are often said of such a kind as evidently apply to it also, or
110 ox CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. [BOOK III.
of this doctrine. I liave, however, dealt with it, one place op another, very frequently.
Ch.vp. wxiv.— The fourth rule of Tichonius.
47. The fourth rule of Tichonius is about species and genus. For so he calls it, intending that by species should be understood a part, by genus the whole of which that which he calls species is a part : as, for example, every single city is a part of the great society of nations : the city he calls a species, all nations constitute the genus. There is no necessity for here applying that subtilty of distinction which is in use among logicians, who discuss with great acuteness the difference between a part and a species. The rule is of course the same, if anything of the kind referred to is found in Scripture, not in regard to a single city, but in regard to a single province, or tribe, or kingdom. Not only, for example, about
Jerusalem, or some of the cities of the Gentiles, such as Tyre or Babylon, are things said in Scripture whose significance oversteps the limits of the city, and which are more suitable when applied to all nations ; but in regard to Judea also, and Egypt, and Assyria, or any other nation you choose to "take which contains numerous cities, but still is not the whole world, but only a part of it, things are said which pass over the limits of that particular country, and apply more fitly to the whole of which this is a part ; or, as our author terms it, to the genus of which this is a species. And hence tliese words have come to be commonly known, so that even uneducated people understand what is laid down specially, and wliat generally, in any given Imperial command. The same thing occurs in the case of men : things are said of Solomon, for example, the scope of which reaches far beyond him, and which are only properly understood when applied to Christ and His Church, of which Solomon is a part.'
48. Now the species is not always overstepped, for things are often said of such a kind as evidently apply to it also, or perhaps even to it exclusively. Ihit when Scripture, having up to a certain point been speaking about the species, makes a transition at that point from the species to the genus, the
' 2 Sam. vii. 11-1*3.
CHAP. XXXIY.l FOURTH KULE OF TICHONIUS. Ill reader must then be carefully on his guard against seeking in the species what he can find much better and more surely in the genus. Take, for example, what the prophet Ezekiel says:
" When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way, and by their doings : their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it : and I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according to their way, and according to their doings, I judged
Now it is easy to understand that this applies to them."
that house of Israel of which the apostle says, " Behold; " ^ because the people of Israel after the
Israel after the flesh flesh did both perform and endure all that is here referred to. What immediately follows, too, may be understood as applying to the same people. But when the prophet begins to say,
" And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them ; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord," ^ the reader ought now carefully to observe the way in which the species is overstepped and the genus taken in. For he goes on to say : " And I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and wdU bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, wiU I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I w^ill take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I wiU give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit wdthin you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers ; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses." ^ Now that this is a prophecy of the New
Testament, to which pertain not only the remnant of that one
» Ezek. xxxvi. 17-19. M Cor. x. 18.
^Ezek. xxxvi. 23. 'Ezek. xxxvi. 23-29.