PREFACE. 6 A VERY few remarks are all that appear needful, in order to explain the occasion and object of the present work. In the First Elements of Sacred Prophecy,' the author had endeavoured to remove some of those prejudices and objections, which have lately been repeated in various forms, and have tended to obscure even the simplest conclusions that had been previously drawn from the inspired predictions. The first maxims of the most received interpretations among Protestant Churches were there examined; the chief objections of recent authors analyzed; their weakness, as I think, conclusively shewn, and the access cleared afresh to this temple of Divine truth. But the removal of doubts and difficulties, however needful, is comparatively an irksome task, and has only indirect bearing on the spiritual profit of the Church. The prophetic commentaries of elder writers, it was also clear, were in several respects ill-suited to the wants of the present day. They were written before many of the recent objections had arisen, or, at least, when they were presented in a different form. Some of them were too concise; others mixed with doubtful or clearly |