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prophecy, for he that attempts it will be involved in endless embarrassments and difficulties, and must of necessity, by the licence it gives his imagination, render the Bible a vague, uncertain, and unsatisfactory book, and prophecy a thing utterly contemptible, and fit to be classed with the ambiguities and equivoques, and unmeaning rhapsodies of the oracles of the heathen. The literal interpretation, however, is wholly devoid of such embarrassment; and while it is the only system which can present the argument fairly, fully, and consistently, to convince the Jew that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah predicted, cuts him off from all objections urged from the predictions of his coming in glory in his kingdom, and renders the Bible a plain, intelligible, and consistent book. This leads to a second remark in the exhibition of the argument.

2. That the adoption of the literal system of interpretation by the cotemporaries of the prophets—according to which the ancient Jews expected the literal coming of the Messiah, and the literal accomplishment of the events predicted, has been sanctioned and confirmed by the providence of God, in the actual literal fulfilment of all the prophecies relating to it, yea, and of the entire system of prophecy, as far as it has been verified.

It is impossible here to give anything more than general references, inasmuch as the argument would be much too far extended were we to enter into minute details. Every one, however, acquainted with his Bible, must know, that the prophecies of Scripture are a vast chain, beginning and ending with the course of this present world :-one end of that chain lay in Paradise lost, commencing in the prediction, that if man should eat the forbidden fruit, he should die: nor shall we reach the other end,-pursue it as we may, through the histories of ages and nations, and midst its thousand

times ten thousand convolutions,-till it brings us back again to Paradise restored, the glorious dominion of Jesus Christ over all the earth, in more than Eden-like blessedness. "This chain of prophecy," says the Rev. D. Simpson, "is so evident in the Sacred Scriptures, that we are more embarrassed with the selection and arrangement of that vast profusion of them, than doubtful of their import and accomplishment. To a superficial observer, they may seem to be without order or connection; but, to a well-informed mind, they are all disposed, in such a mode and succession, as to form a regular system, all whose parts harmonize in one amazing and consistent plan, which runs parallel with the history of mankind, past, present and to come." But one and the same principle of interpretation runs throughout the system, whatever may be the character and style of its language, and that is THE LITERALITY OR HISTORICAL VERITY

OF THE EVENTS AND THINGS PREDICTED.

The predictions delivered immediately after the fall, with regard to the seed of the woman's bruising the serpent's head, though uttered in symbolical language, and perhaps partly at the time illustrated by symbolical transactions, as well

Key to the Prophecies, p. 30.

† Genesis, 3. 15.

It is not at all improbable that God, our first parents, and the serpent in its pristine form, while yet possessed by Satan, and actuated as his instrument, were all visibly present together. The curse pronounced upon the serpent, (v. 11), was calculated and doubtless designed, in the most cautious manner, to apprise our first parents of the presence of a malignant spirit, without exciting too much their fears. Dr. Hengstenburg has some excellent remarks on this subject in his Christology, vol. i. 34, 36. There was nothing in the nature of things, or in the obligations of God as moral governor, to prevent a sudden, violent, visible, and mira

as those relating to the curse, upon the man, and soil, and the female sex,*-all contemplated historical verities; so too did the predictions of Lamecht concerning his son Noah ;-of Noah concerning the deluge, and his sons§ Shem, Ham and Japhet;-of the angel of the covenant concerning Abraham ;||—of Abraham concerning the afflictions and emancipations of his posterity by Isaac ; and the condition of those by Ishmael ;**—of Isaac concerning Jacob and Esau†† and the coming of Shiloh ; of Jacob concerning his twelve sons, the heads of as many tribes ;§§ of Joseph concerning his own promotion; the fate of the butler and baker, the famine in Egypt, and the deliverance of his nation ;-of Moses concerning the plagues of Egypt, the overthrow of Pharaoh, ¶¶ and the extirpation of the Amorite and other Canaanitish nations ;* the fortunes of the twelve tribes ;†††—their renunciation of the worship of Jehovah, and the establishment of idolatry ;‡‡‡—the appearance of a prophet like himself ;§§§ the sieges and disasters which should attend their city; the invasions and the captivity of the tribes

***

culous change of the external form and appearance of the animal, and of its instincts and habits. Our first parents, seeing a sudden degradation of the serpent take place, would be apprised of some intelligent agent concealed in it, against whom the blow was directed, of whose degradation and exemplary punishment the scenic transformation of the animal before them from an upright form and manly gait to the reptile crawling in the dust, would be a pledge of the ultimate triumph over Satan by the seed of the

by the Assyrians and Babylonians and Romans; the distresses of the Jews during their long dispersion and their second captivity in Egypt; the calling of the Gentiles; the eventual and final return of the Jews to their own land, and their glorious and happy condition under the dominion of the Messiah.†

All these things, with the exception of the two last, have been literally verified, according to the plain grammatical import of the words of the prophecy. Why, therefore, we ask, when nearly all Moses' predictions, with those of all before him, have been literally fulfilled, must we apply a different rule, and say, the balance, yet unfulfilled, must be understood spiritually? Being part of the same system, some divine warrant must be produced for interpreting unfulfilled prophecy on different principles from that fulfilled. To the predictions just referred to, we might add those of Joshua against the re-building of Jericho ; of Balaam,§ of Deborah,||-the predictions concerning Gideon and Samson ;** those of Hannah,†† and Sam. uel,‡‡ and the man of God§§ who foretold the destruction of Eli and his house; of Nathan ;|||| of David concerning the sufferings of the Messiah, and the opposition he should meet with from the kings and governors of this world, but of his eventual overthrow and destruction of all his enemies, and establishment of his kingdom on their ruins ;TT-of the prophet of † Deut. 32.

* Deut. 28. 21-68.

Josh. 6. 26, compared with 1 Kings, 16. 34.

§ Num. 23 & 24.

|| Judges, 4. 9, 21..

¶ Judges, 6. 11-16, and ch. 7. & 8.

** Judges, 13-16.

‡‡ 1 Sam. 10. also 18. 19, and 31. 6.

1 Sam. 2. 10, and 7. 10.

§§ 1 Sam. 2. 27-36; 4. 10-22; 22. 9-23; and 1 Kings, 2. 26, 27.

2 Sam. 7. 15, 16; 12. 10-29, &c.

¶¶ Psalms, 22. 2. 69. 110.

Bethel concerning the name and conduct of Josiah; of Abijah concerning the advancement of Jeroboam and his ruin ;* of the old prophet of Bethel ;† of Ahijah ;‡ of Micaiah, who announced the destruction of Ahab and the defeat of his army;§ of Shemaiah concerning the affliction of Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak; of Azariah concerning the success of Asa ;T of Hanani concerning the wars of Asa ;** of Jehu and Eleazar against Jehoshaphat ;†† and of Jahaziel in his favor; ‡‡ the predictions of Elijah §§ and Elisha ;|||| of Zechariah the priest against Joash;¶¶ of Huldah concerning the death of Josiah, and the Babylonish captivity ;***-the predictions that after that captivity, the Jews should have no king of their own till the Messiah came ;†††-of Isaiah, who predicted the humiliation and downfall of all the rich and great men among the Jews, and the subversion of idolatry among his countrymen,‡‡‡ the general distress and ruin of his nation,§§§ the shame and confusion of the fashionable and gay-dressed women of his country, the infatuation of his countrymen, till their country should become desolate;¶¶¶ of the invasion of Egypt and Ethiopia by the Assyrians ;**** and of Kedar in Arabia ;†††† of the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib-the destruction of his army ;‡‡‡‡ of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel and capture of

* 1 Kings, 13. 1-3, compared with 2 Kings, 22. 23.