LECT. this fact, will not be at a lofs for a

I.

reafon, why the wisdom of God in the fcripture is fo differently accepted in the world.

Having thus endeavoured to fhew that the fcripture muft have its difficulties, and whence they arife; we fhall obtain fome farther light, if we enquire what the fcripture hath faid concerning itself.

1

The great apostle thus diftinguishes between the language of revelation, and the words of human wisdom. "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom-which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." By which he means, that the priests and rulers who ftood up against the Lord, did fo for want of understanding that sense of the fcripture which is hidden under the figns and fymbols of it, in a way totally different from the wisdom of this world, and which the natural man*

* 1 Cor. ii. 14.

can

can neither fee nor admit.

The word LECT.

mystery, in a vulgar acceptation, is applied to fuch things as are dark and unintelligible: but to speak in a mystery, as the phrase is ufed in the fcripture, is to reveal fome facred and heavenly doctrine under fome outward and visible sign of it: and thus the facraments of the church being outward figns with an inward and fpiritual meaning, are alfo to be underftood as myfteries. This fenfe of the word mystery is afcertained by that paffage in the revelation; the mystery of the Seven fars which thou faweft in my right hand, and the feven golden candlesticks: the Seven fars are the angels of the feven churches; and the feven candlesticks which thou faweft are the Seven churches. To fignify a church holding forth the light of the gospel, by that domeftic inftrument of illumination which holds a candle; and to fignify a ruler or teacher by a ftar which gives light from the firmament of heaven, is to speak under the form of a mystery; which is not neceffarily unintelligible, because it is here explained. So in another place;

I.

LECT. this is a great mystery, faith the apostle, but

I.

I Speak concerning Chrift and the church, To teach us the union betwixt Chrift and the church, for the bringing forth of fons to glory, under the fimilitude of Adam and Eve united in paradife for the multiplying of mankind upon earth, is also to speak in a mystery. The forceress in the Revelation*, who is called by the name of Babylon, hath the word MYSTERY infcribed with that name upon her forehead; because Babylon is there not literal, but figurative or myftical, to denote that abomination of idolatry, by the forceries of which all nations were deceived: She fitteth on a Scarlet-colour'd beast, fupported by the imperial powers of this world, called, the kings of the earth; and the wine in her cup is the falfe doctrine with which The intoxicates the minds of men.

This hidden wisdom of the fcripture is to be confidered as treasure hid in the earth, for which men muft fearch with that fame zeal and labour with which they

Chap. xvii.

† Chap. xii. 23.

penetrate

I,

penetrate into a mine of gold: for when LECT. our Saviour commands us to fearch the Scriptures for their teftimony of himself, the language of the precept implies that kind of searching by which gold and filver are discovered under ground. He who doth not fearch the word of God in that manner, and with that fpirit, for what is to be found underneath it, will never difcover its true value. The fame principle is inculcated with a like allufion, when the divine law is compared to honey and the honey comb; an inward fenfe being therein hidden, as when the bee feals up its treasure in the cells of wax: and the one when taken out is as fweet to the understanding as the other is to the palate. It is alfo as the corn in the husk, which must be taken from thence by the labour of the ox on the threshing floor, (as the custom was of old) before it can fupport the life of man. As the difciples of Chrift plucked the ears of corn, and rubbed them in their hands on the fabbath day, fo fhould every chriftian preacher handle the word of God before it can give nourishment

LECT. nourishment to their hearers. The la

1.

bour of the miniftry is certainly alluded to in that precept relating to the threshing floor, thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn: for the apostle seems to wonder how any could be fo abfurd as to suppose that God confidered nothing but the benefit of the beast on this occafion; as if he had care of oxen, when he undoubtedly meant to affign the reward, and fignify the work of his minifters, who labour in the word and doctrine. It is the work of the miniftry to expound the word of God, as the labouring ox in the threshing floor treadeth out the grain from the chaff: and as the ox is not muzzled at such a time, but partakes freely of the fruits of his labour; fo by parity of justice, they who preach the word have a right to live of it.

That there is both a plain and a figurative fenfe in the language of the fcripture, particularly in the law, is clear from the Apoftle's reafoning on another occafion. He gives a name to each of thefe, distin

guishing