of all salutary truth, and by consummating Sacred Scripture dilate the knowledge of truth.

§ 2. On the length of Sacred Scripture.

This Sacred Scripture also has length, which consists in the description both of times and of ages, namely from the beginning of the world to the day of judgment. It describes²¹ the world as running through three times, namely through the time of the law of nature, of the written law and of the law of grace, and in these three times it distinguishes seven ages. Of which the first is from Adam to Noe, the second from Noe to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian transmigration, the fifth from the transmigration to Christ, the sixth from Christ to the end of the world, and the seventh runs together with the sixth; it begins with Christ's rest in the sepulchre and lasts until the universal resurrection, when the eighth, that of the resurrection, shall begin.²² — And thus Scripture is longest, because in treating it begins from the beginning of the world and of time at the beginning of Genesis, and reaches to the end of the world and of time, namely at the end of the Apocalypse.

Rightly, moreover, the whole of time, which runs according to the threefold law — implanted within, given without, and infused from above²³ — runs through seven ages and is consummated at the end of the sixth; so that the course of the world answers to its beginning, and the course of the greater world corresponds to the course of the life of the lesser world, namely man, for whose sake it was made.²⁴ For the first age of the world, in which were made the formation of the world itself, the fall of the demons and the confirmation of the Angels, rightly answers to the first day, on which light was made and distinguished from darkness.²⁵ — The second, in which through the ark and the deluge the good were saved and the evil destroyed, answers to the second day, on which through the firmament was made the distinction of the waters from the waters. — The third, in which Abraham was called, and the synagogue begun, which was to fructify and generate offspring for the worship of God, corresponds to the third day, on which earth appeared and brought forth green grass. — The fourth, in which kingdom and priesthood flourished, because David the king amplified divine worship, answers to the fourth day, on which was made the formation of the luminaries and stars. — The fifth, in which the exiles sojourned among many peoples and were afflicted, answers to the fifth day, on which was made the formation of fishes from the waters.²⁶ — The sixth age, in which Christ was born in the likeness of man, who is truly the image of God, answers to the sixth day, on which the first man was formed. — The seventh, which is the rest of souls having no end, answers to the seventh day, on which God rested from all the work which he had wrought.²⁷

And thus these seven ages are distinguished on account of the notable deeds that were at their beginnings, by reason of which they answer to the days of the formation of the world. The first age is called infancy, because, as infancy is wholly blotted out by forgetfulness, so that first age was consumed by the deluge.²⁸ — The second, boyhood; for as in boyhood we begin to speak, so in the second age was made the distinction of tongues. — The third is called adolescence, because, as the generative power then begins to go forth into its act, so then Abraham was called, and circumcision given to him, and the promise made concerning the seed. — The fourth is called youth, because, as in youth man's age is in flower, so in the fourth age the synagogue flourished under kings. — The fifth, old age, because as in old age strength is diminished and beauty falls, so too in the transmigration it befell the priesthood of the Jews. — The sixth age is called decrepitude, because, as it is joined to death, yet having great light of wisdom; so the sixth age of the world is terminated with the day of judgment, and in it wisdom flourishes through the doctrine of Christ.

Thus therefore this whole world is described by Scripture as proceeding from beginning to end in a most ordered course, after the manner of a most beautiful ordered poem, where one may contemplate according to the course of time the variety, multiplicity and equity, order, rectitude and beauty of the many divine judgments proceeding from the wisdom of God governing the world.²⁹ Whence as no one can see the beauty of a poem unless his gaze is carried over the whole verse; so no one sees the beauty of the order and government of the universe unless he contemplates it whole. And because no man is so long-lived as to be able to see it whole with the eyes of his flesh, nor can he foresee the future by himself; the Holy Spirit has provided us the book of Sacred Scripture, whose length is commensurate with the course of the government of the universe.

§ 3. On the sublimity of Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture has nonetheless in its process sublimity, which consists in the description of hierarchies ordered by degrees, which are the ecclesiastical, angelic and divine hierarchy, or the subcelestial, celestial and supercelestial;³⁰ so that the first it describes openly, the second somewhat more hiddenly, and the third still more hiddenly. From the description of the ecclesiastical hierarchy it is high; from the description of the angelic, higher; from the description of the divine, highest, so that we may say that word of the Prophet:³¹

Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me; it is fortified, and I shall not be able to reach it.

And this indeed quite rightly. For since things have being in matter,³² have being in the soul through acquired knowledge, have being in it also through grace, have being in it through glory, and have being in the eternal art; philosophy treats of things as they are in nature, or in the soul according to knowledge naturally inborn or even acquired; but theology, as a science founded upon faith and revealed through the Holy Spirit, treats also of those things which pertain to grace and glory and even to eternal Wisdom. Whence itself, laying philosophical cognition beneath it and assuming of the natures of things as much as it needs to fabricate the mirror through which the representation of divine things may come about, as it were erects a ladder which in its lowest touches earth but in its top touches heaven;³³ and all this through that one hierarch, Jesus Christ, who not only by reason of the assumed human nature is hierarch in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but also in the angelic, and as middle person in that supercelestial hierarchy of the most blessed Trinity; so that through him from the highest head, God, the grace of unction descends not only upon the beard but even upon the hem of the garment,³⁴ because not only into supernal Jerusalem but even unto the Church militant.

For there is great beauty in the frame of the world, but far greater in the Church adorned with the beauty of the holy charisms, greatest in supernal Jerusalem, but most supreme in that highest and most blessed Trinity. Therefore Scripture itself not only has the loftiest matter, by which it delights and by which it lifts the understanding of the mind on high, but it is itself most comely and in a wondrous way delights our intellect,³⁵ and thus by delighting more and more accustoms it to the beholding of divine spectacles and to anagogies.

§ 4. On the depth of Sacred Scripture.

Lastly Scripture itself has depth, which consists in the multiplicity of mystical understandings. For besides the literal sense it is to be expounded in diverse places in three ways, namely allegorically, morally and anagogically. Allegory is when by one deed another deed is indicated, according as it is to be believed. Tropology or morality is when by what was done something else is given to be understood which is to be done. Anagogy, as it were a leading upward, is when there is given to be understood that which is to be desired, namely the eternal felicity of the Blessed.³⁶

Rightly, moreover, this threefold sense must be in Scripture besides the literal understanding: because so it befits the subject of Scripture itself,³⁷ its hearer or disciple, its origin, and also its end.

It befits the subject, I say, because it is doctrine concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning the works of reparation, and concerning the credible. For its subject as to substance is God; as to virtue, Christ; as to operation, the work of reparation; as to all these it is the credible itself.³⁸ Now God is triune and one: one in essence and triune in persons. Therefore Scripture, which is of him, has in the unity of the letter a three-formed understanding. — Christ also, since he is one Word, all things are said to be made through him,³⁹ and shine forth in him, so that his wisdom is manifold and one. — The works of reparation, though many, all have regard to the principal oblation of Christ. — The credible as credible shines forth diversely according to the diverse state of believers. Therefore on account of conformity with all the aforesaid, Sacred Scripture in one letter brings forth a manifold understanding.

This also befits the hearer: because no one is a fit hearer of it but the humble, the clean, the faithful and the studious.⁴⁰ Therefore beneath the bark of the open letter a mystical and deep understanding is hidden to compress pride, so that by its depth lying hidden in the humility of the letter both the proud are compressed, and the unclean repelled, and the deceitful turned aside, and the negligent roused to the understanding of mysteries. — And because the hearer of this doctrine is not of one kind but of every kind — for all who are to be saved must know something of this doctrine;⁴¹ — therefore it has a manifold understanding, so that thus it may capture every intellect, condescend to every intellect, surpass every intellect, and illuminate and kindle alike, by the multitude of its radiance, every intellect diligently attentive to it.

It befits also the principle from which it is: because it is from God through Christ and the Holy Spirit speaking through the mouths of the Prophets and of others who wrote this doctrine.⁴² Since God speaks not only through words but also through deeds, because his saying is doing, and his doing is saying; and all created things as effects of God intimate their cause: therefore in divinely handed-down Scripture not only words but also deeds must signify. — Christ the teacher also, though he was lowly in flesh, was yet high in deity: therefore it beseemed him and his doctrine to have lowliness in speech with depth of sentence, so that, as Christ was wrapped in swaddling clothes,⁴³ so the wisdom of God in Scripture is wrapped in certain lowly figures. — The Holy Spirit also illuminated diversely and made revelations in the hearts of the Prophets; no intellect could lie hidden from him, and he was sent to teach all truth:⁴⁴ therefore it befitted his doctrine that in one utterance manifold understandings lie hidden.

It nonetheless befits its end: because Scripture was given that through it man be directed in knowing and doing, until at last he arrive at the things to be longed for. And because all creatures were made for this, to serve man tending to the supernal homeland;⁴⁵ therefore Scripture assumes the diverse species of the creatures themselves, so that thus through them it may teach us the wisdom directing us to eternal things. And because man is not directed to eternal things unless the cognitive power knows the true to be believed, and the operative does the good to be done, and the affective sighs to see and love and enjoy God: hence it is that Sacred Scripture, given through the Holy Spirit, assumes the book of the creature, referring it to the end according to the threefold mode of understanding; so that thus through tropology we may have knowledge of things to be done manfully;⁴⁶ through allegory of things to be believed truly; through anagogy of things to be desired delightfully; so that thus, purged by virtuous operation, illumined by radiant faith and perfected by most ardent charity, we may at last arrive at the prize of eternal felicity.

§ 5. On the mode of proceeding of Sacred Scripture itself.

In so great a manifoldness of wisdom, therefore, which is contained in the breadth, length, height and depth of Sacred Scripture itself, there is one common authentic mode of proceeding⁴⁷, within which are contained the narrative, preceptive, prohibitive, exhortative, predicative,⁴⁸ comminatory, promissive, deprecatory and laudatory modes. And all these modes are stored under one authentic mode, and this indeed quite rightly.

For since this doctrine exists that we may become good⁴⁹ and be saved; and this is not done through naked consideration, but rather through inclination of the will: therefore divine Scripture had to be handed down in the mode by which we could best be inclined. And because the affection is moved more by examples than by arguments, more by promises than by ratiocinations, more by devotions than by definitions; therefore this Scripture ought not to have the definitive, divisive and collective mode for proving some passions of a subject after the manner of other sciences;⁵⁰ ; but it behooved it to have its own modes, diversely inclining minds according to the diverse inclinations of souls; so that, if one is not moved to precepts and prohibitions, at least he be moved by narrated examples; if one is not moved by these, he be moved by benefits shown to him; if one is moved by none of these, he be moved by sagacious admonitions, by truthful promises, by terrible threats, so that thus at least he be roused to devotion and praise of God, in which he may perceive grace, through which he may be directed concerning virtuous works.

Since therefore these narrative modes cannot come about by way of certitude of reasons, because particular deeds done cannot be proved;⁵¹ therefore, lest this Scripture waver as doubtful, and thereby move less, in place of certitude of reason God provided for this Scripture the certitude of authority, which is so great that it excels all perspicacity of human genius. And because there is no certain authority of one who can deceive or be deceived — and there is none who cannot be deceived and does not know how to deceive, except God and the Holy Spirit⁵² — hence it is that, for Sacred Scripture to be perfectly authentic in its due mode, it was handed down not by human investigation but by divine revelation. — Therefore nothing in it is to be despised as useless, nothing rejected as false, nothing repudiated as iniquitous, for the reason that the Holy Spirit, its most perfect author, could say nothing false, nothing superfluous, nothing diminished. And therefore heaven and earth shall pass, but the words of Sacred Scripture shall not pass unfulfilled,⁵³. For until heaven and earth pass, one iota or one apex shall not pass from the Law until all things come to pass, as the Saviour testifies. Whoever therefore breaks what Scripture teaches, and so teaches men, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

§ 6. On the mode of expounding⁵⁴ Sacred Scripture.

But as this Scripture has a special mode of proceeding, so according to its mode of proceeding it must in its own special mode be understood and expounded. For since under one letter it covers a manifold understanding, the expositor must bring hidden things forth into light⁵⁵, and manifest what is brought forth through another, more open Scripture: as if I were expounding that verse of the Psalm⁵⁶: Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up to help me, and wished to unfold what the divine arms are; I shall say that they are his truth and good will; and that so it is, to be proved through open Scripture. For it is written elsewhere: Thou hast crowned us with the shield of thy good will; and again: His truth shall compass thee with a shield. — To which no one can easily attain, unless by habituation of reading he commits the text and letter of the Bible to memory; otherwise in the exposition of the Scriptures he will never be able to be mighty. Whence as one who disdains to learn the first elements of which the word is composed can never know either the meaning of words or the right law of constructions; so one who spurns the letter of Sacred Scripture shall never rise to its spiritual understandings.

But let the expositor attend that allegory is not to be sought everywhere, nor are all things to be expounded mystically. On which account it is to be noted that Sacred Scripture has four parts. One is where according to the letter it treats of worldly natures, and through them signifies our reparation, as appears in the description of the formation of the world. — Another is where it treats of the acts and processes of that Israelite people, and through them signifies the reparation of the human race. — The third is where in naked words⁵⁷ it signifies and expresses what pertains to our salvation as to faith or morals. — The fourth is where it foretells the mystery of our salvation, partly in naked words, partly in enigmatic and obscure ones. And therefore Scripture in these diverse places is not to be expounded uniformly.

But the expositor must be directed in the exposition of Sacred Scripture according to the threefold rule which can be drawn from the words of blessed Augustine in the book on Christian Doctrine.⁵⁸

The first is this. Wherever in this Scripture the first signification of the words signifies things of creation, or singular acts of human conduct, there the things signified through the words are signified first, then the mysteries of our reparation; but where the first signification of the words expresses faith or charity, there no allegory is to be sought.

The second rule is this. Where the words of this Scripture signify things of creation, or of the conduct of the Israelite people, there let him seek from another place of Scripture what each thing signifies, and then elicit its signification through words nakedly signifying the truth of faith, or even moral honesty; as if it is said: Sheep bring forth twin lambs,⁵⁹ let him show that there sheep signify men, and the twin offspring twin charity.

The third rule is this. When some Scripture has a literal and a spiritual understanding, the expositor must discuss whether that attribution befits the historical or the spiritual meaning, if perchance it cannot befit both; but if it befits both, then it must be affirmed both literally and spiritually; but if only in one way, then it must be understood spiritually alone: as that the sabbath of the Law⁶⁰ be perpetual, the priesthood eternal, the possession of the land eternal, and the covenant of circumcision eternal; all of which are to be referred to the spiritual meaning.

But for one to walk securely cutting through and expounding the forest of the sacred Scriptures, there is need that he first know the truth of Sacred Scripture itself through explicit words, namely that he attend to how Scripture describes the beginning, progress and consummation of the twofold body, as it were facing each other from opposite sides — of the good, namely, who humble themselves here to be exalted everlastingly in the future, and of the evil, who exalt themselves here to be depressed eternally.⁶¹ Whence it treats of the whole universe as to highest and lowest, first and last, and as to the intermediate course, under the form of a certain intelligible cross, in which is to be described and in a manner seen by the light of the mind the whole frame of the universe; to understand which one must know the principle of things, God, the creation of things themselves, the fall, redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ,⁶² reformation through grace, healing through the Sacraments, and at last retribution through punishment and everlasting glory.

And because this doctrine is handed down so diffusely in the writings both of Saints and of doctors that by those approaching to hear Sacred Scripture it cannot through long times be seen nor heard — on which account also new theologians frequently shudder at Sacred Scripture itself as uncertain⁶³ and unordered and as a certain opaque forest — asked by companions,⁶⁴ to say in a summa something brief from my poor little knowledge concerning the truth of theology, and overcome by their prayers, I assented to make a certain Breviloquium, in which summarily not all things, but some more opportune for holding briefly, might be touched, adding at the same time some reason for understanding, according as it occurred for the time.

But since theology is discourse of God and of the first principle, inasmuch as itself, as highest science and doctrine, resolves all things into God as into the first and highest principle: therefore in assigning reasons in all things contained in this whole little work or treatise, I have endeavored to take reason from the first principle, so that thus I might show the truth of Sacred Scripture to be from God, of God, according to God and for God, so that deservedly this science may appear to be one and ordered, and not undeservedly called theology. — If therefore there shall be anything imperfect, or obscure, or superfluous, or less right therein, let pardon be granted to occupation and shortness of time and poor little knowledge; but if anything right, let honor and glory⁶⁵ be referred to God alone.

But that the following may shine forth more clearly, I have taken care to prefix the particular titles of the chapters, for easier memory and clearer beholding of what is to be said, which are distinguished into seven partitions and seventy-two chapters.