of fleshly lusts,* to spiritual-mindedness,† to beneficence and mercy,‡ to patience and endurance,§ to watchfulness and soberness,|| to charity in judgment,¶ to ministerial faithfulness and diligence.** To these and many other practical uses is the study of prophecy applied. So far from the objection having truth in it, the fact is, that nothing, according to the showing of the Bible, has a more practical tendency than this very thing.

V. It is still objected THAT SOME PERSONS HAVE BECOME DERANGED OR FANATICAL, AND UTTERLY DISQUALIFIED FOR THE DUTIES OF LIFE BY THE STUDY OF THE PRO

PHECIES.

The like objection has been urged against religion. and the study of the Bible altogether. Peculiar temperaments,―men of weak minds and strong passions, men of ardent fancies and of doubtful piety, may indeed be injured, as some have been, when they have turned their thoughts to religion; but these things are not to be referred to the prophecies,nor to the Bible,-nor to religion,-any more than the derangements and fanaticism of men in business, in literature, and in scientific pursuits, are to be attributed to them as to their cause. For one Austin, or Irving, or others, whose derangement and fanaticism have shown themselves on the subject of the study of the prophecies, we can point to ten or more, whose business and literary and scientific pursuits, have rendered them insane. The truth is, some minds and temperaments are incapable of close and assiduous application; but does it therefore follow, that study

* Col. 3. 4, 5. † Phil. 3. 20, 21.

Mat. 25. 31-36.

§ 2 Thess. 1. 4-7. Heb. 10. 36, 37. James, 5.7, 8. 1 Pet. 1. 6, 7; 4. 12, 13. || Matt. 24. 42, 44; 25. 13. Luke, 12. 35, 37. Rev. 16. 15. 1 Thess. 5. 4, 6. T 1 Cor. 4. 3. ** Matt. 24. 46. 1 Tim. 6. 13, 14. 2 Tim. 4. 1, 2. 1 Thess. 2. 19. 1 Pet. 5. 1–4.

and business must be abandoned by all? This objection is exceedingly frivolous,

VI. THE WILD EXTRAVAGANT NOVELTY OF WHAT IS CALLED MODERN THEORIES ON THE SUBJECT OF THE PROPHECIES IS OFTEN ALLEGED AS AN OBJECTION AGAINST THEIR STUDY.

This term theory, is generally used, by those who are but little conversant with the study, and is generally applied to the views of those, who believe and teach the personal coming and glorious appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, prior and preparatory to the introduction of the Millenium, and the establishment of the kingdom of Heaven on earth, through the glorious reign, of Christ and of his risen saints. This is the view intended to be unfolded in these pages, and in reference to it, it is, at the very outset, denied, that there is any theory about it. It is a simple question of fact which is proposed for discussion, viz. does the Bible, or does it not, teach the premillenial coming of Christ? So far from having adopted a theory on the subject, the views that shall be exhibited have been the result of careful and painful study of the Sacred Scriptures, and have forced themselves upon the author's mind, not as the reasonings, or speculations," or theories of men, but as the testimony of God, interpreted on principles of common sense, the very principles of interpretation which the Bible itself confirms. As to the charge of wild and extravagant novelty it may suffice to state, that so far from its applying to the doctrine of the premillenial advent of Christ, history will show, that no other belief obtained in the Christian church for nearly three centuries after the death of Christ; and that the present popular and prevailing notion of a Millenium, consisting of the universal triumph of the

gospel among all nations, and of a high degree of religious prosperity for 1,000 years before the coming of Christ, is itself the novelty, being of very recent origin, and receiving no countenance, either from the feformers, the fathers, the apostles, Christ Himself, or the prophets before him.

The objections noticed are chiefly those to be found in the mouths of professing Christians. A word in conclusion, in relation to that urged by the infidel, who alleges that the prophecies of Scripture are of no more value than those of the Pagan oracles; and are either so vague and ambiguous, as to be incapable of any well-defined interpretation, or have been written after the event.

Porphyry, a great enemy to Christianity, who flourished in the second century, urged the latter part of this objection, as the only answer he could make to the argument in favor of religion from the prophecies of Daniel. So far, however, from alleging that they were vague and unintelligible, he censured Origen, and as we think, very justly, for forsaking the plain and obvious import of the Jewish Scriptures, and substituting "expositions," of what, in the pride of his infidelity, he called their "absurdities inconsistent with themselves, and inapplicable to the writings. He was always, says Porphyry of this great scholar, in company with Plato, and had the works also of Numenius and Cranius, of Apollophanes and Longinus, of Moderatus and Miromachus, and others whose writings are valued, in his hands. He also read the works of Charæmon the Stoic, and those of Cornutus. From these he derived the allegorical mode of interpretation usual in the mysteries of the Greeks, and applied it to the Jewish Scriptures.

* Euseb. Hist. Eccles., lib. vi. cap. 9.

It was the strict, literal, historical accuracy of the prophetical writings of the Old Testament, which forced Porphyry to deny their genuineness, as the best and only way, in which he could waive the force of the 'argument, taken from them, in favor of divine revelation. Both Porphyry and Celsus have long since been refuted, and the authority, of Daniel, and of the Old and New Testaments, irrefutably established. If our modern infidels are ignorant of the fact, and now revive and urge objections long since exploded, it is only one among the many proofs we have, that ignorance is the greatest enemy with which Christianity has to combat. But little is to be feared from the ignorance of the infidel. Far more is to be dreaded from the ignorance of professed Christians. It is not with the former, that these disquisitions are so much concerned, as with the latter, whose neglect of their Bibles, and whose ignorance of the great and wonderful things contained in them, are a reproach to the religion they profess.

The prophetical portions of the Sacred Scriptures commend themselves to our study, by the most cogent arguments. They are in fact God's exposition of our hope, holding forth the great objects presented to the attention of our faith, and promised for our future enjoyment. They are a beacon light, in times of storm and agitation on the great ocean of human life, thrown out to guide us as we navigate, and to warn us of the breakers on dangerous coasts. They are the pledge and dawnings of the glory to be realised by us. careful and prayerful study of the prophetical writings, cannot be neglected without incurring guilt, and rendering us justly liable to the righteous condemnation of God.

The

CHAPTER II.

THE SYSTEM OF INTERPRETATION.

THE duty of studying the prophecies having been proved expressly from the word of God, and the fallacy of the objections commonly urged against it having been exposed, a question of deep interest presents itself, viz. “ can they be understood?" On this subject many doubt, and their doubts contribute not a little to the practical neglect of the prophetical writings. These doubts often arise from, and are justified, in the opinion of many, by the different expositions given by different commentators. These expositions, it is alleged, depend on different principles of interpretation; and, in the midst of most discordant systems, and rules often adopted most arbitrarily, what, it is asked, is to become of the plain unlettered student?

This objection may be urged, with as much propriety, against the study of any other portion of the Scriptures, as against the prophecies. Historical narratives have been pronounced allegories, a mystical meaning has been substituted for or enveloped in the literal,—what has been called par excellence the SPIRITUAL has claimed preference above that of common sense, and the recondite been sought after with eagerness, to the neglect of the obvious. The infidel has therefore turned away with contempt from the Bible altogether; and the advocates of the papal hierarchy have taken occasion to assert the claim of the Roman