Unskilled, and Unversed in Divine SERM. things, and Unstable, i. e. of light, de- IX. fultory, unbalanced Minds) wreft, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own Destruction.

Having thus cleared the Connexion of the Text, I fhall difcourfe on it after the following Manner.

I. By enlarging a little on the Pro-
pofition itself, which it contains.
That there are in S. Paul's Wri-
tings, and in the Other Scriptures
alfo, Things hard to be Understood.

II. By giving fome Account how, and
for what Reafon it has come to
pafs, that the Scriptures are, and
must be, in fome measure Obscure:
How necessary and unavoidable it
was, that there fhould be fome Paf-
fages in them dark and difficult ;
even to Those who lived at the Time
when they were written, and yet
more fo to Us, who live at this Di-
ftance from the Age of the Apostles,
Q4

III. By

SERM.

IX.

III. By fhewing you, that this carries

no Reflection at all in it, upon the Goodness or Wisdom.

Divine

And then in the

IV. And last place, By raising some Obfervations from what has been faid, and preventing the Ill Ufes that may be made of it.

I. This Propofition is evidently laid down in the Text, That there are in S. Paul's Writings, Things hard to be Understood: And it is plainly intimated, that there are fuch things in the Other Parts of Holy Writ alfo; inafmuch as they, who wreft these Difficult Passages of S. Paul, are faid to wreft the Other Scriptures alfo.

It is indeed an undoubted Truth, and what no good Christian is, I think, in the leaft concerned to deny, that the Books, both of the Old and New Teftament, are not every where equally clear and intelligible. They have,

like Other Books, a Mixture of that SERM, which is Easy, with that which is Hard IX. to be understood; a Great Deal that is Plain and Obvious, and Somewhat alfo that is Obfcure and Difficult. Notwithftanding they were defigned to contain a Revelation of God's Will to Men, yet was not that Revelation defigned to partake every where alike of the Nature of its Great Author and Revealer, who is (in the Phrase of S. John) Light, and 1 John. i. in whom there is no Darkness at all.

Sometimes the Things spoken of are fo Mysterious and Sublime, that our Limited and Weak Apprehenfions can hardly reach them. Sometimes the Manner of speaking, even concerning Common things, is dark and dubious. The Apocalypfe is received into the Canon, together with the other Parts of Scripture; the Sense of it has been much fought and fearched after, by pious and inquifitive Men, in all Ages of the Church: And yet we have reason to believe, that it has never yet been thoroughly understood by any Man.

The

SERM,

The Beginning of S. John's Golpel is IX. fo far Intelligible, as that it plainly e

nough establishes the Divinity of our Lord, and his Co-eternity with God the Father: But yet no body, I think, will fay, that the Senfe of every Term in that Chapter is fo clear and eafy, as that no Chriftian, of whatever Rank or Degree, can, upon perufing, and attentively confidering the Whole, mifs the Meaning of it.

Even the Difcourfes of our Bleffed Lord are fomewhat dark and intricate in Jon iii. fome Parts of them. That with Nicodemus about Regeneration; and that with the Men of Capernaum, about Eating his John vi. Body and Blood, have in them what will command and exercise our Utmoft Attention. And his Account of Matth. the Deftruction of Jerufalem, in S. Matthew, is fo interwoven with that of the Day of Judgment, that it is very difficult to diftinguish exactly, what Expreffions belong to the One, and what to the Other.

And

And then, as to S. Paul in particular, SERM. his Doctrines of Juftification by Faith, IX. and not by Works; Of Election and Re-Gal. ii. probation; his Defcription of the Strug-16. gle between Sin and the Law, in the Natural Man, as yet unaffifted by Grace; and his Account of the Spiritual Body, Rom. vii, with which we are to Rife at the Laft 1 Cor.xv. Day, are fufficient Inftances of the Truth of S. Peter's Affertion, That in him particularly are some Things hard to be understood.

This Truth therefore being fuppofed, I proceed now, in the

II. Place, to give fome Account, how Thefe Obfcure Paffages came to have a Place in Scripture: How it could not otherwise be, but that the Holy Writings fhould, in fome Parts of them, be dark and difficult, even to Those, who lived at the Time when they were written, and yet more fo to Us, who live at this Distance from the Age of the Apoftles.

And