late entered into the study of prophecy in this country; and how often the credit of Holy Scripture has been "put at pawn in the hands of infidelity"-not to be redeemed, but to be shamefully lost. The sceptical spirit of the age might, if it chose, reap a plentiful harvest in this field to help on its popular crusade against the credibility and worth of Scripture; and if the faith of many within the enchanted circle has not been seriously shaken by the cycles of expectation and disappointment through which they have passed, it can only be accounted for by some peculiar idiosyncrasy in the mental constitution and habits of its possessors. Mr Frere, who has more perhaps than any other acted as the leader in this mistaken and perilous line of things, has lived to see his most confidently-announced prognostications of great events thrice over palpably falsified. Even since the first edition of this volume was published, a whole series of announcements from the sure word of prophecy, issued, not by one merely, but by a number of disciples of the same school, have shared a like fate. Holding, as they do in common, and without any valid ground in Scripture, that the present Louis Napoleon is the last, the culminating embodiment of the Antichrist-holding it, indeed, so firmly that it has ceased to be with them a matter of doubt, "having been demonstrated with mathematical certainty"-there should have been formed a seven-years' compact between the emperor and the Jews at the latest in 1861 (the period of the Second Advent being assigned to between 1866 and 1868); the Jews should have been already back to Palestine, and their new temple in progress, since this was to be completed in 1865; Popery as a system should have been destroyed in this current year of 1864, or, as it is otherwise and more particularly expressed, "the mystery of iniquity should now have been finishing in bloodshed

so great, that the apostle uses a hyperbole to describe it, reaching unto the horses' bridles." All these, and other things of a like nature, were a few years ago confidently predicted, while not one of them has had even the shadow of a fulfilment; and in so far as such interpreters of prophecy could do it, the cause of Bible truth has been delivered up into the enemies' hands. Nor is it the least melancholy part of the matter, that they appear to be themselves no way daunted by the results; and, as if the ground still remained firm beneath their feet, the same things are re-asserted with unabated confidence, only, by a fresh manipulation of figures and symbols, the period is postponed some eight or ten years later: the consummation now is to be, not in 1866-68, but 1871-2. (See, for example, Baxter's Louis Napoleon," ed. 1863.)

Surely the knowledge of such things should arouse clergymen, and Biblical students generally, to a more profound and impartial examination of the structure and import of the prophetic word. The more so, as many of the persons, who have been carried away by this false spirit of interpretation, are not mere ignorant enthusiasts, but belong in considerable numbers to the respectable and educated classes of society. Not a few even fill responsible positions in the church. And what makes the matter more serious, calling for earnest consideration among a much wider circle, is the circumstance-which no one who has much acquaintance with the literature of the subject can well doubt that it is the partial support which this mode of dealing with prophecy has obtained, and still obtains, from some men of note as interpreters of Scripture, that mainly fosters and sustains it. The principles, on which those castles in the air are built, with at least occasional applications of them, are to be found in some of our most extensively read works, in

Scriptural exposition and discourse; and never till the right principles of prophetical interpretation are more thoroughly understood and consistently applied, may we expect to see the soothsaying tendency checked, which compels Scripture to minister to its craving for a degree and kind of information respecting the future, which it was never intended to yield.

The proper place of the prophetic word lies between the two extremes, which rationalism and enthusiasm would thus respectively claim for it; and to vindicate for it, on grounds of Scripture and reason, that intermediate place, is the service that is now most especially required in its behalf. On the one side, it must be held and shown, that this word was given by inspiration of God,-not in the general sense alone, in which good thoughts and safe counsels may be said to be so given, but as supernatural and direct communications from above. For the prophets were not simply men of religious genius; they were divinely gifted seers who could descry the truth of the future; and could delineate it, not in the abstract merely, but in concrete forms and distinctive features, such as would carry an easily perceived correspondence with the events that were destined to realise them. On the other side, however, "the prophets were not soothsayers; they do not predict future events simply as such, without regard to God and his kingdom. To look into the very nature of God, to behold in his light the laws of eternity, according to which he governs the church and the world, is something infinitely higher than a mere knowledge of the future, which is itself a matter of indifference" (Hengstenberg). Hence, prophecy is utterly misapplied, when it is taken as a guide-book to details happening in the civil and political sphere of the world's history-as if it were intended to afford to those, who study it, an insight into the plots and movements of earthly

kingdoms, to discover to them remote changes in constitutional governments, or to indicate steps of advancement in material progress. Prophecy moves in a higher sphere, and but incidentally, as well as sparingly, touches on worldly states.

It is in the hope of contributing to the right interpretation and use of prophecy, that I again commit the following treatise to the public, with only such alterations as seemed needful to adapt it better to its purpose. Writing more especially for those who wish to study the subject in its essential features, and as connected with the true knowledge of Scripture, it has formed no part of my plan to give a complete history of opinion on the topics successively handled, or to recount at length the views of particular writers. I have aimed at giving the treatise rather an exegetical and positive, than a negative and controversial aspect; and have been at more pains in unfolding what I conceive to be the truth, than in noticing every shade and variety of error that may have arisen against it. All the leading forms and phases of opinion, of course, are indicated on such points as are of more vital moment to the main theme; and where necessary for purposes of argument or illustration, references are also made to individual authors. But, very frequently, where views are referred to at variance with those which have commended themselves to my own mind, I have abstained from mentioning particular names, that the discussion might not be entangled more than was necessary with personal allusions. In several cases also I have, in this new edition, softened the language in those parts which are unavoidably controversial, seeking as little as possible to irritate the feelings of others, while obliged to oppose their sentiments.

The greater proportion of the changes introduced into this edition are, like the one just specified, of the nature of subordi

nate improvements. A few incidental corrections also have been made, and occasional additions inserted. The greatest alteration is in Chap. IV. of Part I., where the question is discussed, how far prophecy is to be regarded as absolute or conditional in its announcements,-a subject unquestionably of considerable difficulty, and on which the language used in the previous edition was in some quarters misunderstood, perhaps was somewhat less guarded and explicit than it should have been. In the present edition I have both given a more distinct statement of the question at issue, and have unfolded, what I take to be the right solution of it, in a manner which, whether deemed satisfactory or not as regards the point more immediately in hand, cannot, in a doctrinal respect, be excepted against. Some controversial matter, bearing on the subject, I have thrown into an Appendix.

On the general subject of prophecy there have been few publications of importance, so far as my knowledge goes, since the appearance of the first edition of this treatise. In Hengstenberg's "Christology," second edition, there is an Appendix on the Nature of Prophecy," which may be referred to as in the main confirming the views unfolded here; and several other dissertations in the closing part of that volume, relating especially to the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, and the history of their interpretation, will well repay perusal. From Germany we have also a treatise by Tholuck (Die Propheten und ihre Weissagungen, 1860), which contains many excellent and just remarks on the nature of prophecy, and vindicates the strictly supernatural as well as truthful character of its communications, against the attacks of recent assailants. It is somewhat brief, however, on leading points, and is decidedly better on specific predictions and objections of opponents, than in respect to fundamental principles. The Warburtonian Lectures of Dean Goode, delivered