Book 1
PREFACE
Commending to us the study and frequency of reading and meditating on sacred letters, the Apostle says: For whatever was written in the past was written for our teaching, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. And elsewhere: All these things happened to them as examples. They were written down as warnings to us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. And the blessed apostle Peter also says, recalling the times of the Lord's incarnation, passion, and subsequent glory, among other things: And all the prophets from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days. For if all things were written for our admonition, teaching, or consolation, not only Jeremiah and Isaiah and others like them, who predicted future events with words, but also Samuel, Jonah, Ezra, and the like, who wrote down past deeds or sayings, either their own or those of others, they too indicate these days, that is, those shining with the light of new grace; we must devote ourselves to this with the utmost effort, and strive, each according to his capacity and with the help of Christ's grace, so that what was written for us does not pass us by as if it were something alien due to our sloth or neglect. But we must attentively and vigilantly consider by what sense we obtain admonition in these, by what method we acquire teaching, by what understanding we attain consolation, in what manner all these speak and announce these days; imitating, to the best of our ability, that scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, who brings out of his treasure things new and old. For if we care to bring out of the treasure of the Scriptures only the old, that is, to follow the figures of the letters only in the manner of the Jews, what correction do we acquire from our daily sins, what consolation amid the increasing troubles of the world, what spiritual teaching when, for example, we open the book of the blessed Samuel and find that Elkanah, a certain man, had two wives? We above all, who by the practice of ecclesiastical life are to be far from the embrace of a wife and remain celibate, if we do not know how to carve out an allegorical sense from these and similar sayings, which vigorously renew us inwardly by correcting, teaching, and consoling? Therefore, provoked by your frequent encouragement, my dearest and most longed-for of all who dwell on earth, Bishop Acca, relying on your prayers, I will scan the writings of the aforementioned prophet, who was then called a Seer, and if, by the grace of Him who granted him to see many spiritual things, I can perceive anything spiritual and mystical, I will endeavor to commit it to writing. And after a kind of exposition of the sayings of the blessed Luke, who described the evangelical acts either of the Lord himself or of his apostles, I will also strive to show that this most holy Nazirite from the womb was no less fulfilling the office of an evangelist in his writings than that of a historian; for he, too, signified all the sacraments of the Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, with a faithful historical figure, but with the fullest utterance. Finally, to be brief, if you rightly consider the place of David's birth, his office as shepherd, the ruddiness and beauty of his appearance, the manner of his anointing, the mark of his virtues, the weight of his tribulations, and the glory of the kingdom once promised, you will see what great mysteries of evangelical faith and truth are heaped up in these individual matters. These will be discussed more clearly in their proper place; now, trusting solely in divine aid and following the footsteps of the fathers, I will undertake the task at hand in order. And if, as I desire, my toil will be of benefit and utility to many, I hope to be rewarded with them by the Lord with many blessings; if not, yet my diligence, which has kept me from idleness and from indulging in trivial things for so long, cannot be fruitless. Therefore, come, let us see, Prophet Samuel, who spoke and announced these days, how he began his speech and announcement; and discussing in order, with the help of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, who taught how all things are to be fit to these days, let us seek how each individual matter may be fit to these days.