ON HOSEA XIV. -VERSE 9. 295 stumbling block to Elymas the sorcerer ; a sanctuary to Dionysius and Damaris, and a stumbling block to the wits and philosophers of Athens ; a sanctuary to the Gentiles that begged the preaching of the gospel, and a stumbling block to the Jews that contradicted and blasphemed, Acts xiii. 42. 45. the former pri- marily, for salvation was the purpose of his coming; there was sin enough to condemn the world before " I came not," saith he, " to judge the world, but to save the world," John xii. 47. the other occasionally, not by any intrinsical evil quality in the word, which is holy, just, good, and dealeth with all meekness and beseechings, even towards obstinate sinners ; but by reason of the pride and stubbornness of these men who dash against it : as that wholesome meat which ministers strength to a sound man, doth but feed the disease of another that sits at the same table with him ; the same light which is a pleasure to a strong eye, is a pain to a weak one ; the same sweet smells that delight one part, afflict another when distempered : and none of this by the infusion of malignant qua- lities, but only by an occasional working upon, and exciting of those which were there before. And there are many things in the word of God, at which the corrupt hearts of wicked men are apt to stumble and be offended. As, first, the profoundness and depth of it, as containing great mysteries above the discovery or search of created reason. Such is the pride and wantonness of sinful wit, that it knows not how to believe what it cannot comprehend, and must have all doctrines tried at her bar, and measured by her balance ; as if a man should attempt to Weigh out the earth in a pair of scales, or to empty the waters of the sea with a bucket. As soon as Paul mentioned the resurrection, presently the Athenian
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