Jefus to Him, it might be fo applied;

:

and we know that he spake of the temple of bis body, [ver. 21.]

The fame equivocal use was, sometimes, purposely made of proverbial expreffions, as learned men have obferved [k].

-

I omit many other caufes of obscurity in the prophecies; fuch as the feeming incredibility, fometimes, of the things predicted-the undefined chronology and geography the intricacy of the methodand many other confiderations. But you will collect from these brief hints, refpecting the expreffion only, that, though the fymbolic language be reducible to rule, and therefore, in the main, fufficiently intelligible, yet that there is room enough for the introduction of fo much obfcurity into the prophetic writings, as may answer the ends of the infpirer, and conceal the full meaning of them from the most fagacious interpreter, till it be revealed, in due time, by the event.

[*] See Grotius on Matth. xxvi. 23.

d

Or,

Or, if it be thought that such difficulties as the event removes, are not, in their own nature, invincible, before it happens, it is ftill to be confidered, that the giver of the prophecy is, by fuppofition, divine; and as he, therefore, forefaw, in framing the texture of it, that such difficulties would, in fact, be invincible, they served the purpose of a defigned concealment juft as well, as if, in nature, they were. Whence the conclufion is ftill the fame, That the prophetic ftyle might be the cover of impenetrable obscurities in a prophecy, before its completion, and yet the terms of it be clearly explicable on established rules; the event only enabling the expofitor more skilfully and properly to apply those rules. i

IV. To conclude this fubject; It will now be acknowledged, that the fufpicions which have been taken up against the prophetic way of writing, as if it were vague, illufory, or unintelligible, are utterly without foundation. The ftyle of the prophets

was

was the known, authorized style of their age and country, in all writings efpecially, of a facred or folemn character; and is even yet in ufe with a great part of mankind. It further appears, that, as it was understood by thofe to whom it was addreffed, fo the principles, on which it was formed, are difcoverable by many obvious methods, and may be applied, with fuccefs, to the interpretation of it, at this day.

The prophetic style is, then, a fober and reafonable mode of expreffion. But this is not all. We may, even, difcern the expediency, I had almost faid, the neceffity, of this ftyle, confidered as the medium, or vehicle of prophetic infpiration.

For we have feen, that the scheme of fcriptural prophecy extends through all time; and is fo contrived as to adumbrate future and more illuftrious events, in preceding and lefs important tranfactions: a circumftance, which fhews the harmony and connection of the whole scheme, and

is not imitable by any human art, or forethought whatsoever. But now a figurative ftyle is fo proper to that end, that we fcarcely conceive how it could be accomplished by any other. For thus the expreffion conforms, at once, to the type, and antitype: it is, as it were, a robe of state, for the one; and only, the ordinary, accustomed dress of the other: as we may fee from the prophecies, which immediately refpect the restoration of the Jews. from their antient captivities, and, ultimately, their final triumphant return from their prefent difperfion-from the prophecies concerning the deftruction of Jerufalem, which prefigure, at the fame time, the day of judgment-from thofe concerning the first coming of Chrift, which, also, set forth his reign with the faints on earth, and even the glories of his heavenly kingdom-and in a multitude of other inftances.

Thefe fucceffive, and so different, schemes of providence could only be fignified to gether in a mode of language, that contracted,

tracted, or enlarged itself, as the occafion required. But fuch is the fingular property of a fymbolic ftyle. For none but this, hath fold and drapery enough, if I may so speak, to invest the greater fubjects; while yet (fo complying is the texture of this expreffion) it readily adapts itself to the lefs confiderable, which it ennobles only, and not disfigures. The dif ference is, that what is a metaphor in the former cafe, becomes an hyperbole in the latter. And this double use of the fame fymbol, is the true account of fuch figures as are thought moft extravagant in the description of the prophets.

We fee, then, in every view, how reafonable, how expedient, how divine, the fymbolic ftyle is, in fuch writings, as the prophetic. So that if any be disposed, in our days, to take up the complaint of the text, and to upbraid the prophets by asking, Do they not fpeak Parables? We may now take courage to anfwer, Yes: but parables, which, as dark as they are accounted to

be,