Scripture, with the anfwers of the Proteftants, may confult Spanheim's Chamier. contract. p. 237, &c,

(3.) The Jews are highly delighted with manifold fenfes of Scripture. There has, indeed, been among them a fect, called Karaites, who were for a literal and just interpretation of Scripture. But that has ever been an unpopular fect, and hated by the Rabbies, and by the Jews in general.,

The Rabbies (as has been already obferved) affert "that the "Scripture has feventy-two faces." And the Rabbics are the popular, learned men among the Jews, who are had in the higheft esteem and veneration. The Jews, therefore, cannot but be pleafed to fee Chriftians imitating their Rabbies. And, indeed, I know of nothing that could fo effectually cover the Jews from the attacks of Chriftians, or harden them in their infidelity, as the giving into double interpretations. For a Jew might argue thus with a Chriftian, who allows double fenfes. Suppofe your Meffiah has come, and "fulfilled the prophecies in one fenfe; the Meffiah, whom we expect, may come, and fulfil thofe very prophecies in another sense. "And why may not we, Jews, take the fenfe of the prophecies which we like beft; as well as you, Chriftians, take the fense of them which you like beft, especially as you yourselves allow that the prophecies are fairly capable of more fenfes than one?"

I do not know what folid reply fuch a Chriftian could make to a Jew, who fhould argue in that manner. Nay, if another Meffiah fhould come, and anfwer the prefent opinion and expectation of moft of the Jews; yet fuch, as would not receive him, might argue in the fame way for the coming of another :--and fo on without end.

(4.) The, enemies of revelation are glad to fee Chriftians pleading for double fenfes becaufe it affords the greatest advantage to them and their caufe. What a poor figure would Mr. Collins's two books make, if the prophecies were interpreted in their one, true, and proper fignification; and all the myftical, double, fenfes of them were denied, and rejected by Chriílians! What indecent rhodomontade would Mr. Woolfton's difcourfes on our Lord's miracles appear to be, if you take away the myftical, allegorical interpretations; and explain them in their juft and literal meaning! Whenever the author of "Chriftianity as old as the creation" is pinched with the reafonbleness of the literal fenfe of Scripture, he has recourfe to a mystical, allegorical interpretation; and then, to fupport that, he, in a very ridiculous manner, cries out, "The letter killeth, but the fpirit giveth life." The author of " Christianity "not founded in argument" would prefently be ftruck dumb, if you denied double fenfes; and would not allow him to fix his own fanciful, and even contradictory, interpretations upon texts of Scripture at his pleasure. And all the little dealers in infidelity fly to this refuge, when the one, true, fenfe of Scripture is fo apparently reasonable and excellent, that they have nothing to object against it. Confidering these things, methinks it is high time for Chriftians in general to be upon their guard, and not give way to double interpretations;

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terpretations; which would gratify their enemies, and render it more difficult to defend the Chriftian revelation.

Words, without a fixed meaning, convey no doctrine; and in effect contain no revelation at all. Antecedent to one's opening the Bible, if one was told that it was a revelation from God, one would expect that the doctrines effential to falvation fhould be expreffed clearly; becaufe men are concerned to understand and believe them: that the rules of practice, or the precepts of an holy life, fhould have a fingle and determinate meaning; because men are concerned to understand and practise them. For, if their fenfe were dubious, the practice formed upon them could not be fteady and uniform. The promises fhould be clear and exprefs; because they are to influence men as motives to obedience; and the threatenings fhould be intelligible, and their meaning fixed, because they are to deter men from fin and difobedience. The rules of divine worship ought to be exprefs and determinate, and the language of our worship clear and intelligible; otherwife, we might as well worship in an unknown tongue. For all divine worship ought to be entirely in fubordination to moral virtue, or true holinefs. And it cannot influence God in our favour, unlefs it influence us to an holy temper and life. But what has no certain meaning cannot be expected to edify us, or to have any good and proper influence upon us.-The facred history should be plain and intelligible; because it relates the most interesting events, events of public concern, and great importance to mankind.

We justly condemn the anfwers of the Heathen oracles, as riddles, dark and obfcure, vague and indeterminate, capable of being turned many ways, without certainly knowing which fenfe was intended, or in what way they are to be understood. But divine prophecies fhould be intelligible, and have one determinate meaning; that it may be known when and how they are accomplished.-We admire it as an excellence in Homer, and other celebrated writers of antiquity, that their meaning is expreffed clearly; and may not we expect, when God fpeaks to men, that his meaning fhould be expreffed in as clear and determinate a manner?

In one word, if the Scriptures are not to be interpreted, like the beft ancient authors, in their one, true, and genuine meaning, the common people will be led to doubt, whether or no the Scriptures have any certain meaning at all. They will be for ever at a lofs what to believe, and what to practife, upon what to ground their comfort here, and their hope of everlafting falvation hereafter.

By all that has been faid, I would not be understood to intimate, that all texts are to be interpreted alike. No! general expreffions muft contain a number of particulars under them; though particular expreffions must be confined and limited to particular cafes. All texts are not to be interpreted in the literal sense; nor all texts in the allegorical or figurative fenfe. What I contend for is, that every text has only one meaning; which when we have found, we -need enquire no further. Literal paffages ought to be interpreted literally figurative paffages, figuratively. Hiftorical narrations are

to be understood hiftorically: and allegorical paffages ought to be interpreted allegorically. In parables, the fact is nothing, but as it illuftrates, or inculcates, the moral, or application. In figurative, or allegorical, paffages, the thing alluded to, in the figure, or alle gory, is only to enliven or illuftrate what is faid. And he would act as unreasonable a part, who would interpret figurative expreffions literally; as he, who would interpret literal expreffions figuratively. The obvious and grammatical, or the thetorical and figurative, fenfe of the words, the time and place, the character and fituation of the fpeaker or writer, and the relation which any paffage has to his main view, or to the connection, will, in moft cafes, lead an interpreter easily to diftinguish hiftory from parable or allegory, and literal reprefentations from fuch as are myftical or figurative. And the judgement of a true critic, or faithful interpreter of holy Scripture, will very much appear therein. But fancy and imagination are boundless; and no rules nor limits can be fet to them.

SECT. V.

THE prophecies have been thought to favour double fenfes the most of any part of holy Scripture. But, perhaps, upon examination, they do not really require or admit of fuch an interpretation. Dr. Sykes [in his Connection between natural and revealed Religion has a whole chapter, to fhew that the ancient prophecies contained only one fingle fenfe. And that chapter I would recommend to the reader's perufal.

Some particular paffages I would now confider.

(1.) If the fecond and fixteenth Pfalms can be fhewn quite throughout to agree to king David; then they ought to be interpreted of him. But if (as fome judicious perfons have thought) there be in them fome expreffions, which are not applicable to king David, then they fhould be interpreted wholly concerning the Meffiah; to whom they do in every part very well agree.

(2.) The feventy-fecond Pfalm has generally been applied to king Solomon, but fome have thought that it was a prophecy of the Meffiah; and that there are, in it, paffages which were not applicable to king Solomon, If fo; then I apprehend the Pfalm ought not to be applied to him at all. For, if the interpretation will not go through, that very circumftance feems to be a plain proof that the interpreter has fet out wrong. Some of the ancient Jews were of opinion, that feveral things, in this Pfalm, belong more properly to the Meffiah than to Solomon. And Theodoret, in his interpretation, fuppofes that king David, in this Pfalm, prophefies of nothing else but the Meffiah; and that he hath no refpect to Solomon. The paffages, which could not belong to king Solomon and his fubjects, are fuch as thefe, [ver. 5. "They fhall fear him, as long as the fun and moon endure, throughout all generations." Ver. 7. "In his days fhall the righteous flourish; and abundance "of peace, fo long as the moon endures." Ver. 11. " Yea all

"kings fhall bow down before him, all nations fhall ferve him." Ver. 17. "His name fhall endure for ever; his name fhall be con"tinued, as long as the fun; and men fhall be bleffed in him. "All nations fhall call him bleffed.]

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As to the paffages, which have been thought inconfiftent with the Pfalm's being a prophecy of the Meffiah," Ver. 1. He is called [a King, and the king's fon"]. But was not our Lord a king? and "the fon of him, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords?" Or, by the king," fome may underftand David himfelf; and, by "the king's fon," his great defcendent, the Meffiah. [See Matth. ii. 1. and xxii. 42. Mark xi. 10.]. Though the Chaldee interpreteth "the king" to be Chrift. And fevera!, that interpret the Pfalm of Solomon, fuppofe that he is called both " the king" and " the king's

fon." Ver. 15. " Prayer, alfo, fhall be made for him continually; " and daily fhall he be praifed." The former part of this verse has been thought to be an objection against interpreting the pfalm of the Meffiah. Some, indeed, have understood it of praying before, or to, him. But is not prayer made for him continually; when his difciples daily pray, "Thy kingdom come." "May the king"dom of the Meffiah be fet up, where it is not; and have more in

fluence, where it is already fet up!" Is not this praying for the Meffiah? or for the enlargement and fuccefs of his kingdom; which is, in this pfalm, fo beautifully defcribed, as a kingdom of truth and righteoufnefs? The latter part of the verfe ["daily fhall "he be praifed"] is moft applicable to the Meffiah, our bleffed Lord and Saviour. And I do not fee any thing in that pfalm, but what exacly fuites his great and glorious character.

(3.) The famous prophecy, Ifai. vii. 14. quoted by St. Matthew [ch. i. 22, 23], has been thought to contain a double fenfe. Or elfe, St. Matthew's application of it (as it is fuppofed) cannot be vindicated. It has been faid, " that Ifaiah fpoke the words, not of "the Meffiah, but of his own child; whofe birth of a young "woman was given as a fign, that Jerufalem fhould be delivered, "before the child fhould be able to fpeak plain. The prophecy, "then, being literally fulfilled in the prophet's days, it is forced "and unnatural to fix a figurative, which is another, interpretation, 66 upon the text."

But this objection will appear to have no foundation, when it is confidered that the prophecy was originally and literally intended for our Saviour's miraculous birth; and literally accomplished in that remarkable event: and that there are in reality two predictions or prophecies delivered in that chapter; viz. one concerning" the "houfe of David," which fhould not be then deftroyed (as king Ahaz and his people were afraid); but continue till the Meffiah came, who should be born of a virgin. And the other prophecy was, that king Ahaz's two enemies thould, in a few years, be deftroyed; and unable to moleft him, or his kingdom, any more.

Ahaz, king of Judah, was then in the utmoft diftraction at the invafion which threatened Jerufalem, his capital city, from the two neighbouring

neighbouring and confederate kings of Syria and Ifrael. To comfort him in this conjuncture, Ifaiah is fent of God, with a meffage to king Ahaz, to let him know that their counfels and attempts fhould prove ineffectual.

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Ifai. viii. 18. The prophet himself informs us," Behold I, and "the children, whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Ifrael, from the Lord of hofts, who dwelleth in " mount Zion." And accordingly he is ordered [Ifai. vii. 3.}, "to go and meet king Ahaz in fuch a place; and to take with him Shear-jafhub, his fon." And, when the prophet came up to the king, carrying his little boy in his arms, or leading him in his hand, for a fign, as God had commanded him, he found the king and his nobles viewing the walls of the city under the utmost dejection. "For his heart was moved, and the heart of his people," at the rumour of the confederacy, "as the trees of the wood are moved "with the wind." [Ver. 2.]. And the prophet would have comforted them with the divine meffage which he brought. To that end, he compared the two hoftile kings to two firebrands, who fhould fmoke, but never burn; and foretold the speedy fate of their kingdoms. Bu king Ahaz and his nobles feem to have paid litle regard to the divine meffage. Then the prophet spoke again to the king, and offered him the choice of any fign, in the depth beneath, or in the height above. But king Ahaz, in a fullen humour, refused to afk any fign. And he and his counsellors defpifed the prophet, and diftrufted God. Since then king Ahaz himfelf refufed to afk any fign, and the houfe of David was fo greatly moved and affected, God, by the prophet, faid, "Hear ye now, O "houte of David, I will give you a fign, Behold, a virgin fhall conceive, and bear a fon; and fhall call his name Immanuel,' that is, God with us. The line of David, therefore, fhall not "be cut off, till this remarkable event happen, and the Meffiah be born, in a miraculous manner, and of a pure virgin."

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Now this is a literal prediction, and was exactly accomplished, fome hundreds years after, in the perfon of our bleffed Lord; the only perfon, to whom fuch a prophecy can be literally applied. And this prophecy is addreffed, in the plural number, to the house of David.

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The following is a diftinct prophecy, addreffed to king Ahaz, in the fingular number; and has a particular regard to him and to his danger at that time. The prophet Ifaiah, pointing (moft probably) to his fon, Shear-jafhub, whom God had commanded him to bring along with him, and conftituted a fign unto Ifarci;-poi.ating (I lay) to his own fon, who was prefent, though very young, he faid, Butter and honey fhall he cat; that he may know to refufe the evil, and choofe the good: [that is, this child fhall partake "of the peace and undisturbed plenty of the land]. Surely; before "this child banachar] 1hall know how to refufe evil, and choose what is good, the land, which thou, O Ahaz, abhorreft, "fhall be forfaken of both her kings. In other words, a year or two's time fhall deliver you from all your fears."

Here