But there is not a better book on earth for making a man a
fool, if he comes to it with a vain mind, a proud spirit, a fulness of
self-conceit, or a wish to be a prophet. A desire to be a prater about
the millennium, the second coming of Christ, the personal reign, the
orders of angels, the ranks of devils, the secrets of God's counsels,
the hidden meaning of the badgers' skins, the shittim wood, the Urim and
Thummim, the Cherubim and Seraphim, the Teraphim and Anakim, and all the
imaginary meanings of imaginary types, and the place where Paradise was
situated, and the mountain peak on which the Ark rested, and Behemoth,
and Leviathan, and the spot at which the Israelites entered the Red Sea,
and the compass of Adam's knowledge before he named the animals, and the
fiery sword at the gate of Paradise, and the controversial parts of
Paul's epistles, and the mysteries of the Book of Revelation, and the
spiritual meaning of Solomon's Song, and the place where Satan had his
meeting with the sons of God in the days of Job, and the exact way in
which Job used the potsherd, when he scraped himself as he sat among the
ashes, &c., &c.,--I say if this is what a man desires, the Bible will
help him to his wish, and make him the laughing-stock, or the pity of
all sensible men.
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