It is but just to say
that he was not the original author of this interpretation: it had
been presented long before by St. Cyprian. But this was far from
Augustine's worst. Perhaps no interpretation of Scripture has ever
led to more cruel and persistent oppression, torture, and bloodshed
than his reading into one of the most beautiful parables of Jesus
of Nazareth--into the words "Compel them to come in"--a warrant
for religious persecution: of all unintended blasphemies since the
world began, possibly the most appalling.
Another strong man follows to fasten these methods on the Church:
St. Gregory the Great. In his renowned work on the book of Job, the
_Magna Moralia_, given to the world at the end of the sixth century,
he lays great stress on the deep mystical meanings of the statement
that Job had seven sons. He thinks the seven sons typify the twelve
apostles, for "the apostles were selected through the sevenfold
grace of the Spirit; moreover, twelve is produced from seven--that
is, the two parts of seven, four and three, when multiplied
together give twelve.
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