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    feny other but xthe sincere , upright , £ nd welJ * disposed , wlio have a true reverence for God , should 6 btain these benefits *; and that , indeed , it is impossible , that persoils of a contrary character , fcither would or could believe in , and comply with the Messiah , and embrace his doctrines . But these things are mostly couched , As I observed before , in very figurative and obscure expressions , to the

    which se ^ ve bring truths referred to into an imperfect light , to point out their high importance , but not to explain them clearly , in order to put the hearers upon more serious consideration , and ,

    if it might be , to engage them to ask an explanation with a more candid and tractable spirit . The event , however , was that the same persons who had trampled upon , his plain declarations , and replied to them with cavils , now murttiyred at his obscurer expressions ,

    and thought it not worth while either to consider them , or ask an explanation . "This is a hard saying / ' say they , " who can henr it ? " Ami , though he himself furnished

    them with a key to open to them the true sense of the several figurative expressions he had used , by * ayih g > v . 63 , "It is the spirit that quickeneth , the flesh profiteth nothing "— " The words ( or the doctrines ) which I speak or deliver unto you , they are spirit and they are life "—yet , from that time ,

    many of his disciples went back , and walked no more with him . Now * when our Lord , on

    account of the ill-temper of his present audience , thought proper to iise figurative and obscure expressions , such as the hearers pronounce *! fo be hard sayings , -difficult to be uddemo'od , surely ,

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    it becomes all his followers to be modest and cautious in their in- ' terpretations of them . It would be very improper for any to erect

    their own interpretations of such passages into articles of faith , and dogmatically insist on their fellow Christians also to receive thern ^ such . But above a $ ! , it would

    certainly be in the highest degree extravagant and unwarrantable to put a literal interpretation on obscure and figurative expre $ sions and then to deduce from them articles of faith pjainly repugnant to the iiioral perfections of God , and the rectitude and goodness of

    his administration . Of this kiric } of obscure exprefc ^ sions is tfhat in the 37 th verse , " All that the'Father giveth me will come unto me ; * and thosfe others , v « 44 , * No man can contofc to me , except the Father whifcfr hath sent me draw him . * ' And

    v . 65 , " Therefore , said I unto you , that no inen can come unto me , except it weregivea unto hj ff * of my Father / ' All these pas * .

    sages are plainly similar ^ and con - * tain & like sentiment and meaning . If , therefore ^ we can come at Hit true $ en £ e of otie of theifi , that will lead us to the understanding of the rest . Allbw me , therefore ,

    in a modest attempt to poiqt out to you the true meaning of thfe expression , All that the Father gjveth jtit * will coine unto me . " The expression here is Very general : riothirtg is said of the nature of jfhfc gift of some to Christ , Whether absolute or conditional ;

    nor who they are that afe giVeil tb h , i , m by the Father , or what is their character . But let us See whether our Lord does riot else * where explain hfrmelf on thest subjects . If He ' any where td&

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    © 4 Observations <> n > o hn vi . 37 . by the late Rev . W . Turner .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1808, page 94, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2389/page/38/