ing which, and also of the nature of a Sacrament, we shall speak hereafter.

3. Therefore the Priests and the Bishops to whom IT IS

GIVEN TO KNOW THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF

13

15

GOD,13 as He saith in Luke, and who be the stewards and dispensers of sacred things, ought both to understand the sacred Mysteries, and to shine in the virtues which they signify so that by their light others may be illuminated otherwise THEY BE BLIND LEADERS OF THE BLIND.14 As saith the Prophet, LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED, THAT THEY SEE NOT. But, woe therefore is me! in these days they apprehend but little of those things which day by day they handle and perform, what they signify, and wherefore they were instituted: so that the saying of the prophet seemeth to be fulfilled, as is THE PEOPLE, SO IS THE PRIEST. For when they bear the bread of Prothesis 17 to the LORD'S Table and the Mysteries, they understand not its signification more than brute beasts which carry bread for the use of others. Of which ignorance they shall give account in the Day of vengeance and wrath. WHEN THE CEDARS OF PARA

16

DISE SHALL TREMBLE, WHAT SHALL THE BUSH OF THE

13 S. LUKE viii, 10.

14 S. MATTHEW xv, 14.

15 PSALM lxix, 23.

16 ISAIAH Xxiv, 2.

17 Here is a distinct reference to the Prothesis: the more valuable because in writers of the middle ages it does not hold so prominent a place as we might have expected: and the Table of Prothesis appears not to have occupied a certainly defined situation in Catholic churches. There is also a reference to LEVITICUS xxi, 8, and the shewbread.

DESERT DO?18 For to them is that saying of the Prophet, THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN MY WAYS: so I SWARE IN MY WRATH, IF THEY SHALL ENTER INTO MY REST. 19

4. Now the Professors of the arts liberal, and of all other arts, seek how they may clothe, support, and adorn with causes and hidden reasons those things which be nakedly and without ornament therein set forth; painters moreover, and mechanics and handicraftsmen of what sort soever, study in every variety of their works to render and to have at hand probable reasons thereof. So, also, unseemly is it to the magistrate to be ignorant of this world's laws; and to the pleader to know nothing of the law, wherein he is exercised.

5. But although learning be necessary unto Priests for the sake of doctrine: yet must not scholastics think slightingly of unlettered Priests; according to that saying in Exodus "THOU SHALT NOT REVILE THE GODS." 20 Whence, saith S. Augustine, they shall not deride if they hear the Priests and ministers of the Church, either invoking GOD with barbarisms and solecisms, or not understanding and misdividing the words which they pronounce. Not but that

such things are to be corrected; but they must firstly be tolerated of the more learned. But that which Priests ought to learn, shall be said below.

6. Furthermore, the symbolism which existeth in things and offices ecclesiastical, is often not seen, both because 18 S. LUKE xxii, 3.

19 PSALM XCv, 11.

20 EXODUS xxii, 28.

figures have departed, and now it is the time of truth; and also because we ought not to judaise. But, albeit those types of which the truth is made manifest have departed, yet even to this time manifold truth is concealed, which we see not; wherefore the Church useth figures. For so by white vestments we understand the beauty in which our souls shall be arrayed, or the glory of our immortality, which we cannot manifestly behold: and in the Mass, by the oblation on the Altar,21 the Passion of CHRIST is represented, that it be held in the memory more faithfully and more firmly.

7. Furthermore, of the things which be commanded in the law, some be moral, and others mystical. They be moral which inform the morals, and are to be understood in the simple tenour of the words: LOVE GOD: HONOUR THY FATHER: THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER, and such like. Mystical be such as are typical: where something is set forth beyond the literal meaning. Of these, some be sacramental, and some ceremonial. Sacramental be such as may be accounted for, why thus they were ordered: such as Circumcision, and the observance of the Sabbath, and the like. Ceremonial be they for which no reason can be given. Such be, THOU SHALT NOT PLOUGH WITH AN OX AND AN ASS TOGETHER: 22 THOU SHALT NOT WEAR A GARMENT OF LINEN AND WOOLLEN MIXED. 23

21 The prayer of Oblation is as follows" Suscipe, SANCTA TRINITAS, hanc Oblationem quam Tibi offerimus ob memoriam Passionis, resurrectionis et ascensionis JESU CHRISTI DOMINI nostri, &c." 22 DEUTERON. Xxii, 10. 23 DEUTERON. xxii, 11.

8. Now in things that are moral commands, the law hath received uo change: but in things sacramental and ceremonial its outward form is altered: yet not one of the mystical significations is done away for the law is not done away. Though THE PRIESTHOOD BEING CHANGED,

THERE IS MADE OF NECESSITY A CHANGE LIKEWISE OF THE LAW.24

9. Now, in Holy Scriptures there be divers senses: as historic, allegoric, tropologic, and anagogic. Whence, according to Boethius, all Divine authority ariseth from a sense either historical or allegorical or from both. And, according to S. Hierom, we ought to study Holy Scriptures in three ways: firstly, according to the letter; secondly, after the allegory, that is, the spiritual meaning; thirdly, according to the blessedness of the future.

History is things signified by words: as when a plain relation is made how certain events took place: as when the children of Israel, after their deliverence from Egypt, made a Tabernacle to the LORD. And history is derived from iσropɛiv, which is to gesticulate: 25 whence gesticulators, (that is, players) are called histriones.

10. Allegory is when one thing is said and another meant as when by one deed another is intended: which other thing, if it be visible, the whole is simply an allegory, if invisible and heavenly, an anagoge. Also an

24 HEBREWS vii, 12.

25 Here is a notable instance of Durandus's misderivations, of which we have spoken in the Introduction.

allegory is when one state of things is described by another as when the Patience of Christ, and the Sacraments of the Church is set forth by mystical words or deeds. As in that place: THERE SHALL COME FORTH A ROD OF THE STEM OF JESSE, AND A BRANCH SHALL GROW OUT OF HIS ROOTS: 26 which is, in plain language, The Virgin Mary shall be born of the family of David, who was the son of Jesse. [This is an example of mysticism in words: truth is also set forth] by mystic deeds: as the children of Israel's freedom from Egyptian slavery, wrought by the blood of a lamb, signifieth that the Church is freed by the Passion of CHRIST from demoniacal servitude. The word allegory is derived from the Greek allon, which means foreign, and gore which is sense; that is, a foreign sense.

11. Tropology is an injunction unto morality: or a moral speech, either with a symbolical or an obvious bearing, devised to evince and instruct our behaviour. Symbolical; as where he saith, LET THY GARMENTS BE ALWAYS

WHITE AND LET THE OIL OF THY HEAD NEVER FAIL.

27

That is, let all thy works be pure, and charity never fail from thy mind. And again, It is fit that David should slay the Goliath within us: that is, that humbleness may subdue our pride. Obvious as in that saying "DEAL THY BREAD TO THE HUNGRY.' "28 And in that text: LET US NOT

LOVE IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE: BUT IN DEED 27 ECCLESIASTES ix, 8.

26 ISAIAH xi, I.

28 ISAIAH lviii, 7.