are infinitely more excellent, glorious and durable. Under these circumstances the author is "not careful" in regard to any strictures which may be made upon the work without misrepresenting it, being confident that the more it shall be criticised, in the full examination of its scripture arguments, the more will the object be promoted for which it is so expressly prepared, viz. to call attention to the great neglected truths of the kingdom of God, contained in almost every part of the Holy Bible. H. J.

New-York, Sept. 27, 1839.

STARTLING FACTS.

Exposing spiritual wickedness in high places, particularly in the present long standing and general neglect of SEARCHING the Scriptures, even in the church.

In searching by Bible agents to furnish supplies, as a general thing, through the country; how often have they found one-tenth, one-eighth, one-sixth and one-fourth of the families, without a whole Bible in their houses! yea, frequently of professors too.

Such destitutions have been declared to exist again, within six years after, on searching for re-supplies in the same sections.

The increasing, and already overwhelming flood of human writings, not awakening and converting like the Bible, engrossing the time and thoughts of the people, shows that they cannot so study and meditate the Bible like our godly fathers, who had almost no writings of any kind but the Bible, with equal time daily for study.

What a proportion there is, if it were searched out in our christian communities, young and old, who have never even once read the Bible through in their life, when ten or fifteen minutes a day would be time enough to read it through every year!

How has the Old Testament been treated as a dead letter of Jewish rites, &c., leading many to wear out their Bibles with the use of the New Testament, defacing the Old, only on the surface!

How many pious and able parents, like unbelievers, have never furnished their children, each one with a Bible, till they became of age! And how many are still doing so, though improvements here, it is believed, are great of late!

How many families, even of the church, who have little or no reading of the Bible daily, morning and evening, with prayers!

How many congregations have excluded the reading of the scriptures from their worship on the Sabbath, and other occasions! Though here again improvements are increasing.

How many business professors of religion, and others, devote not one-tenth part so many minutes daily to the serious private study of the Bible, as in receiving their perishing meat three times a day!

How very few of the best of us could now accurately repeat the short summary of the law of God in the ten commandments! And how many know not the chapter nor book containing them!

How many of the church would be troubled, if suddenly called on to repeat a passage accurately from the Bible, to prove a doctrine perhaps of their own creed!

How many, and among the most respectable in our congregations, do not know the order or standing places of the different books of the Bible, when even children can learn and say them from Genesis to Revelation, and back again, rapidly, with a very short study, when put to it!

How many of such persons, too, who could not, if called to do it, give the names of the twelve patriarchs or twelve apostles!

How many, too, would be brought to the blush, if called to read a chapter in an assembly, containing proper names, as in Chronicles, Nehemiah, and elsewhere, not knowing, for want of Bible study, how to pronounce such names!

These, and many other such things, show us how verily guilty we have probably all been, in our abuse of the blessed Bible, and how we have been too much asleep to think seriously what we have been about; though a brighter day, it is believed, is dawning, while it is certainly encou

raging that so many are beginning to see and acknowledge such facts as these, which seemingly none thought of a few years ago.

METHODS OF MAKING THE BIBLE ITS OWN INDEPENDENT EXPOSITOR.

1. Every correct interpretation may be proved true, by showing its entire harmony with "The first principles of the oracles of God."

The author's views of these "Principles," are contained in his small work on the Prophecies, a sketch of which is contained in these pages.

2. Every correct interpretation may be so proved by properly comparing the whole passage of the connection together, carefully examining, and retaining in memory, all the leading things in it, so as to be able to make the comparison, when the clearest things in the passage, with the proper use of common sense, will naturally throw light on those otherwise more obscure. Just as a letter, or book of a human author is examined, to make it explain itself, so should we examine a passage or book of the Bible to see how it naturally explains itself.

3. Every correct interpretation may be sustained or determined by parallel passages brought from other parts of the Bible, by recollection of those who have them sufficiently in memory, and by faithfully prepared references of those who do not know of such parallel passages of themselves. The references in the Polyglott Bibles, Reference Bibles of the American Bible Society, and others, will be found useful.

4. The leading and great things of the Old Testament of vital religion, the judgment, the future state, &c., may be determined by examining carefully, and seeing how the New Testament explains it; for, in so doing, it will be found that the preaching of Christ, and other writings of the New Testament, are precisely like those of the Old, and apparently designed as a commentary, or paraphrase on the law and the prophets.

PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

ABBREVIATED.

With Scripture Proofs and Examples.*

17

"Not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." 2 Cor. 3, 6.

PRIN. 1. The words-" Jacob"-" Israel"-" Judah" -"House of the Lord," &c., representing all those individuals or nations who even now, improve or abuse spiritual privileges.

PROOF. Rom. 9:6 11:26. Gal. 3:7, 29. Heb. 3:6. 1 Cor. 3: 9. 2 Cor. 5: 1. Eph. 2: 21. Rev. 7: 4.-EXAMPLES. Ps. 59; 13. 76: 1. Jer. 42: 15. Ps. 23: 6. 122: 1. Isa. 2: 2. John 14: 2.

PRIN. 2. The words "Sodom"-"Egypt"-" Babylon," &c., in prophecy, representing the dominions of sin, or city of the wicked one, including all the ungodly of every class.

PROOF. Rev. 11: 8.-EXAMPLE AND PROOF. Isa. 1: 10. 31:1. Jer. 46:20. Rev. 18:2. Isa. 21:9. [Jer. 51: 8. Rev. 17:5, 4. Jer. 51: 7.

PRIN. 3. All the " exceeding great and precious promises," of the Bible," the portion" only of all the saints for ever.

PROOF. 2 Pet. 1: 4. Gal. 3: 7, 16, 29. Heb. 4: 8, 9. 11:13, 36–40: Rom. 10: 12. Ps. 119:57. 142: 5. Lam. 3:24.-EXAMPLE. Ps. 37: 29, 33, 34, 37, 40. Isa. 35: 1-10. 60: 1-22. 65: 9, 10, 17-25. Jer. 31: 33, 34. 32: 37-44. Ezek. 36: 24-30. Dan. 7:18, 22, 27. 12: 1-3, 10, 12. Mal. 3: 11, 12, 17, 18. Mat. 5:1–12. 6: 4, 6, 18.7: 24, 25. 25: 46. Rev. 20: 4, 5. 21:1-27. 22: 1-5, 14.

PRIN. 4. All the penal "curses" or threatenings of the Bible, the "portion" only of all the wicked "for ever."

* EXPLANATION.-In these references, a colon (:) separates between chapters and verses; and a comma (,) between verses of the same chapter. A dash (→) denotes intervening verses. In some cases, the proof from passages is not direct, but inferential.

PROOF. Deut. 29: 19-24. 28: 15, 45. Job 20: 29, 7-28. 24: 18. Ps. 11:6. 17:14. Eccl. 9: 6. Mat. 25: 46. Luke 16: 25. Prov. 3:33. Isa. 34:5. 65: 15. Mal. 2: 2. 4: 6. Gal. 3:10. Rev. 14:11. 2 Thess. 1: 9. Rev. 19: 3. 20: 10. EXAMPLE. Ps. 68: 1, 2, 21, 23. 79: 6. Isa. 13: 1–22. 34:10. Jer. 25: 30-38. Ezek. 39:1-13. Dan. 7; 11. 12: 2. Joel 2: 211. Zeph. 1:8-18. Mal. 3: 2, 5. 4:1, 3. 2 Pet. 3: 7, 10. Rev. 6:1217. 19: 11-21.

PRIN. 5. Distance of the judgment, &c., unknown and unforetold by prophets.

PROOF. Dan. 12: 8,9. Mat. 24: 36, 42, 44, 50. 25: 13. Mark 13:33, 35. Acts 1:7. 1 Thess. 4: 15, 17. 5: 1-3. Isa. 13: 6. Joel 1: 15. 2: 1. Obad. 15 verse. Zeph. 1: 7, 14, 15. Mal. 3: 1. Ja. 5:9. 1 Pet. 4:7. Rev. 22: 12, 20.

PRIN. 6. Definite portions of time in prophecy, representing indefinite duration or periods.

PROOF. Dan. 7: 25. 12: 7. Rev. 12: 14. 14: 11. 20: 10. 22:2. Ps. 90:4.2 Pet. 38. EXAMPLES. Dan. 8:14. 9: 24-27. 12:11, 12. Rev. 11: 2, 3, 9, 11. 12:6.

PRIN. 7. Prophets wrote of future, rather than past things, usually, though writing in the present, past and future tenses, mingled together.

PROOFS AND EXAMPLES. Isa. 53:2-12. Phil. 3: 13, 14. Isa. 63: 1-3. 64:1-3. Ezek. 37: 1-14, 16–23. Na. 3: 1-7. Hab. 3:2 18. Rev. 4: 1, to Rev. 22: 20.

PRIN. 8. The Prophecies mostly "spiritual" rather than secular; or "the Spirit" of the word to be impressed on the mind, rather than "the letter."

PROOF. John 6:63. Rom. 7:14. 1 Cor. 2: 13. 9: 11. 10:3, 4. 2 Cor. 3: 6. Eph. 6:11-17. Col. 1: 9. 3: 16. Acts 26: 22.

PRIN. 9. Things "spiritual," or "invisible," shown us in the word, usually by "types"-" shadows," or figures," from visible things.

PROOF. Rom. 1: 20. 1 Cor. 10: 6, 11, (see marginal reading.) Gal. 4:24. Col. 2: 17. Heb. 8: 5. 10: 1.

PRIN. 10. Christ's coming to suffer, and coming finally with his kingdom, usually, not always, mentioned by the ancient prophets, as but one event, making the latter coming the most prominent.