424 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



them might have been unjust, yet lie says to them, &quot;Ye 

 are brethren, why strive ye?&quot; 17 All which being well con 

 sidered, it seems a thing of great use and moment to define 

 what, and of how great latitude those matters are, which 

 totally cut off men from the body of the church, and ex 

 clude them the communion of the faithful. And if any one 

 shall imagine this done already, we advise him seriously to 

 reflect, with what justice and moderation. But it is highly 

 probable, that whoever speaks of peace will meet with that 

 answer of Jehu to the messenger: &quot;What has peace to do 

 with Jehu? What hast thou to do with peace? Turn, and 

 follow me.&quot; 18 For the hearts of most men are not set upon 

 peace, but party. And yet we think proper to place among 

 the things wanting, a discourse upon the degrees of unity in 

 the city of God, as a wholesome and useful undertaking. 



The holy Scriptures having so great a share in the con 

 stitution of theology, a principal regard must be had to 

 their interpretation. We speak not of the authority of 

 interpreting, established by the consent of the church, but 

 of the manner of interpreting, which is either methodical 

 or loose. For the pure waters of divinity are drawn and 

 employed, nearly in the same manner as the natural waters 

 of springs; viz., 1, either received in cisterns, and thence 

 derived through different pipes, for the more commodious 

 use of men; or 2, immediately poured into vessels for pres 

 ent occasions. The former methodical way has produced 

 the scholastic divinity, whereby the doctrine of theology 

 is collected into an art, as in a cistern;* and thence distrib 

 uted around, by the conveyance of axioms and positions. 



But the loose way of interpreting has two excesses: the 

 one supposes such a perfection in the Scriptures, that all 

 philosophy should be derived from their fountains, as if 

 every other philosophy were a profane and heathenish 

 thing. And this distemper principally reigned in the 

 school of Paracelsus, and some others, though originally 



11 Exodus ii. ]3. 18 IV. Kings ix. 19, 



