Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 498

474

§ 81.

UNITY AND MULTIPLICITY

a saying of the Lord, yet with Jesus such an " It

[Div. Ill

is

written

"

A

word of Satan is betrays always a spiritual significance. not an " It is written," neither is every saying of men, nor even every utterance of God's ambassadors.

Hence, in order

to be able to quote Scripture authoritatively, the guidance of the Holy Spirit is necessary, to impart the spiritual tact of

\

One needs only to turn distinguishing the gold from the ore. perceive how much spiritual order to in Job of to the book maturity

is

required to

know what may

from among the numerous

or

may not

be quoted

utterances of Satan, of Job, of his

three friends and of Elihu, with an " It is written." Everything that grows on and in the stalk is by no means wheat,

and especially with

finer plants it

always takes the eye of the

connoisseur to distinguish fruit from

what

is

no fruit.

Upon

the multiplicity, therefore, in the case of the Holy Scripture, emphasis must also be put, not from the desire to exalt the !

but to keep the gold vein of the Divine factor do no harm, provided its organic unity, pure multiformity, is chosen as the starting-point and not its In all organic life unity unity. its from which to arrive at

human ;

factor,

and

this will

from which multiplicity spreads itself. By fastening leaf, blossom and branch to each other you never form a living plant. He who, in the case of the Scripture, thus begins with the multiplicity of the human factor, and tries in this way to reach out after its unity will never find it, simply because he began with its denial in in the

germ

is first,

principle.

was not mistakenly, therefore, that a predestined Bible of in Reformed circles, by which was understood preconceived the form of the Holy Scripture had been > that in the counsel of God, in which eternity given already from at the same time all events, means and persons, by which that preconceived form would be realized in our actual life, were predestined. Hence in the course of ages all sorts of events take place, and persons appear who do not know of each other, and in the midst of these events these several persons are induced, without the knowledge of a higher purpose, to commit to writing certain facts, thoughts and It

was spoken

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