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| Concerning Scripture.
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Chapter XVII.—Concerning
Scripture2514
| 2514 This chapter is
wanting in Cod. R. 3547. | .
It is one and the same God Whom both the Old and
the New Testament proclaim, Who is praised and glorified in the
Trinity: I am come, saith the Lord, not to destroy the
law but to fulfil it2515
. For He
Himself worked out our salvation for which all Scripture and all
mystery exists. And again, Search the Scriptures for they are
they that testify of Me2516
. And the
Apostle says, God, Who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days
spoken unto us by His Son2517
. Through
the Holy Spirit, therefore, both the law and the prophets, the
evangelists and apostles and pastors and teachers, spake.
All Scripture, then, is given by inspiration of
God and is also assuredly profitable2518
. Wherefore to search the Scriptures
is a work most fair and most profitable for souls. For just as
the tree planted by the channels of waters, so also the soul watered by
the divine Scripture is enriched and gives fruit in its season2519
, viz. orthodox belief, and is adorned with
evergreen leafage, I mean, actions pleasing to God. For through
the Holy Scriptures we are trained to action that is pleasing to God,
and untroubled contemplation. For in these we find both
exhortation to every virtue and dissuasion from every vice. If,
therefore, we are lovers of learning, we shall also be learned in many
things. For by care and toil and the grace of God the Giver, all
things are accomplished. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened2520
. Wherefore
let us knock at that very fair garden of the Scriptures, so fragrant
and sweet and blooming, with its varied sounds of spiritual and
divinely-inspired birds ringing all round our ears, laying hold of our
hearts, comforting the mourner, pacifying the angry and filling him
with joy everlasting: which sets our mind on the gold-gleaming,
brilliant back of the divine dove2521
, whose
bright pinions bear up to the only-begotten Son and Heir of the
Husbandman2522
of that
spiritual Vineyard and bring us through Him to the Father of
Lights2523
. But let
us not knock carelessly but rather zealously and constantly: lest
knocking we grow weary. For thus it will be opened to us.
If we read once or twice and do not understand what we read, let us not
grow weary, but let us persist, let us talk much, let us enquire.
For ask thy Father, he saith, and He will shew thee:
thy elders and they will tell thee2524
. For there is not in every man
that knowledge2525
. Let us
draw of the fountain of the garden perennial and purest waters
springing into life eternal2526
. Here let
us luxuriate, let us revel insatiate: for the Scriptures possess
inexhaustible grace. But if we are able to pluck anything
profitable from outside sources, there is nothing to forbid that.
Let us become tried money-dealers, heaping up the true and pure gold
and discarding the spurious. Let us keep the fairest sayings but
let us throw to the dogs absurd gods and strange myths: for we
might prevail most mightily against them through themselves.
Observe, further2527
| 2527 Cyril Hieros.,
Cat. 4; Epiphan., De pond. et mens. | , that there are two and twenty books of
the Old Testament, one for each letter of the Hebrew tongue. For
there are twenty-two letters of which five are double, and so they come
to be twenty-seven. For the letters Caph, Mem, Nun, Pe2528
| 2528 Many copies read
Phi. | , Sade are double. And thus the
number of the books in this way is twenty-two, but is found to be
twenty-seven because of the double character of five. For Ruth is
joined on to Judges, and the Hebrews count them one book: the
first and second books of Kings are counted one: and so are the
third and fourth books of Kings: and also the first and second of
Paraleipomena: and the first and second of Esdra. In this
way, then, the books are collected together in four Pentateuchs and two
others remain over, to form thus the canonical books. Five of
them are of the Law, viz. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. This which is the code of the Law, constitutes the
first Pentateuch. Then comes another Pentateuch, the so-called
Grapheia2529
, or as they are
called by some, the Hagiographa, which are the following: Jesus
the Son of Nave2530
| 2530 Joshua the Son
of Nun. | , Judges along
with Ruth, first and second Kings, which are one book, third and fourth
Kings, which are one book, and the two books of the
Paraleipomena2531
which are one
book. This is the second Pentateuch. The third Pentateuch
is the books in verse, viz. Job, Psalms, Proverbs of Solomon,
Ecclesiastes of Solomon and the Song of Songs of Solomon. The
fourth Pentateuch is the Prophetical books, viz the twelve prophets
constituting one book, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Then
come the two books of Esdra made into one, and Esther2532
| 2532 R. 2428 reads
καὶ ἡ
᾽Ιουδὶθ, καὶ
ἡ ᾽Εσθήρ: so
also in Cod. S. Hil., but Epiphanius does not mention the book
of Judith, nor does the text require it. | . There are also the Panaretus, that is the Wisdom of
Solomon, and the Wisdom of Jesus, which was published in Hebrew by the
father of Sirach, and afterwards translated into Greek by his grandson,
Jesus, the Son of Sirach. These are virtuous and noble, but are
not counted nor were they placed in the ark.
The New Testament contains four gospels, that
according to Matthew, that according to Mark, that according to Luke,
that according to John: the Acts of the Holy Apostles by Luke the
Evangelist: seven catholic epistles, viz. one of James, two of
Peter, three of John, one of Jude: fourteen letters of the
Apostle Paul: the Revelation of John the Evangelist: the
Canons2533
| 2533 R. 2428 reads
καὶ
ἐπιστολαὶ
δύο διὰ
Κλήμεντος,
probably an interpolation. | of the holy
apostles2534
| 2534 Trull.,
Can. 2; Euseb., Hist. Eccles. vi., ch. 23,
&c. | , by
Clement.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
