In the ninth century we find an additional impulse given to the love of mystical speculation in the Romish church, by the translation of the works already noticed in a former lecture as falsely attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite. These are said to have contributed (and the imputation may easily be credited) to the growth, not only of mysticism, but of many wild and unchristian notions". But of all those who during the middle ages applied the allegorical interpreta 66 66 66 versally attributed to the sacred oracles. "Has quatuor intelligentias (vid. Historiam, Allegoriam, Tropologiam, et Anagogiam) quatuor matris Sapientiæ filios vocamus. Mater quippe Sapientia per has adoptionis fi"lios pascit, conferens insipientibus atque teneris potum “in lacte historiæ, in fide autem proficientibus cibum in pane allegoria, bonis vero et strenue operantibus, et operibus bonis insudantibus, satietatem in sapida re"fectione tropologiæ; illis denique qui et ab imis per contemptum terrenorum suspensi, et ad summa per "cæleste desiderium sunt provocati sobriam theorica " contemplationis ebrietatem in vino anagogiæ." 66 66 66 66 4 See Buddeus, Isag. pp. 605, 6. The translation of Dionysius was made by the celebrated Joannes Scotus, or Erigena. His treatises were a second time translated by Saracenus, in the twelfth century; and translated (or edited and commented on) by Ficinus in the fifteenth. tion of Scripture to the purposes of practical and spiritual edification, none is more generally, or on many grounds more deservedly celebrated, than the well-known Bernard, abbot of Clairval, in the twelfth century. His fervent and sincere piety, the sanctity and activity of his life, his intimate acquaintance with the wants and deficiencies of the human heart, and the inward renewal to singleness and purity of intention, to the love and practice of Christian holiness requisite for every believer, combined with the earnest and affectionate eloquence of his teaching, to gain for him an influence which in that age was rather increased than lessened by the alloy of superstition and credulity with which it was unquestionably adulterated'. To the name of Bernard some few others might be added, as contributing, by their spiritual This will be sufficiently proved by the inspection of almost any portion of his Homilies. The opinion entertained by Luther of this eminent Christian is worth recording. "Antefero omnibus Bernhardum, habuit enim 66 religionis optimam cognitionem." Comm. in Gen. p. 154. See Buddeus, Isag. p. 538, and 606. and Cave, Hist. Lit. Article Bernardus. application of Scripture, to the religious, if not to the intellectual advancement of their contemporaries'. But we now approach a period of greater interest in the history both of sacred literature and of the human mind; the period at which the introduction of the Aristotelic philosophy and dialectics, if it did not produce any actual revolution in the essential principles and character of the established theology, had at least a powerful and conspicuous effect in enlarging the sphere of her inquiries, and remodelling the outward form and arrangement of her systems. It does not appear, however, that the revival of this philosophy, great as its shew of reasoning and of argument might be, and much as it might lead to and facilitate the discussion of more abstract and metaphysical questions, contributed to the material improvement of any province of scriptural interpretation. As to that branch of it indeed with which we are immediately concerned, it was in those ages scarcely possible that a church, receiving the opinions and S s Especially H. de S. Victore. See Rosenmuller. traditions of the fathers as of an authority little inferior to that of Scripture itself, should have rejected, or even questioned, a mode of exposition which had received their almost unqualified and universal sanction. Accordingly we find the well-known Thomas Aquinas, the most illustrious and authoritative name perhaps among the schoolmen, both admitting the validity of the allegorical method in his great systematic work on theology, and using it unhesitatingly and unsparingly in his own expositions of the sacred writings. Thus, in the cure of the nobleman's son, recorded by St. John "; in that of the woman who suffered from an issue of blood, recorded by St. Matthew*; and in the miracle of Cana; in the search made after our Lord by Joseph u * Summa Theologiæ. Cap. de S. Scriptura. Sermones. Moguntiæ, 1616. Coppenstein, Dispositiones Concionum &c. ad sensum literalem et sæpe mysticum, ex D. T. de Aquina in Matthæum et Marcum, et S. Bonaventuræ in Lucam Commentariis. (Eodem loco et anno.) u Chap. iv. 52. So the cure of the leper, Matth. viii. of the blind, Luke xviii. and of the possessed female, Matth. xv. and the very action of our Lord in healing, (he layed his hands upon them, Luke iv.) are all allegorized. x Matth. ix. and the Virgin'; in our Lord's entrance into the ship"; in the gifts of the Magi; and in the name of the Proto-martyr Stephen, he finds matter of constant allegory : and his sermons on these subjects are entirely and exclusively dedicated to their spiritual application. I am not aware that any others among the schoolmen objected to the validity of the allegorical interpretation, or abstained from its practice. Neither did the controversy with the Jews, which from time to time occupied the attention, and but too frequently excited the worse passions of theological writers, though it led ultimately to salutary effects in promoting the study of the Hebrew language and Scriptures, tend in its first beginnings to improve on this score the system of biblical exposition. In arguing with those who admitted and admired the mysticism of the Talmud and the Midraschim, their Christian opponents were naturally led rather to take advantage of the ground on which that admission placed them, than to doubt or y Luke i. z Matth. ix. |