selves together, to think rather than to feel, and desire to be told of the opinions they are to hold, rather than the deeds of godliness they are to perform.

But it is not merely as a caution to the intellectual that I thus speak; but also as a word of consolation and encouragement to those to whom God in his wisdom has communicated a scantier portion of the riches of the understanding and knowledge. Let such Christians know and believe, that it is not for the glory of the discoveries we make in the deep things of the Spirit, nor for the success with which we devote our literary acquisitions to the elucidation of the difficulties of Scripture, that we shall be counted amongst the excellent of the earth before the throne of God; but it is for those improvements in holiness, and in piety, which we have gathered from what we do understand. Let our learning be small or great, our talents many or few, if we have done our duty in that state of life into which it has pleased God to call us, God will reward our diligence in proportion, not to our gifts, but to our increase. The Gospel, therefore, is still entitled to the character it assumes. Notwithstanding all its mysteries and difficulties, it is still pre-eminently the Gospel of the poor. To the poor in wealth it is the greatest treasure; for it bequeaths to them the

riches of an heavenly inheritance. To the poor in power it is the greatest strength; for it gives them the arm of the Almighty for their support. To the poor in spirit it is the greatest consolation; for it encourages them to patience, and cheers them under suffering, by the prospect of a place, and a period, when all tears shall be wiped away, and sorrow and sighing shall be known no more. And, above all, to the poor in knowledge it is the greatest wisdom; because it is "able to make" the most ignorant man "wise unto salvation,' notwithstanding the existence of " things hard to be understood." But this is a subject whose consideration must be reserved for the next Discourse; in which I shall proceed to examine, whether the difficulties of Scripture be at all inconsistent with spiritual edification, or at all injurious to its object and character, as a religiously instructive work.

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LECTURE IV.

THE EXISTENCE OF DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURES NOT INCOMPATIBLE WITH THEIR OBJECT AS

A RELIGIOUSLY INSTRUCTIVE WORK.

2 PETER iii. 16.

"In which are some things hard to be understood."

THAT in an ancient work composed by various authors, and at various times; a work written in different and difficult languages, and upon the most different and difficult subjects; a work comprehending the history of all ages, and of many nations, from the foundation of the world to the present time; and that, not only a history of the ordinary transactions between man and man, but also of the extraordinary dispensations of Almighty God that in such a work, when regarded as a mere human composition, we should meet with many things hard to be understood," I have already shewn to be natural and almost unavoidable. I have also shewn that even if such a work, as inspired, were something more than a mere

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human composition, still the mere fact of its inspiration would not render it by any means necessary or expedient, that it should be entirely destitute of those difficulties which, under similar circumstances, would attend upon any ordinary production of man. The existence of "things hard to be understood" in the Scriptures, whether considered as a common work, or as one of the inspired communications of the Creator to his creatures, is therefore, in both cases, clearly defensible.

But there still remains another point of view in which the Bible may be contemplated, and without the consideration of which, all other arguments which apply to its difficulties would, however satisfactory as far as inspiration alone is concerned, be deemed partial and inconclusive. The Bible, it will be remembered, professes not only to have been "given by inspiration of God," but to have been inspired by God for the instruction of man ; that is," to have been written for our learning." It is under this double character, therefore, that it must ever be viewed. Its difficulties must be shewn to be, not only consistent with its nature as an inspired, but also compatible with its object as an instructive work. For if there be any demonstrable incompatibility between the existing diffi

culties, and the intended instruction of the Scriptures, their defence must, after all, be given up, however useful they may be proved in any other respect.

"

This, then, is the last general argument against which we have to contend in favour of " things hard to be understood;" and in its fundamental principles it is perfectly correct. Did the Jewish and Christian revelations profess to lead us into "all truth," without limitation or degree; did they pretend to open to us the recesses of every science, and to make us wise upon all imaginable subjects in earth or heaven, then, no doubt, the existence of things hard to be understood," of whatever kind, and to any extent, would be injurious to the end proposed, and of course both inexpedient and improper. If the Bible declared its intention of laying down, without the possibility of being mistaken, misinterpreted, or misapplied, all the endless varieties of philosophical and literary edification, no literary or philosophical difficulties whatever ought to have a place in the table of its contents. But this is very far indeed from being the case. The only declared object of revelation is to make men "wise unto salvation," and, for that purpose, it ministers not to questions of science, but of "godly edifying," "that the man

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