mon discourse he thinks little likely to tempt the ingenuity of visionaries; and therefore, to our great regret, he excludes them from consideration. For we are of opinion, that some of the least symbolical of all the prophecies have been as grossly abused by visionary modes of interpretation, as the most intricate and involved passages of the Apocalypse. These mystical or symbolical prophecies he presumes are constructed upon the principles of the ancient enigma, in which the chief subject is at once held forth and concealed: thus serving (or intended to serve, as he thinks,) the threefold purpose of presenting a blind to the incurious, a trap to the dogmatical, and an exercise of modesty, of patience, and of sagacity to the wise." "It will by no means follow that a symbolical prediction, which remains unfulfilled, ought not to be made the subject of investigation; for as the description doubtless contains, by condensation, the substance of the unknown reality, and perhaps also much of its character, it may, even when mingled with erroneous interpretations, serve important purposes in the excitement of pious hope. The delivery of these enigmas into the hands of the Church, and their intricate intermixture with fulfilled prophecies, and their being every where embossed with attractive lessons of piety and virtue not to mention the explicit invitation to read and study them, may confidently be deemed to convey a full license of ex amination. Yet in these instances the well-known laws of the peculiar style in which the predictions are enveloped, suggest restrictions and cautions which no humble and pious expositor can overlook. "..._____ "The expositor therefore who presumptuously espouses any one of the several interpretations of which an enigmatical prophecy is susceptible, and who fondly claims for it a positive and exclusive preference, sins most flagrantly, and most outrageously, against the unalterable laws of the language of which he professes himself a master. If dogmatism on matters. not fully revealed be in all cases blameworthy, it is eminently and especially condemnable in the expositor of enigmatical prophecy : and that, not merely because the events so predicted rest under the awful veil of futurity, and exist only in the prescience of the Deity; but because the chosen style of the communication lays a distinct claim to modesty, and demands suspension of judgment. The use of symbols speaks a design of concealment; and do we suppose, that what God has hidden, the sagacity of man shall discover? In issuing the prediction, He does indeed invite the humble inquiries of the Church; and in using symbols which have a conventional meaning He gives a clew to learned research; and yet by the combination of these symbols into the enigmatic form, an articulate warning is issued against all dogmatical confidence of interpretation." Pp. 113–115. There is nothing in this statement from which we dissent; we rather object to it from its incompleteness: for it would leave an inconsiderate reader under the impression, that no prophecy, conveyed in the symbolical form, can after all be relied upon with any practical usefulness, beyond the moral precepts embossed upon or interwoven with it. We deprecate what may with propriety be called dogmatism on any subject; and we fully admit the great caution and modesty required in the explication of symbolical Scriptures in particular: but it does not unfrequently happen, that the clew to such prophecies exists, either in the prophecy itself, or in the writings of the other prophets, who treat of the same subject in such a mode as clearly to designate what is intended. The matter will still appear involved in mystery to the indolent; and thus continue, like the parables, to prove a blind to such, as having eyes see not but by him who will patiently sit down and compare Scripture with Scripture, and like Daniel set his face to understand with fasting and prayer, an interpretation may at least be elicited, which (to use the words of this author) though 'not altogether unexceptionable or NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. wholly free from difficulties, will firmly secure the approval of every 'unprejudiced and intelligent inquirer.' It must be remembered likewise, that some prophecies are avowedly sealed until a certain period shall arrive; and therefore persons living in a previous age, although they search what the Spirit of Christ doth testify by them, will not be able to comprehend it: but when that generation shall arrive, for whom it was written, it will doubtless be given unto them to know this mystery of the kingdom of God. Our objection to the statement, as it is, will be further seen, in the observations which we shall offer on the two succeeding extracts. “The adoption of an exclusive theory of exposition will not fail to be followed by an attempt to attach the special marks of prophecy to every passing event; and it is this attempt that sets enthusiasm in a flame; for it belongs, in common to all the religious vices, that, though mild and harmless while roaming at large among remote or invisible objects, they assume a noxious activity the moment they fix their grasp upon things near and tangible. There is scarcely any degree of sobriety of temper which can secure the mind against fanatical restlessness, when once the habit has been formed of daily collating the newspaper and the prophets : and the man who, with feeble judgment and an excitable imagination, is constantly catching at political intelligence-Apocalypse in hand-walks on the verge of insanity or worse, of infidelity. In this feverish state of the feelings mundane interests, under the guise of faith and hope, occupy the soul to the exclusion of 'things unseen and eternal:' meanwhile the heartaffecting matters of piety and virtue become vapid to the taste, and gradually fall into forgetfulness." P. 115. This passage neutralizes its use fulness by its extravagance. It is not character that is depicted but caricature. It is quite unworthy of the spirit in which this writer generally expresses himself, to conclude, that when a man unites in his prophetical studies a reference to the Apoca P lypse and the newspaper, that his piety must be spurious. It arises, as before hinted, from his endeavouring to illustrate his point by particular cases, instead of drawing a clear and precise line of demarcation between enthusiasm and genuine religion: and thus any thing, which does not accord with his own perceptions, is at once stigmatized, as from beneath. In regard to Newspapers, the Author seems to forget the altered circumstances of the age in which we live. There were no newspapers in the times of the apostles and the prophets; but that which forms the substance of a newspaper-the report of daily and passing events-was nevertheless equally a matter of interest. Let us suppose however, that at the time when Titus was marching against Jerusalem, political and military movements had been then announced by newspapers: would it have been more improper for the christians (who then had their eyes intensely fixed upon our Lord's prophecy in Matthew xxiv, and on passing events) to have heeded those events, had they been officially stated in a printed bulletin, than resting, as they must frequently have done, upon questionable rumors and reports? Their safety depended upon comparing the prophecy with the signs exhibited on the political horizon; and would it have been just to have stigmatized them in such a case, as men of "feeble judgment and excitable imagination, catching at political intelligence-gospel in hand-walking on the verge of insanity and infidelity?" Did not the generation living at the time of the first advent of our Lord, fall under rebuke, because they discerned not the signs of the times;—i. e. because they did not compare the prophecies, with the events transpiring around them? And is not the generation, which shall be living at "The fault of the dogmatical expositor of prophecy is especially manifested when he assumes to determine the chronology of unfulfilled predictions. In the instance of prophetic dates the different lines of conduct suggested by the different styles of the communication, are readily perceived, and cheerfully observed by calm and modest interpreters. We may take, for illustration, the predicted duration of the captivity of Judah, which was made known by Jeremiah (xxix, 10) in the intelligible terms of popular computation; nor could the supposition of a symbolic sense of the words be admitted by any sober expositor. On the authority of this unequivocal prediction, Daniel, as the time spoken of drew near, made confession and supplication in the full assurance of warranted faith. In this confidence there was no presumption, for his persuasion restednot on the assumed validity of this or of that ingenious interpretation of symbols; but upon an explicit declaration, which needed only to be read, not expounded. But when the beloved seer received from his celestial informant the date of seventy weeks, which should fix the period of the Messiah's advent and propitiatory sufferings, the employment of symbolic terms, of itself announced the double intention of at once revealing the time and of concealing it. For as the terms, though mythic, bore a known import, they could not be thought to be absolutely shut up from research; yet, as by the mode of their combination, they became susceptible of considerable diversity of interpretation, the wise and good might, after all their diligence, differ in opinion as to the precise moment of accomplishment. Thus was devout inquiry at once invited and restrained-invited, because the language strained, because it asked for interpretation of prediction was not unknown; and reand admitted diversity of opinion. Those pious persons, therefore, who, at the time of the Messiah's birth, were looking for the consolation of Israel,' could not, unaffirm-' this is the very year of expected less favoured with personal revelations, deliverance ;'-for the symbolic chronology might, with an appearance of reason, bear a somewhat different sense. Yet might such persons, though not perfectly agreed in opinion, lawfully and safely join in an exulting hope, that the time spoken of was not far distant, when the Son of David should appear. The same rule is applicable to the position of the church at the present moment. No one, it may be affirmed, can have given due attention to the questions which have of late been so much agitated, without feeling compelled to acknowledge, that a high degree of probability supports the belief of an approaching extraordinary development of the mystery of providence towards Christendom, and perhaps towards the whole family of man: That this probability is strong, might be argued from the fact, that it has wrought a general concurrence of belief among those whose modes of thinking on most subjects are extremely dissimilar. Christians, amid many contrarieties of opinion, are, with a tacit or an explicit expectation, looking for movement and progression, to be effected, either by a quickened energy of existing means, or by the sudden operation of new causes. This probable opinion if held in the spirit of christian modesty affords, under the sanction of the coolest reason, a new and strong excitement to religious hope. He who entertains it may exultingly, yet calmly exclaim, 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand;' and the kindling expectation will rouse him to greater diligence in every good work, to greater watchfulness against every defilement of heart, and frivolity of spirit, and inconsistency of conduct :-he will strive, with holy wakefulness, to live as the disciple should who is 'waiting for his Lord.' Thus far he can justify the new vivacity of NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. his hopes upon the ground of the permanent hopes of religion; for he feels nothing more than a christian may well always feel; and the opinion he entertains relative to the near accomplishment of ultimate prophecy, serves only as an incitement to a state of mind in which he would fain be found, if called suddenly from the present scene. While giving free admission to sentiments of this sort, he knows that, though he should be mistaken in his theoretical premises, he shall certainly be right in his practical infer ence. But if the discreet christian is tempted or solicited to admit an incongruous jumble of political speculations and christian hopes; if he is called upon to detach in any degree his attention from immediate and unquestionable duties, and to fix his meditations on objects that have no connexion with his personal responsibility; then he will check such an intrusion of turbulence and distraction, the tendency of which he feels to be pernicious, by recollecting that his opinion, how probable soever it may seem, is, at the best, nothing more than one hypothesis among the many, which offer themselves in explanation of an enigmatical prediction. To-day this hypothesis pleases him by its plausibility; to-morrow he may reject it on better information. Nothing then can be much more precise than the line which forms the boundary between a legitimate and an enthusiastic feeling on the subject of prophecy. Is a prediction couched in symbol? Is it entangled among perplexing anachronisms? Is it studded with points of special reference? We then recognize the hand of heaven in the art of its construction; and we know that it is so moulded as to admit and invite the manifold diversities of ingenious explication; and that therefore, even the true explication must, until the day of solution, stand undistinguished in a crowd of plausible errors. But for a man to proclaim himself the champion of a particular hypothesis, and to employ it as he might an explicit prediction, is to affront the Spirit of prophecy by contemning the chosen style of His announcements. And what shall be said of the audacity of him, who, with no other commission in his hand than such as any man may please to frame for himself, usurps the awful style of the seer, pronounces the doom of nations, hurls thunders at thrones, and worse than this-puts the credit of christianity at pawn in the hands of in infidelity; to be lost beyond recovery, if not redeemed on a day specified by the fanatic for the verification of his word !" Pp. 116-120. Pp. 116 We agree in the preceding re marks, presuming the meaning of our Author to be, that the times and seasons may be known, (1 Thess. v, 1, 2,) and that what he deprecates is-authoritative determinations of the exact day, or even year, of an event. One thing however must be remembered, which apparently escapes the notice of the Author: viz. that, to assist us in our inquiries respecting the dates and chronology of Scripture, we enjoy means superior to those possessed by believers before the first advent. Admitting the seventy weeks of Daniel were of an enigmatical character, and that a doubt might therefore be attached to their import; yet has that advent itself fixed their meaning to succeeding ages. We cannot be at a loss to know, that a prophetical day signifies a year, now that we have seen that the weeks of Daniel just included as many years as days. Neither can we reasonably doubt the meaning of a time, times, and half a time; since we now possess a seven-fold mention of that period, variously expressed, by a comparison of which the meaning may be clearly established: though we are aware that the ingenuity of man will find occasion to deny any truth, and has before now contended, that snow is black. Besides this, the very errors of believers in former times enable us to steer our course amidst rocks and shoals with greater safety; even as the Author in another place himself remarks, "that with the mistakes of our predecessors before us for our warning, and with a highly improved state of biblical learning for our aid, it may fairly be anticipated, that a devout and industrious reconsideration of the • evidence of Scripture will achieve some important improvements in the Church on these difficult and 'obscure subjects." P. 122. We must further observe, that when we profess to concur in the last passage of the former extract, it is with the full understanding, that the individual denounced as a fanatic, when declaring the doom of nations, does so "with no other commission in his hand, than such as any man may please to frame for himself." We must not be entrapped into an admission, that no prophetical Scripture is to be authoritatively applied, because it is couched in symbolical phraseology. Not only great probability, but clear demonstration, may, in our opinion, sometimes accompany the interpretation of such prophecies; and the Church may be justly chargeable with timidity or indifference, if she remain silent, when she sees the sword coming. Let us take an instance.-Is not the prophecy concerning "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, &c." enigmatical, and clothed throughout with highly wrought materials of symbolic texture? Yet, when we are informed, in the very chapter which contains the description, that "the woman is that great city ' which reigneth over the kings of the earth," and when we know that no city, excepting ROME, ever has ruled the nations from the days of John until now,- —can a reasonable doubt be entertained, that Rome is the harlot and Babylon of Scripture ? —and is it not the duty of the christian, upon this warrant, to warn her that her destruction is at hand; and to cry to the elect remnant within her, Come out of her my people?' We trust, that our Author, when he rebukes the enthusiast 66 for hurling thunder at thrones," does not fall into the vulgar error of accusing him of actually dooming those things, which he merely warns men are foredoomed of God. It is profane infidelity which complains of the bigotry and uncharitableness of the preacher, in that he takes upon him to send men to hell; whereas in fact the preacher does but warn them, "that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. of men. We need not here undertake to refute a passage in the last page of this section, commencing "It is evident to every calm mind, that the discussion of questions confessedly so obscure, and upon which the evidence of Scripture is limited, and of uncertain explication, is absolutely improper to the pulpit." Our sentiments on this head have been stated in page 9 of our first Number. The Apocalypse is confessedly the most obscure of the books of Scripture; yet of this book it is written-" Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy." Our Author forgets, that the whole ministration of the Old Testament was chiefly prophetical in its character, and that its symbols were often set forth in the persons of men, who enacted their enigmatical and mysterious doings before the people: witness Ezekiel, who was made a sign; and others whom we need not stop to instance. On the whole we do not from the perusal of this section feel that clear conviction, as to the real character of enthusiasm in prophetical interpretation, which the Author imagines he has pointed out. The principal feature which he dwells upon is dogmatism; which, though a prominent evil in the constitution of some, is nevertheless very distinct from enthusiasm. Men are often from their natural temperament, or from an unmortified spirit, dogmatical |