spired writers. The providence of God has preserved these ancient predictions through many ages, during which mighty nations and their languages have passed away; and in these latter times they are of increasing interest and importance to the Church. They contain many passages, hard to be understood, and difficulties, which the Holy Spirit will reveal in due time, but their main object is plain, and the Christian who searches them intelligently soon discovers that "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy," John v. 39; and that the whole design of prophecy is to exalt the honour of Him, who is "The Way-The Truth-and The Life." Commencing in the Book of Genesis, prophecy runs through the whole Bible, to the last words of the Book of Revelation. The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." He which testifieth these things saith, "Surely I come quickly, even so, come Lord Jesus."

A Redeemer is promised, Isaiah ix. 6. His miraculous birth, Isaiah vii. 14—vi. 1. His humility is prophesied, Zechariah ix. 9. His sufferings, and the scorn with which He would be rejected, Psalm xxii. lxix. lxxxviii. His betrayal, Psalm xli. 9-lv. 13. The price of His betrayal, Zechariah. xi. 12. That He should be cut off, Daniel ix. 26. That not a bone of Him should be broken. Compare Exodus xii. 46, and Psalm xxxiv. 20. That He should make His grave with the rich in His death. Isaiah liii. 9. Matt. xxvii. 57. That He should make intercession for the transgressors, Isaiah liii. 12. Luke xxiii. 34. His resurrection, Psalm xvi. 10; and ascension into heaven, Psalm lxviii. 18, are foretold. The acceptance of the Gentiles, Isaiah xlii. ; and the calling out from among them of a people for His name, Isaiah xi. 19. Compare with Romans xv. 12; Col. i. 26, 27.

These and many other prophecies, delivered in plain

and direct statements, have been fulfilled,* as also others, given in symbolical language, as Numbers xxiv. 17. Isaiah xi. 1-3. The greater part of those that remain to be fulfilled are written in plain and unmetaphorical language, but some in the form of symbols. They all foretell-1st, The ingratitude and wickedness of man; who in the latter days will deny Jehovah and His Messiah, Psalm 1., and give to an agent of Satan the honour and worship due to the

Lord of life. 2nd, A time of unparalleled distress on the earth, Dan. xii. 1.; Matt. xxiv. 21. 3rd, The second advent of the Lord Jesus in glory, Jude 14. The resurrection of the saints, 1 Thes. iv. 16; and the destruction of the wicked one, 2 Thes. ii. 8-12. 4th, The millennial reign of Christ over this earth, Rev. xx. 4.

Hence, whether fulfilled or unfulfilled, prophecy has a far higher purpose than the prediction of mere Gentile affairs, or the character and conduct of Gentile princes; and whenever these things are mentioned in prophecy, it is because they directly or indirectly concern, either the work of Christ, or His Church, or the Jews, or Jerusalem, where hereafter He will reign, Isaiah ix. 7. Ezek. xlviii. 35. Joel iii. 21.

In the book of Daniel there are several continuous prophetic sketches of Gentile history, but they take up only those parts of Gentile history which concern this great object of all the prophecies, and pass over in silence every other circumstance concerning the na

in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. Psalm xxii. 16. They pierced My hands and My feet.

Psalm xxii. 18. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.

Matt. xxvii. 34. They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.

Matt. xxvii. 35. And they crucified Him.

John xix. 23, 24. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also His coat; now the coat was without seam, woven from the top, throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.

tions of the earth. For example, the invasion of this island by Julius Cæsar, the geographical discoveries of Columbus, the sanguinary war now raging between Federal and Confederate Americans, Luther and the Reformation, and many other events, which have produced important results to Gentiles, are unnoticed in the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, for indeed the latter only amplifies the statements of the former, and they both speak the same thing, Acts x. 43, 1 Peter i. 10, 11. But though this principle seems evident, it has been misunderstood, and the prophecies have been regarded as if they related to the passing history of the Gentiles and their rulers, rather than as instruction to the church of Christ, while He is absent from it, and warning to the world of the judgments which will fall on it. Thus the wars of the Grecian successors of Alexander the Great are interpreted to be the fulfilment of nearly the whole of the prophecies of the 11th chap. of Daniel. And the barbarians, who overran Europe when imperial Rome declined, Popery, Mahomedanism, French Revolutions, Napoleon, &c., to have fulfilled the whole, or nearly all the predictions of the Old and New Testaments; so that, according to this mode of interpretation, little that is written would remain to be fulfilled, and the end of this dispensation would be close at hand. Such, indeed, is the thought of these expositors, one of them having fixed the date of "the end of the world" in A.D. 1836, another 1843, a third 1868, and a fourth in 1880, regardless of the words of our Lord, Matt. xxiv. 36, that no man knoweth the day nor the hour.*

*Acts i. 7. After our Lord arose from the tomb, and before His disciples had been "endued with power from on high," "they asked Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time

Prophecy, in plain language, is sometimes interwoven with symbols, which renders the interpretation dubious and difficult. The difficulties will diminish with time; in the meanwhile, a safe rule for our guidance is to accept every prophecy in a literal sense that will bear a literal meaning; remembering that some which now seem strange, may hereafter be as literally fulfilled as others, which to this day, are a stumbling block to the Jews, such as Isaiah vii. 14. And when symbols are evidently employed, we should observe how they are used by the Holy Spirit in other places of Scripture, and cautiously apply them to unfulfilled symbolical predictions.

Thus we know that a Star is the emblem of some heavenly object, Numbers xxiv. 17. A Horn symbolizes power, Luke i. 69, sovereignty, or kingly power, Dan. vii. 24. A Horse, power, military power, strength, Psalm lxxvi. 6. A Mountain, power, Isaiah xli. 15. Jer. li. 25. Zech. iv. 7. Amos vi. 1. A Woman indicates a city, or the characteristics and institutions of the inhabitants of a city, Rev. xvii. 18. But in Rev. xii. it symbolizes something else; perhaps, the church. The Serpent is a symbol of Satan; excepting in Numbers xxi. 8, 9. The Dragon is also a symbol of Satan. A Beast or wild beast symbolizes Gentile sovereignty, or a Gentile sovereign. An Adulteress is used figuratively of backsliding or apostate Israel. A Harlot indicates a system utterly separate from God, and at enmity with God. Rock, a type of Christ. 1 Cor. x. 4. Matt. xvi. 18.

restore again the kingdom to Israel ?"

Their question was

the same as if they had asked; is the end of this dispensation come? "And He said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power."

See Zechariah xiv. 7. Amos viii. 9. Joel ii. 31.