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from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. Immediately follow the words of the text, We have alfo a more fure word of prophecy.

You fee upon what foundation their inference ftands, who affert, that the evidence which Chriftians have from prophecy for the certainty of their hopes and expectations, compared with the evidence they have from the preaching of the Apoftles, who were eye-witneffes and ear-witneffes of what they report concerning the majefty of Chrift, is the greater and furer evidence; or, in the words of a late author, that a " prophecy is a stronger argument than a mi"racle, which depends upon external evidence and "teftimony." This author has taken great pains to fhew, that the argument from prophecy for the truths of Christianity, as managed and applied by the writers of the New Teftament, is abfurd and ridiculous; and, that we may not flatter ourselves with hopes of affiftance from other arguments, he gives us this text of St. Peter, to fhew, by the authority of our own Scriptures, that prophecy, as bad an argument as it is, is nevertheless the very best that our cause affords. But his views be to himfelf; what truth there is in his expofition and application of this part of Scripture, we fhall foon fee.

Interpreters differ very much in expounding this paffage; but all, as far as I fee, agree in rejecting this fenfe, which gives a fuperiority to the evidence of prophecy above all other evidence, by which the truth of the Gofpel is confirmed; and

a A Difcourfe of the Grounds and Reasons of the Chriftian Religion, printed 1724. P. 27.

indeed the text, expounded to this meaning, contradicts not only the general fenfe of mankind upon this fubject, but will be found likewife inconfiftent with itself, and many other places of Scripture. For, first, let any man confider, and fay upon what proof and evidence the authority of prophecy itself depends. Can any prophet give greater proof of his divine miffion, than the power of working miracles? And if this be the laft, and the greateft proof he can give of his being fent by God, can the evidence of prophecy ever rife higher than the evidence of miracles, upon which it ultimately depends for all its authority? When Gideon was called to the deliverance of Ifrael, the angel of the Lord came and faid unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour;-go in this thy might, and thou shalt fave Ifrael from the hand of the Midianites; have not I fent thee? Here now was a prophecy delivered by the angel of the Lord to encourage his undertaking. What fays Gideon to this? He defires a fign; If now I have found favour in thy fight, then fhew me a fign that thou talkeft with me. A fign is given him, a miraculous fign; he is fatisfied, and undertakes the work appointed; to which he is again encouraged by two miracles wrought at his requeft, Judges vii. What think you now? the prophecy delivered by the angel was as much a prophecy before, as it was after miracles wrought in confirmation of it; but was the word of prophecy more fure before the miracles than after if fo, why was a fign defired? and when defired, why was it granted? Does God work miracles to humour men in their folly; or is it to confirm their faith? If it be to confirm their faith, then our

faith in the prophets depends upon the authority of miracles; and fince the ftream can never rise above the spring-head, the evidence of prophecy cannot be greater than the evidence of miracles. But let us take an higher inftance; Mofes was the firft, and the greatest prophet of the law, to whom God spoke face to face he was called by God to deliver the children of Ifrael out of Egypt, and commiffioned to affure them of God's immediate protection. This I suppose was sufficient to make him a prophet to Ifrael: but what fays Mofes? Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice; for they will fay, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. Was this a foolish complaint in Mofes? If it was, how came God to listen to it, and to furnish him with an answer above all exception, by giving him immediately a power to work miracles in confirmation of his prophecy? Does not this method of God's proceeding plainly fhew, that miracles are the prophet's greatest authority and confirmation? What is that fuperior evidence of prophecy then, which is faid fo much to exceed the evidence of miracles? But to go on : the comparison in the text, with respect to St. Peter himself, is between the word of prophecy, and the immediate word of God: and, according to this expofition of the text, St. Peter, who declares that he heard the voice of God himself in the mount, is made in his own person to say, (for the words are, We have a more fure word of prophecy,) that the dark prophecies of the Old Teftament were a furer and more certain evidence, than this immediate voice of God which he heard with his own ears. Now what is prophecy, that it should be more furely and cer

tainly to be depended on than the immediate voice of God? Is it poffible to think that St. Peter, or any man in his wits, could make fuch a comparison ?

But further; let us confider what account St. Peter himself gives of this word of prophecy; which, we are told, is beyond comparison the best and the fureft evidence we have for our faith: he com

pares it to a light shining in a dark place; and dif tinguishes it from day-light, and that brightness which is ufhered in by the day-ftar. This word of prophecy then is here compared by St. Peter to the glimmering light of a candle feen at a diftance in a dark night; which though it gives fome direction, yet is nothing compared to clear day-light. Is not this now a choice account of the evidence of the Gofpel; nay, of the very beft evidence which we have of the Gospel? Are we still surrounded on all fides with darkness, affifted by one only diftant glimmering light? Was it thus that Chrift came to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of Ifrael? St. Peter in his first epistle tells all Christians, that they are called out of darkness into God's marvellous light; how comes he then in this fecond epiftle to tell them, that they are ftill in darkness, and have nothing but a light glimmering in the darkness to direct them? Can the fame writer poffibly be fupposed to give fuch different accounts of our Gospelftate? Afk St. Paul, what ftate Chriftians are in; he will tell you, That the light of the glorious Gospel of Chrift, who is the image of God, has fhone unto them, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Afk the Evangelifts; they will tell you, The day-fpring from on high hath visited us, to

give light to them that fit in darkness, and in the Shadow of death. Afk any, or all of the Apoftles; they will tell you their commiffion is, To open the eyes of the people, and to turn them from darkness to light; Acts xxvi. 16. agreeably to what our Lord told his difciples, Ye are the light of the world, Matt. How different is this account from that which St. Peter is supposed to give of the best light we have under the Gofpel, in contradiction to himfelf, and almost every writer of the New Teftament!

V. 14.

But let us go one step further, and we fhall find, that St. Peter in the text is fo far from speaking of the word of prophecy, as of the beft light or evidence to be had for the point in queftion, whatever it was, that he manifeftly speaks of it as not the best, but as a light to be attended to only until a better comes: hear his words; We have alfo a more fure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, UNTIL the day dawn, and the day-ftar arife in your hearts. This light you fee is to be attended to only till the daylight comes; fo far is it from being itself the best light, that it must give way to a better. What the true import and meaning of this is, we fhall fee hereafter. But surely St. Peter would not have limited any time for their attending to the word of prophecy, had he been confidering it as the best fupport of Christian faith; for in that sense it ought ever to be attended to, and to be the conftant employment of a Chriftian's meditation, fo long as life and thought remain with him.

These reasons, I fuppofe, prevailed with interpreters to quit the apparent fenfe of this text, which

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