Chapter 34.—The Fourth Rule of Tichonius.

47.  The fourth rule of Tichonius is about species and genus.  For so he calls it, intending that by species should be understood a part, by genus the whole of which that which he calls species is a part:  as, for example, every single city is a part of the great society of nations:  the city he calls a species, all nations constitute the genus.  There is no necessity for here applying that subtilty of distinction which is in use among logicians, who discuss with great acuteness the difference between a part and a species.  The rule is of course the same, if anything of the kind referred to is found in Scripture, not in regard to a single city, but in regard to a single province, or tribe, or kingdom.  Not only, for example, about Jerusalem, or some of the cities of the Gentiles, such as Tyre or Babylon, are things said in Scripture whose significance oversteps the limits of the city, and which are more suitable when applied to all nations; but in regard to Judea also, and Egypt, and Assyria, or any other nation you choose to take which contains numerous cities, but still is not the whole world, but only a part of it, things are said which pass over the limits of that particular country, and apply more fitly to the whole of which this is a part; or, as our author terms it, to the genus of which this is a species.  And hence these words have come to be commonly known, so that even uneducated people understand what is laid down specially, and what generally, in any given Imperial command.  The same thing occurs in the case of men:  things are said of Solomon, for example, the scope of which reaches far beyond him, and which are only properly understood when applied to Christ and His Church, of which Solomon is a part.202    2 Sam. vii. 14–16.

48.  Now the species is not always overstepped, for things are often said of such a kind as evidently apply to it also, or perhaps even to it exclusively.  But when Scripture, having up to a certain point been speaking about the species, makes a transition at that point from the species to the genus, the reader must then be carefully on his guard against seeking in the species what he can find much better and more surely in the genus.  Take, for example, what the prophet Ezekiel says:  “When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way, and by their doings:  their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.  Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:  and I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries:  according to their way, and according to their doings, I judged them.”203    Ezek. xxxvi. 17–19.  Now it is easy to understand that this applies to that house of Israel of which the apostle says, “Behold Israel after the flesh;”204    1 Cor. x. 18. because the people of Israel after the flesh did both perform and endure all that is here referred to.  What immediately follows, too, may be understood as applying to the same people.  But when the prophet begins to say, “And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord,”205    Ezek. xxxvi. 23. the reader ought now carefully to observe the way in which the species is overstepped and the genus taken in.  For he goes on to say:  “And I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.  For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean:  from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments, and do them.  And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.  I will also save you from all your uncleannesses.”206    Ezek. xxxvi. 23–29.  Now that this is a prophecy of the New Testament, to which pertain not only the remnant of that one nation of which it is elsewhere said, “For though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall be saved,”207    Isa. x. 22. but also the other nations which were promised to their fathers and our fathers; and that there is here a promise of that washing of regeneration which, as we see, is now imparted to all nations, no one who looks into the matter can doubt.  And that saying of the apostle, when he is commending the grace of the New Testament and its excellence in comparison with the Old, “Ye are our epistle . . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart,”208    2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. has an evident reference to this place where the prophet says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”209    Ezek. xxxviii. 26.  Now the heart of flesh from which the apostle’s expression, “the fleshy tables of the heart,” is drawn, the prophet intended to point out as distinguished from the stony heart by the possession of sentient life; and by sentient he understood intelligent life.  And thus the spiritual Israel is made up, not of one nation, but of all the nations which were promised to the fathers in their seed, that is, in Christ.

49.  This spiritual Israel, therefore, is distinguished from the carnal Israel which is of one nation, by newness of grace, not by nobility of descent, in feeling, not in race; but the prophet, in his depth of meaning, while speaking of the carnal Israel, passes on, without indicating the transition, to speak of the spiritual, and although now speaking of the latter, seems to be still speaking of the former; not that he grudges us the clear apprehension of Scripture, as if we were enemies, but that he deals with us as a physician, giving us a wholesome exercise for our spirit.  And therefore we ought to take this saying, “And I will bring you into your own land,” and what he says shortly afterwards, as if repeating himself, “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers,” not literally, as if they referred to Israel after the flesh, but spiritually, as referring to the spiritual Israel.  For the Church, without spot or wrinkle, gathered out of all nations, and destined to reign for ever with Christ, is itself the land of the blessed, the land of the living; and we are to understand that this was given to the fathers when it was promised to them for what the fathers believed would be given in its own time was to them, on account of the unchangeableness of the promise and purpose, the same as if it were already given; just as the apostle, writing to Timothy, speaks of the grace which is given to the saints:  “Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour.”210    2 Tim. i. 9, 10.  He speaks of the grace as given at a time when those to whom it was to be given were not yet in existence; because he looks upon that as having been already done in the arrangement and purpose of God, which was to take place in its own time, and he himself speaks of it as now made manifest.  It is possible, however, that these words may refer to the land of the age to come, when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein the unrighteous shall be unable to dwell.  And so it is truly said to the righteous, that the land itself is theirs, no part of which will belong to the unrighteous; because it is the same as if it were itself given, when it is firmly settled that it shall be given.

CAPUT XXXIV. Regula quarta Tichonii.

47. Quarta Tichonii regula est de specie et genere. 0084 Sic enim eam vocat, volens intelligi speciem partem, genus autem totum, cujus ea pars est quam nuncupat speciem, sicut unaquaeque civitas pars est utique universitatis gentium: hanc ille vocat speciem; genus autem omnes gentes. Neque hic ea discernendi subtilitas adhibenda est, quae a dialecticis traditur qui, inter partem et speciem quid intersit acutissime disputant. Eadem ratio est, si non de unaquaque civitate, sed de unaquaque provincia vel gente vel regno tale aliquid in divinis reperiatur eloquiis. Non solum enim, verbi gratia, de Jerusalem, vel de aliqua gentium civitate, sive Tyro, sive Babylonia, sive alia qualibet dicitur aliquid in Scripturis sanctis, quod modum ejus excedat, et conveniat potius omnibus gentibus: verum etiam de Judaea, de Aegypto, de Assyria, et quacumque alia gente, in qua sunt plurimae civitates, non tamen totus orbis, sed pars ejus est, dicitur quod transeat ejus modum, et congruat potius universo, cujus haec pars est; vel sicut iste appellat, generi, cujus haec species est. Unde et in notitiam vulgi verba ista venerunt, ut etiam idiotae intelligant quid specialiter, quid generaliter in quocumque praecepto imperiali sit constitutum. Fit hoc etiam de hominibus; sicut ea quae de Salomone dicuntur, excedunt ejus modum, et potius ad Christum vel Ecclesiam, cujus ille pars est, relata clarescunt.

48. Nec species semper exceditur; saepe enim talia dicuntur quae vel ei quoque, vel ei fortasse tantummodo apertissime congruant: sed cum a specie transitur ad genus, quasi adhuc de specie loquente Scriptura, ibi vigilare debet lectoris intentio, ne quaerat in specie quod in genere potest melius et certius invenire. Facile quippe est illud quod ait propheta Ezechiel, Domus Israel habitavit in terra, et polluerunt illam in via sua, et in idolis suis, et peccatis suis; secundum immunditiam menstruatae facta est via eorum ante faciem meam. Et effudi iram meam super eos, et dispersi illos inter nationes, et ventilavi eos in regiones; secundum vias eorum et secundum peccata eorum judicavi eos (Ezech. XXXVI, 17-19): facile est, inquam, hoc intelligere de illa domo Israel, de qua dicit Apostolus, Videte Israel secundum carnem (I Cor. X, 18); quia haec omnia carnalis populus Israel et fecit, et passus est. Alia etiam quae sequuntur, eidem intelliguntur populo convenire: sed cum coeperit dicere, Et sanctificabo nomen meum sanctum illud magnum, quod pollutum est inter nationes, quod polluistis in medio earum; et scient gentes quia ego sum Dominus; jam intentus debet esse, qui legit, quemadmodum species excedatur, et adjungatur genus. Sequitur enim et dicit: Et dum sanctificabor in vobis ante oculos eorum, et accipiam vos de gentibus, et congregabo vos ex omnibus terris, et inducam vos in terram vestram; et aspergam vos aqua munda, et mundabimini ab omnibus simulacris vestris, et mundabo vos: et dabo vobis cor novum, et Spiritum novum dabo in vos; et auferam cor lapideum de carne vestra, et dabo vobis cor carneum, et Spiritum meum dabo in vos: et faciam ut in justitiis 0085 meis ambuletis, et judicia mea custodiatis, et faciatis: et habitabitis in terra, quam dedi patribus vestris; et eritis mihi in populum, et ego ero vobis in Deum; et mundabo vos ex omnibus immunditiis vestris (Ezech. XXXVI, 23-29). Hoc de Novo Testamento esse prophetatum, ad quod pertinet non solum una gens illa in reliquiis suis, ne quibus alibi scriptum est, Si fuerit numerus filiorum Israel sicut arena maris, reliquiae salvae fient (Isai. X, 22), verum etiam caeterae gentes, quae promissae sunt patribus eorum, qui etiam nostri sunt; non ambigit quisquis intuetur et lavacrum regenerationis hic esse promissum, quod nunc videmus omnibus gentibus redditum: et illud quod ait Apostolus, cum Novi Testamenti gratiam commendaret, ut in comparatione Veteris emineret, Epistola nostra vos estis, scripta non atramento, sed Spiritu Dei vivi; non in tabulis lapideis, sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus (II Cor. III, 2, 3), hinc esse respicit et perspicit ductum ubi iste propheta dicit, Et dabo vobis cor novum, et Spiritum novum dabo in vos; et auferam cor lapideum de carne vestra, et dabo vobis cor carneum. Cor quippe carneum, unde ait Apostolus, tabulis cordis carnalibus, a corde lapideo voluit vita sentiente discerni, et per vitam sentientem significavit intelligentem. Sic fit Israel spiritualis, non unius gentis, sed omnium quae promissae sunt patribus in eorum semine, quod est Christus.

49. Hic ergo Israel spiritualis ab illo Israele carnali, qui est unius gentis, novitate gratiae, non nobilitate patriae, et mente non gente distinguitur: sed altitudo prophetica dum de illo vel ad illum loquitur, latenter transit ad hunc; et cum jam de isto vel ad istum loquatur, adhuc de illo vel ad illum loqui videtur; non intellectum Scripturarum nobis quasi hostiliter invidens, sed exercens medicinaliter nostrum. Unde et illud quod ait, Et inducam vos in terram vestram; et paulo post, tanquam idipsum repetens, Et habitabitis, inquit, in terra quam dedi patribus vestris; non carnaliter sicut carnalis Israel, sed spiritualiter sicut spiritualis debemus accipere. Ecclesia quippe sine macula et ruga (Ephes. V, 27) ex omnibus gentibus congregata, atque in aeternum regnatura cum Christo, ipsa est terra beatorum, terra viventium (Psal. XXVI, 13); ipsa intelligenda est patribus data, quando eis certa et incommutabili Dei voluntate promissa est: quoniam ipsa promissionis vel praedestinationis firmitate jam data est, quae danda suo tempore a patribus credita est; sicut de ipsa gratia quae sanctis datur, scribens ad Timotheum Apostolus ait, Non secundum opera nostra, sed secundum suum propositum et gratiam, quae data est nobis in Christo Jesu ante saecula aeterna, manifestata autem nunc per adventum Salvatoris nostri (II Tim. I, 9, 10). Datam dixit gratiam, quando nec erant adhuc quibus daretur; quoniam in dispositione ac praedestinatione Dei jam factum erat quod suo tempore futurum erat, quod ipse dicit manifestatum. Quamvis haec possint intelligi et de terra futuri saeculi, quando erit coelum novum et terra nova (Apoc. XXI, 1), in qua injusti habitare non poterunt. Et ideo recte dicitur piis quod ipsa sit terra 0086 eorum, quae ulla ex parte non erit impiorum; quia et ipsa similiter data est, quando danda firmata est.