first, to observe and ascertain the method by which those who have gone before us in the way, have laid open its secrets, and then to pursue it with diligence and impartiality, would afford a safe and very favourable prospect of removing its difficulties. But nothing of all this can either be expected or accomplished, unless we study to acquire the same spirit and become endued with the same mental qualities as the individual we emulate. Like him, we may be inferior in learning to those who have failed, and yet succeed. For so vast are the treasures of knowledge which have been laid up by others for our use; and so profound and persevering have been the exertions of our predecessors to facilitate the study of those innumerable branches of science and literature which are connected with the exposition and vindication of God's word, that even without a very deep critical acquaintance with the learned languages, and without much original investigation of the history and antiquities of the oriental world, we may enter readily into their labours, and take advantage of their collective wisdom. But still if we do not also, like him, bend the whole powers of our understanding, and the entire resources of our ingenuity to this single subject of sacred research; if we do not, like him, sit down to meditate in silence and alone, amidst the pages of revelation, (the only sure and authen

tic records of ages and nations that are gone by ;) and if we be not, like him, content to be buffeted and persecuted for our pains, and to endure the scorn, and hatred, and ridicule which they that despise the Christian name, are ever ready to bestow upon those whose labours in its defence they deem to be either interested or absurd;— if such be not our resolution and frame of mind, most assuredly and naturally shall we fail. For it is not the idle traveller whom curiosity alone induces to wander forth into the revealed Paradise of God, and refresh himself with the sweet waters of the Spirit that is most likely to perceive the beauties, describe the intricacies, and discover the wonders of Providence; but it is he, who with the solemn and serious purpose of increasing spiritual knowledge, is content for years to take up his abode in the deep valley of revelation, to trace narrowly its windings, converse freely with its inhabitants, familiarize himself with its scenes, and labour with unremitted diligence to turn all he either learns or observes, to the benefit of himself and of the world. This is the way of wisdom and of truth. "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you," is the Redeemer's promise. Search the Scriptures by day, and meditate upon their counsels by night; bring to the task fervent prayer, an humble spirit, a devoted

a Matt. vii. 7.

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understanding, unwearied assiduity and patient thought;-give thyself wholly to the study of heavenly things, and the knowledge of heavenly things shall be thy reward, and a growing hope of increasing success shall be at once thy companion and thy recompence.

I speak of a growing hope of increasing success, and not of any certain prospect of universal success; because whilst I would give every possible encouragement to pious industry, I would carefully guard against those chimerical expectations which indolence, ignorance, and presumption are so apt to form. At any rate no single individual ought for a moment to entertain any idea of accomplishing the perfect elucidation of all Scripture Difficulties. From its opening to its closing page, has the book of Revelation been searched by the doubter and denier of its authority, and the hater and despiser of its holiness, to gather up materials for justifying his infidelity, and satisfying his conscience under his sin. He, therefore, who would pursue the Sceptic through every maze, and emancipate the faithful from every snare, would undertake a task endless, and laborious beyond all human endurance. Our desires must consequently be limited to more moderate views; and it will be found sufficient for any single theologian to attend to some particular class

of difficulties, or to the confirmation of his own and other's faith, by a few powerful and striking illustrations of particular instances in each different class. The shortness of life, were there no other cause, would teach him his inability to complete the plan.

But there is another cause, and that is a difficulty in applying the rules for the elucidation of Scripture Difficulties with propriety and without partiality in each particular case. The clamours of passion, the pride of learning, and the business of the world will each in their turn prevent this; the clamours of passion, by indisposing us to the fair application of any rules; the pride of learning, by making us ambitious of a more independent and eccentric course; and the business of the world, by unfitting us for that calm and continued meditation which alone can lead to a favourable result. But there is even a cause yet deeper than these in the nature and extent of the subject itself to which the rules are to be applied. That the Scriptures contain a system of a most wide and weighty character, conceived by infinite wisdom for the blessing of a fallen world, and carried on from age to age through the instrumentality of the passions and actions of mankind, is a circumstance to which I have already had frequent occasion to allude, and forms the foundation of

one of the most important rules for their illustration. Now, how can man expect in every case to understand this plan? How can the clouded faculties of so limited a being comprehend the adjustment, the proportions, or the propriety of the parts in so vast and so varied an arrangement? In its leading outlines he may with tolerable diligence both perceive and appreciate the fitness of the means to the end; but in the minute incidents and subordinate characters, his ingenuity, however impartial and industrious, must often be baffled in attempting to trace their connection and to point out the mode and utility of their operation. Difficulties, therefore, must necessarily arise in the divine scheme of redemption in which the rule of judging of each part by its connection with others and its influence upon the whole will, however simple and true in itself, be found ineffectual, because, in consequence of our ignorance, inapplicable. The same may also be said of all the other rules. We cannot always determine when or how far inspiration would interfere with the ordinary processes of thought and composition in the sacred writers. Neither, consequently, can we always determine where we ought to interpret the Bible as a divine revelation, and where as an ordinary work, nor what ought to be the exact difference between our judgment and interpretation in each particular case. Lastly, there are cases, as