while this is the case, I exhort you, to wait for the decision of that great expounder of mysteries and revealer of secrets, time; and not to allow your tempers to be soured, or your charity impaired by conjectural interpretations.

6. With respect to the Prophecies of the general resurrection and the consummation of all things, a different caution is necessary. The events foretold will assuredly come to pass, and will correspond with the description in sublimity and terror, and no doubt far exceed the awful and alarming scenery, depictured by the inspired writers; for their language is human, adapted only to mortal conceptions, incapable of conveying even a faint idea of the reality. You are well aware, that when Scripture describes the Almighty as actuated by human passions and affections, and employing corporeal organs, it is never to be understood literally. Supernatural objects can never be adequately expressed in human speech. "The ancient of days, whose garment is white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven; thrones and dominions, principalities and powers;" all this splendid imagery is used to elevate our thonghts to the highest pinnacle of terrestrial grandeur: the figurative language, in which the day of judgment is described, is calculated to impress our souls with the most awful sense, that we can now feel,

of our final doom: the joys of the celestial paradise, and the torments of the damned are delineated in such colours, as to affect the minds of men with the most lively sensations: but they can only excite our hopes and fears, without gratifying our curiosity by communicating a distinct conception of the world to come; and are not to be relied on, as literal delineations of what "it cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive."

To conclude: these are imperfect examples of that mass of Prophecy, contained in the sacred books. Any person, who reads the prophetical Scriptures with a moderate share of candour and knowledge must at least confess the whole assemblage to be very strange, altogether unaccountable on any human principles. When he cannot understand, he will see, that there is much to be understood. He will not be able to satisfy himself by saying, that such persevering consistency of matter, so profound and so sublime, so interesting and awful, was all fortuitous; or the ravings of enthusiasts, of systematic madmen, prosecuting an uniform plan of frenzy for fifteen hundred years. He may not be able to convince himself, that he understands any one prediction; he may not meet with one, to which he may not think of some objection; but the reality of the whole, and the application of many of the parts, he will not be able to deny. I ask no more: one

undisputed and incontestable Prophecy of Christ is as conclusive as a thousand.

Notwithstanding the prevalence of scepticism and frivolity, Prophecy will continue to answer the end, for which it was pronounced. It will impress mankind with a solemn sense of the prescience and providence of God. It will keep alive an interesting watchfulness and pious fear; and it will furnish every generation with additional proofs of the divine origin of Christianity. We have reason to think, that these will become every day more numerous and convincing as the Prophecies are fulfilling, and the world is advancing to its grand catastrophe; and that, while sophistical cavillers are growing more successful in deluding mankind, and darkening the historical and presumptive evidence for the truth of the Gospel, men will be more and more struck with these alarming testimonies. The manifest and undeniable accomplishment of one prediction may refute the sophistry, and dash the merriment of a thoughtless and unbelieving age: for it is the peculiar excellence of Prophecy, that while other modes of proof may be thought to lose strength by age, its antiquity is the very circumstance, which most strongly evinces its authenticity. Other arguments may be ingeniously puzzled and perplexed, till the minds of men are distracted with uncertainty and doubt; and then the fulfilment of a single prediction may dispel

the darkness and delusion, and awaken the faith, piety and devotion of an ignorant, profligate and unbelieving generation. Thus will the spirit of Prophecy give the surest testimony to Jesus.--

NOTES.

P. 83.(1) St. Peter, 2 Ep. i. 20, says, "No Prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,” ίδιας επιλύσεως; meaning, that the sense of a scriptural Prophecy does not depend on the prophet's own interpretation: "for Prophecy came not in old time by the will of Man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The prophets themselves were often ignorant of the purport of the oracles, which they published. When Caiphas said, (John xi. 49,) "It is expedient, that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not;" he meant, that the public safety required the death of Jesus: but John tells us, that "this he spake not of himself, but, being high priest, that year, he prophesied, that Jesus should die for that nation." Thus too, Daniel (xii. 8, 9,) says, "I heard, but understood not; and the Lord said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed, till the time of the end." The Gentiles also thought, that their prophets understood not the import of their own predictions, but were merely passive. This was the opinion of Socrates: λεγουσι μεν πολλα και καλα, ισασι δε ουδεν ων λεγουσι.

Many, however, of the prophecies, confidently relied on by some, as applicable to Christ, are by others confined to the historical events and characters, with which they are intermingled in the prophetical books. See an example of this, as to Isaiah ix. 6, &c., in Rammohun Roy, and three papers by Mr. Wallace, in the 19th vol. of the Monthly Repository. This passage is never quoted, nor expressly referred to in the

New Tetament; and is involved in historical discussion, Hebrew criticism, and contradictory translations. "These words, the Everlasting Father, are very ill rendered: for it is absurd to say of the Son, that he is the Everlasting Father, the Father of himself: but the phrase Tax ought to be translated, as in the best copies of the Septuagint, πατηρ του μελλοντος alavos, and in the Vulgate, Pater futuri sæculi; the Father or Lord of the Age to come."-Clarke's Scriptural Trinity, Note on § 50, p. 376.

Applied to the good king Hezekiah, it would mean the Father of the next generation; as we say, the Father of his people.

Isaiah vii. 14, is another instance. 66 'By others the word byn is rendered damsel, instead of virgin, and is supposed to refer to the queen of Ahaz, who was then pregnant of Hezekiah. Dr. Pye Smith follows the authority of Trypho, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and Abarbanel, in giving the last signification to this word."-Townsend's New Test. arranged, vol. I, p. 33.

Her Son was named Emmanuel, signifying God with us, as a sign, that God would be on the side of Judah: and the same name is applied to Jesus by Matthew, because “he was to save the people from their sins." (i. 21.) But he is never called by that name. The terminations el, jah or ah, are common in Hebrew names; and indicate no peculiar relation between the person and God. The same custom prevailed among our Puritanical forefathers.

"The name Emmanuel and the like, prove nothing more, in point of argument, than even the names of places, Jehovah Jireh, &c."-Clarke's Scriptural Trinity, chap. xi. 1.

Emmanuel occurs also, Isaiah viii. 8 and 10, where no application to Christ can be made.

P. 84.—(2) "Jesus Christ figuré par Joseph, bien-aimé de son pere, envoyé du pere pour voir ses freres, est l'innocent vendu par ses freres vingt deniers, & par là devenu leur Seigneur, leur Sauveur, & le Sauveur des étrangers, & le