real and personal: it must hence be translated "but if." And to infer that because the root was holy, therefore the natural branches were also holy, is directly contrary to the Apostle's meaning, and to the next verse, which states that they were "broken off*." And he that elsewhere denominates the believing Gentiles "the Israel of God," and the unbelieving Jews "the concision," could not easily contradict himself, and retract what he there asserts. And the 28th verse must be translated "with respect to the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but with respect to the election, or those of them that believe, they are beloved for the father's sake." And it is obvious that the same persons could not be enemies and beloved at the same time, as our version would seem to intimate. As an unbelieving nation they have been hated with peculiar hatred : εkλoyŋ, election, also signifies not God's plan of election, but those of the Jews who believe and are converted, as in verses 5th and 7th of this chapter. And the opposition is not between God's method of election and the Gospel, but between the believing and the unbelieving Jews, who were then

**

Chrysostom gives the true sense. Απαρχην ενταυθα και ριζαν καλων τους πατριαρχας και τους επι της παλαιας ευδοκιμηκοτας ἅπαντας, κλαδους δε εξ αυτων πιστεύσαντας. Chrysost. in locum. "Calling the patriarchs and all that had been eminent under the old covenant, the first fruits and the root, and those of them that have believed the Gospel, branches."

the great majority of them. And hence neither the national and universal conversion of the Jews, nor their return to Palestine, have any foundation except in that misinterpretation which is borrowed from the Jews themselves; but which is opposed to the general spirit and tenor of the New Testament, and violates the whole design and scheme of prophecy; which regards the literal seed of Abraham as still the holy people of God, takes the earthly for the heavenly land of life and bliss, and which finally exalts the synagogue, but depresses and wrongs the church.

SECTION V.

ANTICHRIST.

THE great perplexity and discrepance, approaching even to confusion and contradiction, of treatises and commentaries on the prophecies, have been generally felt and lamented. As the variety of their systems, and the opposition of their conclusions, have been almost proverbial, so their views have been, in many respects, narrow and contracted, their arguments defective and invalid, their conceptions imperfect and inadequate, and their expositions incongruous, and sometimes even pernicious. So far as they have undertaken to elucidate and to apply those sacred premonitions which involve the fates and fortunes of Messiah's religion in the world, they seem too generally neither to have justly and soberly estimated their object, nor to have sufficiently consulted their end and their use. The great and manifold obstacles to a right decision and true interpretation in matters of such vast importance to the progress of truth and virtue, and embracing so considerable a proportion of the Scriptures, have been not a little increased and multiplied by the party zeal, and religious controversies, which disturb and rend the body of Christ; and which,

however wholly unconnected with the object and sense, and foreign to the intent and aim of prophecy, have operated, in no small degree, to distract the attention, and to mislead the reasonings, and the conclusions, of prophetic writers and expositors. Another, and no slight nor inconsiderable cause of misguidance and of error, is to be traced to the almost total disregard, and even absolute contempt, which they have both secretly entertained, and openly avowed, for the general consent, and recorded judgment of antiquity: whilst, in points of doctrine or in practical questions of theology, they may, perhaps, profess a high respect, and even veneration for the early church of Christ, in some of the grand and cardi'nal subjects and characters of prophecy, they treat it with worse than indifference; and by departing from the constant opinion and unanimous determination of its writers and fathers, to whom we may add, according to St. Jerome, the Jewish writers also, have converted the prophetic Scriptures into an hideous mass of uncertainty and obscurity, and into no ordinary ground, nor unprolific and inefficient source and motive of hate and discord; whereby the fundamental proof and strong hold of Christian truth, has become an arsenal of party strife, and a storehouse of religious animosity, to separate still farther the already disunited subjects of the same kingdom, and almost disjointed members of the same body.

Hence, too fortunately for the schemes and the progress of infidelity, but unfortunately for the interests and the advancement of our faith, its fences have been slighted or neglected, its weapons have been blunted or turned against itself, and the walls of the city of God have been left naked and unguarded, whilst its watchmen and defenders are conflicting with each other, and untempered zeal and party feuds burn and rage within. The events of the world, indeed, and the light and experience of history, are now in our favour, and for our instruction, and afford us a vast and decided advantage over the ancients in investigating the sense, and in wielding the arms, and the resources of prophecy. Still, however, the opportunities which they enjoyed of the personal intercourse and the immediate instructions of prophets and apostles, or of those who heard them, furnished to them much useful information, and many valuable hints, for determining its leading questions and more remarkable characters, and for adjusting its main object and use, and its general drift and application. Being, besides, in a great degree united, they had neither the same occasion, nor the same temptation, which we have had to resort to prophecy as the arbiter of religious dissensions, and to make it the organ of party spirit and the tool of party strife and its true end and use were not clouded with the dust of religious contention, nor forgotten in the heat