50.
These mainly concern the exegetes, yet preachers, too, must always
bear them in mind. Jerome's first rule is careful study of the actual words so
that we may be perfectly certain what the writer really does say. He was most
careful to consult the original text, to compare various versions, and, if he
discovered any mistake in them, to explain it and thus make the text perfectly
clear. The precise meaning, too, that attaches to particular words has to be
worked out, for "when discussing Holy Scripture it is not words we want so
much as the meaning of words."[87] We do not for a moment deny
that Jerome, in imitation of Latin and Greek doctors before him, leaned too
much, especially at the outset, towards allegorical interpretations. But his
love of the Bible, his unceasing toil in reading and re-reading it and weighing
its meaning, compelled him to an ever-growing appreciation of its literal sense
and to the 88 formulation of sound principles regarding it. These we set down
here, for they provide a safe path for us all to follow in getting from the Sacred
Books their full meaning.
In the first place, then, we must
study the literal or historical meaning:
I earnestly warn the prudent reader not to pay attention to superstitious
interpretations such as are given cut and dried according to some interpreter's
fancy. He should study the beginning, middle, and end, and so form a connected
idea of the whole of what he finds written.[88]
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