Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 2
Augustine — City of God & Christian Doctrine
SECTION 361
Preface.
Preface. Showing that to teach rules for the interpretation of Scripture is not a superfluous task. 1. There are certain rules for the interpretation of Scripture which I think might with great advantage be taught to earnest students of the word, that they may profit not only from reading the works of others who have laid open…
2,071 wordsSECTION 362Book I.
Book I. Containing a General View of the Subjects Treated in Holy Scripture. ------------------------ Argument--The author divides his work into two parts, one relating to the discovery, the other to the expression, of the true sense of scripture. He shows that to discover the meaning we must attend both to things and to sign…
715 wordsSECTION 363Chapter 2.--What a Thing Is, and What A Sign.
Chapter 2.--What a Thing Is, and What A Sign. 2. All instruction is either about things or about signs; but things are learnt by means of signs. I now use the word "thing" in a strict sense, to signify that which is never employed as a sign of anything else: for example, wood, stone, cattle, and other things of that kind. Not, …
704 wordsSECTION 364Chapter 5.--The Trinity the True Object of Enjoyment.
Chapter 5.--The Trinity the True Object of Enjoyment. 5. The true objects of enjoyment, then, are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are at the same time the Trinity, one Being, supreme above all, and common to all who enjoy Him, if He is an object, and not rather the cause of all objects, or indeed even if He is t…
820 wordsSECTION 365Chapter 8.--God to Be Esteemed Above All Else, Because He is Unchangeable Wisdom.
Chapter 8.--God to Be Esteemed Above All Else, Because He is Unchangeable Wisdom. 8. And since all who think about God think of Him as living, they only can form any conception of Him that is not absurd and unworthy who think of Him as life itself; and, whatever may be the bodily form that has suggested itself to them, recogniz…
766 wordsSECTION 366Chapter 12.--In What Sense the Wisdom of God Came to Us.
Chapter 12.--In What Sense the Wisdom of God Came to Us. And though He is everywhere present to the inner eye when it is sound and clear, He condescended to make Himself manifest to the outward eye of those whose inward sight is weak and dim. "For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased Go…
764 wordsSECTION 367Chapter 15.--Faith is Buttressed by the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and is Stimulated by His Coming to Judgment.
Chapter 15.--Faith is Buttressed by the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and is Stimulated by His Coming to Judgment. 14. The belief of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, and of His ascension into heaven, has strengthened our faith by adding a great buttress of hope. For it clearly shows how freely He laid down Hi…
809 wordsSECTION 368Chapter 20.--The Resurrection to Damnation.
Chapter 20.--The Resurrection to Damnation. 19. Now he whose soul does not die to this world and begin here to be conformed to the truth, falls when the body dies into a more terrible death, and shall revive, not to change his earthly for a heavenly habitation, but to endure the penalty of his sin. Chapter 21.--Neither Body No…
782 wordsSECTION 369Chapter 23.--Man Needs No Injunction to Love Himself and His Own Body.
Chapter 23.--Man Needs No Injunction to Love Himself and His Own Body. 22. Those things which are objects of use are not all, however, to be loved, but those only which are either united with us in a common relation to God, such as a man or an angel, or are so related to us as to need the goodness of God through our instrumenta…
1,032 wordsSECTION 370Chapter 25.--A Man May Love Something More Than His Body, But Does Not Therefore Hate His Body.
Chapter 25.--A Man May Love Something More Than His Body, But Does Not Therefore Hate His Body. 26. Man, therefore, ought to be taught the due measure of loving, that is, in what measure he may love himself so as to be of service to himself. For that he does love himself, and does desire to do good to himself, nobody but a fool…
735 wordsSECTION 371Chapter 28.--How We are to Decide Whom to Aid.
Chapter 28.--How We are to Decide Whom to Aid. 29. Further, all men are to be loved equally. But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you. For, suppose that you had a great deal of some commodity,…
1,345 wordsSECTION 372Chapter 31.--God Uses Rather Than Enjoys Us.
Chapter 31.--God Uses Rather Than Enjoys Us. 34. And on this ground, when we say that we enjoy only that which we love for its own sake, and that nothing is a true object of enjoyment except that which makes us happy, and that all other things are for use, there seems still to be something that requires explanation. For God lov…
939 wordsSECTION 373Chapter 34.--Christ the First Way to God.
Chapter 34.--Christ the First Way to God. 38. And mark that even when He who is Himself the Truth and the Word, by whom all things were made, had been made flesh that He might dwell among us, the apostle yet says: "Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." [1749] For Christ, desi…
1,022 wordsSECTION 374Chapter 37.--Dangers of Mistaken Interpretation.
Chapter 37.--Dangers of Mistaken Interpretation. For if he takes up rashly a meaning which the author whom he is reading did not intend, he often falls in with other statements which he cannot harmonize with this meaning. And if he admits that these statements are true and certain, then it follows that the meaning he had put up…
945 wordsSECTION 375Book II.
Book II. ------------------------ Argument--Having completed his exposition of things, the author now proceeds to discuss the subject of signs. He first defines what a sign is, and shows that there are two classes of signs, the natural and the conventional. Of conventional signs (which are the only class here noticed), words a…
881 wordsSECTION 376Chapter 3.--Among Signs, Words Hold the Chief Place.
Chapter 3.--Among Signs, Words Hold the Chief Place. 4. Of the signs, then, by which men communicate their thoughts to one another, some relate to the sense of sight, some to that of hearing, a very few to the other senses. For, when we nod, we give no sign except to the eyes of the man to whom we wish by this sign to impart ou…
1,200 wordsSECTION 377Chapter 7.--Steps to Wisdom: First, Fear; Second, Piety; Third, Knowledge; Fourth, Resolution; Fifth, Counsel; Sixth, Purification of Heart; Seventh, Stop or Termination, Wisdom.
Chapter 7.--Steps to Wisdom: First, Fear; Second, Piety; Third, Knowledge; Fourth, Resolution; Fifth, Counsel; Sixth, Purification of Heart; Seventh, Stop or Termination, Wisdom. 9. First of all, then, it is necessary that we should be led by the fear of God to seek the knowledge of His will, what He commands us to desire and w…
869 wordsSECTION 378Chapter 8.--The Canonical Books.
Chapter 8.--The Canonical Books. 12. But let us now go back to consider the third step here mentioned, for it is about it that I have set myself to speak and reason as the Lord shall grant me wisdom. The most skillful interpreter of the sacred writings, then, will be he who in the first place has read them all and retained them…
777 wordsSECTION 379Chapter 9.--How We Should Proceed in Studying Scripture.
Chapter 9.--How We Should Proceed in Studying Scripture. 14. 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…
747 wordsSECTION 380Chapter 12.--A Diversity of Interpretations is Useful. Errors Arising from Ambiguous Words.
Chapter 12.--A Diversity of Interpretations is Useful. Errors Arising from Ambiguous Words. 17. And this circumstance would assist rather than hinder the understanding of Scripture, if only readers were not careless. For the examination of a number of texts has often thrown light upon some of the more obscure passages; for exam…
768 wordsSECTION 381Chapter 13.--How Faulty Interpretations Can Be Emended.
Chapter 13.--How Faulty Interpretations Can Be Emended. 19. But since we do not clearly see what the actual thought is which the several translators endeavor to express, each according to his own ability and judgment, unless we examine it in the language which they translate; and since the translator, if he be not a very learne…
920 wordsSECTION 382Chapter 14.--How the Meaning of Unknown Words and Idioms is to Be Discovered.
Chapter 14.--How the Meaning of Unknown Words and Idioms is to Be Discovered. 21. About ambiguous signs, however, I shall speak afterwards. I am treating at present of unknown signs, of which, as far as the words are concerned, there are two kinds. For either a word or an idiom, of which the reader is ignorant, brings him to a …
913 wordsSECTION 383Chapter 16.--The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions.
Chapter 16.--The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions. 23. In the case of figurative signs, again, if ignorance of any of them should chance to bring the reader to a stand-still, their meaning is to be traced partly by the knowledge of languages, partly by the knowledg…
1,450 wordsSECTION 384Chapter 17.--Origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses.
Chapter 17.--Origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses. 27. For we must not listen to the falsities of heathen superstition, which represent the nine Muses as daughters of Jupiter and Mercury. Varro refutes these, and I doubt whether any one can be found among them more curious or more learned in such matters. He says that a certa…
1,090 wordsSECTION 385Chapter 21.--Superstition of Astrologers.
Chapter 21.--Superstition of Astrologers. 32. Nor can we exclude from this kind of superstition those who were called genethliaci, on account of their attention to birthdays, but are now commonly called mathematici. For these, too, although they may seek with pains for the true position of the stars at the time of our birth, an…
993 wordsSECTION 386Chapter 23.--Why We Repudiate Arts of Divination.
Chapter 23.--Why We Repudiate Arts of Divination. 35. For in this way it comes to pass that men who lust after evil things are, by a secret judgment of God, delivered over to be mocked and deceived, as the just reward of their evil desires. For they are deluded and imposed on by the false angels, to whom the lowest part of the …
1,045 wordsSECTION 387Chapter 25.--In Human Institutions Which are Not Superstitious, There are Some Things Superfluous and Some Convenient and Necessary.
Chapter 25.--In Human Institutions Which are Not Superstitious, There are Some Things Superfluous and Some Convenient and Necessary. 38. But when all these have been cut away and rooted out of the mind of the Christian we must then look at human institutions which are not superstitious, that is, such as are not set up in associ…
761 wordsSECTION 388Chapter 27.--Some Departments of Knowledge, Not of Mere Human Invention, Aid Us in Interpreting Scripture.
Chapter 27.--Some Departments of Knowledge, Not of Mere Human Invention, Aid Us in Interpreting Scripture. 41. But, coming to the next point, we are not to reckon among human institutions those things which men have handed down to us, not as arrangements of their own, but as the result of investigation into the occurrences of t…
737 wordsSECTION 389Chapter 29.--To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid.
Chapter 29.--To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid. 45. There is also a species of narrative resembling description, in which not a past but an existing state of things is made known to those who are ignorant of it. To this species belongs all that has been written about the situation of places, and the nature of …
812 wordsSECTION 390Chapter 31.--Use of Dialectics. Of Fallacies.
Chapter 31.--Use of Dialectics. Of Fallacies. 48. There remain those branches of knowledge which pertain not to the bodily senses, but to the intellect, among which the science of reasoning and that of number are the chief. The science of reasoning is of very great service in searching into and unravelling all sorts of question…
870 wordsSECTION 391Chapter 33.--False Inferences May Be Drawn from Valid Reasonings, and Vice Versa.
Chapter 33.--False Inferences May Be Drawn from Valid Reasonings, and Vice Versa. 51. In this passage, however, where the argument is about the resurrection, both the law of the inference is valid, and the conclusion arrived at is true. But in the case of false conclusions, too, there is a validity of inference in some such way…
879 wordsSECTION 392Chapter 36.--The Rules of Eloquence are True, Though Sometimes Used to Persuade Men of What is False.
Chapter 36.--The Rules of Eloquence are True, Though Sometimes Used to Persuade Men of What is False. 54. There are also certain rules for a more copious kind of argument, which is called eloquence, and these rules are not the less true that they can be used for persuading men of what is false; but as they can be used to enforc…
906 wordsSECTION 393Chapter 39.--To Which of the Above-Mentioned Studies Attention Should Be Given, and in What Spirit.
Chapter 39.--To Which of the Above-Mentioned Studies Attention Should Be Given, and in What Spirit. 58. Accordingly, I think that it is well to warn studious and able young men, who fear God and are seeking for happiness of life, not to venture heedlessly upon the pursuit of the branches of learning that are in vogue beyond the…
1,236 wordsSECTION 394Chapter 41.--What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture.
Chapter 41.--What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture. 62. 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." [1825] For so he w…
801 wordsSECTION 395Book III.
Book III. ------------------------ Argument--The author, having discussed in the preceding book the method of dealing with unknown signs, goes on in this third book to treat of ambiguous signs. Such signs may be either direct or figurative. In the case of direct signs ambiguity may arise from the punctuation, the pronunciation…
1,324 wordsSECTION 396Chapter 3.--How Pronunciation Serves to Remove Ambiguity. Different Kinds of Interrogation.
Chapter 3.--How Pronunciation Serves to Remove Ambiguity. Different Kinds of Interrogation. 6. And all the directions that I have given about ambiguous punctuations are to be observed likewise in the case of doubtful pronunciations. For these too, unless the fault lies in the carelessness of the reader, are corrected either by …
871 wordsSECTION 397Chapter 4.--How Ambiguities May Be Solved.
Chapter 4.--How Ambiguities May Be Solved. 8. And not only these, but also those ambiguities that do not relate either to punctuation or pronunciation, are to be examined in the same way. For example, that one in the Epistle to the Thessalonians: Propterea consolati sumus fratres in vobis. [1852] Now it is doubtful whether frat…
977 wordsSECTION 398Chapter 7.--The Useless Bondage of the Gentiles.
Chapter 7.--The Useless Bondage of the Gentiles. And if ever any of them endeavored to make it out that their idols were only signs, yet still they used them in reference to the worship and adoration of the creature. What difference does it make to me, for instance, that the image of Neptune is not itself to be considered a god…
908 wordsSECTION 399Chapter 10.--How We are to Discern Whether a Phrase is Figurative.
Chapter 10.--How We are to Discern Whether a Phrase is Figurative. 14. But in addition to the foregoing rule, which guards us against taking a metaphorical form of speech as if it were literal, we must also pay heed to that which tells us not to take a literal form of speech as if it were figurative. In the first place, then, w…
952 wordsSECTION 400Chapter 12.--Rule for Interpreting Those Sayings and Actions Which are Ascribed to God and the Saints, and Which Yet Seem to the Unskillful to Be Wicked.
Chapter 12.--Rule for Interpreting Those Sayings and Actions Which are Ascribed to God and the Saints, and Which Yet Seem to the Unskillful to Be Wicked. 18. Those things, again, whether only sayings or whether actual deeds, which appear to the inexperienced to be sinful, and which are ascribed to God, or to men whose holiness …
777 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.