LECTURE 1. THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF PROPHECY. 2 Pet. i. 19-21. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.' And therefore that is a wise and becoming prayer which is offered by our brethren, in another place, for instruction and understanding of these holy writings. Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Among these sacred writings, perhaps the most difficult are the prophetic Scriptures. They are like Faith-the evidence of things not seen;' and therefore maintain little influence upon the minds of the majority. Nay, even those who submit their minds to the influence of faith, too frequently turn away from the revelations of Prophecy, as if the volume were a dead letter to the ignorant, and a sealed book even to the learned. In the passage before us, the Apostle admits that the prophetic word is but a light set to glimmer in a dark place, far from possessing the splendors of the orb of day, or even the steady and fixed refulgence of the morning star. But he allows not that as a reason for neglecting it, no man benighted in a dismal desart would despise a feeble lightthe least glimmering would be carefully heeded. So, says THE NATURE AND the Apostle, to the prophetic word, ye do well that heed, as to a light shining in a dark place, &c. &c. After this eulogium which the inspired writer has pronounced upon the study of the Prophecies, we need make no attempt to justify the range of subjects which we have selected for these discourses. If you, my brethren, feel as deeply as I do the importance and the interest of the theme, you will receive with candour and constant attention, every endeavour to explain those sacred oracles, by which, in time past, God spake unto the fathers by the prophets. And if it shall please the Great Author of Scripture to hearken to our prayer, we shall so take heed to the word of prophecy, that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, we may have hope.' Before we enter upon the first separate prediction, our attention is to be directed to some general considerations on the necessity, nature and design of Scripture Prophecy. Think not, my brethren, that the prophecy came at any time by the will of man, or that human foresight could at all predict the great subjects of Divine Revelation. Think not, that the mere knowledge of the future was the object to be attained, or that a vain and useless curiosity was to be indulged by the bestowment of the prophetic spirit. Far from it---its nature was a divine aflatus which moved holy men of God-its design was to furnish a light to which all ages might take heed, and which should direct all attentive minds to the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. From this passage, it seems that men had arisen professing to be of the Christian church, who sought to introduce pernicious heresies, and who attempted to insinuate that the Christian faith was only a cunningly devised fable, or more probably an instructive fiction. To disprove such infidel imputations, the Apostle reminds the brethren of a two-fold evidence, which decisively proved the certainty of Christ's second coming and glorious power. First, says he, we Apostles were eye witnesses of his Majesty ; three of us were with him in the holy mount, when that voice came from the excellent glory," This is my beloved Son." The scenes of that illustrious Transfiguration shewed us i.] DESIGN OF PROPHECY. the Son of God coming in his glory, they shewed us Moses and Elijah living and conversing; and never can we treat the Christian Doctrine as a fable, nor be persuaded that the life to come, and the second Advent of Christ, are merely instructive fictions. • We have not followed cunningly devised fables-but were eye witnesses of his Majesty.' Then further, says the Apostle, we have the prophetic word more confirmed than ever-the visions of prophecy were always a sure ground for the faith of the pious, but now they are yet more confirmed, by the fulfilment which they have so far received in the revelation of Jesus Christ, and we justly conclude that like as one portion has been accomplished, so shall the remainder. This prophetic word points us to the world to come, the unseen dominions of the Son of God. And although the light shed upon those scenes of the dim and distant future be but feeble, still it is the only light that shines; and you, my brethren, will do well to take heed thereunto, until the day shall dawn, and the day-star shall rise in your hearts. On both these grounds of evidence, we are well assured that we have not followed a fable, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Upon these words we make three observations: I. They remind us that we are ignorant of the futurethat this world is a dark place. And that not merely to the Pagans, who have no light from heaven, but even to us who have the word of prophecy. For who can tell us what is beyond the grave? Who can tell us what new forms of untried being' await the soul, when she parts from the visible world? Does the soul sleep till the resurrection? May no dreams haunt that sleep! Is it a land of darkness as darkness itself, and where the light is as darkness? Or does the shadow of the hand of God cover over the separate spirit, to shelter her from the storms of the dark abyss, and to keep her in peace and in the light of his own presence till the day of Jesus Christ. 2. This dark uncertainty is not for ever---the Apostle speaks of a day which will dawn, and a day-star which is |