sion. The rite is, therefore, purely symbolical; and, in taking the bread and wine, we take it as representing the body and blood of Christ, and strictly in commemoration of his dying for us.

In the next place, any declaration, as already observed, whether made by words or signs, must be definite, at least to a certain extent, otherwise it would be unintelligible; or, if not unintelligible, would carry with it, either what is common with imposture, and therefore be likely to encourage others to attempt an imitation, or would lose every mark of being a revelation from One who is both wise and good. The character of imposture has ever been, to be dark, mysterious, double-tongued. Such were the celebrated oracles of old. They spoke, but they spoke not to be understood until the event should be fulfilled; and then, which way soever things went, the prediction was found sufficiently pliant to conform with them. It is indeed grievous to hear persons among ourselves often talking about unfulfilled prophecy, as if this was the case with the sacred writers; when, in fact, a want of knowledge must lie at the bottom of all such notions. They have perhaps, through haste, or a reverence for the memory of good men, been themselves led into error on some fundamental points of scriptural interpretation, and, in order to suppress all inquiry into subjects, in which they think they see no certainty, they have recourse to what is in itself not only erroneous, but highly mischievous and degrading to the word of God. Another evil resulting from this indefinite view of prophecy is, It opens the flood-gates to every species of fraud and mysticism. What ill-informed but prudent men will not do, equally ill-informed, but imprudent men will do with all their hearts. Here, what prudence will not dare to meddle with, imprudence will make it a merit to carry to the most ridiculous extremes; and, not to follow this will be triumphantly stigmatised as a want of light, faith, piety, knowledge, and a thousand other such things; and even the Scriptures themselves will be cited to keep up the delusion: "He taketh the wise in their own conceits, and he confoundeth the counsel of the prudent," &c. &c.; all of which will be loudly re-echoed from every quarter, by the undiscerning but well-meaning multitude.

The very nature of the case, therefore, demands that prophecy, whether verbal or symbolical, be simple, intelligible, and a legitimate object of Christian inquiry. If, indeed, neither the one nor the other has yet generally been made out, the fault lies not in the thing itself, but in the persons. And, the fact of the case is in strict conformity with this statement; for, before the times of the Reformation, sufficient learning and patience had never been brought to bear upon the question; and, since that period, although great learning and labour have occasionally been directed to the investigation of the text of Scripture, yet this has never been continued for any considerable time; nor has there ever been encouragement sufficient held out, to afford the prospect of it. But to leave this subject.

Let us now consider a few of those instances of symbolical representation, of whose main object there can be no doubt, but of the inferior parts of which no explanation has been given: and then from these endeavour to extract some rules for our guidance in instances which may seem to be still more obscure. In the sixth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy it is said: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain did he fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is filled with his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." Here, I think, we can have no doubt that these subordinate circumstances are intended merely to increase the majesty, splendour, and awe, of the main object; namely, the person of the Almighty; and this for the purpose of giving authority and effect to the mission, subsequently mentioned; and, if this be the case, it will be extremely absurd to offer any speculations either upon the abstract nature of God or of these ministering and subordinate Beings.* The same holds good in predictions which

* Some most valuable remarks on this subject will be found in the Commentary of Theodoret on the first chapter of Ezekiel. A few extracts

are purely verbal. We look in these, first for the main object foretold; secondly, for those particulars which are to define it: and we may, if we choose, also inquire into its object and end. This will be all legitimate; but no one would here think of offering any theological speculations upon the different parts of speech composing such declaration. This would be madness; nor would he, if he were in his right mind, think of counting the words, the powers of the different letters or syllables composing them this would be to follow the jargon of the Cabbala, and to infer, that God himself would condescend to instruct and to inform his creatures by means the most ridiculous and childish possible. Besides, the sacred writers appear to have been of all men the most direct and simple. Their practice was to appeal to nature and to experience, which all who have had the good fortune to have lived a few years in the world, and the prudence to use their eyes and understanding, know to be plain, direct, and unembarrassed.

66

The main object had in view, therefore, in the prophecy just cited seems to be, the majesty and authority of the Lord of Hosts. Let us now turn to the commencement of Ezekiel's prophecy, and endeavour to ascertain what we meet with there. In the first place we are told, 66 that the heavens were opened," and that the prophet visions of God." At the end of this chapter, we are also told that "this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord;" and that when the prophet saw it, “he fell upon his face." In the commencement of the second chapter, God speaks and thus commissions the prophet to

saw the

I cannot forbear making, which I hope will have the effect, both of setting this matter in its just point of view, and also of sending others to this excellent work on the Interpretation of Prophecy. In some instances, I think, this elegant writer over-presses his symbolical matter; and in others, forgets the glories and privileges of the true Church: but although he may have occasionally been mistaken, his work cannot be read without very great advantage and delight. The following are the passages I would cite as important in this place: Οὐ .... ἁπλῶς ἔφη τέσσαρα τιθεῖσθαι ζῶα, οὔτε μὴν ὁμοίωμα ζώων, ἀλλ' ὡς ὁμοίωμα τεσσάρων ζώων· ὡς εἶναι δῆλον, ὅτι οὐκ αὐτὰς ἐθεώρουν ΤΩΝ ̓ΑΟΡΑΤΩΝ ΤΑΣ ΦΥΣΕΙΣ οἱ θεσπέσιοι προφῆται, ἀλλ ̓ εἰκάσματά τινα, κ. τ. λ. (tom. ii. p. 309). Again (p. 313), Πανταχοῦ ὁ θεῖος προφήτης τὸ ὁμοίωμα τίθησι, διδάσκων ἡμᾶς σκια. γραφίαν τινὰ τῶν θείων τεθιᾶσθαι, καὶ ΟΥΚ ΑΥΤΗΝ ΤΩΝ ΑΟΡΑΤΩΝ ΤΗΝ ΦΥΣΙΝ. See also pp. 314, 315.

go and to preach to the house of Israel. The main object, as well as the end had in view, is therefore evidently the same with that of Isaiah. And it is most probable, that the appearances of the living creatures, &c. which I should term the subordinate circumstances of this revelation, were added solely for the purpose of giving majesty, awe, and consequently effect, to the whole. They appear to suggest nothing more than the instruments of power, with which God is invested, and here to have been opened out to us, in the only way likely to strike our senses, and to insure our deepest attention and reverence. Not, I believe, for the purpose of putting us in possession of any knowledge respecting the hierarchy of heaven; but only to impress us with the feelings of awe and reverence, and to assure us that it was the God of nature who spoke. Nor have we here any thing more than we have in the verbal declarations of the Scriptures; for in those we are told, that he makes his angels spirits, and his ministers flames of fire: alluding, I suppose, to the storms, tempests, thunders, and lightnings, with which he has occasionally executed his purposes. The exhibition of Ezekiel differs, it is true, in some respects from that of Isaiah; but, from the partial resemblances discoverable in the subordinate agents, as well as from the main object and end being perfectly similar, we cannot doubt, I think, that both are of one and the same sort of symbolical representations. But why, it may be asked, are these subordinate parts so much dwelt upon, in either case, if they are intended only to contribute in this way to the effect of the primary object? Why, for example, does the tempest come from the north? I answer: It was most likely to intimate, that the calamity predicted, was to come upon Judea from that quarter, as many have already supposed, and if so, an invasion from Babylon was probably intended ; which, I think, an examination of the context will confirm. The circumstance of the lion, ox, eagle, and man, being found among the representations, may have been given for the reason which had caused Zedekiah's horns to be made of iron, merely to give strength and effect; and to imply that, as the God of nature would be engaged in this, a combination of the principal animals with the lightning, &c.

would most properly and compendiously exhibit the aggregate of his all-overwhelming power.

Let us now turn to the Book of the Revelation, and examine one or two of the symbolical representations there given. In chap. i. 10, &c. it is said: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest write in a book," &c. Ver. 12. "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen," &c.

*

Here we may remark: The person of Christ, to whom the title of the first and the last, as well as divine worship, is given, occupies in this vision the place which Jehovah does in that of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and for the very same end; namely, that of commissioning his servant to make a communication to his people. So far the vision is of the same character; but, inasmuch as the Churches to whom this communication is to be made, are also introduced under the symbols of candlesticks, and their Presidents or Bishops under those of seven stars, this vision may be said to be of a more complex nature, and to include, not only the majestic and authoritative character of the person sending, but also that of the persons by whom the mission is to be undertaken. It is highly worthy of remark too, that Christ

* See Isaiah, xlviii. 12, where this title is ascribed to Jehovah.