science," which, however convincing in themselves, can be recognised, in such an inquiry as the present, only so far as they are found to consist with tests of a far higher order. In the course of the foregoing disquisition it has been my earnest wish neither to overlook nor lessen the force of any of Mr. Cuninghame's arguments and objections, which I have, on the contrary, endeavoured to place in the most striking point of view. As regards the temper of the weapons which I have opposed to him—all of them now for the first time unsheathed by any writer-I invite inquiry; conscious, that, if defects are discovered, it will not be in the weapons themselves, but in the writer's mode of wielding them; and that every new objection brought against the integrity of the sacred Hebrew text and numbers will but furnish an argument to demonstrate its own futility. I indulge the hope that, as requested at the outset of this paper, the reader will attend to the facts adduced, rather than to the manner in which they have been stated; to the quiddity (to adopt the language of the schools), rather than the quality, of the text; the present composition having been written during illness, and afterwards revised amidst many drawbacks on the writer's attention. This will also, I trust, be my excuse, should any errors be discovered in the incorporation of so much difficult matter: these, however, I hope are few. This dissertation having already exceeded the reasonable limits of a paper, I reserve my reply to Mr. Cuninghame's remaining arguments for a future Number of the Morning Watch; in which, life and health being spared, I promise to repel his assault on my astronomical positions, causing the celestial catapulta to rebound;-to refute his reasoning drawn from the custody of the sacred volume, and the assumed Divine sanction of the Greek numbers * ;-to prove that the Hebrew text has been so guarded by an overruling Providence, in every age, as to have rendered any premeditated and systematic corruption impracticable;—to produce original evidence of the existence of the present Hebrew numbers in the days of the Seventy interpreters; to demonstrate, from internal characters, apart from the history of the Judges, that the 480 years of 1 Kings vi. 1, is a true and original reading;—and, finally, to shew that the interests of the church are identified with the sacred Hebrew system, so far as matters of chronological criticism can uphold religion. August 22, 1831. ISAAC CULLIMORE. * I should have before remarked, that those who assume so high a sanction for the computation of the Seventy ought not to leave us in ignorance as to which version of that computation is the inspired one. Is it the Aldine (on which Mr. Cuninghame's arguments are founded)? the Eusebian? the Vatican? the Alexandrine? the Basilian? the copy of Josephus?-But I must not go on, for a page would scarcely set forth all the candidates for this distinction. A TABLE of the TIMES OF THE PATRIARCHS, Hebrew, the Samaritan, Josephus, and the Septuagint Authorit history of the Dispersion and Peopling of Nations, the history of th JOSEPH 603 [33 mea n110 1193 [33 470 Salah dies TERAH...... Haran *Rem. of Te 222 70 rah'sGene- 341 Nahor dies ration. ABRAHAM.. 393 Serug dies...... 427 Terah dies 1017 Terah dies .... 452 60.... 502 Shem dies .. .... 205 872 70 145 922 70 2058 .... .... 175 942 100) .... ... .... .... .... .... 147 1212 (91) 527 Abraham dies 1117 Abraham dies 1227 Abraham dies 11 .... 110 1303 [33| 110 12 632 Isaacdies 1222 Isaac dies.... 1337 Isaac dies.... 12 Descent.. 642 Et.Jacob 130 1232 Et. Joseph 39 1342. .... 12 147 11 439 PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION-WARNING IN the present period of suspense, we cannot pursue this subject with propriety, in its political aspect; but we would prepare the minds of our readers for whatever may ensue by calling their attention to the Word of God, and the warning therein contained of the coming judgments, that they may mark the signs of their approach. "Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven. And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory" (Luke xxi. Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii.) When the Eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He revealed all the will of the Father. He gave to his church a complete code of instruction, both for doctrine and for practice; to which the Holy Spirit has made no addition; his office being to take of the things already revealed by Jesus, and shew them to the church. In the last discourse of our Lord, he declares this plainly; asserting it in various forms, and summing it up (John xvii.) in these wonderful words: "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.....I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me....These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word....And the glory which thou gavest unto me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one." Every discourse of our Lord is shaped with reference to all times of the church, up to the period when he shall come again; and the Holy Spirit, ever present with the church, teaches her to apply to her own use, at any given time, those portions of our Lord's discourses which suit that particular time, without invalidating the applicability of the whole discourse to the whole time of our Lord's absence. The discourse at the porch of the temple recorded in Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii. Luke xxi. of course referred primarily to the destruction of those magnificent structures which the disciples were admiring, saying," Master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings are here." But looking at the contents of the discourse, independent of its circumstances, we might say that it referred principally to the Second Advent; and that the destruction of Jerusalem was only a secondary and incidental topic. The key to the right understanding of this is the principle we have just stated, That all our Lord's discourses are for all times, that every time may find its portion in them, and make no schism in the word of God, by saying this discourse or that discourse is not for us; it belonged to other generations, and hath been or shall be fulfilled in distant times. But though the whole time of the Christian dispensation is manifestly included in this discourse, the time during which the Gospel should be preached among all the nations, in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come; yet still the two events, above noticed, are its principal topics-namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Second Advent. This is not only for the sake of indicating to the church that the former of these events is a type of the latter, but to mark in both events a change of dispensation, by the destruction of a sin-laden and apostate church, and the raising on its ruins a brighter and more glorious manifestation of the glory of God. On the ruins of the Jewish church and state God raised the Christian polity; and on the ruins of the Christian polity shall the millennial dispensation be raised, wherein the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, shall manifest in perfection that which all preceding governments have but partially typified, God's own ecclesiastical polity of "kings and priests;" and under them the Jewish people, as "a royal priesthood," shall fulfil the end and purpose of their election and calling in Abraham, and in them, standing under Christ and his church, shall all the families of the earth be blessed,-Christ the true seed uniting in himself both the natural and spiritual Israel, and his spiritual seed, both of the Jews and Gentiles, transformed into his image, and clothed in glorious and incorruptible bodies by the resurrection of the dead and the change of the living saints, at the close of this dispensation,-and under Christ and his saints in the heavenly Jerusalem, the natural Israel who may not be converted to Christ during this dispensation-being chastised and purged and humbled by those judgments which accompany the day of the Lord, the resurrection of the saints, and the Second Advent of Messiah-shall be turned to the God of their fathers; and in the earthly Jerusalem lead the worship of the whole earth, and dispense to all the nations that revelation of the purposes of God which they continually receive from the heavenly Jerusalem where Christ and his glorified church shall reign. The word of God is continually warning us to be ready for the coming of our Lord; commanding us to watch and pray always, lest in such an hour as we think not the Son of Man |