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NOTES,

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION.

DUTY OF STUDYING PROPHECY.

The apostle Paul on one occasion traces the sin of the Jewish rulers in compassing the death of Christ to their lack of an understanding of the prophecies of his coming. The language employed is very emphatic: "For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him."

And yet there are those to-day who not only do not know the voices of the prophets, but who do not seek to do so. Nay more they argue in defence of this neglect and even set it up as a virtue, claiming that at this time, so long after the days of the prophets, it is no longer profitable to devote time to their writings. They doubtless had a mission to the men of their time; but for us the other parts of Scripture are all that is needful.

But why then, we are ready to ask, did God cause these prophecies to be put on record, and made an important and indestructible portion of His authoritative word? Why did Christ declare formally and with great emphasis that he had not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill, thus putting the prophecies on an equal footing with the other portions of the inspired oracles? Why did he quote them so often? It is evident that he had studied them. Why did he upbraid his disciples for failing to understand them? It is evident that they had not studied them any too much. And why do the apostles in their writings continually refer to them and reproduce not only their thoughts and sentiments but even their words and metaphors and prevailing style? It is evident that they had studied them, and studied them with unsurpassed diligence and ardor.

The prophetical writings form no small part of the body of Holy Scripture. The prophets of the Old Testament enumerate two hundred and fifty chapters, or nearly one third of the book. And so numerous are prophetical passages in the other books, that they make another

considerable fraction to be added. In the first Gospel we find two full chapters given to prophecy, and long passages also in other parts of the book. Christ himself was pre-eminently a prophet. And his apostles were prophets. Paul's letters to the Thessalonians are largely concerned with prophetic subjects. So is Peter's second epistle. And the last book of the Bible, the closing utterances of the beloved John, is (after the first three chapters at least) a sublime symbolic prophecy. Not to study prophecy would be to ignore and neglect a very large part of the divine oracles.

If you get a letter from a friend on an important business matter, you do not imagine that he could possibly intend that a third part of it should be skipped in the reading and taken no notice of. And it is incredible that God should have caused so large a body of sublime prophecy to be put on record merely to be overlooked and neglected.

If there be some things difficult to solve, this is no more true than it is of other scriptures, and is rather a motive for more earnest, thoughtful study.

And if some men have given loose wing to a heated fancy and become crazy enthusiasts in their interpretations, this is no reason why sober men should avoid the subject. The like is happening on every other subject. Every age has its cranks. It is not long since an article appeared in which the writer declared that he had discovered a method of squaring the circle. But this is no reason why clear headed people should abandon the study of Geometry. A short time since a man went stark mad over his business; but no one has thought of ceasing to do business on that account.

No doubt some have studied prophecy for improper ends, and have sought to pry into mysteries never meant to be revealed; as for example the exact day and hour, when the world shall be burned. But this is no reason why it should not be studied for proper ends, and with the spirit of reverent humility.

Perhaps even such study as the former is better than none. Some of the sublimest of the sciences have begun in this way. In the age of Pythagoras the theory was held that number is the essence of all things. The theory was absurd, but the earnest study which resulted, and by which the science of arithmetic was rapidly built up, was a good and useful thing.

The earliest astronomy was simply astrology—that is, an attempt to

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