And the
matter of many parts of Ezekiel's prophecies seems inferior to that of
the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah. Some portions of Ezekiel are very
valuable; they are good and useful to the last degree. But other
portions, whatever value they might have for persons of former times and
other lands, have none, that I can see, for us.
5. Some portions of Jeremiah, and even of Isaiah, appear to have little
that is calculated to be of use in the present day. Indeed some portions
seem unintelligible. But many portions of the writings of both those
prophets abound in the most touching, startling, and useful lessons.
6. And so with Daniel and the minor prophets. The darkness and the
light, and things more useful and things less useful, are mingled in
them all.
7. It is the same with the New Testament. Some portions of Paul's
writings are as plain as they well can be; others are very obscure,
perhaps quite unintelligible. Some passages in the controversial
portions of his Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians, and
considerable parts of the Epistle to the Hebrews, are dark as night to
many; and I fear that those who think they understand them, are under a
delusion. And as portions of these Epistles were wrested by the
unlearned and unconfirmed in Peter's time, so have they been mistaken
for lessons in moral laxity since.
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