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| What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture.
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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 will feel that, whatever may be the riches he brings with him
out of Egypt, yet unless he has kept the passover, he cannot be
safe. Now Christ is our passover sacrificed for us,1826
and there
is nothing the sacrifice of Christ more clearly teaches us than the
call which He himself addresses to those whom He sees toiling in
Egypt under Pharaoh: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light.”1827
To whom
is it light but to the meek and lowly in heart, whom knowledge doth
not puff up, but charity edifieth? Let them remember, then, that
those who celebrated the passover at that time in type and shadow,
when they were ordered to mark their door-posts with the blood of
the lamb, used hyssop to mark them with.1828
Now this is a meek and lowly
herb, and yet nothing is stronger and more penetrating than its
roots; that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height,1829
—that is, to comprehend the cross
of our Lord, the breadth of which is indicated by the transverse
wood on which the hands are stretched, its length by the part from
the ground up to the cross-bar on which the whole body from the
head downwards is fixed, its height by the part from the crossbar
to the top on which the head lies, and its depth by the part which
is hidden, being fixed in the earth. And by this sign of the
cross all Christian action is symbolized, viz., to do good works in
Christ, to cling with constancy to Him, to hope for heaven, and not
to desecrate the sacraments. And purified by this Christian
action, we shall be able to know even “the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge,” who is equal to the Father, by whom all
things, were made, “that we may be filled with all the fullness
of God.”1830
There is
besides in hyssop a purgative virtue, that the breast may not be
swollen with that knowledge which puffeth up, nor boast vainly of
the riches brought out from Egypt. “Purge me with hyssop,”
the psalmist says,1831
“and I shall be clean; wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and
gladness.” Then he immediately adds, to show that it is
purifying from pride that is indicated by hyssop, “that the bones
which Thou hast broken1832
| 1832 Ossa humiliata, Vulgate. | may rejoice.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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