Notes on the Study of the Bible among our Forefathers. 305 as equivalent to " sloth," and as the name of a deadly sin. One of his biographers, Faricius, also speaks of his familiarity with Hebrew: "Prophetarum exempla, Davidis Psalmos, Salomonis tria volumina, Hebraicis Uteris bene novit, et legem Mosaicam" (Opp. ed. Giles, p. 357). And Beda, no incompetent judge, de- scribes him (v. 18), as "undecumque doctissimus : nam et ser- mone nitidus, et scripturarum, ut dixi, tam liberalium quam ecclesiasticarum erat eruditione mirandus." We gather from the authors whom he quotes, that he read the more distinguished of the Greek Fathers, such as Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus ; once also he speaks of Origen, "inclitus Graecorum didasculus" (p. 79). But it is obvious that the principal share of his attention was directed to the pages of the Sacred Volume, for expounding which he deemed the " art of grammar" a most necessary instru- ment. He thus exhorts a pupil, Ethelwold (pp. 332, 333) : "Sed multo magis, mi amantissime, vel lectionibus Divinis, vel oratio- nibus sacris semper invigila. Si quid vero praeterea saecularium literarum nosse laboras, ea tantummodo causa id facias, ut quo- niam in Lege Divina vel omnis vel pene omnis verborum textus artis omnino ratione grammatical consistit, tanto ejusdem Eloquii Divini profundissimos atque sacratissimos sensus facilius legendo intelligas, quanto illius rationis qua contexitur diversissimas regu- las plenius didiceris." The principles of exegesis which he fol- lowed coincide with those afterwards enunciated more com- pletely by Rabanus Maurus (cf. Davidson's Sacred Hermeneutics, pp. 165, 166). To arrive at all the meaning of the Bible (so he teaches) we must apply four different modes of interpretation, the historical, the allegorical, the anagogical, and the topolo- gical, determining in each particular case whether a passage is susceptible of one or more of these methods. They are all referred to in the following extract (p. 4) : " Nunc Divina pris- corum prophetarum oracula certis astipulationibus jamdudum Salvatoris adventum vaticinia enixius investigando ; nunc anti- quarum arcana Legum . . . nunc quadrifarium Evangelical rela- tionis dicta, mysticis catholicorum patrum commentariis exposita et ad medullam usque spiritualiter enucleata, et quadriformis ecclesiasticae traditionis normulis, secundum historiam, allego- riam, tropologiam, anagogen digesta, solerter indagando." Other passages afford us intimations of his jealousy respecting the sacred Canon and the need of absolute deference to the teaching
