-31; 6:16;
22:15-17.
683. Types.--The letter kills. All happened in types. Here is the cipher
which Saint Paul gives us. Christ must suffer. An humiliated God.
Circumcision of the heart, true fasting, true sacrifice, a true temple. The
prophets have shown that all these must be spiritual.
Not the meat which perishes, but that which does not perish.
"Ye shall be free indeed." Then the other freedom was only a type of
freedom.
"I am the true bread from Heaven."
684. Contradiction.--We can only describe a good character by reconciling
all contrary qualities, and it is not enough to keep up a series of
harmonious qualities, without reconciling contradictory ones. To understand
the meaning of an author, we must make all the contrary passages agree.
Thus, to understand Scripture, we must have a meaning in which all the
contrary passages are reconciled. It is not enough to have one which suits
many concurring passages; but it is necessary to have one which reconciles
even contradictory passages.
Every author has a meaning in which all the contradictory passages agree, or
he has no meaning at all. We cannot affirm the latt