Chapter 35.—The Fifth Rule of Tichonius.

50.  The fifth rule Tichonius lays down is one he designates of times,—a rule by which we can frequently discover or conjecture quantities of time which are not expressly mentioned in Scripture.  And he says that this rule applies in two ways:  either to the figure of speech called synecdoche, or to legitimate numbers.  The figure synecdoche either puts the part for the whole, or the whole for the part.  As, for example, in reference to the time when, in the presence of only three of His disciples, our Lord was transfigured on the mount, so that His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as snow, one evangelist says that this event occurred “after eight days,”211    Luke ix. 28. while another says that it occurred “after six days.”212    Matt. xvii. 1; Mark ix. 2.  Now both of these statements about the number of days cannot be true, unless we suppose that the writer who says “after eight days,” counted the latter part of the day on which Christ uttered the prediction and the first part of the day on which he showed its fulfillment as two whole days; while the writer who says “after six days,” counted only the whole unbroken days between these two.  This figure of speech, which puts the part for the whole, explains also the great question about the resurrection of Christ.  For unless to the latter part of the day on which He suffered we join the previous night, and count it as a whole day, and to the latter part of the night in which He arose we join the Lord’s day which was just dawning, and count it also a whole day, we cannot make out the three days and three nights during which He foretold that He would be in the heart of the earth.213    Matt. xii. 40.

51.  In the next place, our author calls those numbers legitimate which Holy Scripture more highly favors such as seven, or ten, or twelve, or any of the other numbers which the diligent reader of Scripture soon comes to know.  Now numbers of this sort are often put for time universal; as for example, “Seven times in the day do I praise Thee,” means just the same as “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”214    Comp. Ps. cxix. 164 with xxxiv. 2.  And their force is exactly the same, either when multiplied by ten, as seventy and seven hundred (whence the seventy years mentioned in Jeremiah may be taken in a spiritual sense for the whole time during which the Church is a sojourner among aliens);215    Jer. xxv. 11. or when multiplied into themselves, as ten into ten gives one hundred, and twelve into twelve gives one hundred and forty-four, which last number is used in the Apocalypse to signify the whole body of the saints.216    Rev. vii. 4.  Hence it appears that it is not merely questions about times that are to be settled by these numbers, but that their significance is of much wider application, and extends to many subjects.  That number in the Apocalypse, for example, mentioned above, has not reference to times, but to men.

CAPUT XXXV. Regula quinta Tichonii.

50. Quintam Tichonius regulam ponit, quam De temporibus appellat; qua regula plerumque inveniri vel conjici possit latens in Scripturis sanctis quantitas temporum. Duobus autem modis vigere dicit hanc regulam; aut tropo synecdoche, aut legitimis numeris. Tropus synecdoche, aut a parte totum, aut a toto partem facit intelligi: sicut unus evangelista post dies octo factum dicit, quod alius post dies sex, quando in monte discipulis tantum tribus praesentibus facies Domini fulsit ut sol, et vestimenta ejus sicut nix (Luc. IX, 28; Matth. XVII, 1, 2; Marc. IX, 1, 2). Utrumque enim verum esse non posset, quod de numero dierum dictum est, nisi ille qui dixit, post dies octo, intelligatur partem novissimam diei ex quo id Christus praedixit futurum, et partem primam diei quo id ostendit impletum, pro totis diebus duobus atque integris posuisse; is vero qui dixit, post dies sex, integros omnes et totos, sed solos medios computasse. Hoc modo locutionis, quo significatur a parte totum, etiam illa de resurrectione Christi solvitur quaestio. Pars enim novissima diei quo passus est, nisi pro toto die accipiatur, id est, adjuncta etiam nocte praeterita; et nox in cujus parte ultima resurrexit, nisi totus dies accipiatur, adjuncto scilicet die illucescente dominico, non possunt esse tres dies et tres noctes, quibus se in corde terrae praedixit futurum (Matth. XII, 40).

51. Legitimos autem numeros dicit, quos eminentius divina Scriptura commendat, sicut septenarium, vel denarium, vel duodenarium, et quicumque alii sunt, quos legendo studiosi libenter agnoscunt. Plerumque enim hujusmodi numeri pro universo tempore ponuntur: sicut, Septies in die laudabo te (Psal. CXVIII, 164), nihil est aliud quam, Semper laus ejus in ore meo (Psal. XXXIII, 2). Tantumdem valent et cum multiplicantur, sive per denarium, sicut septuaginta et septingenti; unde possunt et septuaginta anni Jeremiae (Jerem. XXV, 11) pro universo tempore spiritualiter accipi, quo est apud alienos Ecclesia: sive per seipsos, sicut decem per decem, centum sunt; et duodecim per duodecim, centum quadraginta quatuor; quo numero significatur universitas sanctorum in Apocalypsi (Apoc. VII, 4). Unde apparet non solas temporum quaestiones istis numeris esse solvendas, sed latius patere significationes eorum, et in multa proserpere. Neque enim numerus iste in Apocalypsi ad tempora pertinet, sed ad homines.