trophe, which fhall change the whole form of * their affairs, and oblige them to set out afresh, as

it were, in the world.' This ingenious author then adds, A conviction that such events are ne· ceffary, and that they are kindly intended as remedies of greater evils than they immediately occafion, is the only confideration that can tranquilife the heart of a benevolent man, who lives ' in a period when these awful operations are in a 'peculiar manner carrying on. ' him to the various delays and

It may reconcile fluctuations in the ' progress towards a final event, which he cannot but ardently defire.-When he wishes for a

Speedy fettlement of things by the quiet opera'tion of reason, without any of the harsh methods by which stubborn vices are to be forcibly eradicated, he wishes for an impracticability as 6 great, as the furgeon, who would hope to cure ' an inveterate cancer without the knife or the cauftic12.

6

It is, fays Dr. Prieftley, a confolation, that "feafons of war, and great calamities of any kind, cannot, in their own nature, be of long 'continuance. In proportion to their violence, 'they must be of fhort duration; and, as in the natural world ftorms and hurricanes are of ufe, in clearing the atmosphere, producing 'a better temperature of air, and a more ferene 'and cloudless sky, than could have been had without them, let us not doubt, but that the 12 Letters from a Father to his Son, 1793, p. 182.

fame

fame will be the iffue of ftorms and hurricanes in the civil world, be their violence ever fo great, and the devaftation they make ever fo ' extensive 13.

6

Perhaps also, at fuch a period as the present, there is another point of view, in which any attempt at a fober interpretation of fome of the most important., unaccomplished predictions of fcripture may be regarded as seasonable and useful. As far as its influence extends, may it not tend to prevent the unfufpecting from mifplacing their confidence, and having recourse to publications altogether wild and fanciful; and may not fuch a work fall perhaps into the hands of some individuals, whom it may preferve from the contagion of credulity, a disease and debility of the mind, which, like the poifon of infidelity, is principally propagated by an intercourfe with thofe, to whom the infection is already communicated11?

13 Faft Serm. for Apr. 19, 1793, P. 34.

At a

time,

14 That arrogant pretenfions, and wild abfurdity, are ftill fecure of being liftened to by numbers with eager curiofity or blind acquiefcence, the many profelytes, gained by Richard Brothers, have afforded a recent and decifive proof. But the year 1750 afforded a yet more memorable inftance of the infectious nature of credulity. On the 8th of February, and again on the 8th of March in that year, a confiderable shock of an earthquake was felt in London. In confequence, fays Smollett, a fanatic foldier-boldly prophefied, that the next fhock would happen on the fame day of April, and totally destroy the cities of London and Weftminfter,' and his prediction was liftened to with terror. Thefe, fays the hiftorian (Hift. of Engl.

6

time, when the human understanding contemplates with wonder occurrences, the most momentous and unexampled, following each other with rapid movement; at an æra, when the hopes and fears of men are fixed on the convulfions, which agitate nations, and alter the established arrangements of fociety; persons of a warm imagination, by accuftoming themselves to indulge and prolong its excurfions, and by endeavouring to pierce the cloud that is spread over futurity, will fometimes fuffer their ideas to be worked up to fuch a pitch of extravagance, till at length it terminates in a partial infanity; and a number of crafty impoftors, or of wild enthufiafts, may be expected to ftart up in different places, who will boldly allege

Engl. from the Revolution, vol. III. p. 271), whom fortune 'had enabled to retire from the devoted city, fled to the country with hurry and precipitation, infomuch that the highways 'were encumbered with horfes and carriages. Many, who had, in the beginning, combated these groundless fears with the weapons of reason and ridicule, began infenfibly to imbibe the • contagion, and felt their hearts fail, in proportion as the hour ' of probation approached: even science and philofophy were 'not proof against the unaccountable effects of this communi'cation. In after-ages it will hardly be believed, that, on the ' evening of the 8th day of April, the open fields that skirt the 'metropolis were filled with an incredible number of people, 'affembled in chairs, in chaifes, and coaches, as well as on foot, who waited in the moft fearful fufpenfe, until morning ' and the return of day difproved the truth of the dreaded pro'phecy,' See a fimilar flatement of facts in the Hiftorical Chronicle of the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. XX. p. 184.

their intercourfe with the Deity, and claim to inspiration, and perfift to maintain, that they are commiffioned to reveal to mankind fome of those interefting events, which are destined hereafter to happen. The mind that is active and ardent cannot, indeed, in such a state of things, extinguifh its folicitude to learn fomewhat of futurity; and, like our other paffions, it is fufficient to regulate, without fuppreffing, it. What, then, is the courfe, which reafon points out to us as proper to be pursued? Our anxiety to acquire fome information of events, antecedently to their occurrence, fhe teaches us to moderate; and inftructs us, that there are two methods, by recurring to which we may hope in fome degree to gratify our defires. Attentively furveying the face of affairs and the exifting ftate of the world, we must apply to the changes, which are hereafter to take place in them, thofe maxims of wisdom and principles of decifion, which an inspection of the tranfactions of hiftory, and the works of the most enlightened politicians, unite to fuggeft: confulting the authentic pages of fcriptural prophecy, we muft examine which of their predictions remain unfulfilled, and cautiously apply to their explanation thofe rules of interpretation and cri ticifm, which an obfervation of the prophecies already accomplished, and the writings of the moft approved commentators, combine to afford. Having explained, through fuch a number of

pages,

pages, the motives which excited me to commence, and thofe which have animated me to complete, my work; I fhall now fay fomewhat on the manner in which it is executed, and on the nature of its contents.

If any, events, from their magnitude and im portance, deserve to be foretold in the prophetic fcriptures, the French revolution appears to be an event of that kind. The certainty of its being predicted in the apocalypse I do not, however, undertake to prove. But this 1 may engage to fhew, without the leaft hazard of failure, that the interpretations of the commentators, relative to a revolution in France, are decidedly favourable to the French nation. Having transcribed from fo great a number of them, it cannot be expected, that I fhould be refponfible for the conclufiveness of all their reasonings; or that, amid fo great a variety of extracts, fome affertions fhould not be found, built upon doubtful grounds. Neither can it reasonably be expected, that the conclufions, which I myself have drawn from an infpection of the prophets and the commentators, respecting futurity, fhould all have an equal degree of evidence, or be exempt from difficulty. With regard to many prophecies, it were vain to look for their Certain Interpretation, prior to their Actual Accomplishment.

Whatever may be the defects of the prefent work, this, however, may be ftated, that the author

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