When I first entered the ministry, I made up my mind that I would try and thoroughly understand the Scriptures. I soon found that a large portion was of a prophetic nature. I set to work according to the usual method, but to my sorrow I soon discovered that the method and rules in general use for Scripture exegesis, among what they called orthodox authors, were very defective and unsatisfactory. The fact was forced upon me that the true method, or key of interpretation, was not in use. I was always persuaded that the Bible was a unit, and that the principles contained in such a unit were beautifully related; and because of such a faith, I wondered more and more as I grew older why we had not a better key of interpretation. Men spiritualised at random, without any kind of rule, except their own fancy. In this manner they expounded the material history of the Old Testament. The whole arrangement was a Babel. I had faintly discerned that the Scriptures made a distinction between the House of Israel and the House of Judah, and that the prophecies belonging to one could not, in fairness, be applied to the other; and that some prophecies applied to both. It always seemed strange to me, that the people which God said He had chosen for Himself, should not be known. The Jews were always known, but where was “Israel, His inheritance?” Again, I could see no point in the Lord swearing so positively about David’s seed and throne lasting to the end of time. Taking them in a typical sense, they were about the poorest types that could have been selected, because of the shortness of their existence, according to the general mode of interpretation. Just at this point of my experience I came across a book, entitled “Our Israelitish Origin,” by the late John Wilson, the reading of which confirmed me in my convictions, and aided me to a better knowledge of the good Book of Providence.