YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN, CHARACTER AND INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURAL PROPHECY. IN" SEVEN" DISCOURSES. DELIVERED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE GENERAL TIIEOLOGrCAL SEMINARY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL OIIUROH. WITH NOTES. BY SAMUEL H. TURNER, D.D., Professor of Biblical Learning and the Interpretation of Scripture in tho Seminary, and of the Hebrew Language and Literature in Columbia College. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE STUDENTS. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET. 185 2. yate Divinity Library Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. ADVERTISEMENT. The reader will perceive that the eighth Discourse does not make a part of the series. It was added chiefly on account of the connection of the subject of it with that of the others. To the late Senior Class, and the present Middle and Senior Classes, of the General Theological Sem inary. Mr Dear Young Friends, — In compliance with your kind request, this little volume on the Origin and Character of Scriptural Pro phecy now makes its appearance. I offer no apology for the publication, as it was within my power to with hold it. But, believing that the Discourses imbodied principles both correct in themselves and practically useful, I felt the less reluctance to acquiesce in your wish, and to give them publicity. I was further influ enced by the consideration that the time which, duiing our divinity course, can be devoted to this most in teresting and important department, is so very limited, that the student can hardly get even the most meagre outline of it. And yet its usefulness and practical bear ing can scarcely be overrated, especially in the present state of the Christian world. Although the few pages here presented to you contain littfe more than general intimations and principles, they may suggest better VI DEDICATION. thoughts, more perfect directions, and fuller develop ments founded thereon. To you and others engaged in theological studies, must the Church look for these. The foundation which, by the good providence of God, you are here in a condition to lay, may become the groundwork of some noble superstructure of Christian industry, enterprise, energy and talent, brought into ac tivity, cherished, directed, encouraged, and propelled by divine grace flowing from the fountain of all wisdom. Although it is a truth of which you ought never to lose sight, that in cultivating theological science as well as practical religion, you can do- nothing without God, yet you ought to be equally impressed by the encouraging truth, that his aid is ever ready to give effect to your endeavors. That your appreciation of the vast impor tance ¦ of forming a thorough acquaintance with his re vealed word as the only firm basis of a lasting system of theology, may be strengthened and increased, and that your studies therein may be blessed with abundant success to your own satisfaction and to the glory of big great name, is the sincere prayer of your affectionate friend and servant in the Lord, SAMUEL H. TURNER. Seminary, October, 1851. (CotBttb. DISCOURSE I. PAOB PROPHECY — ITS DIVINE ORIGIN, 1 DISCOURSE II. ITS INCREASING DEVELOPMENT AND CERTAINTY, . . .18 DISCOURSE HI. ITS INCREASING DEVELOPMENT .AND CERTAINTY CONTINUED, . 38 DISCOURSE IV. PROPHECY COMMUNICATED IN VARIOUS WAYS, . . .69 DISCOURSE V. PROPHETIC VISION, 1 9 DISCOURSE VI. PROPHETIC SIMILE AND FIGURE 101 DISCOURSE VII. QUALIFICATIONS OF THE INTERPRETER, . . . .125 DISCOURSE VIII. THE BLESSING OF JAPHETH, 148 NOTES, .......... 171 DISCOURSE I. prophecy: its divine ORIGIN". No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpreta tion : for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.— 2 Peter i. 20, 21. The genuineness and canonical authority of the second epistle of St. Peter have been sub jected to some doubt. In the very early ages of the church, its claim to apostolic origin was for a time unsettled ; and its remarkable coin cidence in some respects with the epistle of St. Jude, has, in modern times, led some hy percritical writers to imagine that portions of the one epistle have been borrowed from the other. The similarity which alone has been supposed to sanction so unfounded a theory is easily accounted for, when we consider that the writers were intimate associates, and in their descriptions and censures had the same class of persons in view, if not indeed the same individuals ; and the temporary hesitancy of some portions of the early church in recog- 1 to 2 prophecy: nizing the letter as the second of the distin guished apostle, shows clearly how extremely cautious they were not to put the stamp of in spired authority on any production, without the most direct and unexceptionable evidence of the legitimacy of its claim. Allusions to the epistle, and quotations from it, found in the writings of the earliest fathers,* abundantly prove that from the latter part of the first cen tury it was regarded as a Christian production, worthy of the highest consideration. The inter nal evidence compels the candid reader "either to allow its genuineness and divine character, or to stigmatize it as an imposture, a pious fraud, bearing on its very face the marks of grossest hypocrisy, not to say blasphemy. The extrava gance of the latter supposition, its utter incon sistency with the universally admitted laws of evidence and with the whole tenor of the epistle itself, is too palpably evident to require a word of illustration. The class of persons whom the apostle finds it necessary to warn and rebuke, were grossly immoral in their lives. As consistency required, they became thoroughly infidel in their max ims, and ridiculed the idea of divine revelation, and any expectations founded on prophetic in spiration. But the futuref glorious and power ful coming of the once despised Galilean is unhesitatingly affirmed by St. Peter. He ap- * Note I. f Note II. ITS DIVINE ORIGIN. 6 peals to the miraculous proof afforded by the Lord himself, of which he gives the fact of the transfiguration as the most striking and illustri ous exhibition. He appeals also to the no less impressive evidence developed by the fulfil ment of prophecy. In this connection he in troduces the important declaration of the text : " Knowing this first," as a matter of principal interest, "that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation : for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The words prophet and prophecy are usually in common language limited to the idea of pre dicting future events, not discernible by merely human foresight and sagacity. Such limitation, however, is not in accordance with its general use in Scripture. It is not essential to the char acter of a prophet as such, that he shall an nounce things to come. The proper, and proba bly the original meaning of this word is, one who speaks as God's substitute or ambassador. Thus it is said of Moses, " I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron shall be thy prophet?''* of which the language that precedes is explanatory: "He shall be thy spokesman unto the people ; he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God."f To the same purpose we read in the * Exod. vii. 1. t R>id- !v- 16- prophecy: prophet Jeremiah, " If thou take forth the pre cious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.'1''* The two words anciently used by the Greeks to denote this character, seem to be nearly equiva lent, y meaning one who speaks for, (before,) or under, that is, in the place of another. This is undoubtedly the meaning of the term where it first occurs in the Bible, in the narrative of Abra ham's residence with Abimelech. The Almighty warns the king of Gerar in a dream not to in jure the patriarch, adding : " For he is a pro phet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live.":): The friend of God is thus declared to be a sacred personage, the interpreter of God, speaking as his agent. This is also a very usual sense of the word in the New Testament. A prophet is a messenger of God, divinely inspired or directed and commissioned to communicate his will to men, to extend the knowledge of his character, and thus to advance his glory. Prophecy, therefore, might be understood in the enlarged sense of religious truths promul- ged through divine influence, and the text might be supposed to involve the assertion, that such communications are not to be at all subjected to the scrutiny of private judgment. But such an exposition would be at variance with the whole analogy of God's disclosures to his creatures, and especially with that of his revealed word, * Jer. XV. 19. f TIpoQfJTiK and iiro 158 prophecy: The Book of Deuteronomy and the Psalms abound with exulting declarations to the same effect, most appositely quoted by St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans :* " Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people; — -for this cause I will confess unto thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name." But the allusions to this subject which occur in several of the Psalms are too striking to be passed over with merely a general remark. Let us note a few. The second celebrates the glory of King Messiah, " set upon God's holy hill of Zion," with the promise also that " the heathen shall be his inheritance and the utter most parts of the earth his possession." " Kings and judges" are earnestly exhorted to receive him.f In the 18th, the monarch of Israel praises God for great deliverances, and avows his determination to "give thanks unto the Lord among the heathen," of whom, says he, " thou hast made me the head.":]: In the 22d it is said, that " all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him."§ In the 68th, " Egypt, Ethiopia, all the kingdoms of the earth" are prophetically called on to "sing praises unto the Lord."| The 72d predicts the general extension of Messiah's * Rom. xv. 10, 9. f Ps. ii. 6, 8, 10. X Ps. xviii. 49, 43. § Ps. xxii. 27. II Ps. lxviii. 31, 32. JAPHETH IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 159 kingdom even to " the ends of the earth," and declares that " all nations shall call him bless ed."* In the 102d the restoration of Zion by Jehovah, and the fear of him by the heathen, are associated predictions. All the declarations and all the intimations of this , religious union and harmony are so many developments of the promise announced by the second father of the great family of mankind, that " God should en large Japheth, and that he should dwell in the tents of Shem." This interesting and important purpose of God is displayed clearly in the Psalms, and with increasing brightness in the subsequent prophets. The shortness of our remaining time compels me to limit its illustration more than would otherwise be desirable. To begin with the very prince of the Hebrew prophets. What else than the religious com munion of Noah's two sons. with their elderf brother Shem, " saw" the son of Amoz, " when he beheld many people, all nations, flowing unto the house of the Lord, the God of Jacob," to be taught "his ways and to walk in. his paths V% This also is what the prophet means when he promises that " the Lord of hosts will make unto all people a feast,"§ when he speaks of the Messiah as "a light of the Gentiles,"|| the author of " salvation unto the end of the * Ps. lxxii. 8, 17. f See Note XXVII. \ Isa.ii. 1-3. \ Isa. xxv. 6. II Isa. xiii. 6. 160 prophecy: earth."* In accordance with this same truth, he promises "the sons of the stranger that join themselves unto the Lord," that they shall be brought to God's "holy mountain, and made joyful in his house of prayer," when " the Lord God will gather others to Israel beside those that are gathered to him."y Animated by the same feeling of true benevolence, he tells the chosen people that their " seed shall inherit the Gentiles.''^ Other prophets employ the same language. Thus Amos speaks of the res toration of God's ancient people: "That they may possess" (or inherit, for the origmal word is the same,) " the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen which are called by the Lord's name."§ What is the meaning of inheriting, possessing the nations? Does it import the conquest, devastation, subjugation of Gentiles to Jews ? Do the Evangelical proclaimers of " peace on earth and good-will to men," foretell the approach of that blessed period, when the ancient people of God shall bathe their swords up to the very hilts in the blood of their ene mies, those Edomites and Moabites and Ish maelites, and the savage Gog and Magog, Scy thian and unknown tribes of ruthless warriors ? Is it thus that the descendants of the pious and filial Shem and Japheth are to dwell together within the same tents ? Is this murderous hos- * Isa. xlix. 6. f Isa. Ivi. 7, 8. % Isa. liv. 3. \ Amos ix. 12. JAPHETH IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 161 tility to mark the fulfilment of the most ancient and most gracious of promises ? God forbid ! O no, this cannot be ! No interpretation can possibly be true which outrages the natural feelings of the heart. The implanter of human affections cannot deny himself. Since truth cannot contradict truth, we may be sure that such an exposition is radically wrong. Not thus did the holy prophet expect the seed of God's people to inherit the Gentiles. Let rather the equally holy apostle James,* be our authori tative interpreter. He teaches us that the union of Gentiles with Jews, in the one church of Christ, then begun to be established, is the prophet's meaning; represented indeed under a figure, but a figure equally natural and intelli gible, y When the prophets speak of their breth ren inheriting others, they intend to denote an incorporation with them as previously in posses sion, and the phrase implies benefit on the part of those thus incorporated. God's people are represented as taking possession of their con verts, who thereby become closely united with them. In other words, what the prophets pre dict is exactly what the Apostle Paul explains, when he compares the Gentile converts to slips of a wild olive that had been inserted into the natural good tree ; nor with the view of introdu cing into the un contaminated plant antagonistic and poisonous juices, nor, on the other hand, * Acts xv. 13-17. t Note XXIX. 14* 162 prophecy: of receiving therefrom repulsive and destructive influences ; but to partake of the richness and fatness of the genuine old olive, to hon6r it for its support, and at the same time to strengthen its own growth and permanency, by a proper dependence, submission and faith. Omitting a multitude of prophecies which might be adduced in support of the view un der consideration, there is one passage in Isaiah so peculiarly striking, that I must, in conclusion, bring it most particularly to your notice. Like much of the language of the prophets in gene ral, and especially of Isaiah, it is figurative, and the figures are drawn from the great event in the political and religious history of their an cestors, the deliverance from Egyptian bon dage, the passage through the desert, and the settlement in the land of Canaan. The prophet is speaking of the times of the Messiah. Like his prophetic brethren in general, he views them not in separate parts, chronologically distin guished, but in one great whole, the connection and continuity of each particular being marked by its nature and character, and not merely or chiefly by its proximity to the next in order mentioned. " In that day shall there be a high way out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a JAPHETH IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 163 blessing in the midst of the land (or earth). Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheri tance."* How instructive is this language of the no ble-minded prophet. How wholly inconsistent is its sentiment with that miserable Jewish bias, of which even the Apostle Peter could not easily rid himself, which clings to the contracted opin ion, that it is " an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation !"f HoW equally incon sistent with that less pardonable littleness of some narrow-minded Christians, who cannot bear to see any " casting out demons in the name of Christ and following not" them ! They are either apprehensive of contamination, or fearful of acknowledging any degree of fra ternity. And, my brethren, what a glorious trait does the so graphical stroke of the heaven- dipped pencil give us ofthe universality of this harmonious condition; when Israel's powerful and implacable enemy on the North and East, and Israel's great, inveterate and most ancient enemy on the South, fittest types of all Israel's enemies, shall associate in easy and most inti mate connection with the once enslaved and slavish race, the people long hated, abused and injured ! What a glorious view does it give us of * Isa. xix. 23-25. t Acts x. 28. 164 prophecy: that period, when " Israel shall be a blessing in the midst of the earth !" What a glorious view of the time (God hasten it in its day !) when Jehovah of hosts, the covenant God of Israel, shall favor with paternal benediction the repent ant and believing opposers of his chosen, and shall say, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, with Israel mine inheritance !" And now, in the light of these prophecies, to which multitudes of others of the same sort might easily be added, let us look at the facts of the case as developed in the Gospel and its history. Do they afford any evidence that Ja pheth has in some degree been dwelling in the tents of Shem? Do they show that this har monious and religious incorporation and union has been formed, has grown and is still grow ing ? What says the holy word ? What says the incontrovertible fact ? Soon after the birth of Christ, the venerable wise men wended their course from the East, and adored in Bethlehem the infant spiritual Prince of the universe. Thus was he first manifested to the Gentiles, although indeed they were not of the race of Japheth. The faith of the Syro-Phcenician mother, of the centurion master, of the Syrians, in whose land the fame of Jesus had spread, and who brought their sick to be cured by him, are all illustra tions of this predicted union. The conversion JAPHETH IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 165 of Cornelius, of the Ethiopian eunuch, and the reception of the gospel by the nations in vari ous parts of the world, through the instrumen tality of the apostles ; the formation of churches consisting of Jews and Gentiles, narrated in the Acts of the Apostles and other authentic histories of the early propagation of Christian ity, and referred to in the Apostolic letters ; are so many indications that " the middle wall of partition," which had so long separated the posterity of one patriarch from those of an other, and perpetuated mutual hostility, had at last been broken down, and that all, however diversified and widely separated, had become one in Christ Jesus. An examination into the early planting of the Gospel shows most conclu sively that the first formed Christian churches were composed chiefly of Jewish converts, to whom accessions were made from among the Gentiles, until at length the latter predominated. The sons of Japheth dwelt with the sons of Shem. They even adopted many of the old family usages. In a multitude of instances, ecclesiastical regulations and forms of divine service, originally Hebrew, and therefore of Shernitic production and growth, were incorpo rated into their newly-formed religious com munities by the descendants of Japheth. It ought never to be forgotten, that the number of Jewish and Israelitish conversions in the first century was immense. Thus the newly- 166 prophecy: founded Gentile body was taken into the old Israelitish inheritance. And thus the original covenant people became the trunk or root that supported and invigorated the lately sprouting branches. Japheth and Shem have intertwined together to form that figurative mustard-tree of the great Teacher, whose body serves to sus tain, and whose foliage to comfort and refresh. Following the current of events, we see ih the progress of Christianity great masses of Japheth's children "flowing" on to the Chris tian Zion, "the mountain of the Lord's house," and becoming incorporated with that holy body which had before been formed by the ancient covenant people who inherited the Gentiles. Gradually all Europe became converted to the faith of Christ, and dwelt peaceably and happily in those tents which had first been pitched, under divine direction, by the children of Shem. It is indeed much to be deplored, that the natural descendants of ancestors who had long lived in those tents, deserted the spiritual abode of their faithful progenitors, and # sought out for themselves other habitations, cheerless and without comfort, hating and calumniating the more lately settled residents. No less is it to be deplored, that many of these persecuted and abused the natural descendants. And thus, most unhappily, it resulted, that the tents of Shem have been occupied chiefly by the progeny of Japheth. But a better state of JAPHETH IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 167 things is beginning to take place. The con versions of the last thirty years in Asia and the South Sea Islands, and the efforts now making in various parts of the Eastern world, serve to show, that he who inspired the patriarch will not forget to accomplish the prophecy in full. And we are encouraged to believe tkat the time is coming, when " the veil shall be taken away from the heart" of the old covenant peo ple ; when Israel shall be roused to emulation of the blessed condition of their Gentile breth ren, and with joyous exultation, intermingled too with mourning at the spiritual sight of "him whom they have pierced," shall "kiss the Son," whom they have so long rejected; when "the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and shall turn away iniquity from Jacob, and thus all Israel shall be saved." And what shall this be, "but life from the dead." According to the plan proposed in the outset of this discourse, I ought now to consider the subject in its practical bearings. But the time already occupied forbids me to enlarge. In conclusion, then, let me ask, have you any sat isfaction in indulging faith in the view which has been presented to you, so far as it may ac cord with God's holy word ? If you have not, it is no breach of charity to say, that you can not have the mind of the holy prophets and apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But, if you have satisfaction in so hoping and 168 prophecy: so believing; if your hearts do "burn within you," when you meditate on God's ancient promises to the "preacher of righteousness," and of the displays of it made in the later pro phetic testimonies ; then let the conclusion of your understanding, of your will, of your whole selves, be this — that, by the help of the God of Noah, you will give your aid in carrying out his gracious purpose, by a thorough devotion of yourselves to his service. I do not ask you to decide where, and under what circumstances, you will exercise your ministry in aiming at the glory of your Redeemer. That you ought to leave to his all-wise Providence. I merely ask you to resolve on this : that, wheresoever your future lot may be cast, whether here or elsewhere in our own country, or in remote lands of heathen ignorance, you will maintain one settled purpose, to do, by divine grace, all that may be in your power to advance the glory of God in the salvation of men. This is evi dently the duty of all Christians, and specially of those who devote themselves to the sacred ministry. Pray, then, for this consummation. Pray the prayer that your Lord and Master hath taught,' " thy kingdom come." Here you may ask in faith, confident that he heareth you, because the object of your prayer is in full accordance with his will. Give, then, for this consummation. Give of your property to advance the progress of God's kingdom both in JAPHETH IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. 169 the church and in the world, that Japheth may dwell in the tents of Shem, and both embrace with fraternal affection the long outcast family of Ham. Live and act for this consummation. Promote the interests of religion in your own domestic circle, your own immediate vicinity ; and, by the influence of your example, "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." 15 NOTES, Note I. — Page 2. A very complete view of these allusions and quotations is given in the Prolegomena to this Epistle of David Ju lius Pott, pp. 173-176. It may be found in the Novum Testamentum Greece perpetua annotatione illustratum ; Edi- tionis Koppianse, vol. ix. Gottingas, 1810. Note IL— Page 2. The 16th verse refers, most probably, to Christ's second advent. This interpretation agrees best with the expression "power and coming," which is equivalent to his powerful coming, and is in contradistinction to his state of humilia tion while on earth. Compare Rom. i. 4, " the Son of God in power." It suits also the only other places in which the word occurs in St. Peter's Epistles, iii. 4, 12, " where is the promise of his coming'? — the coming of the day of God," when Christ shall appear in glory. Note III.— Page 9. The discourse alludes more particularly to the view of the celebrated De. Arnold, whose remarks on prophecy are characterized by the good sense and acuteness of his well-diseiplined mind. " History is especially Mias tirMoeuis ('of private interpretation:') that is to say, what the histo rian relates of Babylon, is to be understood of Babylon 172 NOTES. only; of the city so called on the banks of the Euphrates, and not of any other place more or less morally resembling it. But what Prophecy says of Babylon is xowris tm\mews (of general interpretation :) it does not relate exclusively, nor even principally, to the Babylon of History; but to cer tain spiritual evils of which Babylon was at one period the representative, and Rome at another, and of which other cities which may have succeeded to the greatness of Baby lon and Rome, may be the representatives now. And thus the Babylon of History is only for a limited time, and in an imperfect degree, the Babylon of Prophecy. It is so for a limited time only, because the historical Babylon has long since perished ; but the Prophecies in the Old Testament against it have been repeated in the New, almost in the very same words; so that the prophetical Babylon must have been in existence long after the historical Babylon had been destroyed. And only in an imperfect degree, be cause the language used respecting it is the exact opposite to that used with respect to Jerusalem ; and as the histori cal Jerusalem never came up to the pictures of the holiness and happiness of the prophetical Jerusalem, so neither have we any reason to believe that there was any sueh peculiar and unmixed wickedness in the historical Babylon, as to make it the proper and ultimate subject of the denuncia tions uttered against the Babylon of Prophecy. Not the proper and ultimate subject, but the subject of them par tially and in the first instance; as Rome was partially, also, in the second instance ; and as other places may be, and I believe are, in the third instance : so that the prophe cies, as I believe, will go on continually meeting with a typical and imperfect fulfilment till the time of the end; when they will be fulfilled finally and completely in the de struction ofthe true prophetical Babylon, the World as op posed to the Church. I wish it to be remembered, that I am by no means denying the literal and historical sense of the Prophecies relating to different cities or nations, but NOTES. 173 only contending that the historical sense is not the highest sense : and that generally the language of the Prophecy will be found to be hyperbolical as far as regards its his torical subjects, and only corresponding with the truth ex actly, if we substitute for the historical subject the idea of which it is the representative. Babylon, in the Prophecies of the Old Testament, means undoubtedly the city so called in Mesopotamia ; Amalek means the historical Amalek ; Edom or Mount Seir signifies the historical people of Edom. And as it was a great blessing to belong to the Israel of History, because she was chosen to represent tho idea of God's true people, so it was a great calamity to be long to the historical Babylon or Amalek or Edom, be cause they had certain points in them which made them be chosen to represent under its various forms the idea of God's, enemies. But in neither case, was the representa tive or symbol of the idea the full and adequate expression of the idea itself." — Sermons, by Thomas Arnold, D.D. Vol.I. Fourth Edition. London, 1844. pp. 395-397. Note IV. — Page 40. The reader may find some remarks on this subject in my Companion to the Book of Genesis, Note 19, pp. 183-196. In Note 21, pp. 197, 198, the various views of the original terms in which the promise is contained, are briefly given. Note V. — Page 41. " The first prediction was given in a promise adapted to man's forfeited condition, the promise of a Redeemer, who, in some way not then explained, was appointed to bruise the serpent's head, that is, to take away the tempter's triumph. To Adam was given a hope of the redemption of his race, with uncertainty as to the mode in which this end should 15* 174 NOTES. be effected." — See Discourses on Prophecy, by John Da vison, B.D. Oxford, 1834, 8vo. pp. 75, 77, 79. " As the prophecy stands in the third chapter of Genesis, nothing appears to point out this particular meaning," (of " destroying the power of sin, and the redemption of man kind by Christ,) much less to confine the prophecy to it. This prophecy was to our first parents but very obscure ; but a light shining in a dark place. All that they could certainly conclude from it was, that their case was not desperate ; that some remedy, some deliverance, would in time appear ; but when, or where, or by what means, they could not understand." — The Use and Intent of Prophecy, by Thomas Sherlock, D.D. London, 1732, pp. 59, 65. Compare also p. 70. Note VI. — Page 43. The communication recorded in Gen. xii. 1, is undoubt edly the second, preparatory to Abram's removal from Haran to the land of Canaan. His first migration, which was from Ur of the Chaldees, had been mentioned just be fore in xi. 31. The original ought to be rendered, in ac cordance with its invariable meaning — and the Lord said. The reason which probably induced our translators to pre fer the pluperfect tense, may be found in the work before referred to, Note 59, pp; 239, 240, where the true meaning of the text is defended against the objections of Rosen- miiller. Note VII.— Page 47. The book on Genesis already mentioned contains a full examination of the various views which have been taken of this celebrated text, both in ancient and modern times. See Note 10, pp. 371-388. NOTES. 175 Note VIII.— Page 58. This extract from the Commentary of Abarbanel is ac companied by a note, in a work published by Stanford &, Swords, in 1847, entitled, " Biographical Notices of some of the most Distinguished Jewish Rabbies, and Transla tions of Portions of their Commentaries and other Works, with Illustrative Introductions and Notes." See p. 196. Note IX.— Page 62. In Acts ix. 7, it is said, that " the men stood speechless, . hearing the voice indeed, but seeing no one.'' In xxvi. 14, the voice is said to have been uttered "in the Hebrew tongue." This may help to explain the seeming discrep ancy between ix. 7 and xxii. 9 : " they that were with me heard not the voice." The original word rendered heard, may convey the idea of perceiving distinctly. In this case a sound somewhat confused may have been heard, (making an impression similar perhaps to that made on those of the by-standers referred to in John xii. 29, who thought " it thundered,") but not sufficiently distinct to enable the hearers to comprehend the meaning. Or the word may signify, as it is actually rendered in 1 Cor. xiv. 2, to under stand. If SauFs attendants were composed of a Roman band, as it very likely was, Hebrew would, in all probabil ity, have been unintelligible to them. Note X.— Page 63. What the Urim and Thummim were, can only be con jectured. The reader who wishes to know the various opinions of the learned, may consult writers on Jewish Antiquities. It seems evident from Exodus xxviii. 30, that they were not identical with the twelve stones. The 176 NOTES. words, which mean lights and perfections, that is, the most perfect illumination, may have been applied to the things themselves, in order to indicate the certainty and fulness of the divine revelations, whether communicated orally, to the priest, or directly to his internal faculty. Note XI.— Page 64. See, for example, the instances of Abimelech, Laban and Balaam, mentioned in Gen. xx. 6, 7 ; xxxi. 24, 29 ; Num. xxii. 8-13, 20. Such cases did not escape the notice of the celebrated Maimonides. — See my Jewish Rabbies, pp. 233-235. Note XIL— Page 65. Thus we read, " the vision which Isaiah saw," Isa. i. 1 ; " the word (or thing) that he saw," ii. 1 ; " I saw the Lord," vi. 1 ; " a grievous vision is declared to me," xxi. 2 ; " the vision of Obadiah," i. 1 ; " write the vision ; the vision is for an appointed time," Hab. ii. 2, 3. Gad is called "Da vid's seer," 2 Chron. xxiv. 1. Ezekiel is said to be made " a watchman;" to see, as it were, the approaching evil, and to give warning, iii. 17, et seq. Compare Isa. xxi. 6, 8, Ivi. 10. At the time when the ninth chapter of the First Book of Samuel was written, the word in common use was prophet ; but during the period of which the author is narrating, the term employed was seer. See v. 9. Still, the writer does not mean to say that the name of prophet had never before been thus employed ; for even the Pentateuch contains evi dence that it was sometimes used to denote one who pos sessed the ability of predicting future events. See Deut. xviii. 22. In accordance with this method of representing the fu ture to the mind of the prophet who receives the divine communication, it is occasionally said that he is taken to some elevated position. Thus the whole scene intended NOTES. 177 to be impressed on the mind, would appear like a collection or succession of real historical facts, actually taking place at the very time of the revelation. Thus, for example, after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, Ezekiel, a captive in Babylonia, being about to receive a revelation of the establishment of a new temple, is " brought in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and set upon a very high mountain," xl. 2. The same mode of representation is employed in the Apocalypse : " He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city," &c, xxi. 10. And there are not wanting able and orthodox commentators who apply the same prin ciple of prophetic interpretation to the account given by the Evangelists, and especially St. Luke, of the last re markable temptation of our Lord in the wilderness : " The devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time," iv. 5. Note XIIL— Page 68. The language of the very learned and equally modest Pococke, is well worthy of the reader's attention. " Vision in that notion of the word in which it is here #sed, was that way whereby God did make known to his prophets and instruments, such things as he would have them de clare concerning things to come, or any part of his will, by representing them to them as plainly as if they saw them with their eyes and bodily senses, in such resemblances which did make them known to them, that they might dis cover them to those whom he would have to know them : whether that vision were corporalis, imaginaria, or intellec- tualis, as they distinguish them ; corporal, when some ap pearance was represented to their bodily eyes ; or imagi nary, when such forms were deeply impressed on their imagination ; or intellectual, by some intelligible image of the thing, representing -clearly to the understanding that 178 NOTES. which was to be revealed ; and whether any such images were in somnis, in dreams or trances, or extra somnium, without dreams." — Commentary on the Prophecy of Hosea, by Edward Pococke, D.D., &e. Oxford, 1785, fol., p. 684. Note XIV.— Page 72. The names of the four most distinguished angels, those who, according to the Rabbies, are about the divine throne, are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. Michael stands on the right of the throne, Uriel on the left, Gabriel in front, and Raphael behind. The reader may find these particulars, and also the Rabbinical account of the origin of these names, in Buxtorf's Lex. Chal. Tal. et Rab., fol., 1639, under Uriel, Col. 46. Note XV— Page 75. Isa. xx. 2-4. " Naked." — The same language is used of Saul in 1 Sam. xix. 24. But in both places it merely means, having the outer garments off, or, it may be, a -part ofthe inner also. The same mode of speaking is used by old authority in the account of the disrobement of Richard the Third and Anne on the occasion of their coronation : " They put off their robes, and stood all naked from their waists up." And yet the ceremonial of the coronation of kings of France, describes the dress to be used on such occasions as " close-fitting tunics of silk, having apertures on the breast and between the shoulders," on which the chrism might be placed. That of English consecrations was most probably similar. — See Queens of England, by Miss Strickland, vol. 3d, p. 249, Lea & Blanchard's edi tion, Philadelphia, 1847. NOTES. 179 Note XVI.— Page 85. The translation of the two portions which are introduced in the discourse, varies slightly from that of our English version. The reader who examines the original text will perceive that the variations are in strict accordance with it. They have also the sanction of the best Biblical critics and expositors. Some of the Hebrew verbs, although in the preterite tense, and so translated in our Bibles, are ren dered in the present. It is hardly neeessary to say, that this is supported by the usage of the language, and the authority of the best grammarians. — See Nordheimer's Hebrew Grammar, Book iii., chap., 12, sect. 952, et seq. ; and Conant's Gesenius, Part iii., chap, iii., sect. 124, 3. In the latter part of the quotation from Isaiah, I have substituted the phrase, and they shall call him, for the more literal translation, and they shall call his name. I have done this in order to express the true meaning of the prophet. An objection has actually been made to the application of this prophecy to our Lord, because he had no other name than Jesus, and was not called by any ofthe appellations here mentioned. A very moderate acquaintance with the phraseology of Scripture, is sufficient to show at once tho ignorance of the objector. The prophet has no reference to the proper name whereby the Messiah should be known among his brethren of mankind, but to those appellations which should mark his character and nature. In addition to the ordinary sense of giving a name to a person or thing, whereby it shall be called and designated, as Ishmael, Samuel, Jerusalem, and the like, the phrases to call by a name, to be called, shall call his name, and others of the same kind, are employed in two senses ; and the true one must in every case be gathered from the context, the nature of the subject, and the analogy of Scripture. First, a name is imposed in consequence of the existence of a state of things corresponding with its import. Thus in 180 NOTES. Isaiah viii. 1, 3, 4, the prophet names his son MahershalaU Tiashbaz, that is, hurries the booty, hastens the spoil ; and this in order to impress his prediction, that the time was fast approaching when the Assyrians should lay waste the countries of Israel and Syria, and carry off the booty. The fulfilment of the .prophecy is recorded in 2 Kings xv. 29, and xvi. 9. In lxii. 4, it is said of Zion and Jerusalem, " thou shalt be called Hephzibah," that is, my delight (is) in her, " and thy land Beulah," or married, indicative .of a con dition expressed by what follows : " the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married," that is, shall be blessed with numerous offspring/like a favored and prolific mother. Thus also the last words of Ezekiel are expressive of the divine presence to bless the new Jerusalem : " the name of the city shall be, the Lord is there." And notwithstanding all the efforts which have been made to give a different meaning to the latter half of Jer. xxxiii. 16, there is no reason to doubt that the same rule of interpretation applies there, and that the true translation accords with the view given in our English version : " this is what they shall call her, (Jerusalem,) the Lord our righteousness." The name designates the city, and indicates its religious and highly favored condition. Multitudes of other illustrations might be added, but those adduced are abundantly sufficient to settle the principle. It is of no essential importance whether the name be that by which the object is designated, or merely ideal and symbolical. Secondly, the name often marks the character and nature of the individual to whom it is applied. A very remark able illustration of this occurs in 1 Samuel xxv. 25 : " As his name is, so is he ; Nabal is his name and folly is with him :" Nabal being the Hebrew word for a foolish, wicked, ungodly man. Thus also the name of Jesus was given to our Lord to mark his office and character as a Saviour. On the same principle the appellations bestowed on the Messiah in Isaiah vii. 14, and ix. 6, and perhaps in Jeremiah NOTES. 181 xxiii. 4, may be applied in order to mark his true divinity. Thus they may serve to confirm in the believer's mind the important truth of which he had before received undoubted assurance from other parts of Scripture. I have chosen the noun wonder in preference to the adjective employed in our translation, because it accords better both with the form of the word and with those with which it is associated. Still, as it is a concrete, it must be understood in the sense of the wonderful. The word in Judges xiii. 18, which is rendered in the English version " secret," is radically the same, and ought to be translated the same way. This will be clear to any one who reads the passage in the original, where the root occurs in the form of a verb in the next verse, and is rightly rendered " did wondrously." Note XVIL— Page 86. The general principle of prophetic interpretation which is believed to be correct, is sustained in the body of the discourse by suitable examples. Particular modifications of it, with its various degrees of application, might be left to the reader's own observation. Still with the view of illustrating some of the remarks which have been made, I have thought proper to imbody in a note what could not very suitably be incorporated in a sermon or lecture. 1. I have remarked that the description maybe equally or directly applicable to each of the particulars predicted. The prophecy of Balaam,* " I shall see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh : there shall come a star (that is a glorious prince,) out of Jacob, and a sceptre (or ruler,) shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners (or coasts, territories,) of Moab, and destroy all the sons of Sheth," (in other words, the tumultuous ones, the ra ging enemies,) is susceptible of an exposition exclusively * Num. xxiv. 17. 16 182 NOTES. to David. But prophetic analogy demands a broader in terpretation ; and this is supported by the oldest and most venerable authorities, and appears in the Chaldee Para phrase of Onkelos, which comprehends the Messiah. As suming the correctness of this view, it can hardly be ques tioned that some of the language of the prediction i9 equally, and all of it directly, applicable both to David and Christ. Thus also the promise : " I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west ; I will say to the north, give up ; and to the south, keep not back :"* re ferring, as it well may, to the return of the Jews and Is raelites to their own land, refers also to their return to God in the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah ; and is equally applicable to each. In the 69th and 109th Psalms, David and his enemies, Ahithophel in particular, and Christ and his obstinate and impenitent opposers, and especially the noted calumniator who betrayed him, are equally intended, and the character and punishment of contemporaries of each are alike described. See Acts i. 16,20; Romans xi. 9, 10. To these may be added such places as Isaiah vi. 9, 10, compared with Matthew xiii. 14, 15, and the parallel places in the other Gospels ; Isaiah xxix. 13, with Matthew xv. 8, and Mark vii. 6. 2. The description is sometimes particularly applicable to the nearer and sometimes to the more remote. The book of Isaiah, and especially the last twenty-seven chap ters, afford numerous illustrations of this remark. The tenth chapter predicts the escape of a portion of Israelites from the sword of the Assyrian, and their return to a peace ful and religious condition, comprising also the escape of a remnant in time to come from error and sin and ruin by their conversion to the true Messiah. Yet the nearer, event is unquestionably that to which verses 20-23 are particularly appropriate. Thus also xl. 2, " Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem," &c, is. especially descriptive of the state of the * Isa. xliii. 5, 6. NOTES. 183 Babylonian exiles who had heard, or were soon to hear, the decree of Cyrus authorizing their return to their own land ; and yet quite applicable to the natural condition of mankind, when called by the comfortable voice of Gospel invitation, and assured of pardon and forgiveness. On the other hand, the language is sometimes better adapted to describe the more remote points of the prophecy. Thus the first verse of the 32d chapter of Isaiah, though ap plicable to the religious government of a pious monarch, such as Hezekiah or Josiah, is vastly more so to that of King Messiah, whose rule is to be accompanied by peace and happiness. The appeal and description in the 54th, though intended doubtless to represent the happy con dition of the returned people, does still more vividly de lineate the blessed state of evangelical privilege, which the Messiah would secure to them. And in the 56th chap ter, while the promise of God, to " bring the sons of the stranger to his holy mountain, and make them joyful in his house of prayer," may have been intended to apply to any sincere proselytes to the Jewish religion, it is certainly most especially intended of the conversion of Gentiles to Christ, and of their union with their Jewish brethren in the one holy church which the apostles should establish. It is unnecessary to adduce any other examples. 3. The application of the principle to the one or the other exclusively must be admitted by every careful and candid examiner. Thus in Isaiah xii. 2, 3, 25, Cyrus is the only subject of the prophecy. That the Persian conqueror is meant, and not the patriarch Abraham, (as some have thought,) is evident from' the context; and in xiv. 1-6 he is expressly named. In xiii. 6, 7, " The covenant of the people and the light of the Gentiles," can be none other than the Messiah. The same is true of xlix. 5, 6, and most probably of the whole section from Iii. 13 to liii. 12, inclusive. It is plain that the prophet sometimes introduces the temporal and sometimes the spiritual deliverer sepa- 184 NOTES, rately and distinctly. The connection of the two deliver ances makes this perfectly easy and natural. And the pre diction in ii. 2 et seq., with the corresponding one in Micah iv. 1 et seq., cannot possibly relate to anything but the establish ment of Messiah's church and kingdom as a holy and fa vored resort for converts from every nation of the globe. The principle next referred to in the discourse, namely, that the prophet's language is always limited to a single object, has been defended by interpreters of opposite senti ments. The rationalistic theory assumes it, and explains all such language as that under considerationof isolated facts, either contemporaneous with the author, or such as his sagacity might enable him to foresee. Rosenmiiller re marks, that, to refer a passage, which literally and histori cally relates to David, in an allegorical and sublime sense to Christ, is altogether at variance with the rules of correct and sober interpretation, and that, if one should venture to treat any Greek or Roman author in this way, he would de servedly subject himself to the censure of all sensible per sons.* He therefore thinks it sufficient to say of the words of Isaiah, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God ;"f " This verse is accommodated by Matthew to John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the coming Messiah."| He does not stop to settle the im portant point which must be proved before the principle of accommodation can rightly and logically be applied. To discuss this rationalistic theory of interpretation would be impracticable in a brief note. Some of its diffi culties are suggested in the discourse. Its defenders are compelled to treat the Bible in a manner wholly inconsis tent with historical evidence, and its own essential internal religious claims. A thoughtful and serious reader is not * Scholia on Ps. xvi. Aigumeu. p, 367. f Isa- xl. 3. t Scholia ou Isaiah xl. 3. NOTES. 185 likely to be seduced from the truth, by so superficial a system. But the principle under review has developed itself in a very different form, and from motives wholly opposite. Believing that what has been called a double sense, or " a double interpretation," is wholly inadmissible, the indefat igable and learned Dr. Samuel Lee, D.D., late Regius Professor of Hebrew, and formerly of Arabic, in the Uni versity of Cambridge, has taken the very contrary ground to that of Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, and the German Neolo- gists. He maintains that the words of Isaiah before cited are to be understood exclusively of the coming of Christ, preceded by his forerunner, John the Baptist. " Isaiah xl. is thought to be such a prophecy," that is, one " that war rants a double interpretation, because, it is said, it must primarily relate to the delivery from Babylon. To show this we have considerable talent, poetical imagery, and some fine writing displayed. I doubt, nevertheless, whether the whole of this is not a mere delusion. The New Tes tament is quite sufficient to show that it applies to the times of Christ. Some passages which it contains seem also to show, that it never could have applied to the tem poral Jerusalem." He then quotes from vs. 4, 5, 31, and concludes thus : " The Apostolic interpretation therefore is the just one ; and every other ought to be rejected as worth less and mischievous."* But this is by no means satisfac tory. No Christian doubts the truth of the Apostolic interpretation ; but the admission of it does not prove that other points beside those which the Apostles have deter mined to be intended were not also comprehended within the original prediction. The question is not, whether the New Testament exposition of the prophet is true, but * Dissertation on the Interpretation of Prophecy, London, 1830, p. 277. Dr. Lee has lately published a most learned and laborious work, entitled, An Inquiry into the Nature, Progress, and End of Prophecy. The volume, which contains upwards of 500 octavo pages, comprehends an exposition of the Apocalypse. 16* 186 NOTES. whether he may not have comprehended something more than this exposition develops. And the whole series of the prophetic discourse proves that he did. I have before referred to the remarks of Dr. Arnold on prophecy. They are. well worthy of attention, and must suggest to the thoughtful reader interesting considerations. Still I cannot but think that he has laid down a principle, which, however true it may be in general, is yet not sus ceptible of universal application. " Whatever scheme of interpretation we adopt for pro phecy, it is at any rate necessary that it should proceed upon some fixed principle, and not be varied according to the supposed meanings of particular passages. It is con sistent to follow throughout and exclusively a historical interpretation ; it is consistent also to follow exclusively a spiritual interpretation ; or again, it is consistent to adopt always the two together, and to say that every prophecy has its historical sense, and also its spiritual sense. But it is not consistent to interpret the same prophecy partly historically and partly spiritually : to say that in one verse David is spoken of, and in another Christ : that Jerusalem here means the literal city in Palestine, and there signifies heaven: that Israel in. one place signifies the historical people of the Israelites, and in another place the people of God, whether Jews or Gentiles. This is absolutely fool ish, and is manifestly a mere accommodation of the pro phetical Scriptures to certain previously conceived notions of our own."* In general this is all true. Some interpreters have selected certain passages from a continued prophecy marked by unity of subject, and applied them to one particular, at the same time explaining other passages belonging to the same connected series of discourse, of something entirely different. This is, as the author maintains, wholly gratuit ous and without reason. But it seems to me that he goes • Ubi Sup. 405. NOTES. 187 too far in saying, that " it is not consistent to interpret the same prophecy partly historically and partly spiritually;" or, in other words, in denying that a literal sense may be given to some clauses of a discourse when the general cur rent of its meaning is spiritual. The comprehensive char acter of the prophetic discourse must be taken into consid eration in forming a judgment on such a point. The 49th chapter of Isaiah is undoubtedly a description of the true or mystical Israel, the church of Christ, its numbers, happiness, and settled condition in the divine favor. When, in the midst of this representation of spiritual blessings, we meet with such language as — " to cause the desolate heri tages to be inherited ; to say to the prisoners, Go forth ;" — what valid objection can there be against understanding it literally of deliverance from Babylonian captivity, and re settlement in former habitations in Palestine ? And also in liv. 3, where the subject and language are the same ? And in the 102d Psalm, which seems undoubtedly to refer to the return of the Jewish exiles, why may not the 13th and 14th verses relate to the literal re-building of Zion at the expiration of the determined period of seventy years, although in close connection with the spiritual building of the mystical Zion, the church of the Redeemer? And the same remark is applicable to other places. Such statements may indeed be also intended as figures of the ultimate pro phetic idea; but I can see no reason why they may not be also predictions of literal facts. Note XVHL— Page 93. The prophecy in 2 Sam. vii., which is applied to our Lord in the Epistle to the Hebrews i. 5, is the same as that recorded in the parallel history, 1 Chron. xvii., and of which David speaks to his son Solomon in 1 Chron. xxii. 7, et seq. Attempts have been made to prove that the last portion relates to a prophecy " entirely distinct" from that 188 NOTES. narrated in the two former. But the effort is an utter fail ure. The reader may consult Peirce's* note (n) on the text in Hebrews, who gives the substance of Winston's remarks. None of his arguments will bear examination, and his translation of the Hebrew words in 2 Sam. vii. 14, is so forced that the merest tyro in the language must see at once that it cannot be defended : " Whosoever shall com mit iniquity, I will chastise him with the rod of men, &c. The whosoever is to be understood of those who belonged to the Messiah, and were his people or subjects," p. 16. Dr. Hales has endeavored to sustain a translation some what different, but even less defensible : " I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son ; . whosoever (shall be concerned) in injuring him, even I will chastise them with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of Adam." He calls this an attempt to render "this illustrious pro phecy more closely and correctly .'" Let any competent Hebrew scholar judge of such a rendering. The first reason given for condemning " the authorized translation as incorrect," is, that " the conditional particle if is want ing in the original" ! ! . One might as well say, that in the expression, " as he was come nigh to Jericho," Luke xviii. 35, the particle as is wanting in the Greek. It is ac knowledged, however, that "this grievous mistranslation and misapplication of the passage" arose from " our Eng lish Bible" having " followed the ancient versions."-)- Yet Dr. Hales has written largely and learnedly on Ancient Chronology, has analyzed a considerable portion of the Old Testament, and was a Professor of Oriental languages. In the present state of Hebrew knowledge, it were quite superfluous to show, that this so-called " more close and * A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews, by James Peirce of Exon. London, 1727. + A now Analysis of Chronology, &c. by the Eev. William Hales, D.D., Rector of Killesandra, in Ireland, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, and Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Dublin, in three volumes, 4to. London, 1811, yoI. ii. p. 367. NOTES. 189 correct rendering" than that of " the ancient versions," and " our English Bible," (which in general is exceedingly good,) loses sight of the idiom of the language, and gives to the verb a meaning which it never bears. It is not to be wondered at that the Old Testament has been thought to be so uncertain as to admit of almost any meaning that may be desired, since it has been subjected to such criti cism as this, and by learned men occupying distinguished positions. The literal sense of the original after the word son, is as follows : ' who, in his committing iniquity (swerv ing from the right way), then I will chastise him,' &c. The idiomatic expression does indeed exclude " the conditional particle," but necessarily implies it. In the English trans lation the relative pronoun is omitted, simply because it is unnecessary ; and it is evident that both this and the pro nominal suffix must be understood of the same subject. To assume different ones is to take for granted the very thing to be proved. It is therefore impossible to interpret the prophecy solely of the Messiah ; unless, indeed, a mere hypothetical case is imagined, such as that in Gal. i. 8. But this is wholly improbable, and, so far as I know, has never been affirmed. Neither, on the other hand, can the prophecy be limited to Solomon. It were preposterous to apply to him exclusively such language as the following : " I will establish his king dom — I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever — I will settle him in mine house and. in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established for evermore."* It is possible that David may have attached perpetuity to Solo mon's earthly kingdom, on the authority of this promise ;f but the promise itself cannot be limited to the dominion of a monarch, whose imbecile son suffered ten of the twelve tribes to fall away from his allegiance in consequence of his boast of the exercise of contemptible tyranny. To ad mit, as Dr. Arnold does, that such expressions, so far as they • 1 Sam. vii. 12, 13. 1 Chron. xvii. 14. t See 1 Chron. xxii. 9, 10. 190 NOTES. regard a merely temporal kingdom, are " hyperbolical," is to give up the point in debate. Besides, the words in I Chron. xvii. 11, are at variance with such a theory : "I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be cf thy sons." Consequently, the seed or progeny intended cannot possi bly be limited to any individual of David's royal children. What how is meant by the house that this seed is to build? Certainly it is the temple that Solomon erected to the honor of Jehovah, the God of Israel. The narratives in Samuel and Chronicles are too clear on this point to admit of the least uncertainty. But the inquiry still remains, is nothing more intended than the building of the material temple on Mount Moriah ? And the whole character of the Mosaic dispensation harmonizes with the answer, which is given also in the language of prophecy elsewhere, that along with the building of the material temple by Solomon there is intended also the establishment of the spiritual edi fice by Christ; that is to say, his holy Catholic Church, which is to remain firm forever, against which the gates of hell itself shall not be able to prevail. This is " the Lord's house," the elevation and glory of which are predicted in Isaiah ii. 2 et seq. ; the " house of prayer for all nations," Isaiah Ivi. 7, Matthew xxi. 13. It were idle to limit this language to the temple, because of its containing a court in which a few Gentiles, in accordance with the Mosaic law, might worship the God of Israel. It is vastly more comprehensive. It teaches that the Jewish temple was a symbol of the church. And doubtless, in view of this sub lime truth, our Lord uttered the memorable words : " De stroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." " He spake," says the divine interpreter, " of the temple of his body," John ii. 19, 21. Keeping in view the Scriptural connection between the literal body of Christ and his mys tical body the Church, and also the symbolical connection of the Jewish temple with the latter, the language, which at first appears dark and inexplicable, becomes luminous NOTES. 191 and full of meaning. It is as if he had said: ' The temple is, as it were, the residence of God, and my body is the di vine habitation. By destroying the latter, you destroy also your temple, which is the pledge of God's dwelling with you. By raising up my body, which I will do on the third day from its dissolution, I build up again the real temple, the church of which your material building is the symbol. You demand a sign, (v. 18 ;) the great sign shall be my res urrection, followed by the rearing up of the spiritual tem ple.' " And now we see that it was not arbitrarily or capri ciously that so many passages in Scripture are applied to our Lord by himself and by his apostles ; passages which according to the undoubted evidence of their context, were historically and literally spoken of some imperfect prophet or king or priest or people, in whom "alone" they had found, and could find, no adequate fulfilment."* Note XIX.— Page 97. Our Lord's language in St. Matthew from the 29th verse, " Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened" &c, to the end of the prophecy, has been thought to be intended exclusively of his future and glorious coming. But on this theory it is impossible to give any satisfactory exposition of the words in verses 29 and 34. " The tribulation" is that connected with the siege and conquest of Jerusalem, " immediately after" which the events next predicted are to follow. Hengstenberg en deavors to remove the difficulty by resorting to the state of prophetic vision. " How essential this property is to the nature of prophecy, appears from its characterizing even the predictions of Christ, and it is in a great measure owing to ignorance of it, that they have so often been falsely in terpreted. To him also the events of the future presented * Arnold ubi sup. p. 388. 192 NOTES. themselves as in a large picture, and therefore in space, not in time. In describing its separate parts,, as the destruction of Jerusalem and the day of judgment, the designations of time, which he employed, as immediately, Matthew xxiv. 29, relate to the succession of the objects as they appeared to him in prophetic vision, and not as they were actually to lake place."* But, granting that to the Inspired mind of the prophet, and even to that of Christ himself, the predicted events did so appear; it cannot be conceded that either the prophet or his biographer would describe the coming of those events in terms, which naturally and almost unavoid ably give the reader a false impression. The prophets may place such events in connection, but they never affirm their chronological proximity, as on this theory must be allowed to be done by St. Matthew. Neither do the descriptions which follow require its application. Such highly figura tive and even hyperbolical language to express the over throw of kingdoms abounds in the prophetic writings. See Hag. ii. 6,7. Isa. xiii. 10, 13. xiv. 12, 13. Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8. Joel ii. 10, and, as antithetic, Isa. xxx. 26. It has also been said that the Greek word in verse 34 rendered "generation" should be translated race, and that the language merely predicts the continuance of the Jews as a people until the period referred to. But this is a mistake. The Jews can hardly be said to have been a people, in the ordinary sense of the word when intended to denote na tional condition, since their overthrow by the Romans. And, even admitting that the Greek word is sometimes used by classic writers to express a race or nation, the New Testament invariably employs it m the sense of generation, race of men subsisting in one particular age, and in this meaning it occurs thirty-nine times. On the other hand, wherever the race as such is intended, we find the words for * Christology of the Old Testament. By E. N. Hengstenberg, &.C. Keith's translation, Alexandria, 1836, vol. i. p. 229. NOTES. 193 nation, people, Jews, Israel, Hebrews, ten tribes, but never the term here rightly rendered generation. The conclusion is unavoidable, that all the description preceding the 34th verse is susceptible of an interpretation bearing on the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and on other concomitant events. The description of these events along with others yet in the distant future, which also are comprehended within this description, agrees with prophetic analogy. And, presuming that the same principle suggests the best explanation of the connection of Matt. xvi. 27, 28, I have so remarked in the discourse. It is not unusual to expound the last verse of the transfiguration, an account of which follows in the be ginning of the next chapter. Bishop Porteus, in his excel lent Lectures on St. Matthew, has argued in defence of this view.* But it appears to me quite improbable, to suppose that our Lord would publicly refer to a display of his glory such as the transfiguration, while he limited it to three chosen disciples, and charged even them to conceal it until his resurrection. Other difficulties attending this view might be urged, were it either necessary or expedient. Note XX.— Page 105. In illustration of the remark made in the discourse, the language in Gen. iii. 15, may be adduced: "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This is univer sally granted to be figurative, except by a few ignorant or malevolent infidels, who would fasten on the words a mere ly literal meaning, in order to expose the subject of the pre diction to ridicule and contempt. Such a meaning is so utterly at variance with the dignity of the whole book, and the sublime and awful circumstances of the context, that it can be maintained only by the most uninformed or depraved. Thus too the promise to Abraham in xviii. 10, that Sarah * Lecture XIV. 17 194 NOTES. should have a son, is expressed in language most beauti fully figurative. Instead of the translation, " according to the time of life," which gives no very clear or intelligible meaning, the original words most probably convey poeti cally the idea of the same season in the next revolving year. As if the declaration had been ; ' When this season of the year shall live again,' or ' revive ;" equivalent to our usual prosaic phrase, ' about this time next year.' The book abounds with passages confirmatory of the statement in the discourse. Note XXI.— Page 108. See Exodus xv. 1, et seq. ; Rev. xv. 3. The similarity of the short song of praise in Isaiah with the longer one in Exodus, must strike even the most inattentive reader. It appears in the use of the singular number at the com mencement of each, and also in the choice of phrases and words. The latter half of the second verse in Isaiah is taken entirely from the former part of the same verse in Exodus. In both the word Jah occurs, in one as a substi tute for Jehovah, and in the other, where it is translated Lord in the English, in addition to it. The suspicion of Houbigant and some others, that in the prophet the word is not genuine, is shown to be unfounded by the fact, that it is employed in the original poem contained in the history. Note XXII.— Page 120. It may perhaps be proper to inform the reader, that the language in the discourse is not vague and unfounded declamation, employed merely to round "off an antithesis. It alludes to ' statements and interpretations actually main tained by certain expositors of prophecy, some of whom are distinguished not only by worth of character, but also NOTES. 195 by varied and extensive learning. It would seem that a re-establishment of the old Jewish system, or something very like it, is expected, with this exception, that all na tions are to unite with the ancient holy people in divine worship at the national altar. The locality of Solomon's temple is to be gloriously distinguished, and perhaps phy sically elevated ; a splendid temple is to be built there, the materials of which are to be brought from Mount Lebanon, as formerly by arrangements made with Hiram ; the feast of tabernacles is to be celebrated there every year, and those who refuse to attend are threatened with condign punish ment; the most terrific extirpation of those who are hos tile to the Messiah, is to be perpetrated by " the saints of the Most High, who are to possess the kingdom," and in this extermination of the ungodly, they are to follow the example of the divinely directed and aided conqueror of the Canaanites. I might swell this note by large and numer ous quotations from many publications. But not to weary the attention and patience of the reader, I shall confine myself in the proof and illustration of what has been said, to two or three prominent authors. The following passages occur in Mr. Irving's book on prophecy.* The author is commenting on Isa. ii. 1, the pre diction of " the establishment of the mountain of the Lord's house in the top of the mountains, and its exaltation above the hills. — Some have inclined to interpret this literally, of a real elevation of Mount Zion to a height which shall overtop the mountains around, and command the sight of all the peo ple from afar. And that there will be great changes in the physical face of that country, cannot be doubted, as the prophets have expressly declared it." In proof of such declaration he then refers to Zech. xiv. 4, 10; Jer. xxxi. 38, et seq. ; and Ezek. xiv., xlviii. These, he says, " all agree with what is continually written in the Psalms and the * Interpretations of Old Testament Prophecies quoted in the New ; by a celebrated English divine. First Amer. Edit. Published by the Rev. Isaac P. Labagh, New York, 1845. 196 NOTES. Prophets concerning the melting of the hills like wax before his presence! Ps. xcvii. ; Mic. i. 4; Isa. lxiv. 1; Hab. iii. 6, et seq. There must be some reality in these prophetical expressions which so continually occur ; some remarkable geographical changes upon the face ofthe earth, and especially of {he Holy Land ; as in the darkening of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars, and the falling of the towers, and the reeling of the earth !" " Though, therefore, I have been ac customed to give this passage of Micah, and the corres ponding passage of Isaiah, a metaphorical interpretation — as significant of the supreme dignity which shall be given to Mount Zion, and the temple of the Lord thereon builded in the age to come, and the willing homage which all mountains and high places of the earth will yield to that where the Lord's glory abideth — I am far from slighting the more literal interpretation which hath been given to it by Ben-Ezra and others, that Mount Zion shall receive a super-eminence of elevation far above the mountains around, to hold up to the sight of the nations the holy temple of the Lord. But still I incline to think, that the glory of Zion in the eye of the prophet, standeth rather in this, that it shall acquire such a celebrity in those days, as shall bring low the most noted of the mountains of the earth, and the eyes of all men upon it, being the centre cf the worship of the whole world, as is set forth in all the prophets, and most gloriously in the 60th chapter of Isaiah, where all nations, and not only so, but all the natural productions of the earth, come together to beautify her, and to admire her beauty."* He then quotes a large portion of that chapter. On this extract, I must beg the reader's attention to one or two remarks. The absurd and ridiculous character of much of it, partly indicated by the italics, needs no com. ment. The " celebrated English divine" is " far from slighting the more literal interpretation of Ben-Ezra." But Ben (or Aben) Ezra gives no such literal interpreta- * Pp. 263-265. NOTES. 197 tion. He was a man of great learning for his day, and what is still better, of very good sense, and his comment on the text is as follows : " There is no doubt that this prophecy relates to the future ; therefore the prophet says, In the latter days. And the meaning is this : inasmuch as he had said before, that the mountain of the house should become high places of the forest,* he (now) turns to com fort Israel, for the glory of the house shall again return. It is (well) known that the mountain of the house was not high. But observe that the sense is this : its fame shall be widely extended, and from all corners (of the earth) people shall repeatedly bring offerings to it. It is as if it were on the tops ol the mountains, and were elevated above the hills, so that all the inhabitants of the earth might see it." To the same purpose also the no less celebrated David Kimchi, whose comment runs thus : " After having spoken of the devastations of Zion and Jerusalem, the prophet gives them this consolation. It shall be in the last days ; which are those of the Messiah. The mountain of the Lord's house, which he says shall be as the high places of the forest,* shall hereafter be established on the top of the mountains. He does not mean that the mountain shall be raised in bulk, but that the nations shall exalt and honor it, and shall go there to worship the Lord. And, inasmuch as the nations worshipped their gods upon high mountains and hills, he says that there they shall worship the Lord with one consent, and shall exalt this mountain above all others that have ever been exalted and glorified."! No doubt these and other Jewish Rabbies had extravagant an ticipations, but they were not so absurd as some Christian writers would make them. In confirmation of the correctness of the view just given as that of Aben-Ezra and David Kimchi, if so plain and probable a comment can be thought to need evidence of having been written by men of sense and learning, let me * Mic. iii. 12. t See my Jewish Rabbies, pp. 198, 199. 17* 198 NOTES. quote the equally learned Pococke's Commentary on Micah iv. 1 :* « The mountain of the house of the Lord, &c. ; that is, Mount Zion, or Mount Moriah.— Of this the Jews, un derstanding it, the soberer of them, to omit some wilder and absurd expressions at least, (though we may think they meant not to be understood literally, as if hill should be set on hill for exalting it,) observe, that by saying, it shall be established on the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills, is not to be understood that it should be increased in height, but should be madeillustrious by glo rious privileges conferred on it, tokens of God's peculiar grace, and favor, and presence in it, and the temple on it : in consideration and admiration of which, many people should with reverence and respect look towards it, and in great multitudes flow unto it." What becomes now of this writer's attempt to make a distinguished Jewish Rabbi, noted for his learning and judgment, give so silly and extravagant a meaning to the prophet's figure ? Let me treat the reader to one or two additional speci mens of interpretation asseverated by this expositor of prophecy. " The law shall go forth of Zion. — What this law is, I know not, if it be not that law which heretofore was given for the government of the nation of kings and priests, but which they kept not, and for not keeping which they, lost their inheritance. In that day of the retribution of all things, I believe that the law, moral, judicial and political, which the Lord lieretofore gave for the prosperity of men and nations, shall bless men and nations with that blessed ness which it, and it only, is able to yield. It is a law of righteousness, given by God as the righteous condition of men in flesh, of men congregated together as families and nations, looking to Zion and Jerusalem as their head city and temple. My conviction is, that our dispensation, since • Oxford edition, folio, 1692, p. 29. NOTES. 199 Christ, is altogether an interjected and intercalated period ; during which the members of the church that is to be glo rified are in succession forming, until the body shall be completed : and this done, this period, proper to the sons of God, is ended, and the ways of God in governing men in flesh, which for this object were suspended, resume their wonted course. My idea is, that not the Old Testament, but the New Testament dispensation hath an end ; and then the other resumes its course, under Christ and his bride, which is his church."* A sufficient answer to all this is contained in 2 Cor. iii. 11, 13 ; Heb. xii. 27, 28 ; viii. 13. I shall probably have occasion to refer to this exposi tion again. It is not at all surprising that one who is so confident should dogmatically decide, that " the man whose understanding of God's word is so vitiated as that he can not see in these superabundant promises the fact of a na tional restoration to Israel at all, is not in a ease to under stand any part of Scripture, and will interpret it according to his own prejudices and fancies, or those of the genera tion he lives in and the men he esteems."f I turn now from a writer who is led away by an ungov ernable enthusiasm, to another whose name is celebrated in various walks of literature, and who is usually under the guidance of a sober judgment. Dr. Henderson sustains a high character as a philolo gist, a traveller and a theologian. And yet he is considera bly under the influence of a preconceived theory. In his late work on Isaiah,! he sometimes loses sight of the sub lime and beautifully poetic imagery of his author, and views only the meagre, prosaic, literal meaning of the burning words and seraphic figures of that lofty genius and divinely inspired prophet. After the splendid and glorious repre sentation made by him in the 60th chapter of the future * Pp. 270, 271. t Pp- 267, 268. J The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, translated from the Original Hebrew, with a Commentary, critical, philological and exegetical. By the Rev. E. Henderson, D. Ph. London, 1840, 8vo. 200 NOTES. spiritual condition ofthe holy people, the true Israel of con verted Jews and Gentiles under the great king Messiah ; when light shall have poured into them ; when everything hostile shall have united in closest affection or have been completely subjugated; when whatever is valuable shall have become their own ; when all nations shall have con tributed their beauteous and bountiful productions to adorn God's holy house, his spiritual temple ; when perfect peace and righteousness and happiness shall be enjoyed ; O, how chilling is the bathos which brings down this most celestial delineation to the matter-of-fact business of cutting wood on Mount Lebanon, and transporting it to Jerusalem to build a new temple with ; of keeping the gates open, that people in general and travellers may not be hindered from going in and out even at night ! Lest I should be suspect ed of an extravagant exaggeration of the author's state ments, I submit the following extracts from his Commen tary. " The inhabitants " of the west, especially those which carry on maritime traffic, shall lay their ships and wealth under contribution to the accomplishment of the purposes of God relating to the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, and to the further advancement of the divine glory. Their property as well as themselves shall be conveyed free of charge, lx. 9. The idea conveyed by the gates never being shut, is that of the continual arrival of the multitudes refer red to. Modern travellers greatly complain of the inconveni ence to which they are put when they do not reach Jerusalem before the gates are closed, 11. A literal temple Or house of worship being intended, the language must be literally ex plained." (The premises being assumed, the inference is of course unfounded.) " From all that appears to be the state of Palestine in regard to wood, supplies.from Lebanon will be as necessary as they were when the ancient temple was constructed, 13. The temporal prosperity of the re stored Israelites shall resemble that of their ancestors in the NOTES. 201 days of Solomon, 17. The enemies of Israel having all been swept away by the powerful judgments of God, the most perfect tranquillity shall reign throughout the land, and those who may go up to worship at Jerusalem shall enjoy unmolested the fruit of their labor, lxii. 8, 9. Creation is here to be understood not physically, but in a civil and re ligious sense. The subject is Jerusalem and the Jews. Their restoration will be like a fresh springing into exist ence ; and the constitution to be established among them will be entirely different from their ancient economy, lxv. 17, 18." Dr. Henderson, it will be observed, speaks ol going up lo worship at Jerusalem. It does not appear that he refers to any but Israelites. The author of the " interpretations" is by no means so exclusive. He extends this privilege to all nations. In Zech. xiv. 16, it is said, that " nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." There can be no reasonable doubt that this is figurative, denoting a general worship of the true God in his true Church. The figure is taken from one of the three joyous annual festivals, which was at once commemorative of past blessing and symbolical of future. It is like the representation of St. Paul in 1 Cor. v. 7, 8, where living a holy life from Christian motives is ex pressed under the image of purging out the old leaven, and keeping a sacred festival with unleavened bread. This view is in harmony with the context, which illustrates the reli gious condition of the people thus : " In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, holiness unto the Lord. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts," vs. 20, 21. But our author gives a literal exposition of the prophet. After quoting the text he pro ceeds thus : " This I consider as the best commentary upon the verse under consideration,* and proves that the words * He is speaking of Isa. xii. 3, which, as well as John vii. 37, 38, proba- 202 NOTES, are not to be understood in a, merely spiritual sense, but in a literal sense ; for no one, after reading this passage, can doubt that it is a real feast of tabernacles to which the nations shall be required to come up." He then proceeds to show why this feast in particular " should be set so prominently out, and be so peremptorily enforced, in the day of the millennial glory and blessedness." In attempting to do this, he gives very good reasons indeed for the prophet's selecting it as most happily illustrative of a truly Christian state and worship. He then remarks of the " children of Israel who are the proper subjects of our text," (in Isaiah,) " that there is no hint of their ever refusing to yield the obedience of that ordinance on the tenure of which the millennial blessed ness is held : they shall do it with joy and gladness ; they shall acknowledge all unto the Lord. They shall year by year strip themselves of houses and of possessions, and be as their father Abraham was. They shall take the natural shelter of the wood, &c. ; put themselves into the condition of our first parents when driven forth of paradise, &c. ; adopt the symbols of the condition of their fathers in the wilderness, &c. And this same thing shall the nations be required to do ; but not in their own country, but at Jerusa lem, in token of its being the city of the- Lord and the me tropolis of the whole earth; the centre of the blessing, from which it flows over all the earth; the reservoir for col lecting all the praise and thanksgiving coming from the whole blessed earth unto Jah-Jehovah. And when they shall cease thus to acknowledge the seed of Abraham as the blessing of all nations, when they shall draw off their allegiance to the nation of kings and priests; when they shall conceive weariness of this yearly ordinance," &c. &c. Afterwards he says : " At the feast of tabernacles all nations are to appear in some way or other, (most likely by deputations of their chief governors,) when, being all assembled in far greater multi- bly alludes to the practice of pouring out water, as a symbol, at the feast of tabernacles. NOTES. 203 tudes and from far more various regions than heretofore at Pentecost, the mother and metropolitan church in Jerusa lem might well say unto them, ' Go your several ways to the nations from whom you are come ; Praise the Lord, proclaim his name, declare his doings, make mention that his name is exalted.' " — So confident is this writer of the truth of these and other kindred extravagances that he "denounces" in most unmeasured terms of abuse those who reject the literal meaning of such places, " as not only unbelievers in God's word, but confederate to destroy it." It is amusing, that while he modestly disclaims any " more learning than falls to the lot of common ministers of the Gospel," he does claim to be governed by such " canons of interpretation as sound sense furnishes" ! J The language of Isaiah lxvi. 23, is cited in the discourse in confirmation of the figurative meaning assigned to that of Zechariah. The representations are very similar, and the idea conveyed is the same. " It shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." The absurdity of attempting to explain this lite rally of going to Jerusalem is palpable. If it should be said, that the prophet does not speak of going lo Jerusalem, but of coming to worship before tlie Lord, and that this may be done on the occasions mentioned at anyplace; I answer, that the context and usual meaning of the words prove the phrases to be equivalent The chapter begins by declaring that place in divine worship is comparatively unimportant, and in this view it is quoted by St. Stephen in Acts vii. 49. We read in the 13th verse: "Ye shall be comforted in Je rusalem" But surely no judicious expositor will limit this to the city so called. The 20th and 21st verses, however, are conclusive, and prove beyond a doubt that the prophet's language is figurative. " They shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon 204 NOTES. swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord." The words under consideration, which follow in the same connection, are therefore undoubtedly of the same import. As in the one case a literal meaning must necessarily be rejected, it is next to impossible to admit it in the other. And if this be figurative, why may it not be allowed that many other representations are figurative ? Consistency would seem to require it ; it would be entirely in harmony with , the analogy of Scripture; and thus multitudes of difficulties would be obviated. The language just quoted from Isa. lxvi. 20, 31, is illus trative of similar language in the New Testament. I shall limit the application to two passages. We have the same sacrificial figure in Phil. ii. 17 : " If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith;" that is, 'if I be poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice of your faith and obe dience.' The reception of the Gospel by the Philippians, their dedication of themselves thereby to God, is regarded by St. Paul in the light of an acceptable oblation, and his death on account of his efforts in the cause of Christ, as a libation or drink-offering poured out upon it. In Rom. xv. 16, he represents the Gentile converts as an offering, and himself as acting in the character of a priest) and thus " ministering the Gospel." But the representation is figur ative, and no more proves the Apostle to have been a real priest, than it proves the Gentiles to have been » real sacrifice. Note XXIII.— Page 127. The former of the two cases mentioned occurs in Mr. Irving's book. He is commenting on Isaiah xi. 10, et seq. "Verse 10, In that day it shall come to pass that, &c. : NOTES. 205 verse 11, In that day it shall come to pass that, &c. What then is the first of these things that shall come to pass in that day? The thing predicted is, that the Gentiles [goyim, the heathen nations, in contradistinction to the Jews, who are never but in some threatening called by that name,] shall seek unto the root of Jesse, which standeth for a sign to the people [ammim, the Jewish people]. The thing to be observed here is, that the root of Jesse first standeth for a sign to the Jewish people ; not as a sign to the other na tions, which is a different event, set forth in v. 12. In v. 10, he is the sign of the people ; in v. 12, he is the sign of the Gentiles. And we may rest assured that there is not a little contained in this opposition. Now, it is while the root of Jesse is standing as an ensign to the Jewish people, that the Gentiles seek to him." After endeavoring to obviate an objection to his exposition, drawn from Rom. xv. 12, where the Apostle clearly explains of the Gentiles what the author asserts to refer to the Jews, he says : " It is against all laws of interpretation to translate the two Hebrew words written above, which commonly are in direct opposi tion to each other, as if they were the same word, though they occur in adjoining clauses." In the same way he makes statements in another part of his work, where he has in view Micah iv. 1, 2, and the parallel place in Isaiah. " The next thing after the ennobling of the place above all places of the earth, is the flowing of the people unto it ; that is, the people of the Lord, the Jewish people, in contradis tinction to the nations, or Gentiles, who are spoken of next."* Now it happens that the words which occur in these pass ages, and are in the plural number, are never thus used for tho Hebrew people as such, but always designate the Gen tiles or nations. The direct opposition or contradistinction, which he assures us is so pregnant with meaning, is purely a fio-ment of his own imagination, and consequently affords no support to the theory built upon it. In the New Tes- * Ubi sup. pp. 148, 2«6. 18 206 NOTES. tament the corresponding plural Greek word is only once applied to the Israelites ;* and in that instance, evidently, as the context shows, because they had placed themselves in the condition of unbelieving Gentiles. The other case occurs in a work on Prophecy by Dr. Apthorp.f It is sufficient to note the point referred to in the discourse, without examining at all the author's appli cation of the prophecy which he' is illustrating. He is ap plying Isa. xxix. 21, to the "impious and unreasonable rejection of Christ," which he represents as " marked with great emphasis." He prints the translation thus : " They make a man an offender for a word, And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, And turn aside the just for a thing- of nought." The comment is as follows : " This indeed is applicable to their treatment of all the prophets ; but the emphatic use of the singular so often repeated, seems to point out One eminently, if not exclusively." The remark founded on the singular number is of no force, as nothing could be more natural than the use of it to designate any individual to whom the statement might apply, and the Old Testa ment constantly employs it to denote any of a class. The pronoun, which is represented as emphatic by being printed in capital letters, has nothing that corresponds to it in the Hebrew, which expresses the idea of the reprover by a participle ! Note XXIV.— Page 131, I cannot but think that the cause of revealed truth might be exposed to injury, by an attempt to find in history facts * Acts iv. 27. f Discourses on Prophecy, read in the Chapel of Lincoln's Inn, at the Lecture founded by the Right Rev. Wm. Warburton: by East Apthorp, D.D. 2 vols. 8vo. London; 1786, vol. i. p. 7. NOTES. 207 which exactly correspond to each particular specification recounted in some general prediction. It is said of Idu- mea : " From generation to generation it shall lie waste ; none shall pass through it forever and forever. I will cut off from Mount Seir him that: passeth out, and him that returneth."* Dr. Keith interprets these places in the most literal and verbal manner, as predictive of the absolute im possibility of passing through the country and returning. He quotes Volney's remark : " This country has not been visited by any traveller ;" and says, that " fact forbids that the prophecy should be limited to a general interpretation, and demands that it be literally understood and applied." He will not allow that the cases of Seetzen and Burckhardt are " at all opposed to the literal interpretation," although " Seetzen did indeed pass through Idumea, and Burckhardt traversed a considerable part of it." His reason is, that " neither of them lived to return to Europe. J will cut off from Mount Seir him that passeth out, and him that return eth." But this proves too much, for the language of the prophecy as plainly predicts that " none shall pass through it forever and ever," as it does the excision of " him that passeth out and him that returneth;" and yet, he says, " Seetzen did pass through Idumea." Of two other travel lers, Dr. Keith remarks, " They did not pass through Idu mea, and they did return ?' but of Seetzen and Burckhardt, they " did pass through it, and they did not return."f I wonder it never occurred to him, that the text to which he attaches so much importance, expressly speaks of the pas senger as returning. — To " cut off him that passeth out, and him that returneth," is an idiomatic phrase, expressive of general destruction. Thus it is said in Zech. vii. 14, " the land was desolate, that no man passed through nor re- * Isa. xxxiv. 10. Ezek. xxxv. 7. + Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion derived from the lit eral fulfilment of Prophecy: by the Rev. Alexander Keith. Harper's edition, 1832, pp. 137, 142, 147. Tho italics are the author's. 208 NOTES. turned." The prophet explains the meaning in the very- next words : " they laid the pleasant land desolate." To interpret this language respecting the land- of Palestine literally, in accordance with Dr. Keith's view of the same phraseology in Isaiah and Ezekiel, respecting the country of Idumea, would be preposterous. We have the same thought repeatedly, and expressed in nearly the same terms. Thus in Isa. xxxiii. 8 : " the wayfaring man ceaseth ;" in Jer. ix. 10, 12 : " they are burned up, so that none can pass through them ; the land is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through;" in Ezek. xxxiii. 28: " the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through ;" in Zech. ix. 8 : " I will encamp about mine house because ofthe army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth, and no oppressor shall pass through them any more." The Hebrew language abounds with similar idiomatic expressions, with which every expositor ought to be familiar. The enterprise of subsequent travellers, and increasing facilities in the country itself, might be sufficient to neutralize Dr. Keith's conclusion. And this is proved to be really the case by the fact, that Dr. Robinson, our own countryman, has actually traversed the region of coun try referred to, and returned home in safety. If the reader will take the pains to examine the prophecy respecting Idumea in Isaiah xxxiv., he will see how ut terly impossible it is to explain every particular of the description literally. It is there said that "the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day ; the smoke thereof shall go up forever ; from generation to generation it shall lie waste ; none shall pass through it forever and ever."* Certainly there is as much exegetical evidence for a literal exposition of any one of these particulars as of any other. If it be said, that with regard to some, such an exposition * Ver. 9, 10. NOTES. 209 would involve an absurdity, it may be replied, that with regard to others, it asserts what is not true. To the same result we must be led by the following verses. The literal expositor may find but little difficulty in the 11th, 12th, and 13th, and even in part of the 14th; but what is the literal meaning of the words, " the satyr shall cry to his fellow ?" Is there such a creature ? and has he roamed about and shrieked among the ruins of Idumea and Baby lon ? Dr. Keith maintains that even this part of the de scription is to be taken literally, and that the words simply predict the very common circumstance that the deserted region shall abound with goats. He appeals to the author ity of Parkhurst and Lowth in support of his opinion, that this is the meaning of the original word in this place, as it undoubtedly is in some others. Parkhurst does indeed so translate it; but Lowth, both here and in xiii. 21, retains the word satyr. If it signify goat, it will not be easy to say what the prophet means by representing one goat as calling or crying to another ; and this part of his descrip tion of ruin, desolation, divine " Curse and judgment,"* is hardly in keeping with most of the others. The same sort of prophetic threatening is denounced against Babylon in Isa. xiii. 19-22. In both these portions of sacred Scrip ture, the Septuagint has translated the Hebrew word by demons, and it is not to be doubted that the prophet's lan guage has served to mould the description given by St. John of the mystical Babylon in Rev. xviii. 2, which is there said to have " become the habitation of devils (Greek, demonsf), and the hold of every foul spirit. On some parts of this prophecy, the reader will find several important remarks in Arnold, ubi sup., vol. i. p. 413, et seq. * Ver. 5. t Perhaps it may not be amiss to remark, that the term devil, as desig nating an evil spirit, never, occurs in the New Testament in the plural num ber. The word is always demons. TheConciusion, therefore, from Biblical use, would seem to be, that while the Bible recognizeB evil spirits or de-awns in abundance, it never speaks of more than one devil. 18* 210 NOTES. I have remarked in the discourse, that the principle therein stated may be usefully applied to parts of some of the im precatory Psalms. Most thoughtful readers of those Psalms and certain other similar portions of Scripture feel a diffi culty in reconciling expressions which seem to indicate an implacable state of mind, with that forgiving gentleness, which alone is in harmony with true religion and holiness. Various attempts have been made to diminish or remove the difficulty. It has been said that the denunciations re ferred to are prophetic announcements, and therefore are not to be regarded as expressive of the writer's wish. This may be true in some cases, where the future might have been employed in the translation instead of the imperative ; but in many this solution will not apply. The thought con veyed is usually this : ' Let proper punishment be inflicted on God's obdurate enemies.' Sometimes this wish is ex pressed for the ultimate benefit of the offending party; as, for example, in the 83d Psalm, where, after very strong and severe imprecations on God's "enemies," it is said, "fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord," v. 16. But generally the inspired author's intention is, to vfcdicate and illustrate the purity of the divine nature and government. In all such cases, the inspiration lies in the general thought. The details or specific particulars consti tute the form in which it appears. This is left to the au thor, and is therefore modified by his views and feelings ; and these are sometimes moulded by the influence of cir cumstances, and also by the imperfection of the dispensa tion under which he lived. Note XXV.— Page 131. Iri confirmation of this remark, I cannot forbear calling the reader's attention to a few striking illustrations, al though I am aware that the disciples of naturalism have en deavored to set them all aside as irrelevant. NOTES. 211 Notwithstanding all the efforts which have been made to explain Psalm xxii. 16j. 18, of David, or some other real or ideal sufferer, no exposition is satisfactory but that which regards the language as intended to apply directly to the piercing of the Messiah's hands and feet, and the dividing of his garments by lot, as recounted in St. John's Gospel. The words in Isa. liii. 8, are exactly descriptive of the ille gal and iniquitous conduct of the Jewish rulers towards the Messiah. The proper translation, as supported by the meaning of the words elsewhere, is this : ' By an oppressive judgment (or sentence) he was taken away.'* So also in ver. 9 : ' They gave him his grave with the wicked ;' that is, they designed no other sepulture for him than that of executed criminals ; they intended his body to wither and decay, ex posed to the wind and the sun, or to become the food of birds of prey. ' But (he was) with a rich man in his death.' The original word for wicked is plural, and for rich singu lar; and the description, though brief, harmonizes with th« fact of the Messiah's execution in company with criminals, and the respect shown to his sacred body when dead by the " rich Joseph of Arimathea." Another most striking veri fication of a minute prediction is recorded in the history of the Kings. The future appearance of a descendant of Da vid named Josiah is foretold, and various acts of his in dese cration of the altar set up in Bethel by Jeroboam are par ticularly stated in the first Book. In the second the fulfil ment of each of these predicted circumstances is particularly detailed.f The neological interpreters consider the prophecy as having been uttered after the events, as they do also those in Daniel, following Porphyry, the celebrated oppo nent of Christianity in the third century. But this is a mere begging of the question. Another instance is so re markable that it ought not to be omitted, although for the sake of brevity I shall merely note it. Zedekiah had been * See note t in Jewish Rabbies, p. 127. f 1 Kings xiii. 1, 2, compared with 2 Kings xxiii. 15-18. 212 NOTES. threatened with captivity in Babylon, while it had also been predicted that he should never see it. The remarkable fact that the conqueror put out the eyes of his unhappy prisoner as soon as he fell in his power and before carrying him to his capital, is a striking illustration of the minuteness of the prophecy, and of its accurate accomplishment. See 2 Kings xxv. 5-7. Jer. xxxix. 5-7, Iii. 8-11. Ezek. xii. 12, 13. Jose phus affirms that this seeming discrepancy in the prophecies led Zedekiah to put no faith in them.* Note XXVI.— Page 135. I have alluded here to the objections of Gesenius, which the reader may find in his Commentary on the portions of Isaiah referred to. Hengstenberg, in his Christology, has ably refuted them, as he has many other positions of the celebrated philologist and lexicographer. Biblical students of the present day must, of course, avail themselves of the learned labors of this distinguished scholar; but, if they would use them rightly and to the best advantage, they must also keep in mind his neological views, and subject the results of his investigations to the most unbiassed and candid and thorough examination. Note XXVII.— Page 152. Our English translation of Gen. x. 21 speaks of Shem as " the brother of Japheth the elder." But, most probably, the clause ought to be rendered, ' the elder brother of Ja pheth.' For the reasons in favor of this translation, and a reply to the prominent objection urged against it, the reader is- referred to my Companion to the Book of Genesis, Note 51, pp. 229,230. * Antiq. Lib. x. cap. vii. sec. 2. Edit. Hudson, pp. 444, 445. NOTES. • 213 Note XXVIII.— Page 157. This interpretation of Noah's prophecy is given by St. Augustin and other distinguished expositors. A brief, but satisfactory view of this subject may be found in Heng stenberg's Christology, vol. i. pp. 41-46 of Keith's Translation, Alexandria, D. C, 1836. Note XXIX— Page 161. Dr. Henderson speaks in comparatively mild language of the destruction of Israel's enemies. His representation would be unobjectionable, provided it were allowable to understand him figuratively. But the general tenor of his exposition shows that he speaks of a literal excision. " The enemies are all to be swept away by the powerful judg ments of God." The author of the "Interpretations" be fore quoted is more minute and definite in his statement. " When the nations shall cease to acknowledge the seed of Abraham as the blessing of all nations ; when they shall draw off from their allegiance to the nation of kings and priests ; when they shall begin to conceive malice and en mity to the people who are thus honored above all nations; then God, letting Satan loose among them, shall teach them how much they owe to Satan's restrainer, the Redeemer of Israel ; for by him those malevolent humors shall be knead ed up into strong delusion, and they shall rebel against the Jews and their divine king, and come up against the camp of the saints and the holy city in open rebellion, and fire, descending from heaven, shall devour them all.* The Jews, who are Christ's brethren according to the flesh, shall pos sess the supremacy over the nations as the royal priestly people. But " when at length, breeding serious discontents, they shall be offended in their benignant and beneficent » P. 211. 214 NOTES. • rulers^ and, instead of going up from year tb y«ar to keep the feast of tabernacles at Jerusalem, they shall confederate against the holy city and the camp of the saints ; God shall be sc indignant at their blackest ingratitude as to. rain down fire from heaven upon them, and consume them every one. Until which final consummation the tribes now scattered abroad and oppressed of all nations, shall sit in noble state, and exercise righteous sway over all the nations of the earth. ' They shall abide, because now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.' "* The objectionable language of the Rev. Hugh McNeil, M.A., on the subject, I have quoted in part in another pub lication.! I shall therefore only say, that such a theory ought to be substantiated by most incontrovertible evidence before one can be justified in promulgating and defend ing it. But I cannot conclude this last note without referring to Mr. McNeil's most extraordinary comment on the language of St. James in Acts xv. The influence which long-cherish ed and favorite views exercise on the interpretation of Scripture, is the only principle whereby to account for cer tain expositions maintained by really good and able men. On no other ground can I conceive how the Apostle's ad dress to the council at Jerusalem could be so misappre hended and distorted. " In that council, Peter referred to the special revelation by which he had been led, some time before, to go and preach in the house of Cornelius, upon which James made the following remarkable comment: ' Simeon hath declared how God at first did visit the Gen tiles, TO TAKE OUT OF THEM A PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME.'J Now we have here a distinct declaration of God himself, that the design of this dispensation is to take and save a people out ofX the Gentiles, which is certainly a very dif- * P. 141, 142. t Jewish RabbieB, p. 138. i The capitals and italics are the author's. NOTES. 215 ferent thing from converting and blessing all the families of the earth."* The reader will bear in mind that this dispensation is un doubtedly the Gospel dispensation, introduced by our Lord and established by his apostles under the influence of the Holy Ghost ; for it were preposterous to imagine that St. James intended to refer to his brother apostle as being instru mental in introducing any other. Its design, according to the eloquent lecturer, is not to convert and bless " all the families of the earth." But St. Peter and St. Paul apply the promise of God to Abraham, " in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed," to the earliest period of Christianity, the very age of our Lord and his apostles, and to the Gos pel dispensation as then instituted. They must, therefore, of course, have applied it most strangely and unwarranta bly. Plainly their view and that of our author are widely different. The popular and ardent preacher would persuade us to believe that it was God's purpose to select some Gen tiles to be the ostensible depository of his covenant bless ings, just as of old he had selected Abraham, and not to extend these blessings among all the families of man! Credat Judseus ! It were unnecessary to show how en tirely at variance with the whole series of prophetic scrip ture is such an imaginary theory. In a note the author develops his views more fully, at least, if not more clearly and satisfactorily. " After\ this I will return! After what? After a period of desertion, during, which the house of David shall be desolate and bro ken down ? After such a period I will return to it, and build it up. But during that period, what is to be done? Is God to be without a people on the earth, while he is turned away from the Jewish people, and until he returns lo them ? No. In the interim he .hath visited the Gentiles, * Popular Lectures on the Prophecies relative to the Jewish nation, by the Rev. Hugs M'Neil, M.A. London, 1838, pp. 69, 70. t The italics are the author's. 216 NOTES. to take out of them a people for his name. To this agree the words ofthe prophets,' who say, After this I will return; and I will build again what was fallen down. What is it that is thus described as fallen down and deserted for a season, and afterwards built up again as in days of old I Clearly the Jewish nation, the consequence of whose resto ration is immediately added, That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, even all the Gentiles. " Thus there is first a period revealed, during which the Jews would be trodden down ; and the characteristic of this period is, a people taken out cf the Gentiles. Then, secondly, after this, a period at which the Jews will be lifted up again. And, thirdly, a period immediately conse quent, when all the Gentiles will call upon the Lord." Any extended comment on this remarkable development of the Apostle's language, is wholly unnecessary. It is quite clear that the predictions quoted in the 16th and 17th verses, are applied to the fact which he mentions in the 14th, as having just been stated by St. Peter. In other words, the conversion of the Gentiles, and their union, then commencing, with the Jews in the church of Christ, are the verification of the prophecy. To this fact, he says that the words of the prophets, from whom he quotes an illustra^ tion or specification, agree. The tabernacle of David, that is, the regal spiritual authority of his kingdom, as promised in 2 Sam. vii., to be permanent, had in a very great degree fallen down. It was then in the act of being built up again by numerous Jewish conversions to Christ, and the Gen tiles were being built up in connection with it. That is, to use the language of the prophets, the former were taking possession of or inheriting the latter. Of course, this same spiritual re-edification, comprehending the combination of the two, is to proceed, and doubtless hereafter with in creasing extent and strength. But still, it is nothing more than the growing of the same holy temple in the Lord, and, in its progress, a further development of the accomplish- NOTES. 217 ment of the prophetic word referred to by both the Apos tles. The expression, " take out a people," is evidently employed to denote the commencement uf the same dispensa tion, which, in its progress and completion, is to convert and "bless all the families ofthe earth." And here I cannot but recall the reader's attention to what is in some danger of being overlooked, or to which, at least, sufficient prominence may not be given. I mean the fact, that very large bodies of the Hebrew nation wore in the Apostolic age converted to Christ. It is true, indeed, that they were only " the remnant, the election," the choice few, in contradistinction to the great unbelieving mass. Yet considered in themselves they were very numerous. The three thousand converts of the day of Pentecost were soon augmented by daily additions ofthe saved;"* so that " the number of tWe men was about five thousand,"! and we may be confident that that of the women was not less, for they never failed to honor the Saviour at least in an equal degree with the other sex. And, as the truth became better known, " multitudes of believers were added to the Lord," and "the number of the disciples was multi plied."}: Afterwards we read of "many myriads^ of believ ing Jews" in Jerusalem. On examining St. Paul's Epistles we find that every church to which he writes abounded with Jewish converts ; and St. James addressed his letter to " the twelve tribes," as a suitable appellation of the vast and dispersed body of believing Israelites. These facts justify the conclusion, that the fallen-down tabernacle of David, — in other words, the spiritual authority and king dom of David's Lord, vested in him as the lineal successor, in the most exalted sense, of the son of Jesse, the true prophetic David of Ezekiel, — had been already very greatly * Acts ii. 47. This is the only correct translation of the oriyii,;il won!. Comp. in Greek, 2 Cor. ii. 15, and in Greek also the relation of the iniirljr- dom of Polycarp, sec. 17. t iv. 4. J v. 14, vi. 1. 4 xxi. -t. So the original Greek word ouyht to be translated. 19 218 NOTES. raised up in the Apostolic age. It would, then, be a gross mi.stake, to suppose that the ancient prophecies relating to Jewish conversion and the reception of Gentiles into this same divine kingdom of the David, had not been at all verified, or, if verified, at most in a very trifling and unim portant degree. The view advocated by Mr. McNeil would seem most effectually to militate against all practical missionary efforts, based on a belief that — in respect to the duty of spreading Christianity, as founded by the Apostles, and existing in the world ever since their time in a greater or less degree of vitality — the field of operation is the world. Be cause, it would evidently be useless to attempt to spread over all the world a system of religion, the whole design of which, as stated by an Apostle, was nothing more than to make a selection from. among the Gentiles of a certain favored class, like the family of Abraham of old, to be, for some indefinite period, the depository of God's truth during the time that the "dispensation" should be allowed to con tinue. As well might Moses and the prophets have en deavored to extend the Jewish system, at least so far as it did" not require residence within the promised land. No : the Gospel, as established by our Lord and his Apostles, among whom St. Peter occupied a most prominent position, is and must be, like its divine Author, " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." In various ages of the church, from that of Montanus to that of Irving, certain men have vainly wished to improve it, in order to introduce something new and more spiritual. A melancholy proof of man's weak ness, want of faith and submission, self-dependence, con scious superiority, and resolute adherence to a natural preference of his own " Abana and Pharpar" to " the waters of Jordan." May the Merciful and Almighty God grant, that Christianity, as established by the Apostle Peter and his inspired and authoritative coadjutors, may not only take mil of the Gentiles a people for the honor of his holy name, NOTES. 219 but also, in accordance with the direction of its divine Founder — "go into all the world, and preach mv gos pel to every creature" — incorporate into His original church, along with the faith once delivered to the saints and the very mind which was in Christ Jesus, every indi vidual Heathen, Mohammedan and Jew, so that all mankind may form one brotherhood, most firmly united in the bonds of Christian peace, and truth, and love, and harmony ! Amen, Amen ! THE END. WORKS BT THE SAME AUTHOE. would invite particular attention to the following : Note 19, on the serpent and the exposition of the fall ; 27, on the nature of Abel's faith ; 64, on the Amalekites; 74, on the phrase, in the presence of; 81, on the name Adonai, as applied to one of the angels that appeared to Abraham; 97, on the offering up of Isaac; 104, on the expression, a plain (rather perfect) man, applied to Jacob ; 107, on the deception practised by him ; 141, on the Idumeans ; 145, on the chronological difficulties of chap, xxxvii. ; 154, on the antipathy ofthe Egyptians to shepherds. The note9 on the 49th chap, with the version given by the author are amongst the most valuable parts of the work." — Methodist Quarterly Review. ESSAY ON OUR LORD'S DISCOURSE AT CAPER NAUM, RECORDED IN THE SIXTH CHAPTER OF ST. JOHN, 12mo. pp. 149. 63 cents. " This valuable contribution to the atores of biblical criticism, appears to have been written with the immediate view of com bating the errors of Dr. Wiseman, who appeals to this chapter for proofs of the real presence. The subject ofthe real presence in the eueharist is so much a question at the present day, and especially in the Episcopal Church, that every friend of truth will look upon Dr. Turner's work as very seasonable, and calcu lated to do much good." — ivVio York Express. " The discourse at Capernaum has often been abused to the support of transubstantiation, and Dr. Turner has done a good work in clearing it from the sacramental meshes which have been cast around it, and placing the chapter in its true light." — Methodist Quarterly Review. " This little work is marked by the ability, and learning, and piety of its author. We commend the whole es9ay to the atten tion of all who desire to arrive at a correct understanding ofthe chapter." — Calendar. " Dr. Turner conducts his examination of Dr. Wiseman in an acute and masterly manner. He has given the key which un locks the true interpretation of the whole chapter, and solves every difficulty in it. A more successful or beautiful piece of biblical interpretation will rarely be found. This treatise should be read by every one capable of appreciating its excellence and value." — Protestant Churchman. " This is an exact, comprehensive, and clear analysis of a por tion of scripture often perverted. Dr. Turner has shown himself a ripe scholar and a true Protestant. He conclusively shows that 2 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. faith in Christ is the great theme, which is not once lost sight of, and runs through the whole discourse ; and so close and well compacted is the reasoning which sustains this interpretation, that none hut the most reckless disputant will ever attempt its refu tation. The whole is creditable to the scholarship, the talents, and the Christian spirit ofthe author, and is a valuable contribu tion to the theological literature of the church. It stands equally distant from the rationalizing philosophy which would divorce religion from its forms, and from the imbecile superstition which sinks the spiritual in the carnal." — Episcopal Observer. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF SOME OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED JEWISH RABBIES, AND TRANS LATIONS OF PORTIONS OF THEIR COMMENTA RIES AND OTHER WORKS, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES : 12mo. pp. 245. 75 cts. " We have here another interesting and instructive work from the able and learned author. The appearance of the volume at this time must give fresh interest to the efforts now making in behalf of the Jews. Every Christian wishes to see them embrace Jesus Christ as their long-promised Messiah, and the pious labors of the Church for that object can be directed with more intelli gence and effect, when we are brought into a better acquaintance with the views entertained by their Rabbies, respecting the pro phecies which foretell the Saviour's advent. Their opinions are here presented to us by Dr. Turner; in his own clear and chaste style of writing, and will be read with instruction by those whose ' heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.'" — New York Express. " Notwithstanding the modest manner in which the author speaks of his performance, we doubt not but the selections are well made and faithfully translated." — Literary World, March II, 1848. " We can easily perceive, from our own inspection of the vol ume, that every promise of the title-page has been well and carefully redeemed. We heartily commend the book to the at tention of all who take an interest in what is really a very cu rious, however much neglected, department of literature." — Jew ish Chronicle, Jan. 1848. " To the learned Jew there can be no access, except through an acquaintance with his sacred literature, to which the work of Dr. Turner introduces us. Who doubts the utility of such a pub- 3 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. lication, has not weighed the requisitions of the age, and the ob jects ofthe Christian world. The Professor's general reputation is a security that what he undertakes he is competent to per form. His preface contains wise and judicious counsel. The biographies of the Rabbies are instructive, and the translations, as far as the writer can judge, are both elegant and accurate ; at least as elegant as accuracy will permit them to be." — Church Times, Dec. 17, 1847. " We are happy to find that Rabbinical learning, which has been too much neglected and despised, is beginning to excite some interest; and that one of our ripest and most judicious biblical scholars is not only devoting his own attention to it, but is en- ¦ deavoring to awaken that of others by this pleasing and valua ble publication. The book is divisible into three parts. The first gives a very lucid and pleasing account of all that is known and worth repeating, respecting seven ofthe more distinguished Jew ish Rabbies of the middle ages. In this part of his work, Dr. Turner has consulted and followed the best authorities ; and his chief reliance is, very properly, Dr. J. M. Jost, the greatest of modern Jewish historians. In the second part, he has given us translations from the Commentaries and Targums. To the cor rectness of those from Jarchi, and some of the Targums, we our selves can testify. Tho9e from Aben Ezra, Saadias, &.C., we had not the means of testing. The third part contains translated tracts from two of the most valuable works of Maimonides. The last, from the Moreh Nevochim, or Guide to the Perplexed, we have compared throughout with the original Hebrew, and pro nounce it accurate and scholar-like. The notes of the translator are excellent." — Church Review & Eccles. Register, April, 1848. SPIRITUAL THINGS COMPARED WITH SPIRITUAL, AND EXPLAINED TO SPIRITUAL MEN; OR AN AT TEMPT TO ILLUSTRATE THE NEW TESTAMENT BY PARALLEL REFERENCES. This collection of references was originally compiled for the use of theological students. It may be made more extensively useful by aiding teachers in Sunday Schools, aud Bible Classes ; aud by being carefully studied by readers of the Scriptures gen erally. The preface will explain the nature of the publication. IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. Harper's Illuminated and Pictorial Bi ble, including the Apocrypha. 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