others must. The tvork composed in sickness. J)
each other cannot be made to agree, they point out some Leand.
other meaning in themselves which we are to seek for, as if
with a kind of utterance they said, Whereas ye see our super-
ficial form to be destructive to us, look for what may be
found within us that is in place and consistent with itself.
IV. But sometimes, he who neglects to interpret the histo-
rical form of words according to the letter,keeps that light of
truth concealed which is presented to him, and in laboriously
seeking to find in them a further interior meaning, he loses
that which he might easily obtain on the outside. Thus the
Saint saith, 1/I have ivithheld the poorfrom their desire, Job 3] y
or have caused the eyes of the tcidow tofail : or have eaten
my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten
thereof; . . . . If I have seen any perishfor want of clothing,
or anypoor without covering ; if his loijis have not blessed
me, and ifhe were not warmed with the fleece ofmy sheep ;
where it is to be observed, that if these words be violently
strained to an allegorical signification, we make void all his
acts ofmercy. For as the word ofGod, by the mysteries which
it contains, exercises the understanding of the wise, so usually
by what presents itself on the outside, it nurses the simple-
minded. It presenteth in open day that wherewith the little
ones may be fed ; it keepeth in secret that whereby men of a
loftier range may be held in suspense of admiration. It is, as
it were, a kind of river, if I may so liken it, which is both
shallow ' and deep, wherein both the lamb may find a footing, i planus
and the elephant float at large. Therefore as the fitness of
each passage requires, the line of intei*pretation is studiously
varied accordingly, in that the true sense of the word of
God is found out with so much the greater fidelity, in pro-
portion as it shifts its course through the different kinds of
examples as each case may require.
V. This exposition being such as I have described, 1 have
transmitted to your Blessedness for your inspection, not
as being due for its worth's sake, but because I remember that I
promised it on your making tlie request. In which whatsoever
your Holiness may discover that is languid or unpolished, let
it be most readily excused in proportion as the circumstance
is known that it was said in a state of sickness; for when the
body is worn down with sickness, the mind being also affected,