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great skill in prophetic language, viz. that they have shewn themselves to be greatly mistaken, which most certainly it is; then, furely, little truft is to be put to men fkilled in prophetic language, for afcertaining the true fenfe of prophecy. Indeed, fome men have maintained, that the fenfe of prophecy can only be difcovered by partaking of the same spirit by which the prophecy was delivered; that the fpirit of the prophets, and confequently, the sense of prophecy is only Jubject to,and discoverable by the prophets; that is, by men who partake of the prophetic fpirit. And, in this view of the cafe, as it is a matter of indifference in what language any prophecy is delivered; fo hereby men are discharged from all obligation to feek after it's true fenfe; because all feeking is in vain. For, as the fense of the prophecy cannot be difcerned but by the fpirit of prophecy; fo, when the prophetic fpirit comes upon a man, the fense of prophecy will be difcerned of courfe. But then, fuppofing this to be the cafe, no man çan be certain what is the fenfe of any prophecy, excepting thofe who partake of the prophetic fpirit; and feeing I have not the prophetic fpirit, therefore, to me, the fenfe of all prophecy muft le uncertain,

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nor can it have the nature of evidence to me. Suppose a man should declare to me, that he is endowed with the prophetick, fpirit, and, in confequence of fuch endowment, should take upon him to afcertain the fenfe of a particular prophecy; this could not poffibly afcertain that fenfe to be the true fense to me; because, as I could not be certain of the former, so I could not be certain of the latter; that is, as I could not be certain that this man has the prophetic fpirit; fo,confequently, I could not be certain that the sense he has given of the prophecy is the true fenfe, and fo it could not have been an evidence to me. Besides, as prophecy must be transmitted to pofterity, either through oral or written tradition, or both; fo it is liable to fuffer by paffing through fuch a medium; and therefore, if it has been of long-standing, and has paffed thro' many hands in it's conveyance to us, this will render it uncertain whether it has been fairly delivered down, and is the very fame now as at it's first promulgation. If, when prophecy was firft given, the language it had been given in had been fo injured to the world, and to pofterity (could fuch a thing be) as effectually to prevent it's being hurt or in-. jured, thro' the ignorance, weakness, careleffnefs, or wickedness of after-promulgers, tranfcribers,

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cribers, and tranflators; then it's true fenfe would be fecured, so far as that would go towards it; but that does not appear to have been done, in any inftance, and therefore, the true fenfe of prophecy muft of neceffity, from the nature of the thing, be very uncertain. What I have observed above, I apprehend to be the state of the cafe as to prophecy in general, when confidered as evidence to prove the divine original of a revelation.

As to the prophecies that are offered as evidences of the divine original of the Chrifian revelation, they, I think, are to be confidered as prophecies fulfilled in the perfon and miniftry of Jefus Chrift. So that prophecy, in this cafe, is not fo much an evidence of the divinity of the Chriftian revelation, as it is an evidence of the divine character of it's original and primary promulger; the divine character of it's principal revealer being fuppofed to be abetted and fufficiently Supported by the completion of thofe prophecies. For as to the divinity of the revelation itself, it is not alike fupported by fuch completion; because the revealer, as a free being, must have been at liberty whether he would have faithfully executed the truft repofed in him, or not;

that is, whether he would have faithfully delivered those truths to the world, that had been delivered to him by his principal; and this must of neceffity be the cafe of all divine revelation, great confidence must be placed in the promulger, feeing he has it in his power to abuse his truft. So that the completion of prophecy, in the present case, ferves principally to fupport the divine character of Jefus Chrift; and as to what was promulged by him, great confidence must be placed in him, that he faithfully" delivered to the world, what he had received from his father, as he filed the fupreme Deity. But then, the argument, in this view, appears fo dark and uncertain to me, that I can draw no rational conclufion from it. If those prophecies, in the right understanding of which mankind are greatly interested, had been delivered in plain and express terms, that were not liable to be misunderstood, which, confidering their importance, it may well be expected they would have been; and had the application of them appeared to have been most just and natural; then, indeed, an argument drawn from them, or grounded upon them, might have been of weight, as to the divine cha

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racter of Jefus Christ; though even then what had been received as delivered by kim, must have been taken upon truft from him; but this is not the cafe,and as it now ftands it feems to me to be weak and infirm. For example, Hofea xi. 1. When Ifrael was a child, then I loved him, and called my fon out of Egypt. This fentence feems plainly to relate to a past fact, in which God had fhewed his kindness to the people of Ifrael, in the time of their childhood, as a nation, by bringing them out of Egypt; and does not in the least appear to refer to any thing to come, much lefs does it appear to refer to the founder of the Chriftian religion; and therefore, fuch application muft needs be arbitrary. And though there does not appear to be the leaft pretence for fuck application as aforefaid; yet the author of the gofpel according to St. Matthew, and the generality of Chriftians from him, have confidered it to be a prophecy of, and to be applicable to Jefus Chrift, as he, when a child, was carried down into Egypt, and brought out of it again. This feems to me to make a mean appearance in the argument drawn from prophecy; and rather weakens, than frengthens the cause it is brought to fupport.

Befides,

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