positively prove the fulfilment; of many others every probability lies on the same side; and in no case can we ascertain the failure of any of these. For that some are yet unfulfilled is no argument against them, since the time for their fulfilment is not limited; and in those predictions where the time was limited we know the prophecy was fulfilled.

Edward. If you do not regard the obscurity supposed by some to exist on this subject as real, to what would you impute the difficulties connected with it?

Mr. B. I would by no means deny that some degree of obscurity does exist in the prophecies themselves: there appears no reason to doubt that some were made designedly obscure, i. e. so far that they should only be understood from the fulfilment; and for this obscurity, in some cases, we may perceive good reason. Thus, if the

abrogation of the Mosaic law had been more clearly and fully predicted, it would have been impossible to have preserved a due respect for it till the time arrived for its abrogation.

Maria. This accounts for a designed obscurity in the prediction itself, but does not account for the obscurity which has attended the fulfilment in some cases.

Mr. B. We have no reason to complain if the lapse o time has in some measure thrown an obscurity over the fulfilment of prophecy, which did not exist at the time of the fulfilment. This is only an evil incident to the very nature of the subject, which it would require a miracle to counteract. As to any obscurity arising in the application of prophecies to particular events, I believe it springs principally from our ignorance of the language in which the predictions are recorded, and of the particulars of the events in which they were fulfilled. Much of the difficulty connected with this subject also arises from an improper mode of studying the subject.

Maria. The subject certainly should not be made an

21 What question is asked by Edward as to the supposed obscurity of prophecy?-22 How does Mr. B. reply to him?-23 For what does Maria say that this will account?-24 Of what does Mr. B. say that we have no reason to complain?-25 From what does he presume that much of our difficulty in this subject arises?

swerable for difficulties, raised by our faults or deficiencies; but how ought it to be studied?

Mr. B. It can only be properly studied by a reference to its own intimations on this subject. It must only be judged of with reference to its own pretensions. If the prophetical parts of Scripture had been designed to develope the whole train of human events in regular order, we might have just grounds of objection; but we find its language of a very different nature, and by that we must abide. "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus," says the angel in the Apocalypse; a text which throws great light upon the object of prophecy, and furnishes a satisfactory reply to those who object to the limited nature of prophecy.

Edward. In some cases, however, this is not the case, as in the predictions of the rise and fall of kingdoms.

Mr. B. If you attend to the words of the text, you will see that it is correct. You cannot limit it to the mere life and death of our Lord: all the events which in preceding affected the circumstances of his birth, which were connected with his life, or which were consequent upon his death; all the changes of empires which were more immediately influential upon either the Jewish or the Christian church, certainly fall justly within its province. More than this you will hardly find unaccompanied by evident and striking reasons for insertion, either in the prediction itself, or the peculiar circumstances of the nation to whom it was addressed.

Edward. Still we might have expected greater order in the delivery of prophecy.

Mr. B. If the delivery of prophecy had been merely the selection of certain events by the prophets, and all the future, or all parts of it relative to the testimony respecting Jesus, had been known to them, you might have made this supposition; but St. Peter informs us, that "The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,

26 In what manner does he say it should be studied and judged of?— 27 What ezception does Edward here make?-28 How does Mr. B. reply to this exception?-29 Under what circumstances might greater order in the delivery of prophecy have been expected?-30 Of what are we informed by St. Peter?

but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."-2 Pet. i. 21.

It is folly for us to argue against the manner or the order in which the prophecies were delivered, since we have no rule by which to direct our judgment; and all reasonings from our own partial knowledge or views of fitness, when applied to a subject of this nature, which must be regulated by infinite knowledge, are absurd.

Maria. But the prophecies are not so totally destitute of regularity in some respects. In those which relate especially to our Lord there is some order preserved, for they proceed from general intimations to more detailed predictions.

Edward. Does not this, however, show more of artifice than any thing else? Why should not the earlier prophets have declared all particulars as explicitly as those of later date ?

Mr. B. I do not profess to answer all your whys and wherefores, as we did not take this subject for the sake of showing how ingeniously we might argue for and against it. Your present objection can only have weight where it might be inferred, that proximity in time would enable a person to see more clearly the probabilities of future events. In the case of the predictions of Scripture, the latest prophet, Malachi, could have no advantages over his brethren, as to the prophecies which he delivered. The events were as improbable and as unforeseen at a distance of four hundred years as four thousand.

Maria. But cannot some reason be assigned for this progression in the information given by prophecy?

Mr. B. There can. It would have been absurd for Moses to have prophesied of our Lord's coming to the second Temple, when neither the first nor the second had existed. What interest would such a prophecy have had to the Israelites in the wilderness? What influence

31 What is said by Mr. B. to be folly and absurd in us?--32 How does Maria speak of the order of the prophecies?-33 Edward asks why the earlier prophets did not declare all particulars as explicitly as did those of a later date-what is the answer to this?-34 What inquiry is made by Maria as to the progression?-35 What answer is given her by Mr. B.?

would it have on their conduct? The propnecy when addressed by Malachi to the desponding Jews, who mourned the inferiority of the second Temple to the first, had the greatest force. It was sufficient to our first parents to know that a Saviour should arise; it was peculiarly encouraging to Abraham to know that the Saviour was to arise from him; but, reverse these, and you altogether destroy their effect, as first delivered.

Maria. In considering the subjects of the prophecies, delivered at various times, there must then be a reference to those to whom they were addressed?

Mr. B. Unquestionably: for the prophecies were not delivered to be shut up from the public eye, as the books of the Sibyl were at Rome: they were given for the comfort, the encouragement, and admonishing of the people; they are connected with the most solemn entreaties to repentance, faith, or holiness of life; and were adapted to the peculiar characters of those whom they addressed, or the circumstances in which they were placed.

Edward. Are we, then, to examine the predictions of each prophet separately from those of the rest?

Mr. B. By no means: we may so far examine and compare the words of each as to fix in what sense he used them; but we must on no account be contented with this; for it is directly opposed to the admonition which precedes the passage I quoted from St. Peter"Knowing that no prophecy is of any private interpretation. If the Scriptures had proceeded from various individuals without divine agency, we ought to have respect principally to the ideas of each independently of the rest; but when we are assured that they were alike the agents of the one and the same Holy Spirit in this matter, we must ascertain the meaning of the divine Author by a reference to the whole of his works.

Edward. It is not, however, conceived, I believe,

36 Was it necessary, that in giving the prophecies, there should be a reference to those to whom they were addressed?-37 Why was it necessary?-38 Are we then to examine the predictions of each prophet separately from those of the rest?-39 How are we to examine them?-40 How are we to ascertain the meaning of the divine author?

that the Holy Spirit so influenced the prophets as to deprive them of their ordinary faculties, or supersede their natural abilities.

Mr. B. If this had been the case, the evidence for the Scriptures would have been materially weakened. We should have lost all power of arguing from them as independent witnesses, where historical records failed. All that is implied in this divine agency on the mind, only affects the facts of what were delivered. The impression of these was imprinted upon the mind with the greatest certainty, but each communicated that impression to others by the natural means peculiar to himself. The difference of style in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, mark these prophets clearly as distinct men: but the sameness of the subject (taking the word in an extended sense) as clearly decides the sameness of the Spirit which revealed the future to all.

Maria. There is, however, in all a very high style of language, and extraordinary greatness of thought.

Mr. B. This most probably is owing to the grandeur of the subjects on which they treated, and the impression necessarily made upon their minds by the very nature of heavenly communications. They to whom the almighty Creator and Governor of all things revealed his will, could not write of him so unworthily as others, not blessed with similar communications, would be liable to do.

Edward. From what has been said, it would appear that we may regard the prophecies in two ways, either with reference to those in whose time they were delivered, or with respect to those in whose time they were to be fulfilled.

Mr. B. And even beyond this it may occasionally be useful to review them as affecting all who lived after the time of their delivery, and before their fulfilment, and as affecting all who lived after the last-mentioned period.

41 Were the prophets so influenced by the Holy Spirit, as to have been deprived of the use of their ordinary faculties?-42 How were they influenced?-43 How is this illustrated by reference to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel?-44 To what is to be ascribed the elevated style of language in all the prophets?-45 What are the two ways in which Edward says the prophecies may be regarded?-46 Beyond this, what may be useful?