CHAPTER XIV.

Bible History in relation to Prophecy-The Evidence of Prophecy-The Idea of the Supernatural Inseparable from it.

"History is the occasion of prophecy, but not its measure; for prophecy rises above history, borne aloft by its wings, which carry it far beyond the present, and which it derives, not from the past occurrences of which history takes cognisance, but from Him to whom the future and the past are alike known. It is the communication of so much of His own supernatural light, as he sees fit to let down upon the dark movements of history, to show whither they are going.”—Principal Fairbairn.

A

LTHOUGH we have hitherto examined the Bible and other ancient histories in precisely the same way, we cannot leave them as if no marked differences appeared. Our work is but half finished. No one can carefully study the Bible for its historical information alone, without discovering that its History has at times assumed an entirely distinctive character. It anticipates the future. Prophecy becomes History, as the mystery of prediction passes into the light of fulfilment. History records Prophecies before their accomplishment; traces the progress of events; and, at last, separates such as have been indisputably fulfilled from those which have not. Prophecy and History thus act and react on each other, they are inseparable, they blend as lights.

I. BIBLE HISTORY IN RELATION TO PROPHECY.

While Prophecy embraces two departments, the moral or doctrinal and the predictive, it is with the latter we have at present to do chiefly, and with that only in its specially dis

tinctive character. Some exalt the one and depreciate the other; but both have their value. Comprehensively, Prophecy includes all those truths, or secrets, which men could not, in the circumstances of their age, ascertain by their own unaided energies. It was the privilege of those who were appointed by the Great Revealer, to proclaim them, whether the truths unfolded had reference to the past, the present, or the future, or to all combined; and, be the form or substance what it may, it was still a revelation. If we even restrict our view of Prophecy to the moral alone, as fundamental, we discover so much that is distinctive, that the Bible cannot be classed with other histories. The laws of God, His dominion, His providence, His majesty, His holiness, justice, and mercy; man's obligation of obedience to Him, and his duties to his fellow-men, are all set forth with a brilliancy and an authoritativeness which are elsewhere unequalled. So thickly are the pages of Prophecy strewn with the original principles of morality and religion,1 that no unprejudiced student can fail to be arrested by them.

And if we adopt the view in which Prophecy is regarded as merely predictive of events which could not possibly have been foreknown by any science or wisdom of man, but which must have been revealed by the Omniscient Ruler, there is that which is so singular that it raises the Bible above all the ordinary histories by which it has ever been tested.

As the older Prophets, one after another, traverse the sphere of Bible History, the observant student recognises in each an accredited "Man of God." Their messages, their looks, their tones, are so singular that they cannot be classed with even the greatest actors in the world-histories. Their place and their function are peculiarly their own. In their

1 "Davison on Prophecy," p. 28. 1870.

fervent unselfishness, in their lofty aspirations, in their intuitional insight, they are peerless. In following their footsteps, the student realises an ennobling companionship, and cherishes impressions which were hitherto unknown to him.

Although there are exceptions to this general statement, in such instances as those of Balaam and Caiaphas,—the one an unwilling, and the other an unconscious, instrument,1and although it must be slightly modified to meet such a faltering of faith, and love, and submissiveness as Jonah temporarily exhibited, or such selfishness and hardihood as the old prophet at Bethel2 showed, they only the more strikingly manifest the general rule of the Divine procedure as in harmony with the sovereignty of the Divine purpose. The greatness of the prophets of the Old as well as of the New Testament is distinctly visible, not so much in their unfolding present truth and instructing the people, as in their insight of the distant future, regarded as an evolution from the present.

The truths revealed, and the spirit of the revealers, separate the prophets from all other men. Their oracles are a phenomenon which cannot be overlooked. They are alone, they arrest attention, and educe a feeling of awe. The twofold function of prophecy, while it pervades Bible history, and unites all its parts so as to constitute an crganic whole, is itself an evidence of the truth of the Bible, which encourages the believer to rest with confidence in the controlling wisdom and power of God. Our Lord himself hath said, “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he."-John xiii. 19.

The apparent vagueness of some of the prophecies is no valid reason for rejecting them. While some are confessedly

"Fairbairn on Prophecy," p. 494.

difficult of interpretation, there is a necessity for vagueness, because the definite revelation of future events would arrest the activity and mar the peace of nations or communities; and their approach, therefore, is so unfolded in allegory, that the accomplishment of the prophecy becomes its clearest and most satisfactory exposition. "Prophecy must thus, in many instances, have that darkness which is impenetrable at first, as well as that light which shall be able to dispel every doubt at last; and as it cannot be an evidence of Christianity until the event demonstrate its own truth, it may remain obscure till history become its interpreter, and not be perfectly obvious till the fulfilment of the whole series with which it is connected." But with the obscure prophecies it is unnecessary here to occupy time, while so much that is indisputable is at hand. Let it be understood, however, that while some are detached from the others for the purposes of our general argument, all the prophecies are to be held related to one another; they converge to one centre, Christ, and they spread from this centre, outwards, over his extending kingdom, until it is completely encircled. It will be enough to place together, by way of illustration, two or three prominent examples of fulfilled prophecy, as indicating a line of proof which, to many minds in all ages of the Church, has been as a fountain of water in a withering wilderness.

II. THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY.

Sacred History and Prophecy, blending at the very commencement of Revelation, still continue to illustrate the principles of the Divine Government. The words of the Great Ruler, spoken after the fall of our first parents, are distinctly explanatory of the misery in the world, and of the

1 "Evidence of Prophecy," by the Rev. Dr. Keith, p. 7. 1868.

happiness in the Church. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." 1

In this brief statement is the germ of all history. Every Messianic prophecy is traceable to it; and in it are the secrets of human sorrow and Christian joy. In its light we can more easily comprehend the universal social and moral turmoil, the struggles for salvation, the triumphs of holiness, and the certainty of victory when "the head" of the serpent is bruised, and the evil principle has become powerless, by which man was seduced to his fall. No sooner had man lost the high position assigned him, and passed into the gloom of condemnation, than the first prediction beamed in mercy upon him. Its light is the dawn and dayspring of Prophecy, showing that "Man was not excluded from Paradise till Prophecy had sent him forth with some pledge and hope of consolation." 2

Within this wide view may be collected all the prophecies of the Old Testament; and there is not a subordinate prediction which does not find its meaning and vindication in this briefly unfolded plan of redemption. While the whole body of ancient Prophecy is intimately related to the way of salvation; and history is its channel, and while it seems to • Davison on Prophecy, p. 53.

1 Genesis iii. 15-17.