The historical method of didascalia; the text of Scripture
1. The HISTORICAL is that which narrates in order what has been given, commanded, and done by God and by human beings.
It inserts prophecies, prayers, and exhortations partly into the narration itself, as the order of events allows, and partly sets them apart like certain special acts and documents of the kingdom.
This method is not only popular but also especially fitting to the nature of the subject, which is the kingdom — and a certain and singular one — by which God chiefly governs this world and the Church.
It has therefore been used in the sacred letters, useful and necessary for the learned and the unlearned, for whom no study ought to be preferred to grasping the TEXT OF SCRIPTURE with understanding and memory as far as can be done (Second Timothy 3:15; First Timothy 4:10).
Latin
1. HISTORICA est, quae quid a Deo, quid ab hominibus datum, imperatum, factum sit ordine enarrat: vaticinia autem, precationes, exhortationes partim ipsi narrationi, prout patitur rerum gestarum ordo, inserens, partim veluti acta quaedam & documenta regni specialia seorsim collocat. Haec methodus non tantum est popularis, sed & naturae subjecti, quod est regnum & quidem certum & singulare, quo videlicet Deus hunc mundum & Ecclesiam praecipue gubernat, apprime conveniens. Quae propterea in sacris literis usurpata est, doctis atque indoctis utilis & necessaria, quibus nullum potius studium esse debet, quam ut TEXTUM SCRIPTURAE intellectu & memoria, quatenus fieri potest, comprehendant, 2. Tim. 3.15. 1. Tim. 4.10.