

SOOE iX.j MfiTllOJ> IK llfTERPRfitlNd SCRiWLKE. 373 



communion are, one faith, one baptism, P (fee, not one cere- 

 mony, one opinion, &c. Our Saviour's coat was seamless ; n 

 but the garment of the church of many colours. The chart 

 must be separated from the wheat, but the tares in the field 

 are not to be hastily plucked up from the com. Moses,, 

 when he saw the Egyptian contending with the Israelite, 

 did not say, " Why strive yel" but drew his sword, and 

 killed the Egyptian ; but when he saw two Israelites fight- 

 ing together, though the cause of one of them might have 

 been unjust, yet he says to thom, " Ye are brethren, why 

 strive yer'"" All which being well considered, it seems a 

 thinof 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 exclude them the commu- 

 nion of the faithful. And if any one shall imagine this done 

 already, we advise him seriously to reflect, with what justice 

 and moderation. Buu lb is highly probable, that whoever 

 speaks of peace will m,eet with that answer of Jehu to the 

 messenger : " "What has peace to do with Jehu ? — ^What 

 hast thou to do with peace 1 — Turn, and follow me." ' 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 consti- 

 tution of theology, a principal regard must be had to their 

 interpretation. We speak not of the authority of inter- 

 preting, 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 cisternc, and thence derived through 

 different pipes, for the more commodious use of men ; or 

 2. immediately poured into vessels for present occasions. 

 The former methodical way has produced the scholastic divi- 

 nity, whereby the doctrine of theology is collected into an 

 art, as in a cistern ; and thence distributed around, by the 

 conveyance of axioms and positions. 



But the loose way of interpreting has two excesses : the 



9 St. Paul, Eph. ix. 51. i St. John xix. 23. ' ExoduB ii. 13. 

 * 4 Kings ix. 19, 



