374 ABVAKCEiiENT OF LEARNING. [BOOK tX, 



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 derived from the rabbles 

 and cabbalists. But these men fail of their end ; for they 

 do not, by this means, honour the Scriptures as they imagine, 

 but rather debase and pollute them. For they who seek a 

 material heaven, and a material earth, in the word of God, 

 absurdly seek for transitory things among eternal. To look 

 for theology in philosophy is looking for the living among 

 the dead, and to look for philosophy in theology is to look 

 for the dead among the living. 



The other excess, in the manner of interpretation, appears, 

 at first sight, just and sober; yet greatly dishonours the 

 Scriptures, and greatly injures the church, by explaining the 

 inspired writings in the same manner as human writings are 

 explained. For we must remember, that to God, the author of 

 the Scriptures, those two things lie open which are concealed 

 from men; the secrets of the heart, and the successions of time. 

 Therefore, as the dictates of Scripture are directed to the 

 heart, and include the vicissitudes of all ages, along with an 

 eternal and certain foreknowledge of all heresies, contradic- 

 tions, and the mutable states of the church, as well in general 

 as in particulars, these Scriptures are not to be interpreted 

 barely according to the obvious sense of the place, or with 

 regard to the occasion upon which the words were spoken, 

 or precisely by the context, or the principal scape of the 

 passage, but upon a knowledge of their containing, not only 

 in gross or collectively, but also distributively, in particular 

 words and clauses, numberless rivulets and veins of doctrine, 

 for watering all the parts of the church and all the minds of 

 the faithful. For it is excellently observed, that the answers 

 of our Saviour are not suited to many of the questions pro- 

 posed to him, but appear, in a manner, impertinent : and 

 this for two reasons, 1. because, as he knew the thoughts of 

 those who put the question, not from their words as men 

 know them, but immediately, and of himself, he answered to 

 their thoughts, and not to their words ; and 2. because he 

 spoke not to those alone who were present, but to us, also, 

 uow living, and to the men of every age and place, where 



