RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES. BY THE REV. THOMAS TATTERSHALL, D.D. 2 PETER i. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. THE present lecture has been announced under the title of the Rules to be observed in the Interpretation of the Prophetic Scriptures; and from the very general nature (if that alone were considered) of the terms so employed, it might perhaps be expected to contain a dissertation upon the interpretation of prophecy in its widest extent; and to comprehend, among other particulars, an exposition of the principles which ought to guide us, in endeavouring to determine the meaning of the various symbolical representations which occur in the prophetic imagery of the Old, and especially of the New Testament. But from every attempt of this kind we are deterred, on the present occasion, not only by the wide extent and extreme difficulty which obviously belong to an investigation of such a nature; but also from the happy necessity of bearing in mind the special design of the course of Lectures of which the present is intended to constitute one of the series, namely, to exhibit a practical view of the past, present, and future purposes of God towards the Jews; in pursuance of which design, it would appear to commend itself as our safest course, to confine our remarks for the most part, if not exclusively, to that department of prophecy-itself sufficiently extensive-in which the language of symbols is not used; and to endeavour, as far as we may be enabled, to state the manner in which these plainer prophetic declarations ought to be understood or interpreted by us, if we would hope to ascertain what it was in the mind of the Spirit to disclose, respecting the prospects of that people whom Jehovah chose to himself to be his inheritance; and with whom he has established a covenant which shall endure to all generations. It might perhaps appear to some minds, that a discussion of this kind is not altogether suited to form the subject of an address from the pulpit; that it must, from its very nature, belong rather to the school of Theology or scientific Divinity, than to the Church, which we may be permitted to denominate the seminary of devotional, experimental, and practical religion; that it must be less conversant, or less immediately conversant, than many other subjects, with those great truths and precepts, upon the cordial reception of which depends the state of man as a sinner pardoned and accepted of God, and with those holy affections and dispositions of mind in which all true piety properly consists :-and these remarks, I conceive, are by no means without their force. But still it ought to be remembered, that all spiritual profit must ever depend on a right understanding of God's Holy Word; of which sacred volume prophecy forms a very considerable part: -that if we form a wrong apprehension of any portion of the Divine records, we lose the benefit of those particular lessons which that portion was designed to teach; and that if, in consequence of conducting our scriptural inquiries upon wrong principles, or by a wrong method, we deduce from them conclusions different from those to which any particular passage, when understood rightly, would really lead, we must in every such case, even though our conclusions should contain nothing positively erroneous in themselves, be in reality losers by them; unless it could be maintained that our own imaginary sense of the passage in question is likely to prove equally profit able, in a practical point of view, with that which the Holy Spirit intended to convey. And on this account, I am by no means certain that it would not tend much to the spiritual advantage of our people, if topics of this kind were more frequently brought forward and treated of, in our public ministry, than is usually the practice amongst us. Perhaps the simplest and most easily intelligible mode in which I can handle the subject with which I have been intrusted, and by which I may hope that it will be rendered interesting to a popular audience, will be to propose in the form of questions, two or three in number, those inquiries, which, it is not unnatural to suppose, may suggest themselves to a well regulated and conscientious mind, on opening and searching the volume of Sacred Scripture, with a view to obtain information on the subject of the present Course of Lectures, that is, concerning the expectations and prospects of the Jewish nation and people. Whether any statements, apparently favoring or giving countenance to expectations or prospects of a blessed and glorious kind, present themselves to the reader of the Sacred Volume, can be no question at all. This fact is too obvious to admit of a moment's doubt or dispute. The only legitimate inquiry must relate to the mode in which the statements in question require to be understood, and we may therefore properly ask, I. Are these prophecies to be taken by us as they verbally stand, and to be understood to relate really and properly to the descendants of Abraham; or are we to consider them as unfolding the designs of Almighty God towards the Christian Church? This, it will be immediately perceived, is equivalent to the inquiry whether the prophetic Scriptures are to be taken in their literal and grammatical sense; or whether they are to be understood in some figurative or spiritual signification. And this inquiry may then be followed by another, namely II. Are the prophetic statements or declarations of Sacred Scripture to be taken in one sense only; or may they be understood to bear more than one signification? and in what way will the determination of the former question be modified or affected by the present? This relates to what is termed the question concerning the double sense of prophecy. And, further,— III. Supposing that these prophetic Scriptures do really relate to the fortunes of the Jewish people; then, since they were all delivered in ages long since past, may they not have already reached their accomplishment: or are there any decisive |