the corruption of human nature, therefore, is to be seen, in the strange and absurd constructions put upon particular passages of sacred Writ. And what is very surprising is, that all profess to be faithful and impartial; and the most through self-flattery and self-blindness, actually fancy themselves to be in the right. _This is the condemnation that light is come into the world, but men love darkness rather than the light_--the light of truth, or of true doctrines. People will not seek or come to the light of divine truth, because their deeds are evil. While unsanctified, they hate God. They hate his truth. They hate his ways. They delight not in the pure and strict principles of Religion. Hence all the Corruptions and Abuses of Christianity in former and later days; and perversion and misunderstanding of scripture. 1. And one way in which primitive Christianity is corrupted, and the holy scriptures perverted and wrested to people's destruction is by refusing to take the words in their well known and established signification, and wishing to shape them to pre-conceived opinions. As they were written for our instruction and guidance in all things relating to faith and practice, so we are to abide by the common and obvious import of the words used. The only proper and just way of discovering the real and true meaning of scripture-words, is to see how they are generally used by the inspired writers. The most of the words, have a fixed signification, as much as any words can have. Those, whose import is hard to discover, are few in number, and relate to certain customs or rites in the antient nations, now in the lapse of centuries, unknown. And, none of these phrases necessarily obscure by reason of customs now unknown, contain essential doctrines. The things necessary to be believed in order to obtain salvation are few, and so obvious that none can dispute or mistake them, but those who chuse to do it. If any rule of interpreting scripture be so just, at first view, as to be incontrovertible, it is this, that it is to be its own expositor--it is to be interpreted by itself--passages not so plain or clear, by those which are as plain as words can be--things not necessary or essential, by those which are necessary and essential. Do we wish to know the true meaning and spirit of scripture, we are to observe carefully how the words used, upon which we may be contemplating, are generally used in other parts of scripture; what the common known import of words is; and also how the sacred writers generally use them. They are likewise to be understood according to the analogy of faith, or the system of truths most evidently taught us in divine Revelation. The figurative and metaphorical language is to be conceived of from plain and unfigurative. And both according to the subject treated.--When we open the sacred Volume, we should be willing to be guided altogether by what it contains. It contains what we are to believe concerning