PREFACE.

لله

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HE two great pillars, on which the belief

THE

of Chriftianity refts, are Miracles and Prophecy. If then the prevalence of that belief be of no fmall confequence with respect to the present and the future happiness of mankind, it cannot but be important, that the evidences of the latter, as well as the proofs of the exiftence of the former, fhould be placed in a variety of lights, and that different perfons, with a view of contributing fomething to their credibility and ftrength, fhould direct their minds to this fubject, and publifh the refult of their reflections. This, a task at all times useful, seems peculiarly called for at a period, when the difciples of infidelity are fo active and fo fuccefsful in the gaining of profelytes. But, although it is to confiderations of this kind, that the following work, on its prefent extenfive fcale, is in a great degree to be afcribed, it did not take its rife from premeditated defign, and the commencement of it was altogether owing to accidental circumftances.

Perhaps it may be proper to explain the par-.. ticular circumstances which fuggested it, and to

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ftate

ftate, at fome length, the feveral motives which have encouraged me to profecute and extend my plan.

A Difcourfe on the Apocalypfe by Mr. Fleming, whofe application of one of its predictions to the French monarchy has excited a confiderable degree of public curiofity, happened to be in my poffeffion. To reprint either a part or the whole of that Difcourfe was, in confequence, ftrongly recommended to me by an intimate friend. This, however, I without hesitation declined. But a fhort time after, another gentleman, who was preparing for the prefs an ingenious work of miscellaneous literature, having accidentally heard of my having this very fcarce treatife in my poffeffion, applied to me to furnish him with fome extracts from it, as a curiofity worthy of being preserved, and, as I happened at that time, to be perfectly at leifure, it was propofed, that I fhould communicate a statement of my ideas on the meaning of those extracts. My thoughts were accordingly committed to paper folely with this view. But, previoufly to the completion of the tafk which I had impofed on myfelf, Mr. Fleming's Difcourfe was reprinted; and, independently of this, my obfervations and my extracts were found to be too bulky to be inferted in the work intended for their reception. In thefe circumftances, I entertained ferious doubts, whether it would be the wifer course

to

to commit the manufcript to the prefs or to the flames.

Indeed, averfe as I then was to the inveftigation of fuch a fubject, and accuftomed to employ my mind upon ftudies altogether of a different nature, I fhould certainly not have commenced the elucidation of Mr. Fleming at all, had I not been forcibly influenced by the following reafons. I was led to understand, that fome very scanty extracts from Mr. Fleming had been circulated with great industry '; that they had, by means of ftudied mifreprefentation, been defcribed as highly unfavourable to the French nation, and countenancing the idea of their conqueft, if not of their deftruction; and that, in confequence, a confiderable impression, injurious to the caufe of liberty, and favourable to the views of those who urged the profecution of the prefent war, had been made upon the minds of many individuals. It was conceived that the Deity, by the voice of his prophet in former ages, had manifefted his difpleafure against the people of France, and had fig

1

Among other modes of circulation, paffages from Mr. Fleming's difcourfe were inferted in feveral of the ministerial papers. That his meaning was originally viewed as adverfe to the French, may alfo from this circumftance be inferred: the extracts were firft brought into public notice by a member of the fenate and the adminiftration, and a zealous advocate for the fent war.

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nified his intention of inflicting on them the moft fignal punishment2.

Regretting that fuch an opinion fhould be in any degree prevalent; perfuaded that the words of this writer, when examined, would admit of no fuch interpretation; convinced that too great a diverfity of methods had already been employed to inflame the paffions of men against the people of France; I thought that to print the words of Mr. Fleming at fome length, and to comment upon their genuine import, might be attended with falutary effects. The freedom and independence of the French nation, I believed to be intimately connected with the liberty of mankind, and all their most valuable interefts. Impreffions, unfavourable to this caufe, had been made on the minds of many. This particular impreffion, to the disadvantage of the French revolution, drawn from the contemplation of prophecy, I hoped to be able altogether to erafe; whilst at the fame time I was happy in being able to circulate ideas of an oppofite tendency. Thefe, then, were the reafons, which led me to commence this work; and I thought it improbable, that any other publication, fimilar to my own, would iffue from the prefs.

2

Being my felf little ftruck with the prophetical remarks of Mr. Fleming, I certainly fhould not have commented upon them at all, had they not become the objects of general curiofity. I may add, what I know to be a fact, that they excited, in perfonages of the most elevated rank in this country, the mot marked attention.