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literal one; or reftrain the language of any prophecy to one determinate fenfe only, which was originally capable of many.

I have faid thus much to fhew what fort of clearnefs and evidence we ought to expect from prophecies after their accomplishment. It is a great prejudice against this argument, when men come to it, expecting more from it than it will yield. This they are led to by hearing it often faid, that prophecy, however dark and obfcure at firft, grows wonderfully plain upon the accomplishment: which in fome cafes, as I have fhewn, is in fact true; but is not, cannot be fo in all cafes.

You may think it perhaps ftrange, that I fhould be here pleading, as it were, for the obfcurity of ancient prophecies; whereas you may very well conceive it would be more to the purpose of a Christian divine to maintain their clearnefs. Now as Mofes in another cafe faid, I would to God all the Lord's people were prophets; fo fay I in this cafe; I would to God all the prophecies of the Lord were manifeft to all his people. But it matters little what we wish for, or think beft; we must be content with fuch light and direction as God has thought proper to bestow on us: and to inquire why the ancient prophecies are not clearer, is like inquiring why God has not given us more reason, or made us as wife as angels: he has given us in both cafes fo much light as he thought proper, and enough to ferve the ends he intended.

It is, doubtless, a mistake to conceive prophecy to be intended folely or chiefly for their fakes, in whose time the events predicted are to happen. What great occafion is there to lay in fo long beforehand

the evidences of prophecy to convince men of things that are to happen in their own times; the truth of which they may, if they please, learn from their own fenfes ? How low an idea does it give of the adminiftration of Providence, in fending prophets, one after another, in every age from Adam to Chrift, to imagine, that all this apparatus was for their fakes who lived in and after the times of Chrift, with little regard to the ages to whom the prophecies were delivered? As I think the prophecies of the New Teftament are chiefly for our fake, who live by faith, and not by fight; fo I imagine the ancient prophecies had the like ufe, and were chiefly intended to fupport the faith and religion of the old world. Had it been otherwise, a set of prophecies given some few years before the birth of Chrift, would have ferved our purpose as well as a feries of prophecies given from the very beginning, and running through every age.

Let us then confider the use of prophecy, and this will help us to conceive the degree of clearness which ought to attend it. Some people are apt to talk, as if they thought the truth of fome facts, recorded in the Gospel, depended upon the clearness of the prophecies relating to them; they speak, for inftance, as if they imagined the certainty and reality of our Saviour's refurrection were much concerned in the clearness of the prophecies relating to that great and wonderful event, and feem to think that they are confuting the belief of his refurrection, when they are trying to confound the prophecies relating to it. But can any thing be more abfurd? For what ground or pretence is there to inquire, whether the prophecies forefhewing that the Meffiah fhould die

and rife again, do truly belong to Jefus, unless we are first satisfied that Jefus died and rofe again? We must be in poffeffion of the fact, before we can form any argument from prophecy: and therefore the truth of the refurrection, confidered as a fact, is quite independent of the evidence or authority of prophecy.

The part, which unbelievers ought to take in this queftion, should be, to fhew from the prophets that Jefus was neceffarily to rife from the dead; and then to prove, that in fact Jefus never did rife: here would be a plain confequence. But if they do not like this method, they ought to let the prophecies alone; for if Jefus did not rife, there is no harm done if the prophets have not foretold it: and if they allow the refurrection of Jefus, what do they gain by difcrediting the prophecies? The event will be what it is, let the prophecies be what they will.

There are many prophecies in the Old Teftament relating to the Babylonish captivity, and very dif tinct they are, describing the ruin of the holy city, the destruction of the temple, the carrying the tribes into a diftant country, and the continuance of the captivity for seventy years. Can you fuppose these prophecies intended to convince the people of the reality of these events when they should happen? Was there any danger they should imagine themselves fafe in their own country, when they were captives at Babylon, unless they had the evidence of prophecy for their captivity? Or, that they should think their temple standing in all its glory, when it was ruined before their eyes? If the fuppofition be abfurd in

this cafe, it is fo in every cafe; for the argument from prophecy is in all inftances the fame. It is plain then, that matters related in the Gospel do not depend for their reality upon the evidence of prophecy they may be true, though never foretold, or very obfcurely foretold; nay, they must be admitted as true, before we can so much as inquire whether any prophecy belongs to them.

But if this be the cafe, that we must admit all the facts of the Gospel to be true before we can come at the evidence of prophecy, what occafion have we, you will fay, to inquire after prophecy at all? Are not the many miracles of Chrift, his refurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, the pouring forth the gifts of the Spirit upon the Apoftles, their fpeaking with tongues, and doing many wonders in the name of Chrift, fufficient evidence to us of the truth of the Gofpel, without troubling ourselves to know whether these things were foretold, or in what manner they were foretold? To answer this question plainly, I think such facts, once admitted to be true, are a complete evidence of the divine authority of a revelation and had we known no more of Chrift, than that he claimed to be attended to as a perfon sent and commiffioned by God, he needed no other credentials than thefe already mentioned; and it would have been impertinent to demand what prophet foretold his coming. For, in a like cafe, who foretold the coming of Mofes to be a lawgiver to Ifrael? God had promised Abraham to give his pofterity the land of Canaan: but that he would give it by Mofes he had not promifed; that he would talk with him face to face, and deliver his

law to him, and by him to the people, he had not foretold the authority therefore of Mofes, as a divine lawgiver, stands upon the miraculous works performed by him; and the wonderful atteftations given to him by the presence of God in the mount, in the eyes of all the people: but upon prophecy it does not ftand, for of him there were no prophecies. This fhews that prophecy is not an evidence effential to the proof of a divine revelation; for it may be fpared in one as well as another.

But the cafe of the Gospel differs from that of the Law; for though the Law was not prophefied of, the Gospel was; he who delivered the Law was one of the first who prophefied of the Gospel, and told the people fo long beforehand, That God would raife a Prophet like unto him, whom they must hear in all things by which prediction he guarded the people against the prejudice which his own authority was like to create against a new lawgiver; telling them beforehand, that, when the great Prophet came, their obedience ought to be transferred to him. The fucceeding prophets fpeak more fully of the office, character, fufferings, and glory of the Saviour of Ifrael, and the defire of all nations. Now one of the characters, which our Saviour conftantly affumes and claims in the Gofpel, is this; that he is the perfon fpoken of by Mofes and the prophets. Whether he is this perfon or no, muft be tried by the words of prophecy; and this makes the argument from prophecy fo far neceflary to eftablish the claim of the Gospel; and it has been very juftly, as well as acutely, obferved, that the proof of this point must rely entirely on the evidence of prophecy. Mira

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