Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/121

 v] AnrSTERIES AND SYMBOLISM 103 be said to have three senses, the literal, the moral, and the spiritual: as "The grain of mustard is first the actual seed, then faith, then the Kingdom of Heaven. So again, the little foxes of the Song of Songs are typical, in the second sense, of sins affecting the indi- vidual, in the third, of heresies distracting the Church. The moral embraces all that touches the single soul in this life, in its relation to the law of right, or to God; the spiritual includes all * mysteries,' all the moments in the history of the community, the Church, in time, and still more in eternity." ^ There was opposition to allegorical interpretation. Some Christian writers * opposed it altogether, as Plato had done ; or, again, pagans objected to the validity of its application to the Old Testament,^ and Christians said it could not be used to veil the vileness of pagan mythol- ogy. But there was no checking a system universally in use, and which alone seemed capable of drawing forth the essential meaning of Scripture. In its application to both Old and New Testaments, the writings of Hilary of Poictiers,* of Ambrose,* and of Augustine ® authori- ^ Bigg, Christian PlatonUts, p. 136. 2 See Hatch, Uibbert Lectures, 1888, pp. 79-82. St. Basil in Horn. Ill, 31, in Hezaemeron (Migne, Patr. (?r.,29, col. 74), condemns the interpretation of the division of the waters, which makes them sig- nify Jvv^M«« vvtvMarixac (virtutes Spirit luiles), etc. See also Horn. IX, in Hezffimeron, fol. 80 (Migne, 29, col. 188). • E.g., Celsus, in Origen, Contra Celsum, IV, 48. • Ililarins, Commentarius in Matthaeum, e.g., Cap. 7, 10. The foxes (false prophets) have holes, and the birds of the air (demons) have nests, etc. » See Ebert, All. Oes. (2d Ed.), 1, 147-155. • See e.g.. Reply to Faustxu the Manichman, XII, 25-31, and XXII ; Sermons on Gospel qf John, XVII. 8; XXIV ; XLVIII, 5; CXVIII. 4; CXXU, 7, 8; Civ. Dei, XIII. 21: XV. 27. Cassian, Conlatio,