A DISCOURSE

ON THE

USE AND INTENTION

OF SOME

REMARKABLE PASSAGES

OF THE

Scripture,

NOT COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD.

ADDRESSED TO THE

READERS OF A COURSE OF LECTURES

ON THE

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE.

BY WILLIAM JONES, M.A.

PREFACE.

In a course of lectures on the figurative language of the Scripture (a work which has two characters, according to the fate of all my writings) the tenth lecture treats of the miracles of our Saviour, as signs of his saving power upon the souls of men; which, to common readers, appear only as miraculous cures wrought upon their bodies. My plan is not complete unless something be added on other signs and significant actions and events, which frequently occur in the Old and New Testament, and are little noticed in these days, though the early writers of the Christian church were not unacquainted with them.

A sign is a kind of prophecy, which speaks by things and actions instead of words. When the Jews demanded a sign of Christ, they meant some miracle; to shew, by an act of divine power, the truth of his divine mission; but he gave them a sign of the prophetic sort, such as I am now speaking of, the sign of the prophet Jonah, swallowed by the fish; of which kind of sign they seemed to have no knowledge; and I have reason to think there are many Christians who know as little about them as the Jews did, and suppose authors to be scarcely in their senses when they treat of them. But all the signs of the Scripture are excellent, if we have a key to them, and will give both delight and edification to people of devout affections.

It hath been shewed, in the second and third lectures, that the great use of Nature, in the hand of God, is to instruct man; and, from the works of Nature, give him a right understanding of such things as are above Nature; and the matter is beyond dispute, because the fact speaks

for itself. Yet, to my astonishment, this is denied, and even scouted by learned men, who profess a critical judgment of all literary productions; though this sublime and delightful method of teaching is notorious throughout the Old and New Testament. But, alas! when they think they see what they call Hutchinsonian, though it be exactly what Christians knew and taught above a thousand years ago, gentlemen are seized with such fears and suspicions as do not become wise men; falsely (and I may say, weakly in those who ought to know better) ascribing things to Hutchinson, which were borrowed from Origen. Let any candid man open his eyes, and look into the Bible: he will there discover, that the visible world is a school, in which God teaches us by earthly things the nature of heavenly, as Christ taught Nicodemus. But the Christian, with a mind and an education similar to those of Nicodemus, will see nothing of all this; for which I heartily pity him, because I am sure he suffers a great loss. To what purpose, O man, doth the sun shine upon thee, unless it teach thee to know more truly the Sun of Righteousness, and to rejoice in his light? If not, the sun shines upon thee, as upon beasts and reptiles, to give light to thy body, but none to thy understanding. Whereas the salvation of man, by Jesus Christ, is so great, so inestimable a subject, that the goodness of God throws every thing in our way, which may bring it to our minds, and recommend it to our affections. For this, the sun shines, the winds blow, the grass grows, the springs water the earth, the rain falls from heaven. But it is in the study of the Scripture, as in other sciences, all things are not equally obvious, nor will they appear of equal concern to different people; and there are those who may think I have been throwing away my thoughts, in exploring things too minute and obscure to be understood. When we use a microscope, to examine the minute objects of the creation, ignorant minds may think we are idly employed, and that our objects are insignificant because they are small; but whoever shall examine small things, will find them full of wonders; and that God is every where great in the smallest of his works; agreeably to that wise observation of Pliny, Rerum natura tota est nusquam magis quam in minimis, his power and pro