author of it has taken more pains, than most preceding writers have done, to afcertain the fettled and precife import of the fymbols of the prophets. But, although I have in this manner attempted to guard against mistake, I am far from flattering myself with the hope, that I have always fucceeded in the attempt. On the contrary, as the predictions, which are treated on, are fo many in number, and fo difficult of explication, I conclude, that I must fometimes have fallen into error. A pofitive tone I have, therefore, endeavoured to avoid.

If, indeed, prophecy be regarded as a growing evidence; if it be admitted to be a species of proof attendant on revelation, which is perpetually receiving acceffions of ftrength and clearnefs (and this is the light in which it muft neceffarily be viewed); the reflecting mind, antecedently to its examination of any particular paffages of the prophets, will be led to expect, that their predictions, especially if unfulfilled, will, during a long period, have a mixture of light and fhade, and that they will fometimes be darkened by obfcurities', the removal of which will baffle the fkill of criticifm and the vigilance of inquiry. Were it otherwife, the

15 Prophecies,' fays Dr. Th. Burnet, rife fometimes ' with an even, gradual light, as the day rifeth upon the horifon and fometimes break out fuddenly like a fire, and we are not aware of their approach, until we fee them accomplifhed.' Sacred Theory of the Earth, vol. II. p. 58.

period must at length arrive, when the voice of prophecy, like the evidence of the fenfes, would be irresistibly convincing, and would force the most careless and the moft fceptical observer to an acknowledgment of the truth of revelation. But it might be fhewn, that, if prophecy were thus conftituted, it would be incompatible with that ftate of preparation and difcipline, which is effential to the growth and the ftability of virtue, and which infinite wifdom difcerns to be beft adapted to the nature of man, and the infancy of our fpecies.

With refpect, however, to the most Important of the Conclufions, contained in the following work, it will, I hope, be found, that they are deduced from the prophetic fcriptures upon the füreft grounds.

Almoft all the chapters confift of illuftrations of particular prophecies. But the third, the fourth, and the nineteenth chapters, contain general remarks; and are defigned to support the evidences, or to illuftrate the nature, of prophecy. Every where, indeed, it has been my endeavour, in explaining, and in vindicat. ing, the interpretations that are advanced by myself or the commentators, to felect fuch obferva tions, as are calculated not merely to confirm the particular point under confideration, but such as are capable of general application in

16

On this fubje&t fee p. 35,36,334,336, and 645 of the following work.

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the study of prophecy. With a view alfo of facilitating the interpretation of the prophets in general, befides a general index, and one which refers to the texts which are illuftrated, an alphabetic lift of the prophetic fymbols, explained in the body of the work, has been annexed at the end of it. In order likewife to render it more generally interefting, it has been my aim, as much as the nature of the fubject would admit, to guard against a dull uniformity: and, in the illuftration of prophecy, I have been encouraged to introduce a greater number of minute facts, than I otherwife fhould have ventured to have done, from the hope that many of them would appear curious or novel to the majority of my readers.

As the third and fourth chapters are of a general nature, containing extracts and remarks introductory to the ftudy of the apocalypfe, the reader, fhould he feel himself uninterested by Mr. Fleming's interpretation of the Fourth Vial, may pass over, the two firft chapters, and commence the work with the perufal of the third.

Although a large portion of the materials of the prefent work have not been dug afresh out of the quarry of the mind, but have been applied to ufe ready-wrought; it may with truth be obferved, that the literary ftructure which is erected, whatever be its faults, as a whole, is entirely different from any which has before been raised. Whether it be altogether tempo

rary,

rary, and whether it have any harmony in its different parts, or folidity in its foundations, those will determine, who fhall fubmit to the tafk of examining the fymmetry of the former, and infpecting the ftrength of the latter.

On the fidelity with which the extracts have been tranfcribed from the commentators the reader may place the fulleft confidence. Almost invariably have they been copied from the original works. works. I am aware, I am aware, it may be faid, that the meaning of the authors whom I quote would have been more full and apparent, had the pasfages from them always extended to a confiderable length; but I am alfo equally aware, that, in the prosecution of this plan, befides the infupportable drudgery of tranfcribing, the work would have fwelled into a bulky folio, abounding with paffages uninterefting and unconnected; and that it would, in confequence, have deservedly remained unread and unpurchased. I, therefore, do not undertake to explain the fyftems of any of the writers that are quoted by me.

On the fame weighty grounds, I have alfo found it neceffary to abftain from noticing interpretations which I do not approve. But, though this is my general rule, and though each deviation from it has augmented the fize of the work, I have, in fome inftances, thought a departure from it admiffible. The writer, whofe contrariety of fentiment I have most frequently mentioned, is BISHOP NEWTON; having thought it

par

particularly proper to fingle him out, because his Differtations on the Prophecies have paffed through a number of editions, and are to be every where met with; and therefore it is in the reader's power to examine, what are the arguments, which the learned prelate has advanced on the other fide of the queftion. Had the fubject, on which the bishop of Bristol has written, been of a temporary nature, or had the result of his inquiries been held in small eftimation" by the public, I fhould not fo often have noticed his opinions in order to combat them: and, to prove that I am far from intending, agreeably to a method adopted by many antagonists, to depreciate his work, and to treat it with neglect, I have introduced from his Differtations, which are certainly written with ability, and discover a wide range of reading and investigation, numerous extracts, which coincide with my own views, and appear to have a fair claim on the reader's attention. But the utility of examining the folidity of the conclufions contained in any literary performance, and of detecting what is miftated and erroneous, rifes in proportion to the reputation to which it has attained, and the frequency with which it has • been perused.

Some perfons, it has been obferved, poffibly may object against the brevity of fome of

17 Bishop Newton's Differtations have been published in the German and Danish languages.

the