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pretation very different and remote from that SERMON which may be reasonably thought the primary and immediate view of the prophets themselves. -This is what Divines call the DOUBLE SENSE of prophecy by which they mean an accomplishment of it in more events than one; in the same system indeed; but at distant intervals, and under different parts of that system.

Now, as suspicious as this circumstance may appear at first sight, it will be found, on inquiry, to be exactly suited to that idea of prophecy which the text gives us of it, as being, from the first, and all along, intended to bear Testimony to Jesus. For from that idea I conclude again,

II. "That prophecies of a double sense may well be expected in such a scheme."

And where is the wonder that, if prophecy was given to attest the coming of Jesus and the dispensation to be erected by him, it should occasionally, in every stage of it, respect its main purpose; and, though the immediate object be some other, it should never lose sight of that, in which it was ultimately to find its repose and end?

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It hath been before observed, That, between the earlier notices concerning Jesus, and the advent of that great person, it seemed good to infinite wisdom (I speak in terms, suited to the representation of scripture) to institute the intermediate œconomy of the Jewish Law. Among other provisions for the administration of this Law, prophecy was one; and, upon its own pretensions, a necessary one; for the government claims to be strictly theocratical; and the people, to be governed by it, were to be made sensible, at every step, that it was so. Therefore the interesting events in their civil history were to be regarded by them, as coming within the cognisance, and lying under the controul, of their divine governour: to which end, a race of men were successively raised up among them, to give them warning of those events, and, by this divine foresight of what was seen to be accomplished in their history, to afford a clear conviction, that they were, in fact, under that peculiar government.

Add to this, that the Law itself, so wonderfully constructed, was but a part, indeed the rudiments, of one great scheme; was given, not for its own sake, but to make way for a still nobler and more generous institution; was, in truth, a preparatory state of discipline, or

pædagogy, as St. Paul terms it, to bring the SERMON subjects of it, in due time, to Christ.

Jesus then, the object of the earliest prophecies, was not overlooked in this following dispensation; which was, indeed, instinct with presages of that divine person. It gave the shadow of good things to come, but the body was of Christ. The legal prophets, in like

b Gal. iii. 24.ὁ νόμος παιδα[ωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χρισόν c Coloss. ii. 17. Hence, St. Austin affirms roundly, "That, to such as consider the genius of the revealed sys"tem, the Old Testament must appear a continued pro66 phecy of the New."- Vetus Testamentum, rectè sentientibus, PROPHETIA est Novi Testamenti [contr. Faustum, 1. xv.] and St. Jerom speaks of it as a generally-received maxim, "That it is the manner of sacred scripture, to "deliver, beforehand, the truth of futurity, in types"hunc esse morem scripturæ sanctæ ut futurorum veritatem præmittat, in TYPIS [Hieron. T. III. 1127.]-I know, that the ancient Fathers, and from them many moderns, have exposed themselves to much and deserved censure, by pursuing this principle too minutely and superstitiously, in their mystical and allegorical comments on the Jewish scriptures. But men of sense will consider, that a principle is not therefore to be rejected, because it has been abused. For instance, that the Passover was instituted with a reference to the sacrifice of Christ, that the paschal Lamb was, in the language of St. Austin, a prophecy, or, in that of St. Jerom, a type, of the lamb of God, will seem highly credible to one who considers the aptness of the correspondence in two related parts of the same system :

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manner, while they were immediately employed, and perhaps believed themselves to be solely employed, in predicting the occurrences of the Jewish state, were at the same time, preluding, as it were, to the person and dispensation of Jesus; the holy Spirit, which inspired them, bearing out their expression, and enlarging their conceptions, beyond the worth and size of those objects, which came directly in their view.

There is nothing in this account of prophecy, but what falls in with our best ideas of the di

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But, that the famous Law in Deuteronomy, concerning the marriage of a brother's widow, was prophetic, or typical of the duty, incumbent on the ministers of the Gospel, to espouse the widowed church of Christ, is certainly much less clear, and will scarcely be admitted even on the authority of St. Austin.-Hoc ipsum quod uxorem fratris ad hoc frater jussus est ducere, ut non sibl, sed illi sobolem suscitaret, ejusque vocaret nomine, quod inde nasceretur: quid aliud in figurâ præmonstrat, nisi quia unusquisque Evangelii prædicator ita debet in Ecclesia laborare, ut defuncto fratri, hoc est Christo, suscitet semen, qui pro nobis mortuus est, et quod suscitatum fuerit, ejus nomen accipiat? Contr. Faustum, 1. 32.-St. Austin might, perhaps, say for himself, that he had an example of this practice in the mystical comments of St. Paul: it may be so: but an example, followed without warrant, in this instance, by the learned Father, and, not improbably, ill understood by him.

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vine wisdom; intently prosecuting one entire SERMON scheme; and directing the constituent parts of it to the general purpose of his providence, at the same time that each serves to accomplish its own.

This double, or secondary sense of prophecy was so far from giving offence to Lord Bacon, that he speaks of it with admiration, as one striking argument of its Divinity. In sorting the prophecies of scripture with their events (a work much desired by this wise author, and intended by this Lecture) we must allow, says he, for that latitude which is agreeable and familiar unto divine prophecies, being of the nature of the author, with whom a thousand years are but as one day; and therefore they are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages, though the height or fulness of them may refer to some one aged.

But, that we may not mistake, or pervert, this fine observation of our great philosopher, it may be proper to take notice, that the reason of it holds in such prophecies only as re

d Adv. of Learning, B. II

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