nent type of him. So, the Christian church is sometimes called Mount places were types of her.

Of the second kind of enallage we have instances:-1. In prophetical types, in which the name of a person or thing, properly agreeing with the antitype, and for which the type was proposed, is given to any one: as in Isa. vii. 3. and viii. 1-3. So, the wife of the prophet Hosea, and his legiti mate children, are by the cominand of Jehovah termed a wife of whore doms, and children of whoredoms (Hos. i. 2.), on account of the Israelites, who were the antitype, and were guilty of spiritual whoredom or adultery. See Hos. i. 4. 6. 9.-2. In historical types, as when hanging was called in the Old Testament the curse of the Lord, because it was made a type of Christ, who was made a curse for our sins, as the apostle Paul argues in 6. That we may not fall into extremes, in the interpretation of Types, we must, in every instance, proceed cautiously, "with fear and trembling," lest we imagine mysteries to exist

Gal. iii. 13.

Of the first kind of enallage we have examples in Ezek. xxxiv. 23. xxxvii | the picture was not drawn to express merely the thing itself, 24, 25. and Hos. iii. 5. ; in which descriptions of Messiah's kingdom he is but something else, which was, or was conceived to be, styled David: because as he was prefigured by David in many respects, so he was to descend from him. In like manner Christ is called a lumb analogous to it. This more complex and ingenious form of (John i. 29. 36. and Rev. xix. 7. 9.), because the paschal lamb was an emi: picture-writing was much practised by the Egyptians, and is Sion and Jerusalem (Gal. iv. 26. Heb. xii. 22. Rev. xxi. 2.), because these that which we know by the name of Hieroglyphics."3 It has been doubted whether symbolical language should be referred to figurative or spiritual interpretation: in the former case, it would have occupied a place in the discussion respecting the figurative language of Scripture; but, on consideration, it will appear that it is most nearly allied to spiritual interpretation. For a symbol differs from a type in this respect, that the former represents something past or present, while a type represents something future. The images of the cherubim over the propitiatory were symbols; the commanded sacrifice of Isaac was given for a type; the sabread and wine in the last supper also were symbols. The crifices of the law were types. So far, Bishop Warburton has remarked, symbols and types agree in their genus, that they are equally representations, but in their species they differ widely. It is not required, he further observes, that the symbol should partake of the nature of the thing represented: the cherubim shadowed out the celerity of angels, but not by any physical celerity of their own; the bread and wine shadowed out the body and blood of Christ, but not by any change in the elements. But types being, on the contrary, representations of things future, and so partaking of the nature of prophecy, were to convey information concerning the nature of the antitypes, or of the things represented; which they could not do but by the exhibition of their own nature. And hence we recollect, that the command to offer Isaac, being the command to offer a real sacrifice, the death and sufferings of Christ, thereby represented, were a real sacrifice.4

where none were ever intended.

No mystical or typical sense, therefore, ought to be put upon a plain passage of Scripture, the meaning of which is obvious and natural; unless it be evident from some other part of Scripture that the place is to be understood in a double sense. When Panl says (Gal. iii. 24. Col. ji. 17.) that the law was a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, and a shadow of things to come, we must instantly acknowledge that the ceremonial law in general was a type of the mysteries of the Gospel. Nothing can be more contrary to that sober judgment which is so strenuously urged by the apostle (Rom. xii. 3.), than to seek for types where there are not the smallest marks or traces of any; and that, too, by contradicting the plain and literal meaning of Scripture, and not unfrequently in direct opposition to "Should not the prudence and moderation of Christ and his apostles in this respect be imitated? Is it not pretending to be wiser than they were, to look for mysteries where they designed none? How unreasonable is it to lay an useless weight on the consciences of Christians, and to bear down the true and revealed, under the unwieldly burden of traditional mysteries!"

cominon sense.

IV. Closely connected with the interpretation of types is the expounding of SYMBOLS; which, though often confounded with them, are nevertheless widely different in their nature. By symbols we mean "certain representative marks, rather than express pictures; or, if pictures, such as were at the time characters, and, besides presenting to the eye the resemblance of a particular object, suggested a general idea to the mind As when a horn was made to denote strength, an eye and sceptre, majesty, and in numberless such instances; where

1 Beausobre's Introduction to the New Testament. (Bishop Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 140.) In the preceding observations on the interpretation of types, the author has chiefly been indebted to Glassii Philologia Sacra, lib. ii. part i. tract ii. sect. iv. col. 442-472., which has been unaccountably omitted by Prof. Dathe in his otherwise truly valuable edition of that work; Langii Hermeneutica Sacra, pp. 97-119.; J. E. Pfeiffer, Inst. Herm. Sacr. pp. 775-795.; Viser, Hermeneutica Sacra Novi Testamenti, part ii. pp. 184 188. The subject of types is particularly considered and ably illustrated in Dr. Outram de Sacrificiis, particularly lib. i. cap. 18. and lib. ii. c. 7. (pp. 217-228. 361-384. of Mr. Allen's translation already noticed); Mr. Faber's Hora Mosaicæ, vol. ii. pp. 40-173.; Bishop Chandler's Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of the Old Testament, &c. chap. iii.; and Mr. Wilson's popular Inquiry into the Doctrine of Scripture Types. Edinburgh, 1823. 8vo. But the fullest view of this subject is stated by Dr. Graves to be found in the Rev. Samuel Mather's work on the Figures and Types of the Old Testament. Dublin, 1683, 4to.

2 Before an alphabet was invented, and what we call literary writing was formed into an art, men had no way to record their conceptions, or to convey them to others at a distance, but by setting down the figures and tropes of such things as were the objects of their contemplation. Hence, the way of writing in picture was as universal, and almost as early, as the way of speaking in metaphor; and from the same reason, the necessity of the thing. In process of time, and through many successive improveinents, this rude and simple mode of picture-writing was succeeded by that of symbols, or was enlarged at least and enriched by it. Bishop Hurd's Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies, serm. ix. (Works, vol. v. p. 238.

As the same rules, which regulate the general interpretation of the tropes and figures occurring in the Scriptures, are equally applicable to the interpretation of symbols, it will be sufficient to refer to a former part of this volume, in which that topic is particularly discussed. Much light will also be thrown upon the symbolical language of Scripture, by a careful collation of the writings of the prophets with each other; for "the symbolical language of the prophets is almost a science in itself. None can fully comprehend the depth, sublimity, and force of their writings, who are not thoroughly acquainted with the peculiar and appropriate imagery they were accustomed to use. This is the main key to many of the prophecies; and, without knowing how to apply it, the interpreter will often in vain essay to discover their hidden treasures." Lastly, the diligent comparison of the New Testament with the Old will essentially contribute to illustrate the symbolical phraseology of the prophets. For instance, we learn what is intended by the water promised to the Israelites in Isa. xliv. 3., and to which the thirsty are invited in ch. lv. 1., from John iv. 10. and vii. 37-39.; where it is explained of the Holy Spirit and his gifts which were afterwards to be dispensed.?

Bishop Hurd's Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies, serm. ix.
(Works, vol. v. p. 239.)
Divine Legation of Moses, book ix. ch. ii. (Works, vol. vi. p. 289. 8vo.
See pp. 355-358. supra.

edit.)

Bp. Vanmildert's Lectures, p. 240.

See a Concise Dictionary of the Symbolical Language of Prophecy, infra, Vol. H. Index II. pp. 457. et seq.

1

PROPHECY, or the prediction of future events, is justly considered as the highest evidence that can be given, of supernatural communion with the Deity. The force of the argument from prophecy, for proving the divine inspiration of the sacred records, has already been exhibited; and the cavils of objectors, from its alleged obscurity, has been obviated.' Difficulties, it is readily admitted, do exist in understanding the prophetic writings: but these are either owing to our ignorance of history and of the Scriptures, or because the prophecies themselves are yet unfulfilled. The latter can only be understood when the events foretold have actually been accomplished: but the former class of difficulties may be removed in many, if not in all cases; and the knowledge, sense, and meaning of the prophets may, in a considerable degree, be attained by prayer, reading, and meditation, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture, especially with the writings of the New Testament, and particularly with the book of the Revelation. With this view, the following general rules will be found useful in investigating the sense and meaning of the prophecies, as well as their accomplish

ment.

I. As not any prophecy of Scripture is of self-interpretation, (2 Pet. i. 20.), or is its own interpreter, "the sense of the prophecy is to be sought in the events of the world, and in the harmony of the prophetic writings, rather than in the bare terms of any single prediction."

113

In the consideration of this canon, the following circumstances should be carefully attended to:

(1.) Consider well the times when the several prophets flourished, in what place and under what kings they uttered their predictions, the duration of their prophetic ministry, and their personal rank and condition, and, lastly, whatever can be known respecting their life and transactions.

These particulars, indeed, cannot in every instance be ascertained, the circumstances relating to many of the prophets being very obscure: but, where they can be known, it is necessary to attend to them, as this will materially contribute to the right understanding of the prophetic writings. Thus, in order to understand correctly the prophecy of Isaiah, we should make ourselves acquainted with the state and condition of the people of Israel under the kings Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. With this view, the books of Kings (2. xiv.-xxi.) and 2 Chron. (xvi.-xxii.) ought to be repeatedly perused and studied; because they contain an accurate view of the state of those times.

(2.) The situation of the particular places, of which the prophets speak, must also be kept in mind, as well as that of the neighbouring places: there being in the prophetic writings frequent allusions to the situation and ancient names of

places.

1 See Vol. I. pp. 119-142. For an account of the Prophets, see Vol. II. pp. 253-259. and for an analysis of their writings, with critical remarks thereon, see also Vol. II. pp. 259-289.

There is scarcely an expression in this book which is not taken out of Daniel or some other prophet. Sir Isaac Newton has observed, that it is written in the same style and language with the prophecies of Daniel, and has the same relation to them which they have to one another, so that all of them together make but one complete prophecy; and in like manner it consists of two parts, an introductory prophecy, and an interpretation thereof. (Observations on the Apocalypse, chap. ii. p. 254.) The style of the Revelations, says the profoundly learned Dr. Lightfoot, "is very prophetical as to the things spoken, and very hebraizing as to the speaking of them. Exceeding much of the old prophet's language and manner [is] adduced to intimate New Stories; and exceeding much of the Jews' language and allusion to their customs and opinions, thereby to speak the things more familiarly to be understood." Harmony of the New Testament, p. 154. (Lond. 1655.) See also Langii Hermeneutica Sacra, pp. 148-150.

3 Bishop Horsley. This learned prelate has shown in his sermon on 2 Pet. i. 20. that the clause-No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation-may be more precisely thus expressed:-"Not any proof Scripture is of self-interpretation, or is its own interpreter: Because the scripture prophecies are not detached predictions of separate independent events, but are united in a regular and entire system, all terminating in one great object,-the promulgation of the Gospel, and the complete establishment of the Messiah's kingdom." Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 13-16.

On the chronological order, &c. of the prophets, see Vol. II. pp.

258-259.

When places are mentioned as lying north, south, east, or west, it is generally to be understood of their situation with respect to Judea of Jerusalem; when the context does not plainly restrict the scene to some other place. For instance, Egypt and Arabia are every where called the land of the south, because they are situated to the south of Jerusalem: thus in Daniel (ch. xi.) the king of the south signifies the king of Egypt, and the king of the north, the monarch of Syria. The sea is often put for the west, the Mediterranean Sea being to the west of Judæa: by the earth, the prophets often mean the land of Judæa, and sometimes the great con tinent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land; and by the isles of the sea, they understood the places to which they sailed, particularly all Europe, and probably the islands and sea-coasts of the M5terranean. The appellation of sea is also given to the great rivers Nile and Euphrates, which, overflowing their banks, appear like small seas or great lakes. The Egyptian Sea, with its seven streams, mentioned in Isa. xi. 15. is the Nile with its seven mouths: the sea, mentioned in Isa xxvii. 1. and Jer. li. 36. is the Euphrates; and the desert of the sea, in Isa. xxi. 1. is the country of Babylon, watered by that river. In like manner, the Jewish people are described by several particular appellations, after the division of the kingdom in the reign of Jeroboam: thus, the ten tribes, being distinct from the other two, and subject to a different king until the time of the Assyrian captivity, are respectively called Samaric, Ephraim, and Joseph; because the city of Samaria, which was situated in the allotment of the tribe of Ephraim, who was the son of Joseph, was the metropolis of the kings of Israel. Compare Isa. vii. 2 5. 8, 9. PL and Jacob, because they formed the greater part of Israel's or Jacob'g posterity: The other two tribes of Judah and Benjamin are called the kingdom of Judah, the house of David, Jerusalem, or Sion (Isa. vii. 13. and xl. 2. Psal. cxxvi. 1. and Isa. lii. 8.), because those two tribes adhered to the family of David, from whose posterity their kings sprung, and the capital of their dominions was Jerusalem, within whose precincts was Mount Sion. After their return, however, from the Babylonish captivity, the names of Israel and Judah are promiscuously applied to all the descendants of the twelve tribes who were thus restored to their native country. This is the case in the writings of the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who all flourished after that event. In addition to the situations and names of places, whatever relates to the history of those times must be ascertained, as far as is practicable, by consulting not only the historical books of Scripture, and the writings of Josephus (whose statements must sometimes be taken with great caution, as he has not always related the sacred history with fidelity), but also by comparing the narratives of Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and other profane historians, who have written on the affairs of the Chaldæans, Babylonians, Egyptians, Tyrians, Medes and Persians, and other Oriental nations, with whom the posterity of Jacob had any intercourse. Quotations from these writers may be seen in all the larger commentaries on the Bible. Dr. Prideaux's Connection of Sacred and Profane History, and Bishop Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies, are both particularly valuable for the illustrations of the sacred predictions which they have respectively drawn from profane authors. In the Historical and Geographical Index, at the end of the second volume of this work, under the articles Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Media, and Persia, we have given an Abstract of the Profane History of the East, from the time of Solomon until the Babylonish Captivity, to facilitate the better understanding of the history of the Hebrews, described in the writings of the prophets.

xxxi. 5. Hos. vii. 11. Amos v. 15. and vi. 6. They were also called Israel

(3.) As the prophets treat not only of past transactions and present occurrences, but also foretell future events, in order to understand them, we must diligently consult the histories of the following ages, both sacred and profane, and carefully see whether we can trace in them the fulfilment of any prophecy.

The event is the best interpreter of a prediction: this inquiry into his tory, however, demands not only great labour, but also great industry and equal judgment, in order that the events may be referred to those prophecies with which they harmonize. These events must not be far-fetched; nor can they always be ascertained, because the circumstances alluded to by the prophets are often unknown to us, being yet future. Hence a considerable portion of the prophets, especially of the book of Revelation, is not only not understood, but cannot at present be comprehended. Some conjectures, perhaps, may be offered: but these should be advanced with caution as far as they throw light upon prophecy; and where this is wanting, we must withhold our assent from such conjectures.

(4.) The words and phrases of a prophecy must be ex plained, where they are obscure: if they be very intricate, every single word should be expounded; and, if the sense be involved in metaphorical and emblematical expressions (as very frequently is the case), these must be explained according to the principles already laid down.

No strained or far-fetched interpretation, therefore, should be admitted; and that sense of any word or phrase is always to be preferred, which is the clearest and most precise.

(5.) Similar prophecies of the same event must be carefully compared, in order to elucidate more clearly the sense of the sacred predictions.

CHAP. IV. SECT. I.]

SENSE OF THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS.

For instance, after having ascertained the subject of the prophet's discourse and the sense of the words, Isa. liii. 5. (He was wounded, literally pierced through, for our transgressions), may be compared with Psal. xxii. 16. (They pierced my hands and my feet), and with Zech. xii. 10. (They shall look on me whom they have pierced). In thus paralleling the prophecies, regard must be had to the predictions of former prophets, which are sometimes repeated with abridgment, or more distinctly explained by others; and also to the predictions of subsequent prophets, who sometimes repeat, with greater clearness and precision, former prophecies, which had been more obscurely announced.

II. In order to understand the prophets, great attention should be paid to the prophetic style, which is highly figurative, and particularly abounds in metaphorical and hyperbolical expressions. By images borrowed from the natural world, the prophets often understand something in the world politic. Thus, as the sun, moon, stars, and heavenly bodies, denote kings, queens, rulers, and persons in great power; and the increase of splendour in those luminaries denotes increase of pros perity, as in Isa. xxx. 26. and lx. 19. On the other hand, their darkening, setting, or falling, signifies a reverse of fortune, or the entire destruction of the potentate or kingdom to which they refer. In this manner the prophet Isaiah denounced the divine judgments on Babylon (Isa. xiii. 10. 13.), and on Idumæa (xxxiv. 4-6.); and Jeremiah, on the Jews and Jerusalem. (Jer. iv. 23, 24.) The destruction of Egypt is predicted in similar terms by Ezekiel (xxxii. 7, 8.); and also the terrible judgments that would befall the unbelieving Jews, by Joel. (ii. 28-31.) And Jesus Christ himself employed the same phraseology in foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. (Matt. xxiv. 29.)

VI. The order of time is not always to be looked for in the prophetic writings; for they frequently resume topics of which they have formerly treated, after other subjects have intervened, and again discuss them.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel may, in particular, be cited as instances of this abruptness of style, who spoke of various things as they were moved by dispersed, were afterwards collected together without regard to the order the Holy Spirit, and as occasion required; and whose discourses, being first of time. In the midst of the mention of particular mercies promised to, or of judgments denounced against, the people of God, the prophets somedigressions appear extremely abrupt and incoherent to those who do not times break forth into sublime predictions concerning the Messiah: these consider how seasonable the mention of Christ may be, in conjunction with that of the mercies of God (of which he is the foundation and pinnacle, God, in which he was his people's grand consolation. A careful examinathe ground and consummation), and with the threats of the judgments of tion, however, of the plan and distribution of the different prophetical books will always enable the diligent reader to trace the arrangement and scope of the respective prophecies. Where, indeed, a new prediction or discourse is distinguished from a foriner one by a new title, as in Haggai i. 1. and ii. 10. 20., it is an easy task to trace such an arrangement and scope: but where the prophets do not introduce any new titles (Hosea for instance) it becomes very difficult. Vitringa has laid it down as a canon, that in conor inscriptions, we should carefully attend both to the beginning and ena tinued predictions, which are not distinguished one from another by titles of the prophetic sermon, as well as to the period of time in which the scene of the prophetic vision is fixed, and to the period in which it ends. This will tend to illustrate the sermons or discourses of Isaiah, in the fortyfirst and following chapters of his prophecy.

It is, however, probable that those prophecies-whose terminus à quo demonstrates the beginning of the time of Christ's kingdom, and the termi nus ad quem the end of that time-give a narration of the principal events that shall befall the church in a continued series, unless any thing intervene which may require us to go back to former times. Upon this foundation this prophecy unquestionably belongs to the beginning of Messiah's kingdepends the interpretation of Isa. liv. 1. to lx. 22. The commencement of dom: the term or end falls upon the most flourishing state of that kingdom, which is to follow the conversion of the Jewish nation, and the vindication of the afflicted church; which deliverance, as well as the flourishing state of Christ's kingdom, are described in Isa. lix. 19-21. and lx. throughout. VII. The prophets often change both persons and tenses, sometimes speaking in their own persons, at other times repre

In further illustration of this rule it may be observed, that the prophetical writings contain numerous figures and similitudes that appear strange to our habits and modes of thinking; but which in their times were per fectly familiar. These figures and similitudes, therefore, must not be interpreted according to our notions of things, but agreeably to the genius of Oriental writing: for instance, very numerous metaphors are taken from agriculture and the pastoral life, which were common pursuits among the Jews, some of the prophets themselves having been herdsmen or shepherds. However humble such employments may appear to us, they were not accounted servile at the time the prophets flourished. Other representations of events, which were to come to pass under the New Testament dispensation, are drawn from the sacred rites of the Jews. Thus, the conversion of Egypt to the Gospel is foretold (Isa. xix. 19. 21.) by setting up an altar, and offering sacrifice to the Lord; and the conversion of the Gentiles in general (Mal. i. 11.) by the offering up of incense. The service of God under the Gospel is set forth (Zech. xiv. 16.) by going up to Jeru-senting God, his people, or their enemies, as respectively speaksalem, and keeping the feast of tabernacles there; and the abundant effu- ing, and without noticing the change of person; sometimes sion of the Holy Spirit, in the miraculous gifts which attended the preaching of the Gospel, is represented (Joel ii. 23.) by prophesying, and dream taking things past or present for things future, to denote the ing dreams, and seeing visions. In this passage the prophet did not intend certainty of the events. to say, that these things should literally and actually take place under the Christian dispensation: but, in order that his meaning might be the better understood by those whom he addressed, he expressed the abundant measure of gifts and Gospel light by images drawn from those privileges which were at that time most highly valued by the Jews.

Although the prophets thus frequently employ words in a figurative or metaphorical meaning, yet we ought not, without necessity, to depart from the primitive sense of their expressions; and that necessity exists, only when the plain and original sense is less proper, as well as less suitable to the subject and context, or contrary to other passages of Scripture. But, even in this case, we must carefully assign to each prophetical symbol its proper and definite meaning, and never vary from that meaning.

III. As the greater part of the prophetic writings was first composed in verse, and still retains much of the air and cast of the original, an attention to the division of the lines, and to that peculiarity of Hebrew poetry by which the sense of one line or couplet so frequently corresponds with another, will frequently lead to the meaning of many passages; one line of a couplet, or member of a sentence, being generally a commentary on the other.

Of this rule we have an example in Isa. xxxiv. 6.

The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,

And a great slaughter in the land of Idumæa.

Here the metaphor in the first verse is expressed in the same terms in the next: the sacrifice in Bozrah means the great slaughter in the land of Idumæa, of which Bozrah was the capital. Similar instances occur in Isa. xliv. 3. and lxi. 10. and in Micah vi. 6. in which the parallelism is more extended. Concerning the nature of Prophetic Poesy, see P. 380. of the pre

sent volume.

IV. Particular names are often put by the prophets for more general ones, in order that they may place the thing represented, as it were, before the eyes of their hearers: but in such passages they are not to be understood literally.

Thus, in Joel iii. 4. Tyre and Sidon, and all the coast of Palestine, are put, by way of poetical description, for all the enemies of the Jews; and the Greeks and Sabaeans for distant nations. In like manner the prophet Amos (ch. ix. 12.), when speaking of the enemies of the Jews, mentions the remnant of Edom, or the Idumaans.

V. It is usual with the prophets to express the same thing in a great variety of expressions; whence they abound in amplifications, each rising above the other in strength and beauty. For instance, when describing drought or famine, they accumulate together numerous epithets, to represent the sorrow that would accompany those calamities: on the other hand when delineating plenty, they portray, in a great variety of expressions, the joy of the people possessed of abun dance of grain; and in like manner the horrors of war and the blessings of peace, the misery of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous, are contrasted with numerous illustrations. It were unnecessary to cite examples, as we can scarcely open a single page of the prophetic writings with out seeing instances; but in reading such passages it is not to be supposed .hat each individual phrase possesses a distinct and peculiar sense.

Of this observation we have a signal instance in that very obscure prediction contained in Isa. xxi. 11, 12. which, according to Bishop Lowth's translation, is as follows:--

THE ORACLE CONCERNING DUMAH.
A voice crieth unto me from Seir:
Watchman, what from the night?
Watchman, what from the night?
The watchman replieth:

The morning cometh, and also the night.
If ye will inquire, inquire ye: come again.

This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was but if we observe the transitions, and carefully distinguish between the uttered, as well as from the brevity of the expression, is very obscure: person speaking and the person spoken to, we shall be able to apprehend vah by a people who were in a very distressed and hazardous condition, its general import. It expresses the inquiries, made of a prophet of Jehoconcerning the fates which awaited them. The Edomites as well as the Jews were subdued by the Babylonians. They anxiously inquire of the should be delivered from captivity, but not the Edomites. The transition prophet, how long their subjection is to last. He intimates that the Jews being thus observed, the obscurity disappears.

Isa. ix. 6., liii. throughout, lxiii. throughout, Zech. ix. 9. and Rev. xviii. 2. (to mention no other instances), may be adduced as examples of the substitution of the past or present, in order to denote the certainty of things yet future: attention to the scope and context of the prophetic discourse will here also, as in the preceding rule, enable the reader to distinguish the various transitions with sufficient accuracy.3

It may here be further observed, that, in the computation of time, a day is used by the prophet to denote a year: a week, seven years; and that when they speak of the latter, or last days, they invariably mean the days of the Messiah, or the time of the Gospel dispensation. The expression, that day, often means the same time, and always some period at a distance.

VIII. When the prophets received a commission to declare any thing, the message is sometimes expressed as if they had been appointed to do it themselves.

This remark has, in substance, been already made. It is introduced again, in order to illustrate the phraseology of the proOne or two additional examples will show the phetic writings. necessity of attending to it in interpreting the predictions of the Sacred Writings.

1 Boyle on the Style of the Holy Scriptures, Works, vol. ii. p. 271. 2 Typus Doctrinæ Propheticæ, p. 179.

This change of tense, however, is not exclusively confined to predic. tions of future events: it is sometimes used by the prophets to represent duties as performed which ought to be done: Thus, in Mal. i. 6. A son honours (ought to honour) his father. But it is more frequently employed by the writers of the New Testament to express both our Christian privileges, and the duties to which they oblige us. Thus, Matt. v. 13. Ye are (ought to be) the salt of the earth. Rom. ii. 4. The goodness of God leadeth (ought to lead) thee to repentance. 2 Cor. iii. 18. We all with open face beLord, are (ought to be) changed into the same image from glory to glory. holding (enjoying the means of beholding) as in a glass the glory of the Similar instances may be seen in 1 Cor. v. 7. Col. iii. 3. Heb. xiii. 14. 1 Pet. ings, $274. (Bishop Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 241.) i. 6. 1 John ii. 15. iii. 9. and v. 4. 18. Dr. Taylor's Key to the Apostolic Writ

Thus, when Isaiah was sent to tell the Jews, that their heart would become fat, and their ears heavy, and that they would be guilty of shutting their eyes, so as not to understand and believe the truth, the message is thus expressed-Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. This implies, that they would not employ the faculties which they possessed, so as to understand and believe the Gospel. The reason of this is assigned:-Make the heart of this people fut, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isa. vi. 9, 10.) This is merely a prediction of what they would do; for when this prophetic declaration was accomplished, the Saviour quoted the passage, and expressed its genuine sense:-In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Matt. xiii. 15.) This condition is still more explicitly stated in John iii. 19. :-This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. The Lord said to Jeremiah, I have put my words in thy mouth; see, I have this day set thee over the nations, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant. (Jer. i. 10.) The meaning of this message is, that the prophet was appointed to declare to the nations, that they should be rooted out, pulled down, and destroyed, and that others would be planted in their place, and built up. When Ezekiel beheld the glory of the God of Israel, he observes, that it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw when I came TO DESTROY THE CITY. (Ezek. xliii. 3.) That is, when he came to prophesy that the city should be destroyed.

IX. As symbolic actions and prophetic visions greatly resemble parables, and were employed for the same purpose, viz. more powerfully to instruct and engage the attention of the people, they must be interpreted in the same manner as pa

rables.1

We must therefore chiefly consider the scope and design of such symbolic actions and prophetic visions, without attempting too minute an expla nation of all the poetical images and figures with which the sacred writers adorned their style. For instance, in Zech. i. 7-11., it is not necessary to inquire what is meant by the man riding upon a red horse, and standing among the myrtle trees: this vision represents so many angels returning probably from the kingdoms over which they presided, to give to Jehovah an account of their expedition and ministry. The horse, it has been conjectured, denote their power and celerity; and the different colours the difference of their ministries. The scope of the vision, however, is sufficiently plain: the angels tell that all the earth was sitting still and at rest; the Persian empire and other nations connected with Judæa enjoying peace at that time, though the Jews continued in an unsettled state.2

SECTION II.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF PROPHECY IN
GENERAL.

may be partly applicable to one, and partly to another, and it is not always easy to mark the transitions. What has not been fulfilled in the first, we must apply to the second; and what has already been fulfilled, may often be considered as typical of what remains to be accomplished.

The double sense of prophecy has been opposed with much ingenuity by Mr. Whiston, Dr. Sykes, and Dr. Benson, in this country, and by father Balthus in France, as well as by most of the German theologians, who severally contend that the ancient prophecies contain only one sense: byt, that the rule above stated is correct, we apprehend will appear from the following remarks and illustrations:

1. "Throughout the whole of prophetical Scripture, a time of retribution and of vengeance on God's enemies is announced. It is called the day of the Lord,' the day of wrath and slaughter; of the Lord's anger, visi tation, and judgment; the great day,' and the last day. At the same time it is to be observed, that this kind of description, and the same expressions, which are used to represent this great day are also employed by the prophets to describe the tall and punishment of particular states and empires; of Babylon, by Isaiah (ch. xiii.); of Egypt, by Ezekiel (ch. 111 2-4. and xxxii. 7, 8.); of Jerusalem, by Jeremiah, Joel, and by our Lord (Matt. xxiv.): and in many of these prophecies, the description of the ca lamity, which is to fall on any particular state or nation, is so blende 1 and interinixed with that general destruction, which, in the final days of vengeance, will invade all the inhabitants of the earth, that the industry and skill of our ablest interpreters have been scarcely equal to separate and assort them. Hence it has been concluded, by judicious divines, that these partial prophecies and particular instances of the divine vengeance, whose accomplishment we know to have taken place, are presented to us as types, certain tokens, and forerunners of some greater events which are also disclosed in them. To the dreadful time of universal vengeance, they all appear to look forward, beyond their first and more immediate object Little, indeed, can we doubt that such is to be considered the use and ap plication of these prophecies, since we see them thus applied by our Lord and his apostles."

ניי

2. The second psalm is primarily an inauguration hymn, composed by David, the anointed of Jehovah, when crowned with victory, and placed But in Acts iv. 25. the inspired triumphant on the sacred hill of Sion. apostles with one voice declare it to be descriptive of the exaltation of the Messiah, and of the opposition raised against the Gospel, both by Jews and Gentiles.-The latter part of the sixteenth psalm is spoken of David's per son, and is, unquestionably, in its first and immediate sense, to be understood of him, and of his hope of rising after death to an endless life: but it is equally clear from Acts ii. 25-31. that it was spoken of Christ, the sca of David, who was typified by that king and prophet. The twenty-second psalm, though primarily intended of David when he was in great distress and forsaken by God, is yet, secondarily and mystically, to be understood applied by himself. (Matt. xxvii. 46.) And it is further observable, that of our blessed Saviour during his passion upon the cross; and so it is other passages of this psalm (v. 8. 16. 18.), are noticed by the evangels, as being fulfilled at that time (Matt. xxvii. 35. 43.); now it is certain that they could not be fulfilled unless they had been intended in this mysterious sense of Jesus Christ. The forty-fifth psalm is, in the original, a song of loves, an epithalamium on the nuptials of king Solomon and the king of Egypt's daughter: but from Heb. i. 8. we are assured that it is addressed to Christ; and, therefore, in a remote and spiritual sense, it celebrates the majesty and glory of his kingdom, his mystical union with his church, and the admirable benefits that would be conferred upon her in the times of the Gospel.

which the double sense is most clearly to be discerned: but we It would be no difficult task to adduce many other psalms in shall proceed to cite a few instances from the writings of the

prophets.

sign given was to assure Ahaz that the land of Judæa would speedily be (1.) Isa. vii. 14.—In the primary but lower sense of this prophecy, the delivered from the kings of Samaria and Damascus, by whom it was invaded. But the introduction of the prophecy, the singular stress laid upon it, and the exact sense of the terms in which it was expressed, make it in a high degree probable that it had another and more important purpose; and the event has clearly proved that the sign giren had, second

A PROPHECY is demonstrated to be fulfilled when we can prove that the event has actually taken place, precisely according to the manner in which it was foretold, either from sacred history, where that is practicable, or from profane authors of unimpeachable veracity; whose characters stand so high, that they cannot possibly be suspected of having forged any thing to favour the idea of its accomplishment. In order to ascertain whether a prediction has been fulfilled, we must first endeavour to find out the general scheme of the prophecy in question, by a careful comparison of the parts with the whole, and with corresponding prophecies, both Dr. Woodhouse on the Apocalypse, pp. 172, 173. One of the most earlier and later; and to classify the various things spoken remarkable of these prophecies, he observes, is that splendid one of Isaiah, of, lest the judgment be perplexed with a multitude of ch. xxxiv.; the importance and universality of which is to be collected references. And, secondly, in our deductions from the pro-world and all things in it," are summoned to the audience. It represents from the manner in which it is introduced: "All nations and people, the phecies thus arranged, those predictions, and their respective "the day of the Lord's vengeance," and the year of the recompenses for accomplishments, are principally to be selected and urged, the controversy of Sion (ver. 8.); it descends on all nations and their armies. (ver. 2.) The images of wrathful vengeance and utter dissolution which chiefly tend to remove all suspicion of their taking are the same which are presented under the sixth seal in the Revelation of place by accident, or being foretold by some happy conjec- St. John. (vi. 12-17.) The hosts of heaven are dissolved; the heavens are ture. Now this may be done, by showing the vast distance rolled together as a scroll of parchment; the stars fall like a leaf from a of time between the prophecy and the event foretold; the vine, or a fig from its tree. And yet Idumaa is mentioned by the prophet as the particular object of vengeance: such seems to be the typical com agreement of very many, even of the minutest circumstances, pletion and primary application of this prophecy; but it has evidently a so that, when completed, the description determinately applies inore sublime and future prospect, and in this sense the whole world is its to the subject; and, lastly, the dependence of actions upon the object; and using the same symbols and figurative expressions with the prophecy of the sixth seal, with those of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and, uncertain will of man, or upon opportunity presenting itself: above all, the sixteenth chapters of the Apocalypse, and with others of the for all these things are of such a nature, that no unassisted Old and New Testaments, it must, with them, be finally referred to the human intellect either can or could possibly foresee them. great day of the Lord's vengeance for its perfect completion." Ibid. These two general observations being premised, we now proceed to offer a few canons by which to ascertain the accom-i. of his View of Christ's Ministry, pp. 503-515. plishment of prophecy.

I. The same prophecies frequently have a double meaning, and refer to different events, the one near, the other remote ; the one temporal, the other spiritual or perhaps eternal. The prophets thus having several events in view, their expressions

p. 174.

Dr. Randolph has a beautiful exposition of this psalm at the end of vol

Bishop Horne, in the preface to his admirable commentary on the Psalms, has noticed a considerable number of those divine odes, which bear a double meaning, the propriety of which he has fully vindicated. Works, vol. ii. pp. x.-xx. See also Dr. Apthorpe's Warburtonian "Dis courses on Prophecy," vol. i. pp. 77-89. ; and Dr. Nares's Warburtonian Lectures, entitled "A Connected and Chronological View of the Prophe whole of the Psalms are applied by Bishop Horsley to the Messiah, in his cies relating to the Christian Church," pp. 155-162. 176, 177. Almost the "Book of Psalms translated from the Hebrew," 2 vols. 8vo. But Bishop On the construction of parabolic language, see pp. 366-368 of this Marsh has endeavoured to show that there are no double meanings, or, as Volume.

Archbishop Newcome on Zech. i. 7-11.

he terms them, secondary senses, in prophecy. Lectures on Divinity, part iv. Ject. 22.

(3.) If the attributes by no means agree with the subject expressed in a prophecy by its own name, we must direct our thoughts to another subject which corresponds to it, and which assumes a mystic name, on account of the agreement between the type and antitype. Examples of this occur in the prophecies concerning Edom (Isa. Ixiii. 1-6.), David (Ezek. xxxiv. 24-ages: but, when the conditions alter, and the predictions continue the 31.), and Elijah. (Mal. iv. 5.)

There is a good philological illustration of this prediction in Dr. Ran-inspired apostle, that to him give all the prophets witness (Acts x. 43.), and dolph's Prælectiones Theologicæ, in vol. ii. (pp. 446. et seq.) of his View of Christ's Ministry; and an elaborate vindication and explanation of it in the Abbe Hook's Religionis Naturalis et Revelatæ Principia, tom. ii. pp. 494 -498.