of materials, and their manner of purfuing their narrations.

Act. John's gospel whether a mere history-controversial, or a compound of both.

1090. The best way of finding out the scope and defign of an argumentative book, is to read it all over at once, and feveral times.

Locke.

1091. The difficulty of difcovering their fcope aaises from their not being written in an artificial and methodical manner, and from our ignorance, in fome inftances, of the precife occafion of their writing.

1092. The defign cannot be perceived, without fome knowledge of the tendency of the several arguments; and this tendency cannot be perceived, without fome knowledge of the design; hence, these two mutually throw difficulty upon each other, and, whatever tends to clear up the one, proportionally gives light to the other.

1093. The afcertaining the true fenfe of the leading expreffions in a book, contributes much to the difcovery of its general scope.

Rom. ambiguity of the leading expreffions,-depend on the view in which he confiders Jews and Gentiles, whether ine dividually or nationally; and this, on the occafion of the epiftle. Rom. and Gal, different defigns. Taylor, Macknight.but fo fimilar, that they have been generally reckon. ed the fame.

SECT.

SECT. IV.

Difficulties concerning the Occasion.

1094. All the books of Scripture are, in fome fense, occafional; and ignorance of the occafion of writing them, produces in all of them fome obfcurities: but the Epiftles are, in the ftricteft fenfe, and in the highest degree, occafional; and, are rendered efpecially obfcure and difficult, by ignorance of the accafion, whenever this ignorance takes place.

1095. There is fometimes a difficulty in afcertaining who were the perfons for whose use an epiftle was immediately intended.

General Epiftles. Ephef. Mill. Prol. 71. &c. Kufter. Pref.
Pierce. Benfon, Lardner, Macknight. Marfh's Michael.

1096. We have feldom explicit accounts of the occafion of a particular epiftle; it must be collected, from general accounts of the state of Chriftians, at the time of writing it, and from incidental hints in the book itself.

1097. When there is difficulty in ascertaining the special reasons for writing an epistle, it is ftill more material, and more obftructs our understanding it.

SECT,

SECT. V.

Difficulties concerning the Time.

1098. There is often confiderable difficulty in fixing the time of writing a book of Scripture. It can only be collected, with different degrees of probability, from expreffions in the book itself, from hints in other places of Scripture, and from a variety of other circumstances.

Gal. A. 61. Theodoret. Athanaf. fynopf. Oecumen. Lightfoot.-A. 57. or 58. Capell. Wits. Wall. Pearson. Mill. Locke.-A. 52. or 53. Barringt. mifc. fac. Benson Hift. B. 3. c. 5. Lardu. fupp. c. 12. § 3. Michael. L'enfant. Beaufobre.-A. 49. Marth's Michael. Vol. 4. ch. 11. fe&t. I.

1099. There is difficulty in arranging the Pfalms in the order of time.

1100. Whenever prophecies are not delivered according to the order in which they were pronounced, it occafions confiderable obfcurity.

SECT.

SECT. VI.

Difficulties concerning the Authors.

1101. There is fometimes difficulty in determining who was the author of a particular book of Scrip

ture.

1102. Ignorance of the author occafions obfcurity in a book, chiefly, when it introduces uncertainty concerning the time and the scope of the book. Pentateuch. Epiftle to the Hebrews.

SECT. VII.

Difficulties in different Kinds of Composition.

1103. As the Scripture contains different forts of compofitions, each fort has fome difficulty peculiar to itself, and fuitable to its general nature.

1104. There is, fometimes, difficulty in determining how far the facred historians intended to observe,

or

or have obferved the chronological order of events; and yet, it is often of importance to determine it.

1105. In the book of Judges, the time of each Judge is not marked; it is not fpecified whether all the Judges were fucceffive, or whether fome of them were not contemporary; and the last fix chapters contain events which happened foon after Mofes's death, and much prior to those which are recorded in many preceding chapters, perhaps, in all, from chap.

iii. F.

1106. There is fometimes difficulty in determining whether the Evangelift's obferved the order of time; if any of them did, which of them it is; if they did not in all cafes, what are the cafes in which they deviated.

1107. All the doctrinal books of the New Teftament are Epistles; and epistolary writing is, from its very nature, liable to many peculiar difficulties, except to the perfons to whom a letter is directed, and who are acquainted with all the circumstances relating to it.

1108. There are many difficulties, with regard to the Hebrew poetry, confidered in every point of view. Lowth. Herder.

1109. The prophecies have all the fame kinds of difficulties with the other poetical books; and, they have also many peculiar to themselves, on account of their being prophetical.