differed widely from what it was in the case of the other nations ;
S6 ON CIiniSTIAN DOCTEHsE. [BOOK III therefore very rare and very diflicult to find any ambiguity in the case of proper words, as far at least as Holy Scripture is concerned, which neither the context, showing the design of the writer, nor a comparison of translations, nor a reference to the original tongue, will suffice to explain.
CiiAi'. V. It is a wretched slavery which takes the fifjuraXive expressions of
Scripture in a literal sense.
9. But the ambiguities of metaphorical words, about which
I am next to speak, demand no ordinary care and diligence.
In the first place, we must beware of taking a figurative expression literally. For the saying of^ the apostle applies in this case too : " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
For when what is said figm-atively is taken as if it w^ere said literally, it is understood in a carnal manner. And nothing is more fittingly called the death of the soul tlian when that in it which raises it above the brutes, the intelligence namely, is put in subjection to the flesh by a blind adherence to the letter. For he who follows the letter takes figurative words as if they were proper, and does not carry out what is indicated by a proper word into its secondary signification ; but, if he hears of the Sabbath, for example, thinks of nothing but the one day out of seven which recurs in constant succession ; and when he hears of a sacrifice, does not carry his thoughts beyond the customary ofierings of victims from the flock, and of the fruits of the earth. Now it is surely a miserable slavery of the soul to take signs for things, and to be^ unable to lift tlie eye of the mind above what is corporeal and created, that it may drink in eternal light
Chap. yi.— Utility of the bomlaje of the Jews.
10. This bondage, however, in the case of the Jewish people, differed widely from what it was in the case of the other nations ; because, thougli the former were in bondage to temporal things, it was in such a way that in all these the One Gud was put before their minds. And although they paid attention to the signs of spiritual realities in place of the realities themselves, not knowing to wliat the si.L,nis referred, still they had tliis conviction rooted in theii' minds, tliat in subjecting themselves to
> 2 Cor. iii. G.