hazard a conjecture refpecting the course of their completion, I have feparated this Clafs from the former, that the great argument to be derived from the clear and exact accomplishment of Prophecy may reft entirely upon the acknowledged truth of historical facts. That these Prophecies were delivered at the time, and by the perfons, to whom they are commonly affigned; that they were delivered before the events they predict; and that they profeffed to be prophetic at the time of their delivery, and were fo understood to be, by the greatest and most learned persons, at and after their delivery, are points, that have been long efteemed eftablished, beyond the power of controverfy. But none are fecure from contradiction; and the infatuating folly of the prefent day makes men perpetually miftake affertion for argument. It will not be expected in a work, which profeffedly aims at concisenefs, that what may be called, a preliminary fubject fhould be treated very fully. For the detail of proofs, I must refer the reader to thofe learned authors, who have. collected the various evidence, and from thence have most clearly deduced incontestable conclufions in fupport of the authenticity of the Scriptures; Scriptures; and who confequently give ample confirmation to the truth of thefe points." But I cannot pafs them over intirely. And f wish to give the reader, if yet unacquainted with their history, fome information relative to thofe Prophets, whofe writings will be the fubjects of difcuffion-premifing a few obfervations refpecting the fcene of Prophecy, and faying a few words concerning the Prophets in general, before I enter upon the fhort account of the hiftory and explanation of the nature and ufe of Prophecy itself, with which I fhall conclude this preparatory Chapter, قمر The principal fcene of Prophecy, after the death of Mofes, was the country of Judea:a country of little eminence when compared with the mighty empires of the earth; but not fo very inconfiderable as it is ufually reprefented, when compared more justly with kingdoms which exifted nearer to its ancient date 2. The truth is, that we annex certain ideas a Porphyry, who lived in the third century, and was an acute and learned writer against Christianity, confeffed that Mofes flourished near a 1000 years before any of the Greek Philofophers; and it is well known that Herodotus, the earliest Grecian Hiftorian, was contem ideas of dignity and greatnefs to the kingdoms of Troy, of Argos, of Crete, of Lydia, and the different ftates of Greece, because the poets and hiftorians magnify their importance in our youthful minds, and because we never lofe fight of them while we pursue our. ftudies. Whereas the Ifraelites, feparated from the rest of the world for the exprefs purpose of preferving the Oracles of God, quietly fettled in the promised land, which they had conquered in far more remote antiquity, or fuffering in captivity the predicted punishment of difobedience to their law, are feldom prefented to our notice by thofe authors in whom we are accustomed to confide for our knowledge of ancient history.With the kingdom of Ifrael we are little acquainted, except as it forms a part of early religious inftruction; and the reverence with which we may be difpofed to remember it, is often abated when we difcover the low estimation in which it is generally held with refpect to the dazzling points of fplendor, power, and fame. It may however be asked, which of the great monarchies of the ancient world exceeded in magnificence the Court porary with Malachi, the laft of the Prophets. Hence Jofephus fpeaks with great contempt of the late origin of Grecian literature. } of of Solomon, and the Temple of Jerufalem? The astonishment, admiration, and awe, expreffed by Alexander and by Titus, when they beheld the Temple, preclude the idea of exaggerated defcription, and appear to establish its claim to fuperior grandeur and riches, while the fimple patriarchal manners of the people (manners which ftill prevail in Arabia and in a part of India) muft increase the wonder. With respect to power, and its attendant, fame, the Ifraelites were forbidden to extend their conquefts beyond certain limits; for it is evident, that their reputation in the world as a people made no part of the intended object, for which they were distinguished by the Almighty-perhaps was inconfiftent with it:-but nothing human could refift the power with which they were endued, whenever they were allowed to exert it. It is allowed, however, that the frequent punishments, to which they were subjected by their frequent difobedience to the commands of God, confined the nation much within the bounds prefcribed, till the age when Solomon "reigned over all the kings, from the river Euphrates, even unto the land See Newton on the Prophecies, and Jofephus, lib. vi. c. iv. &c. of of the Philistines, and to the borders of Egypt," and "exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wifdom," and, it may be added, for " honour" or famed; a fact to which eastern tradition still gives teftimony. It is allowed too, that this extended greatness of the kingdom was of short duration, and that it feemed to fink into infignificance juft as the kingdoms of the Heathen world rose into importance: but it is maintained, that all these circumftances confirm the credibility of the Jewish history, because they are all in strict conformity with the conditional promifes and the prophetic word of God, and with the great defign for which the Jews were to continue a peculiar people. The ignorance and the "obfcurity imputed to the Jewish people will, indeed, furnish no inconfiderable argument to prove the divine origin of their prophecies. If their, knowledge? and their experience were limited to the narrow confines of their own country if their means of information were small, and their connexions with other nations precarious and accidental, they had the lefs ground to foretell, with any probability of being right, the 2 2. Chron. ix. 26. iii. 13. 2 Chron. i. 12. iii. 13. future |