Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/317

 Notes on the Study of the Bible among our Forefathers. 307 also venerated the Bible, ("praecepta utriusque Instrumenti,") held fast the doctrines of the Creed, and for those reasons claimed to be regarded as veritable catholics (" et hujus fidei privilegio in catholicorum ccetu glomeratus sine aliquo infelicitatis obstaculo connumerabor"), Aldhelm was driven to another line of argu- ment. " Fides nempe catholica," he writes, " et fraternae caritatis concordia inseparabiliter pari tramite tendunt ;" adding as deci- sive of the controversy : " Frustra de fide catholica inaniter gloriatur qui dogma et regulam sancti Petri non sectatur" (pp. 88, 89). 3. Boniface. Another ardent champion of the Anglo-Roman school was Boniface or Winfrith, " the apostle of Germany." In speaking of him after his martyrdom, archbishop Cuthbert styles him " praeclarus speculator coelestis bibliothecae" (Bonif. Opp. n. 219, ed. Giles) : and such praise is fully justified by what we gather both from his biographer and his own works. His early years had been devoted almost exclusively to the " examination of the sacred laws" (n. 148). "Lectionis Divinae," adds Willibald, "ope- ram ingenti meditationis studio exhibuit, ita ut maxime demum Scripturarum eruditione tam grammatical artis eloquentia et metrorum medullatae facundiae modulatione, quam etiam histories simplici expositione et spiritualis tripartita intelligentiae inter- pretatione imbutus, dictandique peritia laudabiliter fulsit, ut etiam aliis demum paternarum extiterit paedagogus traditionum," e tc. a passage from which it is obvious that Boniface had also learned the fourfold method of interpretation we have noticed in the case of Aldhelm. His biographer continues to inform us that he not only studied the inspired words of prophets and apostles, " stylo sanctitatis conscripta," but committed portions of the Gospel-narrative to memory, while his example stimulated many others, male and female, to procure copies of the Holy Scriptures, and to meditate on them perpetually (p. 150). When Gregory HI. commissioned him in 719 to undertake the "preach- ing of both Testaments" in Germany, he mentioned that Boni- face had been distinguished from his childhood by this mark of piety (Opp. i. 26). When he left his native shores and came to " Trecht" [Trajectum U-trecht], it was with a well-defined intention, " ut si qua in parte hujus populi Evangelii patesceret