proposition relates, and which it is the object of the figure to illustrate. Thus in respect to the annunciation to Mary, "Behold, thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus; he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i. 31-33);-if this prediction were used by such a figure as these writers assume, it would be wholly impossible to determine who the personage is to whom it refers; for if Jesus is used in a tropical sense for some other being, not for the son of Mary, how can it be known who he is? The supposition that language is used by such a figure, would thus necessarily destroy all certainty and probability of its meaning.

These expositors, accordingly, do not in fact adhere to their theory, that such passages are figurative, but tacitly assume that they are symbolical, and that the agents, acts, and events of which they treat, are employed much on the principle of prophetic symbols, as representatives of others of a different class. This is what is called the spiritualization of the Scriptures, or ascription to them of a mystical meaning wholly different from their philolo gical sense. Thus the histories of the Israelites, and

the predictions of their restoration to their ancient land, their conversion, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, and the reign of Jehovah there over them, are held to be figurative in that form; that is, that their philological meaning is but a shell under which a spiritual or mystical sense, which is their true one, is veiled; or that those persons, places, acts, and events, are used by their imagined figure to foreshow simply that the Gentiles are to be converted to the Christian faith, and become partakers of salvation. On this theory, a large share of the predictions of the ancient prophets are interpreted by them. Thus Isaiah ii. 1-5, in which the elevation in the last days of mount Zion above the surrounding hills is foreshown, and the resort there of all nations for instruction in respect to God's will, his judging them, and their becoming universally peaceful and happy, is construed in that manner:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the

Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and

shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

The prediction made through this language does not relate, it is held by these expositors, to the mountain on which the temple-Jehovah's housestood, and is to stand, to Jerusalem, to the temple, to the Gentiles going there, nor to the Israelites; but these places, peoples, and acts are mere veils of a wholly different set; and the genuine and only real meaning is, simply, that all nations are to be converted to Christianity, and become members of the Christian church. This fancy is, however, wholly mistaken. In the first place, there is no figure that can make the passage capable of such a construction. There is none but the metaphor, the hypocatastasis, and the allegory, that can be supposed to give it an analogous or representative sense. But neither the metaphor nor the hypocatastasis could make the subjects of which the affirmations are made, namely, the mountain of the Lord's house, all nations, many peoples, and Jehovah, any other than those that are expressly named in it; as it is the law of those figures, that

their nominatives, or the agents or subjects to which they are applied, are the agents or subjects of the acts or events which the figures express. If the passage, therefore, were a metaphor, or a hypocatastasis, the mountain of the Lord's house, and all nations, as well as Jehovah, would be the subjects and agents of the acts and events that are severally predicted of them; not a different place, and different peoples. Indeed, how can all nations be supposed to stand for other nations, when there are no others in the world? The fancy that the terms are used in such a relation, implies that the peoples whom the prediction contemplates are inhabitants of another sphere. Nor could the allegory any more make it the vehicle of such a sense. So far from it, it would make the Israelites the people whom the prophecy most specifically contemplates; for it is the law of that figure, that the parties whose conduct, condition, or history it is employed to exemplify, are those who are expressly mentioned, either at its beginning or its close, as the persons or people whom it represents. But this prediction is directly addressed in the title to the Israelites : "The word that Isaiah saw"-that is, that was communicated to him-"concerning Judah and Jerusalem;" in which Judah and Jerusalem are used by metonymy for their inhabitants. This is

shown also by the apostrophe at the close: “O, house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord;" it being the law of that figure, that the persons or objects addressed are the persons and objects exclusively that are meant: and they are here the Israelites, the house of Jacob being used by metonymy for the family or descendants of Jacob, who are the Israelites. Moreover, as in the allegory, all the descriptive parts are representative, if the mountain of the Lord's house, his temple itself, Zion, Jerusalem, and the act of all nations in going to it, are representative, so must the nations. themselves, their expressions, their beating their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks, and their learning war no more, be representative also; so that the all nations of whom those acts are predicted cannot be the nations of this world, for they are by the supposition representatives, not those represented, but must be nations of some other orb, which is impossible. It is not only certain, therefore, that the passage is not used by either of these figures, but equally certain that if it were, it could not make it the vehicle of the mystical sense which these spiritualizing interpreters ascribe to it.

The assumption these writers tacitly make, that the agents, objects, and actions mentioned in it are