Prologus, §6
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/5/d/0/q/bon-brev-prol-s6
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### § 6. *On the mode of expounding* *sacred Scripture.*

Now just as this Scripture has a special mode of *proceeding*, so, according to its own mode of proceeding, it must in its own special way be *understood* and *expounded*. For since it covers a manifold understanding beneath one letter, the expounder must *bring hidden things forth into the light* and make what has been drawn out manifest through another Scripture that is more open: as, if I were to expound that saying of the Psalm, *Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up to help me*, and wished to explain what the divine *arms* are, I shall say that they are his truth and his good will; and that this is so must be proved through open Scripture. For it is written elsewhere: *With the shield of thy good will thou hast crowned us*; and again: *His truth shall compass thee with a shield*. — To which no one can easily attain unless by habitual reading he commits the text and letter of the Bible to memory; otherwise he will never be able to be capable in the exposition of the Scriptures. Hence, just as he who disdains to learn first the elements from which a word is put together can never know either the meaning of words or the right law of constructions, so he who despises the letter of sacred Scripture will never rise to its spiritual understandings.

But let the expounder take heed that allegory is not to be sought everywhere, nor are all things to be expounded mystically. On account of which it must be noted that sacred Scripture has four parts. *One* is that in which, according to the letter, it treats of the natures of the world, and through them signifies our reparation, as appears in the description of the world's formation. — *Another* is that in which it treats of the acts and courses of that Israelite people, and through them signifies the reparation of the human race. — The *third* is that in which in bare words it signifies and expresses what pertains to our salvation as regards faith or morals. — The *fourth* is that in which it foretells the mystery of our salvation, partly in bare words, partly in enigmatic and obscure ones. And on that account Scripture is not to be expounded uniformly in these various places.

Now the expounder must be guided in expounding sacred Scripture by a threefold rule, which can be drawn from the words of blessed Augustine in the book *On Christian Doctrine*.

The *first* is this. Wherever in this Scripture the first signification of the words signifies *things of creation*, or *particular acts of human converse*, there the things signified by the words are signified first, and then the mysteries of our reparation; but where the first

signification of the words expresses faith or charity, there no allegory is to be sought.

The *second* rule is this. Where the words of this Scripture signify *things of creation*, or *of the converse of the Israelite people*, there let him seek from another place of Scripture what each thing signifies, and then let him draw out its signification through words that nakedly signify *the truth of faith* or also *the uprightness of morals*: as, if it be said *The sheep bring forth twin young*, let him show that *sheep* there signify men, and the *twin young* the twofold charity.

The *third* rule is this. When some Scripture has both a *literal* and a *spiritual* understanding, the expounder must examine whether that attribution befits the *historical* or the *spiritual* signification, if perhaps it cannot befit *both*; but if it befits both, then it must be affirmed both *literally* and *spiritually*; but if only *in one of the two ways*, then it must be understood *spiritually* alone: as that the sabbath of the Law is perpetual, the priesthood eternal, the possession of the land everlasting, and the covenant of circumcision eternal — all of which are to be referred to a spiritual signification.

But in order that one may walk safely through the forest of the sacred Scriptures, cutting a way and expounding, it is needful that he first know the truth of sacred Scripture itself through explicit words: namely, that he attend to how Scripture describes the beginning, the progress, and the consummation of a twofold body which look upon each other as it were from opposite sides — namely of the good, who humble themselves here that they may be exalted everlastingly in the future, and of the evil, who exalt themselves here that they may be cast down eternally. Hence Scripture treats of the whole universe as regards the highest and the lowest, the first and the last, and as regards the intermediate course, under the form of a certain *intelligible cross*, in which the whole machine of the universe has to be described and in a certain way seen by the light of the mind; and to understand this it is necessary to know the *beginning* of things, God; the *creation* of those things themselves, their *fall*, their *redemption* through the blood of Jesus Christ, their *reformation* through grace, their *healing* through the Sacraments, and at last their *retribution* through everlasting punishment and glory.

And because this teaching, both in the writings of the Saints and also in those of the doctors, has been handed down so diffusely that it cannot be seen or heard for a long time by those approaching to hear sacred Scripture — on account of which also new theologians frequently shrink from sacred Scripture itself as from something uncertain and disordered and like a certain shadowy forest — I was asked by my companions that out of our poor little store of knowledge I should say something brief in summary concerning the truth of theology; and overcome by their prayers, I consented to make a certain *breviloquium*, in which summarily not all things, but some of the more useful things for holding briefly, might be touched on, adding along with this some reason for understanding, according as it occurred at the time.

But because theology is discourse about God and about the first principle, inasmuch as it, being the highest science and teaching, resolves all things into God as into the first and highest principle: therefore in assigning reasons in all the matters contained in this whole opuscule or little treatise, I have tried to take my reason from the first principle, so as thus to show that the truth of sacred Scripture is *from God, about God, according to God*, and *for the sake of God* — so that this science may deservedly appear to be *one* and *ordered*, and not undeservedly named *theology*. — If, then, anything imperfect, or obscure, or superfluous, or less than right shall have been there, let pardon be granted to my occupations and to the shortness of the time and to my poor little knowledge; but if anything is right, let it be referred *to God alone as honor and glory*.

But in order that what follows may shine forth more clearly, I have taken care to set out beforehand the particular titles of the chapters, for the easier remembering and the clearer contemplation of the things to be said, which are distinguished by seven parts and seventy-two chapters.

**HERE ENDS THE PROLOGUE.**

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