Against Popular Interpretations

Concerning the popular system of interpreting the Scriptures, Wolff wrote: “Most of the Christian church have swerved from the plain sense of Scripture, and ... suppose that when they are reading Jews, they must understand Gentiles; and when they read Jerusalem, they must understand the church; and if it says earth, it means sky; and for the coming of the Lord they must understand the progress of the missionary societies; and going up to the mountain of the Lord's house, signifies a grand class meeting of Methodists.”^{3Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, page 96.}LF 151.2

From 1821 to 1845, Wolff traveled in Egypt, Ethiopia, Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokhara,^{*A remote region of Turkistan, between Afghanistan and Russia.} India, and the United States.LF 151.3