166 I N T 
To INTERFERE, v. n. [ inter and ferio, Lat] To In- 
terpofe; to intermeddle.—So cautious were our anceftors 
in converfation, as never to interfere with party disputes 
in the ftate. Swift. —To clafh ; to oppofe each other.—If 
each aCls by an independent power, their commands may 
interfere. Smalridge’s Sermons. —A horfe is faid to interfere 
when the fide of one of his Ihoes llrik.es againft and hurts 
one of his fetlocks ; or the hitting one leg againft ano¬ 
ther, and linking off the (kin. Farrier's Did. 
INTERFERENCE, /. Interpofition.—What I have 
here faid of the interference of foreign princes is only the 
opinion of a private individual. Burke. 
INTERFERING, f. Oppofition.—A being who can 
have no competition or interfering of interefts with his 
creatures and his fubjeCts. Butler. 
INTERRLUENT, adj. [interjluens, Lat.] Flowing be¬ 
tween.—Air may confift of any terrene or aqueous cor- 
pul’cles, kept fwimming in the interfuent celeftial matter. 
Boyle. 
INTER'FLUOUS, adj. Interfluent; flowing between. 
INTERFUL'GENT, adj. Winter and fu/gens, Lat.] 
Shining between. 
INTERFU'SED, adj. [interfufus , Lat.] Poured or flut¬ 
tered between; 
The ambient air wide interfus'd. 
Embracing round this florid earth. Milton. 
INTERGA'PING, adj. [from inter, Lat. between, and 
gape.'] With grammarians, producing a difagreeable kind 
of hiatus in pronunciation, as in the cafe of two vowels 
coming together. 
INTERJA'CENCY, f. [from interjacens, Lat.] The aft 
or ftate of lying between.—England and Scotland is di¬ 
vided only by the interjacency of the Tweed and fome de- 
fert ground. Hale. —The thing lying between.—Its fluc¬ 
tuations are but motions, which winds, ftorms, llioles, 
and every interjacency, irregulate. Brown. 
INTERJA'CENT, adj. [interjacens, Lat.] Intervening; 
lying between.—The fea itfelf muft be very broad, and 
void of little Hands interjacent, elfe will it yield plentiful 
argument of quarrel to the kingdoms which it fervetli. 
Raleigh. 
To INTERJECT', v. a. [from inter, Lat. between, and 
jacio, to throw.] To throw between. 
INTERJECTION, / [Fr . interjeRio, Lat.] A part of 
fpeech that difeovers the mind to be feized or affeCted 
■with fome paflion; fuch as are, in Englilh, 01 alas! ah! 
Clarke's Latin Grammar. —Their wild natural notes, when 
<hey would exprefs their paffions, are at the bell but like 
natural interjections to difeover their paffions or impref- 
fions. Hale. —Intervention ; interpofition ; act of fome- 
thing coming between ; aft of putting flomething be¬ 
tween.—Laughing caufeth a continual expulfion of the 
breath, with the loud noife which maketh the interjeclion 
of laughing. Bacon. 
INTERIM, f. [interim, Lat.] Mean time ; intervening 
time.—One bird happened to be a-foraging for her young 
ones, and in this interim comes a torrent that wallies away 
neft, birds, and all. VEf range. 
I a heavy interim lliall fupport. 
By his dear ablence. Shakefpeare. 
Interim, in church-hiftory, is a name given to a for¬ 
mulary, or kind of confellion of faith, obtruded upon the 
Protellants after Luther’s death by the emperor Charles V. 
when he had defeated their forces on the 34th of April, 
i 547. It is fo called becaufe it was only to take place in 
the interim (mean time) till a general council (of Trent) 
Ihould have decided all points in difpute between the Pro- 
lellants and Rom'anifts. 
This projefl of Charles was formed, partly to vent his 
refentment againft the pope, and partly to anfwer other 
purpofes of a more political kind. Be that as it may, the 
Formula ad Interim, or temporary rule of faith and worlhip 
here mentioned, contained all the efiential doflrines of 
the church of Rome, though confiderably foftened and 
I N T 
mitigated by the moderate, prudent, and artful, terms ire 
which they were expreffed; terms quite different from 
thofe that were employed, before and after this period, by 
the council of Trent. There was even an affeCted ambi¬ 
guity in many exprefiions, which rendered them fufeepti- 
ble of different fenfes, applicable to the fentiments of both 
communions, and therefore difagreeable to both. The 
cup was allowed, by this imperial creed, to the Protef- 
tants in the adminiftration of the Lord’s fupper, and 
priefts and clerks were permitted by it to enter into the 
married ftate. Thefe grants were, however, accompanied 
with the two following conditions: 1. That every one 
fhould be at liberty to ufe the cup, or to abftain from it» 
and to clioofe a ftate of marriage, or a ftate of celibacy, 
as he Ihould. judge moll fitting. 2. That thefe grants 
Ihould remain in force no longer than the happy period 
when a general council Ihould terminate all religious dif¬ 
ferences. This fecond condition was adapted to produce 
the greateft diforder and confufion, in cafe the future 
council Ihould think proper to enjoin celibacy on the 
clergy, and declare, as it did in effect, their marriage un- 
chriftian and unlawful. 
This temporary rule of faith and difeipline, though it 
was extremely favourable to the interefts and preteniions 
of the court of Rome, had yet the fate to which fchemes 
of reconciliation are often expofed 5 it pleafed neither of 
the contending parties, but was equally oftenfive to the 
followers of Luther, and to the Roman pontiff. It was, 
however, promulgated with folemnity by the emperor, at 
the diet of Auglburg ; and, the ele&or of Mentz, without 
even deigning to alk the opinions of the affembled princes 
and ftates, role with an air of authority, and, as if he had 
been commiftioned to reprefent the whole diet, gave a for¬ 
mal and public approbation to this famous interim. 
Thus were many princes of the empire, whole filence, 
though it proceeded from want of courage, was inter¬ 
preted as the mark of a tacit confent, engaged againft 
their will to receive this book as a body of ecclefiaitical 
law. The greateft: part of thofe, who had the refolution 
to difpute the authority of this imperial creed, were 
obliged to fubmit to it by the force of arms; and hence 
arofe deplorable feenes of violence and bloodlhed, which 
involved the empire in the greateft calamities. Maurice, 
elector of Saxony, who, for fome time, had held a neutral 
conduct, and neither declared himfelf for thofe who re¬ 
jected, nor for thofe who had adopted, the rule in quef- 
tion, affembled, in the year 1548, the Saxon nobility and 
clergy, with MelanCthon at the head of the latter, and, in 
feveral conferences held at Leipfic and other places, took 
council concerning what was to be done in this critical 
affair. The deliberations on this occafion were long and 
tedious, and their refult was ambiguous ; for MelanCthon, 
whofe opinion was refpecled as a law by the reformed 
doClors, fearing the emperor on the one hand, and atten¬ 
tive to the fentiments of his fovereign on the other, pro¬ 
nounced a fort of a reconciling fentence, which, he hoped, 
would be offenfive to no party. He gave it as his opi¬ 
nion, that the whole of the book called Interim could 
not, by any means, be adopted by the friends of the re¬ 
formation ; but, he declared at the fame time, that he 
law no reafon why this book might not be approved, 
adopted, and received, as an authoritative rule, in things 
that did not relate to the effential points of religion, m 
things that might be confidered as acceffory or indifferent. 
By things indifferent, MelanCthon underftood particularly 
the rites and ceremonies of the popifti worftiip, which, fu- 
perftitious as they were, that reformer, yielding to the 
lbftnefs and flexibility of his natural temper, treated with 
a Angular and excelfive indulgence upon this occafion. 
This decifion, inftead of pacifying matters, produced, 011 
the contrary, new divifions, and formed a fchifm araon? 
the followers of Luther, which placed the caufe of the re*^ 
formation in the molt perilous and critical circumftances, 
and might have contributed either to ruin it entirely, or 
to retard confiderably its progrefs, had the pope and the 
emperor been dexterous enough to make the proper ufe 
i ef 
