blematical, and nothing more; seeming precepts, real predictions and Divine Wisdom might the rather make choice of things improper, or some of them impracticable, that the Prophet might the sooner perceive that it was all symbolical; not directing him how or what to act, but how or what to apprehend, foresee, or foretell of things to come. That about the roll plainly belongs to Ezekiel's first vision; during which vision, he ate the roll, and therefore his eating was visionary, not real. And I may here note, what I should have noted before, that the reader may do well to consider, whether all that is related in the fourth chapter be not also supposed, though not so plainly, to be transacted in vision, by what is said chap. iii. 22, 23. THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS THERE UPON ME, AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD STOOD THERE, AS THE GLORY I SAW BY THE RIVER CHEBARd. This description is much the same as in the first vision. And it is further observable, that in chap. viii. 1. it is said, THE HAND OF THE LORD GOD FELL THERE UPON ME, which are the introductory words to a long account of facts, which were undoubtedly transacted in vision only. If therefore the Prophet himself has obliquely intimated, as to chap. iv. that he reported nothing but a vision, there can then be no just objection to the visional construction of that chapter: and the fifth chapter is but a continuation of the same thing. But this I leave with the judicious.

In the twelfth chapter of the same Prophet, we read of his "removing his household-stuff by night," as a type of the captivity, and of his "digging with his hand through the walls of his house," and his carrying off his goods in "the sight of the people;" as also of the people's coming to ask what he meant by such unusual conduct. I see no reason for thinking that the Prophet might not really perform all that and more, without difficulty, and without forfeiting either his discretion or gra

a Ezek. i. 1, 2.

vity. Besides, the manner and circumstances of the whole narrative, as it stands in the Prophet, (being very different from what we meet with in several others,) plead strongly for the strict and literal interpretation. It is no less than seven times e repeated, that the Prophet was to do, or did thus and thus," in the sight" of the people: and he did it in the evening, in the "twilight f;" and " in the morn66 ing" g after, God came to ask him whether the house of Israel had taken notice of such his uncommon behaviour, and had inquired what it meant. These and other circumstances appear to be very cogent proofs of real fact, and that it is more than a narration of a vision, or recital of a parable. And therefore I cannot but think that it is going much too far from strict rule, to reject the literal sense here; though I know that a very pious and learned writer has done it h, and that he had some appearance of reason, besides the authority of some Jewish interpreters, to countenance him in it.

EZEK. xii. 21, 22.

AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO ME, SAYING, SON OF MAN, WHAT IS THAT PROVERB THAT YE HAVE IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL, SAYING, THE DAYS ARE PROLONGED, AND EVERY VISION FAILETH? TELL THEM THEREFORE, THUS SAITH THE

f Ezek. xii. 7.

8 Ezek. xii. 8, 9.

e Ezek. xii. 3-7. h The words of Smith, in his Select Discourses, are as follow: "Again, "chap. xii. we read of Ezekiel's removing his household-stuff in the night, "as a type of the captivity, and of his digging with his hands through the "wall of his house, and of the people's coming to take notice of this strange "action, with many other uncouth ceremonies of the whole business, which 66 carry no show of probability: and yet, verse the sixth, God declares upon "this to him; I have set thee for a sign to the house of Israel: and verse "the ninth, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, "said unto thee, What dost thou? As if all this had been done really ; "which indeed seems to be nothing else but a prophetical scheme. Neither "was the Prophet any real sign, but only imaginary, as having the type of "all those fates symbolically represented in his fancy, which were to befal the Jews which sense Kimchi, a genuine commentator, follows, with "others mentioned." Smith, ibid. p. 228.

LORD GOD; I WILL MAKE THIS PROVERB TO CEASE,

AND THEY SHALL NO MORE USE IT AS A PROVERB

IN ISRAEL; BUT SAY UNTO THEM, THE DAYS ARE AT HAND, AND THE EFFECT OF EVERY VISION. I

have produced this passage at full length, that so the reader may see the whole meaning at once. Our Objector, according to his usual fairness and ingenuity, produces only a part of it, in order to prove that God deceived his Prophets by false appearances. "In another Pro"phet," says he, "the Lord says, THE DAYS ARE “ PROLONGED, AND EVERY VISION FAILS." Yes, the Lord said it, as the Lord said by the Psalmist, "There is "no God;" that is, the Lord condemned the fools that said so, producing their sayings in order to reprove them. The words which our Objector cites as God's words, were the words of infidels, who had turned the "grace of God "into wantonness; taking encouragement from his pa"tience and long-suffering, to despise his threatenings, as "if they would never be fulfilled1," and to deride his Prophets, as if they had prophesied in vain. Any commentator almost that this gentleman could have looked into would have corrected his mistake, and might have prevented his exposing himself on this head.

EZEK. xiv. 9.

AND IF THE PROPHET BE DECEIVED WHEN HE HATH SPOKEN A THING, I THE LORD HAVE DECEIVED THAT PROPHET, AND I WILL STRETCH OUT MY HAND UPON HIM, AND WILL DESTROY HIM FROM THE MIDST OF MY PEOPLE ISRAEL. The remark made on this text is pointed and smart: "m And if the Prophet "is deceived, must not the people, who rely on that Pro"phet, be deceived?" Yes, certainly. But there was no

i Christianity as Old, &c. p. 256.

k Psalm xiv. 1. liii. 1.

Compare Isa. v. 19. Ezek. xi. 3. Amos v. 18. 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4. and see Lowth in loc.

occasion for pushing the point so far: it would have been mortification enough to all true lovers of the Bible, if it could but have been proved that God ever deceived his prophets. There lay the stress of the thing; and there the Objector should have rested his argument, if he had understood what he was upon.

The reader may please to observe, that Ezekiel (or God by Ezekiel) is here speaking of false prophets, or anti-prophets, as described in the foregoing chapter; such as had set themselves up in opposition to the true prophets of God. They were prophets that PROPHESIED OUT OF THEIR OWN HEARTS": they were FOOLISH PROPHETS, THAT FOLLOWED THEIR OWN SPIRIT, AND SAW NOTHING of truth. They were such as HAD SEEN VANITY AND LYING DIVINATION, pretending to be God's prophets, when THE LORD HAD NOT SENT THEMP. They SEDUCED THE PEOPLE, SAYING, PEACE; AND THERE WAS NO PEACE 9. I say, it is of one of the prophets of that wicked stamp, that Ezekiel speaks in the ninth verse of this fourteenth chapter; as may easily be perceived by what is said in the same verse, that God will STRETCH OUT HIS HAND upon the Prophet, and WILL DESTROY HIMs: and in the next verse it is added, that THE PUNISHMENT OF THE PROPHET SHALL BE EVEN AS THE PUNISHMENT OF HIM THAT

SEEKETH UNTO HIM. Which words carry a plain intimation that the Prophet here spoken of is understood to have been as bad as the idolaters here supposed to consult him, and to have been as much a false prophet, as they were false worshippers; alike in temper and principles,

A Ezek. xiii. 2, 17.

• Ezek. xiii. 3.

P Ezek. xiii. 6, 7.

q Ezek. xiii. 10, 16. Non putemus de vero propheta dici, sed de pseudopropheta, qui ovvwvúμws propheta appellatur. Hieron. in loc.

• See a remarkable instance of this kind in the vengeance taken upon the false prophet Hananiahı, who had taught rebellion against the Lord, and made the people to trust in a lie. Jer. xxviii. 15, 16, 17. And there are two more such instances in the punishments inflicted upon two other lying prophets, Ahab and Zedekiah. Jer. xxix. 21, 22. See also verses 31, 32. of the same chapter.

and therefore also to be punished alike, for encouraging idol-worship under false pretences to inspiration.

Having seen then what kind of a prophet the text speaks of, it will now be the easier to explain the rest. God declares that he will DECEIVE (will disappoint, or will infatuate) such a prophet first, and next destroy him ; he will give him up first to strong delusions, and then to destruction. The text may not improperly be rendered thus, according to Pfeiffer ", a judicious interpreter and learned critic IF THE PROPHET BE INFATUATED WHEN HE SPEAKETH A THING, I THE LORD WILL INFATUATE THAT PROPHET yet more. of the passage may amount nearly to the same with that of St. Paul, (or however the verb here may bear the like signification as púpave there,) GOD HATH MADE FOQLISH THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD: or to that which Isaiah says; THAT FRUSTRATETH THE TOKENS OF LIARS, (lying prophets,) AND MAKETH DIVINERS MAD; THAT TURNETH WISE MEN BACKWARD, AND MAKETH THEIR KNOWLEDGE FOOLISH Y.

So the sense

But it is observable,

Salva res est, modo teneamus ad loc. cit. Ezech. non de veris Dei, sed pseudoprophetis, idolorum cultoribus, sermonem esse, quos æque ac consulentes ipsos, se decepturum Deus minatur; non errorem immittendo, sed non impediendo, permittendo, justoque judicio excæcando, mendacemque mendaciis puniendo. Carpzov. Introduct, ad Libr. Bibl. part. iii, p. 56.

De eo propheta agit qui consultoribus similis est; qui mercedem iniquitatis amans, amat iis quoque in erroribus et concupiscentiis suis adulari, dignumque se eodem judicio præstat. Witsii Miscellan. vol. i. p. 137.

"Recte judicat Bohlii continuator (De Form. Rad. Diss. xiii. sect. 5.) formalem significationem vocis esse simplex fuit. Itaque conj. transitiva Piel significat simplicem vel fatuum fecit: scilicet, juste privando intellectu, seu judiciaria subtractione gratiæ illuminatricis ; ut adeo verbum non exprimat malum culpæ, sed pœnæ. Q. d. Quod si propheta ita deliret, vel cum ratione insaniat, ut tale quid loquatur, ego Dominus faciam ut prorsus stultescat, adimendo ipsi omne lumen rationis, &c. Pfeiffer. Dub. Vexat. p. 876. alias Oper, vol. i. p. 411. Conf. Le Cene, p. 153. Ross, p. 102.

Εμώρανεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν τε κόσμε τέτε; 1 Cor. i. 20.

y Isa. xliv. 25. Fatuos eos redderet et insanos: sive quod eos ut insanos et fatuos publico risui exponeret, sive quod illos ob pœnitenda errata a se commissa in insaniam ageret. Vitringa in Isa, xliv. 25. p. 490.